THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES

Adam Sandler   Ben Stiller   Dustin Hoffman   Emma Thompson   Candice Bergen

Rebecca Miller   Judd Hirsch   Grace van Patten   Elizabeth Marvel   Adam Driver

     If you want to see a dysfunctional family in action, see the Meyerowitz Stories on Netflix.  Much—especially in the beginning—is painful to watch and listen to, but as time goes on, and genuine caring and concern are mixed in with the rancor and bickering, it finally gets to laugh-out-loud funny.  Noah Baumbach, writer/director knows much of what he speaks in terms of the psychology of family interactions.  It’s dramatized, of course, and there are some scenes I wish he had toned down a bit to make the film more tolerable and plausible, but for the most part it’s a rich store of family dynamics.  Sibling rivalry and its sources (absence of parents, favoritism of parents), the neediness of people who have grown up missing nurturance and acceptance they craved as children, and the effects of divorce and remarriage on children and spouses live on in people’s adult lives—as clearly demonstrated by the film.

    Harold Meyerowitz (Hoffman), the patriarch of this clan, is obsessed with his art to the exclusion of almost everything else.  He seems to have been a successful teacher, but the value of his art productions is not clear.  Harold’s obsession with his art and his place in the art world extends to his interest in his favorite son Matthew (Stiller), whom he sees as being a contributor to his art, despite the fact that his son Danny (Sandler) used to be a musician and in adulthood has been much more involved in his father’s life.  His daughter Jean (Marvel) represents the child almost completely forgotten by everyone, except she has managed to maintain a texting relationship with Matthew and Danny’s daughter Eliza (van Patten). 

   There are hit and miss visits among family members, none of which appear to be satisfying to anyone, then Harold becomes seriously ill, which serves as a catalyst in bringing out more pointed and emotionally productive encounters.  These inform us—and them—about the sources of their various discomforts and resentments and significant events they have endured, giving us a good picture of how the family members came to be who they are today.

    Baumbach’s direction is solid, and Randy Newman’s music and piano accompaniment throughout give a lilt to the drama and comedy onscreen.  Similarly, Robbie Ryan’s cinematography highlights, focuses, and shifts with the action, giving us the sense of being inside the picture observing a real family. 

     Both Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller are a question marks for me before I see one of their movies.  Adam was great in his work on “Saturday Night Live” and in Spanglish, but That’s My Boy, Big Daddy, and The Waterboy are insipid and show none of his acting skills.  Similarly, Ben Stiller has been exemplary in Brad’s Status and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, after bombs Zoolander 2 and Along Came Polly.  Here, with the good script and the direction of Baumbach, they are at their best, and supported by a number of good actors (Hoffman, Thompson, van Patten, and Marvel, with cameos by Bergen, Miller, and Driver). 

Picture of a dysfunctional family that comes together (mostly) during the patriarch’s life-threatening illness.

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

KUNG FU PANDA 3

Voices of:  Jack Black   Bryan Cranston   Dustin Hoffman   Angelina Jolie   J. K. Simmons   Jackie Chan   Seth Rogen   Lucy Liu   James Hong

        Kung Fu Panda 3 has the qualities we hope for in animated children’s movies:  A sense of adventure, good modeling by the adults, fine animation, humor, and a minimum of fart and pee jokes.  Many of the actors and crew have been involved in all three of the Kung Fu Panda films, which contributes to their quality.

         In this adventure, Po the Panda (Black) is being prepared by his guide Shifu (Hoffman) to take over his role as teacher, which seems incredulous to Po who frequently bumbles his action moves.  But the message from Shifu is not to be like him, Shifu, but to find and bring out the Po that is his potential.  In this episode two important events take place; Po encounters his real father (Cranston)—currently filling that role is a goose, Mr. Ping (Hong)—and is charged with saving all the Pandas who are threatened by the evil Kai (Simmons), who has stolen the Chi of most of the past Masters and changed them to be his jade fighters.

     The writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger weave together a story that contains elements of suspense and adventure, Po’s struggles to actualize himself, and warm family elements with Po coming to realize he has two fathers and a role in his extended family of pandas.  Directors Carloni and Yuh keep the action tight but make it easy for very young ones in the audience to follow.

        The gifted cast skillfully transforms the script into fine entertainment for children, helped along by the colorful and entertaining animation, the musical score of Hans Zimmer and the production design of Raymond Zebach.

The latest edition of Kung Fu Panda keeps up the fine pace of the previous two productions.

Grade:  A                               By Donna R. Copeland

THE PROGRAM

Ben Foster     Chris O’Dowd     Dustin Hoffman     Jesse Clemons

          The Program’s opening scene is stark, showing a lone cyclist in the distance huffing and puffing up a steep road in the snow-covered Alps.  Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France only to be stripped of his titles years later for doping, has a desire, a hunger, to be a winner.  Soon after, we see him playing a game with a British reporter named David Walsh (O’Dowd), with the stakes that if Walsh loses to Armstrong (Foster), he has to shave off his beard.  Upon winning, Armstrong insists that Walsh follow through, which says a lot about the characters of both men.  Walsh does shave it off, but becomes relentless in pursuing a case against Armstrong for doping.

       The Program, directed by Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, The Queen, Philomena), is based on David Walsh’s novel with a screenplay by John Hodge.  It chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the champion after overcoming testicular cancer with brain metastases and setting up a charity, Live Strong, to help others with the disease.  His decline resounded more loudly partly because of Armstrong’s cockiness and partly because he defended himself so vociferously for so long, even sacrificing some personal and professional relationships in the process.  After he brought a suit against Walsh and his newspaper, which resulted in Walsh being fired, two of his fellow cyclists who had been friends/colleagues but whom he had dumped along the way, testified against him, issuing in the beginning of the end.

      After an investigation ended in 2012, a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency decided that Armstrong had indeed used “performance-enhancing drugs” throughout his cycling competitions and banned him from competing in any sport that followed its code.  They stripped him of his titles as well.

       And Lance Armstrong did after many years ultimately acknowledge the doping, saying, his was “a mythic, perfect story, but it wasn’t true.”

Although many of us followed the news about Lance Armstrong and the pervasiveness of doping in cycling (in a context where most of the cycling leaders kept overlooking it), Frears’ movie gives a concise and interesting account of all the events, highlighting the kind of man Armstrong is and all the factors that led up to the outcome.  Ben Foster has an uncanny physical resemblance to Armstrong, and his acting skills in portraying the man are impressive. 

The Program is a good dramatization of the life so far of Lance Armstrong, the legendary cyclist.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland