Review: 'Song One' starring Anne Hathaway and Johnny Flynn

 NOTE: This is a reprint of my review from last year's Sundance Film Festival. 

Coming off Anne Hathaway's unforgettable, heartbreaking cries in Les Miserables, one might expect that seeing her in a film titled Song One would promise a similar emotional tenor. Nothing could be further from reality, other than the many chirpy contrivances in this airy story about a folk musician and an anthropologist who find love in the midst of sudden tragedy.

Henry (Ben Rosenfield) is one of those passionate sub-indie musicians plying his trade in the New York subway system, playing for pennies so that he can afford to upload his music to MySpace or something. Pursuing his dreams put him at odds with his sister Franny (Hathaway), who is off studying the native tribes of Morocco for her PhD. Their last conversation was heated and hurtful, and they've been estranged ever since. When an accident lands Henry in a coma, all she can recall is how angry they had left things, and decides to do something about. Hoping sensory recall will bring him back, Franny captures all of Henry's favorite sounds and smells, spending every waking moment by his bedside along with their mother (Mary Steenburgen), who resents her daughter's distance. Rifling through things, Franny discovers a concert ticket to see Henry's favorite musician, James Forester (real-life musician Johnny Flynn), and is instantly smitten with both the man and his brand of coffee house folk.

To absolutely nobody's surprise, the two hit it off and soon they are inseparable. Franny brings him to Henry's hospital room to perform for his greatest fan, and she becomes James' top groupie attending all of his concerts. After a hit album five years earlier, James has been touring the clubs of New York, but is now due to return home in a matter of days. Will Henry come out of his coma in time? Will Franny drop her boring career path and embark on a life of musical creativity with James? Will your teeth rot out from this sickeningly sweet extended meet-cute?

Snark aside, there are a few genuine moments between Franny and James as she discovers her own love of music and he is all too happy to share his. Hathaway doesn't get to let the pipes ring out too much, other than a few lines here or there, but Flynn gets multiple opportunities on stage. The film really counts on you digging his sound to help bolster the fairly common love story, but the tracks are rather flavorless and indistinct. Written and directed by first-timer Kate Barker-Froyland, the film has more than its share of tonal misfires. It's always going to be weird when people are chatting away and playing music around a comatose patient, but that awkwardness extends out of the hospital, as well. Hathaway isn't stretching herself too much playing the grieving sister, but Flynn is about as vanilla bland as they come. It's hard to believe this guy has such a commanding presence he's surrounded by a throng of devotees at all times. A film like this should have no problem rounding up an audience looking for an easy, romantic tune to follow, but those hoping for something more will find Song One is a little out of rhythm.

 Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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Gorgeous Trailer for Studio Ghibli's 'The Tale of Princess Kaguya'

The legendary animators at Studio Ghibli may not be producing as many feature films as they used to, but at least they aren't going away for good like many thought. They'll still be around producing animated classics, and the next one to hit U.S. shores is The Tale of Princess Kaguya, and a beautiful new trailer for its U.S. premiere has been released.

Directed by Isao Takahata in an intriguing style reminiscent of Japanese picture scrolls, the film is based on the folk legend "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." Chloe Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Beau Bridges and James Marsden lend their voices to the film about a young girl found in a bamboo stalk who "grows into an exquisite young lady, raised by an old bamboo cutter and his wife. From the countryside to the grand capital city, even unseen she enthralls all who encounter her, including five noble suitors.  Ultimately she must face her fate, punishment for her crime."

The American translation is a little vague but essentially there are two version of the 'Bamboo Cutter' story. One has Kaguya sent to Earth as punishment for a crime she committed, while another has her escaping from a war in the Heavens. Based on the synopsis it sounds like the former version is what Studio Ghibli has decided to go with.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya opens on October 17th.

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Kit Harington and Andy Samberg Serve Up '7 Days in Hell'; Allison Williams is Peter Pan

 Being a part of the HBO family comes with many perks. Not only are you a frequent target for Emmy nominations, but it also leads to some pretty big opportunities outside of the network. And now we're seeing two members of the HBO fam taking on new projects, one that sounds potentially awesome and another that could be disaster in the waiting.

First up, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington will team up with Andy Samberg for the star-studded tennis mockumentary, 7 Days in Hell. Check out the cast being assembled for this one: Fred Armisen, Lena Dunham, Will Forte, Karen Gillan, Howie Mandel, Soledad O’Brien (!!!), Michael Sheen, Mary Steenburgen and Oscar nominee June Squibb. Samberg and Murray Miller developed the story with Miller writing the script, and it follows two fierce tennis rivals during an epic 7-day match at Wimbledon. SNL's Jake Szymanski is directing. [Deadline]

And then there's Allison Williams, who plays vocally-challenged wannabe singer Marnie Michaels on Girls. She'll kind of get her wish in a sense as Williams has agreed to play the boy who wouldn't grow up in NBC's Peter Pan Live. She'll sing and dance alongside Christopher Walken as Captain Hook, and hopefully this won't be as terrible as their live version of The Sound of Music. Ratings be damned, that thing sucked.

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Sundance Review: 'Song One' Starring Anne Hathaway

Coming off Anne Hathaway's unforgettable, heartbreaking cries in Les Miserables, one might expect that seeing her in a film titled Song One would promise a similar emotional tenor. Nothing could be further from reality, other than the many chirpy contrivances in this airy story about a folk musician and an anthropologist who find love in the midst of sudden tragedy.

Henry (Ben Rosenfeld) is one of those passionate sub-indie musicians plying his trade in the New York subway system, playing for pennies so that he can afford to upload his music to MySpace or something. Pursuing his dreams put him at odds with his sister Franny (Hathaway), who is off studying the native tribes of Morocco for her PhD. Their last conversation was heated and hurtful, and they've been estranged ever since. When an accident lands Henry in a coma, all she can recall is how angry they had left things, and decides to do something about. Hoping sensory recall will bring him back, Franny captures all of Henry's favorite sounds and smells, spending every waking moment by his bedside along with their mother (Mary Steenburgen), who resents her daughter's distance. Rifling through things, Franny discovers a concert ticket to see Henry's favorite musician, James Forester (real-life musician Johnny Flynn), and is instantly smitten with both the man and his brand of coffee house folk.

To absolutely nobody's surprise, the two hit it off and soon they are inseparable. Franny brings him to Henry's hospital room to perform for his greatest fan, and she becomes James' top groupie attending all of his concerts. After a hit album five years earlier, James has been touring the clubs of New York, but is now due to return home in a matter of days. Will Henry come out of his coma in time? Will Franny drop her boring career path and embark on a life of musical creativity with James? Will your teeth rot out from this sickeningly sweet extended meet-cute?

Snark aside, there are a few genuine moments between Franny and James as she discovers her own love of music and he is all too happy to share his. Hathaway doesn't get to let the pipes ring out too much, other than a few lines here or there, but Flynn gets multiple opportunities on stage. The film really counts on you digging his sound to help bolster the fairly common love story, but the tracks are rather flavorless and indistinct. Written and directed by first-timer Kate Barker-Froyland, the film has more than its share of tonal misfires. It's always going to be weird when people are chatting away and playing music around a comatose patient, but that awkwardness extends out of the hospital, as well. Hathaway isn't stretching herself too much playing the grieving sister, but Flynn is about as vanilla bland as they come. It's hard to believe this guy has such a commanding presence he's surrounded by a throng of devotees at all times. A film like this should have no problem rounding up an audience looking for an easy, romantic tune to follow, but those hoping for something more will find Song One is a little out of rhythm.

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Review: 'Last Vegas' Starring Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, and Morgan Freeman

Old folks are funny. Everybody knows this, right? Especially in movies they are hi-larious. And Las Vegas? Also a place where funny movies tend to take place, like in The Hangover. Hey, The Hangover didn't suck until it got away from the "sin city", right? So old folks and Vegas should be like mana from comedy heaven in Last Vegas, but it's really the combination of Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline that the film manages to overcome some glaring shortcomings with the script.

The screen vets play lifelong friends, known in their reckless Brooklyn youth as the Flatbush Four, but now are dealing with the effects of old age. Archie (Freeman) is a military vet who has suffered a stroke, and thus his son (Michael Ealy in a throwaway role) has him on a short leash. Sam (Kline) has retired to Florida where he's stuck in a boring, passionless marriage. Paddy (De Niro) has fared the worst, having become a shut-in after the death of his wife, a woman he and former best pal Billy (Douglas) were both vying for back in the day. Resentment still brews between them for reasons that are dangled in front our noses like a carrot, but really aren't that difficult to figure out. Despite the script by Crazy Stupid Love writer Dan Fogelman, this isn't a film sturdy enough to support long-lasting mysteries.

Billy is the only one of the group who has chosen to remain a swingin' spring chicken, and after a rather awkward funeral speech he decides to ditch bachelorhood and marry his 30-year-old girlfriend.  Sam and Archie, eager for an escape, are totally gung-ho for throwing their millionaire pal a bachelor party in Vegas, but the fuming Paddy has to be tricked into it, and even when he arrives he's little more than a dark cloud.

Directed with a brisk pace by Jon Turteltaub, the film easily bypasses any threads that (rather ironically) would be too mature for a sophomoric comedy such as this. Instead it's a constant barrage of old age stereotypes (did you know old people are bad with technology and use Viagra?) delivered in a fairly conventional package. Archie hits the black jack tables and stumbles into some cash, good enough to earn the gang a swanky hotel upgrade and a resentful concierge (Romany Malco).  In one of those storylines that could have really gone somewhere with a little effort, Sam's wife has given him free reign to basically sleep with whoever he wants (armed with Viagra and condoms) in an effort to bring some spark back to his life. Of course what we get is a creakier version of Hall Pass but his attempts to get laid do provide some of the biggest chuckles. It's Freeman and Kline who carry much of the comedic burden, and the former seems especially jazzed to get drunk, party with models, and down one too many Red Bulls.

It's Douglas and De Niro who are expected to carry the marginally heavier stuff, which amounts to a resurgence of Billy and Paddy's old beef. The always-welcome Mary Steenburgen enters the picture as Diana, a sultry lounge singer who seems to have an eye for both guys, rekindling their feud. She's actually one of the more refreshing aspects of the story and takes it in some interesting directions, mainly because Diana is feisty and completely open about whom she is. She doesn't stand for Paddy's gloom 'n doom, but nor does she totally buy into Billy's playboy attitude. We come to learn that she hit Vegas to live out her golden years doing what she always dreamed of doing, an experienced lesson that is imparted on the gang in numerous ways without being heavy-handed. But for every instance of nuance there are a half a dozen more where Sam gets hit on by drag queens or De Niro punches out some young jerk (usually the victim is Jerry Ferrara), or the gang pretend to be mobsters.

Last Vegas is basically The Bucket List meets The Hangover, and if that sounds like it would make for a schizophrenic combination then you're absolutely right. Its sillier aspects far outweigh the endearing ones, and more jokes miss than hit, but the film breezes through enjoyably enough that this is one Vegas experience you'll be happy to remember.

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Michael Douglas and Robert De Niro will fight over Mary Steenburgen in 'Last Vegas'

Jon Turteltaub(National Treasure) has been putting together the cast for his old folks in the Sin City flick, Last Vegas, and so far he's had so much good luck it might be time to hit the blackjack table. Michael Douglas was the first to sign on, followed up by Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline, in a story written by Dan Fogelman, the red hot scribe behind Crazy Stupid Love. Not a bad combination of ingredients, right?

Sounding like The Hangover for the senior citizen set, Last Vegas will have all four screen legends as best friends in town to celebrate the last night of freedom for Douglas' character, the last of their group to get married. A problem arises when Douglas and De Niro wind up falling for the same woman, a lounge singer, with the resulting love triangle causing a rift within the friendship. In what may be the last bit of major casting for the film, Deadline says that Mary Steenburgen is taking on the love interest role. The 59-year old actress, who has been married to Ted Danson forever it seems, has been keeping busy lately on television, recently completing a stint on 30 Rock. She also turned up in two of my favorite films from last year, The Help and Dirty Girl.

Production on Last Vegas begins this fall.

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