Media Darlings

Web Series We Love: Isabella Rossellini’s “The Mammas”

2013-05-14T14:17:00.000-04:00

Isabella Rossellini’s latest installment of her nature web series Green Porno is the opposite of puritanical. She wouldn’t have used the word “porno” in the title if she planned to be coy. Instead, The Mammas video series on The Sundance Channel tells the truth about the animal world’s various and bizarre maternal rituals. Her inspiration for The Mammas came from (according to NPR) “the work of evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk. Zuk wrote that self-sacrifice was not the basis of maternal instinct but rather good management of resources.” And it’s not for the faint of heart.

Rossellini as Mamma Spider.

Before your tween and older kids look at Rossellini’s videos, they need to understand where babies come from; and you have to be on board with your kids hearing blunt, honest yet biologically correct language including the words spawn, sperm, vagina, and genitals (to give a sampling). If you welcome frank discussions and (rather hilarious) illustrations of nature at its extremes, you’ll find an entertaining yet informative series. So many educators try to crack that code of making learning fun. Perhaps Rossellini has stacked the deck in her favor by choosing a provocative subject, but she does it with gusto and talent.

Rossellini embraces her "mate."

Rossellini stars in each video, costumed as the animal, insect, or fish in question. And she’s amazing. It’s hard to describe how wonderful it is to see children’s material performed by such a famous actress who isn’t exactly known for her whimsy. She attacks each character with the seriousness of a Shakespeare play, totally committed to her characters, as the absurd settings, dialogue, and costumes carry the humor. She reminds me of movie star Rosalind Russell’s description of screen acting: stand up naked and turn around slowly. And Rossellini does that, too. As a shrimp, she begins as a male; then turns female, peels off her shell and strips “naked” (though actually in a pink bodysuit) as she embraces a male shrimp.

Rossellini as part of a shrimp catch.

Rossellini’s interest in animals is serious, and in The Mammas as in every installment since the series began in 2008, she has her facts straight. Rossellini is working on her master’s degree in animal behavior at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She told NPR, “As a semiretired actress, like any retired person, you always fear boredom” she says. “As I worked less as a model and an actress because of age, I was always interested in animal behavior, and I thought I’d go back and study it.” Her own commitment to life-long learning shows in the series: it’s filled with a sense of wonder and discovery. And I’m not surprised she didn’t go for a coy delivery. She’s never been a coy person. This long-time model for Lancome was also the star of the cult hit, Blue Velvet. The daughter of Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini, she was married to Martin Scorsese; and was the partner and muse of director David Lynch. And now she is getting serious about her life-long love of wildlife. She is a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Network and you’ll see conservation themes explored in her videos, too, as in the video on the life of shrimp that points out how many sea animals die during a shrimp catch.

There’s something marvelous about watching someone reinvent herself and embrace the new technology of multi-media video while she’s at it. You can see Rossellini’s videos on the website for The Sundance Channel.

Better Than Good: “The Great Gatsby”

2013-05-10T18:22:00.000-04:00

Film Review by Maggie Hames
Books and movies are different in just about every way media CAN be different. But mainly, in books, unfixed images are created in the reader’s mind and are up to infinite interpretation. In a movie, ideas become fixed as particular actors, art direction choices, editing choices, or cinematographic choices. These images are open to endless analysis, but not endless interpretation. The best literary adaptations (for my money) translate a story to the screen; they don’t just transfer it. Just about the nicest compliment I can give to Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is that it is an interesting translation of a book to film, with innovative, even thought-provoking choices that convey more emotional depth than any screen version of this book has ever achieved. This is, simply put, the BEST screen Gatsby. And overall, it’s pretty great indeed.

Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker in the
foreground of a stunning mise-en-scene.

With a PG13 rating (for some violent images, sexual content, smoking, partying and brief language) they are trying for a wide audience, and I’m betting that a lot of teens will enjoy this film. The visual sensibility Lurhmann used in his 2001 film, Moulin Rouge—especially a camera quickly flying from one space to the next—is put to good use in The Great Gatsby. Going in, I figured that even if Lurhmann’s Gatsby didn’t hold up as a narrative, his film was sure to be visually spectacular. And it was. And the good news is that the narrative holds up as well. Lurhmann seems to have a great feel for the source material as well as the other film (especially the Jack Clayton 1974) versions of Gatsby. He makes a few knowing references, giving a pal of Jordan Baker the line, “Rich girls don’t marry poor boys,” as he pulls Jordan away from Nick Carraway. This line was delivered (more hilariously than memorably) by Mia Farrow’s Daisy in Jack Clayton’s version of the film—a version I’d say made all the wrong narrative choices. Another scene where Lurhmann beats Clayton hands down is the scene where Gatsby tosses his expensive shirts at Daisy. The emotional moment between Jay and Daisy in this Gatsby is touching and very much NOT about shirts. Overall, Lurhmann has done a good job at making the emotional subtext visual and clear; at times, he’s as subtle as a sledge hammer, but he’s always clear, which I think will appeal to younger viewers.

DiCaprio's Gatsby is the most emotional
version of this character—ever.

Lurhmann’s cast deliver great performances all around: Tobey Maguire’s Nick Carraway creates a gentle sidekick to Leonardo DiCaprio’s frenetic, emotional Jay Gatsby. The scene where Nick invites Daisy to tea so Gatsby can see her again after (in this version) five years is memorable owing to DiCaprio’s heart-breaking vulnerability. Carey Mulligan is lovely as Daisy Buchanan. I would have directed Joel Edgerton to sneer a bit less as Tom Buchanan, but he has his great moments, too. I even liked the choice to use a contemporary sound track by Jay-Z to underscore the wild Gatsby parties. Jay-Z is 2013’s Gatsby: the brash guy from humble roots who’s made a pot of money and is at the center of the best parties in town; only Jay-Z got to marry his Daisy.

Nick (Tobey Maguire) and Jordan whoop
it up at one of Gatsby's wild parties.

I thought Lurhmann made an interesting use of Tom Buchanan’s college athlete past as Tom coaxes Nick to join in the revelry at his girlfriend Myrtle’s (Isla Fisher) apartment. Tom says that back in college, Nick always sat on the sidelines, but now it was time to get in the ballgame. And Nick does. His voiceover explains how he can be in the center of the action and still comment upon it as the outsider that he is. I could have done without the literalization of Nick’s narration of the story. In this version, we see Nick literally write The Great Gatsby as he dries out in a sanitarium, Fitzgerald’s text at times appearing on the screen as Nick “types” it. This adds nothing to the narrative for me, and just harps on the obsession with the book that the rest of the film gracefully pulls from, alludes to, honors, but refused to be tied down by. This Gatsby soars in its own lovely but manufactured world, consistently over-the-top in every scene. At 2 hours, 22 minutes, it was over too quickly.

Too Many Irons In This Fire: “Iron Man 3”

2013-05-08T11:25:00.000-04:00

Movie Review by Jack Silbert
On the off-chance that your family hasn’t seen Iron Man 3 yet, I have a controversial suggestion for you: Don’t go. Oh, I know, the kids have been begging. They’ll kind of hate you for a little while if you don’t take them. But maybe years from now—at a wedding, or your retirement party—they’ll come up and say, “Hey, thanks for looking out for me. I finally caught Iron Man 3 and wow, was it kind of lousy.”

Though if you do end up at the multiplex this weekend, I totally understand. Hey, I went to see it. Even sprung for the 3-D. Why? Because I’d seen parts 1 and 2, that’s why. And The Avengers. I liked The Avengers a whole lot! So I was actually looking forward to this.

A bit of flag-waving in Iron Man 3

And now I can report: Iron Man 3 is…
• too confusing and too mature for kids
• not particularly good in almost any regard: story, script, casting, performances

Taking a page from The Dark Knight Rises, our hero gets his butt kicked and then has to regroup at a faraway place (Tennessee instead of a big stupid hole in the ground) before returning for vengeance. So, not very original, but a straightforward enough plot, right? Except the Iron Man filmmakers had to junk it all up. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., of course) is suffering from panic attacks because of the New York battle scenes in The Avengers. Funny, at the end of The Avengers, I seem to remember ol’ wisecracking Stark eating shawarma with his buddies.

"That's SIR Mandarin," says
Ben Kingsley.

But the filmmakers retroactively (and shamelessly) “September 11th-inize” our recollections of that movie, and then make Osama bin Laden the new bad guy here. Except they call him the Mandarin (Osama Ben Kingsley?). But wait, there’s also profit-mad Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who is angry because Stark once snubbed him at the Great Gatsby’s New Years party. (Note to the kids: If a character’s name combines “kill” and “villain,” he’s probably up to no good.) Then they paint Don Cheadle’s metal suit to look like Captain America and not one person says, “Hey, he looks like Captain America.” Next, the President (who looks like George W. Bush) is in trouble and somehow ends up in Cheadle’s suit. Pretty baffling stuff, and—for the third Iron Man movie in a row—we learn that the real evil is the military-industrial complex. Except when Stark is playing with his remote-control drone Iron Men. Then it’s not evil, it’s cool!

So, all that is pretty “grown up” and complicated, and when you toss in relationship woes, various scantily clad women, and assorted drug and alcohol references, this didn’t seem like much of a movie for the children.

Don Cheadle never asks before
he borrows your clothes.

Oh, but they still want kids in the audience. So they’ve been running that dumb Verizon FiOS commercial for months where the kid dresses up as Iron Man for his science fair. (And just guess what company has very prominent product placement in this movie!) Then they dream up one of the least believable kids in screen history, precocious young Harley, who Stark befriends in Tennessee. And the truth is, nothing is very believable in this movie. The sets are cheap. Scientists look like slick gorgeous actors instead of, you know, scientists. And as for realistic emotions—well, no spoilers, but at a moment when Tony Stark should be incredibly depressed and upset—you guessed it—he’s cracking one-liners again!

Honestly, the kids might not notice. There are a bunch of awesome Iron Man suits whizzing around and there is an absurd number of explosions. Hey, relax, it’s just a comic-book movie, right? I just think kids deserve a lot more. Create a world we recognize, so a hero will truly stand out and truly be needed. Maybe Man of Steel will do a better job. It can’t do too much worse.

Talkin’ Baseball: “42”

2013-04-24T14:07:00.000-04:00

Movie Review by Jack Silbert
It might still be too chilly to bring the family to the ballpark. Or maybe it’s too pricey. But if the kids have any interest whatsoever in baseball, you owe it to them to go see 42.

If you’re an adult baseball fan, even a casual one, there are a few things you already know about Jackie Robinson:
• He broke the color barrier in major league baseball.
• He withstood a lot of threats and abuse.
• He was awesome.
• He died young.
• He wore number 42, which has been retired throughout baseball.

And I can’t say that the movie reveals a whole lot more. But as a fact-based, heartstring-tugging baseball flick, it’s very effective. And for young sports fans, it feels like essential viewing.

Though not entirely advertised as such, this really feels like a family movie. Yes, there is a PG-13 rating. I imagine this is a direct result of repeated use of the N-word and other racial slurs. I do recommend a preliminary discussion on this subject. And rest assured that the film presents such language in a very negative light.

Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey speaks
with Chadwick Boseman as Robinson.

This ain’t exactly a Fellini film. You get extremely straightforward storytelling (A leads to B leads to C, as Robinson advances from the Negro Leagues to the minors to “The Show”), fairly one-dimensional characters, some hokey sentiments, and a very traditional, staged-looking style. It’s a boilerplate baseball movie, with all the positives and negatives that entails. There’s the devoted wife in the stands and the dogged reporter filing dispatches from the road. There’s the mean teammate and the understanding one. And there’s the headstrong, talented kid finally getting his big chance. But as you realize this is the true tale of JACKIE FREAKING ROBINSON, the impact really sinks in.

Unknown Chadwick Boseman does solid if unremarkable work as Jackie Robinson, with a Denzel-esque vocal delivery. He dependably carries us through the story. Harrison Ford is perhaps receiving too much praise for his crotchety performance as daring Dodgers owner Branch Rickey. But, he’s quite convincing and rather charming in the role, even if it’s not a particularly layered portrayal.

What works in a big way are the deeply emotional moments, and there are plenty of them. Sure, it’s often manipulative: The music swells and here come the waterworks. But if the recreation of Pee Wee Reese’s legendary on-field embrace with Robinson doesn’t get you choked up, you may want to remove your chest plate and go in for regularly scheduled maintenance.

Nicole Beharie as Robinson's wife, Rachel.

The many baseball scenes are perfectly rendered, hyper realistic and lovingly shot. We’re right there with the dirt, the grass, packed crowds in old-time stadiums, the familiar crack of the bat and a hard slide into second. (This is indeed an MLB-blessed project.) That they generally stick to the facts quite often prevents things from going too over the top: Jackie walks on four pitches or hits a weak single, when a massive Roy Hobbs-ian homerun off a lighting tower would’ve been more dramatic.

Making the baseball all the more believable is a great turn from John C. McGinley (Scrubs’s Dr. Perry Cox) as legendary broadcaster Red Barber. Chris Meloni (Special Victim Unit’s Elliot Stabler) has a lot of fun as feisty, no-nonsense manager Leo Durocher. Barney Miller fans will be happy to see Max “Wojo” Gail as the new Dodgers manager, but he doesn’t get much to do.

Boseman as Robinson answers a few questions for the press.

If the movie doesn’t go too deep under the surface of the Jackie Robinson story, it is just about the perfect introduction for younger viewers. Everything is explained so clearly. Groundbreaking African American sportswriter Wendell Smith (well played by Andre Holland) helps put events in historical context. Kids will get to see “white only” restrooms and the very differing social attitudes in California and the deep South. Rickey’s motivations for desegregating the game—moral, financial, and pure baseball sense—are discussed more than once. Children will learn that Jewish and Italian players were also a novelty at the time. But the non-stop abuse that Robinson took—and the discrimination, fear, and ignorance that he continually faced—may be truly eye-opening for kids. And this opens up a world of learning opportunities in both history and character development.

Turning the other cheek is easier said than done, but Robinson is a fascinating real-life example for kids of that conflict resolution strategy, and why it’s beneficial. The effect that a parent’s hatred can have on a child is briefly explored. And thankfully, children’s ability to be colorblind is celebrated as well.

There’s certainly much historical weight here, but it doesn’t really bog things down. On the contrary, the movie is generally breezy, and definitely feels shorter than its 2-hour, 8-minute running time. It’s easy to watch and tremendously satisfying, all the way through the “what happened to” updates before the closing credits. (The movie itself only focuses on Robinson’s first major league season.)

In the dugout and the locker room, the movie shows kids that people can slowly drop their preconceived notions and judge someone simply as a fellow human being. We can easily see parallels in the present day, in news stories about how teammates would react to gays in professional sports. Or every time a girl wants to play on a boys’ team. The struggle to be treated equally is far from over, but Jackie Robinson helped pave the way for us all.

April Extreme Cash Giveaway!

2013-04-15T20:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the April Extreme Cash Giveaway! Media Darlings has teamed up with some of our favorite blogger friends to give our fabulous readers the chance to win $400 cash!

The April Extreme Cash Giveaway will run for four weeks giving you plenty of time to complete any entries you choose to do. Remember, all entries are OPTIONAL. We have lots of daily entries for you to take advantage of as well, so don’t forget to bookmark this giveaway and come back everyday for more chances to win!

A huge thanks to our awesome co-hosts who made this giveaway possible: GeminiRed Creations, FreeMakeupandBeautySamples.com, Beauty Brite, Shopaholicmommy.com, My Vegan Gluten-Free Life, Life With Levi, Must Love Coupons, and Broward Saves.

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What an Adorable Dynasty! “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic”

2013-04-06T16:12:00.000-04:00

Since last week at Build-A-Bear Workshops, you can build your own My Little Pony character. Die-hard fans will appreciate that you can specifically build your own Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. For My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic super fans, this is a time of great rejoicing and/or gnashing of teeth (if you’re obsessed with Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, or Fluttershy; not to mention the spate of secondary characters). In fact, the more you delve into the world of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the more you realize that this isn’t just a tv show with a tie-in product line. For many, it’s a lifestyle that cuts across every media and is a bone-fide cultural touchstone. Just ask any Brony or Pegasister when you meet up at PonyCon.

This is pony Pinky Pie

Bronies and Pegasisters are grown-up male and female (respectively) fans of the tv show, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (MLP: FIM) and PonyCon is a catch-all title for any one of several all-My Little Pony conventions held around the country. MLP: FIM enjoys a following that certainly is magical for creator and toy giant, Hasbro, but all cynicism aside, this juggernaut is newsworthy for just that reason: anything that has inspired this level of loyalty and devotion is worth a closer look. And when I say all cynicism aside, I mean it. The appeal of MLP: FIM is often attributed to its anchoring in the New Sincerity movement, a cultural trend that runs against prevailing models of postmodernist irony. Rarely is there a joke on MLP: FIM that kids can’t fully appreciate and everything works on a kid’s level, but with wit instead of snark. MLP: FIM offers its own version of iconic music, too. I noticed their own versions of Benny Hill-style chase music, the Mission: Impossible theme, and the James Bond theme. They tap into our cultural references without making the show an end-to-end mash-up.

Pinky Pie's eye, created in classic
animé style.

You’ll find a good synopsis of the narrative on Wikipedia: “The show follows a studious unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle as her mentor Princess Celestia guides her to learn about friendship in the town of Ponyville. Twilight becomes close friends with five other ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. Each represents a different face of friendship, and Twilight discovers herself to be a key part of the magical artifacts, the “Elements of Harmony.” The ponies share adventures and help out other residents of Ponyville, while working out the troublesome moments in their own friendships.” Series creator Lauren Faust set out to re-create the franchise with more in-depth characters and exciting, adventurous plots. There’s no real trick here. The show succeeds due to the high quality of the writing and the appeal of the animation style: part animé, part Flash. Any student of animé will appreciate the MLP: FIM pony eye, clearly based on the work of classic Japanese animators (who in turn honored Walt Disney). My only beef with the series is the amount of commercials on The Hub (a LOT). But My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is also available on Netflicks commercial-free, so I say problem solved. Faust also produced (and appears in) the 2012 documentary, Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony. You can see its trailer here:

Hasbro was founded in 1923 as the Hassenfeld Brothers, a family business that sold textile remnants. They eventually created a line of children’s products like pencil cases from the remnants. The Hessenfeld Brothers’ first toy hit was 1952’s Mr. Potato Head; and in 1954, the company became a Disney major licensee. In the sixties, G.I. Joe accounted for two-thirds of their sales. By 1968, the company officially changed its name to Hasbro Industries. In 2010, the digital cable and satellite television channel The Hub replaced the Discovery Kids channel as a joint venture of Discovery Communications and Hasbro. One of The Hub’s first original shows is the present incarnation, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, outstripping the appeal of either of its former incarnations, the largely forgettable My Little Pony television series from 1984 or My Little Pony Tales from 1992. For My Little Pony, third time’s a charm. Big time.

Illustrated Apps We Love: “Petting Zoo by Christoph Niemann” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Friends Stickerbook”

2013-03-25T09:33:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the life of a blogger is VERY easy: the products we come across are so good, the only problem is finding enough synonyms for the word wonderful. I’m happy to report that this is one of those times. So out comes the old thesaurus, because these apps are stupendous, remarkable, thought-provoking, delightful, and endless fun. And as if that isn’t enough, I’ve come across a top-notch iPad case that you should not do without.

Petting Zoo by Christoph Niemann by Abstract City Media allows you to control the actions of animated characters by dragging and tapping. You can tie the dachshund dog in a knot or coax him into a back flip. You can play an antelope’s antlers like a theramin. Or you can play a game of “whack-a-mole” with a cute meerkat who disappears then reappears from a trio of espresso cups. You can play an octopus like a harp as his tentacles interweave into magical patterns. This app is pure play and downright amazing. You may recognize Niemann’s work from his many New Yorker covers and children’s books, including one of my favorites, The Police Cloud. Niemann’s a rare bird indeed. His imagination is so surprizing, you (and your kids) will find themselves inspired. That’s a lot of value for $1.99.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Friends Stickerbook by Night & Day Studios features the illustrations of none other than Eric Carle. With a choice of five backgrounds, users create their own stories by dragging illustrations from a sample bar onto the background. Like many other stickerbook apps, this one allows you to easily pinch to make illustrations bigger or smaller as well as tilt the artwork. You can take a snapshot of the finished product and email it directly from the app. In short, the functionality is similar to most stickerbook apps out there, but this one just happens to feature the stunning artwork of Eric Carle—hungry caterpillar and all, as well as a generous assortment of insects, plants, and all the food featured in the book. Your child can recreate their favorite moments from the beloved tale or take the caterpillar on a new adventure. It’s familiar and brand new all at once. It’s empowering and at just $0.99, it’s a bargain to boot.

And speaking of synonyms for wonderful, I was lucky enough to be given an iPad cover/case by The Snugg that is a dream. Mine is baby blue (my pal said it reminded her of Tiffany blue) in leather, thoughtfully designed so that the screen is framed, not obscured; while all ports, speaker, and access points are easily accessible; and it stays closed with a magnetic cover. My favorite feature is the tab that creates a flip stand, perfect for a client presentation or when my daughter watches her favorite show. I never take this cover off. Honestly, don’t know what I did without it. At $34.99 for the leather case in color, it’s affordable luxury.

The Crummy and “The Croods”

2013-03-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

Movie Review by Jack Silbert
I wish I hadn’t watched the credits. Based on its own merits, The Croods is an entertaining-enough movie for you to take the kids to on a weekend afternoon if there’s nothing better playing. (Hint: Oz the Great and Powerful is still in theaters.) But, I’m a fairly obsessive credit reader—blame Ferris Bueller for me always staying till the theater lights come back on—and there it was. A “story” co-credit for John Cleese. The John Cleese? One of my Monty Python heroes?

So when I got home, I hit up the Google machine. And yes, way back in 2005, it was announced that Cleese had co-written a stop-motion film entitled Crood Awakening. And it would be produced by the wonderfully inventive firm Aardman Animations, of Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run fame. Could this have been the Best. Children’s. Movie. Ever?

We’ll never know. Time is cruel, and time is crude. So long, Aardman, so long Cleese script, hello The Croods.

Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone

Not that the movie is without merits. Do you like 3-D? There’s a whole lot of running around and coming-right-at-you sort of stuff. It’s a fantasized prehistoric world, which makes for cool visuals, but tell little Billy not to quote the movie as nonfiction when he heads back to class on Monday.

And there are some funny touches throughout, such as a few Flintstones-esque modern incongruities (a shell is their cellphone, for example). Nicolas Cage (as the voice of Grug) has an amusing sequence where he tries to be a “cool dad.” Clark Duke, who plays one of those new characters who you don’t know the name of on this crummy final season of The Office, gets some laughs as Grug’s nervous son. And if Cloris Leachman’s Maw Maw on Raising Hope is your favorite television character, I have good news: She plays the same exact character here.

Emma Stone voices Eep

My biggest disappointment is Emma Stone’s character Eep. Early on I was thinking, fantastic, the rare strong female lead in a children’s film—this will be empowering for girls in the audience. I tried not to be upset that visually, the character is unnecessarily sexualized. But then Ryan Reynolds shows up as hunky Guy, and Eep becomes just another head-over-heels teen girl following a boy around. She actually becomes a secondary character. Come on, Emma Stone, this is your window as an It Girl, throw some weight around the vocal booth and think about your impressionable female fans.

On the big spinning wheel of Children’s Movie Positive Messages, The Croods lands on: Don’t live your life in fear; explore the world around you. I just wish the filmmakers had followed that advice and been a little less afraid to put together a quirkier, bolder movie. You know, something that John Cleese and Aardman might’ve done.

All images ©DreamWorks. Not for reuse.

Win Personalized Gifts, Room Décor, and Party Stationary Featuring the Beloved Classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar™

2013-03-19T11:13:00.001-04:00

This is our week for giveaways! MyChronicleBooks.com is pleased to offer one of our readers a $40 promotion code to spend on their new collection of personalized products featuring The Very Hungry Caterpillar. For a chance to win, just leave a comment to this post with a way to reach you (email preferred) by 5pm EST on Sunday, March 31. And please note, prizes ship to US addresses only! And all of our readers are welcome to 25% off the entire Very Hungry Caterpillar Collection. Just use the promotion code VHC2013 when ordering. The code is valid until April 7, 2013. And good luck!

Win a 3-Month Subscription to Conscious Box!

2013-03-19T10:13:00.000-04:00

Subscription boxes have become big news. And Conscious Box has agreed to give one lucky reader a free 3-month subscription. That’s a $59 value. And all of our readers can have a 50% off discount on any Conscious Box subscription right now. Just use the code DISCOVERNATURAL. Enter to win the 3-month subscription by leaving a comment to this post with a way to reach you (email preferred) by 5pm EST on Sunday, March 31.

Conscious Box offers pure, natural products in four categories—beauty, food, health, and home & garden—for everyone in your family. Conscious Box seeks to promote products from companies with the highest ethical and sustainability standards. Visit their site and create a free profile; and don’t forget to visit their Facebook page. While you’re there, leave a comment about Media Darlings. And good luck!

Win "The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey" Blu-Ray Combo Pack!

2013-03-17T12:13:00.000-04:00

Just leave a comment to this post with a way to reach you (email preferred) to win The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Blu-Ray Combo Pack. Enter by leaving your comment to this post by 5pm EST on March 31, 2013.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure follows the journey of Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an amazing quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Sorcerers.

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Finally I See the Emerald City! “Oz the Great and Powerful”

2013-03-16T11:09:00.000-04:00

Movie Review by Jack Silbert
With Great and Powerful comes great responsibility. Spider-man trilogy pals Sam Raimi and James Franco team up again for the daunting task of making a Wizard of Oz prequel. And of course you’re not going to match one of the Greatest Screen Achievements of All Time—you’re not only competing with the actual film itself, but with people’s nostalgic attachment to it. And a great and powerful nostalgia it is! Luckily, your kids won’t be carrying too much of that baggage as they follow the yellow-brick road. So I think they’ll have a lot of fun on this trip.

Raimi certainly tips his hat repeatedly to the original Wizard, starting the story in Kansas in black-and-white and my oh my there’s a twister on the way. But first we meet Oscar “Oz” Diggs, a traveling-circus charlatan who, down deep, really has a heart of gold. Come on, it’s the ever-charming James Franco; you can’t not like him! “I’ll see you in my dreams,” he tells left-behind good girl Michelle Williams, and we get the feeling that he probably will.

Mila Kunis and James Franco

Just like that, Diggs is whisked away to a Technicolor (and CGI-enhanced, and 3-D too if you pay the surcharge) dream world that—imagine that!—is also called Oz. As his crashed hot-air balloon rushes down some rapids, I wondered if Franco might be spending 127 hours here. But soon enough he’s meeting kooky characters and is off on an adventure-filled quest. Mila Kunis doesn’t fare too well as an old-timey screen siren type; it’s as if she’s dressed up for the school play. (Suffice to say she later gets her chance to truly soar after… well, no spoilers, but there may be an apple involved.) Better at summoning the Golden Age of Film are Rachel Weisz as a very bad witch and—hey it’s Michelle Williams again!—all soft focus, soothing smiles, and understanding eyes as Glinda the Good. Then there’s Zach Braff as a CGI donkey, no, wait, monkey—a flying one in a bellhop suit.

Braff is actually pretty funny, but there is a Shrek-lite quality in the early going here; the movie is pleasantly entertaining but doesn’t really take off. I was also reminded of the recent Alice in Wonderland remake (which this is “from the producers of”) and couldn’t help wonder what the more inventive Tim Burton might’ve done with THIS fantasy world.

Franco and Braff

But don’t count out Raimi just yet! As he continues to build up the tension and things get darker, the movie gets more and more compelling. Does it get too scary? Maybe for the littlest kids, but let’s not forget that the original movie gets pretty dark and scary too, with the flying monkeys and “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too.” Here it’s generally a fun scariness that I think kids will enjoy.

Raimi, meanwhile, certainly revels in the history of film. (Will kids, or even adults, really notice that the movie’s aspect ratio widens as we go from black-and-white to color?) As Diggs the would-be-wizard starts expounding on the marvels of Thomas Edison, I began to worry, “Oh no, here comes another Hugo cinema-studies lecture.” But the movie wisely focuses on showing the magic more than talking about it.

Franco and Michelle Williams

Indeed, as Diggs and his ragtag band of helpers use magic to save the day, I became a believer too. It’s a thrilling climax and conclusion that left me feeling very satisfied with this movie. And even though there’s a lot of cool stuff to look at, there are also positive messages of teamwork and pursuing your dreams but still remembering your friends. Diggs is definitely of the “some have greatness thrust upon them” school, and it’s real sweet to see him discover the goodness within.

All photos ©Disney. Not for reuse.

It’s Like Goodreads for Kids: Meet the Creators of Kidsmomo.com

2013-03-10T16:30:00.000-04:00

Interview by Jack Silbert
If your 8-to-12-year-old kids love to read, you may want to introduce them to Kidsmomo.com! The site, launched by children’s publishing professionals Karen Wang and Nancy Tsai in 2009, has a brilliantly simple concept: Recommendations of kids’ books from fellow kids. Who better to suggest a great read than your peers? In addition to kid-written reviews (330 and counting), there are author interviews; Karen and Nancy’s book suggestions, movie reviews, and blog posts; sweepstakes for signed books; teacher-friendly content packages (book list, podcast, and video) on a wide variety of themes; and plenty more. And the site practically bursts with a genuine sense of fun and an unbridled enthusiasm for the world of reading. I recently sat down with Karen and Nancy to discuss their website, trends in middle-grade literature, and recent children’s books that they think are awesome.

Media Darlings: What is the basic philosophy behind the site?
Karen Wang: We know from research that independent reading for pleasure tends to drop off around the age of 8. One of the main reasons is that kids just don’t know what to read next. We thought we should create a site where they get recommendations of great books that they would enjoy reading, but get those recommendations from other kids. So it’s peer-to-peer, instead of always having to rely on a teacher, or a librarian, or god forbid, your own parents!
Nancy Tsai: Also, since we do keep up with the latest book news—we both work in children’s publishing and the book world—it’s a good place for kids to find out about new series and titles. For example, they might love Percy Jackson and [series’ author] Rick Riordan, but they might not know when he’s going to have a new book out. So the site helps build excitement for new releases.

MD: The two of you are clearly great friends. What are your backgrounds, and how did you meet?
NT: I always knew I wanted to work in publishing. I loved reading when I was growing up, obviously. I got an internship at Scholastic, and they put me with e-Scholastic [the company’s online division]. It was a surprising but good fit, because I’m kind of a tech nerd. I like to build websites for fun, that kind of thing. After I interned there, they hired me, thankfully. That’s where I met Karen. I was there almost five years, and now I work at Barnes & Noble on NOOK Kids for digital picture books. I also work on customer recommendations on anything digital for kids and teens. So it’s just kids’ books, all day and all night!
KW: I always loved reading and writing, and I thought maybe I’d be an author one day. That’s how I got interested in publishing. During college, I had an internship at a children’s publishing company in California. Ever since then, I’ve been all about kids’ books. After graduating, I started at e-Scholastic. So for the past 10 years I’ve been managing different aspects of the Scholastic website, doing content for both teachers and kids.

MD: And how did Kidsmomo.com get started?
KW: In 2009, we were working on the kids’ site for Scholastic.com. We were both really excited about it, but we also wanted to be talking about books in general, the whole gamut of other publishers’ great books. We were just reading tons and tons of kids’ books. I don’t think I’ve read a book for adults in at least five years! There was so much we wanted to talk about. And we really felt that it was an area that was lacking: a venue for kids to talk to each other about books they wanted to read and books they’d recommend to each other.

MD: “Kidsmomo”—it’s fun to say. How did you come up with the name?
NT: We had a huge list. As I mentioned, I’m a tech nerd, so I would read [technology website] gizmodo a lot. One day, I said, “What about Kidsmodo?” Karen said, “That doesn’t mean anything.” So I said, “Well, what about Kidsmomo?” That doesn’t mean anything either, but I made up a meaning for it: kids and more and more books. You know? Get it?

Nancy Tsai and Karen Wang

MD: Uh … sure! But speaking of gizmodo and digital culture: What effect would you say that technology is having on kids’ overall reading experience?
NT: This is my personal opinion, and does not reflect the opinions of barnesandnoble.com! I do love physical books; the smell of them, holding them, and there are certain things you can only do in a physical books, like a true pop-up. But I think digital reading is great. The quantity you can get, just in what you’re holding in your hand, is amazing. For younger kids, the interactivity is great. For middle grades, it’s so easy to look up words in the e-reader’s dictionary. It brings so much more of the world to them, in a safe manner. Some parents are very protective about screen time, which is totally understandable. But sometimes kids will take their screen time in the form of reading.
KW: And the ease with which you can get the next book in a series is great. If you’re reading something like Harry Potter, where the whole series is already out: Right after you read book five, you can immediately start book six. You don’t need to go to the library the next day or the bookstore. If we’re talking about keeping kids excited about reading, and keeping alive the joy of reading just for fun, then I think that sort of convenience can go a long way.

MD: Online safety is obviously a major concern for families. What steps does your website take to ensure a safe environment for kids?
NT: The site is completely COPPA-compliant, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. We assume that anybody coming to the site is under 13 and we don’t take any personal information. If a kid wants to submit anything, Karen and I review it and make sure there’s no personally identifiable information or anything inappropriate. Each review is only attributed to the first name, age, and state. If a kid accidentally types in their whole name, we’ll delete the last name before posting it. And if it’s something very personal or a kid trying to share their email address, we delete it altogether.
KW: For our sweepstakes, we do collect emails, but kids must also provide a parent’s email address. We then automatically send an email to the parent saying: Your child has entered a sweepstakes; here’s the information they gave us. The parent can immediately opt the child out and we then delete them from the system.

MD: What trends are you noticing in middle-grade books these days?
NT: Diary fiction is huge right now, especially with Wimpy Kid and a lot of other books in that format and style. I just started Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. It’s really cute, written in diary format by this kid who really wants to be a detective but he’s really incompetent. These books definitely speak to reluctant readers.
KW: A lot of them are text paired with illustrations. The kind of line drawings you see in Wimpy Kid are also in Dear Dumb Diary, The Dork Diaries, Big Nate—there’s a bunch of them.
NT: Another trend I’ve been noticing is very quirky books. I’ve had this argument with people before, that kids’ books are just… kids’ books; they’re not particularly good. But I’m seeing a lot of depth, and a lot of very clever things. People might think that a 10-year-old can’t understand certain concepts or will only appreciate potty humor. That’s not true. A lot of kids’ books are surprisingly serious. Sometimes the world doesn’t give kids enough credit.

MD: What were some of your favorite books when you were in that 8-to-12-year-old range?
KW: There’s one series that I know we both share as a favorite: The Baby-sitters Club.
NT: In my first month at Scholastic, I got to talk to [series author] Ann M. Martin; it was the most exciting day of my life. She’s incredibly nice. She had no idea how excited I was on the phone! I also really liked the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
KW: Another favorite of mine was Edward Eager’s Magic series. I loved all those books.
NT: I was really lucky. My mom doesn’t speak English that well. So when we would go to the library as kids, her method of choosing books for me was to look at the spines and just pick the ones that had the Newbery Medal sticker on them. She was, like, “Well, this has a medal; clearly it’s going to be good.” So I read all these award-winning books! And they were really good; some of my favorite books are Newbery winners.

MD: If you could be any character from children’s literature, who would you be?
NT: This is a hard question!
KW: It’s really easy for me! I love the Harry Potter series so much that I have often fantasized about being a student at Hogwarts. I have basically created my own persona as if I were there. I know I’m a Hufflepuff; they don’t get a ton of play in the actual books. But I have this Hufflepuff version of myself.
MD: Nancy, you’ve now had some time to think about it.
NT: Oh gosh….
MD: You can’t be a Hufflepuff; that’s taken already.
KW: She’s a Ravenclaw anyhow.
NT: I would’ve said Hermione Granger actually, because she’s such a kick-butt girl and she gets to do magic. But whenever I read a book—no matter for what age group—for a day or two afterwards, my internal monologue is entirely in the voice of that book. To be honest, no particular book has ever stayed with me so long to not be overridden by the next book.

MD: Can you recommend some recent favorite books?
KW: One of my favorite books from this past year was Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. It’s about a girl who is an orphan who’s been taken in and essentially raised by this whole small town. She’s dealing with issues of abandonment and thinking about her mother who she doesn’t know. The book combines this with a good old-fashioned mystery. There’s a lot of humor, but it’s also really poignant.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a fantastic book—also a lot of humor and crying in that one. The author and publisher are behind this “Choose Kind” anti-bullying campaign. The main character in the book is disfigured and has been home-schooled his whole life. He then goes to school for the first time and has to deal with how people respond to him. It’s very uplifting.

But I also like funny books. The Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger is one of my favorites. They kind of fit in with the diary books—there are entries in case files with drawings.
NT: I’m giving you a preview of what I’m going to review on Kidsmomo soon! I just finished reading Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz. There’s magic and humans turning into dolls! But it also draws on very mature thinking, put in a very appropriate way for kids. It’s so well-written. And spooky!

I also recently read Bomb: The Race To Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin. It’s getting a lot of attention now, but I feel like it’s one of those books that should’ve gotten attention much earlier. It is a great book for boys—a real-life spy thriller.

Thanks, Karen and Nancy! Media Darlings readers, if your kids don’t agree with those suggestions, they can write their own reviews on Kidsmomo right now. And parents, you can connect with Kidsmomo on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest. If you need a kids’ book recommendation for a gift, ask away—they are happy to answer!

Can We Teach Compassion?

2013-02-23T00:37:00.000-05:00

Guest Post by Valerie O. Patterson
We can teach students to read and add. But can we teach them to care for other people? To stop and consider their actions and the impact on others? Certainly, we can’t teach compassion just by talking about it. Like most lessons in life, we learn them for ourselves by practice. And we pass them on through example, not lecture. As parents, teachers, or family members, do we donate our time and resources for the betterment of other people, animals, or the environment?

My book OPERATION OLEANDER in part deals with the issue of what it means to help others in the greater world. Jess organizes Operation Oleander, a charity drive on the Army post where she lives, to gather school supplies for an orphanage in Afghanistan where her father is deployed. The association of the soldiers and the orphanage draws violence against both, with tragic consequences. As a result, Jess faces criticism at home and in the community. She also questions herself about what she should do now. How do we respond when things go wrong that we intended for good? Editor Daniel Nayeri put it this way in a recent interview about the book with novelist Kathryn Erskine:

Author Valerie O. Patterson

“[The book] presents a perfect example of consequentialist dilemma. Is an act of kindness worthwhile, even if we know it can come to ruin? If we can’t foresee the consequences in such complex situations, should we do nothing? If God is in the picture, how should that change our behavior? ‘The Lord sees the heart,’ after all, so are we only beholden to having good intentions?”

What then should we do? Do we give regardless? Or is charity the best response to need? Would the world be better served by addressing underlying societal issues that lead to poverty? In a book like OPERATION OLEANDER, the implications of military intervention also surface.

When we give, we don’t always know the impact of our gifts on others. When we model behavior for our children, we don’t always know that the behavior will be incorporated. Often, we also fail to realize the positive impact on our own lives when we give to others without expecting anything in return. Compassion toward others also helps heal our own souls.

To engage children in activities that help develop concern for others, consider possible age-appropriate activities. For younger children, those ideas might include:

Putting aside gently used toys for charity
Learning how to share an allowance by having three boxes—one for saving, one for giving, and one for spending.
Donating time together serving meals at a soup kitchen, visiting the elderly at an assisted living facility, or feeding or playing with kittens or puppies at an animal rescue center.
Many religious and civic organizations allow the “sponsorship” of a specific child in need, so that a child might see the direct impact of giving to help another person.

Activities for older children and teens might include:

Using a skill or passion they have on behalf of others, such as a student who plays a musical instrument might play for an assisted living facility on a weekend.
An athlete might volunteer to coach a younger children’s team or event

If considering donations of money to organizations, please take the time to examine the organization’s bona fides. Particularly after a tragedy, fraudulent organizations spring up to take advantage of people’s inclinations to give. Ensure that the group is in fact a legitimate charity that uses donations for their intended purpose.

OPERATION OLEANDER shows us a compassionate young woman and her struggle to do the right thing. I hope this story will encourage young readers to help others in their own creative ways.

Escape to “Escape from Planet Earth”

2013-02-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

Movie Review by Maggie Hames
At its essence, Escape from Planet Earth is a sibling rivalry story. The sibling rivalry just happens to take place on the Blue Planet between alien (though not unfamiliar) brothers. Brainy (read: nerdy) Gary Supernova—voiced by Rob Corddry—works at mission control at BASA (a souped-up NASA) while his brother Scorch—voiced by Brendan Fraser—is the scene-stealing, macho, slightly dim but intrepid hero/astronaut. In the opening scene, we see Scorch grab the glory as he rescues babies trapped on an inhospitable planet but its Gary who guides the ship safely home by remote control.

Nobody can believe that Kira (right),
voiced by Sarah Jessica Parker, went
for Gary. That's their son, Kip (voiced by
Jonathan Morgan Heit) at left.

Scorch grabs the headlines, even refers to Gary as his “little” brother, even though Gary is older. We get it. Gary doesn’t get a ton of respect in any quarter except from his loving wife Kira (Sarah Jessica Parker) and son Kip (Jonathan Morgan Heit). There’s a running joke as people continually express their disbelief that Gary could attract someone as beautiful as Kira. She’s an interesting character: Kira used to manage things over as BASA but she quit her job to be a full-time parent. New manager Lena (Jessica Alba) doesn’t hold back with little jibes at Kira.

The story begins in earnest with a distress signal from the “dark planet.” That’s the place where 106 aliens have disappeared trying to establish friendly first contact with humans. We know it as Earth. Scorch lands in southern Nevada near the infamous Area 51 and it bears mentioning that this film is chock full of knowing little details. It’s a treat for die-hard 3D, sci-fi and fantasy film fans. I found myself immediately wanting to watch the film again to savor all the fun details, such as the use of a paddle-ball toy, just like the one used in the early 3D horror film, House of Wax.

William Shatner provides the voice of General Shanker.

Needless to say, Scorch is almost immediately captured and locked up by evil U.S. Army General Shanker (voiced by none other than William Shatner) who’s been enslaving aliens for years on the thin promise that they can eventually earn their way free by sharing their technology. Shanker takes the credit and the profit for these “inventions,” naturally. And the alien prisoners have been very productive. Sorry, Al Gore, but THEY invented the Internet, the touch screen, social networking, and all the other high-tech ideas humans could never have thought up.

Gary decides to rescue his brother and he’s immediately captured, too. But Shanker finds out that Gary has brains. Gary’s recruited to work on the aliens’ latest invention, the one that promises to win all of them all their freedom: a dooms-day device. Gary teams up with a trio of aliens voiced by Steve Zahn, Jane Lynch, and George Lopez to win their freedom without giving Shanker the power to destroy the universe.

Aliens voiced by (left to right) Jane Lynch,
George Lopez, Rob Corddry, Brendan
Fraser and Steve Zahn.

This isn’t so much a brains over brawn story as it is a teamwork story. We all have our role to play; and when you think about it, nobody really has to be the “big” brother, do they? This is a wonderful family film with something for everyone. It’s rated PG for “some mild rude humor,” but there’s nothing here that will frighten even your youngest kids. And the 3D is stunning. The alien environments are beautifully realized in bright, fun colors that extend deep into space. It’s a visual feast. And it’s got a sweet message of brotherly (and family; and friend) loyalty and love. This is a great “Escape.” And love that Shatner!

Looks Aren’t Everything: “Beautiful Creatures”

2013-02-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

Movie Review by Jack Silbert
First of all, they’re not witches, they’re Casters. And not those roll-y things on the bottom of ottomans, either. In case you didn’t read the 563-page (!) book that Beautiful Creatures was based on, let me give you the basics. We’re in a small Southern town in which having supernatural abilities is considered almost as bad as being a Democrat or gay. Young Ethan, his head filled with crazy ideas from all those banned books he loves, dreams of getting out. (It’s a town full of losers, and baby he was born to run.)

Eileen Atkins as Gramma, Alice
Englert as Lena Duchannes and
Jeremy Irons as Macon Ravenwood.

Enter Lena, mysterious new girl in town, she of the black hair and Addams Family complexion. You guessed it, she’s a Caster, and we’re counting down to her 16th birthday. No, not for her learner’s permit, silly; this is the age when Casters have their Claiming ceremony, to decide if they’ll go in a more Glinda direction or due west to Wickedville. Lena is all set to learn her fate when—what, you guessed this too?—she falls in love with human Ethan, which muggles everything up.

It adds up to an enjoyable-enough film that you don’t have to be too concerned about your tweens and teens going to see. Which they’re likely going to do if they’ve been reading the top-selling series.

And I very much liked the important role that reading played in this movie. Ethan’s bookworm ways may inspire teen viewers to pick up Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, and To Kill a Mockingbird. (They may have to do this in their spare time, if the Common Core State Standards squeeze fiction out of the curriculum. But that’s another discussion for another time.)

Left to right: Thomas Mass as Link,
Alice Englert, and Alden
Ehrenreich as Ethan Wate.

As our narrator Ethan, newcomer Alden Ehrenreich is terrific. The young actor reportedly was discovered by Steven Spielberg at a bat mitzvah. (Huh, the only thing I ever got from the bar and bat mitzvahs I attended was a cellophane-wrapped commemorative mug.) Physically, Ehrenreich blends the devilish spark of Vince Vaughn with the innocent charm of Colin Hanks. And he does a solid job with a Southern accent.

Alice Englert, as Lena the Caster, gives a nice restrained performance in a role that easily could’ve gone way over the top. Perhaps she learned subtlety from her mom Jane Campion, director of The Piano. And OK, if you’re pressing me for a celebrity resemblance, Alice recalls a young Trini Alvarado.

Emmy Rossum as Ridley Duchannes
with Alden Ehrenreich.

You parents who end up at the multiplex with your kids for this will enjoy seeing Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson having a lot of fun in Beautiful Creatures. Irons is the slightly foppish mysterious Southern gentleman (“I do declare!”) feared by the small-minded townfolk. Their concerns are reasonable enough, as he is indeed a Caster—but one of the good kind. Thompson has a dual role, as the straitlaced ultra-conservative community leader who somehow gets possessed by Irons’ bad-girl sister.

Viola Davis also has sort of a dual role, which I doubt will earn her a third Oscar nomination. In compressing the massive book into a two-hour movie, the two characters Amma the housekeeper and Marian the librarian have been merged into one. And I was wondering why the library lady was spending so much time in Ethan’s house!

I actually wish that director/screenwriter Richard LaGravenese had compressed things a bit more, maybe down to a 90-minute movie (instead of two hours). As the magic elements ramp up and more and more characters show up, things got a bit convoluted for my tastes and seemed to drag. Yet, I imagine a dedicated series reader will follow the plot just fine.

Alden Ehrenreich and
Alice Englert.

Despite the supernatural trappings, the teen romance is what really resonates here: Awkward Ethan falling for a girl from the wrong side of the Judeo-Christian Framework of Good and Evil while but-you-just-don’t-understand adults try to keep them apart. And fear not, things don’t get too hot and heavy. This is rated PG-13 but is on the soft side of that classification. Emmy Rossum, as Lena’s evil cousin who arrives in a red convertible and drives all the boys crazy, is the most sexualized person here. And even she’s fairly tame. Emmy Rossum, you’re no Emma Stone.

There’s humor mixed in too; some works, some doesn’t (including a very random potshot at Nancy Reagan, and an extended sequence that feels like an outtake from Beetlejuice).

The film rebounds for a solid ending and, assuming the box office is strong enough, sets us up for sequels based on books two, three, and four. And just when you were happy to be rid of Twilight!

All photos by John Bramley ©Warner Bros. Not for reuse.

App Giveaway from Night & Day Studios

2013-02-11T21:01:00.001-05:00

One of the best children’s app developers in the business—Night & Day Studios—has given us four great apps for our readers. Just leave a comment below with a way to reach you (email preferred) to win one of these apps: Caillou’s World, Counting with the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Go Away Big Green Monster, or Busytown. Just leave your comment by Friday, February 15th at 5pm EST to win.

You'll find more giveaways at Night & Day Studios Facebook page.

More Blunt Than Sharp: Disney’s “The Sword In the Stone”

2013-02-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

Disney’s Eighteenth Animated Feature – 1963
The sixties were a turbulent decade for, well … the entire planet. For reasons that had nothing to do with social upheaval, the sixties were a turbulent decade for the Disney animation studio as well. The sixties saw lay-offs, reorganization, and a scaling back of a company that seemed on an endless trajectory of success and growth.

In the 1930s, Walt Disney had to take out a bank loan to finish Snow White. If the film failed, he and his company would have failed, too. But Snow White was a phenomenal success that changed the world of animation and ensured Disney’s short-term security. By the late fifties, despite a sharp downturn in American movie-going in general, Disney gambled on another princess—Sleeping Beauty—pumping boatloads of cash into its production, taking a “pull out all the stops” attitude. Disney believed that the jump in quality and production values would return to him in prestige and box office. But this time, the gamble failed. Sleeping Beauty didn’t find its audience and Disney responded with layoffs.

Young Wart scrubs and cleans, just
like "Snow White" as Merlin watches.

Technological advancements steered Disney to the department where a lot of those cuts could be made: in-house modifications of Xerox technology allowed animators to transfer their sketches directly onto animation cells. Even though this technology resulted in a sketchier-looking frame (as opposed to the deep black lines achievable in hand-inked cells), Disney decided that deep cuts could be made to the inking department. This marked a major turning point in the look of Disney’s films. The creative team behind One Hundred and One Dalmatians embraced this new set of limitations, opting for a cleaner, “modern art” look inspired by contemporary painting and interior design; but The Sword In the Stone seems to suffer in its overall look. The sketchiness and simplicity of the figures combined with rather simple, not terribly interesting backgrounds make this film look pretty cheesy. You certainly won’t be drawn to this film for its visual wow factor (because it has none).

Both Wart and Merlin become fish.

What it does have is great source material in the original book, The Sword In the Stone by English author T. H. White. This is the witty, exciting, and magical story of young orphan “Wart” who would become King Arthur and create the Order of the Round Table. Wart is educated by none other than wizard Merlin who teaches Wart valuable life lessons by turning him into animals. T. H. White made the life of King Arthur his particular project and released a new volume every few years. The smaller books were eventually combined into one work, The Once and Future King, definitely a literary highlight of my young life. In fact, I’d recommend this book to ANY parent who’s looking for the perfect bedtime story. It’s in turns hilariously funny, thrillingly exciting, and ineffably heart-breaking. Now, Disney’s The Sword In the Stone follows Wart as a youngster, just up to the point where he’s recognized and crowned king as a boy, but it’s fun and lively and this film DID find its audience, a solid hit for Disney. This is not dissimilar to what happened with Dumbo. After the box-office disappointment that was Pinocchio and the flat-out flop that was Fantasia, the visually simpler, low-budget Dumbo made a huge hit, proving that a good story can make up for a lack of visual interest.

Wart is now King Arthur.

The big-name voice talent here is Sebastian Cabot as the boy’s stepfather, Sir Ector; Cabot also serves as the early narrator of the tale. The tale begins with the famous sword Excalibur and its inscription, “Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of England,” and we’re off to the races. We meet young Wart who’s perpetually bullied by his older stepbrother Kay. Wart chases Kay’s arrow into the forest where Merlin is waiting for the boy to show up. Since Merlin ages backwards, he already knows that Wart will be the great King Arthur and knows that Wart will fall through his roof that very day. Merlin and his talking owl Archimedes take it upon themselves to educate the boy, who lives as a veritable servant in the house of Sir Ector (shades of David Copperfield and Snow White).

Madam Mim emerged as a particular
fan favorite.

The music in this film could have (and should have) been better. After all, the Sherman Brothers wrote the music for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Slipper and the Rose, Charlotte's Web and the theme park song of It’s a Small World (After All), but the music here is as uninspired as the visual look. But again, it didn’t seem to matter. Even the fact that young Wart was voiced by three different young actors (all of whom had American accents) couldn’t hold this story down. I think it’s because the sequences where Wart is turned into different animals—a fish, a squirrel, and a bird—are great fun, firmly anchored in a child’s world; and the sequence that introduced the maniacal witch Madam Mim really connected with kids. In fact, Disney spun off the popular character into her own series of animated shorts.

The Sword In the Stone represents an unusual chapter in the Disney canon. It’s a good film but not a great one. It’s thankfully absent of any dubious stereotypes or racism. And the character Wart suffers enough so that the audience is genuinely happy for him at the climactic moment in the film: serving as a squire to his stepbrother Kay, Wart realizes he forgot to bring Kay’s sword to an important tournament. Wart spies a sword sticking out of an anvil and easily pulls it out. It’s the sword Excalibur, of course, which makes Wart the “rightwise” king of England. Just as in the book, the skeptical crowd is only satisfied when the sword is returned to the stone and only Wart is able to pull it out again (after Kay and others fail). The film makes a quick exit after that moment, skipping the coronation and showing Wart—now King Arthur—rather lonely on his throne. When he tries to escape, he’s met at every door and window with shouts, “Hail, King Arthur!” and he’s left with Archimedes and Merlin to make the best of his “prison.” And he certainly will; but frankly, the story ends just when it’s getting good. Seems like this film was begging for a sequel that it never got. There’s a lot more material in The Once and Future King just waiting to be animated (just saying).

RENT Is Due at Hoboken High

2013-02-07T17:22:00.000-05:00

Interviews by Jack Silbert
I’d never actually seen the musical Rent, though I think I’ve heard that one song at least 525,600 times. So when I learned that a production was happening just up the street from me at Hoboken High School (February 8, 9, and 10), I decided to take a behind-the-scenes look.

Not surprisingly, director Danielle Miller—the school’s theater teacher and a former touring cast member of Tony & Tina’s Wedding—took an early interest in the stage. “I was a Brownie and we went to see Annie,” Miller tells Media Darlings. “My mom said the whole time, instead of watching the show, I kept saying, “I can do that.’ I guess I just fell in love with it. She couldn’t shut me up! I kept saying, ‘Can I go up there?’”

The same early passion was true for the show’s musical director, Kristen Dziuba, herself a well-regarded singer and music teacher. “My parents are both musicians, and my family was very musical,” Dziuba says. “I’ve been gigging since I was 11.”

Together, they’ve helped steer this cast of 18 talented teenagers—and crew!—and live band on-stage!—through a show that’s both vocally challenging and filled with mature themes such as drug use and AIDS. Many schools shy away from Rent, which Miller feels is a real shame. “I think a lot of people focus on the homosexuality, which to me really has nothing to do with the main message of the show,” she says. “It’s about love, and cherishing every moment of the day. And remembering that you might not get another chance to tell someone, hey, I love you, or hey, thank you.”

After months of exhausting rehearsals, the songs, dialogue, stage directions, and dance moves are second nature for the cast, crew, and musicians. (The tech rehearsal I watched was top-notch.) But Miller and Dziuba both point out the importance of other traits that were stressed along the way: Dedication. Determination. Compassion. Respect. Being on time! “We don’t care about them just as performers,” Dziuba says. “We want them to grow into good people. To put more good humans into the world.”

From my discussions with a few of the cast members, it seems like Miller and Dziuba are doing a superb job. These are real good kids! (I had already known that about a couple of them: Arturo on the crew, who is my buddy from Sandy volunteering. And Marina, who does a show-stopper as Maureen, who I’d seen sing before at D’s Soul Full Café. Hey, Hoboken’s a pretty small town.) Here are some excerpts from my conversations.

Yoon-Hendricks

JAEMISON YOON-HENDRICKS (A JUNIOR, PLAYS ROGER DAVIS)

Media Darlings: It’s been a while since I’ve been on the high-school stage, but I remember it taking up countless hours.
Jaemison Yoon-Hendricks: Junior year is a pretty tough time, mixed between classwork and researching colleges. To top it all off, we’re working on this daily. Right now, “tech week” [the week prior to opening, when all technical elements are sorted out] fills in the gap and leaves no time for classwork or college work.

MD: But, opening night, it’ll all be worth it, right?
JYH: Definitely. That one moment at the very closing of the show, it totally is worth months of practice.

MD: I’m guessing this is not your first production.
JYH: I did some workshops at this youth theater company, Tada!, in New York City. Then I played roles at the Hoboken Children’s Theater. I also did some plays at my old elementary school. I moved on to the Hoboken High School stage: Fender in Hairspray, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, and Chuck Cranston in Footloose.

MD: Are you looking to pursue theater beyond high school?
JYH: I’m actually more interested in film, media arts, and visual arts. I want to go to Hollywood and be a director, really work with the actors. The principles of being a director have to include being a “theater kid,” and you also have to know the technology. You have to have good leadership skills, and you obviously know how to speak your mind and get your point across really quickly. I want to go to a school like USC, get a job on small films, maybe even make my own. Slowly build myself higher and higher on that showbiz hierarchy, and hopefully win an Oscar someday.

Cruz

ARIEL CRUZ (A SENIOR, PLAYS MIMI MARQUEZ)

Media Darlings: Tell us a little bit about the character.
Ariel Cruz: She’s an exotic dancer at the Cat Scratch Club who meets Roger in his apartment after his girlfriend just died. So it’s kind of a heavy moment, but she adds the playfulness. She kind of brings Roger back to life. She brings a little spunk to the show.

MD: You’d seen the show before. Did you relate to Mimi?
AC: I’ve always loved the character. The role always spoke to me. She’s very free-spirited. She’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind.

MD: This is your senior year. What’s next for Ariel Cruz?
AC: After this show, I’m preparing for college auditions. I want to go to school to get a musical theater BFA. It’s exciting but it’s a lot of work. All my friends are like, “Oh, I have acceptance letters, I finished all my applications,” and I’m, like, I’m only through round one, then you have auditions, interviews, callbacks….

MD: You mentioned that auditions for Rent took place before Superstorm Sandy. How did the storm affect the production?
AC: We lost a few weeks to Sandy because the school was closed. There was no way to get in here; this was actually a shelter for Hoboken.

MD: Sandy was so rough on our community. Was it comforting to have the show to come back to?
AC: It was good to see everyone again; it was good to know everyone was safe. It had been hard to communicate—we were all trying to check on each other. It was nice to get into a routine. A lot of cast members, some didn’t have power, some had to stay at a relative’s, so it’s kind of that homeless feeling that’s in the show, people who are homeless and suffering. It kind of hits home harder now when you’re on stage.

Velez

CHRISTOPHER VELEZ (A SENIOR, PLAYS MARK COHEN)

Media Darlings: Are you more interested in musical theater or dramatic theater?
Christopher Velez: Musical theater… even though I’ve heard that I can’t sing!

MD: Who told you that?!?
CV: I did a competition, I got a callback, the guy sat me down, and said: I’m going to tell you the positives and negatives of your audition. Your acting was really great, I liked it, I believed it, you were funny, blah blah blah. And he goes, “But you can’t sing. So don’t sing, just act, because that’s your strong suit.” In the back of my head, I was, like, “Oh, maybe I should just stick to theater.” But when I came back here senior year I was, like, “No! I’m going to work on my singing.”

MD: Has the show Rent made you more eager to get out into the world… or less?
CV: It’s a good question, because these characters are struggling with paying their rent. A lot of kids are just, oh, when I leave high school I’m going to get an apartment and live on my own because I can’t stand my parents. Here in the show, my [character’s] mom is always calling me: Are you OK? I sent you food. Checking up on me. I can’t pay the rent, I don’t have a job. It’s a scary thought, but at the same time I think it’s exciting. I want to get out in the world.

MD: Which performers have you looked up to?
CV: Pop stars nowadays, they don’t sing right, so I can’t really look up to them. But if there’s one I want to pick, it’s Adam Levine because he’s freaking awesome, I don’t know how he does what he does. Also Marlon Brando. And Frank Sinatra. I don’t want to sound corny saying this because “He came from Hoboken,” everyone knows that. But, Sinatra made it, and he was here. If he can do it, I can do it.

Yurnet

JORDAN YURNET (A JUNIOR, PLAYS TOM COLLINS)

Media Darlings: You’ve been singing since a very young age. But how did you get interested in musical theater?
Jordan Yurnet: I was 13, my voice had just started to drop. I got really discouraged. I thought my life was over. I’m never going to be able to sing again, this is it, I’m going to work at McDonald’s. I was really self-conscious. My voice is going to crack. I can’t sing the higher notes that I used to be able to sing as a child. It was this really traumatic experience for me. But the [high school’s then-] musical director kept encouraging me to audition. I got a speaking role in Hairspray, which was my first production at this school. I had three lines and was also a dancer. So that’s what exposed me to musical theater. And ever since, I’m so obsessed.

MD: You got the bug.
JY: I don’t even think it’s a bug; this is like a cult. Once you’re in, you can’t get out. I love it so much, I’m so passionate about it. I really can’t see myself doing anything that isn’t this. I don’t even care if I’m not performing; I just want to work in the theater.

MD: You mentioned some difficulties dealing with people. For me, I’m very shy and awkward, but it’s strange—if I get on a stage or put a microphone in my hand, I have no problem at all.
JY: Wow, we’re like the same exact person. The stage is my home. The stage is where I’m most comfortable. I’m never judged while I’m on stage. No one can make fun of me. No one can tell me anything. It’s just me and those lights and I’m free to be whoever and do whatever I want.

From Book to Film: “Beautiful Creatures” Authors Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

2013-02-06T14:10:00.000-05:00

Profile by Jack Silbert
My friend across the hall refuses to see any movie until she’s read the book that it’s based on. Well, if she wants to see Beautiful Creatures when it opens this Valentine’s Day, my neighbor better get cracking: The first novel in Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s four-book supernatural romance series weighs in at a hefty 563 pages. But book length certainly hasn’t slowed the ravenous fans who have turned these modern-gothic tales into YA best-sellers. And it’s not just teens and tweens: Garcia and Stohl count themselves among the 55% of YA readers who are adults.

Co-author Kami Garcia

As with most authors, Stohl and Garcia were devoted readers at an early age. “I was the person who read by the nightlight even though the shadows were scary,” Stohl told Media Darlings. “I read at the piano. I sat in my closet waiting to go to Narnia. I was the head of the Susan Cooper fan club in 3rd grade. I always read fantasy, that was my thing.” In addition to Cooper, her favorite authors back then included C.S. Lewis and Diana Wynn Jones.

Garcia was also an avid fantasy reader—with a special interest in science fiction. “I loved Tolkien, I loved C.S. Lewis, but I also loved The White Mountains,” she explained. “I loved Bradbury, and I loved Stephen King by the time I was in 6th and 7th grade.”

Co-author Margaret Stohl

The two crossed paths when Stohl’s teen daughters were students of Garcia, who was then a teacher and reading specialist in Los Angeles. Stohl and Garcia were curious to know what teens would like to see in a YA series. Garcia’s students didn’t hesitate to share their thoughts: They didn’t want any more vampires. (The Twilight books had done that to… uh… death.) They wanted a boy narrator. They wanted to read about a girl with cool powers instead of just being in love with someone powerful.

After a lunch together and some notes scrawled on a napkin, Stohl and Garcia had the basic idea for a book. As two working moms, their collaborative process had to fit within the frameworks of their professional and family lives. (Garcia brought her baby with her to that initial three-hour lunch.) They’d talk over their ideas of character and story. Next they’d loosely map things out with colored markers on a whiteboard. Garcia and Stohl would then separately write chapters, usually at night. They’d trade chapters back and forth, over and over, till it was no longer clear who’d written what. All the while, Garcia and Stohl would run the latest chapter by their trusted teens, whose feedback and questions would be incorporated in the next round of edits.

Twelve weeks later, the 563-page manuscript was complete.

That's Jeremy Irons as Macon
Ravenwood and Alice Englert
as Lena Duchannes.

It didn’t take long for Hollywood to come knocking. Things got a bit hectic, such as the conference call when the authors tried to decide which movie studio to choose. “One agent was in New York, one agent was in L.A., Kami was in a different place in L.A., and I was in Germany with my family,” Stohl recalled. “It was the middle of the night so I’m crouching in the bathroom trying not to wake anyone. The agent in New York was in the movie theater lobby of Twilight.”

Garcia added, “First she was calling from the theater. I could people going, ‘Shut up, get off your phone!’ Then she called back from the hallway—you could hear all the wolves.”

The two put their faith in the movie’s director and screenwriter, Richard LaGravenese. They knew from the start that, in adapting the book, some things would have to change. (“Nobody expected to sit in a movie theater for 600 minutes,” Stohl reasoned.) The authors stayed out of the director’s way, and in return he made no demands of them to insert new characters into the book series just for the sake of the film. The relationship worked out quite nicely, and there was only one alteration the authors were a little nervous about. “Two of our main characters had to be combined into one role, which Viola Davis plays,” Stohl said. The finished product allayed their concerns. Added Stohl, “I have to say, it’s phenomenal.”

Despite all the attention that has come their way from the books and now the movie, Garcia and Stohl haven’t had too much trouble staying grounded. “The great thing about being a parent when all this is going on is that there are always other dramas that are more important,” Stohl told us. “There is always some kid who has to be driven somewhere. It keeps everything in perspective.”

Be sure to visit Media Darlings on February 14 for our review of the Beautiful Creatures movie!

Picture Books We Love: “Open This Little Book,” “Flora And The Flamingo,” and “The Banana Police”

2013-01-27T17:21:00.000-05:00

The great ideas are often the simple ones. They can make you wonder why they didn’t appear years earlier. Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier and illustrated by Suzy Lee is an adorable yet high-concept picture book that celebrates the love of reading in big (and small) ways. It's published by Chronicle Books.

When you open this book, you’ll find a smaller book; then a smaller one; and then an even smaller one. It’s a great early reader choice, as the vocabulary is accessible and the cleverness will make your child want to share this with YOU. This is a book to love. It’s a little work of art (and craft).

If you follow this site, you may already know that I think every child’s book collection should include wordless picture books. They support visual literacy and encourage your child to be a storyteller. A few recent favorites of mine—Bear Despair, Waterloo & Trafalgar, Little Bird, The Night Riders, and A Ball for Daisy—cover topics whimsical, poetic, and profound. There’s something about the engagement between parent, child, and a wordless book that transforms story time into a creative activity.

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle is a clever and engaging wordless book. It features little girl Flora’s road to friendship with a graceful pink flamingo. The female protagonist and the predominance of the color pink in the layouts (plus the theme of ballet dancing) leans this book toward the world of little girls, but I think those barriers are weakening even as I write this. And as the wildly popular book series Pinkalicious attests, boys love the color pink, too. Flora is rebuffed by the flamingo, but through persistence, wins the bird over. Clever flaps create an interesting story progression. We see the flamingo snub Flora as she imitates the flamingo’s one-legged pose. If you lift each character’s flap, you’ll see the flamingo catch Flora in the act. Under Flora’s flap, you’ll see her try to act nonchalant. They eventually dance together like two lovely swans. Friendship blossoms under the oddest of circumstances and if we encourage it to grow, miraculous things can happen. This in another great Chronicle title.

The Banana Police by Katy Koontz and illustrated by Kelsey C. Roy explores a similar theme. In this town, people happily co-exist with elephants until the townspeople become increasingly annoyed with their lovable, lumpy neighbors. Since the elephants snore loudly, hog the best seats at the movies, and block all the aisles in the supermarket, the town’s Banana Police devise a plan to trick the elephants into leaving. The townspeople nearly disappear under their new excess of bananas and convince the elephants to return. This is a funny, eccentric tale that Koontz developed with her daughter as her bedtime story. Great things tend to happen when kids get involved in the creative process, and The Banana Police is one of those very special picture books that speak to kids in their own language. And it makes a profound point about cooperation, beyond peaceful co-existence into the magical harmonies that are possible with diversity. It's by Willow Moon Publishing.

The Worst Best Pictures

2013-01-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

Life is inherently unfair. But you know what’s even more unfair (if you’re a movie lover)? The Academy Awards. The following is our opinionated list of the worst films ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The story is similar for all: they haven’t aged well. Stories that may have had some edge in their day have dulled through the years and we’re left with slightly embarrassing, often boring films peopled by phony characters menaced by even phonier straw men. In honor of the Academy Awards (a statue we love to hate) we present our dingy dozen:

Won't you please Take It With You?

1937: You Can’t Take It With You
The impact and allure of this film (and the play upon which it was based, for that matter) have been lost in the mists of time. The message is, “It’s okay to be slightly eccentric.” Filled with hammy performances and comic book villains (No, you may not be the slightest bit odd-ball!) and a whole lot of tedium.
Message: Feel free to be ever so slightly off-beat; but not too much.
Shoulda won that year: The Awful Truth

1947: Gentleman’s Agreement
Right after World War II, this “attack” on antisemitism was tepid at best. After the horrors of World War II, you’d think a stronger statement could be made and in fact, deserved to be made.
Message: Antisemitism is sort of bad; kind of.
Shoulda won that year: Great Expectations

All time most deceptive title.

1952: The Greatest Show On Earth
Not by a long shot. In this circus drama, Betty Hutton does more than chew the scenery; she virtually swallows it whole, which would have been a more amusing circus act than the ones you’ll see depicted here. I’ll save you a lot of pain: the clown did it.
Message: Stand back or she’ll get you, too.
Shoulda won that year: High Noon

1956: Around the World in 80 Days
Corny, cheesy, and limited. A big budget “extravaganza” that feels oddly cheap, but perhaps it’s the low-budget ideas at play. The strangely goofy tone makes this film the grandfather to the 60s show Laugh In. Embarrassing turn by Shirley MacLaine as an Indian princess.
Message: Refuse to allow travel (read: education) to change you. It’s just a lot of baloney after all.
Shoulda won that year: The Ten Commandments (An extravaganza with staying power)

The Original Rock

1976: Rocky
Stallone’s performance is a collection of grunts and squeaks. The entire Stallone project is as nuanced and subtle as an avalanche. It’s a poor man’s On the Waterfront, but this time, the washed-up fighter comes back better than ever. Talia Shire as “Yo, Adrian” is a straw girl, the attractive lady with glasses and baggy clothes. “Hey, you’re pretty without your glasses!” is about the level of drama here. Inspiring? Only if you’re aiming low.
Message: I coulda been a contender. Oh, wait—I am a contender! Awesome!
Shoulda won that year: Network

1980: Ordinary People
Speaking of subtle, this film is as subtle as a smack in the head with a baseball bat. Mary Tyler Moore’s ice queen mother was so over-the-top she created a straw woman for the ages. Also includes cornball over-simplification of psychoanalysis, the obvious source for the even crumbier depiction of psychiatry in Good Will Hunting.
Message: Everything is mom’s fault because she’s so cold.
Shoulda won that year: Raging Bull OR The Elephant Man

I could learn to love that laugh!
Actually, no I couldn't.

1984: Amadeus
It’s no wonder F. Murray Abraham won the Oscar for Best Actor here and not Tom Hulce, who was also nominated and had the great advantage of playing the actual Amadeus. Hulce’s performance has not aged well. In fact, it’s downright dreadful. His limited gifts as an actor stand in stark contrast to the genius of Mozart. Hulce makes what should have been a classic film virtually unwatchable. I think Milos Foreman was trying to be cute: hire an actually annoying person to play the annoying Mozart; he just forgot to hire an actual actor.
Message: I am not a talented person, but I can (supposedly) play one in the movies.
Shoulda won that year: The Killing Fields

1985: Out of Africa
In short, this film took a scintillating true story and found the boredom within. Not offensive; just a mind-numbing snooze-fest and a big, fat waste of talent.
Message: Let’s sit here and stare at stuff some more.
Shoulda won that year: Witness

You only seriously exploit the
ones you love.

1988: Rain Man
Who loves autistic Raymond more: the people who want to keep him locked up in an institution for the rest of his life, or the brother who wants to exploit his card-counting talent to advantage in Vegas?
Message: Why don’t you just take me out back and shoot me now?
Shoulda won that year: Mississippi Burning

1990: Dances With Wolves
Stunning western vistas but wall-to-wall clichés in this unacknowledged pastiche (read: rip-off) of popular (and better) westerns. For example, borrows (steals) memorable scene from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Filches real-life Chief Crazy Horse’s personal story, gives it to Kevin Costner’s character (the ultimate indignity suffered by the great Chief). The “twist” that Native Americans are gentle proto-hippies is just as patronizing as earlier one-dimensional depictions of Native Americans as blood-thirsty.
Message: Always be groovy.
Shoulda won that year: GoodFellas

Luckiest man on earth.

1994: Forrest Gump
It’s great to be pure of heart; and a bit slow.
Message: Never question the status quo, ever. Ever.
Shoulda won that year: Pulp Fiction

2005: Crash
Profound and mind-blowing—if you’re a bit of a dope. Hokum masquerading as a movie with a message.
Message: Racial prejudice is bad. (A controversial statement in 1955, not 2005.)
Shoulda won that year: Brokeback Mountain

TV Shows We Love: “Imagination Movers” on Disney Junior

2013-01-02T13:28:00.000-05:00

After suffering through the relatively minor inconvenience of living without electricity for a week after Hurricane Sandy, I was interested to learn that one of the best live-action preschool shows, Imagination Movers, was almost permanently derailed by Hurricane Katrina. The more I learn about the show’s four stars—who encourage preschoolers to brainstorm—the more I want them to be a part of my child’s life.

Left to right: Durbin, Poche, Collins,
and Smith on the set of their show.

The band and subsequent show are the brain-child of New Orleans-based elementary school teacher (and Teacher of the Year) Scott Durbin who, inspired by his own favorites Captain Kangaroo and Fred Rogers, wanted to create a live-action show that presented strong male role models for children. He got together with his journalist friend Rich Collins, architect Dave Poche, and firefighter Smitty Smith to form the kids’ rock band Imagination Movers.

The dream was almost washed away with Hurricane Katrina when all the band members (except Smitty) lost their homes as well as the band’s office in the flood. When they got back on their feet, they put the band back together. After being hired to create short music videos, Walt Disney Records sponsored their first nationally-released CD, “Juice Box Heroes.” Now they star in the half-hour show that’s The Monkees for the preschool set.

Wendy Calio plays Nina, seen here
with Warehouse Mouse.

Like most shows for this age group, the four lads never lose their temper or their cool as they problem-solve their way through minor crises. As I mentioned earlier, they encourage kids to work together and brainstorm to solve problems, usually bolstered by a lively pop tune written especially for the situation. The show’s aesthetic is a low-tech, Tinker Toy look, with warehouse gadgets looking as if they were patched together from remnants of Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Sesame Street. Their puppet sidekick Warehouse Mouse is also low-tech and looks a bit like a hand puppet from the bottom of your kid’s toy box, but the lack of slickness is part of the show’s charm.

There’s a sweetness here that’s hard to beat and I think Durbin truly realized his dream: these guys are GREAT role models for kids. They’re energetic; stick by their friends (like next-door neighbor Nina played by Wendy Calio who provides a female voice to the show); and they never give up until the problems are solved. And they end each show with a rockin’ musical number of their own creation. Parents will enjoy the stream of recognizable extras who appear on every show. Everybody seems to want to be a part of this wonderful show, and who can blame them? It’s a wonderful and worthy show. BUT, it has nonetheless been cancelled, so when the present season runs out, there will be no more new shows. This is a shame, but luckily this show can live on in reruns and The Imagination Movers continue to perform in live venues across the country.

Something to Sing About: “Les Misérables”

2012-12-28T14:02:00.000-05:00

This is an extraordinary film, well worth seeing, especially if you’re a fan of musicals in general. I think it’s also a good choice if you’re open to experimental and avant garde film. It’s rated PG-13 for “suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements,” and that’s fair. This film looks at the lives of the forgotten, excluded homeless of early 19th century France, people drawn into worlds of violence, crime, and prostitution. It’s grim beyond belief but if you’re willing to indulge the production, by which I mean you’re willing to suspend your disbelief to theatrical proportions, you’ll find a stunning, cohesive work of art. Yes, I said it: this film operates as an art piece in its entirety; it creates a world where virtually every utterance is sung and sticks with its premise to the end. I think it succeeds much more than it doesn’t. Except for a few moments that dragged a bit, this production was stirring and engrossing and Hugh Jackman now seems in a class by himself: that rare bird who can act as well as he sings; he’s among the best of the best in both arenas.

Hathaway as Fantine brought low.

As I mentioned, the film is an entirely sung piece, like an opera, yet the songs are measured, some moments even intimate, pushing this Broadway musical into the world of cinema. A top-drawer performance by Anne Hathaway as Fantine will rend your heart. She’s a girl who was seduced and abandoned and works in a factory to support her little girl, Cosette. When she loses her job, she enters a downward spiral that’s harrowing and Hathaway carries the sequence like a true and substantial actress. I always knew Hathaway was a great star; I just wasn’t sure (until now) if she really had any chops. She’s got ’em.

Crowe as Javert

Russell Crowe as the obsessed, merciless Javert creates a character of which I wouldn’t have thought him capable; but in retrospect, it’s not totally surprising that this accomplished actor really can do anything. Terrific performances were turned in by Amanda Seyfried as the grown-up Cosette; Eddie Redmayne as Marius; and Samantha Barks as Éponine. And what more can I say about Jackman’s Jean Valjean? He delivers an emotional performance as he performs Valjean in the only way he could: by leaving everything on the table. It’s almost shocking to see an actor expose his whole being in such a way; and tremendously satisfying to be part of such an accomplishment. As a bonus, Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as M. and Mme. Thenardier are worth the price of admission. He’s the “master of the house,” she’s the mistress. They bring crime, the con, and chaos everywhere they go. The picture of them continuing to sing as they’re lifted and bodily ejected from a wedding (down a staircase, yet) is a sight to behold.

Isabelle Allen plays young Cosette
flanked by Bonham-Carter and Cohen.

Hats off to cinematographer Danny Cohen and the entire art direction staff. They’ve delivered a visual feast, hands-down the most extraordinary art direction you’ll see in forever. As for director Tom Hooper, I have to admire the sheer guts of any director who’d even consider taking on this project. Before seeing it, I’d swear it couldn’t be done. As I said, it’s not for everyone, but if you and your teens approach this with an open heart, there’s plenty here to feast upon. While I was in the theater, I watched previews for yet another Star Trek movie as well as another Tom Cruise action film. I’m sure they’ll both be enjoyable, but these are ultimately safe films, risking little, retreading well-worn material. Les Misérables is unlike anything you’ve ever seen at the movies, completely fresh and unique, which is a bigger deal than you may realize.

Spot-On Disney Fun: “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”

2012-12-27T00:24:00.001-05:00

Disney’s Seventeenth Animated Feature – 1961
This movie is a treat, tip to tail. Beginning with the jazzy, modern-art inspired opening credits, you’ll realize you’re in for something special. This little movie-before-the-movie features dancing dalmation spots that hop onto a musical stave and animator’s sketches that spring to life. Work-in-progress sketches of dalmations run in a row, reminiscent of Eadweard Muybridge’s motion studies of horses. And One Hundred and One Dalmatians makes any number of references to famous films, just as it has inspired many imitators. Even future Disney features (I’m looking at you, Aristocats) will try to recapture its magic. Any why shouldn’t they? This is one of those rare films that succeeds on every level: story, characterizations, animation, pacing, and message.

I’d put One Hundred and One Dalmations among the best of the best of the Disney catalog. And it’s thankfully free of veiled stereotypes and implicit racism. In fact, its anti fur message is more deeply felt today than in its year of production. Back then, every woman wanted a fur coat, as witnessed in (among many other sources) the Doris Day/Cary Grant comedy of 1962, That Touch of Mink. Today, fur coats seem old hat. You can view the wonderful opening credit sequence here:

Set in London, the story opens with the voice of Rod Taylor as the lead character; but Taylor’s not the amiable bachelor songwriter Roger; Rod Taylor gives voice to dalmation Pongo. Pongo refers to Roger (voiced by Ben Wright) as his “pet.” Pongo gazes out the window and laments his (and Roger’s) lonely life, “My old pet needs someone.” He watches a parade of women and their pet dogs stroll by, then “spots” the lovely dalmation Perdita (voiced by Cate Bauer) and her equally lovely pet, Anita (voiced by Lisa Davis). This handling of the dog’s personalities owes a lot to Lady and the Tramp, with the story set in the secret world of dogs.

Cruella makes her grand entrance.

Pongo cleverly orchestrates the first meeting of Roger and Anita and we quickly jump in time to their wedding day, as Pongo and Perdita, just outside the wedding chapel, make their own pledge of love and commitment. Both couples are happily ensconced in their little world, Perdita expecting puppies, when Anita’s old school chum comes for a visit. The thought of a visit from the egomaniacal and downright scary Cruella DeVil inspires Roger to improvise a song about her. And Cruella enters with a bang. She’s a memorable villainess for the ages, superbly voiced by Betty Lou Gerson. She’s practically grey with palor, skinny, bizarrely “fashionable” in a huge fur coat; she’s affected and fills the house with odd green smoke from her long cigarette holder (though nice-guy Roger’s pipe-smoking is not presented as noxious). She exclaims how she’s mad about fur and she’s patronizing, even obnoxious to Anita as she discusses her excitement at the soon-to-be-born pups. When Anita reminds her the pups are still three weeks away, Cruella unceremoniously cuts her visit short.

Sweet Nanny is Cruella's opposite.

Sweet-as-pie Nanny helps in the delivery of Perdita’s fifteen pups. For a moment, they think they may have lost one of the pups, but Roger manages to massage the puppy back to life, earning it the name “Lucky.” Cruella returns and offers to buy the entire litter at any price, but Roger is adamant that the puppies are not for sale. Cruella has a tantrum and exits to the sound of her thunderous threats and insults. It doesn’t take long before Cruella hires a pair of thugs—Jasper and Horace—who seem to be on loan from the Home Alone franchise. They’re all Cockney rhyming slang as they con their way into the house while Roger and Anita have the “grown-up” dogs out for walkies. Poor Nanny tries to eject the pair of thugs, only to realize that they’ve made away with the puppies. Even a Scotland Yard investigation doesn’t turn up a clue, so Pongo and Perdita take matters into their own hands (or paws). They spread the word through dogs' secret communication system, the “twilight bark.” Soon news spreads throughout London as the city fills with the sound of barking dogs. The barking travels out to the countryside, an all points bulletin to locate the pups.

Just three of Perdita's fifteen.

Of course, the pups are being held at Cruella’s country manse, aptly named Hell Hall. But it’s not just Pongo’s fifteen who are prisoners, but a full ninety-nine pups, all the others purchased from pet shops, waiting to be turned into skins by Jasper and Horace. This is when the film resembles The Great Escape, as farm animals, informed by the twilight bark, spring into action to rescue the pups. But they don’t just rescue the fifteen; they rescue the whole lot, trudging through the snow, making this a nifty choice for winter viewing. When Pongo and Perdita arrive, there isn’t a question to them. They know their kind pets will give the entire bunch a home. As Roger says, “We’ll keep them. We’ll buy a big place in the country. We’ll have a dalmation plantation.” Why, that sounds like a great idea for a song! Roger sits at the piano and starts to sing. Again, all of London is alive with the sound of barking dogs.

Nanny, Anita, Pongo, and Roger.

This was the first Disney film to use Xerox technology in creating animation cells, as animators could copy their sketches directly onto cells, reducing the need for hand inking. And the modern backgrounds keep the look fresh and arty. This marked the end of an era, that of the labor-intensive hand inking of cells, but the lack of box-office appeal of the expensive (hand inked) Sleeping Beauty threatened to shut down the animation division of Disney, full stop. Money saving innovations helped to keep this part of the studio alive, and thank heaven. There’s 101 good reasons to see this film, but I’ll give you one: it stands up for love, loyalty, bravery, and generosity in an adorable, fantastical way. I adore the idea of this sweet, loving couple taking all those dogs out to the country. And no offense to the very game Glen Close in her live-action take on Cruella DeVil in the largely forgettable live-action version made in 1996, but this is the kind of story that finds its best telling in animation. And did.