Review: Mesmerizing "BABYLON" Sings and F**ks in the Rain

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 18 of 2023 (No. 1907) by Leroy Douresseaux

Babylon (2022)

Running time:  189 minutes (3 hours, 9 minutes)

MPA – R for strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity, bloody violence, drug use, and pervasive language.

WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Damien Chazelle

PRODUCERS:  Olivia Hamilton, Marc Platt, and Matthew Plouffe

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Linus Sandgren (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Tom Cross

COMPOSER:  Justin Hurwitz

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring:  Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Jean Smart, Li Jun Li, Olivia Wilde, Telvin Griffin, Flea, Eric Roberts, Max Minghella, Jeff Garlin, Ethan Suplee, and Tobey Maguire

Babylon is a 2022 period film, drama, and black comedy from writer-director Damien Chazelle.  The film chronicles the rise and fall of several Hollywood characters as the film industry transitions from silent films to sound films in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Babylon opens in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, 1926.  Manuel “Manny” Torres (Diego Calva), a Mexican immigrant, helps transport an elephant.  It's destination is a debauched bacchanal (party) at the lavish mansion of Don Wallach (Jeff Garlin), chief of Hollywood's Kinoscope Studios, which produces silent films.  It is there that Manny meets a young woman who has given herself the name, Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie).  She is brash, ambitious, and declares that she is a “star” from New Jersey, and Manny is quickly smitten with her.

Manny and Nellie soon cross paths with the party's other colorful attendees, including the Chinese-American, lesbian, cabaret singer, Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li), and the Black American jazz trumpeter, Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo).  All four of them are going to find a place in the ecosystem of Hollywood, playing an important part in making silent films.  None of them will be as big as one of Hollywood's greatest silent film stars, Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), who seems to be married as often as he is starring in a new silent film epic.

But just a year later, in 1927, the first sound film, The Jazz Singer, arrives, and everything begins to change – rapidly.  A world of out-sized ambition and outrageous excess starts pretending to be a tad bit more conservative.  So will any of the stars of silent film transition to the new world of sound film, also known as “talkies?”  Will Jack Conrad remain a star?  Is there still a place for Fay Zhu?  And what of the newcomers, Nellie, Manny, and Sidney? 

For me, Babylon is the film that delivers the way I was told Damien Chazelle's earlier film, La La Land (2016), would, but did not.  What some critics saw as overwhelming in Babylon, I see as exhilarating spectacle.  In a way, Babylon isn't so much about the end of the silent film era and the beginning of sound films as it is a celebration of Hollywood's glitz and glamour, which has enthralled audiences around the world for over a century.  Chazelle treats Hollywood's excess as a wonderful, magical thing.  Debauchery is loud, proud, and colorful.  Why be conservative and safe when the audience for Hollywood's films want the opposite.  Even as silence gives way to sound, films remain weird, wild, and wonderful, even if the people behind them pretend to have cleaned up their act and grown up.

The film's production values:  cinematography, costume and production design, sound, lighting, and editing play up the fun part – the hedonism and the revelry.  Babylon is one of the best-looking films of this still young century, and when I currently think of the word “cinematic,” I think of it.

The film has a number of good performances, but I will fault Chazelle for a screenplay that doesn't really immerse itself into the characters.  This film isn't into the characters the way it dives into the spectacle and the darkness behind the Hollywood film industry and the lifestyle of the people in front of and behind the cameras.  As much as they try, Brad Pitt and especially Margot Robbie and Diego Calva cannot really raise their characters above the sound and fury of Babylon.  Speaking of sound and fury, Justin Hurwitz's score for Babylon is a thing of magic; it never lets Babylon's narrative, drama, or action fall.

I know that Babylon is a polarizing film among film critics, movie reviewers and audiences.  I see it, however, as the work of a highly skilled writer-director, Damien Chazelle, who can do great things in movies.  But will he?  As far as I'm concerned, he has delivered with Babylon.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Sunday, April 30, 2023

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA:  3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score (Justin Hurwitz), and “Best Achievement in Costume Design: (Mary Zophres)

2023 BAFTA Awards:  1 win: “Best Production Design” (Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino); 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Mary Zophres), and “Original Score” (Justin Hurwitz)

2023 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Original Score – Motion Picture” (Justin Hurwitz); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” (Brad Pitt), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy” (Diego Calva), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy” (Margot Robbie)

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

------------------------------

-------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: Terrific and Amazing "ARMAGEDDON TIME" Doesn't Have Time for Sentimentality

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 of 2023 (No. 1904) by Leroy Douresseaux

Armageddon Time (2022)

Running time:  114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)

MPA – R for language and some drug use involving minors

WRITER/DIRECTOR:  James Gray

PRODUCERS:  Marc Butan, James Gray, Anthony Katagas, and Rodrigo Teixeira

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Darius Khondji

EDITOR:  Scott Morris

COMPOSER:  Christopher Spelman

DRAMA

Starring:  Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Banks Repeta, Jaylin Webb, Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Sell, Andrew Polk, Tovah Feldshuh, Marcia Haufrecht, Teddy Coluca, Richard Bekins, Dane West, Landon James Forlenza, John Diehl, and Jessica Chastain

Armageddon Time is a 2022 coming-of-age drama film from writer-director James Gray.  The film is inspired by Gray's childhood experiences growing up in Queens, New York.  Armageddon Time is a coming-of-age story about family and about the American Dream and who can have it.

Armageddon Time opens in Queens, New York City, 1980.  It introduces Paul Graff (Banks Repeta), a Jewish-American boy who is entering sixth grade at Public School (P.S.) 173.  He befriends Johnny (Jaylin Webb), a rebellious African-American classmate.  Johnny was held back a year and gets harsher treatment from their teacher, a white man named Mr. Turkeltaub (Andrew Polk), when they both joke around in class.  Paul is interested in becoming an artist, and he often disassociates from his schoolwork and draws pictures instead.

Paul lives with his somewhat financially stable family of Jewish heritage.  His parents, mother Esther (Anne Hathaway), and father Irving Graff (Jeremy Strong), are well-meaning, but are strict.  His older brother, Ted (Ryan Sell), teases him.  Irving has a temper and is prone to hit his children, especially Paul, who exasperates him.  Esther and Irving discourage Paul's artistic ambitions, but his maternal grandfather, Aaron Rabinowitz (Anthony Hopkins), encourages him.

However, Paul begins to discover the harsh reality of life.  Aaron tells Paul of how his own mother escaped antisemitic persecution and pogroms in Ukraine, eventually landing in London before coming to the United States.  Paul gets into trouble with Johnny and ends up at the private school, Forest Manor Prep School, while Johnny quits school and deals with the foster care officials who are looking for him.  Although Paul lives in a world privilege, he is forced to confront family troubles and a world of inequality and privilege.

I am totally in love with Armageddon Time, although I'm not as in love with its title.  This is also the first film directed by James Gray that I have watched.  The film takes its title from a 1979 single by the British band, “The Clash,” entitled “Armagideon Time.”  It is a cover version of the same song by Jamaican reggae musician, William Williams, that was also released in 1979.  Armageddon Time also includes a few scenes featuring a fictional version of Fred J. Trump, Donald Trump's father, and one scene featuring Maryanne Trump, Donald's sister.  Character actor John Diehl plays Fred, who is a famous businessman and financier/patron of Forest Manor in this film, in all his real-life sleazy glory.

Jessica Chastain is superb in her one scene as Maryanne, who is portrayed in Armageddon Time as a United States Attorney and as one of Forest Manor's most famous alumni.  [In reality, Maryanne Trump was an Assistant United States Attorney in 1980 and would go on to be a United States federal judge from 1983 to 2019.]

James Gray's inclusion of the Trumps, who were part of the world in which Gray grew up, his unflinching desire that Armageddon Time not be nostalgic or sentimental.  Gray presents Paul Graff as a kid who lives inside a bubble – an idealized version of the world.  Paul's estimation of his family's worth and social position are larger and more grand than they really are.  The film's narrative acts not only to wise-up the naive Paul, but to also fill in the gaps of his knowledge of how the world operates – its unfair racial inequality and its propensity to hand out “raw deals.”

If Armageddon Time has a dominant theme, it is that one must survive to have a good life.  If this film has one big fault, it is that Paul's black friend, Johnny, flits through the story as if he were a ghost or a wraith, when it seems obvious that he is very important to the narrative, the plot, and the resolution.

Gray's cast is a big part of why this film really works.  First, Anne Hathaway is so beautiful that even as a harried mother and housewife and worried daughter, she is radiant.  Jeremy Strong is Oscar-worthy as a hard-working, beat-his-kids-asses, Jewish dad.  Ryan Sell strikes the right notes in a small role as Paul's brother, Ted.  Banks Repeta as Paul and Jaylin Webb as Johnny really sell a friendship that, on the surface, seems like it could not, would not, and should not work.  [I think this entire cast would soar even higher if this story were told as television series.]

I would be remiss if I did not mention Anthony Hopkins as Paul's grandfather, Aaron.  This film would not work without him.  Armageddon Time is one of the few coming-of-age films that I have seen that absolutely refuses to be sentimental and is zealously free of nostalgia.  In Aaron, Gray embodies the film's desire to eschew good and evil in favor of depicting survival versus unfairness, inequality, and callousness.  Hopkins conveys in Aaron the good sense that Paul lacks and must learn, which is to figure out when to fit in and when to fight.

I had not heard of Armageddon Time until I was perusing the “Charter on Demand” channel of my Spectrum cable account.  The trailer for this film that Charter was showing was quite convincing, and I felt as if I had to see Armageddon Time because it was made for me.  I hope that James Gray is able to go ahead with plans to direct a semi-sequel to this film, using much of the same cast.  Even if that does not happen, Armageddon Time is a gem, a blunt and genuine coming-of-age story that willingly embraces the truth that growing pains are indeed painful.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Monday, March 27, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-----------------------------

------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: What's Love Got to Do With It" - The First Time the Oscars Screwed Angela Bassett

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 of 2023 (No. 1902) by Leroy Douresseaux

What's Love Got to Do With It (1993)

Running time:  118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)

MPAA – R for domestic violence, strong language, drug use and some sexuality

DIRECTOR:  Brian Gibson

WRITER:  Kate Lanier (based on the book, I, Tina, by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder)

PRODUCERS:  Doug Chapin, Barry Krost, and Kate Lanier

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jamie Anderson

EDITOR:  Stuart Pappé

COMPOSER:  Stanley Clarke

Academy Award nominee

BIOPIC/DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring:  Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Jenifer Lewis, Chi McBride, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Pamela Tyson, Khandi Alexander, Penny Johnson, Richard T. Jones, James Reyne, and RaéVen Kelly

What's Love Got to Do with It is a 1993 biopic and music film directed by Brian Gibson.  It is an adaptation of the 1986 autobiography, I, Tina, by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder and is also based on the life of American music icon and Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Tina Turner.

The film takes its name from Tina's 1984 hit single, “What's Love Got to Do with It,” which was a Billboard magazine “Hot 100” #1 single.  What's Love Got to Do With It the movie is a fictional depiction of Tina's professional and personal life with her former husband, the late Ike Turner (1931-2007), who was a musician, bandleader, record producer, singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner.  The film follows Tina Turner's life from her upbringing in rural Tennessee (early 1950s), through her rise to music stardom and her abusive marriage to Ike Turner (1960s-70s), and finally, to her career revival as a solo artist (early to mid 1980s).

What's Love Got to Do with It introduces Anna Mae Bullock (Angela Bassett).  In 1958, she moves to St. Louis where she reunites with her elder sister, Alline Bullock (Phyllis Yvonne Stickney), and her mother, Zelma Bullock (Jenifer Lewis). Not long after her arrival, Anna is taken by Alline to a nightclub at East St. Louis where she sees a performance by “Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm.”  Ike Turner (Laurence Fishburne) is a charismatic bandleader, and Anna, who likes to sing, wishes she could perform with his wild band, the Kings of Rhythm.

When she finally gets a chance to perform onstage with Ike and his band, Anna impresses him with her singing and her exuberant stage presence.  Ike offers to mentor Anna and to produce her music, and he gives her the stage name “Tina Turner.”  In time, Ike and Anna develop a close relationship and eventually marry.  The musical act, “Ike & Tina Turner” (the “Ike & Tina Turner Revue” when performing live) become stars, but Ike has a dark side.  He is addicted to narcotics and is violent and abusive.  And Tina feels the brunt of his physical abuse.  Will Anna/Tina find the courage to break away from him and forge her own career path?

Until recently, I had never watched What's Love Got to Do with It in its entirety.  I decided to watch it in anticipation of Angela Bassett hopefully winning the “Best Supporting Actress” Oscar at the recent 95th Academy Awards (March 12, 2023) for her performance as “Queen Ramonda” in Disney/Marvel Studios' hit film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  Unfortunately, Bassett did not win, nor did she win the “Best Actress” Oscar for which she was nominated 29 years ago for her performance in What's Love Got to Do with It?

The shame of it is that in the case of What's Love Got to Do with It, it is Bassett's performance, along with Laurence Fishburne's, that carries this film.  Quality wise and in terms of production and execution, What's Love Got to Do with It is a theatrical film that plays like a television movies.  Had What's Love Got to Do with It been a TV movie it would have been a much-talked about “television event,” but the end result would have been an elevated melodrama.

The film's direction, by the late Brian Gibson (1944-2004), emphasizes spousal abuse as style over the substance of plot and character.  The screenplay, written by Kate Lanier (who is also one of the film's producers), suffers from what plagues many biographical films and celebrity biopics.  That is the problem with time.  Rather than focus on a specific and pivotal moment in time, What's Love Got to Do with It, like other biopics, covers multiple decades.  By my estimation, the film covers roughly 1950 to 1983.  The first depiction of Ike abusing Tina is about 55 minutes into the movie, but one of the supporting characters states that this particular incident isn't the first time Ike has hit Tina.  So basically, the film skips over key early moments in Ike and Tina's tumultuous relationship.  [Both Tina and Ike apparently were not happy with the accuracy of this film.]

What's Love Got to Do with It is elevated because of the performances by both Bassett and Fishburne, as well as those of the supporting cast.  Jenifer Lewis proves once again why she is a national film treasure as Anna's mother, Zelma.  The shamefully underrated and underutilized Vanessa Bell Calloway shines in important and key moments of this film.  Laurence Fishburne does more than just make Ike Turner a monster.  He deftly conveys Ike's bitterness and resentment and especially his sense that he has never really gotten what he deserves in terms of financial success, record sales, and industry credit for what he contributed to both the art and business of popular music.

The treasure in What's Love Got to Do with It is, of course, Angela Bassett.  The real-life Tina Turner's voice was dubbed into this movie for the scenes in which Bassett's Turner has to sing.  Still, Bassett offers a richly crafted fictional version of Anna Mae Bullock/Tina Turner.  Her emotions resonate, and her joy and happiness, love and pride, and fear and sorrow come across as genuine.  In this film's quiet, reflective moments, Bassett seems as if she is really thinking Tina's thoughts.  That alone should have earned Bassett an Oscar win back on March 21, 1994 at the 66th Academy Awards.  What should have made Bassett a shoo-in is the physicality of her performance and the way she transformed her body for the role.  It's all superb:  the dancing, posing, and movement on stage; how she mimics the real Tina Turner's facial expressions on stage and when she sings; and the way Bassett carries herself and moves through the trials and tribulations of her life offstage as Ike Turner's wife.

Let's be honest; What's Love Got to Do with It would work better as a TV miniseries.  Let's be real; if Angela Bassett were a white actress, she would have won an Oscar already, probably for What' s Love Got to Do with It.  Not having an Oscar does not change the fact that Bassett has been one of the most versatile and charismatic actors of the large and small screen.  Bassett has also given commanding performances and has been a dominating presence in a number of supporting and small roles in popular films released over the better part of the last four decades.  Although Bassett has not received her Oscar crown, her performance in What's Love Got to Do with It remains her crowning achievement … in a career that should have had more of them since then.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, March 19, 2023

NOTES:

1994 Academy Awards, USA:  2 nominations:  “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Laurence Fishburne) and “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Angela Bassett)

1994 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” (Angela Bassett)

1995 Image Awards (NAACP): 1 win: “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture” (Angela Bassett); 3 nominations: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Laurence Fishburne), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Jenifer Lewis), and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Vanessa Bell Calloway)

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------------

--------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: "CREED III" Lets Loose with Fists of Fury

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2023 (No. 1900) by Leroy Douresseaux

Creed III (2023)

Running time:  116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for intense sports action, violence and some strong language

DIRECTOR:  Michael B. Jordan

WRITERS: Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin; from a story Ryan Coogler, Keenan Coogler, and Zach Baylin

PRODUCERS:  William Chartoff, Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Jonathan Glickman, Elizabeth Raposo, Charles Winkler, David Winkler, and Irwin Winker

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Kramer Morgenthau (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Jessica Baclesse and Tyler Nelson

COMPOSER:  Joseph Shirley

DRAMA/SPORTS

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad, Mila Davis-Kent, Jose Benavidez, Selenis Leyva, Florian Munteanu, Thaddeus James Mixson, Jr., Spence Moore II, Tony Bellew, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, Yahya McClain, and Stephen A. Smith

Creed III is a 2023 boxing drama and sports movie directed by Michael B. Jordan.  It is the ninth entry in the Rocky film series, which began with the 1976 film, Rocky.  Creed III is also a sequel to 2018's Creed II.  In Creed III, Adonis Creed has retired on top of the boxing game, but a childhood friend who was once a boxing prodigy returns bringing trouble with him.

Creed III finds champion boxer, Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan), defending his unified heavyweight boxing championship of the world (including the WBC titles) against an old rival.  Then, he retires to the life of a boxing promoter and manager via Delphi Boxing Academy in Los Angeles with its owner, Tony “Little Duke” Evers (Wood Harris).  His wife, music producer Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson), has a thriving career, and they have a bright, inquisitive, and hearing-impaired daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent).  Life is good, but...

Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), the wife of Donnie's late father, Apollo Creed, adopted Donnie, and he must now deal with her failing health.  Also, Donnie has been teaching Amara to fight, and that causes a clash with Bianca after an incident at Amara's school.

The most shocking turn of events is the return of Damian “Dame” Anderson (Jonathan Majors).  Once upon a time, Dame was an 18-year-old, “Golden Gloves-winning,” boxing prodigy (Spence Moore II).  He was also 15-year-old Donnie's (Thaddeus James Mixson, Jr.) best friend.  However, a terrible incident separated them, and now, a reunion has become a dangerous face-off.

I did not think that I would enjoy Creed III as much as I enjoyed Creed (2015) and Creed II, but I did.  I will say, however, that Creed III is not quite as good as the earlier films.  The main reason is that the screenplay, written by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin with contributions for producer Ryan Coogler, is full of fanciful nonsense that would not happen in the real world of boxing.  Much of what happens in the planning and managing of fights seems illogical.  Still, the film's fight scenes are quite intense and even crazy, especially the fighting between Donnie and Dame.

Creed III, however, does not run on logic; it runs on emotions and passions.  The film's themes revolve around time and loss, and, to a lesser extent, love and longing.  Time does not heal all wounds, and the loss of opportunity can be devastating – as the film sees it.  Under the guidance of first time director, Michael B. Jordan, who is obviously also the film's star, the characters are direct – sometimes stunningly so – to each other about their feelings.  So can there be healing?

In that mode of raw emotions, Jordan, Tessa Thompson, and Wood Harris give strong performances.  Phylicia Rashad offers a poignant painful turn as Mary Anne, and Mila Davis-Kent steals scenes as young Amara Creed.  Jonathan Majors, currently a blazing hot movie star, presents Dame Anderson as crazy, but not too crazy, and as bull-in-the-china-shop who hides two decades of hurt behind his destructiveness and brutality.

Creed III”s maelstrom of emotions and feelings fascinated and got me past the plot holes.  For all the bitterness, wall-pounding, regret, and hurt that this film presents, it is about making amends.  I am impressed by Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut, and I think that fans of the previous films will really enjoy Creed III.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, March 4, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

---------------------------

---------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: "CREED II" Stands Strongly on Its Own

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 of 2023 (No. 1899) by Leroy Douresseaux

Creed II (2018)

Running time:  130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13 for sports action violence, language, and a scene of sensuality

DIRECTOR:  Steven Caple, Jr.

WRITERS: Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone; based on a story by Sascha Penn and Cheo Hodari Coker (based on characters created by Sylvester Stallone and Ryan Coogler)

PRODUCERS:  William Chartoff, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin King-Templeton, Charles Winkler, David Winkler, and Irwin Winker

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Kramer Morgenthau (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Dana E. Glauberman, Saira Haider, and Paul Harb

COMPOSER:  Ludwig Goransson

DRAMA/SPORTS

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Dolph Lundgren, Florian Munteanu, Russell Hornsby, Wood Harris, Milo Ventimiglia, Robbie Johns, Brigitte Nielsen, Andre Ward, Tony Bellew, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, Max Kellerman, Jim Lampley, Roy Jones, Jr., Michael Buffer, and Scott Van Pelt

Creed II is a 2018 boxing drama and sports movies directed by Steven Caple, Jr.  It is the eighth entry in the Rocky film series, which began with the 1976 film, Rocky.  Creed II is also a sequel to 2015's Creed, which was a spin-off of the Rocky series.  In Creed II, newly crowned heavyweight champion, Adonis Creed, faces off against a boxer who is the son of the man who killed his father in the boxing ring.

Creed II opens three years after the events depicted in Creed.  Boxer Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan) finally defeats his rival, Danny “Stuntman” Wheeler (Andre Ward), to win the heavyweight championship of the world.  By his side is his trainer, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), the rival-turned-friend of his late father, Apollo Creed.  Creed's widow, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), who adopted Donnie as her son, is proud of him and his accomplishments.  His girlfriend, singer-songwriter Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson), also accepts his proposal of marriage

On the other side of the world, however, ghosts from his and Rocky's pasts stir. In Kyiv, Ukraine lives Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the former Soviet Union boxer who killed Apollo Creed during a bout in 1985.  After losing to Rocky in a subsequent boxing match, Ivan moved to Ukraine in exile.  Seeking an opportunity for redemption and a chance to regain glory, Ivan has been training his son, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), to be a professional boxer.  Using training methods that are practically torture, Ivan has turned Viktor into a monster of a boxer who can and has broken his opponents' bodies.

Assisted by American boxing promoter, Buddy Marcelle (Russell Hornsby), Ivan is determined to get Viktor a match against Donnie.  For Donnie, it is a chance to settle his late father's affairs, but Rocky wants no part of such a match.  Can Donnie's body take the punishment fighting Viktor will inflict?  Donnie must also answer this question: why is he really a fighter?

As I said in my review of Creed, I have never watched the movie, Rocky, or any of its sequels in their entirety.  I doubt that I have ever watched enough of them to amount to an entire film.  I don't like boxing movies, but after watching these Creed films, I am thinking about diving into the Rocky series.

I thought director Ryan Coogler delivered some powerful work in the first Creed, and I think director Steven Caple, Jr. delivers an equally powerful film in Creed II.  Although Creed II's story is directly connected to 1985's Rocky IV, it is not as reliant on the Rocky franchise the way Creed, with its multiple intimate connections, was.

Like Coogler did in the first film, Caple gives Sylvester Stallone the space he needs to give one of his best performances as Rocky Balboa in decades.  Stallone, who also co-wrote Creed II's screenplay, actually evolves the character of Rocky, showing more about his character and life.

Caple also gets an excellent performance from Michael B. Jordan.  Jordan makes Adonis Creed seem genuine; all his hopes and dreams and the things that make him proud or angry resonate strongly in Creed II.  I dare say that Jordan is Adonis Creed the way great actors have seemingly made themselves into their characters (for instance, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and as Henry “Indiana” Jones).  Simply put, Jordan makes Donnie real.

Tessa Thompson as Bianca Taylor is good, but the character seems as if she is becoming a younger version of Phylicia Rashad's Mary Anne, and Rashad already does the mothering in this film quite well.  Dolph Lundgren is nice as Ivan Drago, delivering a layered performance as a fully developed character.  I must say, however, that Florian Munteanu is magnificent as Viktor Drago.  Viktor does not have many lines, but Munteanu tells the character's story and reveals his personality with his expressive eyes and emotive facial expressions.  Viktor Drago needs his own movie.

I did not think that I would like Creed II so much, but I love it.  I think its depictions of boxing matches are more intense than those in Creed (shout-out to Creed II's editors:  Dana E. Glauberman, Saira Haider, and Paul Harb).  The finale between Donnie and Viktor is the cherry on top of Creed II, a movie that can go toe-to-toe with the other boxing movies that I have deigned to watch.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, March 2, 2023

NOTES:

2019 Black Reel Awards:  2 nominations: “Outstanding Actor” (Michael B. Jordan) and “Outstanding Score” (Ludwig Göransson)

2019 Image Awards (NAACP): 1 nomination: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Michael B. Jordan)

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

----------------------------------

----------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: Spielberg's "THE COLOR PURPLE" Still Wants to Be Seen (Celebrating "The Fabelmans")

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 of 2023 (No. 1896) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Color Purple (1985)

Running time:  154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)

MPAA – PG-13

DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg

WRITER:  Menno Meyjes (based on the novel by Alice Walker)

PRODUCERS:  Steven Spielberg; Quincy Jones, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Allen Daviau (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Michael Kahn

COMPOSER:  Quincy Jones

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring:  Whoopi Golderg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Willard E. Pugh, Akosua Busia, Desreta Jackson, Adolph Caesar, Rae Dawn Chong, Dana Ivey, Leonard Jackson, Bennet Guillory, and Laurence Fishburne

The Color Purple is a 1985 drama and period film directed by Steven Spielberg.  The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel, The Color Purple, by author Alice Walker.  The Color Purple the movie focuses on an African-American woman who suffers abuse from the men in her life, but finds strength in the women close to her.

The Color Purple opens in 1909, in rural Hartwell County, Georgia.  Celie Harris (Desreta Jackson) is a teenage African-American girl living with an abusive father who rapes her.  He has already fathered two children by Celie, both of which he sold shortly after Celie gave birth.  Celie's father eventually gives her to an older man named Albert Johnson (Danny Glover), who Celie calls “Mister.”

A widower with three children, Mister initially wants to marry Celie's younger sister, Nettie (Akosua Busia).  Now, Mister abuses Celie, while his children also mistreat her.  One day, Nettie arrives at Mister's door, thrown out after rejecting her father's advances.  Nettie eventually also has to fight off a rape attempt by Mister, who promptly throws her off his property.

In the years and decades that follow, an adult Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), grown meek from years of abuse, finds strength in two other women.  The first is Mister's daughter law, Sofia (Oprah Winfrey).  The second is a woman Mister once wanted to marry, jook joint singer, Shug Avery (Margaret Avery).  For Celie, however, there are still great secrets from her past that will eventually be revealed.

It had been nearly 37 years since I last watched The Color Purple.  I cried so much during the first time I saw it that I had not been able to watch it again until now.  Over the years, I planned to view it a number of times, especially during the twentieth (2005) and twenty-fifth (2010) anniversaries of its original release.  It is also one of my favorite directorial efforts by Steven Spielberg.  I forced myself to watch it again because of my “celebration” of the release of Spielberg's recent autobiographical film, The Fabelmans.

The film's themes of domestic violence, pedophilia, and sexism still resonate, and, for me, the themes of racism and sexism seem to have strengthen with time.  The screenplay does so much to emphasize these themes that it is as if it creates a world within the larger world where abuse and degradation are the natural order.  Over the years, I have encountered people, mostly black men, who say that the film makes black men look bad.  I say that the film makes an honest portrayal of the abuse that black women faced in the past – from both black and white men.  [Over time, I have spoken with African-American women who personally knew older African-American women whose experiences are of the exact kind of abuse faced by Celie, Nettie, Sofia and other women in the film.]

That aside, I consider The Color Purple to be one of Spielberg's most subtle efforts as a director.  Some contemporaneous commentary said that the film was overly sentimental, but I find that Spielberg allows the film's narrative and characters to grow naturally from the screenplay.  In collaboration with his longtime editor, the Oscar-winning Michael Kahn (nominated here), Spielberg creates the illusion that he is simply capturing the evolution of Celie's tale from its harsh beginnings to its golden-hued happy ending.  The Color Purple feels organic … although I don't think anyone would have described it as such when it was first released.

One of the most impressive things about The Color Purple is that two its best performances are by actresses who have little or no acting experience – Whoopi Golderg as Celie and Oprah Winfrey as Sofia.  Spielberg gets these performers to create characters that are unique in form and substance.  To me, characters like Celie and Sofia seem so genuine because they were utterly new to American cinema, and truthfully, there has been nothing like them since.

Truthfully, all the film's performances are unique and winning.  Margaret Avery amazingly makes her Shug Avery an oasis in the often relentless pain of this film.  Danny Glover is also brilliantly cruel as the awful Mister, and Willard Pugh is sweet and charming as his son and Sofia's husband, the hapless Harpo.

At the 58th Academy Awards, The Color Purple did not win in any of the 11 categories in which it was nominated.  In fact, Steven Spielberg did not even receive a “Best Director” Oscar nomination.  In the decades since its release, The Color Purple remains as relevant today as it was being a historical and monumental release in 1985 and 1986.  The films that bested it at the Oscars are largely forgotten compared to it.  Alice Walker's novel was also adapted into a 2005 Broadway musical, and the film adaptation of that musical is scheduled for release later this year (2023), as of this writing.

As a triumph in Spielberg's filmography, some may discount The Color Purple, considering the films Spielberg has made since then (such as Schindler's List).  Still, as a line in the film says (more or less), The Color Purple wants to be seen and loved … and it still is.

10 of 10

Thursday, February 16, 2023

NOTES:

1986 Academy Awards, USA:  11 nominations: “Best Picture” (Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Quincy Jones), “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Whoopi Goldberg), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Margaret Avery), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Oprah Winfrey), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Menno Meyjes), “Best Cinematography” (Allen Daviau), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (J. Michael Riva, Bo Welch, and Linda DeScenna), “Best Costume Design” (Aggie Guerard Rodgers), “Best Music, Original Song” (Quincy Jones-music/lyrics, Rod Temperton-music/lyrics, and Lionel Richie-lyrics for the song “Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)”), “Best Music, Original Score” (Quincy Jones, Jeremy Lubbock, Rod Temperton, Caiphus Semenya, Andraé Crouch, Chris Boardman, Jorge Calandrelli, Joel Rosenbaum, Fred Steiner, Jack Hayes, Jerry Hey, and Randy Kerber), and “Best Makeup” (Ken Chase)

1987 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Menno Meyjes)

1986 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Whoopi Goldberg); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Oprah Winfrey), and “Best Original Score – Motion Picture” (Quincy Jones)

1986 Image Awards (NAACP):  2 wins: “Outstanding Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture” (Whoopi Goldberg)

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------------

--------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: "THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN" is Entertaining and Artsy, Until It Becomes Tiresome

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 of 2023 (No. 1894) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

Running time:  114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)

MPA – R for language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity

WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Martin McDonagh

PRODUCERS:  Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Martin McDonagh

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ben Davis (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

COMPOSER:  Carter Burwell

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring:  Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, Gary Lydon, Pat Shortt, Sheila Flitton, Bríd Ní Neachtain, Aaron Monaghan, and David Pearce

The Banshees of Inisherin is a 2022 black comedy and drama from writer-director Martin McDonagh.  The film focuses on two longtime friends who come to an impasse when one abruptly ends their friendship, with alarming consequences for both of them.

The Banshees of Inisherin opens in 1923 on the fictional Irish isle of “Inisherin,” near the end of the Irish Civil War (1922-23).  Small dairy milk producer, Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell), and folk musician, Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson), are friends … until just this moment.  Colm abruptly begins ignoring his longtime friend and drinking buddy, Pádraic.  “I just don't like you no more,” Colm tells him.

Colm eventually clarifies, saying that he finds Pádraic to be too “dull” and does not want to waste any more time on him.  Colm says that he would instead like to spend the remainder of his life composing music.  Pádraic is crushed by the loss of Colm's friendship, and even his sister, Siobhán Súilleabháin (Kerry Condon), can't life his spirits.  When Pádraic continues to make attempts to speak to him, Colm gives him a shocking ultimatum – one that could lead to tragic consequences.

A friend of my sister's once said of films like The Banshees of Inisherin, “What's the point?”  What kind of film is The Banshees of Inisherin?  It is a prestige drama, the kind to which some people refer as “Oscar bait.”  The Banshees of Inisherin did recently (as of this writing) receive nine nominations at the 2023 / 95th Academy Awards.  It is well-written by writer-director Martin McDonagh, and there are several nice characters.

But what's the point?  I had had enough of Padraic and Colm's “war” before the film was over.  I would say that I was done with them with about 40 minutes left.  At first, I was willing to go along, and I was intrigued by the mysteries and complexities of this friendship gone wrong.  Then, I found them tiresome, in spite of the good performances by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, especially the former.  Their feud is contrived, and I get that storytelling is basically a contrivance.  It's just not supposed to come across as so obviously contrived as this film's friendship turned sour.

The film has two outstanding supporting performances:  Kerry Condon as Padraic's sister, Siobhan, and Barry Keoghan as a sweet, but simple young man, Dominic.  I wanted to see more of those two actors and get to know their characters better.

One critic unfavorably compared The Banshees of Inisherin to early films of brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen.  That is correct, right down to the fact that Carter Burwell has composed film scores for both the Coens and for Martin McDonagh.  However, The Banshees of Inisherin lacks the wit, style, and purpose of any of the Coens' films.  The Banshees of Inisherin is a very well made film about sadness and despair, seemingly for art's sake.  I would never call it a bad film because it is a prestige drama that has indeed become prestigious.  I like the prestige of The Banshees of Inisherin, but I'm just not willing to call it one of 2022's best films.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, January 26, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

--------------------------

--------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: "AMSTERDAM" is a Movie That Follows the Right God Home

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 of 2023 (No. 1893) by Leroy Douresseaux

Amsterdam (2022)

Running time:  134 minutes (2 hours, 14 minutes)

MPA – R for brief violence and bloody images

WRITER/DIRECTOR:  David O. Russell

PRODUCERS:  David O. Russell, Christian Bale, Matthew Budman, Anthony Katagas, and Arnon Milchan

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Emmanuel Lubezki (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Jay Cassidy

COMPOSER:  Daniel Pemberton

DRAMA/COMEDY/HISTORICAL

Starring:  Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, Ed Begley, Jr., Beth Grant, and Robert De Niro

Amsterdam is a 2022 comedy, period drama, and historical film from writer-director David O. Russell.  The film is based on the 1933 United States political conspiracy “the Business Plot,” which involved a secret plan to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to install a dictator in its place.  Amsterdam follows three friends who seek to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death and apparent murder of a retired U.S. general.

Amsterdam introduces Burt Berendsen M.D. (Christian Bale), a physician and surgeon.  In 1918, his estranged wife, Beatrice Vandenheuvel (Andrea Riseborough) and her parents, who don't really care for Burt because he is “half-Jew,” bully him into enlisting to fight in World War I.  While stationed in France, Burt befriends an African-American soldier, Harold Woodman (John David Washington).

Later, after being severely injured in battle, Burt and Harold are nursed back to health by Valerie Bandenberg (Margot Robbie), an eccentric American nurse and artist who makes art out of shrapnel removed from the soldiers.  Burt and Harold befriend Valerie and follow her to Amsterdam, the capitol of the Netherlands.  There, they live together and Harold and Valerie engage in a budding romance.  First, Burt returns to New York City to be with his wife, and then, Harold returns to begin his career as an attorney.

In 1933, Burt owns his own medical practice that caters to veterans of WWI, and he still remains friends with Harold.  Things begin to change for them when they discover that General Bill Meekins (Ed Begley, Jr.), who was important to Burt and Harold during the war, has died.  His daughter, Elizabeth Meekins (Taylor Swift), believes that her father was murdered.  Soon, Elizabeth herself is murdered, and Burt and Harold are blamed.  Seeking to clear themselves, they begin to investigate the mystery surrounding General Meekins before his death, which leads to their reunion with Valerie.  She had also returned to America and is living in seclusion with her wealthy brother, Tom Voze (Rami Malek) and his wife, Libby (Anya Taylor-Joy).

The three friends find themselves in a conspiracy involving another retired military officer, Marine Corps General Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro).  And everything is heading for a showdown at an event that is very important to Burt, the 14th Annual New York Veterans Reunion Gala.

Yeah, dear readers, the synopsis of the film's plot is a bit longer than I would like it to be.  Although Amsterdam's narrative only runs a little under two hours and ten minutes, the film has enough subplots, characters, and settings to fill a television miniseries.  Actually, a miniseries version of Amsterdam with the same cast would be orgasmic – well, at least for me it would.

Anyway, most of you, dear readers, are familiar (to one extent or another) with the event known as the “January 6 United States Capitol attack.”  On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, a (mostly) white mob attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The members of mob were comprised of supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and they were seeking to keep Trump in power by preventing a joint session of the U.S. Congress from counting the electoral college votes to formalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.

That event led journalists, historians, and writers to recall other insurrections and attempts to overthrow a democratically elected U.S. government.  The Business Plot is one of them.  It has also been referred to as “the Wall Street Putsch” because the people behind it were allegedly wealthy American businessmen.  They hoped to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt by creating a fascist organization comprised of World War I veterans that would be led by Marine Corp General Smedley Butler, a hero of WWI and a veteran of several military conflicts.  After this military led coup and overthrow of the government, the plotters would install Butler as a dictator.

Butler, upon whom Amsterdam's Gen. Dillenbeck is based, himself is the one who revealed the Business Plot.  At the time, some of the press considered the Business Plot to be hoax, although a congressional committee investigating the plot believed that it was discussed and at least partially planned.

Amsterdam is a film that is kind of like a fairy tale version the Business Plot with Burt (ostensibly the story's lead character), Harold, and Valerie as the gallant trio fighting the mysterious bad guys.  In this manner, the film is filled with conniving wizards (rich businessmen), evil knights (the killers of Gen. Meekins), and menagerie of oddball characters and creature-types, which is a good way to describe even Amsterdam's heroic trio.  As I said earlier, I think that the manner in which writer-director David O. Russell tells this story, it needs to be done in a longer form.

Still, one thing at which Russell really excels is in creating ensemble films featuring a cast that delivers stellar performances which in turn creates the most interesting cinematic characters.  He has done that with a large ensemble, as in the case of his highly-acclaimed 2013 film, American Hustle, and with an intimate small ensemble, such as in his Oscar-winning 2012 film, Silver Linings Playbook.

Christian Bale delivers another amazing performance as Burt Berendsen.  Margot Robbie is eccentric and delightful as Valerie, and John David Washington is dashing, bold, and stalwart as Harold.  Robbie and Washington have excellent chemistry and thus, are convincing as a couple.  Anya Taylor-Joy, beautiful and radiant as always, effortlessly slays in her turn as the vain and insecure attention-seeker, Libby Voze.  Of course, Robert De Niro, as Gen. Dillenbeck, turns up the heat in the film's most pivotal moments.

Rami Malek, Chris Rock, and Zoe Saldana also shine in key supporting roles, and Taylor Swift's quick spin as Bill Meekins' daughter, Elizabeth, gives the film an early jolt.  So the smaller roles help to make Amsterdam that much better as a top notch ensemble film.

In the film, the city of Amsterdam seems to represent a place where people can be their authentic selves while accepting that others must also be allowed to be their authentic selves, even if that might lead to clashes of personality and belief.  Amsterdam is not perfect, but it is lovable because of its idiosyncratic way, and that makes me look forward to the next large ensemble film from the inimitable David O. Russell.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, January 21, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

----------------------

----------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: "HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL." is Both Funny and Ruthless

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 of 2023 (No. 1891) by Leroy Douresseaux

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (2022)

Running time:  102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)

MPA – R for language and some sexual content

DIRECTOR:  Adamma Ebo

WRITER: Adamma Ebo (based on her short film)

PRODUCERS:  Sterling K. Brown, Jessamine Burgum, Matthew R. Cooper, Amandla Crichlow, Kara Durrett, Adanne Ebo, Regina Hall, Daniel Kaluuya, and Rowan Riley

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Alan Gwizdowski

EDITORS:  Ali Greer and Stacy Moon

COMPOSER:  Marcus Norris

COMEDY/RELIGION

Starring:  Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Nicole Beharie, Conphidance, Austin Crute, Dever Rogers, Robert Yatta, Greta Glenn, and Selah Kimbro Jones

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is a 2022 comedy-drama and mockumentary (mock documentary) film from writer-director Adamma Ebo.  The film is Ebo's directorial debut and is also a feature-length adaptation of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul, her 2018 short film.  Oscar-winner Jordan Peele is one of the film's executive producers.  Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. the film focuses on the first lady of a megachurch as she attempts to help the pastor of the church rebuild his congregation in the wake of a scandal.

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is largely set in and around Wander to Greater Paths Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.  The film introduces Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) and his wife, the church's “First Lady,” Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall).  Lee-Curtis preaches the “prosperity gospel,” and he and his wife live a lavish lifestyle that is a big as their megachurch.

Once upon a time, Wander to Greater Paths (WGP) had about 25,000 congregants, but Pastor Lee-Curtis became embroiled in a notorious scandal that involves multiple sexual misconduct allegations.  Lee-Curtis and Trinitie were forced to close the church after backlash and a mass exodus of congregants.

Now, a year later, the Childs plan to reopen the church in one month on Easter Sunday.  They have also hired a documentary film crew to chronicle their lives and the preparation during the run-up to the reopening.  However, Trinitie finds the crew and its director, Anita Bonet, to be intrusive.  Also, the Childs struggle to get people interested in their return, so Lee-Curtis comes up with an idea for a roadside ministry, entitled “Honk for Jesus.”  Will that scheme save the church … and the couple's marriage?

Some of you, dear readers, are familiar Pentecostal televangelist (television evangelist), Jimmy Swaggart.  Beginning in 1988, a series of scandals, two of them involving Swaggart's relationship with prostitutes, caused him to lose a significant number of congregants at his megachurch, Family Worship Center, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  His Jimmy Swaggart Bible College also saw a drastic drop in enrollment, largely in part to his 1988 sex scandal.

A former coworker of mine was a devout Christian, and he considered Swaggart to be a hypocrite because of his scandals.  I told him that I did not quite see it that way.  I argued that the most successful evangelical preachers were probably intimately familiar with sin, especially related to sexual activity.  I said that what made Swaggart a hypocrite wasn't him sneaking around for some kind of sexual contact with a prostitute, but rather that he frequently condemned people who were engaged in sexual activity of which he did not approve.  He insisted that other sinners pay a price for sexual improprieties that he clearly did not expect to pay himself.

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is not the greatest mockumentary (which is still This is Spinal Tap), but it is a very good comedy about characters that are difficult when laid bare.  Honk for Jesus. Save You Soul. makes it clear that the Childs, especially Pastor Lee-Curtis, are oblivious and lack self-awareness.  Lee-Curtis condemns those engaged in the same kind of sexual activity which brought him down, and his behavior is also predatory.  It is not just the nature of his sin; it is also that he betrayed the trust of the people who relied on him for help.

Sterling K. Brown shines as Pastor Lee-Curtis, depicting him not as evil, but as narcissistic, vain, and material.  His faith, God, the Bible, and his success are about himself and not about salvation or about “saving souls.”  He collects “saving souls” and congregants seemingly the same way he collects Italian suits and clothing, jewelry, and cars.  Brown deftly conveys to the audience that the reopening of Wander to Great Paths is all about shining on Lee-Curtis and not necessarily on God.

I think the film really turns on Regina Hall's performance, a mixture of comedy, drama, and pathos.  From start to finish, Hall's performance chronicles the difficulty that is Trinitie's mission to save their church.  Although she is known for comedy, Hall shows serious dramatic chops in conveying the ultimate futility of the couple's quest, especially in those painful scenes in which she faces either their detractors or Lee-Curtis' victims.

Mock or faux documentary films are generally comedies, although they have dramatic and poignant moments.  Writer-director Adamma Ebo pulls off the trick of producing a mockumentary that is more drama than comedy.  Getting a great performance from her cast, especially Regina Hall, is what makes Ebo's film highly original and even more substantive than mockumentary films generally are.  My take is that Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is both a portrayal of a corrupted megachurch pastor and first lady and also a commentary on the megachurches that pedal the prosperity gospel.

Mockumentary films generally always seem to be a tad bit longer than they need to be, and they are at their best in their first acts.  The best energy in Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is in its second half, especially its last act.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

------------------------

------------------------

Review: Pam Grier is Radiant in "JACKIE BROWN," Tarantino's Best (Maybe) Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 77 of 2022 (No. 1889) by Leroy Douresseaux

Jackie Brown (1997)

Running time:  154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)

MPAA – R for strong language, some violence, drug use and sexuality

DIRECTOR:  Quentin Tarantino

WRITER:  Quentin Tarantino (based upon the novel by Elmore Leonard)

PRODUCER:  Lawrence Bender

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Guillermo Navarro

EDITOR:  Sally Menke

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/CRIME

Starring:  Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Michael Bowen, Chris Tucker, LisaGay Hamilton, Tom Lister, Jr., Hattie Winston, Sid Haig, Aimee Graham, Tangie Ambrose, and T'Keyah Crystal Keymah

Jackie Brown is a 1997 drama and crime film from writer-director Quentin Tarantino.  It is based on Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel, Rum Punch.  Jackie Brown the movie focuses on a flight attendant who schemes with an aging bail bondsman in a bid to defeat both the ATF and her boss who smuggles guns into Mexico.

Jackie Brown introduces 44-year-old, Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), a flight attendant for the low-budget Mexican airline, Cabo Air.  She smuggles money from Mexico into the United States for her (kind of) boss, Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), a gun runner in Los Angeles.  One day, Ordell's courier, Beaumont Livingston (Chris Tucker), is arrested, and he snitches about Ordell's business.

Acting on that information, LAPD Detective Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent, Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton), intercept Jackie while she is returning with some of Ordell's cash, with a small bag of cocaine thrown in.  Dargus and Nicolette use the cocaine to threaten Jackie with serious criminal charges and hard prison time.

Ordell hires bail bondsman, Max Cherry (Robert Forster), of Cherry Bail Bonds, to bail Jackie out of jail.  Feeling trapped between Ordell and the law, Jackie conspires with Max to pretend to give both sides what they want – Ordell the money and the ATF Ordell.  If this heist works, Jackie and Max will secure her future with half a million dollars of Ordell's money.

Jackie Brown is obviously writer-director Quentin Tarantino's ode to 1970s blaxploitation films.  The film is also a star vehicle that Tarantino created for the actress playing the title role in Jackie Brown, the great Pam Grier.  She starred in some of the most fondly remembered and popular blaxploitation films, most notably Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974).  The roles in those two films obviously inspired the role of “Jackie Brown,” although “Flower Child Coffin” a.k.a “Coffy” (of Coffy) and Foxy Brown are action heroes.  Instead, Tarantino makes Jackie Brown a world-weary woman, not an action hero, but a working woman willing to take the action that will help her make her way in the world.

Grier plays Jackie Brown with subtlety and grace, making Jackie comfortable in her skin.  Her sexiness is not forced, but radiates from her, buoyed by her confidence.  Grier makes it seem quite genuine that Brown would one day finally have enough with getting the crappy end of the stick in life.  Jackie takes a chance, and with nothing to lose, she works her magic.  Grier also works her magic, and the audience can believe that she is going to pull off this implausible heist of Ordell's money and also trick the ATF and LAPD by giving them only some of what they want.  Here, Grier gives the best performance of her career, and it is a shame that Hollywood has under-utilized her amazing talent and screen presence.

I have not seen enough of his performances to say that Max Cherry is actor Robert Forster's best performance of his career.  Playing Max revitalized Forster's career, which was mostly stalled at the time.  With charming stoicism, Forster perfectly plays the calm, wise, and a little weary, Max Cherry, one of the most perfect characters that Tarantino ever wrote.  Forster also convinces us that he has so totally fallen for Jackie Brown that he is willing to do everything she wants even if it is everything that he should not do.

I also think that Ordell Robbie is Samuel Jackson's best performance.  Ordell is an example of what would become the stereotypical Samuel L. Jackson character – the menacing, bad-ass Black man who loves to shoot people and curse up a storm.  However, Jackson makes Ordell a man full of angles and twists.  He is coarse with a trashy sophistication; he is menacing, but sentimental in odd ways.  He is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is, so he is ultimately a cheap hood with enough low-rent ambitions to make himself a doomed idiot.

Tarantino uses Grier, Forster, and Jackson's performances and those of several others (Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, and Michael Keaton) to give his usual style, wit, humor, and rapid-fire bravado traction and depth.  Jackie Brown does not have the snappy banter nor the nonlinear antics of Tarantino's previous film, Pulp Fiction.  Jackie Brown's narrative is a straight story, Tarantino's most substantive film to date.  It may be an ode to blaxploitation and also a smooth heist film, but most of all, Jackie Brown is a character drama.  With a superb soundtrack behind it (focusing on “The Delfonics” 1969 classic song, “Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”), Tarantino uses a slow pace to weave a delightful Los Angeles crime story about the criminal things people do when they are desperate … or in love.

I think that Quentin Tarantino and Pam Grier are a match made in cinematic heaven.  2022 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Jackie Brown's original theatrical release (December 8, 1997).  Jackie Brown has aged well, and for me, it gets better every time I watch it.

10 of 10

A+

Friday, December 30, 2022

NOTES:

1998 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Robert Forster)

1998 Golden Globes, USA:  2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical” (Pam Grier) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical” (Samuel L. Jackson)

1998 Image Awards (NAACP):  1 nominations:  “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture” (Pam Grier)

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

------------------------

------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Review: For "CLERKS III," It's Closing Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 75 of 2022 (No. 1887) by Leroy Douresseaux

Clerks III (2022)

Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)

MPA – R for pervasive language, crude sexual material, and drug content

WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Kevin Smith

PRODUCERS:  Liz Destro and Jordan Monsanto

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Learan Kahanov

EDITOR: Kevin Smith

COMPOSER: James L. Venable

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring:  Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Trevor Fehrman, Austin Zajur, Ben Affleck, and Danny Trejo

Clerks III is a 2022 comedy-drama film from writer-director Kevin Smith.  It is the third entry in the Clerks film series.  Clerks III is also a sequel to Clerks (1994) and Clerks II (2006) and is a direct sequel to the latter.  Clerks III finds two friends and convenience store co-owners at a crossroads after one of them has a near-fatal heart attack.

Clerks III opens at “Quick Stop Groceries.”  This is the convenience story where best friends, Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), work side by side as co-owners of the store where they were once employees.  Vagrant drug dealers, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), who used to hangout in front of the store are now also business owners.  They have transformed the business space next door that was once occupied by “RST Video” into a legal marijuana dispensary.

Otherwise, their lives have remained the same, except for a tragedy that occurred in Dante's life.  One day, store employee, Elias (Trevor Fehrman), and his friend, Blockchain (Austin Zajur), are visiting when Randal suffers a heart attack (the type known as “the widow-maker”).  After surviving, Randal decides that he has wasted his life and, looking for a new purpose, decides to make a movie about his life at the convenience store.  In his maniacal focus to get his movie made, however, Randal seems to have forgotten how much a part of his life Dante has been – with tragic results.

Kevin Smith's filmography is filled with surprising movies, like Chasing Amy; interesting, uneven flicks, like Dogma; and interesting bad films, like Mallrats.  Clerks, the film that made him something of a star, and its sequel, Clerks II, are my favorite Kevin Smith movies, and I consider them great films.

Clerks III is not great, and it is surprising to me in the fact that it is an uneven film that is at times bad and at times interesting.  In the first hour, the story meanders so much that Clerks III is practically unwatchable.  At about the 70-minute mark, however, the film has a late inciting incident that changes the tone and essentially saves the film.

I have to admit that I find that Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, and Kevin Smith have not aged well.  They not only look old, but they also look as if they have had hard lives or lives filled with substance abuse.  Jason Mewes (Jay) has aged well, and I believe that he has actually had issues with substance abuse.  Truthfully, a lot of the returning cast looks old and run down.

Clerks III seems like a love letter to Clerks, which started it all – Kevin Smith's career as a filmmaker and celebrity and Clerks as a media franchise.  [There was a “Clerks” animated series, which aired for six episodes on ABC in 2000 and on Comedy Central in 2002, and a comic book miniseries originally published by Oni Press in the late 1990s.]  Clerks III is also Smith's nod to the part of his earlier life that inspired Clerks.  That's nice, but I would only recommend Clerks III to Kevin Smith fans.  Everyone else should avoid this convenience store.  The grades I am giving this film are an acknowledgment that I like the earlier films and don't really indicate how mediocre I think Clerks III is.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars

Thursday, December 15, 2022

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-----------------------------

------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).