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Jean review The Twilight Saga, Eclipse

THE TWILIGHT SAGA, ECLIPSE (Running time: about 124 minutes)
Rated PG-13 Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

The second movie in this series was disappointing, but this one is a big improvement, perhaps because it is more focused on the relationships rather than the fighting. Bella (Stewart) is still planning to become a vampire on her 18th birthday. Edward (Pattinson) is not happy about her choice but is beginning to see that she is determined.

Meanwhile her lifelong friend, Jacob, who is a werewolf, has fallen in love with Bella, too. The guys are competing for her affections. While Bella is committed to Edward, she also loves Jacob and he offers her one benefit that Edward can’t compete with: she doesn’t have to become one of the living dead to live with and love him. In my book that would be a big plus! And Bella considers it.

What I liked so much about this movie is that there is no real sex. Bella tries to convince Edward to sleep with her, but he refuses. He comes from Victorian times or even farther back than that when men didn’t defile the women they loved; they married them instead. There are several sweet, sexy kissing scenes with Edward and Jacob, the kind of scenes that are about love not sex, that should be in the dreams of teens and ‘tweens.

Also good were the Native American stories about the beginnings of the wolfmen and the vampires. The wolves actually work together with the vampires to protect Bella and defeat the bad guys. That was a good twist.

The father and mother in this movie are not as extreme or obnoxious as in the past. They both seem like reasonable people. The scene where the father tries to talk to the daughter about sex is pretty funny.

There is a scene where one of the female vampire characters talks in veiled terms about a rape long ago and how she was “drac’d” and then got revenge on her rapists. There is plenty of violence, too. But that is standard with this series. With no bad language, there is a lot to like in The Twilight Saga, Eclipse - which should be fine for teens and ‘tweens 12 and up. Parents might enjoy this one, too. By the way, the wolves are cute.

If you like the Dracula idea but don’t want to get scared to death, try these two gems from the past that are available on DVD:

FUNNY HORROR FILMS, WITH NO NIGHTMARES

DRACULA, DEAD AND LOVING IT (Rated PG-13) - How can you beat Mel Brooks and Leslie Nielsen for laughs? You can’t, especially when they team up in this spoof, with Mel Brooks trying to drive a stake into Nielsen’s heart. Bring tissues for tears of laughter.

LOVE AT FIRST BITE (Rated PG) – This movie finds the handsome and debonair George Hamilton playing a very sexy and attractive Dracula who got kicked out of Transylvania. He ends up taking a bite out of the Big Apple and falling in love with Susan Saint James in this hilarious spoof.

-- Written by Jean Joachim, writer of a nationally syndicated movie review column.

Read more of Jean's Movie Choices For Kids.

Jean's take on Grown-ups, Knight and Day

GROWN-UPS (Running time: approx. 1 hr. 40 minutes)
Rated PG-13 Starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spadce, Rob Schneider

It’s hard to believe an Adam Sandler movie can actually be called Grown-Ups. I do admit that time is improving Mr. Sandler’s movies as they become more about family and less about the wonders of the bathroom and bachelorhood.

This movie is about a group of five men who grew up together and played on a championship basketball team when they were kids. The men have kept in loose touch, but haven’t seen each other much in thirty years. When their old coach dies, they reconnect at his funeral and plan a holiday weekend together in a lake house. Each guy is a different personality with different jokes associated with his family and his life. Some of the situations are funny and some are not.

What does come through are good old-fashioned family values as the parents connect with their kids in simple pleasures, like skipping rocks, making telephones with tin cans and string and water rides, instead of the high tech-low involvement toys of today. Old rivalries with men in their town resurface and a re-match is scheduled. In the end, the old friends re-evaluate their lives and drop their masks to be honest with each other.

While some of the jokes are juvenile, and with this group that should be no surprise, it was still a funny and entertaining movie. I enjoyed it more than I expected to. There is no violence, but some sexual humor and bathroom humor. Grown-Ups should be fine for kids 10 and up, but especially for parents who yearn for a little time with their kids, doing the old-fashioned fun stuff they used to do when they were young.

KNIGHT AND DAY (Running time: approx. 1 hr. 40 minutes)
Rated PG-13 Starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz

I was looking forward to this movie and what a disappointment it was. Tom Cruise, while excellent playing spies in action movies just fell flat in the romantic comedy department with Cameron Diaz. This movie, like Killers, is about a regular woman getting mixed up with a killer/secret agent. Here we have Roy (Cruise) bumping into June (Diaz) at the airport so he can slip something into her luggage and sneak it through security. On the flight, we find out that every passenger is someone sent to kill Roy. There is a very funny scene with June in the bathroom while Roy is killing everyone on the plane, including the pilots.

The movie is fast-paced with a plot that requires attention to know who the bad guys really are. I liked the plot, I liked the action and I liked Cameron Diaz as a cute, smart and spunky June. But Mr. Cruise’s performance was dry, cold and unfunny. I was disappointed as I was expecting the sizzle he gave out in Jerry Maguire, but it wasn’t there.

There is lots of violence, some great car chases, motorcycle chase, fight scenes, a little bad language and no sex. Killers is a better movie, funnier and sexier. But you won’t be bored by the plot in Knight and Day.

-- Written by Jean Joachim, writer of a nationally syndicated movie review column.

Read more of Jean's Movie Choices For Kids.

Jean reviews The Karate Kid and The A Team

THE KARATE KID (Running time: 140 minutes)
Rated PG Starring Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan

Very long movies can sometimes be annoying, The Karate Kid, at two hours and twenty minutes works beautifully. The movie takes time to develop a more complex story than just a boy learning how to fight bullies.

The story opens with Dre (Smith) and his mom moving to China. His father is dead. But it isn’t long after they arrive that Dre meets the Kung Fu neighborhood bullies. He gets beat up a couple of times because he forms a friendship with a cute Chinese girl. Like a typical 12-year-old boy, Dre refuses to tell his mother what’s going on.

One day the maintenance man, Mr. Han (Chan), an older Kung Fu master, breaks up a gang-up of six bullies beating on Dre. Mr. Han takes Dre to the Kung Fu school that teaches these bullies in an effort to make peace, but the Master teacher is a bully at heart himself and is teaching his students to show no mercy and hurt their opponents. So Mr. Han has to agree to put Dre in the Kung Fu tournament in order to get the bullies to leave Dre alone.

Of course Han has to teach Dre Kung Fu. The training sessions are fascinating as he teaches Dre all about control and focus, emphasizing defense rather than offense. Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan are terrific. During these sessions, the action moves to the Great Wall of China and the Chinese countryside, which are beautiful.

We get to know Mr. Han and why he is living the way he is and the girlfriend who plays the violin. The emphasis in the movie is on Dre’s life, and the mother plays a secondary role. I liked this movie because the messages of getting back up when things go against you, learning to have confidence and defend yourself, tolerance for differences are so positive and presented in a non-preachy way. The Karate Kid has violence but no bad language and no sex. This movie is very well done and a “don’t miss” in my book for parents and kids as young as 7 or 8 and up, who can sit through a long movie.

THE A TEAM (Running time: 117 minutes)
Rated PG-13 Starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson , Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel

This action movie has great special effects, humor and a complicated story that lets out younger children. The special team, called “the A team” in the military are involved in a mission to obtain plates being used to create billions of dollars of counterfeit money by a foreign country. But they get double crossed and land in jail after being dishonorably discharged. The CIA guy springs them and they retrieve the plates, only to be double crossed again!

I had a little difficulty following the plot and always knowing who the bad guys were. But it was fun trying to keep up. There were tons of explosions, gunfire, repelling from tall buildings in single bound and clever touches.

I found The A Team to be very entertaining. It has lots of violence, occasional bad language and no sex. It should be fine for kids 11 and up who can keep up with the plot, and parents, too.

-- Written by Jean Joachim, writer of a nationally syndicated movie review column.

Read more of Jean's Movie Choices For Kids.

Invisible and deadly! Museum’s First Friday feature really stinks!

In the drive to develop an invisible army, a crazed ex-Major and a scientist under duress must first corral an unusual and unpredictable army of one. Don’t miss “The Amazing Transparent Man” (1960), showing at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh at 7 p.m., Friday, June 4. As a special bonus, Mr. Amazing has vowed to appear, invisibly and in person, at this free performance!

Douglas Kennedy plays safecracker Joey Faust, “the nation’s most daring criminal,” who gets help breaking out of prison, then turned transparent in order to help steal sufficient fuel for the Major’s invisibility ray. Kennedy appeared in many westerns and detective thrillers in the early 1940s, often as a villain. Following a career-disrupting stint as an operative in the OSS and US Army Intelligence during World War II, Kennedy returned to Hollywood to satisfy his true calling ― appearing in low-budget films. He is perhaps most fondly remembered for two roles: as the lead in the TV series “Steve Donovan, Western Marshal” (1955), and as one of the policemen taken over by the Martians in the sci-fi classic “Invaders from Mars” (1953).

Marguerite Chapman plays Faust’s wisecracking moll, Laura Matson. A former telephone operator from White Plains, NY, Chapman’s striking good looks led her to modeling and then the big screen, debuting in “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum” (1940). She appeared in approximately 20 movies over the next few years, but her big break came in 1942 when she was cast in the lead female role in the 12-part adventure film serial “Spy Smasher,” considered by many as one of the best serials ever made. Although she appeared in “The Seven Year Itch” (1955, with Marilyn Monroe), Chapman’s career wound down quickly in the ‘50s, and “Amazing” was her final film. Almost four decades later she was asked to appear as “Old Rose” Calver in James Cameron’s “Titanic” (1997), but she was too ill to accept. Chapman passed away in 1999, but she later received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Director Edgar G Ulmer shot “Amazing” back-to-back with “Beyond the Time Barrier,” on the grounds of the Texas state fair, in only two weeks. These were his last American films. Ulmer was a cult favorite for his early work directing “The Black Cat” (1934) starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and film-noir classic “Detour” (1945). But an ill-advised affair with the wife of a Hollywood producer forced Ulmer to spend most of his directorial career making B movies at Poverty Row production houses.

View the “Amazing” trailer at http://www.archive.org/details/amazing_transparent_man.

The Museum stays open from 5 to 9 p.m. on the First Friday of every month, inviting visitors to wander through eye-catching exhibits, enjoy snacks and beverages from the Acro Café, and groove to live bluegrass music. Additionally, the Museum Store offers after-hours shopping and an opening reception (6:30-8:30 pm) for renowned potter Ben Owen III, whose show “Earth, Water and Fire: Works in Clay” will be on display June 4 – August 1 in the Nature Art Gallery. All exhibited art is for sale.

-- Written by Jonathan Pishney, Communications Director, NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Enjoy shivering with terror at museum!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the museum auditorium . . .

The terror has surfaced. A movie so bad it makes chum look good. We triple dog dare you to join us at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown, Raleigh on Friday, May 7, at 7 p.m. for this mysterious and unnamed shark feature, Natural Horror Picture Show: Shark! Shark! Shark! Shark! Shark! Plus, enjoy biting commentary and a shiver of terrifyingly bad shark-related shorts from the A/V Geeks archive. Parental guidance encouraged.

The Museum stays open from 5 to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of every month, inviting visitors to wander through eye-catching exhibits, enjoy snacks and beverages from the Acro Café, and listen to live music from Stave Harvell and Daniel Sean. Visitors can also check out the inspiration for this month’s movie as the museum’s special exhibit, “Megalodon: Largest Shark that Ever Lived,” offers discounted admission with last tickets sold at 7 pm. This exhibit closes May 9. Additionally, the museum store offers after-hours shopping and an opening reception (6:30-8:30 p.m.) for Mark Bashista, whose photographic views of North Carolina are on display May 7-31 in the Nature Art Gallery. All exhibited art is for sale.

-- Jonathan Pishney, Communications Director, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

Jean reviews Oceans, The Back-Up Plan

OCEANS (Running time: 103 minutes)
Rated G Narrated by Pierce Brosnan

While Oceans may not be the most intellectually educational experience, “big fish eat little fish,” it is the most marvelously photographed film I’ve seen in years. Each underwater scene has the breathtaking beauty of a great work of art.

Oceans takes its time exploring the under-the-sea world, looking for the most exotic, the largest and the smallest creatures. Each tableau is filled with vibrant color and movement as we see how really enormous the blue whale is, watch a man swim with a dangerous shark and root for a small crab that fights in vain for its life.

The movie takes its time and moves slowly, like some of the sea creatures portrayed. I did learn much about sea creatures, from the mammals to the fish, but mostly it was just learning by watching rather than trying to remember many facts being thrown at you.

One of the reasons this film should be great to see with kids is that it doesn’t feel like a classroom, but rather a mesmerizing visual experience that should fascinate kids and adults alike.

There is nothing scary in Oceans so it should be fine for kids five and up who can sit quietly and still for 103 minutes. Don’t miss this one and bring the grandparents, too.

THE BACK-UP PLAN (Running time: 1 hr. 40 minutes)
Rated PG-13 Starring Jennifer Lopez, Alex O’Loughlin

I was looking forward to this film and enjoyed the mommy, pregnancy and dating humor in the beginning. But I’m an adult. What I didn’t like the inappropriate messages for teenage girls, the only kids who might be interested in seeing this movie.

The big message sent from the whole film is that if you’re not married by a certain age, which is never specified in the movie, then buy sperm, get yourself artificially inseminated and have a child on your own. Don’t we already have enough single moms and pregnant teens?

The ultimate message in the film is that when Zoe considers her relationship with Stan, who agrees to raise her inseminated twins, she is only thinking about Stan’s impact on her. There is never any discussion of what kind of father he will be or that it is important for these kids to have a father and maybe she shouldn’t dump him so fast because that will leave her kids with no dad. This is an “all about me” mommy film.

Other questionable parts of this movie for teenage girls are the scenes that make childbirth look like the most horrible experience in the world, all done for laughs. There are many scenes of implied sex and jokes about how sexually responsive pregnant women are. Again, I find that, while the scenes were funny to me, they are not appropriate for teenage girls.

Do we need to subject teenagers to a film where the babies come first and the marriage comes later? Isn’t there already too much of that in real life? There is no violence in this film, but there is some bad language plus sexual scenes. I found parts of the film hilarious, but would not take a teen to see it.

-- Written by Jean Joachim, writer of a nationally syndicated movie review column.

Read more of Jean's Movie Choices For Kids.