Film Review “That’s My Boy”

Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Tony Orlando
Directed by: Sean Anders
Rated: R
Running time: 1 hour 54 mins
Columbia

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I must admit at the start that I had a major crush on one of my teachers in high school. I’m not going to name her (she knows who she is) but it appears to be something that everyone goes through at one time or another. It happened to Donny Berger (Justin Weaver) when he was in 8th grade. In an attempt to show off for some classmates Donny gets fresh with the very beautiful Miss McGarricle (Eva Amurri Martino) and ends up in detention. While there the teacher scolds him for his actions. She continues to scold him through the school year until they are discovered. She is sentenced to 30 years in prison and, on her way to the big house reveals that she is pregnant. Donny’s parents are given custody of the baby and, upon turning 18, Donny is given the responsibility of raising it. Bad move.

Pretty much a “Hangover” – lite, “That’s My Boy” is Sandlers return to the raunchy side of his career, where films like “Little Nicky” are found. After 20 years as a talk show staple and the subject of a movie of the week starring “90210’s” Ian Ziering as Donny, Donny Berger (now played by Sandler) is now nothing more than a punch line. He’s just been informed that he’s never paid income taxes on the money he made and now faces prison unless he can come up with an initial payment. To get the money he tries to get a spot on a Jerry Springer/Maury Povich type show hosted by Randall Morgan (the getting-funnier-each-time-I-see-him-in-an-Adam-Sandler-movie Dan Patrick). Morgan offers Donny $50,000 if he can reunite with Miss McGarricle at the woman’s prison she’s in. And he needs to bring his son with him. If only he could find him.

Mildly amusing (and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, “That’s My Boy” gets it’s good grades not from its stars but from the supporting cast. Hilarious turns by Tony Orlando (!), Vanilla Ice and the adult Miss McGarricle (don’t want to give away a bit of classic casting) keep the laughs coming. For those of you familiar with Sandler’s comedy CDs, he has decided to use his “Toll Booth Willie” voice for Donny, which is like a high pitched, intoxicated JFK. As Donny’ son, Todd (which he changed when he became an adult because he didn’t like his birth name – Han Solo), Samberg is adequate. He’s very funny in short bursts on “Saturday Night Live,” but the shtick gets old quickly as the film goes on. The film is also stocked with many SNL veterans in cameo roles, including Will Forte, Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer. Also look for Sandler vets Nick Swardson, Colin Quinn, Dennis Dugan and others to fill the minor roles.

I took a lot of heat earlier this year when I became one of only three critics in the world to recommend Sandler’s “Jack and Jill.” But as a 15 year old boy in a 51 year old man’s body I make no apologies. “That’s My Boy” is much funnier than “Jack and Jill.” And, as I finish this, I see that no fewer than SIX critics have already been positive on Rotten Tomatoes so please don’t flame our site this time!

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: boy, film, review

Film Review “Rock of Ages”

Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta and Tom Cruise
Directed by: Adam Shankman
Rated: PG 13
Running time: 2 hours 3 mins
Warner Brothers

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

It sounded like a good idea. Take a bunch of popular song from an era long past, add some singers and a couple of actor cameos and, voila, you have…”Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Best known for being the only film in which Carol Channing, Leif Garrett and “Bowzer” from Sha Na all appear, the film was blasted for being nothing more but a bunch of hit songs strung together (though it does have a small place in my heart and in my DVD collection). But like the saying goes, that was then; this is now! Or at least 1987.

Small town girl Sherrie Christian (Hough) arrives in seedy Los Angeles from her small Oklahoma town via bus. After having her suitcase stolen (not to worry, the only thing in it were her albums) she ends up at a popular rock and roll club called the Bourbon. There she meets bar assistant Drew Boley (Boneta), who convinces his boss, Dennis (Alec Baldwin) to give her a job. Sherrie is a singer and she KNOWS that soon she’ll be, as John Lennon used to say, “the toppermost of the poppermost!”

Full of some of the biggest songs of the late 1980s (I hate to use the words “rock and roll” because, and no offense to Kevin Cronan or R.E.O. Speedwagon, but “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” is NOT a rock song!), “Rock of Ages” is almost like one of the old Hollywood musicals where everyone gets together and puts on a show in the barn. In this show, somebody just put a bunch of songs in a show and wrote a story around them. Sherrie Christian only has that name so that everyone on that night bus from Oklahoma can sing Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” while, when Sherrie’s name is mentioned, you get a few bars of Steve Perry’s “Oh, Sherrie!” They did the same thing in “Sgt Peppers” when they named Peter Frampton’s love interest “Strawberry Fields.”

At least the cast has fun. Hough is engaging enough as a girl who must follow her own dreams, no matter the sacrifice. Boneta starts off shaky. His character claims to have stage fright but he has no problem butchering “Juke Box Hero” inside a crowded record store. But it’s the rest of the cast that make me recommend this film. As a Tipper Gore-like mayoral wife, Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones gets to belt out some Pat Benatar while channeling Michael Jackson’s moves from the “Beat It” video. Baldwin is a hoot as is Russell Brand, as his assistant. But the star here is Cruise, who stars as Stacee Jaxx, lead singer of the band Arsenal looking to go solo. And when he announces that he’ll be giving his first performance as a single on the big stage at the Bournon, Jaxx rocks the house. Part “The Jungle Book’s” Kaa, the snake and part Guns and Rose’s Axl Rose, Cruise rocks the house’s socks off! He has the look and moves of a bonafide rock star, as well as a more then passible voice. When Cruise is on screen the film come to life! The songs are catchy (they should be, they’re pretty well known) and Shankman’s direction is brilliant. He did a great job adapting “Hairspray” from Broadway and does the same here. The script is hit or miss, with one of the biggest misses being Sherrie pretty much meets Drew, gets a job, buys new clothes, gets a place to live AND finds the cure for cancer all in one week’s time. Just kidding about the cancer curing.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: ages, film, review, rock

CON-X KC to benefit Wounded Warrior Project

CON-X Kansas City, a three day Horror, Sci-Fi and Pop Culture Convention, will be held September 14-16, 2012 at the Ramada Conference Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Each year the convention chooses a worthy charity to highlight. This year they have chosen the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization that provides programs and services to severely injured service members during the time between their time on active duty and their transition to civilian life. The event will include film screenings, a dealers room and Q&A sessions with some of the featured guests.

Among the guests scheduled to appear: Walter Koenig (“Star Trek”), Denise Crosby (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), Margot Kidder (“Superman the Movie,” “The Amityville Horror”) Bob Gunton (“Shawshank Redemption”), James Tolkan (“Back to the Future” series, “Top Gun’) and Kansas City native Sandahl Bergman (“Conan the Barbarian,” “All that Jazz”). Also scheduled to appear are stars from the “Stargate” and “Paranormal Activity” series.

For more information go to www.conxkc.com
To make a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project go to www.woundedwarriorproject.org

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Filed Under: Featured, Film Headlines Tagged With: benefit, conx, kc, project, warrior, wounded, ...

Linda Gray & Josh Henderson gives a sneak into TNT’s “Dallas”

This summer TNT is reinventing the classic TV series “Dallas” and bringing back to TV. It is bringing a mix of original and new characters. Linda Gray is returning to her role, along with new co-star Josh Henderson. “Dallas” premiers Wednesday, June 13th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on TNT. Media Mikes had a chance to ask them a few questions about what we can expect from the new 2012 “Dallas”.

Mike Smith: How do you feel that the new series is different from the old one? And in what ways is it the same?
Linda Gray: It took a diamond and polished it. What can I say? It’s magic. It was magic in 1978 and it’s got a little 2012 fairy dust sprinkled on it. It’s just wonderful.

MS: Josh, were you familiar with the original show?
Josh Henderson: I was, yes. I’m originally from Dallas, Texas. I was born there, so with my family it was a very kind of popular thing. My me maw – my grandmother, “Dallas” was her favorite show and she kind of always said, being from Dallas, Texas you go to church and you watch “Dallas”. That’s kind of what you do out there. So it was definitely something that I knew of. I was a little too young to remember actual details of the show, but I definitely knew of how big of a deal it was as a child.

MS: Linda, what are some of the story lines that you can tease this season?
LG: Well, the original show took place when our children, Christopher and John Ross were very young. Now it is the perfect timing. I’m always about timing. I think “Dallas” originally started at perfect timing in history, and how its now perfect timing again when both Christopher and John Ross are grown-ups. They each have their own values and the focus is on where they want to go with their lives, and with whom. So it’s focuses on a rivalry, and this competition. And there’s all these wonderful things that one would expect from the show. There’s a love triangle, so it takes all of the things that were with the original show and it just kind of amps it up. There’s a little cayenne pepper thrown in here. So we’re just taking what it was and amping it up a little bit. A lot.

MS: Linda, what was it like coming back with this character for you personally?
LG: It gets better and better and better every year. You know, we started out, we all had families and on the show there were deaths and divorces, and births, and all kinds of wonderful things that happen in normal families, but this was our Dallas family. And now we’re grandparents, all of us, and we were about five years old, the three of us. So we hang out, we laugh and we love. I don’t know exactly what happens here to make this show absolutely magical, and I think it is. I use the word seamless, because it seemed as if we had shot this about a month ago. And nothing was different. Dallas, the city had changed, and grown and become more art conscious. They have a beautiful art section. And everything about it is enhanced. So, we’re just quite pleased about the way it all came about.

MS: Josh, your character seems to have a lot of his daddy in him, as it were. On kind of a cross, back-stabbing, and plans on top of plans, and comes with a lot of layers, can you reflect?
JH: Well, John Ross is really trying. I think he’s at a pivotal moment in his life where he’s trying to really make his presence known as a businessman. He only knows one way to do business, and that’s kind of how he’s seen his father do business. And it might not be in everyone’s mind the best way, but in his mind it’s the only way, and he knows that it gets stuff done. So he kind of learned from, in his mind, the best and at the end of the day he doesn’t have a great relationship at this point with either of his parents. So he kind of feels like he’s on his own, and I know that he at some point would love to be able to confide with his mother, but he just doesn’t really – he’s not comfortable with that as of right now where he’s at. He’s really kind of trying to do things on his own and put his foot down and kind of put his footprint in, I guess, in this whole Ewing legacy. And so it’s – he definitely is somewhat like his father and, you know, I know his mother is now at the point where she’s kind of trying to give him some advice and hoping that he’ll listen, I guess.

MS: Can you tell us how has Southfork changed over the years?
LG: Well, I think it’s become a big business in how – I mean, every tourist who’s ever come to Texas wants to go to Southfork. I think it’s their number two tourist attraction. So it’s very interesting to drive down that driveway at Southfork, because it brought back so many memories — so many years spent there. And it’s still small. People are always surprised at how small it is. But then on film, they made it look so big and expansive. And it’s just, you play the theme song and that’s a character. You look at Southfork — that’s another character. So those were all the characters that embraced the whole series. So they give you what you had before and it’s just a bit enhanced.

MS: Josh, did you get any tips from Larry on how to play more of the dastardly side of John Ross?
JH: You know, the first thing he ever said to me when we were on set was, “Enjoy the ride.” He literally just said, “Have fun. Enjoy the ride.” I mean, I think with this show, “Dallas” does bring a whole new ride to your life and I think what made the original so special was that they, you know, Larry, Linda, Patrick — the original cast — they truly had fun and they really like each other. I think that when that happens, you can trust your coworker or the actor that you’re with in the scene more, meaning that you can go deeper with the characters to make a better TV show. So he really just said, “Enjoy the ride,” and they have embraced the new generation unbelievably. Like, they just made us feel so comfortable from day one. I guess they had a lot of trust and faith in us as kind of the new generation. And us being so comfortable really, I think, helped the entire dynamic of the show and the character relationships and everything else.

MS: This show really has the potential of hitting both audiences of the original and brand new people who have never seen it before. What would you say that this show has to offer for both sets of people?
LG: I think that it will bring our global audience to the new show. There’ll be kind of a lock that one. And then what will bring them to the new part is that they’ll see the extended family. They’ll see our children grown up, they’ll see their focus in life, they’ll see which business they have decided to go into, they’ll see a love triangle. So it’s the expansion of the original show. It still has the same family, but the family’s grown and it’s expanded. And there’s still the same rivalry and greed and all this craziness that went on in the first series. It will continue, so I think that you’re in for a great ride.
JH: Yes. I think like Linda said, it’s everything about the original that made the original so great and so kind of, you know, magnetizing that people had to run back to the TV every week. They really kind of did well of transcending that into the new generation of Dallas. And I think for me and the cast, our main goal is to satisfy the original fans of the show, give them what they want, give them what they’ve been missing for 21 years. The show, I believe, speaks for itself. So the new audience, hopefully some of the younger generation can bring in some the new kind of younger people. I think as long as they give us a shot, they’ll truly, really enjoy the show. What’s great about this one is that you don’t even have to have ever seen the original to really be able to hop on board with these storylines. That’s how good the show is.

MS: What do you think it is about Dallas that really resonates with fans?
LG: That’s a question that’s really hard to answer. I don’t really know. I think that when it first began, there were a lot of people that didn’t know quite what it was — was it a nighttime soap opera? — what was it? And I think that it was all about timing. I’ve always go back to that. In television historically, there’s always been shows that were perfectly timed. “I Love Lucy” was at a perfect time, there were a lot of doctor shows, now there’s a lot of reality shows. And I think that in 1978 it was a perfect time for something bigger than life. People wanted to see something big, like oil like the movie “Giant”. They wanted to see something big. They wanted to see people with money, they wanted oil and big shoulder pads and cars and all that stuff. And they wanted to see family dynamics. So I think that the original fans were connected to what happens when you have all that money and you have all these problems. It’s dysfunction at its’ finest, so I think people were initially drawn to all of that. And they saw it in maybe themselves or a boss or somebody in business. They saw the business dealings of J.R. Ewing, which attracted a lot of the men to the show, so they thought, “Wow, look at this guy. He’s a bad guy and we like him,” right? So that was sort of confusing at first to people. It’s like, “Wow, we really like that guy. He’s really doing all these ridiculous things.” And then they loved the way that he treated his wife, because then they could feel sorry for Sue Ellen and then be beating up on him. It was quite, then the intrigue started and then it’s the whole water cooler thing was, you know, it was all – it was all about the water cooler and people were talking about it the next day. There was a ground swell that happened and it just built and built and built so that it was then it just a magnet so it attracted everybody. This is just a continuation of all the people that had all of those things fulfilled. Again, to me it’s all about timing. It’s another perfect time.

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Filed Under: Interviews, TV Interviews Tagged With: dallas, gray, henderson, josh, linda, talks, ...

Blu-ray Review “Hoosiers”

Directed by: David Anspaugh
Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Distributed: MGM Home Video
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 115 minutes

Film Score: 5 out of 5 stars
Extras Score: 4 out of 5 stars

In 1954 the basketball team from the small town of Milan, Indiana, led by Bobby Plump, achieved the ultimate Cinderella-story ending when it captured the states High School Basketball Championship.

Coach Norman Dale (Hackman) has been given a second chance. Under a cloud of mystery the former big time college coach has accepted the position as teacher and coach at the small town Hickory high school. Coach Dale has many ideas, most of them that go against what the teams players and fans have been used to. A row on the first day of practice causes a couple players to quit, leaving the team with six players to start the season. Coach Dale has heard about another player, Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis), who isn’t playing this year. He’s also warned to stay away from Jimmy by another teacher, Myra Fleener (Hershey) who feels Jimmy can get out of the small town by using his mind, not his skill with a leather ball.

The season gets off to a bad start, with the team and town rebelling against Coach Dale’s ways. But Jimmy takes notice. When the town meet to dismiss Coach Dale Jimmy makes an appearance and says he wants to play, but only if the Coach is retained. With another second chance Coach Dale begins to mold the team the way they need to be molded. Along the way he also recruits the alcoholic father (Hopper, in an Academy Award nominated performance) to assist him as a coach, with the condition that he not drink. Coach Dale also sees the benefits in giving second chances.

An uplifting film that is often listed on the short list of the best sports films of all time, “Hoosiers” succeeds because basketball is secondary to the relationships portrayed. Coach Dale and the team. The town and the Coach. Coach and Myra. They are front and center with the game an exciting backdrop. The entire cast, from the stars to the untrained boys portraying the players, are outstanding. That Hopper also made “Blue Velvet” in the same year and was nominated for THIS performance is a reminder as to how good he is here. The emotions are real and director Anspaugh keeps the story moving. The musical score by Jerry Goldsmith (also Oscar nominated) is one of his best and captures perfectly the emotions of the film.

This 25th Anniversary Edition looks great on Blu-ray with its 1080p transfer and presented in the original aspect ratio of 1:85.1. The audio on the film is also very impressive boasting a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and also a Dolby Digital 4.0 track. The special features are very impressive on this release. They include a Commentary track by Director David Anspaugh and Screenwriter Angelo Pizzo, Documentary – “Hoosiers History”, Deleted scenes, Theatrical trailer and the real 1954 Championship game

In both the commentary and documentary, director Anspaugh (who would later go on to direct “Rudy”) and screenwriter Pizzo, both Indiana natives, describe in great deal how high school basketball is truly the life blood of Indiana. The documentary also features many famous Indiana basketball names, including Reggie Miller and Rick Carlisle. Also, many members of the 1954 Milan team, including Bobby Plump, relate their tale.

The deleted scenes are pretty standard…a lot of expositional stuff. The actor who suffers most is Hershey, who had a lot of her scenes with Hackman excised at the expense of the film’s running time. One scene fans of the film will welcome explains how Buddy, one of the boys who quit the team, suddenly reappears in the middle of the film as a player.

The gem of the extras is this old 16mm film, probably run in local gymnasiums to inspire other schools, of the 1954 Championship game in which small-town Milan defeated Muncie Central. A little trivia not included on the disc: to get to the final game Milan had to defeat Gerstmeyer Tech, which hailed from Terre Haute. Tech was led by future NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.

 

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Filed Under: DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews Tagged With: bluray, hoosiers, review

Patrick Duffy and Jesse Metcalf gives a sneak into TNT’s “Dallas”

This summer TNT is reinventing the classic TV series “Dallas” and bringing back to TV. It is bringing a mix of original and new characters. Patrick Duffy is returning to his role, along with new co-star Jesse Metcalf. “Dallas” premiers Wednesday, June 13th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on TNT. Media Mikes had a chance to ask the guys a few questions about what we can expect from the new 2012 “Dallas”.

Mike Smith: How do you feel that the new version of “Dallas” differs and how is it similar?
Jesse Metcalf: Okay. Well, I don’t think we’ve changed what made the original series great.I mean the show still centers around the major themes of family dynamics, greed, loyalty, love, and betrayal. But we’ve just updated it. We made it modern and definitely socially relevant to the times. And in addition to that we added some new characters. Obviously, Christopher and John Ross were established in the original series. But, now you now get to see the type of man that these two children have grown up to be. We also introduced the character of Elena Ramos, who is the one side of the love triangle between, Josh Henderson and Jordana. She’s the daughter of our…
Patrick Duffy: The Ewing housekeeper…
JM: Yeah, the Ewing housekeeper. She definitely wasn’t a part of the original series. Then we also have my fiancé, Rebecca Sutter played by Julie Gonzalo. It’s a great marriage of the original show and the original cast and some new cast members.
PD: Yeah. The difference also is just technologically speaking television is done so differently now that if we tried to duplicate the old school “Dallas” I think it would be slow in appearance and in substance for a modern audience. So with the technology that we have with high def cameras and the new way of directing television, which is so dynamic and so intense in terms of the pacing. And the scripts reflect that also. They’re much more condensed. We get maybe four or five episodes of an old “Dallas” in one episode of the new “Dallas”. So all of these things I think contemporize the old show. But we maintain the honor that Cynthia Cidre and Mike Robin feel towards the show. So that hasn’t changed. And I think that’s what will impress old viewers as they look at the new Dallas is it’s so much similar to what they were used to. But it’s done for a contemporary audience. So we think we got the best of both worlds. And we’re hoping that everybody out there is going to agree with us.

MS: So Patrick, what was it like to hear the news that they were recreating the show? And did you ever see it coming back as a series?
PD: No, because I didn’t think that anybody knew how to do it as a series again. The real brains and heart behind the show is our executive producer, Leonard Cassman. And he died. All of these other attempts to write scripts and to promote a movie or a television show that fell so far short of what the original concept was. I didn’t think anybody had the ability anymore. Then Cynthia Cidre wrote a script and it was submitted to Larry and Linda and myself. And it was phenomenal. The pilot script for the show had everything even better than I would say half of the original “Dallas” scripts that we got. So from the moment, the three of us read it we were onboard. And it was the first time I ever thought it was a possibility of returning as a series. And we filmed the pilot. I was sure that we were going to series. I was sure we were going to do this show. I’m still as optimistic that it’s going to go for years and years, because the quality of it is so satisfying having done the show for 13 years to see how well it can be redone again in 2012. I would be more than happy if this were my swan song.

MS: Do each of you have a favorite scene that you’ve done or favorite moment from the first few episodes that you could each talk about?
JM: I probably have a favorite moment from every episode. It’s really difficult for me to pick just one scene. I mean the fun thing about this show is that it’s a magnificent ensemble. Every single day you get to work with a different actor. I love working with all these different actors on the show for different reasons. But I’d say from the pilot episode my favorite scene would have to be the scene where Christopher confronts Elena about possibly betraying him and about the email. Patrick and I have had a number of really strong scenes
PD: Yeah.
JM: What do you think, Patrick?
PD: Well it’s interesting to me, because several of my favorite scenes didn’t make it to the show. That’s what’s interesting is that these scripts are so compact and so intense every scene is so brilliantly done. You finish filming and you think I can’t wait to see that. And then it’s edited out. Well because, you just can’t put everything in each episode. I am sure it still exists somewhere; especially when it comes out on a DVD there will be, additional scenes as an ancillary side to the DVD. You have to as an actor let that go. But I had a scene with Jesse in a barn, which they only kept the lead in scene for that. And they eliminated it. And it was one of my favorite ones of that episode. But over the years I’ve learned to let those feelings go and just enjoy what I see. Most of my new scenes that I have with my wife, with Brenda Strong, are really satisfying, that to me is the big test to find someone who would be the new Mrs. Bobby Ewing is a tough decision that casting had to make. It was a tough role for somebody to accept and Brenda is so good and I feel like when I watch us on camera anymore that we’ve been married for 20 years. There’s just an ease that we have with each other that makes those particular scenes very enjoyable for me. And I like being a father. So every time I work with Jesse it’s another level of satisfaction.

MS: Jesse, what really made you want to be apart of this show?
JM: It was the writing. The pilot episode was the initial script that I read. To be honest, I think this probably speaks to our critics a bit.
I was a bit hesitant to even audition for the new “Dallas”, because I wasn’t sure of remaking such an iconic show was a good idea. With the wave of remakes and reboots of various different shows over the past five years, it’s really been a trend. Most of which weren’t very successful, I was definitely hesitant. But after reading that pilot episode I was like, wow, this is really good story telling. The characters are really well defined and complex. I was like, wow, I think I want to throw my hat in the ring. Initially I auditioned for the role of John Ross. There was some interest there. But they ended up going with Josh Henderson, who I think is perfect casting for the role. And they came back for Christopher and I was even more excited for that role. Then I think the thing that really pushed it over the top for me was that Larry, Patrick, and Linda were going to be a part of the new series, which I think is completely necessary.

MS: Patrick, what do you think it is about the show that really captures so many viewers?
PD: Well, Jesse nailed it because we’ve been approached over the years both to be in a show or how do we feel about, you know, redoing “Dallas” or movie versions that didn’t even involve the original cast members and they all fell so far short…even approaching the original show that I didn’t think it was possible to do. And as Jesse said, once I saw the script and Larry and Linda saw the script and read it we realized not only was it possible but it could end up being better than the original because of the timely nature of how the scripts were written and what we could do with technology now. So the three of us got onboard, and I’ve not been disappointed in a page, a paragraph, or anything since the original pilot episode. So I’m onboard as long as they can squeeze another year out of this old horse.

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Filed Under: Interviews, TV Interviews Tagged With: dallas, duffy, give, jesse, metcalf, patrick, ...

Film Review “Top Priority: The Terror Within”

Directed by: Asif Akbar
Not Rated
Running time: 1 hour 35 mins
Fleur De Lis Film Studios

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

Wow!

Knowing I had just seen his new documentary, “Top Priority: The Terror Within,” producer BJ Davis asked me what I had thought of the film. I summed my review up in one word.

Much has been made of the state of the world since the horror of September 11, 2001. As citizens we’ve been told to keep our eyes open…to report anything we may think is suspicious. But what if you worked for the U.S. Government’s Department of Homeland Security and you discovered that no less than 23 “Special Interest Aliens” (read: persons from such countries as Iraq, Libya, Indonesia and others) just walked across the Mexican border into the United States. You’d notify your superiors, right? Apparently not if you want to keep your job.

The central figure in this film is Julia Davis. Born in Kiev, Russia she met and fell in love with American filmmaker BJ Davis while he was making a movie in her country. Emigrating to the USA and armed with Masters Degrees in Aviation and Spacecraft Engineering, she soon found herself working for the Department of Homeland Security as a Customs and Border Patrol Officer. So strong was her knowledge of, and commitment to, the job that she would often appear on national news programs as an anti-terrorist expert to field questions. In an average month, approximately 10-15 “Special Interest Aliens” would be given authorization to enter the USA, usually after a lengthy question and answer session with a DHS agent. While checking her daily work Davis discovered that, in a 10 hour period on July 4, 2004, 23 “Special Interested Aliens” entered the US without so much as one question by anyone in authority. When Davis reported this horrific breach of security all hell broke loose. On her.

It’s often hard to judge a politically themed documentary. Sometimes, as in the case of some of Michael Moore’s work, the information given is slanted. I’m not saying it’s wrong…I’m just saying that sometimes you don’t see all that is to be seen. That is not the case here. Pressing on with her complaint, Davis soon finds herself the target of harassment at work as well as having to deal with fifty-four fraudulent charges leveled at her. Each one of these charges is proven false thanks to an unprecedented glimpse at government video depositions as well as video surveillance tapes. In one instance, Ms. Davis reports that her superior, Linda Boutwell (who Ms. Davis’ attorney humorously refers to as “Miss BUTT-well” when he discusses her) picked up her personal backpack and threw it to the floor so forcefully that the cell phone inside was broken. Boutwell submits a sworn statement claiming to have never touched Ms. Davis’ backpack. When government investigators are confronted by video surveillance tape that shows Boutwell doing exactly what she is charged with, they inexplicably side with her. The case gets even more involving when Boutwell tells her superiors that Davis, while at work for the Department of Homeland Security, is secretly helping her husband and his crew make a local film. According to Boutwell she is told this information by actress Brittany Murphy. When the Davis’ inquire as to why these charges were made, Murphy informs them that, though she is friends with Boutwell’s daughter, she never made those statements. What follows for the next 18 months is an all out assault on the very freedoms Ms. Davis swore to protect. She is followed by helicopters…her house is illegally searched…the government tries to have her deported, calling her marriage to BJ a sham. They even arrange to have local police pull the Davis’ over at pre-scheduled times to prevent them from arriving at court hearings and depositions on time.

Surprising to hear? It was to me. But every accusation is backed up with proof! There is no gray area here. It’s all there in the black and white video footage as well as the notes and documents the Davis’ were able to track down. And they weren’t the only people under surveillance. In an interview shortly before she died at the age of 30, Brittany Murphy told the writer she knew she being watched. In fact, it was much worse. Murphy endured helicopter surveillance, wiretaps, an arrest in the middle of the night and an unsuccessful attempt to deport her fiancée Simon Monjack, whom she later married. That shortly after her statement both Murphy and Monjack suddenly died only makes the case more bizarre!

There are more twists and turns to this film then all of the rides at Disneyland. “Top Priority: The Terror Within” is a film that will make you think and, hopefully, say “Wow!”

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Film Review “Prometheus”

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron
Directed by: Ridley Scott
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 2 hrs 4 mins
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

According to the “Alien” time line, it was June 2122 (about 110 years from now) that the USCSS Nostromo ran into a little trouble.

In 2093 a group of space travelers, led by scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) awaken from a deep slumber to find themselves in route to what they hope is the discovery of the century. Their trip financed by the very wealth, but very old, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), the reason for this mission comes from the various paintings found on ancient cave wall all over the world. To Elizabeth and Charlie the clues are unmistakable. “I think they want us to come find them,” Elizabeth comments. Maybe…..

Directed with the same master-touch he brought to such films as “Alien,” “Blade Runner,” Thelma and Louise” and “Gladiator” by Ridley Scott, “Prometheus” is a stand-alone film that may or may not have something to do with the “Alien” series. I’m hedging my comments because it’s truly up for the audience to decide Scott’s message to film goers. Co-written by long time “Lost” scribe Damon Lindelof, who also has “Cowboys and Aliens” and the upcoming “Star Trek” film on his list of credits, the story blends horror and mystery perfectly, greatly assisted by some first rate actors.

Fassbender continues his rise to the top of my favorite actors working today with a brilliant portrayal of David, a cyborg creature still trying his best to understand the world around him and the people he serves. Rapace is a revelation as a tougher then she seems character who actually “out-Ripleys” Sigourney Weaver’s character in “Alien.” Though Elizabeth and Charlie are technically in charge of the expedition the real boss is Meridith Vickers (Theron), a woman shrouded in mystery. As played by Theron she is very tough and self-sufficient. Other members of the crew include ship captain Janek (Idris Elba) and his first mate, Ravel (Benedict Wong).

Like with “Alien,” Scott depends on the atmosphere and sets to influence the audience’s emotions. His cameras move briskly through vast caves and hurtle down ship hallways as if he’s leading a roller coaster ride that you can’t catch your breath on. The production design by long time Scott associate and two-time Oscar nominee (“Gladiator,” “American Gangster”) Arthur Max is stunning while the musical score by Marc Streitenfeld helps set the films’ tone.

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Dr. Paul Frommer talks about developing the languages for “John Carter” and “Avatar”

When writer/director James Cameron needed someone to create the native language of his Na’vi characters for the film “Avatar,” he turned to renowned linguist Paul Frommer. Impressed by his work the filmmakers behind the recent film “John Carter” asked Dr. Frommer to develop the Barsoomian language for that film as well. Dr. Frommer is Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. Prior to joining Marshall, he lived and taught in Malaysia and Iran and completed a doctorate in linguistics at USC. He followed that with a ten-year sojourn in the business world as vice president and strategic planner for a Los Angeles corporation. Returning to USC, he joined the faculty of Marshall’s Center for Management Communication, serving as Director of the Center from 2005 to 2008. His teaching at USC included courses in Advanced Writing for Business and Cross-cultural Business Communication for Non-native Speakers. Dr. Frommer is co-author, with Edward Finegan, of Looking at Languages: A Workbook in Elementary Linguistics, currently in its fifth edition. To celebrate the release of “John Carter” on DVD, Dr. Frommer took the time to speak with Media Mikes:

Mike Smith: For “John Carter” was it important to incorporate a lot of the Barsoomian words that Edgar Rice Burroughs had created for his series of novels?
Paul Frommer: Yes, it was extremely important. And that’s what made this assignment unique. In the series of eleven books he came up with around 420 words. There is a large fan base out there that regards those texts as sacred and I wanted to respect that. I wanted to incorporate everything that Edgar Rice Burroughs had done so that therewould be no inconsistencies. That being said there was still a lot of guess work that had to be done. Just because you see the written form of a word doesn’t mean you know the exact pronunciation. For example, he had used “ch” in a lot of the words. But what does it mean? It could be “cha” like “chair.” It could also be “ka” like in “chorus.” It could be “sha” like in “machine. Those were some of the decisions I had to make. When you have “th” is it “thh” as in “thin” or “thuh” as in “then?” They both have different sounds. And even though the words were there, there were still a lot of decisions to be made. In terms of grammar we used virtually nothing from the book…it’s just isolating words.

MS: When you’re creating a language for a film do the screenwriters and director contribute their ideas as to how the language should sound or how it should flow?
PF: Yes. In fact, Andrew Stanton (director of “John Carter”) had come up with a few words of his own and when I could I would incorporate those. I had come up with some possibilities as to how the language would sound when spoken and I past those on to Andrew for his approval. In the initial go ‘round there were certain things he liked and certain things he didn’t. So we played around with things until he was happy with how the language sounded.

MS: Using Klingon as an example, since Klingon’s are outwardly very rough…their language is very guttural. When you create a language do you base how it will soundon the character’s perceived on-screen appearance?
PF: For the Na’vi language in “Avatar” Jim Cameron wanted the language to sound appealing and beautiful but also to sound somewhat complicated. In terms of the Barsoomians, they’re kind of a rougher people and so maybe the language reflects that.

MS: Since you brought up “Avatar” are there any new species you’ll be creating languages for in “Avatar 2?”
PF: Well, I wish I could tell you but I’m as curious as anyone. All I can tell you is that the film has been announced and that it’s slated to come out in 2016.

MS: To close on a humorous note, have you ever had a bad experience at a restaurant where you’ve just lambasted the waiter in Barsoomian?
PF: I haven’t done that yet (laughs) but there are times when I’ve said some things to myself in Barsoomian or Na’vi but I haven’t pulled that on any people yet. I’m sure there are fans in the audience for both languages that have done it and I think that’s great!

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Blu-ray Review “A Perfect World”

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood and Laura Dern
MPAA Rating: PG 13
Distributed by: Warner Bros
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Running Time: 2 hours 18 mins

Film: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 1/2 out of 5 stars

The first film directed by Eastwood after he won his much deserved Oscar for “Unforgiven,” A Perfect World” is a great cat and mouse game pitting two of the best, Costner and Eastwood, at the top of their game. Costner is Butch Haynes, an escaped convict who, among his adventures, adds kidnapping to his list of charges when he abducts 7-year old Phillip “Buzz” Perry. As the two keep one step ahead of the law, led by U.S. Marshall Red Garnett (Eastwood) they discover they have a lot in common.

Thanks to a tight script by John Lee Hancock and Eastwood’s always steady direction, “A Perfect World” is an emotional roller coaster with Costner giving one of his best performances. The presentation is top notch, which is to be expected on Blu-ray. The only extra on the disc is the theatrical trailer. What a disappointment. Both Eastwood and Costner had won directing Oscars in the few years preceding and it would have been a treat to eavesdrop on two acclaimed filmmakers while they worked together.

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Synopsis: Academy Award winners* Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood confront each other from opposite sides of the law in A Perfect World, an acclaimed, multilayered manhunt saga (directed by Eastwood) that rumbles down Texas backroads toward a harrowing collision with fate. Costner plays Butch Haynes, a hardened prison escapee on the lam with a young hostage (T.J. Lowther in a remarkable film debut) who sees in Butch the father figure he never had. Eastwood is wily Texas Ranger Red Garnett, leading deputies and a criminologist (Laura Dern) on a statewide pursuit. Red knows every road and pothole in the Panhandle. What’s more, he knows the elusive Haynes ? because their paths have crossed before.

 

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Blu-ray Review “Blood Work”

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels and Anjelica Huston
Distributed by: Warner Bros
MPAA Rating: R
Release date: June 5, 2012
Running time: 1 hour 50 mins

Film: 3 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2 out of 5 stars

Eastwood stars as Terry McCaleb, a former profiler for the FBI who retired after having a heart transplant. A well known name in his former occupation, McCaleb is approached Graciella (Wanda De Jesus), who asks him to find the murderer of her sister, Gloria. McCaleb says no but is swayed to take the case when he learns it is Gloria’s heart now beating inside his body.

The story is based on the novel by Michael Connelly with a top notch screenplay adaptation by Oscar winner Brian Helgeland (“L.A.Confidential”). Not as flashy as some of Eastwood’s earlier investigative films (“Tightrope,” “True Crime”) but still enjoyable. To see Eastwood not at his peak form (the heart transplant has left McCaleb very weak…he requires daily naps and can’t drive himself) is a rarity and he obviously has fun with the characterization. Also look for Clint’s missus, Dina Eastwood, as a reporter which she was when she met him. Like pretty much all of the Warner Brother Blu-rays I’ve seen the transfer is clean and sharp. Even the many night scenes jump off the television screen.

The extras included are Teaser Trailer, Theatrical Trailer, Making of “Bloodwork” featurette and “A Conversation in Spanish” with Wanda De Jesus, Paul Rodriguez and Clint Eastwood. Another disappointing group of extras, though better then those on “A Perfect World.” Besides the trailers there is a pretty much by-the-book “making of” piece. The best “extra” is “A Conversation in Spanish,” in which De Jesus and Rodriguez try to explain their roles in the film in Spanish. Clint drops in halfway through and you can see that the stories about his cast and crew loving him on set are not exaggerated.

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Synopsis: FBI profiler Terry McCaleb almost always gets to the heart of a case. This time, that heart beats inside him. He?s a cardiac patient who received a murder victim?s heart. And the donor?s sister asks him to make good on his second chance by finding the killer. That?s just the first of many twists in a smart, gritty suspense thriller that?s ?vintage Eastwood: swift, surprising and very, very exciting? (Jim Svejda, KNX/CBS Radio). Clint Eastwood produces, directs and stars in this edgy, acclaimed mystery based on Michael Connelly?s novel and scripted by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential). With a superb cast brought to a hard boil playing characters to quicken your pulse and hold you spellbound, Blood Work works exceptionally well.

 

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Film Review “Crooked Arrows”

Starring: Brandon Routh, Gil Birmingham and Chelsea Ricketts
Directed by: Steve Rash
PG 13
Running time: 1 hour 45 mins
Peck Entertainment

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

I’ll admit up front that I’ve never played lacrosse. To be honest, it wasn’t played where I grew up in Florida. I first learned about it when I lived in Baltimore, as it’s a very popular sport in the mid-Atlantic states. I do know that it is a game of skill and speed. And those qualities are perfectly captured in the new and uplifting film “Crooked Arrows.”

Joe Logan (Routh) currently runs the casino that sits on land that has been in his tribe for centuries. Calling himself “Chief Wampum,” he wanders the gaming floor handing out feathers with bonus coupons attached and shooting arrows at a board that also includes such specials as “$5.00 free play!” When the developer that built the casino wants to expand he makes Joe an offer he can’t refuse. If he can convince the tribal elders to cede more land for expansion he will make Joe, and the tribe, very wealthy. But in order to succeed Joe must also do something for his people.

Presented with the approval and cooperation of the Onondaga Nation, “Crooked Arrows” is a history lesson in the game of lacrosse, which was invented centuries ago by Native Americans. Referred to often as both “the creator’s game” and “the medicine game,” lacrosse is both an athletic and spiritual journey. When Joe is informed by the tribal elders that he must also complete a spiritual journey to achieve his goals, he is assigned the task of coaching the tribal schools lacrosse team. We learn that Joe was, at one time, a great player for a rival private school, where he was known as “Logan the Legend.” However he soured on the game and really wants nothing to do with it. However, he accepts the challenge and, assisted by his lacrosse-loving sister Nadie (Ricketts) and guided by the advice of his father (Birmingham) he begins to recapture the love and respect he had both for the game and for his heritage.

The performances here are strong and natural. Routh may very well be the most likeable actor working today. There’s something about his presence on-screen, be it in “Superman Returns” or the romantic “Fling,” that just says “good guy.” Even when he’s fighting against the tribal councils wishes you can’t help but root for him. Ricketts is equally likeable here. As the only member of the team that actually understands the game and its heritage she radiates confidence. And Birmingham brings a quiet dignity to his role as both the tribe’s leader and Joe and Nadie’s dad.

Director Rash, who three decades ago gave us the great bio-pic “The Buddy Holly Story,” has managed to capture both the speed of the game and the smaller off-field moments beautifully. The photography, especially when the film flashes back to images of long ago, is lush and Brian Ralston’s musical score is a perfect accompaniment to the onscreen story.

Click here for our interview with Brandon Routh
Click here for our interview with Chelsea Ricketts

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Film Review “Snow White and the Huntsman”

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron
Directed by: Rupert Sanders
PG 13
Running time: 2 hours 7 mins
Universal

Our Score: 1 out of 5 stars

Some fairy tales are best left alone. In doing some quick research I learned that there are no less than thirty filmed versions of the tale of Snow White. And I’m willing to bet that all of them (well, maybe not the X-rated version entitled “Once Upon A Girl”) are better than “Snow White and the Huntsman.”

As the film begins we are told, via narration, the story of a happy couple that wanted a happy baby. The missus pricks her finger on a rose and three drops of blood escape. Apparently the drops of blood signify red lips, black hair and white skin. Turns out the couple in question are actually the king and queen of a happy kingdom. The queen has a beautiful baby girl, who they name Snow White. And they live happily ever after. Just kidding!

I hardly know where to begin.

Apparently when the film was cast the actors were told that they either needed to speak like “this” or like “THIS!” Both the evil queen (Theron) and the fair Snow White (Stewart) either mumble their lines to their fellow actors or SCREAM them! As the magic mirror-loving, bird heart-eating queen who has apparently been done wrong by one man too many, Theron comes off as a better dressed version of Aileen Wuornos, the man-hating serial killer she won an Oscar portraying in 2003’s “Monster.” Her makeup makes her features fluctuate from a blindingly beautiful queen to a weathered hag who eerily resembles Courtney Love’s Althea Flynt at the end of “The People vs Larry Flynt.”
The queen also has a creepy relationship with her brother, Finn (Sam Spruell). And by creepy I mean “Angelina Jolie and her brother at the 2000 Oscars” creepy.

As Snow White, Stewart doesn’t have much to do while she’s locked in a tower. Once she escapes she proves herself to be quite feisty. However, she too is a shouter. And then there’s Hemsworth, who apparently was the only actor that was trying when the film was shot. Burdened with the only accent in the film, the kind that makes the word “three” sound like “tree,” and wielding a large axe much like he wielded his Hammer as Thor, Hemsworth gives the only layered performance in the film. Even the seven dwarves, played by who’s who of British actors including Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins and Nick Frost, couldn’t bring this film to life. It’s like everybody on set, sans Hemsworth, took a bite of the famed poisoned apple and drifted off to sleep. And since these aren’t Disney’s dwarves they’re saddled with such un-cute names like Beith, Nion and Gort. One of them bore a striking resemblance to Mel Brooks’ Yogurt in “Spaceballs,” but since he’s apparently blind I just call him “Blindy,” in memory of Walt.

The pacing is horrible, making a two hour-plus film feel EXACTLY LIKE a two hour-plus film. The script is cobbled together from pretty much every different version of the Snow White tale you remember from your childhood. Somebody better call John Lee Hancock, who wrote such films as “The Blind Side” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” and tell him somebody added his name to the other two taking credit for the screenplay. Thankfully I have to watch “A Perfect World” this weekend so I can be reminded of what a talented writer he truly is. On the plus side, the musical score by James Newton Howard is a pleasant distraction from the action on screen.

Thanks to my crack research I’ve learned that two of the actors featured in “Once Upon a Girl” were Hal Smith, who played the loveable town drunk Otis on “The Andy Griffith Show,” and Frank Welker, one of the best voice-over actors EVER. Armed with that knowledge I think “Once Upon a Girl” may also be better than “Snow White and the Huntsman.”

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Brandon Routh talks about new film “Crooked Arrows”

Born in Iowa, Brandon Routh is probably best known for his portrayal of the Man of Steel in “Superman Returns.” Though the film made over $400 million it was deemed a “disappointment,” which to me was a slap in the face to the fans that loved the film and Routh. In my review of “Superman Returns” I noted that “Routh certainly has large red boots to fill…and he fills them admirably.”

Since then he has worked steadily, appearing in such films as “Scott Pilgrim vs the World” and “Fling,” which he also co-produced. This week Routh returns to theatres as Native American lacrosse coach Joe Logan in the film “Crooked Arrows.” Routh recently sat down with Media Mikes to talk about “Crooked Arrows,” going behind the camera and how “Superman Returns” still has its benefits:

Mike Smith: What attracted you to “Crooked Arrows”?
Brandon Routh: A couple of things. The fact that it’s about lacrosse, which is a sport I’ve been interested in learning more about. And the story. The script had a lot of passion…a lot of heart…in telling the true heritage of the sport of lacrosse, the Native American people and the sport’s origins.

MS: You’re obviously an athletic guy. Did you play lacrosse growing up?
BR: I didn’t. Growing up in Iowa there wasn’t any lacrosse. (NOTE: I grew up in Florida and we didn’t play lacrosse either. It wasn’t until I moved to Baltimore in the early 1980s did I see the game being played. It’s regionally popular in the mid-Atlantic states and is slowly growing a nationwide following) I grew up playing soccer. I would have loved to have played lacrosse but there wasn’t any to be had. That’s what made this role cool….I got to learn how to play.

MS: As you’re playing a Native American, did you do any special research to bring an authenticity to your character?
BR: I didn’t have to do a lot of research because I had access to Neal Powless, who was the cultural adviser. He’s from the Onondaga Nation as well as a producer on the film. He also was my lacrosse coach! (NOTE: Powless is a former professional lacrosse player and was a three time All-American in college). I was so fortunate to haveaccess to him for any questions I may have had.

MS: You were a co-producer on “Fling,” which was filmed here in Kansas City. Do you have any desire to go back behind the scenes? Either back into producing or even behind the camera as a director?
BR: I used to think I wanted to be a director. I’m not sure if that will happen or not. It would certainly have to be something that I wasn’t acting in. The job of a director is so challenging. You have so many people that you have to please. I think I’m a few years from that. But it is a thought. A thought for down the road.

MS: I want to preface this question by saying that I was 17 when “Superman the Movie” came out. I loved Chris Reeve as an actor. I thought you did a brilliant job in “Superman Returns.” You truly did the character, and Christopher Reeve’s memory, proud.
BR: Thank you.

MS: I preface that because, even though the film made $400 million, it was looked at in some parts of Hollywood as a failure. Do you think that kind of thinking…where a film is first judged by how much money it makes in its opening weekend rather than whether it’s a good film or not…will eventually hurt the chances of smaller films like “Crooked Arrows” even being made?
BR: No. I mean me being in “Crooked Arrows” is only because of “Superman.” And this is a much different kind of film…an independent film. It follows a completely different release schedule…we’re able to do so much more with promoting it. So I don’t see that kind of thinking effecting smaller filmmaking in any way.

MS: What are you working on next?
BR: A pilot I shot just got picked up by CBS. It’s a sitcom called “Partners.” So hopefully I’ll be seeing you on Monday nights in the foreseeable future starting in the fall.

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Melissa Joan Hart talks Season Two of ABC Family’s “Melissa & Joey”

Melissa Joan Hart has been working on television since she was a kid with “Clarissa Explains It All” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”. She is currently starring with Joey Lawrence on ABC Family’s “Melissa & Joey”. Entering it’s second season, Melissa Joan Hart took some time to chat with Media Mikes about what we can expect from the show and about her career.

Mike Smith: In addition to being the star of the show, your Heartbreak Films also produces Melissa & Joey. Could you tell us about your creative vision for this season?
Melissa Joan Hart: That’s up to the writers. We have a writing team, the executive producers/show runners, which is Bob and David, David Kendall and Bob Young, and they are, along with a team of really great writers, they sort of plot out the season along with the network. This second season, I think we started off really strong. I think our first season, which consisted of 30 episodes, but I think our first few even just out of the gate were great. I think that we had a really great crew. We had really great writing staff. We had a great cast. It was able to all gel really well together, and I think that’s kind of rare. If you watch a lot of shows, it takes a while to get the ball rolling. But that being said, I think we came out of the gate pretty strong. But at the same time the second season just gets better, and I think that happens with every show. As the oil in the machine starts to really warm up, you just get the ball rolling and you get these stronger episodes. So in the second season we just have funnier, more solid episodes.

MS: Is there anything you can tell us about any surprises we can look forward to this summer?
MJH: There are some surprises. I don’t know how far I’m allowed to say. Last season, season one, ended with a bathtub falling through the roof. So the beginning of the show starts off with a few episodes about the construction and the family living on top of each other. Mel has a little fling with the cabinetmaker, played by Bren Foster, but then there is some stuff that happens at the end where Joey falls in love with a Russian colleague and there’s quite a little romance that goes on there, and that’s an arc. We have that for a few episodes. So Mel has to put up with this Russian chick in her house. But in between that, there are really just a lot of fun, standalone story lines that happen and some great guest stars. This season it was really about keeping it light. Not having that very special episode. We don’t like to do those. We just want to make people laugh.

MS: Could you tease us some of the other guest stars we’ll be seeing this season?
MJH: Yes. Bren Foster, I think he’s Australian and he’s in one of the episodes; one of the first few episodes, one of the one’s that will air next week. Who else do we have? All the 45 episodes we’ve done kind of run together. So I’m having trouble remembering what people have seen and what they haven’t. Who else do we have? Christine Lakin comes back for a really funny episode. She played my friend in one of the episodes last season. This season she is looking for a sperm donor and happens to want some of Joey’s stuff. That’s one of my favorite episodes; that is my favorite episode of this season coming up, the sperm donor episode. But yes, that’s all I can think of right now. But Debi Mazar plays a great character. She’s like my—I’m thinking about reelection and she is my coach, my reelection campaign manager. So she is—it’s an episode called “The Knockout” and it’s pretty funny. There’s a guy in a movie theater who starts picking a fight with Ryder, my nephew, and I stand up to him after telling Joey not to. I knock him out and it gets on video and it goes viral. And then the whole campaign is around whether or not I should be promoting the fact that I knock him out kind of thing, whether or not that’s a good example for the kids. It’s a really fun episode, and Debi Mazar does a great job in it. And she and I met on the set of Dancing with the Stars. I really like bringing in a lot of these people that I’ve worked with before. That’s one of the fun parts about being Executive Producer is finding talented people all over the place and being able to work with them.

MS: What is it about being a part of Twitter that really helps you with the promotion and connecting with people who are fans of the show?
MJH: Well within two seconds I can correspond with 200,000 people, which is pretty incredible; across the world. And what I really like about it is just seeing the immediate response of things. Like the other night, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” the first movie, the Showtime movie was on. I don’t know what it was one, but it aired and my timeline was filled with people just talking about it. Being shocked that Ryan Reynolds was in that movie. It was just funny to see how many people were watching it. I think it was actually maybe airing in the U.K. or the U.K. just got Netflix. So they can now watch Melissa & Joey in the U.K., which they’re all very excited about because it’s not airing yet there on a network and they’re all mad at me about that. But it’s fun. It’s like that instant response to of like, you know, just driving people to try products that I like or to know a little something about my family or something that I find funny. I try to be careful not to over use it too much, but to also give everyone like a flavor of everything. Like what it’s like for me being a mom. What it’s like for me being an actress. What it’s like for me being a wife, you know. So like little tidbits of what my inside life is like. But of course it’s an amazing tool to use. To be able to reach fans and get the audience to move, whether it’s for a certain charity reason or to watch the show, that kind of thing. It’s really amazing too to see how many shows this season got picked up because there was a buzz even though the ratings weren’t there. So you know that it can be used to help push different projects through.

MS: Both you and Joey Lawrence are directing this season. How does that affect the way you prepare for the episode?
MJH: It’s just a lot more work. It’s a lot of work. I’m trying to remember what my episode was even about. I’m having such a hard time with this season; getting it so confused with the other season. It’s just so much prep because you’re involved in every step of it along the way, even more so than just being an executive producer. You have the production meeting with the entire crew where you decide what prop will get used for this scene and what effect might be used for this scene or what camera might be used for this scene. And then you’re working with the camera coordinator or DP on lightening and this and that staging. And then you’ve got to get the actors to listen to you, which in this case is really difficult. We all help each other out all the time anyways. It’s a very collaborative effort always, but when you’re the director you get so nervous. It’s like, “What if Joey doesn’t want to listen to me? What if Taylor won’t go where I tell her to? What if they don’t like my ideas? What if they think I’m terrible? What if I annoy them? What if I don’t say enough?” So it’s always hard being an actor and talking to other actors, but I think that other actors kind of respect an actor’s director more so than a camera director because you’ll get help with your acting. You’ll get attention paid to your actual performance as opposed to just, “Go here. Go there. Stay in your light. Get on camera,” because you have different kinds of directors. You have ones that just care about the camera and the lighting and then you have ones that also care about the performance. As an actor I’ve seen that, and it’s difficult sometimes to not have someone paying attention to your performance when you really want that guidance. So luckily we all take great notes and we adjust and we’re very collaborative. So it’s a really fun process, but you just get nervous like, “What if they don’t like my ideas.” So it’s a lot of work. And then you’ve got to do the editing once that episode is done. When you’re acting, it’s Monday to Friday. When you’re directing it’s like a three to four week process.

MS: Have you guys ever shot a scene where you couldn’t stop laughing? Like you just kept doing bloopers?
MJH: Yes. We’ve had a few of those. There have been a few. We use iPhones on the set and sometimes we snap pictures with the iPhones. And then other times we have to be pretending we’re looking at the phone and kind of turning it to each other and saying, “See look. See the message,” or whatever, but there’ll be a stupid picture on the phone and it just makes us giggle and it’s always hard to pull it back. I think there was an episode coming up where Nick had to eat a lot of junk food, junk food from the vending machines at school as a school project for Taylor to write about in her blog. There were snowballs and all this stuff on the set. He was trying to eat but he was just so disgusted by all the food he had to eat. There was a lot spit takes in that one.

MS: What challenges will Mel be facing with the kids this season?
MJH: Well they’re getting older. There’s an episode where Taylor tries to befriend the new girl that she sees at school because she was the new girl last year. So she’s trying to be the good person by bringing this girl into her circle and trying to befriend her, but realizes that not everybody wants to be popular or liked or taken under someone’s wing. There are a few episodes about relationships. Nick has a little girlfriend who we adore on the show. She’s been back and forth a little bit, Holly. She pretty much tortures him. So there are a few episodes with her involved. And Taylor has a few episodes where she’s got a romantic guy with her. The one I directed with her and—what was the actor’s name? Anyway we’ve got these great little teen actors on the show and one of them plays her boyfriend for—for a few episodes—and there’s a nice little story line that happens with her and that relationship and us giving her relationship advice and stuff like that. So the typical teen stuff, but they are getting older and they’re starting to teach us a few things as well.

MS: What do you admire most about Mel?
MJH: She’s really determined. She sets her heart to something. She thinks she’s got the—when she thinks she’s on the right path or she thinks there’s a mission to accomplish she will get to it. She will finish that mission. She is one of those women that is determined and has her convictions and sees things through, but she does it in a really silly, funny way.

MS: How much of those particular episodes or how many of those moments do you actually get input on? Is any of that based on true to life experiences of Melissa or Joey?
MJH: The structure of it’s always there from the writers, but then we like to tweak it within itself, like the episode with climbing out the window and stuff like that. I like to constantly remind the writers, not that they need a lot of reminding, that I don’t know what I’m doing here, that I don’t want to know what I’m doing. I want to make mistakes, as a parent. That’s where a lot of the humor comes from, and that’s true to life, I think, too. We’ve been thrown these teenagers. It’s not like we raised them from scratch. There’s a lot of room for error. What I really like to do is go look at my natural parenting instincts and do the opposite. So a lot of the time if I feel like there’s something that can be the opposite or there’s an episode where we’re kind of lecturing the kids too much we’ll go sit down with the writers and say, “We think it’d be really funny if the kids actually lectured us on this,” or if Lennox and I are both sneaking into the house late at night and have to shush each other because we don’t want to wake up Joey. Both of us don’t want to get in trouble, inappropriate behavior as adults really.

MS: It seems like there are a lot of chances for improvisational on set with your cast.
MJH: We do. That’s what’s great about doing the live show too. We shoot live on Friday nights, which I’ve never really done before, but it does really help because you get to try out different jokes in front of the audience. You do three or four takes and you try out a few different jokes and see which one gets the biggest laugh and then hopefully the editor will use that one. It’s fun to be able to sort of improve that stuff. And sometimes one thing will happen that’s totally authentic and natural and they’ll use it in the episode, which is wonderful.

MS: You have been a successful teen/child actor with Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. And you made the transition to being an adult actress, which a lot of teen stars find difficult. What has been the secret to your success with that?
MJH: I’m actually in the process of possibly writing a book about that because I don’t really know what that recipe is. I think that a lot of the balance and success in my life comes from my family. It comes from my mom and my dad and my siblings growing up, and now from my husband and my children and putting that always as a priority. Having that as my balance, as my sort of gage of where to go with my life. But as far as my career, I think it’s just been that at a young age growing up on the East Coast in this business I did a lot of auditioning. It was pretty cut throat. There was a lot of competition, and if you weren’t the best one for the job there was someone right behind you to do it. So you had to work really hard. You had to know your lines. You had to hit your mark. You had to have the biggest smile and think those Fruit Loops were the best thing ever. And I think that I learned that if I want longevity I’ve just got to stick it out. I’ve got to work hard, and that’s—I’ve never given up. No matter—this career, in this business you just go up and you go down. There’s no finding that soaring star to hitch onto and carry you off into the galaxy. It’s constant work to reinvent and figure out the next role and keep working upward. I’ve just learned that if I want to stick with it that’s what I’ve got to do. If I want a career in this business and I don’t want to transition and do something else, then I need to stick with it. Keep auditioning. Keep meeting people. Keep reinventing myself, finding great characters to play. And that’s where producing comes in as well. I started producing at the age of 17 because I wanted to have some control over the projects I was putting out there and the characters I was playing. So producing has definitely helped. And then also transitioning to directing because I got a little bit bored with the acting. I wanted to be more creative and found directing. So that’s been a great outlet for me as well just to keep me in the business. I just love being on a set. I don’t necessarily always need to act. I just love being on a set.

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Filed Under: Interviews, TV Headlines Tagged With: abc, familys, hart, joan, joey, melissa, ...
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