Review: "A MADEA HOMECOMING" Doesn't Come Out Quite Right

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 of 2024 (No. 1950) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Madea Homecoming (2022)

Running time:  105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for crude sexual content, language, and drug references throughout

WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS:  Will Areu and Mark E. Swinton

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Taylor Randall (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Larry Sexton

COMPOSER:  Philip White

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring:  Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, David Mann, Tamela J. Mann, Gabrielle Dennis, Brendan O'Carroll, Jennifer Gibney, Brandon Black, Isha Blaaker, Candace Maxwell, Geneva Maccarone, and Amani Atkinson

A Madea Homecoming is a 2022 African-American comedy-drama from writer-director Tyler Perry.  It is the 12th film in the Madea film series.  The film is a Netflix original and was released to the streaming service on February 25, 2022.  In A Madea Homecoming, family drama erupts and secrets are revealed during the celebration of Madea's great-grandson's college graduation.

A Madea Homecoming opens in Atlanta, Georgia.  Mabel “Madea” Simmons (Tyler Perry) is preparing for the arrival of her extended family.  Uncle Joe (Tyler Perry) is criticizing people, and Mr. Brown (David Mann) is about to set himself afire while preparing the barbecue pit.  It is a special time for Madea's daughter, Cora Simmons (Tamela J. Mann), because of the impending arrival of her daughters, Laura (Gabrielle Dennis) and Ellie (Candace Maxwell).  Laura's son, Timothy “Tim” Marshall (Brandon Black), is graduating from college.  He is traveling to Madea's house with his best friend and fellow graduate, Davi O'Malley (Isha Blaaker), for a large family dinner before graduation day.

But there are some surprises arriving, also.  Tim has a secret to tell his family.  Laura has a secret.  Laura's divorce attorney, Sylvia (Geneva Maccarone), has a secret.  Richard (Amani Atkinson), Laura's ex and Tim's father, has a secret to tell, although Madea doesn't want him at her house.  Davi has a secret.  Davi's great-aunt, Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll), and Agnes' daughter and David's cousin, Cathy Brown (Jennifer Gibney), have a secret.  They're coming to Madea's, but they weren't invited.  And it isn't a secret that Betty Ann Murphy a.k.a. “Aunt Bam” (Cassi Davis) is usually high, and everyone else may have to get high to make it through the family drama that is about to erupt.

2019's A Madea Family Funeral was supposed to be the final film in the Madea film series, but I ain't complaining.  A Madea Homecoming is similar to A Madea Family Funeral in that it features a large cast of new extended family members that many of us didn't know that Madea had.  Unfortunately, the 2019 film is better put together than A Madea Homecoming.

First, it should be noted that A Madea Homecoming is a crossover with British-Irish sitcom, “Mrs. Brown's Boys,” which is headlined by the character, “Agnes Brown,” played by Irish actor, Brendan O'Carroll.  Agnes Brown has been called the “Irish Madea,” but because this is my first encounter with O'Carroll and his character, I can't say otherwise.  Truthfully, neither the Agnes nor Cathy characters really add that much to A Madea Homecoming, but they are a pleasant addition, at least.

A Madea Homecoming has many, many very funny moments, but the film seems too long and too much of a rehash of scandals that have appeared in earlier films in the series.  The main plot and subplot feel more flat and dry than lively and funny.  The most consistently funny part of this movie is Madea Beyoncé parody that runs over the end credits, and Madea in a blonde Beyoncé wig singing off-key with the “Marcella Band” is delightful.

When I reviewed A Madea Family Funeral in 2021, I said that if it were indeed the final Madea film, I could say that the series went out on a relatively high note.  Madea returns on an off-key note with A Madea Homecoming, and it isn't the final Madea film.  Coming sometime in the future is Madea's Destination Wedding.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, February 9, 2024

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Review: "THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW" is Always Waiting For Us

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 of 2023 (No. 1914) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

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

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR:  Jim Sharman

WRITERS:  Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien (based on the original musical play by Richard O'Brien)

PRODUCER:  Michael White

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Peter Suschitsky (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Graeme Clifford

COMPOSER:  Richard Hartley

SONGS: Richard O'Brien

MUSICAL/COMEDY/SCI-FI and FANTASY/HORROR

Starring:  Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Peter Hinwood, Jonathan Adams, Meat Load, and Charles Gray

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 comedy-horror and musical fantasy film directed by Jim Sharman.  The film is written by Sharman and Richard O'Brien and is based based on the 1973 musical stage production, The Rocky Horror Show, for which O'Brien wrote the music, lyrics, and book.  Both the film and stage musical pay tribute to the science fiction and B-movie horror films that appeared in theaters from the 1930s to the 1960s.  The Rocky Horror Picture Show follows a newly-engaged couple who, because of car trouble, seeks shelter at a castle-like country home that is populated by bizarre guests and an even more bizarre host.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show introduces a naive young couple, Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon).  It is late November, and the couple are attending the wedding of their friends, Ralph Haphschatt (Jeremy Newson) and Betty Monroe (Hilary Labow), at Denton Episcopalian Church.  Brad and Janet get engaged after the wedding and decide to celebrate with their high school science teacher, Dr. Everett Scott (Jonathan Adams).

In Brad's car, the duo are en route to Scott's house on a dark and rainy night when they get lost and then get a flat tire.  Needing a telephone to call for help, the couple walk to a nearby castle.  There, they find the place in the throes of a rowdy party.  The guests are both flamboyantly dressed and bizarre.  What is even more bizarre however, is the host, the transvestite scientist, Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), who is about to unveil his latest creation.  There are two things of which Brad and Janet are unaware.  The first is Frank-N-Furter is from the planet “Transsexual,” located in the galaxy “Transylvania.”  The second is that at some point in the future, their story will be narrated by a noted criminologist (Charles Gray).

When The Rocky Horror Picture Show was initially released in the United States in the early fall of 1975, it was not well-received by either critics or audiences.  However, by the spring of 1976, the film's infamous cult following began, thanks to midnight showings, first in and around New York City, and then, spreading throughout the U.S.  Soon, fans in costume were performing alongside the film.

Dear readers, I must admit that I have never seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show in a theater.  I first saw it in the late 1980s via a Japanese import or bootleg copy at the science fiction, fantasy, and gaming convention, CoastCon (I believe), in Biloxi, Mississippi.  It was a wild screening, and I freaked out when audience members jumped out of their seats and started performing bits from the film.

As some of you may know, Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail service – currently known as DVDNetflix or DVD.com.  I decided to spend some of these final months on this beloved service re-watching favorite films and well as trying some older films that I have never seen.  Watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show seemed like the right thing to do as a sendoff to the service that I used to build my movie review blog, Negromancer.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is indeed a tribute to science fiction, B-movie, and monster films.  There are references to such films as Universal Pictures' Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), RKO's King Kong (1933), Hammer Films' The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Fox's The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and MGM's Forbidden Planet (1956), to name a few.

However, Rocky Horror's punk rock fashions, colorfully dyed hair, corsets, torn fishnet stockings, glitter, androgyny, and sex and violence are more important than its haunted mansion, secret labs, rival scientists, and sci-fi angles.  For me, this film is about having a good time and being liberated.  Sometimes, the film may seem like it is being outrageous for the sake of being outrageous, but one of its final songs personifies the film for me, “Fanfare/Don't Dream It, Be It.”  It's okay to look like you want to and to be what you want to.  And yes, it's okay to be turned on by both Susan Sarandon in her unmentionables and Barry Bostwick in his Jockey classic Y-front briefs.

I can certainly point to Tim Curry's legendary performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but everyone, from the filmmakers, cast, and crew to the artisans, craftsman, and technicians that brought the sets and costumes to life, made The Rocky Horror Picture Show memorable and, for many, unforgettable.  I can't forget the songs, so I need a soundtrack album.  Meat Loaf makes the most of his short time on screen.  The narrator turns out to be hoot.  Even the passing of DVDNetflix won't stop me from seeing this show again.  The music, the songs, the cast, and the setting seem as if they will never let me forget that part of me belongs, at least for a little while, at The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, June 15, 2023

NOTES:

2005 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry

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Review: Riveting "WOMEN TALKING" is a Film That Speaks Directly, Even to Us

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2023 (No. 1908) by Leroy Douresseaux

Women Talking (2022)

Running time:  104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for mature thematic content including sexual assault, bloody images, and some strong language

DIRECTOR:  Sarah Polley

WRITER:  Sarah Polley (based upon the book by Miriam Toews)

PRODUCERS:  Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Frances McDormand

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Luc Montpellier

EDITORS:  Christopher Donaldson and Roslyn Kalloo

COMPOSER:  Hildur Guðnadottir

Academy Award winner

DRAMA/RELIGION

Starring:  Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, France McDormand, Judith Ivey, Emily Mitchell, Kate Hallet, Liv McNeil, Shelia McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Kira Guloien, Shayla Brown, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, August Winter, and Ben Whishaw

Women Talking is a 2022 drama film from writer-director Sarah Polley. The film is based on Miriam Towes' 2018 Canadian novel, Women Talking.  Both the film and the novel are inspired by real-life events.  Women Talking the film focuses on a group of women who must decide if they should do nothing, stay and fight, or leave their isolated religious community where sexual abuse of girls and women is common.

Women Talking opens in the year 2010 in an unnamed, isolated Mennonite colony.  The colony's women and girls have discovered that some of the men in the colony have been using livestock tranquilizer to subdue them in order to rape them.  Although other men in the colony have had these attackers arrested and imprisoned in a nearby city, they are also seeking bail for the attackers.

The men have left the women by themselves for two days in order for the women to determine what they will do going forward.  However, the men expect the women to forgive their attackers or be expelled from the colony.  The women gather in a barn to discuss and to vote.  They have a young man named August (Ben Whishaw) sit in the meeting in order to take the minutes.  When he was a boy, Ben's mother was expelled from the colony.  Ben returned to become the colony's sole teacher, but he only teaches the boys because women are not allowed to attend school.

Elders like Agata (Judith Ivey) and Greta (Sheila McCarthy) lead the discussion, but young women like Ona (Rooney Mara), Salome (Claire Foy), Mariche (Jessie Buckley), and Mejal (Michelle McLeod) have strong opinions.  Should the women do nothing... forgive... stay and fight... or leave the colony?  As they grapple with the brutal reality of their faith, the time to decide is running out.

Almost four days out from watching Women Talking, and I find myself still thinking about it, dear readers.  In the wake of the of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, it feels like a supernaturally timely film.  The “Dobbs decision” held that the Constitution of the United States did not confer a right to abortion.  It is just the latest in a more than three-decade assault on women's rights to reproductive freedom and choice.

Women Talking effectively delivers a valuable message.  The women of the Mennonite colony that this film depicts must confront not only the violence against them, but also a religion designed down to its bones to give men all the power over women.  Their faith essentially renders women and girls indentured servants and non-citizens.

I quibble that writer-director Sarah Polley's direction and Oscar-winning screenplay bury the actresses of Women Talking beneath the scenario and story.  There is a lot of genuine talent here, and I wanted to see more of them, in a broader sense, although no one can really keep Rooney Mara from shining.  In a way, however, that is good thing.  The way Polley presents this makes Women Talking as timeless as it is timely.

Women Talking is truly an exceptional and spectacular film because the women at the heart of its story are talking.  What they say crosses over into our real world.  Because what is depicted in this film is real, it matters.  Women Talking is based on something that happened not that long ago, in this century, so women struggling for equality and human rights must keep talking.  And this movie, Women Talking, is entertainment, educational, and hopefully, inspiration for future generations.

9 of 10

A+

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Thursday, May 4, 2023

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Sarah Polley) and 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, and Frances McDormand – producers)

2023 Golden Globes, USA:  2 nominations: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Hildur Guðnadóttir) and “Best Screenplay-Motion Picture” (Sarah Polley)

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: "KNOCK AT THE CABIN" is Not Worth the Ticket Price; Stream It

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 of 2023 (No. 1895) by Leroy Douresseaux

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

Running time:  100 minutes

MPA – R for violence and language

DIRECTOR:  M. Night Shyamalan

WRITERS:  M. Night Shyamalan, Steve Desmond, and Michael Sherman (based on the book, The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Tremblay)

PRODUCERS:  Marc Bienstock, Ashwin Rajan, and M. Night Shyamalan

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jarin Blaschke (D.o.P.) and Lowell A. Meyer (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Noemi Katharina Preiswerk

COMPOSER:  Herdis Stefansdottir

FANTASY/THRILLER/HORROR

Starring:  Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn, Kristen Cui, and M. Night Shyamalan

Knock at the Cabin is a 2023 fantasy, thriller, and horror film from director M. Night Shyamalan.  The film is based on the 2018 novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, from author Paul Tremblay.  Knock at the Cabin focuses on a small family of three and the four armed strangers who take them hostage and demand that the three members sacrifice one of their own … in order to stop the end of the world.

Knock at the Cabin introduces Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and his husband, Eric (Jonathan Groff), and their adopted daughter, Wen (Kirsten Cui).  They are vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods, but during their first day at the cabin, terror strikes.  Four strangers break into the cabin and tie up Andrew and Eric.

The strangers identify themselves as Redmond (Rupert Grint), Adriane (Abby Quinn), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), and Leonard (Dave Bautista), the apparent leader.  Leonard explains that the Apocalypse is coming.  The oceans will rise, a plague will descend, and the sky will fall to the earth like pieces of shattered glass; then, there will only be unending darkness.  These horrors can only be averted if this family of three kills one of their own as a sacrifice.

Leonard tells Andrew, Eric, and Wren that if they do not chose, they will survive the Apocalypse, but they will be doomed to be the last people alive on a dead world.  Andrew and Eric believe that these people are delusional, and Andrew believes that this situation is rooted in bigoted hate against their family.  But bad things are starting to happen … all around the world...

I saw Knock at the Cabin just last night (as of this writing) at a Thursday night preview.  When the credits started rolling, I started laughing, not loud enough to draw attention, but I found that I had a hard time not laughing.  In Shyamalan's filmography, I have a personal favorite, The Lady in the Water (2006), and two films I enjoyed quite a bit, After Earth (2013) and Old (2021).  There are two movies that I thought were really good, but had ridiculous endings that ruined the movies for me, Unbreakable (2000) and The Village (2004).

Knock at the Cabin reminds me of 2010's The Last Airbender.  Both are films that are good concepts and that begin with good ideas.  Ultimately, however, both have something missing, or maybe a lot missing.  For instance, in Knock at the Cabin, Andrew and Eric are well-developed characters, and the actors playing them give performances that convinced me Andrew and Eric were in love and were a committed couple.  However, the flashbacks about their lives are more vague than they are informative.  Also, I was quite put-off by the fact that the couple lied to adopt Wen.

For an apocalyptic movie, Shyamalan is stingy with the apocalyptic imagery.  The tsunami was a little impressive; the plague was underwhelming; and the plane crashes were impressive … mostly.  When Leonard warn Andrew and Eric that not making a choice means that a hundred thousand people will die, it does not feel like a real threat.  And honestly, when a disaster is shown onscreen, it does not look like something that will kill a hundred thousand.  I think Shyamalan wanted to play it cute with Leonard and his companions for the audience.  Maybe, they are deranged and delusional.  Maybe, the disasters are a coincidence.  It's when I thought that maybe the Apocalypse is real, but Leonard and company are too crazy to do their part correctly that I knew this film had story development issues.

As an end of the world scenario, Knock at the Cabin doesn't have real traction.  Yes, the actors give good performances, especially Dave Bautista as Leonard and Nikki Amuka-Bird as Sabrina.  However, all the actors are mouthing nonsensical dialogue for a narrative that can't quite escape being ludicrous.  I think that the actors are more convincing about Knock at the Cabin's story that Shyamalan and his co-screenwriters are.  If not for the cast, I would give this film a lower grade that the one I ultimately gave it – maybe much lower.

There are better films about a small group of people trapped in a remote cabin and fighting off supernatural doom, such as The Evil Dead (1981) and Cabin in the Woods (2011).  Shyamalan has a reputation for revealing a big twist at the end of his films.  In Knock at the Cabin, the big twist is that there is no big twist.  I didn't want there to be one, but now I believe that a big twist would have made Knock at the Cabin feel like more than a meaningless story and empty cinematic experience.

4 of 10

C

★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, February 3, 2023

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Review: Netflix's "THE POWER OF THE DOG" is Certainly a Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 74 of 2022 (No. 1886) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Running time:  128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)

MPA – R for strong sexuality and language

DIRECTOR:  Jane Campion

WRITER:  Jane Campion (based on a novel by Thomas Savage)

PRODUCERS:  Jane Chapman, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Tanya Seghatchian, and Emile Sherman

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ari Wegner (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Peter Sciberras

COMPOSER:  Jonny Greenwood

Academy Award winner

WESTERN/DRAMA

Starring:  Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Genevieve Lemon, Peter Carroll, Frances Conroy, Alison Bruce, Keith Carradine, Thomasin McKenzie, Ramontay McConnell, Adam Beach, and Maeson Stone Skuggedal

The Power of the Dog is a 2021 Western drama film from writer-director Jane Campion.  It is based on the1967 novel, The Power of the Dog, from author Thomas Savage.  The Power of the Dog the movie focuses on a charismatic rancher who torments his brother, his brother's new wife, and her son.

The Power of the Dog opens in rural Montana, 1925 and focuses on Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch).  Phil is, along with brother, George Burbank (Jesse Plemons), wealthy ranch-owners.  George meets Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst), a widow and inn owner, during a cattle drive.  The kindhearted George is quickly smitten with Rose, but Phil, always coarse and volatile, dislikes her and considers her nothing more than a gold-digger who wants George's money.

Phil also belittles Rose's teenage son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), whom he derides as weak and effeminate – a sissy.  George and Rose soon marry, and Rose comes to live at the Burbank brothers' isolated ranch estate and manor home. However, Rose withers under Phil's torment.  Sometimes later, Peter comes to stay and things begin to change...

The Power of the Dog is a ridiculous title for a film, but I like it for a novel.  The film is a psychological drama dressed in the rags of a Western.  Its narrative focuses on two despicable characters (Phil and Pete) and two meek, but lovable and sympathetic characters (George and Rose).

I would not describe any of the characters as vague so much as they reflect a narrative that is oblique, which in turn reflects on characters with pinched personalities.  Benedict Cumberbatch's Phil Burbank is mean and spiteful, but just like that, one day, he turns all … gay over a weirdo kid he only hated just a few seconds ago.  Kodi Smit-McPhee's Peter may be the film's most well-developed character; it is obvious that there is a lot going on with him.  He is more than the audience can imagine and apparently quite the litle psycho-sociopath.

As I said, Kirsten's Dunst's Rose and Jessie Plemons' George are lovable, but are slight characters.  They both received Oscar nominations in supporting acting categories; whether they deserved them or not is a matter of opinion.  I will say that Dunst spends most of the film crying and sniveling and yelling and stumbling around.  Jesse Plemons is barely a whisper in the wind as George, and sometimes it seems as if George's entire screen time amounts to only a few minutes.  Of course, he is onscreen more than that; it's just that he seems to be on it much less...

I can see why actor Sam Elliot questioned The Power of the Dog's credibility as a Western.  The film lacks a central, focused voice, and girl, Westerns have voice.  It is not a bad film.  The Power of the Dog does indeed have some power and some powerful moments, but director Jane Campion sublimates the passion and the urges she says define this film.  The film lacks heart and is unhurried to the point of being meandering.

My original plan was to write a review of The Power of the Dog that was comprised of a single question mark.  However, the film's shock ending gave me a reason to say more.  I guess I'm one critic who is not buying into The Power of the Dog.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 10, 2022

NOTES:

2022 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Achievement in Directing” (Jane Campion); 11 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Roger Frappier), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Jane Campion), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jesse Plemons), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Kirsten Dunst), “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Grant Major-production design and Amber Richards-set decoration), “Best Sound” (Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie, and Tara Webb), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Ari Wegner), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Peter Sciberras), and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (Jonny Greenwood)

2022 BAFTA Awards:  2 wins: “Best Film” (Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Tanya Seghatchian, and Emile Sherman) and “Best Director” (Jane Campion); 6 nominations: “Best Screenplay-Adapted” (Jane Campion), “Best Leading Actor” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Supporting Actor” (Jesse Plemons), “Best Supporting Actor” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), “Best Cinematography” (Ari Wegner), and “Original Score” (Jonny Greenwood)

2022 Golden Globes, USA:  3 wins:  “Best Motion Picture-Drama,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and “Best Director-Motion Picture” (Jane Campion); 4 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Kirsten Dunst), “Best Screenplay-Motion Picture” (Jane Campion), and “Best Original Score-Motion Picture” (Jonny Greenwood)

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Review: "MAKING LOVE" Can Still Knock Boots

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2022 (No. 1823) by Leroy Douresseaux

Making Love (1982)
Running time:  113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  Arthur Hiller
WRITERS:  Barry Sandler; from a story by A. Scott Berg
PRODUCERS:  Alan J. Adler and Daniel Melnick
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  David M. Walsh
EDITOR:  William Reynolds
COMPOSER: Leonard Rosenman

LGBTQ/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring:  Michael Ontkean, Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin, Wendy Hiller, and Gary Swanson

Making Love is a 1982 romantic drama and LGBTQ film from director Arthur Hiller.  Making Love focuses on a successful Los Angeles couple making big plans for their future when the husband finds himself unable to keep repressing his attraction for other men.

Making Love is set in the early 1980s and introduces three 30-something characters.  The first is Dr. Zack Elliot (Michael Ontkean), a successful, Los Angeles-based oncologist.  He is married to Claire Elliot (Kate Jackson), an equally successful television network executive.  Claire and Zack have been married for eight years and are generally happy.  They are talking about having a baby, so they buy a bigger house.

Unknown to Claire, however, Zack has been struggling with feelings of attraction for other men.  He begins loosening these long-repressed feelings by cruising places where gay men congregate to pick up other men for sex.  Enter the film's third main character, Bart McGuire (Harry Hamlin), a successful novelist and gay man.  Bart goes in for a medical check-up, and Zack is temporarily seeing the patients of Bart's regular doctor.

Bart frequents gay bars and clubs and has multiple sexual partners, preferring one night stands to committed relationships.  Zack and Bart are mutually attracted to each other, but there are complications.  As gay men, each wants something different in intimate relationships.  Meanwhile, Claire is having professional struggles, and she starts to suspect that Zack is cheating on her.  However, she would never suspect that he is cheating on her with another man.

This is the fortieth anniversary of the theatrical release of the landmark gay film drama, Making Love, specifically February 12, 1982.  While Making Love was not the first gay-themed film released by a major Hollywood studio, it was the first mainstream Hollywood film drama to address particular subjects related to homosexuality, such as the effect of a spouse coming out while being in a heterosexual marriage and also the toll of being closeted on a gay man.

Making Love is not a great film; at best, it is average or maybe a little above average.  Apparently, it has been accused of dodging its core subject, which is that of a gay man not only coming out while being married to a woman, but also engaging in an affair with another man.  Making Love does not actually duck or dodge any sensitive homosexual issues.

The problem is that the film addresses too many issues.  Zack Elliot is having a midlife crisis.  Repressed, Zack is horny and cruises for gay sex, but usually backs out before the sex can begin.  Claire is having a career crisis.  She wants her television executive bosses to utilize the talents for which she was hired, but they ignore her thoughtful programming pitches.  She wants to take a year off so that she can have a baby.  Her desire to have a better relationship with her estranged father also crops up.  Bart treats each man that he wants to screw like he is the perfect guy for him.  Yet as soon as the sex is over, Bart hops out of bed and heads home.  He is always on the prowl, but seems to yearn for a little more.

This are enough subplots and melodramatic twists for a television series, but it is a bit much for a film.  What also hampers the film is that with so much to talk about, a lot of the dialogue is stiff and sounds contrived when the actors speak it.  The performances are well meaning, but the screenplay for Making Love does address what is at the heart of this film.

Making Love may be a gay drama, but the way I see it, the story is really about the dysfunction in Zack and Claire's relationship and in Zack and Bart's relationship.  Making Love is really not about “making love,” but about people being honest about what they want from a partner and what they really want for themselves.  Making Love only deals with that in a shallow way, but I do give the film, the filmmakers, and the cast the credit for making this kind of film.  Making Love depicts homosexuality and being a man who wants to have sex with lots of other men seem like perfectly normal aspects of modern American life.

6 of 10
B

Friday, March 4, 2022


NOTES:
1983 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: Best Original Song - Motion Picture (Burt Bacharach-music, Bruce Roberts-music/lyrics, and Carole Bayer Sager-lyrics for the song, “Making Love”)


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

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Review: "ETERNALS" is Endlessly Fascinating

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 65 of 2021 (No. 1803) by Leroy Douresseaux

Eternals (2021)
Running time: 157 minutes (2 hours, 37 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for fantasy violence and action, some language and brief sexuality
DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao
WRITERS:  Chloé Zhao, Chloé Zhao & Patrick Burleigh and Ryan Firpo & Kaz Firpo; from a screen story by Ryan Firpo & Kaz Firpo (based upon the Marvel Comics by Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Kevin Feige and Nate Moore
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ben Davis (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Dylan Tichenor and Craig Wood
COMPOSER: Ramin Djawadi

SUPERHERO/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring:  Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh, Bryan Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Haaz Sleiman, Esai Daniel Cross, and David Kaye (voice) with Salma Hayek, Kit Harringston, and Angelina Jolie

Eternals is a 2021 superhero film directed by Chloé Zhao and produced by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.  It is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series.  The film is based on the Marvel Comics stories and characters created by Jack Kirby and first appearing in the comic book, The Eternals #1 (cover dated: July 1976).  Eternals the movie focuses on a race of immortal beings who have lived on Earth for millennia, protecting and shaping its people.

Eternals begins with the story of the “Celestials,” the great beings that created the universe.  They also created a race of immortals, known as “Eternals,” to do their bidding.  Seven thousand years before the present day (5000 BC), ten of these Eternals arrive on Earth from their home planet, Olympia.  They are Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Thena (Angelina Jolie), and Ajak (Salma Hayek), their leader.  They are human-like and have super-powers.

The most powerful Celestial, Arishem (David Kaye), has sent these Eternals to Earth to protect humanity from monsters known as “Deviants.”  Over several millennia, the Eternals protect humanity from the dangers posed by Deviants, but they are not allowed to interfere in the development of the humans and their civilizations.  In 1500, after believing that they have killed off the last Deviants, the Eternals break apart as a group because they have different opinions on what their responsibility is towards humans going forward.

In the present day, Sersi and Sprite live together in London.  One night, they are attacked by a Deviant, but the powerful Eternal, Ikaris, arrives to drive the creature away.  Sersi, Sprite, and Ikaris decide to reunite their group in order to be prepared for the renewed threat of the Deviants.  However, not all the members are willing to reunite as some have new lives and others hold old grudges.  Meanwhile, dark secrets from their past and about their future hinder the Eternals ability to deal with “The Emergence,” an event that threatens to destroy the world.

Eternals is Marvel Studios most unique film to date.  For all the talk of there being a formula to Marvel's films, Eternals is like nothing else that Marvel has done and like no other superhero film, for that matter.  The costumes, special effects, technology, art direction, and graphic design are key to creating a film that is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also feels separate from it, in a way.

Eternals co-writer and director Chloé Zhao won two Oscars for her work on the 2020 film, Nomadland, a film filled with characters that are fiercely independent, unique, and contrary.  Eternals is a film about a group of ten people who essentially form a family, but these ten are individually disparate people.  After their mission is complete, the Eternals discover that they have very little in common.  They know enough, however, as they saying goes, to hurt the ones they love.

Zhao deals with the ramifications of being a hero confronted by the question of which is more important in a mission – the orders or doing the right thing.  Zhao reveals that it is not so easy because individuals have differing views on the mission and what it means to “do the right thing.”  Zhao also delves into the complicated nature of a family unit, how the bittersweet can become downright sour when there are secrets and lies and also betrayal.  Eternals is a film about difficult relationships and about the heartache and pain that can come when differences cannot be bridged.

Some may find Eternals too long and boring.  There may not be enough action for fans used to the humongous action set pieces of the Avengers films.  Also, the film's ostensible lead, Gemma Chan's Sersi, is a female superhero that is nuanced in ways not seen in superhero films, especially compared to Marvel heroines like Black Widow, The Wasp, and the Dora Milaje.  Chan creates a Sersi that is beautifully gentle and compassionate, while being vulnerable in a way that makes her a better hero.  Even Angelina Jolie's Thena, an elite warrior, is as vulnerable as she is fierce and violent.

That is not the formula for girl-hero kick-ass and that is fine by me.  I find Eternals endlessly fascinating, and while I watched it, I always wanted more of it.  After all, each Eternal has 7000 years worth of stories to tell, and that's just what happened before they arrived on Earth.  Whether there is another Eternals film or not, Eternals 2021 is important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, simply because it is the kind of entry that will stand out and show that there can be truly different things in that cinematic universe.  Eternals is one of the year's best films.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, November 5, 2021


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Moonlight" Shines as Groundbreaking American Cinema

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

Moonlight (2016)
Running time:  151 minutes
MPAA – R for some sexuality, drug use, brief violence, and language throughout
DIRECTOR:  Barry Jenkins
WRITERS:  Barry Jenkins; from a story by Tarell Alvin McCraney
PRODUCERS:  Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Adele Romanski
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  James Laxton
EDITORS:  Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders
COMPOSER: Nicholas Britell
Academy Award winner including “Best Picture”

DRAMA/LGBTQ

Starring:  Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome, Andre Holland, and Janelle Monae

Moonlight is a 2016 coming-of-age drama from director Barry Jenkins.  This won the “Best Picture of the Year” Oscar at the 89th Academy Awards (February 2017).  It was the first film with an all-Black/African-American cast and also the first LGBT film to win the best picture Oscar.  Moonlight looks at the difficulties of identity and sexuality faced by the main character, an African-American male, by examining three stages of his life:  childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.

His name is Chiron (Alex Hibbert), but some call him by the nicknames, “Little” and “Black.”  In Liberty City, Miami, Juan (Mahershala Ali), a drug dealer originally form Cuba, finds Little in an abandoned crack house, hiding from a pack of bullies.  Juan and his girlfriend, Teresa (Janelle Monae), befriend Little, and Juan becomes a mentor, of sorts.  However, Little finds himself dealing with the word, “faggot,” and with the fact that his mother, Paula (Naomie Harris), is a customer of Juan's.

Later, teen Chiron (Ashton Sanders) is a high school student.  His mother's addiction is worse, and a bully named Terrel is constantly harassing him.  Chiron befriends another teenager, Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), who likes to call Chiron by the nickname “Black,” but their friendship will be complicated by high school politics.

Later, adult Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) deals drugs in Atlanta.  He tries to reconcile with his mother.  Also, after receiving a phone call from him, Chiron travels to Miami to reunite with an adult Kevin (André Holland) to explore what could have been.

In the moonlight, black Black boys look blue (or purple, as some people say).  I think what immediately makes Moonlight stand out is what a beautiful Black boy Alex Hibbert, who plays young Chiron, is.  His subtle and fiercely quiet performance gives life-blood to the early chapters of Moonlight.  Just his demeanor humanizes all young Black boys, putting them in a positive light, similar to the way other films make young White boys cute and precocious.  In this film, gay is a journey to discovery, and while that journey is difficult, it does not yield tragedy (as in Brokeback Mountain).  So Hibbert is the first leg of the relay race that carries Moonlight to Oscar gold.

When Mahershala Ali won the best supporting actor Oscar for his performance as Juan, he became the first Muslim to win an Oscar.  Although the role is small, Juan is a giant, and Ali establishes him with richness and grace.  In a way, Ali is the pillar that supports this film, and he turns Juan into the rocket that launches the story of the stages in the life of Chiron.

Naomie Harris is electric as Paula, in a role that some African-American actresses are reluctant to play.  A Black female crack addict as a fictional character is just as likely to be a melodramatic trope as it is likely to be multi-layered character.  The crack-head can be a treacherous role, but Harris picks her spots; in each scene in which Paula appears, Harris gives her another layer.  Thus, she creates a character that can engage us, rather than a caricature that annoys the audience.

In fact, all of the performances here are good and the actors have excellent characters, via the story and screenplay, with which to work.  Tarell Alvin McCraney's story is rich source material, and Barry Jenkins turns it into a screenplay for the ages, simply because it is like nothing else before it.  Moonlight is achingly and beautifully human.  Here, the Black person – straight, gay, addict, bully, etc. –  is a life, a precious life – a life that matters.  The focus is not on tragedy but on love, connectivity, and reconciliation.  This makes Moonlight the best American LGBT or gay-theme film to date.

10 of 10

Tuesday, August 15, 2017


NOTES:
2017 Academy Awards, USA:  3 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Adele Romanski – Dede Gardner became the first woman to win Best Picture twice.), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Mahershala Ali), and “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Barry Jenkins-screenplay and Tarell Alvin McCraney-story); 5 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Naomie Harris), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Barry Jenkins), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (James Laxton), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders – Joi McMillon became the first African American female to be nominated for Best Film Editing.), and “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)” (Nicholas Britell)

2017 Golden Globes, USA 2017:  1 win: “Best Motion Picture – Drama;” 5 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Mahershala Ali), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Naomie Harris), “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Barry Jenkins), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Barry Jenkins), and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture: (Nicholas Britell)

2017 BAFTA Awards:  4 nominations: “Best Film” (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Adele Romanski), “Best Supporting Actor” (Mahershala Ali), “Best Supporting Actress” (Naomie Harris), and “Best Screenplay (Original)” (Barry Jenkins)


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: McConaughey Super Sells "Dallas Buyers Club"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, nudity and drug use
DIRECTOR:  Jean-Marc Vallée
WRITERS:  Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
PRODUCERS:  Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Yves Bélanger (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Martin Pensa and John Mac McMurphy (Jean-Marc Vallée)
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/BIOPIC with elements of a historical

Starring:  Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O’Hare, Steve Zahn, Michael O’Neill, Dallas Roberts, Griffin Dunne, Kevin Rankin, Donna Duplantier, Deneen D. Tyler, J.D. Evermore, and Bradford Cox

Dallas Buyers Club is a 2013 biographical drama from director Jean-Marc Vallée.  The film is a dramatization about real-life AIDS patient, Ron Woodroof.  He discovered unapproved pharmaceutical drugs that would help his disease symptoms and then, later smuggled those drugs into Texas to help fellow AIDS patients.  The film was critically acclaimed and won three Oscars, including a best actor win for Matthew McConaughey and a best supporting actor win for Jared Leto.

Dallas Buyers Club opens in 1985 in Dallas.  Electrician, hustler, and rodeo cowboy, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) falls ill and is diagnosed with HIV.  He is given 30 days to live.  Ron initially refuses to accept the diagnosis, but quickly finds himself ostracized by friends and coworkers.  Ron learns from the kindly Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner) about the experimental drug AZT, which is supposed to help with symptoms of AIDS.  Ron is able to obtain some without having a prescription.  However, he not only abuses AZT, but he also continues to abuse illegal narcotics.

Ron develops full-blown AIDS.  As he fights to live, he begins to study and research AIDS and learns that outside the United States there are pharmaceutical drugs used to fight the symptoms of AIDS.  However, they are unapproved for use in the U.S. by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).  Ron begins to smuggle large quantities of these drugs into Dallas.  With the help of Rayon (Jared Leto), a sassy cross-dressing man/transgender, Ron opens the “Dallas Buyers Club” to sell these unapproved drugs to HIV-positive and AIDS patients, but Ron’s efforts draw the attention of people who want to shut him down.

I have seen many films that are elevated by a great performance.  Raging Bull is memorable for Robert De Niro’s legendary turn as boxer Jake La Motta.  Russell Crowe gives the most nuanced performance of his career in A Beautiful Mind.  Helen Mirren rules The Queen.  In fact, all three of these movies would be little more than made-for-television films without the celebrated performances given by their respective lead actors.

Dallas Buyers Club tells a story that needed to be told and needs to be remembered, but without Matthew McConaughey’s performance, this film would be a well-meaning TV movie or an indie film that would have been lost in the art film ghetto.  McConaughey risked his health in order to lose weight to play the emaciated Ron Woodroof, but what really makes his performance so distinguished is that McConaughey takes on Woodruff’s cause and suffering as if his own life depended upon it.

McConaughey is a good actor and has given some excellent performance.  However, in recent years, he has finally showcased his talent and skill in character study films that require putting out the effort to create fully-realized fictional characters.  Anyone who is a fan of McConaughey or has seen some of his films must see Dallas Buyers Club.

Both Jared Leto’s transformation into Rayon and his performance are impressive.  Leto was indeed Oscar worthy, but Rayon is mostly unnecessary to this story.  Although Rayon was not a real-life figure and was created specifically for this movie, he could have been replaced with just about any other character.  Leto is magnificent in a film in which the filmmakers didn’t seem to know what to do with his character other than to play him as a stereotype – the tragic mulatto version of drag queen.  Jennifer Garner’s Dr. Saks is also wasted, although not nearly as badly as Rayon is.

However, Matthew McConaughey is so good that he makes you overlook Dallas Buyers Club’s warts.  His character, Ron Woodroof, is a charming rogue with electrifying swagger.  It is as if McConaughey and Woodroof are two separate beings occupying the same space, and they are why Dallas Buyers Club earned a best picture Oscar nomination.  And that best picture Oscar nod made what would have been just an AIDS movie into something special.

8 of 10
A

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards, USA:  3 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Matthew McConaughey), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jared Leto), “Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling” (Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Jean-Marc Vallée and Martin Pensa), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack)

2014 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Matthew McConaughey) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Jared Leto)

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "My Beautiful Laundrette" Tackles Social Issues (Happy B'day, Daniel Day Lewis)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  United Kingdom
Running time:  97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  Stephen Frears
WRITER:  Hanif Kureishi
PRODUCERS:  Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Oliver Stapleton
EDITOR:  Mick Audsley
COMPOSER:  Ludus Tonalis
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/ROMANCE with elements of comedy

Starring:  Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Gordon Warnecke, Derrick Blanche, Rita Wolf, Souad Faress, Richard Graham, Shirley Ann Field, Dudley Thomas, Winston Graham, and Garry Cooper

The subject of this movie review is My Beautiful Laundrette, a 1985 British comedy-drama directed by Stephen Frears and written by Hanif Kureishi.  The movie, which was originally intended for television, was one of the first films released by Working Title Films.  My Beautiful Laundrette focuses on an ambitious Asian Briton and his white male lover as they strive to find success with a glamorous launderette (Laundromat).

In My Beautiful Laundrette, director Stephen Frears (The Hit) and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi don’t tackle issues, so much as they present a story that involves the entanglement amongst class, economics, family, politics, race, and sex.  My Beautiful Laundrette subtly presents the issues, but presents them nonetheless.  Because the issues of the film tie everyone together, every character is a legitimate player, and the viewer has to always pay attention to all the characters.  That’s heady stuff in a world where the most popular and publicized pictures are glossy films with lots of throwaway appendages.

Omar (Gordon Warnecke) is an ambitious young Asian Briton of Pakistani decent who convinces his uncle to let him manage his uncle’s laundrette.  He convinces Johnny (Daniel Day Lewis, The Bounty), an old school chum and his gay lover, to join him.  They convert the dilapidated business into a colorful and glamorous establishment as they strive for success amidst familial and social politics – Omar’s mostly immigrant family and Johnny’s racist thug friends.

Warnecke and Lewis are excellent as the young businessman who leaps at every opportunity and the disaffected youth at odds with the world respectively.  In this early role, Lewis smolders, as he would so often in the future, showing the audience that there is more, much more, beneath the surface of his character, unseen and real – the window to the character’s soul.  However, the best part belongs to an actor seldom seen in film since My Beautiful Laundrette, Derrick Branche as Omar’s cousin Salim.  Every bit as racist as Johnny’s buddies and as ambitious as any of his relatives, he is the ruthless and blunt looking glass of this story.

My Beautiful Laundrette takes a while to get going, but its documentary approach to storytelling in which the characters are like real people and not actors acting like people is worth the wait.  Much of the love and romance is tepid, probably because the filmmakers wished to convey how difficult love can be amongst people straddling the borders between warring social groups.  Perhaps, the film could have been a bit more emotional, but maybe the filmmakers wanted to play down the passion of love in favor of presenting a broader picture of the societal pressures weighing upon the characters.  The viewer can decide for himself, especially if he likes films that focus on the common everyman.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1987 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Hanif Kureishi)

1986 BAFTA Awards:  2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Saeed Jaffrey) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Hanif Kureishi)

Updated:  Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "But I'm a Cheerleader" is Weird and Wonderful (Happy B'day, Clea DuVall)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 70 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

Running time:  85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language and sexual content involving teens

DIRECTOR:  Jamie Babbit

WRITERS:  Brian Wayne Peterson; from a story by James Babbit

PRODUCERS:  Leanna Creel and Andrea Sperling

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jules Labarthe (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Cecily Rhett

COMPOSER:  Pat Irwin

COMEDY/ROMANCE/GAY 

Starring:  Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarity, RuPaul, Eddie Cibrian, Melanie Lynskey, Katharine Towne, Dante Basco, Ione Skye, and Katrina Phillips

The subject of this movie review is But I’m a Cheerleader, a satirical film and romantic comedy from director Jamie Babbit.  The film focuses on a naive teenager who ends up in a conversion therapy camp after her straitlaced parents and friends come to suspect her of being a lesbian.

You are who you are.  The only trick is not getting caught, sez Clea DuVall’s character in the uproarious satire about modern America’s desire to “get rid” of homosexuals, But I’m a Cheerleader.

Megan Bloomfield (Natasha Lyonne, American Pie) has a picture of a cheerleader in her locker, a poster of Melissa Etheridge on her bedroom wall, and likes tofu, so her parents (Mink Stole, Bud Cort) are sure she’s a lesbian.  They enroll her in True Directions, a “dehomosexualing” program that purports to make gay kids straight.  Megan, already confused, is then caught between two extremes:  the cruel, hateful, and spiteful headmaster Mary J. Brown (Cathy Moriarity) and an unrepentant rebel lesbian Graham Eaton (Clea DuVall, The Faculty) who is attracted to Megan.

But I’m a Cheerleader is probably the best satire I’ve ever seen on the subject of the American bigoted mindset about homosexuality.  It is a hilarious comedy, and the romance between Megan and Graham is heartfelt and touching in the portrayal of the girls’ awkwardly advancing towards each other.  However, the film’s sharpest barbs are simply aimed at the crass behavior and sheer ignorance of bigotry and hate directed at homosexuals.  It’s one thing to disagree with a “lifestyle;” it’s an entirely different thing to try to destroy that with which you disagree.  I won’t resort to boring speeches and politics, but But I'm a Cheerleader hilariously makes its points.

Director Jamie Babbit and screenwriter Brian Wayne Peterson are sneaky in the way they communicate the messages under cover of outrageous characters and outlandish humor.  I laughed a lot, but I have to admit that you’d have to be really dense not to get the obvious points.  Homophobes that can get the message may hate this film; after all, the creators don’t go out of the way to camouflage their satire.  It’s blunt, but not annoying.  The film is funny, even when it’s being sad.  The film does drag heavily at some moments, and sometimes I was ready for the joke to end; still, the film always picked itself up with something delightful and surprising.

It’s in the power of the film’s sarcasm and irony that we can laugh at human folly, but a part of us sees the folly in ourselves when we watch Cheerleader.  Will we ever live in a free country where people don’t have to be discriminated against because of sexual orientation?  Hell no!  People will discriminate and hate, and then go to church on Sunday and proclaim their love for GOD in vigorous screams, because GOD is all about hating faggots, right?

And that’s fine in way because human folly will keep us knee deep in really good satire like But I’m a Cheerleader for the foreseeable future.  The soundtrack’s cool, too.

7 of 10
A

Updated:  Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin" Shames Us for Forgetting

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 59 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (2003)
Running time:  84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS:  Nancy D. Kates and Bennett Singer
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert Shepard (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Rhonda Collins, Veronica Selver, and Gary Weimberg
MUSIC:  B. Quincy Griffin

DOCUMENTARY – History/LGBT/Civil Rights

I was recently searching Netflix, looking for a movie I could review in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (also known simply as the March on Washington).  I suddenly came across the name of a person involved in the American Civil Rights Movement of whom I had never heard.

That man is Bayard Rustin, and he turned out to be the perfect subject matter for this remembrance for several reasons.  One of them is that Rustin was the chief organizer (official title: Deputy Director) of the March on Washington (August 28, 1963), where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous and historic “I Have a Dream” speech.  The second reason is that there is an award-winning documentary about Bayard Rustin.

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin is a 2003 documentary film from the producing and directing team of Nancy D. Kates and Bennett Singer.  Brother Outsider was originally broadcast as an episode of the long-running PBS documentary series, “P.O.V.” – Season 15, Episode 9 (January 20, 2013).  The film was also shown at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, where it received a nomination for the festival’s “Grand Jury Prize Documentary” award.

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin presents a broad overview of Rustin’s life.  Rustin was an American leader and activist in several social movements, including civil rights, gay rights, non-violence, and pacifism.  Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1912, and Brother Outsider follows his life from there.  West Chester is where Rustin began his life as an activist, when as a youth he protested Jim Crow laws.

The film chronicles Rustin’s arrival to Harlem, and his subsequent involvement in communism and later in the anti-war movement.  The film also recounts Rustin’s run-ins with the law enforcement officials over his activities and also how he was monitored by the FBI.  The film discusses Rustin’s life as an openly gay man, which got him into trouble, both with police and with his colleagues and contemporaries.  Of course, the film’s centerpiece is Rustin’s long involvement with the Civil Rights Movement, so the film covers the March on Washington.  There is also an examination of Rustin’s relationship with Dr. King and with his mentor, A. Philip Randolph.

Rustin’s friends, family, companions, and figures from the Civil Rights Movement speak on camera about Rustin.  That includes Civil Rights figures such as Eleanor Holmes Norton, Andrew Young, and actress Liv Ullmann.  The film uses a lot of archival footage, which includes film and video of Dr. King, Malcolm X, Strom Thurmond, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Robert F. Kennedy, and President Lyndon Johnson, among many.  Brother Outsider also includes a sequence from the 2001 HBO movie, Boycott, starring Jeffrey Wright.

In a recent article for CNN.com, writer and CNN contributor LZ Granderson talks about Bayard Rustin’s marginalization in Civil Rights history, which Granderson attributes to homophobia among some African-Americans and in some segments of the black community.  Running through Brother Outsider is the question asking why Rustin remained in the background of the Civil Rights Movement, never really coming forward.  I don’t think the film ever directly answers that question.

Watching the film and understanding the pariah status that gay people had in the United States for the majority of Rustin’s life, one can understand that Granderson is likely right.  Rustin’s status or lack thereof in Civil Rights history has been affected by his being openly gay.  Rustin was both a “brother,” to many in the social movements in which he participated, but his sexual identity also made him an “outsider.”  For portraying this, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin won the GLAAD Media Award for “Outstanding Documentary” in 2004.  Rustin’s place in history is being restored.  On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Bayard Rustin (who died in 1987) the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

As a documentary about the Civil Rights Movement, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin is essential, not only because it brings Rustin to light, but also because it is a good overview of the movements that preceded the Civil Rights Movement.  The film also draws attention to the figures that both influenced the movement before it began and also built the movement in its early days.  Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, as a documentary, is essential Civil Rights viewing.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards:  1 nomination: “Black Reel Television: Best Original Program” (Public Broadcasting Service-PBS)

2004 Image Awards:  1 nomination: “Outstanding TV News, Talk or Information-Series or Special”

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

http://rustin.org/

For the time being, LZ Granderson’s CNN.com column, “The man black history erased,” can be read (as long as the article remains posted) here or http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/opinion/granderson-rustin-erased

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

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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Review: "Red State" a Horror Movie That Does its Own Thing

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 85 (of 2011) by Leroy Douressaux

Red State (2011)
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence/disturbing content, some sexual content including brief nudity, and pervasive language
EDITOR/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Kevin Smith
PRODUCER: Jonathan Gordon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Klein

HORROR with elements of action and crime

Starring: Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, Nicholas Braun, Stephen Root, Matt Jones, Kerry Bishé, Kevin Alejandro, Ralph Gorman, James Parks, and Kevin Pollack

Red State is a 2011 horror film from director Kevin Smith (Clerks.) Smith chose not to distribute the film in the usual manner through theatres. Instead, he took Red State on tour showing it before small audiences. Perhaps, this unusual manner of exhibiting a film reflects that this is a highly unusual horror movie.

How unusual is it? Well, there are things that happen in this movie that will be familiar to audiences, but not familiar as something seen in the typical horror movie. This will leave you shocked, scratching your head, put-off, and/or entertained. Still, Red State is, for me, one of the most enjoyable film experiences I’ve had this year. I can’t get some of this movie out of my mind.

Three high school boys: Travis (Michael Angarano), Jared (Kyle Gallner), and Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun) are horny enough to screw anything, so when they get an online offer for some nasty sex, they travel to woodsy Cooper’s Dell and into big trouble. Meanwhile, gay-, liberal-, Jew-, brown people-hating pastor, Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), and the parishioners of his Five Points Trinity Church get ready to rock with Special Agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman) and the ATF.

Red State has heavy political overtones, heavier religious overtones, and heaviest of all, social and cultural overtones. The film seems to fold elements of the horror movie, Hostel, into the real life events of the Waco siege. This siege occurred in 1993 and was a standoff outside Waco, Texas between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and a religious sect, the Branch Davidian, which ended with the death of 76 people. In fact, Abin Cooper and his flock also bear a resemblance to controversial Pastor Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church. Ultimately, writer/director Kevin Smith seems to be saying “a pox on both your houses” to both the church and state entities in this movie.

Red State is a horror movie because of the suspense, the abduction sequence, and the torture, and also because of the general brutal violence and mayhem. I don’t want to give away too much, but the events of the film and the way the characters act – both onscreen and off – amount to a horror show and would be considered horrifying to most people. What I like most about this film is that it is simply different and is an audacious and bold effort by a filmmaker, Kevin Smith, who has largely underutilized his talents or been underutilized. Red State is an example of untapped potential. Perhaps because of budget restraints, Smith does not take a number of subplots and character relationships far past the point of introducing them. Fully developed, they could have transformed this already good film and made it even better.

Finally, I should mention that there are a number of strong performances in Red State, with Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, and John Goodman as the standouts. Parks and Leo at least deserve consideration for Oscar nominations for their performances here. Leo just won a best supporting actress Oscar (for The Fighter), but her turn here as the religious zealot/nut who is also a fiercely loving mom could wrestle your imagination to the floor and pin it. Parks is a revelation as Abin Cooper, a fanatic with rock-solid, unshakeable faith; Parks makes you believe that this guy is real and for real. There are a number of reasons to see this. Believe it or not, the acting may be the best reason to see Red State.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, October 22, 2011

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