Jack The Giant Slayer
Warner Brothers
Rated PG-13 for frightening images, brief profanity and intense violence.
Farm Boy Rises To The Occasion In Breathtaking Adaptation Of Beloved Fairytale
When Jack (Nicholas Hoult) was a little boy, his imagination was whetted by a bedtime story about a mythical war waged ages ago against a fearsome race of giants that had descended from the sky. Before his mother (Caroline Hayes) died soon thereafter, she suggested that he might even be related to Erik The Great (Craig Salisbury), the brave monarch who had led the valiant defense of Earth against the gargantuan invaders.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the peaceable kingdom’s proverbial tracks, young Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) was being spoon-fed a similar tale about an epic showdown between good and evil. But she was read to at night by her doting father, King Brahmwell (Ian McShane), due to her mother’s (Tandi Wright) untimely demise.
A decade later, we find the lowly farmhand’s path crossing with that of the future queen the day the headstrong teenager sneaks out of the castle to rub shoulders with the hoi polloi. At a puppet show, Jack rushes to her assistance the moment she finds herself being accosted by a menacing gang of ruffians.
The damsel in distress becomes so smitten with the gallant lad that she informs her father of a desire to break off her arranged engagement to the insufferable Roderick (Stanley Tucci), an effete lout twice her age. Nonetheless, King Brahmwell would rather have his daughter marry a blue-blooded member of the Royal Court she doesn’t love than tie the knot with a mere commoner.
Before the moment of truth arrives, however, fate intervenes in the form of a monk (Simon Lowe) who hands Jack a few mysterious beans. During a secret visit from Isabelle, one slips through the floorboards, takes seed under his house, and starts to grow rapidly, sweeping the humble abode and the princess way up into the heavens.
Soon, both of her suitors join the search party, scaling the mile-high beanstalk to an otherworldly realm in the clouds. Jack has no idea that the mammoth plant has also inadvertently reopened a gateway to the ground for an army of gigantic adversaries. And it’s not long before ancient hostilities are reignited over Isabelle and the fate of the planet below.
Directed by Bryan Singer, Jack The Giant Slayer is an alternately enchanting and eye-popping adventure which must be seen in 3-D to be appreciated fully. Between the breathtaking panoramas and the daring derring-do on display, the picture amounts to a captivating, cinematic treat guaranteed to enthrall tykes, ‘tweeners, and just about anyone interested in seeing a classic fairytale brought to life.
Fee! Fi! Fo! Fum! I smell a hit with the little ones!
Excellent (4 stars)
Running time: 114 minutes
War Witch
Tribeca Film
Unrated
12-Year-Old Endures Host Of Horrors In Haunting Coming-Of-Age Drama
Komona’s (Rachel Mwanza) life was irreversibly altered at the tender age of 12 when rebel forces led by the Great Tiger (Mizinga Mwinga) rampaged through her tiny African village. The unfortunate girl was forced at gunpoint to kill her own parents (Starlette Mathata and Alex Herabo) before being abducted and brainwashed into joining the cause.
Deep in the jungle, she was befriended by other kids orphaned by the conflict before being trained to use a weapon against government soldiers. However, more valuable than marksmanship, Komona developed an uncanny knack for sensing enemy positions, a skill which proved handy during encounters with deadly snipers and machine gun nests.
This supernatural ability came to the attention of her superiors, and by the time she turned 13, the so-called “War Witch” was appointed a personal advisor of General Tiger. In that capacity, Komona also had to work closely with Magician (Serge Kanyinda), an albino boy with extra sensory perception.
It’s been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Apparently, there aren’t any celibates in foxholes either. For, it’s not long before the two seers fall madly in love. Magician proposes, they go AWOL, and Komona ends up pregnant by her 14th birthday.
Thus unfolds War Witch, a haunting drama chronicling an adolescent’s coming-of-age under the most trying of circumstances. Written and directed by Canadian Kim Nguyen who shot on location in the Congo, the moving character study was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.
The picture is cleverly constructed as a series of vivid flashbacks narrated by Komona directly addressing the unborn baby growing in her belly. While the plucky protagonist easily earns our admiration for maintaining her sanity in the midst of the madness, there is still something slightly unsettling about a production so matter-of-fact about the endless atrocities providing the backdrop for such a touching front story.
21st century Africa presented as a godforsaken wasteland conjuring up primitive images reminiscent of the ghoulish dystopia chronicled by Conrad in Heart Of Darkness.
Very Good (3 stars)
In French and Lingala with subtitles
Running time: 90 minutes
Oscar Recap
Argo Wins Best Picture While Life Of Pi Lands The Most Awards
Ben Affleck got the last laugh after being snubbed by the Academy in the Best Director category when his film, Argo, won the award for Best Picture. However, Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi landed the most Oscars overall, four, including an upset of Spielberg for director.
The only other major surprise arrived at the outset of the telecast when Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor (Django Unchained) in a race thought to be between Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook) and Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln). As for this critic’s prognostications, I got 15 of 21 correct, including Argo.
Much of the pre-Oscar buzz had been about Seth MacFarlane’s hosting the Oscars, and how his irreverent brand of humor would be received by the crowd. Although he didn’t take many potshots at Hollywood royalty, his monologue, performances and banter did reflect a disappointing coarsening of the culture.
Whether invoking the name of porn star Ron Jeremy or doing a song and dance celebrating nude scenes “We Saw Your Boobs,” MacFarlane frequently resorted to racy material inappropriate for children. He also took a few jabs at Jews, implying that claiming to be at least half-Jewish or a big supporter of Israel was a prerequisite to making it in show business.
But he leveled the lion’s share of his acerbic barbs at African-Americans. For example, in a skit inspired by Denzel Washington’s film Flight, he had a black hand puppet drinking alcohol and snorting coke.
Then there was his shockingly pedophilic sexualizing of nine-year-old Best Actress nominee Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts Of The Southern Wild) by speculating about when she’d be too old to date George Clooney. And he made light of domestic abuse when he suggested that Chris Brown and Rihanna considered Django Unchained a date movie because it was about a man trying to get back a woman who’s been subjected to unspeakable violence.
Seth also quipped that it’s okay for Quentin Tarantino to use the N-word “because he thinks he’s black,” and he wondered whether Daniel Day-Lewis might’ve tried to free Don Cheadle had he bumped into him on the studio lot while still in character.
The offensive fare revolving around race was ultimately offset somewhat when they had First Lady Michelle Obama open the envelope for Best Picture from the White House. Still, this Oscar show was anything but a family affair.
Complete List Of Oscar Winners:
BEST PICTURE
Argo
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee (Life Of Pi)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Django Unchained
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Brave
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Amour
BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Skyfall” (Skyfall)
BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Life Of Pi
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Lincoln
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Life Of Pi
BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Searching For Sugar Man
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Life Of Pi
BEST MAKEUP
Les Miserables
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Anna Karenina
BEST FILM EDITING
Argo
BEST SOUND EDITING
Tie: Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty
BEST SOUND MIXING
Les Miserables
BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Paperman
BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Curfew
BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
Inocente
OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam’s Kapsules:
For movies opening March 1, 2013
21 And Over (R for drug use, alcohol abuse, graphic sexuality, frontal nudity, coarse humor and pervasive profanity). Raunchy teensploit revolving around a straight-A college student (Justin Chon) taken out by his best friends (Skylar Astin and Miles Teller) for a wild night of debauchery and overindulgence on the eve of an important med school interview. Cast includes Sarah Wright, Jonathan Keltz and Francois Chau.
The Last Exorcism: Part II (PG-13 for terror, violence and brief profanity). Horror sequel finds the heroine (Ashley Bell) who survived an agonizing ordeal in the original again possessed by demonic forces. Ensemble includes Andrew Sensenig, Muse Watson and David Jensen.
Stoker (R for sexuality and disturbing violence). Psychological thriller about a young woman (Mia Wasikowska) who becomes increasingly suspicious of the motives of the uncle (Matthew Goode) she never knew existed when he comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother (Nicole Kidman) after the untimely death of her father (Dermot Mulroney) in an auto accident. With Jacki Weaver, Harmony Korine and David Alford.
The Battle Of Pussy Willow Creek (Unrated). Civil War mockumentary about four, forgotten Civil War heroes: a gay colonel (Matthew Ludwinski), a nerdy, fugitive slave (Barron A. Myers), an aging, Chinese launderer (Scooter McCrae) and a one-armed prostitute (Mara Kassin). With Tim Cusack, Emily Mitchell and Christopher Lukas.
The Condemned (Unrated). Suspense thriller revolving around a dying doctor’s daughter (Cristina Rodlo) who travels to the town where he ran a free cancer clinic in order to restore his reputation. Co-starring Dolores Pedro, Axel Anderson and Rene Monclova. (In Spanish with subtitles)
Day Of The Falcon (Unrated). Costume drama, set in the ‘30s, chronicling the fortunes of a Middle Eastern prince (Antonio Banderas) torn between tradition and modernity at the dawn of the Arab oil boom. Ensemble cast includes Mark Strong, Freida Pinto and Eriq Ebouaney.
A Fierce Green Future (Unrated). Eco-documentary recounting the environmental movement’s evolution from the ‘60s to the present. Co-narrated by Meryl Streep, Van Jones, Robert Redford, Ashley Judd and Isabel Allende.
The Frankenstein Theory (Unrated). Found-footage horror about a camera crew’s ill-fated expedition to the Arctic Circle in search of proof that Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein was inspired by an actual scientific experiment gone bad. Starring Kris Lemche, Joe Egender, Timothy V. Murphy and Eric Zuckerman.
Here I Learned To Love (Unrated). Holocaust documentary in which two Jewish siblings, now in their 70s, embark on a journey retracing their roots from Israel to Europe where they had been saved as toddlers from extermination by the Nazis. (In Hebrew with subtitles)
Leviathan (Unrated). Deep sea documentary capturing the dangers encountered on a daily basis by the hardy crew of a New Bedford fishing trawler plying its trade in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts.
Phantom (R for violence). Ed Harris stars in this Cold War thriller as the captain of a Soviet submarine on a covert mission cloaked in mystery who finds himself forced to contend with rogue KGB agents determined to commandeer the vessel’s arsenal of nuclear weapons. Cast includes David Duchovny, William Fichtner and Lance Henriksen.
A Place At The Table (PG for mature themes and mild epithets). Poverty documentary about the 50 million people living in the U.S. who have no idea where their next meal is coming from. Featuring actor Jeff Bridges, activist Raj Patel and celebrity chef Tom Colicchio.
