Guest Reviews

Your Opinions are always welcome. (Hey, Jim can't have all the fun)
When you see a Movie, Play or Show E mail your Review to MIentertainment@comcast.net

High School Musical
By Sandy Thomasson

Since it has been quite a few decades since my own high school days,  I walked into the Wharton Center last night to see "High School Musical", not really knowing what to expect.  I was intrigued though to find out what could inspire such merchandising spin-offs as a "musical toothbrush" with the show's logo, and songs that four year olds as well as twenty four year olds were humming.  My recommendation?  Beg, borrow, or preferably -- grab any opportunity to buy a ticket to this play!

The setting is East High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the time is definitely today, with cell phones and laptops contributing to the plot.  The magic of this production, though, is that behind the modern trappings is a timeless story that will transport you back to your high school days, or long to be old enough to be there.  However, the real star of the show is the multitude of music and dance numbers that incorporate be-bop with hip-hop and rhythm and blues with high school cheers.  The Wharton stage is filled to great effect with ingenious scenery pieces that flow from locker to classroom to gym almost in a ballet of its own.  The stage is populated by a cast that shines individually and as an ensemble with strong singing and dancing and enough energy to light up East Lansing.  The basketball practice scene alone is worth the price of admission.  Well before the end of the show the audience was on its feet, swept up in the energy and the exhilaration of the triumph of intelligence, cooperation, and caring.

If it were mine to bestow, I'd give this one four out of Fordyce!

"The Kingdom"
by Matthew Blackledge

I thought the movie was pretty good. The camera shots at times were a little shaky to the point of having a hard time seeing what was happening. I know this is the new way of filming. I'm not sure when they started it but I have noticed that it hides a lot of the real hand to hand combat. I just saw the movie "The Condemned" and that was a movie like this one that had a lot of camera shaking.

As far as the rest of the movie I liked it but it's not at the top of my list for action movies. I thought it got a little slow in the middle and the ending was different. I didn't think they all should be that depressed about the one guy getting killed. Even if they were saddened I thought it was weird when they were sad on their way out of town and then the camera switches back to the FBI office and their still all looking sad and stairing off into thought land. And then the one guy says , Oh ya, what did you whisper.... blah blah blah.

Mrs. Warren's Profession
by Hazen Natzmer

New at Boarshead Theatre is the classic George Bernard Shaw play, “Mrs.
Warren’s Profession”. However, bringing a Shaw play to life isn’t the
only special event at Lansing’s only professional theatre. Paula Prentiss,
an actress made famous by her excellent performances in such 1970 classics
such as “Catch 22” and “The Stepford Wives” assumes the title role
of Mrs. Warren. Along side Paula, her daughter, Prentiss Benjamin steps into
Shaw’s world all too perfectly, as Mrs. Warren’s daughter as well as the
lead, Vivie.
Cambridge educated and prude Vivie confronts her mother on her mysterious
wealth that has never been explained to her. Mrs. Warren, an older and
incredibly gregarious woman, much to her daughter’s dismay, is found to
have owned very successful brothels. Although Vivie is horrified (and who
wouldn’t be if they were to find that their mother was, at a time, a
prostitute) she finds some reconciliation in her mothers old career when she
discovers that it was her only way out of poverty as a young woman.
Unfortunately, this resolution is short lived, as Vivie soon uncovers the
sad truth that her mother’s legacy is still living, and these high class
whore houses are still running, and what’s worse is that they exist all
around the country.
The acting, for the most part, is impeccable. Prentiss Benjamin starts off
the classic play with an incredible focus and passion that, thankfully,
lasts through out the entirety of the play. Her comedic and dramatic range
as her character of Vivie is outstanding. Keeping it in the family, onstage
and off, Benjamin’s mother Paula, creates a confident, provocative, and
all around spectacular character that shows an undeniable contrast between
the mother and daughter that has the audience laughing and crying, nearly at
the same time. Praed(Ken Beachler) is wonderfully sympathetic towards the
family and sets a new, solid, and sentimental value to the production. Jack
Moran and Paul Murphy also show off Shaw’s true comedic touch as Frank
Gardner and Rev. Samuel Gardner, respectively. Even with this hard-to-beat
cast, one actor stood out from the rest. Gary Houston, who plays the part of
Sir George Crofts Mrs. Warren’s business partner, steals the stage and
proves to be the most solid character on stage. There is a scene in the
beginning of act 2 where he reveals a dark secret to Vivie about her mother
and their business. Houston’s character during this scene, especially, is
the epitome of the solid performers that Boarshead is so proficient in
putting the spot light on.
From a more technical standpoint, the set is gorgeous, and the lighting is
some of the best out there. At the end of act 1, Mrs. Warren reveals her
business and why she was forced to begin it. Vivie forgives her mother, and
the two sit in front of an imagined window, staring out into the sky, where
a blue light shines through. The window’s outline and light creates one of
the most honest and beautiful moments of the entire play. Aside from those
two aspects, the music is great, and keeps the light feel of the play while
keeping it moving.
The only issue that I had was the set changes. Although there are VERY VERY
few, they last a long time, one lasting for an entire song.
It’s no surprise that when you put a great theatre together with two
celebrities, an all star cast, and Shaw, that you get a production that is
worthy of a 4 out of Fordyce.

Halloween 2007
by Todd A. Heywood

OK here's the deal-- if you are a Halloween film fan, a slasher film fan or a fan of pyschological thrillers-- don't waste your time. If you are looking for a butchered mind numbing two hours of film go for it.

The film, like the title character, is a split personality. It can't decide whether it wants to be a psychological thriller or a slasher film. The end result is a failure on both counts.

The first half of the movie is a fascinating exploration of the creation of a serial killer. This part of the film gives Halloween fans the base of the myth of Michael Myers in a new way, providing viewers with the background on his large knife, his mask and a look at his home life.

On the other hand, when this information goes a long way towards creating an almost sympathatic protagonist as Michael, it is lost in the second half of the movie when suddently Myers decides to go nuts and start killing people and break out of his mental institution.

The resulting blood bath is expected in slasher films, but poor executed, with no unexpected moments, not shockers and no stunners.

In fact, we are treated to an odd moment of bad continuity when at the end of the movie, in the broken down house when Myers spent his childhood he is chasing a victim who suddently falls in a swimming pool. Until that moment, nearly three quarters of the way into the film, no one knew there was a swimming pool. Makes for slopping story telling.

And finally, let's explore a little reality. Yes slasher films are about nudity and blood, and there is plenty of both to satisify most slasher fans-- but the amount of blood is beyond unrealistic into the realm of funny. And the violence is lame at best. One killing happens so quickly we never see how Myers actually makes a female guard bleed, but bleed she does.

Also, Myers manages to take four bullets, a 9 mm from a police Glock, and 3, .357 magnum hits from another gun. Guess what, he keeps on going like the energizer bunny.

To be fair, I admit I was fascinated early in the film while we are treated to the background of the myth of Myers, and are lead by the hand in the creation of a serial killer. It was well acted and features some excellent editing. But once that happened and was done, the film crashed and burned.

The Invasion
by Grant Kenney

The Invasion starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig is basically a remake of the classic story of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In it, Kidman plays a psychologist who begins to notice that a "flu" virus begins to drastically change the personalities, though not appearances, of people all around her. The virus takes control of its human hosts during their sleep, transforming them into expressionless zombies who still maintain their memories and previous abilities, although they can't seem to pass off basic human emotions and stick out like a sore thumb.
Daniel Craig, or 007 as you might know him, plays her doctor friend who, plays some sort of strange friend/love interest for Kidman. He does well in the part, but it begs to question how a normal doctor can muster the courage to do some of the things he does to save Kidman and her son, who seems immune to the virus and may humanity's only source of hope.
The movie has good suspense and at times is downright creepy, especially when you see a human in mid- sleep "transforming." It builds up its action and has an intense "escape from the city" scene, although the movie does have a bit of an anti-climatic ending.
The film touches base on some deep philisophical undertones.
The alien beings claim that under their rule there would be no war, poverty, or hunger, though Kidman argues there would be no free thought as well.
This film isn't bad, but by no means is it great. My roommate Rich, who saw the movie with me brought up a very interesting revelation about the film when we walked out of it saying, "so...basically we were invaded by pacifists?"
If I were you I would wait for this one on DVD for which it would be a good watch, and if I were Jim I would give it a good 2 out of Fordyce.

I Hate Hamlet
by Jane Zussman

As someone who has made a few of those sacrilegious anti-Bard wisecracks, I thought Riverwalk's I Hate Hamlet was a charmer. Every character is interesting and unusual -- all six of them do a great job. It IS a "supernatural swashbuckling Shakespearian spoof" as director Erin said. Lotsa laughs and a few serious moments as well. Endearing Justin Hein, the Hamlet don't-wanna-be, and his "mentor" the flamboyant ghost of John Barrymore, Bruce Bennett, have a great rapport -- and Bruce gets a chance to use all five octaves of his vocal range (and this isn't a musical!) Sandy Thomasson as the German "agent" was a real treat; she's a newcomer to Riverwalk. Hope we'll see more of her. Sheri Silver energized the opening as the New York real estate "medium" and Erik Grill represented the TV generation of Hamlet Haters well. Kelley Peters played her best role yet (of the three I've seen her in) as the naively over-dramatic girlfriend. Set and costumes were "characters" in themselves (Bruce Bennett, Kenn McJames)

I forgot to mention the clever VIDEO bits that added to I Hate Hamlet -- a "commercial" and a just-like-the-real thing "Fordyce Entertainment Express" intro segment. It's a play... it's a movie... and the TV Guides were very realistic.

The Bourne Ultimatum
by Grant Kenney

I recently had the chance to see the Bourne Ultimatum starring Matt Damon. For those of you who have seen the last movie, you know that it stood alone very well in terms of not needing to rely on past storyline in order to understand and enjoy the film. The same can be said about this movie-to an extent.
Once again Jason Bourne is out hunting the CIA itself (not to mention being hunted as well), attempting to get to the bottom of his past and figure out what role he played in a government assassin program. Bourne, still suffering from the same amnesia that plagued him and prevented him from remembering what he actually did for the government in the last film, travels the world combating government assassins tracking him called "assets," (with the way these guys operate, it's no wonder how they earn their name).
As with the past two Bourne movies, he relies more on his intuition and cunning rather than gadgets and bad sexual jokes that have plagued James Bond films for too many years, but I digress.
This film has amazing fight sequences, rivaling some of the best martial arts films I have ever seen, including a fantastic battle royale with an asset in very cramped quarters.
The Bourne Ultimatum moves at a good pace and never gets too slow, it makes references to the last two movies, but explains them well and never gets confusing.
The only problem I had with this film was the pisspoor camerawork. It's shot in 3rd person to give an illusion that the moviegoeer is actually there in the film. This works great for horror films that try to build suspense or cause tension, but in an action movie that relies on every second to add to a storyline it just makes you dizzy with jolting and unstable shots. Even the car chases are filmed this way, blurring the action far too much to even understand what is happening.
Despite this major hinderance to the film, the Bourne Ultimatum includes some very political messages about national security and just how much the American public doesn't know about secret government programs. It sends clear messages that security is important but somewhere a line needs to be drawn in terms of protecting basic rights (cough cough "Patriot" Act cough).
The director claims this is the last Bourne film he will do, however with the quality of this and the past two films, we can only hope Jason Bourne will be spying for a future movie.
If I were Jim, I would give this film three and a half out of Fordyce.

Hot Rod
by: Matt Rydzewski

What would you expect from a comedy about a stunt man starring an SNL cast member? Silly tricks? A cheesy romance? Childish jokes? You get all these fun things with Hot Rod, but in addition, you get creativity plus the occasional inspired moments of hilarity. And as an added bonus, simple but well composed shots in the style of Napoleon Dynamite. Now don't think I'm calling this a good film, because it's not. Hot Rod is virtually plotless.
You have what is tantamount to a 70 minute training montage. Three-fourths of the film is Samberg preparing for his jump. Also, for every laugh-out-loud joke there are three that fall flat. Still, it's a fun time if you feel like sitting in an air conditioned theater and turning off your brain for 90 minutes. If I was a less critical Jim, I'd give Hot Rod a very watchable 2 out of Fordyce.

The Foreigner
by Jane Zussman

Okay, I'll admit I'm prejudiced. I think The Foreigner is one of THE great classic scripts up there with Arsenic and Old Lace and The Odd Couple.
It is hilarious, intriguing, heartwarming… it just works on various levels — and THIS production at The Ledges Playhouse truly does it justice. There is not a weak link in the cast. If you have not seen this show, you owe it to yourself to see this version -- and if you have seen it before, you'll love it all over again.

Rick and LeAnn Dethlefsen, James Houska, Marilyn Steegstra, Joe Dickson, Michael Hays -- and the scary Terry Jones -- all beautifully directed by Bob Gras (with "townspeople" Tim and Kathy Beam and Todd McKenzie)

(This is the fourth time I've seen this show — and two of the previous occasions were when husband Mark played "Charlie" and "Froggie." If it's possible to be sick of this show, he should be -- but he said, "I still find it exciting and entertaining." )

Harry Potter
by: Matt Rydzewski

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix stands out as being the best acted and best directed Harry Potter film yet. The visuals are spectacular, and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) particularly gave a great performance.
Unfortunately it is also the most inconsistent. The steady dramatic tone that stretched throughout Goblet of Fire is shattered. Phoenix holds the dubious distinction of being the silliest as well as the most serious film of the series. One moment a character is discussing how his parents were tortured, the next the teacher's assistant has boils all over his face because of a prank. The epitome of this duality occurs when kids in the audience where laughing at a crying teacher because her thick glasses gave her giant eyes that made her look like a lemur. Despite it's problems Phoenix ends very strongly and if I was Jim it would get a good three out of Fordyce.

Rattatouille

Note: Grant Kenney of the Entertainment Express. MIentertainment.com staff recenty got to interview and then see this new film from Pixar. To see his interview go to "Watch Entertainment Express" and to see Grant with the cast and lovely intern Stephanie Rea:
click here

Grant's Review:

During a recent interview I had with Janeane Garofalo and Patton Oswalt for their new film Ratatouille they joked and said the movie did not need any promotion. "It's Pixar and Disney," Garofalo said. "That in itself will draw crowds."
Ratatouille holds true to its greatly enjoyed Pixar predecessors. The film is a fun and humorous story about a rat named Remy who dreams of becoming a gourmet chef in the world's most rodent phobic profession.
The film is entertaining right from the start and continues its energy throughout. Spectacular computer generated graphics in the film allow audiences to see every hair on the cute protagonist of the film. Every character is well played out, and developed well. Wonderful morals like pursuing your dreams, and knocking down social barriers are prevalent and featured in the film as well.
The voice acting of the movie is also fantastic. Wonderful performances by Oswalt and Garofalo are further complimented by Peter O'Toole, Sir Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy and comedian Brad Garret.
Ratatouille could have included a little bit more humor, but the jokes and puns it does include are hilarious. This movie is not to be confused as a film for children only. Being a 21-year-old college student, I greatly enjoyed the humor and could hear laughter from both the children and adults in the audience in between my own bouts of laughter.
The food in the film was enjoyable to view as well, with great detail taken to showcase the variety of dishes. My only regret after seeing the movie was that I only had a frozen hamburger thawing in my apartment for dinner.
Ratatouille is a great family film, but would also make for an enjoyable time for anyone of any age. Though I would not call Ratatouille a gourmet film, it was definitely worth my time and left me wanting more.
If I was Jim, I would give Ratatouille a solid 3 out of 4Dyce.