Nanny McPhee (***1/4)

Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay for this odd little gem about an odd-looking nanny (Thompson) who magically teaches five lessons to seven unruly children.

Emma Thompson, whose previously screenplays include Wit and Sense & Sensibility, brings a similar degree of literacy to this effort pitched at a younger audience. As well as adapting a trilogy of books by Christianna Brand, she plays the title role, though you might not realize it to look at the grotesque makeup effects applied to her. Colin Firth is the other star. A kind widower raising seven kids alone, he’s proven inadequate to the task. We might now call him overly permissive, but this is back in England, a somewhat art-directed England like the one at the beginning of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in a time before Dr. Spock and cosmetic dentistry. The kind widower’s children have driven away 17 consecutive nannies with their appalling behavior. The scenes of hurly-burly that establish this point are not really so different from the ones in Yours Mine and Ours and the Cheaper by the Dozen movies (and that’s three remakes I’ve referenced). Yet I found them so much less annoying here. One thing different, besides the setting, is that this odd little gem is told much from the point of view of the young folks, less from that of the exasperated grown-ups. At the same time, it doesn’t seem like a “kids’ movie.” Adult problems with money and family relations (specifically a half-wicked aunt played by Angela Lansbury) intrude. The adults sometimes use words that kids (the ones in the audience, too) won’t likely know. At the same time, they will be able to easily follow and delight in the story of the mysterious nanny who teaches the children five lessons with the help of her magic cane.

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posted 9/17/13

Ponyo (***1/4)

When celebrated Japanese animated filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) teams up with the Disney people and makes a movie that’s (loosely) based on Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid,” one might start to wonder if he’s gone all mainstream. But no, Disney’s just the US distributor, and despite appealing to a younger audience than other Miyazaki films, and having English dubbing, this retains much of the appealing strangeness for which he’s known.

Ponyo is a fish who looks like a little white girl with a tail, but the boy who finds her is a Japanese boy living with his mother in a seaside town. Even with dubbing by American bigshots like Tina Fey (as the mother), Matt Damon, Lily Tomlin, and Liam Neeson, the movie retains a distinct Japanese flavor, as well as a style of animation, less realistic and nearly psychedelic at times, that is different from both Disney and Pixar, the big Hollywood animation studios. Even the way the boy’s mom drives recklessly is notable, as well as quite funny. (Even funnier is watching Ponyo sort of run on top of the giant wave that’s chasing the car. Honestly, the story of magic spells and the little fish-girl who wants to live on the land is borderng on the trite, not an adjective I’d associate with Miyazaki. (The other part of the story is about how the world might end if Ponyo doesn’t return to the sea like her dad wants.) But the kids will go for it, and there’s just enough quirky bits and humor that many adults will happily go along for the ride.

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viewed 8/10/09 (screening at Ritz East) and reviewed 8/15/09

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (***1/4)

Again, England’s most popular wizard has taken over the world’s movie screens. David Yates is the fourth director in the series, but this is the first of the five films not to feature a screenplay by Steve Kloves. The difference isn’t jarring, but the script by Michael Goldenberg (Contact, Peter Pan) encompasses a little less. Depending on your point of view, this means that it’s a more streamlined story that’s easier to follow, or that a lot has been left out.

In an apparent effort to have every living British Oscar nominee appear in the series, Helena Bonham Carter and Imelda Staunton are new to the cast. Carter, to feature more prominently in later films, has a small part as a villain. However, Staunton (Vera Drake) is, other than Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), the only major character in this episode, although newcomer Evanna Lynch has a substantial role as guileless Luna Lovegood, new friend to Harry. Hardly anyone’s left out of the story entirely, but such figures as Draco Malfoy, Harry’s least-favorite fellow student, make only token appearances. In his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry has more significant concerns, not least of which is the threat of being expelled at the outset of the film. Staunton’s Delores Umbridge becomes his newest nemesis after she’s hired as the new teacher of the Dark Arts. She’s also the leader of the naysayers at the Ministry of Magic, who disbelieve Harry’s assertion that evil Lord Valdemort has returned.

Thus the movie’s plot is set up within the first fifteen minutes, and almost everything else has to do with that. If Hogwarts were a Catholic school, Umbridge would be the nun who rapped naughty students on the knuckles, fought the teaching of evolution, and railed against rock and roll. Allied with Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore, Harry tries to rally the opposition in secret. The last movie in the series introduced more personal themes as the young wizards and witches felt the stirs of puberty, but Harry barely has time to kiss his girlfriend from The Goblet of Fire. Umbridge is a straightforwardly evil character who manages to cow even the imperious Professor Snape (Alan Rickman). Why she and the Ministry of Magic so oppose the notion of Valdemort’s return isn’t well explained, but in any case good and evil are clear enough.

Harry himself provides the three-dimensionality. It’s not that he’s a morally ambiguous character. When he frets about losing his sense of right and wrong, you won’t believe it, but you’ll believe that Harry does. Much credit here belongs to Radcliffe, who conveys real, ordinary emotions, like fear and uncertainty. It’s this that sets him apart from all of the action heroes of summer. Faced for the first time with being disbelieved and rejected, he is anxious. Aside from the plot, this installment is Harry becoming an adult.

On the whole, #4 remains my favorite of the films. It’s more fun, and nothing here is as exciting or as visually inspired as its dragon battle. The interplay of the various personalities perhaps get short shrift here as well. But the extended showdown at the end is well-crafted, and some new creatures are introduced. There remains an intelligence that helps the series continue to attract a wide audience, so I’ll be happily anticipating Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2008.

IMDB link

written 7/16/07

Day Watch (**1/2)

This is yet another sequel to a blockbuster special-effects extravaganza to open in the summer of 2007. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s because Night Watch was a Russian hit that saw only limited release in the US. This is part two of a planned trilogy, adapted by director Timur Bekmambetov from novels by Sergei Lukyanenko, that envisions a Moscow where powerful humans called “Others” live alongside ordinary folks. Divided into Light and Dark Others, they’ve maintained an uneasy peace for a thousand years partly maintained by a special law enforcement branch that keeps Dark Others from staging vampiric attacks when the Lights are in control. This and more is explained in an English-language voiceover that I would have replayed had I been watching the DVD. (I wish the Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings producers had been kind enough to supply such summaries.) The main character, Anton (Konstantin Khabensky), is an enforcement agent whose new trainee (Mariya Poroshina) proves to be unusually skilled. She’s also a potential love interest. Anton’s asked to hide some evidence to protect one of the intruders, but winds up in trouble himself. That’s the short version of the plot. I’d tell you the long version if only I’d been able to follow it.

Those not burdened by the need to be able to follow everything that’s happening will find a visually compelling world with a knock-your-socks-off finale to equal most any Hollywood blockbuster. Part police procedural, part alternate-universe fantasy, and part horror-thriller, with a bit of off-kilter humor in the mix, Day Watch is very mainstream. The characters have a lot of history, but little depth, and, apparently unlike the novels, moral ambiguities are in short supply. But you can see why Day Watch, like its predecessor, set Russia’s all-time box-office record in 2006. This is not only because of the special effects and the industrial-rock-scored action sequences, but because of the complete alternate universe imagined by its creators. (I didn’t understand all of the rules of this world, but it’s clear that Bekmambetov did, and presumably all is explained in the novels.) No doubt Russian geeks have spent as many hours dissecting these movies as, say, The Matrix.

In addition to the altered voiceover, the subtitles in the English-language version are also worth commenting on. As with Night Watch, they don’t merely translate, but add to the atmosphere, shuddering along with the image when Anton tries to exceed his powers by entering the “second level of gloom,” turning red when blood is mentioned, and so on. The business about the different levels is just one of the ideas the movie introduces but has no time to develop. I haven’t even mentioned most of the characters, the Great Others who could bring about the end of the truce, or the Chalk of Fate, an ancient object of Asian provenance with the power to change history. This isn’t the sort of movie I tend to enjoy, with a confusing plot revolving around supernatural powers, but I admire the scope of Bekmambetov’s ambitions.

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The Illusionist (***1/4)

 ? A magician (Edward Norton) becomes the toast of turn-of-the century Vienna but runs afoul of a police detective (Paul Giamatti) doing the bidding of a powerful prince (Rufus Sewell). As always, the trouble is over a woman.

+ The story unfolds as a mystery with the ever-poised Norton and the inscrutable Giamatti worthy rivals. The setup is for a twist at the end. The sepia-toned recreation of Vienna (doubled for by Prague) and the Philip Glass score are atmospheric and lovely. Even though the tricks seem impossible, they are beautiful to watch. Magicians James Freedman and Ricky Jay are credited as consultants, and Norton trained extensively for his role.

- Except for the brief-but-charming flashback scenes that utilize younger actors, the romantic aspects of the movie feel perfunctory. Norton is always a commanding screen presence, but nothing about him speaks of the kind of deep romantic longing his character is supposed to feel. Jessica Biel, his leading lady, is probably better in this regard. The ending comes perhaps too quickly to absorb wholly.

= ***1/4. On the whole, The Illusionist casts a magical spell.

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (***1/4)

A dangerous contest tests Harry’s magical skills, while quarrels with his friends and a school dance reveal gaps in his social skills. The emphasis on character dynamics as well as the contest effects (particularly dragons) make this fourth film in the series perhaps the most enjoyable yet.

In the previous Potter films, I’ve always enjoyed the parts detailing the Hogwarts school rituals and the character dynamics more than the parts about the various nefarious plots against Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends. This fourth entry, which might have been subtitled “Harry Enters Puberty,” leans in that direction. Harry’s bad dreams about Voldemort mean evil will crop up eventually, but meanwhile he faces the toughest test yet of his skills, a dangerous contest against three older students. Included is a brilliantly staged battle against a dragon. The most significant new cast member, Brendan Gleeson as a mildly demented new instructor, teaches an amusing lesson featuring some new spells. But, as Harry learns, being the star pupil doesn’t make it easier to find a date to the school dance. The contest and the dance reveal fissures in the friendship among Harry and his pals Ron and Hermione, as well as hints of sexual tension in the boys’ relationship with Hermione. No doubt Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will pursue this tension further. This nicely paced entry (thanks to new director Mike Newell and returning screenwriter Steve Kloves) has me looking forward to 2008.

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circulated via email 11/23/05 and posted 9/21/13