Movie Favorites: 'Little Miss Sunshine'

Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

First Released: August 18, 2006

Main Characters:

Olive (Abigail Breslin)

Sheryl (Toni Collette)

Richard (Greg Kinnear)

Grandpa (Alan Arkin)

Dwayne (Paul Dano)

Frank (Steve Carrell)

Runtime: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Rated: R for language, some sex and drug content

"Little Miss Sunshine" is why I prefer indie movies to big budget blockbusters: they can produce a film that I will laugh at consistently every time I watch it. This type of film relies more on the humor of the characters than slapstick tricks that big budget films do.

The film is about a family of characters who could, at the very least, be described as dysfunctional. There's the dad, who is a motivational speaker with a mildly successful nine-step program to success, a heroin-addicted grandfather, a son who has taken a vow of silence after reading the works of Nietzche, a gay uncle who has tried to unsuccessfully commit suicide, a chubby little girl who longs to compete in beauty pageants, and a mom who is trying to hold the whole family together. Yes, these characters seem very oddball, and perhaps the typical family does not have this much dysfunction. However, to me at least, these characters are very endearing.

Though with all of their quirks they may not seem like they would get along very easily, they end up rallying together during a roadtrip from New Mexico to California so little Olive can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. (You see, Olive had placed second in the regional contest, Little Miss Chili Pepper, but when the winner, who was originally set to go to Little Miss Sunshine, was forced out because of diet pill use, Olive was able to take her place). Not all of the family members wanted to go on the trip with Olive and her parents, especially Dwayne, the moody teenager. However, Dwayne could not be the only one to take care of his uncle, post-suicidal Frank, while the others went on the trip, so the two had to go along. Grandpa, who had cleared his mind long enough to teach Olive a rather interesting (as you will find at the end of the film) dance routine insists he has to go along because he taught Olive her moves.

The family, who is on a budget due to Richard's failing nine-step program, cannot afford to fly to California, so they take their rickety yellow VW bus on the trip. The bus constantly breaks down, providing for the usual roadtrip movie hilarity. However, it is more how these dysfunctional characters handle these breakdowns and the stress of making it to California on time that provides the real meat of this film.

Because these characters provide such a hilarious, but heartwarming soul to this film, I give "Sunshine" ****/****

I'm dreaming of a midsummer's night

Theatre: Mary L. Welch Theater, Lycoming College

Main Characters:

Theseus, Oberon,

Hippolyta, Titania,

Philostrate, Puck,

Egeus,

Hermia, Lysander
Helena, Demetrius

Director: Grechen Lynne Wingerter

Seeing "A Midsummer's Night Dream" at my college was the first time I can say that I have watched a Shakespeare play on stage. Sure, I had read the Bard's works in high school (one, for better or worse, every year), but had somehow missed out on the opportunity to see the plays in their natural place on stage. After seeing this production, though, I probably won't be back to the theater to see another Shakespeare. It's just as confusing to watch as it is to read.

Now, I am not saying that the performance I saw turned me off to Shakespearean theater; the fine student actors at my school were excellent as usual, and the production was also its usual quality work so I will leave my critique just to the play instead.

"Dream" is about four young lovers from Athens (Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius) and their interactions with a duke and duchess named Theseus and Hippolyta and the fairies who inhabit a moonlit, rolling fog-covered forest nearby. According to Wikipedia, this is one of Shakespeare's most-performed plays worldwide. I, however, knew nothing about it.

I was confused most by the three stories that intertwined in the play. The first was Egeus's daughter Hermia having to marry the man her father chose, Demetrius. According to an ancient Athenian law, a daughter must marry the man her father chooses for her. Hermia is in love with a man named Lysander, so the two run away and elope. The next story involves the fairy king Oberon and his wife Titania. Oberon is estranged from Titania because she will not hand over a changeling child for Oberon to use as one of his henchman, so at her refusal he asks the mischievous Puck to put a spell on Titania so she will fall in love with one of the forest's not so cute little animals. This turns out to be a man whose head is transformed by Puck into that of a donkey's. His name is Nick Bottom and he had wandered into the forest while rehearsing for a play with his fellow low-class laborers, called the Rude Mechanicals.

These stories intertwine, but they just seem so random. A duke and duchess, some fairies and some laborers. It turns out that the fairy part is only a dream, but still confusing nontheless. What thew me off the most was the part with the young lovers and the duke and duchess. The production had them wearing modernized American suits. At first I could not believe that these were the costumes that the actors had been chosen to wear. Surely my school had enough money to splurge for authentic-looking Greek clothing from around Shakespeare's era. However, after a little Internet research, I found that Shakespeare's plays can easily be set in any era, which would explain the suits, but as weird as it sounds, I was still expecting a little tights wearing from the men of the play.

Perhaps it's my total unfamilarity of the play that threw me off. If I had seen another Shakespeare that I had read in high school like "Romeo and Juliet" (bad example--R and J has been so overused that even someone who has never heard of Shakespeare could follow it--let's say "Macbeth") that I could have enjoyed it more. It's not to say that it was a terrible story, just a little unusual, especially for the little I have seen of Shakespeare's work. Like I said, the school put on a good production, but I think I'll stay away from Shakespearean theater until I have to take another literature class that inevitably will dig him up again.

I spy a genre of classic movies

The 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s seemed to be full of some type of spy/detective movie, whether it was the classic police inspector with his faithful sidekick (a takeoff on the old Sherlock and Holmes) or a comedy caper where an unlikely hero solves the mystery. There were so many of those types of films that a few parodies were made as well (think "Murder by Death").

I had a film seminar last year in which we watched "Murder by Death" and a film in the series about detective Hercule Poirot called "Evil Under the Sun." I've always liked a good mystery, but I am hesitent to watch these detective movies because they always seem to make the detective a bumbling fool, whose sidekick is the smarter and more cunning one who solves the mystery for them (or at least is willing to give the credit to the detective). Not that I don't love the show, but this must be why "Inspector Gadget" is so popular. I always felt bad Gadget's niece, Penny who was his faithful sidekick.

However, with "Murder" and "Evil," I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I did not know much about Agatha Cristie's Poirot character, who was the star of "Evil," Peter Ustinov played him sharply. He is a man who asked all the right questions and did his own detective work, thank you very much.

"Murder" was very funny and had a lot of famous faces: Maggie Smith, Peter Sellers (playing an Asian man) and "In Cold Blood" author Truman Capote, who played the owner of the mansion where the other characters stayed and where the mayhem ensued.

For one being a serious take on mysteries, and the other being a more humorous take, I highly recommend these films for people who love the gamut of the mystery genre.

Best and Worst TV Comebacks

It's not very often that I post news about television on this blog; in fact, this may be the first time that the small screen is mentioned here. I certainly watch enough television to have warranted quite a few blogs, but I can admit that most of what I watch is considered trashy TV: reality shows, sleazy competitions, no talent.

I cannot deny, though, the connection between the movies that I usually post about and television: many well-known movie stars have gottent their start by people seeing them in their living rooms once a week. George Clooney started on "ER," Johnny Depp starred as a 20-something cop in "21 Jumpstreet." Many, like Clooney, have returned to their small screen roots while not compromising their A-list status. However, some stars are stuck in the dregs of the television doom.

A zap2it.com article on the subject of TV comebacks name Clooney being back in the ER and bad girl Shannen Doherty's character Brenda Walsh on the spinoff show "90210" as being much anticipated comebacks, others in TV history have not fared so well.

Not so great comebacks were Tracey Gold in the series "Growing Pains" final episode. Gold, who'd had long struggles with her weight had checked herself into treatment for an eating disorder midway through the final season. When she came back for the final episode, she was a little worse for wear. Patrick Duffy, star of "Dallas" had walked out of his contract midway through the last season, leaving writers to scramble to fill in the holes where his character was. He returned for the final episode, making the whole season a dream, and fans were left disappointed.

Standing in the middle was David Duchovny as Fox Mulder on "The X Files." Duchovny had left the show due to his rising film career and Mulder was said to have been in hiding. He did return as a fugitive in the big-screen adaptation for the series, though. The making of this adaptation and possibly others proves that while Duchovny leaving the show was a disappointment for fans, his return opens up more possibilities for the series.

To see even more good and bad TV comebacks, click here.

Films stuck in development

Dozens of films get released every year, some of which can be added as significant contributions to film history, others are ones that audiences and critics alike wish have never been made. The website totalfilm.com lists seven films that have been stuck in "development hell" for quite some time. The most prominent of these films seems to be "The Brazilian Job," the sequel to the 2003 film "The Italian Job," starring Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, and Mark Wahlberg, and is about a gang of robbers who create the largest traffic jam ever in Los Angeles in order to pull off a gold heist. In "Brazilian," the same group of theives will travel to Rio de Janiero to try to pull off another heist. The film has a purported release date in 2011, but no definitive date has been set yet. Apparently, the movie is stuck because of trying to get the stars' schedules to coincide with one another. They all want to do the sequel, but are involved with other projects.

Other films on the list of seven from totalfilm.com include movie adaptations of books like Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." The director of the film "The Green Mile," Frank Darabont, has been attached to this project, as at one point, did his star, Tom Hanks, to play the main character.

Others still are futuristic like another book-to-movie adaptation, "Rendezvous with Rama" (about a space vessel arriving in the solar system and whose exploration makes revelations about man's destiny),which actor Morgan Freeman has been trying to get on the screen for six years. The list also includes comedies like "A Confederacy of Dunces," which Will Ferrell could star in, and fantasies like "The Sandman" from "Coraline" author Neil Gaiman.

No matter what genre they are, or what reason they still have for being still "in-development," I wish Hollywood could get whatever is needed and make these films happen. Even though many are adaptations (although, there are few films that haven't been adapted from something), they seem more original than the tired ideas that are out there now. I suggest they stop writing scripts about singing princesses or creating big budgets with car chases and explosions and focus on these more creative ideas.

For the entire list of the seven films, including their current status, a synopsis, and Total Film's ideas to get them off the ground (as well as the revelation that "Ghostbusters 3" has apparently been floating around movie studios for some time as well), click here.

Unusual stage musicals adapted from movies

Movies and stage plays have gone hand in hand for decades. Some movies have come straight from plays, and some have started from movies, taken a turn on the stage, and then have been re-created on the silver screen (think of "The Producers" and "Hairspray"). Now, these movies seem to be ripe for the stage musicals--they have lightly comical plots and unique, if not sometimes eccentric characters. Something about them just clicks, whether we feel for the overweight teenager who wants to be comfortable in her own body, or laugh at two bumbling producers who are positive that they will get rich quick if they put on the world's worst show.

Now, this shouldn't mean that every quirky movie should have its moment in the bright lights of Broadway, but apparently some producers think otherwise. According to a virginmedia.com article, ten popular films will be adapted into stage plays/musicals, but they are ones that are very unconventional when the word "Broadway" comes to mind.

Take for example the 1990 film "Ghost." Patrick Swayze stars as a man who has been murdered, but his ghost remains on earth to try to warn his girlfriend (played by Demi Moore) that she may be in for the same fate. Whoopi Goldberg starred as the medium between the spirits and the living. Apparently, the stage musical is set to appear in London's West End in 2010.

Another adaptation for consideration is "Spiderman." Sure, the films are adventurous, but how is all that wire work going to work on a stage? We'll have to see what purported stars Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood (who showed their singing prowess in "Across the Universe") can do.

There are eight other unusual adaptations on the list, ranging from manly films like "Fight Club" and "Gladiator" to horror films like "The Evil Dead" and romantic comedies such as "Sleepless in Seattle" (though this one is probably not as much as a stretch as the other ones). Hey, if a green ogre with a penchant for potty humor can make it on The Great White Way ("Shrek"), I guess anything goes in New York, New York.

For the full list, click here.