Family Archives - Page 35 of 41 - StayTuned Magazine

VOD Spotlight: Becoming “Nanny McPhee”

December 17, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

In Nanny McPhee Returns, the ever-helpful Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson, who also wrote and co-executive produced the film) comes to the aid of a harried young mother (Maggie Gyllenhaal) trying to run the family farm while her husband is on duty during World War II. When some snooty cousins move in, the nanny sets to work teaching them proper manners and respect. Thompson, who starred in the original 2005 film Nanny McPhee, reprises her fun role as the title nanny. While McPhee’s magic is similar to a Mary Poppins, her physical appearance — complete with warts, facial hair and a […]

Ideas to get in the holiday mood from Phineas and Ferb

December 6, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

Phineas and Ferb, from the Disney Channel hit series, have provided us with some ways in which they would make Christmas extraordinary: Perry the Platypus Fruit Cake What says Christmas more than a fruit cake? Well, at Christmastime, Phineas and Ferb like to make a fruitcake in honor of someone who’s very special to them. Here’s what you do. First, get a rectangular fruit cake, either homemade or store bought, and stick a graham cracker into it at one of the smaller ends. On the opposite end, stick a quarter of a piece of orange peel. Now, and this part […]

Optimus Prime speaks: An interview with Peter Cullen of “Transformers Prime”

November 30, 2010 StayTuned Staff

The main draw of Transformers — whether it be in an after-school cartoon or a blockbuster feature film — is that it features giant robots changing shapes. But a deeper appeal is what hasn’t changed. Peter Cullen first provided the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime in 1984 when Transformers (known to fans as the Generation 1 era) was created. Prime was killed off in the 1986 movie version of the series, a move that simultaneously confused Cullen and permanently scarred movie-going children everywhere. While Transformers continued in various forms over the next two decades in cartoons and video games, […]

G.I. Joe resumes fight for freedom with “Renegades”

November 26, 2010 StayTuned Staff

The end of the Cold War might have been good for the world, but it didn’t do any favors for the spy/military genre. The United States and the Soviet Union made for such great and easily defined enemies that it was never a mystery who the heroes or villains would be in any particular story. G.I. Joe, while always posited as a “Real American Hero,” never explicitly fought the Russians. Instead, the enemy was Cobra, which the 1980s cartoon series labeled “a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.” That, and they loved them some snakes. But with the […]

Review: “Transformers Prime”

November 23, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Stacey Harrison Judging an updated version of a childhood favorite is always dicey. If you go in wanting from it that same feeling it gave you as a 9-year-old, when a somewhat crudely animated show about giant robots that transformed into automobiles could stoke the fires of your still-impressionable imagination, you’re setting up an impossible standard. If the new show is too similar, it’s likely to just make you want to go watch the original. Yet if it’s wildly divergent, that can be hard to get past, too. So it’s best to try to take a show like The […]

VOD Spotlight: Flipping the setting for “Flipped”

November 23, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

Flipped is the story of Bryce and Juli. When they first meet as second-graders, Juli knows it’s love. But Bryce isn’t so sure. Girl-phobic and easily embarrassed, young Bryce does everything he can to keep his outspoken wannabe girlfriend at arm’s length … for the next six years, which isn’t easy since they go to the same school and live across the street from each other. But if Juli finally looks away, will it be Bryce’s turn to be dazzled? The film takes Bryce and Juli from grade school to junior high, through triumph and disaster, family drama and first […]

VOD Spotlight: Not necessarily fighting like “Cats & Dogs”

November 16, 2010 Jeff Pfeiffer

Although the main villain in Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is a cat, don’t get the idea that this follow-up to the hit 2001 comedy Cats & Dogs is anti-cat. While Kitty Galore plots to break the human-dog relationship once and for all, the plan also pits feline against feline and in fact could jeopardize the future of all creatures. “We don’t mean to misrepresent our feline friends as all bad,” says producer Polly Johnsen. “It’s just this one cat who isn’t quite with the program. As a result, cats and dogs must unite against a common […]

VOD Spotlight: “Grown Ups” stars take their families on a working vacation

November 9, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Elaine Bergstrom In the film Grown Ups, a group of old friends get together for a vacation for the first time in 30 years. The film’s stars, including Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph and others, have also known each other for years. It wasn’t hard to get them to sign on, particularly when the filming turned into a family affair. “Adam’s whole idea was that everyone would bring their families and we’d all have a nice summer at the lake house,” director Dennis Dugan says. “It was one of the best summers […]

VOD Spotlight: A new “Karate Kid” learns from the best

November 4, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Elaine Bergstrom Ralph Macchio was in his 20s when he played a bullied teen in The Karate Kid. Jaden Smith — best known for his role alongside father Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness —was just 11 when he took on the role in the remake, which makes the bullying his character endures far more painful to watch. But Smith had a pair of allies on his side who aided his transformation in the film: Wu Gang, the stunt coordinator of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, and Chan himself, who plays the role made famous by Pat Morita.

VOD Spotlight: Growing up means learning to train that dragon

October 29, 2010 StayTuned Staff

By Elaine Bergstrom Growing up means becoming your own person, moving away from the expectations of parents who, though they love you, may not quite understand what will make you happy. It’s the theme of some of the greatest animated features, such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast and How to Train Your Dragon — a film about a teenage Viking short on brawn but long on empathy, with an independent spirit that changes the relationship between Vikings and dragons.