DVD: The Muppets

I used to watch reruns of the Muppets and Sesame Street religiously when I was young. I've seen every Muppets movie. It's fair to say I'm the target audience for the latest Muppets movie. Also, I like Jason Segel and Amy Adams a lot, another bonus, as well as Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords, who wrote all the original songs for the movie (and won an Oscar for "Man or Muppet"!). OK you get it. I had been waiting for this movie since I first heard about it. But I'm also a tough critic. The Muppets are best known for their balance of pop culture references, old school comedy, celebrity appearances and their borderline inappropriate humour. I was also ready to not like this film based on the overly cutesy Glee-like musical trailers, blegh, but I would give it a chance because they're the Muppets. I was pleasantly surprised.

We meet the two brothers Walter (a puppet) and Gary (Jason Segel), and Gary's girlfriend Mary (amy Adams). Walter is obsessed with the Muppets and jumps at the chance to join Gary and Mary on a trip to Hollywood to visit the Muppets studio. When they arrive they discover that an evil oil tycoon (Chris Cooper) is planning on tearing down the studio unless the Muppets can get 10 million dollars together in a couple days. The brothers and Mary find Kermit and they all set out to get the old gang back together for one last show to save the studio. Cue the montages!

Compared to the other Muppet movies, they really took this film in a different direction, mostly in that there is a lot of focus on the original show. It feels like the team got together and went through all of the Muppets history (and puppet closet!) to come up with what's really a love letter to the show. There's old footage, old characters, and recreations of the old set and feel of the show. This Muppets movie is really for old fans, and their kids. There are of course lots of currently popular stars but that isn't the focus; the focus is nostalgia with a sense of humour. Now don't get me wrong, Muppets movies are notoriously silly, a little shallow and thinly plotted, and this one was no different but this one felt a lot more aware of it and pushed it, evident in the campaign prior to the films release (i.e. multiple internet spoof trailers and Miss Piggy's fashion magazine spread).

Walter, the token "new" Muppet (mandatory for all Muppet movies), is an OK addition. He learns all about the Muppets past and what it means to be a part of the gang. By the end of the film everyone is just so happy to be together that all problems they experience along the way solve themselves, a classic Muppet movie ending, and a little forced. The show at the end of the film is worth the rent though and is a great throwback to the original show but with relevant nods for the younger audience members.

All in all its a Muppets movie for classic Muppet lovers (which was apparently not my sister who said "meh"). I would watch any Muppets movie and it was about time for a new one. Ignoring most of the more forced parts, it was a pleasure. B


EXTRAS: A special "intermission" when you pause the movie, blooper reel, making-of featurette, deleted scenes, screen tests, spoof trailers, audio commentary and Easter eggs.

Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Rashida Jones, Chris Cooper, Jack Black and the Muppets. Directed by James Bobin. 103 minutes. G

By Isa Montagnese


Dream cast: Gene Wilder. That's it.

Emily's Top 10 of 2011, Part 2

5) Midnight in Paris

I haven't officially told the other Filles this (for fear of being disowned for eternity and then some), but I have never been a Woody Allen fan. However, Midnight in Paris made me think it was time to give the old guy -- or at least his non-starring films -- another chance. I was completely entranced throughout his latest, City of Love-set film, which takes Owen Wilson's Gil from present day to his dream era (the 1920s) with the strike of a magical time-turning clock. It sounds goofy, but it's quite the opposite, thriving on the dreamy quality of its backdrop and the pleasantly unexplained appearances by historical figures like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Salvador Dali. Molly Ringwald once suggested that it was possible to "OD on nostalgia." If that's true, I think I nearly did watching this, and I'd gladly do it again.

4) Scream 4

This long-awaited (at least in this permanent Woodsboro resident's horror comedy-heavy record books) sequel and possible final chapter in Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven's killer, genre-slashing series, cut me real deep. Sure, the actual opening (if you don't plan on seeing the movie, it's one of those movie-within-a-movie sequences that you either get or want to gut) could have been bloodier, but the parts leading up to it (particularly the Anna Paquin/Kristen Bell scene) were actually ingenious, and it almost made the beautifully brutal ending an even bigger surprise. In my review of the film (which brought Neve Campell's Sidney Prescott back to the home of the first film's events, where a new Ghostfaced slasher was on the loose), I said it might just be my new favourite scary movie. I'm going to retract that because, to be honest, it's not really scary. But it most definitely is one of my favourite new movies. And I'm too much of a fangirl to be ashamed to admit it.

3) The Muppets

I didn't get a chance to review this Jason Segel-penned Muppet masterpiece, but had I found the time, I would have given it one of this year's only solid As. To quote the puppet pals' theme song (and borrow from many heartfelt fan reviews), this smile-a-second musical tribute to Kermit, Miss Piggy and co. was truly the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational and Muppetsational movie of the year. For lifelong fans, like the gigantic presence that is Segel (who originally revealed his fandom--and freakly bod--in Forgetting Sarah Marshall), The Muppets was a fitting return to flat-out punny form after the flop that was Muppets in Space. For those who did not grow up with the furry friends, it was the perfect, meta first meeting (the plot was about the Muppets trying to save their Studio and careers from disappearing). I'm not sure that life really is (as the first song of the film states), a "Happy Song." But when I left the theatre, I certainly felt like it.

2) Super 8

As a toddler, I had two favourite movies: Beetlejuice and E.T. (Yes, I had awesome parents.) Although I definitely fancied myself a mini Lydia Deets, my heart truly belonged to Steven Spielberg's out of this world cinematic creation. I loved it so much that I wore out the VHS tape my mom made of it. Twice. Watching Super 8, an '80s, suburban-set sci-fi produced by Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams, I felt like I was phoning home yet again. Like E.T., it gave its intergalactic sidestory just as much screentime as it did its tweenage stars (including Oscar nominee-in-training, Elle Fanning), whose characters were just trying to make a monster movie before a mysterious train crash-landed on their town. Apparently big budget, modern sci-fi films with heart aren't as a alien as I thought they were.

1) Drive

2011 was the year of the Gos'. The actor, who was once only known for his brief stint in the Mickey Mouse Club and a semester or two aboard Breaker High, busted out of his carefully carved, critically-acclaimed indie boy shell (see: Lars and the Real Girl, Half Nelson) and tried his hand at some mainstream stuff (Crazy, Stupid, Love and George Clooney's The Ides of March). But the role that really stopped traffic was his fearless take on the nameless stuntman in Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive. From the opening credits (with their wicked Pretty in Pink font) to the extremely grim ending, that film is just like the Gosling every blog has fallen head over feet for -- a beautiful contradiction in terms, purposefully never quite choosing whether it wants to be a straight-up new wave romance or a gritty, Tarantino-without-the-talk mob drama. This off-the-wall, darkly comedic tone made it hard to predict, which is way more than you can say for most action films of recent history. But as you found out fairly quickly, as soon as Gosling's inner gears started cranking and his baby blues opened real wide (either looking at his wannabe lover Carey Mulligan, or his next victim), you were in for one of the wildest joy rides of your life. Or at least your year.

Honorable mentions: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, Young Adult, Martha Marcy May Marlene

The Fille Files (December 4 - 10)

Each week, the Filles bring you some of our favourite films finds of the week—news, reviews, features, interviews, tweets, new releases, etc.—just in case you missed them.

 

Photo: GQ

REEL GREAT READS

• Gos-tronomy: The 25 Best Ryan Gosling Moments of 2011 (GQ) – While this isn’t really a film story, it features one of our favourite movie and feminist icons of the moment, Breaker High grad and Drive/Crazy Stupid Love/Ides of March star, Ryan Gosling. We just can’t get enough and this is precisely why. Hey girl .... want to get us a Drive Operation game for Christmas?

The Fille FIles (November 20-26)

Each week, the Filles bring you some of our favourite films finds of the week—news, reviews, features, interviews, tweets, new releases, etc.—just in case you missed them.

REEL GREAT READS

• Gender inequality still has a starring role in Hollywood, USC study finds (Los Angeles Times) - This must-read piece talks of research that confirms our worst fears: gender stereotyping still has a huge hand in Hollywood and the production of most major features. (For one terribly disheartening example, only 32.8% of speaking roles in the 100 biggest blockbusters of 2009 went to women.) At the same time, it confirms one of our main beliefs and driving forces for creating this blog: women make up more than half of ticket sales.
• The best scenes in the worst movies (A.V. Club) - As anyone who has read our Terribly Awesome! column knows, we love terrible movies just as much as great ones, at least when you can find unintentional humour in them. This week, the peeps at the A.V. Club look into scenes that save otherwise shitty movies.  
• Kristen Wiig: Bro of the Year (GQ via Jon Hamm) -  Although we're not sure we're loving the overly sexy photo they chose to go with the story, this short piece about the Bridesmaids star and writer's immense talent, penned by co-star and the mad man behind Don Draper, Jon Hamm, is a sweet little read.
• A Thanksgiving Typtophantastic Triple Feature (Hello Giggles) - A few festive-themed flicks are served up for our Southern neighbours. Although, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out the exclusion of one of the best underrated turkey day movies, which features Katie Holmes’ one really great performance, Pieces of April.

The Fille Files (November 13-19)

REAL GREAT READS

• Sister Act (W Magazine) - If you love the Fanning sisters (and we do), you'll enjoy this Q&A with them, chatting about watching the original Family Feud, fashion and Dakota buying her first couch. Plus, amazing photos.

The Fille Files (November 5-12)

Each week, the Filles bring you some of our favourite films finds of the week—news, reviews, features, interviews, tweets, new releases, etc.—just in case you missed them.

REEL GREAT READS

• Thirteen movie poster trends that are here to stay and what they say about their movies (ONTD) - This hilariously awesome, but somewhat disheartening blog item will blow your mind as it collects a bunch of collages that showcase the insane unoriginality in modern movie posters. Categories of promotional poster cliches include "Back to Back," "Nature is Blue" and "Tiny People on Beach, Giant Heads in the Clouds."