From the ArcaMax Publishing, Entertainment News Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/entertainmenttoday/s-366042-881421
"Get Smart" (PG-13, 1 hr., 51 min.)
Eureka! The makers of "Get Smart" have re-imagined the beloved 1960s
spy sitcom and yet retained its charms -- bad jokes, bad accents and
all, delivered with just enough unforced irony to suit the present
day. The result is a comic gift for summer -- a well-calibrated mix of
slapstick, spy shtick and crackerjack timing. The movie should earn
laughs from teens who don't remember the old TV show (originally
created by laughmeisters Mel Brooks and Buck Henry), as well as from
parents and grandparents who do.
Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart as a considerably brighter fellow
than Don Adams' TV take. Carell's Max remains a klutz and a bit of a
bonehead, but he is more geeky than dumb. He's a gifted analyst for
CONTROL, an agency that exists only to foil the plots of KAOS, a cabal
bent on world domination. Max longs to be an agent in the field, but
CONTROL's Chief (Alan Arkin) values Max's wonkish skills too much.
That changes after KAOS compromises CONTROL headquarters. Chief brings
in operatives whose covers have been blown, among them the suave,
macho Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson, formerly The Rock), and promotes Max,
making him Agent 86. He is teamed with ultra-competent, glamorous
Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) and sent off to find out who's stealing
uranium in Chechnya. (The plot is vague, but it doesn't matter.) Agent
99 gripes about Max's inexperience and he can't stop flirting with
her, but somehow they can work together.
Standouts in the fine cast include Terence Stamp as Siegfried, KAOS'
snide leader, James Caan as a clueless U.S. president, and Masi Oka
and Nate Torrence as CONTROL's gadget-inventing nerds. The film
briefly uses Arab stereotypes and features comic shootouts,
head-banging fights, chases and other mayhem, most of it nongraphic.
The script has rare profanity, toilet humor, fat jokes and sexual
innuendo. Phobics should prepare to see rats.
"The Love Guru" (PG-13, 1 hr., 29 min.)
Mike Myers has invented another fun caricature in the dizzy-yet-wise
Guru Pitka. Yet he still insists on tarting up "The Love Guru" (he
co-wrote and co-produced the film) with endless penis jokes, sexual
euphemisms and puns, and toilet humor. Such gags can make audiences --
especially teens -- laugh reflexively, but they don't enrich the film
so much as pad a flimsy story. The movie is awfully raunchy for
middle-schoolers.
Myers plays an American-born, Indian ashram-trained guru who longs to
be a bigger star than self-help author Deepak Chopra. His chance comes
when the gorgeous but desperate owner (Jessica Alba) of the Toronto
Maple Leafs hockey team invites Guru Pitka to solve the marital
problems of her star player (Romany Malco). The player's wife (Meagan
Good) has left him for the goalie (Justin Timberlake) of the L.A.
Kings. Guru Pitka spars hilariously with the Maple Leafs' tiny coach
(Verne Troyer, who played Mini-Me in two of Myers' "Austin Powers"
films, also PG-13s), so there are lots of little-people insults. He
also falls for the team owner, but is trapped in the chastity belt his
own guru fitted on him years ago, saying Pitka must learn to love
himself before he can love another. Flashbacks to Pitka's training
with Ben Kingsley as his extremely cross-eyed guru are high comic
points, along with clever spoofs of Bollywood musical numbers.
A much stronger PG-13 than "Get Smart," "The Love Guru" also includes
a visual of elephants mating. The script is peppered with sexual
language as well as rare plain profanity. There is a bar brawl and
drinking.
----
Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various
ages
-- FINE FOR KIDS 6 AND OLDER:
"Kung Fu Panda" PG -- In ancient China, a pudgy panda dreams of
being a Kung Fu fighter in this riotous, artfully animated gem. "Kung
Fu Panda" doesn't rely on cheap pop-culture jokes or double-entendres.
It unfolds as a classic hero's journey, with deliciously inventive
verbal and visual humor among its animal characters, and delicately
spun messages about overcoming self-doubt and being "your own hero."
Po the panda (voice of Jack Black) lives with his dad, a goose (James
Hong), and works in their noodle shop, but imagines himself a hero. At
the local palace, Kung Fu master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) holds a
contest among the Furious Five -- Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis
(Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David
Cross). The winner must fulfill a prophecy and defeat the evil snow
leopard (Ian McShane). Clumsily flinging himself over the palace walls
to see the contest, Po crash-lands into the middle of it. A wise old
turtle (Randall Duk Kim) says Po must be destined to fulfill the
prophecy. Master Shifu trains him hilariously. Po yowls at one point
about getting hit in "the tenders." Fine for kids 6 and up and many
kindergartners. The fights are intense but stylized. The yellow-eyed
snow leopard may scare tots.
----
-- MORE FOR 10 AND OLDER:
"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" PG -- Plenty of kids
10 and older will dive happily into this second installment, but a
familiarity with the first film ("The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe," PG, 2005), or with the books by C.S.
Lewis would help. It is a solid enough fantasy/epic, but slower,
darker and less witty than the first film, more sword-and-sorcery than
storybook. The Pevensie kids -- Lucy (Georgie Henley), Peter (William
Moseley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Susan (Anna Popplewell) -- are
back in World War II-era London. Thirteen-hundred years have passed in
Narnia time and the magical land and its creatures are ruled by the
evil human, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), who plots against his nephew,
Prince Caspian (bland Ben Barnes), the true heir to the throne.
Caspian sounds a horn and the Pevensies are whisked back. Battle
scenes push the PG limit, implying that arrows and blades pierce
flesh. Kids under 10 may cringe at a charging bear and two demons. The
film begins with an intense childbirth scene. The Christian parable
aspects of Lewis' tale are subtle. Kids of any faith can enjoy it.
----
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"Get Smart" (NEW) -- Eureka! The makers of "Get Smart" have
re-imagined the hit 1960s spy sitcom and still retained its charms --
bad jokes, bad accents, all expertly delivered with just enough wry
knowingness to suit the present day. The result is a summer comedy
that will get laughs from teens unfamiliar with the old TV show and
parents and grandparents who remember it fondly. Steve Carell plays
Maxwell Smart as a considerably brighter fellow than Don Adams did on
TV. Carell's Max is still a klutz and a bit of a bonehead, but he is
also a gifted analyst for CONTROL, the secret spy agency that exists
only to foil the plots of KAOS, an organization bent on world
domination, and he longs to be a secret agent in the field. It is
because of Max's analytical skill that CONTROL's Chief (Alan Arkin) is
unwilling to let him leave his desk. That changes after KAOS
compromises CONTROL headquarters. Chief calls in all agents whose
covers have been blown. Among these is smooth, macho Agent 23 (Dwayne
Johnson, formerly The Rock). Chief promotes Max, making him Agent 86,
teams him with gorgeous Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) and sends them off to
find out who's stealing yellow-cake uranium in Chechnya. (The plot is
vague, but it doesn't matter.) Action scenes are a well calibrated mix
of slapstick and spy shtick. The fine cast play off one another
beautifully. They include Terence Stamp as Siegfried, the snide leader
of KAOS, James Caan as a clueless U.S. president, and Masi Oka and
Nate Torrence as gadget-crazy nerds at CONTROL. The film uses Arab
stereotypes in one scene, and contains comic shootouts, fights, chases
and other mostly mild mayhem. The script has rare profanity, toilet
humor, fat jokes and sexual innuendo. Phobics should be aware there is
a scene with rats.
"The Love Guru" (NEW) -- Mike Myers has invented another fun
caricature as the dizzy, occasionally wise Guru Pitka, but the actor
still insists on tarting up his comedy (he co-wrote and co-produced
the film) with endless penis jokes, sexual puns and toilet humor. Such
verbal and visual gags can make us laugh reflexively, but don't enrich
the film so much as pad a flimsy story. Myers plays an American-born,
Indian ashram-trained guru who longs to be a bigger star than
author/philosopher Deepak Chopra. His chance comes when the gorgeous
owner (Jessica Alba) of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team invites
him to solve the marital problems of their star player (Romany Malco),
whose wife (Meagan Good) has left him for the goalie (Justin
Timberlake) of the L.A. Kings. Guru Pitka spars with the Maple Leafs'
tiny coach (Verne Troyer, who played Mini-Me in two of Myers' "Austin
Powers" films, both PG-13s) and falls for the embattled owner, but is
trapped by a chastity belt his own guru gave him years ago, telling
Pitka he must learn to love himself before loving another. Flashbacks
to Pitka's training with Ben Kingsley as a cheery, cross-eyed guru are
high points. There are also funny spoofs of Bollywood musical numbers.
The movie is clearly iffy for middle-schoolers because of its constant
sexual references, puns and obvious euphemisms. The film also contains
a scene of elephants mating, some plain profanity, jokes about
dwarfism, a bar brawl and beer drinking.
"The Incredible Hulk" -- This latest big-screen take on the
Marvel Comics anti-hero has the frenetic energy of a good chase
thriller, though its dialogue and quiet scenes could use some crackle.
Yet while inferior to "Iron Man" (PG-13), "The Incredible Hulk" is
still an entertaining ride, with stunning (and deafening) mayhem. It
takes place five years after scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton)
was afflicted by a failed experiment. When angered, Banner now turns
into the huge, powerful, seething, green Hulk (voiced by one-time TV
Hulk Lou Ferrigno). He has been living incognito in a Brazilian slum,
practicing anger management and avoiding a U.S. general (William Hurt)
who wants to harness Banner's Hulkiness for the military. Pursued by
Ross' commandos, Banner makes his way to the college where his love,
Betty (Liv Tyler), the general's daughter, teaches. Ross' top Hulk
hunter, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), puts himself through the same
experiment to boost his strength. The chases, fights, crashes and gun
battles are big, but not graphic. Still, middle-schoolers may blanch
at the huge hypodermic needles and scenes in which Blonsky morphs into
the gross Abomination, with vertebrae popping out of his back. There
is semi-crude language, a brief nonexplicit sexual situation and cigar
smoking.
"You Don't Mess with the Zohan" -- Adam Sandler messes with the
Israeli-Palestinian dispute in miniature here, but this farce
trivializes the conflict and stereotypes the people. High-schoolers
will learn little about the issues, but a lot about hummus. There are
a good few laugh-out-loud moments, but the bawdy humor makes the film
problematic for middle-schoolers. Sandler plays Israeli army commando
Zohan, whose real passions are hairstyling and sex. During a shootout
with a terrorist (John Turturro), Zohan fakes his own death, stows
away to New York, lands a job at a Palestinian-owned salon run by the
lovely Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and is shocked to find Israelis and
Palestinians living side by side. He becomes the go-to stylist/seducer
of ladies over 60. The movie features crude sexual slang, strongly
implied sexual situations, many crotch gags, comedic violence, ethnic
slurs, gay jokes and mild profanity.
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" -- Nearly
20 years after "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (PG-13, 1989),
this belated fourth chapter offers flashes of high amusement, yet
feels a little cobbled-together and at times a little dull. It is
1957. Intrepid archeologist Indiana Jones at 60-plus is still wry and
athletic. The tale opens with him held captive by KGB agents led by a
rapier-wielding woman (Cate Blanchett) obsessed with psychic powers.
Jones escapes, but loses his teaching job when the red-baiting FBI
doubts his story. Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), a smart-aleck 20-something,
brings news that a colleague (John Hurt) has been kidnapped in the
Peruvian jungle after unearthing an ancient crystal skull. Jones and
Mutt go to Peru and fight tribesmen and KGB agents. Aside from
near-bloodless gunplay and fights, there are wild stunts (a few of
which fall a tad flat) and chases. Under-10s may cower at man-eating
ants, scorpions, mummified skeletons, zombie-like creatures and a
shattering nuclear test. There is mild profanity and drinking. OK for
most teens and preteens, but adults may need to explain the Cold War.
----
-- R's:
"The Happening" -- The very leaves on the trees turn against
humanity in this cautionary thriller about an airborne, foliage-bred
toxin that wafts through New York's Central Park, disorienting people
and causing them to commit suicide. The phenomenon soon spreads across
the Eastern seaboard. This R-rated fable is not writer/director M.
Night Shyamalan's best work ("The Sixth Sense," PG-13, 1999), but it
is quite strong and likely to grab high-schoolers with its well-drawn
characters, strong emotions and neatly dramatized post-9/11 dread.
That noted, the dialogue often sounds clunky and even the catastrophes
grow repetitive. Yet the movie's understated creepiness casts a real
spell. Mark Wahlberg plays a science teacher who, with his wife (Zooey
Deschanel), his pal (John Leguizamo), and his pal's daughter (Ashlyn
Sanchez) flees to the countryside. Though a mostly mildish R, "The
Happening" does include two graphic gun murders and a video in which a
zoo lion tears off a man's arms. There are also strongly implied
hanging and gun suicides (the shots just off-camera), people jumping
off buildings, mild profanity and sexual innuendo. OK for most
high-schoolers.
"Sex and the City" -- Bigger isn't always better. A sequel to
HBO's hit series, this prolonged celebration of self-absorption feels
like an endless, vacuous soap opera, despite the fab clothes and racy
repartee. One hopes girls 17 and older will at least acknowledge the
crass consumption that fuels the four fashionista friends of "Sex and
the City" as much as romance. Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker),
the narrator and chronicler of their adventures, plans to wed
wealthily with her on-again-off-again love, Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Her
pals Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and the
shameless Samantha (Kim Cattrall) all face marital and romantic crises
as they move into middle-age. The finale of forgiveness, love and
friendship doesn't make up for the triviality that comes before. There
are explicit sexual situations, sexual language, nudity, crude humor,
profanity and drinking. Not for under-17s.