Review of film: “MADEA’S BIG HAPPY FAMILY”

2011, 04-30:

Review of film:  “MADEA’S BIG HAPPY FAMILY”

This latest TYLER PERRY film has an IRONIC title:  The “Family” is BIG, but it’s far from “HAPPY” in any way...

...  As the film opens, Madea’s niece, Shirley (LORETTA DIVINE), is at the office of a doctor.  She’s there with Aunt Bam (CASSI DAVIS), who’s very embarrassing to have around with the way she smokes POT & keeps unabashedly “coming on” repulsively to the unflappable physician...

...  It turns out that Loretta gets some very UPSETTING news about her health, & decides that she wants to tell her family the news at a “quiet” dinner at her place...  But, for nearly the whole movie, she never seems able to “CORRAL” them together for it, much less get them to be in any way really “quiet” or to “deal” with the “news” she wants to relate...

...  Loretta is very sweet in disposition & actions, but has an often-MISERABLE family:  her oldest daughter Tammy (NATALIE DESELLE REID) constantly puts-down her husband Harold (RODNEY PERRY) who runs an auto-repair shop.  He never really “speaks-up” for himself & just “takes” her verbal abuse.  To no surprise, their 2 sons are horribly out-of-control and foul-mouthed...

...  The younger daughter is real-estate agent Kimberly (SHANNON KANE).  As kind and good-hearted as her husband Calvin (ISAIAH MUSTAFA) is, she’s the opposite--  almost continually “angry” & an absolute bitch to him and also to her mother Loretta.  Weirdly, NO ONE seems to “call” her on her unacceptable behavior thru almost the whole film...

...  The youngest son is Byron (SHAD “Bow Wow” MOSS).  He’s had some past troubles with drug-dealing, but seems to have “reformed” & tries to hold down a “straight” job...

...  But, although he seems down-to-earth & comparatively “sensible”, he for some reason “puts-up” with 2 horrible GIRLFRIENDS:  One, Sabrina (TEYANA TAYLOR), is a pushy “whiner” who is constantly harping on him to take care of their young SON (which he’s usually happy to do) & to provide her with a continuous stream of money.  She’s clearly “one-dimensional”, threatening, & cares only about HERSELF...

...  As if that one “bad” choice wasn’t “enough”, Bow-Wow has a new girlfriend who’s even worse:  Renee (LOREN LONDON) is an incredibly self-centered “gold-digger” who regularly pushes him to go back to selling DRUGS so he can support her in a “style” to which she’s decided she’s “entitled” (tho she’s done nothing to “deserve” any special treatment)...

...  Into these “matches made in HELL” comes Madea (TYLER PERRY).  She, as usual, is massively “over-the-top”... 

...  There’s a weird “sub-plot” involving her “husband” Mr. Brown (DAVID MANN) and whether he’s really the father of their child Cora (TAMELA J. MANN)...  At one point, they even bring MORRIE POVICH into the matter to report on “DNA” concerning the situation...

...  But, as excessive as Madea (Tyler) can be, she’s comparatively SENSIBLE in doing what’s “NEEDED” to be done in the matter of Loretta & her family.  Madea runs around, uses “TOUGH-love”,  & “forces” various of the family members to agree to come to Loretta’s place for the dinner she wants to have to tell everyone about her HEALTH problems...

...  At the dinner (which includes Madea, Cassi & the others), the daughters are their usual MISERABLE selves, treating their husbands like crap. Madea confronts them about their bad treatment, pointing out their husbands ought to be treated far BETTER by them...

...  While “progress” seems to be made, Natalie suddenly makes a comment that reveals a huge family SECRET that deeply upsets the family dynamic even more...

...  Will the daughters start to treat their husbands better?...  Will Bow-wow “wise-up” to his bad choices in women and “actions”?...  Will there be “DNA” resolution with Mr. Brown?...  Will Loretta be able to tell her family her bad NEWS, & will it be in ‘time” to accomplish what she hopes?...

...  This is an almost “schizophrenic” film:  the ACTING is quite good, with the characters “believable” in their “extreme” roles.  There’s a bunch of mild LAUGHS in the movie (mainly concerning words & actions by Madea)...

...  But, so many of the characters are exceptionally UNPLEASANT and / or DUMB with their actions as people, it’s very hard to “CARE” about them.  I guess I’d say, it’s simply too “EXTREME” to be a really enjoyable or “satisfying” movie-going experience...

...  And thus, I can only rate this film at like 6.25 out of 10 stars...      

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Review of film: “CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS” in 3-D

2011, 04-19:

Review of film:  “CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS” in 3-D

I’ve long been fond of history and especially prehistoric times, and movies about the subjects.  I was captivated when I first heard of the discovery of prehistoric PAINTINGS in ancient caves... 

...  ALL the inhabited continents (meaning, outside of Antarctica) have seen caves discovered in which paintings have been found dating back thousands of years...  The most highly-publicized ones are in Lascaux and Altamira in southern France and Spain, which go back around 10,000 or more years...   

...  In 1994, a discovery was made of a cave near Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France.  That cave was called CHAUVET, and its artwork (via radiocarbon dating) has shown its paintings are the OLDEST ever found, going back around 32,000 years (to the Upper Paleolithic period)...   

...  This film (partly sponsored by the HISTORY CHANNEL) concerns the Chauvet cave and how a small crew led by WERNER HERZOG was allowed to shoot a DOCUMENTARY inside the cave system... 

...  Because of damage that had been done to OTHER paintings in caves by allowing the introduction of modern air and breathing by crowds, the French government has been super-PROTECTIVE of this cave system, wanting to AVOID such contamination by severely restricting access to it (only allowing scientists in for SHORT periods, etc.)...

...  Werner was allowed to enter with filming equipment with the understanding that the time they’d be allowed inside would be severely limited.  And, as Werner comments during the film, it might well be not only the first but likely the LAST such publicly “recorded” documentation allowed to be done there...

...  During the movie, it’s explained that the original main entrance to the cave was closed-off by a LANDSLIDE around 20,000 years ago, & that’s likely one reason its contents are so perfectly PRESERVED today...

...  We meet some of the main people involved with the DISCOVERY of the cave.  They tell how they found an opening that eventually led to an “alternate” way to get INTO the cave...

...  The government built a protective metal “stairway” & “floor” into the lower depths of the cave, to preserve what was found on the floor (in the way of ancient animal BONES  and the like)...

...  Due to water that’s entered the cave system over millenniums, we see that there are fabulous stalagtites & stalagmites that have formed on the ceiling, walls and floors around the system...  Thru the efforts of Werner’s team, we also see the bones of prehistoric bones of animals such as the now-extinct CAVE BEAR (which had used their nails to scratch some of the walls, as we can see)...

...  With great detail, we view some of the incredibly sophisticated ARTWORK painted on the walls--  of lions, bears, rhinos, deer, the extinct bears, horses, etc...  There are also some PALM PRINTS of the painters themselves, & an expert points out how one had an unusually crooked little finger...

...  We see some of the marks of torches used to LIGHT the caves for the painting work (and, as I understand it, those charcoal torch remnants have themselves been radiocarbon-dated to help provide evidence of the incredible AGE of the work done there)...

...  It’s pointed out that experts feel the work in some areas was done “OVER” certain older paintings, indicating that the “newest” work was done maybe 10,000 years after the EARLIEST work in the cave...

...  Since the main entrance can be seen to have been obstructed by a landslide around 20,000 years ago, that means the work (per datings) was done 20,000 to 30,000+ years ago...

...  Werner points out what he surmises was a sort of “altar” with some bones of a LION on it...  One of his assistants shows pieces found of a wooden FLUTE found on the floor which was put together by the assistant, who even demonstrates the musical instrument by playing a little tune using the original holes in it...

...  A lady scientist points out how there’s a symbolic FEMALE shape on one of the walls.  Werner then visits people who show other similar bulbous female representations from around the same general 30,000-year-old period in Germany not far away...

... That helps show how comparable styles seem to have been fairly widespread in certain areas... There may well have been “fertility” representations inherent in the depictions...       

...  A lot of time is spent showing us the artwork in the caves, with some commentaries on how amazing it is that the work was done on generally NON-flat surfaces that used the “undulating” shapes of the walls to help give an effect of “MOVEMENT” to some of the animals (enhanced by such things as the multiple horns on the rhino below)...

...  That idea of 3-dimensional “movement” was (as Werner points out) also enhanced by the way some depictions were purposely done with “MULTIPLE” images (as shown below) ...

...  and also shown by images such as multiple legs on a bison and the like, almost giving a “proto-cinema” type of movement effect (as illustrated below)...

...  Interviews are done with some of the SCIENTISTS that have worked in the caves, to ask for explanations of things and what they “thought” about what they’ve seen & all... 

...  We’re allowed to meet and listen to JEAN CLOTTES, JEAN-MICHEL GENESTE, DOMINIQUE BAFFIER, JULIEN MONNEY, GILLES TOSELLO, MICHEL PHILIPPE, CAROLE FRITZ, MAURICE MAURIN, NICHOLAS CONARD, MARIA MALINA, WULF HEIN, DOMINIQUE BAFFIER, and the voice of interpreter CHARLES FATHY...

...  Werner beings up some “possibilities” regarding certain elements of the artwork & what some things may have “MEANT” to the original artists:  there’s speculation by him on whether there might be “RELIGIOUS” or similar “meanings” behind some of the work, such as if the animals could have been meant as some “offering” designed to improve their chances of CAPTURING such animals in the future)...

...  I personally felt the film was somewhat “distracted” by the way Werner spent time discussing possible “SPIRITUALITY” by the cave painters (seemingly based on things like the possible “altar” with the lion’s skull on it), & also by some obscure comments about albino crocodiles we’re shown which were born around a current nuclear facility not far from the Cave of Chauvet...

...  The film is FASCINATING & AWE-inspiring in many ways...  But, I would have liked more time being spent on further educational info such as more about what the painters USED for making their artwork, suppositions on the likely “world” they lived in society-wise, the exceptional sophistication of their realistic techniques, & so on...

...  Because of some periodic “repetition” in the visual scenes, plus those afore-mentioned “distractions” by Werner, I’m slightly lowering my overall rating on the movie to 8.75 out of 10 stars... 

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Review of film: “FAST FIVE”

2011, 04-27:

Review of film:  “FAST FIVE”

                                                   “FAST & FURIOUS FIVE”         

In this “Year of the Sequels”, we have still ANOTHER one opening April 29^th, this, the lastest (5^th) installment of the “FAST & FURIOUS” collection (the trailer for which can be seen at:  http://www.fastfivemovie.com )... 

...  This one starts out with Dominic Toretto (VIN DIESEL) being taken to a prison along with other detainees in a large bus.  His old ex-Fed pal Brian O’Conner (PAUL WALKER) leads a group of car drivers who “surround” the bus & cause it to have a massive CRASH (with roll-overs so striking, the screening audience I saw it with APPLAUDED after the scene)...

...  Partly because of their history of non-extraditions, Vin & Paul are soon seen living in BRAZIL, which becomes the main setting for the rest of the film...  They travel around the low-income favelas of Rio, & see one of Dominick’s old cohorts, Vince (MATT SCHULZE)... 

...  During their visit with Paul’s main squeeze, Vin’s sister Mia (JORDANA BREWSTER), Matt’s wife realizes something important about Jordana that Paul is typically “oblivious” to...  They all plan a scheme to pull off a major HEIST to get some valuable property to keep them economically comfortable...

...  That heist involves stealing some super valuable CARS from a TRAIN moving thru a desert type area.  This includes the use of a “dune scruggy” type truck to allow them to cut thru the SIDE of a moving rail car & “flip” the exotic autos out of it by using the tilting bed of the truck...  It’s another IMPRESSIVELY handled scene, full of THRILLING and enjoyable action...  

...  Since one of the stolen autos contained some “secret” device, that brings the U.S. Government into the matter, in the form of a goateed “tough guy” Federal agent Luke Hobbs (DWAYNE “The Rock” JOHNSON).  His dialogue is written to be so “over-the-top” as an unstoppable character, it usually brought forth LAUGHS from the audience at the ridiculousness of his “attitude”...

...  For various reasons, in between Vin & Paul’s trying to stay away from Dwayne, they decide to “rip-off” the area’s biggest DRUG-DEALER, a supposed “businessman” named Reyes (JOAQUIM DE ALMEIDA)...

...  To rip-off Joaquim, Vin & Paul gather together various of their old car-driver “TEAM” people from the previous “Fast” films (+ some new ones):  Roman Pearce (TYRESE GIBSON), Tej Parker (LUDACRIS), Han Lue (SUNG KANG), sexy Gisele Harabo (GAL GADOT), Leo (TEGO CALDERON), & Rico / Santos (DON OMAR)... 

...  While they’re trying to keep away from the clutches of Dwayne & his local police helper Elena (ELSA PATAKY), the “Fast” crew makes elaborate plans to steal CASH from the “safe houses” set up by druglord Joaquim...  So, BOTH Dwayne’s “Fed” group & the Druggie group are “AFTER” the “FAST” team...   

...  There are some cleverly-concocted & very well-done HEIST & “GET-AWAY” schemes run thru the movie, including a very elaborate plan to steal a huge SAFE (containing cash) & pull it thru the streets of Rio to try to ESCAPE from those pursuing them (including loads of local cops)...

...  Can Matt and various of the other “associates” be really TRUSTED by those in “charge”?...   Will Paul “catch-on” to what’s happening with Jordana?...  Will the “FAST” crew succeed in their big Heist?...  Will they continue being able to get away from those chasing them (including local cops)?...

...  This movie has some “preposterous” elements. But they tend to “fade away” in the midst of the effective bunch of fine ACTION / THRILL sequences given by the film...  Since it’s got so much FUN inherent in its special-effects “encounters”, I’m rating it at 8.5 out of 10 stars...

...  And be sure to stay thru the CREDITS, because you’ll be treated to a “surprise” scene involving the “past” that appears to give a strong “clue” to the NEXT sequel being planned in the series (to which some of the audience gasped & applauded in anticipation)!...

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Review of film: “AFRICAN CATS”

2011, 04-27:

Review of film:  “AFRICAN CATS”      

You can rest assured that this Review will be inherently “CATTY” in essence...

...  As it’s annual tribute to Earth Day, DISNEY NATURE has released this beautifully photographed documentary set in the Masai Mara game preserve in Kenya...

...  Overall, the movie concentrates on 2 main feline mothers trying to raise BABIES...

...  First, we have a lion named LAYLA.  She’s the oldest female lion in a pride of like 11 females being “protected” by a male lion named “FANG” (because of his tooth broken off in a fight).  They live on the south side of a river with often-abundant herds of hoofed animals grazing there... 

...  Layla is the “leader” of the female pride, but she’s been INJURED over the years from things like trying to capture other creatures to eat.  She’s recently had a BABY cub named MARA. &, typical of a lioness, she’s very dedicated to protecting and raising her newborn...

...  In the lion world,  it’s the FEMALES that work together to bring down prey (such as from huge herds of wildebeests and the like), & they try to eat quickly before the male comes over to forcibly take his “preferred” choice of the feast...

...  For some reason (seemingly because she’s been injured and has some trouble “keeping-up” with the rest of the group), Layla & her cub are NOT fully “accepted” by the OTHERS in the group...

...  We’re also introduced to a lion group on the NORTH side of the river.  It’s led by large male lion KALI and his 4 nearly full-grown sons.  Kali would like to take over the pride belonging to FANG, but the high river (and crocodiles in it) tend to keep them away from the south...

...  At one point, the river goes down, & Kali & one of the sons crosses it & they try to confront Fang.  The narrator (SAMUEL L. JACKSON) points out that, if Kali takes over, he’d quite likely kill Mara & try to create & raise his OWN cubs...  But Layla helps lead the females in the pride to HELP Fang, & Kali & his son “back off” from their efforts for a while... 

...  At one point, Layla initiates the group’s trying to bring down one member of a herd.  The zebra she’s chasing kicks and injures her even MORE, making it increasingly difficult for her to stay “with” the travels of the pride (& thus she & Mara become sort of “outcasts”)...

...  The other main cat the film covers is a female cheetah named “SITA”, who lives on the north side of the river.  Like most cheetahs, she tends to live a SOLITARY life rather than in a “group” like the lions do.  She’s had 5 very cute cubs (initially born unable to see until they grow older), & she works hard to try to provide food for them...

...  Cheetahs are known as the FASTEST-moving land animal (able to run up to like 70 mph).  But, they have no real “STAMINA”, only able to keep that speed up for like 30 seconds, after which they’re pretty exhausted...  So, Sita has to move quickly when she’s trying to get small antelopes or the like as food for her & her cubs...

...  Like most animal mothers, Sita is very protective of her offspring.  Altho she’s only like 1/5^th the size of a lion, she’s seen “STANDING-UP” to the Kali group of lions (& also to a group of 3 male cheetah brothers traveling together), working to lead them all AWAY from her cubs... 

...  HYENAS tend to look like members of the dog (canine) family)--  but they’re actually in the CAT (feline) group.  Like lions, they tend to attack in “packs”, & we’re shown some confrontations as a group of them try to assault SITA...

...  At one stage, even an ELEPHANT gets involved in keeping attacking animals away from her.  But, although it’s not “shown”, 2 of Sita’s 5 cubs are captured and destroyed by a marauding hyena group...

...  The film goes back and forth between the main cat groups it’s covering...  In the midst of it, we’re also introduced to OTHER animals in the area--  giraffes, ostriches, secretary birds and buzzards, rhinos, hippos, etc...  We’re even shown lions risking a battle with some crocodiles in the river...

...  Since LAYLA is growing weaker & weaker, she tries to “ingratiate” herself more with her pride, concentrating on one of her biological “sisters” in the group, hoping that increased “acceptance” would help her cub MARA be accepted and helped out by the others.  (It’s not explained why that hadn’t happened BEFORE, since lots of OTHER cubs travel with and are considered “part” the pride)...  

  

...  The film covers the trials and tribulations encountered by the main “characters”, including Sita trying to get more food on the SOUTH side of the now-lowered river, and north-side KALI working to have his 3 OTHER sons come over to the south side to try to take over “FANG’S” pride.  When Kali succeeds, his group drives off the young male cubs of the pride (wanting his OWN family in “control” there)..

...  It’s a FASCINATING and very WELL-done filming of the “ways of the wild” in animal groups...  Even the CREDITS are cleverly handled, with little “snippets” showing funny listings such as how the “giraffes” were in “charge” of “CRANE”-operator work in filming, how the “buzzards” handled “carrion luggage”, the “secretary bird” handled the “SCRIPT” work, etc...

...  Because of the finely-filmed educational offering, I’m rating it as 8.5 out of 10 stars...

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