Review: "Tupac: Resurrection" is the Story of Tupac by Tupac (Happy B'day, Tupac)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tupac: Resurrection (2003)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language and images of drugs, violence and sex
DIRECTOR: Lauren Lazin
WRITER: Lauren Lazin (treatment)
PRODUCERS: Karolyn Ali, Preston L. Holmes, and  Lauren Lazin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jon Else
EDITOR: Richard Calderon
Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY

Starring: (voice) Tupac Shakur (archival)

Released theatrically in late 2003, the Lauren Lazin-directed documentary Tupac: Resurrection earned a 2005 Oscar nomination in the category “Best Documentary, Features.” The film is a look at Tupac Shakur’s life, especially his time in the public eye, and the story is told through Tupac’s own words. Ms. Lazin and her fellow filmmakers compiled the Tupac: Resurrection from home movies, photographs, and video and film footage from interviews, concerts, and news stories, as well as images and video recordings taken behind the scenes on video shoots, on film locations, and any place Pac went, lived, and played. Tupac: Resurrection’s narration is provided by Tupac himself via archival audio from the video and film footage used for this film, as well as from interviews, journal readings, poetry recitations, etc.

Tupac was a compelling figure and remains so even after his (some would say alleged) death, murdered by an unknown gunman. The film is riveting precisely because Tupac was and still is hard to ignore and an extremely controversial public personality. Tupac often said he’d be shot and murdered, so he often seemed to be speaking as if he were observing a life already lived. That makes listening to the archival audio eerie because it really seems as if he is speaking from beyond the grave, but Ms. Lazin deserves the credit for pulling off this kind of posthumous autobiography.

Tupac narrating his rise to fame is entrancing; he seems so ambitious and hopeful in spite of his early poverty and surroundings. It is, however, disappointing to watch fame turn him into a paranoid and arrogant celebrity jerk. When he was on the rise, the contradictions of his embrace of violence and misogyny and hope for peace and respect can be viewed as the inconsistencies of a young man struggling to form a philosophy or an ideology for his life. Later, when his legal troubles mount, and he publicly feuds with enemies, both real and imagined, he just seems sad, lost, and without an adequate support system – destined for an extra tragic end.

Still, Ms. Lazin should be commended for this fine film. It’s amazing both that every bit of this film is archival material and how she is able to give such a complete picture of the public figure that was Tupac. In fact, many public figures probably don’t realize how complete a portrait of their public lives can be made from publicly available visual footage and how those portraits of them may not be how they want to be remembered. Ms. Lazin, however, made an honest documentary in which the filmmaker really allows the subject to reveal himself… even from beyond the grave. Would Tupac like what he sees, or would he even care?

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Documentary Features” (Lauren Lazin and Karolyn Ali)

2004 Black Reel Awards: 3 nominations: “Film: Best Theatrical” (Paramount Pictures); “Film: Best Song” (Tupac Shakur-performer and The Notorious B.I.G.-performer for the song "Runnin' (Dying to Live)"), and “Film: Best Soundtrack”

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Review: "Heavy Metal" Still a Fantastic Movie (30 Years Later - 1981)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 30 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Heavy Metal (1981)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour 26 minutes)
Rating:  MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Gerald Potterton
WRITERS: Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum, from stories by Dan O’Bannon, Richard Corben, Juan Gimenez, Angus McKie, Thomas Warkentin, and Berni Wrightson
PRODUCER: Ivan Reitman
EDITORS: Janice Brown, Ian Llande, Mick Manning, and Gerald Tripp
COMPOSER: Elmer Bernstein

ANIMATION/SCI-FI with elements of action and horror

Starring: (voices) John Candy, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis, Richard Romanus, August Schellenberg, John Vernon, and Percy Rodrigues

Originally released in 1981, Heavy Metal is an animated science fiction film named after a magazine of the same title. It is an anthology film made of several animated short films, with each short film connected to the others by an overall storyline. That storyline involves the quest for a mysterious, powerful object.

Some of the animated short films in Heavy Metal were adapted from science fiction, fantasy, and horror comics that appeared in Heavy Metal magazine in the 1970s. A few of the other animated short films appearing in this movie were original stories done in the spirit of the kind of comics found in Heavy Metal (which is still published today).

Heavy Metal the movie begins with an astronaut returning home to his young daughter. He shows her something he brought back, a glowing, green crystalline ball, which kills him as soon as he removes it from a carry case. Calling itself “the sum of all evils,” the green orb begins to tell the terrified daughter a series of stories about how it has influenced people and societies throughout time and space.

The audience learns that the green orb is called the Loc-Nar and also watches as people try to control it or as it controls people. A sweeping story of the battle of good against evil is told through this anthology that follows several characters over 8 short films. These include Harry Canyon, a cabbie in futuristic New York City. There is Dan, a nerdy teenager. The Loc-Nar transforms Dan into Den, a muscular barbarian (with a huge “dork”), and transports him to the world of Neverwhere. The final short film focuses on Taarna, a beautiful warrior woman who takes on a band of vicious, murderous men and monsters created by the Loc-Nar.

As an animated film, Heavy Metal is a wonder. Sure, the character animation in a few of the short films is awkward, but it is quite good in others, like the Taarna story. Heavy Metal’s designers and animators grabbed the art and graphics from Heavy Metal magazine and brought them to motion picture life with vivid, stirring animation. I cannot call Heavy Metal great, but this visually striking animated film is one-of-a-kind and an absolute delight to watch – especially if you are a comic book or science fiction fan.

7 of 10
A-

Friday, April 08, 2011

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Review: Robert Altman Signs off with Sweet "A Prairie Home Companion" (Happy B'day, Robert Altman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 157 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some risqué humor
DIRECTOR: Robert Altman
WRITERS: Garrison Keillor, from a story by Ken LaZebnik and Garrison Keillor (based upon the radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” created by Garrison Keillor)
PRODUCERS: Robert Altman, Wren Arthur, Joshua Astrachan, Tony Judge, and David Levy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman
EDITOR: Jacob Craycroft

COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Marylouise Burke, L.Q. Jones, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, and Jearlyn Steele.

Director Robert Altman’s new film, A Prairie Home Companion, is a fictionalized version of Garrison Keillor’s long running, public-radio variety show, also titled "A Prairie Home Companion." In this film, A Prairie Home Companion isn’t the fabled national phenomenon that it has been for decades (since its first broadcast on July 6, 1974), but is rather an obscure local program performed at a small local venue, the Fitzgerald Theatre (where the real Prairie Home Companion is performed), and broadcast onto a single Minnesota radio station, WLT. The film opens on what is to be the show’s final performance after the better part of four decades, as the Fitzgerald has been bought by a Texas conglomerate that is going to demolish the theatre to build a parking lot.

There is much backstage drama – the death of a long time Prairie Home performer; a mysterious woman (Virginia Madsen) who seems to bring death with her stalks the halls and stage; and the theatre security, Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), is rather self-absorbed. However, the focus is on the stage and the performers. There is the whimsical, sad sack maestro, GK (Garrison Keillor), who seems to be an undertaker as much as he is the master of ceremonies and host. His stars include the country-singing Johnson sisters, Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin), and the cowboy duo, the Old Trailhands, Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly), and more. Still, the Prairie Home performers and crew await the arrival of the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones), who will signal the end of both the show and the showplace.

Although Altman works from Garrison Keillor’s script and this concept is Keillor’s, Altman makes the film his own by employing the techniques that have made him a filmmaking legend: the improvisational chatter and babble, the characters overlapping dialogue, and the wandering, zooming cameral – sometimes orbital, sometimes a stationary eye, but always capturing the story that Altman is weaving.

The performances, although good, are mostly small, but the actors make the most of their moments. Each character is quirky, and each actor gives that part an idiosyncratic turn that makes this entire film seem special. In fact, the cast is in perfect harmony, and one can watch the actors building up to this synchronization as the characters continually interact with one another. In the end, the make Prairie Home’s final moments as a variety show an example of simple, heartwarming, old-fashioned harmony. Clearly the actors believe in their baggy and shelf-worn characters. It’s a testament to their faith in Altman and perhaps to a lesser extent Keillor’s creation.

Ultimately, A Prairie Home Companion is an unusual film, simple and sometimes profound. It’s a fantasy about a kind of public performance that has nothing to do with big event corporate entertainment or prepackaged amusements put together by media conglomerates, which have all the soul one would expect from plastic. A Prairie Home Companion begs you to watch such stellar talent create an idealized version of something from another time – variety radio programs – and watch them do it with such conviction that you don’t want to leave your strange new friends. You’re worried that someone might hurt them and stop what they do – you care.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, July 22, 2006

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Review: "Dazed and Confused" Always a Winner

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 197 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Dazed and Confused (1993)
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive, continuous teen drug and alcohol use and very strong language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater
PRODUCERS: Sean Daniel, James Jacks, and Richard Linklater
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lee Daniel
EDITOR: Sandra Adair

COMEDY

Starring: Jason London, Rory Cochran, Sasha Jenson, Wiley Wiggins, Michelle Burke, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Matthew McConaughey, Marissa Ribisi, Shawn Andrews, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, Christin Hinojosa, Ben Affleck, Jason O. Smith, Deena Martin, Parker Posey, Nicky Katt, Catherine Morris, Christine Harnos, Estaban Powell, Mark Vandermeulen, Jeremy Fox, Kim Krizan, and Rick Moser

Director Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, The School of Rock) got the attention of a lot of young moviegoers in the mid-1990’s with his comic film, Dazed and Confused. Set during the last day of school, May 28, 1976, the film recounts the exploits of the incoming freshman class and the Class of ’77 at Lee High School, situated in a small Texas enclave. The male seniors-to-be beat the incoming freshmen with wooden paddles and the senior girls haze the incoming freshmen girls by pouring food and condiments all over them. The kids buy and smoke marijuana, buy and drink beer, make out and talk about having sex, plan parties, and listen to lots of classic early to mid-70’s rock music.

The film is very laid back, but very entertaining. It may be an acquired taste, likely popular with people who are nostalgic (those who lived it and those who only know it through media) about a kind of mid-70’s suburban idyllic, an almost pastoral setting that never really existed. However, Dazed and Confused is about an ideal, and it’s a very fine version of that ideal. The acting is so natural, and Linklater directs his cast and moves the film with such an alluringly lazy pace that suggest that this small town is a paradise or utopia.

Dazed and Confused is a tale about rites of passage and the relationship among a diverse student body of geeks, stoners, athletes, snobs, etc. with such facile grace that I wish it were real. I certainly think that every movie fan should see it at least once, especially because many may find it somewhat familiar.

7 of 10
B+

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Review: "The School of Rock" is Sweetness Playing Edgy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 251 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The School of Rock (2003)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some rude humor and drug
DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater
WRITER: Mike White
PRODUCER: Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Rogier Stoffers, N.S.C.
EDITOR: Sandra Adair
Golden Globe nominee

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman, Adam Pascal, Lucas Papaelias, Lucas Babin, Jordan-Claire Green, Veronica Afflerbach, Miranda Cosgrove, Joey Gaydos, Jr., Robert Tsai, Angelo Massagali, Kevin (Alexander) Clark, Maryam Hassan, Caitlan Hale, Cole Hawkins, Brian Falduto, James Hosey, Aleisha Allen, Zachary Infante, Rebecca Brown, and Jaclyn Neidenthal with Frank Whaley (no credit)

Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a wannabe rock star kicked out of his own band. Dewey has also been mooching off his roommate, Ned Schneebly (Mike White), a substitute teacher, for years, but Mike’s girlfriend, Patty Di Marco (Sarah Silverman), wants Dewey out of the picture if he doesn’t pay his rent. In need of cash, fortune favors Dewey, when he answers a phone call meant for Ned. Dewey, pretending to be Ned, poses as a substitute teacher at an exclusive prep school. Upon discovering that the students in his particular classroom are quite musically gifted, Dewey tries to turn them into a rock band with himself as the leader. His goal is to enter the upcoming Battle of the Bands contest and win the $20,000 prize. Of course, there are complications.

The School of Rock certainly seems out of place in the filmography of director Richard Linklater, the fine director behind such fabulous films as Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Dazed and Confused. However, that this feel-good, warm-hearted, family-friendly comedy actually feels very good, is simply warm-hearted, is nicely family-friendly, and is funny is a testament to Linklater’s skill. This could have been yet another mediocre flick about a rebel who sneaks into the system and teaches the kids (the Socrates motif) to feel good about themselves, believe in themselves, and unleash their creative skills and talents. Yes, it is just another one of those films, but it works because it’s entertaining and ultimately doesn’t seem so contrived.

A lot of the credit goes to Jack Black. His performance is one of sustained madness that is a shaky house of lies built upon a flimsy foundation. Black isn’t just another funny fat guy; he’s also a movie star with an intriguing film personality. So far, he’s basically played the same person, but there is something about him that works on the big screen, even when you realize that the characters he plays are selfish and sneaky suckas. He has a look on his face and a mean glint in his eyes that suggest he deserves watching; for some reason it works.

The School of Rock is not without it’s problems. At times it seems too contrived and too long. The narrative seems bogged down in the classroom when the entire school begs to be examined, especially Joan Cusack’s uptight and anal school principal Rosalie Mullins. Ultimately, Dewey Finn is let off the hook too easily, but it leads to a sweet finale, so I can cut The School of Rock some slack.

7 of 10
B+

NOTE:
2004 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jack Black)

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Review: "Ray" is Still an Incredible Bio Film (Happy B'day, Jamie Foxx)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 222 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ray (2004)
Running time: 152 minutes (2 hours, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality, and some thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Taylor Hackford
WRITERS: James L. White; from a story by Taylor Hackford and James L. White
PRODUCERS: Howard Baldwin, Karen Elise Baldwin, Stuart Benjamin, and Taylor Hackford
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pawel Edelman
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC/BIOPIC

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry J. Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Aunjanue Ellis, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders, Curtis Armstrong, Richard Schiff, Larenz Tate, Kurt Fuller, and Chris Thomas King

Biographical films, or biopics, as they are often called, often disappoint, not because they are so often historically inaccurate to varying degrees, but because they generally desperately try to fit a long life into about two hours and change of movie running time. Ray, director Taylor Hackford’s film about the life of the seminal blues, jazz, rock, and country recording artist, the late Ray Charles, doesn’t suffer from that malady.

Hackford and his co-writer, James L. White, smartly tackle the first two decades or so of Ray Charles’ (Jamie Foxx) career. They treat the story of his tragic childhood, his relationship with his mother Aretha Robinson (Sharon Warren), and the onset of his blindness in childhood as a short fable. In it, a mother teaches her son who is losing his sight to stand on his own feet because the world won’t pity him, and she also teaches him to learn to use his remaining senses after his sight is gone. When the time comes, the mother sends the son on his way to a special school where he can grow his immense musical talents and his gift of superb hearing. The rest of the movie focuses on Ray’s public career, which saw him crossing musical genres and styles with shocking ease to tremendous acclaim and success, and his tumultuous personal life that included infidelity and drug addiction.

Hackford and White understood that Ray Charles was a great man, and their film shows it. Hackford makes excellent use of Charles’ music and gives much time to his creative process and to his explosive live shows, be they in small clubs or large public auditoriums. The writers smartly distill Charles’ life into a few subplots (with his music being the main plot) that they extend throughout the film narrative.

Whereas many biopics seem to hop around a famous person’s life, Ray, with it’s focus on subplots that run the length of the film seems like one stable narrative with a definite beginning, middle, and end. The fact that his infidelity, drug use, creative process, and financial acumen are the focus for the length of the film gives the film the sense of being about one coherent and intact story. Ray’s music is the film, and the subplots follow his musical career giving it character, color, and drama.

As much as Hackford and White deserve all the credit for making a great biopic (one of the few great films about a famous black person), they needed an actor to play Ray Charles without the performance seeming like an imitation or something from a comic skit. Surprisingly, it’s a comedian and comic actor, Jamie Foxx, who takes the role and delivers a work of art. One of the great screen performances of the last two decades, Foxx could have easily and simply done a Ray Charles impersonation (which he may have done before for “In Living Colour,” the early 90’s Fox Network comedy sketch show). Instead, Foxx seems to channel the spirit of the classic Ray Charles and creates a separate, idealized, and fully realized character from whole cloth. Foxx’s performance is so credible that you may never once think that you’re watching an actor play Ray Charles.

For from being downbeat or arty, Ray is indeed a work of art, but most of all, it is an inspiring film that celebrates the life of a great musician by being a celebration of his great music and how he created it all. Awash, in the vibrant life of a performer and filled to the brim with great songs, Ray is a special movie meant for you to enjoy.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jamie Foxx) and “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer, and Steve Cantamessa); 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Sharen Davis), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Taylor Hackford), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Paul Hirsch), and “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Taylor Hackford, Stuart Benjamin, and Howard Baldwin)

2005 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Jamie Foxx) and “Best Sound” (Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg, Steve Cantamessa, Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, and Bob Beemer); 2 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Craig Armstrong) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (James L. White)

2005 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jamie Foxx); 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy”

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Review: Well, at Least I Liked "Connie and Carla" (Happy B'day, Toni Collette)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 198 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Connie and Carla (2004)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual humor, and drug references
DIRECTOR: Michael Lembeck
WRITER: Nia Vardalos
PRODUCERS: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Tom Hanks, and Rita Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Greatrex
EDITOR: David Finfer

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, David Duchovny, Stephen Spinella, Alec Mapa, Christopher Logan, Robert Kaiser, Ian Gomez, Nick Sandow, Dash Mihok, Robert John Burke, and Boris McGiver with Debbie Reynolds

Connie and Carla was a box office dud, but I wanted to see the movie the first time I saw a commercial for it. Having finally seen the comedy/faux musical, I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. It’s a good old fashion fish-out-of-water and mistaken identity comedy, and it has two exceptional leads in Nia Vardalos and Toni Collette.

In the film, Connie (Nia Vardalos) and Carla (Toni Collette) are two struggling Chicago dinner theatre performers, making a living where they can, in this case, at an airport bar. They witness their boss’ murder at the hands of Rudy (Robert John Burke), a Russian mobster. Unfortunately, when their boss knew he was in trouble, he slipped a kilo of cocaine that belonged to Rudy in Carla’s bag. Now, Rudy wants his coke and the girls dead, so Connie and Carla head out to the place no one would think of looking for them because it has no dinner theatre, Los Angeles.

After unsuccessfully hunting for work, they pretend to be drag queens and begin a drag musical act that is so popular, it lifts the status of the club where they perform. The local drag queens and the straight community embrace them, and they turn their new boss, Stanley’s (Ian Gomez), bar into a very hot dinner theatre club. Connie also falls for Jeff (David Duchovny), the straight brother of one of the drag queens, but Jeff thinks Connie is a man, much to her chagrin. However, they left Connie’s dumb boyfriend, Al (Nick Sandow), and Carla’s equal dumb squeeze, Mikey (Dash Mihok), behind in Chicago. Before long Al and Mikey and Rudy and his musical theatre-loving henchman, Tibor (Boris McGiver) come looking for the girls. Can they save their own lives and keep the fact that they’re women pretending to be men pretending to be women secret?

Nia Vardalos’s script combines the best elements of films like Sister Act, Some Like it Hot, and Victor/Victoria, and director Michael Lembeck puts together a comedy that mixes slap stick and poignant political correctness into entertainment. It’s the most feel-good drag queen movie from a major Hollywood studio that I’ve seen, mainly because it treats it subject matter in a glossy way. The film assumes that if you’re a good guy, you accept drag queens even if you’re not 100% OK with their culture and lifestyle.

Sociology aside, the lead actresses make this film. Ms. Vardalos is just plain funny; she has a face and personality made for broad, goofy, dumb, obvious comedies. If it’s a farce or a tale about different cultures and groups thrown together, she can milk it for lots of yucks. Ms. Vardalos is also blessed with an excellent co-star in Toni Collette. Although many remember her as the put upon mother in The Sixth Sense, Ms. Collette is a fine actress who is an exceptionally good comedic character actress; she’s a pleasure to watch.

If one isn’t uptight about drag queens or gays, if one is secure with one’s sexual orientation, and if one isn’t a religious bigot, Connie and Carla is light-hearted fun. It’s not the smartest movie, but between the music, show tunes, dance routines, and broad drag queen humor, it’s darn funny.

7 of 10
B+

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Review: I Love Eminem, But 8 Mile... Not so Much (Happy B'day, Eminem)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 109 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

8 Mile (2002)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language, sexuality, some violence and drug use
DIRECTOR: Curtis Hanson
WRITER: Scott Silver
PRODUCERS: Brian Grazer, Curtis Hanson, and Jimmy Iovine
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Rodrigo Prieto
EDITORS: Craig Kitson and Jay Rabinowitz
COMPOSER: Proof
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: Eminem, Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, Evan Jones, Omar Benson, Eugene Byrd, Michael Shannon, Anthony Mackie, and Taryn Manning

8 Mile became the first film to have a rap/hip-hop song win the Oscar for "Best Song." Directed by Curtis (L.A. Confidential) Hanson, the film stars mega popular rapper Eminem, and the film went on to be an enormous hit, much to many people’s surprise. It’s a strange film, part Rocky, part Flashdance, and part Purple Rain, with a star who is very controversial musical figure and who has angered any number of easily offended groups, including gay rights advocates and feminists. 8 Mile also seemed like a strange film for Hanson to direct, considering he’d won an Academy Award for co-writing L.A. Confidential and had also directed the critically-acclaimed, but largely ignored Wonder Boys. Besides, Hanson’s prior work had been so stunningly white bread, one had to wonder if he could direct a film with a very large black supporting cast and set in urban and hip-hop culture.

Eminem plays Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith, Jr., a down-on-his-luck blue-collar worker trying to find his place in the rap game. When he leaves his girlfriend (Taryn Manning), he moves into his mom Stephanie’s (Kim Basinger) trailer, but Rabbit doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with mom’s boyfriend, Greg (Michael Shannon), who went to school with Rabbit. Meanwhile, Rabbit’s homeboy, Future (Mekhi Phifer), is trying to get Rabbit to participate in the MC battles he hosts at a rundown club. MC battles pit two rappers against each other, each rapper getting under a minute to out rap and embarrass his opponent in front of an audience. Rabbit, determined to succeed at his dream, is caught between Future’s ideas about their respective paths to hip-hop glory and the plans of a smooth taking and ambitious hustler (Eugene Byrd) who promises Rabbit that elusive industry connection.

8 Mile is really a dark and depressing film. Rabbit and his friends are mainly poor, young men barely getting by each day; to a man, each one lives with his mother. They have bad jobs, and their neighborhoods are falling down around them. It’s quite stunning how Hanson went the direct path in depicting the squalid living conditions and the sense of hopeless that pervades their environments. Even when Rabbit and his friends are together having a good time, you can’t help but notice how decrepit their city around them is or how everyone seems to own old, rickety automobiles that last saw better days in the 70’s.

Hope seems strangled in this movie, and the film’s very dry story doesn’t help matters. The script is tepid and plotless, and the characters are shallow and simple-minded character types: the violent rivals, the mean boss at work, the pitiful alcoholic parent (Kim Basinger in a performance destined to become a camp classic), the underdog, etc. I especially despised Brittany Murphy as Rabbit’s ho friend, Alex; it’s a bad performance. All Ms. Murphy does in primp and preen, trying to make her character sly, knowing and witty, but only arriving at being whorish, cheap, and dishonest.

The film is decent, but it’s mostly listless and tiresome. Even if real life is like this, art plays with ideals, and a plot would have helped this film seem like it was going somewhere. Even if Rabbit doesn’t reach his goals in the movie, the film should end with a sense of hope, and here, the sense of hope is at best ambiguous. I like Eminem, but I found 8 Mile only somewhat entertaining. If you’re not a fan of his, there’s no reason to see this listless movie. The rapper doesn’t act; he simply pretends to be a character that sulks all the time.

If there’s one reason to see this film, then it’s the rap battle near the end when Rabbit decides to face down his rap enemies on stage. Finally, Eminem seems at home in this picture. He springs to life, smiling, grimacing, frowning, and leering, as the delivery of his arsenal of lyrics requires it. Although the MC battles are fairly energetic and quite hilarious, by the time they arrive, the film is so mired in dreariness that I’d really be reaching if I told you that rap music redeems this film.

4 of 10
C

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Music, Original Song” (Eminem-music/lyrics, Jeff Bass-music, and Luis Resto-music for the song "Lose Yourself")

2003 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Eminem-music/lyrics, Jeff Bass-music, and Luis Resto-music for the song "Lose Yourself")

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Review: "The Fighting Temptations" Has Good Music and a Good Message (Happy B'day, Beyonce)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 148 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Fighting Temptations (2003)
Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual references
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Lynn
WRITERS: Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson; from a story by Elizabeth Hunter
PRODUCERS: David Gale, Loretha C. Jones, Benny Medina, and Jeff Pollack
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Affonso Beato
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch

COMEDY/MUSIC

Starring: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Beyoncé Knowles, Mike Epps, Steve Harvey, Angie Stone, Wendell Pierce, Ann Nesby, Faith Evans, Melba Moore, LaTanya Washington, Lou Myers, James E. Gaines, Rev. Shirley Ceasar, Rue McClanahan, Dave Sheridan, Faizon Love, and Eddie Levert, Sr.

Many, many movies are so hackneyed and contrived that you can see the contrivances minutes and if not hours ahead of the actual arrival time. Painfully predictable are the ideas and woefully stereotypical are the characters, but sometimes the movie is so absolutely entertaining and hilarious that it gives a bit of a jolt to the tired term “feel good movie.” Director Jonathan Lynn’s The Fighting Temptations is one that breaks away from the worn mold of which it was created. It is so awe-inspiring and uplifting that it just might have feet tapping for years to come.

Darrin Hill (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is a fast-talking junior level advertising executive who gets canned from his job for lying on his resume. He gets notice that his Aunt Sally (Ann Nesby) has died, so he returns to his hometown of Monte Carlo, Georgia for the funeral, a hometown he and his mother Maryann Hill (Faith Evans) left decades ago when Maryann was kicked from the church choir for singing secular music in a juke joint. Aunt Sally has left Darrin a small fortune ($150,000 in stocks), but to get it he has to direct the local church choir and take them to the annual Gospel Explosion music contest in Atlanta. Darrin, however, faces a stiff challenge for control of the choir from a self-righteous Christian hypocrite (LaTanya Washington). Of course, Darrin also finds a love interest in Lilly (Beyoncé Knowles), a single mother, and she mistrusts Darrin whom she sees as a slick conman.

It would be easy to point out how predictable The Fighting Temptations is, but the truth of the matter is that none of that matters. It’s a wonderful fairy tale full of toe-tapping music that takes the tried-and-true movie formula and uses it con mucho gusto to make TFT like an entirely new song. It’s almost impossible to dislike a movie that so immerses itself in Southern and “down home” stereotypes without demeaning the South. It shows that the eccentricities that are familiar to the South aren’t a bad thing, but are what makes living in the dirty worth it in spite of the bad things.

The music and singing, so big-hearted and full-throated, is what makes this film so special. The humor, however, is tart, tangy, sharp, and occasionally very edgy (especially the running commentary and satire of church people and Christian hypocrites) is also what separates it from being a paint-by-numbers R&B/gospel-flavored film. It’s so much fun, and so damn special.

The acting is pretty good, and Ms. Knowles carries herself quite well despite what previews (with scenes taken out of context) might show, plus the girl can sing down the roof with those awesome pipes. Cuba has seen better days (Jerry Maguire and As Good as it Gets), but he’s purportedly seen worse. Most of the time, he seems a bit stiff and over-compensating, but the truth of the matter is that when he’s allowed to let some of his boundless energy and sharp wit out, he’s absolutely fascinating; he just doesn’t do maudlin drama (and there’s some in this film) well.

It would be nice if a wide audience embraces this film, although early indications are that white folks are staying away. It’s a pity since The Fighting Temptations would probably entertain Southerners of all backgrounds as well as audiences who like My Big Fat Greek Wedding because TFT has a good message about love of family and home. And the music’s so damn (Lawd, forgive me) good.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2004 Black Reel Awards: 2 wins: “Best Song” (Beyoncé Knowles and Walter Williams Sr. for "He Still Loves Me") and “Film: Best Soundtrack;” 3 nominations: “Best Actress” (Beyoncé Knowles), “Film: Best Screenplay-Original or Adapted” (Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson), and “Film: Best Theatrical”

2004 Image Awards: 1 win for “Outstanding Motion Picture” and 1 nomination: “Actress in a Motion Picture” (Beyoncé Knowles)

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Review: Sylvain White Made "Stomp the Yard" Step with Fire

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 79 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Stomp the Yard (2007)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for a scene of violence, some sexual material, and language
DIRECTOR: Sylvain White
WRITERS: Robert Adetuyi (based upon Gregory Anderson’s earlier screenplay)
PRODUCERS: William Packer and Rob Hardy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Scott Kevan (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: David Checel
NAACP Image Awards nominee

DRAMA/MUSIC/ROMANCE

Starring: Columbus Short, Meagan Good, Ne-Yo, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Brian J. White, Laz Alonso, Valarie Pettiford, Jermaine Williams, Allan Louis, Harry J. Lennix, Allan Louis, and Chris Brown

In the film, Stomp the Yard, “stepping,” an ages-old style of dance done by African-American college fraternities, takes center stage. Steppers demonstrate complex moves and use their bodies to create rhythmic sounds (slapping their legs, clapping their hands, stomping their feet, etc.) While the drama is certainly good, this film’s electric vibe is the result of both Sylvain White’s direction and Dave Scott’s choreography.

After the shooting death of his brother, Duron (Chris Brown), Darnell James Williams or DJ (Columbus Short), a talented Los Angeles street dancer, finds himself in Atlanta with his Aunt Jackie (Valarie Pettiford) and Uncle Nate (Harry J. Lennix) and attending the historically black college, Truth University. As DJ struggles to adjust to this new world, much of it about class and privilege, his life becomes even more complicated when two rival fraternities recruit him. Mu Gamma Xi has won the college step championship for 7 years in a row. Theta Nu Theta wants to win, and they see DJ, with his hip-hop inspired moves, as the stepper who will get them over Mu Gamma’s title hump. However, it is DJ’s romance of April Palmer (Meagan Good), the refined daughter of Dean William Palmer (Allan Louis) and the girlfriend of Mu Gamma’s star stepper, Grant (Darrin Dewitt Henson), that just might derail his college career.

It is of great importance to reiterate how good the film’s raucous dancing is and how much of the film’s drama is invested in these astonishing dance moves. That’s why quite a bit of the film’s success should be credited to Dave Scott, who also choreographed You Got Served. Scott skillfully blends various dance styles into something new and very explosive.

Still, it’s director Sylvain White (I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer) who builds a sustainable narrative structure and riveting character drama out of the dancing. For the film’s opening minutes, White creates a sequence that is as intense and visually vibrant and forceful as anything in the film 300, which was released about a month after Stomp the Yard. White adroitly balances the eye-popping dance numbers with the drama of college life. In fact, White has directed the most realistic film about African-American college life since Spike Lee’s School Daze.

White makes the best of his leads, Columbus Short, who is more willing as an actor than he is skilled (so far), and Meagan Good, who is pretty but still very raw as an actress. Short is an accomplished dancer, having toured with Savion Glover’s “Stomp” dance extravaganza. Through the duo of Short and Good, however, White makes potent social statements about class conflict amongst African-Americans and also poverty and justice, and all the while, Stomp the Yard dances until your heart and spirit soar with these stunning steppers.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, May 18, 2007

NOTES:
2008 Image Awards: 3 nominations: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Columbus Short), “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Sylvain White), and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Meagan Good)

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Review: Acting is "The Runaways'" Driving Beat

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 62 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Runaways (2010)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, drug use and sexual content - all involving teens
DIRECTOR: Floria Sigismondi
WRITER: Floria Sigismondi (based upon the book Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story by Cherie Currie)
PRODUCERS: Art Linson, John Linson, and William Pohlad
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Benoît Debie
EDITOR: Richard Chew

BIOGRAPHY/MUSIC/DRAMA

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Stella Maeve, Scout Taylor-Compton, Alia Shawkat, Riley Keough, Johnny Lewis, Tatum O’Neal, Brett Cullen, and Hannah Marks

The Runaways was an all-girl, teenage rock band, active from 1975 to 1979. The band’s membership included, among others, musicians Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie. The 2010 film, The Runaways is a fictionalized account of the band’s formation in 1975 with an emphasis on Currie and Jett’s relationship until Currie left The Runaways. The film is also part biopic as it is based upon Currie’s 1989 book about her teen years, Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway (co-written with Tony O’Neill).

The movie opens by introducing two rebellious Southern California teens. First is Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), the product of a dysfunctional home; she spends a lot of time with her sister, Marie (Riley Keough), going to parties and getting wasted. The second is tomboyish Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) who plays guitar and is trying to form an all-girl rock band when she meets rock producer and impresario, Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon). Impressed by Joan and interested in her idea, Kim begins to work with Joan to put a band together. During their search, they encounter Cherie, the hot blonde type that Kim believes the band needs

Under Kim’s Svengali-like influence the group, known as The Runaways, quickly becomes a success. The band’s raw musical talent, tough-chick image, and edgy performances earn them a growing following that spreads beyond America’s shores. However, a tour to Japan only exacerbates both the growing tensions within the group and Cherie’s drug abuse.

The Runaways has plenty of the things that every rock biographical movie needs: sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Writer/director Floria Sigismondi (known for directing music videos) depicts the power of sex, the danger of drugs, and the voltage of rock ‘n’ roll with the grit and decadence of the 1970s as the backdrop. Sigismondi even gives this movie one unforgettable rock ‘n’ roll moment – a music video-like sequence in which the movie version of The Runaways perform the real band’s signature hit, “Cherry Bomb.” Sigismondi captures her five young actresses conjuring the rowdy charm that made The Runaways a hit.

The film also has something that only the best biographical films have – wall-to-wall great acting. Dakota Fanning gives a layered, textured performance as the deeply troubled and pill-addicted Cherie, and one can only hope that if Fanning doesn’t flame out like the real Cherie Currie, the young actress will have a long career full of excellent performances.

Kristen Stewart’s performance as Joan Jett is about trading off moments of overacting with moments of high quality acting, but throughout this movie, she has the kind of screen presence for which many actors would sell their souls. Michael Shannon is blistering as Kim Fowley, mixing bullying tactics and charisma to create a character who could sell water to Aquaman. Scout Taylor-Compton makes the most of small part as lead guitarist Lita Ford in way that makes me wish the character had more screen time.

This movie is really a quick overview of the creation of The Runaways and their rise and fall, so the story always feels as if it has left out something big. The character development is anemic, but the actors’ excellent performances bring the characters to life anyway. All the actors, but especially Fanning, Stewart, and Shannon, have so bought into their characters that they make The Runaways electric and engrossing.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, August 07, 2010

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"American Hardcore" is a Potent Rock Documentary

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 58 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

American Hardcore (2006)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive language including sex and drug references
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Paul Rachman
PRODUCER/WRITER: Steven Blush (inspired by his book, American Hardcore: A Tribal History)
EDITOR/CAMERA: Paul Rachman
DOCUMENTARY – Music, Retrospective

Starring: Henry Rollins, Edward Colver, Flea, Paul “H.R.” Hudson, Ian MacKaye, and Moby

Director Paul Rachman and writer Steven Blush joined forced to created the music documentary, American Hardcore, tracing punk rock music’s turbulent history from 1980 to 1986. The filmmakers focus on “thrash” hardcore bands and the punk music scenes in cities such as Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C., and various locales in California. They also explain the cultural and political backdrops and social context in which hardcore was born.

The thesis of American Hardcore is that hardcore began in 1980 and ended in 1986, although some will argue that new and different versions of it continued after ’86. The film also says very little about the pre-hardcore bands like The Ramones or Sex Pistols or that period of 1977-80 that set the stage for hardcore. The film is really a quick and broad overview of the hardcore punk scene that, while it might frustrate hardcore fans, experts, historians, etc., is easily digestible for people who know little or nothing about hardcore (including this reviewer).

Rachman packs the film with archival concert footage, which is something akin to a revelation when seeing these kinds of performances for the first time. It’s just mind-boggling to watch all that youthful energy and mania – both onstage and in the crowd. This film also features many photographs by Edward Colver. For many viewers, next to the concert footage, the best material in the film will be the many interviews with members of hardcore bands active during the 1980-86 period:  Bad Brains, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Gang Green, MDC, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and many more. There are even appearances by musicians influenced by the scene (Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Moby). The best thing about American Hardcore is that it offers something for everyone from punk rock fans to newcomers, and while the film seems to lose energy after the first hour or so, it’s still fun to watch and an eye-opening experience.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, March 30, 2007

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Review: "Black Snake Moan" Shameless and Sultry

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


Black Snake Moan (2006)
Opening date: Friday, March 2, 2007
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content, language, some violence, and drug use
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
PRODUCERS: John Singleton and Stephanie Allain
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amelia Vincent, ASC
EDITOR: Billy Fox, A.C.E.

DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake, S. Epatha Merkerson, John Cochran, David Banner, and Michael Raymond-James

From the writer/director of the Academy Award-winning Hustle & Flow, Craig Brewer, comes the new film, Black Snake Moan. Named after a Blind Lemon Jefferson song (“black snake” was the darkness coming over him), the film follows an embittered black man and a loose white woman coming together for some healing. In spite of the title, this pulp fiction is a blues-drenched tale featuring the kind of ordinary poor folks who stay out of sight and out of mind in our pop culture, but their pain and longing is familiar.

Blues musician Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) finds a white girl: half naked, beaten unconscious, and left for dead on the side of a road near his house. After taking her in, Lazarus learns that the young woman’s name is Rae (Christina Ricci) and that she is the town tramp from the small Tennessee town where they live. Lazarus nurses Rae back to health, but also decides to cure Rae of her wicked ways. He chains her to his radiator in an attempt to get her to slow down and contemplate the future. Desperate to resume her wicked ways of sex and drugs, Rae offers her body to Lazarus if he sets her free. He won’t, and she’s unrepentant. Now, who breaks first?

With the dark, throbbing beat of north Mississippi blues and Scott Bomar’s aching score behind it, Black Snake Moan is a sensational film about sin, redemption, and human imperfection. It glorifies nothing, but proudly says that “it is what it is.” The movie is as odd as many classic 70’s exploitation films. Moan’s characters are like real people. They are fallen and sin often, but they certainly have a God-given right to redemption – to seek it and to attain it.

Brewer’s scandalous and audacious concept aside, he’s smart enough to write inventive, unique scenarios set in poor, rural communities, but even smarter to allow his actors to take these impoverished characters, setting, and plot to bring out the richness of their lives. Samuel L. Jackson is a dangerous, dark, bitter chocolate soul as Lazarus, who is righteous and is nursing a need to get some male vengeance. Christina Ricci is outrageous as Rae, a former abused child beset by a relentless, urgent demon that gives her a hard lust for copulation. Both make outrageous characters familiar because at their core, they just want honest love and friendship just as we all do.

In fact, the supporting cast is quite good. Justin Timberlake as Rae’s soldier boyfriend, Ronnie, shows a felicity for emotion and vulnerability; he reveals so much of the character in his eyes and through his emotive facial expressions. John Cothran as the Lazarus’ preacher friend, R.L., makes a nice God-fearing balance to Lazarus.

Brewer and his director of photography, Amelia Vincent, compose the film is a very deliberate fashion. This unconventional film is shot in a precise manner, which grounds the story and gives it an air of authenticity and realism. In the end, Black Snake Moan’s classical look allows the viewer to focus on this peculiar drama. By skillfully directing his cast and getting the best of his creative staff, Craig Brewer, makes the audacious, the unacceptable, and the forbidden palatable. The blues soundtrack and bluesy score also parallels the film’s intense yearnings and longings. You might find yourself laughing, but this tale of love, betrayal, sex, and liberation from pain is unforgettable because at the heart of the scandal is a familiar tale of wounded humanity.

8 of 10
A

Tuesday, March 6, 2007