MOVIE REVIEW: Children of a Lesser God (1986)

Ever since I saw Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein shockingly lampoon deaf actress Marlee Matlin on "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show", doing a rendition of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", I became curious about Matlin's claim to fame - A milestone drama known as Children of a Lesser God, which has become somewhat noteworthy in American deaf culture with the way it provides insight into the educational and social world of a deaf community. Movies that deal with interactions between "normal" people and different cultures fascinate me, because they're grounds for so many interesting character dynamics.

James is a newly-employed speech teacher at a school for the deaf. One day, he encounters Sarah, a young janitor, disillusioned with the world in front of her. Moved by her articulate nature, James attempts to take her under his wing in an attempt to re-acclimatize her (a theme popularized more recently in Good Will Hunting). What James doesn't expect is to actually fall in love with Sarah; their relationship becomes a turbulent road to discovering their own inner conflict, based on their ability to communicate.

Children of a Lesser God is fascinating as a drama, even more so from the fact that it was based on a play. As stated before, since the majority of the action is centered around James trying to convince Sarah that she has advanced ability to communicate, and Sarah trying to convince James she has never had, nor needed to make herself "better" by learning how to speak. The acting is fantastic, but Marlee Matlin is obviously a standout, the fact that she is deaf doesn't betray the fact that her ability to express emotion in American Sign Language is consummate. Her performance is the epitome of the saying "actions speak louder than words". If I had one major criticism about the film, it would be that I'd have preferred subtitles for the ASL, rather than have William Hurt awkwardly speak the gestures back in English to the audience. I understand this was a carryover from the play, but it was only done right in a few major instances. Nonetheless, it wasn't too bothersome in an otherwise great movie.

8/10

Peace,
- Jon

MOVIE REVIEW: Rango (2011)

My first reaction to seeing the poster and trailer for Rango was "Kermit the Frog's cracked-out chameleon cousin" (there's even a joke in the film about the relationship between amphibians and reptiles, go figure). The characters in Rango are so odd-looking, I'd expect the most overprotective of parents to be repulsed by their appearances in fear of how their kids might react. Nevertheless, Rango is a case of "never judge a book by it's cover", the story, spirit, and voice acting are what make this otherwise unorthodox, strikingly Tarantino-esque children's film very memorable.

A thespian chameleon with an identity crisis, Rango comes to adopt his name after his knack at improvisation lands him a new job as the sherrif of the town "Dirt". As he brings the town to believe that he's a tough, gun-slinger, he investigates a town water-shortage that's been brought on by a recent drought. Rango rounds up a posse, made up of the local town critters, and they go on an adventure that features some of the funniest action and adventure sequences I've seen in an animated film in years. Packed with homages from Apocalypse Now, to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, even the humor is enough to entertain adults as much as the kids.

Is there anything really that bad I can say about Rango? Well, I guess it can be a little cliche and abstract at times. It's also incredibly irreverant, so be prepared for some moments of weird humor that otherwise falls flat in comparison to most of the other wittier gags. If you're an adult seeing Rango thought, you're probably seeing it for the performances, and Johnny Depp, as usual, is fantastic. It was refreshing to see him play a socially awkward, occasionally wimpy-type since Sleepy Hollow, and the cartoon medium serves his performance wonderfully with Rango's un-humanly, wacky body language. Perhaps this may very well be my pick for Best Animated Film of The Year; not nearly as much of the emotional depth of last year's winner, Toy Story 3, but a lot of fun, for sure.

8/10

Peace,
- Jon

TRIPLE FEATURE MOVIE REVIEW: Grey Gardens (1976)/The Beales of Grey Gardens (2006)/Grey Gardens (2009)

Every family has crazy relatives, even Jackie Kennedy. In the early 1970s, her aunt and cousin; mother and daughter, Edith and Edie Bouvier-Beale came under fire from sanitation authorities and the tabloids for the decrepit state of their estate, Grey Gardens. After Kennedy saved them, via the almighty dollar from eviction, a pair of documentarians known as Albert and Charlie Maysles decided to film a documentary about the eccentric pair's reclusive lives. That documentary, Grey Gardens became a cult hit, and spawned a broadway musical, and a biographical telefilm.

Grey Gardens is particularly interesting, because it makes one wonder "How did two people go from having everything, to living in almost perpetual squalor?" through the camera lens, we are treated to a day in the life of "Big" and "Little" Edith Beale. Little Edie is a dynamic spinster who parades the house doing song and dance routines while showing off her bizarrely stylistic fashion choices and elaborating upon her family history. Her mother, an uber-liberal with a feisty wit, is a matriarch in every sense of the word. Still spry in spirit, Big Edie manages to enchant with her humor and tales of her family history. While the Beales living conditions are atrocious and appalling, their personalities exude through, and make the film fascinating as a non-fiction piece.

The Beales of Grey Gardens is a companion piece to the first film, made from unused footage from the first cut of Grey Gardens. The Beales is interesting for those who wanted to know more about the family, but it's very much a fan-service and suffers from a lack of cohesiveness in comparison to Grey Gardens. I much preferred the TV film Grey Gardens as a companion piece, because it chronocles the early lives of the Beales and is a very apt dramatization, supported by some wonderful performances by Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange, and even a memorable cameo by Jeanne Tripplehorn as Jackie O, herself. While it doesn't exactly break the mold in biopic filmaking, it's very entertaining, especially if you aren't familiar with the original film itself. All in all, the story of the Beales is one of a kind, and the original documentary does a fascinating service of portraying their lives

Grey Gardens (1975) - 8/10

The Beales of Grey Gardens - 6/10

Grey Gardens (2009) - 7/10

Peace,
- Jon

MOVIE REVIEW: The Children's Hour (1961)

At some point or another, I like to get around to seeing filmed versions of plays I've read in the past. The Children's Hour is one of those films. Thought of as highly controversial upon it's release for being one of the first mainstream films to deal with a lesbian theme, it's no surprise that the theme's presentation is pretty tame, by today's standards. The manner in which the film deals with it in a dramatic construct, however, is amazingly potent. Much like the play, I didn't find myself carnally wondering if "so-and-so" are really lesbians, but rather fixated at the concern over what could possibly happen as a result of the dilemmas faced by either party.

Two schoolteachers, Karen and Martha, are celebrating the inaguration of their newly-opened all girls school. Karen, who is in a relationship with a local doctor, is best friends with Martha, who resents Karen's blossoming love life on the grounds that marriage would ruin her teaching career. One of the students, Mary, is the granddaughter of the school's major benefactor, and she also happens to be a bully. Incredibly spiteful towards her teachers for being overly disciplinary, she stumbles upon Martha revealing an interesting secret to Karen. By spinning the truth, Mary sets in motion a rumor that slowly destroys Karen and Martha's careers and lives.

Any film starring actresses who I've experienced in the past to be competent at their craft almost always guarantees a good film. Silver screen sirens Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine are at the top of their game here, they give what I consider, some of the most powerful performances of their careers. The rest of the cast is also very compelling, even some of the younger members surprised me at times. While I feel the film's audacity suffers slightly, due to the laws of film censorship at the time, I was very pleased with the way it turned out from a dramatic standpoint. A possible remake would do wonders to correct the implications made in the film that cover up explicit content (and I'm not talking about sexuality). But as it stands, the film we currently have is great, and a wonderful companion piece to the play.

8/10

Peace,
- Jon

MOVIE REVIEW: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)

Oh boy, do I have some catching up to do! To make a long story short, I've got several important events coming up, combined with work that have completely turned my life upside-down until the beginning of April. But no matter, whenever I find a few minutes to myself, I do what makes me happy, like writing. So ever since I saw TMNT, I realized I'd never actually seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III of the original series. While I have been told by all accounts that it is terrible, I saw it, and I was surprised by how entertaining at the core it actually was. Sure it's dated as sin, and cheesy enough to make four large pies (get it? Nah, didn't think so). But it put a smile on my face for the nostalgia kick.

On a regular visit, journalist April O'Neil gets sent back in time by a mysterious artifact she brings back to the Ninja Turtles. Determined to rescue her, the turtles go back in time to Feudal Japan, and encounter a kingdom under siege by a ruthless warlord and a corrupt British colonist. Meanwhile, April finds herself in hot water when she accidentally convinces the people she's a witch, and Splinter, along with Casey Jones need to acclimatize a group of warriors accidentally sent back in place of the turtles. Oh yeah, and there's the obligatory brother-issues between the turtles on top of that.

If this movie were made today, it would be no different than anything released straight-to-video, production-wise. The whole movie is so cheap-looking, I'm surprised it actually made it to theaters. Even for the 90s, it looks as though it were a TV-movie, straight off of the Family Channel. Still, I wasn't too bothered by this, since the whole time I knew what I was getting out of it. The action is fast, fun and the comedic gags are childishly silly, but I found it all to be very enjoyable, as someone who was once young when this originally came out. Granted by biggest problem was that there were some awkward moments; a lot of jokes fell flat, and Leonardo gives CPR to a child one scene, but everything was really all in good fun. As an unashamed "Turtles" fan, I found it fairly enjoyable.

7/10

Peace,
- Jon

MOVIE REVIEW: TMNT (2007)

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, an unforgettable staple of my childhood: One of the most dynamic cartoon series for anyone who grew up in the early 90s, the turtles have experienced an unanticipated and welcome resurgence in recent years. Enter TMNT, a film reboot of sorts for the series that sort of picks up where everything left off and injects fresh new life in the series, despite the movie being rather ordinary for a cartoon actioneer.

Ever since the events of the last film series, the turtles have gone their separate ways. But Leonardo, being the stalwart one, resolves to bring them back together after persuasion from their friend, journalist April O'Neill that New York City needs the turtles back to fight crime. When a mysterious, ancient Aztec power is unleashed upon the city, even the once-formidable Foot Clan finds themselves against the odds which puts the turtles in a compromising position to bring themselves together, or let New York implode unto itself.

TMNT was a welcome homecoming in my eyes and did excellent justice to the series by making me feel right at home with the atmosphere. The animation is slick and polished, it gives off a cheap look of "Jimmy Neutron", at first, but in reality, the simplistic look is more about they style and the intention to emulate the cartoon series of old. The thing with the story is, the story itself doesn't really feel too fresh and comes off more as the typical revisonist story, complete with fracticious inner-team conflict that results in a falling-out (but you know they're going to make up, again!). I also wished the film had more action, there were really only two major fight scenes with all the turtles, the rest were more intimately relegated to singular characters. Half of the fun of watching "Ninja Turtles" was seeing all of them in action at once, so I felt the action could have delivered a bit more. But overall, TMNT was fun, the creators could've done a lot to easily screw things up, and thank goodness, they didn't.

7/10

Peace,
- Jon

VIDEO GAME REVIEW: The Great Gatsby (1990?)

I'm sure many of you are thinking, "What the heck? There's a video game on The Great Gatsby?!" And yes indeed there is, and while it's not the most original thing in my opinion, it certainly is something to be realized. I first encountered this game through a friend on Facebook via the feed. Apparently, as the story goes, this was a game for the NES found at a yard sale by some people who decided to upload the ROM onto a flash file. Dated around 1990, it would appear to be, from the description, a cancelled platformer by some anonymous company. Now, mind you, some of this information I take with a grain of salt, the people could have just made this game completely on their own, but their lips are dubiously sealed. No matter, though. Because this is some interesting stuff...

For those of you unfamilliar with the story (shame on you, if you're not). Great Gatsby is an amazing book by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a young drifter in New York who gets a taste of 1920s high society after being taken under the wing by a wealthy man named Gatsby. What follows in the game is a very loose adaptation of sorts as you battle your way through parties, train rides, etc. in what is an odd but engaging mix between Mega Man and Super Mario Bros.. You pick up coins for points, get a hat for a powerup to your boomerang-like weapon, and duke your way through flappers, waiters, bootleggers, and other 1920s archetypes. It's incredibly campy, but there's a certain charm that kept me playing, and although I haven't beaten it yet, I will, eventually.

For those of you who are particularly interested - Click Here to play.

7/10

Peace,
- Jon