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RICH KIDS (1979) (Blu-ray)

May 15, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Drama, PG rated Leave a comment

RichKidscoverGrade: C+/B-
Entire family: No
1979, 97 min., Color
Olive Films
Rated PG for mild language and sexual situations
Aspect ratio:  1.85:1
Featured audio:  DTS 2.0
Bonus features: n/a
Clip
Amazon link

Though it’s decades old, Rich Kids ought to be the kind of film that would interest families with adolescent children. It stars two engaging young actors (Trini Alvarado, Jeremy Levy) who play upper-crust offspring of Upper West Side parents who are either divorced or in the process of divorcing. It’s a kids’ point-of-view film with very few scenes that don’t feature the young characters. And the focus—an opposite gender friendship that leads to some innocent experimentation—would seem to be timeless.

Unfortunately, the pacing of ‘70s films is a liability for many of today’s young viewers, who will also find this character-driven coming-of-age drama relatively plotless compared to today’s movies. Your not-so-rich kids might reach for their cell phones or hand-held gaming systems to “multitask” during this one.

RichKidsscreen1That’s too bad, because the acting is superb, and older viewers will delight in seeing a very young-looking 34-year-old John Lithgow as the father of 12-year-old Franny, who knows her father sneaks home at 5 a.m. every day to hide that he spends the night elsewhere. Precocious and left on her own a lot, Franny has somehow picked up a copy of The Joy of Sex, which she studies and keeps hidden behind her childhood books. Her mother (Kathryn Walker) has her own preoccupations, and because that includes another man we suspect that Franny’s racy reading isn’t just the result of sexual curiosity, but perhaps self-guided “homework” to try to understand what’s happening to her parents and their family unit.

At school Franny has bonded with Jamie, whose parents are already divorced and caught up in their new lives, leaving him on the periphery or bouncing back and forth between houses. The plot is simple, though it stretches the limits of belief. Franny wants to have a sleepover with Jamie and asks her workaholic mother when she’s half asleep. Later, when Mom learns that Jamie is a boy, she and her husband still allow her daughter to go to Jamie’s house because “she said it was okay.” Meanwhile, Jamie’s dad leaves the kids alone in his bachelor pad while he goes off in his sports car with his latest conquest, despite assuring Franny’s parents that the kids would be supervised. That’s the plot in a nutshell, and the illogical and irresponsible parental behavior that puts the two rich kids in a position to experiment may bother older viewers as much as the plotless narrative might turn off the kids. Still, the performances are worth watching, and if young viewers are warned in advance that Rich Kids is a slower-moving character-driven film they might be able to enjoy them and the read-between-the-lines nuances of the film.

Language: Some mild swearwords
Sex: Two children in a bubble bath, perhaps innocent, perhaps not; two children in pajamas play wrestling with each other and sexual tension
Violence: None
Adult situations: None, apart from talk of affairs and that bachelor pad
Takeaway: Wes Anderson did a better job of exploring similar territory in Moonrise Kingdom (2012), a PG-13 rated adventure-comedy-drama.

A ROYAL NIGHT OUT (DVD)

May 3, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Comedy, PG-13 rated, Romance Leave a comment

RoyalNightOutcoverGrade: B
Entire family: No
2015, 97 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and brief drug elements
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Bonus features: C
Trailer
Amazon link

Here are four words you have to keep in mind when watching A Royal Night Out: “Inspired by True Events.” In Hollywood, that means a wholesale revision of the facts, if not a pure fiction. So this 2015 historical comedy-romance-adventure is truthful when it says it’s only inspired by the story of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret being allowed to venture incognito outside the gates of Buckingham Palace on V.E. Day to listen to their father’s speech from the other side of the fence. Twentieth Century Fox quite accurately describes it as “a fanciful tale about two real-life princesses who long to feel normal on the most extraordinary night of their lives.” While critics have taken this WWII-era film to task for its blatant historical inaccuracies and eyebrow-raising plot, I feel compelled to say, Relax. This isn’t The King’s Speech. It’s Adventures in Babysitting meets Roman Holiday.

RoyalNightOutscreen1The action takes place on a single night in which all of London is euphorically celebrating Hitler’s demise and the end of the war in Europe. After the king (Rupert Everett) countermand’s the queen (Emily Watson) and gives his daughters permission to leave the palace on the condition that they report back to him what the “real” people have to say about him and his speech, the sensible Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) and her wild younger sister Margaret (Bel Powley) leave the gates with two military chaperones. They think they’re headed for a night on the town, but at the king’s orders the escorts drop them off at a stuffy hotel ballroom celebration with England’s upper-crust old fogies the only ones in attendance. But, tempted by women and liquor, the chaperones decide to leave their post at the closed door and watch from afar.

Of course Margaret manages to slip out first, and then Elizabeth, with the latter’s entire night spent trying to track down and take care of her wild but naive sister, who drinks her way across London with a group of naval officers that has no idea she’s the princess. To catch up with her RoyalNightOutscreen2Elizabeth boards a bus and, having no money for fare, is about to be tossed off when a young R.A.F. bomber seated next to her offers to pay. From that point on, he becomes her reluctant, unwilling, and finally devoted accomplice as the two of them continue their pursuit of Margaret . . . and of course draw closer to each other in the process.

A Royal Night Out is fast-paced fun if, like the princesses, you allow yourself to get swept up in the manic euphoria of one of history’s biggest celebrations. Director Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane, Brideshead Revisited) and his set and costume designers do a fine job of selling the period atmosphere, and the cast is perfectly charming. It’s the kind of film that princess-crazy daughters would love, if their own kings and queens would let them watch. Be aware, though, that there’s celebratory drinking, drunkenness, some brawling, hookers, opium dens, and overly aggressive military men.

Language: Surprisingly little, and when it’s used it’s British
Sex: One topless woman with pasties is shown the background, a man sleeps between two women, and another man, though fully clothed, is in a coital position
Violence: Several fistfights
Adult situations: A den of iniquity, hookers, and lecherous behavior
Takeaways: Surprisingly fun. Hollywood loves to project the longing that royalty has for a “normal” life, but I’d bet it’s nothing compared to the longing that “normal” people have for leading a life of leisure and luxury. Just sayin’.

DORIS DAY AND ROCK HUDSON ROMANTIC COMEDY COLLECTION (Blu-ray)

May 2, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater PG-13 rated, Romantic Comedy Leave a comment

DayHudsoncoverGrade:  B+
Entire family: No
1959-64, 310 min., Color
Universal
Not Rated (Would be PG-13 for drinking, smoking, and innuendo)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1, 2.35:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 2.0
Bonus features: B-
Trailer (Pillow Talk)
Amazon link

Back in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, the romantic comedy was synonymous with two names: Doris Kapplehoff and Roy Sherer Jr., better known to audiences as Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Though the pair only made three films—Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, and Send Me No Flowers, all included on this Doris Day and Rock Hudson Romantic Comedy Collection—they helped define the genre for a generation.

Are the films dated? Of course. These are sex romps without the sex, innuendo without the indecency. One of the funniest quips ever made about Doris Day came from comedian-pianist Oscar Levant, who remarked, “I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin.” Her onscreen performance was virginal, even in Send Me No Flowers, when she and Hudson played a married couple. The writers and directors changed, but all three films followed a tradition that dates back to Shakespeare by incorporating double entendre, confusion over disguises, mistaken identities, or misunderstandings, and minor characters whose job it is to prod and push the main characters toward a chaotic quasi-screwball climax. The colors are deliciously oversaturated compared to today’s color films, and the lifestyles and the moral values are pure ‘50s. Yet, as my teenage son said—and he gave all three films high marks for entertainment value—“These are great!”

Pillow Talk (1959) A-
DayHudsonscreen1The one that started it all is still the best, but the concept might take some explaining. An interior decorator (Day) who shares a party line with a womanizing songwriter (Hudson) ends up being romanced by him as he pretends to be a shy Texan, first to have fun at her expense, and then to seduce her. But of course love and decency win out. As Brad begins to fall for her and realizes he has no chance with her if she finds out his true identity, the plot twists even more so.

It helps to know that in the age of rotary dial phones there were only so many private phone lines available. As a result, many people had to share a line—a party line—and sometimes work out use patterns between them, while others opted for the party line to save money.

The script is clever and all of the actors have a lot of fun with it. Tony Randall is hilarious as a rich client of Day’s who also happens to know Hudson’s character and serves as his confidante, while Thelma Ritter plays Day’s maid, the obligatory hungover heavy drinker that turns up in almost every ‘50s and ‘60s comedy. TV’s Johnny Yuma, The Rebel, appears as an all-hands college boy, while Hayden Rorke (who played Dr. Bellows on TV’s Bewitched) also has a small role. In 2009 Pillow Talk made it into the National Film Registry because of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.”

Lover Come Back (1961) B+
The formula returns in this follow-up, with Day and Hudson playing rival Madison Ave. ad executives competing for accounts. Always the wholesome one, she pitches ideas, while he uses women and booze to DayHudsonscreen2win accounts and has plenty of “conquests” himself. To keep one of them from going to the ethics board he invents a product (VIP) and keeps her in line by telling her he’ll make her the VIP girl. When Day’s character gets wind of the new product, she tries to find out more about it and goes to a Nobel Prize-winning chemists that she suspects her competitor has hired. Here’s where the mistaken identity comes in: Day walks in just as the chemist went into the back room, leaving Hudson in his lab coat. And Hudson decides to play the part, again to have some fun at her expense and to keep her occupied so she can’t cause him any trouble.

The bonus for fans of classic TV is that Donna Douglas (Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies) appears as the secretary of the CEO (Tony Randall again) at the firm Hudson’s character works for, while Ann B. Davis (Alice on The Brady Bunch) plays Day’s secretary, and other familiar faces also turn up, like Joe Flynn (McHale’s Navy) and Jack Albertson (Chico & the Man). Lover Come Back is slightly more risqué (though nothing is shown) insomuch as the two main characters wake up in bed together after a wild party. There’s more drinking and smoking in this one than in the first, but the mistaken identity formula works just as well, and in the end, it’s awfully tame compared to today’s movies, yet just as entertaining.

Send Me No Flowers (1964) B+
DayHudsonscreen3Universal decided to switch it up for the third outing. In this one, Hudson plays a hypochondriac who, after overhearing his doctor talk about the x-rays of a dying man, thinks he has only two weeks to live. His first thought is, of course, for his wife, and after talking to his best friend and neighbor (Tony Randall) he decides the best thing to do is to try to find another husband for her, so she won’t be all alone after he’s gone.

There are plenty of twists and allusions in this one, with TV’s Cheyenne (Clint Walker) riding on a horse to save Day from a runaway golf cart. It turns out that he’s her old college sweetheart, and a little too familiar with her for the jealous Hudson, who nonetheless reminds himself that he is, after all, looking for a replacement husband. Norman Jewison (Moonstruck, Fiddler on the Roof) directed this one, which also offers a fun amount of familiar faces. The acerbic Paul Lynde plays a cemetery director, while veteran character actor Edward Andrews (who guest starred in so many TV sitcoms it’s hard to name them all) also appears.

All three of these films share the same winning formula, and while there are dated elements, the core ingredients are timeless. Families with older teenage children should enjoy these together. They’d probably merit a PG-13 rating today, for their use of tobacco and alcohol and sexual innuendo—though again, it all seems so tame compared to today’s movies. But all three of these romantic comedies still work. Fans might hope that the next “collection” Universal releases will be the Doris Day and James Garner Romantic Comedy Collection. Though the pair only did two films together (The Thrill of It All, Move Over Darling) they’re as much fun as the Day-Hudson romps.

RIDE ALONG 2 (Blu-ray combo)

April 16, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated Leave a comment

RideAlong2coverGrade: B-/B
Entire family: No
2016, 102 min., Color
Universal
Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, sexual contact, language, and some drug material
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 5.1
Bonus features: C
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

Most critics didn’t like Ride Along 2 as much as the 2014 original, which they also didn’t like. Then again, most critics don’t watch the films with their families, approaching each one as a night of entertainment. And my family (two adults and two teens) thought Ride Along 2, starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, was plenty entertaining.

This sequel follows the buddy cop action-comedy formula with a few nods to previous films in the genre. As with Lethal Weapon 2, Ride Along 2 tosses a non-cop third party into the mix. Instead of Joe Pesci sitting in the back seat we get comedian Ken Jeong, who plays a hacker with information about a top crime kingpin (Benjamin Bratt). And like Beverly Hills Cop and Running Scared, Ride Along 2 takes the cops out of their jurisdiction into a more exotic location, where they end up working with local law enforcement officers. In this case, Miami provides the upbeat location and an excuse for some pretty decent soundtrack music, with Olivia Munn starring as Maya, a homicide detective.

RideAlong2screenA year after the events of Ride Along, Ice Cube is still the tough Atlanta undercover detective James Payton who is still tormented by his annoying brother-in-law to be and probationary cop Ben Barber (Hart). James’ sister, Angela, loves Ben but wants him out of her hair for a while to plan the wedding, so she talks her brother into taking Ben along to Miami, where he’s following a lead on a drug case. If you’re keeping score, that makes two main characters who find Ben Barber/Kevin Hart’s non-stop chatter and high-energy enthusiasm at least partly annoying, and I’m guessing that people who don’t like Hart’s schtick will find Ride Along 2 tedious. We found it hilarious.

Ride Along 2 offers plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, some fun action scenes (the most memorable of which involves Hart’s character piloting a fork lift and creating havoc in a portside storage container area), and a plot that’s just good enough to support the banter and antics of the two stars. Meanwhile, the kids will like video game scenes and Ben’s encounter with a humongous alligator.

There isn’t much in the way of surprises, but the thing about buddy cop pictures is that the chemistry between the two stars is what matters most, and Ice Cube and Kevin Hart are fun to watch. Director Tim Story doesn’t seem to think audiences will wonder why it takes a major false bust of a local respected businessmen (ala The Naked Gun) before two cops out of their jurisdiction are finally restricted, but logic isn’t the focus: action and comedy are. Ride Along 2 is an appealing crime comedy for families with children 13 and over . . . if you don’t mind Kevin Hart and Ken Jeong screaming a lot.

Language: Two “f” bombs” (I thought PG-13 only allowed one?) and a few sporadic uses of “shit” and similar expletives
Sex: Just a quick glimpse of a woman in bra and panties and some sexual references
Violence: Yep. But it’s all crime comedy violence, nothing even as traumatic as the opening murder in Beverly Hills Cop
Adult situations: Some drinking and drug mention
Takeaway: Ride Along 2 may not be one of the best in the genre, but it’s in the same class as other buddy-cop films like 21 Jump Street and The Other Guys

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

April 9, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated, Reviews (by Genre), Sci-Fi/Fantasy Leave a comment

ForceAwakenscoverGrade: A-
Entire family: No
2015, 135 min., Color
LucasFilm/Disney
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: B+
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Bonus Disc, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

These are exciting times for Star Wars fans, who can be forgiven if they start to think of the seventh film in the series as Star Wars: The Franchise Awakens. In effect, Disney has launched Star Wars 3.0, a glorious reboot that’s the first of six films planned for release over the next five years: three stand-alone spin-offs and a trilogy begun by The Force Awakens, according to Business Insider.

Never mind that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the highest grossing film of 2015. The exciting part is that with this film, a trio of writers led by Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark) put the fun and fast-paced serial adventure back into Luke Skywalker’s galaxy, and, just as importantly they give us new characters that we care about. Under the capable direction of J.J. Abrams (Lost), The Force Awakens also combines the best of both worlds. Fans get the slick technical wizardry of Revenge of the Siths and the otherwise ho-hum Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, combined with the lighter tone and occasional humor that made A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi so much fun. It’s fun, too, seeing Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher reprise their roles as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia—even if, as Hamill joked, he’s onscreen for less time than Finn drinking with a hippo.

ForceAwakensscreen1Some might say it’s just a little too tidy having offspring of those beloved characters turning up as “players” in this new struggle of resistance fighters trying to stop the First Order, as the imperialists are now called, but there are plenty of instances in real life where children of politicians also become main figures on the world stage. Fruit doesn’t far fall from the tree, and that probably goes double for people with Jedi blood.

The Force Awakens recycles elements from the main storyline of A New Hope, the film that introduced Star Wars in 1977. The emperor may be long gone, but a new one who speaks via hologram has taken his place. Each film begins with someone on an arid, isolated planet finding a droid that has been given an important piece of information. In the case of The Force Awakens, a scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley) who is all alone in the world comes across a BB-8 that’s even more endearing than R2-D2. She meets her own version of a bad boy/antihero (a stormtrooper defector named Finn played by John Boyega) and the two of them seem destined to create movie magic together.

Four main characters are introduced—six, if you count a diminutive goggle-eyed Yoda substitute voiced by Lupita Nyong’o and that cute new BB-8—and while Oscar Isaac is engaging enough as resistance pilot ForceAwakensscreen2Poe Dameron, he doesn’t have the same on-screen presence as Ridley and Boyega, or maybe isn’t able to insert enough of his own personality into the role to make him memorable. The costume design took me a bit by surprise, as Disney tried for a Darth Vader update with Adam Driver playing the simpering Kylo Ren wearing a mask that looks a cross between Vader and something Hannibal Lector would wear, and the new stormtrooper helmets flatten out at the bottom so that they look a little like the goalie mask on the old Annaheim Ducks uniforms. But the production design is slick while still appearing realistic and not 100 percent CGI-looking, the way so much of Menace or Clones did. That’s just how far CGI special effects have come.

What makes Star Wars: The Force Awakens a winner is that those state-of-the-art CGI effects accompany a return to old-fashioned storytelling and the lighthearted tone of the serial-inspired original films. That combination guarantees The Force Awakens will get plenty of repeat play. It’s a great popcorn movie that announces this series is back on track again. And does it look phenomenal in Blu-ray! A disc of bonus features is included, and while the deleted scenes aren’t as tantalizing as fans might expect, a full-length documentary is satisfying and there are plenty of excellent shorter features as well. Shop around if you want to add this title. Best Buy, Target, and Walmart all have exclusive releases. This is the general release, available through Amazon and other outlets.

Language: Two “hells” and one “damn” is pretty tame.
Sex: n/a
Violence: This film’s PG-13 rating comes solely because of sci-fi violence. Lots of blasters, lots of explosions, and lots of characters being killed . . . or in the case of an opening sequence, murdered. An attack by multiple-tentacle creatures can be pretty intense for younger children, but the film’s most haunting moment of violence comes when a stormtrooper is shot and as he dies he leaves his bloody handprint on another trooper. It’s so we can identify which trooper to watch, but still….
Adult situations: Some background characters smoke and drink in the cantina, but nothing more.
Takeaways: The Force is back . . . in force! And with new characters, Disney and LucasFilm are well positioned to finish this new trilogy as impressively as they began it.

THE PEANUTS MOVIE (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray)

April 2, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Entire Family, Family, G rated Leave a comment

PeanutsMoviecoverGrade: B+
Entire family: Yes
2015, 88 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated G
Aspect ratio:1.85:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: A-
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

Steve Martino is a brave man. Sure, he directed the Dr, Seuss classic Horton Hears a Who! (2008) and Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), the fourth installment in the Fox animated prehistoric series. But Charles Schulz is in a totally different league.

One of the most famous cartoonists of all time, Schulz received the Congressional Gold Medal for his influence on America culture—an influence that famously extended into the U.S. space program, with the Apollo 10 command module named “Charlie Brown” and the lunar module named “Snoopy.” Over his career Schulz drew close to 18,000 Peanuts comic strips, published dozens of collected strips in books, and came into American homes through a series of now-iconic television specials, many of which were linked to holidays. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Upon his death, Schulz requested that his characters remain essentially unchanged, and The Peanuts Movie was to be the first time the characters were rendered in 3D CGI. In addition, the script was written by Cornelius Uliano and Schulz’s son and grandson, who also had a hand in producing the film. But hey, no pressure!

PeanutsMoviescreen1Martino presides over a production that remains faithful to the spirit of the Peanuts world, choosing to surprise viewers not with twists or deviations, but with the clever rendering of familiar elements from the Peanuts gang repertoire and recognizable visual cues from the comics themselves. Snoopy hauls out his typewriter and takes to the skies atop his doghouse to fight the Red Baron, Charlie Brown is smitten by a new red-haired girl in the neighborhood, and everyone starts to think differently about failure-magnet, disaster-prone Charlie after he scores a perfect 100 on an exam.

In the end, the perceived messages about never giving up, the thin line that often separates failure from success, and the fickleness of public opinion come across loud and clear—whether you’re an adult or a child. And universal messages like that are a big part of what has made the Peanuts adventures popular with all ages.

PeanutsMoviescreen2If The Peanuts Movie feels like a first, it’s only because it’s the first full-length animated feature to be produced for the big screen in 35 years. It’s the fifth film, really, though this one feels like a first film because it introduces all of the familiar elements for a new audience. Yet, old ones will take delight in the way that those familiar elements are treated. Lucy is her old irascible self, setting up her psychiatric advice booth on the street in the middle of winter—though she could probably stand to see a shrink herself because of her self-image and anger-management issues. Pigpen doesn’t have much to do, but his cloud of dirt appears every now and then. Schroeder is more visible with his Beethoven fetish and his toy piano, and Charlie’s sister Sally seems to lurk everywhere in the wings, like a real little sister.

Despite being set in winter, The Peanuts Movie manages to bring in all of the most famous “bits,” from Charlie Brown’s disastrous attempts at kite-flying to school talent shows, or from birdie Woodstock and Snoopy’s comic antics to and Charlie Brown’s dance lessons. The 3D CGI characters and stylized backgrounds seem perfectly melded by comic-strip wordless graphics like gigantic stars briefly flashed to signify an explosion or implosion, thought balloons, or eyes and eyebrows on a character that shift like drawings hovering over the CGI bodies. The effect is fairly mesmerizing and adds a charming uniqueness to the faithful tone and treatment of familiar material. The Peanuts Movie is one of the better 3D CGI animated adaptations in a sub-genre that sees far too many wrong turns and stinkers.

THE MARTIAN (Blu-ray)

March 26, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated Leave a comment

MartiancoverGrade: A-
Entire family: No
2015, 144 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated PG-13 for some strong language, injury imagery, and brief nudity
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: B
Includes: Blu-ray, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

Once is an incidence, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.

It’s official, then. Hollywood has re-discovered NASA.

First came Gravity (2013), then Interstellar (2014), and now The Martian (2016), which is just as compelling a film as the first two—so good, in fact, that you wonder if it and the others will help to promote an American space program that has lapsed into relative obscurity. Gone are the glamour days, but a still-active NASA has been quietly concentrating its efforts on the International Space Station, as well a program to launch exploratory surveys of Mars and other planets.

It’s hard to say whether this renewed interest will have any effect, but like the first two space films in Hollywood’s rediscovery mission, The Martian makes space travel look both harrowing and heroic. And it keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Martianscreen1The Martian isn’t the first foray into space for Matt Damon, who plays an astronaut stranded on Mars in this film and also starred in Interstellar—nor for director Ridley Scott, who previously thrust beyond Earth’s gravity to make Alien and Prometheus. You sense a confidence at work in this production.

Don’t be misled by the Golden Globe nomination it received in the Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy. The Martian is neither. There are probably a half-dozen funny moments, but The Martian is mostly a one-man survival drama in the manner of Castaway or The Revenant that’s broadened by intercut sequences involving a Mars mission in space and mission control back on Earth.

Except for the language it’s mostly a family movie, but there are a few adult moments—as when botanist Mark Watney, (Damon), left for dead after the crew saw him felled by a massive object during a nasty storm, pulls a projectile out of his stomach and staples himself while in great pain. Or when we briefly see his buttocks as he strides through the station on Mars, or when he talks about using his own “shit” to farm inside the station to provide enough food to survive until rescue comes.

Martianscreen2Jessica Chastain plays the mission commander for Ares III (Ares was the Greek name for Mars, god of war), and other crew members who had to abort their mission and left Watney behind were the pilot (Michael Peña), systems operator (Kate Mara), flight surgeon (Sebastian Stan), and navigator (Aksel Hennie). Sean Bean plays the mission commander on the ground, with the believably bureaucratic Jeff Daniels taking on the role of NASA chief administrator Teddy Sanders. Kristen Wiig is also on the ground, and maybe that’s why people automatically thought this must be a comedy. But she doesn’t even get any of the funny lines.

The famed Wadi Rum desert in Jordan, with its red-orange sand and stark, towering rock formations, is a believable stand-in for Mars, and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (Pirates of the Caribbean) does a fantastic job of shooting visuals to match the mood, the atmosphere, and the action.

Mostly, though, The Martian is compelling because of the story, and it stands as yet another tribute to American ingenuity and world cooperation—since China also gets involved in the rescue mission. It’s also just plain fascinating to see how a person would survive alone on another planet, and it proves the adage that necessity really is the mother of invention. Like Tom Hanks before him and Leonardo DiCaprio, Damon doesn’t shrink from the burden of being alone onscreen for so much of the film—he owns it, which is why he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination to add to the film’s seven. I’m still not sure why The Martian won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, though music is a running gag. And unless your sense of humor is as dry as the soil on Mars, it’s tough to fathom why Damon’s performance was entered in the Best Actor—Comedy or Musical category. But he won, and despite the spuriousness of the category, he deserved at least one honor. The Martian is his best performance since Good Will Hunting. Recommended for families with teens.

Language: A surprising number of f-bombs, mostly bleeped or mouthed, plus a few other curse words
Sex: Mild innuendo and one brief long shot of a man’s buttocks
Violence: The storm sequence and its aftermath is the only violence
Adult situations: Other than the above and general peril, not much
Takeaway: If I had to watch only one of the three recent space movies over and over again, it would be The Martian, because of the wonderful details

THE HUNGER GAMES COMPLETE 4-FILM COLLECTION (Blu-ray)

March 25, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated, Sci-Fi/Fantasy 1 Comment

HungerGamescoverGrade: B+
Entire family: No
2012-15, 548 min., Color
Lionsgate
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, some language, some suggestive elements, and thematic material
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: Dolby TrueHD Atmos / Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Bonus features: B+
Includes: 6 Blu-ray discs, Digital HD
Amazon link
Trailer

If you don’t already have the 15th highest grossing film franchise of all time, read on.

The Hunger Games movies are based on the young adult novels by Suzanne Collins, whose inspiration for her teen heroine Katniss Everdeen was probably Thomas Hardy’s Bathsheba Everdene, the strong main character of Far from the Madding Crowd—a young woman who also finds herself torn between different admirers.

In the movie version, Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss, an accomplished archer from the coal-mining District 12 in the futuristic dystopia of Panem, which is run by an autocratic president-slash-dictator named Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland)—a name derived from Shakespeare’s tragedy of Coriolanus, about a Roman general who rises to political leadership after successfully quelling uprisings against Imperial Rome. Teens won’t know or get any of this, but it does make the series a little more literate than most.

HungerGamesscreen1Mockingjay Part 2 (included here) is the climax of a series that began with Katniss taking her younger sister’s place in nationally televised “tributes,” in which two teens from each district fight to the death in a broad, natural arena in a futuristic and more violent version of Survivor. She distinguishes herself and, with fellow District 12 acquaintance-turned-friend-turned-love-interest Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), finds a way to beat the “only one winner” rule.” On their victory tour Katniss senses revolution brewing, and Mockingjay Part 1 finds her being recruited by the underground movement to be their PR heroine. Though Part 2 begins with her accompanied by a film crew advancing to the district closet to Capitol to make another rouse-the-rebellion film, Katniss has other ideas. Liam Hemsworth stars as Gale, who complicates Katniss’s emotional terrain, and a star-riddled cast includes Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Julianne Moore.

Hollywood expanded Collins’ trilogy into four installments, and fans that faithfully purchased the previous three films in HD can pick up The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 on Blu-ray, while The Hunger Games Complete 4-Film Collection seems geared for people who were waiting for the series to conclude before adding the films to their collections. The wrinkle is that the 4-Film set contains a bonus disc that includes exclusive features that haven’t appeared in earlier releases. Is it be enough to entice real fans to double-buy?

HungerGamesscreen2Maybe. But The Hunger Games Complete 4-Film Collection is a great set except for one thing: to package the six discs so that they overlap, Lionsgate had to go with DVD packaging. That’s right. If you’ve adjusted your shelves to fit Blu-rays only, this one won’t make it . . . as is. But if you buy inexpensive replacement double-disc Blu-ray cases at Amazon and photocopy, then cut out, your covers from the previous three releases, it works pretty well: The Hunger Games consists of two discs, like the first release, and they fit in one case; Catching Fire was a single disc, but if you switch to a double disc case you can put that film plus the bonus disc for this collection in that case; and that leaves The Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2 for the third case. Then you can take your first three Blu-rays to the local second-hand video store to get a few bucks for them.

Wait, you’re thinking. That’s a lot of work. Are the bonus features worth it? Well, that can be confusing, because the bonus disc also contains previously released material. But new to this release are “Stories from the Tributes,” an 18-minute feature on the actors and clips from the film; “Casting the Tributes,” an 11-minute behind-the-scenes look; “Tribute Video Diaries,” which is 17 minutes of just what it sounds like; a photo slideshow that runs about 3 minutes; a 15-minute feature on the stunts; an 18-minute feature on the costume design; a 7-minute short on the weaponry; a 10-minute feature on the visual effects; a 7-minute look at the food created for the film; a 5-minute clip of the premiere; a 14-minute look at the returning cast members for the second film; an 18-minute look at new cast members; two 3-minute shorts on the production design of the second film and the Quarter Quell cast; a five-minute look at the weapons of Catching Fire; a 5-minute location tour of Hawaii; a Coldplay music video; another 5-minute foodie feature; a 2-minute look (fast) of The Hob; a miniscule scene that was deleted early in production; a “Battling the Clock Arena” feature that runs 5 minutes; a catch-you-up 9-minute summary of Mockingjay; a 13-minute look at the Mockingjay art design and set decoration; a 12-minute feature on “The Propos Team”; a 12-minute look at the broader war that emerges in the series; and a “Picturing Panem” photo gallery that runs around 8 minutes.

Uber fans will probably want to upgrade, because the additional bonus features are indeed substantial and worthwhile, but if your family is only into the films, there’s no need to buy this collection if you already own the first three films on Blu-ray—the only way to watch this series, by the way. The Hunger Games 4-Film Collection is solid sci-fi entertainment that does what all good fiction attempts: it appeals to more than its intended audience, and offers a compelling plot and cast of characters, some great action and CGI special effects, along with some pretty good messages for teens and anyone else who will listen.

Language: No swearing in the first installment, but a few bleeped-out f-bombs and lesser curse words pop up in the second film
Sex: In the second film the side of a bare breast is glimpsed as people watch a woman undress
Violence: People are killed, but in the first film the crucial moment is either so brief or the camera quickly cuts elsewhere to avoid reveling in violence; the violence is more on-screen and increases in intensity as the series goes on
Adult situations: In Catching Fire one character is often drunk, but there are also plenty of emotional scenes all through the series; in Mockingjay reference is made to a character being forced into sex slavery and that character is traumatized by it
Takeaway: Sorry Divergent and Maze Runner fans, The Hunger Games is the superior young adult novel-on-film, and a rousing finale puts the exclamation point on that

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP (DVD)

March 23, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Entire Family, Family, PG rated Leave a comment

RoadChipcoverGrade: C+/B-
Entire family: Yes
2015, 92 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated PG for some mild rude humor and language
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Bonus features: C-
Includes: DVD, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

If you’re thinking of picking up Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, you probably already know what’s in store: a cutesy, formulaic blend of live-action and CGI animation that showcases the antics of squeaky-voiced Alvin, Theodore, and Simon.

So it makes no sense to review this film against classic road movies like National Lampoon’s Vacation, Thelma & Louise, and Little Miss Sunshine. It’s not in that league, nor does it try to be. It only tries to appeal to the same audience that was entertained by the original 2007 film about struggling songwriter David Seville (Jason Lee) and the singing chipmunks that brought him fame. And I will say this: The Road Chip strikes me as the best of the sequels thus far.

The opening high-energy production number mostly gives animators a chance to show what they can have these furry 3D animated guys do with a bunch of dancers and partiers, but once the main plot is established—David has met someone he plans to marry, and she has a teenage son they met earlier, someone who bullies them—the could-be stepbrothers hop in a car together to try to sabotage the proposal. Why? Because the Chipmunks think that Dave will drop them like three fuzzy hot potatoes after he’s married, or worse, that they’ll be sentenced to a lifetime with a new stepbrother who torments them.

RoadChipscreenThe minute they get inside that car together, you know the road trip will bring them together, and that eventually their dad and mom (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) will take another step on the road to their own happily ever after. It’s in the stars (or script). And in the Chipmunk movies there’s another formula: a single determined antagonist—like David Cross, in the first film—that pursues the Chipmunks. In The Road Chip it’s Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep) who has the honor of taking pratfalls for the cause. Hale plays an Air Marshal who goes full-bore Capt. Ahab in his pursuit, to sometimes genuinely comic effect. Meanwhile, as Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) try to work together with their new nemesis and potential stepbrother Miles (Josh Green), viewers from blended families or children of single parents fearing change can find some hope for their own futures.

In The Road Trip the Chipettes (voiced by Christina Applegate, Kaley Cuoco, and Anna Faris) appear as more successful performers than their male counterparts, but they’re really just window dressing. It’s all about potential stepbrothers this outing, and the mishaps that threaten to keep them from completing their mission.

The integration of animated characters into live action films has really come a long way since Pete’s Dragon, and The Road Trip is fun to watch just because of all the detail. For such an eye-feast, Blu-ray is the best. But make no mistake: the filmmakers are not pitching this at entire families, though it’s certainly suitable for all to watch. It’s aimed mostly at smaller children, who will give it two thumbs up. Older family members will say that in fairness it’s more like a C+ or B-, depending on your mood. And they’ll probably be more entertained than they’re willing to admit.

THE VIKINGS (Blu-ray)

March 2, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG rated Leave a comment

TheVikingscoverGrade: B
Entire family: No
1958, 116 min., Color
Kino Lorber
Unrated (would be PG)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Featured audio: DTS HDMA 5.1
Bonus features: C+
Amazon link
Trailer

Two years after Charlton Heston parted the Red Sea as Moses, Ernest Borgnine (TV’s McHale’s Navy) and Kirk Douglas (Michael’s dad, call him Spartacus) starred as Norse raiders in a memorable adventure-drama about 9th-century Viking chieftain Ragnar’s raids on England. History Channel’s 2013 series Vikings covered similar ground in a far grittier production, but for 1958 The Vikings was pretty darned edgy, and it still incorporates scenes that will cause young people today to pronounce it “sick,” if they’re anything like my teenage son.

Things stand out: like a scene in which Vikings rowing into their home fjord play a game in which the warriors step from oar to oar and try not to fall into the water; or when a Viking is captured and brought to England, where he jumps voluntarily into a pit of wolves, sword in hand, to face his end; or when an attack on an English castle shows Vikings throwing axes at the raised drawbridge door, one after the other, and then one of them runs to use those axes as steps to get to the top and lower the door for everyone to enter; or when a Viking wife accused of adultery is put in stocks and her braids are nailed to the wood, so that when her husband throws axes at her if he cuts her braids she was faithful, and if he misses . . . uh, probably not.

As for the action, there’s no CGI slow-mo or quick editing cuts to suggest chaos. It’s all right there in front of you, the shields clashing in what seems like as much pushing and shoving as actual blades and axes swinging. But it feels realistic, as do the ships, the buildings, and smaller details, enhanced by the decision to film on location at a real Norwegian fjord, as well as at castles and exteriors in Bavaria, France, and Croatia. In Technicolor, and now on glistening Blu-ray, the production has a rich look to it—a gleaming historical adventure that, typical of 1950’s Hollywood sword-and-sandals movies, is slightly romanticized.

TheVikingsscreen1In this version of history, Ragnar (Borgnine) and his son Einar (Douglas) have been raiding the coasts of England, and on his most recent raid Ragnar kills the king of that particular realm and it is implied that he rapes the queen. To save her son (and we’ve seen this device from Hollywood before), the baby is sent away wearing a pendant made from a broken piece of the sword of the new King Aella (smarmily and simperingly played by Frank Thring, who would go on to play Pontius Pilate in Ben-Hur). Twenty years later the son, Eric (Tony Curtis), turns up as a slave in the Viking settlement and clashes with Einar, his real half-brother, in several key scenes. But their animosity is truly brought to a head when an English traitor who has been providing information to the Vikings (James Donald) suggests they kidnap Aella’s bethroved, the Princess Morgana (Janet Leigh). Both men fall for her and fight over her, with one main swordfight on the narrow heights of a castle as convincing, still, as anything you’ll see in Hollywood. Curtis and Douglas made enough of an impression together that they were paired again two years later in the more famous epic Spartacus.

Although the homecoming scenes are shot in such a way as to make you smile and one glaring violation of the 180-degree rule does the same when a Viking shoots an arrow toward the castle and we see a medium shot of an Englishman getting shot through the throat from the opposite side, The Vikings still plays well and ought to be appreciated by families who enjoy historical adventures and epics. I’d say that this one is for families with children 10 and older. Unrated, it’s mostly PG, but, like any historical film from this period, be warned that it’s not a beacon of feminism.

If you’re upgrading from DVD, the same featurette with director Richard Fleischer is included here.

Language: n/a
Sex: An implied rape, though the camera fades to black after the woman screams when he first grabs her by the shoulders, and plenty of kissing from Viking women who serve the men
Violence: Most of the deaths are offscreen or understated by today’s standards, but there are some slashes and hacks to the body and that arrow through the neck
Adult situations: Lots of beer-drinking and drunkenness
Takeaway: Memorable scenes and attention to detail will make a movie work even 50+ years later

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