| |
Kam Williams
Excellent..........*****
Very Good........****
Good................***
Fair.................**
Poor...............*
|
50 Cent's 2 Cents on Shooting Scenes,
Samuel L., and His Son 25 Cent
The Get Rich Or Die Tryin' Interview
Born Curtis James Jackson, III in South Jamaica, Queens on July 6, 1975, 50 Cent has eclipsed his mentor Eminem as the pre-eminent gangsta rapper of the day. Like Marshall Mathers did with 8 Mile, Fitty decided to make his feature film debut by keeping it real with a semi-autobiographical docu-drama.
Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which was directed by Jim Sheridan and co-stars Terrence Howard and Joy Bryant, chronicles the efforts of an orphan-turned- drug dealer to extricate himself from a dead-end life on the streets to pursue a hip-hop career.
50 Cent
KW: How did you find it making your first movie?
50: I kinda prepared myself prior to comin’ there. I made sure I knew all the dialogue and everything. And I’m always on time with the things I’m supposed to do.
KW: Did you find it a challenging experience?
50: Sometimes it was freezing out there in Toronto, Canada. I felt that we coulda picked a place better than this.
KW: How about emotionally, given that it’s your life story?
50: Actually, shooting the scenes, for me, wasn’t that difficult, because it actually happened different from what I experienced. I was just concentrating on making sure my physical performance as the shots were going off were accurate. And now when I look back at it, I think I did a great job.
KW: Isn’t this supposed to be autobiographical?
50: It is loosely base[ed] on my life story and is about 75 percent factual.
KW: What about the death of your mother?
50: The scene with mother actually wasn’t done accurately. My mother’s situation was someone put something in her drink, and then turned on the gas to cut off her oxygen.
KW: What were the hardest scenes to shoot?
50: The difficult points was rapping like I didn’t know how to rap, and being believable at that point. When we got to those scenes, I just kinda made up stuff. Then I had to remember it, because we did it over and over a few times.
KW: Why is it that whenever your name comes up, the first thing that people seem to talk about is the fact that you were shot nine times?
50: That’s because they’ve heard the story over and over through different media outlets and different publications. They’ve never heard me say, "You know what? I been shot." I don’t never bring it up.
KW: Then why does the media continue to focus on that aspect of your past?
50: I think it’s something that they find some significance in, and ask me questions about it. I think it’s because a lot of the people interviewing me haven’t been subjected to those things. They’re not actually from an environment where those things happen. And they’re intrigued by it. Since I’ve been touring, I’ve been places where there’s next to zero gun violence, where the police officers don’t even carry guns. I said, "What?"
KW: Do you consider your scars a sort of red badge of courage that gives you street credibility?
50: Me? I think it’s unfortunate to have to experience something like that. Or even be close to it.
KW: How do you respond to those people who complain about what they see as harmful messages being delivered by gangsta rap?
50: There are more standards placed on music as an art form than are place on any other forms of entertainment. We haven’t seen a gun or a weapon on the cover of a CD that was distributed by a major record company since probably 1987, KRS-One’s Criminally Minded.
KW: I did not know that. In some cities, like Philly local activists have successfully lobbied to have the billboard for this movie taken down, because it shows you holding a gun in one hand, a microphone in the other.
50: We probably see weapons used to market other film projects, more than we see people’s faces. Nobody has a problem with that. But as soon as they see me with a gun on a billboard, they go, "Oh my God, this is promoting violence. This is dangerous."
KW: Why do you think that happens?
50: They believe the possibilities of me doing something wrong are higher, because they’ve had references to rappers being in shootouts, or being shot in situations, but they don’t realize that these people still live in the environment where this goes on. So, when they go home to it, they are subjected to the same things that are there, where the price of life is cheap.
KW: What do you think of Samuel L. Jackson decision not to compromise his integrity by making movies with gangsta rappers?
50: That was actually good, if he was looking for press. Samuel Jackson is the special case of a person who forgets that he is in the entertainment business. Some people go to college for acting and everything, but because no one knows them, they’re not a better business deal than it is to make a film with 50 Cent. I sold 11 million records for my first album. And for everyone who bought it, there was someone who stole it. So, you got to say I’m generating the interest of maybe 22 million people.
KW: Would you make a movie with Sam if he changed his mind?
50: I’m not upset with him, but I don’t see where he would actually fit into my film, outside of playing my grandfather. His last two films [Star Wars and The Man] actually sucked. He should have brought some of that integrity to the last two that he did.
KW: Rappers always seem to be proud of keeping it real. Would you say that money has changed you at all?
50: Anyone who tells you that money don’t change you, just didn’t make enough.
KW: What’s your priority in life now?
50: When my son [25 Cent ] came into my life, my priorities changed, because I wanted to have the relationship with him that I didn’t have with my father. His life is different, based on I’ve been able to provide a different environment for him to grow up in. He’s still been altered by some of the scenarios and situations that I’ve been through.
KW: Like what?
50: He actually was in the house when I got shot.
KW: Did he see you wounded and bloody? That must have been traumatic.
50: No, he heard the shots go off, but he never saw me. He just seen me in the hospital after.
KW: Do you spoil him?
50: I can give him more than I received as a kid and not overdo it. I try not to overspoil him. He can’t have any and everything he wants. He doesn’t ask for much. It doesn’t take much to really make him happy. That’s it.
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
*
50 Cent Dies For our Sins
in Disappointing Screen Debut
50 Cent may very well be the Second Coming of Christ, as suggested by the pose he adopted on billboards announcing the arrival of his unapologetically gruesome screen debut, but I ain’t buying it. The ad features Fitty, as his loyal fans refer to him, arms extended in a pose similar to that of Jesus on the cross, except that the gangsta rapper is holding a gun in one hand, a microphone in the other.
Sadly, the message delivered by Get Rich or Die Tryin' isn’t any deeper than that, as this picture is a rather unremarkable gangsta flick filled with all the stereotypical staples of that ghetto fabulous genre, including my favorite, the ubiquitous scene of skinny, scantily-clad sisters with cannonball implants inexplicably standing around counting stacks of ill-gotten cash in the back room of a seedy-looking drug den.
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Be that as it might not, this intrepid critic made the dumb decision to catch the flick in the ‘hood in order to put my finger on the pulse by monitoring the reaction of the targeted teen demographic. So, after consulting an expert on clothing color etiquette, to make sure that my outfit wouldn’t offend either Crips or Bloods, I slipped into a seat near the front, knowing that there was a good chance some folks would be yelling back at the screen.
However, what I wasn’t prepared for was all the brazen cell phone usage scattered around the audience. There was this one brother a few rows in back of me who, and I am not making this up, carried on a very distracting conversation about a pro athlete for what must have been about 20 minutes, and in a slightly louder than normal tone of voice.
I know what you’re thinking. What did I do? No, I wasn’t about to suggest that he curtail his call, given the track record of rap-related gatherings. You tell him. I didn’t even turn in his direction. Now, before anybody jumps to conclusions, let me state for the record that I am well aware that this rude behavior isn’t just a Black thing. About a year or so ago, I made a mental note of a significant cultural shift when I observed that even White people were no longer embarrassed about answering phones right in their seats, and that they, too, were ignoring "Ssshhh"es.
But I digress. Get Rich or Die Tryin' purports to be the autobiography of 50 Cent, as it chronicles the native New Yorker overcoming his mom’s murder via the familiar drug dealer-turned-rapper route bragged about in every other mobster’s music video. This emotionally dishonest movie makes a lot of his being shot nine times, but never examines any of the fallout of his chosen lifestyle in depth.
The fictionalized plotline has 50 referred to as Marcus, though I’m not sure why, since it’s obvious who it’s all about. The disgusting dialogue is strictly street, such as when his love interest, Charlene (Joy Bryant) is called a "Stuck up bitch!" for ignoring his posse’s crude overtures. It’s never adequately explained exactly why this attractive, well-spoken, relatively-refined young lady would immediately throw over the "nice guy" she was with to hook up with a childhood friend who was a hoodlum going nowhere fast.
When not promoting misogyny, Get Rich turns its attention to ethnic intolerance via a profusion of Latino and Black slurs. The script is also given to spouting fortune cookie-sounding rules of survival, like "Show no love. Love will get you killed." This asinine aphorism is subsequently affirmed when a sadistic slimeball later admits that like a black widow spider, "I [f-worded] her. Then I killed her." What a charmer.
Veteran actor Bill Duke, meanwhile, is nothing short of a disaster, inadvertently hilarious, channeling the spirit of Marlon Brando to do his best Godfather imitation as the gravel-throated Levar, here, a kingpin without a conscience. And it doesn’t help matters any that he’s dressed like he just wandered over from the set of a Seventies blaxploitation flick.
FYI, Terrence Howard, 50 Cent, and a bunch of other male characters appear naked together, full frontal, which has me wondering whether this might be a new trend, given that I just witnessed the same sort of group grope, shower antics in Jarhead. Then there’s the equally shocking scene where a mobster coolly walks up close to a police car and simply blows away the unsuspecting officer sitting behind the wheel. What mantra is that gratuitous sequence supposed to be implanting? That killing cops is a good thing?
This irresponsible, over-extended vanity vehicle was directed by six-time Oscar-nominee Jim Sheridan who ought to know better than to foist insulting trash like this on the public. Afterall, this very proud Irishman has made some marvelous pictures before about his own people and homeland including inspirational offerings like In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot, and The Boxer, and after he emigrated, his own life story, the very touching In America.
No such luck with this feature which, by contrast, fails to keep it real at every turn, especially all the credibility-testing Canadian locations which bear no resemblance to The Big Apple. While I’m inclined to continue critiquing this fiasco ad infinitum, ad nauseam, enough venting already, since nothing in the power of my words could possibly prevent a review-proof flick with a built-in following from enjoying phenomenal box-office success.
Let me save my breath for a case where what I have to say might actually make a difference.
Rating: R for full frontal male nudity, topless female nudity, gratuitous violence, pervasive profanity, incessant ethnic slurs, graphic sexuality, and the promotion of drug use.
Running time: 134 minutes
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Aristide and the Endless Revolution
*****
Overthrow of Haiti’s Aristide Revisited
By Damning Documentary
If you only followed the story in the mainstream press, then you probably have little understanding of why Haiti’s duly elected President, Jean Bertrand Baptiste, was deposed in 2004, and all with the considerable involvement of the U.S. military and other nations supposedly dedicated to democracy. But now, thanks to Nicolas Rossier, who took the time to uncover the long-suppressed ugly underbelly of the story, we have a better understanding of the series of tragic events which led to the toppling of the Baptiste government.
And it is this untangled web of deceit, betrayal and political violence which is chronicled in Aristide and the Endless Revolution, a damning documentary which raises some serious questions about the Central intelligence Agency’s role in the popular president’s ouster. The film asserts that, in fact, this coup d’etat marked the fourth such American intervention into the affairs of Haiti in the last 90 years.
Even Aristide himself had been deposed once before, in 1991, also allegedly at the direction of the CIA. Why would Uncle Sam seek to overthrow this much beloved, former parish priest who had been swept into office by an overwhelming majority of the vote?
This illuminating production hints that the answer might have to do with his advocating reforms which might adversely affect American business interests monetarily, such as a campaign for reparations for this poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Sadly, Haiti has only gone downhill since Aristide, with the land being marked by political instability and a further decline in the already woeful standard of living.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the dubious Bush Doctrine of unilateral intervention as ostensibly implemented here, in Iraq, and who knows where next.
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 95 minutes
Distributor: Baraka Productions
Cape of Good Hope
*****
Cross-Cultural, Female Empowerment
Set in South Africa
Cape of Good Hope is a cross-cultural enterprise which gives you plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about the world. Set in post-Apartheid South Africa, this female empowerment flick was written and directed by the husband-wife team of Suzanne (daughter of actress Diahann Carroll) and Mark Bamford. These American expatriates, who moved to Cape Town with their two kids about five years ago, make a most impressive feature film debut, here, with this engaging ensemble piece which devotes equal time to each of its principals’ relationship issues, one of whom is Black, one White, one colored.
The three women are all connected by an animal shelter which serves as the hub which holds the story together. Housekeeper Lindiwe (Nthati Moshesh) is a single-mom struggling to find a way out of the slums to provide better opportunities for her family. She has an ardent admirer in Jean Claude (Eriq Ebouaney), a refugee from the Congo who is trying to decide whether to follow his heart or to seek political asylum in the West.
Cape of Good Hope
Sharifa’s (Quanita Adams) marriage is in crisis because her husband (David Isaacs) has been hesitant about visiting a fertility clinic, even though she has been unable to become pregnant. Finally, we have Kate (Debbie Brown), the self-destructive owner who gets along better with dogs than she does with men. As the movie opens, we find her emotionally involved with a married man, while ignoring the overtures of a kindly widower (Morne Visser) who is also interested in her.
What makes this movie marvelous is how deftly it incorporates a social consciousness right into the plot, such as when Kate’s boyfriend tries to rape Lindiwe while she is cleaning his home. When her enraged son learns of the attempted violation, he throws a rock through the creep’s window and is arrested. A showdown looms as Kate must choose sides. Will she remain loyal to a White guy who has never been there for her, or help free a kid who she know had good reason to act out?
How come Hollywood has never figured out how to make such relevant and seemingly simple character studies?
Rating: PG-13 for sex, expletives, violence and mature themes.
In Afrikaans, English and Xhosa with subtitles.
Running time: 107 minutes
Studio: Artistic License
Derailed
**
Owen and Aniston as Blackmailed Cheaters
In Multi-Layered Revenge Thriller
It doesn’t take long for Charles Schine (Clive Owen) and Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston) to come to regret the fateful morning they met each other. It all starts out innocently enough on the train during their daily commute downtown from suburban Chicago.
First, after overhearing the handsome, well-dressed stranger tell the conductor that he’d doesn’t have any money, she lends him the nine dollars he needs to pay for his ticket. Then, the pair proceeds to strike up a casual conversation about their jobs. A rapport is established when Charles jokes about his questionable ethics as an advertising executive ("I con housewives.") while Lucinda is just as flip about her own immoral behavior as a financial advisor ("I cheat clients.").
This exchange enables the two admitted con artists to forge a fast-friendship, and they continue to sit next to each other regularly on the ride to work. Soon, sparks begin to fly when, instead of discussing deceiving their clients, the conversation ventures to the subject of deceiving their spouses.
Both subtly hint that they might be interested in an extra-marital affair, and eventually their flirtatious behavior escalates to an evening rendezvous for drinks. Alcohol inflames passions to the point where they rent a room in a seedy hotel, but what happens next turns their plans for infidelity into a never-ending nightmare.
For even before they get a chance to consummate their illicit liaison, a feloniously inclined Frenchman (Vincent Cassel) breaks in, beats up Charles, and rapes Lucinda. Worse, the sadistic creep issues a demand for hush-money, threatening to inform their partners unless they come up with a substantial amount of cash.
Thus unfolds Derailed, a gritty revenge thriller which unfolds like a cross between Fatal Attraction and Death Wish. Though adapted from the James Siegel best seller of the same name, something must have happened to this book on the way to the screen. Besides changing the villain’s ethnicity from Latino to Hollywood’s post 9/11 favorite, French, this picture runs downhill rather rapidly after setting up its intriguing premise.
The film’s fatal flaws reside in its preponderance of preposterous plot twists along with an absence of a protagonist one is inclined to root for, since neither of these shameless philanderers proves to be particularly endearing. The only sympathetic character supplied by the script is Charles’s diabetic daughter (Addison Timlin), because her father forks over savings set aside for a medical procedure imminently needed to save her life.
Of course, after a crisis in conscience, he realizes he has to get the cash back, regardless of the emotional toll the truth may take on his family, or the amount of blood which must be shed to settle the score.
|
|
As a consequence, Derailed is ultimately derailed by an over-indulgence in gore. More shocking than gripping, blame must be placed at the feet of both director Mikael Hafstrom, who makes an inauspicious English language debut here, and scriptwriter Stuart Beattie who exhibited a similar proclivity for gore and a celebration of an anti-hero in Collateral.
My educated guess this go-round is that audiences aren’t quite ready for adultery as a cause celebre.
Rating: R for sex, expletives and graphic violence.
Running time: 107 minutes
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Ellie Parker
***
Naomi Watts Flips Mulholland Drive’s
Script as "Ellie Parker"
Naomi Watts made quite a splash as the femme fatale at the center of Mulholland Drive, David Lynch’s mind-bending psychological thriller about a very gullible aspiring actress, new to Hollywood, who gets caught up in a murder mystery after befriending an amnesia victim. Now, Naomi is back in a similar role as the title character of this comic portrait of another struggling thespian trying to make it in Tinseltown.
Ellie Parker marks the promising directorial debut of child actor-turned-writer/director Scott Coffey. Coffey appeared in such coming-of-age classics as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind of Wonderful, Space Camp, Shag, and Zombie High. Shot on a shoestring budget on personal use-quality videotape, this super-realistic picture has the look of a home movie.
The camera follows the mercurial Ellie around from audition to audition by day and in and out of steamy clinches by night. Essentially, we see the basic, day-to-day life of an unknown actress with more mood swings than Sybil. She chain smokes, swears like a sailor, practices lines, and agonizes over this relationship, that friendship, her stalled career, and her manager (Chevy Chase) who’s too blasé to offer much in the way of encouragement.
The fatal flaw of this flick, which is admittedly amusing in spots, lies in its aforementioned low production values. Unfortunately, the visuals seriously interfere with one’s ability to take what’s up on the screen seriously at all. To their credit, the Oscar-nominated Watts (for 21 Grams) and the rest of the cast throw themselves enthusiastically into the often outrageous plotline. An A for effort, counterbalanced by an F for using unprofessional equipment. This equates to a C grade, overall.
If this really qualifies as a feature film, then I might have made one, too. I think I’ll call it, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation."
Rating: Unrated with plenty of profanity, and female frontal nudity, including one fairly graphic sex scene.
Running time: 94 minutes
Studio: Strand Releasing
Oscar Winner Jamie Foxx on
Katrina, Kanye and More
The Jarhead Interview
After playing a patriotic Navy pilot taking on terrorists in Stealth, Jamie Foxx’s next outing, Jarhead, has this year’s Oscar-winner (for Ray) back as an enlisted man in another military-oriented adventure. This time out he plays a sergeant in charge of a squad of Marines sent to the blistering desert during the 1991 Gulf War in the Middle East. Here Jamie, a Texas native, talks about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, some of which he witnessed firsthand.
Jamie Foxx
KW: Why did you agree to be the spokesperson for the NAACP’s disaster relief fund for Hurricane Katrina?
JF: Actually, what we’re trying to do is get the NAACP to reach out to young Black folk, because most of us don’t even know what NAACP means to the average the average 15, 16, or 17 year-old. So, it was a great opportunity to kind of bridge that gap. And it was all for a good cause.
KW: What was your role as spokesperson? Was it essentially promotional and for fundraising or did you get a chance to visit the region and meet with some of the victims?
JF: We went down to Houston, and we went down to Dallas to see for ourselves, how devastating it was for those people. Coming from Texas, it was also fun to go back to my roots and to be able to hang out with some of the preachers who were involved. It was an incredible experience.
KW: People must’ve been surprised to see you show up?
JF: It was amazing when you walk in there and the faces light up. And by having the NAACP there, it gives us a chance to restart that. We need somebody young. We need someone that can inject some energy into the cause.
KW: What was the situation like for the survivors?
JF: It was so sad, you feel overwhelmed by it. There were some bright stories. I’ll never forget seeing the difference between Black generations in the grandmother speaking and the young girl speaking. The grandmother was in a wheelchair, and when I walked over and asked, "How’re you doing?" She said, "Well, you know God told us to wade in the water. Jesus is good. We’re strong and we will survive. I know that this is just a test for us." And then, immediately, the daughter goes, "Tell him how they did us. Tell him how they changed the Superdome to the Niggerdome. Tell him how they held guns on us and forced us on buses. Tell him about the woman who asked for help to bury her husband who was told, ‘Just throw his nigger ass in the water. That’s all we’re going to do with him anyway.’ So, that was interesting to see."
KW: How were you able to help them?
JF: By being in the NAACP, I sat with those folks and said, "This is what we’re trying to do. I’m trying to make sure that they don’t forget about you down here, because what’s going to happen is eventually the story is not going to be hot anymore, and it’s going to be running down at the bottom of the ticker-tape. But the great thing, when we were down there, it was everybody helping. You’d look up and see White folks from Texas, Black from North Carolina, I mean people from all over really helping. A lot of stories that didn’t get shown.
KW: Your acceptance speeches earlier this year at the Oscar[s], the Golden Globes and elsewhere were very inspiring in terms of your personal triumphs and your grandmother who raised you. Given that you’ve made a couple of military movies this year, will you comment on the war, if you win again for one of these?
JF: Dick Gregory told me this, "Whenever you get the chance to speak to the multitudes, make it count." And that’s what you do, if it comes up. What I think is great about this movie coming out at this time is it keeps it in the air. It keeps people talking about it. It’s like, now, when you go out and you meet these guys, hanging out on the aircraft carrier, or you go perform for them, it’ll at least open up the dialogue some more as far as whatever the hottest thing in the media is concerned. I mean, what is our end game? It looks bad. It looks like it’s going to be like this for a long time, like it’s just going to be part of our culture. Kids that are coming up, and their kids, are going to be dealing with this war for a number of years. I still sit there and wonder, sometimes, like, how can we even have war in these times? It seems so primitive. You always question how does war happen.
KW: What did you think of Kanye West’s complaining about the lack of response to Katrina and his saying George Bush doesn’t care about Black people?
JF: It’s easy to focus all the attention on Kanye. "How dare this rapper do this!" A lot of people went nuts over what he said, but the guy was absolutely frightened out of his mind, when he said it. He’s a hero in the Black community, because somebody needed to say something. And if you listen to his CDs, he’s always been that way. But this was his chance to speak to the multitudes, and I think he did a great job. It raised questions, since not one person out of George Bush’s White House went, "Hey, I think we need to get down there, things are going crazy!" So, I’m not going to sell Kanye down the river just because a lot of people think what he said wasn’t cool.
KW: Do you think his remarks might have gone too far?
JF: That’s my friend. Whatever he said, I stand by him. He made a good point. Think about what the Presidency used to stand for. When we were coming up as kids, it looked like the most heralded job, and you had to be the smartest, and like a father, where the United States is your family. Now, it’s almost a joke. If I was president, and my family was going through a crisis, I would have to go down there and check on my family.
KW: What’s on the horizon for you?
JF: I’m working with Michael Mann [director of Collateral] again on Miami Vice, and I have a CD called Unpredictable with a guest list which includes Kanye, Snoop, Ludacris, Mary J. Blige, Buster, it’s incredible. The first single is already out now, "Unpredictable." Somebody leaked it, so we’re scrambling to get the video done. And Dec. 23, Christmas Party at my house.
KW: What time should I arrive?
JF: Any time, brother, the door is open.
Jarhead
***
Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenhaal Buddy-Up
In Homo-Erotic War Flick
Who knew that joining the Marines meant entering a bloodthirsty fraternity of latent homosexuals? That certainly is the message very powerfully delivered by Jarhead, a picture which gives new meaning to the slogan Semper Fi ("Always Faithful") by presenting this esteemed branch of the Armed Forces as a homo heaven where enlistees eagerly engage in a group "field [F-word]" because there’s "no [P-word] within 1000 miles."
Jarhead
Set in the desert at the outset of Saddam War I, aka Operation Desert Storm, the movie is based on the memoir of the same name by Anthony Swofford. Because I haven’t read the original source material, I can’t say whether the gay overtones came courtesy of the book or if it was dreamt up by Sam Mendes, Oscar-winning director of American Beauty, which swept the Oscars five years ago. You may remember that American Beauty also turned on a same-sex scenario, the unrequited, secret, ill-fated love which a Marine Colonel in the closet felt for a married neighbor.
This go-round, the antics are among an outfit of gender-bent soldiers being whipped into shape by stogie-chomping Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx). The tawdry tale of towel-snapping is narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal who handles the role of Swofford in a sort of ethereal trance which matches the movie’s ever-majestic cinematography.
Visually, it jumps back and forth between featuring America’s overpowering military superiority and the vast expanse of desert nothingness. Musically alternating between a rap and retro soundtrack, it looks like the director was trying to do a 21st Century version of Apocalypse Now.
When not zeroing in on the men bathing or watching porn together, we see how eager these patriots are to waste "Ragheads." However, since this was one of those blink-and-you-missed-it engagements, the bulk of the squad’s stay in Iraq was spent waiting for a chance to kill enemies who ultimately never arrived. For the Air Force incinerated a million of Saddam’s Republican National Guard right on the highway, so the only spoils of war which our heroes get to enjoy is picking over the charred remains of what they refer to as "Crispy Critters."
Jarhead is just a series of disjointed, shocking, and often unintentionally humorous vignettes designed to celebrate boy-boy camaraderie while fomenting anti-Arab sentiments in the name of God, Mom, and Apple Pie. Curiously, a sense of closure only comes when the vets arrive back in the States and return to jobs and hetero-relationships as they go their separate ways. Overall, a thinly-veiled recruitment flick which slickly makes serving Uncle Sam seem like an extended frat party where somebody forgot to invite the girls.
Rating: R for pervasive profanity, male nudity, soft pornography, explicit sexuality, ethnic slurs, and graphic war violence.
Running time: 123 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures
The Swenkas
**** 1/2
South African Sartorial Splendor
Explored in Style Docudrama
Although Apartheid has long since fallen in South Africa, Johannesburg remains the home to some of the worst slums in the world. While the spirit of many shanty town dwellers might have been have been crushed by all the crime and absence of opportunity in the region’s gritty ghettos, there’s an optimistic group of blue-collar workers who have come to devote their Saturday nights to wearing their Sunday best.
These proud Zulu men refer to themselves as The Swenkas. They stage beauty pageants in which they dance in flamboyant designer outfits in order to win the weekly grand prize. I must admit to feeling more than a little uncomfortable watching this film in spots, because it doesn’t paint a pretty post-colonial picture.
For instance, consider the scene where these deferential Africans are shown smiling and swaying in order to curry the favor of a White judge. This is reminiscent of how African Americans here still straighten and dye their hair, ostensibly for approval and acceptance from the descendants of slave owners, generations after their ancestors’ emancipation.
Overall, The Swenkas is a super-realistic docudrama which walks a fine line between fact and fiction. Despite the debatable political perspective of the devotees of this unusual pastime, the movie is absorbing because of the obvious earnestness of the contestants, each of whom exhibits an endearing innocence not to be found in this relatively cynical culture. Whoever thought that independence would lead to former freedom fighters grinning from ear-to-ear while doing a Fox Trot in Pierre Cardin suits?
Liberation, Swenka style.
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 72 minutes
Studio: Film Forum
The Weather Man
*
Nicolas Cage as Morose Newscaster
In Mid-Life Crisis Comedy
Dave Spritz (Nicolas Cage) is Chicago’s most popular TV weatherman. Sadly, his cheery on-air persona masks the inner turmoil of an anguished soul adrift in a thoroughly miserable, mid-life malaise. So, fans who spot the catatonic misanthrope on the street are surprised that the real Dave bears so little resemblance to the animated, happy-go-lucky newsman they’ve come to know onscreen.
This contrast doesn’t discourage some from nagging the somber celeb for an impromptu forecast on the spot or prevent others from participating in a citywide ritual which involves impulsively pelting the beleaguered broadcaster with burgers, burritos, shakes, fries or any other handy fast food from franchise outlets like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, Burger King, 7-11, and Dairy Queen.
However, the insensitive treatment only serves to plunge Dave deeper into despair, as he is already armed with plenty of reasons to be at odds with the world. For despite the fact that he makes a quarter-million dollars a year for a job that barely taxes his brain, he is unhappy about the fragmented state of his rapidly fragmenting family, each member of which is not only dysfunctional but currently in crisis.
For one, he’s eager to reconcile with his emotionally unresponsive ex-wife, Noreen (Hope Davis), before she follows through with her plans to marry the new man (Michael Rispoli) in her life. Second, Dave is just as desperate to win the approval of his terminally-ill father (Michael Caine), a celebrated novelist who has never really appreciated any of what he sees as his son’s relatively superficial achievements.
Then, there’s Spritz’s equally alienated children, 15 year-old Mike, (Nicholas Hoult), and 12 year-old Shelly (Gemmene de la Pena). The boy is in rehab with a very attentive counselor (Gil Bellows) who might be a pedophile, while the foul-mouthed girl is overweight, smoking, dressing inappropriately and suffering from low self-esteem, due to being teased by classmates.
Dave’s efforts to juggle this quartet of strained relationships sits at the center of The Weather Man, an offensive exercise in shock cinema directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean). The movie is narrated in a zombie-like monotone by its protagonist as played by Nicolas Cage. Perhaps, with that deadpan delivery, he was going for a droll sense of the absurd, à la Bill Murray, but what ended up on screen proved to be the opposite of engaging.
Crude at every turn, the film is filled with an incessant array of expletives coming out of the mouth of virtually every character, kids included, as if the director’s primary purpose here is to shock the audience. Plus, there are unnecessarily graphic descriptions of sexuality, plenty of pie-in-the-face slapstick, some gratuitous nudity and ethnic slurs.
What little authentic tension the movie has to offer arrives when Dave is offered a promotion to a plum position at network headquarters in New York. Will he turn it down to devote quality time to his loved ones, or will he opt for a clean break, and further exacerbate the problems clearly caused by materialistic career choices in the first place? Let’s just say, some creeps never learn.
Gross, morose, and relentlessly depressing, The Weather Man is a gloomy mood piece which would never have been released if the studio had bothered to test market it on focus groups.
Rating: R for female frontal nudity, explicit sexual content, drug references, violence, crude humor, ethnic slurs and free-flowing profanity.
Running time: 101 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Zathura
*****
Thrill-a-Minute Sequel to Jumanji
Actually Improves on Original
In 1995, Jumanji, a hair-raising adventure about a couple of kids who find a magical board game which comes to life, was brought to the big screen by Academy Award-winner Joe Johnston (for Raiders of the Lost Ark’s visual effects). The film was based on the Chris Van Allsburg best seller of the same name which had been awarded the Caldecott Medal, an honor bestowed annually upon the best illustrated book for children.
Though that movie made over $100 million at the box office and kickstarted the career of then 13 year-old Kirsten Dunst, it took till 2002 for author Allsburg to publish a follow-up to his fanciful fairy tale. Now, Zathura has been adapted by Hollywood, and the good news is that it is among that rare breed of sequels which actually improves upon its original source material.
Zathura
Most deserving of any accolades for this unusual feat is actor-turned-director Jon Favreau who proves here that his previous hit, the heartwarming Elf, was no fluke. With Spielberg-like execution, he has fashioned a spellbinding, thrill-a-minute roller coaster ride guaranteed to enthrall young and old alike.
At the point of departure, we find Danny, six, (Jonah Bobo) and Walter, 10, (Josh Hutcherson) locked in some mean-spirited sibling rivalry (venturing into the profane) as they compete for the attention and approval of their recently-divorced father (Tim Robbins) during a weekend visitation. Sadly, the emotionally-distant dad perfunctorily devotes precisely the same amount of playtime to each of his sons, as if fulfilling an obligation.
The mentally preoccupied workaholic then excuses himself to attend to a job-related obligation, asking daughter Lisa (Kristen Stewart) to babysit. But this is virtually like leaving the boys home alone, as they hate their big sister even more than each other, evidenced by their referring to the self-absorbed teen by the B-word.
With Lisa listening to music upstairs in her bedroom, bored Walter grudgingly agrees to play Zathura, the dusty board game for two which Danny has just found on a shelf in the basement. Instead of Jumanji’s jungle theme, this one’s futuristic board features a Thirties Art Deco design, à la Buck Rogers.
What they soon learn is that their initial spin sets in motion a sequence of events which they must complete the game to undo. At this juncture, the picture plunges headlong the pair into a heart-stopping series of nightmares, as they look out the window and discover that the house is no longer on Earth, but hurtling through outer space.
Each card the boys draw dictates what peril will befall them next, whether a meteor shower, alien life forms, robots, gravity fields, black holes, a stranded astronaut or some other inter-galactic mayhem. While blissfully unaware Lisa is conveniently frozen in a cryogenic sleep chamber (at least for five moves) these industrious adolescents must figure out how to survive by their wits.
While the plot is primarily action-oriented, Zathura devotes sufficient attention to character development along the way, that there won’t be a dry eye in the house after a satisfying twist which delivers a big lesson about the true meaning of brotherly love.
A practically perfect family flick, slight spoiled by the presence of a couple of completely unnecessary curse words.
Rating: PG for mature themes, sensuality, action fantasy, frightening images, peril and profanity.
Running time: 113 minutes
Studio: Columbia Pictures
|
