Mamma Mia! The Movie

Once it gets past its high-pitched squeals of estrogen-fueled excitement in the opening sequences, director Phyllida Lloyd’s screen adaptation of the popular Broadway play based on Abba songs, settles into a harmonically pleasing musical comedy set amid the extraordinary beauty of the Greek isle of Skopelos. Former 80s’ girl-trio singer Donna (exquisitely played by the ever-surprising Meryl Streep) has single-handedly raised her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) on the island where the two operate a hotel villa. On the eve of her marriage to local hunk Sky (Dominic Cooper), Sophie has used information she culled from her mom’s old diary to invite Donna’s three former boyfriends to the wedding in the hope of discovering her unknown father. Stellan Skarsgard, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth do the honors as the trio of possible dads, and their arrival times well with that of Donna’s cherished band pals Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski). "Mamma Mia! The Movie" is tilted toward the play’s target of middle aged to elderly audience members, but that’s not to say there isn’t plenty of entertainment to be had for everyone else in this pop-tinged travelogue of Grecian opulence.

Rated PG-13, 108 mins. (B+) (Four Stars)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon of Fleet Street

Director Tim Burton’s screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 Grand Guignol musical is at once mesmerizing and disappointing. Outstanding singing performances from its gifted ensemble cast contrast unfavorably with Burton’s trademark affinity for a drab monochromatic color scheme of white, blue, brown and gray. Gallons of orange/red blood pour out beneath thankfully abbreviated songs performed in all-too-predictable orchestrations meant to cater to Broadway audiences familiar with the original Sondheim production. For such an idyllic gothic setting, Burton misses his cue to update the songs with reharmonized arrangements (including tempo and key changes) for a non-traditional orchestra that could have corrected the music’s tendency to slip into a drone of same-sounding tonality.

Rated R, 117 mins. (B) (Three Stars)

August Rush

A perfect example of everything wrong about Hollywood films, "August Rush" is an obstinately perverse, hammy piece of instant-gratification cinema that weeps from the screen as so much emotional sludge. Young Evan Taylor (Freddie Highmore) braves an orphanage existence with the abstract knowledge that he will eventually attract the attention of his biological parents if only he can compose, conduct and perform a piece of music that will harmonically draw them to him. Evan seems more touched in the head than in the ear when he runs away from the orphanage to Manhattan where he takes up residence with a freak of nature named the Wizard (Robin Williams) who runs a squatter’s music school for young runaways. Williams stinks up the movie with his signature range of character tics that are all the more disturbing for their violent subtext. Milquetoast Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers play Evan’s ever-youthful parents Lyla and Louis who are torn apart by Lyla’s cruel father (William Sadler).

Rated PG, 133 mins. (D) (1 Star)

Once

Music video masquerades as heart-on-sleeve narrative featuring a charismatic, if musically limited and redundant, Glen Hansard of the Irish rock band the Frames. Guy (Hansard) carries a torch for his absent girlfriend while he busks the streets of Dublin. Enter cute Czech immigrant pianist girl (Marketa Irglova) to give Guy the musical boost he needs to make a recording. “Once” works as an overlong mood piece, but its strictly predictable story, and whiny songs, bring into relief the music video sequences on display.

Rated R, 88 mins. (C+) (Two Stars)

Dreamgirls

Set amidst the R&B heyday of the '60s, "Dreamgirls" is a musical that owes as much of its harmonious heritage to the Memphis Stax records sound as it does to the Motor City where the story takes place. Director Bill Condon (screenwriter on "Chicago") captures the musical set pieces with vitality as our trio of soul singers The Dreamettes climb the ladder of success before their leader Effie White (Jennifer Hudson) is kicked to the curb by the group's manager Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx). By the time the ever-modulating songs start to expose their monotonous arrangements, it becomes clear that Effie's replacement Deena Jones (Beyonce Knowles) is no match for Jennifer Hudson in the singing or charisma departments. Eddie Murphy gives the strongest performance of his career as James "Thunder" Early, an aging James Brown kind of performer unable to adjust to the musical changes occurring around him. However, it is newcomer Jennifer Hudson who owns the movie with her magnetic presence and go-tell-it-on-the-mountain voice.         
Rated PG-13, 131 mins. (B-)

A Prairie Home Companion

Consummate blowhard radio personality Garrison Keillor sees his self-penned script fantasy about the final installment of his wispy radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" realized by Robert Altman. Just as the word "prairie" connotes Anglo pretension, Altman’s movie bounces between phony characters going through inflated backstage preparations before stepping onto Keillor’s stage at the Fitzgerald Theater to perform songs before a live audience marveling Keillor’s billowy enunciation of arcane references like "rhubarb pie." Tommy Lee Jones plays "The Axeman," a Texas real estate mogul anxious to raze the Midwest theater.

Rated PG-13, 105 mins. (C-)

Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That

The Beastie Boys relive their former glories in an inspired live performance at Madison Square Garden on October 9, 2004 where 50 members of the sold-out audience use handheld cameras to capture the show. While the Beastie Boys are great at delivering their synchronized hip-hop songs, the band lacks sufficient musical variety to sustain a 90-minute movie. Necessarily low production values create viewer fatigue that takes its toll well before the final credits roll. "Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That" is the sole province of dyed-in-the-wool Beastie Boys fans.

Rated R, 90 mins. (C-)

Take The Lead

Since the success of last year’s dance documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom" Hollywood has thrown together a formulaic narrative riff on the idea of New York public school students learning ballroom dance as a way of socializing poor kids out of their lower class traps. Antonio Banderas saunters through his performance in a glorified rendition of real-life ballroom dance teacher Pierre Dulaine, who brings classical dance training to bear on a group of tin-eared hip hop-crazed high school misfits. Forget that the real life Dulaine taught much younger elementary school kids because this is by no means a biopic. Director of Photography Alex Nepomniaschy ("Narc") fumbles with where to put the camera to capture JoAnn Jansen’s ill-conceived choreography. Every sub-plot wilts on the vine in a redundant movie lacking narrative focus.

Rated PG, 108 mins. (C-)