Crum on Show Biz

Streep as Thatcher makes ‘Iron Lady’ essential viewing

2012-01-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

Had The Iron Lady been made with an actress less capable than Meryl Streep, it would have been a mediocre, passable movie. But Streep headlines, which makes this biography of Britain’s legendary prime minister a must see. The screenplay itself is problematic, but Streep dazzles.

Past holiday seasons have given us The Queen and The King’s Speech, two exceptional films featuring charismatic lead actors and compelling stories. In fact, The Queen’s backstage at the Royal Palace approach was an immediate hook since there has been so little known about the queen’s daily life over the past 50 years. Same goes for King George in The King’s Speech.

Margaret Thatcher, Great Britain’s prime minster from 1979-90, is another story--a less interesting story. Director Phyllida Lloyd (Mama Mia!) and screenwriter Abi Morgan are not entirely to blame for this failure. That is because Thatcher’s life lacks verve. If only her husband, the humorous and eccentric Denis (Jim Broadbent), were the sole focus of The Iron Lady. That would have been a far more interesting story. What a whimsical soul he evidently was, according to his depiction here. When Denis does (frequently) appear, the film bursts alive and fresh.

A base problem is the very nature of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party-based, political career. Add to that her persona, including a droll, tempered speaking manner. One plus one equals conservatism at its most orthodox.

Specifically, the plot is told in flashbacks from the vantage point of 24 hours in the present day life of long retired Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It is obvious she suffers from dementia, but this is implicit via actions, and never actually said. (Baroness Thatcher, in fact, is still living at 86, and reportedly has dementia issues.)

Canvased in is Thatcher’s working class childhood, followed by challenges early on as a female breaking into male dominated politics of The Tory Party. (Alexandra Roach is fine as the young Maggie.) Echoing last year’s The King’s Speech, Thatcher is coached in proper speech techniques, particularly enunciation.

More flashbacks recall her rise to the House of Commons as a Conservative, and her destiny as Great Britain’s first female prime minister. The story segues back to present and so on, with Jim Broadbent’s terrific portrayal of Denis shown in real time (the past) and as a wise cracking ghost (present) that only Margaret can see and hear through her skewed sense of reality.

During her tenure of office, Thatcher initiated The Falklands War, and dealt with the sinking of the Belgrano. She was also burdened with her country’s economic and unemployment issues. These events are included in The Iron Lady, but not elaborated upon. In other words, there are no Falklands battle scenes, which is wise since that would detract from the gist of the story. Then again, this script could have used the adrenaline.

Yet we have Streep. More than just the greatest character actress of our time, she is the greatest, living film actress, period. Her Margaret Thatcher is no caricature, she becomes Thatcher.

It is a jolting, Oscar caliber portrayal amidst a mostly prosaic film, Jim Broadbent’s sequences being another exception.

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GRADE on a Scale of A to F: B-

‘The Descendants’ leads KC Film Critics’ winners

2012-01-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

Alexander Payne’s serio-comic The Descendants was awarded Best Film among 25 nominees at Sunday night’s (Jan. 8) voting of The James Loutzenhiser Awards by Kansas City Film Critics Circle members. The movie, directed and co-written by Payne, stars George Clooney as a Hawaiian-based attorney dealing with a land development issue as well as his two daughters and comatose wife. Clooney was named Best Actor.

Terrence Malick’s controversial The Tree of Life garnered a Best Director win. Officially, it is named The Robert Altman Award for Best Directing, due to Altman’s Kansas City roots. The movie also won for Best Supporting Actress, Jessica Chastain.

The complete list of winners:

BEST FILM...THE DESCENDANTS

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTING...TERRENCE MALICK

BEST ACTOR...GEORGE CLOONEY (The Descendants)

BEST ACTRESS...KIRSTEN DUNST (Melancholia)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR...CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (Beginners)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS...JESSICA CHASTAIN (The Tree of Life)

BEST ANIMATED FILM...RANGO

BEST FOREIGN FILM...A SEPARATION

BEST DOCUMENTARY...CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY...BEGINNERS

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY...MONEYBALL

VINCE KOEHLER AWARD FOR BEST SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY OR HORROR FILM...HUGO

The last award is in tribute to long-time KCFCC critic and sci-fi, fantasy, horror fan, the late Vince Koehler. The James Loutzenhiser Awards is named for the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser, founder of the KCFCC.

Epic ‘War Horse’ delivers love, loyalty, perseverance

2011-12-26T06:10:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

In the exhilarating drama War Horse, director Steven Spielberg neither aims for the sci-fi/fantasy heights of E.T. nor the starkness of man’s inhumanity (Schindler’s List). Thematically, War Horse straddles both genres, clocking in as a mixed breed of the reality of war’s brutality and animal lover fantasy. I say fantasy because the exploits of the title horse stretch beyond credibility. Hybrid or not, the movie is a thoroughbred winner.

Lee Hall and Richard Curtis’ screenplay could be described as thoroughbred as well since it is drawn from Michael Morpurgo’s best selling children’s book and the Tony Award winning play--both sharing the film’s title.

The story is reminiscent of Courage of Lassie (1946) since it involves a beloved pet, of sorts, that is thrust into a world war, and whose survival, let alone return to its home base, is fraught with impossibility upon impossibility. Of course, in War Horse, the “pet” is an English farm family’s horse named Joey. Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) buys the hunter colt at auction despite the fact he cannot afford it. To make matters worse, he has to face his wife, Rosie (Emily Watson) who obviously realizes more than her husband just how tight their meager budget is. Ted has gone to town to purchase a much needed plow horse, but returns with a steed clearly bred for the race track. Their teenaged son, Albert (Jeremy Irvine) is pleased nonetheless, and vows to train the horse to pull a plow if only they will not resell it.

There is a marvelous sequence involving Albert’s desperate attempt to lead the painfully struggling Joey into plowing a field of rock-hard earth (amidst a number of actual rocks) as virtually the entire town observes. Included amongst is the landlord of the Narracotts’ farm, who plans to close on their property if Joey fails.

At the outbreak of WWI, Joey is sold to the military who, like the enemy Germans, used horses to carry supplies and pull wagons and artillery. It is hard to believe such animal mistreatment under modern standards, but it was very true then. The sale occurs despite Albert’s desperation. Here the story unfolds into realistically staged battle sequences in France, including horrific fighting in and out of the infamous trenches of “the war to end wars.” Through the confusion of battle, Joey journeys from British lines to German, pulling ambulances and becoming a loyal servant to both sides. For a time he is separated from battle altogether, and befriends a civilian French girl and her grandfather.

The film’s most memorable set piece is its most grueling, and involves the horse literally caught on its own during battle in No Man’s Land between the English and German trenches. I had to turn my head away due to the intensity. Spielberg does use an animatronic horse for parts of it, which will not lessen the extremely sympathetic impact. It is the stuff that bad dreams are made of.

Joey’s long journey does not end in the previously described scene, but does involve humans he has befriended along the way. That is enough said without destroying the film’s wonderment. It all makes for a tissue-to-eye finale. Incidentally, there were 14 Joeys used throughout the filming. Considering what this horse endures, it should be no surprise.

John Williams’ score is sweeping and, at times, heart wrenching. Janusz Kaminski’s photography, particularly in capturing the English countryside and French fields, has fine, oil painted color and texture. Accolades are deserved all around, marking another Spielberg triumph and, undoubtedly, Oscar contender.

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GRADE on a Scale of A to F: A

Sadistic, yes, but ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ delivers suspense, thrills

2011-12-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

First, no. I have neither seen the already released Swedish versions of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series nor have I read Stieg Larsson’s best selling books. But how could I have avoided--even though I was not trying to do so-- hearing about the books and the movies? Point made, since you need to to realize the lack of tattoo girl baggage I brought to the screening of this English language adaptation. Director David Fincher has crafted a disturbing dazzler of a thriller, embellished by sharp acting.

Central to the murder-mystery plot, explained ahead, is the complex title heroine, Lisbeth Salander, brilliantly portrayed by Rooney Mara. Salander is indeed a girl just turning legal age, whose dark features accentuate her goth clothing, facial piercing, and demeanor. Tattoos decorate her body, including a large dragon. As the story progresses, we know Salander is far more than a loner with dubious sexuality and limited intellect.

Daniel Craig plays the driven writer/researcher (“financial reporter” is his official designation) Mikael Blomkvist. Looking for work after losing his job in a libel scandal, Blomkvist is hired by wealthy Swedish industrialist, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Journeying to a remote village on the Swedish coast, Blomkvist is initially surprised Vanger wants him to solve a cold case murder of his niece, Harriet. Missing for 40 years, she is assumed to be dead since her body was never found. Vanger believes she was murdered by one of his relatives who live nearby. Interestingly, his family members are pretty much estranged from each other, yet live in separate houses within walking distance.

Agreeing to accept what is a private eye’s job, Blomkvist chooses the unlikely Lisbeth Salander as his assistant/researcher. The irony is that Salander is an employee for the security firm that helped ruin Blomkvist’s previous career. Nonetheless, she impresses Blomkvist with her unusual investigative methods. She is likewise impressed with him, and the challenge to solve a possible murder. Her drive, memory skills and high IQ prove invaluable. Still, Lisbeth’s motorcycle riding, black leather persona symbolizes a life of mistrust and pain. As both Blomkvist and Salander delve into Vanger Family history, it is apparent this family has its own demons, including multiple murders.

While the murder mystery itself is involving, there is a disturbing side-story regarding Lisbeth’s financial status, and her legal guardianship. Circumstances have placed her under the legal power of a sleaze who demands sexual favors from her so she can receive minimal money for food. It turns out he is not only sleazy, but brutal. Without specifying and revealing too much, just realize Lisbeth is a lethal force unto herself. I could not help comparing her to the Kalinda character in TV’s The Good Wife. Kalinda Sharma, played by Archie Panjabi, works as an investigator for a law firm, and will do virtually anything to get what she needs, professionally and personally. While they are kindred spirits, it is Lisbeth who possesses the cutthroat DNA.

Speaking of violence, there are heaps of it, including with sadism, rape and torture, in TGWTDT. It continues to amaze and (truthfully) disturb me that studios choose to release violent, exploitive, R-rated films during the season of good will toward men. But, a dollar is a dollar, and apparently justification enough.

Artistically, TGWTDT boasts fine photography (Jeff Cronenweth), particularly of snowy, Swedish landscapes; and interiors by production designer Donald Graham Burt. The unusual yet memorable score is by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

No doubt that the American film version of the next book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is planned.

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GRADE On an A to F Scale: A-

'Tower Heist' provides laughs, cliffhanger thrills

2011-11-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Multiple choice test. Spot the heist movie: (a) The Anderson Tapes (b) Topkapi (c) The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (d) The Italian Job (e) Oceans 11. Answer: The whole lot. Two of them, Topkapi and Oceans 11 (the original, and its remake and sequels) include comedy elements. Now comes the blatantly named Tower Heist, which is played for broad laughs, including Harold Lloyd-like, hanging from building shtick.

The screenplay, written by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, has about a relevant center as one can get. Decades ago, it would have been advertised with “torn from the front pages” hyperbole, since it concerns an ultra wealthy investment titan, Arthur Shaw (played with oozing sleaze by Alan Alda), who has ripped off $2 billion from trusting investors. No mistake that his character is based on the infamous Bernie Madoff.

Shaw resides in the top floor suite of NYC’s most luxurious hotel, simply called The Tower. (Consider the hotel an actor unto itself since it is really Trump Tower.) Opening scenes establish that Shaw is extremely friendly with and very dependent upon the hotel’s manager, Josh Kovaks (Ben Stiller). who seems to know the nuances of each and every resident and employee. Ultra efficient is he.

Shaw is so wealthy that he keeps his gleaming red, prized possession, a 1953 Ferrari once owned by Steve McQueen, parked in his living room. How did he get it there? It is logical, as explained in the film. I won’t spoil it.

It is when Stiller’s Kovaks finds out Shaw has absconded with the pensions of virtually all the hotel’s staff that the revenge-based plot ensues. This occurs after Shaw has been put under house arrest, pending trial, for the $2 billion charge. Kovaks is soon fired, along with other staffers, for harming Shaw’s prized car. A plan hatches, spurred by retaliation and reimbursement. Kovaks and associates will steal the millions reputedly hidden in Shaw’s apartment, and redistribute the wealth to Shaw’s hotel victims.

The motley recruits for the caper include Charlie (Casey Affleck), destitute ex-Wall Street broker Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), bellhop Dev’Reaux (Michael Pena), and man-hunting bachelorette Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe). Tea Leoni’s FBI agent, Claire Denham, provides both love interest and caper roadblock for Kovaks. The acting, and laughs, are well distributed and handled among the ensemble. Then there is Slide, played by Eddie Murphy, a petty crook bailed out of jail by Kovaks to teach the amateurs the fine art of gangsterdom.

As for this being Eddie Murphy’s great comeback movie, think again. Think about the fact Murphy has hardly been away long enough for any supposed comeback. His Shrek Donkey persona, via voice, has kept Murphy’s comedy going nonstop, in sequel after sequel. Just consider his Tower Heist role as his voice reconnected with human body. The delivery, and frequently crude cracks, are essentially Donkey-alike. “Look at her big ass....eww, but she has a big ass!” Maybe Donkey-like IS appropriate here.

Really, Eddie Murphy fits perfectly within the Tower ensemble, much like he does within his Shrek crowd. Even though he is billed under Ben Stiller as lead actor, his role is more supporting than star. Stiller is the film’s true anchor. No doubt Murphy’s reputation (and agent) demanded the spotlight.

The production overall is breezy and fun, with a nonstop pace after the first half hour. That is when the action really kicks in. The on location filming, particularly Trump Tower and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, is superb. The cliffhanging sequences from the top of the building will cause anyone with acrophobia (like I suffer) to frequently avert the eyes. Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) is adept at such screen thrills. He also does fine by a solid, funny cast.

GRADE On an A-F Scale: B

Farewell, Steverino

2011-10-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

[Published 11 years ago, Nov. 3, 2000, in The Kansas City Kansan, regarding Steve Allen’s death]

By Steve Crum

Death of an icon. The passing of a show business pioneer. Cliche headlines that are true in this case. As I sit here Tuesday afternoon, two hours after hearing of Steve Allen’s death, I am stunned.

Friends have called, leaving messages of his sudden death that occurred Oct. 30, the day before I write this. According to the Allen family’s official statement, he was “at the home of his youngest son, Bill, in Encino, California. Mr. Allen was resting after a visit with four of his 12 grandchildren when he lost consciousness and died of an apparent heart attack.”

Steve Allen was about a month away from his 79th birthday.

Press reports got the story mostly right, even though half the TV and newspaper blurbs incorrectly said he had died Oct. 31. Six different media sources that I read and heard (including the three major TV networks) said that Allen had written 4,000 songs in his career. This is true, but not all the truth. He actually had over 8,500 original songs published, which garnered him the Guinness Book distinction as “the most prolific composer of all time.”

I was well aware of the media errors, because I have made it my business to know Steve Allen. He is the person about whom I have said from my youth I would most like to emulate. The majority of wit and humor I have been accused of possessing is traceable to Allen. Maybe all of it. Because of him, I sneaked late night TV viewings from as far back as grade school in the late 1950’s. He exposed me to humor--purely zany, wonderfully ridiculous, infectious and inventive. I was a member of his comedy club of which there were millions more like me, inclusive of all ages. It was a vicarious experience, of course, but with me were Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Don Knotts, Gabe Dell, and Dayton Allen.

And it was a party time full of laughter and camaraderie. The skits were clever with characterizations as defined as Nye’s Gordon Hathaway (“Hi, ho, Steverino”), Poston’s man on the street who never could recall his name, and Knott’s nervously shaking persona. Steve Allen, the host, was always the joyful ringleader. He laughed at his comics, and at himself. His was a high-pitched blast of a laugh that some have labeled a cackle. But it was more like an amplified, uncontrollable giggle--and America loved to hear it. That is because it was a spontaneous happening triggered by someone’s wig slipping or a piece of scenery falling or a wild double take. Not only was Allen’s laugh in itself funny, his reaction also abetted the overall hilarity.

I shall not try to repeat what the media has already said this week regarding Allen’s show business credentials. In fact, I devoted two consecutive columns weeks ago to his accomplishments. That was after I spent three days in Allen’s presence during his Lawrence-to-Iola, Kansas tour in conjunction with the annual Buster Keaton Celebration held at the end of September. (Allen performed at Lied Center in Lawrence and was special guest speaker at the Keaton affair.)

Saying at the time that it would probably be the last time I would ever get to see Steve Allen in person (I had interviewed him in 1964 as a Wyandotte High School Pantograph reporter), I meant it in a proximity sense, since Allen resided on the West Coast. Allen and his wife Jayne still did limited touring with a romantic play, and Allen himself performed various one-nighters--like the one he did in Lawrence. There he reminisced, played the piano, sang some of his great songs like This Could Be the Start of Something Big, and relaxed on an on-stage couch commenting on clips shown from his six decades on TV and the movies.

In Iola, I sat a seat behind Allen as he and a packed auditorium watched Buster Keaton’s 1924 classic, Sherlock Jr. Allen suppressed his famous giggle, but he chuckled constantly. Afterwards he admitted he had never seen this Keaton film, and felt it was “way ahead of its time in humor and film technique.” He even asked for a video copy to take home to show his grandchildren. He got his wish.

Steve Allen was always a great social observer and lover of language. At least half of his 50-plus books deal with such subject matter. No doubt that is why he became so adamant a supporter for cleaning up what he considers the film filth and moral decay promoted through the entertainment industry. The Parents for Television Council, led by spokesman Allen, feel that the media is “leading children down a moral sewer.” It was Allen’s passion that his cause would change our lives and our children’s lives for the better.

Now he is gone, but his reform movement not only survives but flourishes, thanks in huge part to him. We also have late night talk shows because of him, as well as his music, recordings, books, and memories.

Oh, those great TV shows with you, Mr. Allen: The Tonight Show, the men on that street, the angry letters to the editor, The Question Man, the ad libs, The Gravy Waltz, Vine Street, the Be-Bop Fables, a Hebrew National Salami, What is a Freem?, Meeting of the Minds, Andy Williams, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, on opposite Johnny Carson, earlier up against Ed Sullivan, your great love of jazz.

And your great love of life that you shared with me and the world, Steverino.

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Addendum: In Iola, I asked Steve Allen about his daily regimen. Allen replied, “My daily regimen? It’s easy. I just get up at the crack of dawn, stuff up the crack, and climb back into bed.”

'Real Steel' needs more grit, less melodrama

2011-10-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Real Steel could have been, should have been much more. Based on Richard Matheson’s 1956 short story and his gritty 1964 Twilight Zone TV episode, Steel (starring Lee Marvin), Real Steel is neither gritty nor classic. Instead, it succeeds as a sort of Family Channel robot bonding tale, in some ways a live action Iron Giant. Such is far from my expectations.

Director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) and screenwriter John Gatins have circumvented Matheson’s original premise of a down and out boxer who literally climbs inside his robot boxer for a desperately needed final victory. In this reboot (or re-robot), the focus is on both Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) and his estranged, 11 year-old son, Max (Dakota Goyo). Sure, there are various robots along the way, and they look cool while performing spectacularly. As one robot after another is beaten into scrap iron, from Ambush (who fights live bulls at rodeos) to the flashy import Noisy Boy, Charlie’s great metal hope is accidentally discovered mostly buried at a metal parts junkyard. Soon after named Atom, the robot has a literal hand in saving Max’s life. The boy is immediately smitten with Atom, and proceeds to rebuild and recondition the discarded sparring-bot to champion status.

The premise for Real Steel is, nonetheless, fascinating. Set in a future of human-less (and bloodless) boxing matches, robots are the superstars. (Humans still coach, ref, and promote the matches.) Championship bouts are held at the Crash Palace, the Madison Square Garden of tomorrow. It is interesting that, except for the robots and the technology involved in the matches (humans sometimes operate computer control panels to control the robots), the future looks like our present day.

For example, take the impressive opening sequence set in a county fair rodeo arena, which features the robot Ambush tussling with an 800 pound raging bull--not played by De Niro. The set resembles any typical rodeo of today, including screaming fans. As the robot matador tries to clobber the beast into unconsciousness, he/it loses a leg, yet tries to continue fighting, balancing on his good one. The mistake occurs due to trainer Charlie’s neglect at managing Ambush’s remote control on the sidelines. This is the best sequence in the film because of its no frills, bare-boned action. No animals were harmed during the making of this movie, but plenty of robots were.

There are sub-plots of Charlie’s wheeling and dealing with bookies and loan sharks (he is over his head for thousands), and his friendship with robot tech Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly). But the crux of the story centers on Charlie and son Max. Via divorce, Max has exclusively lived with his mother. His mother’s sudden death forces Max to either live with his dad (Charlie) or his rich aunt and uncle. At first, Charlie is happy to sign court papers for Max to move in with his ex-wife’s sister, especially since her husband offers Charlie big bucks to legally sign the boy over to them. However, as Max becomes more involved with bot fighting, he and his father grow closer. While the father-son scenes set a positive, moral tone for the film, they are often ponderous, and distract from the core theme of battling robots, and man’s obvious need for violence, even on a simulated basis. This need for violence extends to children aka Max.

Incidentally, Sugar Ray Leonard supervised the boxing scenes, via professional boxers who were “motion-captured,” computer-wise.

Acting in Real Steel is generally very good, with Jack’s desperate trainer and Goyo’s whiz kid personas particularly impressive. But what one takes from the movie, cutting through all the human family melodrama, are some outstanding robot sequences. After all the Transformers exposure over the last few years, who would have guessed more battling bots would hook our interest? Maybe it is because Real Steel’s bots need humans to think for them.

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GRADE: On an A-F Scale: B-

NIGHTMARES for the American Dream Factory/Remembering 9-11 on 9-11, ten years later

2011-09-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Originally published in The Kansas City Kansan, Sept. 28, 2011

By Steve Crum

The horrific events of Sept. 11 continue to affect every American. What was funny on Sept. 10 is not so funny now. Humor, particularly political satire, instantly fell out of fashion as politicians fast became heroes or, at the very least, harbingers of hope and justice.

The mass media, reflecting an awkward stock market, began playing bear with its entertainment news industries. The mood of a country influences its citizens’ viewing, listening and reading habits, of course.

During the last 17 days, initial shock has given to patriotism and a somber uncertainty. Movie studios, networks and publishers sensed that mood immediately, and acted upon it. No upcoming motion picture was going to be even hinted at as distasteful, unpatriotic or insensitive.

The so-called “dream factory,” always catering to its ticket-buying public (after all, we are talking about a multibillion dollar industry), rushed to edit or re-shoot scenes in a number of films. Soon to be released movie openings were changed--some to next year, some to an undetermined date.

TV shows were likewise handled. A handful of programs slated for a September premiere are on hold until the barometer of viewers’ feelings changes. Add print media to the affected mass. The New Yorker magazine, the long time, slick paper voice of Big Apple culture, appropriately featured a Sept. 24 cover of chilling impact. What appears at first to be a solid black cover (with the title, date and price in bold white across the top), a closer look reveals the silhouette of the twin WTC towers in solid black, set against an ultra dark, purple sky.

Inside, film critic Anthony Lane, in his essay, “This Is Not a Movie,” speaks of mass media’s link with reality. After repeated doses of explosions and catastrophes via motion picture special effects, we were force fed the real thing.

“It was hard to make the switch,” he writes. “The fireball of impact was so precisely as it should be, and the breaking waves of dust that barreled down the avenues were so absurdly recognizable--we have tasted them so frequently in other forms, such as water, flame, and Godzilla’s foot.” Except these were no stunt men. No computer graphics here. “Here,” Lane observes, “as emergency services groped through the black-and-white fallout of the vanished towers, and as color drained from the scene, the horror was new. We could bear to look, and all we did was look.”

The entertainment industry responds: Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man whose career was built on gun blasts and explosions, needs a comeback. Maybe later. The Oct. 5 release of his new flick, Collateral Damage, is now delayed, very likely until 2002. Warners decided the violent plot is ill-timed.

Schwarzenegger plays a fireman whose wife and young son are killed when a Colombian terrorist blows up an American consulate building. He seeks revenge. No question why this was shelved.

Both David Letterman and Jay Leno have stopped political jibes. Bill Maher, host of TV’s Politically Incorrect, was criticized for the very thing about which he is noted: being politically incorrect. After making comments about our government’s past military actions, and saying terrorists who crash into buildings “are anything but cowards,” several sponsors canceled. A you’re-either-with-or-against-the-USA attitude prevails. Maher apologized on air.

The enjoyable preview for the upcoming movie, Spider-Man, was yanked. In it, which I saw a couple of times, a helicopter full of robbers speeds around building in Manhattan. Suddenly, a force drags them backwards. The camera pulls back, showing the helicopter caught in a giant spider web that is suspended between the World Trade Center towers. Word is that this scene was shot only for the trailer, so no editing will be necessary in the actual movie.

Tim Allen’s yet unreleased feature film, Big Trouble, which ends with a nuclear bomb being smuggled into an airport, is on hiatus until next year...or later.

KCPT-19, Kansas City’s public television station, is in the process of re-editing showings of the sketch comedy program, Right Between the Ears. The locally produced show, heard nationally on National Public Radio stations, taped three heralded TV shows this summer. Having not missed a taping of their radio show (from Lawrence’s Liberty Hall) during the last three years, I know that at least half of the funny group’s skits focus on politicians.

Cynthia Smith, former Channel 4 anchor and now a KCPT executive, told me this week that all political jokes are being cut or at least reconsidered. “They are editing the tapes as we speak,” she said.

“And that is not all,” she said. “Channel 19 canceled an episode of its popular kids’ show, Jay Jay, the Jet Plane, because it showed a plane crash." It would have run at 11 a.m. on September 11.

'Cowboys & Aliens' provides rip roarin', monstrous time

2011-07-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

As fresh and catchy as the title Cowboys & Aliens is, the plot has been explored at least once before. Except when singin’ cowpoke Gene Autry starred in Mascot’s The Phantom Empire in 1935, the aliens, called Muranians, had set up shop 20 thousand feet underground, and mostly stayed there. (Actually, one should call these guys inner-earth aliens.) At least they never ventured into the skies via cliched flying saucers, zapping and lassoing cowboys and cows alike as in C&A. Instead, Autry had to contend with boxy-looking robots controlled by humanoids of the substrata.

The outer space invaders in the western-science fiction romp, Cowboys & Aliens are tall, lanky, slimy, and extremely lethal, looking like killin’ cousins of the boogie creatures in both Alien and Predator. (They DID meet up in that one movie, so maybe this is offspring?) And they are hell bent on conquering earth by first experimenting on its inhabitants. Sounds like evil alien behavior in, oh, approximately 83 percent of sci-fi movies since 1950.

Whereas Autry’s film undoubtedly looked cheesy in its day, as now, Cowboys & Aliens is state of the familiar art CGI, along with actors who can truly act (sorry, Gene), great stunt work, and nearly non-stop action that kicks in about 10 minutes into the film, when some range riding cowboys have a fiery, alien encounter. Even earlier, Daniel Craig’s Jake Lonergan wakes up on the prairie with a strange, metallic wristband on, and has to defend himself against three attacking cowboy thugs. (Throughout this and other sequences, Craig’s fighting prowess is all James Bond.)

What follows are cleverly scripted action pieces, centered on a revenge story: Harrison Ford’s cattle baron, Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde, wants to catch and punish outlaw Jake for stealing his gold. Soon after arriving in Absolution to both hang Jake, who has already been jailed, and free his half-witted, gun crazy son, Percy (Paul Dano), from an adjoining cell, the downtown skies are full of UFO’s. Such is not commonplace in New Mexico Territory, circa 1875. Enemies Jake and Woodrow become fast allies as cowboy and cowgirl alike are whisked upwards by alien lariats, and carried away. Woodrow’s son is among the abducted.

There is the cartoonish look of Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks in the lassoing sequences, as humans are whiplashed into the stratosphere. Yet, like Mars Attacks, we discover these aliens are capable of real violence, from torture to disintegration. Incidentally, there is another similarity: Cowboys & Aliens is based upon a comic book; Mars Attacks evolved from cartoonish collector cards.

Director Jon Favreau handles the script (credited with eight writers!) much like he successfully did with the first two Iron Man movies. The action is balanced by fast, clever dialogue, and tempered with great stunts and special effects. While the aliens themselves look much better in half-light, hidden in caves, their outside, daylight appearances are pretty impressive. It should not be a spoiler to expect a third act finale of all-out war between the title characters. Indeed, not only basic cowboys, but a cowboy outlaw gang and a tribe of Apaches unite in the war. By then, the invaders have become every earthling’s mortal enemy. This is a logical turn and, again, no spoiler surprise.

Good guy humans include Keith Carradine’s Sheriff Taggart, Sam Rockwell’s Doc, and Buck Taylor (of TV’s Gunsmoke) as Wes Claiborne. Particularly noteworthy is the mesmerizing Olivia Wilde (“13” on TV’s House), she of the piercing cat-eyes, as the mysterious Ella Swenson.

My only complaint is by the time this was screened, TV previews as well as an HBO behind-the-scenes special had revealed far too much of the fun and games contained within. But that is a complaint of most trailers over the last decade or so. It is time to rename trailers spoilers.

Still, leads Ford and Craig have the necessary chemistry to carry Cowboys & Aliens for its rip-roaring two hours. True, Daniel Craig handles all the rough and tough physicality, while the elder Harrison Ford is, appropriately, much more reserved. They’re still Indiana Jones and James Bond versus monsters, no matter.

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GRADE: On an A to F Scale: B+

'Deathly Hallows-Part 2' is grandest of film finales

2011-07-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

All is said and done, and Harry Potter’s 10 year movie quest has ended. Closure? Superb closure! As I have repeated in each of my Harry Potter movie reviews over the decade, I have not read any of the Potter books, yet I have become a fan of the movies. That said for the final time, my fondness for this franchise has only increased after seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. Surprisingly, there is now high desire to watch the previous seven films over again for both enjoyment and juxtaposition. You see, I still have problems with all the names, wizardly and otherwise. Re-watching would help. That would mean seeing DH2 again at the theatre, and that suits me fine. (See it in 3-D, if possible.)

Where the death of the lovable house elf Dobby was arguably the biggest shocker of DH1, DH2’s conclusion provides multiple surprises and revelations. I cannot understate the heroics to be found throughout DH2, and not perpetrated by just Harry and his two cohorts. Valdemort villains by the dozen are zap-wanded and obliterated by Potter’s old guard friends and colleagues. Of course, evil does overpower the good guys as well in a few instances. (I am trying not to spoil things by being too specific.)

DH2 opens essentially where DH1 ended, with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) squaring off against Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). There is a lull, since Harry and friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) are ill prepared for all out battle since they have yet to find--and destroy--the remaining Horcruxes. Four sinister items remain, and each is embedded with portions of Voldemort’s soul. Voldemort requires each and every item to insure his immortality. As long as one item survives, the dark lord cannot be defeated.

Essentially, that is half of DH2's story. The race is on to sneak into guarded places to find and destroy, while Voldemort tries to obstruct such. In no episode of the Potter saga is it clearer that Harry has matured to manhood, with the single-minded drive to kill Voldemort, even if he himself has to die in the process. There is a particularly nail-biting sequence in which Harry, Rupert and Hermione (in disguise) sneak into the Gringotts Bank, assisted by the goblin Griphook, who has agreed to help if he can have the magical sword of Gryffindor as payment.

Incidentally, the very opening of DH2 is quiet, sans music, and with sparse, softly spoken dialogue. It is wise convention that director David Yates uses to advantage, since hellfire action kicks in not long after. The jolting effect works, appreciably so.

Memorable scenes feature a dragon, snake, fire, water, and golden goblets. There is also a portion toward the end involving a white world of limbo--or is it? Think 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Nostalgia is everywhere in this final Potter telling. Characters from much earlier films in the series reappear, and often interact with major consequences. Maggie Smith’s Minerva McGonagall finally takes charge, as does Mrs. Weasley (Julie Walters). Expect Bellatrix Lestrange (Helene Bonham Carter), Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), Prof. Trelawney (Emma Thompson), Prof. Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), Prof. Sprout (Miriam Margolyes), and a slew of others. Major surprises ensue with Prof. Snape (Alan Rickman) and the Dumbledores, brothers Aberforth (Ciaran Hinds) and Albus (Michael Gambon). Let’s not overlook the element of romance in DH2, and that refers to the return of Harry’s love interest, Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), Ron’s sister.

Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling said early on that she “had a very, very clear idea of where Harry was going to go.” Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves have lovingly transported her vision to the most satisfying finale, truly grand, in film history.

Think of it. Rowling’s genius, via books and films, have not only entertained us with some of the most popular fantasy adventures in media history, but created a unique lexicon in the process: Dobby, Hagrid, Hogwarts, dementors, Voldemort, Quidditch, and on and on. Paramount above all it is the unforgettable Harry Potter himself--all in the span of 14 years, since the first book debuted.

I will especially miss Rickman’s darkly garbed Prof. Severus Snape, and his meticulously timed delivery of lines. Classic.

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GRADE: On an A to F Scale: A

Behind the walls at Hearst Castle, and other scandals

2011-06-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

San Simeon, Calif.--Life was sweet here, the best sweets money could buy. For more than 30 years, since its $10 million construction began in 1919, Hearst Castle aka La Cuesta Encanta (“The Enchanted Hill’) was William Randolph Hearst’s ornate valentine to his mistress and to himself. Especially to himself.

Today, state park guides boast to tourists that the late publisher-baron would be ecstatic knowing his awesome dream is shared with the masses., the Hearst name forever connected. A shrine to W.R., The Boss. Magnificent is the apropos adjective for this place.

Towering high, high over the San Simeon Bay of cavorting whales and seals, the castle is surrounded by 240,000 acres of rock-strewn hills and plains.

Remnants of Hearst excesses are visible far from the castle itself. Zebras, cattle and horses still roam--perhaps the ancestors of the original animal brood Hearst had flown to this area beginning in the 1920s.

In those days, Hearst even maintained a zoo of llamas, lions and bears, oh my. As part of the $21.60 per looker ticket, you even see the ruins of the bear cages. Amazing that they are still standing even this long after the man’s 1951 death.

At that time, his Enchanted Hill itself stopped production--unlike his publishing empire that kept on churning. For indeed The Boss had long range plans for building more guest houses, and extending the main house. And meticulously designing each room, each historically themed, antique-excessed room. But Hearst had said to stop construction until he got back from a brief trip. Then he died, never getting back.

Today is Tour No. 2 of four Hearst Castle tours, my second and last this vacation. This is a much more intimate tour than yesterday’s Tour 1 which guided 30 of us through the main house and dining areas as well as the two Roman-columned swimming pools. On this aridly hot morning, Mary greets the 12 of us: “You can ask me anything you want, and I will do my best to answer.”

By the time we snake through another dozen of the estate’s 115 rooms and file into Marion Davies’ bedroom, our host has enthusiastically answered several of my queries that focus on what I was really interested in: the Davies-Hearst scandal.

Mary said guides must have at least four sources to back up their facts, so accept the following as credible:

•Marion Davies, star of 51 movies between 1917-37, lived with Hearst for 30 years, until his death in 1951. Hearst remained married to his wife Millicent throughout this time. She rarely visited the castle unless Marion was not there, preferring to stay in her New York digs.

•Hearst had several children with Millicent, none with Marion. Or is that the final answer? During a trip to Europe with his sister, Davies claimed her sister gave birth to a baby girl. The girl, named Patricia Van Cleve, grew up to be tall with piercing eyes--resembling William Randolph Hearst. Coincidental? The story goes that years later Hearst confided to Patricia, admitting she was indeed his daughter, and that she should never tell anyone, including her husband, Arthur Lake.

•Arthur Lake made 75 movies, but is best tagged as Dagwood Bumstead in 30 Blondie movies produced by King Features Syndicate (owned by the Hearst Corp.)

•In 1999, moments before she died, Patricia admitted to reporters what she had promised never to reveal until she was on her deathbed, that she was indeed the daughter of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst. It was so stated in her obituary, which even ran in Hearst newspapers. (Her mom, Marion, died in 1961 of cancer.)

•Vignette: Marion Davies received a flower from Hearst every day for the 30 years. The romantic tycoon placed it on the floor outside her bedroom door. They had separate bedrooms.

•Of the many reasons Hearst hated Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, none was more vitriolic than the film’s Rosebud plot device. Kane, of course, is a thinly disguised Hearst. Xanadu is the name of publisher Kane’s castle, and there are numerous parallels. Rosebud is a beloved sled’s name in the movie, but it really meant something entirely different. Davies had mad the mistake of telling her old drinking buddy, Herman J. Mankiewicz, the real meaning of Rosebud. When Mankiewicz and Welles later collaborated on Citizen Kane, the name was included, definitely signifying Welles’ contempt for Hearst and his empire.

•The true meaning of Rosebud? It was Hearst’s pet name for Marion Davies’ most intimate body part. Do the math.

Citizen Kane was a box office disaster when released in 1941. Hearst had banned all mention and advertising of the film in his newspapers and magazines. That zero-publicity included the top Hollywood gossip columnist and Hearst employee, Louella Parsons. She could help make or break any picture. MGM head Louis B. Mayer even tried to buy the film from Welles to burn the negative. Welles refused, withstood a major career blast, and lived to see his movie revered as the best ever made.

In 1985, grandson W.R. Hearst III said he personally enjoyed Citizen Kane, and that Orson Welles could visit Hearst Castle any time he wanted. Welles never took him up on it.

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CRUMMY TRIVIA: Look for future movie star Alan Ladd as a reporter during the opening and closing scenes of Citizen Kane.

'Bad Teacher' gets solid, shaking one's head, 'F'

2011-06-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Like Bad Santa, Bad Teacher is among the most aptly titled movies in film history. Unfortunately, the adjective “bad” has taken on urban slang that changes its meaning to “very good.” Believe me, stick with the Webster’s Dictionary definition. The “teacher” in Bad Teacher is definitely not admirable in the least, let alone very good. The referenced teacher, Miss Halsey, portrayed by the sultry Cameron Diaz, is rude, vulgar, self-centered, and morality-free. In her middle school classroom, she sleeps while showing videos to her students. She also taps into her teacher desk bottom drawer to smoke pot and swig booze whenever she can.

The simply written scenario, by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, follows gold digger Elizabeth Halsey, as she attempts to wrangle money out of anyone or anything. Early on, she is engaged to a wealthy guy, but their relationship abruptly ends when his mother discovers Elizabeth desires dollar signs over love hearts. That forces Elizabeth back to a second year of teaching at John Adams Middle School. Her novice year, we earlier observe, was pretty much a failure, yet she is oddly welcomed back like she was Teacher of the Year. For that matter, how in the world did this lady even get a teaching degree? Regarding basic tenants of instruction and administrative compliance, she is clueless. John Adams Middle is a fantasy unto itself, with incompetent Principal Wall Snur (John Michael Higgins), assisted by nary one assistant principal. There is not even a security guard on the premises. (A budgetary problem with movie production?) Also, a first or second year teacher would have frequent visits from the principal and district personnel to evaluate her classroom performance. That never occurs in this fairy tale.

The overall faculty further insults the education profession via their depiction as dorky dimwits in charge of comparatively bright, sophisticated students. At an Open House, parents are shown as concerned, upper middle class types, yet accepting of Halsey’s daily movie showings in her classroom. In fact, Halsey could care less about her professional demeanor until she hears that she could win $5,000 for having the best state test scores. Her lofty reason: so she can have breast enlargement to attract a wealthy guy. No surprise there is a graphic sequence of her choosing the best “boob job” at the doctor’s office. Folks, this is the script crux of Bad Teacher. Could writers Stupnitsky and Eisenberg really be junior high nerds themselves, writing this kind of repressed, sexual claptrap?

As Halsey behaves like she is a sleazy waitress at some dive cafeteria, her fellow staffers do not seem that concerned. They include Scott Delacorte (Justin TImberlake), the substitute teacher who is naive about Halsey’s lustful attraction; the lusting gym teacher, Russell Gettis (Jason Segel); and Lynn Davies, played by The Office’s Phyllis Smith. Lucy Punch plays the well named Amy Squirrel, a competitive fellow teacher who was last year’s winner of the state score prize money.

Directing like he has absorbed every episode of TV’s Reno-911 is Jake Kasdan (Freaks and Geeks TV series). For all the crotch shots alone, Kasdan just might graduate to grade 8.

There were those in the audience at Bad Teacher’s screening who consistently howled, nearly falling on the floor, at each utterance of the f-word, and at each toilet joke. Once again, the Judd Apatow-influenced school of witless comedy reinforces that we should bust a gut laughing at virtually the lowest of low humor. This is funny? No. This is 92 minutes of wasted acting talents given some of the most boorish set pieces imaginable.

Bad Teacher? Rename this one Terrible Flick.

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GRADE: On an A to F Scale: F

Despite dicey plot, 'X-Men: First Class' is spectacular fun

2011-06-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

It is about time, and I mean past and present when referencing superhero movies. We are aware, aren’t we, that at a given time in any such film franchise, there has to be a movie about the origin of said superhero. After three movies exploring the exploits of Dr. Xavier and his avenging band of mutant heroes, now is the right moment to release a prequel, explaining how it all began...when a flame thrower was merely an ember, and a mental condition did not yet elevate mountains. X-Men: First Class fills the sci-fi bill.

After all, two years ago, Star Trek fans were finally, after decades, given the lowdown on how Kirk, Spock and McCoy began the accent from their home planets into the universe in the prequel, Star Trek. Seeing a young cast in the Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley roles, framed in a story line befitting the legends they were portraying, was extremely entertaining. Knowing direction by J. J. Abrams undoubtedly helped the picture’s success.

Now, the heretofore independent director Matthew Vaughn grabs the reigns held by Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner in the previous three movies. Vaughn handles it very well, working the young cast through a troublesome script, concocted by a four-writer team. The core of their story, in addition to depicting how the future heroes and villains evolved, centers on an actual historical event of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is always dicey at best to mix historical fact with comic book fantasy, so the final product of X-M:FC bodes not so well.

In the 1960’s, DC Comics actually featured Superman in one issue, battling the Vietcong, well, a gigantic Vietcong soldier. Setting Superman in the jungles of Vietnam, during a current war, was a mistake. For one thing, Superman was there only to take care of essentially a super villain. Once the bad guy was captured, Superman then left the war in the hands of American soldiers. Incredibly, a weak explanation was given that Superman felt he should leave the matters of war between earthlings TO earthlings. In other words, Superman could have easily ended any war, actually, and anywhere on earth. Talk about an imbalance of power!

A similar dilemma occurs in X-M:FC. I do not want to be a story spoiler, so let us say there are some huge plot holes created when mixing the navies of the USA and USSR with super-mutants. Damn the true happenings during those terrifying JFK days, and full speed ahead to entertain 2011 audiences. Surely youngsters seeing X-M:FC will not be thoroughly misinformed with this much more entertaining history redux. It is scary to contemplate.

Then again, there is the origin of Erik Lensherr, who will eventually be Magneto, the X-Men’s supreme nemesis. X-M:FC repeats his beginnings, first told in X-Men (2000), wherein the young Erik is separated from his parents as they are incarcerated at a concentration camp, and violently reacts by using his mind/magnetic power to fight his Nazi captors. That sequence is then enlarged upon in this prequel to introduce a deliciously evil Kevin Bacon as Nazi interrogator Sebastian Shaw, who wants to use Erik’s powers. Fans of superhero movies realize that there has to be a strong adversary to make the movie work. Bacon is as rotten, conniving, and darkly brilliant as they come. It is his best work in years.

Then again, without being overly analytical, anyone possessing Erik’s powers could easily have defeated the Nazis and ended WWII. But that story possibility is quickly ignored. (Yeah, yeah, Erik had yet to fully realize his awesomeness, so there is a degree of credibility here after all.)

Now young adults, mentalist Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik (Michael Fassbender) have yet to assume their Professor X and Magneto monikers. They are friendly mutants just beginning to develop their powers. They befriend other mutants invited to live at Xavier’s home, as a psychological retreat if nothing else. We are eventually introduced, among others, to Jennifer Lawrence’s Raven/Mystique, Alex Gonzalez’s Janos Quested/Riptide, Nicholas Hoult’s Hank/Beast, and January Jones’ glassy-gorgeous Emma Frost. Unless you are a comic book freak, you will need a score card to keep track of all the heroes, villains, and changing names. (By the way, I consider myself a one-time comic book freak, having collected and traded throughout my youth--decades ago.)

Sure, the X-Men: First Class revisionist history, plot device is troublesome, but the film's digital effects provide enough spectacular action and levitation eye candy to soothe any blue Beast.

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GRADE on an A to F Scale: B

'Thor' hits nail with above average comic book action, dialogue

2011-05-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Comic Book 101 states: “In the DC Comics universe, an alien force/superhero is transported to earth (Superman) as a safe haven. In the Marvel Comics cosmos, an alien/superhero (Thor) is banished to earth as punishment.” So the creators of Thor envision our planet, particularly the New Mexico desert, where Thor lands, as a galaxial Abu Dhabi.

That pseudo-definition sets the premise for Thor, the latest in an ongoing long line of Marvel hero flicks. Prepare for the onslaught since creator Stan Lee claims there are 5,000 different characters owned by Marvel. For my loose change, Thor was always the clunkiest of all the Marvel characters. This is because Thor is basically a mythological muscle guy who totes a large, planet-shattering hammer.

Thor evidently impressed Kenneth Branagh, who fondly remembers reading the comic books as a boy, and then leaped at the opportunity to direct the film version. The result is an above average comic book-based film with--no surprise--Shakespearean shadings. Branagh’s background has notably been as director-star of several movie versions of Shakespeare’s plays. Thor’s costumes, grandiose sets, and mannered delivery mirror the Bard’s work. This is not saying Thor is another Henry V (also directed by Branagh). After all, Thor’s screenplay (by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stenz and Don Payne) is pretty simplistic, basically good versus evil. The good is symbolized in Thor, the evil are the ice warriors, the scary freeze terrors of deep space.

There is a whole lot of transporting in Thor, from the celestial kingdom located at the top of the universe to the frozen land of Jotunheim (ice warrior central) to planet earth, and back and forth. Thor and his friends are shown as blurry images, hurtling through space at warp speed.

The story opens in the New Mexico desert where fellow astrophysicists Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), and an assistant are driving while investigating strange goings on in the sky. They nearly collide with something that has just exploded just in front of them, and a human-like figure hits the side of their vehicle. It turns out that the explosion, causing a crater, is Thor’s power hammer, Mjolnir. (Yes, the hammer has a moniker. Think King Arthur’s Excalibur.) And that is Thor (Chris Hemsworth) himself, now stripped of his armor and cape after being banished from his outer space home, who runs into the side of the van.

It seems that King Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Thor’s father, was on the verge of bestowing his crown on Thor when Thor broke a treaty and sneaked off to seek vengeance on Odin’s enemy Laufey, who is ruler of the frozen land of Jotunheim. So Odin punishes his son by hurtling him to earth. This leaves Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as heir apparent, which is where the plot proverbially thickens like a bomb pop. Jealousy and the yearning for power factor in.

Back on Mama Earth, the embedded hammer, Mjolnir, resting in the center of the crater it created, has been sealed off by SHIELD, earth’s super secret intelligence agency. At the same time, Odin has evidently suffered a stroke, and is near death as his wife Frigga (Rene Russo) grieves. This all gives brother Loki, who has ice guy genes, opportunity to act out his dark side with Laufey who wants to rule the galaxy.

It does not take long for Thor to adapt to humans, and his fondness for Jane is reciprocated. Thor re-teams with his homeland pals, and gets to fight a gigantic, laser-zapping robot sent via Laufey. Incidentally, the sequence in which Thor’s friends stroll down the center of the street of the small, New Mexico town just after arriving is a ringer for the memorable scene in Superman II wherein General Zod and his two buds stroll down a small town’s street. However, Thor’s pals are town-friendly.

All said, Thor is above average movie eye candy. It is preferably viewed in 3-D, even though there is no spectacular, out-of-screen imagery. Nonetheless, Bo Welch’s opulent sets and Alexandra Byrne’s costumes dazzle. Branagh’s direction, as well as the writing, which includes an abundance of intelligent dialogue sequences (for a comic book), are a plus--as is the acting overall.

Thor is not as clunky as I recall, not at all.

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GRADE On an A to F Scale: B

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The THOR trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOddp-nlNvQ

PART II: The Sequel, Prequel, Remake, Superhero Summer of 2011

2011-04-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Two Marvels and a DC describe the comic book superheroes represented on screen over the next three months. There are also enticing to retched titles running the gamut from aliens to penguins to zombies.

THE SUPERHERO BUNCH

Thor (May 6)—Based on the clunkiest Marvel Comics superhero of them all (here played by Chris Hemsworth), since his shtick is having mythical roots, and wielding a large hammer. Sort of like Hercules carrying a clobberin’ club. That simple premise will pull me into the theater. Kenneth Branagh directing Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins is added attraction.

Green Lantern (June 17)—One of my childhood’s favorite DC Comics heroes, GL is green-ray driven through his power ring. Ryan Reynolds stars.

Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22)—Chris Evans dons red, white and blue to battle super Nazi Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) during WWII. Yet another Marvel hunk to unite the peace loving world.

INTRIGUING MOVIES…

Hobo with a Shotgun (May 6)--Rutger Hauer is the hobo, the shotgun plays itself. Sounds like the homeless have a superhero. This title has Snakes on a Plane appeal.

The First Grader (May 13)—An 80 year-old African enrolls in Grade 1.

Hesher (May 13)—Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a pot-headed, garage-dwelling rocker, man.

Midnight in Paris (May 20)—Woody Allen’s 42^nd film has star-laced cast including Kathy Bates and Owen Wilson.

Beautiful Boy (June 3)—A family stresses when the son decides to shoot up his school.

Beginners (June 3)—Ewan McGregor plays Christopher Plummer’s son, both dealing with dad’s gay revelation.

Super 8 (June 10)—J. J. Abrams directs harrowing story of teens filming their own zombie movie, and stumbling upon a real, living, dead person en route.

Buck (June 17)—Documentary of the last of the true cowboys. B. Brannaman.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins (June 17)—Channeling Ace Ventura, Jim Carrey is surrounded by six Gentoo Penguins. Also starring Angela Lansbury as an irate landlady.

Page One (June 17)—Documentary about The New York Times, behind the scenes.

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (June 24)—Tribulations and motivations of TV’s red headed, late night host are explored via documentary.

Larry Crowne (July 1)—Tom Hanks directs, stars with Julia Roberts, who plays his jr. college teacher. Hanks is highly motivated, his teacher is insensitive. The perfect love story.

Project Nim (July 8)—Disturbing, true story documenting Nim Chimpsy’s training to teach him human language.

Cowboys & Aliens (July 29)—Daniel (James Bond) Craig and Harrison Ford, director Jon Favreau, and producers Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard team in this big budget sci-fi western. The top of my must-sees.

Crazy, Stupid, Love (July 29)—Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone star in a romantic comedy of morals and manners. Will Carell have post-Office, box office chops? Looks likely.

The Help (Aug. 12)—All about African-American maids of wealthy whites, Down South, in the 1960’s. Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek, and Octavia Spencer star.

ODD, BUT WORTH THE TIME & MONEY?

The Beaver (May 6)—Blend Jodie Foster as star and director with co-star Mel Gibson as a suicidal guy who speaks through his beaver hand puppet.

Priest (May 13)—Horror flick set in aftermath of human vs vampire war.

Bad Teacher (June 24)—Just what American education needs these cutback days, a role model like the teacher Cameron Diaz portrays: a jr. high teacher who keeps pot and booze in her classroom. Justin Timberlake co-stars as a substitute teacher.

Horrible Bosses (July 8)—Three buddies team up to literally murder their respective bosses, a twist on Nine to Five. Kevin Spacey, Colin Ferrell, Jennifer Aniston star. A far from light comedy.

The Change-Up (Aug. 5)—Freaky Friday flip of swinging bachelor and a married guy exchanging identities. The fantasy of it all.

DON’T WANNA SEE, BUT PROBABLY WILL SINCE I’M A CRITIC

Passion Play (May 6)—Mickey Rourke’s jazz musician falls for Megan Fox, who has wings. Michael?

Bridesmaids (May 13)--The flip side of The Hangover, featuring rowdy babe pals carousing the town for a good time. Homage to the recent royal wedding, no doubt.

Submarine (June 3)—Teen strives to lose virginity to save his parents’ marriage.

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (June 10)—Any movie featuring Jaleel White (Steve Urkel of Family Matters) as a weird third grade teacher can’t be totally worthless, can it?

Just Like Me (June 10)--Arab-American stand-up comedians on tour. “Take my country, please!”

Trollhunter (June 10)—Trolls have infested Norway’s forests. Who do ya call?

Zookeeper (July 8)—Kevin James is a keeper of talking zoo animals voiced by Cher, Sly Stallone, Judd Apatow, and other human beings.

CRUM’S TOP 6 SUMMER MUST-SEE MOVIES: Cowboys & Aliens; Captain America: The First Avenger; The Help; Rise of the Planet of the Apes; Super 8; and Thor.

Keep this list until Sept. 1, and see if my predictions were correct. If they were not, please do not seek me out.

PART I: The Sequel, Prequel, Remake, Superhero Summer of 2011

2011-04-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

What can be said about summer movies? Summer good, summer not so. By September, we’ll know the successes and failures, but from an April, 2011 perspective, making predictions about the May-August movies is game-on. And what is gamier than an upcoming movie named Hobo with a Shotgun?

Of the 100+ movie openings beginning May 1, I have perused studio hype, production overviews, photos, interviews, and cast lists to help shape at least a semblance of credibility. The bottom line, however, is that it all whittles down to my own intestinal intuition (critic-speak for “gut feeling”). Factor in 60 years of viewing motion pictures, with a latter 35 years of critical scrutiny via review writing.

Superheroes have been scarce over the past couple of summers, but villains beware. This summer the DC and Marvel guys report for active duty in the guises of Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern, and X-Men. Even that sword wielding muscle guy, Conan the Barbarian, returns –minus Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Realize that producing a sequel or remake of a popular movie nearly always translates to box office bucks, and you will understand why studios seem to be out of original movie ideas. Why risk it? That is why the likes of Harry Potter, Transformers, Spy Kids, Cars, Kung Fu Panda, and even Winnie the Pooh will undoubtedly fill theaters this summer. Popular actors and directors are linked to a variety of titles over the next four months. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts team in Larry Crowne; Woody Allen’s 42^nd movie, Midnight in Paris, opens; Jim Carrey is surrounded in Mr. Popper’s Penguins; Jodie Foster directs Mel Gibson in The Beaver; and Harrison Ford straps on a holster to outshoot nasty ET’s in Cowboys & Aliens.

Filmgoers whose credo is to go the movies for pure escape, forgetting the cares and stresses of daily life, should love this summer. The aliens, talking cars, and giant hammer wielders are coming.

SEQUELS/PREQUELS, REMAKES/REBOOTS aka BOX OFFICE GOLD

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (May 20)—Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack returns to keep the franchise afloat.

The Hangover Part II (May 26)—It’s not my cup of booze to laugh at guy friends getting drunk and behaving like jackasses, but apparently the movie going mass loves it. A second round, barkeep.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (May 26)—Has it been three years since Jack Black voiced the Po bear? The Dragon Warrior returns.

X-Men: First Class (June 3)—Dr. Xavier’s back story of his pre-wheelchair, pre-skinhead days is told. James McAvoy takes over Patrick Stewart’s persona.

Cars 2 (June 24)—Disney/Pixar has added more colorful, talking cars five years after the original family hit.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (July 1)—Producers of this third take promise a better story than the last, the second, movie. Then again, the second movie made more than the first, so who’s counting quality?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 2 (July 15)—Finally? Finally! Fans are promised non-stop action and a figuratively emotional broomstick ride. THE event of summer’s flicks.

Winnie the Pooh (July 15)—Was it necessary for Disney to remake its own classic? Does computerizing it make it any better?

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Aug. 5)—Finally, after a bunch of sequels, a prequel. James Franco stars in the story of how a chimp first went ape over the gorilla his dreams. OK, went bananas. But seriously, this one sounds interesting since it follows the rise of simian dominance over humans. No Heston, but maybe a Statue of Liberty.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Aug. 12)—ANY film by director Guillermo del Toro, even a redo like this one, is worthy of note.

Conan the Barbarian (Aug. 19)—If this gives new star Jason Momoa the same career leverage it did Arnold, it could be Gov. Momoa down the line.

Fright Night (Aug. 19)—Roddy McDowall is gone, but Colin Ferrell could carry this 3-D take on the original’s creepy vampire tale.

Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (Aug. 19)—Is it worth dragging grade schoolers to see this installment?

Final Destination 5 (Aug. 26)—What a misnomer title, unless this is truly the finality. Let it be.

[Continued in Part II...]

Think piece 'Source Code' is terrifically paced, sci-fi thriller

2011-04-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Source Code is best described as a terroristic Groundhog Day, a reference to Harold Ramis’ already classic 1993 comedy-fantasy of a man (Bill Murray) repeatedly reliving the same day. While Source Code is anything but funny, it does involve a guy reliving a seven minute span, again, again, and again. Each time, he hones in closer on a mad bomber, with the goal of preventing detonation.

This is an unconventional think piece, impressively helmed by Duncan Jones, and penned by Ben Ripley (Species III). Reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report and Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun, Source Code is pretty much an original, self-described in ads as a “techno-thriller/action” picture. It is one of those movies that might require a second viewing to pick up missed nuances, due to plotting and characterizations.

Intellectual sci-fi fans will love it. The Transformers and Battle: Los Angeles visualists will get headaches from thinking too much.

A dictionary explanation of the term, “source code,” means text written in computer programming language, “specifying actions to be performed by a computer that will be directly read and executed.” Jake Gyllenhaal sensitively portrays Army Captain Colter Stevens. It is he who performs as the “source code,” having to carry out actions ordered by a seemingly nefarious government project, headed by the scientist Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright), and assisted by Captain Carol Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). Goodwin is the one with whom Stevens communicates most often, remotely, via microphone and computer. In fact, Stevens is entirely by himself in some capsule-like trappings, in uniform, and unable to free himself. From the beginning, it appears he is being experimented upon, and thus confined. His only link is with Goodwin and Rutledge at headquarters.

Of course, that does not count Stevens’ repetitious leaps, much like TV’s Quantum Leap, into a stranger’s (named Shawn) body. Slowly, Stevens discovers the reasons why he is being transported. Looking into a mirror on the train early on, he sees what others see: Shawn’s face. Yet we see Stevens’/Gyllenhaal’s mug. Clever device, this, again lifted from QL. On each return visit to the commuter train, Stevens becomes more familiar with his car’s inhabitants, particularly Christina (Michelle Monahan), the babe who is always sitting across from him. As clues lead Stevens to his objective, Christina becomes, more and more, a vital part of the mission.

Duncan Jones gives Source Code an almost unnerving sense of urgency, while maintaining the mystery surrounding Stevens’ existence. The hows and whys are answered by the triple-twist of a finale, which left at least one viewer at the screening asking me, “Do you understand what we just saw?” I explained it to her, but I won’t reveal it here. Let me amend that by saying, I tried to explain it to her.

There are times, particularly within Stevens’ confined quarters between leaps, that are unbearably claustrophobic--if being unable to get out of a dim, closely walled area bothers you like it does me. There are also times of tender, bittersweet caring, between Stevens and Christina, and Stevens and his father (voiced by Scott Bakula--star of Quantum Leap!).

Clearly, this first major film by rock star David Bowie’s son, Duncan, is a terrific indication of career success.

GRADE: On an A to F Scale: A-

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The Source Code trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkTrG-gpIzE

In and out of court, enjoyable ‘Lincoln Lawyer’ appeals

2011-03-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

The expected news about The Lincoln Lawyer is that star Matthew McConaughey once again bares his rippling chest. The really good news is this is McConaughey’s best film since A Time To Kill, back in 1996, when he played an easygoing lawyer in the Deep South. He is mostly easygoing in Lincoln Lawyer, except this time he is criminal attorney Michael “Mick” Haller, based in Los Angeles, and operating out of the back seat of his chauffeur driven Lincoln Continental.

Sure the car thing is a plot gimmick, as is his NTGUILTY license plate. As is his cool and reliable driver, Earl (Laurence Mason), who doubles as an investigator when things are tight. As is Mick’s close relationship with some tough bikers. (One of their gang is Mick’s client.) Mick is so assuredly collected that he maintains unbelievably positive vibes with his ex, Maggie (Marisa Tomei), who has custody of their little girl, Hayley (Mackenzie Aladjem).

Yet, appearances like the expensive car glitter are deceiving, Mick mostly handles inner city, small time court cases, which translate into paltry cash flow. His confidence, mixed with pricey suits and good looks, help carry the visual ruse. Mick seems to be biding his time, running cross town from one hearing to another. Then real money enters in the form of Beverly Hills playboy Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), who is accused of attempted murder.

As directed by Brad Furman (The Take) and written by John Romano, The Lincoln Lawyer develops into a deftly structured murder mystery with a few action scenes included. Although trial scenes occupy about a third of its nearly two hour run time, Furman balances both Mick’s private and professional life with fast pacing and adept camera work. As the story progresses, Mick Haller’s character changes from a pretty shallow, flim-flam lawyer to shrewd, responsible, and likable human being.

Mick’s attempted murder case segues into a mind game give and take with his client, and it is soon apparent our Lincoln attorney has gotten himself into a precarious, dangerous predicament. It certainly makes Mick question whether the huge retainer is worth it. In the process, he elicits help from his aide Frank Levin (William H. Macy in a small but pivotal role) and Val Valenzuela (John Leguizamo). More so for comedy relief, look for country music star Trace Adkins as Eddie Vogel, leader of the bikers.

As the credits rolled at the end, I was not only surprised about how impressive McConaughey was (and I do enjoy his romantic comedies and action filmography), but I also thought The Lincoln Lawyer would make a good series. Maybe this flick could actually spawn a movie franchise. At the very least, it could work on TV. The gimmickry is in place, reminiscent of Burke’s Law and the chauffeur driven Rolls. Mick’s character is smooth enough for a murder mystery of the week series. Everyone knows how popular attorney shows are these days.

In the meantime, we can enjoy The Lincoln Lawyer’s above average storytelling.

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GRADE: On an A to F Scale: B-

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The Lincoln Lawyer trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eee4rLnCOq8

THE DUKE

2011-03-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

NOTE: A good friend of mine, Kansas City film critic MARIE ASNER, wrote the following poem about JOHN WAYNE in the 1990's. The poem is now on display at the John Wayne Birthplace-Museum in Winterset, Iowa. Enjoy.

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THE DUKE

By Marie Asner

Head slowly lowers to blue flannel chest

with chipped buttons and coffee stain.

Stage hands quietly drift past

not touching elbow or boot.

Soft snore fills the air

for those privileged to sit nearby.

Lunch time for the crew,

but the Duke is dreaming

of a green actor with chance

to ride the stagecoach,

fight back leather outlaws

and softly say, "ma'am,"

to feminine hearts around the world.

He stirs and the dream shifts---

his bones were stiff but one last ride

with reins in mouth and two guns blazing

to capture villains with true grit,

and show the world he was still royalty.

The script girl gently clears her throat

and he wakes, rising to full height.

"Let's go, pilgrims."

Cast gathers for another take

as swirls of dust lightly brush hand-tooled boots

and the leading lady's heart flutters.

Keeping (sound) track of the movies

2011-03-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

NOTE: FILM COMPOSER JOHN BARRY’S DEATH ON JANUARY 20, 2011 PROMPTED THE FOLLOWING PIECE.

By Steve Crum

John Barry’s music coincided with, and helped perpetuate, my love of motion pictures. It was not until 1962 and Dr. No, when I was 15, that the movie score became integral for me in connecting with a given film.

That same year, Maurice Jarre’s Lawrence of Arabia soundtrack music cemented my appreciation for film music, which exists more than ever today. On a more subliminal level my fond recollection of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s compelling score for King’s Row dates to my preteen years, when I first saw the movie on TV. (OK, The Wizard of Oz and Disney animated musicals jam my recollections too, but we are talking scoring for non-musicals here.)

Realize too that until the dawn of Beta and VHS tapes, in 1975 and ’77, respectively, the only way to rent or “own” a favorite movie was via its soundtrack LP record. It is also true that one could, from the early 1950’s, audio tape an entire movie from TV, using a reel-to-reel tape recorder. This is something I did as well using my father’s machine, even though the tape would often run out before the movie ended. In those days, movies shown on TV were at least two decades old, not current like today. More extravagant budget types would collect movies, both old and relatively new, on 8 or 16 mm.

For the dollar challenged like yours truly, however, listening to a soundtrack album was the nearest thing to reliving a film recently seen in a theater. Listening conjured the movie’s images and dialogue, which was far better than relying solely on one’s memory. During radio’s golden era, pre-TV listeners did just that. They listened. From Charlie McCarthy to Jack Benny to dramatic programs like Suspense, listeners’ imaginations provided visuals to this solely audio medium. Radio writer/producer Arch Oboler called it, “Theater of the Mind.” (Many film composers, like Bernard Herrman and Jerry Goldsmith, launched their careers as composers for radio programs.)

Likewise, listening to soundtrack music triggers image and dialogue from any particular film--but only if the music is catchy, identifiable, and emotionally involving. The composer’s genius of interpretation and translation is key.

Plus, you could look at the album’s cover and liner notes to add to the illusion. A few albums included snippets of dialogue from the movie: The Odd Couple, along with Neal Hefti’s score; and Little Big Man, with a bountiful amount of dialogue, complemented by John Paul Hammond’s music, among them. Two LP’s were produced of the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton starring vehicle, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, based on Edward Albee’s play. One featured Alex North’s music only; the other, a double-LP, included all dialogue from the film. Both were simultaneously released by Warner Bros.

Record album tracks, like today’s CD tracks, were titled after specific scenes or themes. Barry’s Thunderball soundtrack album, for example, includes the track, Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang, a reference both to a character and a line of dialogue. Musical themes date back to the beginning of sound movies, even to silents. Max Steiner’s Tara’s Theme, from 1939’s Gone With the Wind, is by no means the first to emotionalize a person or thing (in this case, the O’Hara mansion). In 1915, D. W. Griffith’s silent classic, Birth of a Nation, included an original score by Joseph Carl Breil that was played by musicians in the movie theater during the film’s showing. Birth’s love theme was later adapted as the signature music for radio and TV’s popular, albeit controversial, Amos ‘n Andy.

Even without background music underscoring my words in this piece, surely my love for film scores is obvious.Of the 20 or so great film composers, my most admired and collected are a foursome: Elmer Bernstein, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, and Bernard Herrmann. God knows there are also hours of Rosza, Williams, Copland, Korngold, Waxman, Mancini, Steiner, Elfman, and Jarre in my abode. Maurice Jarre, in fact, nearly makes the final four with his magnificent rendering of Lawrence of Arabia alone.

In the heyday of collecting, my soundtrack LP’s numbered at 600+. That number has been reduced, due to economic, technological, and space reasons. Still, there are about 150 LP’s resting upright in plastic protectors, in my closet. These remaining albums are the rarest of the rare, until iTunes or commercial CD’s replace them. My Jerome Moross-composed The Cardinal used to be a lost soundtrack until iTunes recently made it available again via download.

Autographed soundtrack albums are rare, but I do have a CD of the Civil War epic, Gettysburg, signed by composer Randy Edelman. What I would not give for the soundtrack LP of 1956’s Forbidden Planet, signed on the cover by its composers, Louis and Bebe Barron. Their electronically produced music, with a Moog-ish sound, is considered an ahead-of-its-time classic due to its “electronic tonalities.” I bought this rarity via A-1 Record Finders, approximately 40 years ago, as a gift for a close friend. When he unexpectedly died two years ago, the Forbidden Planet album was among the items either sold or kept by his cousins. Let us hope it was not part of a dollar a handful, garage sale. Or, worse yet, that it was discarded. If someone now owns it, he or she has a gem of a collectible.

The same goes for my late friend’s vintage, still-in-the-box, Forbidden Planet “Robby the Robot” toy. Heavens to Morbius!

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Sit back and savor these tributes to four of the greatest film composers of all time...

ELMER BERNSTEIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MSYz3eKmQ0

JERRY GOLDSMITH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJ-rvGpW84

BERNARD HERRMANN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjsPc2bEedU

JOHN BARRY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYQ7dxwRkUM

Neeson searches for identity in thrill ride 'Unknown'

2011-02-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

In Unknown, Liam Neeson’s strong willed, righteous character goes on a tear against forces threatening both a loved one and himself. Er, wait a second. That describes Neeson’s 2008 flick, Taken--yet another double-syllabled, purposely vague movie title. But wait, there’s more. It also describes his current thriller, Unknown--with some differences. (A past box office hit can’t be totally cloned, can it?)

For one, Neeson’s current vengeful force, Dr. Martin Harris, is pursuing his own identity, and with it, his wife. In Taken, his guy tracked down his daughter’s kidnappers. In both films, Neeson’s persona is that of a relentless, one-man army, imparting death and suffering on those standing in his way.

Per formula, the gangly, towering Neeson appears first as a genial everyman who is soon provoked into commando mode. By the time he is on an fisticuffs roll, we are totally with him, sympathetic to his cause and boiling for revenge. It is a formula that has worked since the dawn of storytelling, and fits Neeson like an Isotoner glove.

Unknown is an old school thriller with edgy, frenetic action. Though not a perfect movie due to plot holes, Unknown hooks and reels us, however implausibly, for its nearly two hour running time. It is a thrill ride worthy of Hitchcock, which is high praise for its director, the relatively unknown Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan). Collet-Serra is a particularly stylish director, exemplified by the art gallery sequence, laced with cat-and-mouse weavings, by pursuer and the pursued, between and around painting display flats.

In fact, his directorial “weaving” is splendidly, and literally, showcased in several wild car chases shot in downtown Berlin. Talk about “wow.”

Collet-Serra has been very public about his admiration of the Master of Suspense and his film theme commonality. “My favorite films are those Hitchcockian thrillers that have that mysterious atmosphere,” he says, “where the audience is as much in the dark as the characters, and you don’t really now where the story is going to take you.” Unknown pretty much succeeds in this suspension of disbelief, as we root for our put upon hero to find the truth and, as previously said, himself.

That quest begins soon after Neeson’s Martin Harris and his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) arrive at the airport in modern day Berlin to attend an international meeting. Arriving at their hotel, Elizabeth goes inside to check in as Martin discovers his briefcase is missing. A simple matter, he thinks, as he takes a cab back to the airport to retrieve the item. Circumstances occur, however, and the cab wrecks. Martin awakens days later, his memory unclear. But soon he remembers, and forges back to the hotel to find his wife with a stranger (Aiden Quinn), who claims he is Dr. Martin Harris. Since Neeson’s Martin has since lost his passport and any identification, no one believes who he is. This includes his wife, who adamantly claims Quinn’s Martin as her husband.

So the story goes, and so goes Neeson’s Martin, just as adamant about proving his identity, and trying to find the truth behind his wife’s motive in disclaiming him.

Along the way, as he is put in the position of defending himself against assassins, he elicits help in proving who he really is by way of a young woman, Gina (Diane Kruger) and Ernst Jurgen (Bruno Ganz), a man of questionable past. Two others, played by Frank Langella and Sebastian Koch, also enter the equation.

One of my all time favorite TV programs was 24, which, week after week, clouded my logical sense via multiple plot twists, intense action, and loyalty to the central, determined character, Jack. It was not until after each episode that the show’s plot lackings would materialize. It was like taking a breath, and getting one’s mind back to solid ground. Unknown gave me a similar feeling. There are story questions that remain unanswered. For example, screenscribes Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell have created a Berlin with virtually ineffectual police. After long stretches of either violent car chases or violent shootings within the heart of the city, police as pretty much invisible. They certainly never show up to impede any wild violence depicted.

Worse yet, and this is the major weakness, if Neeson/Harris has no idea of who he really is, why isn’t any DNA testing done? His fingerprints alone should do the trick. This is 2011 Germany?

Still, Unknown is a nail-biter, an edge-of-seater, and a fast couple of hours. It is just as well that its action moves faster than logic.

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GRADE: On an A to F Scale = B-

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The known trailer to UNKNOWN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-lDfKb2SBA

'Green Hornet' buzzes down, out to zzzzzz

2011-01-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

What an odd choice, morphing a quasi-superhero genre with Jackass comedy. Make that an odd, wrong choice, since The Green Hornet is a grating misfire even before the first screech of Black Beauty’s ultra-vulcanized tires.

The movie, which overwhelms with explosions and car wrecks (in 3-D yet), is a wreck that wrecks itself. Now, that’s an underachievement. Seth Rogen, who co-produced and co-wrote The Green Hornet with Evan Goldberg, cast himself in the title role. Like the movie’s childish central character Britt Reid, he obviously had an egocentric moment, several moments, in the writing and casting.

Created by George W. Trendle, in 1936, for radio, The Green Hornet was a champion of justice, much like a modern Lone Ranger, another masked hero, except from the 19th Century West, whose roots are also in radio. Trendle created both characters, The Lone Ranger born first (1933), and even fictionally connected the two via the Reid family tree. Britt Reid/The Green Hornet is the grandnephew of John Reid aka The Lone Ranger. Both heroes had sidekicks: Tonto for the Ranger, Kato for the Hornet. The Ranger rode his great horse, Silver; The Hornet drove his great sedan, Black Beauty. And Beauty was a beast with revved up horsepower.

“He hunts the biggest of all game, public enemies who try to destroy our America!” That was the weekly intro for the radio series, which was broadcast, off and on, until 1952. A so-so Green Hornet movie serial followed in 1940, and a pretty lackluster, one season TV show came and went in 1966. (But it did feature some fun kicks and punches by Bruce Lee as Kato.) There were also Green Hornet comic books, beginning in 1940. So much for the somewhat glorious Hornet history, and now Seth Rogen has placed his dorky self in the tarnished franchise. (He always looks like he has a chaw of tobacco in his craw each time he speaks.) Evidently, the Trendle Estate gave this take its sanctioned blessing, undoubtedly swayed by the cash. Notice George W. Trendle Jr.’s name on the production credits.

What Rogen and cohorts have done, along with director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), is “re-imagine” (that’s the popular, coined word these days) Britt Reid as a spoiled late 20-something, who despises his wealthy, late father, James (Tom Wilkinson) so much he lives to destroy basically everything connected with him. There is a flashback that shows the dad’s extreme cruelty when he destroys a superhero doll young Britt adores. Britt eventually grows up in age, but lacking mental and emotional savvy.

Believe it or not, according to this movie, the first caper Reid and Kato (Jay Chou) tackle is to dress up in costumes and masks, hop in the impressive Black Beauty (created by the genius Kato), and drive to the park to literally saw off his father’s statue’s head as a prank. In fact, the breadth of the movie involves prank after prank, with Kato saving the idiot Britt’s butt in fight after fight. The Hornet just happens to encounter street gangs and thugs along the way, and blasts his way to safety (or Kato covers him), accidentally saving good people’s lives in the process. However, it is appalling that several policemen early on, pursuing in police cars, are wiped out by The Green Hornet as well. Such is the irresponsible Green Hornet persona scripted herein. Therefore, this “hero” is more often a punk felon out for a joy ride, who just happens to cross paths with the leader of the city's crime syndicate, Chudnofsky, played by last year’s Oscar winner for Inglorious Basterds, Christoph Waltz. His character is scripted as a cold blooded killer, with a large, double-barreled pistol, no less. Yet he is nearly as lame brained, and semi- humorous, as Rogen’s Hornet.

The movie’s pluses include a cameo by James Franco (127 Hours), and welcome but wasted support by Edward J. Olmos and Cameron Diaz. The car is stupendous. Actually, there are several Black Beauty vehicles in the movie, souped up with Knight Rider-like features. However, the negatives far outweigh any positives. The 3-D is wasted, having been an afterthought. (The end credits look cool with awesome depth, but that is it.) There are too many wrecks, too many explosions, too much broken glass, and a too loud soundtrack. There is an extended sequence between Kato and Reid that appears to mock the Peter Sellers’ Clouseau and (his) Kato scenes wherein they relentlessly try to out fight each other inside Clouseau’s apartment. A tribute to the late Blake Edwards, who directed the Pink Panther movies, this is not.

What should have been, could have been. It sure isn’t this Green Slacker.

Take my advice, please. Debuzz this Green Hornet, and look toward what appears to be a faithful adaptation of another early 20th Century pop culture icon, who also favors the lucky color, The Green Lantern. It opens June 17.

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GRADE: On an A to F Scale: D

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The Green Hornet trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9btZIK3Obpg

‘The Social Network’ chosen 2010’s Best Film by KC critics

2011-01-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

The Social Network, a compelling dramatization of the origin and ownership battles of the internet’s Facebook, was named Best Film of 2010 by the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, Jan. 2. The Social Network also garnered a Best Adapted Screenplay win for Aaron Sorkin.

Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi vision of mind control through entering another’s dreams, Inception, topped three other categories, including The Robert Altman Award for Best Direction (Nolan). Other winners include Best Actor, Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) and Best Actress, Natalie Portman (Black Swan).

The complete list of winners:

Best Film

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Robert Altman Award for Best Director

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN--INCEPTION

Best Actress

NATALIE PORTMAN--BLACK SWAN

Best Actor

COLIN FIRTH--THE KING’S SPEECH

Best Supporting Actress

HAILEE STEINFELD--TRUE GRIT

Best Supporting Actor

CHRISTIAN BALE--THE FIGHTER

Best Foreign Language Film

MOTHER

Best Animated Film

TOY STORY 3

Best Documentary

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

Best Original Screenplay

INCEPTION--CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

Best Adapted Screenplay

THE SOCIAL NETWORK--AARON SORKIN

Vince Koehler Award for Best Fantasy, Science Fiction or Horror

INCEPTION

The KCFCC is the second oldest film critics society in the United States, and was established by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.

Neon eye candy is sole strength of 'Tron: Legacy'

2010-12-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

First, foremost, and out front literally and figuratively, Tron: Legacy is in 3-D. Without this in your face effect, Tron: Legacy would hardly be worth one’s time. Well, to be fair, the neon-like images are spectacular, as neon tends to be. Stars Jeff Bridges and Garrett Hedlund play second or third fiddle to the glitz, so place your movie ticket bet on vibrant reds and blues that reach out of the screen to be the main attraction here. It’s all in the eye candy.

What first strikes one about this sequel to the first Tron movie, coincidentally called Tron and released in 1982, is that it was even considered box office worthy enough for a repeat try. That is because the first film, also starring Jeff Bridges, was only a minor monetary success. Maybe that’s why it took 28 years to come back? Actually, Tron: Legacy has been “re-imagined” by director Joseph Kosinski and his team of eight (count ‘em) screenwriters. Included are digital tech advances, CGI effects, and a dash of 3-D. (The 3-D here is used sparsely, and seldom noticeable.) On the plus side, there was and has remained a cult following for the original Tron movie. In 1982, its hand drawn special effects and unusual story line were cutting edge.

All this discussion presents what appears to be a major roadblock toward Tron: Legacy’s success. That is, what about today’s younger audience who has never seen the first Tron? Seeing the first movie would definitely help explain why Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn character is still missing from the real world, and living inside a computer grid. Sure there is a flashback of Kevin telling his son goodbye, as he ventures off two decades past. Warp speed forward to the present, and 27 year-old Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is at last determined to track down his MIA papa. This means a trip to dad’s old computer warehouse haunt, and a plug-in trip zapping him small enough to fit on a mini-chip. Once inside the neon laced kingdom, he continues his search.

“Tron: Legacy is technically a stand-alone film, so you can come to this movie clean and enjoy it, and the story will hold up for what it is.” So says the film’s producer, Sean Bailey. Again, I beg to differ. Certainly one who has never seen the first flick will catch on to what is transpiring in this second “imagining,” at least in a general way. However, one also needs to understand Kevin Flynn’s trials, tribulations, and obsessive drive that led him to discovering and carrying through with his original journey inside computer-land. All that is in 1982’s Tron. Not that either movie is that deep or layered. Rephrase Bailey’s statement to include, “...And enjoy it to a degree....”

Really, there are three reasons to appreciate Tron: Legacy. First is the incredible CGI effect of duplicating the Jeff Bridges of nearly 30 years ago in face and body. A nearby fellow critic asked me if these scenes were pulled from the original Tron. They were not. The “youthful” Bridges is seen both in flashback and as a clone within the cyber grid. There is also the present day, somewhat aged Bridges depicted (no CGI for this).

Secondly, the neon-graced highways, buildings, weapons, vehicles, and human types within the computer are dazzling. Lastly, the races between illuminated Lightcyles and airplanes are delightful. That goes for the numerous stand-offs between the gladiators as they whirl their life discs at each other, shattering opponents upon contact.

But the biggest complaint about Tron: Legacy is its script, particularly the weak plot line. It makes one wonder about Kosinski’s next project, a “re-imagining” of the Disney flop of 1979, The Black Hole. If at first one does not succeed...?

GRADE: On an A to F Scale: C-

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Take the neon tour with the trailer to TRON: LEGACY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9szn1QQfas

Ballet mixes with psychotic terror in edgy 'Black Swan'

2010-12-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

It takes only 20 minutes into Black Swan for its familiarity to surface. Somewhere we have seen this troubled central character, Nina, before. Her paranoid, driven personality has been a fascinating, and always disturbing, fixture in a number of motion pictures. For one, Humphrey Bogart’s Fred. C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre comes to mind. But Black Swan really has the stylized, frenetic look and feel of Roman Polanski’s The Tenant, in particular. Like The Tenant, Black Swan digs under one’s skin in creepy ways.

Aptly called a “psycho, sexual thriller” by National Public Radio, Black Swan is a story told from the Nina’s point of view. Knowing this before seeing the movie is a spoiler edge, so I apologize. Realize, however, it is nearly impossible to critique the film without this reference tab. Here we have Nina, brilliantly played by Natalie Portman in an Oscar worthy performance. Portman succeeds in both credibly acting the tortured, tormented ballerina, as well as playing out the dancing sequences quite incredibly. Portman obviously desired this part to the max through six months of ballet training so she would look the part without using a double. It was worth it. Black Swan is the high point of Portman’s acting career thus far.

As Portman relentless trained for her role, her Nina Sayers character is even more obsessed with dance perfectionism. Director Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, released a year ago, dealt with a similar theme of an athlete (a wrestler) driven to perfection at risk of body and mind. Aronofsky and screenwriters Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin fashioned Black Swan around a ballerina on the verge of stardom via her casting as the lead in Swan Lake.

She is one of two understudies being considered to replace reluctantly outgoing prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) in the upcoming Swan Lake production. As if Nina herself is not already driven over the proverbial top in her strive, she has to deal with both the dance director’s incessant criticisms regarding her perceived faults and her stage mother’s overindulgence in her life and career in the apartment they share. Her mother Erica is played with cold reserve by Barbara Hershey, who at first glance resembles Geraldine Chaplin. Added to these pressures, along with Nina’s self doubts and stresses, is Nina’s understudy rival, Lily (Mila Kunis).

It is apropos that Swan Lake is the featured ballet since it traditionally features the prima ballerina portraying both the white and black swans, which represents Nina’s split, and corrupted, personality. “I want to be perfect,” says Nina early on. Her perfectionist desire drives the story.

The film includes images of sex acts, bloody murder, and creature transformations. But are we witnessing reality or illusion, and why? (Again, I cannot divulge too much.) Just realize the setting of Black Swan is the world of ballet, an art which explores love and death through the symbolism of music and dance. Mix in a ballerina with extreme self esteem issues, and you get a fascinating, edgy film.

GRADE: On an A to F Scale: A-

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The Black Swan trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jaI1XOB-bs

'Deathly Hallows' is more spectacular, brooding than ever

2010-11-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

By Steve Crum

Spectacular and increasingly brooding as ever, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 marks the near end of the series and--we assume--franchise. (Spinoffs, anyone?) It is, for the 11 souls unaware, the film version of J. K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter novel. Forgive the half-truth. The grand finale (Part 2) plays mid-July, 2011.

Yes, Deathly Hallows 1 is a cliffhanger that abruptly, yet elegantly, concludes after nearly two and a half hours, Do not look for a ”To Be Continued” insert, however. This lack of story resolution will still disappoint Potter fans, even though they knew it was coming. Anticipation is everything, isn’t it? When Star Wars originally baited us to wait three years between chapters, it was a killer. Prepare for more pain.

The Potters have now stretched through seven magical films, or eight including the second half out next summer, over the last decade. Even more incredible is its three main stars have not totally outgrown their characters. Of course, their book counterparts also aged. In either case, these more mature Deathly Hallows actors are a long stretch from retirement age.

Each Potter episode offers its own character revelations, its own visual dazzles. Deathly Hallows is the most foreboding and shocking of them all, Steve Kloves, who has written all the Potter screenplays, has faithfully adapted Rowling’s final chapter to emphasize the book’s tensions on the race to resolution. David Yates’ crisp, fast paced direction helps.

Among the myriad delights, Deathly Hallows features multiple Harrys, a clever, fun ID safeguard for our central wizard boy. Essentially, Harry’s clones guard Harry’s life. In addition, there are group scenes and interactions of all Hogwarts’ good guys as well as all its villains, including the giant serpent. (It becomes more than a mere man eater here.) Central to Deathly Hallows hype is the well publicized death of one of the major characters. I don’t know about Part 2, but there are at least three well knowns who violently kick off (SPOILER DANGER) in Part 1. Enough, maybe too much, said on this grim point.

Briefly, the story follows two plot lines, one being the Dark Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) control of the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. The grand old wizard academy has transitioned from a warm, eccentric, learned institution of wizardry to a cold, dungeon-like, warehouse of evil. Quidditch has given way to Voldemort’s Death Eaters. Unfriendly skies, indeed.

Harry, Ron and Herione (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) team to finish the late Prof. Dumbledore’s quest to find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat Voldemort. Despite sparse hope to succeed, they race cross country to attain the Deathly Hallows trifecta: The Elder Wand (buried with Dumbledore), a Resurrecting Stone, and The Invisibility Cloak. (Another spoiler: Michael Gambon has a cameo as Dumbledore.)

It is no shock that the friendship between Harry, Hermione and Ron is further tested, since that has been the case in every Potter movie so far. However, this time around, their comradery veers toward tragedy. Just a side note: As the three actors have aged since the first Potter film premiered in 2001, so have their acting skills. Unknowns then, they are forever a well known, vital part of the Potter legacy. There will no doubt be a rerun of this and similar nostalgic thoughts in my Part 2 review next year.

Maybe I am a bigger Harry Potter fan that I have thought all these years.

A TRIVIA TONGUE IN CHEEK: Look for an Equus poster on the background wall in the London diner scene with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Daniel Radcliffe starred in that very play.

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GRADE On an A to F Scale: B

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The Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzfEH0UPEBo

RICHARD BOONE, from 'Medea' to 'Medic' to Paladin

2010-11-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

Pictured: RICHARD BOONE as DR. KONRAD STYNER in MEDIC. [From Steve Crum's show biz memorabilia collection.]

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By Steve Crum

Although he will be forever known as Paladin in the long running (1957-63) TV western, Have Gun-Will Travel, RICHARD BOONE (June 18, 1917-Jan. 10, 1981) had a life and career worthy of his own reality series, had such existed in those days. Boone appeared in over 50 movies and TV shows, as well as acting on Broadway.

After serving in the Navy during WWII, Boone used his GI Bill opportunity to take acting lessons. His talent and drive were immediately obvious, sparking a short run of plays on Broadway in 1947, beginning with Medea and Macbeth. Contracted by Twentieth Century Fox, Boone’s first film was The Halls of Montezuma (1950), starring Richard Widmark. Segue to television, and Richard Boone portrayed Dr. Konrad Styner in the early, influential medical series, Medic (1954-56). Boone introduced each episode as Styner, and acted in many of them. Incidentally, the series’ theme music, Blue Star, composed by Victor Young, is considered one of the most memorable TV themes of all time. Boone received his first Emmy nomination for his portrayal.

Boone received two Emmy nominations for playing the highly educated and moralistic hired gun with a conscience in Have Gun-Will Travel. Following his departure from the series, he developed and starred in The Richard Boone Show, a dramatic anthology series that regrettably ran only one season, from 1963-64. After his family moved to Hawaii, Boone was offered the title role of Steve McGarrett in the upcoming series, Hawaii Five-0, but turned it down. (Jack Lord then got the part.) It is interesting to note that Boone is responsible for convincing the show’s producer to film the series in Hawaii, a decision that benefitted not only the show’s ratings, but Hawaii’s Tourism Dept.

Other TV roles followed, most notably Boone’s Hec Ramsey western-detective series, which ran from 1972-74. Movie appearances, over the years, include three with John Wayne (The Alamo, Big Jake, The Shootist), The Night of the Following Day (with Marlon Brando), and The Big Sleep (with Robert Mitchum).

Shortly before Richard Boone died of throat cancer in 1981, he wrote a newspaper column for a Florida newspaper, and taught acting.

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Some Richard Boone Family Trivia: He was a descendant of Squire Boone, Daniel Boone’s brother. Richard’s nephew is Randy Boone, who co-starred on TV’s western series, The Virginian. Oh yes, he is also a cousin of Pat and Debbie Boone.

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A Personal Note: In the late 1950’s, during Have Gun’s run, my Aunt Ada Holley bumped into Richard Boone. Literally. While shopping with her family in Tijuana, Aunt Ada was chasing her young son through the aisles of a shop. Partially bent down as she ran, she turned a corner, and head butted Richard Boone in his chest. He was taken aback, but laughed, as she nervously did too. She apologized, he accepted such, and off she went to grab her little boy. Have Kid-Will Travel.

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A clip from the opening of MEDIC, starring RICHARD BOONE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6LUMnuR0P4&feature=related

Eastwood's 'Hereafter' is heartfelt, sensitive storytelling

2010-10-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Clint Eastwood has chosen to tell the compelling Hereafter as three stories set in a like number of international locations with Matt Damon’s character serving as the interconnecting lightning rod. As its title suggests, Hereafter deals with death; however, its focus is on departed souls’ influence on and communication with the living. Although various precepts of love are plot elements, the film is not so much a love story as it is a story of loving in humane ways. Hereafter is a heartfelt, sensitive film, qualities inherent in most of Eastwood’s directed work, particularly over the past decade.

Matt Damon is George Lonegan, a laborer working in San Francisco with his brother Billy (Jay Mohr). Lonegan used to have a much more lucrative job, at least potentially so, when he discovered his ability to connect with the afterlife. His brother relentlessly encourages him to take advantage of his gift, but George has found it to be more of a curse. The emotional impact of his readings (he merely touches the person to connect with his or her dearly departed) has worn him down to the extent he avoids socializing with virtually everybody. Yet potential clients seek him out to speak to a departed loved one.

There is a particularly telling sequence wherein George takes a chance in exposing his celebrity as a psychic, and enrolls in a cooking class, which he feels will be a safe and fun way way to socialize while avoiding death issues. What he does not count on is being partnered with cute redhead Melanie (Bryce Dallas Howard--Ron Howard’s daughter). Their blindfolded, taste-testing scenes are charming and funny. In fact, they border on the erotic with close-ups of lips and tongues, reminiscent of the eating scene in Tom Jones. (This is a new Eastwood turn.) As their food partnership segues into a serious relationship outside of class, the plot takes serious, sad turns.

Concurrently, French journalist Marie Leley (Cecile de France) is vacationing with her boyfriend when a Tsunami hits their island resort. (Actually, this spectacular sequence opens the movie.) The tidal wave hits while she is shopping downtown, with disastrous results. Without giving away far too much, I will say her experience will later inspire her to write a memoir about the incident. Eastwood’s recreation of the Tsunami is realistic and terrifying, certainly an achievement for his digital/special effects gurus.

Eastwood and screenscribe Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon) add the story of London schoolboys Marcus and Jason, well acted by twin brothers Frankie and George McLaren, to the plot triad. Not long into its initial sequence, wherein the boys’ wretched life with their alcoholic mother is depicted, a turn of events puts Marcus on his own. Without getting too specific, this eventually triggers a search to personally meet with George, whose reputation as a legitimate psychic is well known. Scenes of Marcus as he stubbornly pursues George are alternately humorous and disturbing. Eastwood handles the material superbly.

It is no coincidence that George Lonegan a super fan of Charles Dickens, and that Hereafter plays out much like a Dickens novel. Chance meetings, coincidence, characters (in this case George, Marie and Marcus) crossing paths later in the story, a search for the truth, and destiny are elements familiar to Dickens’ readers.

Eastwood has used subtitles before, as in the Japanese sequences of Letters From Iwo Jima, and he uses them here, sparingly, in the French portions. Factoring in the on location filming in Paris and London, low key dialogue-speak, the multiple plot structure, and long takes, Hereafter has a foreign film look and feel.

It should not be surprising that Clint Eastwood has created a thoughtful work with exemplary acting (Damon, de France and McLaren), and a compelling story that wrenches and tugs at tears and heart. He continues to reinforce his reputation as one of the most important filmmakers of our time.

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GRADE: On an A to F Scale: A

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The trailer for HEREAFTER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFBXzWTL9N4

Absorbing 'Social Network' is high profile, fascinating

2010-10-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Ironies abound in The Social Network, a fact-based, fictional film about the creation, impact, and financial gold strike of Facebook. The first irony is that I had to tear myself away from Facebook at home to drive to a screening of a movie about the very addictive site I just left. Irony 2 involves the story’s main character, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), who conceived the idea for the world’s largest Internet chat room, yet has scarce public social mores himself. In fact (Irony 3), virtually everyone involved with the technical and business parts of Facebook appears to have negligible one-to-one communication skills.

The Social Network is a fascinating, absorbing film well worth friending.

Opening at a Boston bar in 2003, the story focuses on nerdy Harvard sophomore Zuckerberg as he repeatedly, dare say intellectually, insults his girlfriend (Rooney Mara). After she sharply tells him off and leaves, he storms back to his dorm room, determined to revenge himself by posting negatives about her on his blog. It turns out to be a near lethal move on his part. His displeasure then turns to rampage against all female students. Zuckerberg hacks into Harvard’s main frame to access sorority photos he then exploits via “Hot or Not” beauty contests posted on Harvard’s network. Feedback is immediate and lasting; thousands of Harvard students are viewing his postings.

A couple of steps down the line, Zuckerberg’s genius computer skills further refined, the origins of Facebook emerge. Like Facebook, the plot is about the step-by-step connections that led to its creation and popularity.

The Social Network’s credentials are stellar. Director David Finch also helmed Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, two superb films noted for their innovative, precise storytelling. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin penned Charlie Wilson’s War as well as 154 episodes of TV’s The West Wing. Sorkin has taken Ben Mezrich’s book, The Accidental Billionaires, and structured TSN around the numerous lawsuit hearings that occurred as Facebook grew to worldwide popularity. For example, litigant Zuckerberg and his attorney face off behind closed doors against former Facebook partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and his counsel. Flash back to the origin of their conflict when the two were Harvard roommates just beginning their website.

The flashbacks reveal the growing problems, many of them ego-based, that led to to mistrust and legal backstabbing. Amongst the fray is Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who befriends Zuckerberg not long after Facebook launch, and immediately causes more rifts within the growing Facebook empire. Timberlake, incidentally, does a fine job as the Napster music site entrepreneur.

The two leads, however, give the film its credible base. Saverin portrays Garfield as an insecure, constant whiner, contrasted to Eisenberg’s rapidly speaking, distant, and pretty much emotionless egghead, Zuckerberg. He comes across as a close cousin of The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper, minus the humor.

It is difficult to feel empathy when the lead characters are millionaires beset by lawsuits threatening their megabucks. An on-screen tag informs us that Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in the world.

Witnessing their ego-based tantrums certainly does not trigger our tear ducts either. It is sort of like observing a fender bender between two Rolls-Royces. However, the attraction of wealth colliding with wealth is unique voyeurism. Fincher and Sorkin understand that tableau quite well, being very good storytellers.

GRADE on Scale of A to F: A-

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Trailer of The Social Network: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4

Affleck's direction, not acting, makes 'The Town' watchable

2010-09-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

Ben Affleck is a far better director (and writer) than he is an actor. Gone Baby Gone, the 2007 kidnapping drama wherein he directed his brother Casey, asserted such; The Town tries hard for confirmation. Affleck wrote, directed and stars in The Town, an above average heist flick. Don’t be misled, however. The Town has exciting action sequences, including cleverly staged car chases and bank/armored car robberies. The down side is its long stretches of talk, talk pleading for edits. Just as we are beginning to nod off from a combination of Affleck’s slurring words and wordy dialogue, a cut to the bad guys dressed as nuns in fright masks awakens us again.

Affleck’s acting deficiency stems from his stiff body language and mumbling speech pattern. NOTE TO MR. AFFLECK: Ben, e-n-u-n-c-i-a-t-e. Project a bit, actually a lot more. You’ve written yourself a slew of intimate dialogue scenes in The Town, yet you could barely be understood. Your rigid, tight lips make reading them impossible. Regards, A Wannabe Fan of Your Acting.

The Town’s real acting honors go not to Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, who does an admirable, credible job as the lead FBI agent, but to Jeremy Renner, last year’s Oscar nominee for The Hurt Locker, itself a Best Picture winner. You just cannot take your eyes off of Renner in any scene. He is a charismatic, dynamite performer. That he portrays a psychopathic killer, with a hint of Joe Pesci’s style, accentuates his presence even more.

The movie’s preamble explains the setting, the Boston suburb of Charlestown, a neighborhood that accounts for most of the 300 bank and armored car robberies occurring in Boston each year. In fact (we assume it is actual fact), Charlestown leads the nation in bank robbers, per capita. The robbers are highly organized, efficiently operating like a family run, albeit mafia-type, business, One of its lieutenants, Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), has tried to break out of the “family,” but is harkened back again and again. He is estranged from his father (Chris Cooper), who is serving prison time.

MacRay has a tenuous relationship with his closest friend since childhood, Jem (Jeremy Renner), despite Jem’s tendency to explode at virtually nothing. After a heist wherein Jem viciously kills a bank officer, a witness (Rebecca Hall) just happens to cross paths with McCray at a laundramat. Who would have thunk? Since he was masked during the robbery, she does not recognize him, but he soon recognizes her. No surprise they fall in lust and love, and that is where this plot revelation ends. Their relationship becomes more and more complicated, let’s say.

Cut to FBI agent Frawley (Jon Hamm), who is leading a task force to outwit and stop the slew of robberies. Each crime is planned and executed to the hilt, leaving behind zero clues. Robbery in this neighborhood has become precision art. Like most crime films, the back and forth interplay between police and criminals is key. Outwitting each other is the game.

The Town features powerhouse actors, besides those already mentioned, Pete Postlethwaite, Blake Lively, and Titus Welliver. Postlethwaite is always a presence, and particularly strong here.

Add to the pluses a riveting, action score by composers Harry Gregson-Williams and David Buckley.

GRADE on a Scale of A to F: B-

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Photo: Ben Affleck directs Jon Hamm on location.

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THE TOWN trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ7wcayQQLQ

A morning conference with JERRY LEWIS

2010-09-08T04:15:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

On Nov. 8, 1995 at 10 a.m., if memory serves, I was among 20 reporters awaiting the entrance of Jerry Lewis in the large dining room of the then Alameda Plaza Hotel, located on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. Folding chairs were set up, and TV cameras topped tripods, all facing the podium where Lewis would soon stand. My front row seat would provide close proximity to one of my show business idols.

Lewis was in town as part of the five year, cross country tour of his hit Broadway revival, the musical Damn Yankees. Lewis portrayed the glitzy dressed devil, the part Ray Walston had introduced four decades before. This press conference was undoubtedly an event repeated in city after Damn Yankees city. It was a hammy event, to be sure. Lewis entered from the back of the room, which gave sustained time for awaiting reporters to stand and wildly applaud. Lewis walked very much like Benny or Hope, his arms swinging in cadence, his walk an ego strut. He wore a dark sweater with large, yellow and red diamond shapes on front, both long sleeves pulled up to mid-arm. Chic casual. He looked very healthy then at 69. Fifteen years later, the contrast is stark.

Behind the rostrum, Lewis acknowledged our applause, shouting into the mike, “I’ll just stand here for a few minutes. I know you want to look at me.” And we did. The applause continued for another 30 seconds. Finally, he began the session with cordial remarks about his happiness at being in KC, particularly in a Broadway musical venue. The Q&A went on for about 45 minutes.

Lewis joked that playing the devil was perfect for him since he “has had years of experience with it.” He reminisced, speculated and philosophized about show business and his life. “I wake up every day and I’m a smash hit,” he said. He spoke of what fuels him, of his incentive and drive. Of his excitement to perform, even after 64 years, he said, “There is a misconception of boredom I feel fulfilled in a rush, and I don’t have turbulent innards.” As to why he was taking five years to tour, he answered, “I don’t believe in doing things half way.” His own favorite films are The Nutty Professor and The King of Comedy. His mentors are Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin.

Define laughter. “It’s a safety valve that shuts off everyting else for a moment.” What about your heir-apparent, Jim Carrey? ”If we’re not careful, we’re gonna lose him due to studio control and burnout.” Where do you get inspiration? “The information you take from people like Al Jolson is infinite.” When will you stop doing the MDA telethon? “When they lay me in the box. I started something and I plan to finish it.”

Lewis was surprisingly polite, reserved, and focused. When one reporter made a semi-intellectual observation about the persona of the Buddy Love character in Lewis’ classic comedy, The Nutty Professor, Lewis complimented him for asking “the best, most incisive question I have heard today.” I felt compelled to one-up the guy, and dazzle Jerry Lewis with an even better question, one that no one else had even come close to asking.

“Jerry, what is the possibility of your movie, The Day the Clown Cried, finally being released?” I know I heard a gasp from at least five reporters seated around me. THIS was a question that had not been asked because no one was supposed to ask it! I had not been clued in. The Day the Clown Cried had supposedly been completed overseas, possibly shot in Poland, some time back. No one asked about it because Jerry did not want to discuss it. Ever. I have learned since that it will never be shown. Supposedly, the only copy of it rests in Jerry’s vault, and only a handful of cherished pals have ever seen even a snippet of it. The film has become urban legend.

Here is why. In it, Jerry portrays a Jewish inmate in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII, who is also a professional clown. His job is to dress as a clown and lead Jewish children to the gas chambers, giving them their literal last laugh. Supposedly, Lewis took the role to showcase both his dramatic and comedic skills. This would be the ultimate challenge for an artist, outdoing even Chaplin. Then the production ran short of money to finish the film. There were legal conflicts regarding who owned the property. Orson Welles had nothing compared to this fiasco.

It was an unmentionable around Lewis. So I unwittingly dropped it on him like a pregnant cassowary. He did not explode, he did not falter. He answered that the film will never be publicly shown, and that he has not even seen it. Lewis said the print was still in Sweden, and that he was legally fighting to own it. “It is like losing a child,” he said. That was that.

Incidentally, two things happened during and after the press conference that made me take Jerry’s reputation of being irrascible and prone to verbal explosions with a grain of Morton. First, there was the incident right in the middle of the press conference, when two numbskulls from a local radio station crashed the proceedings by rudely walking up to Lewis as he was answering someone’s question. They were holding a portable tape recorder, and kept pushing it into Jerry’s face, almost pressing his lips. They were asking something like, “Jerry, we want you to be our guest on Q-104 today. Will you answer questions about the telethon and your movies?” They kept shouting at him, yet Lewis remained calm as his people standing on the sidelines rushed to stop this madness. Lewis kept saying, “Just see my staff, and they will arrange an interview, fellas. There’s no need to interrupt here. Please leave.” Suddenly, the two lame brains stopped pressing Lewis, and left. Within an hour, I later heard, a doctored audio clip of Jerry Lewis was heard, and then repeated, on that radio station via their shock jock. They had edited what Jerry had said, down to, “No interview...Leave,” “No interview...Leave,” “No interview...Leave.” The words, out of context, were looped and played throughout the day to show what a rude dude Lewis is. Jerry Lewis has always beaten his own image to the ground enough without having some radio jerks falsify it. This time Jerry was on extremely good behavior, and did not deserve the negatives.

The second thing that endeared me to Jerry occurred after the press conference. He stayed around for autographs. About half the press stuck around to get his signature. I brought the two Decca record albums I had owned since I was in high school. He looked at the second, more rare, of the two, and asked, “WHERE did you find this one?” As he signed it, I had to open my idiot mouth and say, “I’m getting a Jerry Lewis autograph.” I said this in mock Lewis voice, a terrible impression, but close enough for him to realize I was doing his “kid” voice. What did he then do? He stopped signing, glanced up at me, and said, “Ahem,” unsmilingly. Then he finished his signature.

To me, suffering from temporary insanity, it was a mini standing ovation. I am lucky he didn’t take me to the back of the hotel and beat me over the head with my record albums for bringing up the clown movie.

Crummy Art, Crummy Laughs: 'THE JAZZ SINGER'

2010-08-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Worth 1,000 Words: JOHN CHARLES THOMAS of The Metropolitan Opera

2010-08-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

For nearly 30 years, JOHN CHARLES THOMAS [Sept. 6, 1891-Dec. 13, 1960] was widely regarded as one of the most gifted operatic baritones of his day. Thomas sang in operas and operettas, as well as in concert recitals, and on records, radio and film. (Well, he appeared in one obscure movie, a silent movie, no less. No singing even in the subtitles.) His repertoire included works by Gilbert and Sullivan, Victor Herbert, and Sigmund Romberg. Sort of a pre-Nelson Eddy, Thomas performed on Broadway in Maytime and Naughty Marietta. His venues included the Washington National Opera, Carnegie Hall, and finally, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City (1934-43). Two years after touring Australia and New Zealand, from 1947-48, he retired.

Thomas was also a rigorous sportsman whose interests were golf, yachting, speedboat racing, and deep sea fishing.

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The autographed photo of JOHN CHARLES THOMAS is one of my prized possessions, and it is partially because of Bing Crosby and Al Jolson. I admit I am neither an opera nor operetta fan, but I am a huge fan of Crosby and Jolson. About 40 years ago, I first heard John Charles via a taped Philco Radio Time show broadcast on Armed Forces Radio, Germany, where I was stationed. The show had originally aired April 2, 1947. Crosby's guests were Thomas and the great Jolson.

The show's format was unusual, since the entire half hour was performed as an old time minstrel show. This gave Jolson a chance to sing a rousing "My Mammy"; Crosby soloed on Bert Williams' immortal "Nobody"; and Thomas performed the semi-spiritual, "Gwine to Heaven." All three told corny jokes, kidded each other in the process, and teamed for a grand finale of "Alabamy Bound." Heard today, as 40 years ago and originally, the program is absolutely sensational. Three of the most charismatic performers of all time teamed for arguably the best Crosby radio show ever. THIS is why I purchased the John Charles Thomas signed photo many moons ago, and this is why I still treasure it. Sure the Thomas voice is great, but he also has an infectious laugh and sense of humor. It was all showcased that April evening, 63 years ago, a month before I was born. [from Steve Crum's show biz memorabilia collection]

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After he officially retired, John Charles Thomas sang "The Golfer's Lament" with Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbxPTplPv80&feature=search

Worth 1,000 Words: EDDIE CANTOR & DINAH SHORE

2010-08-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

This NBC-Radio gag publicity photo features EDDIE CANTOR with his protege and singer DINAH SHORE. Evidently, as they would have us believe, the piano keyboard cover has been slammed on Eddie's hands as Dinah feigns shock mixed with amusement. Probably photographed between 1940 and 1943, when Dinah was the female singer on Cantor's weekly "Time to Smile" radio show, it is a unique posing to say the least. Cantor had "discovered" Shore on NBC-radio's "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street," and then signed her to his program. Stage techniques Cantor then taught her on his show were carried on by Shore for the rest of her long career. [from Steve Crum's show biz memorabilia collection]

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"The Apostle of Pep" and "Banjo Eyes" were two nicknames given to EDDIE CANTOR, and which he embraced, during a career that enveloped vaudeville, Broadway, radio, records, motion pictures and TV. Cantor, born Edward Israel Iskowitz [Jan. 31, 1892-Oct. 10, 1964], was a dean of show business, talented as a comedian, singer, dancer, actor, composer, and author. He is considered a close runner-up to Al Jolson as one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Cantor was a sensation in radio (#1 in ratings), Broadway (#1 attraction of the Ziegfeld Follies), and movies (#1 box office in Samuel Goldwyn musicals like Whoopee!). He was also an outspoken political progressive, which at one time cost him a radio program.

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DINAH SHORE, born Frances Rose Shore in Tennessee [Feb. 29, 1916-Feb. 24, 1994], was a singing star (80 charted pop hits, 1940's-1950's), television star (Chevy Shows, 1951-63; daytime talk shows, 1970-80), and successful promoter of women's professional golf, via her Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Tournament (now called the Kraft Nabisco Championships). Despite an early childhood polio affliction, she became one of golf's best players.

Some of Dinah's biggest hits were Blues in the Night, I'll Walk Alone, The Last time I Saw Paris, and You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To. Her weekly singing of her sponsor's signature song, See the USA in Your Chevrolet (followed by her pronounced, thrown kiss to the audience) is probably better remembered than her commercial recordings. She also appeared in several movies, including Up in Arms (1944) with Danny Kaye.

Before and after her celebrated marriage to B-western cowboy star George Montgomery (1943-62), Dinah Shore was linked with Gene Krupa, James Stewart, Gen. George Patton (!), Frank Sinatra, Dick Martin, Eddie Fisher, Rod Taylor, Andy Williams, Ron Ely, Wayne Rogers, and Dean Martin. The most famous, and most public, of her relationships was with Burt Reynolds.

Dinah Shore won nine Emmy Awards, a Peabody, and a Golden Globe for her television work.

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"See the USA in your Chevrolet..." Here, let DINAH SHORE sing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGZvQoPxhNs&feature=search

Worth 1,000 Words: MONTE HALE, ROCKY LANE & ROY ROGERS

2010-08-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Not only do you get three super cowboys for the price of one in 1950's Republic B-western, TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD, but you get double that...triple that! Yep, pardners, the budget was sky high for this Christmas release of nearly 60 years ago. The plot of the ROY ROGERS vehicle involves "The King of the Cowboys" on the lookout for **gulp** Christmas tree thieves. They are hell bent on a green monopoly by absconding with JACK HOLT'S grade-A quality pines and firs. Riding into town to help drive the Christmas trees to market, as well as beat up the thieves, are Republic Pictures cowboys REX ALLEN, TOM KEENE, WILLIAM FARNUM (actually he was a cowboy star in silent films), KERMIT MAYARD, GEORGE CHESEBRO (who plays bad guys, but is good this time around), MONTE HALE, ROCKY LANE, CRASH CORRIGAN, and TOM TYLER. Roy sings "Every Day is Christmas in the West."

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The studio publicity photo includes three of the movie's star cowpokes, posing on the set: (from left) MONTE HALE, born Samuel Buren Ely (June 8, 1919-March 29, 2009); ALLAN "ROCKY " LANE, born Harry Leonard Albershart (Sept. 20, 1909-Oct. 27, 1973); and ROY ROGERS aka Leonard Slye (Nov. 5, 1911-July 6, 1998). [from Steve Crum's show biz memorabilia collection]

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Roy was always surrounded with the best of the best sidekicks, heroines, and musicians West of the Pecos, including Dale Evans (his wife and frequent leading lady), Gabby Hayes, Smiley Burnette, Pat Brady, Andy Devine, The Sons of the Pioneers, The Riders of the Purple Sage, Bullet, Nellybelle, and Trigger.

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Rocky's cowboy career lasted until the mid-1950's when TV had emptied the cowboy B-movie corral. He had played Red Ryder, was featured in action-packed serials, and starred as both Allan Lane and Rocky Lane. His faithful steed Blackjack was always with him. Incidentally, Rocky NEVER sang in any of his movies. His forte was serious action with plenty of knuckle fights and gun play. Lane had two noteworthy jobs after hanging up his spurs, starring in a classic Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "Lamb to the Slaughter," and as the voice of Mr. Ed, TV's popular talking horse.

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Monte Hale's death last year meant that the last of Republic's cowboy stars was history. Although Monte sang in some of his films, he was not primarily known as a singing cowboy. At the time of his death, he and his wife were managing the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, which they also founded. Monte's last film role was in the modern day western Giant, 1956.

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Here is a Monte Hale tribute, featuring Monte singing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiAe8Ob8_Ts

Worth 1,000 Words: CLIFF ARQUETTE as CHARLEY WEAVER

2010-08-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

CLIFF ARQUETTE'S show business career was, by his choice, pretty much over by 1956. He chose to retire at that time after decades as an entertainer. In the beginning, he played piano in night clubs, and then in a dance orchestra. He worked in theatre and movies as a musician and comedian, sometimes dressing in funny costumes and makeup for effect. In radio, he was a literal one-man show. While making a living in radio in Chicago, he once did 13 live radio programs at different stations each and every day, shuttling from one studio across town to another.

Then came JACK PAAR. Paar was starring on The Tonight Show in 1959 when one night he asked, "Whatever happened to Cliff Arquette?" Arquette, who happened to be watching Paar that night, recounted his shock over hearing this. "I almost dropped my Scotch," he quipped. Paar soon phoned Arquette, asking him to appear on his show. Dressing up as one of his most popular characters, the old codger from Mt. Idy, Charley Weaver, Arquette appeared, and was a sensation. He became a regular on Paar's late night show, reading his fictional, funny "Letters from Mama." The letters told of bizarre Mt. Idy and the oddball inhabitants therein, including Elsie Krack, Leonard Box, Grandma and Grandpa Ogg, and Ludlow Bean. Paar and Charley (dressed in baggy pants, droopy shirt, rumpled hat, glasses and mustache) would both sit on Paar's desk, dangling their feet, as Charley opened his shtick with, "I got a letter from Mama." He would then read his letter, which of course he wrote in long hand, which might include something like: "Dear Steinway: (Mama always wnted me to be upright and grand.) Things are fine in Mount Idy (she goes on). Birdie Rodd is pretty upset. Saturday night somebody broke into her house and stole her bathtub. She says whoever did it can keep the washrag, soap and the tub, but she would like them to return her mother." During each performance, when Charley would get a rousing laugh at one of his jokes, he would outstretch his arms, facing the audience, and declare, "These are MY people!"

Charley Weaver was resurrected. Arquette rarely appeared except as Charley, including his guest stints on many TV shows, including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Steve Allen Show, and his popular work on The Hollywood Squares, in which he occupied the bottom left square. Arquette did appear in syrup commercials as Mrs. Butterworth, speaking in a falsetto voice, wearing a matronly dress, but still sporting his mustache.

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CLIFF ARQUETTE (Dec. 28, 1905-Sept. 23, 1974) was a Civil War history buff who operated his Charley Weaver Museum of the Civil War in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for a decade. (It is now the Soldiers National Museum.) A descendant of explorer Meriwether Lewis, Arquette began his own family history. He is a patriarch of actors, not explorers. His son, the late Lewis Arquette, was a familiar presence on TV shows and in films. Perhaps his most memorable role was as J. D. Pickett on The Waltons. Five of his grandchildren have become successful actors: Patricia (star of TV's Medium), Alexis, Rosanna, David (the Scream movies), and Richmond. Before his death due to stroke at age 68, Cliff Arquette had written three best selling books about Mt. Idy. There was also his comedy record album, pictured above. (Note that CHARLEY is misspelled on the album.)

In the introduction to Charley Weaver's Letters from Mama, Jack Paar discussed "the wild old man from Mt. Idy." An excerpt: "Sometimes his jokes are old, and I live in the constant fear that the audience will beat him to the punch line, but they never have. And I suspect that if they ever do, he will rewrite the ending on the spot. I would not like to say that all his jokes are old, although some have been found to be carved in stone. What I want to say is that in a free-for-all ad lib session, Charley Weaver has and will beat the fastest gun alive. Charley Weaver has done more for the success of the 'Tonight' show than anyone who was ever on it. He is my 'wild old man,' and it's understandable, when you realize that before every show he rinses his jockey shorts in turpentine. Nobody will ever catch him."

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The rather hairless looking 1947 ABC-Radio publicity portrait of CLIFF ARQUETTE (shown above), sans Charley Weaver, describes Arquette as "...The comedian known for his characterizations of elderly men and women, is starred in a new ABC comedy series, Point Sublime, based on the adventures of general store keeper Arquette in Point Sublime, California. Arquette is helped into and out of his predicaments by his side kick, Mel Blanc. Mondays, 8 p.m., EST." Arquette was a fixture on the radio series from its 1940 beginning on NBC. After it trasnferred to the Mutual Network in 1944, ABC picked it up on Oct. 6, 1947. It then left the air after its first season. [from Steve Crum's show biz memorabilia collection]

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Be one of Charley's people and enjoy his shenanigans on What's My Line?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1EQURhO11U

Mediocre 'Other Guys' features Ferrell in cop parody

2010-08-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

By Steve Crum

When I think of The Other Guys, like virtually any Will Ferrell movie, I think of Olympia Beer. Except instead of the slogan, “It’s the water,” the Ferrell motto is, “It’s the writing.” This is more a negative than a compliment, since The Other Guys suffers from a premise that pays off in the first 10 minutes of the story. Up to that point, the writing is fun, fast, and full of broad parody. The remainder of the film has spurts of laughs, but is laden with a Will Ferrell central character purposely lackluster and dull.

Writers Adam McKay (who also directed) and Chris Henchy deserve a little praise and a bunch of grief over their treatment. At least McKay’s previous screenplays (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and Step Brothers) cast Ferrell as aggressive egocentrics and, as such, interesting to watch. Ferrell’s Allen Gamble in The Other Guys plays against that type, and places the prominent comic role upon co-star Mark Wahlberg (as Gamble’s partner, Terry Holtz), who can act humorously, but is not a comedian. It turns out that the funniest person in the movie, after the opening sequence, is Michael Keaton’s police captain, Gene Mauch.

And that opening sequence, without ruining its gag, features Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson. It is slam, bang action, and hilarious.

The story kicks off with NYC police detectives Christopher Danson and P.K. Highsmith (Johnson and Jackson) showcasing why they are press and public favorites as the most feared and successful cops on the force. The macho duo relish spectacular car chases, tote magnum-plus pistols, and thrive on adulation. They are heroes inside the squad room as well, even to undistinguished officers Gamble and Holtz. They are the forgotten “other guys” referred to in the title. In fact, Officer Gamble prefers being a desk jockey, since he desires nothing more than being an accountant. “I just want to be an accountant for law and order,” says Gamble. His pal Holtz, however, was relegated to a desk job after failing on a security detail involving a well known football star. He desperately wants another chance to prove his mettle.

Inevitably, the two get their chance on the street. There is a bar fight featuring a funny Irish round robin of singing as well as a ballet (!) by Ferrell’s Gamble, and a suicide call gone awry, But the funniest set-up, sustained throughout the film, is Gamble’s insistence that gorgeous women like his wife (Eva Mendes) mean little to him. Yet they are physically attracted to his dorky demeanor everywhere he goes.

Ferrell’s forte, in fact, is the overextended joke or shtick. Do the gag, lace it with outrageousness (like pulling down or off your pants), get the shock value laugh, and...keep on with it, wringing the laugh empty. His humor is of the adult child, often given to the “I hit you last” or “I know you are, but what am I” variety, as in Step Brothers.

Above all, Ferrell’s butt cheeks he displays for absurd hardy-har-hars has been integral to his comedy. That is what’s both right and wrong about his Allen Gamble character in The Other Guys. No booty show here. That is a refreshingly good exclusion. Then again, what does that leave Ferrell with except to overdo each and every set-up. Push the punchline to the max. Squeeze the laugh past its potential. Timing is nothing unless it is exceeded. This is also a common fault of Saturday Night Live sketches, Ferrell’s training ground.

It has been said before that Will Ferrell movies would be funnier if trimmed and refined to a half hour max. The Other Guys sure qualifies.

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GRADE on an A to F Scale: C

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Enjoy highlights of The Other Guys in its trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6WOoUG1eNo