Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Originally posted on filmbrats.com

Little Miss Sunshine (**)
Reviewed by Jon Waterman

Little Olive has a dream to become a beauty queen. She entered herself into a regional pageant not too long ago, and came in second. Well, it turns out that the winner was eventually disqualified, and now Olive has a spot in the state competition. The only thing that can possibly stop her is her grown up family that she must rely on to get her all the way to Redondo Beach, California. Normally, that would be all well and good, except this family is the definition of dysfunctional, as is their car.

And the movie is the definition of conventional indie flick. The characters are your random assortment of mentally tortured individuals struggling to come to terms with something, or accomplish one very specific thing by the end of the movie, mixed in with one wacky free spirited voice of reason. The daughter wants to feel attractive and thinks that winning the competition will help; the son has taken a vow of silence until he can join the air force; the uncle’s failed suicide attempt left him trying to find a meaning in life; the father is trying to get a self-help book published, but it’s easy to see why he’s unsuccessful so far; and the grandfather tells it like it is. They’re all pretty bland and one-dimensional when you get down to it.

It’s also pretty safe to assume that they’ll all have some sort of momentous confrontational moment where they finally have to come to grips with whatever it is that life is handing them. It’s quite the eventful little road trip. I don’t think it’s necessarily the subplot resolutions themselves I have trouble with, but rather that there are so many of them. Everything wraps up so nicely, like a sitcom, which is understandable, but also a little disappointing.

Aside from the beauty pageant itself (those little girls are so scary) the movie isn’t all that funny. They tend to focus so much on beating you over the head with all the emotional trauma and self-loathing of the characters that any attempt at humor is slightly hindered. Plus the jokes and situations aren’t all that great to begin with. It wouldn’t work nearly as much if it weren’t for the great cast. If this movie has one thing going for it, it’s the acting. Greg Kinnear (Dad Richard, “As Good as It Gets”) is a little over the top, but luckily we have the very talented young actress Abigail Breslin (Olive, “Signs”), the increasingly impressive Steve Carrell (Uncle Frank, “The 40 Year Old Virgin”), and the always amazing Alan Arkin (Grandpa Edwin, “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing”) to pick up his slack. They really help bring life to a pretty conventional script.

Essentially, this is “The Ice Storm” light. On the road. And not as good.

Rating: R
Year: 2006
Running Time: 101 min
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Writer: Michael Arndt
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin

War of the Worlds (2005)

Originally posted on filmbrats.com

War of the Worlds (*1/2)
Review by Jon Waterman

Aliens come down from outer space and attempt a hostile takeover of our planet. They have big ships whose force fields destroy any projectiles before they even come close to the vessels, comprehensively sweeping probes so that there’s no place to hide, and deadly laser weapons that will vaporize you upon contact. All the fun stuff. But Director Steven Spielberg wants you to believe that’s just a side story. The real focus of attention is on a somewhat deadbeat dad who is forced to grow up instantly in order to save his kids (that he’s watching for the weekend) from these horrible attacks on our society. But he obviously isn’t growing much, because his ultimate goal is to travel from New Jersey to Boston where the mother is hopefully staying. Everything will be fine if we can just pass you kids off onto mommy.

Unfortunately, putting family first doesn’t exactly get the entertainment sparks flying as much as giant alien creatures with ray guns demolishing the planet. A big part of the problem is the way the relationships were handled on screen. The script, written by Josh “Chain Reaction” Friedman and the hit and miss David Koepp, tries to establish way too much backstory within the first ten minutes without actually revealing any of it. There’s so much allusion in the set-up that you almost feel like you miss something. In fact, the whole movie up to the alien invasion is extremely boring and poorly constructed to the point of being laughable…but not in the way they intended. Here’s a little tip for filmmakers young and old, comic relief should come after tense moments. Don’t blow your wads at the beginning. Glad we got that out of the way. So, on top of the horrible familial whatnot, a couple of the dad’s buddies come out of nowhere while he roams the streets. They hang around just long enough to get screen time the actors can brag to their friends about, but they don’t serve any purpose and it was off-putting to inexplicably see them and have them vanish.

There are all kinds of horrible plot points or holes to be found here. For instance, there’s a lightning storm that plants the alien ships underground, and it supposedly disrupts all electrical and almost every mechanical device. However, a few shots later, you can clearly see a man using a working camcorder. Oh, and Ray, the dad (played by Tom Cruise), apparently knows how to get a car up and running, but no other mechanics can ever figure it out? I love the convenient paths the stalled cars and rubble form for him, too. And don’t even get me started on the ending. Look, there’s a difference between a mindless action flick that allows you to become immersed in the fun and excitement of what’s going on and a stupid action flick that all but forces you to point out all the crappy flaws that draw you out of having a good time. This is pure and simple sloppiness.

One last little burst of hate before I spout off the good attributes of the film – the son character pissed me off. Robbie, played by Justin Chatwin (“Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2”), was simply a stereotypical ball of teenage angst without direction or true motivation. He was the embodiment of frustration, not only for his generation (supposedly), but also for us poor creatures watching him be an irrational tool. The rest of the acting was actually pretty good. I’m not a Cruise hater, and I think he did here what he does best, and that is staying natural. His performance is largely low key but still includes those rare bursts of awkward over-emotion that keeps him from truly being recognized as a great actor. Dakota Fanning reinforces the theory that she’s really just a robot or alien sent here to act. She’s too grown up for her age, both in her abilities and for this character. I’d have much preferred a Jonathan Lipnicki/”Jerry Maguire” type innocent than an eleven-going-on-forty-year-old kid. But, she’s a good young actress who gives another strong performance here. Morgan Freeman also enters the fray as the narrator that bookends the whole thing. As the go-to voice of God (“Bruce Almighty,” “March of the Penguins”), he wraps the whole thing up for you nice and neat, although despite my vocal request, he does not tell you what the hell happened to the son after he joins the army by literally chasing them down and hopping on their truck.

The special effects were pretty good. The gritty atmosphere lent itself well to all the dust and debris, which helped cover up any computer generated eyesores. There were a few obvious green screen compositions, but for the most part, it looked smooth. The destruction and action was virtually non-stop (except for when they were trapped in a basement trying to escape a few waves of scanning devices) and at times it was a blast to watch. You can’t go wrong with vaporizing humans. I wanted more of that. I wanted to see this type of damage and invasion on the larger scale. After all, it is “War of the Worlds,” not “War of Ray’s Family.” (Please don’t make “War of Ray’s Family.”)

The movie is about on par with “The Day After Tomorrow.” The both have the lame, pointless storyline about a father on a meaningless quest to reach another family member. And they both deal with the destruction of the world; yet glance over that very subject (which brings people into the theater to begin with). If you want to see a modern alien invasion picture that deals with the family side of things more effectively, then go see “Signs.” If you’re looking for more on the action adventure side, then “Independence Day” would be where it’s at. As far as this war goes, become a conscientious objector.

Rating: PG-13
Year: 2005
Running Time: 116 min
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Josh Friedman, David Koepp
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto