IFC Closes 2012 On A High Note With Why Stop Now

Courtesy: IFC Films/mpi media group/BCDF Pictures/120 db films

IFC Films’ latest release, Why Stop Now is everything that makes indie flicks great.  This debut film from co-directors Philip Dorling and Ryan Nyswaner is quirky and zany.  At the same time, it has just enough heart to make it endearing and memorable among fans of the indie movie world.  The heart of the story comes in form of Eli Bloom’s (Jesse Eisenberg—The Social Network) attempt to break away from his own family’s dysfunctional world as he has been given the chance to audition for a major music conservatory in Boston, which would allow him to escape from said dysfunction.  At the same time that he’s trying to escape from that world, it is obvious that he has his own flaws, too.  But it’s that imperfection that makes Eli such a sympathetic character.  Ironically enough, one also can’t help but root for Eli’s mom, Penny (Melissa Leo—The Fighter).  Yes, Penny’s a drug addict, but she shows that she is trying to do the best that she can as a mother to Eli and his sister.  It’s Penny’s addiction that leads to everything that happens in this quirky yet heartfelt story.  From meeting his mom’s drug dealer (and his drug dealer) to trying to make his audition all while having to pick up his sister and so much more, the whole story keeps “rolling” and will keep audiences just as entertained both in the story’s funny and more moving moments.

The concept of a young person trying to break away and start his or her own life is nothing new to the movie industry.  But there is no denying that the manner in which this time honored story has been presented here is in itself quite original.  To that extent, those critics who….well…criticized it for this originality are likely the same ones who refused to see the story’s balance of comedy and drama.  Much of that balance comes from the rather dysfunctional relationship between Eli and Penny.  And it’s also that balance that makes it the underrated indie flick that it is.  The introduction later of Sprinkles (Tracy Morgan—30 Rock, SNL) adds even more comedy and drama to the already entertaining story.  When he’s funny, he’s funny.  But he also shows that he can be taken seriously as a dramatic actor thanks to this movie too when he talks to Eli about everything he’s given up.  He tries to point out to Eli that he still has his life ahead of him and to not give up.  It’s only a momentary dramatic moment.  But even in that moment, Morgan shines as a dramatic actor.  It shows that even he can bring his own amount of heart to a story.  It would be interesting considering this, to see how he would do if he were to take a risk and branch out into more serious roles.

As funny and heartwarming as Morgan is throughout his time on camera, it’s the relationship between Eli and Penny that really gives Why Stop Now the heart and laughs that viewers will appreciate and enjoy most of all.  It’s obvious that Eli cares about Penny being his mother.  But he also sees that she seriously needs help.  Ironically enough, he needs his own help.  And even Penny points that out late in the movie in a conflict between the two.  Penny yells at Eli, pointing out his issues with alcohol.  But the thing of it is that it seems hinted that Eli’s problem with alcohol is a result of having to deal with his mother and sister.  Despite that, audiences are left with a warm feeling as Eli and his mother finally come to terms with everything and with each other by the story’s finale.  They are left knowing that the pair will be just fine, as will his sister.

Perhaps the main reason that the relationship between Eli and his mother works is the chemistry between Eisenberg and Leo.  Audiences will note in the movie’s “behind-the-scenes featurette how much the cast enjoyed working together.  While the movie doesn’t necessarily need bonus features to make it any better, viewers will enjoy hearing the cast’s take on their parts and on the story as a whole.  There is no commentary directly connected to the main feature.  But again, as enjoyable and original as the story is, it doesn’t really need that either, to make the overall viewing experience any better.  The story itself is really all audiences need in this movie.  It is simply put, a story that anyone looking for an original script will enjoy.  It is available now in stores and online on DVD and Blu-ray.

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Radnor’s Directorial Debut A Story “Ahead Of Its Years”

Courtesy: MPI Home Video/IFM Films

Josh Radnor’s (CBS’ How I Met Your Mother) directorial and writing debut is a story of personal growth and acceptance.  It is for all intents and purposes a coming-of-age story for today’s thirty something generation.  What audiences are presented within this movie is the story of a man who is in denial about getting older.  The man in question is Jesse Fisher (Josh Radnor).  Jesse is in denial about his aging until a series of occurrences leads him to begin seeing the light and sets him on his path of self-realization.  That path is started when he attends the retirement party of a former professor at his old university.  It’s his visit to his alma mater that leads him to meet a group of current students–including one 19-year old named Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen)–with whom he starts a friendship that becomes a semi-romantic relationship.  It’s his interactions with her that help set off a chain of events which eventually make Jesse realize some difficult truths.

As intriguing as the discussion is in Liberal Arts, the discussion makes the movie come across as a movie that’s not exactly for everybody.  Its biggest problem is its pacing.  Because of the manner in which the discussion takes place, the story ends up moving rather slowly.  To add to it, the manner in which the entire discussion is presented makes it come across as being too ambitious.  It may alienate some viewers.  It’s not to say that the discussion on getting older and accepting it is a bad idea for the basis of a movie.  Quite the opposite.  Rather, the problem with this discussion is its placement.  Had this discussion on acceptance of getting older been placed within the confines of another story, it might have translated better to mainstream audiences.

Don’t be mistaken.  Liberal Arts is not a terrible movie by any means.  It is simply a niche film that unlike other recent releases from IFC Films, will appeal more to a smaller, more specific set of viewers.  But then again, it may not have been intended for all audiences to begin with.  That being the case, those who enjoy this movie will know that they are the specifically intended audiences, while others will know the opposite.  Regardless, because of its discussion on acceptance of aging, it’s a story that is original and is worth at least one watch.

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Entertainment One brings fans another family friendly classic in Babar Season One

Courtest: Entertainment One

2012 has been a good year for classic television fans.  Thanks to Shout! Factory and Nickelodeon, fans of the classic Nicktoons have seen even more seasons of the classic 90′s Nicktoons get proper releases.  Fans of Dark Shadows have seen the release of the full series thanks to MPI Home Video.  And a much wider release of that series will be coming out soon, too.  Now, thanks to Entertainment One, fans of another classic have reason to be happy.  That classic is HBO’s classic animated series, Babar.  That’s right.  “Babar:  The Classic Series Season One” was released just last week thanks to Entertainment One.  In an era when so much programming is anything but kid and family friendly, this season is a welcome addition to any family’shome library.

“Babar:  The Classic Series Season One” has all thirteen of the first season’s original episodes.  It follows Babar’s family from the very first episode, in which he has to explain to Alexander about what happened to his mother right to the episode about a phantom.  As a fair warning, that very first episode may be difficult for some younger viewers as it does depict Babar’s mother being shot by The Hunter.  However, it’s necessary in Babar’s story explaining his lesson to Alexander.  This is the onl difficult moment in season one as the lessons imparted on the children in each episode are something that both kids and kids at heart will enjoy.

In the opening episode of Season One, Babar tells his children the story of how his journey to becoming king of Celesteville began.  The story goes all the way back to when Babar was just a baby elephant.  His name is chosen as it was actually his first word.  Babar explains, as he narrates the story, how emotionally difficult it was to have lost his mother because of a hunter.  However, because of what The Hunter did, Babar knew that there were things that he didn’t want to do.  Though, he knew he had to do them.  What he meant was that he had to face The Hunter.  And he does just that when The Hunter returns.  He gets The Hunter to chase him, and tricks him, making him fall into the hole left by the trunk that he had pulled up.  The Hunter loses his gun, and Babar grabs it and throws it away.  He explains that he was then on his own, and had to find the rest of the elephants.  He does just that, and eventually defeats the Hunter as Season One goes on.  But that first powerful episode also teaches an important life lesson.  It teaches we all have to do things we might not want to do at times.

In another of the first season’s great moments, Babar teaches the children that “The Show Must Go On”.  He tells them about how he tried to put on a ballet once, when he was a young king.  He invited the famed prima ballerina Madame Soretoza to perform in the ballet.  At first, everyone was excited.  But when she runs everybody off with her bad attitude, Babar has enough and tells Madame Soretoza that she is no longer needed and they are going to run the ballet on their own.  The ballet turns out to be a success, too.  As a result, the children learn that it’s better to work together than trying to act like they’re better than others.  In short, it’s a lesson about team work and having a good attitude.

Babar teaches many great lessons in Season One.  That’s already been noted.  Another of the great lessons shared in Season One is to never assume and falsely accuse someone.  He teaches this in “The Missing Crown Affair.”  When the children are arguing over whether or not a diary has been stolen, Babar sits them down and tells them the story of the time that his crown went missing on the first anniversary of his coronation.  When it’s suddenly taken in the middle of the night, Babar and his friend Sephir go on a hunt to see if they can figure out the mystery.  Sephir and Babar begin to assume that his own friends are trying to have him dethroned.  Of course, he doesn’t have solid proof of that.  In the end, he discovers that everything was just an attempt to set up a huge anniversary party to celebrate the big day.  The point of his lesson was that just because soemthing went msising doesn’t mean that assumptions should be made, nor should accusations be tossed aroudn without solid proof.  In the end, the diary is located, and apologies are shared.  Even Babr finds out in the end that it was Celeste who took his crown that fateful night.  She put an engraving on it declaring her love for him.  It leaves everyone with a great feeling.

Babar has wonderful life lessons in all thirteen episodes of Season One.  But that’s not all that makes this set so impressive.  The packaging for the double disc set is equally impressive.  It would seem that more companies are beginning to use Shout! Factory’s example, as the two discs in the set each get their own spot in the case, thus protecting the discs and preserving their longevity.  So kudos to Entertainment one for the slim and safe packaging for the discs.

Babar was originally aired on HBO in its heydey.  So not everyone was able to get it.  But now that it’s on dvd, audiences everywhere have the opportunity to share in this classic family friendly cartoon.  From the thirteen wonderful lesson filled episodes to the packaging, “Babar:  The Classic Series Season One” is one more wonderful addition to every family’s home library.  It’s one of those programs that just as it’s already transcended generations, will continue to do so for even more generations, if this collection is any indication.

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MPI Home Video gives fans “The Best of Barnabas” in new compilation

Director Tim Burton and superstar Johnny Depp have teamed up for a remake of the classic gothic daytime drama, Dark Shadows. The big screen remake will hit theaters May 11th. In celebration, MPI Home Video has released two single disc compilations dubbed, “The Greatest Episodes Collection.” Yesterday, we focused on the first of that pair in the “Fan favorites” compilation. Today, we focus on “The Best of Barnabas” collection. This collection boasts nine of the best episodes centered on Barnabas. One of those episodes sees Barnabas prematurely age as a result of Dr. Julia Hoffman’s attempts to cure him of his vampirism. In another of the compilation’s best episodes, Barnabas’ love interest, Victoria, is having a bad dream that centers on Barnabas, after Angelique comes back into the picture as Cassandra. This leads Barnabas to confront Victoria, and take matters into his own hands. And in another of the compilation’s best episodes, Barnabas travels back to 1897 to solve a mystery of Collinwood. Yet again, Angelique is there to cause trouble for Barnabas. Together with the remaining episodes in this set, “The Best of Barnabas” is one more great addition to any Dark Shadows fan’s library. Episode 349 sees Barnabas prematurely aging as a result of Dr. Hoffman’s attempts to cure him of his vampirism. Because her attempts backfired, Barnabas blames her. He starts to think that the only solution is for him to return to his vampire state. Victoria shows up while Barnabas and Dr. Hoffman are talking. Fearing her reaction, Barnabas sends Victoria back to Collinwood. After Victoria leaves, Dr. Hoffman suggests that Barnabas use Victoria to return to his vampire state. But he refuses to do that. Dr. Hoffman keeps pushing Barnabas as much as he keeps telling her he won’t do it. When Victoria returns, Carolyn comes in to talk to her. When Carolyn goes out with her male companion, she tells him she wants to investigate the claims against Barnabas, but he convinces her to leave it alone. Later that night, Barnabas gives in to the pressure of using Victoria, or so it would seem. He turns into a bat and flies to Collinwood and slips into her room. When he enters her room, he’s still unable to bring himself to bite her. Then, Carolyn comes to check on Victoria after hearing a noise, which causes Barnabas to turn back into a bat and slip out of Victoria’s room. As the pair is talking, they hear a noise and turn to see a bat outside the window, ending the episode. The way in which Episode 349 ends is just one example of what made Dark Shadows such a great show. It always found great cliffhangers to keep audiences coming back. though the cliffhangers were only one part of the whole story that made each story so great. The stories themselves were the real stars of Dark Shadows. And another of the great stories included in this set is in Episode 535. In Episode 535, Victoria is having a bad dream that is centered on Barnabas. But she refuses to tell anyone, including Barnabas, what she sees in her dream. That is until Barnabas confronts her about it. When she tells him about her dream, Barnabas takes matters into his own hands, and puts himself into a dream state to confront Angelique, who is now under the guise of Cassandra. Even after having gone through the dream state, Barnabas tells Julia that he still has a lot of questions; perhaps more questions than answers. Speaking of questions, questions surrounding the past history of Collinwood lead Barnabas to travel back in time to the year 1897 to investigate one of the mysteries of Collinwood’s past. Yet again, Angelique is there to cause problems for Barnabas. She keeps making advances on Barnabas. But he keeps spurning her advances. So she shows him a vision of someone putting a stake through someone in a coffin. She hints to Barnabas that its him being killed. While this is going on, Quentin convinces Jamison to get information on Barnabas, and what he’s doing there. Quentin believes Barnabas cursed him. It all makes for a really great story for audiences. Dark Shadows is loaded with great episodes. Whether the episodes in the “Fan Favorites” compilation, or any of the episodes included in the “Best of Barnabas” compilation, fans of this classic daytime drama have eighteen total classic episodes to enjoy all at an affordable price. This pair of compilations may not have all the episodes from the show. But at roughly six hundred dollars for the entire set, which ran five-years, paying about ten dollars per compilation is just as worth the money. In the meantime, one can only hope that certain television networks will resurrect this classic for a whole new generation, just as these dvd’s will definitely do, too.