Hey, folks--once again, I know it's been a long time, but I've been busy as always... I am going to try to get three issues out this year. My son recently went to his first movie (Piglet's Big Movie) with his daycare associates. I tried to get him to write a review of it for the newsletter, but he would prefer to pound on the keyboard randomly, so the readers are going to have to accept the big smiles that his sitter said he had as a sufficient review of that film. In the meantime, here are some of my (presumably) more mature and complex thoughts:
 

ON FILM:
 

HOLES: OK, I know, I know. Books are books, and movies are movies. I'm not supposed to compare the two, because they're totally different media. It's tough not to do it, though, when I've actually read the book AND seen the movie, and I remember all too well how the main protagonist of book and movie, preteen loser Stanley Yelnats, was overweight in the book. By the time of the movie, however, he had mysteriously lost weight, and become a slightly nerdy but pleasant-faced child actor (Shia LaBeouf). I can almost hear the morons in the focus group saying, "Yeah, but we don't want nofat kid to be heroic, no can do," and the annoying managers of the big Hollywood filmmaking concern (Disney, in this case) shrugging their shoulders and concluding, "Well, that's settled, we'll have a thin Stanley." This is exactly the kind of cheese that makes Hollywood so insufferable at its worst, and gives critics like me constant fodder!

OK, now that that's all off my chest: Except for the issue mentioned above, and some overly formulaic elements, this is actually a very good adaptation of Louis Sachar's novel about a youth detention camp in the desert, where the boys do nothing but dig holes. The child acting is mostly believable (and yes, that includes LaBeouf), and Tim Blake Nelson (from Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?) and Jon Voight aren't too bad as the two overseers, even if they don't get much past the cliches. Best of all, the Disney cinematographers do an astonishing job re-creating the desert heat, the drudgery of the work, and the mysterious past of the camp, which is seen in flashbacks. It seems like there is no such thing as a Disney movie that is less than perfect technically, and (except for the poisonous lizards that make frequent guest appearances, and look way too much like computer animation) that is as true of this movie as of any other. The overly-formulaic stuff does need to be mentioned, namely that there's too much music (although some of the music is used to good effect in the workaday scenes), too many of the story's big surprises are telegraphed way in advance, and there are one too many flashbacks. I had a good enough time, and the effect was moving enough, to make me look the other way when it comes to that stuff--but I'm still smarting about the focus group BS, dammit! RATING: 7.
 

ON TAPE:
 

MAID IN MANHATTAN: Believe it or not, I don't have a huge problem with formula movies. I liked Pearl Harbor, and I enjoyed Titanic (although not as much as the rest of the world). Many of the foreign movies that I have praised in this newsletter are arguably formula flicks just as much as anything Hollywood has ever made, notably Fast Runner, Shadowlands, and Three Seasons (which is actually several formulas rolled into one!) The Jennifer Lopez vehicle Maid in Manhattan made me think about why I like the formula movies I like, and I decided that they have most or all of these things in common: they don't require a complete lobotomy of the higher reasoning centers of the brain to be enjoyed, they do something of some originality with the old cliches, they are fun enough to watch that my disbelief gets suspended, and (perhaps most importantly) they have good, believable acting. Maid in Manhattan doesn't make it on most of these criteria, especially the last one. It's not that J. Lo is even that bad an actress; she's generally convincing as the Tough, Opinionated Single Mother and Hard Worker who is now the Only Acceptable Version of Cinderella for modern audiences. Ralph Fiennes, playing a politician and the (newly) Sensitive Single Rich Guy/Prince Charming she longs for, isn't horrible either, although he needs to keep the American accent a little more consistently. No, the worst performances are actually a trio of Fellow Working-Class Women, three other maids at the hotel, led by an annoying Best Friend (Lisa Roberts). To me, they were much more like actresses playing maids than they were like maids, which is exactly what I shouldn't be thinking in the middle of this kind of movie. The script didn't help matters much either, and it was particularly not helpful to the Fellow Women. In one scene, they seemed to go from viciously "don't get above your station" intolerant of J. Lo to supportive of her in the space of about twenty seconds for no adequately explored reason! Not that they were the only victims; the script doesn't quite know what to do with the good side performers either, including the brilliant Chris Eigeman (from Metropolitan and Kicking and Screaming) as the hotel manager, Stanley Tucci (from Big Night) as an irritating cliche of a political operative, and Bob Hoskins as a butler and J. Lo's supervisor. Hoskins' character likes his employee, but seems to want to smother her relationship, as if the writer couldn't figure out whether to make him likable or threatening! Good touches, including a clever ending sequence, Wayne Wang's excellent (as usual) direction, and worthwhile child acting by the youngster playing J.Lo's son (Tyler Posey), end up wasted on the kind of slight and trite story that gives formula movies a bad name. Of course, I suppose I should have known this going into the whole thing! (I did get one classic MST3K moment from this flick; after a stressful situation, J. Lo's character tells her [stereo]typically controlling and henpecking mother to leave her be, so she can take a bath. I had to resist a strong temptation to yell out "CAN I WATCH?") RATING: 4.
 

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN: This thoroughly engrossing documentary (which was released on the Haxan label, which is best known for The Blair Witch Project) is intended to introduce you to the Funk Brothers, a group of jazz and blues musicians who played backup on the big Motown hits of the 1960's and 1970's. Like most movies about music, it has the most to offer to those who like the music in question, although it is entertaining enough to engage people who aren't huge Motown fans as well, and should be fascinating to anyone interested in the history of the time period. A great many former Funk Brothers are interviewed, and several who are no longer living are discussed at length. While they are all engaging, three stand out--percussionist Benny Benjamin and pianist Richard "Pistol" Allen, who are the funniest and most insightful of the interviewees, and the late bass player Joe Jamerson, who is painted as an enigmatic and troubled genius by his former bandmates. Perhaps the most moving moment was hearing Gerald Levert, the bassist who replaced Jamerson, saying that he would have taken a bullet for his black bandmates in the midst of the Detroit riots. I had heard of the Funk Brothers before I saw this, but I had no idea that some of them were white--or how deep their allegiance to each other was, as evidenced by that comment. By the time it was over, I felt as if I had gotten to know all of the Funk Brothers over dinner or at a party, which is quite an achievement for a movie less than two hours long! The movie isn't perfect; there are several excerpts of a Funk Brothers tribute concert in Detroit, featuring the brothers performing behind modern music stars (Chaka Khan and Joan Osborne, to name two) singing big Motown hits. While these performances aren't bad, I would have much preferred to see the original singers honor the musicians who made it all possible by appearing at this concert. Of course, they may have had a hard time getting them to appear, but at least one of them--Martha Reeves, of Martha and the Vandellas--was interviewed, which makes me wonder why she wasn't also recruited to sing at the tribute. Also, I don't much like the title, which is a reference to a Four Tops song called "Standing in the Shadows of Love;" personally, I would have named it "The Funk Brothers," since they are, after all, its true stars. Still, these are just nitpicking objections; this is a joyous celebration of great music, and I heartily recommend it. (I should also mention that Andre Braugher's narration is very well done.) RATING: 8.
 

CURSE OF THE BLAIR WITCH: If (like me) you are a huge Blair Witch Project fan, I would suggest this clever pseudo-documentary, which gives more background info about the milieu into which everyone's favorite gang of three profane and argumentative film students disappeared. To this end, it uses "interviews" with (actors playing their) relatives and associates, as well as nearly-perfect fake footage, including a hippy college professor being interviewed about witchcraft (an unintentionally hilarious scene). We're also treated to a "press conference" just before Rustin Parr's execution for murder in the 1940's, statements by (an actor playing) the county sheriff, and like material. While the cinematographer really does a great job making new footage look old, the whole product is still a bit hokey, and I can't imagine anyone who isn't a Blair Witch fanatic, or who doesn't have a strong interest in the possibilities of film special effects, getting much out of it. For this reason, I rated it at a 2 for people who are not Blair Witch or effects freaks, and an 8 for people who are, which averages out to the final result. (By the way, if you are curious where I saw this, it was originally on the Sci-Fi cable channel, and has since been re-released on the Blair Witch DVD and as a video sold in a set with the first movie.) RATING: 5.
 

...And that's it for another issue. By the way, for those of you who long desperately for more, my mini-review page of the web site   (http://www.geocities.com/museumcataloging/unreviewed.htm) has any number of short blurbs that I wrote when I was too lazy to write a longer review. I regularly update this page, and I recently added Cool Runnings, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Swimming With Sharks (all of which I liked, by the way). Enjoy!
 
 
 
 
 

TONY