Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

After 11 years, the wait is finally over for fans of Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story franchise with the release of Toy Story 3. 

The Spy Next Door refers to Bob Ho (Jackie Chan), a square but safe next-door neighbor and boyfriend of Jillian, a single mom with three kids. She is glad to have an honest and dependable guy in her life. The kids are dead set against the relationship because he’s, well, just a big geek. When Mom needs to leave town suddenly, Bob offers to care for them, thinking it will give him a chance to make the kids like him. What no one knows is that Bob is actually an accomplished Chinese spy working with the CIA who has just worked his last job and has retired in the hopes of settling down with Jillian. The kids put Bob thru the wringer, but trouble really starts when the bad Russian guys come after Bob and the kids. Jillian breaks up with Bob when she realizes he has put her kids in danger. In the end, the kids come to his defense, the couple gets married and a new family is born. What will appeal to a youth audience the most are the action scenes. The good guy spy, with help from the kids, fight the evil Russian baddies. There are lots of martial arts scenes, but the action is almost cartoonish and we see no blood and guts. There is only scene where a bad guy gets a bloodied nose. The heart of the film is delivered by Jackie Chan when he tells his girlfriend’s teenage daughter that family is what you make, who you love and who loves you, not just the blood that runs in your veins. It’s good advice, and she grows to accept him as a potential step-father. It also helps her embrace her own family after feeling she didn’t belong. Watching Bob trying to care for three unruly kids is truly humorous. The emotional arc of the kids letting down their defenses and allow a new man into their lives is something many kids can relate to, whether it’s happened to them or they have seen friends experience similar things. The film is certainly derivative of other James Bond-for-kids type movies such as Spy Kids but doesn’t really add anything original or memorable. The true appeal of this film is Jackie Chan, who gracefully moves between his two identities – the super square pen salesman who lives next door, and the super cool and capable Chinese spy working with the CIA. Plus, he’s funny. That surprised us. KIDS FIRST! Child Juror Comments: I like all the sneaky spy stuff like his super sword belt and his choppy uppy ring. The story was cool – how the babysitter was a spy. My friends would love this because it has sneaky spy stuff. It looked great and everything was clear. The actors treated each other well. It was a bit predictable with the guy and lady getting married at the end, but that was good. I liked how it ended. My favorite part was the one fight scene where Jackie Chan used the bike. He did cool things with the bike. Recommended for ages 5-12.

More movies need to be made that are like this film! It is a thought-provoking, uplifting movie that is highly entertaining. This is a great family film that you can enjoy with your elementary, middle school, high school and even college kids. Sandra Bullock is a spitfire as Leigh Anne Touhy, a well-to-do wife and mom, with a compassionate heart. The film is based on the true story of the gentle, giant–Michael Oher, a homeless black teenager, who is taken in by the affluent Leigh Ann and her family and who eventually, with his new family’s encouragement, becomes a football star! Oher is currently playing in the NFL. The acting is great, especially on the part of Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar as Best Actress for this role. The story is skewed towards the positive of what was going on, but it isn’t syrupy. The film inspires and make one feel hopeful about the world at large. There is no sex or graphic violence, just a super interesting story and some good filmmaking. Sit back, relax and enjoy. We recommend this film to families, and particularly those interested in sports.

Here is what our kid juror had to say about it: Loved it. I liked EVERYTHING about the film. The characters made you root for them. The story made me feel good about trying for a good future. The filming was good because you would forget you were watching a movie. The acting and the words they used were great and meaningful. The scenes and sets were so real feeling I forgot I was watching a movie. The costumes were great too. I liked how Big Mike first picked striped shirts that made him look like a big bumble bee. They used the costumes to show different life styles. You got to know everybody like family. My favorite part was the sports action scenes. Especially when Michael pushed the bully over the wall. I like the scenes where Michael suddenly realized he could do it and got really great at football and how surprised the other team was and how happy his team was. I would recommend this film to friends. And I did recommend it to friends and family and they liked it too because it’s a very meaningful movie and it’s a true story. It is for kids age 10 and up because of a little bit rougher scene with a group of guys Michael used to hang out with and I think really little kids wouldn’t understand the story. But for 10 and up they will love it, even grown-ups. It is a family kind of film.

Lauren Boxer, an 11-year-old fan of the books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and a friend of KIDS FIRST! screened the film for us earlier this week. Here’s her review:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid shows us wimpy is cool and in style. You may say, “no it isn’t” but you are wrong. It shows us the ups and downs of middle school and trust me, it is all in there. One thing I was disappointed about before I saw it was it wasn’t animation. But now, I am standing corrected. Zachary Gordon is actually what I would imagine Greg Heffley would be in real life. This is a movie I definitely recommend and Thor Freundenthal (director), Jackie & Jeff Filgo (screenwriters), and last but not least, Jeff Kinney (the book’s author and executive producer) all did a great job.http://www.fandango.com/diaryofawimpykid_126395/moviephotosposters/244214

Here is a review from our partners at Moving Pictures Magazine: http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/Reviews/tabid/59/entryid/3300/Diary-of-a-Wimpy-Kid.aspx

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Review – The Secret of Kells

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Thanks to Annlee Ellingson, from Moving Pictures Magazine, for this review of The Secret of Kells:
A surprise Oscar nominee, “The Secret of Kells” is a 2-D, hand-drawn throwback amid its computer-generated, stop-motion and 3-D competitors, demonstrating the encouraging range of animation styles utilized in contemporary feature filmmaking. Although it’s unlikely that this gem from the producers of “The Triplets of Belleville” will overthrow the ultra high-tech “Up” on Oscar Sunday, that it’s even in the mix shows that story and artistry, no matter what tools are used, are the things.

At the heart of this story is Brendan (Evan McQuire), an orphaned boy living with his uncle Cellach (Brendan Gleeson), the abbot at the isolated and fortified Abbey of Kells. Drawn in rich reds with long, bold lines, Abbot Cellach is a strict and fearful man who has forbidden his nephew (soft browns and delicate strokes) from going beyond the confines of the wall he’s having built around the outpost to protect it from Viking marauders.

One day Brother Aidan (Mick Lally) arrives, an unfinished manuscript under his arm, and invites Brendan to help him complete it. (Like his apprentice, Aidan is illustrated in soft grays and fragile lines.) To do so, though, Brendan must fetch berries from the woods to make emerald ink, and he ventures into the outside world for the first time. There he meets Aisling (Christen Mooney) — ghostly and wolf-like — a girl who makes her home in the forest filled with mythical creatures.

Against his uncle’s wishes, Brendan befriends Aisling and works with Aidan on the manuscript, and when the barbarians arrive, it becomes clear as to whether Cellach’s wall or Brendan’s book of hope and knowledge is the better fortification against the coming darkness.

Director Tomm Moore draws inspiration for his film’s design from the illuminated manuscript at the center the plot. A muted palette of ochre, orange and olive is accented by turquoise (when Brendan dreams) and punctuated by crimson (when the Vikings attack). Sweeping arches and tight curlicues feature prominently throughout amid symbols from Celtic myth and religious iconography. At times the characters move across frames designed like the pages of the manuscript itself — a cross between pre-Renaissance paintings and the storyboards of “Samurai Jack.”

Directed by: Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey
Written by: Fabrice Ziolkowski (screenplay), Tomm Moore (story)
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Mick Lally, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney

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