DVD/Blu-ray: OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL --a first-rate prequel to Dorothy & the gang plus reviews from TrustMovies' grand-kids!

Just as far too many of our cultural guardians, especially here in NYC, were slow, uninformed and/or taste-free regarding mainstream movies such as Cloud Atlas, John Carter, Sin City and V for Vendetta (while praising inflated, empty crap like Iron Man and The Avengers), so it is with Disney's OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, out now on DVD and Blu-ray.

Neither of my grandchildren had seen this film in theaters, though they have watched the 1939 original, along with the 1978 musical version, The Wiz, numerous times. So I rented it and brought it over for a July 4th, get-out-of-this-awful-humidity, movie afternoon.

I'd never have thought of giving Sam Raimi (at left) the directorial reins here but, surprise, his movie is damned good: gorgeous to look at, filled with eye-popping effects and scenery (in which CGI is used sublimely well) and characters who are all too human, including those witches: That's Michelle Williams as Glinda (just below) and Rachel Weisz (left) and Mila Kunis (right), as the naughty duo, further below.

Yes, Oz the G&P borrows from everything from the original to Broadway's Wicked, but it mixes the merchandise into a well-told tale with eye-popping visuals. Granted, the film is no intellectual stimulant. But, hello: Neither was the original. It offered sweet enchantment, one terrific song, and a couple more good ones. The prequel does pretty much the same thing (without the songs).

Another plus: James Franco (below) does some acting for a change! He's the best here since Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Howl. (He's much better even than in This Is the End, where he must play "himself." And since he has spent so much time trying to cover his own tracks, no wonder his "himself" character is less interesting or "there" than any of his co-stars in this very funny, smart and irreverent movie.)

While nods are made to scarecrow, tin man and lion, the two new characters introduced to play sidekicks to Mr. Franco's Oz are truly inspired, even if they are simply voices (Zach Graff's and Joey King's) put to use on special effects. The good little flying monkey (below, right) and the girl made of porcelain (a truly amazing creation, shown at left, above and below) are charming creatures who entertain and move us every bit as much as did Lahr, Bolger and Haley in the 1939 version. Franco's character, by the way, is actually a very different kind of "Dorothy." But he's Dorothy nonetheless. Sure, he plays the Wizard, but his mission here is pretty much the same as Ms Garland had in the original.

Best of all, the movie manages to make a wonderful nod to the magic of motion pictures in its spectacular finale in which early movie technology is used to save the day. This is every bit as lovely and meaningful as anything in Hugo (a movie I thoroughly enjoyed, by the way) -- but it's tossed at us with a hell of a lot more subtlety -- which has, face it, never been a mark of the work of Martin Scorsese.)

So what did my grandchildren think? (Both my daughter and son-in-law loved the movie, too.) The boychik, 5-year-old Ronin (above), found it "good -- and the part I liked best was when the woman turned into the witch." OK...

Marlo (above, on the stairway doing her early-Carmen-Miranda number), the young lady of the house and now 8 years old, loved it, too (that's her mom and my daughter, Laura, above, left). "It was amazing, a little scary, a little sad, very active and very exciting. It was the most amazing movie I have ever seen -- except The Painting." (Smart girl: If you haven't seen The Painting, for art, animation and storytelling's sake, do!)

So inspired by the Oz movie was Marlo, in fact, that she sat right down after the viewing to draw this picture (shown above) of the character played by Mila Kunis before she turns bad.

Oz the Great and Powerful, out now on DVD and Blu-ray (on which it dazzles), is available from Disney, for sale or rental from the usual suspects. (I'm told by my companion that, in 3D, this film looked ever more spectacular.)

DVD/Blu-ray debut: John Moore's A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD -- mediocre dumb fun

And the shits just keep on comin'! The latest is the most recent in the quarter-century-old Die Hard series that began with a smart and entertaining hit before devolving into that other category. How this latest in the series managed to open in Russia, where it takes place and a bit of it was even filmed (most of it was shot in Hungary), given that every Russian we meet in the movie proves to be the scum-of-the-earth (except for one cab driver, shown at bottom, who fancies himself a singer), is certainly a more interesting mystery that what lies at the core of this chase thriller involving politicians, prisoners, arms dealers and the CIA.

Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney play father & son spy types, the latter of whom is arrested and soon to be put on trial in Moscow. He's angry at papa, but Willis heads out to rescue the kid anyway. What a dad! Directed by John Moore and written by Skip Woods, the movie's first and best action sequence involves a courthouse break (as in prison break) and road chase that goes on and on and on, growing crazier and more demented by the minute. Nothing tops this in the upcoming 96 minutes, though it's not for want of trying. There a shootout in a deserted ballroom (with a helicopter gunning for our twosome through the windows and walls, and later a long, somewhat lax sequence in Chernobyl to wrap things up.

Mostly, though, A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD is a cynical (though mostly irony-free) attempt to give us a good time by overdoing everything, including the never more than so-so repartee between father and son. The two take beating together that would kill us ordinary guys, then rise from the floor to go on and beat the shit out of everyone else. Now, we don't expect anything approaching reality in these kinds of movies. Even so, this kick-in-the-head/gut/stomach/crotch scene with the "dancer" is one for the nitwit record books.

There is also, of course, the completely-unnecessary-but-who's-complaining bit of disrobing by the femme fatale (above). If you want to have some additional fun with the film, TrustMovies suggests you go to a site where there's a smart and amusing infographic on the entire Die Hard series created by Alex Hillsberg, with special attention given to this latest addition. The infographic's clever and fun, and you might learn a few things, too.

Otherwise, the movie itself, from 20th Century Fox is out now on DVD and Blu-ray for your delectation and giggles/sniggers.

Sweet dream of the fractured family made whole again: Josh Boone's STUCK IN LOVE -- plus a short Q&A with the filmmaker

If you come, as maybe more than half of us now do, from a family broken by divorce or separation, you may leave the new film STUCK IN LOVE as moved as was TrustMovies. He sat there in his screening room seat waiting for the tears to subside and his face and composure to return to something like normal before he felt comfortable enough to stand up go out and face the world. Why hadn't he brought a pair of sunglasses with him?!

He didn't feel particularly manipulated, either, as most movies of this kind manage to do. Yes, certain information is withheld from us until a point at which it registers more strongly. But because that information is also withheld from another key character in the film, the withholding makes sense on both a dramatic and a realistic level. This is just one of the smart moves that first-time filmmaker Josh Boone, shown at right, makes with his movie. There are plenty more. Stuck in Love is quite the auspicious debut. And gheesh, what fun it is! Though I was crying at the finale, I had laughed myself silly on a number of occasions throughout the film, which is wonderfully entertaining, superbly cast and acted, and written extremely well -- it's that rare film about writers (a whole family of 'em) in which you believe that the folks you're watching might actually have put intelligent and entertaining thoughts to paper (or computer).

It must have been a pleasure for the ensemble of actors to tackle roles this rich and bring them to such full life. The story concerns a mom (Jennifer Connelly, above, right) who has left dad (Greg Kinnear, above, left) and is now living with a younger hunk.

The character played Mr. Kinnear (who remains plenty hunky himself), though still deeply in love with his ex-wife, is now canoodling with a younger married woman (Kristin Bell), his rather short trysts with whom interrupt her jogging sessions. (The movie is quite realistic about sex used as a stopgap for pain and/or a substitute for other things we're not getting -- as well as simply something that's necessary and enjoyable.)

On the younger front, the family's daughter (Lily Collins, above, left), still raging mad at mom, refuses to get close to any boy and instead makes certain her partners understand that this is only a "sex" thing. When a persistent young man (Logan Lerman, above, right), puts his quietly intelligent moves on her, she is typically angry but also flummoxed.

Sis' younger brother (Nat Wolff, above, left) who has wisely not taken sides in the family dispute and is just coming into his own sexuality, is attracted to the girlfriend (Liana Liberato, above, right) of the school druggie/bully (Patrick Schwarzenegger), shown below and about to punch.

How all this plays out is full of intelligence, energy, charm and wit. Dad, sis and bro -- writers all -- are at various levels of their career, and it is fun to see how each one handles this. The movie is a rom-com, all right, but it proves much deeper and more expansive on a number of levels -- one of which includes, yes, Stephen King -- than most of its ilk.

I don't expect that you'll have as strong an emotional reaction to the film as did I. We each come to a movie carrying our own bag-gage, which reacts to and with the film in its own way. But if you are at all interested in things like love & trust, writers & writing, and the uses of sex, I'll be surprised if you do not find Stuck in Love very much worth your time, not to mention your laughter and tears.

The movie -- from Millennium Entertainment and running 96 minutes, opens its exclusive NYC run tomorrow, Friday, July 5, at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema. Oddly enough, it seems to be getting a wide release in both the Kansas City and the Orlando/
Daytona Beach/Melbourne, Florida, areas. Los Angeles? Maybe later. Anyway, catch it if you can -- or wait for the DVD/Blu-ray.

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TrustMovies met with filmmaker Josh Boone (shown below and further below) a week or so back but managed to leave his tape recorder next to his desktop at home. Much scribbling on note paper ensued as we spoke with this really "up," smart (but not smart-alecky) and charming young man.

Film school for Boone, he told us, meant growing up with a Super 8 and watching all the old movies he could manage to see, first on first VHS and then DVD. He's especially fond of The Criterion Collection (and who can blame him?).

Boone has always been attracted to writing and writers -- as his terrific use in the film of Stephen King and his work proves, along with the interesting way in which he has managed to endow each writer in his "movie family" with their own special subject and style.

Perhaps one of the biggest things in his young life occurred when his parents became born-again Christians during his adolescence, and he was forced to start hiding the books he was voraciously reading behind the covers ripped from "Christian" books then placed over Boone's preferred content.

All this was a strange but interesting part of the young man's life, and he says he would some day like to do a movie about religion. We can't wait.

TrustMovies remarked to Boone how amazing it seemed that he not only got this script filmed but that he himself, with no experience behind the camera, was allowed to direct it. He agreed, with a shrug and a chuckle. But the result more than bears out the trust placed in him by producer Judy Cairo (who earlier gave us the award-winning film Crazy Heart, Hysteria and the recent Erased).

When Boone's own parents later divorced (yes, this movie, as you might expect, comes from someplace personal), he explains that, like the brother in the film, he held no great anger toward either parent.

The filmmaker, now 34, tells us that while he may appear an overnight success, he has spent 10 years living in Los Angeles and "rolling that snowball up the hill," trying to get a film script produced.  "The key," he says, "is to write from your own personal experience." While we've heard that one before, we must admit results rarely come together this well.

As a small, independent film -- though cast just about perfectly with top professionals -- Stuck in Love will still have its work cut out for it, trying to reach the audience that, if it just can be tapped properly, surely exists for a movie this appealing and well-executed. We thank Mr Boone for his time and wish him -- and his film -- the very best.

An agenda-free gun doc? In A GIRL AND A GUN, Cathryne Czubek comes pretty close.

Wow. A documentary all about guns (and the ladies who lunch on them) that either does not have a pro or con agenda or seeks to bury it far enough below the surface that maybe we won't notice one lurking about. It could be that A GIRL AND A GUN -- which may or may not be deliberately quoting Jean-Luc Godard's famous (and famously dumb) statement, "All you need for a film is a girl and a gun," which, like so much of Godard's verbiage and film-making is given immediate obeisance, when a hoot and the boot would be more appropriate -- is simply exploring the question and history of women and guns in the USA. If only this had been done this a bit better.

The movie -- directed, co-produced and co-written by first-timer Cathryne Czubek (shown at right) and edited and co-written by Amanda Hughes -- is all over the place and back again, as it introduces us to a whole bunch of women, beginning with a few who whisper sweet-nothings in our ear about their weapons: "My best friend, my first boyfriend," notes one, fondling her firearm. "It's owning my womanhood!" insists another. God help us. But then we meet some more gals and get to a point of some intelligent and nuanced statements and feelings.

One attractive blond woman, Robin (above and below), who teaches Tai Chi, and whom we visit time and again throughout the film, starts with a more-or-less pro-gun attitude (she needs it to ward off a heavy-set ex-boyfriend who has already broken into her apartment). Her response is understandable and sad, but eventually Robin finds alternate ways to "arm" herself and others.

Along the way we meet a young woman with an infant who has actually used her gun to kill an intruder. She looks and acts like a basket case (but as this was filmed very close to the time of the killing, we shouldn't be too surprised).

We get history -- from Annie Oakley to women during WWII, the famous and crazy J. Edgar Hoover to those venomous female killers from the B movies of the 40s and 50s. Hollywood did and does have a habit of connecting its phallic firearms to big boobs (and big hair) and photographing its pretty women in poses that no real gun user would ever maintain. We're offered some tangy, good-old-gal music along the way, see a fashion show of frilly camouflage clothing (below), and then we meet a mom for gun control and her paralyzed-for-life daughter, left that way as a victim of gunfire.

Visiting a prison, we encounter an inmate who, well over a decade ago, killed her girlfriend in an argument with a gun. As she relives these few moments, it seems clear that, had she not had that gun, the girlfriend would be alive and she'd not be a prisoner. All this is anecdotal, at best, though occasionally we're given some stats and figures to go with the women we meet and their stories. And throughout much of the movie, the tone is oddly and inappropriately light-hearted.

By film's ends (it's a short one) we're pretty much ready to admit that the American woman's relationship to the gun is more complex that a simple yes or no. Though what we've really learned from all this is questionable; we could probably have figured it out on our own. And, really, given the movie's 75-minute length, there's just too much showing off of those gun collections (though gun lovers will probably cream over all this).

A Girl and A Gun opens today for one-, two-, or three-day runs in several cities around the country: click here to see all scheduled playdates, cities and theaters). In New York City, it opens Friday for a week's run at the Quad Cinema, and in the Los Angeles area, look for it at Laemmle theaters in Santa Monica, Pasadena and Claremont on July 6 and 7 only.

At the NYCIFF, Samuel Ashton Hall's tale of loneliness and murder: SIMPLE THINGS

TrustMovies saw only two films in the recently concluded New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF): Full Circle and SIMPLE THINGS. The former seemed to him a standard, if stylish, piece of ghetto-pleasing pizzazz (and pizza), while the latter proved a much slower-paced combination of thriller and character study that, despite some faults, has a noticeable level of integrity.

The work of first-time British filmmaker, Samuel Ashton Hall (shown at left), Simple Things tells the tale of two people: a young man named Luke (played with a nice combination of empti-ness and seeking by relative newcomer Christian Edwards, shown in the penultimate photo, below) and a young woman called Kate, equally lonely but a bit more socially integrated (a very real and easy-to-empathize-with performance from Tara Godolphin, shown at bottom, and at the computer further below). That these two will meet is no surprise, but how and why they do makes for some pretty-good story telling, a little action and bloodshed, and finally some thoughtful, even moving moments.

Mr. Hall wrote, directed, shot, edited, did the sound and a few other things on his movie, so this is pretty much a one-man show. It is low-budget in the extreme but looks rather good, considering the £2,500 that it cost to make. Hall's writing is always serviceable and sometime much better than that, and his camerawork and composition (above) are, as well. He seems particularly good with his actors, drawing excellent performances from his two leads, as well as from his two major supporting players.

Hall's opening scene is a nifty one, and on the off-chance that you might be able to see the film eventually, I don't want to spoil it by going into the plot. (It took my companion completely by surprise.) Later there's a terrific scene between a gangster named Frank Mills (is this what happened to the missing guy who provides the title of that famous song from the musical, Hair?) and Luke's lovely business partner, Andrea. Hall manages all this in extreme close-up, with sharp dialog, a couple of traces of blood, and actors -- Charlie Kemp (above) and Rebecca Keatley (below) -- who are first-rate. It's a very immediate and frightening scene, and could stand on its own as an calling-card example of what can be done with little money but a lot of creativity and talent.

The film's pivotal scene will probably divide audiences. My companion didn't buy it, but I did. It involves a conversation, the first they've had, between Luke and Kate, the outcome of which changes Luke, and it changes the course of the movie, too. This is another first-rate few minutes in which the actors give their all and the payoff is grand.

That said, for a movie that lasts only 73 minutes, there's too much time spent with the camera gazing at our two leads as they look lonely. We could have done with learning a little more about the lives of the these two instead. Also, the camera is awfully fond of following our “hero" as he walks and stalks and run and chases. A little of this goes a long way. And as for the routing of the bad guys, this takes place far too easily.

Though I did not give away plot, I must at least say that the movie is about moral choice and redemption (a word I tend to run from as fast as possible, given its tendency to dunk the audience in a wallow of sentimentality). Here, we don't wallow; Hall is too smart for that. Still, he has made his Simple Things a little too simple for the vast questions raised and lives changed, or snuffed out.

So how do you get to see this movie? I've no idea, as its showing at the NYCIFF has ended. Right now, instead of worrying about getting this movie seen, Mr. Hall tells me via email that, while he is considering the idea of putting Simple Things on a Vimeo -- or some such -- link (if anything like that happens, I'll note it here in the days to come), he in now seeking funding for a new film on which he has just begun pre-production. In his own words, "It’s called Butterfly and its short synopsis is: 'A young contract killer attempts to come to terms with her troubled past.' It is, dare I say, ‘a hard-hitting crime drama/thriller,' with a Lisbeth Salander-esque main character." Meanwhile, you can learn more about the director's likes and dislikes on his Facebook page here.

Early, and most welcome, "Oscar" bait from Nat Faxton/Jim Rash: THE WAY WAY BACK

A coming-of-age-cum-how-I-spent-my-summer-vacation tale, THE WAY WAY BACK sneaks up on you. Moment to moment, it's as real as you could want, with interesting characters and situations, none of which are over-the-top in the manner of Little Miss Sunshine and Juno (two films with which it is being compared). In fact, it's rather ordinary. Yet it's this very ordinariness, served up remarkably well by a skillfully chosen and then beautifully calibrated ensemble cast, that makes it, at first funny and charming, finally important and moving, all without missing a beat or injecting a false moment. At this point in time, here's the movie to beat for Best Picture 2013.

The two men who wrote it -- Nat Faxon, at right, and Jim Rash, below left -- are the same guys who, with Alexander Payne, won the adapted screenwriting Oscar for The Descendants. This time the duo directs, as well, in addition to each man taking on a tasty supporting role in the film (both have acting resumes as long as  my legs). They do a sterling job in all three areas, and if I may say something a tad heretical, this is a bit better-directed film than is Payne's The Descendants -- which, in trying to cram so much into its less-than-two-hour time frame, occasionally seemed alternately under-cooked and over-baked.

Here, however, events are not nearly so momentous. Consequently everything and everyone moves along at a realistic clip, with nothing given a moment more than it deserves. This is how we create reality, movie-wise, at least. The plot of The Way Way Back concerns broken families taking a somewhat communal seaside summer vacation, in the same place yearly where neighbors know (and mostly look forward to seeing) each other during the season. The filmmakers take it for granted, as will most of us, that divorce is common, and so the kids of these families will have to piece together their lives with each parent separately, if at all. So it is with the three sets of families (two of whom have kids) who canoodle over this particular year.

Our underage hero is one, Duncan, played by up-and-comer Liam James, above, whose slightly Neanderthal appearance and behavior, seem just about perfect for that transitional age between boyhood and young manhood. Duncan, with his mom (another fine and properly toned-down performance from Toni Collette, below, left) comes to the summer quarters of mom's significant-other, Trent (a new kind of role for the increasingly versatile Steve Carell, below, right), and his older-than-Duncan daughter named Steph (an appropriately nasty Zoe Levin).

Pushy neighbor Betty (Allison Janney, below and excellent here) lives next door with her beautiful teenage daughter, Susannah (AnnaSophia Robb), and wandering-eyed younger son (a sweet, funny River Alexander).

Nearby reside friends Kip and Joan (Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet) who own a nice boat, which will later come into play. It only takes a night or two for the rondelay to begin, and this ensemble of first-rate performers does it proud.

Into Duncan's young life comes a life-changer named Owen, (Sam Rockwell, in another great performance that, this time, should lead to a nomination), who owns the local amusement/water park, and so we get another whole cast of characters from this venue (including the writer/directors, as well as Maya Rudolf, below, giving a quiet, gentle and lovely performance). All of this meshes so naturally and interestingly that TrustMovies, an inveterate clock-watcher, didn't once check the time during the entire film.

A problem with so many coming-of-age movies is that they jack-up the content with unnecessary melodrama. Not here. The beauty of The Way Way Back is how absolutely in keeping with the moment is each performance, each event, each bit of dialog. The situation might seem do-or-die to the protagonist, but audiences tend to know that it's really not, so any untoward melodramatics simply alienate us. We understand that all this is but one more step along the way in the game of growing up -- a game, by the way, that has rarely been depicted better than here.

In its final moments, which beautifully echo the manner in which the film began, a small action is taken. It surprises us, then overwhelms us, making the movie perhaps the most genuinely-earned, feel-good experience of the year.

The Way Way Back -- from Fox Searchlight and running 103 minutes -- opens this Friday, July 5, here in NYC at the AMC Empire 25, AMC Loews Lincoln Square, and the Regal Union Square Stadium 14; in Los Angeles, look for it at the AMC Century City 15, The Landmark and the Arclight Hollywood. It will simultaneously open this week in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC, and in the weeks to come will continue a nationwide rollout.