MOVIE REVIEWS
The Expendables
By Joseph McAleer
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The only thing
higher than the body count is the testosterone level in The Expendables
(Lionsgate/Millennium), a brutally violent action movie that teams, for
the first time, some of Hollywood's biggest tough guys with an assortment
of professional sports stars.
The
result is The Dirty Dozen on steroids, with much more brawn but far less
acting chops.
The soundtrack to this very loud film includes the 1970s Thin Lizzy hit
The Boys Are Back in Town, and indeed they are. Leading a band of misfit
mercenaries is Barney Ross, played by Sylvester Stallone, who also directed
and co-wrote the screenplay with David Callaham. Barney, not surprisingly,
combines the wit and sensitivity of Rocky Balboa with the lethal weaponry
of Rambo.
Barney's crew is called the Expendables, and each member has a knack for
handling guns, knives or explosives. There's Lee Christmas (Jason Statham),
Yin Yang (Jet Li), Toll Road (mixed martial artist Randy Couture), and
Hale Caesar (ex-NFL-star-turned-actor Terry Crews).
The spiritual guru and deal broker for this brotherhood is Tool (Mickey
Rourke), a soulful tattoo artist who leaves his mark -- literally -- on
every member.
There's trouble in paradise -- in this case a South American country called
Vilena -- and Barney and Lee go on a reconnaissance mission. There they
find rogue CIA agent James Monroe (Eric Roberts), who has overthrown the
government, taken command of the army and set up a corrupt regime financed
by drug trafficking.
Monroe's bodyguards include the aptly named Paine (Steve Austin of World
Wrestling Federation fame), and Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren, who battled
Stallone in Rocky IV). Jensen is a turncoat, thrown out of the Expendables
for violating the brotherhood's strict moral code by his substance abuse.
After blowing up half the capital and shooting everyone in sight, Barney
and Lee barely escape with their lives. But Barney is smitten with resistance
agent Sandra (Gisele Itie), and he vows to return to Vilena with the entire
gang to find her and restore the nation's freedom.
Despite a slender script and minimal dialogue, The Expendables tries to
be several films at once. It's a morality tale of good versus evil, with
the promise of redemption for a group of warriors, each of whom has been
around the block once too often. It's also a buddy movie, with Barney
and Lee trading tips on dating women in between throwing grenades. Finally,
it's a message picture on freedom and patriotism, with justice dealt out
to hostage-takers and enemies of democracy.
Unfortunately, these themes get lost in the sheer chaotic spectacle of
the film. The Expendables is an assault on the eyes and ears, akin to
going 10 rounds with Rocky himself. Under Stallone's direction, everything
gets supersized: People don't simply get shot; their heads and bodies
explode. It's not enough to blow up one building; the entire town must
go.
The Expendables is not without
a few funny moments, and two uncredited actors nearly steal the show.
Bruce Willis plays CIA head Church, who gives Barney his new assignment.
And Barney's rival is Trench, played by the Terminator himself, Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
When Church questions Trench's sour attitude, Barney explains, "He
wishes he was president."
The film contains relentless bloody and graphic violence -- including
shootings, knifings, explosions, decapitations, torture, and implied rape
-- and some rough 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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McAleer is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service. More reviews
are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
Eat Pray Love
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Many of the off-kilter values that characterize contemporary
Western society are showcased in Eat Pray Love (Columbia), the fact-based
narrative of one woman's yearlong globe-trotting quest for enlightenment
and self-understanding.
Julia Roberts portrays Liz Gilbert,
a New York travel writer in the throes of a midlife crisis. Bored with
her husband Stephen (Billy Crudup), she initiates a divorce -- emotionally
blindsiding him -- and, on the rebound, falls for David (James Franco),
a much younger actor. Perhaps inevitably, their swiftly consummated affair
fizzles, leaving Liz complaining to her happily married best friend, Delia
(Viola Davis), that she has lost her appetite for life.
The solution? A 12-month sabbatical
from everyday reality during which Liz plans to sample Italian cuisine
in Rome, cultivate Hindu spirituality at an ashram in India and see what's
offered -- metaphysically and otherwise -- in Bali, Indonesia.
On the first stage of her journey,
Liz develops a circle of laid-back friends who teach her how to enjoy
life while scarfing down quantities of pasta, pizza and artichokes. Though
she seemingly hits every restaurant in town, she gives the churches a
pass.
So it's off to the subcontinent
and the religious establishment run by David's female guru. (The unhealthy
atmosphere of semi-idolatrous worship with which this guide is surrounded
-- first sensed as David and Liz sat in front of a small altar David had
erected to her in his apartment -- is reinforced by Liz's dialogue with
the ashram personnel.)
Liz is too distracted to get
anywhere with her meditations until she gains the friendship and aid of
a feisty, plainspoken Texan, Richard (an excellent Richard Jenkins). A
long-standing visitor to the retreat, Richard is wrestling with the demons
of his troubled past.
Returning to Bali -- the opening
scenes of the film are set during a previous sojourn there -- Liz continues
her soul tinkering under the guidance of kindly medicine man Ketut (Hadi
Subiyanto). And romance comes calling again in the figure of Brazilian
expatriate Felipe (Javier Bardem), himself the scarred veteran of a broken
marriage.
Besides negating, or at least
ignoring, the spiritual resources of Christianity, director and co-writer
(with Jennifer Salt) Ryan Murphy's overlong, ultimately exhausting screen
version of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling 2006 memoir displays an ambivalent
attitude toward marriage.
Thus, Stephen's emotionally voiced
protest that he has taken vows for life and intends to uphold them is
presented as a forlorn attempt to erect obstacles in Liz's way. And, though
Liz ostensibly spends much of her time in India trying to come to terms
with her feelings of guilt over the break-up, the script has already celebrated
the courage it required for her to walk out of the doomed union in search
of something better.
As she progresses along the path
of her pampered pilgrimage -- the sight of Indian children gazing at her
passing taxi from the litter-strewn margins of a highway is dealt with
as nothing more than local "colour" -- Liz engages in interminable
navel-gazing and confuses psychobabble in the mouths of her chosen mentors
for wisdom. The result is a dramatically sputtering, spiritually barren
slog to the final credits.
The film contains complex religious
themes, acceptability of divorce, non-marital and premarital situations,
rear nudity, some sexual humour, an obscene gesture, a few uses of profanity
and at least one rough and a half-dozen crude terms. The Catholic News
Service classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic
content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association
of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material
may be inappropriate for children under 13.
- - -
Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service. More reviews are
available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
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The Other Guys
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Veteran comedian
Will Ferrell and comedy newcomer Mark Wahlberg play an ill-matched pair
of crime-busters in The Other Guys (Columbia), an occasionally amusing
but excessively vulgar action satire that handcuffs its talented cast
with relentlessly foul-mouthed dialogue and tiresome bedroom jokes.
Ferrell is New York Police Department Detective Allen Gamble, a paperwork-loving forensic accountant whose idea of a fulfilling workday involves tracking down construction permit violations from the safety of the squad room.
Observing him disdainfully from the next desk is his frustrated perforce
partner Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg). A former street cop unwillingly office-bound
after making a high-profile mistake, Terry longs to get out of the precinct
house and bring the bad guys to their knees, and he seldom passes up the
chance to put quirky, soft-spoken Allen in his place.
A surprising opportunity to make a major bust arises, however, when Allen's
numbers crunching and detail sifting suggest that famed British-born banker
David Ershon (Steve Coogan) has been engaged in massive financial shenanigans.
To his credit, director and co-writer
(with Chris Henchy) Adam McKay -- Ferrell's longtime collaborator -- handles
the predictable series of car chases, explosions and gunfights that follow
with restraint. Though the bullets fly by the hundreds, blood goes unspilled,
and only one character meets a somewhat jarring end.
No such reserve is shown, though,
when it comes to including edgy sexually themed material in this parody
of genre conventions. Thus, when Allen's wife Sheila (Eva Mendes) turns
out to be unexpectedly attractive, Terry openly lusts after her to supposedly
humorous effect.
Equally misguided is a scene
in which, with Allen in hiding, Sheila's elderly mother serves as a go-between
for the spouses, carrying back and forth distastefully detailed messages
about the outlandish lovemaking activities they yearn to be engaged in
with each other.
The film contains considerable,
though bloodless, action violence; much sexual humor; a couple of uses
of profanity; and pervasive crude and crass language. The Catholic News
Service classification is O -- morally offensive. 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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The Switch
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Though it showcases some of the tangled emotional complications
brought about by severing conception from its divinely intended source
and setting, the bond of marital love, The Switch (Miramax) -- a frequently
distasteful comedy of modern manners -- fails to reach the moral conclusions
its own plot should make obvious.
Instead, co-directors Will Speck
and Josh Gordon's adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides' 1996 short story Baster
takes as a given of contemporary life its heroine's right to engineer
such a rupture.
As played by Jennifer Aniston,
that heroine -- a seemingly successful but unfulfilled New York career
woman in her early 40s named Kassie -- decides she can't "wait around"
for the arrival of Mr. Right in her life. So she settles on a plan to
conceive by artificial insemination. When she announces this scheme to
her platonic best friend, Wally (Jason Bateman), whose own professional
achievements are offset by numerous neuroses, he timidly expresses reservations.
Wally's discomfiture is increased when he realizes that -- far from selecting him as her donor of choice, as he initially imagined -- Kassie is out to enlist his help in her search for a genetic paragon. Though a quarrel between the two prevents Wally from participating in the quest, Kassie eventually sends him an invitation to the "insemination party" that her best female pal, Debbie (Juliette Lewis), is throwing for her.
This occasion provides the context for some of the film's most debased
moments, foreshadowed by a sight gag of multicoloured confetti in an apropos
shape. After meeting Roland (Patrick Wilson) -- the man of the hour, so
to speak -- Wally gets resentfully drunk and locks himself in the bathroom
where the container holding Roland's "contribution" sits on
a warming device normally used for mugs of coffee or tea.
Moments later, Wally spills this substance down the sink. In a panic,
he makes a substitution. By the next morning, however, the effects of
liquor have completely obliterated this part of the evening from Wally's
memory.
Flash forward seven years and Kassie -- who moved back to her native Minnesota
soon after informing Wally that she had indeed become pregnant -- returns
to Gotham with son Sebastian (Thomas Robinson) in tow, and reconnects
with her old confidant. Struck by the many parallels between his personality
and the lad's, Wally gradually reconstructs the truth of Sebastian's paternity.
Lost in all of this moral confusion are touching scenes of paternal love
and a fine comic turn by Jeff Goldblum as Leonard, Wally's perpetually
flustered business partner. But neither the emotional maturity Wally is
shown to acquire through his affectionate response to Sebastian's plight
nor the belatedly acceptable wrap-up can compensate for the pass Allan
Loeb's script has already given to Kassie's misguided pursuit of parenthood.
The film contains a benign view of artificial insemination, off-screen
masturbation, rear and blurred frontal nudity, much sexual humour, at
least one use of the S-word and some crass language. The Catholic News
Service classification is O -- morally offensive. 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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Nanny McPhee Returns
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- A sweetly nostalgic tale underpinned by lessons both
children and their seniors would do well to take to heart, Nanny McPhee
Returns (Universal) contains nothing genuinely objectionable. Running
gags featuring mildly gross barnyard humour and a few scenes of slapstick
violence, though, may give some parents pause.
Emma Thompson reprises her work as both writer and star, once again personifying
the eerie but magically effective matron of the title in this second screen
adventure based on Christianna Brand's "Nurse Matilda" series
of children's books. This time she transports herself to wartime Britain
-- the first film was set in Victorian times -- where she comes to the
rescue of frazzled rural mother Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
With husband Rory (Ewan McGregor) away at the front, Isabel is failing
spectacularly to cope with the raucous squabbling between her farm-bred
brood -- elder son Norman (Asa Butterfield), daughter Megsie (Lil Woods)
and tow-headed tot Vincent (Oscar Steer) -- and their snobbish London
cousins Celia and Cyril Gray (Rosie Taylor-Ritson and Eros Vlahos). The
latter are freshly arrived evacuees whose parents have sent them to the
countryside for safety.
Thoroughly unimpressed by their new surroundings -- surveying the Green's
manure-laden farmyard, Cyril, in one of the script's many verbal and visual
jokes on the subject, compares it to a "British museum of poo"
-- Celia and Cyril show an aggressive peevishness we later learn is due,
at least in part, to parental indifference and emotional repression. Their
temporarily fatherless cousins, needless to say, match them insult for
insult and, all too soon, blow for blow.
Mysteriously appearing on Isabel's doorstep, the initially frightful-faced Nanny -- who gets to look more and more like Emma Thompson as her charges' behaviour improves -- sets to work using the powers primarily vested in her gnarly (in every sense) walking stick to set things right. She soon has the children learning to co-operate, to share, to show courage in pursuing important goals and -- especially after the war comes home to them in a potentially tragic fashion -- to have faith in happy endings.
Nanny also works to thwart the schemes of Isabel's conniving brother-in-law
Phil (Rhys Ifans) who -- for reasons of his own -- has been pressing Isabel
to sign away the family homestead in Rory's absence.
Though the background conflict is intended to be both Second World War
and an archetypical, timeless struggle, the simple joys that delight the
children -- a picnic, a treat of ginger beer and the like -- seem like
those of an earlier era. And the closest thing to modern technology on
display is an eccentric contraption of Rory's invention designed to calm
piglets by simultaneously playing music to them on a gramophone and wielding
a set of brushes to scratch their tummies soothingly.
Under the influence of one of Nanny's spells, said piglets contradict
an old expression by flying through the air, then get together for a demonstration
of balletic swimming that Esther Williams herself might have envied. Such
scenes typify the silly but innocent fun of this family-friendly sequel.
The Catholic News Service classification is A-I -- general patronage.
The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance
suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
Piranha 3D
By John P. McCarthy
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The link between committing sins of the flesh and becoming
a victim in a horror movie was never more blatant than in the tall and
tawdry fish tale Piranha 3D (Dimension).
Just as retribution awaits the film's most wanton characters, audience
members who venture into its blood-filled waters seeking an escape will
feel as though they're being punished. While the tone adopted is hardly
self-serious or censorious, the story is cripplingly vacuous. There aren't
enough ideas to make Piranha 3D remotely unsettling; and the lasciviousness
and gore displayed are more wearisome than offensive or frightening.
"Babes, boats and bikinis" is one (mild) description of the scene at Arizona's Lake Victoria, where undergrads flock for their spring-break bacchanalia. This year, seismic activity causes a fissure in the lake bed that releases prehistoric fish with an appetite for slatternly coeds and the otherwise ethically challenged. In a rather pitiful homage to Jaws, the first victim of these voracious creatures is a local fisherman played by Richard Dreyfuss.
Not only does Lake Victoria's sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue)
have to worry about the safety of the throngs of scantily clad visitors,
her teenage son Jake (Steven R. McQueen) and his much-younger siblings
Zane and Laura (Sage Ryan and Brooklynn Proulx) are also imperiled. Jake
has shirked his baby-sitting duties to act as location scout for soft-core
pornographer Derrick Jones. Jerry O'Connell sinks his bleached incisors
into this role, which is clearly modelled on real-life Girls Gone Wild
impresario Joe Francis.
Jones and the predatory fish have nothing on director Alexandre Aja's voyeuristic camera, which takes as much prurient delight in watching gyrating bodies in party mode as it does in showing them get shredded and dismembered.
Anyone hoping there might be a silver lining in the fact that 3-D technology
is being used here for something other than an animated or science-fiction
feature will be disappointed. The underwater action is generally murky
and the special effects deployed above the surface are equally pedestrian.
Stomach-churning makeup work is the only exception.
At the peak of the mayhem, Sheriff Forester gives the panicking hordes
this obvious advice, "Whatever you do, don't go into the water!"
Heed her counsel and refrain from jutting even a toe into this piece of
exploitation cinema.
The film contains intense graphic violence, including a decapitation,
numerous severed torsos, and other mutilated and dismembered bodies and
body parts; full frontal female nudity; much groping and kissing, some
of it same-sex; frequent profane, rough and crude language; repeated scenes
of underage drinking; and an instance of drug use. 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.
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
By Joseph McAleer
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Doctor Doolittle meets James Bond in Cats & Dogs:
The Revenge of Kitty Galore (Warner Bros.), a clever and funny 3-D spy
adventure for the entire family. This follow-up to the 2001 comedy Cats
& Dogs seamlessly blends live action, puppetry, and computer animation
as -- unbeknownst to their beloved human owners -- the two species of
the title must join forces to save the planet from one very bad kitty.
Said villain is Kitty Galore (voiced with relish by Bette Midler), a former
agent for the cat spy organization MEOWS who has "gone rogue."
Abandoned after an industrial accident rendered her hairless and looking
like Eartha Kitt, Kitty seeks dominion over all pets to make the world
her "personal scratching post." Her weapon of mass destruction
is the Call of the Wild -- apologies to Jack London -- a screech that
will render dogs insane and launch a global cat-astrophe.
But the top-secret intelligence organizations on both sides of the yard
have been working overtime to thwart Kitty's plan. Here Cats & Dogs
mines the 007 canon to hilarious effect. MEOWS' canine equivalent is DOG,
within whose subterranean world headquarters, dubbed "where Petco
meets Las Vegas," agents train, are fitted with collars containing
laser beams, test jet packs and rocket cars, and, in their downtime, play
poker (of course).
"We take 'Man's Best Friend' very seriously," intones Lou (voice
of Neil Patrick Harris), a be-speckled beagle who is leader of the DOG
pack.
DOG needs backup, and finds it in new recruit Diggs (voice of James Marsden),
a police K-9 German shepherd whose best qualification is his hatred of
cats. He and his partner and mentor Butch (voice of Nick Nolte) set out
in search of a sassy pigeon called Seamus (voice of Katt Williams), who
holds vital clues to Kitty's plan. But feline intelligence is also on
the case, and special agent Catherine (voice of Christina Applegate) puts
her nine lives on the line for the cause.
With the fate of the world at stake, MEOWS top cat Tab Lazenby (voice of Roger Moore, channelling his Bond past) proposes a peace pact with DOG to bring Kitty down. As Cats & Dogs barrels along to its explosive climax, the allies visit Dog Alcatraz, where the notorious feline felon Mr. Tinkles (voice of Sean Hayes) -- clad in a Hannibal Lecter straitjacket and echoing some of Lecter's most famous lines -- plays mind games.
As directed by Brad Peyton (Evelyn), Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty
Galore has plenty of excitement, gizmos, and cute-as-a-button moments
to charm and enthrall the youngsters, while their parents will enjoy the
inside jokes and grown-up references. A few of these, including Catherine's
interrogation by what looks like water-boarding, and a hippy house in
San Francisco where groovy cats are "hopped up on cat nip,"
push the boundaries of family viewing, but remain within the lines of
good taste.
The Catholic News Service classification is A-I -- general patronage.
The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG - parental guidance
suggested.
Dinner for Schmucks
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Arrogant Wall Street types take a satiric hit in the
odd-couple buddy comedy Dinner for Schmucks (Paramount). While its underlying
message is one of sensitivity and respect, however, director Jay Roach's
adaptation of Francis Veber's 1998 French feature Le Diner de Cons
showcases numerous wayward riffs on topics such as adultery, casual sex
and venereal disease.
Like many corporate rat-racers,
up-and-coming financial analyst Tim Conrad (Paul Rudd) is out to impress
his boss, Lance Fender (Bruce Greenwood), and thereby score a promotion.
But when Tim receives an invitation to the titular meal -- a callous competition
Fender
organizes periodically to see which of his hotshot underlings can produce
the most amusing idiot as a dinner guest and target for secret ridicule
-- he's appropriately repelled by the idea.
With the better angels of his
nature backed up by his live-in, not-ready-for-marriage girlfriend Julie
(Stephanie Szostak), Tim resolves to evade the occasion. Until, that is,
fate throws him a curveball in the eccentric form of bizarrely naive and
nerdy IRS agent Barry Speck (Steve Carell), whom Tim literally runs into
while distractedly driving his status-symbol sports car.
Discovering that Barry is an
amateur taxidermist who re-creates famous works of art and historical
scenes using stuffed mice -- the former category unfortunately including
Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, which leads to a bit of slightly impious
humour -- Tim decides that his new acquaintance is an irresistible godsend
and invites him to Fender's feast.
What Tim hasn't reckoned on (though
veteran viewers of this sort of comedy well may have) is the ruinous effect
Barry's presence in his life will have in the meantime, as his victim's
well-intentioned bumbling eventually threatens to derail both Tim's career
and his relationship with Julie.
Barry ultimately registers as
a good deal less endearing than screenwriters David Guion and Michael
Handelman seem to intend. And his idiot-savant wisdom -- for which we're
primed by the use of the Beatles' 1967 hit The Fool on the Hill as the
film's opening theme -- amounts to little in the end.
Dubious side stories along the
way to a generally positive wrap-up involve Barry's ex-wife -- who, we
learn, first had an affair with, then deserted him for, his equally off-kilter
supervisor, Therman (Zach Galifianakis) -- and the sensual stylings of
art curator Julie's major client Kieran Vollard (Jemaine Clement) whose
"creative process" includes cavorting with, then bedding, female
models.
The film contains shadowy rear
and partial nudity, cohabitation, much sexual and brief irreverent humour,
a couple of uses of profanity, at least one use of the F-word and six
crude terms. The Catholic News Service classification is L -- limited
adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find
troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 --
parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children
under 13.
Lottery Ticket
By John P. McCarthy
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- You can't hit the jackpot every time you walk into the
multiplex; moviegoing is always a bit of a gamble. That said, Catholic
viewers will find the comedy Lottery Ticket (Warner Bros.) a riskier proposition
than most because of permissive attitudes toward premarital sex and birth
control and a plethora of harsh language.
Actually, the chances that a majority of audience members, regardless
of religious affiliation, will consider this salutary entertainment are
slim, if not as daunting as the 175 million-1 odds of winning the sweepstakes
on which the story pivots. Efforts to convey a positive social message
about giving back to the community are offset by banter and fisticuffs
that sometimes border on the vulgar and are not especially original or
humorous.
Set in an Atlanta housing project, the movie asks: What would you do if
you won the lottery? How would those around you react?
On a sweltering Fourth of July weekend, lotto mania has seized the Fillmore
complex where good-natured Kevin Carson (rapper Bow Wow), a recent high
school graduate, lives with his devoutly Christian grandmother (Loretta
Devine). An aspiring sneaker designer, Kevin is a dedicated Foot Locker
employee and an upstanding young man in general.
After playing numbers Grandma has gleaned from Scripture, Kevin decides
to give it a whirl himself using digits from a fortune cookie. Lo and
behold, he wins $370 million. His best friend Benny (Brandon T. Jackson)
hails him as the "Moses of the projects," but the celebration
is premature. It's Saturday, and the lottery office will not reopen until
Tuesday morning. Surviving the weekend intact and in possession of the
winning ticket won't be easy.
Once Grandma spills the beans, everyone in the project wants a piece of
Kevin. Lorenzo (Gbenga Akinnagbe) -- a menacing thug fresh from prison
-- already has it in for him, and natty crime boss Sweet Tee (Keith David)
forces Kevin to accept a $100,000 loan. Following his date with a gold-digging
floozy, Kevin is also in danger of losing the respect of nice girl Stacie
(Naturi Naughton). Fortunately, though, he has Mr. Washington (Ice Cube)
-- a reclusive former boxer for whom he runs errands -- in his corner.
Taking a page out of Tyler Perry's crowd-pleasing playbook, director Erik
White and screenwriter Abdul Williams contrast the desire for upward economic
mobility with fidelity to a faith tradition. But their attempt to bridge
materialism and spiritual growth is an awkward one.
There are harmless jabs at religion, most notably during a visit to Grandma's
Baptist church where Reverend Taylor (Mike Epps) also has designs on Kevin's
windfall. Even at his most raucous and irreverent, Perry seems sincere
about his faith. Here, by contrast, religion is just another comic foil.
There are a few witty turns of phrase, yet we're mostly confronted by
caricatures. Those seeking an entertaining and perceptive social satire
along the lines of 2002's Barbershop will be disappointed.
Explicit dialogue regarding condom use during two thwarted sexual encounters
is a further reminder we're not dealing with an innocent night of bingo
in the church basement.
The film contains non-graphic non-marital sexual activity; much profanity;
at least one use of the F-word; frequent crude and crass language; numerous
sexual and contraception references; and some violence. The Catholic News
Service classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic
content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association
of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material
may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Step Up 3D
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Three-dimensional effects enhance the precision choreography
showcased in Step Up 3D (Disney).
But the nimble numbers in this
tale retreading familiar Hollywood themes of dream fulfilment and the
self-selecting circle of friends as do-it-yourself substitute family are
interspersed with flat-footed dialogue, a creaky plot and some provocative
moves and lyrics.
This third instalment of the
street stomping franchise, which began with 2006's Step Up, shifts the
setting from Baltimore to New York and focuses on Luke (Rick Malambri),
the charismatic and caring leader of a Gotham dance crew called the Pirates.
Discovering, in rapid succession, the hoofing gifts of New York University
freshman Moose (Adam G. Sevani) and nightclub denizen Natalie (Sharni
Vinson), Luke recruits them for the group, taking slightly nerdy engineering
student Moose under his man-of-the-world wing while quickly succumbing
to Natalie's charms. Luke, we learn, needs all the help he can get to
win the upcoming, multi-round dance championship called World Jam, the
proceeds from which will forestall foreclosure on the loft where he and
the Pirates live and practice.
But Moose is plagued by academic and amorous distractions, the latter
caused by his high school best bud and fellow NYU frosh Camille (Alyson
Stoner), who secretly yearns to be more than just pals, while Natalie
-- despite her sensitive support for Luke's potential as a would-be filmmaker
-- is not, alas, all she seems. Also hindering Luke's quest for the World
Jam prize money is former friend-turned-rival Julien (Joe Slaughter),
the scheming, underhanded frontman for the Pirates' main opposition, the
Samurai.
Inept storytelling aside -- oh,
no, Moose's big test is the same night as the next World Jam match! --
there's a generally buoyant feel to the proceedings in director Jon M.
Chu's follow-up to his 2008 feature debut Step Up 2: The Streets, best
exemplified perhaps by a sidewalks-of-New York set piece shared by Moose
and Camille that cleverly evokes classic Tinseltown fare of the Astaire-Rogers
and Gene Kelly variety.
Both of the main romantic relationships are wholesome, straying no further than Luke and Natalie's occasional dance-floor clinch. And the passing flashes of humour in Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer's script -- several of them playing on the stereotype of the hard-boiled Gothamite -- mostly hit the mark, though some viewers of faith may be put off by a joking application of the phrase "What would Jesus do?"
The film contains at least one use of the S-word, occasional crass language,
a mildly irreverent joke and scenes of moderately suggestive dancing.
The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion
Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned.
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Tales From Earthsea
By Joseph McAleer
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Wizards are fighting, dragons are circling overhead
and the natural world has lost its balance in Tales From Earthsea (Walt
Disney/Studio Ghibli), a Japanese anime adaptation of the popular book
series by Ursula K. Le Guin. From the studio which produced the award-winning
Spirited Away, Tales From Earthsea offers multiple parables on life and
death; freedom and slavery, and the need to respect the environment.
There's a lot going on here,
and viewers unfamiliar with the novels and their complex mythology may
feel bewildered. But -- as centred on the figure of Sparrowhawk (voice
of Timothy Dalton), a master wizard -- this is essentially an epic struggle
between good and evil with a healthy dose of Christian symbolism thrown
in.
Along with the other symptoms of a disturbances in Earthsea's life force -- sailors no longer able to control the wind and waves, failed crops, rampant pestilence, increasing drug use and the onslaught of those dragons -- the king's son, Prince Arren (voice of Matt Levin), has disappeared. After committing murder, this boy-wizard goes on walkabout, eventually joining Sparrowhawk as his apprentice.
Sparrowhawk must protect Arren so that he can control his powers, fulfil
his destiny and restore harmony to nature. But Arren is a rebellious teen
and runs away. He saves a young girl, Therru (voice of Blaire Restaneo),
from slavery, freeing her to return to the farm where she lives with her
adopted mother, Tenar (voice of Mariska Hargitay), a former priestess
who, it turns out, is Sparrowhawk's great love.
Interrupting the temporary domestic bliss that follows for our coincidental
quartet is evil wizard Lord Cob (voice of Willem Dafoe). Terrified by
death, Cob wants to live forever. But to achieve this, he must kill all
of Earthsea's good wizards.
Although the film was made in 2006, current audiences will be impressed
that when Cob gets really angry, he morphs into an all-too-timely symbol
of evil: a gigantic black oil slick.
Catholic viewers will note many quasi-Christian references sprinkled throughout
the film. Sparrowhawk carries a staff, and roams the countryside looking
for lost lambs, to bring them into "the light." Tenar recalls
the moment when "he came and rescued me and led me into the light."
When Arren is seized by slave traders and thrown in jail, Sparrowhawk
miraculously appears, removes Arren's chains and liberates him, St. Peter-like,
while the guards sleep.
The central message of Tales From Earthsea is about life, "the most
important thing in the world."
"Life without death is not life," the sorcerer tells his apprentice.
"Refuse death and you refuse life itself. Life is precious because
we know we're going to die." Those who, like Cob, try to cheat death
get their comeuppance, while those who accept it are offered the hope
of an afterlife where the spirit endures.
Viewers hooked on the wondrous Disney/Pixar style will be sorely disappointed
by the animation on display in this 2D production. While backgrounds are
lush, often resembling beautiful oil paintings, the character renderings
are not more advanced than your typical Saturday morning cartoon fare.
Additionally, as directed by Goro Miyazaki (son of famed Japanese animator
Hayao Miyazaki), the subject matter of Tales From Earthsea is darker,
more violent and a lot less fun than most Disney offerings, making this
the first-ever animated film produced or distributed by the company to
receive a PG-13 rating.
The film contains stylized cartoon violence, including stabbings and strangulations,
instances of drug use, and fantasy witchcraft. 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.
Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops
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