MOVIE REVIEWS
Sex and the City 2
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The skewed
values on display in the romantic comedy Sex and the City 2 (New Line)
-- writer-director Michael Patrick King's followup to his 2008 big-screen
adaptation of the long-running HBO TV series -- are typified early on
when its main character and narrator, New York-based columnist turned
author Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), serves as "best man"
at the lavish wedding of two male friends.
Having settled down herself at
the conclusion of the previous feature, Carrie is battling the stay-at-home
instincts of her husband of two years' standing, John Preston, better
known as Mr. Big (Chris Noth).
Among her familiar trio of best friends, lawyer Miranda (Cynthia Nixon)
finds her career hobbled by a sexist boss, stay-at-home mom Charlotte
(Kristin Davis) can't take the 24/7 bawling of her baby daughter and slatternly
single Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is desperately popping hormones in pursuit
of eternal youth.
An all-expenses-paid jaunt to
Abu Dhabi, courtesy of Samantha's potential public relations client Sheik
Khalid, provides only temporary relief from these pressures. But it does
allow the quartet of pals to express their outrage over the repressive
treatment of Muslim women by belting out a karaoke version of Helen Reddy's
feminist anthem "I Am Woman."
Their goal, as a later scene
suggests, is not only to liberate their Middle Eastern sisters from the
burdensome burqa -- so lacking in style, so un-Bergdorf Goodman -- but
to empower them to carry condoms in their purses, as Samantha always does,
just in case.
It's hard to decide which aspect
of this morally unmoored adventure rankles most: the caricature of Muslims,
the confusion of promiscuity with empowerment or the materialist assumption
that happiness can be found in conspicuous consumption.
The film contains graphic non-marital
sexual activity with nudity, a benign view of casual sex and homosexual
acts, an adultery theme, constant sexual humour and references and some
rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is
O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating
is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
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Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service. More reviews are
available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
By John P. McCarthy
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Prince of Inertia might be a more fitting moniker for
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Disney), the big-screen adaptation
of a popular video game series. Although there's ample movement, thanks
to hyperactive camerawork and frenetic special effects, those titular
grains do not pass quickly enough through the hourglass.
Ossified dialogue and wooden
acting contribute to the film's plodding quality. Mostly, however, the
pleasures of a rousing sword-and-sandal epic are squashed in the hands
of action producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose computer-generated excesses
tend to deflect viewers rather than draw them in.
Director Mike Newell -- responsible
for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire along with notable smaller-scale
fare -- fails to bring a distinctly human touch to the loud, flashy proceedings.
A number of sequences are too
intense for children and the level of violence increases as the story
progresses, but there's nothing offensive about the movie's content.
Like many plots involving a fractured
space-time continuum, the story -- set in the sixth century -- is a tad
disorienting. Jake Gyllenhaal, using a British accent, plays acrobatic
hero Dastan, an orphan plucked from the streets by King Sharaman (Richard
Coyle) and raised as his son.
Years later, Dastan and the monarch's
two sons by birth lead an attack on a holy city presided over by Princess
Tamina (Gemma Arterton), during which Dastan comes into possession of
a magical dagger that gives whoever wields it the ability to change the
past.
After King Sharaman is murdered, Dastan is pitted against his adopted
brothers and uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley). A fugitive, he joins forces with
Tamina to safeguard that nifty knife of his since, as we learn, it also
has the fearful potential to destroy humankind.
The interplay between Dastan
and Tamina is meant to be romantically charged yet is undone by stilted
writing and performances, and by the artificial nature of the movie overall.
The script's stabs at humor likewise miss the mark. Only the anti-government
chatter of a mercenary sheik named Amar (Alfred Molina) elicits a few
chuckles, since it echoes the contemporary Tea Party movement.
Prince of Persia is all over
the place regarding religion, as the pagan mythology surrounding the dagger
mixes uneasily with a few lines upholding monotheism and some vague references
to spiritual awakenings. Other thematic strands concerning heroism and
the need for leaders to follow their hearts feel strictly pro forma.
Morocco provided the scenic backdrop,
but visually everything is dominated by the virtual, videogame aesthetic
-- so much so that it's hard to worry much about the hero's fate. According
to the time-bending thesis of the narrative, nothing that transpires has
to happen, so perhaps it's no accident that Prince of Persia itself feels
wholly unnecessary.
The film contains frequent, moderately
intense violence, a number of frightening images and some sexual innuendo.
The Catholic News Service classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents.
The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 - parents strongly
cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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McCarthy is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service. More reviews
are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
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:
Get Him to the Greek
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Like his 2008 debut, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, writer-director
Nicholas Stoller's new comedy Get Him to the Greek (Universal) -- the
raucous, frequently coarse tale of an unlikely friendship -- features
a few touching moments and some positive underlying values. But, as in
the earlier outing, these elements are ultimately eclipsed, in this case
by a combination of obscenity-laden dialogue and debauched, sometimes
perverse behaviour.
Returning from the former film
is the character of hedonistic British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell
Brand), whose attempts to lead a clean and sober life are scuttled, as
we witness in the opening scenes, by a breakup with girlfriend Jackie
Q (Rose Byrne) -- a pop star in her own right -- and by a disastrously
unsuccessful record that leaves his career in freefall.
In a bid to revive Aldous' popularity,
and improve the flagging fortunes of his own company, timid young music
executive Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) strikes on the idea of a comeback concert
at Los Angeles' Greek Theater, the site, 10 years previously, of Aldous'
most legendary performance.
Aaron manages to sell his hard-bitten
boss, Sergio (Sean Combs), on the concept, but finds himself tasked with
escorting the wily, wayward rocker -- whom Sergio describes as "the
worst person on earth" -- from London to the Left Coast, and depositing
him safely at the Greek in time for the planned performance. To make matters
worse, on the eve of his departure, Aaron has a potentially relationship-shredding
quarrel with his live-in lover, Daphne (Elisabeth Moss, of Mad Men fame).
As Aldous drags Aaron through
the depths of his fear-and-loathing lifestyle, and as Aaron encourages
Aldous to climb his way back toward sobriety, the ill-matched pair bond.
Stoller's script manages to wring
poignancy from scenes where Aaron insists on treating Aldous as a person
rather than a marketable commodity and from the musician's loving but
fraught relationship with his young son, whom he identifies as his only
source of happiness. Along with the growing rapport at the heart of the
story, Aaron and Daphne's relationship moves, however indirectly, toward
renewed commitment and deepened exclusivity, though there's no hint of
marriage.
But along the way to a moderately
acceptable wrap-up, this globe-trotting exercise in excess makes detours
portraying casual and group sex, a visit to a strip club, and extensive
indulgence in drugs and drunkenness. As is typical for a Judd Apatow production,
moreover, there's hardly a punch line that's not peppered by the F-word
or some other vulgarity.
The film contains brief graphic
non-marital sexual activity, scenes of aberrant sexuality, cohabitation,
drug use, some gruesome images, upper female and rear nudity, much sexual
humour, a couple of uses of profanity and pervasive rough and crude language.
The Catholic News Service classification is O -- morally offensive. The
Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under
17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops
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