Man or Muppet?

THE MUPPETS (2011)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I was a huge fan of the Muppets in the 70's through the early 80's. 1979's "The Muppet Movie" was a breezy, fun romp that made me smile. I was not a big fan of "The Great Muppet Caper" nor "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and, as a result, chose to ignore the other installments. Now comes Jason Segel and company revitalizing the Muppets, and they have done a bravura job. Not only is the new film a fun ride for kids, it is also very funny and full of some memorable songs for kids and adults.

In the town of Smalltown, Gary (Jason Segel) lives with his Muppet brother, Walter. Gary and Walter are inseparable and Walter has always hoped for a chance to be on "The Muppet Show." A chance arrives when Gary is travelling to L.A. with his girlfriend, a schoolteacher (Amy Adams), to celebrate their tenth anniversary - Walter tags along so he can visit the Muppet Theater. Unfortunately, the Muppet Theater is a cobwebbed, dusty old building with very little interior lighting. What's worse is that it is about to be demolished so that greedy Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) with the "maniacal laugh" can drill for oil! This is an odd place to drill since so many other buildings surround the Muppet Theater on what looks like a busy L.A. street, but we are not searching for logic here. The old geezer Muppets Statler and Waldorf are selling the theatre to Tex. Walter decides to recruit the old Muppets including Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy (who lives in France), Gonzo and others to perform a telethon show on TV and hope they can raise the money to save the theater. Only problem is that most TV execs feel the Muppets are has-beens.

There are lot of big laughs and a few sunny nostalgic smiles. Jason Segel is as animated as any Muppet - he looks like a giant human Muppet who can happily sing away to his heart's content. Amy Adams has ample time to sing a song in a restaurant and study the Thesaurus (though she not as engaging as she was in "Enchanted"). The most important element is the Muppets themselves, and they don't disappoint. Fozzie still tells bad jokes; Kermit the Frog tries to hold the group together and reunite with his long-time love, Miss Piggy (who is as sassy as ever); Rowlf the Dog is also along, perturbed he was not included in an early montage; Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem cue up their cool tunes, and the hardly contained Animal on drums is also back, and he is attending anger-management classes with Jack Black (makes perfect sense). Since this is mostly a musical comedy, I should mention that my favorite song is the one that won the Academy Award - "Man or Muppet." It is so inspired and so hilarious that I'd call it an absolute classic (it also helps that "Big Bang Theory's" Jim Parsons appears).

"The Muppets" is a pure and breezy entertainment, not to be taken as anything other than a colorful fantasy with our dear old friends back for more genuine laughs and hearfelt moments. We all know how it is all going to turn out for the Muppets but we can't help but root for them anyway. This time, you really do feel the felt. 

Oh, now do you care! No, we don't.

THE FAN (1996)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally viewed on video in 1997)

I thought I have seen Robert De Niro take the role of the psychopathic killer far enough already. He has played them convincingly in the past, especially 1991's "Cape Fear." Throughout his career, De Niro has played all sorts of loner characters with distinguished characteristics. One in a great while, he will let his commanding presence shine through as he underplays beautifully in films like "Stanley and Iris," "Mad Dog and Glory," or "Guilty By Suspicion." But "The Fan" is not a film that will be remembered (as of 2012, few ever mention it in the De Niro canon of mildly decent performances). "The Fan" is an overwrought, headache-inducing, ill-written and purely sickening trashy wannabe thriller by one of our worst directors, Mr. Tony Scott ("Top Gun"), the director of using every conceivable angle to cut to in ten seconds of film time (and you thought Michael Bay was bad).

Let's consider the plot for a moment. De Niro is an EXTREMELY strange knife salesman who is fired from his job and makes the grave error of leaving his son stranded at a baseball game. He also berates and violently attacks his ex-wife and her boyfriend, and frequently calls a radio talk-show host (played by Ellen Barkin) who one day interviews a popular baseball player (Wesley Snipes). De Niro's character is Snipes' player's number-one fan and will do anything for him, as long as Snipes hits some home-runs. If Snipes doesn't unwittingly comply to this psycho, De Niro will kill a rival baseball player (played by a goateed Benicio Del Toro) and kidnap Snipes' son. Did I miss something? Where is the transition of De Niro going mad to becoming a psychopathic madman? Maybe it is his obsessiveness over his brand of knives.

Robert De Niro gives his character no depth, no humanity and not a shred of decency - he's about as animated as Michael Myers and his frequent mugging doesn't help matters. Wesley Snipes is mostly there for reaction shots and extreme close-ups, nothing more. The screenplay is littered with obscenities and mean-spiritedness; could it have been written by the former king of bad language, Mr. Joe Esterzhas of "Basic Instinct" fame? The frantic cutting, De Niro's Dolby-ized yelling and the ear-shattering, overcrowded music montages (including a bizarre use of the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?") will give you a migraine the size of Niagara Falls. Let's put it his way - the film's raison d'etre is Mr. De Niro and it is a shameful use of his name and prestige for sickeningly blood-soaked, exploitative garbage like "The Fan."

A three-fingered salute to Katniss Everdeen

The Hunger Games (2012): Militant Edition teaser

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When I speak so highly of the "Twilight" series, I get double-takes from people. So I was a little wary of a new built-in franchise like "The Hunger Games" but my wife became a big fan after reading all three books. I read only a portion of the book thus far (I am a slow reader) but I found it riveting and chilling. Gary Ross' adaptation of Suzanne Collins' first book in the series is exactly how I envisioned it - chilling, riveting, and a thrust of emotional chaos and doom that pervades and stays with you. They call the book a young adult novel but this is something that even the "Twilight" haters can definitely get a handle on, and adults can enjoy it as well.

Jennifer Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen, the rough, no-holds-barred heroine who lives in District 12 with her mother and younger sister. What is District 12? Well, we are in the future where North America is known as Panem, and 12 districts separate the poor and downtrodden from the rich and powerful Capitol. The Capitol is ruled by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) who has a disdain for the poor and, especially, the underdog. Every year, 2 young people ranging in age from 12 to 17 from each district (Tributes) are chosen at random to participate in a vicious reality game show where they fight and kill to survive, and only one victor can be left standing (it doesn't sound like a fair game but that is our bleak future). These games are known as the Hunger Games and the event of picking the unfortunate tributes is known as the Reaping. Katniss's sister, Prim (Willow Sheels), is picked so Katniss volunteers for this most dangerous game in her place. The other pick is the reluctant Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), a baker's son who can throw heavy bags of dough like no one's business. There are the expected training sequences that involve bow and arrows, climbing, throwing knives, etc. Katniss scores the highest in her training capabilities and in her demeanor, as in shooting an apple in a roasted pig's mouth rather than her target practice.

When the games begin, the movie becomes a sweat-inducing, heavy throttle thrill-ride involving some minor slicing and dicing, a burning forest, fireballs, a deadly nest of insects worse than hornets, hallucinations, rocky creeks, booby-trapped mines and much more. Most of the other teen tributes are shown as cold-blooded murderers yet Katniss and Peeta give one the impression they would rather not be in such a deadly reality show. And the mentoring by the soused Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) is reduced to simplicities about how to gain sponsors, not how to survive in the thick of the forest.

Jennifer Lawrence is an incredible actress, showcasing Katniss with vulnerability, toughness, sincerity and a sweet smile. We feel she might lose and that is what makes the character click (and no doubt with the voracious reader fans of the novels). Kudos to Josh Hutcherson for his sympathetic portrayal of Peeta, who is simply very smitten with Katniss. Woody Harrelson can knock any character out of the park and he is definitely in his element here, bringing a nice dose of humor to the dire proceedings. Wes Bentley is positively devilish as the game designer, Seneca, and we can't leave out the candy-colored Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) who wears garish costumes that would make even Helena Bonham Carter vomit.

I do object to the early hand-held, extreme close-up scenes where we witness the Reaping - sometimes, it can get a little headache-inducing to see shots wobbling all over the place when we are trying to focus on the most important and emotional scene - the random pickings from a fish bowl by Effie that results in Katniss sacrificing herself to the game. But that is such a minor picking because everything else is extraordinary to watch. "The Hunger Games" is an intense, relentless film showing us a future that is not exactly unlike our own. The novelist was inspired by the War in Iraq and reality shows but, nowadays, the movie could be speaking about our unemployment and the poor who represent the 98% in the U.S. We have the Occupiers but, in a sense, the movie is implying that people like Katniss show more courage and determination to change our world than President Snow. And the fact that a deadly reality show only means getting good sponsors and good ratings for the sake of violence and death, well, nothing new in the cinematic future worlds but I have a sinking feeling we are not far from that in the real world. This first film in the series may be the first step in Katniss's evolution as someone other than a young woman who is adept at hunting, thus provoking a political detriment, but I am getting ahead of myself. 

"The Hunger Games" has turned into such a supersonic phenomenon that it will be tempting for people to review the phenomenon, not the film. This has happened with everything from "The Dark Knight" to "Twilight" to "Titanic" and many other megablockbusters. "The Hunger Games" is far more intimate than most other recent blockbusters and, for that reason, I give it a three-fingered salute.

Review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Sly, inventive horror parody

POPCORN (1991)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"It was a great experience, tons of fun and adventure. Jill was great, although I didn't get to know her as much as I would have liked."

           - Derek Rydall (who played Mark in "Popcorn") on working on the film and with Jill Schoelen


Time is a major factor in how a film is received. The first time I saw "Popcorn" in 1991, I was less than enthused by it. Perhaps I had missed the point or perhaps I had expected a scary horror film. The truth is that "Popcorn" precedes "Scream" by a few years, and its intention was to be a sly wink at the horror genre. On second viewing, I can say it is a far greater success than I had thought, maintaining a breezy, upbeat tone through most of its 90-minute running time. Perhaps the film was ahead of its time.

Jill Schoelen as Maggie

Jill Schoelen ("The Stepfather") plays Maggie, a film student who is having strange dreams of some hirsute hippie engaging in strange rituals. These dreams convince her that she has a screenplay in her hands, and she avidly records her dreams in a tape recorder. Her mother (Dee Wallace) is not too fond of Maggie's dreams or her inability to eat breakfast. Nevertheless, Maggie's college film class at the University of California lacks the funds to continue as a course (it seems they are constantly being shafted). So Maggie's teacher (Tony Roberts) and other film classmates decide to host an all-night horror-thon of old B monster movies at a condemned theatre. This will help raise funds for the classmates to make their own independent films. A bunch of people attend the premiere night of the horror-thon, including that hirsute hippie who may be after Maggie. The hippie in question was the director of some avante-garde film called "The Possessor," which he never completed. When it was shown in the very same theatre, it was missing the last scene which he performed live on stage. This last scene involved the actual murder of his whole family!

"Popcorn" is not a standard issue horror flick and no ordinary slasher flick by any means - this is meant to be a parody. It is fun watching the audience watching these gimmicky 3-D monster flicks, where gimmicky tricks such as electric shocks and aroma gases are employed for the appropriate scenes. In fact, these scenes occupy most of the movie's final thirty minutes (my favorite of these recreated 50's horror flicks is "Electrified Man" with Bruce Glover, Crispin's father). There are also clever puns on everything from Ingmar Bergman to the content of avante-garde films, to the dubious virtues of the "Police Academy" series. A reggae band also appears on stage, which is a hint that this film was shot on location in Jamaica!

The backstory on Maggie and her relationship to her mother, not to mention the possibility that the hippie could be her father, is not gripping stuff but it holds the movie somewhat. It helps that Jill Schoelen adds a touch of class, sincerity and vulnerability here, far exceeding the emaciated, bloodless scream queens post-"Scream." Also worth noting are priceless moments by Tony Roberts (he could read the phone book and I would listen) and the engaging Ray Walston as a film memorabilia owner with his own steady supply of William Castle gimmicks (Film critic Leonard Maltin sarcastically suggested that these actors appeared to have shot their scenes in a day when in fact, according to Ms. Schoelen, they had been on set for close to a month). The late Tom Villard (who unfortunately passed from AIDS) is the most memorable of the classmates because he is the nuttiest and most unpredictable. Kudos to Malcolm Danare as the wheelchair-bound classmate who operates the electronic gimmicks. I could live without Maggie's on-and-off again boyfriend (a bland Derek Rydall), especially the blonde date he brings to the premiere that is simply marking time. And maybe someone can explain to me if Dee Wallace's entrance to the theater is a dream or a supernatural occurrence. Hmmm.

"Popcorn" is terrific fun because it does not take itself seriously, and all the endless and inventive in-jokes and cinematic puns make it more than worthwhile. I do prefer this film over the blood-soaked "Scream" and its sequels because it is far more jokey and self-parodic towards slashers, and it embraces the B-movies of the past. The underrated Jill Schoelen and the vastly underrated Dee Wallace give the film a helping of humanity. Grab a box of popcorn and enjoy.

Footnote: "Popcorn" was not given the typical first-run release that any new theatrical release would normally receive. It was shown in bargain theatres. What a crime!

Foxy Brown and Elmer Gantry? Nay, nay.

How can anyone deny Foxy Brown a kiss with Burt?

By Jerry Saravia

While fiddling through Pam Grier's autobiography, "Foxy," I came across something rather disturbing. It turns out Pam Grier had been cast as the late Burt Lancaster's girlfriend in 1988's "Rocket Gibraltar." Unfortunately, her scenes were cut out completely, thanks to the film's director Daniel Petrie who "feared repercussions from the interracial love scenes," according to Pam. Daniel Petrie had cast her as a prostitute in 1981's "Fort Apache: The Bronx." I suppose a black prostitute is okay as long as she is not engaged in a relationship with a white man, especially if 7 years later she appears with Burt Lancaster.

What is odd about this story is that she was cast and her scenes were shot for "Rocket Gibraltar," and then the director got cold feet (though I wonder if he would've had second thoughts if he had seen 1987's "Fatal Beauty" where there is one or more intimate scenes between Whoopi Goldberg and Sam Elliott.) Still, this was a shaky period for interracial relationships in Hollywood pictures (Denzel Washington never had a romantic relationship with Julia Roberts's character in 1993's "The Pelican Brief," though he did kiss a white woman in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X"), and the 1970's was a more adventurous period where such things weren't questioned as much. Take for example the fact that James Earl Jones plays a heavyweight fighter and Jane Alexander is his white mistress in 1970's powerful "The Great White Hope." Why is it then that eighteen years later, Pam Grier as Burt's mistress is questioned? Maybe because race was not an issue as much as Pam's super-hot, foxy charisma? Who knows, but Pam Grier was disappointed when told by the director that her scenes were excised.

Still, in 1997's "Jackie Brown," Pam is Jackie Brown and she has a few intimate scenes with the very white Robert Forster, including sharing a kiss in the film's finale where, in movie theatres, you could hear a pin drop. Whether it is 1988 or 2012, this shouldn't be a big deal anymore in mainstream Hollywood movies but, for some reason, it still is. Hollywood hasn't quite caught up to reality, and it proves that they are not as liberal as people might think.

McCain-Palin Politics as Kabuki Theatre

GAME CHANGE (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Whatever political beliefs one has towards Sarah Palin, one can't help but feel a smidgeon of sympathy for her in "Game Change," an HBO film that is pungent, extraordinarily acted and written and is as enveloping and fascinating about the political process as almost anything else I've seen in a while.

The superlative Julianne Moore is the Alaskan governor who is picked at the last minute to be Republican John McCain's vice-presidential nominee in a run to the White House against the Democratic opponent, Barack Obama. Although she doesn't agree with all of McCain's ideology (stem-cell research, abortion), she feels it is God's way of telling her to run so she goes for it, unhinged and fearless. Woody Harrelson is Steve Schmidt, the campaign strategist who helps with an iron and sympathetic fist. Sarah Paulson is Nicole Wallace, the senior advisor to the campaign who tries and repeatedly fails to prep Palin. One awfully cringe-worthy scene shows Sarah Palin getting a history lesson in foreign affairs, particularly with Afghanistan and Iraq (she runs with the false notion that Saddam Hussein started the 9/11 attacks). I do not doubt that this scene happened in real life but it is hard to figure a woman running for Vice President who has no idea that North and South Korea are in fact separate countries.

Ed Harris is brilliant as John McCain, and the Arizona senator is shown as a strong, idealistic man who doesn't like negative campaign ads nor does he seem very pleased to have a naive woman running side-by-side. The implication seems to be that Palin is getting all the press, all the glory, and McCain is shut out by the voters and the press. What McCain may or may not have thought about all this is left to the imagination, and we never really see the two sharing more than the occasional photo-op at conventions.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has trouble following the nuances of foreign policy; is texting more often than listening to Sarah Paulson, who tries her damnedest to prep the Alaskan governor; is forced to memorize answers to her Vice-Presidential debate (ah, so that is why she did so well); fouls up the infamous interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric, and so on.

The impression left from "Game Change" is that McCain's advisers and strategists threw this "moose-hunting" woman to the wolves when she came close to having a nervous breakdown. Her only success was the Vice-Presidential debate but it did little to stir voters and was a muted success at best. She is seen as naive and uninformed and unsuitable to run for office, which can hardly be debated. Her "Troopergate" controversy, the Bridge to Nowhere, her daughter's pregnancy and the expensive suits she wore are given minimal exposure, and rightfully so (the relationship with her husband, Todd, could've used more screen time). Julianne Moore doesn't try to outdo Tina Fey's comical mimicry of Sarah Palin nor does she turn her into a clown. Moore invests humanity and compassion into a woman who truly did seem to care about people - Sarah Palin never struck me as artificial or heedlessly kowtowing to beliefs she did not actually feel. She is a celebrity and she has a strong personality and remarkable composure - love her or hate her, her star shines.

Based on the controversial book "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime" by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, the movie has already been accused of having a "false  narrative" by Sarah Palin (who lavished the same charges on the book in 2010). Every non-fiction film plays with truth since it is intended as a dramatization of events. But as a behind-the-scenes 21st-century look at the political process by which a candidate is selected in this media-saturated age, it is deeply absorbing and also very troubling. Deep down, I think Sarah knows it too.

A Cinematic Trip to the Georges Melies Moon

HUGO (2011)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Silent films received a much needed shot of adrenaline in 2011. "The Artist," the first silent film since 1989's "Sidewalks of New York," won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and reintroduced a form that has not had many antecedents since the early days of cinema. "Hugo" is also a celebration of that very same time that has been long forgotten, and it is infused with humor, heart and pathos. It will make you swoon with the power of silent cinema.

Based on the inventive multi-media book by Brian Selznick, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," the film "Hugo" places us squarely in a world that seems ancient and yet so inviting. Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is an orphan living in a Parisian train station (the Gare Montparnasse) who is trying to find a secret to an automaton he keeps inside his living quarters. Hugo is good at fixing mechanisms, having learned the art of it all from his late father, a clockmaker (Jude Law) who dies in an unfortunate fire. After being cared for by a mean drunk of an uncle (Ray Winstone), a watchmaker who disappears, Hugo is left to his own devices and has to do his uncle's job of maintaining the train station's clocks. Hugo keeps a notepad that has a litany of descriptive drawings of all the intricate mechanisms that make the automaton work. All he needs is a heart-shaped key that winds it up.

Meanwhile, Hugo tries to evade capture from the relentless Station Inspector (a daffy Sacha Baron Cohen) and steals tools and other devices from Papa Georges (a solid Ben Kingsley), a toy shop owner at the train station who is actually the film director Georges Melies. Papas Georges wants to be left alone but he is taken with Hugo and his knack and grasp of mechanisms and rotors and such.

What is miraculous is that Martin Scorsese made this film. Many critics have declared it his most personal work and it might be (he has said his fantastic documentary, "Italianamerican," is his best and most personal work). Scorsese makes it a flight of fancy and wonder, injecting the film with touches of slapstick and providing Hugo with a great deal of subjectivity as in his observation of little vignettes, such as one man who is smitten with a woman despite a snarling dog. The movie also makes us feel Hugo's insular pain and his sweet relationship with another orphan, the adventurous Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who happens to be Georges' goddaughter. But what really makes the film a work of wonder is seeing the early days of Melies making his own films, such as "A Trip to the Moon," in a glass castle to allow sunlight to peer in. You definitely sense the man's ability to create magic on film and not just on the stage with his parlor tricks (Melies was initially a magician before making films).

This is an extraordinary cast at work here. Asa Butterfield resembles a cross between a young Malcolm McDowell and Daniel Radcliffe (I can only imagine what this kid might have done with the Harry Potter role), exuding all the qualities of a tough, determined urchin who discovers the truth about Papas' identity. Chloe Moretz is an affable personality on screen, a girl who is transfixed by the sight of Harold Lloyd at the movies (well, who wouldn't be) and transfixed by Hugo's situation. Ben Kingsley is one of our national treasures, an actor who delivers every nuance of regret and remorse as you might expect as the elderly Papa Georges. And adding a layer of towering presences is the one and only Christopher Lee as a book shop owner who can't help but elicit a smile when he gives Hugo a French translation of "Robin Hood." Plus there is the small and significant role of fictitious film historian and author Rene Tabard (Michael Stuhlbarg, who currently plays a smooth gambling operator in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire"), who wrote a book about Melies believing that he had died in World War I.
  
"Hugo" is a movie steeped in the magic of movies (the art design of the station itself is amazing) and in the process of discovery. Between the station inspector's mannered politeness and the choice vignettes of discovered love, the movie is in love with love and with the cinema. It restores in good faith what cinema ultimately was and what it can still be - a place of dreams that can still make you go, "Wow!" Scorsese is at the top of his directorial powers and makes "Hugo" a valentine for the most impassioned filmgoer and cineaste, and it is a masterstroke in the director's inarguably varied career. You'll come away smiling and in a cheery, heartfelt mood, something I never quite expected from Martin Scorsese. Bravo!