Reverend's Reviews: Island Princess

While watching the historical epic Princess Kaiulani (opening today in LA and NYC), I was reminded of one of those paint-by-numbers templates I occasionally used as a child. I just had to fill in the fairly simple outline with the various assigned colors. Once finished, though, it usually made for a painting that I was pleased with and that my dear Mom thought lovely.

Such is the case with Princess Kaiulani. The film reduces the complex story of the usurpation of the Hawaiian monarchy by the US government during the 1890's to a streamlined, Reader's Digest version of real-life events. However, it is a gorgeous, worthwhile re-telling thanks to a fine cast; top-notch art direction; a beautiful, mostly piano score by Stephen Warbeck; and Gabriel Beristain's ravishing cinematography.

When American settlers launched an uprising against Hawaii's ruling family in 1888, the king sent his niece, Princess Victoria Kaiulani Cleghorn, to England for her safety as well as for a good education. The princess was the daughter of the king's sister and her husband, a Scotsman named Archibald "Archie" Cleghorn. A few years later, after the king died and his sister was placed under house arrest, Kaiulani was summoned back to Hawaii in a hopeful effort to work with the Americans and preserve as many Hawaiian traditions and rights as possible. During the course of her exile, Kaiulani fell in ill-fated love with a British man and met US president Grover Cleveland.

Award-winning actress Q'orianka Kilcher, best known as Pocahontas opposite Colin Ferrell as John Smith in Terrence Malick's 2005 film The New World, plays Kaiulani as the very picture of grace under pressure. The multi-ethnic Kilcher has matured into a lovely young woman and remains a refreshingly naturalistic actress. Leo Anderson Akana is wonderful in her few but powerful scenes as Kaiulani's aunt, the deposed queen. Will Patton (who memorably played Gene Hackman's assistant/lover in 1987's No Way Out) is effective as conflicted US-appointed governor of Hawaii, Sanford Dole. Unfortunately, Barry Pepper (of the infamous Battlefield Earth — which is not mentioned in his cast bio — and the more reputable Flags of Our Fathers) doesn't fare as well in the one-note role of the conniving Lorrin Thurston, who led the American imperialist effort to take over Hawaii. (At the end of the film, a card informs viewers that President Clinton signed a Congress-approved "Apology Resolution" to the people of Hawaii for the US's actions).

The straightforward screenplay of Princess Kaiulani was written by Marc Forby, who also makes an assured directorial debut. The film is handsomely produced by a team that includes Nigel Thomas (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) and Lauri Apelian, who has produced several movies based on the works of gay horror writer Clive Barker.

Kaiulani was able to accomplish much for the Hawaiian people, including the right to vote, prior to her death at age 23. The princess's fierce devotion to her subjects was put to the test by her would-be husband, to whom she responded, "Do you think you mean more to me than my country?" Even if her life and times would be better suited for miniseries treatment than a 100-minute feature, this testament to the young leader's courage is better than nothing at all.

UPDATE: Princess Kaiulani is now available on DVD from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Reverend's Reviews: Heavier Metal

I wasn't all that impressed with 2008's first big-screen adventure of the classic Marvel Comics character Iron Man, but was looking forward somewhat to its just-released sequel due to the cast additions of Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson (Don Cheadle is also new, replacing the reportedly too expensive Terrence Howard).

I was pleased to find Iron Man 2 an improvement in almost every way, most notably in a better screenplay (by Justin Theroux) that takes things more seriously and not as jokingly as I felt the first movie did to its detriment. While Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man is still able to slip in plenty of one-liners and double entendres, his character also has to confront his through-the-roof narcissism, worsening dependence on alcohol, and the increasingly short life expectancy of his super-powered heart.

Cue Rourke as the villainous Ivan Vanko, the vengeful son of a Russian physicist who was discredited and died in squalor thanks to Tony's late father, Howard. The elder Stark is shown in Super 8 flashbacks as a Disney-esque designer planning a "City of the Future" not unlike Epcot (to drive home the allegory, one half of Uncle Walt's songwriting Sherman Brothers wrote the project's theme song, which is played in full over the movie's end credits). With the aid of energized whips that can slice through anything, Vanko first crashes a Monaco auto race in which Tony is driving and later, with the assistance of smarmy weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (a gleeful Sam Rockwell) and an army of destructive drones, the massive Stark Expo that Tony has built largely as a tribute to his dad.

It's a nice, recovery-oriented touch that Vanko wears a helmet that reads "Intervention" as he makes mincemeat of Tony's car during the race. He indeed serves as a rude wake-up call to Tony to start getting his life together. There is some largely unnecessary, heavy-handed dialogue between the two about fathers and legacies scattered throughout the screenplay; these powerful nemeses have enough internal demons to contend with after all.

Rourke is great and seems to be having fun in his big-budget bad guy turn. Also fine is Johansson (who is knockout gorgeous to boot as a personal assistant/secret agent keeping tabs on Stark) as well as his former assistant — and new Stark Industries CEO — Pepper Potts. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper, and was presumably happy to find her character better developed this time around and her interactions with Tony more intelligent. Paltrow is also more beautiful here than she's ever been.

The larger-scale special effects also seem an improvement over the first Iron Man and, while there is no shortage of explosions and mayhem during the sequel's climax, our hero comes across here as less violent and more truly devoted to peace.

While fanboys and kids may be disappointed by the more complex, somewhat cerebral goings-on in Iron Man 2, I have only words of appreciation for the filmmakers. They've achieved what ought to be the hallmark of all sequels: a deepening of the characters and their relationships rather than an audience-pleasing "more of the same."

UPDATE: Iron Man 2 is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Reverend's Reviews: I Love Phillip Morris, Too

There is no shortage of penises in the delightful, gay-centric comedy I Love You Phillip Morris. While the movie doesn’t feature full-frontal male nudity, it does boast anatomically correct fruit arrangements, cloud formations and pencil drawings. It also spotlights big-name actors Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as real-life gay lovers. Sadly, the film, which was scheduled for theatrical release on April 30, has been delayed to July 30 due to overwrought marketing concerns over its controversial storyline.

One might incorrectly deduce from the movie’s title that it is a cinematic homage to the patron saint of cigarette smokers. Instead, it weaves the too-bizarre-to-be-believed but true tale of Steven Russell (played by Carrey), a formerly heterosexual, married, fundamentalist Christian policeman who became an openly gay, reformation-proof con man in the wake of a near-death experience. During the first of what would be several prison terms, Russell fell in love with a fellow inmate by the name of Phillip Morris (McGregor).

Russell becomes intent on freeing himself and Morris so they can live happily ever after together. He studies law while in prison and, following his own release, passes himself off as an attorney. Once Russell gets Morris out, the pair enjoys an extravagant lifestyle funded by money Russell is siphoning from the company at which he is employed — incredibly — as Chief Financial Officer.

This sets off a continuous pattern for Russell of getting caught and re-sentenced to prison only to escape through an ingeniously engineered plan in an effort to reunite with Morris. Realizing how boundless Russell’s deceit can be, Morris avoids him … until, that is, Russell employs the ultimate tactic to win his beloved back.

The tone of I Love You Phillip Morris is unexpectedly sunny given the prison setting and its lead character’s general lack of morals. It is also frequently hilarious, none more so than when Morris gushes, “That is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me!” to Russell shortly after learning his paramour arranged the brutal beating of another inmate who was grating on Morris’s nerves. There is also a very funny scene involving a neighboring prisoner whom Russell secures to “serenade” him and Morris during a romantic evening together, cellblock rules be damned.

Carrey and McGregor give wonderful, no-holds-barred performances. Interestingly, Carrey is at his most sincere here playing a thoroughly insincere person. They also get great support from Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) as Russell’s compassionate wife and Rodrigo Santoro (who played the buff, nearly naked Xerxes in 300) as his pre-incarceration partner who, sadly, died of AIDS.

McGregor, no stranger to gay/bisexual roles, has said of his work on I Love You Phillip Morris: “I like it because it’s a gay film, which is to say it’s a film about two men in love, and I think that’s an important element of it. I also got to French kiss Jim Carrey a lot, and I quite like that too.” McGregor has been quite outspoken — admirably so — in defense of the movie’s more graphic sexual content, some of which has been edited out of the final cut.

I Love You Phillip Morris marks the successful directorial debut of screenwriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who previously wrote Bad Santa and the 2005 remake of The Bad News Bears. While their latest, which is based on a book about Russell by Texas journalist Steven McVicker, includes the cynical, sometimes shocking bluntness that characterizes their earlier films, it is a pleasant surprise to discover how good-natured and genuinely romantic this movie is. That both Ficarra and Requa are heterosexual men makes their fearlessness at delving into a star-crossed gay relationship all the more impressive, although Requa did joke in a Los Angeles Times interview that “(Ficarra and I) spend so much time together that in many ways we have a very successful same-sex relationship.”

Some mainstream moviegoers may find the film’s plot, sex scenes and unapologetically gay sensibility off-putting. However, French audiences and Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand were so impressed by Carrey’s and McGregor’s chemistry in I Love You Phillip Morris that the actors were named knights in France’s prestigious National Order of Arts and Letters in February of this year. The film also met with an enthusiastic response from audiences at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Alas, most will have to wait until July to actually see it!

UPDATE: I Love You Phillip Morris is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

MD Poll: As Seen on TV

With movie versions of The A-Team, MacGruber and Sex and the City set to debut in the coming months, the latest MD Poll takes a look back at the best of the "boob tube-to-big screen" adaptations and asks, "What is your favorite movie based on a TV series?"

Aim your remote control at the choices found in the poll located in the right hand sidebar and make your selection. And be sure to tune back in on June 5 for the results!

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.