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.

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Review: Halle Berry Stellar in "Frankie & Alice"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 7 (of 2016) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Frankie & Alice (2010)
Running time:  101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA –  R for some sexual content, language and drug use
DIRECTOR:  Geoffrey Sax
WRITERS: Cheryl Edwards, Marko King, Mary King, Jonathan Watters, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse; from a story by Oscar Janiger, Philip Goldberg, and Cheryl Edwards
PRODUCERS:  Halle Berry, Vincent Cirrincione, Simon DeKaric, and Hassain Zaidi
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Newton Thomas Sigel (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  David M. Richardson
COMPOSER:  Andrew Lockington
Golden Globe nominee

DRAMA/BIOPIC

Starring:  Halle Berry, Stellan Skarsgard, Phylicia Rashad, Chandra Wilson, Alex Diakun, Joanne Baron, Brian Markison, Matt Frewer, and Scott Lyster

Frankie & Alice is a 2010 Canadian drama from director Geoffrey Sax and starring Halle Berry.  The film received a limited theatrical release in 2010 in order to qualify for the 2010-2011 movie awards season.  It did receive a wider theatrical release in August 2014.  Frankie & Alice follows a go-go dancer with multiple personality disorder and the psychotherapist who tries to help her.

Frankie & Alice opens in Los Angeles in 1973 where we meet Francine “Frankie” Lucinda Murdoch (Halle Berry), an African-American female go-go dancer.  During an attempted sexual encounter, Frankie experiences a personality change that throws her life into chaos.  Eventually her manic episodes land her in a mental care facility.  Frankie meets Dr. Joseph “Joe” Oswald (Stellan Skarsgard), a.k.a. “Dr. Oz.”

Dr. Oswald believes that Frankie suffers from multiple personality disorder (now known as “dissociative identity disorder”).  He identifies that Frankie has two other personalities:  “Genius,” a seven-year-old child; and “Alice,” a Southern racist White woman.  “Genius” and “Alice” are aware of each other, but Alice wants control of Frankie.  In order to discover a way to help Frankie, Dr. Oswald must uncover a terrible trauma in Frankie's past that is either forgotten or kept secret.

Halle Berry had apparently been trying to get Frankie & Alice produced since the 1990s.  Serious movement began on the film around 2004, apparently, but it was another six years before the film saw even a limited theatrical release.  That was reportedly almost two years after the film had finished production.  That is a shame really, because Frankie & Alice is a good movie.  In this film, Berry gives one of the best performances of her career, one that I think is on par with her Oscar-winning turn in 2001's Monster's Ball.

As a film, Frankie & Alice is not a fancy, big, prestige biographical drama in the tradition of such films as A Beautiful Mind and The King's Speech.  However, it is not quite one of those infamous disease-of-the-week made-for-television movies.  In some ways, the film is similar to a two-actor stage drama, focusing on the characters that Berry and Stellan Skarsgard portray.  Although he delivers a nice performance, Dr. Oswald is not close to Skarsgard's best work, and that is mainly because the character is not that well developed.  The movie gives us glimpses into him, but that is as far as that goes.

Watching the film and trying to follow its story, it is easy to see that eight different writers worked on it over the course of many years.  Frankie & Alice does have a patchwork feel to it.  There are so many other good characters with small roles, like Frankie's mother, Edna (Phylicia Rashad), and sister, Maxine (Chandra Wilson).  These two characters could have enriched both their stories and Frankie's.

Still, Halle Berry, of whom I am a huge fan, is so good here.  She carries this movie in a way that engages the audience with Frankie, but also with the characters, “Genius” and “Alice.”  Quite frankly, Berry should get credit for giving three excellent performances.  Her turn as the troubled and brittle “Alice” is superb; she sells that character as genuine, but she makes you believe that “Alice” could be a menace to Frankie.  Her turn as the sweet, but fearful “Genius” is heartbreaking and borders on brilliant.

Berry does not give one of those showy performances that cries out for an Oscar nomination, which she deserved, but did not get for this film.  She honestly plies her craft as an actor, and delivers a brilliant performance as an artist.  In fact, whatever faults it has, Frankie & Alice is still a quality drama because Berry is at its center delivering stellar work.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, December 19, 2015


NOTES:
2011 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Halle Berry)

2011 Image Awards:  2 wins: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Halle Berry) and “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture;”  2 nominations: “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Mary King, Jonathan Watters, Cheryl Edwards, Joe Shrapnel, Marko King, and Anna Waterhouse), and “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Geoffrey Sax)

The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: Gripping "Selma" is History Unfarnished

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of this review originally appeared on Patreon.]

Selma (2014)
Running time: 128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for disturbing thematic material including violence, a suggestive moment, and brief strong language
DIRECTOR:  Ava DuVernay
WRITER:  Paul Webb
PRODUCERS:  Christian Colson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Oprah Winfrey
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Bradford Young
EDITOR:  Spencer Averick
COMPOSER:  Jason Moran
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/HISTORY

Starring:  David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Giovanni Ribisi, Andre Holland, Stephan James, Wendell Pierce, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Colman Domingo, Omar Dorsey, Tessa Thompson, Common, Lorraine Toussaint, Lakeith Stanfield, Henry G. Sanders, Charity Jordan, Trai Beyers, Dylan Baker, Stephen Root, Niecy Nash, E. Roger Mitchell, Tim Roth, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Alessandro Nivola, Michael Shikany, Brandon O'Dell, Nigel Thatch, and Oprah Winfrey

Selma is a 2014 historical drama from director Ava DuVernay.  Written by Paul Webb, the film chronicles the 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Alabama voting rights marches and its leaders:  Martin Luther King, Jr., James Bevel, Hosea Williams, and John Lewis.  Brad Pitt is one of this film's executive producers.

Selma opens in 1964.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (David Oyelowo) of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) accepts his Nobel Peace Prize.  King believes that after the passage of the “Civil Rights Act of 1964” (which outlawed discrimination), the next big effort for civil rights should be to secure voting rights for Black Americans, especially in the South.  He and the SCLC decide that the campaign to secure equal voting rights will be highlighted with an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.

However, several forces gather to stop the march.  President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) wants Dr. King to hold off on seeking voting rights until after Johnson can push through his “War of Poverty” program.  Alabama Governor George Wallace (Tim Roth) wants to bring an end to Civil Rights activism in his state, and decides to use force, including state police and local law enforcement, against marchers and protesters.

Meanwhile, Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo), Dr. King's wife, is concerned for her husband's safety and for the disruption to their marriage and danger to his family caused by his work.  Younger Black activists, such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), are not happy with Dr. King and the SCLC's methods.  Worst of all, dark forces are gathering to keep the marchers from crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge, which will keep them from leaving Selma.

Like many Civil Rights films, documentaries, and television movies, Selma is an epic, but not by being grand.  Director Ava DuVernay composes the film as an intimate tale that closes in on its subjects.  Selma is not about the struggle of the Civil Rights movement at large, but about the struggle of the key players, especially Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a particular moment in time.

Now, having seen the film, I cannot understand the controversy that surrounded Selma regarding its portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson.  Some... what can I call them... fans, admirers, protectors of Johnson's legacy, etc. claimed that Selma played the late President as if he were a villain and an obstacle in the Civil Rights movement.  First of all, this film is a dramatization of the events surrounding the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march, and, thus, the President Johnson that appears in the film is a fictional depiction of a real person.  Secondly, the doubts, reservations, objections that the fictional Johnson expressed here are the same expressed by other characters in Selma, including characters involved in the marches.

Paul Webb's screenplay for Selma depicts nearly all of the major characters and main supporting players as having feet of clay, of being fragile and vulnerable.  They are self-interested and self-serving, often to protect what they see as right for the Civil Rights movement, but also to protect themselves and loved ones in a time that was dangerous for many, but especially for people involved in the movement, in particular for Black people, but also for some White people.

Selma is not colorful and whimsical like fellow best picture Oscar nominee, The Grand Budapest Hotel.  It is not arty and guileful like the behind-the-scenes Birdman, with its sense of familiarity for actors.  Selma is meat-and-potatoes.  DuVernay does not compose the Selma to Montgomery march as a grand, historical event, as if it were a history-changing struggle taking place on the kind of wide-open battlefield that is perfect for an epic conflict.

DuVernay closes in on the players in this movement, showing the inner workings of a social movement.  This is not the stuff seen on television, like the march itself.  This is that unseen stuff, the details that are not glamorous, and sometimes seems petty and trivial, except to those making them and living with the consequences.  This intense focus on the interior workings creates a sense of claustrophobia, but also so of dread.  Selma often seems like a thriller, because DuVernay brings the audience in so close that they might feel as if they are there.  Watching this film, I felt endangered.

The one glitch in this film, I think, is that it sometimes feels disconnected from the larger Civil Rights movement.  It is as if nothing came before the marches or would come after it.  Sometimes, Selma simply seems out of context.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., David Oyelowo gives Selma its best performance.  Oyelowo's is both an imaginative and a bold presentation of Dr. King.  In the decades since his assassination, many people have made him both a martyr and, sadly, an idol of adoration.  This worship of a false idol is dangerous because it allows people who were or would have been against Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement to appropriate him and the movement.  It is as if he is a religious figure that can be reshaped for whatever cause or ideology that needs King's moral position.  Oyelowo makes Dr. King human, fragile, and self-serving or self-interested, if not quite selfish.  Thus, when Oyelowo brings out the best of Dr. King, it seems genuine and honest, rather than expected.

I think that Selma should have been a more popular film and that it should have received more Oscar nominations than it did (two).  In the end, box office and industry accolades don't matter because Selma will stand out as one of the truer cinematic expressions of the Civil Rights movement, which was a fight for freedom and for the soul of the United States of America.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, September 25, 2015

NOTES:
2015 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Common as Lonnie Lynn and John Legend as John Stephens for the song “Glory”); 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner)

2015 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (John Legend and Common for the song, “Glory”);  3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Ava DuVernay), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (David Oyelowo)

2015 Black Reel Awards:  8 wins: “Outstanding Motion Picture” (Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Christian Colson), “Outstanding Actor, Motion Picture” (David Oyelowo), “Outstanding Supporting Actor, Motion Picture” (Wendell Pierce), “Outstanding Supporting Actress, Motion Picture” (Carmen Ejogo), “Outstanding Director, Motion Picture? (Ava DuVernay), “Outstanding Ensemble” (Aisha Coley), “Outstanding Score” (Jason Moran), and “Outstanding Original Song” (John Legend as performer, writer and Common as performer, writer, and Rhymefest as writer for the song, “Glory”); 2 nominations: “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male” (André Holland) and “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male” (Stephan James)

2015 Image Awards:  4 wins: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (David Oyelowo), “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Common), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Carmen Ejogo); 4 nominations: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (André Holland), “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Wendell Pierce), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Oprah Winfrey), and “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture” (Ava DuVernay)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Denzel Washington Takes "Flight"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux - Support Leroy on Patreon.

Flight (2012)
Running time:  138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – R for drug and alcohol abuse, language, sexuality/nudity and an intense action sequence
DIRECTOR:  Robert Zemeckis
WRITER:  John Gatins
PRODUCERS:  Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, and Robert Zemeckis
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Don Burgess (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Jeremiah O'Driscoll
COMPOSER:  Alan Silvestri
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reilly, Tamara Tunie, John Goodman, Nadine Velazquez, Garcelle Beauvais, Justine Martin, Melissa Leo, and Brian Geraghty

The subject of this movie review is Flight, a 2012 drama from director Robert Zemeckis.
The film focuses on an airline pilot who saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner, which eventually crashes, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.

In the film, SouthJet Flight 227 is heading to Atlanta from Orlando, when something goes terribly wrong.  Veteran airline Captain William “Whip” Whitaker (Denzel Washington) manages to keep the crash from being a complete and total disaster.  Suddenly, Whip is a hero, but questions begin to arise when he avoids the spotlight.  Meanwhile, the investigation by the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) into the Flight 227 accident reveals something troubling.

Flight has an Oscar-winning director in Robert Zemeckis (for Forrest Gump).  However, Flight's Oscar-nominated screenplay by John Gatins is a blistering character study of a man whose talents (as a highly skilled airplane pilot) fully come to light at the same time as the most troubling aspect of his personality (his alcoholism) begin to come to light.  As a character study, the film script provides Denzel Washington with the opportunity to give one of his best performances of the last decade.

Zemeckis guides all the actors through this thoughtful and provocative character study, but Washington is the primary focus.   Whip Whitaker is a meaty role, and the film takes him on a harrowing personal journey.  Washington does not shy away from being intimate with the stage, camera, and audience as he pulls all the mess and addiction out of the tortured Whip for the audience to see.  It is good to see an African-American actor get the chance to be so vulnerable and revealing to movie audiences.  Washington deserved the Oscar nomination he received for his performance here.

Flight is an excellent return to live-action film for Zemeckis.  He is flawless in the way he captures Washington's grand performance and Whip Whitaker's journey towards redemption and maybe, salvation.  Flight should be a blueprint for high-quality film drama.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, April 25, 2015


NOTES:
2013 Academy Awards, USA:  2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Denzel Washington) and “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (John Gatins)

2013 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Denzel Washington)

2013 Black Reel Awards:  1 win: “Best Actor” (Denzel Washington); 3 nominations: “Best Film” (Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, and Robert Zemeckis – Paramount Pictures), “Best Supporting Actress” (Tamara Tunie), and “Best Ensemble” (Victoria Burrows-Casting Director)

2013 Image Awards:  1 win: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Denzel Washington); 3 nominations: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Don Cheadle), “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (John Gatin)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Fruitvale Station" Heartbreakingly Beautiful and Beautifully Heartbreaking

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 30 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fruitvale Station (2013)
Running time:  85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – R for some violence, language throughout and some drug use
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Ryan Coogler
PRODUCERS:  Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Rachel Morrison (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Claudia S. Castello and Michael P. Shawver
COMPOSER:  Ludwig Girabsson

DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Ariana Neal, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray, Anha O’Reilly, Kenan Coogler, and Trestin George

Fruitvale Station is a 2013 drama from writer-director Ryan Coogler.  A docu-drama and quasi-historical film, Fruitvale Station is a dramatization of the last day in the life of Oscar Louis Grant III, a real-life African-American man who was shot to death by a police officer.  Actor Forest Whitaker is one of the film’s producer (although he does not appear in the film), and Harvey Weinstein is one the film’s executive producers, although he does receive a screen credit in the film as such.

Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old San Francisco Bay Area resident, and his friends were traveling on a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train during the early hours of New Year’s Day 2009.  After a fight on the train, Grant and his friends were detained by BART Police officers at Fruitvale Station in Oakland, California.  While being restrained Grant, who was lying face down and allegedly resisting arrest, was fatally shot by BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle.  Grant was pronounced dead around 9 a.m. that morning at Highland Hospital in Oakland.

The incident at the train station is the basis of Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station.  The film follows Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) from the early morning of New Year’s Eve 2008 to his death.  The film examines his relationship with his girlfriend, Sophina (Melonie Diaz), who is the mother of his child, Tatiana (Ariana Neal).  The film also pays particular attention to Grant’s close relationship with Tatiana and his relationship with his mother, Wanda (Octavia Spencer), which had improved since Oscar’s stint in jail.  By illustrating the energy he brought to life, the film celebrates how much Oscar meant to his family and friends.

I often dread watching films based on real-life events when I know that the lead character died or was killed.  It took me three days to watch Fruitvale Station because I knew the heartbreak that was coming, and this film is indeed poignant and heartbreaking.  It eulogizes Oscar Grant, while simultaneously mourning a unique soul lost through senseless death.  By portraying Oscar’s relationships, Coogler emphasizes what a tragic loss Oscar was for his friends and family.  However, Coogler makes that sense of loss feel genuine in ways that films about real life people often do not.  Some movies about the senseless killing of person can make the viewer feel outrage.  Fruitvale Station simply cause hurt deep in the soul.

Michael B. Jordan as Oscar and Octavia Spencer as his mother, Wanda, give tremendous performances.  Spencer (who is one of the co-executive producers of this film) shows that she can build characters that seem real right down to their souls.  I can see why many thought that she would get an Oscar nod for her work here, which she ultimately did not.

Jordan is so good; it is as if he disappeared and then, reappeared as the real Oscar Grant.  After such a performance, people will obviously think that the sky is the limit for this bright and talented young actor.  Because of his performance, I don’t think I could watch Fruitvale Station again.  I cannot let Jordan, Spencer, and Coogler break my heart and make me cry again.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2014 Black Reel Awards:  9 nominations:  “Outstanding Motion Picture” (Forest Whitaker-producer and Nina Yang Bongiovi-producer – The Weinstein Company), “Outstanding Actor, Motion Picture,” (Michael B. Jordan), “Outstanding Supporting Actress, Motion Picture” (Melonie Diaz), “Outstanding Supporting Actress, Motion Picture” (Octavia Spencer), “Outstanding Director, Motion Picture” (Ryan Coogler), “Outstanding Screenplay-Adapted or Original, Motion Picture” (Ryan Coogler), “Outstanding Ensemble” (Nina Henninger-Casting Director), “Outstanding Score” (Ludwig Göransson), and “Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female” (Melonie Diaz)

2014 Image Awards:  1 win: “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture;” 4 nominations: “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Michael B. Jordan), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Octavia Spencer), and “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture - Theatrical or Television” (Ryan Coogler)

Thursday, July 03, 2014


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Review: "Bruce Almighty" Not So Mighty

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Bruce Almighty (2003)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language, sexual content and some crude humor
DIRECTOR: Tom Shadyac
WRITERS: Steve Koren & Mark O’Keefe and Steve Oedekerk; from a story by Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe
PRODUCERS: Michael Bostick, James D. Brubaker, Jim Carrey, Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe, and Tom Shadyac
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Semler (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Scott Hill
COMPOSER: John Debney

COMEDY/FANTASY/ROMANCE

Starring: Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Baker Hall, Catherine Baker, Lisa Ann Walter, Steven Carell, Nora Dunn, Eddie Jemison, Paul Satterfield, Mark Kiely, Sally Kirkland, and Tony Bennett

The subject of this movie review is Bruce Almighty, a 2003 comedy and fantasy film from director Tom Shadyac and starring Jim Carrey. The film was a worldwide box office hit and yielded a spin-off film, Evan Almighty, in 2007.

Bruce Almighty isn’t Jim Carrey’s best film, although it was one of his biggest ever at the box office. I wanted to see it for a long time, but never got around to it, and after having finally seen it, I now realize that it would have been perfectly fine, if in my life as a moviegoer, I had never seen it. It’s not bad; it’s just not good Jim Carrey.

Bruce Almighty focuses on Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) an unhappy television reporter who complains about how unfair God is to him. When he doesn’t get the promotion after which he lusted and gets himself fired as a result, he condemns God as a do-nothing. God (Morgan Freeman) decides to make an appearance and see if Bruce can do better a job ruling existence. He gives Bruce his almighty powers just to teach him how difficult the job of being God can be.

First of all the concept is a piece of shit. Granted that the job of watching the universe is, to say the absolute least, difficult, can’t God do the job? He is, after all, God…

Secondly, the script is very smart, for at least half the film. Bruce acts just as you’d think he would – selfishly and carelessly doing whatever it takes to make things easy for him. It turns out he was always a self-obsessed bastard. Even after he gets his way via his newly gained almighty powers, he doesn’t think to make things better not only for himself, but also for his girlfriend, Grace Connelly (Jennifer Anniston). When Bruce does finally at least pay attention to the (presumed) basic duty of God, answering prayers, he takes the easy route and creates a disaster. All this stuff is smart and probably pretty accurate when it comes to describing how someone would handle the situation.

After that, Bruce Almighty becomes a feel good fest of fixing things and doing the right thing. That makes for a pleasant movie, and the story resolves in the way it probably should: life lessons learned, good will towards men, respecting God (but, according to the film, respecting God in a bland and non-evangelical way). However, that’s the problem. Bruce Almighty plays it too safe; it would have really been a funnier film if it had actually went against the grain – maybe be radical.

And as silly and crazy as Jim Carrey has been, he’s rarely done anything dangerous in his career. As a stage comedian, he was a gagman, the Prince of Ass Jokes, really. He does great impersonations and he’s a human sound effects machine, but we’re not talking Lenny Bruce or even Carrey’s idol, Andy Kaufman. His film career has pretty much been the same act, but he’s been so damn good at it. The Ace Ventura films and Dumb and Dumber are priceless.

Since the mid to late 90’s, Jim has been trying to prove to everyone that he’s not a comedian turned actor or just a comic actor, but an actor – one capable doing serious dramatic roles. I think several years of trying to prove that he’s a great actor has dulled the talent that justifies his popularity and humongous paychecks – his talent as the Prince of Ass Jokes, the Duke of Juvenile Humor, and Lord of Rubbery Faces.

You can see it in Bruce Almighty. His silliness, childishness, and zaniness lack the zip they once had. He’s does some really hilarious clowning around in this film, but a lot of it is soft and too much of it strained.

So see Bruce Almighty, if you like Jim Carrey. Sadly, it’s the closest we’ll get to the early to mid-90’s pet detective.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actor” (Morgan Freeman)

2004 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Morgan Freeman)

Review: "Sunshine State" is Another Great John Sayles Ensemble Drama (Happy B'day, Edie Falco)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sunshine State (2002)
Running time: 141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for brief strong language, a sexual reference, and thematic elements
EDITOR/WRITER/DIRECTOR: John Sayles
PRODUCER: Maggie Renzi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Patrick Cady

DRAMA

Starring: Angela Bassett, Edie Falco, James McDaniel, Timothy Hutton, Bill Cobbs, Miguel Ferrer, Ralph Waite, Jane Alexander, Mary Alice, Gordon Clapp, Mary Steenburgen, Alex Lewis, and Tom Wright

The subject of this movie review is Sunshine State, a 2002 drama (with humorous undertones) from director John Sayles. An ensemble character drama, the film has subplots about family secrets, race relations, romance, and commercial property development.

Watching a John Sayles movie is to observe the work of a genius. Of course the word is often misused and overused, but not in John’s case. He is a genius film director. Very few directors could write the kind of dense character pieces that he does with so many players and still make the resulting film visually absorbing. That is what the master does yet again in his 2002 film, Sunshine State.

As usual, when a Sayles film begins, there is already a lot of backstory. The characters have highly involved lives before we fade in to the first scene, so we essentially come into a story that’s already begun. In a northern Florida coastal town, encroaching land developers force the separate lives of the town’s residents to intersect as the developers make a hard sell, by hook or by crook, the buy the land which they intend to transform into a swanky residential and resort area.

Old family business also rears its head for the two female leads. Desiree Perry (Angela Bassett) returns to visit her mother, Eunice Stokes (Mary Alice). Desiree left decades earlier because of an unwanted pregnancy and because she had a hard time living up to the public legacy of her father. She returns with her husband, Reggie, to find her mother now responsible for a troubled young relative (Alex Lewis) and seemingly nursing a grudge against her daughter.

Meanwhile, Marly Temple (Edie Falco) manages her father Furman’s (Ralph Waite) restaurant and hotel, but she’s ready to give it up. She listens to the slick and deceptive deals of the land developers and falls for one of their employees, a wandering landscape architect (Timothy Hutton).

Sayles’s film is a complex, but yet straightforward story, that details the complicated issues of business and of family business. You almost need a scorecard to keep up with all the characters, but Sayles creates a rhythm with his plot and story that a patient and savvy viewer will eventually catch. Visually, it’s like a shell game, but once you catch onto who is who, who is connected to whom, who wants what, you get a grasp on the film. After a while, you even have a good idea of the motivation of even the bit players. Sayles’s films are verbose, but not like those pretentious uppity foreign films, especially those high-falutin’ British period pieces. The spoken accentuates the visual. The better you understand the dialogue and that it’s communicating the story to you, the easier it is to watch the movie.

The acting is quite good all around. Many viewers are already aware of Angela Bassett’s dramatic prowess, but Ms. Falco, mainly known for “The Sopranos” is a revelation here. Her Marly Temple is one of the best performances by an actress, lead or supporting, in 2002, and one of the best in last few years. Like many of those earlier excellent performances, Oscar passed Ms. Falco by even for a nomination.

For many complex business and socio-political reasons, not excluding his talent, Sayles continues to create some of the best ethnic characters currently seen in popular cinema, especially African-Americans. Many black directors and writers show less affinity than Sayles in creating complex, three-dimensional black characters. Many black filmmakers are content to churn out the same drivel as the rest of the film industry except they populate their movies with cardboard, stereotypical Negroes.

As usual, a Sayles film ends before the story is “over.” He’s given us a small slice in the long rich lives of his characters who are so seemingly alive that they might just live on past the end credits. Sunshine State is John Sayles best film since Lone Star, in which he also takes the same lovingly novelistic approach to the story. It’s a career highlight from the oldest and the strongest maverick filmmaker in America. He’s the last great independent spirit, and by remaining so, every few years, he gives us a work of simple brilliance.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Theatrical - Best Actress” (Angela Bassett)

2003 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Angela Bassett)

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Review: Adepero Oduye is Spectacular in Dee Rees' "Pariah"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Pariah (2011)
Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
MPAA – R for sexual content and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Dee Rees
PRODUCER: Nekisa Cooper
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bradford Young
EDITOR: Mako Kamitsuna

DRAMA

Starring: Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, Kim Wayans, Charles Parnell, Sahra Mellesse, and Aasha Davis

Pariah is a 2011 independent film from director Dee Rees. This contemporary drama is a coming of age story about a Brooklyn teen discovering her sexual identity, while negotiating her way through the very different worlds of the lesbian club scene and of her conservative family. Filmmaker Spike Lee is one of the film’s executive producers.

The film centers on Alike Freeman (Adepero Oduye), a 17-year-old African-American teenager who lives in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. She lives with her family: her religious mother, Audrey (Kim Wayans); her policeman father, Arthur (Charles Parnell); and her younger sister, Sharonda (Sahra Mellesse).

Alike is gradually embracing her identity as a lesbian, with her openly gay friend, Laura (Pernell Walker), as her guide and support. At home, however, her parents’ marriage has reached a breaking point, and the tension grows whenever her parents discuss her development as a person. When she begins to socialize with Bina (Aasha Davis), a young woman who attends her high school, Alike starts to feel better about her identity, but her family and her social life only grow more complicated.

The easy way out of this review is to say that Pariah is an amazing film, because, y’all, it surely is. I cannot think of a film that deals with the black gay teen experience as well as Pariah does, and if there is one, all the better. The comic actress, Kim Wayans, as other members of the Wayans clan have done, takes a moment to show the range and scope of her talent with a dramatic turn as Alike’s mother, Audrey, that is rich in pathos.

If this movie is a revelation (and it is), then, it is all the more a surprise because Adepero Oduye as Alike Freeman is an illumination casting much needed light on the corporate product landscape that is the American film industry. As Alike blossoms, as a young adult and as a young artist, Adepero grows onscreen before our eyes. The joy we see in Alike as she becomes more confident and assured in the choices that she makes, the more Adepero seizes command of this film.

Adepero has a winning, Tom Cruise-like smile. Dee Rees has made a winning film that will make you smile like Tom Cruise. This film promises a lot in terms of Rees talent. If by chance she doesn’t live up to it that will be understandable. Pariah is a fine film and will certainly be a hard act to follow.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2012 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Breakthrough Performance” (Adepero Oduye); 8 nominations: “Best Actress” (Adepero Oduye), “Best Breakthrough Performance” (Kim Wayans), “Best Director” (Dee Rees), “Best Ensemble” (Kim Wayans, Adepero Oduye, Charles Parnell, Sahra Mellesse, Aasha Davis, Pernell Walker), “Best Film” (Nekisa Cooper), “Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted” (Dee Rees), “Outstanding Supporting Actress” (Kim Wayans), and “Outstanding Supporting Actress” (Pernell Walker)

2012 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture;” 6 nominations: "Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture" (Adepero Oduye), “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Dee Rees), “Outstanding Motion Picture,” “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Charles Parnell), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Kim Wayans), and “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Dee Rees)

Monday, May 28, 2012

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"Woman Thou Art Loosed" Stirring, Powerful

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 40 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004)
Running time: 99 minutes (1 hour, 39 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, sexual content, and drug use
DIRECTOR: Michael Schultz
WRITER: Stan Foster (from the novel by T.D. Jakes)
PRODUCER: Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Reinhart “Rayteam” Peschke
EDITOR: Billy Fox
Black Reel Award winner

DRAMA/RELIGIOUS

Starring: Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devine, Debbi Morgan, Michael Boatman, Clifton Powell, Idalis DeLeon, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Sean Blackmore, Jordan Moseley, Philip Daniel Bolden, Destiny Edmond, and Ricky Harris

The subject of this movie review is Woman Thou Art Loosed, a 2004 religiously-themed drama that is directed by famed African-American filmmaker, Michael Schultz. The film is an adaptation of the 1994 self-help book of the same name.

Woman Thou Art Loosed, adapted from Bishop T.D. Jakes best-selling self-help book for women, begins with Michelle Jordan (Kimberly Elise) committing a murder at a revival. Later, Bishop T.D. Jakes (playing himself) visits Michelle on death row. Told through flashbacks, we then see Michelle, just released from prison and determined not to return to her self-destructive life of drugs, stripping, and prostitution, struggle with the demons of her past, including being molested by her mother Cassey’s (Loretta Devine) boyfriend, Reggie (Clifton Powell). At the encouragement of Twana (Debbi Morgan), a family friend, Michelle begins attending Bishop Jakes’ three-day revival, the scene of Michelle’s ultimate tragedy. Can Bishop Jakes help Michelle to accept the healing power of Jesus’ love?

Woman Thou Art Loosed is a beautiful and spiritually engaging film. What it lacks in refinement and technique, it makes up for with religious fervor. Directed by Michael Shultz (Cooley High and Car Wash among others), who was probably the only black film director to consistently direct movies during the 1970’s and 80’s, the film is mostly disjointed for the first half of its running time. Actually, the film is quite hard to follow for the first 20 minutes or so, but then the narrative seems to miraculously come together and flows smoothly the rest of the way. The tragedy of the film is that the script, which tells a very good and compelling story, is short of characterization and character development. Rich characters fill this story, but we only get a taste of them, just enough to irritate because the story doesn’t give more.

What makes this clunky movie soar is Kimberly Elise’s brilliant and searing portrayal of Michelle, young woman who seemingly can’t stop making bad decisions once her innocence is destroyed when she is a child. Ms. Elise has a magnetic screen presence and her performance as a young woman with trials and tribulations is much truer than Oscar winner Hilary Swank’s tepid routine as a trailer trash boxer in Million Dollar Baby. Also stirring is the ministry and preaching of Bishop Jakes.

Though there are moments in the film when the revival seems a bit over the top, 80 percent of the time, it is awe-inspiring and stirs the soul and awakens the intellect. Bishop Jakes’ message of hope and Ms. Elise’s performance, as well as the other actors who give excellent supporting performances in spite of a limp script, make this a fine religious drama. What it lacks as art, Woman Thou Art Loosed makes up for with spirit and hope.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2005 Black Reel Awards: 2 wins: “Best Actress, Independent Film” (Kimberly Elise) and “Best Director, Independent Film” (Michael Schultz); 2 nominations: “Best Actor, Independent Film” (Clifton Powell) and “Best Independent Film” (Reuben Cannon)

2005 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film;” 2 nominees: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Kimberly Elise) and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Loretta Devine)

"Bringing Down the House" Brings Laughs

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux


Bringing Down the House (2003)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for language, sexual humor and drug material
DIRECTOR: Adam Shankman
WRITER: Peter Filardi
PRODUCERS: Ashok Amritraj and David Hoberman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Julio Macat (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Jerry Greenberg
COMPOSER: Lalo Schifrin

COMEDY

Starring: Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, Jean Smart, Kimberly J. Brown, Angus T. Jones, Missi Pyle, Michael Rosenbaum, Betty White, and Steve Harris

Critics and naysayers have been lying in wait for Bringing Down the House almost immediately after the first trailers and advertisements were aired. A straight-laced, older white man and a down to earth hip hop queen - racism and stereotypes of course – it couldn’t be anything but that. Well, they were wrong.

Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a lonely, divorced, tax attorney who meets Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah) in an online chat room. He assumes she’s a young, curvaceous blond, but she’s actually an African American prison inmate, which he discovers when she shows up on his doorstep one, fine evening. Charlene wants Peter’s help to clear her of a crime she says she didn’t commit, but his life is already complicated by mild turmoil. He misses his ex-wife Kate (Jean Smart) and their two children, Sarah (Kimberly J. Brown) and Gregory (Angus T. Jones). His bosses at his high-pressure job have given him the assignment of bringing a frugal heiress’s (Joan Plowright) billion-dollar account to the company. To make matter worse, the FBI is searching for Charlene, as is her creepy boyfriend (Steve Harris), and Peter’s friend Howie (Eugene Levy) really has a jones for Charlene.

First, I should say that Bringing Down the House is hilarious, laugh out loud, knee-slapping funny. It’s the best comedy I’ve seen a long time, and I haven’t laughed, really laughed, at a movie in a while. I could call Bringing a “feel good” movie because it made me feel good. Looking at the poster and seeing commercials for the film might give people the idea that this is an un-politically correct film in a PC age, but it really is about making new friends, people with different social and economic backgrounds. If that sounds a little high brow, it might be, but it’s the long way around saying that birds of different feathers can flock together.

As for as the it’s politics, you have to watch the film really close to notice something I think becomes obvious half way through the picture. The film parodies the stereotypical portrayal in popular culture of white people’s stereotypical reactions to black people. It’s not making fun of black people; it’s poking fun of the way whites are played as sheltered nerds who only know a skewered version of black culture.

Queen Latifah’s character Charlene is actually well rounded, and Latifah plays her as a brassy, self-reliant, never-say-die woman who takes the initiative to defend herself. What you see is what you get, and Charlene is certainly not one of those women of ill repute who actually has a heart of gold. Latifah takes her character seriously and plays her with a sense of humor. Charlene, though loud and confident, is sensitive and doesn’t look out for her own interests without regards for other people.

Martin could make a career out of playing the odd straight man to black comedians; he worked quite well with Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger. His chemistry with Latifah is as good as or better than the chemistry between him and his white co-stars. He gives Peter a dual edge; you can laugh at him and with him, and you care about him. And if you’ve seen the part of the ad that shows Martin in a black club thuggin’ it out while wearing “street” gear, do know that it’s damned funny and not stereotypical. In fact, he plays the scene as a white guy who likes hip hop and hanging out with black people instead of playing it as a naïve white guy with a stereotypical idea of how to be “black.”

But to heck with all the social politics. This is a funny movie. It lags at the end as it tries to tie everything up for a feel good end, and there were some good characters that would have made this movie even funnier if they had a little more screen time. However, I give Peter Filardi credit for writing a funny movie that gives the finger to its critics. Martin, Queen Latifah, and the rest of the cast put on a good show, not a coon show. To miss this is to miss a rare treat, a film that makes you laugh and feel so good that you probably wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Film: Best Actress” (Queen Latifah)

2004 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Queen Latifah)

Review: "Blood Diamond" Has Strong Leads in DiCaprio and Hounsou (Happy B'day, Leonardo DiCaprio)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


Blood Diamond (2006)
Running time: 143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and language
DIRECTOR: Edward Zwick
WRITERS: Charles Leavitt; from a story by C. Gaby Mitchell and Charles Leavitt
PRODUCERS: Edward Zwick, Marshall, Herskovitz, Paula Weinstein, Graham King, and Gillian Gorfil
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eduardo Serra (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Steven Rosenblum
2007 Academy Award nominee

ACTION/DRAMA/WAR

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen, Arnold Vosloo, David Harewood, Basil Wallace, Ntare Mwine, Jimi Mistry, and Kagiso Kuypers

Set during Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war in 1999, director Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond blends challenging themes, social awareness, and riveting entertainment into a rip-roaring story about two different African men on a common quest. Along the way, Zwick creates a lovely thriller out of the devastating chaos of civil war in a Third World country.

While imprisoned, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) turned diamond smuggler, discovers that fellow inmate Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) may have found a large, rare pink diamond. Rebels had taken Solomon from his family and forced him to work in their diamond fields where he found the extraordinary gem. Solomon hid the diamond in hopes of retrieving it and using it to help his family escape their war torn country. Now, Solomon will also have to find the diamond to save his son, Dia (Kagiso Kuypers), who was taken by rebels and brainwashed into becoming a murderous child soldier.

Enter idealistic American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), in Sierra Leone to uncover the truth about conflict diamonds – diamonds used to finance war. Archer and Solomon have formed a reluctant partnership, with the former guiding the latter back to the buried diamond. Maddy uses her journalistic credentials to help the duo embark on a dangerous track through rebel held territory, although each member of this intrepid trio has his or her own agenda. Maddy wants the journalistic expose. Danny wants the diamond that will help him to finally leave Africa. Solomon is seeking something far more precious – his son.

Zwick turns in one of the top directorial efforts of 2006. He dresses his powerful polemic into a breathtakingly handsome travelogue through Africa, whose striking beauty is marred by horrific and mind-numbing violence. He creates a drama as engaging as any other about civil war, but Zwick makes it into an international social cause – to close the market for conflict diamonds. Zwick grabs the viewer by the heart with his gut-wrenching action and explosive violence. Then, he squeezes your heart to wring out the tears at the sight of such misery and despair and also at the sight of such devotion and kindness amidst the cruelty.

It helps that Zwick has a fine screenplay and story that is of the same epic proportions at just under two-and-a-half hours as a movie over three hours long. And the characters are so rich and well formed that even the script’s preachy dialogue that tends to show up sounds so much better coming out of the mouths of highly skilled actors. The cast brings a stunning sense of authenticity to the roles. For some of them, I could almost believe that they are the characters in the film.

Right now, I’m having a hard time believing that Leonardo DiCaprio has ever been better. He takes the whole cloth of the screenplay and creates in Danny Archer a real, living and breathing person. To hell with those who say that his white African dialect was weird. It sounds so real coming from him. He is Danny Archer; it’s in every word he says, every move he makes, and even in his eyes.

Djimon Hounsou isn’t very far behind. He is rapidly revealing that he is a great dramatic actor with the kind of power and stage presence for which we’ve usually only credit British actors of the Shakespearean stage of having. Hounsou is magnificent. I could make a movie just with him… on a stage empty of props and sets. Jennifer Connelly starts off rough, but her performance grows into the film just as Maddy Bowen starts to really feel Africa.

It’s great that Blood Diamond will make people aware of conflict diamonds, but the drama is so good that the film’s social conscious gets lost behind the beautiful fiction and sweeping storytelling. Blood Diamond is that thing for which movie lovers hope when they go to the theatre – a film with winning characters, a magnificent setting, and a great story. What more is there to say? It’s all on screen.

10 of 10

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 5 nominations: “Best performance by an actor in a leading role” (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Best performance by an actor in a supporting role” (Djimon Hounsou), “Best achievement in editing” (Steven Rosenblum), “Best achievement in sound editing” (Lon Bender), and “Best achievement in sound mixing” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, and Ivan Sharrock)

2007 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Leonardo DiCaprio)

2007 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Djimon Hounsou)

2007 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Djimon Hounsou); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Motion Picture”

Monday, April 23, 2007

Review: John Singleton Shepherds "Four Brothers"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 144 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Four Brothers (2005)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: John Singleton
WRITERS: David Elliot & Paul Lovett
PRODUCER: Lorenzo De Bonaventura
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Menzier, Jr. A.C.S.
EDITOR: Bruce Cannon, A.C.E. and Billy Fox, A.C.E.

DRAMA/ACTION/CRIME/MYSTERY

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard, Josh Charles, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sofia Vergara, Fionnula Flanagan, Taraji P. Henson, Barry Shabaka Henley, and Jernard Burks

The Mercer Brothers – hotheaded ex-con Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), ladies’ man Angel (Tyrese Gibson), family man and businessman Jeremiah (André Benjamin), and rock musician Jack (Garrett Hedlund) – return to the mean streets of Detroit after their adoptive mother Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan) is murdered during the holdup of a corner grocery store. They take the matter of her murder into their own hands in spite of assurances from police Lt. Green (Terrence Howard) and Detective Fowler (Josh Charles) that they are working on the case.

Soon the Mercer boys realize that their mother’s death wasn’t just the tragic result of a simple store holdup. Bobby and Angel use their rough old ways of handling business to track their mother’s killers, but these aren’t the same Detroit neighborhoods they left and their old ways have new consequences. Whatever the result of their own private investigation, the Mercer brothers discover that their brotherly bonds, first forged by adoption, are as thick as those of brothers by birth.

I expected John Singleton’s new film, Four Brothers, to be a very well made action drama, but it turned out to be one of the best films I have seen thus far this year. It has the cool intensity of a 70’s action movie or blaxtiploitation film. While Four Brothers is certainly a straight genre piece, it is also a character-driven film with a lot of action and drama. First credit should go to the script by screenwriters David Elliot & Paul Lovett, long time collaborators. They not only pounded on story structure, but they made very engaging characters out of the protagonists for the most part.

The villains, however, come out on the short end. Some are very interesting, like Chwetel Ejiofor’s Victor Sweet, but in the end he emerges as nothing more than a really evil dude; there’s no The Godfather-like examination of evil here. All the “bad guys” seem to be interesting characters worth developing, but the script never gets that far. That’s one of the things here that keeps Four Brothers just short of being a truly great film.

On the other hand, Singleton’s intense, block-by-block building of this film’s narrative and the frenetic pace he gives it glosses over any script and performance shortcomings (I found Fionnula Flanagan’s Evelyn Mercer to be as creepy as she was sympathetic.), and John Singleton’s masterful directorial performance makes Four Brothers as good as the kind of memorable crime films like Out of Sight. Four Brothers doesn’t miss a beat, and this is one of the year’s best directing jobs.

The four leads really drive this film. All are good: Andre Benjamin, known to many as Andre 3000 of the Grammy-winning musical act OutKast, is a natural acting talent, and here, he doesn’t come across like a fish out of water as is the problem with so many something-else’s-turned-actor. Garrett Hedlund, barely out of high school when he captured the juicy role of Patroclus opposite Brad Pitt’s Achilles in Troy (a film by Wolfgang Peterson), comes across as an affable and energetic co-star. He’s sort of the odd-man-out, but he makes do with the lesser part the story hands him.

The driving force of the brotherly quartet is Mark Wahlberg and Tyrese Gibson. Wahlberg is a very good actor who is rushing towards greatness. He’s a movie star, and his presence can make you want to see the movies in which he stars, regardless of genre. He’s got Hollywood star cool, yet there is a bit of an edge to him – part tough guy, but loner/rebel. Hey, it works on the big screen. Who’d a thunk it? Tyrese Gibson is a damn good actor, and has movie star appeal. He’s the other piece in a matching set with Wahlberg, being every bit the handsome tough guy, but with a bit of softie in him. In this film, he doesn’t come across at all as a supporting player. He plays Angel Mercer so naturally that you’d think he’d been doing the acting thing for at least twice as long as he actually has.

The cast, writers, directors, and crew come together to make this urban action/exploitation film into the consummate gritty Hollywood action drama. Four Brothers might come across at first glance as junk, but it’s really a hamburger recipe turned into a fine steak. Enjoy it on the big screen or make a must-keep date for it on home video and DVD.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2006 Black Reel Awards: 4 nominations: “Black Reel Best Director” (John Singleton), “Best Ensemble” (André Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson, Mark Wahlberg, Sofía Vergara, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Taraji P. Henson), “Best Film,” and “Best Original Soundtrack”

2006 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film/Television Movie” (John Singleton)

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Review: "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" Does All Good for Itself

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA- PG-13 for mature thematic material involving a sexual assault on a minor, violence, drug references and smoking
DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
WRITER: Tyler Perry (based upon his play)
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy
Image Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC with elements of comedy and romance

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Adam Rodrigeuz, Brian J. White, Hope Olaide Wilson, Kwesi Boakye, Frederick Siglar, Gladys Knight, Mary J. Blige, Marvin Winans, and Tyler Perry

One could make the argument that every Tyler Perry movie seems to be made from the same stencil or template. There are the good women and the bad men they love (Madea’s Family Reunion). There are also the good men and the troubled women they try to save (Madea Goes to Jail). And there are always those who need to go back to church because they don’t know which way is up (Daddy’s Little Girls). Of course, there is usually room for the unsinkable matriarch Madea, and her brother and housemate, the un-politically correct, Joe. Perry’s new film, I Can Do Bad All by Myself (based upon his play) distills the essence of Perry’s oeuvre into its most perfect form to date.

After the pistol-packing Madea (Tyler Perry) catches three siblings breaking into her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Madea marches 16-year-old Jennifer (Hope Olaide Wilson) and her two younger brothers, Manny (Kwesi Boakye) and Byron (Frederick Siglar), to the only relative she can find – their Aunt April (Taraji P. Henson), a hard-living, heavy-drinking nightclub singer. April lives off her married boyfriend, Randy (Brian J. White). Already having several children of his own, Randy doesn’t want April’s niece and nephews around, and April certainly doesn’t think her dead crackhead sister’s children are her problem.

Fate, however, brings Sandino (Adam Rodriguez) into April’s life. The handsome Mexican immigrant is looking for work, so the local Pastor Brian (Marvin Winans) asks April to allow Sandino to move into her basement room in exchange for doing handiwork. The hard-luck immigrant challenges April to open her heart, which forces her to make the biggest choice of her life. Will she keep Randy and her old ways or will she choose the new possibilities for life that taking in her niece and nephew offer?

Why do I think that I Can Do Bad All by Myself is the best Tyler Perry movie? I think this film’s strength is based on the performances of its cast. The script isn’t anything particularly special, at least in the context of Perry’s other writing. The motivations for their actions and explanations for what ails the characters in this film are the usual ingredients for a Tyler Perry psychodrama: alcohol, childhood sexual abuse, drug use, and not going to church.

It is a performance like the one given by Taraji P. Henson that allows I Can Do Bad All by Myself to soar as a film about triumph and redemption. Henson is such a natural that whatever character she plays comes across as honest and authentic. In her performance, the audience can buy April, in spite of whatever contrivances Perry fashions for that character’s past. Henson also deftly executes her skills so that she can amplify the comedic moments even in the midst of the intense drama of this film. For instance, there is pathos and merriment in the scene in which Madea first confronts April with her niece and nephews. This scene defines I Can Do Bad All by Myself’s attitude that there is joy even the darkest times in life. Using laughter, Perry and his star give the audience a chance to step back and take a different look at this pivotal moment in the film.

There are other good performances. Brian J. White as the philandering husband and boyfriend, Randy, is exquisite, and Adam Rodriguez alternately simmers and shines as Sandino, the do-the-right-thing handyman. I would be remiss if I failed to mention Hope Olaide Wilson as April’s fierce and stubborn niece, Jennifer, a character that is essentially a younger version of her aunt. It is a testament to young Miss Wilson’s talent that she could present Jennifer as being destined to follow April’s sad path in life without it seeming contrived.

It also doesn’t hurt to have two of the best ever rhythm and blues and soul singers, Gladys Knight and Mary J. Blige, belting out a few songs, giving the kind of vocal performances that will raise the roof and then knock down the walls. It is these performances that make I Can Do Bad All by Myself the standout drama, thus far, in Tyler Perry’s filmography and a movie not to be missed.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, October 04, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actress” (Taraji P. Henson) and “Best Song, Original or Adapted” (Mary J. Blige for the song "I Can Do Bad All By Myself")

2010 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Adam Rodriguez); 2 nominations: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Taraji P. Henson) and “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Tyler Perry)

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Review: "Seven Pounds" is Too Damn Dark (Happy B'day, Rosario Dawson)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Seven Pounds (2008)
Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic material, some disturbing content, and a scene of sensuality
DIRECTOR: Gabriele Muccino
WRITER: Grant Nieporte
PRODUCERS: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, James Lassiter, Will Smith, and Steve Tisch
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Le Sourd (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Hughes Winborne
NAACP Image Award winner

DRAMA/MYSTERY

Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Michael Ealy, Barry Pepper, Elpidia Carrillo, and Joe Nunez

I don’t know how many readers of this review will remember Beloved. This 1998 film was Oprah Winfrey’s big screen adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1987 novel of the same name (which won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). Beloved, directed by Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme, was a technically well-made film, but was almost unwatchable because it was so depressing, heartrending, and morbid. The plot, characters, and setting were so gloomy that when I saw it, it seemed as if a pall had been cast over the theatre. There is a point when a movie is so sad that it can’t be entertaining.

Seven Pounds is a reunion of actor Will Smith and director Gabriele Muccino, who together made 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness. Happyness was well made with good performances, and while the film featured Will Smith’s character undergoing so many hardships, he was ultimately triumphant, and the film was hugely entertaining. Seven Pounds is well, with good performances, but is so damn dark that watching it is really like having to sit and experience something irritating and painful for two hours.

The film focuses on Ben Thomas (Will Smith), a mysterious IRS agent with a somewhat arrogant air who loves to surprise clients with unexpected visits. He also goes out of his way to help people in need. Why would an IRS agent do that, and why is it so obvious that he’s hiding something? After he meets, Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), an ailing young woman with a fatal heart condition, Ben begins to fall in love with Emily, and that causes him to struggle with completing his shadowy mission of redemption.

It’s safe to assume that Seven Pounds, a weighty, dramatic, star vehicle, is Will Smith’s attempt to make another run at getting Oscar recognition. As such, Smith probably would have better served his ambitions if Seven Pounds was less dour, sour, and gloomy and was instead more upbeat. Movie reviews and Sony Pictures, the studio behind Seven Pounds, have gone to great lengths not to give away too much about Seven Pounds’ plot, but honestly, most viewers will figure out Ben Thomas’ scheme and why he’s scheming 10 minutes (20 tops) into the film. So, I’m not giving anything away by saying that if Thomas’ efforts at redemption are so noble, then, he should be at least a little more lighthearted about the goal he has freely set for himself.

In a way Seven Pounds is too obtuse and too European. I say that because Seven Pounds’ director Gabriele Muccino comes out of a tradition of European cinema in which film narratives gladly go into the dark places of the human condition. There are characters in some European films that have excellent intentions, but their methods for doing something noble for other characters are jaw-dropping and even scandalous (see the wonderful, heartrending Danish film, After the Wedding, which is similar in passing to Seven Pounds).

Regarding Ben Thomas’ absolutely shocking plan, much of the audience for American films will be put off by someone like him, who so fits the saying “wears his emotions on his sleeves.” One can certainly question Thomas’ real agenda and intentions. Does he seek redemption, or is he just a guilty coward, or is he just a self-appointed martyr? In such a character, we would prefer a grim but determined, grieving but genial fella with a smile that can brighten our days even while we can see the sadness in his eyes – the kind of character played by Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, or Tom Hanks.

Instead, we get a Will Smith, practically wearing rags and his face covered with ash. Smith, an underrated actor who gives a good performance here, shows an impressive range of emotions in Seven Pounds – most of them of the sadder, negative variety. Seven Pounds is a good movie, but in the end, its darkness makes it too heavy to be entertaining or a great film.

6 of 10
B

Thursday, January 15, 2009

NOTES:
2009 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Director” (Gabriele Muccino) and “Best Film”

2009 Image Awards: 2 wins: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Will Smith) and “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Rosario Dawson); 1 nomination: “Outstanding Motion Picture”

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Review: "Coming to America" is Still a Classic (Happy B'day, James Earl Jones)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Coming to America (1988)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: John Landis
WRITERS: David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein; from a story by Eddie Murphy
PRODUCERS: George Folsey, Jr. and Robert D. Wachs
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Woody Omens with Sol Negrin
EDITOR: George Folsey, Jr. and Malcolm Campbell
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/ROMANCE

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, Shari Headley, Paul Bates, Eriq La Salle, Frankie Faison, Vanessa Bell , Louie Anderson, Allison Dean, Calvin Lockhart, Clint Smith, Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy, and Samuel L. Jackson

A pampered heir to an African throne, Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), wants more out of life, and he wants a woman with her own mind, someone other than the beautiful woman to whom he’s engaged, Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell). His father, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones), the ruler of Zamunda, encourages Akeem to go to America and sow his royal oats. However, Akeem heads to New York City, specifically Queens, to find a mate who will fall in love with him for who he is not what he is. Accompanied by his trusty sidekick, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), Akeem takes a low-paying job at a McDonald’s-like fast food restaurant, McDowell’s. He keeps his true identity secret and eventually begins a romance with Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley), the daughter of the boss, Cleo McDowell (John Amos). But will his royal lineage ruin Akeem’s chances with Lisa?

Coming to America remains one of my favorite Eddie Murphy films. It’s both funny, and the film also reveals the romantic side of Eddie Murphy’s talents as an actor – something we’d see more of in later films. The script by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein, two writers who wrote many of Murphy’s sketches while he was a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” in the mid-80’s, crafted a light-hearted, but engaging romantic comedy, and sprinkle it with numerous comic sketches and scenes. The writers provide comic gems not only for Murphy and Arsenio Hall, but also for the rest of the cast, which gives even actors with the smallest parts something into which they can sink their teeth. James Earl Jones, John Amos, and Madge Sinclair as Queen Aoleon shine in supporting roles.

Many people remember the film for the fact that Murphy and Hall played more than one role, thanks in large part to the amazing makeup by Oscar-winning makeup effects whiz, Rick Baker (who earned an Oscar nomination for this film, but lost that year to the makeup team on Beetlejuice). Hall plays three characters in addition to Semmi, including one female character. Murphy plays three characters in addition to Prince Akeem, including a Caucasian male. The makeup and their performances were so convincing that some of the audience didn’t realize that Murphy and Hall were playing multiple parts, in particularly Murphy as the old white man, Saul.

Coming to America also had good production values, including an amazing array of colorful (though sometimes outlandish costumes) costumes and a multiplicity of sets reflecting everything from regal splendor to lower class squalor. Probably the best thing that the set decorator and art director did was create an African kingdom that reflects African-American fantasy and myth-making about African monarchies, but something with the whimsy of, say, the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. If that weren’t enough, the cast features many very talented black actors who rarely get work simple because they’re black, but this film gives us a chance to see these talented performers. That’s why Coming to America remains one of the great African-American romantic comedies, and it is also one of the first times in film that we see Eddie Murphy show the scope of his ability to play a variety of characters.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1989 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Deborah Nadoolman) and “Best Makeup” (Rick Baker)

1990 Image Awards: 2 wins: “Outstanding Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Arsenio Hall)

Monday, February 13, 2006

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