THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

Animated romantic comedy

F.Y.I.
Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm studied law at the University of Marburg in Germany. Inspired by one of their professors they became interested in folklore and primitive literature and began collecting oral renditions and published manuscripts of of folk stories. The two brothers, patriots determined to preserve Germanic folktales, in 1812 published their first volume of fairy tales entitled Tales of Children and the Home telling of life as generations of central Europeans knew it—capricious and often cruel.

Between 1816 and 1818 they published two volumes of German legends and a volume of early literary history. By this time they had gathered an immense collection of stories and the brothers became interested in older languages and their relation to German. Jacob began to specialize in the history and structure of the German language and formulated what is today known as Grimm's Law.

In the meantime seeing how the tales bewitched young readers, the Grimms (and editors aplenty after them), started "fixing" things up a bit. Tales gradually got softer, sweeter and primly moral. The result is today we have such all time favourites as Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella and of course The Frog Prince.

PRINCIPAL VOICES
Breanna Brooks: young Charlotte La Bouff
Elizabeth Dampier: her best friend young Tiana
Oprah Winfrey: Tiana’s mother Eudora, a seamstress
Terrence Howard: Tiana’s father James
Anika Noni Rose: 19-year-old Tiana, a waitress and aspiring chef
Bruno Campos: 20-year-old Prince Naveen of Malvonia
Peter Bartlett: his valet Lawrence
Jennifer Cody: 20-something-year-old Charlotte
John Goodman: her wealthy father “Big Daddy”
Keith David: villainious voodoo magician Dr. Facilier
Michael-Leon Wooley: Louis the Alligator
Jim Cummings: Raymond “Ray”, a Cajun firefly
Jenifer Lewis: good voodoo priestess Mama Odie

REVIEW
A modern twist to a classic tale now set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the American Jazz Era of the 1920’s with the first ever African-American princess. But it is not the simple rendering of a fairytale: with so many musical sequences it feels like a Broadway musical. I’m not suggesting for a moment that the music is not good, because it is, all I’m saying is that it is more like Beauty and the Beast than Snow White. Not bad, just different.

However the story gets a bit complicated (I’ll not say more for fear of giving away anything) so I’m not sure the younger ones in the audience could follow all the nuances. To be honest, I was struggling to keep things sorted out.

What it does have going for it is a host of characters, some of whom are charming and cute. Others are not: the voodoo doctor and the ghostly images of fire-breathing masks and evil spirits may scare some of the little ones. Typical modern day Walt Disney stuff.

Overall it looks gorgeous, is entertaining but not too "preachy": about the only recurrent moral message is that wishing upon a star can only take you so far, that you have to do something yourself to help that wish along. In other words, sometimes you have to dig a little deeper. I’ll keep that in mind.

CLASSIFICATION

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Mike Binder: novelist Sam Shapiro
Robin Wright Penn: mid-40’s Pippa Lee
Alan Arkin: her much older retired publisher husband Herb
Winona Ryder: Sam’s wife Sandra
Blake Lively: the teenaged Pippa Sarkissian
Maria Bello: Pippa’s mother Suky
Robin Weigert: Pippa’s aunt Trish
Julianne Moore: Trish’s photographer roomie Kat
Monica Bellucci: Herb’s first wife Gigi
Ryan McDonald: Pippa and Herb’s lawyer son Ben
Zoe Kazan: their photojournalist daughter Grace
Keanu Reeves: Pippa and Herb’s 35-year-old neighbour Chris

REVIEW
Seamlessly introducing flashbacks is a good way to learn something of Pippa’s earlier life. Amongst several good actors, Robin Wright Penn’s performance really stands out above the rest. Her portrayal of a complex character comes across as real, not only in what she says but with her facial expressions too.

Adequate time is given to flesh out the many characters yet still keeping the run time to a reasonable hour and a half. That in itself is quite a remarkable job.

CLASSIFICATION
for sexual content, brief nudity, some drug use and profanity.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
The milk carton has a mind of its own: between shots it moves ever so slightly, sometimes aligned with the cereal box, other times not.

PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI

Documentary

REVIEW
Seemingly one of the last holdouts to a totally integrated school is the one in Charleston, Mississippi: the major event of the school year, the Senior Prom, remained divided along racial lines.

Academy Award winning actor, Morgan Freeman, who lived in Charleston years ago got involved and we get to see the results of his efforts. Along the way there are insightful on-screen comments from the school faculty, the students and their parents.

CLASSIFICATION

ARMORED

Crime thriller

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Matt Dillon: Chief Officer Michael Cochrane with Eagle Shield Security
Columbus Short: newly hired armored truck guard Ty Hackett
Laurence Fishburne: Baines, one of his hotheaded coworkers
Skeet Ulrich: level-headed Dobbs
Fred Ward: their boss Duncan Ashcroft
Andre Jamal Kinney: Ty’s 14-year-old brother Jimmy
Milo Ventimiglia: Deputy Sheriff Jake Eckehart

REVIEW
As escapist entertainment it certainly works. But it’s best not to have your expectations too high because this caper offers little in the way of originality. The requisite car chases are well executed, the good guy-bad guy setup is there, the explosions loud and flashy.

The whole thing moves along at a good clip because of crisp editing and the thin story line.

CLASSIFICATION
for sequences of intense violence, some disturbing images and brief strong language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• Patrolman Eckehart responds with the police code 10-48 (agent unavailable for assignment…out for coffee or whatever) yet he immediately leaves the hot dog stand and drives off. He should have used 10-4 indicating his intention to respond to the request from dispatch.
• Mike comes out of the factory with his shirttail hanging out on the right hand side and says something to the person in front of him. There is a quick reaction shot while that person responds then immediately back to Mike who in that instant tucked his shirt in and no longer looks unkempt.
• Holding the walkie-talkie as seen from in front of him Ty’s hand encircles it in the usual manner, about the midpoint point. But viewed from behind over his shoulder he’s seen holding it much nearer the top.

P.S.
The correct term for these type of vehicles is a Cash In Transit armored truck or simply a CIT truck.

BROTHERS

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Tobey Maguire: United States Marine Captain Sam Cahill
Natalie Portman: his wife Grace
Bailee Madison: their 8-year-old daughter Isabelle
Taylor Grace Geare: her younger 5-year-old sister Maggie
Jake Gyllenhaal: Sam’s younger brother Tommy
Sam Shepard: Sam and Tommy’s dad Hank
Mare Winningham: Sam and Tommy’s mother Elsie
Patrick Flueger: Private Joe Willis
Carey Mulligan: his wife Cassie

REVIEW
This is one terrific movie combining a well-constructed character study with exceptionally fine acting. Movies about war and how it can destroy individuals and relationships are too often so predictable; this one is not. This is riveting stuff.

Oh by the way: did I mention the superb acting?

I’ve not seen better performances from Maguire, Portman and Gyllenhaal. In part because their character demands a wide range of emotion but more so because they are just that good and pulled it off beautifully.

CLASSIFICATION
for language and some disturbing violent content.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
One of Tommy’s friend, Sweeney, gets paint dumped down the front of his pants. Sometimes they are completely covered from the waist down, at other times two black splotches are evident.

BAD LIEUTENANT

Crime drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Nicolas Cage: New Orleans police detective Terence “Terry” McDonagh
Val Kilmer: his partner Stevie Pruit
Eva Mendes: Terry’s call-girl lover Frankie
Michael Shannon: Mundt, the police evidence room clerk
Brad Dourif: Terry’s sports bookie Ned
Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner: a drug kingpin known to the police by his Alias/Street Name/Nickname as Big Fate
Tom Bower: Terry’s father Pat
Jennifer Coolidge: Terry’s stepmother Genevieve

REVIEW
Bad cop, good cop? He’s both.

In fact Terence McDonagh is almost a one-man police force in this fast-paced who-dunnit. As usual there are plot twists and turns although things do not always turn out as expected. And sometimes it can become a bit confusing: case in point, somebody wants to extort money from Terry but I’ve no idea why. But that doesn’t matter: keeping focus on the main story line is all that is required.

This has to be Cage’s best performance ever: his character provides him the opportunity to carry off a wide range of emotions reminiscent of Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. That alone is worth the price of admission.

CLASSIFICATION
for violence, profanity, sexual situations, nudity and pervasive drug use.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• During an interrogation of a suspected drug dealer the papers on the desk are all nicely aligned. Although no one touches them, when Terry enters the room those on the right are now at an angle.
• Hearing a knock on the door Terry says “Who is it?” but does not get up from the chair yet the door is opened by someone pushing a cart and announcing “room service”. Only housekeeping and the security have master keys to hotel rooms; everyone else must wait to be invited in.
• Whenever Terry has an encounter with the nightclub patrons in the huge parking lot, every one of them is parked in the same space.

P.S.
In the United States more money is wagered on football than any other sport. In the world of sports betting, a dime equals $1,000. The point spread is a handicap placed on the expected winner of the game. For example if the Lakers are expected to beat the Clippers and the point spread is 6 points, anyone betting on the Lakers will win only if the Lakers beat the Clippers by 7 points or more.

P.S.S.
When Terry visits his girlfriend he benefits from the Movie-making Miracle of Available Parking Space which states that "whenever a character needs a parking space, even on the busiest streets in the busiest cities, one is readily available."

P.S.S.S.
As a matter of practice I truncate long movie titles because they run all over the place on my website making it look messy and untidy. Can’t have any of that!

THE ROAD

Adventure\drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Viggo Mortensen: the man with no name
Charlize Theron: his wife
Kodi Smit-McPhee: their son
Garret Dillahunt: a gang member
Robert Duvall: an old man
Michael Kenneth Williams: a thief

REVIEW
This story of survival in a post-apocalyptic setting is a rather bleak affair. In no way is it a “feel-good” movie despite the brief flashbacks to an earlier life. It does raise the question about being human but under much different circumstances than today.

The paucity of dialogue provides little opportunity for the cast to do more than slog it out while keeping the emotional level in check.

The running time is almost two hours but doesn’t have to be since there are quite a few scenes that are either repetitive or simply too long. The film editor should have exercised his prerogative and done something about that.

CLASSIFICATION
for profanity and violence.