"Jurassic World" Biiger, Louder, More Teeth

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Jurassic World” Bigger, Louder and More Teeth

By Skip Sheffield

“Bigger, louder, more teeth.” Those are the bywords of “Jurassic World.”

This is a re-boot of a franchise begun by Steven Spielberg 22 years ago in “Jurassic Park” as a revolutionary first-time blending of computer-generated images with animatronics (life-size robots created by special effects genius Stan Winston). The result was realistic-looking prehistoric dinosaurs that blew away Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra to create a new level of realism for monster movies.

“Jurassic Park” was a huge success, spawning a sequel 14 years ago and a re-release of the original in 3-D. It’s now 2015 and the disaster that befell Isla Nublar, a fictional island off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, is but a distant memory. Jurassic World is a full-tilt theme park not unlike Disney World or Universal Studios, with rides and attractions designed to extract cash from visitors.

The story, written by Rick Jaffa (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and its sequel) and director Colin Trevorrow (“Safety Not Guaranteed”) is seen through the eyes of two children: girl-crazy Zach, 16 (Nick Robinson) and brainy Gray, 11, (Ty Simpkins). The boys are bid a tearful airport farewell by their mom Karen (Judy Greer), who is facing an imminent divorce.

The boys are supposed to be looked after by Karen’s sister Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), operations director of the park. Claire is so uptight and career-focused she hires a British nanny to look after the kids, because she's too busy. In her rah-rah speeches to shareholders, Claire admits there have been a few “speed bumps” for Jurassic World. Now there is a new CEO, Masani (Infan Khan), who wants more, more. Research scientist Dr. Hendry Wu (BD Wong) is willing to give him just that; a genetically-blended monster dinosaur dubbed Indominus Rex.

Owen (Chris Pratt) is a fearless ex-Navy guy who has a way with animals. He has such a rapport with the island’s Velocirprators, he is able to communicate with them.

Add to this mix high-powered corporate honcho Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio), who sees additional profit potential in the genetically-engineered raptors. He thinks they would make a dandy substitute for human soldiers.

Jurassic Park harkens back to famous monster movies all the way back to “King Kong” in 1933, with nods to “Godzilla,” “Rodan” and others. You just know the antagonism between prim, proper Claire and rough-and-ready Owen will melt away under duress, much the same as Claire’s business dress is shredded away in crisis, like a modern-day Fay Wray menaced by King Kong.

As expected, the C-G effects are spectacular. The combat between raptors of various sizes is gruesomely realistic. The film makes fun of its corporate sponsorships with obvious product placement. Yes, “Jurassic World” is bigger, louder and with more teeth, but in the end it is nothing new. Still, it is a well-done thrill ride.

Sexy “Gemma Bovery”

If you want violence there is “Jurassic World.” If you want sex, there is “Gemma Bovery,” director Anne Fontaine’s luscious nod to Flaubert’s notorious 1856 novel, “Madame Bovary.”

British actress Gemma Arterton plays the title character; a young woman married to Charles Bovery (Jason Flemying) a rather fussy and dull furniture restorer who has decided to move to Normandy and an old farmhouse in the very location Gustave Flaubert set “Madame Bovary.”

Gemma is admired from afar by Martin Joubert (Fabrice Luchini), a well-off former Parisian who has taken over an old bakery. We see Gemma through Martin’s eyes and feel his fantasies- inspired by Flaubert’s novel. They remain just that, because Gemma’s eye catches Hervede (Niels Schneider), a wealthy young student who lives with his mother on a nearby estate. A romp ensues, uder the nose of poor Charles.

“Gemma Bovery” toes the line between comedy and drama. What Gemma is doing is wrong and we know she will pay a price, but like Martin we can’t help but stare at her adoringly. Gemma Arterton is that exquisitely beautiful.

Slow Burn Goes Out With a Bang in Boca

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Last Chance for “Little Shop” at Slow Burn

By Skip Sheffield

Slow Burn Theatre bids a fond farewell to Boca Raton with the riotous musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” continuing through June 28 at West Boca Raton High School Performing Arts Auditorium. Starting in October Slow Burn will be resident theater company of Broward Center for the Arts.

Slow Burn began very modestly five years ago in an out-of-the-way location for South Florida theatergoers, specializing in little-known or little-performed theater pieces. “Little Shop” is an exception. Based on a 1960 Roger Corman cult classic, Little Shop was rewritten for the stage in 1982 by Howard Ashman, with catchy 1950s-1960s style pop music by Alan Menkin. It ran for five years Off-Broadway.

The mood is set by the title song opener “Little Shop of Horrors,” sung by a close harmony female trio named after famous girl-groups: Ronette (Nicole Dikon), Crystal (Christina Alexander) and Chiffon (Elisa Dannielle).

Seymour Krelborn (Mike Westrich) is a born loser, literally. He was born and abandoned by his parents on Skid Row, USA (every city has one). A flower shop owner named Mr. Mushnik (Slow Burn co-founder and executive director Matthew Korinko) took pity on hapless Seymour and hired him as an assistant- though not a very good one.

Audrey (Amy Miller Brennan) makes her grand entrance into Mushnik’s shop (another wonderful design by Sean McClelland) at 2 p.m., apologizing for her tardiness. Seymour, who secretly adores Audrey, can’t help but notice she has a black eye. Audrey says she has had an accident. Seymour knows better. Most likely she has been hit by her abusive boyfriend, Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. (Shane Tanner). Orin is a sadist who wears a black leather jacket and rides a motorcycle.

Orin (and more than a half-dozen others, including Life magazine publisher Claire Boothe Luce) is the real-life husband of Amy Miller Brennan, all tarted up in tight, low-cut dresses and a platinum wig. Perhaps this real chemistry helped Amy deliver her best performance ever at Slow Burn. Her powerful voice is a natural wonder. She sells Audrey’s anguish in an uproariously funny over-the-top manner.

Audrey is the namesake of Audrey II, the infamous plant that thrives on human blood, nurtured by Seymour. The role calls for a deep male voice and director/choreographer Patrick Fitzwater found it in Geoffrey Short. The larger Audrey II puppets are manipulated by Rick Pena, who designed the period costumes as well. Andrew Gilbert leads an onstage but unseen band that includes Caryl Fantel on keyboards, Roy Fantel on percussion, Guillermo Gonzalez on guitars and Pat Ward on bass. This outfit plays rock-solid in late-1950s, early-1960s style, though most were not even born yet.

The original film was more silly than scary. That’s why the stage show is even sillier. Fitzwater has the good sense to whip through the proceedings in about 90 minutes. Clever as it is, “Little Shop” does not inspire deep thinking. It’s strictly for laughs, and laughs it delivers.

Tickets are $40 general admission and $25 students. Call 866-811-4111 or go to www.slowburntheatre.org.

“Marie’s Story” a French Helen Keller

If you are looking for something a lot more serious and heart-moving, there is the lovely French film “Marie’s Story,” directed and co-written by Jean-Pierre Ameris, and recipient of numerous awards in Europe.

The film is based on the true story of Marie Huertin, born deaf and blind in 19^th century France. Unlike Helen Keller, Marie was also a savage; subject to fits of uncontrollable rage. In desperation her parents sent her to Larnay Institute near Poitiers, France, run by the Catholic Sisters of Wisdom.

Larnay was a school for deaf girls. Since Marie was also blind and violent, the Mother Superior (Brigitte Catillon) did not want to admit her. Marie found an ally in young Sister Marguerite (Cesar Award-winner Isabel Carre), a woman of infinite patience. Sister Marguerite found a key to communicate with a 14-year-old girl locked in her world of silence and darkness. It was a small pen knife; her most cherished possession. If you need a dose of inspiration, Marie’s Story” is playing at FAU’s Living Room Theaters.

Melissa McCarthy Becomes a Star in "Spy"

------------------------------------------------------------------

Melissa McCarthy a Large Hit in “Spy”

By Skip Sheffield

Now we know. Actress/comedian Melissa McCarthy can carry a movie all by herself. You can see her in action in “Spy.” McCarthy plays a mousy, overweight security analyst in the bowels of The Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia who is allowed to go to Europe to fight villains way out of her league.

Writer/director Paul Feig worked with McCarthy in the hit 2011 comedy “Bridesmaids.”  He had the good sense to recognize an outsized talent to go along with the versatile performer’s pleasingly plus-size.

Let us count the ways Melissa McCarthy is funny. She may look demure, but she has an outrageous potty mouth. Evidently Feig encouraged her co-stars to match McCarthy F-bomb for F-bomb. This works particularly well with elegantly beautiful, refined, imperially slim Australian actress Rose Byrne, who plays bad girl Rayna Boyanov and curses like a longshoreman. The movie has a richly-deserved R-rating on language alone.

In “Spy” McCarthy is called upon to don a series of ridiculous disguises and wigs. She starts out as Susan Cooper, dowdy, dutiful drone of the CIA with a hopeless crush on hotshot agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law, cheerfully making fun of himself).

Fine goes missing early in Feig’s tall tale; on the trail of a purloined nuclear device that is said to be up for sale to the highest bidder. Susan volunteers to go undercover to recover the bomb and determine the fate of Fine.

An even more hotshot agent, Rick Ford (Jason Statham), minces no words in his contempt for Susan Cooper and the very idea she could be capable of doing what he routinely does fearlessly against all odds.

There is a whole platoon of stunt people credited at the end. No doubt many of them were assigned to cover Susan’s character, who fights like a mixed martial arts expert; pilots cars and motor scooters like Evel Knievel; clings to the landing gear of a helicopter; and flies through the air to land unscathed at sea or on land, to say nothing of dodging bullets from all manner of weapons. Susan is greatly aided in her escapades by Nancy, a fellow CIA analyst who shows up in the nick of time to save Susan’s life.

Nancy is played by Miranda Hart, a star in her own right in her native England. Hart is listed as 6-foot-1, but she appears even taller paired with relatively short McCarthy. If Feig thinks he has found a contemporary female comedy duo to emulate the comical mismatch of Laurel and Hardy, he may be on the right track.

The laughs are nearly continuous, with some groaners. Another Brit comic, Peter Serafinowicz, is hilarious as Italian rake Aldo, who can’t get enough of Susan Cooper’s ample charms. If you are looking for a no-brainer comedy that sets James Bond on his ear, this is a movie for you.

Heroes and Villains Haunt Brian Wilson's Life

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian Wilson: The Man Behind Beach Boys Music

By Skip Sheffield

Lucky me, I got to see the Beach Boys in their original lineup, with Brian Wilson onstage playing bass and singing most of the leads. It was one of my first outdoor concerts, in Fort Lauderdale, 1964, at Lockhart Baseball Stadium. The guys wore matching white pants and striped shirts and sang their hits thus far. Little did I know it was the end of an era.

Brian Wilson, principal songwriter, lyricist and visionary of the popular California pop group, quit performing in public soon after. Glen Campbell, then a studio musician, replaced him onstage until Bruce Johnston took over on a semi-permanent basis.

You can learn why Brian Wilson left his family group in the new pseudo-documentary, “Love & Mercy.” If you were never convinced what a towering talent Brian Wilson was and is, this sympathetic take should persuade you.

Directed by Bill Pohlad (“12 Years a Slave,” “The Tree of Life”), “Love & Mercy” was made with the full cooperation of Brian; the only surviving Wilson family Beach Boy, and his second and his current wife, Melinda Ledbetter.

It has often been proposed that great intelligence and fierce creativity can also be accompanied by mental problems. When a mind refuses to shut down it is difficult to sleep or even relax. Solace is often sought in alcohol and drugs to dull the senses. Brian Wilson did it all and was a lost soul for several years until he was “rescued” by an unorthodox psychotherapist named Dr. Eugene Landy. The cure proved worse than the disease. Brian was a virtual prisoner of super-controlling Landy. I hate to call him “doctor,” because he was eventually discredited and barred from practicing.

Landy is played by Paul Giamatti in a silly shag wig. It is a measure of Giamatti’s effectiveness that you just want to give him a slap.

Landy was not the only villain in Brian Wilson’s psycho-drama. First and foremost was his own father Murry, played by Bill Camp. Murry was also abusive and a control freak, and he drove his eldest son Brian relentlessly. Even after the Beach Boys had achieved great success, Murry tried to tell them how to run things; claiming his way was better. The original title of the script was “Heroes and Villains,” which is also a song by Brian Wilson. The two main heroes were Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), who became Brian’s second wife, and youngest brother Carl (Brett Davern), who agreed to sue Eugene Landy for custody of his big brother.

Sadly both of Brian’s younger brothers are dead. Drummer Dennis (Kenny Wormald) drowned in a freak boating accident in 1983 at just 39. Brian took his death very hard. Screenwriter Oren Moverman implies the death of Dennis accelerated Brian’s loss of reality. Lead guitarist Carl succumbed to lung cancer in 1998 at age 51. Carl Wilson assumed musical leadership of the group’s onstage performances when Brian withdrew.

Surviving singer Mike Love (Jake Abel) is not an out-and-out villain, but he discouraged Brian’s adventurous, experimental ideas. Al Jardine (Graham Rogers), who is alive and well and still performs as a Beach Boy, basically went along with majority rule.

In the end it is the music that endures. The most curious thing about “Love & Mercy” is that director Pohlad chose two actors to play Brian. Paul Dano is the young Brian and John Cusack is the older self. Dano somewhat resembles young Brian. Cusack does not, though he certainly is a fine actor. Screenwriter Oren Moverman was even more radical with “I’m Not There,” in which six actors of both sexes played another musical icon: Bob Dylan.

This is a minor quibble. Enjoy hits like “Surfer Girl,” “In My Room,” “God Only Knows” and “Good Vibrations,” but stay until the end to hear the real Brian Wilson sing the haunting title song.

California Disaster, French Intrigue

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dwayne Johnson Carries It All in “San Andreas”

By Skip Sheffield

If anyone can carry the weight of a movie on his shoulders, it would be the broad, beefy shoulders of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Johnson saves everyone he can save from the first few action moments in the earthquake disaster flick “San Andreas.” The movie begins with a disaster of another kind: a teenage girl texting while driving on a twisty Los Angeles mountain road. Joe (Dwayne Johnson) an LAFD helicopter pilot, is summoned by 911 to rescue the girl hanging in a cliff. After a harrowing effort that nearly crashes the copter, Joe saves the girl- all in a day’s work.

Meanwhile at Caltech, a seismologist, Dr. Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) frets that no one will listen to him concerning his promising efforts to predict impending earthquakes. “We’re 100 years overdue for a major earthquake,” he warns. Dr. Hayes detects suspicious activity in the vicinity of Hoover Dam in Nevada and dispatches an associate to the site.

So begins the first of the impressive computer-generated images of destruction of well-known landmarks. So also begins the first of the logical conundrums in Andre Fabrizio’s fanciful story and Carlton Cuse’s screenplay. Wouldn’t a 7.1 Richter scale earthquake also wreak havoc on Las Vegas, only 30 miles away? Who knows?

Instead we go back to Joe and his domestic problems. He wants to take his daughter Blake (Alexandra Dabbario) up to college in San Francisco, but his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) has agreed to let her new boyfriend, high-end real estate developer Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd, in full slime mode)  take Blake and Emma.

Meanwhile signals are even more alarming in the laboratory of Dr. Hayes. Signs of seismic activity are showing alone the entire 800-mile San Andreas Fault, which runs up the spine of California to San Francisco. This is where a disastrous 7.8 to 8.3 earthquake destroyed the City by the Bay in 1906. Dr. Hayes is predicting a 9.5 quake, which would equal the greatest ever measured, off the coast of Chile in 1960.

So Joe must rescue his wife, who has been abandoned by her cowardly boyfriend, as well as his daughter, trapped in wreckage, and her new nerdy British boyfriend Ben (Hugh Johnstone-Burt) and his kid brother.

If you like disaster movies, you will find a satisfying level of mayhem, with Joe in a rubber boat miraculously avoiding one peril after another. If you are cynical you will scoff at the Hollywood illogics of pretty women who emerge unscathed from major mishaps. Hey, it’s only a movie, and Dwayne Johnson makes a humanly appealing superhero.

Catherine Deneuve in “In the Name of My Daughter”

If you are looking for something a little classier and more mysterious, acclaimed French director André Techine delivers “In The Name of My Daughter,” a romance wrapped up in a murder mystery in the South of France in Nice.

French cinema grande dame Catherine Deneuve is Renee Le Roux, the imperious owner of a casino called Le Palais. Her estranged daughter Agnes (Adele Haenel) has just returned from Africa, penniless, and she appeals to mom for some help.

Renee’s chief advisor is a shifty lawyer named Maurice Agnelet (Guillaume Canet), who is also her lover. Maurice is quite a womanizer who has several lovers. Despite dire warnings, Agnes falls for the conniving creep.

“Name of My Daughter” will confirm all your worst suspicions about scheming, manipulative, ambitious males. Making this all the more disconcerting is the fact the screenplay is inspired by an actual missing-person scandal case in France.

Brett and Sam Take Their Act on the Road

photo by Skip Sheffield

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hanging at the New 1 Hotel South Beach with Brett and Sam 

By Skip Sheffield

You know Sam Elliot even if you haven’t seen him in countless Westerns and television movies. He’s the tall, strikingly handsome man with a big droopy moustache. If somehow you haven’t seen him you know the voice: rich, resonant and deep; the current voice of Dodge Ram commercials.

Sam Elliott and writer-director Brett Halsey came to Miami Beach recently to promote “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” Their first stop was an AARP convention, attended by more than 750 cheering people. The new day they did a round-robin series of interviews at the new 1 Hotel South Beach.

“I’m glad I was available to do it,” said Elliot, relaxing on a sofa. “I’m very fortunate to have work at all at this point in life. To work with someone like Blythe is just a bonus.”

Elliott found his own dream girl, actress Katheryn Ross, back in 1984. They have been happily married ever since.

Brett Haley, who previously co-wrote and directed “The New Year,” teamed with his producers to raise seed money with a Kickstarter program and then shot on a bare-bones budget in just 18 days. A Florida native who was raised in Pensacola and Key West, Haley would have liked to have shot in Florida, but found Los Angeles more feasible.

“This isn’t just a movie for older people,” he says. “We have discovered at screenings that kids like it too. People can find love in many ways at any age. We tried to show this in an entertaining way.”

A Dreamy Romance for Older Lovers

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s Never Too Late For Love.

By Skip Sheffield

Yes, it sounds like a cliché. A number of songs have been written based on that very sentiment.

“I’ll See You in My Dreams” is a movie based on a similar theme, but it is no cliché. It is written and directed by Brett Haley, a man nowhere near his golden years (he’s still in his 30s). Haley had the good sense to cast two of the best-looking post-65 actors and a potent supporting cast to prove love in the autumn of life can be every bit as moving as first love.

Carol Peterson (Blythe Danner) is a 70-something widow living alone in Southern California. One morning when she awakes she notices her beloved dog Hazel is not well. A trip to the veterinarian brings bad news: the dog is terminally ill and should be put down.

Carol is practical enough to recognize the inevitable, but still she can’t help feeling blue about losing the closest friend since her husband died in a plane crash some 20 years ago.

Carol gets some solace from her chatty, supportive friends, all whom live in a senior facility called Royal Oaks (which is a real-life 55-up California facility). She also makes a new friend in Lloyd (Martin Starr), her pool boy and a perennial college student who doesn’t quite know what he wants from life.

One day when visiting her friends at Royal Oaks after they encouraged her to make a comic but disastrous attempt at speed-dating, Carol makes eye contact with a handsome white-haired stranger. Her friends are impressed. They know who Bill is: the resident dream boat.

Bill (Sam Elliott) is a carefree, wealthy, divorced man who has moved from Dallas to Los Angeles to enjoy life a bit more. He does not beat around the bush. He likes Carol and she likes him. After a trip on his motor yacht the two septuagenarians get quite cozy.

Enough of the plot. Supporting players Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place and June Squibb provide reliable laughs. Malin Akerman adds a touch of drama as Carol’s estranged daughter reunited. Martin Starr contributes surprising chemistry in an unlikely relationship.

Blythe Danner is best known these days as Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom. It is good to see her on the big screen showing off where her Academy Award-winning daughter got her chops.