Musical Movie Review: ****^ August Rush (2007)

 August Rush/ Evan (Freddie Highmore) is growing up in an orphanage.  He swears he can hear the music of his parents, who he has never met; music is all around in the air.  The other boys tease and are cruel, and eventually he runs away to New York to find his parents.  He parents, an Irish singer in a band, Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and a cellist Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) are looking for him and each other.  Lyla's father (William Sadler) forced Lyla to leave when she wanted to stay with Connelly.  He also told Lyla her son had perished in a car accident when he was born premature as a result.  Evan is already past ten years of age, when Lyla's father tells her what he did.  

After going to New York, Evan meets Wizard (Robin Williams) who runs a group of children who play music and beg for him.  He is like a modern Fagan.  From Wizar August learns guitar.  He names Evan August Rush.  Lyla has recruited the help of Richard Jeffries (Terrance Howard) from social services to help find her son.  At a time when August is on the run, as the police are intervening in the operation of Wizard, he enters a church and meets a girl, Hope (Jamia Simone Nash).  It is she that discovers that August is a prodigy.  He learns quickly, and also writes music.  He plays piano with a two minute lesson.  He even plays the organ at the church.  He gets into Juilliard as a result.  The professor of his composition class is impressed.  He is invited to conduct his own piece in Central Park as part of a concert

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August has believed all along that if enough people hear his music, his parents will find him.  It all comes together.

The August Rush music is unique and exciting.  Hope sings at the concert, and the music twirls around as if riding a circular wind.  I highly recommend this movie.  Even if just to list the the music.  Lyla and Connelly also lay their unique brands of music.

Movie Review: ***^Justin and the Knights of Valour (2013)

Tony and I enjoyed this movie for movie night.  Tony actually started it.  What happens when you father, the king, has outlawed all Knights, and you feel your destiny is to become a knight.  This is a show of family conflict, but also growth from a boy to a man.  It also involves discovering who you really love, and it is not always the high society person, but sometimes the kitchen maid.  This movie stars Freddie Highmore as Justin, Tamsin Egerton as Lara, his crush but the wrong girl, and Saoirse Ronan as Talia, the spunky girl he meets and Antonio Banderas as Sir Clorex, a fake knight.  Mark Strong portrays Sir Heraclio, a banished knight who is coming back to seek revenge.  A lesson learned in this film is that trying to make everyone equal so as to preserve peace it not always a good idea.  There are those that are always willing to fill the void when you rule from weakness.

Movie Review: ***^Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

This is a Johnny Depp as Willie Wonka and Tim Burton (director) collaboration and it is successful for the most part.  It is based on the Roald Dahl book by the same name.  It was previously made into a musical presentation entitled Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Johnny Depp makes an interesting Wonka.  He plays him as a moody, man, with a poor childhood based on his father's over bearing.  Father was a dentist who very much despised candy.  Willie Wonka's love turned out to be candy; there was an inevitable parting as a result.  This version is much more true to the book, which adds the theme of family relations, which was missing from the musical version.  The visit of the youngsters, including Charlie (Freddie Highmore) and Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) to the factory results in the first four, Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz) and Violet Beauregard (AnnaSophia Robb) all being eliminated, and Wonka offering his inheritance to Charlie.  Charlie turns him down.  He would have to leave his family, his parents (Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor) and four grandparents.  Wonka goes back to the factory disappointed and feeling miserable.  He returns to Charlie, who suggests he resolve things with his father, then he might not feel so terrible.  And so it goes, which helps Wonka also resolve his issues with family.  Charlie inherits in the factory after all, with his entire family, home and all, going to the factory grounds. 

Movie Review: ****Arthur and the Invisisibles

This is a cute show.  Arthur (Freddie Highmore) lives with his grandmother (Mia Farrow).  He is disappointed because his parents do not return for his birthday.  His grandfather has disappeared.  Things get worse when a developer enters the scene, says he has bought the debts on grandmother’s farm and she has two days to pay up or he is going to turn the farm into a shopping center.   

Arthur has to find a way to find his grandfather’s treasure.  Grandfather hid it on the farm, but then could not find it.  The treasure is a bunch of rubies.  Grandfather had been to Africa, and met the largest people in existence, and the smallest, as small as a tooth.  Arthur looks for clues among his grandfather’s things, and begins to find them.  This leads him to the portal.  To pass the portal into grandfather’s world, he has to be made small himself.  The invisibles live on the farm as well, but they are little like ants so no one sees them.  However, if the farm is turned to concrete, they will all die. 

The Invisibles are divided into two factions, the evil Lord Matazard (David Bowie) who has found away to use technology to everyone’s detriment.  He is devising a way to take water and flood the MInimoys.  The princess (Madonna) and Arthur travel to the city of the evil people in an effort to find grandfather, the rubies and to prevent the evil empire from ruining everything.  Everything looks gloomy for our heroes as they are captured.  Matazard is going to have some fun, and sets them loss in the irrigation tunnels with the water behind them.  They find a way to escape, using a toy car. 

There is a clever interaction between the regular size world and the Invisibles.  Arthur is able to use this to his own advantage.  The last scene has the princess looking at Arthur through his window and proclaiming she will wait for him.

This movie has plenty of tension, and using the Tony meter again received high marks.  He was enchanted by the world of the little people, with their messy hair.  My only complaint; I didn't buy Mia Farrow as a grandmother.