My apologies. I disappeared again.
Fortunately, this time it was not for health reasons. In that respect, I'm doing spiffingly. No, this time it was because I've just been so darn busy, and haven't really had much to say other than I'm still alive. Rest assured had that not been the case, you would have heard something from someone before now.
At any rate, things in the JBTAuthor study are swimming along ... I've started doing a bit of freelance writing, I'm still editing (and available for new clients), and have recently taken on a couple of other projects (writing-related, more or less) that have been keeping me hopping. Not to mention I'm still working on the manuscript and am on the verge of plunging into the submission process again.
The WGH made the comment last night on our way to church that my plate was getting kinda full. I said, yes, but it's a fun full.
I'll be around and about the Lunch Room, and will pop in with updates when I have something interesting to say. I hope that will be more often than not. For now, I'll leave you with my latest efforts courtesy of Suite101.com in the hopes that you will enjoy them:
Movie Review - Stage Beauty
Becoming Jane - Movie Review
Wit - Movie Review
Oh, and read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
Showing posts with label Critic's Corner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Critic's Corner. Show all posts
6.08.2009
5.23.2008
Let's Do Lunch! Interview with Bruce Cook (aka Brant Randall)
Welcome to another Lunch Room chat session. We're delighted you're here! Pull up a seat and we'll get you some iced tea, and please be sure to throw your name in the hat for the drawing before you leave - details below.
My guest today is author Bruce Cook, whose first novel, Philippine Fever, is the story of an ATF agent trying to track down a missing cargo container full of terrorist weapons in Manila, smuggling capital of the world, after his main suspect is murdered.
Bruce has adopted the pseudonym Brant Randall and penned an amazing story called Blood Harvest, which we're talking about (and giving away) today. Thanks for stopping by, Bruce.
Bruce: Thanks for inviting me to lunch, JB. I love diners. One of my favorite restaurant books is Diving Out in LA.
JB: A guide to great dives, I get it. Wait, does this qualify as a dive? Okay, never mind. Before we get to the main course, let's talk a little about what else you have on your plate. Will there be more Sam Haine in our futures or are you working on other projects?
Bruce: Sam Haine will return in a story about gun smuggling by the contemporary IRA in Ireland, using treasure recovered from a payroll ship of the Spanish Armada that sank off the coast of Ireland. It was an idea I invented, then researched and now believe to be true. It is probably not the next book.
Currently I am working on two novels. The first is Feral Frankie, a story about the orphaned child of a meth cooker in northern California. At 13 he takes his daddy's car and heads for Los Angeles, where he believes he still has a living grandmother. Sort of like a young Mad Max takes a trip on Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
The second novel is titled Snapshots from Hell, and is a darkly comic look at the moral bloodbath that is Hollywood. Having worked in the film biz for 39 years I have a few crime tales to tell, some skeletons to unearth, gossip to relate, and a few heads to crack.
You may be wondering why I have adopted a pseudonym, having begun a series under the name Bruce Cook. After Philippine Fever was published I discovered four other authors named Bruce Cook, including two who write/wrote mystery series. I have been asked to sign some of those other author's books at signings, which is a little embarrassing for the customer. Since Blood Harvest was meant to be a very different kind of novel from Philippine Fever I decided to devise a pen name - Brant Randall.
However, response has been so positive to Brant's first book I have decided that he is going to collaborate with Bruce on the next book.
JB: Now there's an idea. Let's talk about Blood Harvest - a highly unique story told from the first-person point of view of a number of different characters, with the narratives overlapping each other with respect to time and location. Did you set out from the get-go to write it that way, or was that something that sort of fell into place as you were writing it?
Bruce: Blood Harvest began as a first person short story, the chapter that opens the book, as told by Marshal Lawe. Once it was complete, I realized that I wanted to continue to explore the historical reality of lynchings in New England, and that I wanted to tell the story from multiple points of view.
I decided each chapter would be told by a new first person narrator, sharing his/her version of the events surrounding the lynching of the Italian immigrant, Nick DeCosta. I am a screenwriter and film director, so I was familiar with the Kurasawa classic Rashomon. I knew that each voice needed to have a unique perspective on what life in the town was like, but that it must also add new information about the events for the reader, so it wouldn’t just be a tiresome rehash.
In other words, no character telling his piece of the story actually understands the full extent of what has happened. Only the reader, with knowledge gleaned from all the narrators, knows the full truth.
The challenge was to create voices that were so individual or idiosyncratic that the reader would instantly know that a new character was speaking. I had first seen this done well in Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible. After I had finished a draft of the novel I happened to read Wilkie Collins' Woman in White, written in 1859, which also used the same approach. This only goes to show that no writer can invent anything truly new, either in content or technique.
JB: Talk a bit about the research that went into this book. Did you have prior knowledge of the history and activities of the KKK in that period of time, or did you learn way more than you ever wanted to know from doing your research?
Bruce: I knew next to nothing about the history of the KKK before writing this book, other than having seen the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation when I was in film school.
This novel grew from an incident related to me by my grandmother when she was in her nineties. She was a Scotch-Irish girl from rural New England, one of twelve children, though two died in infancy.
I knew she had married young, perhaps at sixteen, though she sometimes claimed she had been eighteen. She said that after her wedding day she had never returned to her home town. I had assumed that she eloped or otherwise angered her parents. At one point I asked if her parents had disliked my grandfather, who I remembered as personable and charming.
She claimed that they liked him very much. He was a perfect example of the immigrant success story. Came to America from Greece at sixteen, without any English. Started working the next day. Within five years he owned his own restaurant, within ten a chain of candy shops and drug stores.
"So why didn't you ever return to your home town?" I asked her.
"It was those dumb clucks." She used this expression only when quite angry. "My brother-in-law didn't think it right for a white girl to marry a non-white European."
This was new territory to me, but when I read my grandfather's immigration papers I found that southern Europeans — the Greeks, Spanish, Italians, and Turks — were classified thus until 1912. But it was her next revelation that stunned me.
It wasn't dumb "clucks." It was dumb "klux." The KKK had driven my grandparents from the town. This wasn't consistent with what I had learned in my history classes, and so I began to research.
The KKK had been moribund for thirty years when it was revived in 1915 as an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic movement, though with plenty of racism left over for blacks. It came to be centered not in the South but in the Northeast, with a large contingent in the Midwest.
Since I still have family alive who recall these incidents and live in the area, I changed the location of my story and the names.
I spent about six months researching the klan's activities during the 1920s, finding great primary sources in local newspapers, photographs, and court records. I found a collection of souvenir postcards of lynchings that is the most troubling thing I have seen in the last decade.
And then I found the present day klan. I discovered that my daughter-in-law's sister cannot visit her husband's home town because his family is still in the KKK and they disapprove of her religion. The family is in Ohio.
At the peak of membership in the mid-1920s the klan had between six and eight million members in 45 states. They swung elections in the mid-West. They controlled several state legislatures. They stalemated the nomination of a presidential slate at the 1924 Democratic convention for 103 ballots, because they opposed the nomination of Al Smith, a Catholic.
If there were that many members in that many states, the odds are that someone in your family was a member ... or a target.
I could go on, but I think you get my drift.
Besides, my salad is wilting.
JB: Yeah, it's the humidity around here. What an incredible story. And an incredible book. Thanks so much for sharing your time with us today!
Bruce (or Brant, if you prefer) has been gracious enough to offer autographed copies of Blood Harvest to 10 lucky Lunch Room visitors. We'll draw the winners at random next Friday, May 30, 2008 - click here to enter, and be sure to include your full name in the body of your email. Winners will be notified for address confirmation.
In the meantime, happy reading!
=) JB
My guest today is author Bruce Cook, whose first novel, Philippine Fever, is the story of an ATF agent trying to track down a missing cargo container full of terrorist weapons in Manila, smuggling capital of the world, after his main suspect is murdered.
Bruce has adopted the pseudonym Brant Randall and penned an amazing story called Blood Harvest, which we're talking about (and giving away) today. Thanks for stopping by, Bruce.Bruce: Thanks for inviting me to lunch, JB. I love diners. One of my favorite restaurant books is Diving Out in LA.
JB: A guide to great dives, I get it. Wait, does this qualify as a dive? Okay, never mind. Before we get to the main course, let's talk a little about what else you have on your plate. Will there be more Sam Haine in our futures or are you working on other projects?
Bruce: Sam Haine will return in a story about gun smuggling by the contemporary IRA in Ireland, using treasure recovered from a payroll ship of the Spanish Armada that sank off the coast of Ireland. It was an idea I invented, then researched and now believe to be true. It is probably not the next book.
Currently I am working on two novels. The first is Feral Frankie, a story about the orphaned child of a meth cooker in northern California. At 13 he takes his daddy's car and heads for Los Angeles, where he believes he still has a living grandmother. Sort of like a young Mad Max takes a trip on Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
The second novel is titled Snapshots from Hell, and is a darkly comic look at the moral bloodbath that is Hollywood. Having worked in the film biz for 39 years I have a few crime tales to tell, some skeletons to unearth, gossip to relate, and a few heads to crack.
You may be wondering why I have adopted a pseudonym, having begun a series under the name Bruce Cook. After Philippine Fever was published I discovered four other authors named Bruce Cook, including two who write/wrote mystery series. I have been asked to sign some of those other author's books at signings, which is a little embarrassing for the customer. Since Blood Harvest was meant to be a very different kind of novel from Philippine Fever I decided to devise a pen name - Brant Randall.
However, response has been so positive to Brant's first book I have decided that he is going to collaborate with Bruce on the next book.
JB: Now there's an idea. Let's talk about Blood Harvest - a highly unique story told from the first-person point of view of a number of different characters, with the narratives overlapping each other with respect to time and location. Did you set out from the get-go to write it that way, or was that something that sort of fell into place as you were writing it?
Bruce: Blood Harvest began as a first person short story, the chapter that opens the book, as told by Marshal Lawe. Once it was complete, I realized that I wanted to continue to explore the historical reality of lynchings in New England, and that I wanted to tell the story from multiple points of view.
I decided each chapter would be told by a new first person narrator, sharing his/her version of the events surrounding the lynching of the Italian immigrant, Nick DeCosta. I am a screenwriter and film director, so I was familiar with the Kurasawa classic Rashomon. I knew that each voice needed to have a unique perspective on what life in the town was like, but that it must also add new information about the events for the reader, so it wouldn’t just be a tiresome rehash.
In other words, no character telling his piece of the story actually understands the full extent of what has happened. Only the reader, with knowledge gleaned from all the narrators, knows the full truth.
The challenge was to create voices that were so individual or idiosyncratic that the reader would instantly know that a new character was speaking. I had first seen this done well in Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible. After I had finished a draft of the novel I happened to read Wilkie Collins' Woman in White, written in 1859, which also used the same approach. This only goes to show that no writer can invent anything truly new, either in content or technique.
JB: Talk a bit about the research that went into this book. Did you have prior knowledge of the history and activities of the KKK in that period of time, or did you learn way more than you ever wanted to know from doing your research?
Bruce: I knew next to nothing about the history of the KKK before writing this book, other than having seen the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation when I was in film school.
This novel grew from an incident related to me by my grandmother when she was in her nineties. She was a Scotch-Irish girl from rural New England, one of twelve children, though two died in infancy.
I knew she had married young, perhaps at sixteen, though she sometimes claimed she had been eighteen. She said that after her wedding day she had never returned to her home town. I had assumed that she eloped or otherwise angered her parents. At one point I asked if her parents had disliked my grandfather, who I remembered as personable and charming.
She claimed that they liked him very much. He was a perfect example of the immigrant success story. Came to America from Greece at sixteen, without any English. Started working the next day. Within five years he owned his own restaurant, within ten a chain of candy shops and drug stores.
"So why didn't you ever return to your home town?" I asked her.
"It was those dumb clucks." She used this expression only when quite angry. "My brother-in-law didn't think it right for a white girl to marry a non-white European."
This was new territory to me, but when I read my grandfather's immigration papers I found that southern Europeans — the Greeks, Spanish, Italians, and Turks — were classified thus until 1912. But it was her next revelation that stunned me.
It wasn't dumb "clucks." It was dumb "klux." The KKK had driven my grandparents from the town. This wasn't consistent with what I had learned in my history classes, and so I began to research.
The KKK had been moribund for thirty years when it was revived in 1915 as an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic movement, though with plenty of racism left over for blacks. It came to be centered not in the South but in the Northeast, with a large contingent in the Midwest.
Since I still have family alive who recall these incidents and live in the area, I changed the location of my story and the names.
I spent about six months researching the klan's activities during the 1920s, finding great primary sources in local newspapers, photographs, and court records. I found a collection of souvenir postcards of lynchings that is the most troubling thing I have seen in the last decade.
And then I found the present day klan. I discovered that my daughter-in-law's sister cannot visit her husband's home town because his family is still in the KKK and they disapprove of her religion. The family is in Ohio.
At the peak of membership in the mid-1920s the klan had between six and eight million members in 45 states. They swung elections in the mid-West. They controlled several state legislatures. They stalemated the nomination of a presidential slate at the 1924 Democratic convention for 103 ballots, because they opposed the nomination of Al Smith, a Catholic.
If there were that many members in that many states, the odds are that someone in your family was a member ... or a target.
I could go on, but I think you get my drift.
Besides, my salad is wilting.
JB: Yeah, it's the humidity around here. What an incredible story. And an incredible book. Thanks so much for sharing your time with us today!
Bruce (or Brant, if you prefer) has been gracious enough to offer autographed copies of Blood Harvest to 10 lucky Lunch Room visitors. We'll draw the winners at random next Friday, May 30, 2008 - click here to enter, and be sure to include your full name in the body of your email. Winners will be notified for address confirmation.
In the meantime, happy reading!
=) JB
4.12.2007
The Critic's Corner #4
Little Miss Sunshine
Fox Searchlight Pictures/Big Beach Films
Rated R for language, some sex and drug content
101 minutes
I have a deep appreciation for movies like Little Miss Sunshine, but not for the reasons you might think. When I can watch a film and not absolutely love it on the surface, but can contemplate it later and begin to appreciate its merits in objective terms, that's the kind of picture I think deserves recognition.
A friend mentioned that she thought this movie was hilarious. After it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, I rented it just to see what all the fuss was about. Alan Arkin, of course, was honored with the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year, and the film generated a total of 33 wins and an additional 34 award nominations. So it had to be good, right?
I was disappointed. But is there more to this than my initial opinion? Absolutely.
It may have been a bad day for me to watch movies. It may have been that I'm just not intelligent enough to get this film. Nah, don't think so. On the surface, this is a farce of a film about a severely dysfunctional family that pulls together to make a dream come true for its youngest member. I couldn't see the deeper meaning in it until I got away from it for a while.
I've had a chance to stew on it for ... oh, a couple or three weeks now, and I recognize that there are some Oscar-worthy qualities to this film. I took a retrospective look at the individual performances of its cast - Greg Kinnear (Sabrina, As Good As It Gets, You've Got Mail, Invincible), Toni Collette (Muriel's Wedding, Emma, Changing Lanes), Steve Carell (best known for his TV work - The Office - but now making a name for himself on the silver screen), Alan Arkin (with 90 movies to his credit, including Inspector Clouseau, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The In-Laws, The Rocketeer, and Grosse Pointe Blank), and two relative newcomers, Paul Dano and Abigail Breslin (who have over 30 credits between them already). I realized what made the picture noteworthy as far as the acting was concerned was not so much how the ensemble worked with each other, but more how each individual's performance contributed to the story. I didn't think the players interacted as well with each other as they did just being themselves, which is part of the charm of this film. Each character was so wrapped up in his/her own personal issues that s/he failed to see how closely interconnected with the family s/he was.
Young Olive Hoover (Breslin) is beside herself when she learns she's been chosen to participate in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant as a replacement for another contestant who has a conflict. Her father, Richard (Kinnear), is working on his "Nine Steps to Being a Winner" motivational program - his mantra is "There are two kinds of people in this world - winners and losers". Chain-smoking Mom Sheryl (Collette) - whose idea of a sit-down dinner is a bucket of fried chicken - is just trying to hold the family together after her gay brother Frank (Carell), a renowned Proust scholar, moves in with them following a failed suicide attempt. Olive's brooding half-brother Dwayne (Dano) - who hates everyone - has taken a vow of silence, pledging not to speak until he's accepted into the Air Force Academy's pilot training program, and has succeeded in holding his ground for a staggering nine months. Richard's foul-mouthed, cocaine-snorting father (Arkin) is the only one who seems to take a genuine interest in Olive's ambitions to be a beauty queen, and takes it upon himself to "coach" her for the talent competition. (Oh, boy.)
There is a brief moment of panic while Richard and Sheryl try to work out how they're going to get Olive to California in time for the pageant when Richard needs to meet with a potential backer. Frank can't be left alone, Dwayne doesn't want to be left alone with Frank, and Richard and Sheryl don't trust Grandpa to get Olive across the country safely. So it's decided that the whole family will go - in their worn-down VW bus - budgeting their travel time to give Richard the opportunity to meet with his backer and still get Olive to the pageant.
Sound like a good idea? Of course not. That's where the comedy - dark as it is - begins.
I have to give credit to writer Michael Arndt for coming up with some of the craziest mishaps that could befall this family along their journey (the tag line for the film - "Where's Olive?" - is only one tiny hint of the hilarity that ensues). What takes these events out of the cellar of schtick and into the stratosphere is the intertwining into the plot of one heartbreaking moment which finally seems to unite the family in their cause. There is a profoundly functional element to this otherwise super-dysfunctional family - they do love each other, each in his or her own unorthodox way. In an industry where timing is everything, Arndt structures the world of the Hoovers with expert precision. Each experiences one life-changing moment that brings him to realize that being a part of a family, regardless of how screwed up it is, means a lot more than just being.
By far the most memorable performance of the film is rendered by Abigail Breslin (whose brother Spencer is also an actor) as Olive, whose innocent charm and unjaded view of the world is the undisputed glue that holds her family together, despite their best efforts to separate themselves from the almost tragic reality that is their lives. Olive sees things in black and white, and what she wants more desperately than anything is to not disappoint her father - she doesn't want to be a "loser". Richard's moment of epiphany is a poignant lesson in self-evaluation and the realization of what's more important.
After some soul searching and a bit of retro- and introspection, I decided that Little Miss Sunshine was the kind of film that should be awarded and recognized. Even if you don't find it hilarious, I think you'd do well to watch it just to gain the experience of seeing a film that isn't a razzle-dazzle of special effects, an over-dramatic family saga, or a lighthearted, laugh-a-minute romp of a comedy. Little Miss Sunshine is none of these things. It's more a picture of life and all its moments - good and bad - that shape and mold, inspire and devastate, and teach us that there's more to it than two hours can hold.
Fox Searchlight Pictures/Big Beach Films
Rated R for language, some sex and drug content
101 minutes
I have a deep appreciation for movies like Little Miss Sunshine, but not for the reasons you might think. When I can watch a film and not absolutely love it on the surface, but can contemplate it later and begin to appreciate its merits in objective terms, that's the kind of picture I think deserves recognition.
A friend mentioned that she thought this movie was hilarious. After it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, I rented it just to see what all the fuss was about. Alan Arkin, of course, was honored with the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year, and the film generated a total of 33 wins and an additional 34 award nominations. So it had to be good, right?
I was disappointed. But is there more to this than my initial opinion? Absolutely.
It may have been a bad day for me to watch movies. It may have been that I'm just not intelligent enough to get this film. Nah, don't think so. On the surface, this is a farce of a film about a severely dysfunctional family that pulls together to make a dream come true for its youngest member. I couldn't see the deeper meaning in it until I got away from it for a while.
I've had a chance to stew on it for ... oh, a couple or three weeks now, and I recognize that there are some Oscar-worthy qualities to this film. I took a retrospective look at the individual performances of its cast - Greg Kinnear (Sabrina, As Good As It Gets, You've Got Mail, Invincible), Toni Collette (Muriel's Wedding, Emma, Changing Lanes), Steve Carell (best known for his TV work - The Office - but now making a name for himself on the silver screen), Alan Arkin (with 90 movies to his credit, including Inspector Clouseau, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The In-Laws, The Rocketeer, and Grosse Pointe Blank), and two relative newcomers, Paul Dano and Abigail Breslin (who have over 30 credits between them already). I realized what made the picture noteworthy as far as the acting was concerned was not so much how the ensemble worked with each other, but more how each individual's performance contributed to the story. I didn't think the players interacted as well with each other as they did just being themselves, which is part of the charm of this film. Each character was so wrapped up in his/her own personal issues that s/he failed to see how closely interconnected with the family s/he was.
Young Olive Hoover (Breslin) is beside herself when she learns she's been chosen to participate in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant as a replacement for another contestant who has a conflict. Her father, Richard (Kinnear), is working on his "Nine Steps to Being a Winner" motivational program - his mantra is "There are two kinds of people in this world - winners and losers". Chain-smoking Mom Sheryl (Collette) - whose idea of a sit-down dinner is a bucket of fried chicken - is just trying to hold the family together after her gay brother Frank (Carell), a renowned Proust scholar, moves in with them following a failed suicide attempt. Olive's brooding half-brother Dwayne (Dano) - who hates everyone - has taken a vow of silence, pledging not to speak until he's accepted into the Air Force Academy's pilot training program, and has succeeded in holding his ground for a staggering nine months. Richard's foul-mouthed, cocaine-snorting father (Arkin) is the only one who seems to take a genuine interest in Olive's ambitions to be a beauty queen, and takes it upon himself to "coach" her for the talent competition. (Oh, boy.)
There is a brief moment of panic while Richard and Sheryl try to work out how they're going to get Olive to California in time for the pageant when Richard needs to meet with a potential backer. Frank can't be left alone, Dwayne doesn't want to be left alone with Frank, and Richard and Sheryl don't trust Grandpa to get Olive across the country safely. So it's decided that the whole family will go - in their worn-down VW bus - budgeting their travel time to give Richard the opportunity to meet with his backer and still get Olive to the pageant.
Sound like a good idea? Of course not. That's where the comedy - dark as it is - begins.
I have to give credit to writer Michael Arndt for coming up with some of the craziest mishaps that could befall this family along their journey (the tag line for the film - "Where's Olive?" - is only one tiny hint of the hilarity that ensues). What takes these events out of the cellar of schtick and into the stratosphere is the intertwining into the plot of one heartbreaking moment which finally seems to unite the family in their cause. There is a profoundly functional element to this otherwise super-dysfunctional family - they do love each other, each in his or her own unorthodox way. In an industry where timing is everything, Arndt structures the world of the Hoovers with expert precision. Each experiences one life-changing moment that brings him to realize that being a part of a family, regardless of how screwed up it is, means a lot more than just being.
By far the most memorable performance of the film is rendered by Abigail Breslin (whose brother Spencer is also an actor) as Olive, whose innocent charm and unjaded view of the world is the undisputed glue that holds her family together, despite their best efforts to separate themselves from the almost tragic reality that is their lives. Olive sees things in black and white, and what she wants more desperately than anything is to not disappoint her father - she doesn't want to be a "loser". Richard's moment of epiphany is a poignant lesson in self-evaluation and the realization of what's more important.
After some soul searching and a bit of retro- and introspection, I decided that Little Miss Sunshine was the kind of film that should be awarded and recognized. Even if you don't find it hilarious, I think you'd do well to watch it just to gain the experience of seeing a film that isn't a razzle-dazzle of special effects, an over-dramatic family saga, or a lighthearted, laugh-a-minute romp of a comedy. Little Miss Sunshine is none of these things. It's more a picture of life and all its moments - good and bad - that shape and mold, inspire and devastate, and teach us that there's more to it than two hours can hold.
10.24.2006
The Critic's Corner #3
As promised, The Critic's Corner is back. This is one we borrowed on DVD recently.
Sky High
Walt Disney Pictures, 2005
PG
100 minutes
available on DVD
Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston
Young Will Stronghold (Angarano), son of legendary heroes The Commander (Russell) and Jetstream (Preston), carries lofty expectations as he enters Sky High, a secret high-tech high school in the clouds where the students have super-human powers, arrive at school on a flying bus, and are divided into Heroes and Sidekicks. Unfortunately, Will’s own superpowers have yet to make themselves known, and he finds himself relegated to being a mere Sidekick, something his ultra-Hero father has a hard time accepting.
Trying to find a balance between being a normal teenager and an extraordinary being, Will must somehow survive his freshman year while dealing with an overbearing gym coach, a bully with super speed and a rebel with a grudge – and the ability to shoot fire from his hands. And of course, there’s the usual angst, parental expectations and girl problems that accompany teenage life. When an evil villain threatens his family, friends and the very sanctity of Sky High, Will must use his newfound superpowers to save the day and prove himself a Hero worthy of the family tradition.
Sky High is one of those special effects bonanzas that lives up to the expectations associated with the family films of Disney. There’s something for everyone – teenage romance, dramatic fight sequences and the classic coming of age backdrop as our young hero discovers his true strengths.
Being classified a Sidekick doesn’t start Will’s high school career quite as he anticipated, but the friends he makes in the “Hero Support” class turn out to have powers that, of course, become quite useful in the film’s final scenes, the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. Will learns that it takes loyalty and teamwork to truly become a hero, and his Sidekick friends learn that it doesn’t take super strength or heat vision to overcome a villain.
Disney Channel regular and current Shark (James Woods, CBS Fridays) costar Danielle Panabaker is Will’s loyal, label-eschewing best friend Layla, who can make plants grow telepathically. At “Power Placement” on the first day of school, Layla refuses to demonstrate her heroic ability and is unceremoniously dumped into the Sidekick class. Panabaker’s sweet, smart-girl charm is appealing, and a nice balance for Angarano’s goofy albeit puppy-dog cute character.
For Russell and Preston, the film is a nice change of pace – low-key and cheesey, and chock full of the family value “life lessons” so prevalent in most Disney flicks. The story is your typical hero-versus-villain fare, but with its clever gadgetry, special effects and quirky alternative superpowers possessed by its characters, Sky High is cute enough for the rental and worth spending a couple of hours with the kids and a bowl of popcorn.
=) JB
Sky High
Walt Disney Pictures, 2005
PG
100 minutes
available on DVD
Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston
Young Will Stronghold (Angarano), son of legendary heroes The Commander (Russell) and Jetstream (Preston), carries lofty expectations as he enters Sky High, a secret high-tech high school in the clouds where the students have super-human powers, arrive at school on a flying bus, and are divided into Heroes and Sidekicks. Unfortunately, Will’s own superpowers have yet to make themselves known, and he finds himself relegated to being a mere Sidekick, something his ultra-Hero father has a hard time accepting.
Trying to find a balance between being a normal teenager and an extraordinary being, Will must somehow survive his freshman year while dealing with an overbearing gym coach, a bully with super speed and a rebel with a grudge – and the ability to shoot fire from his hands. And of course, there’s the usual angst, parental expectations and girl problems that accompany teenage life. When an evil villain threatens his family, friends and the very sanctity of Sky High, Will must use his newfound superpowers to save the day and prove himself a Hero worthy of the family tradition.
Sky High is one of those special effects bonanzas that lives up to the expectations associated with the family films of Disney. There’s something for everyone – teenage romance, dramatic fight sequences and the classic coming of age backdrop as our young hero discovers his true strengths.
Being classified a Sidekick doesn’t start Will’s high school career quite as he anticipated, but the friends he makes in the “Hero Support” class turn out to have powers that, of course, become quite useful in the film’s final scenes, the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. Will learns that it takes loyalty and teamwork to truly become a hero, and his Sidekick friends learn that it doesn’t take super strength or heat vision to overcome a villain.
Disney Channel regular and current Shark (James Woods, CBS Fridays) costar Danielle Panabaker is Will’s loyal, label-eschewing best friend Layla, who can make plants grow telepathically. At “Power Placement” on the first day of school, Layla refuses to demonstrate her heroic ability and is unceremoniously dumped into the Sidekick class. Panabaker’s sweet, smart-girl charm is appealing, and a nice balance for Angarano’s goofy albeit puppy-dog cute character.
For Russell and Preston, the film is a nice change of pace – low-key and cheesey, and chock full of the family value “life lessons” so prevalent in most Disney flicks. The story is your typical hero-versus-villain fare, but with its clever gadgetry, special effects and quirky alternative superpowers possessed by its characters, Sky High is cute enough for the rental and worth spending a couple of hours with the kids and a bowl of popcorn.
=) JB
7.05.2006
The Critic's Corner #2
Rumor Has It
Warner Bros.
PG-13
97 minutes
available on DVD
Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo
Jennifer Aniston leads an all-star cast in this romantic comedy from director Rob Reiner. Recently engaged, aspiring journalist Sarah Huttinger (Aniston) still isn't sure what she wants from life. But on her way home to attend her sister's wedding, Sarah meets an Internet billionaire (Kevin Costner) who reveals some long-buried secrets about Sarah's family that put a whole new spin on her past – and may change the direction of her future.
It's hard to imagine that a movie with a cast like this could be anything but terrific. Sadly, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. Individually, the performances of the lead actors weren't really all that bad, although Aniston's character was too much of a train wreck to make her sympathetic. Ruffalo, if somewhat two-dimensional, was his usual puppy-dog cute, Costner in a tux sparks an approving lift of my left eyebrow every time, and Shirley MacLaine effused with her customarily caustic wit. Collectively, however, this cast just didn't jive at all.
There was so little chemistry between Aniston and her two leading men (Ruffalo and Costner) that I kept wondering what the casting director was thinking. Any spark that one would expect to be there between a sexy older guy like Costner and a sexy younger woman like Aniston just ... well, wasn't. MacLaine's portrayal of Aniston's grandmother reminded me a little too much of her role in Mrs. Winterbourne, a movie I rank as one of my favorites.
While the premise of Rumor Has It had potential, the script was flat and uninspired. I thought I was going to scream if one more person said, "Can I ask you a question?" (I think every character had that line at one point or another.)
The best part of the whole movie was the ending, but the last two minutes were so predictable that the emotion from the film's one truly good scene (between Sarah and her father) was lost – I feel sure that the only tears in the place were in Aniston's eyes. Normally stuff like that just chokes me up, but this time it just didn't do anything for me. I actually told my daughter, who was watching the movie with me, exactly what was going to happen. And, of course, it did.
As I was reading some of the comments on the movie's profile on Netflix, I discovered I wasn't alone in my disappointment. This movie could have gone the way of the dodo bird and the world wouldn't have missed a thing.
Warner Bros.
PG-13
97 minutes
available on DVD
Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo
Jennifer Aniston leads an all-star cast in this romantic comedy from director Rob Reiner. Recently engaged, aspiring journalist Sarah Huttinger (Aniston) still isn't sure what she wants from life. But on her way home to attend her sister's wedding, Sarah meets an Internet billionaire (Kevin Costner) who reveals some long-buried secrets about Sarah's family that put a whole new spin on her past – and may change the direction of her future.
It's hard to imagine that a movie with a cast like this could be anything but terrific. Sadly, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. Individually, the performances of the lead actors weren't really all that bad, although Aniston's character was too much of a train wreck to make her sympathetic. Ruffalo, if somewhat two-dimensional, was his usual puppy-dog cute, Costner in a tux sparks an approving lift of my left eyebrow every time, and Shirley MacLaine effused with her customarily caustic wit. Collectively, however, this cast just didn't jive at all.
There was so little chemistry between Aniston and her two leading men (Ruffalo and Costner) that I kept wondering what the casting director was thinking. Any spark that one would expect to be there between a sexy older guy like Costner and a sexy younger woman like Aniston just ... well, wasn't. MacLaine's portrayal of Aniston's grandmother reminded me a little too much of her role in Mrs. Winterbourne, a movie I rank as one of my favorites.
While the premise of Rumor Has It had potential, the script was flat and uninspired. I thought I was going to scream if one more person said, "Can I ask you a question?" (I think every character had that line at one point or another.)
The best part of the whole movie was the ending, but the last two minutes were so predictable that the emotion from the film's one truly good scene (between Sarah and her father) was lost – I feel sure that the only tears in the place were in Aniston's eyes. Normally stuff like that just chokes me up, but this time it just didn't do anything for me. I actually told my daughter, who was watching the movie with me, exactly what was going to happen. And, of course, it did.
As I was reading some of the comments on the movie's profile on Netflix, I discovered I wasn't alone in my disappointment. This movie could have gone the way of the dodo bird and the world wouldn't have missed a thing.
6.07.2006
The Critic's Corner
A while ago I mentioned having watched a terrific little British movie entitled Mrs. Henderson Presents and that I would post a review on it. This is another feature of the blog that I hope to continue. I've always said being a movie critic would be the ideal job for me because it would combine the two things I enjoy the most (outside of my family, of course) - writing and watching movies.
To wit, my first "official" movie review is below. Don't know if I've done it right, but I'm one of those who likes to dive into things and learn the rules as I go along (as evidenced by my writing career).
Mrs. Henderson Presents
The Weinstein Group, 2005
Rated R
103 minutes
available on DVD
Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Christopher Guest
Widow Laura Henderson (Dench) isn't about to spend her remaining years sitting around the house playing bridge. Having already cultivated an offbeat reputation among high society in 1930s London, Mrs. Henderson embarks on her newest adventure: the transformation of an old movie house into The Windmill Theater, a space that will host continuous performances of a musical revue. The infamous showman Vivian Van Dam (Hoskins) becomes her partner and fiercest opponent.
The Germans are bombing London but the roar of the Windmill is all that can be heard, as Laura convinces Lord Cromer (Guest) to allow her actresses to be the one thing no one could ever imagine – nude. Members of her social circle don't quite know what to make of Mrs. Henderson's controversial enterprise, a shocking venture that has everyone up in arms. Brought to its knees by war, what Mrs. Henderson Presents brings a nation to its feet in applause.
It was a happy coincidence that I came across this movie while looking into a completely different one. I thought the premise sounded appealing, and after seeing it I can only say its charm and poignancy made the effort entirely worthwhile.
Mrs. Henderson Presents marks Hoskins' 55th appearance in a feature film, and thoroughly emphasizes his versatility after portraying such characters as Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Sancho Panza to John Lithgow's Don Quixote (2000) and the bumbling but lovable Smee opposite Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams in Hook (1991). Dench is best known for her television work, especially in Britain, but has a fair number of movies in her pocket as well, including a turn as "M" to Pierce Brosnan's James Bond in Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World is Not Enough (1999), and Die Another Day (2002), and as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love (1998) with Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes.
If you can imagine chemistry between two people of a certain maturity, Dench and Hoskins have captured the essence of it in this delightful film, although their interactions are never of a romantic nature. An equally excellent supporting cast surrounds these two outstanding actors. The story's overall cheek is tempered by the devastating effects of the war that rages around the city of London and its people, especially the soldiers and those who love them. Dench's character has a naive self-centeredness that becomes unfathomably heartbreaking when her true motivation for opening the theater is revealed.
If you're looking for a cozy afternoon huddle up on the couch kind of flick, I'd recommend Mrs. Henderson Presents. Just make sure the kids aren't in the room – it's rated R for brief language, mature themes, and of course, full nudity (female and male) - although tastefully done, it can be a bit of a shock.
Now, back to that other thing I love to do. I did some tremendously helpful research yesterday, and the WIP is coming along swimmingly.
In case you haven't, check out Sarah Weinman today - she mentions my triplet siblings by name and a link. Kudos, sibs!
Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
To wit, my first "official" movie review is below. Don't know if I've done it right, but I'm one of those who likes to dive into things and learn the rules as I go along (as evidenced by my writing career).
Mrs. Henderson Presents
The Weinstein Group, 2005
Rated R
103 minutes
available on DVD
Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Christopher Guest
Widow Laura Henderson (Dench) isn't about to spend her remaining years sitting around the house playing bridge. Having already cultivated an offbeat reputation among high society in 1930s London, Mrs. Henderson embarks on her newest adventure: the transformation of an old movie house into The Windmill Theater, a space that will host continuous performances of a musical revue. The infamous showman Vivian Van Dam (Hoskins) becomes her partner and fiercest opponent.
The Germans are bombing London but the roar of the Windmill is all that can be heard, as Laura convinces Lord Cromer (Guest) to allow her actresses to be the one thing no one could ever imagine – nude. Members of her social circle don't quite know what to make of Mrs. Henderson's controversial enterprise, a shocking venture that has everyone up in arms. Brought to its knees by war, what Mrs. Henderson Presents brings a nation to its feet in applause.
It was a happy coincidence that I came across this movie while looking into a completely different one. I thought the premise sounded appealing, and after seeing it I can only say its charm and poignancy made the effort entirely worthwhile.
Mrs. Henderson Presents marks Hoskins' 55th appearance in a feature film, and thoroughly emphasizes his versatility after portraying such characters as Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Sancho Panza to John Lithgow's Don Quixote (2000) and the bumbling but lovable Smee opposite Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams in Hook (1991). Dench is best known for her television work, especially in Britain, but has a fair number of movies in her pocket as well, including a turn as "M" to Pierce Brosnan's James Bond in Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World is Not Enough (1999), and Die Another Day (2002), and as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love (1998) with Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes.
If you can imagine chemistry between two people of a certain maturity, Dench and Hoskins have captured the essence of it in this delightful film, although their interactions are never of a romantic nature. An equally excellent supporting cast surrounds these two outstanding actors. The story's overall cheek is tempered by the devastating effects of the war that rages around the city of London and its people, especially the soldiers and those who love them. Dench's character has a naive self-centeredness that becomes unfathomably heartbreaking when her true motivation for opening the theater is revealed.
If you're looking for a cozy afternoon huddle up on the couch kind of flick, I'd recommend Mrs. Henderson Presents. Just make sure the kids aren't in the room – it's rated R for brief language, mature themes, and of course, full nudity (female and male) - although tastefully done, it can be a bit of a shock.
Now, back to that other thing I love to do. I did some tremendously helpful research yesterday, and the WIP is coming along swimmingly.
In case you haven't, check out Sarah Weinman today - she mentions my triplet siblings by name and a link. Kudos, sibs!
Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
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