Into the Woods: The Perils of Happily Ever After

After watching Into the Woods, I have been humming the songs non-stop. Given the twisty deviousness of Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, I am as yet incapable of actually singing the songs, but that will be my New Year's resolution. I downloaded the entire soundtrack and I believe if you just listened to it, you would barely miss a beat of the plot. The entire movie consists of talk-singing and is simply one of the most splendid spectacles you could witness in a theater this winter.

Into the Woods features an all-star cast, who, unlike the cast of Annie, are actually all good singers. The only disappointment in the bunch is Johnny Depp, in a woefully misguided bit of stunt casting as The Wolf. Thankfully, he only has one song before he is quickly dispatched. James Corden and Emily Blunt are unsurprisingly delightful as the Baker and his wife, the childless pair who have to set off on a scavenger hunt to retrieve items for the Witch (Meryl Streep) who lives next door. The items they seek will be found in the woods, where they will run into four well-known fairy tale characters: Cinderella (a simply marvelous Anna Kendrick, who is proving that her Tony nomination at the age of 12 was no fluke); Jack, of Jack and the Beanstalk fame (Daniel Huttlestone); Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy).

Every actor is bringing their A game (the young ones are particularly talented, singing effortlessly and giving the veterans a run for their money) and they throw a wealth of expression into every song, bringing out humor and gravitas, fear and romance, and every emotion in between. I was going to enumerate which of the songs stood out in particular for me, but quickly realized I was just going to name all of them. There is such a variety of emotion and skill on display, from the hilariously hammed-up rendition of "Agony" by Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen as the two ridiculous Princes in love with Cinderella and Rapunzel, to the heartwrenching "Stay With Me" by Meryl Streep, who just knocks it out of the park. Each song is a mini-story in its own right, and even if this wasn't the most tightly-plotted tale I've ever seen, I wouldn't care because I could just listen to those songs all day.

The first act of Into the Woods is a fairly traditional telling of these fairy tales, where every character gets their happy ending. But Act 2 follows up on what happens after "Happily Ever After" and becomes a truly grim affair. I've never seen the stage version, but having read a plot summary, the movie is certainly somewhat Disney-fied: there are fewer deaths, certain narrative devices have been dropped for the sake of cinematic clarity, and several songs were cut for time. And yet, screenwriter James Lapine, who wrote the book for the original musical, has done a beautiful job of translating this tale to screen and bringing it to a wider audience. Director Rob Marshall, the man responsible for the modern revival of movie musicals, is the ideal person to wrangle together this enormous cast and tell this larger-than-life story. The costumes are wonderful, the special effects are grand, the cast is perfect, the music is impeccable, and the woods are spectacular, alternately imbuing the movie with darkness and light as the plot demands.

Into the Woods is a beloved musical and this cinematic adaptation is a triumphant showcase of the genius of Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics. The settings and visuals are sumptuous, adding a dimension that you can't get from a simple stage production. This is a lovingly and cleverly crafted piece of art: you could wish for nothing else. 

The Interview: A Competent Comic Caper

I'm not sure if posting a review of The Interview will single me out for a North Korean hack. And yet, having watched this movie, I fail to understand what all the fuss was about. This is a perfectly run-of-the-mill Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy. Goofy, filthy, funny, and dumb. Yes, Kim Jong-Un is a character, but he isn't even vilified as he should be: he just comes off as a somewhat childish despot, who likes listening to Katy Perry and drinking margaritas. Hardly cause for political uproar.

Franco plays Dave Skylark, host of a celebrity talk show, and Rogen plays his producer, Aaron, who starts to wish they could cover more meaningful news. Upon discovering that Kim Jong-un (played by Randall Park) is a big fan of Skylark Tonight, he decides to score an interview with the North Korean dictator. The North Koreans agree, but then CIA Agent Lacey (the delightful Lizzy Caplan) arrives and asks Dave and Aaron to assist in the assassination of Kim Jong-un. Cue lots of jokes about American interference and past CIA mistakes. As much as the movie talks about the brutal North Korean regime, it pays equal attention to America's political atrocities at home and abroad and serves up some meaningful political commentary. All of which is largely buried under sophomoric humor and over-the-top histrionics, of course.

The plot is pretty basic and doesn't offer up many surprises. It is a fairly funny movie, but the satire is mostly generic and bland, nothing biting or truly insightful. The soundtrack is probably what entertained me the most, an energetic wall of pop and hip-hop that kept me going even if the plot was flagging. All of the actors are perfectly fun and likable (yes even the ones playing North Koreans) and apart from your typical Hollywood Asian stereotyping and casual racism, this is a largely inoffensive movie that would have been funny but ultimately forgettable.

The marketing department for The Interview couldn't have created this much hype if they'd tried. Despite being pulled from major theater chains, a lot more people will probably watch this movie now than if it had received a traditional theatrical release. In the film, Kim Jong-un insists on writing the script for his interview and portraying his dictatorship in the nicest light possible. The cyber attacks inspired by The Interview only show up North Korea's own ridiculousness when attempting to censor their critics, and this movie's commentary on media and politics has taken on a meta life of it's own. So if you're curious, head on over to YouTube and rent The Interview. It isn't the funniest thing you'll watch this year, but it has certainly turned into a political statement. Or something. 

Annie: It's the Hard Knock 21st Century Life

Right off the bat, I will confess that I have merely fast forwarded my way through the 1982 film adaptation of Annie and have absolutely nothing invested in the musical or its characters. I know the famous songs, but not all their lyrics, and apart from knowing that Annie is a red-headed orphan girl who is adopted by the rich Daddy Warbucks and ends up living happily ever after, I am largely oblivious about the plot. Therefore, I rather enjoyed the breezy 2014 Annie update starring Quvenzhane Wallis, but if you're a musical purist, this may not be the movie for you.

In this remake, Annie is an African-American girl who lives in a foster home in Harlem. The home is run by the drunk Mrs. Hannigan (Cameron Diaz) who fosters these girls for some cash and treats them fairly abominably. One day, Annie accidentally runs into Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) a billionaire businessman who has decided to run for mayor of New York City. His numbers are flagging in the polls but his association with Annie gives him an instant boost in popularity. His PR team suggests he invite Annie over for lunch, but Annie, who is no fool, suggests that he would be even better off if he became her temporary guardian. Stacks is no fan of kids, but pressured by his team, he reluctantly agrees, and Annie moves into his home and, of course, eventually into his heart.

For a musical, Annie pays shockingly little attention to the music. It opens with rousing renditions of "Maybe," "Tomorrow," and a wonderfully choreographed "It's the Hard Knock Life" with all the young girls, but the music mostly takes a backseat for the rest of the film. Which is a good thing, because unless Wallis is singing, you really don't want to hear any of thees songs. None of these actors have been hired for their singing ability and while Wallis is talented and belts our a tune like nobody's business, the adult actors are an autotuned nightmare. The songs would be foot-tappingly good if they weren't sung so terribly, so I for one am glad that the songs petered out as the movie progressed.

Annie is a perfectly serviceable piece of holiday entertainment that will keep you occupied for two hours. It is well-paced, energetic, and rests squarely on the very capable shoulders of a talented young actress. The plot is predictable, but there are some twists and turns to keep you engaged. As long as you have nothing too invested in the history of this musical, you will be charmed by this film.

PK: Solid Satire

Aamir Khan does one movie a year, and that movie will be a doozy. PK is no exception. The marketing for this movie was spectacular - the filmmakers didn't give away one iota of plot, which is crucial for your enjoyment. I went in knowing absolutely nothing and everything that unfolded on screen was a sheer revelation. I can't discuss my opinion of the film without giving away the entire plot and theme so please stop reading right now if you plan on watching PK: you need to watch it first and then come back to read this review.

The opening scenes establish the weirdest part of the film, i.e. that the title character, PK (Aamir Khan), is actually an alien who arrives on Earth to do some reconnaissance on its inhabitants. However, he ends up stranded in our world when he is robbed of the device that can summon his spaceship to take him back home. He stumbles around Rajasthan and Delhi, asking people to help him, and in fatalistic Indian fashion, everyone he meets shakes their head and says, "What can I do? Only God can help you." Being a literal-minded alien, PK therefore sets off on a quest to find this mysterious God who is going to help him get back home.

Written by Abhijat Joshi and director Rajkumar Hirani, PK is wonderfully well-scripted and witty, insightful and edgy. At the beginning it pokes fun at humanity as a whole and the strange customs and rituals we observe that would bewilder any alien who lives by logic and reason. However, it quickly turns into a very specific satire on religion and its purveyors. PK teams up with a TV reporter, Jaggu (Anushka Sharma), and the two of them decide to take down Tapasvi Maharaj (Saurabh Shukla), a religious guru who claims to have a direct line to God and proffers useless advice to his millions of followers. PK doesn't understand the concept of deception (no one is capable of lying on his planet) so he thinks Tapasvi has just gotten his lines crossed and is "dialing a wrong number" to get to God. Jaggu is fully aware that Tapasvi is a fraud, but she simply lets PK argue with his alien logic and creates a massive expose that attacks not just Tapasvi but the general irrationality and strife caused by religious fervor.

This is a fairly explosive topic to broach in India, which is why Rajkumar Hirani is the only director who could do it without getting a fatwa issued on his head. The movie is so funny that most audience members will probably think it's a hilarious comedy and basically ignore the serious truth at the movie's core. The more activist members of the audience will immediately begin a "Wrong Number" campaign as portrayed in the movie, and all of India will be buzzing with that for a few months until Shahrukh Khan comes out with a new movie and everyone forgets about PK. Already, some people are protesting about the movie and claiming it portrays some religions in a more negative light, which shows how they've completely missed the point anyway. In fact, my biggest problem with PK is that it still insists on a God - it says religion is a man-made construct with silly rules, but it doesn't doubt that God exists. Hirani is a wildly clever director, and the reason for his success largely derives from his populism. He knows that attacking religion is a dicey proposition already; acknowledging atheism would just be one step too far. India is a country that is still largely incapable of viewing morality and religion as mutually exclusive constructs, so for now, we shall have to be satisfied with the stand taken by PK.

Just a few words about the technical aspects of the movie. The songs are lively and colorful - nothing extraordinary but certainly enough to keep the momentum going. The cinematography by C. K. Muraleedharan is vivid and wonderful. The acting is excellent: Aamir Khan is a sheer delight (as always) and manages to be funny and heartbreaking all at once. Anushka Sharma is a perfect counterpart and brings the necessary worldliness and intelligence to counter PK's naivete. Boman Irani has a reliably fun and engaging turn as Jaggu's boss at the TV station, while Sanjay Dutt is equally delightful as a Rajasthani man that PK runs into during his travels. All told, PK is a technically impeccable film.

Bollywood has trouble crafting comedies and PK does go slightly over the top towards the end in its desire to hammer the message home on the unsuspecting masses. Just in case you weren't aware, religion inspires terrorism and other awful things - big surprise. There's also an unnecessary romantic angle, and a very predictable romantic subplot with Jaggu and a man she met in Bruges that is charming but ultimately pointless. However, barring my quibbles with the script, which starts to mix too many genres and simply does not go far enough for my liking in terms of the religious commentary, PK is a perfect movie. After all, it wasn't made for me, it was made for the wider Indian populace, and judging by their reception of it, it's at least provoking some kind of meaningful dialogue. That is, until the next big blockbuster is released. 

Mr. Turner: An Artistic Triumph

Timothy Spall has been picking up numerous awards for his performance as 19th-century English painter JMW Turner. Writer-director Mike Leigh has similarly received widespread kudos for this remarkable film. However, come February, the one person I really hope wins an Oscar for Mr. Turner is cinematographer Dick Pope.

Watching Mr. Turner is like spending two and half hours in an art museum. There are beautiful paintings on display in the movie, but each frame of the film feels like a painting itself. There are multiple scenes where at first you think you're looking at some artwork but then suddenly a cloud scuds by or a wave ripples across the water and you realize that you're just looking at a gorgeous landscape captured through a cinematographer's extremely skilled lens. 

The movie follows the latter years of Turner's life. He is an odd man with incredible talent but a disastrous personal life. He lives with his beloved father and doting housekeeper, painting up a storm and lording it over less successful painters at the Royal Academy. He is one of those rare artists who is relatively well-appreciated in his lifetime (a young John Ruskin shows up as one of Turner's fervent admirers) and he doesn't seem to be a dreadfully tortured soul. 

Over the course of the movie, Turner goes through some personal upheavals and unwelcome criticism of his techniques and artistry. By and large, this is not a movie that chronicles anything extraordinary and dramatic about his personal life. It is really a mood piece that completely steeps you in the period. The dialogue is spot-on and while there are dramatic moments, I was mostly impressed by the quieter scenes, like when a group of well-bred people sit around discussing gooseberries for lack of a less contentious topic. It is a meticulously observed world, both visually and psychologically, and it is one of the year's most remarkable cinematic feats. 

Mr. Turner fully deserves all the critical acclaim and it will certainly be in contention for several awards in the coming months. Timothy Spall turns in a pitch-perfect performance (after all, the man spent two years learning how to paint just for this movie) but the true star is the breathtaking cinematography. In this age of 3D spectacle and green screen, it is wondrous to behold such natural beauty captured on film. I'm sure each scene underwent a great deal of filtering and color grading to achieve exactly the right look: the filmmakers have put as much artistry into making this movie as JMW Turner put into his paintings. The result is a true masterpiece that will dazzle you in the cinema and then encourage you to head to a museum.

Hector and the Search for Happiness: Keep Looking

My friend and I went to see Hector and the Search for Happiness because AMC was giving away free tickets. Free tickets were exactly how we discovered the marvelous Begin Again, so we turned up at the theater with reasonably optimistic expectations. Sadly, you can't win 'em all.

The movie tells the story of Hector (Simon Pegg), a psychiatrist who is fed up of hearing about his patients' middle-class woes and is sick of his dull, routine-obsessed existence. He lives with his long-time girlfriend Clara (Rosamund Pike), who ensures Hector's life is always worry-free and running according to schedule. Hector decides he needs a change and announces he is going on a global research trip to find out how people in different countries find happiness. Clara is not pleased about this sudden decision, but agrees that Hector needs to do whatever he can to feel fulfilled again. 

What follows is a very strange movie that goes from Shanghai to Africa (yes, I believe no country was specified, it was just vaguely Africa) to Los Angeles. Hector meets many people (some more stereotypical than others) and asks them how they define happiness. Answers vary tremendously and he writes them all down in his diary as "research." The movie's tone veers wildly from absurdist humor to weepy drama and it all feels weird and manipulative and rather poorly thought out. It is based on a French novel by Francois Lelord, so one can only suppose that either something got lost in translation or this is one of those books that should never have been turned into a movie. 

I will say, I've never seen Simon Pegg in a dramatic role and he acquits himself remarkably well in this film. Despite the ridiculousness of the plot and general incredulity I felt throughout, I had no trouble empathizing with Hector and getting a bit swayed by his emotions. Similarly, Rosamund Pike does a valiant job to make Clara less of a nagging ice queen and more of a loving partner. The cameos by various well-known actors throughout the movie are much more hit and miss. In the end, it seems like the director, Peter Chelsom, slapped together a stew of movie with whatever odds and ends he could find in the hope that the result would be something palatable. He did not succeed.

Hector and the Search for Happiness is a remarkably ambitious movie but it fails spectacularly. It cannot figure out what it wants to say or how to say it, and the ultimate resolution feels entirely too tame and conventional for what has been such a deeply unconventional movie. It feels like one of the sketches that would air at 12:50 on Saturday Night Live; if it genuinely hung on to that absurdist streak, it might have been successful enough to gain a cult following. However, its mawkish and ultimately predictable storytelling is a letdown that doesn't deliver any happiness at all.

The Comeback: Nine Years Later

After nine long years, Valerie Cherish is back on our screens. The TV gods have answered our prayers.

Back in 2005, Lisa Kudrow starred in thirteen episodes of The Comeback on HBO. The show followed sitcom actress Valerie Cherish who was trying to revive her flagging career by filming a behind-the-scenes "reality" show about her life while she embarked on a new role playing Aunt Sassy in a broad network sitcom. It's a lot of shows within shows, and it's complicated to explain but fascinating to watch. 

The first season was a superlative example of cringe comedy. Valerie would routinely suffer humiliation at the hands of her younger co-stars, bemused camera crew, and horrific writer Paulie G. (Lance Barber), who did everything he could to debase her on the sitcom and in everyday life. The second season picks up nine years later: Valerie has had a failed stint on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, flirted with Botox, done some independent student films and is generally getting by. When she finds out that Paulie G. is out of rehab for his heroin addiction and has sold a show to HBO that sounds suspiciously like his life story as a writer on a sitcom starring a lady named "Mallory Church," she gets sucked back into the drama. 

The second season is filled with just as much cringe-inducing comedy as the first and most of the original cast are back. It also features new characters, including Seth Rogen in a very endearing role as Valerie's new co-star. Paulie G. might be off heroin but his relationship with Val is just as fraught as ever. Valerie is sweet and clueless, desperate for fame and insecure about aging in Hollywood. Her patient husband Mark (Damian Young) is still tolerating her craziness, even after production invades his house when the show's budget gets slashed. It is shocking to think that this show hasn't been on the air for nine years because they haven't missed a beat. 

The Comeback is alternately hilarious and awkward, sweet and awful, a perfect send-up of fame, Hollywood, and actorly desperation. Lisa Kudrow is a wonder to behold; she turns Valerie into a sort of female Michael Scott who does really stupid things and yet remains a likable character that the audience will earnestly root for. So tune in to The Comeback's triumphant return, and discover if Valerie's finally going to make her dreams come true.

Supermensch: The Most Interesting Man in the World

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon is a documentary about one of the most interesting men you've never heard of. Correction: you've never heard of him if you're a regular person like me, but if you're a celebrity, he's probably your best friend. Here's a man who accidentally became Alice Cooper's manager at the age of 21 and helped launch multiple musical acts into stardom, produced independent movies that won awards at Cannes, created the whole concept of "celebrity chefs," and brewed yak tea for the Dalai Lama in his spare time. The Dos Equis guy has nothing on him.

The movie is directed by Mike Myers, who first met Shep on the set of Wayne's World. Shep helped Myers through a particular difficult time in his life (as is his wont) and the two became fast friends. Having spent so much time with Shep, Myers knew he wanted to make a movie filled with this man's crazy stories and the result is Supermensch. Featuring tales from the man himself as well as assorted celebrities and family members, the movie is a lighthearted and bewildering romp through one man's rather brilliant life.

In keeping with Shep's personality, the movie focuses on the positive and breezes past the more uncomfortable bits of his life. While Gordon seems like a genuinely lovely and caring person, some of his early tales contain excessive references to drugs, booze, and women to seem totally kosher. At one point, he refers to how he would struggle to make sure underage girls weren't caught in the vicinity of his clients, as that would make for terrible publicity. When Myers asks off-camera, "And because that would be wrong, right?" Shep laughs and says, "Oh yeah, it would be wrong too." It's a tad too casual to be comforting. Certainly, it seems like Shep's early career was fueled by ambition and the pursuit of success at all costs. He minted money and platinum records, but his personal life took a toll, and as he saw his friends dropping dead or checking into rehab, he decided it was time for a change.

This is heavy stuff, yet the tone of the movie always remains strangely upbeat, and it's difficult not to get swept up in the charm and warmth of the man. Now a Jewish Buddhist who is an excellent cook with a house in Maui that is the nexus of some of the most epic celebrity dinners of all time, Shep Gordon is clearly living a wonderful life. The only thing missing is a wife and kids, and everyone interviewed in the movie casually says how they hope Shep will settle down soon and have a baby. I would think you ought to have some qualms about hoping a nearly 70-year-old man would father a child, but Shep Gordon is capable of just about anything and who knows where the next chapter of his life will lead.

Mike Myers has collated some excellent archival footage and evocative music, and re-enacted Shep's stories in ingenious ways that make the movie very entertaining to watch. Rather than just listening to Shep tell his stories, you get to experience them vividly on screen, with all the highlighted absurdity. In 84 minutes, I was presented with a unique life that I loved learning about but would never want to emulate. So watch Supermensch and catch a glimpse of how the other half lives and what you have (not) been missing.