Reviews and Editing by R. Allen Leider
with CJ Henderson, Andrew Johnson and Monis Rose

August 20th , 2010

"Nanny McPhee Returns"

Struggling mother Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) receives some much-needed assistance tending to the family farm and raising a group of spirited children while her military husband (Ewan MacGregor) is fighting WWI overseas in this sequel to the whimsical 2005 fantasy comedy Nanny McPhee.

Mrs. Green lives in a scenic valley with her children Norman, Vincetn and Megsie ( Oscar Steer, Asa Butterfield and Lil Woods). They each understand the importance of working together as a family, and things are going remarkably smoothly for the rural quartet until a pair of spoiled cousins, Cyril and Celia Gray (Eros Vlahos and Rosie Taylor-Ritson) arrive for an extended stay, effectively turning the quaint little farm into a virtual zoo. As the situation quickly getting out of hand, Nannie McPhee (Emma Thompson) suddenly appears on her doorstep claiming that she can bring a much-needed sense of order to the out-of-control household. Complicating the situation is Uncle Phil ( Phys Ifans ) who has promised the farm he doesn't own to a woman to whom he owes a LOT of gambling debts. Phil will do any unscrupulous thing to get Isabel to sell the place before debt collectors Miss. Topsy and Miss Turvey (Sinead Matthews and Katy Brand) take his kidneys as an alternative payment.

In time, the mysterious helper does just that, using powerful magic to teach her young charges the importance of getting along, and gradually winning their trust in the process. Hope is present, as the sale of their piglets will pay off the tractor needed for the harvest. But when the piglets escape from their sty with the help of Uncle Phil, the contentious kids must work together to recover the family farm's most valued assets, or risk losing everything their father worked so hard to build before he went off to fight in the war.

Phil won't relent and when the dreaded yellow telegram arrives from the War Office, the kids pull out all the stops ( with considerable help from Nanny ) to prove that Dad is alive and to prevent the sale of the farm.

The Players: Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, Ralph Feinnes, and Ewan MacGregor

The Filmmakers:
Directed by Susanna White
Screenplay by Emma Thompson Based on characters in 'Nurse Matilda' created by Cristianna Brand
Released by Universal Pictures

''The Switch"

Reviewed by CJ Henderson

Well, "Eat, Pray, Love," despite the presence of Julia Roberts and a severe drought in the Ladies Movies department, did not do too well. Granted, guys by the millions flocked to the utterly brainless "The Expendables," but we do live in a world where women don’t wait around for "that special someone" to take them to the movies. They certainly proved that earlier this year when they flocked to the utterly brainless "Sex in the City 2" in record numbers. Anyway, this week Hollywood is taking another shot at separating the ladies in the audience from their hard-earned cash, so they’ve trotted out another of the all-time favorites, poor little Jennifer Aniston, the darling of hurt spinsters everywhere, victim of the hideous Branjolina monster, the thin, sexy, beautiful and ultra-rich, Greek babe that women everywhere feel sorry for and men scour the Internet for those topless bikini snaps.

Let’s get down to business.

The Story: Here Aniston plays Kassie Larson who for some reason, despite being thin, sexy and beautiful has never been married, or even had a serious relationship. Well, except with her long-time friend Wally Mars (Jason Bateman). Now, when the film opens, they’ve only known each other for six years, so even though you can tell instantly that these two are in love, and should be together, she hasn’t been waiting for him forever. What she was doing in her twenties and at least half her thirties is not his fault except that he has trouble opening is mouth and using the 'L' word.

All this time, she has been waiting for him to wake up and notice that she loves him, and since he hasn’t, she decides it’s time for her to have a baby on her own. Being modern and "with it," she doesn’t go to a hospital or clinic. No, sir. She throws a party instead, one where not only all her friends come to cheer her on, but a doctor and a 'donor' come as well. The donor Roland (Patrick Wilson ) makes his contribution, and leaves it in the bathroom. Enter Wally, drunk out of his mind, and to make a long story short, he 'accidentally' pours the contribution down the drain, and then figures the best thing to do is replace it with his own contribution. Pretty soon Kassie is pregnant, and Wally doesn’t even remember that the child is his. Conveniently for the story, Kassie decides to quit her fantastic job in television to move back to the mid-west. Bye, bye, Wally. Then, after seven years, Kassie gets a really great offer to come back to New York, and big time television. Suddenly, she is back in Wally’s life, and so is son Sebastian (Thomas Robinson).....and so is Roland because he and his cheating wife have divorced and he wants to hook up with mommy Kassie, and be in the life of the boy he thinks is his son ... oh my ... whatever will happen?

I actually found myself wishing there was something wrong with this film so I could blast it. There isn’t. The problem is, however, that there isn’t anything all that right about it, either. "Switch" is, at best, a long episode of "Friends," and not an all-that-good a one, either. It’s not anyone’s fault, really. The story just isn’t all that funny. It’s amusing. It’s cute. But, it isn’t funny. There are no real great jokes, no belly-laugh moments. Nor is it very serious. The drama is tissue-paper thin. The plot holds no surprises. There are no false turns or clever misdirections. At every moment, pretty much what you think is going to happen--happens and it’s not all that entertaining.

Pluses? Well, Jeff Goldblum as Jason’s friend and boss Leonard is a major bonus. His part is merely supporting, and no funnier than anyone else’s, but what little he does, he does so well. The same may be siad for Juliette Lewis as Kassie's BFF Debbie Also, the story takes place in New York City, and instead of using Toronto, the filmmakers really used New York, so the movie at least has the dynamic energy it should have.

It’s also a film that takes place in the modern world. I-Pods and all the rest of the electro-bric-a-brac of our brave new age are everywhere in sight, but not intrusively. For instance, when Wally gets his mail, if you’re paying attention, you notice he received his latest red NetFlix envelope. No big deal is made, no aren’t-we-clever-for-including-this product placement shot. As far as style goes, the movie has that by the bagful. Sets, locations, wardrobe, all top-notch.

While we’re talking modern, it should be noted that Jennifer Anistono certainly has a modern attitude. There is no Murphy Brownesque worrying about implications. Indeed, everyone in this film is so sophisticated that such things such as religion, the need for a father in a child’s life, the rigors of single parenthood, the importance of marriage, et cetera, are never once discussed.

What can I say? "Switch" is a harmless(?) piece of fluff. It makes no statement, leave no impact, does not deserve your time or $12.

Our final word: 2 stars out of 5.

The Players: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, and Juliette Lewis

The Filmmakers
Directed by Will Speck
Screenplay by Alan Loeb and Jeffrey Eugenides
Released by Miramax

''Pirahna 3-D"

Every year the population of sleepy Lake Victoria explodes from 5,000 to 50,000 for Spring Break; a riot of sun and drunken fun. But this year, there's something more to worry about than hangovers and complaints from local old timers; A new type of terror is about to be cut loose on Lake Victoria. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents.


The Players: Elisabeth Shue, Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Szohr, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd, Jerry O'Connell and Kelly Brook

The Filmmakers
Directed by Alexandre Aja
Screenplay by Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg
Released by Dimension Films

''Lottery Ticket "

Once more it’s time for full disclosure.

This film is about charter schools and the lotteries parents have to enter for their children to attend one of them. My daughter’s class in Brooklyn got word when she was in the 2nd grade that two spots were opening up in a special magnet school program that would emphasize hard work. They would have to pass a difficult test to even be considered for one of the spots. Almost one thousand children were registered to take that test. Think about this for a moment. We did not live in an underprivileged section of New York. The zone school my daughter attended was fine enough. And yet, nearly one thousand children’s parents felt--like my wife and myself--that any amount of trouble was worth it if we could get our child into a better classroom situation.

Our daughter did win one of the two spots. Entry into that class allowed her to move on into other NYC magnet schools, including eventually the high school which was the model for "Fame." Out in the world now, her art work has appeared in national and international magazines, on the covers of books, CDs, and DVD, and in games such as Rock Band, and television channels such as HBO. Talent is one thing, but developing is another.

This week’s film is about entire schools dedicated to achieving these kinds of results on a wide scale in Harlem. It is also about, unbelievably, the well-organized movement determined to crush such institutions. I will explain.

The Story: This documentary focuses on the 2008 lottery for spots in the Harlem Success Academy. At the very beginning, the idea of a charter school is explained. They are part of the city’s department of education. Their students must pass the same standardized tests. In fact, if their students do not perform to the city’s standards, the schools’ charter, which runs for only five years, will not be renewed.The only real difference between these schools and the regular zone schools of the city is that the charter schools do not have to comply with the rules of the United Federation of Teachers union. In other words, they must obey the laws and rules of the city, but not the union.

One would think that the teachers themselves would want what is best for their students, and maybe individual teachers do, but their union certainly does not.This unique documentary follows four families with the hopes their child will win the 2008 lottery. By focusing mainly on their goals and dreams, it pieces together why charter schools work where others do not. It also gets across a staggering amount of facts about what is happening in this country concerning education. I’ll take the time to reveal one of the more shocking ones.

One of the most chilling moments in the film comes when it is reveals how those whose job it is to make certain enough prison cells are built to house future offenders predict that number. One of their most important research tools, apparently, is the failure rates of Black and Latino male 4th and 5th graders. There you have it--your life falling into predictable patterns by the age of nine. This is a well-made documentary. As a film it is shot in a fairly straight-forward fashion. The editing is smooth and intelligent, the sound quality is strong, the limited soundtrack appropriate. There are no special effects or over-the-top transitional tricks. The purpose here is not to entertain, but to inform. This it does quite well.
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The most frightening thing about the movie is the dark shadow cast across it during those limited moments where the UFT makes one of its limited appearances. It must be mentioned that the filmmakers made numerous attempts to get the union to appear in the film, to tell their side, even make a statement. They refused categorically. That is not all that makes them appear sinister. In one scene, a union official makes blatant attempts to discredit the head of the Success program at a hearing. Then, when these don’t work, the official then tries to force the Success founder to reveal where she lives in a room filled with people hostile toward her. Again, this is not a film one goes to see to be entertained. This is the kind of movie made by those who know they won’t be walking red carpets or getting interviewed on Entertainment Tonight. It was made because a need was seen to get the truth out to the rest of the country. A country where 58% of African American 4th graders are functionally illiterate. Where only 18% of all college-ready high school graduates are Black or Latino. Well, you get the idea.

Our final word: 4 stars out of 5.

The Players: Bow Wow, Ice Cube, Brandon T. Jackson, Naturi Naughton, Mike Epps and Keith David

The Filmmakers
Directed by Eric White
Screenplay by Abdul Williams and Eric White
Released by Warner Brothers Pictures