The title, “Son of Rambow,” did not appeal to me when I first heard about this film.  It sounded “artsy,” which was made more prominent by the fact that it came out of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it was a hit.  Although the title was questionable, I kept an open-mind about the film and hoped it would have the same creativity as films such as “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” which were also seen at Sundance before their box office releases.  The creativity was in this film without a doubt, but there was little substance until nearly the end of the movie.   

“Son of Rambow” is set in 1980’s England, a time when block cell phones were still in existence (“The Brick” as I would refer to it!), as you will see in the film.  As the movie begins, we are given a first glance at the young Lee Carter (Will Poulter), as he is watching a film in a darkened theater with cigarette and camera in hand (for pirating purposes).  This scene makes us cognoscente of the fact that we are doing the same thing as Carter (minus the pirating): staring at a movie screen and being immersed in the lives of the characters.  The plot unfolds when Carter fatefully meets William Proudfoot (Bill Milner) one day at school, and bullies him into being a stuntman in his film, which he hopes to enter in a contest.  The film that Carter conjures up is based on “First Blood,” and is given more depth when Will contributes his own storyboard to the movie.  In addition to the two boys, French exchange students are also involved in the filmmaking process.  The role of Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk), the most popular French exchange student, was a true gem in this film, from his clothing and boots, to his persona. 

Will is a part of the Plymouth Bretheren faith, which bans him from being exposed to any sort of media.  This censorship makes Will overly imaginative, and he becomes susceptible to finding other means of fulfilling the creative void in his life.  He draws storyboards on walls and makes “flip books” as his only form of entertainment.  Will ironically meets Lee (the mastermind behind the movie project), while sitting outside of his classroom because he is not allowed to watch the documentary film being shown to his peers.         

Self-reflexivity is prevalent in “Son of Rambow”.  We are made to feel conscious of our role as viewers.  This production element, as applied to this film in particular, prompts an appreciation in the audience that we have access to watching film, unlike Will. 

The virtues of friendship, family, and brotherhood are important themes in this film.  The relationship between Will and Lee is heartening and adds meaning to the term “blood brothers”.  The importance of family is of utmost priority, and the movie depicts how families can come together in even the most chaotic of circumstances.   

The 411 Fo’ Reel:  This movie tests your patience, but in the end, as the melodrama unexpectedly unfolds, you will be rewarded.  Either you connect with this movie or you don’t.

When I think of “Indiana Jones,” the first thing that comes to mind is… Disneyland!  Each time I visit the Magic Kingdom, I get carried away in its euphoric environment.  I am given a reality check though, when I have to stand in those ridiculously long lines just to experience a couple-minute thrill ride.  Nevertheless, I will always wait in line for the “Indiana Jones Adventure”.  For you Disney regulars out there, you may remember the part in the ride where a gigantic boulder is heading towards you, then all of a sudden the vehicle you’re in jolts back a bit, then dips downward going full throttle to avoid the boulder.  Well, like all rides in make-believe land, the boulder is not really going to crush you, but time and again that is the one part in the ride that gets my heart pumping.  That feeling of adventure and vulnerability was what I wanted to experience in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” directed by Steven Spielberg – and you know what?  I surely was not disappointed. 

When the movie opens, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is held hostage by the KGB, then escapes.  The next part shows him teaching a college class, when he is interrupted to learn that the FBI is after him.  He then changes into his Indy garb and jumps on a train, where he looks out his window to find Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) requesting his attention.  Jones and the kid head to a diner where they hash out the details of the adventure to come, and the movie gets going as they try to find the crystal skull and return it to its intended home.   

The one thing that I wondered about before heading into this movie was if Harrison Ford would be able to keep up with his character as Indiana Jones, because he has aged since the last movie.  I guess the filmmakers felt the same way I did and made it an issue in the film, with disclaimers inserted wherever they could poke fun at his age.  At the beginning of the movie, Jones says, “…not as easy as it used to be… we were younger, we had guns.”  Mutt also makes a few comments, which include: “You know for an old man you’re not bad in a fight, what are you, like 80?”  He also urges Jones to hop on his motorcycle when he says, “Get on, gramps!”  I sensed an insecurity about Jones’ physical state throughout.  However, Ford kept up and his age just made him look all the more wiser. 

The movie is set in 1957, which was validated by the old-fashioned looking title sequence.  But c’mon, with the technology and handy special effects in the film industry today, there is no way the movie is going to have the raw authenticity of a 1957 classic, like “12 Angry Men” starring Henry Fonda.  The movie was trying too hard to look old, which was more obvious at the beginning of the film.  Once the scene shifts to the caves and the waterfalls, the year does not seem to matter much. 

The 411 Fo’ Reel:  The action in this movie was incredible and kept my attention.  I loved this movie!  You have to see it if you are an Indy fan.

My 7-year-old brother, Landon, begged me to take him to watch “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”.  Ever since the previews were shown on the Disney Channel weeks ago, he has been counting down the days until its opening.  He enjoyed “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and had high expectations for this movie.  So, in “good sister” style, I decided to placate his desire to be mesmerized once again with the characters in C.S. Lewis’ books. 

The movie begins as a baby boy is born, son of King Miraz.  Prince Caspian needs to die in order for the newborn to take over the throne.  In trying to escape, Prince Caspian gets hold of the “horn” and blows it to summon the Pevensie siblings.  They return to Narnia to help Prince Caspian restore freedom and peace to the land, along with Aslan and others.  The simplicity of the plot was complicated by the factual details.  Maybe if I had read the novel before seeing this movie, I would have been more well-informed about intricacies of the storyline. 

The duration of the film was 2 hours and 24 minutes, but seemed much longer, which was validated by Landon whispering to me every five minutes: “I told you it was three hours long”.  The first hour unveiled the plot, consisted of a re-cap of important information from the first movie, and provided time for the Narnians to assemble.  The second hour officially starts the core of the action. 

The comic relief was incredible in this film.  Just as the movie was going into intense dramatization mode, the hilarious mouse would appear and throw out a funny line or two.  Ah, yes, the mouse… I think the mouse was the funniest part of the movie (I’m not sure if this was an original character from the book or if this creature was formulated for comical purposes?).  However, the mouse somehow was an eyesore and did not blend into the “Narnian” feel of the movie.  The mouse came right out of “Stuart Little” for sure! 

The 411 Fo’ Reel:  The special effects are worth seeing, as well as the beautiful settings in New Zealand.  The first movie was better, and if you can tolerate the length of this movie, then go for it!  The kids might learn some life lessons, for instance: “A common enemy unites even the oldest of foes.” 

Here are a couple of questions I posed to myself when I left the theater, which made me wonder if the film accurately portrayed the book, or if the filmmakers went off on their own tangent to include every possible version of a derived fantasy world and threw it all into the melting pot: 

1)  How old were the Pevensie siblings when they went back to Narnia and why did they still look so young?  Supposedly the siblings were thousands of years old when they returned to Narnia…

2)  Why was there such an inconsistency in the way the Narnians looked?  You have some with a half-horse, half-human body, others who were dwarfs… the list goes on… 

The Big Island Film Festival, held in Kona, started yesterday at the Waikoloa Beach Resort’s Queen’s Marketplace and ends on May 18th.  You can get all the details at www.BigIslandFilmFestival.com. 

For those of you who are at the Festival, feel free to leave comments on the films you watched or are planning on viewing in the days ahead.  Mahalo!

Ahhh… “Mom”… the one person who you know is always right about everything (well, most of the time anyway).  Throughout film and television, there are many different roles and characteristics that have defined “mom” over the years.  In cinema, the 1950’s version of the mother in her apron has evolved to include other depictions that are less conventional but more relevant to modern-day society.  Let’s look at the many faces of “mom” in film and on the tube:  

Far From Heaven (Clear Blue Sky Productions, 2002)  “The Conventional Mom”  Julianne Moore plays a stereotypical mom in this not-so-conventional film that also stars Dennis Quaid.  Moore’s character is a homemaker who finds out her husband is homosexual, which puts an end to the typical 1950’s mom role for Moore, and adds an element of deviance. 

Because I Said So   (Gold Circle Films, 2007)  “The Overbearing Mom” Diane Keaton is splendid in this film, as we witness her obsession with finding her daughter, played by Mandy Moore, the right man.  She is just short of psychotic as she plays an overly caring mother to her daughters.   

Psycho (Paramount Pictures, 1960)  “The Ghost Mom”  Norman Bates dresses as his mother while the audience peers into the upstairs bedroom throughout the film.  At the end, Norman takes on the role of his mother and speaks in her voice, which is creepy, but makes you wonder what kind of childhood he endured. 

American Pie (United Artists, 1999)  “The ‘I Still Got It’ Mom”  Stifler’s mom in this film is the envy of all of her son’s friends.  She has an above average sex appeal for a woman her age, and is still workin’ it after all those years of raising her son.  This movie coined the term “milf,” which will be left to interpretation! 

Brothers and Sisters (ABC, 2007) “The ‘Keepin’-It-All-Together’ Mom” Sally Field plays Nora Walker, who learns about her husband’s secret affair and illegitimate daughter after he dies in the pilot episode.  She is the epitome of a worried mom, who is always there for her family.  Nora seems overly involved in her childrens’ lives, but her tough spirit keeps her family together through the hard times. 

Gilmore Girls (The WB, 2007)  “The ‘Best Friend’ Mom”  Although in syndication on The ABC Family Channel, Gilmore Girls was a WB hit a few years back.  Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter, Rory, shared a bond that could not be hindered.  The hip Lorelai is the “cool” mom who could talk to her daughter about everything and vice versa. 

John & Kate Plus 8 (Discovery Health Channel, 2008)  “The ‘I Have Multiples’ Mom”  Kate Goslin has a set of sextuplets and twins.  Despite the incomprehensible number of children she has to care for, she was blessed with organizational skills and an “in control” attitude.  Her love of family is obvious and her keen sense of parenting is remarkable. 

The Duggars (Discovery Health Channel, 2008)  “The “I Like Being In Labor” Mom”  Last I read, Michelle Duggar is pregnant with her 18^th child.  That is absolutely insane!  The Duggars are a sort of eccentric bunch, but overall, they are a disciplined gang with untainted morals. 

Happy Mother’s Day!       

From the start of the movie, the storyline in “Redbelt” seemed a little elusive.  It started off on a dreary tone, which made it all the more somber with the cliché pouring rain in the background.  The film basically pinned two components against each other as the underlying theme: the pureness of mixed martial arts vs. the commercialization of fighting. 

Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ojiofor) is the head of Southside Jiu Jitsu Academy and places a high value on the purity of mixed martial arts.  He does not believe in fighting competitively because he claims it ruins the essence of the art.  He teaches his skills to others so they may “prevail” when combat is needed for personal protection.  Money is the recurring motif in this film which ruins the lives of many, and ultimately, plagues fighting at the commercial level.  Mike gets involved with bad business and is sucked into a domino-effect reaction that deals with issues of loyalty, suicide, corruption, and honor. 

Joe Ryan (Max Maritini) plays a cop who is extremely dedicated to the academy and earns his black belt.  Joe is an ideal student in the eyes of Mike, who does everything to help him in his personal life, but ironically ends up destroying Joe at the same time.  Joe earns meager wages as a cop, which is the root of his eventual demise.   

A noteworthy character in the film is the lawyer who was a rape-victim, played by Emily Mortimer.  Her name in the film is not important because she is symbolic of the general population of individuals who are victims of crimes.  Mortimer’s acting is remarkable and her sense of fear and rage is chilling. 

I have two qualms about this film.  The first of which is: just as the plot was swelling, there would be some elements in the storyline that was distracting because it just did not parallel the realistic goals of the film.  For instance, the entire part of the film that dealt with the moviestar Chet Frank (Tim Allen) seemed like the wrong puzzle piece to make this movie work.  The second problem was that the novelty of the “redbelt” was only mentioned passively throughout the movie, and ends up making a huge statement at the end of the film.  The symbolism of the belt could have been more potent in order for the closing of the film to have meaning for the viewer.  It reminded me of the term “Rosebud” in the film “Citizen Kane” (one of the best films ever made) as its symbolism lacked any context until the end of the movie, which still elicited confusion among audiences. 

The 411 Fo’ Reel: If you want to watch some fighting sequences, go see it.  It’s a heavy film with great acting, especially by Chiwetel Ojiofor.  I was not a fan of the storyline because they tried to do too much with it, which led to a sort of attention deficit on the main intentions of the film.

Calling all McDreamy fans!  “Made of Honor” surely does not disappoint if you are infatuated with Patrick Dempsey, but there is so much more to love about this movie than Grey’s Dr. Shepard.  Dempsey’s character, Tom, plays the Maid of Honor to his best friend Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), hence the correlation with the title.  The movie was somewhat cliché in that there is a last minute attempt by a male to steal the bride away from her fiancé before they say their “I dos”.  However, there is a refreshing element that Dempsey and Monaghan bring to the film, especially because their on-screen chemistry is purely magical.

The movie begins in 1998, as Tom and Hannah meet at Cornell University.  The concept of their first encounter might be familiar to college coeds who have been to one-too-many alcohol-induced parties.  Tom, dressed as Bill Clinton for a Halloween bash, enters a dorm room where he is supposed to rendezvous with a woman named Monica (I was enthused with the political reference here), but he accidentally gets into bed with her roommate, Hannah.  Although a strange first meeting for both, Hannah instantly intrigues Tom with her quick-witted sarcasm and intelligence.  After Hannah puts him in his place, she and Tom become best friends.  Fast forward ten years to the present, when the almost-thirty Hannah meets her fiancé on a trip to Scotland.  Tom becomes the Maid of Honor and “one of the girls” as he is now in the bridal party. 

Tom formulates rules which governs his relations with women and makes him the epitome of a man who is not turned on by the notion of marriage.  He claims he has the best of both worlds.  He sleeps around, yet he has Hannah to fulfill his need for a meaningful relationship.  The movie makes a point about what males really want in a woman: substance.  Despite the unlimited number of women Tom can get, there is only one woman that satisfies his emotional cravings. 

The camera breaks the 180 degree rule in filmmaking during the restaurant scene where Tom unexpectedly meets Colin for the first time.  The camera spins around and around as Tom is going insane while listening to how the newly engaged couple met.  The camerawork draws the audience in as we experience the utter frustration Tom is enduring.  His desperation is humanizing and reinforces universal truths about love.

The 411 Fo’ Reel:  I absolutely loved this movie!  You will be rooting for Tom as he yearns to be with Hannah.  The guys will learn a few romance pointers from watching the movie, and women, you will be romanticized by the refined Dempsey.  

F.Y.I… I think it’s apparent that I like chick flicks!  I promise to watch something of a different genre for the next movie.