Sat. May 31, 2014
By Gregg Shapiro
Malignant would have been a better title for Maleficent (Disney), a movie that belongs in the same Disney trash heap as 2013's Oz The Great and Powerful , 2010's Alice In Wonderland and 1993's Hocus Pocus. From its derivative and clichéd story with far too many liberties taken, to its tired special effects (haven't we seen these mythical creatures somewhere before?), Maleficent raises a frightening question. Is there not an original idea in the heads of the zombies at Disney?
With the intention to tell an "old story anew" (because who would actually want to see a new story told anew?), Maleficent begins with the discord between two kingdoms, lazily described through narration. One kingdom is occupied by humans who want nothing more than to add to their empire. The other kingdom, The Moors, is bursting at the seams with peaceful and magical creatures basking in the glories of nature.
As a young girl, the winged and horned Maleficent encounters her first human, Stephan, and an unlikely friendship develops. As they grow older, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie, born, I say, born to play this part) remains true to her spirit, while Stephan (a miserably miscast Sharlto Copley) goes the way of many humans (take your pick from bad, wrong, greedy or evil). When an embarrassed and dying king (whose attempt to invade the moors was halted by Maleficent) offers his kingdom to whomever can slaughter the fairy and avenge his crown, Stephan uses his established relationship with Maleficent to trick her, drug her and then clip her wings.
With Maleficent's wings in hand, Stephan ascends to the throne. Meanwhile, Maleficent convalesces in agony. When King Stephan and his wife have a baby – a girl named Aurora – Maleficent gets her revenge by cursing the baby. On her 16th birthday, Aurora will prick her finger on a spinning wheel's needle and fall into an endless sleep, thus becoming Sleeping Beauty.
Wouldn't this be a good place to put an unlikely and unexpected friendship? That's what develops between Maleficent, who has been keeping a watchful eye on the future princess, the teenage Aurora (Elle Fanning), who mistakenly thinks that Maleficent is her fairy godmother (cute, huh?). The introduction of the very handsome Prince Phillip (Brenton Thwaites), turns out to be a red herring. The true love's kiss that awakens Aurora from the sleep of her irrevocable curse comes from the most unpredictable place (yeah, right!).
First-time director Robert Stromberg probably hoped that Maleficent, a malfunctioning reimagining of a classic character's beginnings, would have the same appeal as say, the stage musical Wicked. The closest it comes is to that is that it's wicked awful.
Non-Stop (Universal) is an ugly movie. The high-flying tale of an "air marshal turned terrorist" out to clear his name and get the passengers on a London-bound flight to safety is propelled by a series of phobias.
Billy (Liam Neeson whose acting chops haven't improved after all these years), an air marshal who drinks (uh-oh!) and smokes (yuck!) and is mourning the loss of his daughter, doesn't like takeoffs. Gee, seems like that would be a hazard of his trade. Luckily he has a green "security" ribbon, given to him by his late daughter, to get him through it.
Shortly after the flight takes off and Billy's row-mate Jen (Julianne Moore – what's she doing on this flight?) is asleep, he gets a threatening text on his secured phone line. Here's the deal, unless $150 million is wired to a bank account a passenger on the flight will die within 20 minutes. Here's the twist, it will be Billy who kills the passenger but he doesn't know that (but now you do).
As passengers (and a pilot) die in a variety of bizarre ways (broken neck, poisoning, etc.), the hunt for the hijacker intensifies. But given Billy's track record, and that the hijacker knows an unexplained amount of facts about him, and arranged it so that Billy's name is on the bank account to which the ransom is being transferred, everyone is a suspect. Oh, and then Billy finds the bomb in a briefcase with cocaine (don't ask!).
By the time the identity of the hijackers are revealed – for the record it's two former soldiers who believe "security is the country's biggest lie" – you will probably have lost count of the number of insults written into the screenplay. Let's see, there's homophobic NYPD officer Reilly (Corey Stoll), who would have been right at home raiding bars in pre-Stonewall Manhattan – who's on the flight because his "fairy brother is getting married to a guy with an English accent." Nice! There's also blatant Muslim-phobia in the treatment of and attitude towards good Dr. Nasir (Omar Netwally). Do we even have to talk about the phobia against people struggling with addiction?
For the record, that's Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o as flight attendant Gwen. That said, you'd be wise to stop yourself from watching Non-Stop. The Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD set features "HD Picture and Theater Quality Sound" along with bonus features including the director and cast talking about the action sequences and a behind the scenes featurette.
Like its main character, the gay high school comedy Date and Switch (Lionsgate) could go either way. Best friends since grade school, high school seniors Matty (the Seth Rogen-ish Hunter Cope) and Michael (Nicholas Braun) are determined to lose their virginity (although they use multiple euphemisms to describe it) before prom. A baking pan of pot brownies, meant to celebrate such an event, hangs in the balance.
There are complications. Michael has broken it off with longtime girlfriend Ava (Modern Family's Sarah Hyland), which he will later find out was not such a bad thing after all. Matty has broken it off with longtime girlfriend Em (Dakota Johnson) and in the process came out to her as gay. Shortly thereafter Matty also comes out to Michael.
There is awkwardness. But Michael more than rises to the occasion, escorting Matty to his first gay bar, where they in turn run into their Principal, Mr. Vernon (Larry Wilmore), and one of their teachers. Aside from underage drinking (a recurring motif), this is also the scene in which they meet Greg (Zach Cregger) in the parking lot of the bar, following a fender bender. Greg is significant because he will become Matty's first boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Michael appears to be the one having the hardest time. He is depressed and confused and generally badly behaved. An outing scene involving Matty's parents Dwayne (Gary Cole) and Patricia (Megan Mullally, who has gone from playing the best friend of gay guys to the mom of gay teens – see also GBF) is one example. All of this is occurring as the date of the prom rapidly approaches.
Date and Switch redeems itself on a few occasions and it's not as insufferable as say Geography Club. Still, it's not unreasonable to wonder if movies such as this might give audience members, gay and straight, teen and older, the wrong impression of what coming out is about (see the underage drinking). Special features on the Blu-ray+Digital HD include director Chris Nelson and writer Alan Yang's audio commentary, a couple of featurettes and deleted scenes.
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