We Are Movie Geeks

CREATIVE CONTROL – The Review

It’s time to push the fast forward button at the multiplex (I would say we’ll go “back to the future”, but this flick doesn’t look back). Film makers love to dabble in “what lies ahead” in everything from JUST IMAGINE (a 1930 musical comedy about the far-off 1980) to last year’s hit THE MARTIAN. Now, there’s no space travel going on (aside from trips inside your own head) in this new film. It’s on terra firma, with no personal jet packs or flying cars. We’re in a future not very removed from our present, much as in last year’s Oscar-winning EX MACHINA from Alex Garland, though it feels like a close relation to another recent Oscar winner, HER from Spike Jonze. The gadgets and doo-dads are just a few “.0’s” away from being ordered online. The film ponders whether the use (and abuse) of technology will still permit us to retain CREATIVE CONTROL.

The terra firma of this near-future is Brooklyn, the home of burnt-out advertising exec David (Benjamin Dickinson). He should be happy living with his gorgeous girlfriend, yoga instructor Juliette (Nora Zehetner) in their lush apartment in a trendy neighborhood. And he’s best buds with fashion photog Wim (Dan Gill), who sends David cell snaps of his model conquests. But David’s in a funk, one that’s not curtailed by his boozing and pill popping (these future pharmas look like candied cereal bits). Then he’s jolted awake by meeting Wim’s lovely live-in, fashion designer Sophie (Alexia Rasmussen), around the same time David’s company gets a big new client: Augmented Reality. They’re in need of a marketing campaign for their new, top-of-the-line, ultra-tech eyeglasses. And David is given a pair for a “test run”. As his relationship with Juliette deteriorates, he aggressively pursues Sophie. When she doesn’t reciprocate, David gets an idea. His glasses recorded his encounters with Sophie. Can he use them to create an almost-photo realistic avatar of her, one this is more…receptive? As time passes, David devotes more and more time to his virtual lover in a twisted affair that threatens his work and actual relationships. Will David ever return to reality?

Dickinson (who also co-wrote and directed this film) convincingly projects an air of aloof apathy as the story’s center. Perhaps too convincingly. David drifts along in a fog, never really connecting with anyone until his obsession with Sophie ignites a long-dead passion. From that point (namely the creation of his designed desire) he loses any audience empathy as he pushes everyone aside, becoming quite a single-minded hedonist. From the tale’s mid-point most of our sympathy shifts to Zehetner as the confused neglected Juliette. Fortunately she is no mere victim, and is striving to fulfill her own personal and professional needs. Zehetner’s wide expressive eyes inject the often lethargic proceedings with a much-needed energy boost. Gill makes Wim a new age, very laid-back satyr, always on the lookout for another new paramour. As Sophie, Rasumussen is a futuristic take on the classic “cool blonde” (as Hitchcock would say). Her disconnected mysterious demeanor (David just can’t figure her out) conflicts nicely with her submissive pixellated doppelgänger. Also of note is the excellent work by musician comedian Reggie Watts playing an ultra-hip, pretentious parody of himself. Thankfully we’re treated to a scene-stealing cameo from H. Jon Benjamin (TV’s “Archer” and Bob’s Burgers”) as Juliette’s dim bulb employer.

Director Dickinson employs lots of stylistic and visual tricks to place us in this near-future setting. There are no monitors or video screens, instead boxes crammed with ever-changing data float in front of the cast, often projecting from their finger tips (think smaller takes on Tony Stark’s Jarvis system). These are greatly enhanced by the splendid, shimmering black and white photography of Adam Newport-Becca, particularly when the virtual Sophie emerges in warm, airbrushed-like color (she really pops from the grey backdrops). Unfortunately these inventive touches are in service of a meandering story. The film gets some very funny digs at the “ad game” when David and his co-workers must deal with nit-picky, “flip-flopping” clients during a commercial shoot for a “mood-elevating vape”, and there’s a powerful verbal smack down during what begins as an intimate dinner which will make you squirm with discomfort. But there’s very little resolution to the many plot threads and the main protagonist remains cruel and callous. And the almost constant toking and boozing deaden any real dramatic momentum. There’s some clever ideas in CREATIVE CONTROL, but they’re buried in a uninvolving, unfocused narrative.

3 out of 5

CREATIVE CONTROL opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

WAMG Interview: Melissa Rauch – Star and Co-Writer of THE BRONZE

Read my review of THE BRONZE HERE

Melissa Rauch is best known for her role as role as Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory but the actress is making her mark on the big screen with the upcoming comedy THE BRONZE, in which she plays Hope Annabelle Gregory, a former bronze-winning Olympic gymnast. Melissa wrote the film along with her husband and writing partner Winston Rauch. We Are Movie Geeks was part of a round-table interview with Melissa Rauch when she was in town last week to promote THE BRONZE.

Interview conducted March 5th, 2016

Q: Does this come from a personal history? Were you a gymnast as a young girl?

MR: I’m super unathletic and very uncoordinated, but I’ve always love gymnastics. My husband and I love watching the Olympics together. The whole idea came about when I started having just a little bit of success on this VH1 Talking Heads show I was on. I went back to my hometown in New Jersey, and at my local mall the guy who sells pretzels gave me a free pretzel because he liked that show and I was so excited about that. About four months after that the show was canceled and I was out of work and I was at the unemployment office. I went back to that mall and the same guy wouldn’t give me a pretzel this time! He ignored me! I was in such a dark place feeling really worried about what my next job was going to be and not getting that pretzel just highlighted how bad I was feeling. That got us talking about how fickle fame is and celebrity in a small town especially and then the idea just grew from there.

Question: Were you going for the SCARFACE record for cussing?

Melissa Rauch: We honestly did not set up to do that. It just happened along the way. We really had no intention to include profanity at all. But when we came up with this character, we knew she was dark and angry and bitter. We came up with a full outline of exactly what her journey would be but it was really when we started plugging in the dialogue we began thinking about what she was experiencing. She had been cut off of her passion because of her injury and she’s no longer able to do what she loves to do. On top of that, she was told to act a certain way, dress a certain way, talk a certain way, eat a certain way. And now that she’s not able to do any of that anymore. She’s decided to rebel against everything.

Q: Setting in a small town gives it some real charm without backing off from the humor. Were you thinking about that when you set it in the Midwest?

MR: We wanted to set it in the Midwest because so many wonderful athletes have come from that area and we wanted a small town where her celebrity could last longer. My college roommate was from a small town really close to Amherst and she had that exact same accent. I had a really heavy New Jersey accent. She would make fun of my accent and I would make fun of hers. I knew that was the accent I wanted to have and I worked with a dialogue coach on it.

WAMG: Let’s talk about that sex scene. Was that a body double?

MR: Yes.

WAMG: How do you go about choreographing something like that?

MR: You write what you know. That was not in the original script. We knew at that point that hope and Lance would get together, but it wasn’t until we were actually writing the scene that Winston and I looked at each other and thought that since these were two world-class gymnast, of course this would happen so we just wrote the most crazy epic gymnastics sex scene ever. Then we bullet-pointed, I’m never read a porn script but I guess this is what they do, exactly how the moves would happen. When the director came onboard, we had our gymnastics coordinator as well. When we hired her we didn’t think that we would have to have her coordinate the sex scene as well. She ended up choreographing that. She choreographed it with two fully clothed dancers at first to see how it would play out. Then we had to find the perfect room for it. We found a handicap accessible room with handles in it for them to grab onto.

Q: Who wrote the rap song at the end?

MR: That is an interesting story there’s a song in the movie called Boss Ass Bitch by these rappers PTAF. When they saw the movie they wanted to put an original song in it. Originally they just recorded the rap and I wasn’t in it at all. They thought it would be fun if I came in and said a few words, drop a line here and there. We were on our way to the studio to record it. We were editing, it was a really crazy time. My husband Winston, who has written a lot of comedy, thought it would be great if I went full-on rap. It was unbelievable. We ran in there and did it. I never felt more gangster.

WAMG: Is your character based on Tonya Harding at all?

MR: It wasn’t based on her at all. It was a fictionalized version. Looking back, the bangs are very much her. Tanya was an underdog in many ways.

WAMG: Have you heard from her?

MR: We were actually going to try to see if we could do some promo marketing stuff with her but we’re not sure if the schedule is going to work. I saw a documentary about her that was phenomenal.

Q: What is your opinion of these “America’s sweethearts” that are so popular at a certain age? Such as Kerri Strug

MR: Hope is so very different from them. I think that all of these other heroes were able to go on and do all of these amazing things such as inspire the next generation of gymnast. In Hope’s situation she has this father that has enabled her so heavily that she is not able to reset and re-engage, or is even willing to frankly. I think fame is hard in any capacity. It’s so fleeting, it’s not anything that you can really grab. For these young girls to have such an amount of fame put on them at a young age I think it’s a testament to how strong they are that are able to have these incredible lives.

WAMG: The movie is so vulgar. Are there any scenes that you two wrote that you just couldn’t go there – that you just couldn’t film?

MR: Oh we filmed them. They’re just not in the movie. There’s a longer cut of the sex scene. There’s also a dry run of the sexing without the stunt doubles. There’s a scene in the bar where I proposition those guys where I end up in a bathroom stall with another random dude. There’s also a great scene where I punch Gary. There’s a very long version of a wake-up montage where I’m grabbing him by the balls and slapping him in the face with dildos. It’s a very intense wake-up scene.

Q: Where did the idea of the fish come from?

MR: The nugget of that came from my brother who had the fish. We were really wanted Stan to have a friend. Hope was so awful to him, always beating him down, we wanted to have someone that he could connect with and parenting properly. This gave Stan another layer to his struggle and what he was going through.

Q: The casting is so fantastic especially that young girl Haley Lu Richardson. Was this your dream cast for these rolls?

MR: It was. The way that these actors played the roles is far better than anything we ever could have imagined. Haley was an incredible find. She’s a competitive dancer so she was able to do a lot of her own floor routines and some of the stuff on the beam. She just came in and nailed it. We needed someone that was young enough to be believably competing in the sport but old enough that all this is not so horrible for them. And with Sebastian Stan, we couldn’t believe that this guy from CAPTAIN AMERICA wanted to be in our movie. He such an incredibly skilled actor. We were shooting for 22 days in Ohio for little money, An incredibly intense shooting schedule and these people just came in and worked for next to nothing. You see a lot of Sebastian in that sex scene. He just went for it. He learned all of the choreography. And Thomas Middleditch, it was important that is twitch was authentic and real. We didn’t want to make it any caricature or make a joke out of it. You handled that beautifully. And of course Gary Cole I had worked with on my very first job. It was something that never aired called 12 Miles of Bad Road. He was so kind and warm in such a phenomenal actor. We thought of him right away.

WAMG: There’s a lot of depth to that relationship between Hope and her father.

MR: Thank you. We knew we could’ve gone with just a glossy and shiny broad comedy route with it but we really just wanted to tell the story and crank up the comedy in certain places. It wasn’t important to have a joke every minute. It was really more about telling this story and let the comedy or the drama be dictated by what was true to the story.

Q: You don’t find women doing this type of comedy. So you are, in a sense, breaking another ceiling. How do you feel about that?

MR: There are so many male antiheroes but not nearly as many female antiheroes. There’s a lot of pressure on female characters to be likable. That puts a lot of pressure on women to be likable. There’s something to be said for the fact that there are great movies like Cate Blanchett in BLUE JASMINE, which is obviously very different movie, but that is such a great layered and complex character. Those are the roles that I am drawn to and want to write. One of my favorite movies is Bette Davis in ALL ABOUT EVE and it is shocking there was no pressure on her to be likable. We didn’t want to water this down. We could have made her more palatable but Hope is not likable because she doesn’t like herself. She loves the former version of herself. She has this façade of narcissism and really being pleased with herself. Even the bangs are the banngs she had 10 years ago when she was at her best. She likes to watch those moments and that brings up her a lot of pleasure.

Q: Are you and your husband writing anything else now?

MR: We are. We have another movie that we are working on called THE METER MAID. I like to play women in uniform. We just started writing a pilot for HBO called The Troop which is about a Girl Scout troop. They were the best Girl Scout troop ever at age 12 but then they all reunite when they’re in their 30s and realize they have really screwed up lives.

Q: Did you purposely planned THE BRONZE for an Olympic year?

MR: We didn’t. It was supposed to come out last July and there was some distribution issues and it kept getting pushed back and now it’s great that this is an Olympic year.

THE BRONZE – The Review

THE BRONZE is a painfully funny portrait of a strikingly deranged and clueless young woman. Hope Annabelle Gregory (Melissa Rauch) is a celebrity in her home town of Amherst Ohio. She won the bronze in gymnastics at the Rome Olympics several years earlier, even after suffering a career-ending foot injury. Hope lives at home with her kind mailman dad Stan (Gary Cole), and avoids getting a day job at all costs. Her entitled life mostly consists of eating free meals at Sbarro while being rude to everyone she encounters. Her ex-coach dies and bequeaths Hope $500,000 contingent she gets the money only if she coaches the young hometown gymnastics phenom Maggie Townsend (Haley Lu Richardson) in her quest for Olympic fame. Also interested in Maggie’s future are the local gym manager Ben (or, as Hope calls him “Twitchy”, because of some unfortunate facial tics -played by Thomas Middleditch) and Lance (Sebastian Stan), a Gold medal winner who thinks he’d be a better coach for Maggie. Will Hope let young Maggie get to the Olympics, stealing her small-town thunder in the process, or will she sabotage the kid’s career?

THE BRONZE is less a rah-rah spandex-strutting sports flick and more a vulgar pointed human comedy with plenty to say about desperately clinging on to your 15 minutes of fame. The film’s success rises or falls on the capable shoulders of Melissa Rauch (who, along with husband Winston Rauch, wrote the script) in the lead. Hope is introduced pleasuring herself to a tape of her Olympic performance (lying under an American flag no less). She may look innocent from a distance, but up close she is the foul-mouthed embodiment of bitterness, with a squeaky, talk-out-the-side-of-her-mouth surliness that makes Tanya Harding look like Grace Kelly. She’s a grossly immature bully cut from the same unselfconscious cloth as Charlize Theron in YOUNG ADULT or Danny McBride in THE FOOT FIST WAY but with an even nastier streak. Hope does make her way up the redemptive scale as the story progresses, but not much. Haley Lu Richardson as Maggie is a real find – she gives an energetic, funny and physical performance – you feel exhausted just watching her as Hope introduces her to such non-competitive distractions as marijuana and overeating. Middleditch as Twitchy is likable and scores some unlikely romantic chemistry with Rauch. Sebastian Stan is appropriately douchey as the arrogant ex-champ who joins Rauch (or her body double anyway) for the jaw-dropping acrobatic sex scene that everyone will be talking about. THE BRONZE’s most human touch is Hope’s dad Stan, wonderfully played by Gary Cole. Widowed when his daughter was a baby, Stan is aware Hope is a snot, yet still makes her the spoiled center of his universe. Though she repays his kindness by belittling him mercilessly and stealing cash from the greeting cards in his mail truck, there is real depth to their relationship. With a running time of 105 minutes, THE BRONZE comes close to outstaying its welcome but Rauch milks the character and her foibles for all the laughs she’s worth – which prove to be plenty.

4 of 5 Stars

THE BRONZE opens in St. Louis March 18 at, among other places, Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater

Fathom Events EASTER MYSTERIES in select theaters March 22nd

Look for a review of EASTER MYSTERIES here at We Are Movie Geeks next week.

From the producers who brought you the Tony-Award® winning Broadway hit “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” comes EASTER MYSTERIES, an original, and wholly entertaining musical theater depiction of the Easter story for modern audiences. Presented by Fathom Events and SimonSays Entertainment, “Easter Mysteries” will play in select U.S. cinemas for one night on Tuesday, March 22 at 7 p.m. local time, and features veteran Broadway actors and singers from the stages of “Les Misérables,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and more. In addition to the feature content, a timely interfaith discussion between Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders on the essence and power of Passion plays will complete the event.

Tickets for “Easter Mysteries” can be purchased by visiting www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in nearly 300 movie theaters throughFathom’s Digital Broadcast Network. For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

Broadway veteran actor Phillip Boykin, who plays Caiaphas, is enthusiastic about the production. “This is a Passion play like no other. The love bursts forth and the music soars. First there was ‘Godspell,’ then there was ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ then there was ‘Joseph,’ and now there’s EASTER MYSTERIES, and it’s at the top of my list!'”

EASTER MYSTERIES, directed by Daniel Goldstein, was staged and captured before a live audience. This first-rate production offers audiences the chance to see, feel and hear real peoples’ experience of this touchstone story of Western civilization in a fresh and moving way.

The music, libretto and lyrics are by Tony Award-winning Broadway producer John O’Boyle with musical arrangements and music direction by Milton Granger.

“Seeing this thought-provoking musical in cinemas is the perfect way to celebrate Easter with family and friends,” said Fathom Events VP of Programming Kymberli Frueh. “With a highly acclaimed cast and crew, ‘Easter Mysteries’ is sure be both an uplifting and entertaining experience.”

SimonSays Entertainment’s CEO Ron Simons commented, “We’re particularly proud to be presenting this beautifully composed work featuring, and created for, audiences of all beliefs, races and genders. Because such a diverse mix of people fill our outstanding cast this production fits squarely within SimonSays’ mission to Tell Every Story®.”

EASTER MYSTERIES is a modern take on two medieval mystery plays set to music. This biblically based oratorio-musical is written in two acts, each about an hour. The music, libretto and lyrics are by John O’Boyle, a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer (La Cage aux Folles, 2011; Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike, 2013). Using the universal theme of death and resurrection, the first act is a passion which moves through Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, the Last Supper, his arrest, Peter’s struggle with faith and Jesus’ death. The second concerns the sightings of Jesus after his burial, Peter’s reconciliation of faith, and Jesus’ reappearance and ascension. EASTER MYSTERIES reinterprets iconic figures in human terms – ordinary people with hopes, dreams and fears, uncertain of what lies ahead. They begin a journey with high expectations; what they find is very different from what they anticipated.

Chariot Races, Galleys And Rome Returns To The Big Screen In First Trailer For Timur Bekmambetov’s BEN-HUR

Check out the trailer, along with the first poster, for the timeless epic, BEN HUR, based on the best-selling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ.

Paramount Pictures’ newest version of the timeless classic is one of the most-anticipated movies of 2016.

Will be interesting to see how this film compares to the 1959 classic, directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith and Haya Harareet. The nine-minute chariot race has become one of cinema’s most famous sequences, and the film score, composed and conducted by Miklós Rózsa, is the longest ever composed for a film and was highly influential on cinema for more than 15 years.

The 2016 version’s score is from composer Marco Beltrami.

BEN-HUR is the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army. Stripped of his title, separated from his family and the woman he loves (Nazanin Boniadi), Judah is forced into slavery. After years at sea, Judah returns to his homeland to seek revenge, but finds redemption.

Based on Lew Wallace’s timeless novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Also starring Morgan Freeman and Rodrigo Santoro.

From director Timur Bekmambetov, BEN-HUR bows in cinemas on August 12, 2016.

Visit the official site: www.benhurmovie.com

See The First Mutant In The New Trailer For Director Bryan Singer’s X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

“You’re not students anymore – you’re X-Men.”

20th Century Fox has released terrific new posters and trailer for X-MEN: APOCALYPSE.

Check out the trailer below, and get another look at Director Bryan Singer’s new X-Men film starring, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Josh Helman, Lana Condor, and Ben Hardy.

Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE.

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible.

Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign.

As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE hits cinemas on May 27, 2016.

The Tivoli Announces the ‘Reel Late’ Midnight Line-Up – MAD MAX, EVIL DEAD, Miyazaki

“Do you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France?”

Another brilliant lineup of midnight movies for the ‘Reel Late at The Tivoli’ to kick off the 2016 season. It’s a typically good variety of titles that will draw the late night movie buff crowd with a couple of retro surprises. The Midnight Movie experience has always catered to a college-age crowd and that’s the way it should be. ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW with live shadow cast with the Samurai Electricians kicks off the new schedule on April 8th and 9th. The oldest film this time is the original THE EVIL DEAD from 1983 and the most recent is last year’s winner of 6 Oscars (and deserving of at least 4 more) MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. There’s a Miyazaki thrown in there for attendance insurance and a handful of standards including BLADE RUNNER and PULP FICTION. I believe ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and the original EVIL DEAD are new to the Tivoli midnight roster, and I suspect they will draw good crowds.

Here’s the line-up:

April 8-9 ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW – with live shadow cast, Samurai Electricians! – All tickets $10 for ROCKY

April 15-16 LABYRINTH – David Bowie

April 22-23 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

April 29-30 KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE – subtitled

May 6-7 BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT

May 13-14 ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND – Written by Charlie Kaufman (ANOMALISA)

May 20-21 THE EVIL DEAD

May 27-28 PULP FICTION

Reel Late at the Tivoli takes place every Friday and Saturday night and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman (that’s me!) is there with custom trivia questions about the films and always has DVDs, posters, and other cool stuff to give away. Ticket prices are $8 (except ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW which is $10). We hope to see everyone late at night in the coming weeks.

The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar in The Loop. Visit Landmark’s The Tivoli’s websiteHERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN – The Review

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN explores issues of family and faith while telling the true tale of Texan Christy Beam (played by Jennifer Garner) that begins when her 10-year old daughter Anna (Kylie Rogers) develops horrible stomach pain. The child is initially misdiagnosed, and when her disorder is discovered to be an incurable, and ultimately fatal, digestive disease, Christy finds herself a fierce advocate for Anna’s health. She travels to Boston frequently to work with Dr. Nirko (Eugenio Derbez), apparently the only specialist in the country who can help. Back home, Christy’s husband Kevin (Martin Henderson) does his best to hold down the fort with their other two daughters while dealing with impending financial stress. After a freak accident involving a hollow tree and a glimpse of God and Heaven, a miracle unfolds that leaves doctors confounded and the Beam’s small-town community inspired.

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN is as decent and square as it sounds. No profanity. No sex. No violence. That’s its hook. Unpretentious and plainspoken, it knows its target Christian audience well. Adapted from the memoir by Christy Beam, MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN is no religious fringe event. It’s from a major studio (Sony), with an Oscar-nominated costar (Queen Latifa), and adapted for the screen by TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE screenwriter Randy Brown. MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN has lots of sweet, sunny, Norman Rockwell-inspired imagery of small-town life and wholesome family high jinx. What it lacks, at least on its surface, is dramatic tension. There’s no real villain, no conflict and no resolution outside of the big miracle – just 90 minutes of sad scenes in which Anna suffers while her family reacts with tears of sorrow followed by 20 minutes of tears of happiness. There are no real plot twists and not much more to the unchallenging story other than how Anna’s revelations affect the other residents of their small Texas town. MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN has something of a Made-for-TV feel about it, unsurprising considering the subject matter and PG rating and feels padded at 114 minutes – I’m not sure we needed to take two side trips to the Boston Aquarium.

That said, I found more than enough positives in MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN to recommend it. The movie works, but not in mysterious ways. Its heart is certainly in the right place and it illustrate Christy’s conflict with great emotion and drama. It’s a heartbreaking (and heartwarming) story that shifts into the right gears when the script demands it. Director Patricia Riggens (THE 33) makes some wise choices, such as the subtle way she reenacts young Anna’s visit to heaven after her accident with the tree, cleverly echoing her reaction to Monet’s paintings of flowers on an earlier trip to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

The hardest thing for any parent is watching your child suffer and knowing there is nothing you can do to help, and MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN is at its best when capturing that gut-wrenching dilemma. Jennifer Garner does an excellent job illustrating Christy Beam’s frustrations with clueless doctors and judgmental neighbors and the turmoil she and her husband endure. There’s a convincing desperation in Garner’s hardworking performance that elevates the vanilla narrative from a choir-preaching faith-based film to something more relatable. Queen Latifa shows up in full sass mode as a waitress who takes Christy and Anna on a tour of Boston. The character is superfluous to the story, but Ms Latifa’s job is to provide levity to the downbeat proceedings and she’s pitch perfect.

Like 2014’s similar HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN is not a movie for cynics. They’ll find it naïve and superficial and may be suspicious of the Beam family’s motives and personal gain (something tells me their financial situation is looking pretty rosy these days). But all the critic eye-rolling and snark likely to greet the film from some quarters won’t matter to its target Christian audience. They will sleep better at night believing God saved this child and leave the theater grinning from ear to ear. Not just because it will reaffirm their faith but also because it has an emotional story, an adorable little girl at its center (who almost dies!), and some good ol’ country church singin’. It serves as a reminder of the great love of family – something not always well-captured on film – and has a comforting message about what is important in our lives. It may or may not convert skeptics, but if they wander into the multiplex they may find MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN a nicely photographed and well-acted sermon that goes down easy. Miraculous indeed.

4 of 5 Stars

Apollo 17 Commander Capt. Gene Cernan Discusses Being THE LAST MAN ON THE MOON

Photo: M.Craig

Georges Méliès’ A TRIP TO THE MOON, APOLLO 13, THE RIGHT STUFF, HBO’s “From The Earth To The Moon.” Since the birth of cinema, audiences have been preoccupied with trips to our closest celestial body. Hollywood and NASA merge once again – this time to tell the story of Captain Gene Cernan in the documentary THE LAST MAN ON THE MOON.

This is the story of one of the very few men who went to the moon not only once, but twice. He first went to the moon on the Apollo 10 mission. It was the dress rehearsal for Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. His next flight was Apollo 17, the last time men would go to the moon. Riding aboard a Saturn V rocket, the largest and most powerful and impressive rocket that ever successfully flew, he was on man’s last mission to explore earth’s closest neighbor. The first moon landing had one moonwalk which lasted a little over two hours. He had three moonwalks, averaging around 6 hours each. He drove an electric car on the moon, saw and recovered orange soil on the lunar surface, and stood next to lunar boulders that were larger than a house.

There is a small, elite club – with only 12 members. These are the men who actually walked on the moon. They were able to stand on the “ground” and with their own eyes, look up and see the earth. He is one of them.

His first flight into space, aboard Gemini 9, gave him experience rendezvousing with target spacecraft. The ‘Angry Alligator’ gave him practice with what he would need to know later on when docking with the lunar landing crafts “Snoopy” and “Challenger” for his Apollo missions.

Facts about Apollo 17

Crew
Eugene A. Cernan, Commander
Harrison H. Schmitt, Lunar Module Pilot
Ronald E. Evans, Command Module Pilot

Launch
Dec. 7, 1972; 12:33 a.m. EST
Launch Pad 39A
Saturn-V SA-512

Landing
Dec. 19, 1972
Pacific Ocean
Recovery Ship: USS Ticonderoga

Apollo 17 hosted the first scientist-astronaut to land on moon: Harrison Schmitt.

The new documentary is from filmmaker Mark Craig and includes a powerful, emotional score from composer Lorne Balfe (13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI). Read Jim Batts’ review here.

Recently I spoke with Capt. Cernan about the documentary that gives an overall, detailed look at NASA, the space program and his voyage to the Moon.

WAMG: When were you first approached about the documentary and telling your story?

Capt. Gene Cernan: I wrote a personal book about what it’s like to be in space answering questions such as “Were you scared?” “What did it feel like?”. In the book I wanted to give back something in terms of sharing what I was able to do with everyone. I’ve taken people where I’ve been – the spacewalk, the surface of the moon – so at first I didn’t want to do a documentary. I mean, who really cares about a movie about me? Finally between the producer and director, who both read my book, said, “Gene, the story of your life has got to be available to kids who are 10 to 20 years old.” Then another friend of mine said, “Gene, it’s not about you, it’s about the story.”

I was a young kid from Anytown USA, a kid born during World War II with a dream about flying and becoming a naval aviator. It gave me the opportunity to eventually go to the Moon. It’s the story itself.

WAMG: The film, which contains some great archival footage, is such a personal story. We hear from your friends, colleagues, wife and especially your daughter.

Capt. Gene Cernan: It’s not about me, it’s about this kid who had friends and a family and grandkids and what he did to get to the Moon. What he believed in.

WAMG: You were the last man on the Moon and that in itself carries so much weight. There have only been a handful of you who have walked on the Moon.

Capt. Gene Cernan: We’re losing some of my colleagues at this stage in our lives. I need to leave something that will inspire kids to do the same thing. Something they didn’t think they were good enough to do.

WAMG: How did you prepare for Apollo 17?

Capt. Gene Cernan: I had flown three times. My first flight was Gemini and it only relates to Apollo because it taught us the things we needed to know for going to the Moon. I went to the Moon with Apollo 10 and the lunar landing, we did everything it took to get there and started our descent except for the landing itself.

Neil Armstrong was a good friend of mine and I used to kid him about painting a white line in the sky so we wouldn’t get lost. Every flight is a first flight, I’m not going to tell you it was routine and Apollo 17 was a real challenge. That last 47,000 feet is what really makes the difference.

WAMG: Who came up with the names “Challenger” and “America” for the LM (lunar module) and CSM (command and service module) for Apollo 17?

Capt. Gene Cernan: Being the commander you carry a little weight and my command module pilot was a Naval Aviator (Ronald E. Evans) and the guy I walked the Moon with was non-military, a geologist (Harrison H. Schmitt), and I wanted to go back and pick up a piece of Naval history. “Challenger” is an old historical boat and there’s a lot of history in the Navy. We wanted to recognize the country and our patch reflects that.

We couldn’t do this by ourselves – we had several hundreds of thousands of people with us in that spacecraft, who spent their lives putting the wires and nuts and bolts together and spiritually took that trip with us! We wanted to say thank you. This is where America came from and it’s us who went to the Moon, not somebody else.

WAMG: Tell me about your experiences with NASA icons Chris Kraft and Gene Krantz.

Capt. Gene Cernan: They’re both great. Chris is a very unique person. It’s not enough to say they are both capable. We had Chris Kraft, we had Gene Krantz, as well as Glynn Lunney and Gerry Griffin, we had the whole team in Mission Control – those are some of the unsung heroes. You go back to Apollo 13 and the guys who recognized and helped solved the problem, were all in Mission Control.

When we started this trip to the Moon the average age was only 26 years old. We got to know those guys really well and we needed to! We worked with them, we trained with them because they were going to help us if we got into trouble and make the decisions that had to be made. Krantz, Kraft, Lunney and Griffin – those were some of the principals I worked with on my flight.

The thing about Kraft – he recognized talent. When he promoted someone into the position of Flight Director, like Krantz, Lunney and Griffin, he empowered them to make decisions and its one of his greatest assets. All the Flight Directors were pretty damn good.

WAMG: Was a bronze plaque left on the Moon with the names of all the space explorers – both American and Russian?

Capt. Gene Cernan: Apollo 15 left a plaque with all the names of the American Astronauts and the Russian Cosmonauts, who up until that time, lost and gave their lives to help us get where we got. Someone asks how long will that be there, and how long will your daughter’s initials be there that I left there and how long will the flag stand on the Moon, my answer to that is forever. There’s nothing on the Moon except cosmic radiation that has to honor what’s there.

WAMG: There are no plans to go back to the Moon anytime soon. What are your thoughts on today’s Space Program?

Capt. Gene Cernan: Think about it. 43 years ago this past December I was walking on the Moon. Here we are today, over four decades later, and we don’t even have a spacecraft that will take us to our own orbiting laboratory at the International Space Station. I don’t think that’s what President Kennedy had in mind back in 1961. It’s disappointing.

Listen to what Cernan has to say on the next Giant Leap to our neighbor, Mars.

Playing now in select cities, THE LAST MAN ON THE MOON is available via iTunes and other streaming services.

For theater screenings: http://thelastmanonthemoon.com/screenings … and On Demand on iTunes: http://apple.co/1SoY3KQ – Google Play: http://bit.ly/1T60gef – Amazon: http://amzn.to/1T60hik – Microsoft Store (Xbox 360): http://bit.ly/1QjUK47 – VUDU: http://bit.ly/1QpSABk – YouTube: http://bit.ly/1XXMucU

For more on the mission, visit NASA’s page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo17.html

It’s Official: Steven Spielberg And Harrison Ford Return For INDIANA JONES 5

Disney has announced that INDIANA JONES will return to the big screen on July 19, 2019, for a fifth epic adventure in the blockbuster series.

Steven Spielberg, who directed all four previous films, will helm the as-yet-untitled project with star Harrison Ford reprising his iconic role. Franchise veterans Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will produce.

“Indiana Jones is one of the greatest heroes in cinematic history, and we can’t wait to bring him back to the screen in 2019,” said Alan Horn, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. “It’s rare to have such a perfect combination of director, producers, actor and role, and we couldn’t be more excited to embark on this adventure with Harrison and Steven.”

Famed archaeologist and explorer Indiana Jones was introduced in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark – one of AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films of All Time – and later thrilled audiences in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The four films have brought in nearly $2 billion at the global box office.

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