Review: Sleeping Beauty (2011) has strong ideas in service of a lifeless film.

Sleeping Beauty
2011
105 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

It is not fair to writer/director Julia Leigh that I have such strong feelings about Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch.  (here, here, and here). It is not fair that I was so utterly annoyed by the critical community's absolute refusal to even acknowledge the rather unsubtle subtext and ideas that justified the fantastical elements.  It is perhaps ironic that within the same year we get two Emily Browning pictures that are sexually-charged and are knee deep in some rather pointed social commentary about how women are viewed in the culture.  Broadly speaking, Sleeping Beauty and Sucker Punch have many of the same ideas and opinions about the wholesale objectification of women.  Unfortunately, while Sucker Punch has fantastical environments and jaw-dropping action sequences to justify its existence as pop entertainment, Sleeping Beauty frankly has little to offer but its ideas.

DVD Review: Smallville: the Complete Series

Smallville the Complete Series DVD box set
Warner Bros. home video
Available Tuesday, November 29th
9,261 minutes (and thirty-seven seconds)
Not rated

by Scott Mendelson

This one is pretty simple, folks.  I liked Smallville during its initial five years, when the series had a pretty clear narrative arc.  However, when the show picked up surprising ratings strength during its fifth (what was to be its final) season, the show became a giant waiting game, as the creators kept trying to arbitrarily keep the show alive through guest stars and cast replacements as the CW failed to launch successful replacements.  I gave up at the end of season seven, although I kept up with major plot points and did tune in for the series finale last May.  By the time Clark Kent became Superman, it was the definition of anti-climax.  He had already gone through pretty much all of the major Superman beats and encountered pretty much every major friend or foe that the he had already been Superman in all-but name and costume for four or five years already.  Still, through hell and high water, the show was an uncommonly ambitious bit of fantasy storytelling, revamping the Superman mythos in a way that made sense for series television and creating its own mythology that can stand alongside the movies, Lois and Clark, Superman: the Animated Series, and the comic books themselves as a 'proper' Superman epic.

Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) is Smart, Suspenseful, Engaging, Terrific.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy
2011
128 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

Tomas Alfredson so badly wants to concoct a 1970s-style thriller that it would be laughable if the final product weren't so darn good.  From the somewhat hazy cinematography to the John Barry-ish score to the overtly cold and clinical nature of the narrative, this is a film that (appropriately) wants to take us back to what many consider to the peak of mainstream adult filmmaking.  What makes the picture work as more than just an acting-treat or period-homage is the undertone of impotence and irrelevance that makes the film into a grand tragedy.  By retaining the 1970s setting, Alfredson makes potent commentary about the futile and possibly irrelevant nature of modern espionage.  Point being, forty years later, none of the secrets that were fought over mean a damn thing anymore.

Trailer: Ice Age 4 celebrates Scrat's 10th year trying to get a single acorn.

Yes, the first Ice Age was released in Spring of 2002, so it will soon be ten years since Scrat first started trying to catch that infernal acorn.  The third Ice Age was one of the most successful films of all time overseas.  As of this writing, it's seventh-biggest foreign haul of all time, it was third back in 2009.  So a sequel was inevitable.  For what it's worth, the third picture (Dawn of the Dinosaurs) was pretty entertaining, and even in a second-run 2D screening you could tell that those who paid for 3D got their money's worth.  I will always have a certain fondness for said third entry, as it's the first movie I took my daughter to, just shy of her second birthday.  To my surprise, she more or less sat in rapt attention, only losing interest during the final reel.  Yes, Scrat was her favorite character.  Fox drops this one on July 13th, 2012.  If Allison wants to go, I will be seeing it accordingly.  Thanks to Digital Spy for the 'get'.

Scott Mendelson          

Review: Young Adult (2011)

Young Adult
2011
95 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

I have often written about what I feel is a distinct double-standard when it comes to the relative morality of female protagonists (or even major female supporting characters) compared to their male counterparts.  Put simply, a male character can be a murderous criminal or a duplicitous emotional con-man and still be considered an 'anti-hero' if not a hero if he's doing it for a (pick one) hot girl, child, and/or animal.  But female characters are often judged as 'unworthy' (read - 'bitches') if they exhibit the slightest bit of selfish impulse and/or self-interest, and/or if they show the slight amount of characteristics which may be classified as 'unsympathetic'.  Male characters of this nature are considered 'complex', while female characters are considered 'unsympathetic' or 'unable to connect with audiences'.  Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody's Young Adult will be an interesting test case.  Aside from its other merits, it represents a star vehicle for a major actress (Charlize Theron) whose primary character does not bravely overcome adversity but rather openly causes adversity to those around her.

Weekend Box Office (11/27/11): Breaking Dawn part I tops Thanksgiving weekend, while Muppets shines in family film pile-up and limited debuts score.

 As expected, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part I (essay) topped the holiday weekend box office as three new family films (including The Muppets) and three limited releases more-or-less cannibalized each other.  The big opener of the weekend was The Muppets (review).  All eyes were watching this much-hyped franchise revival, and the fans did not let Kermit and company down.  The picture, which Disney wisely spent just $45 million to produce, grossed $29.5 million on Fri-Sun and $42 million over its five-day opening.  The film (deservedly) scored an A from Cinemascore, although I don't know the demo stats yet (IE - did kids actually choose to see it and/or like it, or were the jerks dragged by their parents?).  As it is, the film is already the second biggest grossing Muppet movie of all time, out of seven, coming in under the $65 million gross of The Muppet Movie back in 1979.  Inflation-wise, The Muppets will have to gross $90 million to achieve that rank, although surpassing the adjusted-for-inflation $206 million gross of The Muppet Movie is pretty unlikely.  In even better (if arbitrary) news, the utter lack of any wide releases next weekend plus the likely downward plunge for Breaking Dawn part I means that The Muppets will likely top the box office next weekend.  So there clearly is an audience for this 35-year old franchise, all Disney has to do now is not overestimate their appeal.  Point being, if Disney decides to make a film sequel (as opposed to a new TV series or what-have-you), they shouldn't be spending $100 million on it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers...

I still think Christina Ricci should have at least received an Oscar nomination for this one, if not an outright win...

(Mini) Review: Hugo (2011) features the best live-action 3D you've ever seen, in service of a powerful and enchanting fable.

Hugo
2011
127 minutes
rated PG

by Scott Mendelson

Pardon my theoretical laziness, but I'm not in the mood to do a formal review for Martin Scorsese's Hugo.  And frankly, since I went in knowing almost nothing aside from the general time period and a few of the actors, I suppose I should do my readers the same courtesy.  But know this: Martin Scorsese has crafted the most impressive and beautiful 3D you've ever seen in a live action film.  Since the film somewhat revolves around the early days of cinema (it takes place in 1930s Paris), Scorsese uses 3D technology to create a dreamlike visual palette that attempts to replicate what it was like for the very first moviegoers, the ones who allegedly jumped out of the way of speeding trains and ducked when the train robber fired his pistol at the screen.  There are times when this live-action feature feels like a living cartoon, and I experienced a kind of fever-dream sensation that I haven't felt since Coraline.  If ever there was a movie to justify that 3D ticket-price bump, this is it.

Oscar Speculation - Last but not least - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close wants to be the Million Dollar Baby (or the John Kerry) of the 2011 Oscar race.

There was much speculation over the last couple of days over Warner Bros' decision not to make sure that Stephen Daldry's 9/11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in time for the first batch of critics' awards.  The first official screening will be December 2nd (no, I probably won't be attending that early), which means that the Tom Hanks/Sandra Bullock drama won't be eligible for consideration for the National Board of Review or the New York Film Critics Circle, both of which are so consumed with being 'the first' to announce their year-end plaudits that they aren't even waiting until the last month of the year.  The rumblings run the gamut from 'it won't be done in time' to 'it's not that good' to 'we want to capitalize on positive audience word of mouth'.  All or none of those could be true.  But I think that Warner Bros. is playing a slightly different game.

Waited for DVD: Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (2011) - a darker, more pessimistic family adventure that reflects a director's broken home.

Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World
2011
89 minutes
rated PG

by Scott Mendelson

In a world where even G-rated cartoons seem aimed at somewhat adult sensibilities, the Spy Kids franchise was and is arguably the last of its kind: a full-blown franchise for kids and pitched directly to a younger audience.  All three prior films suffer from a bit too much kid-centric dialogue and on-the-nose moralizing, but they all also have a certain quirky and visually dynamic charm.  Spy Kids was a blast of fresh air in early 2001, coming ironically just before Shrek would change the landscape of kid-friendly entertainment for good.  It was endlessly colorful and inventive with an all-star cast (Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alan Cummings, Tony Shalhoub, Robert Patrick, Cheech Marin, and Danny Trejo in perhaps his first-ever good guy role) to support the title characters (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara).  The second film, Spy Kids 2: Island of the Lost Dreams, was arguably inferior, but it contain its share of entertainment value, as well as a dynamite action sequence to close out the first act.  The third picture, Spy Kids 3: Game Over, was the last red/blue 3D picture, as well as the last big-screen 3D film in around 15 years.  It was pretty much a glorified video game, but it contained a stellar race sequence that put the Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace pod-race to shame, as well as a heartbreaking finale monologue from Ricardo Montalban.  Now, eight years after the previous installment and ten years since the series began, we have Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World.  It's not a good film, but it does have surprising potency if you view it through the lens of a Robert Rodriguez who is no longer the quintessential family man, both as a filmmaker and as a husband/father.