Starz Studios: Hereafter / The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2010)

This 12-min Starz Studios featurette previews for us the following films (in this order): Hereafter, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Trigger, Little White Lies, The Illusionist, The Tempest, Paranormal Activity 2, and The Social Network. The shortest previews (about a half-minute each) are The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Trigger, and Paranormal Activity 2; of these three, only Trigger gives you a good sense of what the film is about. Neither did Little White Lies, with its actors chatting up how we all feel connected, give a good sense of what it is about. The Social Network's preview is the same one we've all seen more than once elsewhere. I enjoyed the previews for Hereafter (a haunting personal reflection on death from Clint Eastwood), The Illusionist (animation sans dialog from the folks behind The Triplets of Belleville), and The Tempest (starring Helen Mirren as Shakespeare's Prospero with Russell Brand as Trinculo and some impressive special effects). Of these films, the previews increased my interest in Hereafter, Trigger, The Illusionist, and The Tempest. 3 stars.

Starz Studios: 127 Hours / The King's Speech / Black Swan / Rabbit Hole (2010)

This 12-minute Starz Studios featurette presents actor and director interviews interspersed with clips from 127 Hours, The King's Speech, Black Swan, Rabbit Hole, and Biutiful (2 to 2.75 minutes each). It's a well-done and interesting presentation that slightly increased my interest in all the movies -- just not my knowledge about them -- as the actors and directors commented ably about the emotional context (just not the content) of their roles. 3 stars.

Starz Studios: Due Date / 127 Hours / Megamind (2010)

This 12-min Starz Studios featurette fritters away 2.5 min on the Hollywood Awards then invests 2 min on Due Date, almost 2 min on Megamind, 2 min on Fair Game, 1.5 min on 127 Hours (including extensive comments from the autobiography's author), and 2.5 min on Faster. The presentation on Due Date was a bit illuminating but not very interesting. I very much enjoyed the presentations on Megamind, Fair Game, 127 Hours, and Faster. While I intend to see all five movies -- with at least Megamind, Fair Game, and 127 Hours in the theaters -- I would say that after watching this promotional segment, I am even more interested in seeing 127 Hours and Faster. 3.5 stars.

The Story Lady (The Christmas Story Lady) (1991)

The Story Lady (also known as The Christmas Story Lady) is a made-for-TV movie fit for fans of The Waltons though slightly modernized: It has no objectionable language or behavior (children are respectful of authority and soldier on with a patent shrug through life's challenges) though one woman is a marketing executive who briefly colludes with the smarmy salesmanship of her colleagues before she accedes to the virtues of compassion and kindness. In our story, the elderly Grace McQueen (Jessica Tandy) moves in with her daughter Meg (Tandy Cronyn) and son-in-law, who pick at her first home-cooked meal as if it were cellulite casserole. Since they both work, Grace looks for a place to work or volunteer but no one will have her. She stumbles on an opportunity use public-access TV to express one of her greatest gifts -- reading storybooks to children -- before a marketing firm connives to commercialize her show and control her contractually. How Grace deals with the situation is a story of plucky resourcefulness, common sense, and humanity. The genuine warmth found in parts of this movie more than compensates for its few maudlin or overly sentimental moments. Here is a family story and a Christmas story that was nominated for an Oscar. Enjoy! 3 stars.

1st & 10: Season 1 (1984)

1st & 10 is fairly fun to watch. It's sort of Cheers meets Friday Night Lights with a dash of Silk Stalkings. (I had to rent the single double-sided disc from a competing service since the two-disc set on this service remains on Save status.) 1st & 10 is an early HBO series that lasted seven seasons. Season 1 is dated 1984 so the opening 3D graphics and score are lame, the punch lines are clever but undersold, and the laugh track is a giggle track. There are testosterone-soaked shenanigans in the locker room and after hours, jiggling cheerleaders with teased hair, and several women in topless scenes. Our story begins as Diane Barrow (Delta Burke) wins the California Bulls football team from her ex-husband after he is caught in flagrante delicto with one of his team's "tight ends." She proves to be a capable team owner/manager, taking the team all the way to the championship game, assisted by dedicated old-school Coach DeNardo (Reid Shelton), though her ex's nephew as general manager is a snake in the grass that's in cahoots with her ex, the mob, and anyone else they can bribe. All the players have distinct, over-the-top personalities and get screen time and laughs. The show deals adroitly with some thorny issues and Fran Tarkenton cameos as sports announcer. Disc 1/Episode 1: By the Bulls (Diane demands the team for revenge with her ex then rises to the occasion), 1/2: The Opener (Diane chooses her starting quarterback and learns her general manager is sneaky), 1/3: All Roads Lead to Dayton (Bulls play their first road game as Diane's ex keeps trying to stab her in the back), 1/4: The Slump (The mob goes on strike and boycotts beer sales while Carl's new contract makes the team jealous), 1/5: Play Me or Trade Me (After Carl is injured, Bob almost gets traded -- and into Diane's bed), 1/6: You Are Who You Eat (Diane directs the team on the field as DeNardo coaches her from a hospital bed), 1/7: Uneasy Lies the Head (Coach wrestles with his mortality, overmedicates himself, and makes a bad call), 1/8: The Sins of the Quarterback (Bryce, a Mormon, wants to quit after a cheerleader says he got her pregnant), 1/9: I Only Read Defenses (Rona fires two cheerleaders with mob ties as Larry learns it is his last season), 1/10: Wine Time (Jethro and Bubba, conned in a wine scam, miss the game in jail after they run amok), 1/11: Rona's Fling (Rona enters rehab for good but a much-younger beau endangers her recovery), 1/12: Not Quite Mr. Right (Diane falls again for a man she once almost married), 1/13: Super Bull Sunday (The team gets distracted by the promise of fame before the championship game). Enjoy! 3 stars.

Blithe Spirit (1945)

I saw Blithe Spirit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston but now it's on streaming here so you can watch it anytime. It's an affable dialogue-laden film with great repartee (as one would expect from a Noel Coward play). The 1930-40s were great for movies with great dialogue after all (like Casablanca and The Thin Man series). The medium chews through her scenes in grandiose fashion (practically defining the role for all subsequent films) and the ghostly ex-wife is a shimmery vision. The film won an Oscar for special effects. Staging is very much like a play though -- simple and straightforward. I hope you like it as much or more than I did and you esp. enjoy the ending. (Do not read Wikipedia or anything that would spoil that for you.) Enjoy! 3 stars.

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)

Jimmy Neutron has got to be my favorite children's animation series because of its inventive and energetic animation, plotting, characterization, and just generally lyrical quirkiness. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is the first feature-length movie of the series and I have enjoyed it multiple times on Nickelodeon with my youngest son. Even so, I gladly watched it alone on DVD (obtained from a competing service since it recently reverted to Save status on this rental service) and I would be pleased to own every Jimmy Neutron episode. (Thankfully, Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming here, at least for the time being.) Naturally, I came to the show because I have children but I have stayed with the show because of my inner child. The animation style is colorful, 3D, and kinetically pops off the screen. (In the making-of featurette, the creative team explains how they put 3D animation in the service of Roadrunner- and Coyote-style physics.) Every character has an intense personality and the voice talent is superb, from boy genius Jimmy Neutron to his quack-happy pie-loving father Hugh Neutron to his sweetly keelhauling mother Judy Neutron to his intelligent and insulting nemesis Cindy Vortex to his tubby hyperallergenic friend and guinea pig Carl Weezer to their Ultralord-crazy nerd companion Sheen Estevez (not to mention the rest of the folks in Retroville and a parade of space aliens and would-be Earth conquerors). Our story begins as the evil (and hungry) Yolkians (think floating glass eggs with green brains and eye stalks) kidnap all the grownups in town, causing Jimmy to lead his classmates in interstellar pursuit. Flying through an asteroid belt and doing battle in the alien coliseum is not for kids under 6 (as the movie page states clearly) but it's all cartoon fun and mayhem. (By the way, there is an explanation for how the kids fly through space without spacesuits but that's an in-joke covered in another episode.) Simply put, Jimmy Neutron is pure goofy, loopy fun with a chewy smart-kid center. This show never disappoints. Enjoy! 5 stars.

David Cross: Bigger and Blackerer (2009)

I may not have seen as much of David's material as his biggest fans but even I could tell that he was not as funny as usual in his Bigger and Blackerer performance. David's style is intelligent -- he is articulate and unafraid to use the right (even bigger) words to make his political (or apolitical) point and to express the humor in it. Just the same, I spent 95% of this show (streamed, no DVD extras) with a deadpan expression -- and I watched it twice through while in a good mood. A couple of his racial or ethnic zingers made me cringe and grin (like "Ouch, drew blood with that one!") and I chuckled through some of his potshots on religion (even my own) but his best material was about the irrational Tea Party wackos (who prove they have no sense of perspective, objectivity, or humor). I didn't like the opening act of a cussing kid, the hackneyed bit about messing with the ASL interpreter (who, as part of the act, had one funny line: "Stay deaf!"), or the ignorant riff on the Bible as "rewritten" and "retranslated." To my mind, the whole performance can be summarized by his final "joke" where he claims to be serious then explains his lifelong issue with depression: "Then I found out that, all along, I had a rock in my shoe." That's how funny this whole show is. I hope you enjoy it and can appreciate David with laughter and not just for his logic (or lack of it)! 3 stars.

Inception (2010)

Given its mind-bending premise and special effects, Inception simply must be seen on the big screen. (Unfortunately, it suffers from a blaring, clanging soundtrack that makes your head feel like it is being continually struck between an anvil and a hammer. Granted, this is a minor quibble even if it's a deafening one.) Inception's premise and script are intelligent and complex -- less than I had hoped but laudably more than the vast bulk of blockbuster movies. I had hoped for more of a mind game nested within a mind game -- and while the movie delivers this, it is more about the action and fight scenes (like how The Lord of the Rings surrendered the books' highmindedness for the battle scenes). As we would expect, DiCaprio carries off his role's intensity and Ellen Page is superb in her role too. If the trailer interests you at all, see Inception by all means. It is not only a master stroke of a movie as well as a blockbuster but it is a movie I intend to own. 5 stars. (9-22-10 posted 11-3-10)

Eloise's Rawther Unusual Halloween (2006)

Thanks to the books by Kay S. Thompson, we know Eloise as a spirited little girl -- "I'm Eloise! I'm six!" -- whose sense of adventure and entitlement knows no bounds. The animated Eloise series (voiced by Mary Matilyn Mouser as Eloise, Lynn Redgrave as Nanny, Tim Curry as Mr. Salamone, and others) is a delight only exceeded by the live-action Eloise series (starring Sofia Vassilieva as Eloise, Julie Andrews as Nanny, Jeffrey Tambor as Mr. Salamone, and others). In this animated Halloween episode, the Plaza Hotel's longstanding legend about the ghost of Diamond Jim comes to life for Eloise -- imaginatively as she begins her hunt for the truth and also literally as she persuades the prankish, devil-may-care ghost to chase off those who do not belong in her beloved Plaza Hotel. Enjoy! 4 stars.

Hana (Hana Yori Mo Naho: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai) (2005)

Hana: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai is a pleasant romp through post-feudal Japanese societal changes as seen through the characters who live in a poor rowhouse community in Edo. It's chock full of visual and verbal humor (provided you can watch the characters interact and read subtitles fairly rapidly). Hana (the word refers to an elegant but short-lived Japanese flower) could be described as Seven Samurai meets Amelie. Soza has been sworn to avenge his samurai father's death, however, samurai practices have just been abolished by the government. Moreover, he's a gentle soul and his fighting skills are pathetic. So while waiting (three years and counting) for his revenge ship to come in (and even after it docks all but next door), Soza opens up a school to teach the townsfolk and their children how to write. Even so, the plot and its development are just a frame for the window dressing that is the movie's characters and their interaction. Simply put, Hana is a delight to watch. I highly recommend it. 4.5 stars. (9-29-10 posted 11-3-10)

Capote (2005)

Capote is a cunning treatment of Truman Capote's personality at age 24 and the pinnacle of his meteoric career -- as he chose and shouldered researching and writing his third novel, In Cold Blood. That book made him the most famous author of the twentieth century through his invention of the "nonfiction novel" but also broke him in ways that kept him from ever finishing another book. Capote gives us more than a masterful portrayal of the man by Philip Seymour Hoffman. The direction and cinematography are exceptional and captivating as they rely on unitive (continuous, long, and wide) shots with a tightly controlled color palette (no reds or blues at all). The featurettes are essential to understanding the artistic commitment of the director and his crew in their own words, even though the film's genius is more than evident during viewing. Every actor also shows their own mastery -- from Catherine Keener as Capote's moral anchor to the Kansas law enforcement chief and the convicted killers themselves. Just as Capote captured the killers' flawed humanity on paper, Hoffman captures Capote's shining conquests and developing doubts on film. Capote was a literary celebrity, an incisive intellectual, and a positively captivating conversationalist. This movie showcases his greatest moments and the start of his downfall into the alcoholism to which he ultimately succumbed. By all means please enjoy! 5 stars. (10-18-10 posted 11-3-10)

My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) (1988)

It's become the standing chorus every time we watch a new Hayao Miyazaki movie at our home: We have to own every one of this man's films! They are stupendous in imagination, genius in design, and a testament of love to watch (again and again). My Neighbor Totoro tells the story of a father and his two girls who move from the city to a home in the countryside as they anticipate the girls' mother's eventual release from the hospital. The house is known to be haunted by "soot sprites" (which the children can see) and the nearby woods show strange signs of being haunted by nature spirits as well. My Neighbor Totoro is basically Alice in Wonderland meets The Bear. The determined 4-year-old girl, Mai, chases two teddy-bear-like sprites into the great wood and tumbles upon the (s)lumbering giant, Totoro. The wordless rapport they establish is as charming as Totoro's continually surprising magical powers. Here is a Japanese tale of magical realism that's a delight to watch. It's not as detailed as Spirited Away or Miyazaki's other later films but I doubt anyone who loves animation can watch any Miyazaki film just once. Enjoy! 4.5 stars. (10-18-10 posted 11-3-10)

Lady in the Water (2006)

I supremely enjoyed M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and, like everyone else, looked for as good or better from his next movie. I was more than disappointed with Unbreakable, however; I was infuriated -- and matters didn't get better with Signs or The Village. The Sixth Sense was (to my mind) smoothly constructed and flawlessly told with a riveting twist; since then, NightBrain's every movie has been hamhandedly scripted, full of empty sucker punches, and ending in a grating nonsequitur, anticlimax, or shaggy-dog twist (like the ever-obnoxious "Oh, guess what? The whole thing was just a dream! -- Or was it?"). That's not writing, that's hackery! Lady in the Water may be impressive for its set design, color palette, and cinematography. The script, not so much; the acting was passable. I was intrigued by the movie's premise; M. Night just didn't deliver on its potential. (The copious bonus features make much of the script's origins in a bedtime story he wrote and expanded for his children, to which I can only say: It worked for The Hobbit, but I have read The Hobbit, and this is not The Hobbit.) To begin: Narf?! What were you thinking, Shyammy? To continue: Lame special effects. Going on: Enough plot holes to sprain every ankle on a centipede. I finally lost it when M. Night has one character interpreting the magical events by random or selective reading of clues from the daily crossword puzzle! Normally I respect Paul Giamatti but he almost lost his self-respect with this script. (For example, he dives in the swimming pool that people swim in every day and discovers a subterranean mud-lined cave that doesn't muddy the water. He swim-spelunks for twice as long as any mortal can hold his breath, then sight-unseen picks out and brings back the one treasure the narf needs to survive.) Meanwhile, M. Night himself plays a young man who has just finished writing a book that is fated to save humanity from certain destruction. (Can you say hubris?) The one priceless scene was when the film critic played by Bob Balaban onerously pronounces how his final scene must by definition play out -- and the beast promptly proves him wrong. (M. Night to critics: Take that!) Lady in the Water has a lot going for it but plenty of unnecessary missteps and skipped beats. I would have gone for something more magical and mysterious than loaded down with ponderous attempts to explain (and then tangentially twist) everyone's part in the quest. I love Watership Down. I absolutely love Willow. I managed to sit through Lady in the Water. I hope you enjoy it more than I did -- for its own sake and not for what I hoped it would be. 3.5 stars. (10-27-10 posted 11-3-10)

Click (2006)

I enjoyed Click a good deal more than I expected. I loved the concept -- and the trailer scene where the dad uses the magical remote clicker to freeze-frame reality long enough to permit physics to exact his revenge on the obnoxious neighbor boy -- but I had been led to believe Click was a mediocre piece of meh. To the contrary, the movie's premise and development were sufficiently believable (once you accept the machination of a magical remote that can freeze, rewind, or fast-forward not television but life itself) but the techno-mystical milieu of the remote was above par in design and exposition. Besides that, I'm not certain Christopher Walken can do anything wrong -- even his vacant stare (pick one of a few) wafts across several levels of recognition and poignancy. The movie's message will probably hit home with some oomph for the parent of any child who would like to avoid life's aggravating moments but never miss one moment of transition, growth, tradition, and joy. I suppose the point is that we can't bloodlessly choose which of these moments to avoid or experience -- we just need to be there and live through them as they come. Like every human being, including each of our loved ones, the good comes with the bad and every strength corresponds to a weakness. Take life as it comes -- we can't capsulize or control it nor should we selectively check out or withdraw for our own convenience. 4 stars for technical merit, 4.5 stars for emotional impact. (10-27-10 posted 11-3-10)

Visitors (2006)

I almost never say this about any movie, but you can safely (and should definitely) skip Visitors. Its first 10 minutes are "so bad that it's good" (almost) but the next 40 minutes are all downhill from there (and the last 2 minutes are outtakes that are exponentially the worst). If you hear "mockumentary" and think of Spinal Tap, then Visitors is like your weird uncle Al doing an hour-long riff on those cheesy space-alien "documentaries" a la America's Funniest Home Videos. Every scene is the same guy in the same glasses with a different hackneyed accent -- this sums up the entertaining part of the show -- with fake buck teeth or a giant mole and a different wig, going on with his character's "expert" or "eyewitness" testimony about storied alien encounters during the Civil War, WWI, the 1950s, and so on (interspersed with cheesy transition graphics and grainy still photos or video clips, of course). Place names (like Turkey Gizzard Cheeks) and character names (like the transvestite Gen. Bodsworth or the burr-tongued Sir Angus MacGranish) are mildly amusing but rapidly wear out their welcome -- and one character (the shifty-eyed Mickey Tandouri and literally a towelhead) is just offensive. The grainy video clips of an undercover space alien as he chills out at home in Canada over a beer may urge you to pluck out your eyeballs for boredom. Step away from this video; I endured the whole thing so you don't have to. (Truth: Of the worst things I have seen to date, even Strangeheart, Throg, and Doggie Poo are better than Visitors.) You have been warned. 2 stars.

Election Day (2007)

Election Day portrays voting-day preparations and interactions in 12 U.S. cities, from Stockholm, Wisc. (population 97) to Chicago and New York City. It begins by shadowing a Republican committeeman as he assembles a handful of volunteer pollwatchers, ostensibly to guard against voter fraud, which in his view is necessarily committed by the other side. (This documentary is bipartisan and neutral -- like the Australian pollwatcher often portrayed as silently witnessing the occasional partisan exchange from the sidelines, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions -- however, populists and Democrats will perceive that the only ones seen to commit electoral faux pas are the Republicans, who demonize the other side and commit the very interference tactics they hope to find and oppose, all the while chummily denying they are doing so: "It's legal.") We see an effective voter-rights movement that entitles ex-felons who can vote after having paid their debt to society; we see a marginally effective get-out-the-vote effort on an Indian reservation; and we see a small southern town elect its first black sheriff in 120 years (an underdog candidate who, through voter activism, won by a margin of 100 votes, less 15 before the recount and plus 15 after). Ironically, we see one cavernous polling location in a Republican enclave that has many voting machines and less than a handful in use while we see several chaotic polling locations overrun with blacks and minorities waiting 2-3 hours to vote (and one instance of white officers closing the polls 5 minutes early as blacks were running from the bus stop for the doors). Election Day is a sobering but mostly inspiring documentary for populists; perhaps less so for those who prefer oligarchy. Its message is that every vote, from every person of every color and every walk of life, can and should count and be counted. This is America and democracy at work. (P.S. I watched this disc the morning of the day I early voted.) Enjoy! 4 stars.