Talking Pictures

The 4th and final chapter of the Shrek series actually goes out on top.

In the new film, Shrek is bored with married life to Fiona and fatherhood. He misses the old days where his ogre-roar would have villagers running. He meets Rumpelstiltskin, a man with the power to turn back the clock and make him the ogre he once was. But there’s a catch (there always is)

The price is Shrek must give Rumpelstiltskin a day from his past. Not thinking things through clearly, Shrek agrees and wakes into a bizarre world where he never existed.

He must find Fiona and make her fall in love with him to break the spell.

Shrek Forever After bounces back from the 3rd film nicely. The film offers up a cockeyed look at Shrek’s world if Shrek never existed. In this animated “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Shrek realizes what is important and what is not, and we as the audience discover it as well.

Shrek Forever After gets a B+ and is rated PG.

Another update of the Robin Hood legend, this time starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. In this Ridley Scott directed piece, Crowe is an archer in the army of Richard the Lionhearted and through a series of situations is mistaken for a nobleman.

When he returns to the nobleman’s home, a village called Nottingham, he is asked to continue the ruse to protect the nobleman’s land and family. He meets Marion (Cate Blanchett), the wife of the man he’s pretending to be and the two start to fall for each other.

Both Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett turn in better-than-average performances, but it isn’t enough to save the film from its long-winded feel.

As a story being told, the audience really needed more swashbuckling and bit more bravado.

What they received is a dark, brooding and sometimes morose man who is uninspired as a leader. Actually it is Cate Blanchett’s Marion who is more Robin Hood, than the Russell Crowe character.

Robin gets a B for its camerawork and acting. It’s rated PG-13.

Just Wright is one of those chick flicks that give chick flicks a bad name. Thinly written and avoiding even the smallest slice of reality, Just Wright hammers home the notion “Love will conquer all.”

Unfortunately 2/3rds of the film is devoted to a woman pursuing an NBA star using nothing but deceit, lies and her physical beauty to lure in and snag the player of her dreams.

Queen Latifah, who plays the “every girl” in the film, shows interest in the Basketball star (played by Common) but simply throws up her hands and acquiesces to her younger and beautiful friend.

When the NBA player has an injury and when it seems his days of playing are over, the younger and prettier woman abandons him and leaves him in the care of Queen Latifah’s character. It’s is then “love conquers all.”

Just Wright simply isn’t good fantasy nor is it moralistic as none of the characters seem to pay any price for their actions.

Just Wright gets a D and is rated PG.

Iron Man 2

Doing any sequel is tough enough but one as anticipated as Iron Man 2 has got to be a headache. And the aspirin must have flowed like water during the filming of Iron Man 2.

The film isn’t bad, but rather muddled with a bit too many characters and too many sub-plots. This time Tony Stark faces off against a Russian genius, then Stark’s Iron Man technology is killing him, then he’s being shadowed by Samuel L Jackson, then there’s his new aid and the fact that Pepper Pots is now the CEO of Stark Enterprises. That’s a lot of plot.

What the film needed is less sub-plot and more comic book thrills.

As I indicated at the beginning of this review, Iron Man 2 isn’t a bad film at all it’s simply a good film that could have been much, much better. It gets a B and is rated PG-13.

Rich’s Quickie: If you like Gladiator and/or Braveheart, you’ll probably like this. But if you like your Robin Hoods a bit lighter, though; you may not like this!

Robin: Did we need a Robin Hood origin story? Ridley Scott has given it to us anyway, a full 140 minutes of it. Both director and star Russell Crowe are in fine form here (as well is the rest of a stellar cast including Cate Blanchett as Marion Loxley, William Hurt, Mark Strong, and Danny Huston, among others), and the film has a lush look to it. The action sequences are thrilling (if a bit too few and far between), and few of the battles will certainly draw you right in. Max von Sydow arrives in the nick of time and provides much needed humor, depth and soul to the story.

Stealin’: But Robin Hood is likely to remind you a LOT of other movies, such as Gladiator, Braveheart and even the parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Obviously, with such similar themes that’s bound to happen; but some of it was too much (like Marion hiding behind a knight’s helmet on the battlefield and taking on the main bad guy). Actually Marion is a sore spot for me in general; trying to make her a strong-willed character it took me right out of the literal time of the movie – in THAT day and age, she simply would have been killed for behaving so.
The movie is also strangely loaded with characters, subplots, and double-crosses between noblemen; you may need a spreadsheet just to keep track of them all. And finally, Crowe is simply in Gladiator mode for most of this movie, a couple of moments of levity notwithstanding. I didn’t want to see him singing in tights necessarily, but I did want my Robin Hood to have a touch more merriment, and to not be so heavy.

Movie Grade: B-

Rated PG-13 for violence including intense sequences of warfare, and some sexual content.

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Brian Helgeland (screenplay & story) and Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris (story)

Rich’s Quickie: Maybe not a classic, but it’s also not Leap Year, either.

Letters: Surprise guys; when your young lady drags you to this one you may NOT want to slit your wrists. Letters was shot on location and the scenery lends to the romantic groove of the film, and star Amanda Seyfried is earnest in her portrayal of Sophie, a young lady somewhat adrift in her own love life while helping to steer others on that same stormy sea. There may not be many surprises here, but Letters has a sense of itself that keeps it from being too corny; there are times when Letters could walk right off the balcony, but it quickly catches itself before the fall. And when veteran Vanessa Redgrave shows up for the second act, the movie really finds its footing and leads you into its satisfying third act.

Scribble: The script is not without its scrawl. In the first act, Seyfried’s character comes off as a spoiled brat who understand the difference between traveling for business or pleasure, and who also can’t seem to have a good time in Italy without her man on her arm 24/7. And possibly because of that, the next acts are devoted to showing just how lousy her current overworking boyfriend Victor is (played by Gael García Bernal), paving the way for her to be okay with falling for Charlie (played by Christopher Egan). Apparently, all you need to do to win a woman these days (if we are to believe this and other movies such as Leap Year), is spend a few days with her in a foreign country, and try to treat her badly at first.

Movie Grade: B-

Rated PG for brief rude behavior, some language and incidental smoking.

Directed by: Gary Winick
Jose Rivera (written by) and Tim Sullivan (written by)

Rich’s Quickie: Kinda wrong.

Wright: A well-intentioned movie trying to tell the story of when bad people get in the way of good people getting together.

Rong: So what goes wrong with just Wright? Overall, it’s yet another romantic comedy with very little romance or comedy. Most of the romantic moves of Common’s Scott McKnight are directed toward a gold-digger so obvious in her intentions that he’s GOT to be a dope for being duped. Queen Latifah’s Leslie Wright is such a push over that she puts up with the aforementioned friend’s shallow gold-digging for years; even after Morgan Alexander’s Paula Patton hijinks, Wright is still buddies with her. Perhaps the problem is that this romantic comedy is rated PG, and adult relationships can be messy – at least PG-13 rated, with more adult-oriented issues. But since everything might need to be “okay” in the end, the whole movie has no consequences – and hence no tension – whatsoever. It is bland and gutless with very little drama or surprises.
And for crying out LOUD can we please NOT have mid-thirties something women whose sole goal in life is get a man? What YEAR is this?

Movie Grade: C-

Rated PG for some suggestive material and brief language.

Directed by: Sanaa Hamri
Writen by: Michael Elliot (written by)

In Letters to Juliet a young woman (played by Amanda Seyfried) travels to Verona, Italy and while there discovers a long-lost and forgotten letter from a woman (Vanessa Redgrave) regretting leaving her one true love. Inspired by the letter she writes the woman back and therein begins a journey to reunite the now elderly woman with her lost love.

Yes, this is a chick-flick of the first caliber. And yes it follows a simple formula. And yes it really works, thanks to Vanessa Redgrave’s outstanding performance.

Letters to Juliet is wonderfully emotional film about the journey of two women who stand on opposite side of life but who are ultimately asking the same question.

Letters to Juliet is a film very much worth the effort and time to see.

It rates a very solid B and is rated PG.

Rich’s Quickie: A touch less thrilling, but a lot more filling.

Iron clad: IR2 gives you much of what you liked in Iron-Man, and a whole lot more. Robert Downey Jr. is in fine snarky, charming form as Tony Stark, millionaire playboy super-genius with a suit of kick-ass armor. IR2 has it all; great zingers and action sequences, and lots of glorious shots of the man in the iron suit simply flying through the air. It’s great entertainment; and with the origin story behind us, we can get into a much more meaty and dense storyline.

Chinks in the armor: Yes, it gives you a whole lot more – but maybe too much? Did no one learn the lessons of Spider-Man 3? There’s Stark dealing with the public admission of his private persona, and his relationship with Potts (and her becoming the active head of Stark Industries), we have S.H.E.I.L.D., Stark getting sickened by his super-powered heart, the balance in his relationship with his buddy Rhodey, a corrupt senator acting on behalf of a military who wants Stark’s armor, Stark Senior, Whiplash, Justin Hammer, Black Widow, Nick Fury… did you get all that? Well there’s more; like a brush with a classic Iron Man story line called “Demon in a Bottle”, dealing with Stark’s alcoholism.
The pace of the movie is bit off, possibly because of last-minute re-shoots as much as the overstuffed plot; almost the first half of the movie at once feels as though it slowly builds, chugging along a bit… while also being a disjointed and edited a little frenetically. When the action finally comes it is delivered in ample amounts; although a mid-point Iron-Man fight feels like a cheap excuse for… well; an Iron-Man fight (similar to the werewolf fight in “The Wolfman”). It also seemed to undermine the idea that Stark and his armor are special; anybody who puts one on (and it fits, and it’s powered without Stark’s chest-mounted power supply), can pretty quickly nearly master it and kick Iron-Man’s ass in the process. Luckily, the scenes providing the solution for his sickness also show that the Man is as unique as the Armor. But even with all of that a solid B+ that I would gladly pay to see again.

Movie Grade: B+

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language.

Directing: Jon Favreau

Writing: Justin Theroux (screenplay), Stan Lee (Marvel comic book), Don Heck (Marvel comic book), Larry Lieber (Marvel comic book), and Jack Kirby (Marvel comic book)

Rich’s Quickie: Watered down Discovery channel fodder.

The Deep: Pierce Brosnan narrates the English version of this wonderfully shot mini-movie; which looks amazing. It will introduce you to a few new fishy faces you’ve never seen on the big screen.

The Shallows: But Disney wusses out on so many fronts I’m not sure where to begin. If I thought anyone could broach the subject of the systematic polluting of the ocean, I thought Disney could do it in a way that would not alienate its core audience. But they only scratch the surface here, also barely mentioning other subjects probably deemed to edgy for Disney (such as evolution and global man-made climate change). Instead we are served up a regurgitation of “Life”, but without much of the interesting info; the incredible footage is instead peppered with open ended philosophical questions about our relation to the waters around us, and very little actual information about these wonderful creatures we see vividly displayed onscreen. A warning; some shots of the cycle of life may be disturbing to younger ones.

Movie Grade: C

Not-Rated.

Directing: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud (co-director)

Writing: Christophe Cheysson co-writer Jacques Cluzaud… and Laurent Debas, and Stéphane Durand, and Laurent Gaudé and Jacques Perrin and François Sarano and…