Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Muppets Most Wanted & Divergent

Dearest Blog, having force-fed myself a Serious Grownup Movie last weekend, this week it was back to my usual fare with Muppets Most Wanted and Divergent.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know or have guessed from the trailers.
Since my tolerance for little kids is marginally lower than my tolerance for teenagers, I got Muppets Most Wanted out of the way first.

Fresh off their reunion show and against Kermit's better judgment, a new manager (Ricky Gervais) convinces the Muppets to go on a world tour, but a sold-out European run and a unusually agreeable Kermit may not be the good news they seem.

Dear reader(s), though I try not to read anyone else's reviews before I've written mine, living online as I do, I can't help but see the occasional headline or comment. The general consensus on Muppets Most Wanted seems to be that it's good, but not as good as 2011's The Muppets. Guess I'm once again in the minority, for as much as I loved The Muppets, I think Muppets Most Wanted is even better.
Muppets Most Wanted picks up, literally, where The Muppets left off, lingering just long enough to earn a few laughs with some obvious-but-still-funny sequel jokes. Once it gets rolling, the caper is amusing and never drags, with musical numbers staged at the Siberian gulag providing the best comic moments.

As we've come to expect, Muppets Most Wanted is littered with cameos from celebs and pseudo-celebs, and I shan't name them lest I spoil it for those who want to be surprised. Since I imagine everyone knows who stars in the movie, I can say that Gervais, Tina Fey, and Ty Burrell are in top form, though I find it a little offensive that they enjoy billing over the folks who provide Muppet voices--the movie's real stars. If I have one complaint that isn't really a complaint, it's that a little too much of Muppets Most Wanted may be aimed over the heads of the young target audience; it's undoubtedly a "kids' movie," but I think the adults might actually enjoy it more.

Muppets Most Wanted runs 112 minutes and is rated PG for "some mild action."
Like its predecessors, Muppets Most Wanted is a terrific family film full of music, laughs, and thoroughly entertaining cameos.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Muppets Most Wanted gets seven and a half.

Closing yesterday's docket was the young adult thriller Divergent.

Survivors of an apocalyptic event are divided into factions, based on their personality types. When a young girl discovers she's a Divergent--one of those who fit with no one type and who are considered a threat to the new world order--she struggles for survival within the faction she's chosen.

Dear Blog, I'm nothing if not painfully honest, so if I'm going to criticize something, I'm also going to admit when that criticism might just be due to the fact that said "something" isn't made with me in mind. Not saying it's impossible for someone outside the target audience to enjoy a movie (see: Muppets Most Wanted, above), but being almost 48 years old, I enjoyed Grudge Match a helluva lot more than I enjoyed Divergent, which may not be entirely Divergent's fault. Then again...

We'll get the obvious out of the way first: clearing the two-hour threshold by a good 20 minutes, Divergent is too damn long and easily could have been trimmed by 30 minutes without losing anything of consequence. Making the obligatory comparisons: the story is neither as good as The Hunger Games nor as painfully bad as Twilight. Shailene Woodley is no Jennifer Lawrence, either.

The supporting cast boasts some notable names--Ashley Judd, Kate Winslet, Mekhi Phifer, Maggie Q, and the always magnificent Ray Stevenson--but they seem to have neither the opportunity nor the inclination to distinguish the movie from the current glut of ho-hum young adult fiction. Divergent features broadly-drawn characters and insipid dialogue by the bucketful, and mistakes peripheral character deaths for heartbreaking plot twists.

By now, dear reader(s), you may be asking, "So why did you bother seeing this, anyway?" That question I can answer in two words: Theo James. Yep, I've been nursing a scorching crush ever since he had fatal sex with Lady Mary Crawley in the first season of Downton Abbey and I had to overturn heaven and earth to find out who he was. I hoped he'd be a big deal someday, and, if I wished it'd be in something better than this, well, he's young yet, eh? Divergent doesn't place any particular strain on his acting skills, but I can confidently say I would have been kinda bored with someone I liked less in the male lead. As it stands, James has enough screentime to make Divergent more than worth the price of admission.

Divergent clocks in at a bloated 139 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense violence and action, thematic elements, and some sensuality."

A so-so movie that would have benefitted greatly from a shorter runtime, Divergent may have teens hanging on its every minute, but the rest of us are bound to find it considerably less thrilling.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Divergent gets four and a half.

Until next time...

Oh, don't pretend like YOU wouldn't sit through a so-so movie for this!

MOVIE REVIEW: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Wes Anderson heads to Europe for the first time with this Indian Paintbrush production starring Saoirse Ronan, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Murray, and Jude Law. Gustav H., the famous concierge at a legendary hotel situated in the Alps during the 1930's becomes the center of a farcical whirlwind of suspicion when one of his institution's oldest and richest patrons turns up dead, and she suspiciously leaves him her most priceless work of art -- a Renaissance painting of a boy with an apple. Infuriated that she left anything of value to anyone else, the woman's greedy and nefarious heir uses all manner of underhanded and illegal tactics to pin her death on Gustav and to silence anyone who questions his objective of inheriting every penny of her estate, leaving Gustav's trusted lobby boy Zero to clear Gustav's name and prove that the grand lady's killer is none other than her own son. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Wes Anderson 

Cast: Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum

Release Date: Mar 07, 2014

Rated: R for Violence, Some Sexual Content and Language

Runtime: 1 hr. 39 min.

Genres: Comedy, Drama

Review:

I’ve been a Wes Anderson fan for a long time and I know some people are turned off by his style but any self respecting movie fan should love his work.  The Grand Budapest Hotel is another gem which delivers a thrilling and hilarious movie watching experience.  The story is funny yet incredibly moving at the same time anchored by a wonderful performance by Ralph Fiennes.  Fiennes is typically a somber and serious performer so it’s a lot of fun to see him fully commit to a character like Gustav H. who such an outlandish and hilarious character.  Fiennes and newcomer Tony Revolori share a wonderful chemistry together and the film is at its strongest when the two are on screen.  The supporting cast is a made up of a who’s who of Hollywood’s A list and each is fully committed.  All of them populate a wonderfully crafted world which a visual feast for the eyes.  At a little over and hour and a half the film just flies by delivering one of the most enjoyable movie watching experiences in recent memory. 

A

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Philomena & 300: Rise of an Empire

Dearest Blog, determined NOT to burn 130 minutes on video-game flick, yesterday I took a pass on the weekend's new releases and caught up on a couple movies I'd missed: Philomena and 300: Rise of an Empire.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know or have guessed from the trailers.

My opening act was Philomena.

A woman who was sent to a convent as a pregnant teen enlists the help of a journalist to find the son who was taken from her.

Now, dear readers, I know what you're thinking: "Isn't it kind of pointless for a nobody like you to review a film that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has already deemed one of last year's top ten best movies?" To you cynics I reply: No more pointless than any of my other reviews.

So there.

Having said that, I'll cop to being in agreement with the Academy on this one. Philomena is a beautiful movie that manages to tell a sad story without ever being miserable about it. Judi Dench is just perfect in the title role, moving effortlessly from devout and stoic to heartbreaking to hilariously clueless. Steve Coogan is also phenomenal as the jaded journalist charged with bringing Philomena's story to light. Though it's hardly a fast-paced action thriller, Philomena felt about ten minutes long, and I was well and truly sad when it was over (though I was delighted to escape the four over-perfumed women who sat in front of me and talked loudly through the whole thing).

Philomena runs 98 minutes and is rated PG13 for "some strong language, thematic elements, and sexual references."

Philomena may not have been the Academy's choice as last year's Best Picture, but I think it would have been mine. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Philomena gets eight and a half.

The second half of my Saturday double-bill was the prequel/sequel/whatever 300: Rise of an Empire.

A general hopes to unite Greece's armies against invading Persians.

Confession time: I've never bothered to watch the first 300 all the way through. I mean, since it's been running here and there on TV for nearly a decade, I've probably seen the whole thing in bits, but I've never felt compelled to sit down and watch it properly. One decent new release would have bumped the sequel off my weekend agenda as well, but I guess the people who made 300 can thank Need for Speed for my seven bucks.

Rise of an Empire gives the fetching Eva Green free reign to ham it up in the female lead. If you're a girl, I can't imagine you'd walk out in less than an ass-kicking mood. (Gentlemen, beware!) Sullivan Stapleton is about as ho-hum a leading man as I've ever seen, but the material doesn't exactly require a Robert Downey, Jr., so it's not that much of a problem. I was delighted to see Hans Matheson in a featured role; I've missed him these last couple years.

As you'd expect, Rise of an Empire is a good-looking film. The battle scenes are well choreographed and gruesome, the scenery and costumes quite striking, and I instantly fell in love with the movie's thundering soundtrack. Unfortunately, none of that was enough to hold my attention for the duration, and I found plenty of time to contemplate things like Stapleton's ugly toenails and whoever thought it was a good idea to go into battle in mini-skirts and sandals. Oh, where the mind wanders when you give it a little lead...

300: Rise of an Empire clocks in at 102 minutes and is rated R for "strong sustained sequences of stylized bloody violence throughout, a sex scene, nudity, and some language." It's enjoyable enough, but nothing I'll be running back to see again and again.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, 300: Rise of an Empire gets five, because any less wouldn't properly show my appreciation for dirty, bloody, half-naked dudes.

Until next time.

Well, I don't know about you, but the minute I visit craft services, my skirt feels too tight...

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Non-Stop & Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Dearest Blog, yesterday it was off to the cinema for the unlikely double-bill of Non-Stop and Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know or have guessed from the trailers.

The schedule dictated that I start my day with Non-Stop.

Somewhere over the Atlantic, a Federal air marshal begins receiving threats to the passengers on his flight. When he's accused of having a part in the hijacking, he must keep them safe while trying to clear his own name.

I think everybody took one look at the trailer for Non-Stop and knew it was going to be another of "those" movies that Liam Neeson makes these days. A fair enough assessment, though I don't imagine they'd keep making them if someone weren't enjoying them. (But, then again, there's always Madea...) At any rate, Neeson plays Bill Marks on the same note he does Bryan Mills and John Ottway and Hannibal Smith, and, if you like that sort of thing (as I do), then you'll have a good enough time with it. His supporting cast is comprised of familiar faces: Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Linus Roache, Anson Mount, an underused Lupita Nyong'o, and the suddenly ubiquitous Shea Whigham. No standouts here, Non-Stop is the kind of movie where you probably could have dropped any halfway competent actor into any supporting role and been just fine with Neeson at the helm.

Non-Stop does a terrific job of putting the viewer ON the plane, maintaining tension for the duration of its almost-two-hour runtime. Some of it is predictable and more than a bit hokey, but I was engaged throughout and the eventual resolution did surprise me. Believe me when I say, you won't be in any hurry to get on a plane after you see it!

Non-Stop runs 106 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of action and violence, some language, sensuality, and drug references."

Non-Stop is the Chinese food of the cinema world; you'll enjoy the hell out of it while it lasts, but it won't stick with you long.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Non-Stop gets five and a half.

My closer on yesterday's double-bill was the animated feature Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

Canine genius Mr. Peabody and his adopted human son Sherman must use the Wayback Machine to repair a time rift they created.

Well, dear Blog, regular reader(s) will know that I'm deeply in love with Dreamworks Animation, enough so that I even looked at an open clerical position with them last year. (Dear Employer: I'm not qualified to be their janitor. You're safe.) Even with my high expectations, Mr. Peabody & Sherman did not disappoint. The art and animation are bright, colorful, and sharp. Voice talent includes some notable funnymen (and women): Modern Family's Ty Burrell and Ariel Winter, Leslie Mann, Stephen Colbert, Mel Brooks, and Patrick Warburton. Allison Janney, Stanley Tucci, and Dennis Haysbert also turn up in supporting roles. The movie keeps up a solid pace and doesn't wear out its welcome, maintaining a good balance of kid-safe adventure and humor that's also fun for grownups.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman clocks in at 92 minutes and is rated PG for "some mild action and brief rude humor."

If the movie year generally goes Throwaway Season to Superhero Season to Awards Season, it's fair to say that the animated features are throwing down early this year.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman isn't quite the Lego Movie, but it's still good fun for the entire family.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Mr. Peabody & Sherman gets seven.

Until next time...

 

 

Tough times at Downton as Lady Mary takes a job as a flight attendant...

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE

Greek general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) assembles his troops to fend off an invading Persian army led by the immortal Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and the vindictive Persian navy commander Artemisia (Eva Green) in this sequel to 300 based on the graphic novel Xerses by Frank Miller. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Noam Murro

Cast: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro, David Wenham

Release Date: Mar 07, 2014

RealD 3D

Rated: R for strong sustained sequences of stylized bloody violence throughout, a sex scene, nudity and some language

Runtime: 1 hr. 43 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

Whether you loved it or hated it, 300 was a landmark film of sorts.  Its visual style set off a series of imitators all trying to achieve that level of visual glory.  I personally loved 300 even if its story was a bit hollow, the visual fest on display was more than enough to make up for it.   8 years later with a new director at the helm we finally get a sort of sequel.  It’s a prequel and sequel all rolled up in one with event happening before, concurrently and after the events of 300.  It covers a lot of ground and surprisingly it’s incredibly engaging powered by a beefier story behind it.  Sullivan Stapleton is a fine lead even if he doesn’t have the bravado or magnetism of Gerard Butler’s Leonidas.  Eva Green though is the real star of the film.  She vamps up the screen with a maniacal glee which is sure to leave a lasting impression all while wearing an assortment of dominatrix meets gladiator fetish garb.  Each of their roles has a nice bit of depth giving them more heft than expected, it’s a shame there very little characterization for the supporting characters though.  As a result pretty much all the supporting players are just fodder for the beautifully choreographed battles.  Blood splatters everywhere, typically followed by limbs or heads, in a dizzying display of blood soaked madness all on the high seas!  The film ends with a nice opening for the final chapter; hopefully it won’t take another 8 years.    

B+

[Trailer] Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

It's been a long wait but we finally have our first look at the follow up to the original Sin City.  This sequel has been talked about for years but stuck in perpetual production hell until it finally gained traction in the last year and half.

This teaser is likely to thrill fans but probably won't convert newcomers.  Since the sequel is being released around the same time as this past year's Machete Kills, I get the feeling that Rodriguez and Miller are going all out.....