Short Redhead Reel Reviews for the week of July 13
by Wendy Schadewald
Special to Sun Thisweek
Rating system: (4=Don’t miss, 3=Good, 2=Worth a look, 1=Forget it)
www.shortredheadreelreviews.com
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” (PG-13) (3.5) [Thematic material, including child imperilment, some disturbing images, language, and brief sensuality.] — Mysterious prehistoric aurochs beasts and stunning performances highlight this beautifully photographed, unusual, creative, heartbreaking, critically acclaimed film, which is adapted from Lucy Alibar’s play “Juicy and Delicious,” about a spunky, impoverished, wise 6-year-old girl (Quvenzhané Wallis) who faces incredible hardships in Louisiana while surviving her water logged, ever-changing environment in the “Bathtub” region of the southern Mississippi Delta as her stern, boozing father (Dwight Henry) becomes very sick and she desperately searches for her clueless, absentee mother.
“Ice Age: Continental Drift” (PG) (2.5) [Mild rude humor and action/peril.] — When Teutonic plates shift in this mediocre, 3D, animated, star-dotted (voiceover by Jennifer Lopez, Aziz Ansari, Simon Pegg, Joy Behar, Seann William Scott, Nick Frost, Patrick Stewart, Alan Tudyk, and Alain Chabat), 94-minute, comedic sequel, a mammoth (voiceover Ray Romano), a saber-toothed tiger (voiceover by Dennis Leary), and a sloth (voiceover by John Leguizamo) and his toothless grandmother (voiceover by Wanda Sykes) are set adrift and fight an orangutan pirate (voiceover by Peter Dinklage) and his motley crew while trying to return to their loved ones (voiceovers by Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, et al.).
“Katy Perry: Part of Me” (PG) (3) [Some suggestive content, language, thematic elements, and brief smoking.] — An entertaining, tween-geared, behind-the-scenes, 3D documentary that showcases pop singer/songwriter Katy Perry during her 2011 world tour that includes childhood film clips; songs such as “Part of Me,” “I Kissed a Girl,” “You Make Me Feel,” “Last Friday Night,” “One of the Boys,” “Peacock,” “Someone to Love,” “Firework,” “Hummingbird Heartbeat,” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Some Fun”; interview snippets with stylist Jonny Wujek, managers Bradford Cobb and Steve Jensen, makeup stylist Todd Delano, assistant Tamra Natisin, siblings David and Angela Hudson, parents Mary and Keith Hudson, friends Shannon Woodward and Mia Moretti, singer Rihanna, and music producers Glen Ballard, Angelica Cobb-Baehler, and Jason Flom; and insights into devastating, heartbreaking breakup with husband comedian Russell Brand.
“The Longest Daycare” (PG) (3) [Mild rude humor.] — When Marge brings her baby Maggie to daycare in this whimsical, delightful, 5-minute cartoon, the selfless baby ingeniously saves a blue butterfly that resembles her bow from a mean, one-eyebrow infant; the cartoon precedes the “Ice Age: Continental Drift” film.
“Summer Pasture” (NR) (3.5) [Subtitled] [DVD only] — An insightful, heartwarming, informative, 90-minute, 2010 documentary that follows the hardships, including the loss of two children, and joys in the everyday lives of a traditional, hardworking, nomadic Tibetan couple Locho and Yama as they raise their family, herd yaks in the grasslands of Tibet, sell animal fur for cash, and contemplate their future in a society that is becoming ever more modern.
Wendy Schadewald is a Burnsville resident.
