RV

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs
—5. Posters (Robin Williams)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

Special:
Faith in Hollywood: Up Close with Kristin Chenoweth

Not since the National Lampoon vacation movies with Chevy Chase has a family vacation been as much fun as RV. Starring Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels and Kristen Chenoweth, the movie is a laugh out loud, good time that won’t leave families disappointed.

While the movie resembles the 1954 classic The Long Long Trailer, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the story stands on its own. Though it's not a remake, it has enough similarities to interest film buffs and Lucille Ball fans.

RV centers on Bob Monro (Robin Williams), an overworked family man who has forgotten the joys of fatherhood. Though he once played 'kissie monster' with his daughter and enjoyed every free moment with his wife, his family life has taken a drastic turn. With Bob’s focus on his job, the family has grown further apart. It's a turn many families in America take when they care more about possessions than relationship.

One day at work, Bob is told he has to cancel his family's Hawaiian vacation so he can attend a business meeting in Colorado. Lacking the courage to stand up to his boss and afraid of being fired, he tries to satisfy both employer and family by renting an RV and taking the family with him. But cancelling Hawaii for a trip in a lime green RV with “Rent Me” on the side is not his family's idea of a fun vacation. They're not even out of the driveway before an abundance of problems for the family, and laughter for the audience, erupts.

Along the way, they meet the Gornicke family. Travis Gornicke, played by Jeff Daniels, and the voluptuous Marie Jo, played by Kristin Chenoweth, are as much fun to the Monros as a flat tire in a Kansas thunderstorm. They've given up all of life's luxuries to travel around America in their RV. They homeschool their children, see the sights, and enjoy playing music together and meeting new folks. It's nice to see Daniels, a musician in his own right, playing a musician on screen.

The Gornickes are to RV what Cousin Eddie and his family was to the National Lampoon vacations. Thankfully, Barry Sonnenfeld, through his wonderful direction, presents them with more respect and less gross-out humor. While Cousin Eddie was a bumbling idiot, the Gornickes are a family that can be appreciated, liked, and learned from.

Usually a movie like this will show you all of the funny bits in the trailers. Rest assured, these trailers don’t touch the tip of the iceberg. While there are moments of adult humor, they are generally mild, and nothing that would embarrass a family with smaller children. In fact the humor in the movie is one of the primary reasons even small children in attendance were engaged. It was nice to sit through a PG rated film and see an all-ages audience appreciate it so fully.

Beneath the humor of RV is a powerful underlying theme. It addresses the relationships within families in a thought provoking way. The writer, Geoff Rodkey, has improved greatly on past efforts including The Shaggy Dog and Daddy Day Care. The journey isn't just for the work-obsessed father, but also his children. As a parent myself, it was a beautiful thing to see develop. Not only do we see redemption in the father, but in the children as well. Bob find ways to relate to his children, and the children learn lessons about honor, respect of parents, love, and not casting judgment upon others. There is also a clear message in the film that each individual is responsible for their actions. RV seems to be a movie intended for families where families were actually taken into consideration.

As Bob and his wife begin to see what is important, I was reminded of Mark 8:36, “What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself?” At the point where the Monros might lose what's really important, they begin to understand this. In our own journeys, there are people and things pointing us in the right direction, but the things that we need most are often so foreign we stay away from them.

RV is an illustration of what many of us have become - so focused on possessions that we've forgotten what's really important. We've forgotten our marital relations, the joy of tucking our children into bed with a kiss or playing catch with our son. Instead, we are so focused on work and the things we obtain - our lap tops, Blackberries, and Ipods. Our family, like the Monros, may be falling apart but we're so preoccupied with work we can’t figure out why.

There are many good things about RV, but none better than its underlying theme of family. Because of the humor and touching themes, as well as Sonnenfeld's masterful direction, it could be one of the year's surprise hits. I’m planning on taking my own family to see it again and my wife has already told me that it will be a DVD that she watches over and over again like I have with National Lampoon. The difference though, is that this is a family I can respect. A family I can learn from, not just laugh at. In the end, the Monros are family.

On a scale of 1-10, for the total number of people in the Monro and Gornicke Families, I give RV a very enjoyable 9.

— Overview

The Benchwarmers

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (David Spade)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

Sometimes I go to movies just to have fun, not expecting much other than hoping that I have a good time. When I am really having a lucky day, not only will I enjoy the movie I am going to see for fun, but, I’ll also be surprised by having a good time and appreciating the message of the movie. The Benchwarmers this weekend provided such an opportunity.

The Benchwarmers features a cast of great comedic character actors that have in some ways been known for the characters they play, then they do the fact that they do a decent job pulling off those characters. Those include, Rob Schneider as Gus, a man who has a passion for standing up for the oppressed children in his neighborhood. There is something mysterious about Gus, while he is considered by many as a nerd, he isn’t hesitant about standing up for himself and he can play a mean game of baseball. Schneider is likely more known for his Gigolo series and his trademark role in the movie The Water Boy, but he does a more than admirable job here at providing a character the audience enjoys and appreciates.

Then there are Gus’s friends. Riche played by David Spade and Clark played by Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite fame. Both characters play to the character roles that both actors have played in the past and that is okay, because they have both played likeable characters. This is especially true of Heder whose character Gus is really nothing much more than a suburban Napoleon Dynamite. The characters are fun, funny, and likeable though so I didn’t mind so much that Dennis Dugan in his direction used the strengths of the actors to play character types that both Spade and Heder are known for.

The story line is quite simple. Gus is a handy man who is married to a beautiful wife. He seems to have done quite well for himself and he and his wife are in the process of having children. He is somewhat reluctant because he has concerns that if having a child that he will be picked on by bigger kids as the child grows up. He has a hard time accepting the fact that his child will have to go through the difficulties that many other “nerd” children have to go through. He knows the experience all to well.

He also has a couple of friends that know about nerdom all to well. Living life as nerds they have seen and been through it all. Clark is a low intelligent young man who still has issues with the jocks and individuals in the community. He has as a vocation a paper route. Then there is Richie, who works at the local video store. Richie has a neurotic brother named Clark who has his own fears. They all have one thing in common. They have been abused and used by the jocks in society and they have a passion to not take it any more.

One day while out in the community, Clark and Gus are having a conversation when they notice a group of community bullies start picking on the nerds who are trying to enjoy a game of baseball on the community baseball field. After they start picking on the nerds, Richie and Clark jump in and come to the rescue of the nerds. As the story unfolds, there is a baseball challenge where Clark offers to play the boys for the use of the field. Gus goes and gets his friend Richie, and the game of the three adults is on against the full team of little league aged players. The three win the game and one of the nerds who was the focal point tells his father, Mel, played by John Lovitz, who happens to be a Billionaire, several times over. They come up with an outlandish challenge to give ultimate respect to Nerds all across America.

The themes are themes we have seen many times in the past. There are no new story lines here, although there is some uniqueness in the ending of the story. That doesn’t deter from the fact thought that this is a laugh out loud, good time of a movie. They do so with only glimpses of sophomoric humor, and most of the humor depends on site gags which is delivered brilliantly by this cast. While it may be old school acting and comedy techniques from this crew, the direction and writing are done in such a way that I as an audience member just didn’t mind.

I was pleasantly surprised by the movie with the few exceptions of comedy gags relying on homosexual jokes and then the joke leaning towards “gay wrestling.” Knowing the real sport and the stereotypes that go with the sport, I was actually offended by this joke and it kept the movie from being more enjoyable. In a movie that tries to break down certain stereotypes, I was disappointed that they tended to support other stereotypes, even if done in the name of humor.

Despite the negative feelings I felt about some of the issues related to the movie, I still had a good time. I laughed out loud, and really appreciated the plot twist towards the end of the movie. The fact that the movie didn’t end as expected also added to my enjoyment of the movie, as well as the theme of respect for all people that the movie tried to portray. All in all, I believe The Benchwarmers accomplished its purpose. It made me laugh, and it gave me something to think about. Two things I am grateful for and didn’t honestly expect when going in to the theater to purchase my tickets.

On a scale of 1-10, for the bad joke about wrestling, plus the number of gay jokes which came to 4 I’ll give a 10-4 for a total score of 6. Not great but still a good time.

— Overview

Silent Hill

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Horror Films)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

Depending on who you listen to, video games are bringing in more revenues now than movies. Thus, movies over the last few years have as a starting point, video games. From Mortal Combat to lesser known movies like The Mario Brothers, the genera has come around.

Many have claimed the Konami game Silent Hill is the scariest role playing game ever. With some reluctance I decided to attend the picture. I had tried to play the game in the past, but quickly came to know, that outside of sports games, I just don’t get into the gaming world. I hadn’t thought much of movies in the past made from games, and wasn’t expecting much from the movies screenplay written by Roger Avary.

The basic storyline of Silent Hill is that parents Rose, (Radha Mitchell) and Christopher, (Sean Bean) Da Silva have a daughter that sleepwalks and has nightmares. The episodes are dangerous, even life threatening. They nightmares have another common occurrence; the words Silent Hill continue to come up from their daughter Sharon, played with haunting beauty by young actress Jodelle Ferland.

Seeking to find out what is going on, both Rose and Christopher discover that Silent Hill is an old town that was vacated due to dangerous underground fires. Many people in the town died, and the fumes and ash continue to provide a toxic environment so the town has become a ghost town, a ghost town in more ways than one. As Rose takes daughter Sharon to find out what is going on, things start to happen and happen fast.

The town is shut down barricaded. Many of the locals have had nothing to do with the town for years and do all they can to keep outsiders away. Rose decides to flee after a traffic stop by police officer Cybil Bennett played by Laurie Holden. The next thing you know Rose has an accident, has lost her daughter and she and policewoman Bennett start on a journey filled with horror and mystery to try and relocate Sharon.

From the opening scenes the concept of good and evil is presented. From images of the cross to Bible verses that provide ongoing clues the viewer is drawn into not only the search for Sharon, but the search for spiritual significance and meaning. We are told several times that to a child their mother is as if they were God. One of the beautiful things of the movie though, is the mystery as to what is from God, and what is from demons.

I hate spoilers and will do everything I can to keep from giving any. It is interesting that the one place that seems to provide sanctuary and safety is the church in Silent Hill. One has to be careful though about perceptions. We never quite know the story of what has occurred until the conclusion of the movie, and even then there are questions. It is quite certain though, that the battle that Rose, Cybil, and Sharon face is spiritual. Sure there are actual concerns and dangers, but the real battle takes place in the spiritual realm. At times it is difficult to determine who is good and who is evil. People are not always as they seem, not until the end is there any level of certainty, but even then, the viewer will walk away with questions.

I liked the fact that Silent Hill is open-ended; it forces one to think about what they have seen. It is amazingly scary, and amazingly real. This is impressive when realizing there is very little CGI in the film. With the exception of fog, the film depends largely on actors. These actors will scare the Hell out of you.

There are several sequences in the movie that give indication it is based on a video game. With the exception of those sequences the movie actually flows along well and holds its own as a scary, mysterious story.

The viewer will leave with questions, questions of what is evil and what isn’t? What ways does society and religion in particular bring about evil? Who can we trust and not trust? And, how does one distinguish what is influenced by God and what is influenced by Satan? There are many other questions. Questions like what about life after death? Are there spiritual realms that we don’t know exist?

It has been stated before that few genres address good and evil in the way horror does. Silent Hill delivers. It delivers in ways that have you silent and mesmerized one moment, and jumping in your seat the next. Squirming one second, and holding your breath the next. Not in a long time has a horror movie delivered in such a scary way.

While not perfect, Silent Hill is very good. Well worth watching for those that love the genera, and the video game enthusiasts will not be disappointed. It isn’t for everyone, but it will do well at the box office. It may just be the movie needed to kick off the spring and summer season.

On a scale of 1-10, a very scary, thought provoking 8

— Overview