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The Family Stone (2005)
Bringing Down the House
In "The Family Stone" Sarah Jessica Parker stars as Meredith, a high-strung professional who battles against the evil, mean-spirited Stone family, and loses. In an act of desperation, Meredith burns down the family's house with herself in it. When her sister (Claire Danes) visits her grave, Meredith grabs her arm from the ground and pulls her into the underworld.
Okay, okay none of that happened. In actuality, Meredith and the Stones, while both uptight, are not nearly as horrible as some make them out to be. Nervous Meredith, a fiancé to one of the Stones, is mostly a victim of misunderstandings that some take too seriously. Susannah Stone (Elizabeth Reaser) avoids conflict and is the most reasonable family member, even while pregnant. Ben Stone (Luke Wilson) is a bit of a pervert but is an all-around nice guy that helps Meredith relax a little.
One of the worst Stones is Sybil (Diane Keaton). When Meredith, and later Susannah's husband John, is around she can't help but frown and roll her eyes. But she only worries about her children and the devastating secret she's keeping from them. There is a lot of tears but things somehow resolve themselves and everyone has a happy life.
The movie is incredibly unrealistic but the acting is good and the production is well done so you may not care. Also Meredith gets her revenge near the end of the movie by peeing on the walls. Okay, that doesn't happen either.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
Kinda Dumb, Kinda Not
This is the first "Ape" film I've seen (besides the latest from Tim Burton) and all I can say is that this was a dumb film. A pretty good dumb film.
This is the sequel to the original "Planet of the Apes" and this time the main character in this film (Brent) is looking for the main character from the first film (Taylor). Brent discovers the monkey race (that, in the future, apparently acts like gabby sitcom characters). But that's not the only race he discovers. When he ventures through an underworld version of Manhattan, he finds a second race of super humans who worship an atomic bomb.
I found this film to be very interesting concept-wise. It was released several years after the President Truman bombed the heck out Hiroshima and Nagasaki, unintentionally starting the arms race. The movie displays a mix of anxiety and disgust for the political reverence of nuclear weapons, and the fear that the world will ultimately be destroyed by these weapons. For a three decade-and-a-half movie it's oddly contemporary, what with the global climate and the search for W.O.M.D.
Though considering that it IS a three decade-and-a-half movie, you can be sure that it will have its outdated and just plain silly moments. The special effects are humorous. Death at times is surprisingly shallow. Some roles are kind of stereotypical (They have the black mind reader doing most of the abuse?). The "over"acting is earnest and the messages on bombs and religion are so blunt that it's annoying and dumb. Altogether it's a smug, corny B-Movie.
On the plus side, it has interesting ideas on technology and is pretty watch-able at 95 minutes.