G Force - 1 1/2 smiles

“Up” has raised the bar for movies, animated ones in particular, so high that most are found wanting. Such is the case with “G Force.” You would think that you could create a decent movie out of talking super agent guinea pigs, complete with tiny night-vision goggles and jet-propelled grappling hooks. Although “G Force” looks great and moves fast, it has a weak story and no characterization. Specially trained guinea pigs, Darwin (voiced by Sam Rockwell), Juarez (Penelope Cruz) and Blaster (Tracy Morgan) along with a tech-savvy mole (Nicolas Cage) and a buzzing, micro-camera-laden fly try to bring down arms dealer Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy). Unfortunately, when a late night foray to Saber’s mansion yields nothing, the FBI shuts down their program and sends them to a pet store, where they must find a way to break out and stop Saber from world domination.

This sounds good … on paper. Unfortunately, the dialogue offers nothing creative. The guinea pigs utter clichés and stock phrases and even their handler, Zach Galifianakis, fresh from his success in “The Hangover,” is curiously flat. And the script, with its high-speed chases, random explosions, and fart jokes, is a mishmash of everything, including a “Transformers” rip-off sequence at the end of the film. The only bright spot is an aggressive hamster (Steve Buscemi), who maintains that he’s not part ferret. Just about everyone, children included, will find this film lacking. 7/28/09

The Ugly Truth - 2 smiles

If you like formulaic romantic comedies, then you’re going to like “The Ugly Truth,” starring Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl. It’s comfortable, like an old bathrobe, and Butler and Heigl are so attractive that director Robert Luketic is hoping that you’ll look at them and forget about the story. Abby Richter (Heigl) is the uptight, prudish producer for a Sacramento morning TV show that’s not doing well in the ratings. The station manager hires Mike Chadway (Butler), a ranting lout who hosts a cable access show that gives advice to men. When Mike learns that Abby is trying to win the affections of her hunky neighbor, he makes her a deal. He will offer insights into the male psyche and teach her how to get her man if she’ll agree to work with him. If he fails and Abby doesn’t get her ‘perfect’ mate, he’ll quit. Of course, it quickly becomes clear that these two beautiful people are attracted to each other. And you know how this movie is going to end.

Butler is not new to the rom-com genre, having starred opposite Hilary Swank in “P.S. I Love You.” And who can forget him in “300”? If his accent slips now and again, who cares? And Heigl, taking time away from Grey’s Anatomy, has headlined in “Knocked Up” and “27 Dresses.” Both are photogenic and have enough on-screen chemistry that you might believe these two characters indulging in a fling, but a lasting relationship? Remember, we’re following a formula here. If you want to see a creative use of the formula, see “The Proposal” instead. 7/25/09

The Answer Man - 3 smiles

“The Answer Man,” starring Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham, is about people that are trying to find real answers to real problems and make meaning of their lives. Writer/director John Hindman has created a comedy/drama about faith that manages to be real and entertaining at the same time. Twenty years ago, Arlen Faber (Daniels) wrote an immensely popular book called “Me and God,” in which he claimed that God spoke to him and provided him with answers to life’s biggest questions. The impact of this book was so great that when we first meet him, Arlen is a bitter, angry recluse. Arlen’s life changes when he meets two people: Elizabeth (Graham), a single mother/chiropractor who just opened her own business and treats him for a back injury and Kris (Lou Taylor Pucci), a young used bookstore owner who’s just out of rehab and trying to save his shop while maintaining his sobriety.

One major pleasure in “The Answer Man” is watching the characters interact with each other and they do this in interesting ways. These three people have broken souls and they begin to heal each other. Arlen begins to feel again, first when he’s smitten with Elizabeth and then when he tries to guide Kris. He discovers that he actually wants connections to other people. The characters do not learn big life lessons; they learn small truths that lead to bigger truths. Hindman’s script suggests that people often look to God for answers, when, in truth, He gave us each other. The acting is another pleasure. Jeff Daniels gives a truly great performance. He doesn’t shy away from the nasty, mean side of Arlen’s character, yet he possesses enough likeability that we side with him, even when he’s being a jerk. Lauren Graham gives us an Elizabeth who is confident in her work, but less so about raising her small son. Lou Taylor Pucci makes Kris’ torment authentic without being annoying. “The Answer Man” proves that love and friendship are powerful antidotes to sorrow and heartbreak. It’s a terrific film. 7/24/09

(500) Days of Summer - 3 1/2 smiles

“(500) Days of Summer” takes a tired genre, the romantic comedy, and refashions it into something new and fresh. Director Marc Webb tells you at the start of the movie that ‘This isn’t a love story.’ And he never takes you from Point A to Point B when he tells you about Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Instead he jumps from something like day 456 to day 24 and then ahead to say 215, showing you their relationship in a way that’s novel and complex. In fact, you’ve got to pay attention to know what’s happening. Romantic idealist Tom is a greeting card writer when he meets Summer, a free-spirited pragmatist who has a summer job working for the card company. The attraction is swift and mutual, but is interpreted differently by each of them. Summer wants to keep things casual while Tom knows he has found ‘the one.’ Because the screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Webber focuses on the male perspective, we see Summer from Tom’s point of view. And when you’re in love, or think you are, memory is selective.

The acting of the two leads is perfect. Gordon-Levitt’s smitten innocence to disillusionment is both quirky and haunting. Although Deschanel has the more difficult role, that of portraying someone’s vision of that character, she is nonetheless winsome and bright. And the chemistry between the two is believable and effective. Webb uses other creative devices to provide surprises along the way, including Tom’s life as a French soap opera, a split-screen that balances Tom’s expectations with the less optimistic reality and a song-and-dance number set to Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True.” “(500) Days of Summer” may not be a love story, but it is definitely about love and it’s definitely worth seeing. 7/23/09

Food, Inc. - 3 1/2 smiles

According to “Food, Inc.,” a must-see documentary in limited release, “There is this deliberate veil, this curtain that’s drawn between us and where our food is coming from. The industry doesn’t want you to know the truth about what you’re eating because if you knew, you might not want to eat it.” Producer/director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) reveal some ugly truths about the U.S. food industry, an industry that frequently put profits ahead of consumer health and the safety of workers. A handful of corporations control our nation’s food supply where food is actually raised on massive ‘factory farms’ and processed in mega industrial plants. Cattle are fed corn, a food that their bodies are not biologically designed to digest, resulting in new strains of E. coli, which sickens roughly 73,000 Americans annually. And the high use of corn in processed foods has resulted in epidemic levels of diabetes among adults and obesity in children. And the film explains why the USDA and FDA have become powerless.

“Food, Inc.” also introduces us to courageous people who are trying to make a difference: Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg and Ployface Farm’s Joel Salatin, who are finding ways to improve the quality of our food; chicken farmer Carole Morison, seed cleaner Moe Parr, and food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyk, who have chosen to speak out and face the corporations that control the food industry. The once simple process of growing crops and raising livestock has become increasingly complicated and compromised. You might not want to eat after seeing this film, but you’ll be more informed. And, you know, every time you buy something from the market, you’re casting a vote. These large corporations look at the bottom line. 9/22/09

Did you know? (from "Food, Inc. Fact Sheet)

• In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9, 164.
• In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.
• In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.
• The modern supermarket now has, on average, 47,000 products, the majority of which is being produced by only a handful of food companies.
• Corn products include: ketchup, cheese, Twinkies, batteries, peanut butter, Cheez-Its, salad dressings, Coke, jelly, Sweet & Low, syrup, juice, Kool-Aid, charcoal, diapers, Motrin, meat and fast food.
• 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.
• Organics is the fastest growing food segment, increasing 20% annually.

To sign the Child Nutrituion Reauthorization act petition, go to http://www.foodincmovie.com/sign-the-petition.php?token=8f8778ba229c933b36c0caca76a0356b&instance_ID=1218#i1218

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 3 1/2 smiles

Much like “The Empire Strikes Back” in the first Star Wars trilogy and “The Two Towers” in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is more of a set-up for what is to come in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I and Part II” than a self-contained story. That’s not to say that this latest installment of the Harry Potter story isn’t good. It is. However, it has an incomplete feel and the interactions between the students and the adults at Hogwarts are virtually non-existent. As the story begins, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) begin their sixth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dumbledore (Michael Gambone) entrusts Harry with the task of befriending Professor Horace Slughorn (Him Broadbent) and learning about one of Slughorn’s memories that may contain a way to defeat Voldemort. Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) seeks revenge against Dumbledore for the defeat of his father while Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) binds himself to helping Malfoy with an unbreakable vow.

The darkness that has become an ever-increasing element in the later Harry Potter movies since “The Prisoner of Azkaban” takes center stage and director David Yates gives us a story where the tone and look are appropriately threatening. The humor associated with raging teenage hormones, exemplified by the Ron/Hermione/Lavender triangle, provides welcomed comic relief. Nonetheless, the key narrative remains strong as Harry and his friends search for a way to defeat the Dark Lord. And Harry’s quest to find the first horcrux, an artifact that holds a piece of Voldemort’s soul, allow the FX team to demonstrate how effective they can be. Although “The Half-Blood Prince” is a stepping stone to elements that must be resolved in the final movies, fans of this excellent series won’t be disappointed and will eagerly anticipate “Part I” on Nov. 19, 2010 and “Part II” on July 15, 2011. 7/17/09

My Sister's Keeper - 3 1/2 smiles

I resisted going to see “My Sister’s Keeper” because I feared that director Nick Cassavetes was going to be overly manipulative, making this a weepy tale of family conflict and death. Instead I found a perceptive drama with just the right balance between emotional impact and restraint.  And the actors deserve high praise; all of the performances are excellent. “My Sister’s Keeper” illustrates the effects an illness of a child has on a family, especially on a family that has used genetic engineering to create a ‘donor baby.’ From the moment Anna (Abigail Breslin) was born, she donated something, blood, bone marrow, to prolong her sister Kate’s (Sofia Vassileva) life. Now, Kate’s mother Sara (Cameron Diaz) wants Anna to donate a kidney and Anna refuses. Her brother (Evan Ellinson), father (Jason Patric) and Kate support her, but Sara is hurt and angry. Sara’s blind devotion to saving her daughter has caused her to lose sight of the person at the heart of the conflict not to mention what it’s doing to the rest of the family. The movie touches on the ethical issue of the rights of a child, any child, to have a say about what happens to her body. For Anna, this means obtaining a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) and suing her parents for medical emancipation.

The performances are compelling. Diaz, best known for light romantic comedies, shows she can handle drama, especially one that requires depth. Breslin and Vassileva seem like real sisters and when the scene requires emotion, there’s naturalness to their interaction. Patric’s restrained approach to the father caught between wife and daughter is perfect and Baldwin delivers a controlled portrayal of a lawyer with an ulterior motive for taking Anna’s case. Perhaps the most moving piece of acting comes from Joan Cusack, who provides a heartbreaking picture of a judge who has just lost her daughter. The screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel by Jodi Picoult, employs flashbacks and voiceover narration, resulting in an effective way to present the story. “My Sister’s Keeper” is about dying, but it’s part of the cycle of life and people move on. Emotional? Certainly. But it’s not overly sentimental or manipulative. 7/9/09

Soul Power - 3 smiles

While there’s a lot to like about “Soul Power,” a lively documentary about the three-day musical event that was to complement the Foreman-Ali fight in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1974, it’s missing context and depth that would have made it truly memorable.  Zaire ’74, financed by a group of Liberian investors and authorized by the Zairean dictator Mobutu, went on as scheduled even though the Rumble in the Jungle was pushed back six weeks. The performers include James Brown Celia Cruz, B. B. King, Miriam Makeba, the Spinners and Bill Withers. And when they are on stage, it’s sheer pleasure. A recurring figure mixed in with concert preparations is Ali, witty as ever, running his mouth, expounding on colonialism, slavery and, of course, self-promotion.

Director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s decision to create a chronological survey of the three days using only actual footage seems like a missed opportunity.  Additional analysis would have provided a greater understanding of the exuberance expressed by the African-American performers. Nor does Levy-Hinte provide any context about Mobutu and his iron-fisted rule, making the performers’ optimism seem ironic in retrospect.  And it might have helped if he had explained why there was a three-decade delay between the concert and the appearance of the film. See “Soul Power” for the music, not for an insight into popular culture. 7/10/09

An Unlikely Weapon - 3 smiles

Photographer Eddie Adams is the subject of director Susan Morgan Cooper’s documentary about the man credited with taking the picture that helped bring an end to the Vietnam War.  Many, including Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings, maintain that the photo Adams took in Saigon on Feb. 1, 1968 of a Saigon police chief executing a Vietcong prisoner helped end the Vietnam War by providing a graphic image of that brutal conflict. But Adams’ own words illustrate his dissatisfaction with the photo (it wasn’t perfect) and how he regretted taking it. Nonetheless, that was just one of many photos Adams took in his illustrious career, spanning 13 wars, six presidents, and countless celebrities.

“An Unlikely Weapon” employs talking heads, archival film clips and photos taken by and interviews with Adams, who died in 2004 of ALS.  The result is an interesting portrait of a nonconformist, a man who traveled his own path. In one amusing anecdote, he refuses to take any nonsense from Fidel Castrol and ends up going duck hunting with the Cuban dictator. Eddie Adams also created the Eddie Adams Workshop (Barnstorm Workshop), an intense four-day gathering of the top photography professionals along with 100 carefully selected students. The workshop is tuition-free and the students are chosen on the merit of their portfolios. “An Unlikely Weapon” conveys the deep humanism of Adams’s work from the close-ups of Vietnamese boat people to the human rights book “Speak Truth to Power” he made with Kerry Kennedy. 6/24/09

Whatever Works - 1 smile

What works in “Whatever Works”? Not much. Writer and director Woody Allen wrote this script in the 1970s and had wanted Zero Mostel for the lead role, but upon Mostel’s death, Allen shelved the script.  Now Allen has dusted off his tome and cast Larry David as his protagonist. Whereas Mostel might have been able to pull of the role of Boris with vulnerability and humor, we get Larry David, bombast, condescension, and a painfully unfunny comedy. And because David is such a wooden actor, we have no sense of Boris as a person (other than he’s egocentric and likes to complain) and I don’t believe that a 20-something young thing would fall in love with him. Even more, I don’t  like Boris nor do I care what happens to him. That he should be happy at movie’s end ticks me off.

And although the supporting cast makes the best of the material they have, it’s not their fault that their characters are, essentially, exaggerations of real people. Evan Rachel Wood, who plays Melodie St. Ann Celestine, is so dim that she believes Boris plays for the Yankees. Patricia Clarkson as her mother turns out to have interesting ideas about ménage à trois and her father, Ed Begley, Jr., is a fundamentalist who discovers he’s gay. Perhaps the ideas in this movie were original when Allen wrote the script, but they’re passé now. At the beginning of the movie, Boris states, ‘Right off, I’m not a likable guy.’ Well,….. “Whatever Works” is not a likable movie. 7/5/09

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur - 2 1/2 smiles

Evidence that the Ice Age franchise has run out of steam is clearly evident in the early minutes of the film about a pregnant mammoth, an aging saber-tooth tiger and a sloth looking to adopt. It’s not until the story shifts to the ‘lost world’ of dinosaurs and the appearance of the one-eyed Buck that the movie actually comes to life. When Sid is stolen away by a mama T-Rex after he has ‘rescued’ her eggs, the gang, Mammy (voice of Ray Romano), Diego (Dennis Leary), Ellie (Queen Latifa) and her possum cousins, to go after him. Leading the way is a weasel named Buck (Simon Peg), a Captain Ahab-like character, who saves the day and the movie.

Buck breathes new life into the film and he’s fun to watch. Whether telling the story of his escape from a great white beast or feigning a cell phone call with a stray rock he picks up, Buck steals every scene he’s in. And you don’t really know if he’s delusional or sane, but that’s half the fun. Scrat, the saber-tooth squirrel trying to get his beloved acorn, is still incidental to the plot, but he has more screen time. He’s used as comic relief and as transitions between scenes. This time around, complications arise when Scrat encounters a female who also wants his nut. “Ice Age” Dawn of the Dinosaurs” is certainly not terrible, but it makes you wonder about needing a swashbuckling, one-eyed weasel and some dinosaurs to make “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” interesting. By the way, dinosaurs would have been long gone by the time the wooly mammoth made his appearance. But, hey. Nobody cares, right? 7/2/09

Public Enemies - 2 1/2 smiles

“Public Enemies,” starring Johnny Depp and Christina Bale, is good, but not great. It’s good in the sense that it has the right look and good acting. However, the heart of the movie lacks an emotional core and as a result, you really don’t care what happens to Dillinger. Director Michael Mann provides a formulaic cops & robbers tale with no character insight and no surprises. Of course, when you take a real-life criminal like John Dillinger, you know how it ends, but we never once get a glimpse into what makes him tick and Melvin Purvis fares no better. Bryan Burrough, who wrote a nonfiction book about Dillinger, said recently in an LA Times article that Mann’s movie contains mostly accurate information. Nonetheless, Mann did expand Frechette’s role and dressed his ‘Lady in Red’ in an orange skirt. Go figure that one.

Depp has the kind of on-screen charisma that makes him the perfect person to play a rebellious 1930s crook, one who loves making fools of the authorities. When coat check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) questions him, he says, “I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars…and you. What else do you need to know?” The audience is supposed to swoon just as Billie does and follow him anywhere. Yeah, right. Bale plays Purvis as a straight-edged, no-nonsense agent in what is becoming the FBI. He is dogged in his pursuit of Dillinger, but the script gives him so little to work with that his character remains flat and undeveloped. Only the relationship between Dillinger and Billie provides some moments of character depth, but concentrate too much on this and the movie loses its focus. Mann does, however, capture an authentic look with the cars, the guns, the costumes, and the buildings. Too bad our emotions weren’t captured as well. 7/3/09