Anna Karenina: Theatrical Russian Tragedy

Reading Anna Karenina was not a particularly enjoyable experience (please don't send me angry letters, Tolstoy enthusiasts). Watching the movie, however, was entirely different. After Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, this is director Joe Wright's third literary adaptation, and the result is a sumptuous visual spectacle.

The story begins in Imperial Russia in 1874 and the basic plot is as follows: Anna (played beautifully by Wright's favorite leading lady, Keira Knightley) is in a loveless marriage with the terribly straight-laced Alexei Karenin (Jude Law) and falls in love with Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), setting off a chain of events that will lead her to her ultimate doom. Side-plots include her brother Stepan Oblonsky (Matthew MacFadyen, in a marvelously comic role) who is amiable enough but has caused his wife Dolly (Kelly MacDonald) great distress due to his philandering ways. And there's his friend Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) who is hopelessly in love with Dolly's sister Kitty (Alicia Vikander) but has to face competition from Vronsky, until Vronsky falls for Anna.

The movie's screenplay was written by Tom Stoppard, who has taken a marvelously novel approach to presenting this story. The movie opens with a curtain rising above a stage, and most of the scenes take place onstage with the footlights lingering in the foreground, or backstage among pulleys, ropes, and scenery. Occasionally we move to actual locations, like Levin's farm in the country, but the stage provides a reminder of the theatrical nature of Russian society, with its gossips, intrigues, and salacious rumor-mongering that will lead to Anna's eventual downfall. This narrative device also turns the vast tale into an intimate tragic play and keeps the audience's attention squarely on the various characters populating the story. What with writing this movie and Parade's End, Stoppard is clearly the master of turning massive tomes into crisp cinematic classics.

Most importantly, Anna Karenina is an aesthetic tour de force, with lavish costumes by Jacqueline Durran, jaw-dropping production design by Sarah Greenwood, and stunning balletic choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in the dance scenes that cement Anna and Vronsky's relationship. Those dance scenes are bewildering and dazzling set pieces that demand repeated viewing. Joe Wright's propensity for long sweeping shots lends fluidity and lightness to the otherwise heavy plot and the movie is suffused with color, light, and beauty in every frame. Unfortunately, my eyes were so overcome with the detail and intricacy of every scene that I had no time to engage my other senses and pay attention to what I'm sure is another beautiful score by Wright's faithful composer, Dario Marianelli. 

Turning a book into a movie is always a perilous proposition and filmmakers get flak for either being too faithful to the source material or not faithful enough. However, Joe Wright and his team have found the winning formula. Anna Karenina is a perfect example of how to turn a literary masterpiece into a cinematic one.

Coursera: Education For All

As someone who loved school and reveled in a liberal arts education, I was overjoyed to discover Coursera. It is a website that offers online college courses on a slew of topics, all taught by professors from excellent academic institutions across the globe. And the best part is that it's completely free.

If you've ever enjoyed learning just for the sake of learning, or have always yearned to study a particular topic in-depth, chances are you will find something you love on Coursera. The variety of available courses ensures that everyone can find some appealing subject or learn some useful skill. I just completed my first course, a 10-week survey of Greek & Roman Mythology taught by a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and it was a magnificent experience. I had taken a mythology course in college, but as far as I'm concerned, you can never get enough of the classics. This week, I embarked upon two new classes offered by Duke University, one on the philosophy of reason and argument, and another on introductory astronomy. These are subjects I always wanted to take but didn't have time for in college. Thanks to Coursera, I can now spend a few hours every week learning about how to calculate celestial movements or how to analyze an effective argument. If the above subjects seem too esoteric to you, there are plenty of more "practical" courses, like this upcoming one on personal financial planning, that most people would surely benefit from.

Most of these courses don't require any background knowledge at all and just ask for enthusiastic participants who are eager to learn something new. The coursework involves watching lectures, and may include quizzes, problem sets, or essays. The beauty of Coursera is that in these days of escalating higher educations costs, people can now experience world-class education for free and genuinely learn amazing things that broaden their horizons. A small business owner could take an introductory economics class in the comfort of their own home and learn how to run a more efficient business. Or you could take a literature class and finally read some of those classics that were just too difficult to get through on your own.

Currently you can't get college credit for any of these courses, though some courses offer a certificate of completion if you obtain a certain grade. However, beginning in 2013, Coursera will offer some classes that grant college credit upon completion. These courses won't be free (though I'm sure they won't be prohibitively expensive) and the credit won't be valid at all academic insitutions. Ironically, the Ivy League institutions that offer so many of these classes are most likely to not accept college credit obtained on Coursera. It will be interesting to see how things change and develop over time. No one can deny the quality of the lectures that are currently available and people are just going to be clamoring for more.

So go forth to Coursera. There's a whole universe of knowledge to explore.

"Who Could That Be At This Hour?" Lemony Snicket, That's Who!

This weekend, I finally finished reading Parade's End, the tetralogy of novels by Ford Madox Ford that formed the basis of the excellent BBC miniseries I reviewed last month. A mammoth literary enterprise like that (906 pages of small font, to be exact) only serves to make one highly appreciative of simple children's books that pack in whimsy, humor, and literary entertainment in a few hundred widely-spaced pages littered with pictures. Which brings me to "Who Could That Be at This Hour?", the first novel in an upcoming tetralogy (what's with all the tetralogies?!) by Lemony Snicket.

Lemony Snicket (and yes, that's a nom de plume, no parent actually named their child that) is most famous for A Series of Unfortunate Events, a 13-book series that told the story of the three Baudelaire orphans who were being persecuted by their evil guardian, Count Olaf. The first three books were turned into a delightful movie starring Jim Carrey, but I guess it wasn't successful enough to warrant adaptations of the rest of the series. I started reading the books when six of them were out and continued to read them diligently until the very end. The series had a surprisingly intricate plot and I have often wanted to re-read the books back to back just so that I could get the full impact of the epic storyline that revealed so much about the Baudelaire's past and family history, as well as offering hints about Snicket's own dark past.

"Who Could That Be At This Hour?" is a story about Lemony Snicket himself, featuring his exploits as a thirteen-year old detective in some shadowy organization (shadowy organizations are a hallmark of any Snicket novel). The series is all about asking the wrong questions during an investigation (and in life in general) and this book is concerned with the alleged theft of a mysterious statue in an incredibly odd seaside town that is no longer by the sea. The town is populated by strange characters, Snicket's mentor is a remarkably incompetent woman who treats him terribly like most adults in the Snicket universe, and the novel posits many questions that baffle and delight the reader.

Snicket's narrative style is hilarious and charming. His books are incredibly witty, and although they are purported to be for young readers, they contain references and sly jokes that will tickle readers of any age. Sometimes I wonder how much children can really appreciate these novels, because if you just take them at face value, you are missing so much subtext. However, you should convince any children in your life to read these books when they are young so they can amass an impressive vocabulary, and then re-read them when they are older so that they can truly enjoy their weird and wonderful charm.

Children's novels contain some of the greatest stories in literature; the language is simple and the chapters are short, but the ideas can be just as fascinating as any novel for adults. So if you have been trying to get through a particularly lengthy tome like Anna Karenina, Great Expectations, or Parade's End, consider taking a break and delving into the bizarre world of Lemony Snicket.

Nashville: Country Music Gets Down and Dirty

After facing massive Friday Night Lights withdrawal, I was delighted to see that Connie Britton (aka Tammy Taylor) was returning to television with a starring role in Nashville. Created by Callie Khouri, who won an Oscar for her screenplay for Thelma & Louise, the show follows ABC's tradition of addictive, soapy drama featuring powerful female characters and engaging story lines.

Britton plays Rayna Jaymes, a well-respected country singer who is now past her prime. Her last album didn't sell well and her upcoming tour hasn't been selling out arenas like her managers hoped. Their solution is to have her co-headline a tour with Juliette Barnes, a young pop-country crossover artist who is beloved by tweens and makes the kind of music that Rayna hates. Juliette is played by Hayden Pannetiere, back to television after her memorable turn as the cheerleader on Heroes, and she plays a bitchy pretty young thing opposite Rayna's regal has-been.

The contrast between these two women is interesting and highlights the divide in country music, between the purists and the pop wannabes. Thrown into the crossfire is Deacon Clayborne (played by Charles Esten who used to feature on Whose Line is it Anyway? back in the day), who is Rayna's lead guitarist and co-wrote many of her songs. The two of them have a complicated romantic past, and now Juliette is trying to poach Deacon to be her guitarist and something more. In the meantime, Rayna has to deal with the fact that her manipulative father has coaxed her husband, Teddy, into running for mayor, a move that is laden with ulterior motives on all sides. There are several more characters and story lines, all interesting and engaging in their own right, but you'll just have to watch the show and get thoroughly invested in this world.

Of course, the most important part of any show about musicians is the quality of the music. And here's where Nashville has hit a home run. Callie Khouri is married to legendary music producer T. Bone Burnett who did the music for Walk the Line and Crazy Heart, amongst others. The first two episodes of Nashville featured original songs that were utterly bewitching and memorable. Later episodes have been slightly lackluster on the music front, focusing instead on the expanding complications of the various story arcs. But I'm certain Burnett will throw in some heartbreaking surprises throughout the season and make the show's soundtrack an album worth buying.

Nashville was a highly-anticipated show and it was well worth the hype. As the season progresses, I hope it continues to deliver the high quality promised by its initial episodes, with great music, amazing actors, and twists that keep you on your toes week after week.

The Mindy Project: One More Funny Woman on TV

The Mindy Project is one of the comedies turning Tuesday night into a multi-network must-see comedy night. Created by and starring Mindy Kaling (who was a writer on The Office, where she also played the crazy Kelly Kapoor), the show's first few episodes have been witty, charming, and self-effacing, much like Mindy herself. And on a personal note, it's always nice to see an Indian person on TV whose sole comedic purpose isn't to talk with a funny accent or lend color to the surroundings.

Kaling plays Mindy Lahiri, a thirtysomething OB-Gyn in New York who is obsessed with romantic comedies and wishes her life would resemble Sleepless in Seattle. She works in a small practice owned by a Dr. Shulman (the dependably funny Stephen Tobolowsky) and her fellow colleagues are Danny Castellano (played by Chris Messina, who you may recognize from The Newsroom) and Jeremy Reed (played by British actor, Ed Weeks). Danny is a grumpy Italian man, annoyed by Mindy's constant wittering about romantic comedy tropes. The two of them bicker constantly and are also trying to figure out who will inherit the practice once Dr. Shulman retires. In stark contrast, Jeremy is a footloose and fancy-free Englishman who has occasional "bedroom dates" with Mindy.

Sound familiar? The set-up is very reminiscent of Bridget Jones's Diary, with our heroine fooling around with the roguish cad but eventually falling in love with the man she thought she could not stand. If you eschew Bridget Jones for her Victorian counterpart, then Mindy is Elizabeth Bennet, Danny is Darcy, and Jeremy is the nefarious Mr. Wickham. But unlike Wickham or Daniel Cleaver, Jeremy isn't really taking advantage of Mindy - they're very clear that what they have is an "arrangement" and not a relationship. Kaling has clearly started her series off on a solid romcom footing and I look forward to seeing how her interactions with these men continue to evolve. Already, the dalliances with Jeremy have ceased because she has found a sports attorney named Josh who might be her love interest for a while.

What is much more fascinating is Mindy's relationship with Danny. Last week's episode, titled "Danny Castellano is my Gynecologist" was an utterly hilarious 22 minutes featuring an escalating power play between the two characters. Danny claims that he could be Mindy's gynecologist because he has no personal relationship with her and can treat her just like any other patient. Mindy decides to call his bluff and almost has to back down after the initial patient questionnaire which features a fascinating exchange as she tries to avoid Danny's probing questions about her lifestyle. However, she gets a pep talk from some friends, strengthens her resolve, and returns to Danny for the physical exam. At this point, he's the one who is thoroughly embarassed, and finally he has to give up, unable to even do a breast exam without breaking a cold sweat.

The Mindy Project is further proof that "women can be funny," which is still a contentious statement despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Kaling was bizarre and hilarious on The Office and NBC showed extremely poor judgement by not picking up this series when they had the chance. However, regardless of which network she's on, Mindy Kaling continues to write brilliant episodes of television that showcase her talent and deliver pure entertainment.

How I Met Your Mother: Who's Your Mommy?

The premise of How I Met Your Mother is simple. Each week a man sits down with his teenage son and daughter in the year 2030 and proceeds to tell them the story of how he met their mother. However, the show is currently in its eighth season, and we still have no idea who the mother is. Which is a great lesson about TV - no matter what your premise, even if stated in the title, you don't have to actually stick to it.

The show is a half-hour sitcom with a laugh track, an antiquated notion in these sophisticated days of television comedy. However, it contains one of the best casts around, which accounts for its continuing success over the past eight years. Jason Segel (of Freaks & Geeks fame and now a leading man in comedies like The Muppets and The Five Year Engagement) plays Marshall Eriksen, who is married to Lily (played by the delightful Alyson Hannigan from Buffy and American Pie). The two are the stable couple at the center of this sitcom world and just had their first kid this season. Their best friend from college, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) is the guy telling the tale of how he met his wife, aka "the mother." 

The very first episode introduced Robin Scherbatsky (the lovely Cobie Smulders, most recently seen in The Avengers), a girl that Ted fell in love with at first sight. As a result, the audience assumed that she was the mother, until the episode ended with the voiceover explaining to the kids, "that's how I met your Aunt Robin." Despite knowing for sure that Robin wasn't the mother, the show proceeded to detail the rest of Ted and Robin's romance, which has gone through more ups and downs than Ross and Rachel. There's something crazy about the idea that the showrunners could indulge in several seasons of a TV romance when the audience already knows the outcome, but somehow it works.

The final member of the cast is Barney Stinson, played by the ever-hilarious Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible himself!). Barney is a loathsome womanizer, but Harris is so delightful and charming in the role that you never feel repulsed by Barney's constant parade of dumb blondes (and every other hair color imaginable). Later seasons have been particularly enjoyable because Barney is starting to grow up--albeit at a glacial pace--and last season's finale revealed who he ends up marrying. Now we get to watch that romance unfold, and the inevitability of it still doesn't spoil the story.

It seems clear that we will only find out who the mother is when the show enters its final season or faces cancellation. Till then, we'll have a parade of possibilities and frustrating red herrings. But who cares? Watching Marshall, Lily, Robin, Barney, and Ted indulge in crazy conversations and inane adventures throughout New York is more important than finding out who the mother is. How I Met Your Mother is not a revolutionary comedy but it certainly is a comforting one that delivers dependable laughs every Monday night. Ted's kids have been listening to this story for eight years - they can keep on listening for a few more. 

The Girl: Hitchcock Revealed

Alfred Hitchcock directed some of the most iconic movies of the 20th century (Psycho, anyone?) and was also immensely prolific. He directed more than fifty films, many of them instant classics, starring some of the most recognizable movie stars of the day, including Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, and Ingrid Bergman. While I am partial to those stars and their early Hitchcock films, like Suspicion or Rear Window, Hitchcock's last great muse was the actress Tippi Hedren. She was plucked from obscurity to be his next blonde leading lady, and together they made two movies: The Birds and Marnie. Last month, HBO Films released The Girl, a behind-the-scenes look at the twisted relationship between Hitchcock and Hedren.

Sienna Miller plays Tippi Hedren while Toby Jones effortlessly slips into the shoes of Alfred Hitchcock. The Girl follows their relationship from the very beginning when Hitchcock is attempting to replace his former muse Grace Kelly, who has inconsiderately left Hollywood to become Princess Grace of Monaco. His wife, Alma (played by the great Imelda Staunton) spots Hedren in a TV commercial and encourages Hitch to call her in for an audition. Everyone in the industry knows that Hitchcock is looking for a star for his latest venture, The Birds, but the guileless Hedren imagines she is in the running for a bit part - after all, who would cast a complete unknown as the star of a huge movie? But Hitchcock knows what he likes, and he likes Hedren. 

Filming commences on The Birds and Hedren is thrilled to have the part. She has a daughter to support (if you didn't know, that daughter is future actress Melanie Griffith) and this opportunity seems like a chance of a lifetime to provide for her child and pursue her acting ambitions. Hitchcock and Alma coach her extensively, revealing just how involved Hitch got in every level of filmmaking. Unfortunately, this time, he gets a bit too involved. He develops an obsession with the beautiful Hedren, one that is psychosexually disturbing enough to be worthy of a Hitchcock film in its own right. Hedren firmly rejects his advances leading to scenes of deliberate psychological manipulation throughout the filming of The Birds. He withholds crucial information from Hedren, subjecting her to a cruel series of filming days where she is repeatedly pecked and scratched by real birds, instead of the mechanical puppets that she had been expecting. But she stoically endures his twisted punishments, hoping that if she doesn't give in, he'll just give up.

Like any HBO film, The Girl is beautifully made, with painstaking attention paid to costumes, make-up, and locations. Scenes from Marnie and The Birds are vividly recreated and you can often forget that you aren't actually watching Tippi Hedren on screen. It's a fairly dull story for someone with no interest in Hitchcock, but it's quite fascinating for a Hitchcock fan and is based on a biography by Donald Spoto. It's interesting to see that the man who made such a study of disturbing human psyches was so skewed himself, and I now want to read more biographies to get a sense of how he treated his other leading ladies. Overall, The Girl is a revealing look at a famous Hollywood duo and illustrates that sometimes, real life can be just as creepy as a Hitchcock film. 

The Casual Vacancy: Rowling Tackles the Real World

As a huge Harry Potter fan, it was inevitable that I would read The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling's latest novel for Adults with a capital "A." (Seriously, this is not a book for children.) The novel features an intriguing cast of characters and a compelling story, but it isn't a book I will ever want to re-read. It's certainly a departure from Hogwarts.

The title refers to an opening on the Pagford Parish Council, after Barry Fairbrother, a council member of long standing, drops dead from a stroke. His death comes at a particularly crucial juncture because the Council is deeply divided on the issue of the Fields, an estate filled with cheap housing for low-income families that encroached on the prim and proper Pagford's boundaries in the 1950s and has served as a blight on the populace ever since. Barry was a boy from the Fields who was able to attend Pagford's good schools instead of the more run-down schools in the city of Yarvil and became a successful man with a lovely house and family in Pagford. As a result, he was keen to ensure that the Fields remained in Pagford's district so that future low-income youth could make good like he did. Unfortunately, the current Fields youth don't emulate Barry's hardworking attitude and good behavior, and most of the Pagford Parish Council espouse a thoroughly anti-Fields sentiment.

Barry's death sparks a fight for the open Council seat, with three candidates entering the election race for markedly different reasons. We get an insight into these candidates, their families, and the wider populace of Pagford and the Fields, who are a bunch of insular small town folk that thrive on gossip and rumor. Things start getting vicious and it becomes clear that there are no happy families in Pagford. And throughout the narrative, there's the bleak reality of the fight between the haves and the have-nots, neither of whom seem to have right on their side.

The Casual Vacancy is a remarkably relevant book, all about what society owes to its more downtrodden members and the role of the fortunate in helping those less fortunate. Rowling has a talent for portraying everyday people and each character is vivid and memorable. The novel is chock-full of interconnected story lines and tangled relationships that build up to a thundering finale. But don't expect to feel any joy or elation upon reaching the conclusion. Unlike the Potter series, this is not a tale where good triumphs over evil. That's what makes it a story about the real world and not a fantasy.

Looper: Time Traveling Assassins

Most sci-fi movies start out as successful books that are then translated to film. It is then to Looper's credit that it feels as complete and well-thought as a work of literature even though it is a completely original screenplay from the mind of writer-director Rian Johnson.

Looper tells the story of Joe Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is an assassin (known as a looper) in the year 2044. 30 years in the future, time travel will be invented, but it is deemed dangerous and outlawed. The only people who use it are criminal syndicates, who send their enemies to a predetermined location 30 years in the past, where a looper is waiting with a gun to instantly kill the target and dispose of the body. Body disposal is nearly impossible in the future where everyone is closely tracked and monitored, which is why mobsters came up with the loopers. Of course, criminals can't afford to have their hired assassins running around free either, so every looper has the following stipulation in his contract - eventually, the target he kills will be himself, i.e. his future self, and that is called "closing the loop." After that, he is released from his contract and free to enjoy the next 30 years before his inevitable death.

The conflict arises when Joe meets his future self (played by Bruce Willis) and fails to kill him. Turns out Old Joe has a few tricks up his sleeve and won't let the mob or his past self kill him before he accomplishes his ultimate goal. He needs to track down a certain person called the Rainmaker who is wreaking havoc in the future, because he believes that killing this individual will allow him to continue his future life without any reprisals. Young Joe is desperate to kill Old Joe because failure to "close the loop" means that he might be killed by his bosses. And so begins a twisted and dangerous plot as the two loopers chase each other while being chased by the mob.

Movies about time travel are always complex and require a set of rules and regulations to explain how everything works. Looper does an excellent job of explaining the rules without making it feel like a lot of wearisome exposition, and the plot is thrilling and unpredictable. The finale is shocking and helps close a lot of problematic loopholes that the topic of time travel must invariably open. The movie also features moments of ultraviolence, but given the movie's scope and setting, that is only to be expected. And the acting is great, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt doing a credible job of playing young Bruce Willis with the help of some prosthetic make-up that can sometimes be distracting but at other times is disconcertingly convincing.

Looper is a reminder that Hollywood can still come up with original high-concept stories that are both thought-provoking and entertaining. This movie may not be for everyone, but fans of sci-fi and/or time travel should give it a try. This is a fresh take on an always fascinating topic and has been executed almost flawlessly.

Skyfall: Plumbing the Depths of James Bond

 Skyfall has largely been touted as the best Bond movie to date. For me, that honor still belongs to Casino Royale, largely due to the novelty of Daniel Craig as the brutish, bloodied reincarnation of Bond. However, Skyfall is certainly a top Bond movie, and continues the trend of lending more depth and dimension to this character that was getting dangerously cartoonish.

The central plot of Skyfall involves MI6's attempts to retrieve a stolen hard disk that contains the names of agents working undercover in terrorist organizations across the globe. M (the ever engaging Judi Dench) has to make some tough calls, resulting in the apparent death of 007 himself, but (and this shouldn't be a spoiler), Bond returns after a three-month hiatus and is back on the case. It becomes clear that M is being persecuted by someone from her past who has stolen this hard disk to instigate a personal vendetta. That person turns out to be the movie's supervillain, Silva, played by a very blonde and wonderfully twisted Javier Bardem. Silva might be one of my favorite Bond villains to date - his interactions with Bond and M are creepy and hilarious in equal measure, which is a difficult feat to accomplish. In some scenes, you can almost imagine Daniel Craig is trying to control his laughter as he watches Bardem engage in typically villainous prose.

The Bond girls (Naomie Harris and Bérénice Lim Marlohe) serve their usual purpose, although Harris' character has a small surprise in store. There are chase sequences, explosions, and brutal fights where Craig reminds us that his Bond is more interested in hand-to-hand combat than firing a pistol and keeping his suit tidy. And the movie's title, Skyfall, is a reference to a part of Bond's past that helps explain how 007 became the man he is. The movie is action-packed but also packs an emotional punch in the finale, which highlights the franchise's attempts to become more than just a series of slick and predictable action sequences. Along the way there are a lot of sly and hilarious references to prior Bond movies, including a cameo by a particularly beloved car.

Skyfall pokes fun at its origins but reminds us why James Bond still holds sway in our hearts 50 years after his first appearance on movie screens. Some of the action sequences feel over-long and tiresome, but the emotional pay-off is well worth it and 50 years down the road, we are reminded of how little we know about James Bond. Hopefully, future movies will continue to offer insights into this enigmatic character and ensure the franchise is well and truly shaken, not stirred.

Madagascar 3: Three Is Enough

Last week (before Hurricane Sandy took away my electricity), I watched the third entry in the animated Madagascar series. For those unfamiliar with the movies, they feature four main animals - Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith) who escape from the Central Park Zoo and wind up in their ancestral home of Africa. Of course, having been born and raised in a zoo, they are thoroughly unequipped to deal with their natural habitat, which makes for much of the comedy in the first two movies.

Unfortunately, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted features the animals traveling to Europe and joining a circus to make their way back across the Atlantic to New York City. The animation is spot-on and the locales of Monte Carlo, Rome, and London look lovely, but the story is fairly lacking. Our four leads have to come up with their own circus acts as well as encourage the other circus animals who have lost their zest for performing. Once the acts are organized, the audience is subjected to a colorful, bewildering, acid trip of a circus act set to Katy Perry's "Firework," which should really feature a warning for anyone prone to photoepileptic seizures.

The movie is big on spectacle, small on story, and signals that it's time to call it quits on this franchise. However, as far as I can remember, it was #1 at the box office this summer, so undoubtedly further sequels will be in the works. Like always, the voice acting is great, and Chris Rock's circus jingle is an earworm that I keep humming at odd intervals. I just hope that the story lines keep up with the voice talent and gorgeous animation. After all the movies are titled, "Madagascar" so you can't really move the action to other continents. And every studio executive knows that there's no need to re-invent the wheel if you have a winning formula. Stick to the African antics and you have a hit on your hands.

Prometheus: The Origin of Mankind

Not being a devotee of Ridley Scott's Alien series, I didn't have much invested in Prometheus, Scott's return to sci-fi moviemaking that is a sort-of prequel to the Alien franchise. I finally watched it on my flight back home and while it was a fun foray into the future, I can see why the more rabid fans were disappointed.

Prometheus is the name of a spaceship that has set off on a mission to a distant moon that may explain where human beings came from (apparently Darwin had it wrong). The lead investigator, Elizabeth Shaw (played by the fantastic Noomi Rapace who is the new Sigourney Weaver), fervently believes that aliens came to planet Earth and served as the forebears of humanity. She and her partner, Charlie Holloway (played by Logan Marshall-Green), have found pictograms from disparate early human civilizations that all feature the same pattern suggesting alien activity. So obtaining financing from the Weyland Corporation, they set off on Prometheus with a crew of scientists, a corporate supervisor (the stone-cold Meredith Vickers, played by Charlize Theron), and David, an incredibly lifelike android that is trained to take care of the spaceship while the rest of the crew are in stasis during the four-year journey. David is played by the always fascinating Michael Fassbender, who makes it impossible to figure out the android's motivations. Robots are always unpredictable in any sci-fi setting and David is no exception.

 Once the crew reaches the alien moon, they are faced with apparent desolation. All the aliens have been wiped out but there are a series of caves and tunnels that have surprisingly ambient conditions to support human life. Of course, these tunnels also contain clues about how our supposed ancestors were killed, and the human scientists might be in danger of following suit. One by one, members of the Prometheus crew fall victim to bizarre creatures that have been lurking in the shadows. Of note, Noomi Rapace is featured in a brilliant sequence that is an ode to Alien's most famous scene (you know the one).

The world of Prometheus is fully realized and makes for a thrilling action movie. But if you also require a good story, you're out of luck. The ending doesn't offer any answers, only more questions, which appeals to philosophers but not moviegoers. It's half popcorn movie, half serious treatise, and those are genres that don't mesh well. Watch Prometheus with moderate expectations and you will be entertained. Expect anything more and you will be frustrated.