Shirley Temple 1928-2014

The biggest Hollywood child star of all time, Shirley Temple Black, passed away last night at the age of 85. She was the top box office draw in the country at the height of the Great Depression, from 1935-38, at just 7-10 years old. Her best known hits were Little Miss Marker (1934), Curly Top (1935), Wee Willie Winkie (1937), Heidi (1938) and The Little Princess (1939). She left the movie business in her teens and as an adult served as the one-time U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. She also received the Kennedy Center Honors, a SAG lifetime achievement award, and is named by the American Film Institute at #18 as one of the greatest female screen legends of all time.

If you want to watch one of her movies, I think Heidi is the one that holds up the best today, but here's the famous stair dance with the legendary Bill "Bojangles" Robinson from The Little Colonel (1935):

And this is from the movie that made her a star at age 6, singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop," from Bright Eyes (1934):

REVIEW: "Ernest & Celestine" (2013) Dir. Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner

A lot of animated films in the U.S. tend to have a similar feel about them- you can always count on the tongue-in-cheek tone, the topical references, lately the ironic, self-aware dialogue that sounds as if it's attempting to mimic the way people speak in real life. It gets kind of annoying when you see enough to notice a similar sheen that's spread throughout all of them, no matter what other great qualities the specific movie might have. Homogenization of taste has become more of an issue with the release of these movies in the last decade, so when you see one from overseas, in this case France, it's such a welcome breath of fresh air that all you can do is simply marvel at the uniqueness of style, tone, and character. It's an utter delight to experience.

Ernest & Celestine tells the story of a little girl mouse who lives in a universe only populated by mice and bears, who are mortal enemies of each other. The big bears run the city above ground, while the mice inhabit the world below the sewers, which is another separate universe within the one created in this movie. Celestine is an orphan whose job in the society she's a part of requires stealing teeth from the bear world, so that the mice can prolong their survival by the constant replacement of incisors. Needless to say, she's not very good at this task and her trouble gets her involved with a bear called Ernest, a homeless bum who, like her, doesn't feel an automatic hatred of the other species that each are supposed to feel, and so an odd couple friendship is born that they can both use to their advantage. The friendship between this childlike yet grown-up bear and the mature beyond her years, yet actual child mouse is adorably sweet and loving, and believe it or not, reminiscent of a kind of older man-young girl relationship in other notable French films (specifically, Leon: The Professional and City of Lost Children).

It's an exceedingly simple story based on a series of children's books, yet told in the most visually exquisite way imaginable. This is the now rare hand-drawn animated feature that has not been given up by European and Asian artists, and this movie shows again how 2D can still produce gorgeous images that may open more avenues for creativity and uniqueness of style than even CG at times. The movie seems as if it sprung to life directly from the pages of the pencil drawn books, and the details of both the underground mouse world and above level bear city seem to be brimming with life and vibrant colors in every frame. Accompanied are flights of fancy in the film that includes songs (and a wonderful score), daydreams, and nightmares from the minds of Ernest and Celestine that lead to the artist's drawing shapes that correspond to whatever pictures they likely had in their mind at the time.

I do wish that more American studios would take risks with the kinds of animated films they produce (I really don't understand why 2D has been entirely abandoned, for example), and that you wouldn't have to go to other countries to find the most creative works in animation being done elsewhere. As it is, this an absolutely perfect film for children that will likely never be seen in the U.S. by 99% of them (and if it is seen it will not be with the original voices, which must be dubbed into English, an unfortunate side effect of foreign-language animated films). But it's a lovely, precious gem that should be sought out by kids and adults alike, even if you are relegated to the dubbed version only.

* * * 1/2

Site Update: Review Archive

A heads up for everybody: I've now added a Movie Review Archive page to the site, where you can find quick links to all film reviews that have been published. Click here to check it out- hopefully that will make past reviews easier to find. Thanks everyone!

BOX OFFICE 2/07-2/09: 'Lego Movie' Dominates; 'Monuments Men' Solid

The Lego Movie demolished the competition this weekend, earning $69 million to blow past expectations and become the second best February debut ever (behind just Passion of the Christ). The movie was helped by spectacular reviews and received an excellent "A" Cinemascore from audiences, which were 60% over the age of 18. This will continue to play strongly for a while, as finally a true alternative to Frozen is on the market for families. In second place, George Clooney's The Monuments Men also came in above expectations, with a solid $22 million and a "B+" rating from the audience. It puts it in the adult drama category of movies like Argo and Captain Phillips, with 75% of this crowd over age 35, but with no awards buzz it will probably not earn as much as those two in the end. Still, it's Clooney's biggest opening for a movie he directed.

Ride Along came in third, with $9 million and a $105 million total, good for the Kevin Hart vehicle, which is set to launch him as a potentially major box office attraction for the several other movies he has coming out later this year. In fourth place was Frozen, which pulled in nearly $7 million and has finally passed Despicable Me 2's total of $368 million to become the biggest animated film of 2013 (worldwide, it's sitting at $900 million and set to cross $1 billion before it finishes its run). Finally, That Awkward Moment came in fifth place for a $16 million total.

Top 5:

1. The Lego Movie- $69.11 million
2. The Monuments Men- $22.7 million
3. Ride Along- $9.4 million
4. Frozen- $6.91 million
5. That Awkward Moment- $5.54 million

Vampire Academy, the other new release this weekend, completely bombed with just $4.1 million, so it looks like that potential franchise is a total non-starter. Next week there are several new debuts for Valentine's Day looking to capitalize on the date night holiday, including Kevin Hart's new movie About Last Night and the drama Endless Love, plus the strange fantasy film A Winter's Tale and the remake of RoboCop. Come back next week, where we'll see if any of those can take down The Lego Movie (I'm betting not).

'12 Years a Slave' wins the Scripter Award

The prestigious USC Scripter award, presented to a screenplay along with its original source material, was given to 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley and the memoir of the same name, written by Solomon Northup in the 1800's. It was expected to win this, as the historical nature of the source material tends to outweigh other works, such as literary adaptations. The other nominees were Captain Phillips, The Spectacular Now, What Maisie Knew, and Philomena. This is not a guild award, so it has no bearing on the Oscars, but 12 Years is expected to win the Adapted Screenplay Oscar, and this honor continues to support that expectation.

Meanwhile, the Art Directors Guild gave out its awards for production design last night as well:

• Period Film: The Great Gatsby
• Fantasy Film: Gravity
• Contemporary Film: Her

All three of those movies are Oscar nominees, but the ADG is not a great predictor of the Oscar for Production Design, so the winner there is anybody's guess. It tends to go to the movie with the most overall nominations, so even though Gatsby's sets are the most elaborate, right now I'm leaning toward Gravity or 12 Years a Slave in that category.

'American Hustle,' 'Captain Phillips' win ACE Eddie Awards

The ACE Eddies, or the editor's guild awards, announced last night, and in a slight surprise, Captain Phillips trumped Gravity for the Drama Feature category.

• Dramatic Feature: Captain Phillips
• Musical/Comedy Feature: American Hustle
• Documentary Feature: 20 Feet From Stardom
• Animated Feature: Frozen

The editing Oscar is actually one of the more important ones, as it usually lines up with Best Picture, and Gravity was expected to win this precursor. What does it mean for the Oscars? Honestly, that things are still up in the air amongst the voters. Ballots still have not been sent out (the 14th is when voters finally receive them), and clearly the guilds are split all over the place. Best Picture is a close race, and no movie is walking away with it yet. Even Documentary is up in the air, with a different movie winning over each guild. Anything could happen.

REVIEW: "Philomena" (2013) Judi Dench, Steve Coogan. Dir. Stephen Frears

Philomena tells the story of the real life Philomena Lee, a woman who had her son taken from her as a teenage mother and spend the next 50 years trying to find him. It's a very affecting story, and the film takes the clever route of telling it through the prism of a journalist writing a "human interest" story, which is exactly how the movie plays out. 

BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith was fired from his job in Tony Blair's government in 2003, and spent his next project telling Philomena's story, which is a heartbreaking and sorrowful tale in and of itself, but could have taken the time to make a greater point about the criminal nature of Catholic nuns in Ireland in the mid-20th century. That undeniably outrageous environment is exposed here and could be given sharper focus, but the personal story stays front and center with one particular subject herself, as is the case in most human interest stories. Philomena is played by Judi Dench, who gives the slightly dotty older lady some deep shades of sorrow as the hint of a tragic past lies permanently beneath her daffy nature. She's a woman who undergoes some horrific injustices in her formative years, yet remains an optimistic, forgiving, sweet natured soul. The normally hard edged Dench makes the smart decision of giving Philomena hidden depths behind those ponderous eyes, which is essential to making her somebody to root for.

As a teenager in the 1950's, Philomena got pregnant from a one night stand, was disowned by her family and sent to live in a convent with other pregnant teenagers. The nuns at the convent made the girls slave laborers and allowed them to see their children for one hour a day, until the babies were sold to American couples looking to adopt. This has haunted Philomena all her life, and now she and Martin set out to find what has become of her son fifty years later. Still more sadness lies in the truth of what she will find, yet Coogan and Dench make a fitting pair along the way, as Martin learns to appreciate Philomena's naivete despite his initial annoyance, and there are some funny moments between them thanks to Coogan's comic timing and occasionally witty writing (he co-wrote the script with Jeff Pope). There is a nice chemistry between Coogan and Dench, but the development of their relationship is fairly predictable and at times cliche, as Philomena's actual quest to discover what happened to her son and her traumatic background is the more interesting part of the story.

The resolution of Philomena's journey is highly frustrating however, as the insistence on keeping what happened to her a strictly personal offense, when it in fact happened to many young girls at the hands of this unapologetic and still brazenly lying (at least as far as the film shows) organization, begs for a larger statement of condemnation to be made. But the movie won't do it, opting instead to keep things simple (far too simple) in order to leave audiences with a rather unearned feel good ending, when the crimes Philomena, her son, and so many others have been subjected to deserve a harsher sense of retribution. Many will find this film moving however, and Dench's performance is altogether wonderfully complex when given what could have been an exceedingly simple character on the page. She remains a towering actress of the highest order, indeed a Dame worthy of recognition.

* * *

In Theaters This Weekend 2/7: 'Lego Movie,' 'Monuments Men'

In theaters this weekend are a couple of of big new releases, despite the fact that we're still in the traditionally slow part of the year. One is The Lego Movie, from Waner Bros., which is getting astonishingly stellar reviews, and is set to make a killing at the box office this weekend. Already the most acclaimed animated film since Toy Story 3 (sitting at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes), that's definitely the one to see:

"What could have easily been test-marketed, corporate-processed crap...instead becomes a surprisingly enjoyable and dense family entertainment that pays tribute to the spirit of free play and individuality." (Salon)

"It's fast and original, it's conceptually audacious, it's visually astonishing, and it's 10 times more clever than it needed to be. Here, at last, is an animated comedy that never stops surprising you." (EW)

"This isn't just the funniest PG-rated animation in too long; it's the funniest film, period, in months..." (Chicago Tribune)

Another big opener this weekend is George Clooney's The Monuments Men, which was delayed from an original Christmas release date until February, and unfortunately, the buzz on this one is not so great (32% on RT). It hasn't been completely trashed, but the consensus seems to be that it's surprisingly boring and doesn't quite know what kind of movie it wanted to be:

"There's lots of information, some nice images, plenty of earnest sermonizing about culture, and almost no suspense, or tension, or character development, or structure. Or, well, art." (NPR)

"Earnest and well-intentioned but ultimately inert, 'The Monuments Men' talks a better game than it can deliver." (LA Times)

"Clooney's movie is a slow-witted, occasionally agreeable retread of numerous WWII band-of-brothers flicks its director no doubt watched on TV as a 1970's teenager." (Salon)

And then there's Vampire Academy, which wasn't screened for critics before its release (never a good sign), and judging from what early word does exist, is also pretty much a bomb. So, it looks like Lego Movie is your best bet this weekend, unless you just want to stay home and watch the Olympics, but judging by the excitement surrounding a welcome original movie for once, I'd check it out. This could be a surprise smash, and a very early contender for Best Animated Feature next year.

Trailer for The Lego Movie:

Sandra Bullock and Alfonso Cuaron on Charlie Rose

Here they are with Charlie Rose talking about Gravity:

VIDEO: A Tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman

Here's a great video tribute to the many performances Philip Seymour Hoffman gave in his career:

FINAL TRAILER: "Divergent"

The last trailer for the new teen franchise Divergent, has been released. The movie's coming out March 21st:

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Jules and Jim" (1962)

An all-time classic of the French New Wave is out on blu-ray today. From director Francois Truffaut, this is the story of a love triangle between a girl (Jeanne Moreau) and her two guys in pre-WWI Paris. Truffaut plays all kinds of tricks with the camera and the style, and the whole film still feels fresh, creative and totally original, even today. This was one of the defining films of the 50's and 60's new wave era (along with movies like Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless and Truffaut's own The 400 Blows), and every bit of it holds up. Seek it out as soon as you can.

Original 1962 Trailer: