Viva

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Sixties Revisited in Steamy Satire of Sleazy Sexploits

The Sixties gave rise to a practically plot-free form of sexploitation film which amounted to little more than a lame excuse to have curvy coeds cavort across the screen in assorted states of undress. Perhaps the king of this sleazy genre was Russ Meyer a purveyor of low-budget smut with suggestive titles such as “Eve and the Handyman,” “Naked Camera,” “Erotica,” “Wild Gals of the Naked West,” “Europe in the Raw,” “Heavenly Bodies,” “Skyscrapers and Brassieres,” and “Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!”
Viva pays homage to that sordid chapter in the annals of cinema in much the same way that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez recently tipped their director’s caps to cheapo scary movies from the Fifties with their nostalgic double feature “Grindhouse.” The picture is the brainchild of Anna Biller, who not only wrote and directed her alternately hilarious and hedonistic adventure, but stars in it as well.
The story is set in Los Angeles in 1972, which is where we find perky best friends Barbi (Biller) and Sheila (Bridget Brno), bored suburban housewives stuck in stale, unsatisfying marriages. Not long past the point of departure, the former is left by her husband, Rick (Chad England), while the latter and her hubby (Jared Sanford) agree to go their separate ways.
This gives the curious girls free rein to indulge their every sexual fantasy, from swinging to orgies to nudism to free love to prostitution. What’s best about Viva is the way in which the production faithfully conforms to the sensibilities of the aforementioned skin flicks, except perhaps for adding an anachronistic dash of refreshing female empowerment to the mix.
Otherwise, our exhibitionistic heroines incessantly involve themselves in nearly naked antics against a campy backdrop of appropriately gaudy color schemes reminiscent of the period. With the kinky action underscored by an appropriately seedy, soft-porn soundtrack, it all adds up to a trippy, tongue-in-cheek peep show.

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 120 minutes
Studio: Anna Biller Productions

Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder

Breaking Free:
My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder
by Herschel Walker
with Gary Brozek and Charlene Maxfield
Foreword by Dr. Jerry Mungadze
Touchstone Books
Hardcover, $24.95
256 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4165-3748-9



Book Review by Kam Williams

“For most of my life, from childhood onward, I had a form of mental illness that enabled me to be simultaneously a fierce competitor…and a quiet unassuming man who let his actions do the talking. When I was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) shortly after I ended my playing career, I wasn’t certain if what I was being told about myself was true…
When my doctors explained to me that I had developed other personalities (aka “alters”) to help me cope with and survive the pain, alienation, and abuse I experienced as a child and adolescent, I was skeptical.
This book… is a part of my coming to terms with this diagnosis... I want to be sure that readers understand how difficult this is for me [because] I wasn’t aware of the multiple personalities who existed in my mind… I now understand that there may have been as many as twelve distinct alters enabling me to cope with my reality.”
Excerpted from the Author’s note (pages xiv-xv)

In 1982, Herschel Walker won the Heisman Trophy for being the best college football player in the country while only a junior at the University of Georgia. The gifted running back then left school early to turn pro, going on to enjoy gridiron greatness during a 15-year career, first in the fledgling USFL, and then in the NFL.
What neither Herschel or anyone else around him knew, however, was that he’d been suffering since childhood from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), what is commonly referred to in layman’s terms as multiple personalities. With 20-20 hindsight, this helps explains how he could be so brutally violent on the football field, yet behave like a pussycat away from the game.
But after he retired from the sport, he found it harder and harder to integrate his assorted personas, presumably because he no longer had an outlet for his more aggressive and anti-social alter-egos. As a result, he bottomed-out by not only cheating on but putting a loaded gun to the temple of Cindy, his college sweetheart and wife of 16 years. That ruined the marriage, and the couple divorced, agreeing to share custody of their son, Christian.
Fortunately, Herschel sought out therapy for his inexplicable mood swings, and was eventually diagnosed as having DID by Dr. Jerry Mungadze. Apparently, experts disagree about whether the disease really exists, especially since it seems to affect only people in North America.
Nonetheless, in Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Walker claims his affliction was triggered by the stress from being teased as a child for stuttering and being fat. But I would hazard a guess that even a casual reader of this revealing autobiography would wonder why he doesn’t pin the blame on an incident he witnessed at the age of six when one of his friends was carted off by noose-wielding Ku Klux Klansmen in sheets.
I suspect that perhaps it was either the influence of his shrink or his two collaborators on the book which led Herschel to play down the near lynching. Regardless, the memoir is worthwhile for the shockingly-honest look it offers inside the troubled mind of a revered sports icon.

Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is… (Season Two) DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: BET’s #1 Rated Reality Series Released on DVD

Picture a cross between The Beverly Hillbillies and Jerry Spitzer and you have a good idea of what to expect from Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, the highest rated series on the BET Network. The popular reality show offers viewers an unblinking look inside the dysfunctional family life of Keyshia Cole, the Grammy-nominated R&B diva who burst on the scene in 2005 with her platinum-selling debut album, also entitled The Way It Is.
There’s a reason why this TV program is #1 with viewers, namely, it appeals to an even lower common denominator than I Love New York and The Flavor of Love combined. The only reason to watch this jaw-dropping train wreck is if you enjoy laughing at trashy nouveau riche putting on airs while making absolute fools of themselves.
Keyshia’s kin are so impulsive, ignorant and self-destructive that giving them their 15 minutes of fame in this fashion borders on a cruel form of exploitation. First, there’s family matriarch, Frankie, a toothless, reformed crack whore and recently-paroled ex-con with seven children by lots of different men. (“We don’t like none of her Baby Daddies.”) She has no idea whether Ken, a stranger claiming to be Keyshia’s father, is telling the truth, so she asks him to take a DNA test.
Then there’s sister Neffe, an alcoholic with three young daughters. She’s married, technically, but her hubby left her for her first cousin a year ago. At the start of the series’ second season, Keyshia essentially rescues her relatives by relocating them away from their toxic environment in Oakland to a sprawling mansion in suburban Atlanta.
But bad habits die hard, despite unequivocal house rules, such as “no conjugal visits.” So, it is no surprise when Neffe somehow ends up pregnant again. Too bad kindhearted Keyshia can’t bring herself to listen to her financial advisor who suggests that she worry about herself and forget about everyone else.
Slumming for couch potatoes!

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 154 minutes
Studio: BET/Paramount Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, plus two featurettes, “Frankie Reveals” and “Meet Keyshia’s Glam Squad.”

Zoë Saldana: The Blackout/Vantage Point Interview

with Kam Williams

Headline: Zooming in on Zoë

Zoë Yadira Zaldaña Nazario was born in New Jersey on June 19, 1978, but raised in Queens till her father died in a car accident when she was ten. At that point, her immigrant mother moved the family back to the Dominican Republic where Zoe enrolled in an elite ballet academy.
She returned to America for her junior year of high school, which is when she developed an interest in acting, although she also had to take a part-time job at Burger King. After making a well-received screen debut in a Center Stage, a ballet-driven ensemble drama, Zoe landed lead roles opposite the likes of Kirsten Dunst in Get Over It, Britney Spears in Crossroads, Nick Cannon in Drumline, Tom Hanks in The Terminal, Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean and Bernie Mac in Guess Who.
Here, the rising young star shares her thoughts about Blackout, Vantage Point and some of her upcoming films.

KW: Hey, Zoë, thanks so much for the time.
ZS: Of course, absolutely!
KW: What interested you in Blackout and in playing Claudine?
ZS: Well, as a New Yorker, I’d been there during the blackout. So, when I read Jerry’s [writer/director Jerry LaMothe] script, I just felt like it was pretty much right on with all the things that had happened. And it felt like a grounded script where the characters were very real and tangible. The story between Claudine and James itself, about two people trying to make it work after being left traumatized by 9/11, and experiencing setbacks, seemed so normal to me. So, it felt really good.
KW: What was it like for you during the actual Blackout of 2003?
ZS: I was caught with my entire family in the City [Manhattan], and the girls and I were going to go on like a spa day, and all of a sudden everything just turned off. We were uptown, at like 55th and Park, and we had to walk from there all the way to Forest Hills. It was kinda crazy.
KW: What do you see as the basic idea behind Blackout?
ZS: It was inspired by real events that happened, so it’s designed to show how people deal with pressure in different ways. How some people just break, some take advantage of other human beings, and others are helpful and become completely sympathetic to the less fortunate.
KW: Would you consider Center Stage as your breakout film?
ZS: Well, it was my first movie. It gave me a taste of what it was I could be doing in this business. And I really saw myself doing it, and I kinda liked it.
KW: How did so many great roles immediately start coming to you one after the other in blockbusters like Drumline, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Terminal and Guess Who?
ZS: I think it’s a combination of having a good team behind you, fighting for you, and continuing working on your craft. I like to study, even when I’m not preparing for a role. I think it’s very important. It just keeps you on your toes.
KW: I think even some of your smaller movies, like Premium have been great. I thought that was a charming little love story.
ZS: I’m glad you liked it.
KW: How did you enjoy making Vantage Point surrounded by such a stellar cast?
ZS: What do you think? I was blown away by [director] Pete Travis and by the opportunity to work with all these amazing actors, primarily Forest [Whitaker], William Hurt, Dennis Quaid and Sigourney Weaver. But I was so looking forward to working with this director after seeing a film he did called Omagh. I was so impressed with his touch, how he’s able to make things feel so real without altering anything.
KW: Yes, I loved Omagh, a very moving Irish film about the aftermath of an IRA bombing. I gave it four stars. I see that you’ll be playing Lieutenant Uhura in the next Star Trek movie. Did you discuss the role with Nichelle Nichols, the actress who originated the role?
ZS: Yes, I did meet her, and I was so humbled to have met such an icon. She’s an amazing woman and a strong human being. That was very interesting, as was working with Leonard Nimoy [the original Mr. Spock]. I felt like the entire cast and myself were honored to be filling in the shoes of the original [Starship] Enterprise [cast]. We really hope we don’t disappoint.
KW: Given all the loyal Trekkies, I’d guess that you’ve got a guaranteed hit on your hands. What about The Skeptic which you made with Tom Arnold?
ZS: Oh, yes, that was fun. I made that almost three years ago. I kinda wish for the movie to come out, but we’re still keeping our fingers crossed.
KW: You’ve worked with Spielberg in the past, and now you’re working with another Oscar-winning director, James Cameron, in Avatar. Are you in the process of filming that one now?
ZS: We actually filmed it all last year, and yes, we’re going to come back and do some pick up shots later on this Spring. But it’s going marvelously. He such an amazing director. It’s been a great experience.
KW: Do you still make your home in New York or have you moved to Los Angeles?
ZS: I live in L.A. now.
KW: Where in L.A. do you live?
ZS: [Giggles] I’d rather not say.
KW: Nosy Jimmy Bayan, “Realtor to the Stars” wants to know just the general neighborhood.
ZS: I’m a very private person. You know that. I live in an area where there are too many New Yorkers, and I’m so happy about that.
KW: Can you still go to the mall or the movie theater like a regular person?
ZS: Of course I can.
KW: The Columbus Short question: Would you describe yourself as happy?
ZS: Yeah. I like that question.
KW: Well, thanks again for the interview. I’ve loved your work thusfar, and I’m eager to see what’s in store.
ZS: Thank you so much. Have a good day.

Baby Mama

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Barren Businesswoman Seeks Services of Surrogate Mom in Fish-Out-of-Water Comedy

Despite proudly rising to the rank of Vice President of Development at Round Earth, a growing chain of organic supermarkets, Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) isn’t totally emotionally fulfilled. It’s readily apparent that the 37 year-old workaholic’s successful career has come at a considerable personal cost.
For she now hears her biological clock ticking and is desperate to start a family, although she doesn’t even have a man in her life. To top it all off, she’s just learned from her gynecologist that she only has a one-in-a-million chance of becoming pregnant anyway.
Fearing that she might never have that kid she craves, Kate decides to enlist the assistance of Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver), the owner of Philadelphia’s most reputable surrogate mother service. And after receiving adequate assurances that the agency has the perfect candidate lined up, she pays the $100,000 fee to have her fertilized eggs implanted in the womb of Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler).
Then, after receiving word that her supposedly model surrogate is, in fact, pregnant, Kate starts preparing for the impending arrival of her little bundle of joy by reading all the right childcare books and by baby-proofing her apartment. Soon, however, when Angie shows up at the door unannounced needing a place to live, the truth about her begins to emerge.
Turns out that she isn’t happily married as billed, but has just broken up with her slacker boyfriend, Carl (Dax Shepard). Relatively-refined Kate lets Angie move in and belatedly gets to know the gum-snapping, fast-food junkie carrying her infant.
The ensuing yuppie-meets-blue collar tensions which arise provide the bulk of the yucks in Baby Mama, a fish-out-of-water comedy marking the directorial debut of Michael McCullers. The film pits Saturday Night Live’s Amy Poehler against the show’s former star/head writer Tina Fey in a surprisingly-subdued, estrogen-fueled class war.
The picture’s only weakness is that the pair’s antics pale in comparison to those exhibited by the low-class trash you can find making fools of themselves any day of the week on the average episode of the Jerry Springer Show. Amy’s lame portrayal of Angie proves to be an unconvincing example of art imitating life, so consequently, Baby Mama is a flick without any real baby mama drama.
Gratefully, this deficiency is slightly offset by several inspired performances sprinkled among a stellar supporting cast, including Steve Martin as Barry, Kate’s aging hippie boss; Greg Kinnear as her love interest; Romany Malco as her affable doorman; and Maura Tierney, as her concerned sister. Still, about the best that can be said for this formulaic, instantly-forgettable romp is that it’s above average for an SNL alum vehicle.

Very Good (2.5 stars)
Rated PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, crude humor and a drug reference.
Running time: 99 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Film Review by Kam Williams



Headline: Sleazy Sequel Pales in Comparison to Laff-a-Minute Original



When Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) burst onto the screen four years ago, we found the nerdy stoners careening all across the State of New Jersey in a weed-fueled haze on a munchies-craving quest to find a White Castle restaurant which was open all night. That irreverent road flick was a laff-a-minute riot funny enough to land on this critic’s Ten Best List for 2004.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Harold & Kumar 2, a pointless downer which fails to measure up to the first either in terms of humor or taste. This is an excellent case study in a sequel’s simply increasing the sleaze factor while pay scant attention to virtually every other aspect of the production.

The picture’s troubles start with the replacement of director Danny Leiner with a pair of first-timers, John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. While Messrs. Hurwitz and Schlossberg did create the title characters and write the script for the original, they were very obviously in over their proverbial heads in taking on this new challenge.

Against their better judgment, they opted to skimp in terms of the casting, failing to ask such seasoned comics as Anthony Anderson, Fred Willard, Jamie Kennedy and Bobby Lee, and veteran crowd pleasers like Ryan Reynolds and Luis Guzman to reprise their roles. Another flaw lies in their editing which fails to replicate the first adventure’s madcap pace, almost as if they expect the production to pass muster on the strength of the screenplay alone.

But these haphazardly cobbled together skits prove to be less than compelling. Consequently, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay reads like little more than just a really raunchy variation on Cheech and Chong.

At the point of departure we find the pot-loving protagonists boarding a plane for Amsterdam where they plan to imbibe legally while looking for Maria (Paula Garces), the heartthrob Harold has been admiring from afar. However, when Kumar impatiently decides to get high in the bathroom, an already suspicious passenger mistakes his bong for a bomb.

So, he and Harold are immediately subdued by federal air marshals who figure them for Al Qaida and North Korean terrorists working in concert. They are then shipped off to the infamous Guantanamo Prison, though they make a break for it when forced to fellate their guards. And the chase is on.

Next, they make their way back to the U.S. with the help of a boatload of Cuban refugees, and the balance of the practically-pointless plot puts the freewheeling fugitives in a series of sordid situations dreamt up by the mind of a demented degenerate. The humiliation endured by our hapless heroes ranges from finding goat poop on a pillow to having ejaculation shot into a face to being urinated on by Ku Klux Klansmen to something called a cock meat sandwich.

The film also features prolonged male and female full frontal nudity, a President Bush impersonator smoking weed and that Neil Patrick Harris (aka Doogie Howser) in another cameo.

A crass, classic, take-the-money-and-run ripoff which squanders a golden opportunity to make a statement about racial profiling, the Patriot Act and the Geneva Conventions in favor of serving up a mindless teensploit laced with shockingly-graphic images.



Fair (1 star)

Rated R for profanity, male and female frontal nudity, ethnic slurs, sexuality, crude humor, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Running time: 102 minutes

Studio: New Line Cinema

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le Papillon) DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams



Headline: DVD Features Adaptation of Stroke Victim’s Memoir



On December 9, 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby (1952-1997) suffered a massive stroke which left him in a coma for three weeks. When he regained consciousness, he was completely paralyzed except for being able to blink his left eye.

At the time of the devastating disaster, the freewheeling, 43 year-old editor-in-chief of Elle Magazine (played by Mathieu Amalric) had left his wife (Emmanuelle Seigner) and three kids for the arms of a mistress (Agatha de la Fontaine) who would abandon him soon after his accident. So, it’s no surprise, then, that this unfortunate soul would soon be consumed by both self pity and overwhelming regret.

This is the dire point of departure of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a bittersweet bio-pic based on Bauby’s inspirational memoir of the same name. We see that with the support of very dedicated physical (Olatz Lopez Garmendia) and speech (Marie-Josee Croze) therapists, and the encouragement of Claude (Anne Consigny), the woman who dutifully recorded his dictation, he was helped to transcend his seemingly hopelessly straits and to write a best seller about his feelings and fantasies.

To convey Bauby’s mental metamorphosis cinematically, the movie cleverly widens its visual perspective from narrowly reflecting his physical limitations to one allowing for an assortment of conventional camera angles.

By initially relying on this cinematic device, director Julian Schnabel conveys all the more effectively the plight of the protagonist post-transformation.

Recalled by life, and egged on by his support team, Jean-Dominique discovers that he still has access to cherished memories and a boundless imagination, and so he pours himself into the project with abandon. Unfortunately, he only lived just long enough to see the book published, as he passed away a few days after its release.

The Sea Inside meets My Left Foot.



Excellent (3.5 stars)

Rated PG-13 for nudity, sexuality and some profanity.

In French and English with subtitles.

Running time: 112 minutes

Studio: Buena Visa Home Entertainment

DVD Extras: Director Julian Schnabel’s commentary and interview with Charlie Rose, “The Making of” featurette and more.

Wetlands Preserved DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams



Headline: Rockumentary about Green NYC Nightclub Released on DVD



In 1989, Larry and Laura Bloch opened Wetlands Preserve in a rat-infested dive on Hudson Street in lower Manhattan. What made the groundbreaking nightclub different from others in the seedy section of the city was its eco-friendly orientation and commitment to activist causes ranging from the environment to animal rights. Reviving the spirit of the Sixties’ Woodstock Generation, the Blochs set an anti-corporate social agenda which put people and the planet before profits.

As a result of the owners seeing humans as more than objects to be exploited, the unorthodox rock club cultivated a counter-cultural clientele while also attracting an eclectic array of performers. Regulars included Blues Traveler, Macy Gray, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Erykah Badu, Branford Marsalis, Pearl Jam, Hootie & the Blowfish, Jill Scott, Spin Doctors and The Roots. In addition, Wetlands served as a proving ground for up-and-coming unknown bands like Screaming Headless Torsos and The Murder Junkies.

Over the dozen years the place was in business, a portion of its nightly proceeds were donated to various groups aligned with its progressive ideas. Unfortunately, the popular haunt began to slide into a decline when it was targeted for harassment by the Giuliani Administration. During that reign of terror known as “zero tolerance,” the club was ticketed for the slightest of transgressions, even receiving a $50 summons for each poster placed around town by acts booked to appear.

The coup de grace was delivered on 9/11, when the terrorist attack on the nearby World Trade Center altered the landscape of and access to the neighborhood. Part nostalgic remembrance, part rebellious rallying cry, Wetlands Preserved is a fitting tribute to those intrepid souls who dared to try to carve out an altruistic utopian escape right in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a most materialistic metropolis.



Excellent (3.5 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 97 minutes

Studio: First Run Features

DVD Extras: Outtakes, two live jam performances at the club, photo gallery and a list of everyone who ever played at the club.

How She Move DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams



Headline: Preppie Returns to Ghetto Roots in Dance Drama Out on DVD



Raya Green’s (Rutina Wesley) dreams of becoming a doctor seem to be dashed when her elder sister dies of a drug overdose. Sadly, the tragedy leaves her overworked West Indian parents so strapped financially that they can no longer afford their surviving daughter’s prep school tuition.

This means Raya will have to return home and attend the local public high school. Worse, she’ll have to try to survive the streets of the same crime-infested neighborhood that took her sibling’s life.

Back in the ‘hood, Raya puts her ambitions on hold temporarily and focuses more on fitting-in than on excelling, so she won’t be ostracized as an egghead. However, when she’s exposed for dumbing herself down at the blackboard by her math teacher, her punishment is to tutor a truly struggling classmate twice a week after hours.

Trouble is, like oil and water, the personalities of hard-edged Michelle (Tre Armstrong) and relatively-refined Raya don’t mix. What’s worse, Michelle doesn’t appreciate it when the newcomer suddenly starts hanging out with her “Step” crowd.

Rava’s curiosity about the elaborately-orchestrated dance routines was piqued when she learned about the upcoming Step Monster Competition with a $50,000 grand prize. She figures that if she can find a team that will allow her to join, she just might win the seed money to get her out of the ghetto again.

Although its premise might sound suspiciously similar to that of Stomp the Yard, How She Move is superior in almost every way, especially in terms of character development, chemistry and choreography.

Be prepared to root for Raya for the duration of this satisfying saga, as she sheds tears, studies and stomps her way to the big stage, all while handling an array of pressing teen dilemmas in a refreshingly intelligent fashion for an inner city melodrama.



Excellent (4 stars)

Rated PG-13 for profanity, sexuality and drug use.

Running time: 91 minutes

Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment

DVD Extras: Three behind-the-scenes featurettes and a theatrical trailer.

Glass

Film Review by Kam Williams



Headline: Career of Modern Classical Composer Revisited by Reverential Retrospective



I first became aware of Philip Glass when I saw Koyaanisqatsi (1982), the otherwise silent cinematic tribute to nature for which he wrote the perfect score. Now in his seventies, this master modern classical composer remains as driven as ever to crank out his experimental operas, symphonies, movie and dance scores and more.

This eponymous bio-pic exposes the man to be a recluse who compulsively divides his time between music and meditation, which might not be a problem except for the fact that he has a couple of young kids with his fourth wife, Holly Critchlow, a cutie pie who’s about half his age. She has a meltdown about midway through the movie over the realization that they want different things out of life.

It seems that she’d like for him to be more involved with the family, while he can’t pull himself away from the piano and sheet music, which are obviously not merely his passion but serve as his therapy as well. At least the couple have a summer home in Nova Scotia, so the children don’t have to stay cooped up in an apartment in New York City, although even while on vacation, their daddy continues to work non-stop.

We do learn that, once a year, he takes a day off for an annual trek to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone, the ancient amusement park’s mammoth roller coaster. We also see that like a lot of self-absorbed geniuses, he’s given to eccentric (hates overhead lighting) and misanthropic (could careless whether he’s appreciated) tendencies. This means he’s adamant about using desk and table lamps and is perfectly content if those who don’t like his music pass on it and go listen to someone else.

Too bad he just can’t spare sufficient quality time to satisfy his offspring and troubled spouse. An intimate peek into an elite mind, warts and all.



Very Good (2.5 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 112 minutes

Studio: Koch Lorber Films

Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening May 2, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Iron Man (PG-13 for intense sci-fi violence and brief suggestive content) Screen adaptation of the Marvel Comics series features Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role as a billionaire industrialist/genius inventor turned crime-fighting superhero intent on saving the planet from evil villains bent on world domination. Cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Samuel L. Jackson and Hilary Swank, with a cameo by the character’s creator, the legendary Stan Lee.

Made of Honor (PG-13 for profanity and sexuality) Romantic comedy about the predicament of a womanizing bachelor (Patrick Dempsey) who decides to propose to his platonic best friend and confidante (Michelle Monaghan) only to have her return from a European business trip already engaged to a rich Scotsman (Kevin McKidd). With Kelly Clarkson, Sydney Pollack and Kadeem Hardison.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

The Favor (Unrated) Bittersweet drama about a lonely photographer (Frank Wood) who rekindles a romance with the recently-divorced childhood sweetheart (Paige Turco) he hasn’t seen in 25 years only to end up raising her troubled teenage son (Ryan Donowho) alone after she suddenly dies in a car accident.

Fugitive Pieces (R for sexuality) WWII flashback flick, adapted from Anne Michaels’ novel of the same name, chronicles the harrowing tale of survival of a Polish boy (Stephen Dillane) who escapes to Canada by way of Greece after witnessing the slaughter of his parents at the hands of the Nazis.

Hollywood Chinese (Unrated) Documentary examines cinematic portrayals of Asian-Americans from the Silent Film era to the present, revealing Hollywood’s disgraceful history of stereotypes and discrimination.

Mister Lonely (Unrated) Offbeat comedy about a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) working in Paris who is invited by a Marilyn Monroe look-alike (Samantha Morton) to move into a seaside Scottish castle with her and a host of other celebrity wannabes, including Charlie Chaplin, Madonna, the Pope, the Queen of England, Abraham Lincoln, James Dean, Shirley Temple, Sammy Davis, Jr., Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Stooges. Cast includes magician David Blaine and director Werner Herzog.

Redbelt (R for profanity) David Mamet directs this martial arts saga about an honorable jiu-jitsu master (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who finds himself losing face when forced by financial circumstances to go on the prize-fighting circuit reluctantly in order to pay off his debts. Ensemble cast includes Emily Mortimer, Tim Allen, Joe Mantegna, Rebecca Pidgeon, Alice Braga and Ricky Jay.

Son of Rambow (PG-13 for violence and reckless behavior) Coming-of-age comedy, set in England in the Eighties, about a fatherless boy (Bill Wilner) raised in an Amish-like religious cult who decides to serve as a stunt man in a home movie made by a worldly-wise school bully (Lee Poulter) after being exposed to a pirated copy of Rambo.

Viva (Unrated) Anna Biller wrote, directed and handles the title role of this salacious satire of soft porn, set in the Seventies, revolving around the kinky exploits a couple of bored suburban housewives who opt to join the Sexual Revolution by experimenting with an array of swinging bohemian lifestyles.

XXY (Unrated) Uruguayan melodrama about a sexually-ambiguous 15 year-old hermaphrodite (Ines Efron) who faces some serious psychological and medical questions with the help of her parents (Ricardo Darin and Valeria Bertuchelli) and a plastic surgeon (German Palacio). (In Spanish with subtitles)

Without the King

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: The Misadventures of Mswati in Swaziland

King Mswati III is a benevolent despot ruling the tiny African nation of Swaziland with a velvet-gloved iron fist. This last absolute monarch on the continent governs just about the only sub-Saharan country somehow untouched by civil war or ethnic cleansing over the last 30 years. In contrast to such war-torn lands as Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Sudan, Swaziland has enjoyed a relatively-peaceful existence.
This, despite the fact that its citizens have a 42% AIDS rate and the world’s lowest life expectancy at 31. Plus, most of the population has to survive on about 63 cents a day, and are thus very dependent on donations from international charities just to survive.
Meanwhile, the royal family lives in the lap of luxury, starting with the king. He has 14 wives, and picks another new one to add to his harem from the 75,000 topless young virgins participating in the annual Reed Dance, a weeklong celebration of chastity.
He also owns 7 palaces, a fleet of luxury cars, the media and sugar industries, and most of the developed real estate. Plus, he has $45 billion stashed away in a Swiss bank for safekeeping. Political parties are banned in Swaziland, so the miserable plight of the people isn’t about to change any time soon in the absence of a revolution.
Besides Mswati, the film focuses on the decadent behavior of his spoiled-rotten eldest child, an airhead attending college in California. Well aware of the exploitation of her father’s subjects, this future queen sarcastically appraises the situation shortly before the curtain comes down, vaguely promising to make some changes while rolling her eyes.
We’re supposed to buy the idea that the Swazis will be saved by Africa’s answer to Paris Hilton? Yeah, right. Proof-positive that despotism and decadence comes in all colors.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In English and Siswati with subtitles.
Running time: 84 minutes
Studio: First Run Features

American Bullfighter DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Overweight American Alcoholic Finds Redemption via Bullfighting

Alex Lemay was born in Indiana but raised in Spain where his father, Albert, taught as a college professor. Consequently, as a child, instead of going to baseball games with his dad, he accompanied him to the bull ring, to enjoy that country’s national pastime.
By the time he was an adult, Alex had moved back to America but had already developed a sad Spanish soul. He saw less and less of his father, eventually bottoming out back in Barcelona at the age of 34.
Rudderless, overweight and an alcoholic, he entered rehab to try to turn his life around. Then, after being sober for several months, he decided to return to the bullring, not as a spectator, but as a matador.
The idea was to prove something not only to himself but to get the respect of his dad. So, Alex enrolled in a bullfighting academy designed to whip novices into suave toreadors capable of hypnotizing mammoth savage beasts with little more than a red cape and several well-placed swords.
Listen, as an animal lover, I have some serious reservations about a bio-pic conveniently downplaying the abuse aspects of this death-defying so-called bloodsport, especially when an “Ugly American” is using it as a means of male-bonding. However, because of the deep cultural roots of bullfighting in Spain and Latin America and because Albert was terminally ill at the time, I was willing to give the documentary a Mulligan.
And provided you have a strong stomach for bovine torture, the film is likely to prove entertaining, for it relates an otherwise admirable overcoming-the-odds saga. Plus, daredevils can learn where to stab in the neck to hit the aorta during a pass, something that could come in handy if you ever decide to run with bulls in Pamplona and find yourself about to be gored.
No animals were harmed during the writing of this review.

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
In English and Spanish with subtitles.
Running time: 82 minutes
Studio: Cinema Libre Studio

Faith under Fire: Betrayed by a Thing Called Love

A memoir by LaJoyce Brookshire
Karen Hunter Publishing
Hardcover, $24.00
270 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4165-6645-8



Book Review by Kam Williams

“God has given me the opportunity to reach scores of women, connecting with their spirits to bring understanding to the ‘down low phenomenon. I am amazed at the number of women who have found themselves in the same types of relationships that I had.
For years, I truly felt as if this was only my plight, as if I was the only one whose husband cheated with men… This journey has broadened the scope of my vision of this unbelievable reality.
LaJoyce, like me and the growing number of women who refuse to stand by silently allowing the stigmas and dangers of HIV/AIDS to continue, is sharing her story to take back the control and take back the power that HIV/AIDS has stolen from lives, relationships and families.”
-- Brenda Stone Browder (author of The Survival Guide for Women Living with Men on the Down Low) in The Foreword (pages xxi-xxii)

Everybody knows about the escalating AIDS rate which has been devastating the black community. African-Americans now account for the majority of HIV infections in the U.S., with black women representing over two-thirds of the new diagnoses among females, and black teens over two-thirds of them in their age group.
For this reason, inner city schools all over the country ought to consider adding LaJoyce Brookshire’s Faith under Fire: Betrayed by a Thing Called Love, to their curricula as a precaution. Her eye-opening memoir shows just how easily even a successful professional like her could be duped by a duplicitous brother on the down low and thereby put herself at risk of dying from the preventable disease at an early age.
In LaJoyce’s case, she was very lucky that she learned the truth about her man before she contracted the illness, not that he was inclined to let her on his dirty little secret. Although he already had been HIV+ for about ten years when they met, he courted, married and impregnated her with no intention of revealing why he periodically suffered from bleeding ulcers and array of other maladies.
Only well into their marriage did a bell go off in LaJoyce’s head, after a hospital doctor asked her why her husband refused to allow him to administer an HIV test. Turns out Steven by then had full-blown AIDS, and his monogamous wife was pretty shocked by the carousing, carelessness and sexual preferences of what she had incorrectly assumed to be a straight, homophobic and faithful spouse.
However, there were many warning signs, if she had just been willing to take notice. And she delineates how to makes sure your partner isn’t also on the down low in a helpful chapter about avoiding becoming another statistic. She suggests starting by inquiring whether he’s HIV+, then taking an AIDS test together. And while waiting for the results to come back, she supplies a list of 200 additional probing questions that must be answered honestly and thoroughly before the relationship becomes intimate.
Not exactly my idea of romantic, but I suppose sisters can’t be too careful nowadays, given the spread of AIDS by convicts, by intravenous drug users and by brothers simply too afraid to admit they’re gay or bisexual due to the macho nature of an African-American culture marked by a general intolerance of homosexuality.

Pact, The DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Three Black Boys from Newark Overcome Odds to Become Doctors

Rameck Hunt, Sampson Davis and George Jenkins grew up in a Newark ghetto where only about 3% of the kids went on to college. And their own prospects probably weren’t any better, given that they were each raised by a single mom in a broken home in a neighborhood blighted by gang violence, drugs, poverty, unemployment and crime.
Yet, this enterprising trio of best friends had the wherewithal to sense that a ticket out of their bleak surroundings might only be an education away. So, before the streets could gobble up their future, they made a mutual pact, promising to support each other in their shared dream of becoming doctors.
Against the odds, all three succeeded in that quest, Sampson and Rameck, as MDs, and George, as a dentist, and this uplifting bio-pic highlights the considerable hurdles they had to overcome on the road to success. For both of Rameck’s parents were crackheads, and he recounts how he’d pray to God everyday asking that just one of them be able to kick the habit.
Sampson, we learn, did a stint in juvenile prison for armed robbery, and had a sister who was HIV+. And George talks about how the absence of a male role model meant he never learned how to do many things most boys take for granted, such as how to shave or tie a tie.
But ultimately, all three came through with flying colors and, despite their busy medical practices, remain very committed to creating academic opportunities for kids still stuck in the slums. In this regard, the film frequently focuses on the fortunes of Malique, their 12 year-old protégé who also serves as narrator.
Overall, an inspiring affirmation of the power of friendship, courage, determination, hard work and faith to sustain even those seemingly trapped in the most dire of circumstances.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 84 minutes
Studio: Spark Media

Justice Smith: The American Gladiators Interview

with Kam Williams

Headline: Gladiator Justice

Jesse “Justice” Smith can be caught kicking butt and taking names on the revitalized, classic reality series “American Gladiators.” One of the show’s most feared competitors ever, he looms at 6’8” tall while weighing-in at almost 300 lbs with 22” biceps.
Justice is the only Gladiator to use his or her real name on the program which airs Mondays at 8 PM (ET/PT) on NBC. As with the original, the spectacular features such familiar events as The Joust, The Wall, Hang Tough and the Eliminator, although adding splashy twists, special effects, water skills and some state-of the-art technology.
Justice will also be seen in a supporting role in two independent features in 2008. One is The Mannsfield 12, a story about a dozen black inmates who go into business with their warden by bringing drugs and contraband into their prison. The second, Beyond the Ring, is based on the true story of Andre Lima, a Brazilian fighter on a mission to save his daughter’s life. Justice plays Zulu, the reigning Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) champion.
When not acting or gladiating, Justice enters MMA contests in the Super Heavyweight division. A black belt in Tae Kwon Do, which he has been studying for the last 15 years, he is known for his trademark move, the “Flying Knees.” While he loves MMA, he doesn’t want to fight for a living. What he loves about it is the focus and passion it brings to his life in a mental and fitness capacity.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Justice was an Army brat raised in Columbia, South Carolina until the age of ten when his father was transferred to Germany. It was also around this time when he first saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Conan the Barbarian. He asked his mother for weights for Christmas and the rest is muscle beach history.
After the family returned to Columbia, Justice became one of the nation’s most highly-recruited college basketball prospects. But tragedy struck before he committed, when his cousin, Rodney, died taking a gangsta’s bullet meant for him. Shell-shocked, he was unable to focus on his budding basketball career or anything else for a long time.

On the home front, Justice loves to spend quality time with his wife Daisey, his 7 year old son, also named Justice, their French Bulldog, Bruno, 6 fish and 4 frogs. He also loves to fish and to ride his mountain bike. Because he loves to donate his time to any causes that help kids, it’s no surprise that high on his agenda is to give back to the community.

KW: Hi Justice, thanks for the interview.
JS: Hey What’s up bro!
KW: What interested you in doing American Gladiators?
JS: The money and fame. Ha-ha! Just kidding! It was a show that I watched as a kid, and I wanted to be a part of it.
KW: What type of diet and exercise regimen do you have to follow to stay in this great shape?
JS: I really don’t follow a strict diet, I just watch my fat intake and stay away from fried foods.
KW: How much wear and tear does the weekly tapings take out on your body?
JS: Well, me being a superhero, it does not do too much wear and tear on my body, ha-ha! Naw, sometimes I will get my fingers jammed or twist my ankle, but other than that I keep it moving.
KW: Do you enjoy this better than acting?
JS: They both are different, challenge-wise. The competitive side of me is really enjoying it, but there are two different sides to me. The acting is more of a challenge for me because it is something that I have to develop, whereas being a Gladiator comes more natural, and I love the physical challenge. But ultimately, acting and being a Gladiator are definitely two different animals.
KW: Have you ever gotten hurt while filming the show?
JS: I have gotten hurt, but pretty much I do the hurting! [LOL]
KW: Are you surprised by the show’s popularity?
JS: Definitely, I am. I was not thinking about the show’s success when I started, I was only thinking about the honor to be a part of it. I am still stunned by the fact that people will tune in every week to watch me compete. I am still shocked when people come up to me and tell me that I am their favorite.
KW: Have you ever watched the Japanese television show, Ninja Warrior?
JS: Yes I have.
KW: Would you consider tackling the Ninja warrior obstacle course?
JS: Yes! But it would be a piece of cake for an American Gladiator.
KW: Were you a fan of the original American Gladiators?
JS: Yes.
KW: Who was your favorite gladiator?
JS: Gemini
KW: I read about how at 6’8’ your had some promise as a basketball phenom while in college, but that you lost interest when your cousin was shot and killed while saving your life in an ambush Tell me about the incident.
JS: Well, my cousin was my best friend and we were very close and I looked up to him. I admired everything about him. I think about him everyday, and he is one of the reasons that I do what I do. He saved my life.
KW: Is the perpetrator behind bars?
JS: He did 18 months and was freed on good behavior because he had a family member in the judicial system in Columbia, South Carolina.
KW: How long were you traumatized by the tragedy?
JS: At least 10 years, being haunted by nightmares. I was unable to watch any type of violent programming.
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?
JS: Very happy.

KW: “Realtor to the Stars” Jimmy Bayan wants to know where in L.A. you live.
JS: I live in Torrance, CA
KW: Bookworm Troy Johnson is curious about the last book you read.
JS: Don’t’ Start the Revolution Without Me! written by Jesse Ventura
KW: I got this question from Tasha Smith: Are you ever afraid?
JS: Sometimes…what am I afraid of? [Laughs]
KW: Is there a question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
JS: What motto do you live by?
KW: Okay, what motto d you live by?
JS: “Freedom or death!” and the truth shall set you free.
KW: What do you do to unwind?
JS: Watch movies, play video games, meditate, research online.
KW: Who are you supporting for President?
JS: Barack Obama.
KW: When did you know you know you wanted to be in showbiz?
JS: Ever since I was a kid. Everything that I am doing now is what I wanted to do as a kid.
KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
JS: Stay focused and stay determined. Don’t look to anyone else to be your determination, have self determination; it will take you very far.
KW: Do you have a website?
JS: Yes, www.themanjustice.com, but it’s under construction.
KW: Do you answer your fan mail?
JS: I haven’t seen any fan mail yet. Please send some!
KW: How do you want to be remembered?
JS: I want to be remembered as someone like Mohammad Ali. He was not just a fighter he was a freedom fighter.
KW: Thanks again for the interview, and best of luck with all your endeavors.
JS: Thank you.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Latest Apatow Teensploit Fails to Measure Up to Recent Offerings

Judd Apatow certainly appears to have the Midas touch when it comes to teensploitation flicks. Last year alone, he had a hand in a couple of the most successful, albeit relentlessly-raunchy, romantic comedies in recent memory. One was Knocked Up, which he wrote, directed and produced; and the other was Superbad, which he merely produced. Together, the two crowd pleasers netted in excess of a quarter billion dollars at the domestic box-office alone, to say nothing of its international take theatrically or via DVD distribution.
Apatow’s latest offering, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, ups the ante in terms of shock value by appealing to perhaps the lowest common denominator yet, starting with an opening scene featuring gratuitous shots of male genitalia. Unfortunately, the film fails to measure up to either of the aforementioned adventures as far as pushing the needle on the Richter laff meter.
The problem starts with the ill-advised decision to cast first-time screenwriter Jason Segel as the leading man in a flick based on his own script, a mistake only further compounded when the project was also entrusted to a first-time director, Nicholas Stoller. And while the picture might make for an impressive feature debut, it still pales in comparison to the body of work revealed by producer Apatow’s resume’.
The charisma-free Segel plays Peter Bretter, a struggling composer with dreams of finding fame and fortune by writing a puppet rock opera version of Dracula. While waiting for his ship to come in, the twentysomething slacker pays the bills by way of a mindless job adding generic musical scores to TV shows
At least Peter’s love life offsets his rapidly-diminishing career prospects. For the past five+ years, he’s been in a monogamous relationship, or so he thinks, with Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), the glamorous star of a hit television series called Crime Scene. If the premise of a loser dating a celebrity sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same set up employed in Knocked Up.
Here, however, just past the point of departure, Sarah dumps Peter, vigorously denying that there’s anyone new. Half-truth-be-told, she’s already been two-timing him for over a year with Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), the terminally-full of himself lead singer for a British band called Infant Sorrow.
Disconsolate, Peter decides to take a vacation in Hawaii to get over his girlfriend, only to discover that she’s staying at the same resort with her golden-tanned hunk. Luckily, the hotel’s receptionist, Rachel (Mila Kunis), not only takes an instant liking to Peter, but she even generously lets him stay in the penthouse free of charge after hearing his sob story.
And although he’s determined to win back his ex’s heart, it’s obvious that it’s just a matter of time before he’ll wise up and notice the gorgeous girl behind the counter in the lobby. In the interim, Forgetting Sarah Marshall indulges in an array of the expected testosterone-fueled antics with the help of a few members of the Apatow acting company, including Jonah Hill (Superbad and Knocked Up) as an unctuous waiter, Bill Hader (ditto) as Peter’s step-brother, and Paul Rudd (Knocked Up and the 40 Year-Old Virgin) as a stoner surfer dude.
Too bad that the plot is so transparent and Jason Segel doesn’t quite have the charm called upon to make the self-effacing protagonist he created endearing.

Very Good (2.5 stars)
Rated R for profanity, graphic sexuality, and male and female frontal nudity. profanity.
Running time: 112 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures

Savages, The

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Features Laura Linney’s Oscar-Nominated Performance in Dysfunctional Family Drama

Alzheimer’s patient Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) was living in an upscale assisted living community with his common-law wife, Doris (Rosemary Murphy), when she suddenly dropped dead. Relying on a non-marital agreement signed years prior, her heartless heirs decide to kick him out of the Arizona condo which was solely in their mother’s name.
Consequently, the burden of finding a retirement home capable of caring for someone whose senility has him smearing excrement on the walls suddenly falls to Lenny’s children living halfway across the country. Neither Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) nor Wendy (Laura Linney) is really ready to take on the unanticipated responsibility because both of them are already dealing with serious issues of their own.
Wendy is a struggling Greenwich Village playwright who supports herself by doing temp work. Her love life isn’t any better, as she’s stuck in a self-destructive affair with a married man (Peter Friedman). Jon, meanwhile, a literature professor, is agonizing over whether to wed his Polish girlfriend (Cara Seymour) before her visa expires.
So, when they venture to Sun City to rescue their ailing their father, they struggle to keep their emotional baggage on a back burner. Arriving at a compromise, they agree to bring Lenny to Buffalo where Jon teaches, and to place him in an affordable nursing home. Wendy sticks around town, which means she and her brother will now have ample opportunities to bicker with each other over their respective writing careers and dysfunctional romantic relationships.
So unfolds The Savages, a maudlin, slice-of-life drama for which Laura Linney landed her third Oscar nomination. If only the film’s prevailing tone were optimistic rather than funereal, then there might be more of a reason to recommend this downer about a couple of middle-aged adolescents acting out as their father slowly wastes away.

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R for sexuality and profanity.
Running time: 114 minutes
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Extended scenes, cast and filmmaker interviews, “Behind the Scenes” photo gallery and Fox previews.

What Would Jesus Buy? DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Super-Size Jesus

This tongue-in-cheek documentary questions the degree to which America has commercialized Christmas. The film features Reverend Billy Talen, a colorful character who travels across the country accompanied by the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, confronting frantic shoppers in malls right at the height of the holiday season.
Declaring Mickey Mouse the anti-Christ, this flamboyant man of the cloth mounts a soap box to inform anybody who’ll listen that “The Disney Company still presides over sweatshops all around the world.” He conducts impromptu man on the street interviews, asking folks to have a conscience about their purchases.
Unfortunately, his passionate pleas fall mostly on deaf ears and do little to discourage the determined consumers he encounters, despite his dire warning of the coming Shopocalypse. Instead, he’s mostly treated as a nuisance by mall security and local police who routinely either arrest him or escort him off the premises.
Nonetheless, the movie does drive home a powerful point, namely, that Christmas has lost most of its religious significance and come to revolve around gift-giving. Pointing out that most Christians spend more time worshipping retail items in malls than Jesus in church, he challenges believers to find something more meaningful to do than shopping.
He’s supported in this endeavor by several experts, including Harvard Professor Dr. Alvin Poussaint who laments how since birth we’ve been “conditioned to associate material goods with the symbol of love.” Ditto Reverend Andrew Young who makes a cameo appearance in which he reminds us of Christ’s teaching to “Feed the hungry, clothe the naked and heal the sick.”
But the real star of this show is the irrepressible Reverend Billy who is as hilarious as he is thought-provoking, and thus apt to keep you in stitches as you contemplate spiritual alternatives to material satisfaction. Merry Capitalism!

Excellent (4 stars)
PG for mature themes and mild epithets.
Running time: 91 minutes
Studio: Arts Alliance America
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, printable lyrics to the choir’s unique Christmas carols, and an 8-minute public access show featuring Reverend Billy and the choir.

88 Minutes

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Pacino Stars as Shrink on Run from Sadistic Serial Killer

About ten years ago, Dr. Jack Gramm (Al Pacino) was the key prosecution expert witness whose testimony helped send rapist/serial killer Jon Forster (Neal McDonough) to Death Row. As the notorious “Seattle Slayer” was being led out of the courtroom, he looked the FBI forensic psychiatrist responsible for his conviction straight in the eye and whispered, “Tick-tock, Doc,” a veiled threat that it was just a matter of time before he would exact his revenge.
Fast forward to the present and we find Forster behind bars and all out of appeals. His impending execution is likely to provide a measure of closure to Janie Cates (Tammy Hui), the twin sister of one of his victims (Vicky Huang), plus some comfort to Gramm, now teaching med school, boozing it up and chasing anything in a skirt.
But then, on the eve of Forster’s scheduled execution by lethal injection, the tweedy, tipsy professor finds himself suddenly shaken after receiving a chilling call on his cell phone repeating the familiar “Tick-tock, Doc” refrain. In addition, the electronically-altered voice informs Gramm that he only has 88 minutes to live.
Thereupon, the sinister stalker immediately embarks on a frenetic crime spree, slicing and dicing folks close to the womanizing Dr. Jack in order to implicate him in a series of copycat murders. The enterprising sicko proceeds to wreak additional havoc across the city, eluding a conspicuously-absent police force while blowing up cars, setting fires and running over pedestrians with a motorcycle. Oh, and he also keeps Gramm on speed dial to be able to gloat periodically.
Patently preposterous at every turn, 88 Minutes is more action-packed than the average Bugs Bunny-Road Runner hour, and features cartoon physics which is about as credible. Al Pacino, with the help of a bouncy, blowing, world-class bouffant hairdo, still has the charisma to turn a turkey into a flick that’s almost watchable, if only for the laughs.
Regrettably, a splendid supporting cast topped by Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman. William Forsythe and Alicia Witt finds itself frequently abandoned by a silly script laced with implausible dialogue, lots of illogical plot developments and more smelly red herrings than the Fulton Fish market. I mean, really, how can virtually every character be a prime suspect, including the potential victim himself?
A comical crime thriller where you’re likely to find yourself more amused by the unintentionally funny goings-on than trying to solve the underlying whodunit.

Fair (1 star)
Rated R for profanity, disturbing violence and brief nudity.
Running time: 108 minutes
Studio: Columbia Pictures

Charlie Wilson's War DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Revisits Exploits of Texas Congressman Who Single-Handedly Toppled the Soviet Union

Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), who served from 1973 to 1996, is apparently an unsung hero responsible for toppling the Soviet Union virtually single-handedly. For it was through his funding of a covert CIA operation in response to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan that the mujahedeen managed to defend themselves successfully while simultaneously bankrupting the U.S.S.R.
What is ironic is that Wilson, the architect of the operation, was not only a liberal Democrat, but a loose cannon who didn’t let the fact that he was married get in he way of his flagrant boozing and womanizing. Among his many mistresses was a wealthy socialite named Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), and their lustful liaison was proof of the age-old maxim that politics makes strange bedfellows, literally and figuratively.
She was a conservative, Christian fundamentalist who pressured her boy-toy to get the CIA to intervene in the conflict in the name of freedom of religion. What neither of them anticipated, however, was that in the process of sending the Soviets to defeat they would be creating a new monster, a militarily-equipped radical Islam.
This is the arc of Charlie Wilson's War, a relatively lighthearted romp about a real-life James Bond. The movie was adapted from the best-selling biography of the same name by legendary director Mike Nichols who had no reservations about depicting his protagonist’s depraved side, such as an occasion when we find Charlie cavorting naked in a hot tub with coke-snorting strippers.
Unless somebody’s taking liberties with the truth here, history will one day confirm that all it took to bring an end to the Cold War was the valiant efforts of a party animal who knew his way around Washington well-enough to be unburdened by red tape, bureaucrats or democracy. Charlie Wilson, a real American hero, belatedly revealed.

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated R for profanity, nudity, sexuality and drug use.
Running time: 102 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: “The Making of” and “Who Is Charlie Wilson?” featurettes

Nina's Heavenly Delights DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Features Latent Lesbians in Formulaic Female Empowerment Flick

When Prodigal Daughter Nina (Shelley Conn) returns to Glasgow for the first time in years to attend her father’s (Raad Rawi) funeral, it’s apparent that the young woman has something to hide. But between mourning and making the arrangements, her family’s too preoccupied to take any hints about her sexual preference.
Plus, they’re trying to save the jewel in their East Indian-Scottish clan’s crown, a famous curry house called “The New Taj.” Seems that the late patriarch had a gambling habit which left half the restaurant in the hands of Lisa (Laura Fraser), the attractive blonde now dating Kary (Atta Yaqub), Nina’s brother.
When the owner (Art Malik) of a rival eatery expresses an interest in buying the Taj, most of the Shahs are prepared to sell. But not Nina, whose jilted former fiancé (Raji James) is the man’s son. What nobody suspects is that she’s gay and would prefer to lock lips with Lisa than to hand the place over to her ex.
So, Nina concocts the perfect plan to save the Taj, namely, to enter and win the annual “Best of the West” cook-off competition. Fortunately, Lisa agrees, and the two new business partners proceed to flirt while whipping up recipes for the big showdown. Don’t be misled by Nina's Heavenly Delights’ promising premise, for as good as it might sound, the film fails to measure up to its potential.
Between its plodding pace and predictable plot developments, the production repeatedly fritters away opportunities to address meaningfully any of the assorted themes it dances around, ranging from homosexuality to family to tolerance to assimilation to male chauvinism to sexual preference. You know a cross-cultural, gender-bending dramedy has issues, when its most memorable moment is a blasphemous, bouncy Bollywood musical finale featuring a female impersonator.

Fair (1.5 stars)
Rated PG-13 for sexuality.
Running time: 94 minutes
Studio: Genius Products
DVD Extras: Trailer.

The Orphanage (El Orfanato) SPANISH DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Supernatural Suspense Flick from Spain Released on DVD

In 2007, Pan’s Labyrinth, a magical blend of surrealism and WWII saga won three Academy Awards, plus nominations in the Foreign Film and Original Screenplay categories. Now, that masterpiece’s writer/director, Guillermo del Toro, has served as producer of a horror picture rather reminiscent of his own escapist fairy tale.
The Orphanage revolves around Laura (Belen Rueda), a woman with mostly fond memories of the seaside orphanage where she lived some 30 years earlier. Today, we find her married to a doctor (Fernando Cayo) with whom she is raising an adopted son, Simon (Roger Princep).
The couple has decided to purchase the now abandoned, run-down estate with plans to turn the premises into a home for sick kids. However, soon after moving in, seven year-old Simon’s fantasizing begins to get the better of him as he starts talking to imaginary friends.
Laura supports the boy’s belief in the supernatural, sensing that some otherworldly spirits might have invaded the place during the period it was vacant. This causes tension between her and her husband, Carlos, who doesn’t believe in ghosts, and he is more inclined to think that his wife has become deranged.
This is the eerie premise of The Orphanage, a film which marks the directorial debut of Juan Antonio Bayona. More suspenseful than scary, the movie is apt to disappoint anyone expecting to scream out loud in the theater. Nonetheless, it’s effective at casting a creepy pall over the proceedings which permeates the picture for the duration.
An unnerving meditation on loss of innocence.

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R for some disturbing content.
In Spanish with subtitles.
Running time: 105 minutes
Studio: New Line Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Stills gallery, theatrical trailers, video segments about the filmmakers, footage of the director and cast during rehearsals, plus a couple of featurettes.

Cloverfield DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Hair-Raising Horror Flick Arrives on DVD

Reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, this cleverly-conceived screamfest was shot entirely with a shaky hand-held camera operated by one of the film’s central characters. A similarly limited-perspective proved compelling in Blair, which had been billed as based on a videotape supposedly found at the site of a slaughter.
Cloverfield opens with a cryptic statement that the top-secret tape you are about to watch is the property of the Department of the Defense. However, the initial half-hour looks more like a soap opera than a spine-tingling thriller. The fun starts in Jason Hawkins’ (Mike Vogel) spacious New York apartment with a bird’s eye view of the city’s skyline. With the help of his girlfriend, Lily (Jessica Lucas) Jason is greeting guests arriving for the surprise going away party he’s throwing for his brother, Rob (Michael Stahl-David) who’ll soon be moving to Japan.
Jason directs their buddy, Hud (T.J. Miller), to film the festivities, and to record individual farewells as a keepsake. Then, just when you’ve forgotten that this is supposed to be a horror movie, the building shakes and the power goes out. The partygoers rush to the window to witness chaos and devastation unfolding as far as the eyes, or should I say camcorder, can see: from flattened cars to flying projectiles to crumbling skyscrapers to fleeing pedestrians unleashing bloodcurdling screams while looking over their shoulders.
At this juncture, the movie morphs into a harrowing tale of survival featuring seasick cinematography, and it becomes pretty clear that some destructive unseen force has been released and is about to cause major mayhem all around Manhattan. And the only record of the desperate struggle which ensues is a chilling videotape, a spellbinding masterpiece also known as Cloverfield.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.
Running time: 84 minutes
Studio: Paramount Home Video
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, alternative endings, outtakes, director’s commentary, “The Making of Cloverfield” and other featurettes.

Leelee Sobieski: The 88 Minutes Interview

with Kam Williams

Headline: Leelee’s Back!

Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta Sobieski was born in NYC on June 10, 1983 to American writer Elizabeth Salomon, and French painter Jean Sobieski. Soon after being discovered by a casting director in her grammar school cafeteria, she got her start at the age of ten in the made for TV movie Reunion. After a well-received outing in the feature film Jungle 2 Jungle, Leelee was catapulted to superstardom as a teenager on the strength of memorable performances in such blockbusters as Deep Impact, Never Been Kissed, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries and Eyes Wide Shut.
In 2000, she landed a Golden Globe nomination for her critically-acclaimed work in the title role as Joan of Arc. And she subsequently starred in Here on Earth, My First Mister, Joy Ride and Glass House before taking a break from showbiz to attend Brown University.
The brainy beauty bears a striking resemblance to Helen Hunt, which explains why the two were pitted against each other on the claymation TV series Celebrity Deathmatch. Leelee has recently returned to acting in grand style, landing lead roles opposite Jason Statham in In the Name of the King, Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man, and now Al Pacino in 88 Minutes.
Here, she talks about life, career and her latest film.

KW: Hey, Leelee, thanks for the interview.
LS: Sure, how’re you doing?
KW: I don’t know if you remember that I’m friends with Peter and Janet who helped me get my first time interview with you.
LS: Yes, I know.
KW: At the time, you were a very rebellious teenager, probably a junior in high school. And you kept repeatedly challenging me with, “Ask me anything! Ask me anything!” But your being so young, I wasn’t going to cross any lines.
LS: Oh, really? Maybe I’m conservative now. We’ll have to see.
KW: You know, my son is a freshman at Princeton, and he lives in the same dorm as your brother, Robert. I heard you were on campus last week to see him perform in a play.
LS: Yeah.
KW: I also heard that you’re a big fan of Nina Simone. Is that true?
LS: I am. I even named my dog Nina Azie Simone Sobieski.


KW: What are some of your favorite songs of hers?
LS: Here Comes the Sun… Sugar in My Bowl… Mosquito's Tweeter… Pretty much every single one of her songs I find so touching. I just heard a Nina Simone rendition of I Get Along without You Very Well, which is one of my favorite tunes by Chet Baker. I didn’t know how I’d feel about her version, even though I love Nina Simone unconditionally, since I liked Chet’s so much. But then I fell in love with Nina’s, as well. It’s beautiful.
KW: Sounds like you’re heavily into jazz.
LS: I do like jazz.
KW: Too bad you weren’t in town long enough too see the Princeton Jazz Band’s joint concert with Juilliard. Your friend, piano prodigy Julia Brav, was tremendous, and the group even played one of her original compositions.
LS: I would love to have heard that.
KW: How did you enjoy Brown University?
LS: I loved it. I had a wonderful time when I was there.
KW: I graduated from Brown in ’75, but I doubt that any of the professors I studied English with are still there.
LS: I thought you went to Princeton. Did you have any classes with Forrest Gander?
KW: No, he wasn’t there yet. Let me ask you about the movie. How’d you enjoy making 88 Minutes?
LS: I had a great time. I play an interesting character, so I was kind of focused on that.
KW: Did you model your character, Lauren, after anyone?
LS: No, I didn’t model her after anybody. I just went to strange places in my brain.
KW: And how was it working with Al Pacino?
LS: It was a great honor. I don’t know who wouldn’t want to work with Pacino.
KW: It’s a twisty mystery. What would you liken it to?
LS: I wouldn’t liken it to anything? I don’t know. What would you liken it to?
KW: I agree. It’s unique and tough to pigeonhole.
KW: What type of audience do you think the picture will find?
LS: It’s a suspense popcorn movie. I think you should like go with your friends, and have fun.
KW: Last year, when I saw you in In a Dark Place, it sort of took my breath away, because you definitely made the jump from girl to woman with all the nudity in that picture. And now I see that you’re playing a dominatrix in Walk All Over Me.
LS: I’m actually more of a girl in this than I was in in In a Dark Place. I’m just really innocent. I’m not good at being a dominatrix. It’s more goofy with kind of fun sexy bits in it, but they’re not serious or at all risqué.
KW: From just reading a capsule, it sounded risqué.
LS: There’s no nudity in it, really, except for a male tush, I think. The only reason it’s rated R is because of a few curse words. Otherwise, it could be PG-13.
KW: I see that the movie you made with Jason Statham, In the name of the King, just came out on video this week. How did you enjoy doing that one?
LS: Oh, I had a great time making that. Afterall, I was playing a princess with magic powers.
KW: Do you have any plans to make another film in France, since you’re fluent in the language, and enjoyed so much success over there with A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries.
LS: Yeah, I would love to. It just hasn’t happened at the exact moment, but I definitely want to do more work in France, for sure.
KW: What movies do you have on the horizon?
LS: Night Train is with Danny Glover and Steve Zahn. It’s going to be creepy with a Hitchcock kind of vibe. I think it’s going to be really cool, but I haven’t even done the ADR [Additional Dialogue Recording] for that one yet. And I got a call from my director [Julie Davis] last night on Finding Bliss which is a romantic comedy that I just finished. She told me that she saw the first rough cut of the film, and that it looked so great. So, I’m super excited about that.
KW: Sounds good. Bookworm Troy Johnson wants to know: What was the last book you read?
LS: What was the last book I read? I read a script only yesterday, but I can’t even remember the title. I’m just awful with names. This is my problem. I think the title of the last book I read was Miss Lonelyhearts, but I’m not sure.
KW: Is there a question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
LS: A question that nobody asks me… No, there are all different types of reporters, and they usually ask fairly good questions. There are some questions that get repeated a lot, but I’m asked really good things most of the time. I feel like I’m perceived as being much more serious than I am. I’m more of a goofball. I’m sillier, not sillier in a bad way, but sillier in a good way. I think that when I do interviews, I always try to be cautious about what I’m saying, because I’m so silly that my words can be spun around so easily and sound totally the wrong way when I really just mean something harmless. So, I think I’m cautious when I’m doing interviews, which makes me seem much more serious, but that’s just because I’m being careful.
KW: That triggers my memory. The last time I interviewed, you were writing poetry and I published one of your poems along with the interview. Are you still writing poetry?
LS: Not as much. I’ve just been focusing on my work lately, work and life. And I’ve started painting again, and that’s been really wonderful. I’d stopped for a little while.
KW: Oils or acrylic?
LS: In acrylic.
KW: What style?
LS: Totally abstract, kind of like Kandinsky, maybe.
KW: Interesting. Did you see the documentary, The Cool School, about the L.A. school of modern artists who emerged in the Fifties. It’s great. It just came out a couple of weeks ago.
LS: No I didn’t. I’ll go check that out.
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?
LS: Yes. That’s a great question. I think that happiness is a very strange thing. And we really feel that we have a right to this happiness. But I feel like it’s constantly fluctuating, and that you can make yourself happy. I think it’s an outlook. Having a positive attitude probably sounds like a corny thing to say, but a positive attitude really helps, and respecting your job really helps, and having the support of your family and friends really helps.
KW: Is working on a movie set a lot easier for you as an adult than it was for you as a child actress, especially if the real you was a little goofy, and not so serious?
LS: I’m still not very serious on the set. I mean, I can be very serious, but I can also be very silly on the set, because I work really well when people around me are relaxed. Sometimes, there has to be a certain amount of tension to carry a film, but it’s important to me that the crew that’s working around me feels happy. And for that to happen, I need them to feel appreciated. Sometimes, that just involves being like one of the kids and hanging out and laughing with the crew. It depends on the character I’m playing. Last time, I did this romantic comedy, and I need this upbeat energy, and I kind of kept that energy going all day long. Then I would get home and be serous and crash. But on set, I was super light and goofy.
KW: Are you living more in L.A. or in New York now?
LS: I’m back and forth.
KW: Are you willing to say where in L.A. you live?
LS: Sure, I live in the Hollywood Hills?
KW: I’m asking on behalf of “Realtor to the Stars,” Jimmy Bayan.
LS: Is he a good realtor?
KW: Absolutely! Do you need one? The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?
LS: Yes, all the time. But “afraid” is such a big word. I feel like fear sometimes comes from caring. When you care about something so much, then you’re afraid to fail, to not do well, to not do your best. But all that just comes from caring. Do I get scared of things that go “Boo!” in the night, too? Yeah, I like scream so loud. When I go to a horror film, I’m the one that screams so loud that everybody jumps. I think they should pay me to sit in the theater, because I either make the movie seem five times scarier or five times funnier, one or the other, because my screams are so ridiculous. So, I get scared like that easily.
KW: It reminds me of when I saw The Producers starring Nathan Lane. The guy sitting behind me had such a booming, infectious laugh that he had me laughing all through. I ended up giving it four stars and putting it on my Top Ten List because it came out in December. Meanwhile, the rest of the critics were calling it a big flop.
LS: [Laughs] That’s so funny. That really affects you so, so much. I find that, unless they’re drunk, people generally don’t laugh out loud, because your laugh can sound pretty silly or strange if you really just let it go. Yet when you hear somebody else laugh, you automatically feel really warm and good, and so I’ve liberated my laugh. [Laughs] It’s really loud and annoying, but I do it all the time. Laughter and smiling… those things are important. One of my best girlfriends is a clown, and she goes all over the place, to Africa and Mexico, and just tries to bring people joy, and it’s really beautiful.
KW: Laughter is very healing.
LS: Yeah, it puts the center of your body in your heart. If you’re having a bad day, and you feel like your head is leaning far ahead of your body because your brain feels so heavy or so full, if you kind of readjust and move your center down a little tiny bit, and switch it to in your chest and move your shoulders back and put it in your heart, that changes your disposition.
KW: That sounds pretty spiritual. Are you into meditation or something?
LS: Not really. I’m a modern meditator. I meditate with really loud hip-hop on an elliptical machine.
KW: Well, I appreciate the time, Leelee. I know you’re very busy.
LS: Yeah, I’m in a crazy situation right now. I’m at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. My premiere is in a few hours, so I’m kind of stressed, actually.
KW: I didn’t realize that. Sorry for holding you so long. I’ll let you go.
LS: No, no, no, that’s fine. You know, the keys to the hotel rooms here have Al Pacino and the 88 Minutes poster on them. So, when you put your key into the door, they have Al’s face on it.
KW: My niece, Adrienne Augustus, is a TV reporter for CBS in Las Vegas. She might be covering the premiere. Tell her I said hi.
LS: I will. Adrienne Augustus. How could I forget that name?
KW: Thanks again and good luck tonight!
LS: Thank you so much.

Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening April 25, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Baby Mama (PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, crude humor and a drug reference) Class-conscious comedy about a single career woman (Tina Fey) who wants to have a baby but ends up hiring a crass surrogate mom (Amy Poehler) from the other side of the tracks after learning that she only has a one-in-a-million chance of getting pregnant herself. Supporting ensemble includes Greg Kinnear, Sigourney Weaver, Maura Tierney, Romany Malco and Dax Shepard.

Deal (PG-13 for profanity, sexuality and brief drug use) Burt Reynolds is back in this casino caper as an aging poker hustler who comes out of retirement to show the ropes to a cocky college student (Alex Harrison) only to have his young protégé prove to be his stiffest competition in the World Poker Championship. With Shannon Elizabeth, Vince Van Patten and Charles Durning.

Deception (R for sexuality, profanity, brief violence and drug use) Ewan McGregor stars in this whodunit about an accountant who finds himself the prime suspect in both a woman’s disappearance and multi-million dollar heist after he frequents a kinky sex club at the suggestion of his attorney pal (Hugh Jackman). With Maggie Q, Natasha Henstridge and Michelle Williams.

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo (R for profanity, sexuality, crude humor and drug references) John Cho and Kal Penn reunite to reprise their title roles for another politically-incorrect adventure. This go-round, the nerdy stoners find themselves on the run after being mistaken for terrorists while aboard an airplane. Cast includes Neil Patrick Harris, Roger Bart, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Beverly D’Angelo.

Rogue (R for profanity and horror violence) Australian horror flick about a sightseeing cruise through an Outback wildlife reserve which turns into a terrifying nightmare after the captain (Radha Mitchell) accepts a dare from an American passenger (Michael Vartan) to steer the boat into unchartered waters where they find themselves stalked by a man-eating crocodile.

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Roman de Gare (R for brief profanity and sexual references) Romance mystery about a popular crime novelist (Fanny Ardant) whose best sellers might have been ghostwritten by an escaped serial killer (Dominique Pinon) posing as the fiance’ of a just-dumped hairdresser (Audrey Dana) in need of a beau. (In French with subtitles)


Standard Operating Procedure (R for profanity and disturbing images involving torture and graphic nudity) Oscar-winner for Best Documentary Errol Morris (for Fog of War) Man’s dissects the Abu Ghraib scandal in an effort to make sense of man’s inhumanity to man and the failure of the U.S. military to abide by the Geneva Conventions.

Stuff and Dough (Unrated) Mobster drama about a cash-strapped street punk (Alexandru Papadopol) who agrees to drive a package from Constanta to Bucharest for the neighborhood crime boss (Razvan Vasilescu) only to find himself being shadowed by a mysterious jeep. (In Rumanian with subtitles)

Then She Found Me (R for profanity and sexuality) Helen Hunt makes her scriptwriting and directorial debut and stars in this dramedy about a NYC schoolteacher who, saddened by the death of her adoptive mother (Lynn Cohen) and abandoned by her immature husband (Matthew Broderick), gets a new lease on life when she’s courted by the father (Colin Firth) of one of her students and also tracked down by the birth mother (Bette Midler) she never knew. Featuring a cameo by Salman Rushdie.

Up the Yangtze (Unrated) The effects of the rush to modernization on a rapidly-changing China are examined by this enlightening documentary shot from the perspective of young people employed by a cruise ship on the Yangtze River. (In Mandarin and English with subtitles)

Without the King (Unrated) Swaziland is the subject of this shocking documentary about Africa’s last reigning absolute monarchy. The impoverished nation is ruled by King Mswati III, a despot who treats himself to a lavish style which includes numerous palaces, a fleet of expensive cars, designer wardrobes and 14 wives, while his subjects are suffering from starvation, a 42% AIDS rate and a life expectancy of only 31.

Blackout DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Straight-to-DVD Drama Revisits the Great Blackout of 2003

On August 14th, 2003, a power plant in Eastlake, Ohio failed, thereby suddenly triggering the worst blackout in North American history. The massive outage left over 50 million people in the U.S. and Canada without electricity for the next two days, forcing folks to fend for themselves.
Blackout, written and directed by Brooklyn native Jerry LaMothe, is based on actual events which unfolded in a predominantly African-American section of a tight-knit, East Flatbush community. This engaging, ensemble drama paints a poignant picture of struggles against poverty further compounded by the looting and violence which erupted when night falls.
The film, which features a talented cast that includes Jeffrey Wright, Zoe Saldana and Melvin Van Peebles, sensibly, takes the time to familiarize us with the intersecting lives of its assorted characters before the impending calamity strikes. Thus, we meet Nelson (Wright), the affable owner of the local barbershop; Ali (Nehal Joshi), the Muslim manager of a busy bodega; and slumlord Sol (Saul Rubinek) who’s planning to fire his superintendent, George (Van Peebles).
Other principal players include Sol’s tenant, Mrs. Thompson (LaTanya Richardson) who is relieved that her teenage son, C.J. (Michael B. Jordan), has just earned his ticket out of the ghetto, a scholarship to Penn State. Unfortunately, C.J. is presently being pressured by an ex-con (Jamie Hector) plying the drug trade on the corner.
Then there’s promising publishing executive Claudine (Saldana), who’s just about fed up with her boyfriend (Sean Blakemore) who’s been unemployed since 9-11, and what’s about to transpire isn’t going to make things any better. Finally, we have Fatima (Susan Kelechi Watson), a poetry slam performer who has an interest in Ali ever since discovering that her man has been cheating on her.
A well-crafted, slice-of-life saga which amply illustrates how easily matters might go from bad to worse in the already-overburdened inner-city when disaster strikes in the ‘hood.

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 95 minutes
Studio: BET/Paramount Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Interview with director Jerry LaMothe, deleted scenes, interviews with survivors of the 2003 Blackout, Meet the Cast, and a “Behind-the-Scenes featurette.

Constantine's Sword

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Ex-Jesuit Priest Takes Critical Look at Violence Committed in the Name of Christianity

There was a precedent to Vice President Cheney’s remark made to Tim Russert on Meet the Press five days after September 11th that he would happily accept the head of Osama bin Laden on a platter. For over the course of several centuries, starting in about 1095, legions of Catholics had ventured from Europe to the Middle East with the intention of conquering the Holy Land in the name of Christianity, and all with the blessing of the reigning pope.
It was not unusual for soldiers participating in the Crusades to consider themselves virtuous for returning home with the head of a Muslim or a Jew on the end of a stick. Given that fanatical religious legacy, one can understand why someone might be inclined to examine America’s involvement in the region in a new light.
And just such an inquiry is the focus of Constantine's Sword, an informative look at the violent side of Christianity. The picture is narrated by James Carroll, a former Catholic cleric who abandoned the priesthood when he found himself plagued by nagging doubts about the historical links of his Church to papal-sanctioned ethnic cleansing.
He asks, “How did the Cross become a rallying symbol for persecution?” “How does one man who loves the Church confront its history of crusade and conquest?” “Why are intolerance, violence and war so deeply ingrained in religion?” It seems that he didn’t feel comfortable continuing to serve as a recruiter for a faith with so much blood on its hands.
Carroll, now married with two children, tackles these thorny issues by honestly reviewing the behavior of evangelical Christians from the time of Constantine all the way up to the present. He finds that proselytizing was popular not only in the Middle Ages but is still flourishing today in the U.S. Air Force Academy where pressure is being routinely applied to cadets to swear allegiance to both the United States and to Jesus.
With God as your co-pilot, especially “The right God,” it’s probably a lot easier to rationalize bombing godless heathen civilians back to the Stone Age without a second thought. A powerful documentary which makes the case that the faith-based fanaticism that has destabilize the planet has been fueled as much by the West as by radical Islam.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 96 minutes
Studio: First Run Features

Glass

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Career of Modern Classical Composer Revisited by Reverential Retrospective

I first became aware of Philip Glass when I saw Koyaanisqatsi (1982), the otherwise silent cinematic tribute to nature for which he wrote the perfect score. Now in his seventies, this master modern classical composer remains as driven as ever to crank out his experimental operas, symphonies, movie and dance scores and more.
This eponymous bio-pic exposes the man to be a recluse who compulsively divides his time between music and meditation, which might not be a problem except for the fact that he has a couple of young kids with his fourth wife, Holly Critchlow, a cutie pie who’s about half his age. She has a meltdown about midway through the movie over the realization that they want different things out of life.
It seems that she’d like for him to be more involved with the family, while he can’t pull himself away from the piano and sheet music, which are obviously not merely his passion but serve as his therapy as well. At least the couple have a summer home in Nova Scotia, so the children don’t have to stay cooped up in an apartment in New York City, although even while on vacation, their daddy continues to work non-stop.
We do learn that, once a year, he takes a day off for an annual trek to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone, the ancient amusement park’s mammoth roller coaster. We also see that like a lot of self-absorbed geniuses, he’s given to eccentric (hates overhead lighting) and misanthropic (could careless whether he’s appreciated) tendencies. This means he’s adamant about using desk and table lamps and is perfectly content if those who don’t like his music to pass and go listen to someone else.
Too bad he just can’t spare sufficient quality time to satisfy his offspring and troubled spouse. An intimate peek into an elite mind, warts and all.

Very Good (2.5 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 112 minutes
Studio: Koch Lorber Films

Anamorph

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Detectives Track Copycat Serial Killer in Grisly Crime Caper

From the opening scene, this snuff flick hits you over the head with the idea that NYPD Detective Stan Aubray (Willem Dafoe) is damaged goods. He’s a moody loner who looks like he has something to hide, but that doesn’t prevent the department from bringing him out of mothballs to team with an ambitious, young greenhorn (Scott Speedman) when a maniacal serial killer starts terrorizing the city.
For only five years before, Stan had successfully tracked down and supposedly killed another sicko with a suspiciously similar modus operandi. Now corpses mutilated beyond recognition are turning up hacked apart and left hanging from rafters in odd configurations, such as with a decapitated head stuffed inside a torso spilling its guts.
Needless to say, this makes Anamorph a movie for those with a strong stomach. Unfortunately, even if you’re willing to endure the intermittent visual violations, the plot isn’t all that satisfying for amateur sleuths. Consider the moment when the detectives are looking for evidence at a fresh crime scene, and decide that the name “Gerri Harden” left besides the body is a clue, a message from the murderer in the form of an anagram of “Red Herring.” Trouble is the letters don’t match up. Where’s the “A”?
Though director Henry Miller does a decent job of creating and maintaining an ominous air, the picture really has far more to offer in the way of shock than suspense. While focusing on indulging the bloodlust of the splatter crowd, the services of a first-rate cast are frittered away, a motley ensemble which includes Clea Duvall, Peter Stormare, Michael Buscemi (Steve’s brother), Tandy Cronyn (daughter of Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn), Debbie “Blondie” Harry and ex-pro wrestler Mick “Mankind” Foley.
Though the movie takes its title, Anamorph, from an asexual stage of reproduction in the life of a fungus, don’t expect to find any fungi, I mean fun guys in this lame excuse for graphic displays of vivisection.

Fair (1.5 stars)
Rated R for violence, profanity and grisly images.
Running time: 103 minutes
Studio: IFC Films

The Real McCain

The Real McCain:
Why Conservatives Don’t Trust Him
And Why independents Shouldn’t
by Cliff Schechter
PoliPoint Press
Paperback, $14.95
200 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9794822-9-8



Book Review by Kam Williams

“Race is one of the hot-button social issues of our time. As someone whose ancestors owned slaves and fought on the side of the Confederacy, McCain might have gone out of his way to stake out a clear and progressive position. Instead… he voted against making Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday…
As recently as September 1999, McCain said that choosing whether to fly the Confederate flag ‘should be left to the states,’ and that ‘personally, I see the flag as a symbol of heritage.”
-- Excerpted from Chapter Eight (pages 118-119)

Ever since the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination turned ugly, all the attention has focused on the nasty, protracted battle between Obama and Clinton, with the candidates’ every misstatement, association and peccadillo being dissected and examined under the media microscope. Meanwhile, the presumptive Republican nominee has been enjoying a free pass.
However, people shouldn’t assume that, just because no one’s critically assessing John McCain’s resume’, his voting record and checkered past don’t deserve every bit as much scrutiny. Fortunately, political commentator Cliff Schecter agrees, and he’s written a revealing expose’ about the hot-headed senior senator from Arizona.
In the interest of equal time, his book, The Real McCain, deserves serious consideration by any citizen who believes in the Fairness Doctrine, because it reveals numerous rather disconcerting factoids about the war hero with designs on the White House. For instance, speaking of his stint in the Hanoi Hilton, are you aware that he cooperated with the enemy while being held in a POW camp? George Bush let that cat out of the bag when running against him back in 2000.
We learn that during that same campaign the Bush camp claimed that McCain had a black love child with a mistress. If true, the infidelity wasn’t the big news, since he’d already taken full responsibility for the failure of his first marriage, admitting to cheating on his wife after she was seriously injured in an auto accident.
But he didn’t say with whom. McCain having Jungle Fever would be noteworthy primarily because “his great-grandfather was a slaveholder who fought and died for the Confederacy,” and he had followed in his forefather’s steps by faithfully voting against African-American interests. So, just like segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond, a mulatto skeleton in the closet would mean McCain was another racist hypocrite masking his having the hots for black women.
Chock full of shocking indiscretions ranging from all of the above to allegations of bribe-taking, war profiteering, backstabbing, flip-flopping and even angry calling his wife a [C-word] in front of the press, The Real McCain is a book likely to take the bloom off the rose of a man whose past might otherwise remain unchallenged between the present and the general election.

The Souls of Black Girls

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Provocative Documentary Examines Image of Black Females Propagated by the Media

Why have African-American women become so maligned by popular culture that we have a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Karen Hunter, writing a best seller seriously posing the question, “Are black women necessary?” And how has this shocking state of affairs affected the psyches of the sisters of the Hip-Hop Generation shaped during the dominance of gangsta’ rap, an age marked by misogyny and an embracing of a European standard of beauty?
These are the questions posed by The Souls of Black Girls, a provocative documentary which suggests that African-American females are suffering from a form of self-image disorder. Produced and directed by Daphne Valerius, this provocative examination of a timely subject features sage contributions from such icons as actresses Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Juanita Jennings and Amelia Marshall, PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, BET producer Darlise Blount, Essence Magazine fashion editor Pamela Edwards, historian Dr. Lez Edmond and cultural critic Michaela Angela Davis.
These famous faces share screen time with several representatives of the demographic being discussed, articulate teens who weigh-in with their heartfelt feelings on hot-button issues ranging from their dating desirability to skin color preferences to hair straightening to absentee fathers to promiscuity to their weights and shapes. The overall point being driven home is that they are generally frustrated by their inability to measure up to an unachievable ideal which places thin white females with hour-glass figures up on a pedestal.
Apparently, out of a sense of desperation to be seen as attractive, some girls compromise their values by engaging in binge dieting and unprotected sex in an attempt to mimic the lewd behavior of the scantily-clad dancers they see cavorting seductively in rap videos. Unfortunately, in those exploitative, masturbatory male fantasies, as Dr. Edmond points out, “Black women are very rarely presented as something to be respected.”
The film also asks, “Have black men abandoned black women?” with one expert suggesting that slavery might be responsible for that fragmented relationship. Others, however, see the phenomenon as a relatively-recent development, an outgrowth of a BET-led trend toward a sexualizing and debasing of the African-American female.
Ms. Hall bemoans that we have “a whole generation of lost women who don’t that it’s okay to be you.” Meanwhile, Jada reflects upon having herself gone “through a period of shame.” Fortunately, the participants are ultimately optimistic and offer positive solutions, such as Ms. Ifill who proudly asserts “My beauty has value” and finds satisfaction when greeted by young aspiring journalists who see her as a role model.
An overdue debate about who gets to define what is beautiful.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 52 minutes
Distributor: Femme Noire Productions

Jeffrey Wright: The Blackout Interview

with Kam Williams

Headline: Wright on Time

Jeffrey Wright was born on December 7, 1965 in Washington, DC where he was raised by his mother, an attorney, with the help of her sister, a nurse, following the untimely death of his father when he was still a baby. After attending a prep school, Jeffrey enrolled at Amherst College, discovering his love for the stage on his way to completing work for a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.
Next, he earned a scholarship to NYU’s prestigious film school, but dropped out after only two months to pursue a professional acting career. In 1994, the gifted thespian won a Tony Award for his spellbinding performance as “Belize” in Tony Kushner’s award-winning Broadway play “Angels in America.”
A couple of years later, Wright would enjoy his breakout role on the big screen as the title character in Basquiat. The versatile scene-stealer has since made innumerable memorable appearances, mostly as a second banana in such flicks as Shaft, Ali, Syriana, The Manchrian Candidate, Casino Royale, Lackawanna Blues and The Invasion.
As for his private life, Jeffrey is married to Carmen Ejogo, the Scottish-Nigerian actress he met on the set of Boycott, where they played Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. The couple lives I Brooklyn which is where they are raising their two children. Here, he takes about his latest film, Blackout, recently released on DVD, a drama revisiting the chaos and looting which erupted in East Flatbush during the Great Blackout of 2003. .

KW: Jeffrey, thanks so much for the time.
JW: Thank you.
KW: Well, there are a million things I’d like to talk to you about. Let me start by asking you what interested you in Blackout?
JW: It was a film about my neighborhood, essentially. I live a bike ride away from Flatbush in Brooklyn. So, it was an opportunity to tell a story that was close to home. It was also an opportunity for me to experience the blackout, since I was out of the country when it actually went down. And I had heard nothing about this side of the New York story. Where I was, it was all reported as Chianti and Kumbaya. So, that things had gone down was news to me. In fact, when [director] Jerry LaMothe first approached me about the project, I went online to see what I could dig up, and couldn’t find any references to it. But going over to the neighborhood and talking to the folks about it, I learned that it had been a very different story for them than had been presented through the mainstream media. So, this particular story represented in many ways how the lives and experiences of certain sectors of the American population go unnoticed. And it allowed us, as actors, to shed light on a story that might otherwise remain in the darkness.
KW: The picture shows how an already disadvantaged community’s troubles can be further amplified by a disaster.
JW: Sure… sure… I’ll tell you, I’ve rarely been on a film set that melted so organically into the location in which it was being shot. Folks who happened to be walking down the street ended up in the movie. While we were shooting in the barber shop, guys came in and got haircuts. I even offered to cut a few, but didn’t get any takers. [Laughs] So there was an authenticity about it that was really special. But at the same time, what I came to understand as well is that there’s a volatility in that particular section of Brooklyn which would only, as you say, require an incident like the blackout to really spark something.
KW: I think of you in the same light as the equally-underrated Christian Bale, as two of the best actors never nominated for an Oscar. Whenever I watch you at work, you’re always quite extraordinary.
JW: Well, thank you. Some of it’s okay.
KW: When did you develop an interest in acting?
JW: It wasn’t until my senior year of college that I really seriously pursued it, and I’ve been trying to escape the business ever since. [Chuckles]
KW: Why did you leave NYU after only a couple of months.
JW: I had an opportunity to do a Lorraine Hansberry play, so I took it. But I also left because I felt that I would better serve my craft by actually getting out and working, and digging my skills out of the boards of the stage, rather than within the safety of the classroom.
KW: Do you prefer working on the stage? Obviously, making movies pay a lot more.
JW: Yeah, that’s an attraction of film work, but the stage is satisfying in a different way. It’s harder work, but most importantly, you have more control over the final output on the stage, because there’s no one filtering what you do for the audience. There’s a certain freedom and fulfillment in directly communicating with the audience that you don’t find in film work. But they each have their own challenges, and I derive enjoyment from both. But, yes, I think I have a preference for the stage.
KW: You’ve played a lot of famous figures: Basquiat, Bobby Seale, Martin Luther King, Sidney Bechet, and you’ll be portraying a couple more soon in Colin Powell and Muddy Waters. How do you feel about being tapped to do so many icons?
JW: Basquiat was iconic in certain circles, but relatively unknown in larger circles. What was exciting about playing him was that it could be an invitation to a larger audience to his work. So, that was compelling to me. In the case of Dr. King, it was an opportunity to do a piece about an icon, yes, but about an icon whose legacy was being lost on younger folks. It was a chance to remind those who weren’t alive at the time about his work and his life.
KW: Why haven’t you relocated to Los Angeles?
JW: Why haven’t I? Hmmm… It’s a nice place to visit. [Laughs] I grew up in a one industry town, Washington, DC. Los Angeles is a one-industry town, too, but the industry is a little too narrow. Also, I have kids now, and Brooklyn, in my opinion, is a far superior community to raise them in than L.A., just in terms of their being overshadowed by movies and things like that. And there’s a lot more to the world than spotlights.
KW: Is there a question you always wished a journalist would ask you?
JW: That’s a good question, but no.
KW: Are you happy?
JW: That’s a good one, too. I used to say that “happy” was like “lucky,” kind of imaginary. But now that I’m married and have children, I find that happiness is a real space. And I have to say that I am happy, although I’m probably pulled in too many different directions sometimes, and more stressed than I should be about things. But I’m blessed with a beautiful family, and that’s all I can ask for.
KW: It must be very challenging for an actor and an actress to be married.
JW: Yes, a lot of drama.
KW: Thanks again for the interview, Jeffrey. I’m looking forward to your landing that Oscar nomination in the near future.
JW: Well, Kam, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

War Dance UGANDAN DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Examines Drive to Dance in the Midst of Ugandan Civil War

In much the way that Amandla! (2002) paid tribute to the freedom songs that helped inspire black South Africans topple the oppressive Apartheid regime, War Dance is a documentary about how the children of Uganda have turned to music and dance to take their minds off the intractable civil war which has ravaged the divided African nation for close to 20 years.
Directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix, this emotionally-engaging testament to the indomitability of the human spirit specifically focuses on the dreams of a trio of orphans living in a refugee camp near the Northern border. The kids, Dominic and Nancy, both 14, and Rose, 13, all wish to participate in the annual National Music Competition being staged in the country’s capital, Kampala.
Though scarred by the conflict and living in squalor, they remain optimistic about their prospects of winning, provided they can arrive at the event safely. The picture is evenly divided between uplifting scenes of teams practicing and heartbreaking interludes during which the three protagonists reflect about their loss of innocence in the wake of all the unspeakable horrors they’ve witnessed.
Xylophonist Dominic talks about having been recruited by the rebels and then forced to hack a family of innocent farmers to death. Rose, a singer, wistfully recounts how her parents were slaughtered right in front of her, while Nancy describes what it’s like to be raising her siblings since the death of her father.
The Oscar-nominated picture’s only flaw rests in that some of these earnest eyewitness accounts come across as having been rehearsed. This doesn’t mean that they’re not true, just possibly practiced to a point where they’ve lost their spontaneity. Still, given the breathtaking cinematography, the undulating rhythms, the enchanting choreography and soul-piercing refrains, War Dance is worthwhile as an affirmation of the human potential to be reborn and begin again even in the midst of most dire of circumstances.

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated PG-13 for mature themes and descriptions of atrocities.
Running time: 107 minutes
Studio: ThinkFilm/Image Entertainment
DVD Extras: Deleted and extended scenes, theatrical trailer and trailer gallery.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Crime Saga Courtesy of Legendary Sidney Lumet Comes to DVD

Though well into his eighties, Sidney Lumet hasn’t lost his edge. Exhibit A is this masterfully-crafted, multi-layered murder mystery by the legendary director which earned the #3 spot on this critic’s Top Ten List for 2007.
At the point of departure of the tawdry tale of greed and betrayal, we find Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hanson) in the heat of passion with his high-maintenance trophy wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei). Despite pulling down a decent salary as a corporate executive in New York City, seems that he can’t make enough money to support both his heroin habit and keep her happy with her lavish lifestyle.
He comes up with a solution to the problem, namely, to rob a mom-and-pop jewelry store in a suburban mall. And he already has a place picked out, the one owned by his parents up in Westchester.
So, he enlists the assistance of his struggling brother in hatching what’s supposed to be the perfect crime. What Andy doesn’t know is that Hank (Ethan Hawke) is a shameless backstabber who has been secretly carrying on a passionate affair with Gina. Although initially hesitant, he agrees to enter the conspiracy because he’s several months behind in child support to his vindictive ex-wife (Amy Ryan) and doesn’t want to be denied visitation.
Needless to say, some of the best laid plans go awry, and the confederate (Brian O’Byrne) Hank hires to pull off the heist ends up mortally wounding their mother (Rosemary Harris) in an unanticipated exchange of gunfire. He dies at the scene, too, during the commission of the crime, which means it’s just a matter of time before circumstantial evidence starts to point at the grieving siblings.
With the cops, the triggerman’s widow (Aleska Palladino), a blackmailing mobster (Michael Shannon) and their own disconsolate father (Alberty Finney) all closing in, perhaps the best the despicable pair can hope for is summed up in the Irish saying from which the film takes its title: “May you be in heaven, half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.”
Vintage Lumet!

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for nudity, violence, drug use, profanity and graphic sexuality.
Running time: 117 minutes
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Extras: Director and cast commentary, “The Making of” featurette, and a theatrical trailer.

Smart People

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Ellen Page Reprises Familiar Role in Dysfunctional Family Comedy

Is Ellen Page capable of portraying anything besides a wisecracking, suburban teenager with a major attitude? If not, she’s in danger of being typecast till she’s too old to play another variation of Juno, the spunky, social outcast for which she landed her Oscar-nomination.
Meanwhile, audiences will just have to settle for the latest incarnation of that flip persona in Smart People, a dysfunctional-family drama which might as well have been titled Smart Alecks. Ellen plays Vanessa Wetherhold, a high school senior who’s too much of an elitist for to bother having friends or fun.
Instead, the academic overachiever spends her free time practicing for the SATs in search of the stratospheric score that will get her into Stanford. She’s also a member of the Model U.N., the Young Republicans and the National Honor Society, extracurricular activities which will look good on her college application.
Her father, Lawrence (Dennis Quaid), a pompous Professor of English Literature at Carnegie Mellon, has been emotionally-unavailable to her and her older brother, James (Ashton Holmes), ever since the death of their mother. Her equally-abrasive sibling attends the University, but he has a room on campus, while Vanessa lives at home with her dad.
There isn’t much hope for any of these three misfits until the fateful day that Lawrence hits his head and has a seizure after climbing a fence. (Don’t ask) He ends up in the Emergency Room where the attending physician is Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), a former student of his, who still has the hots for teacher. However, rather than pick up on her hints, he morosely focuses on the fact that he won’t be allowed to drive for the next six months.
As luck would have it, a ready chauffeur conveniently shows up in his adopted brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), a homeless bohemian who’s broke again and needs a job and a place to stay. In contrast to his relatively-snobbish relations, Chuck is a cannabis-smoking bon vivant with no ambition other than to enjoy life.
Upon moving in, he becomes intent on bringing the uptight Wetherholds out of their shells via tough love therapy. In short order, he pressures Lawrence to date (Guess who?), loosens up awkward James by hanging out with him in the dorm, and humiliates teetotaler Vanessa into getting high for the first time by telling her she’s a robot and needs to relax.
While the contrast between his self-indulgent mania and their slowly-eroding conformity is often amusing, the film’s funniest moments by far, nonetheless, come courtesy of Ms. Page’s Juno, I mean, Vanessa. She has that terminally-sarcastic character down pat, typified by her flat response to a telemarketer calling for her late mother: “She’s been dead for many years. Whatever you’re peddling, thank you for the painful reminder.”
Juno 2, and just as inspired.

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R for profanity, sexuality, and brief teen drug and alcohol abuse.
Running time: 95 minutes
Studio: Miramax Films

Street Kings

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Crooked Cops Terrorize L.A. in High-Impact Splatter Flick

It’s never a good sign when a movie makes you laugh out loud at dialogue intended to be taken seriously. But this is exactly the reaction periodically elicited by the unintentionally funny Street Kings, a grisly shoot ‘em up loosely based on a crime yarn by James Ellroy.
The story is set in Los Angeles, and revolves around the goings-on inside a trigger-happy police department so crooked that cops don’t think twice before shooting a perp or even a fellow officer about to break the blue wall of silence. For, they can always count on Captain Biggs (Hugh Laurie), the head of Internal Affairs, to look the other way.
Such is the case with Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), an alcoholic widower working on the vice squad who considers himself above the law. Drinking since his wife’s murder, he has no qualms about unleashing a torrent of expletives and racial epithets in the direction of suspects before blowing them away and planting weapons on their bodies with the help of his boss, Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker).
And why is Wander so eager to cover-up rather than discipline his reckless cowboy? Well, while he freely admits to having designs on a promotion to police chief, he might have another hidden agenda.
Everything comes to a head the day that Ludlow bumps into his estranged former partner, Terrence Washington (Terry Crews), at a convenience store just as a couple of machine gun-toting thugs (Common and Cle Shaheed Sloan) are about to rob the place. When the smoke clears, the gangstas have escaped and Washington and the cashier lay dead.
Although the surveillance camera seems to implicate Ludlow in the killings, Biggs and Wander, curiously, are still willing to clean up the crime scene. So, they reassign the shaken detective to a desk job in the Civilian Complaint Department till the controversy blows over. However, the fidgety cop can’t sit still and so he secretly sets out on his own to find the creeps who committed the crime. And that quest for the truth uncovers a pattern of police corruption all the way to the top calling for a pile of corpses to rid the department of the foul stench.
Street Kings is a disaster for several simple reasons: a preposterous premise, less credible plot twists, too much gratuitous violence, too many ethnic slurs, an absence of likable characters plus another wooden performance from Keanu Reeves, an actor ill-suited for roles calling for him to exhibit a range of emotions. Forest Whitaker proves to be the most noteworthy of a supporting cast which includes Cedric the Entertainer, Jay Mohr, Naomie Harris and hip-hop stars Common and The Game.
But when you have trouble reading a hero’s motivations at every turn, the result is a comical headscratcher like this unmitigated mess.

Fair (1 stars)
Rated R for graphic violence, ethnic slurs and pervasive profanity.
Running time: 109 minutes
Studio: Fox Searchlight

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Features Offbeat Romantic Comedy about Overweight Actor Looking for Love and Lead Role

James Aaron (Jeff Garlin) seems to be bottoming-out. Not only is the aging actor overweight and unemployed, but he has just been dumped by both his girlfriend and his agent. Furthermore, because he still lives at home with his mother (Mina Kolb), the prospects for his social life improving aren’t very promising. On the job front, he’s been very picky about what parts he’ll consider, yet he gets upset when denied an opportunity to audition for a role awarded to an up-and-coming teenager (Aaron Carter).
Desperate to turn his fortunes around, the rudderless thespian joins Overeaters Anonymous to deal with his binge eating. But that effort backfires when he goes directly from the support group to the familiar comfort offered by his favorite ice cream parlor. There, he’s flattered when the attractive, young cashier (Sarah Silverman) behind the counter starts to flirtswith him shamelessly.
Although, at first, James finds it hard to take Beth’s impulsive overture seriously, the two do forge an unlikely liaison reminiscent of Woody Allen’s classic mismatches opposite Diane Keaton (Annie Hall), Mariel Hemingway (Manhattan) and other relatively-striking leading ladies. In fact, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With might best be thought of as a romantic comedy generally trading on Woody’s trademark themes, except substituting Chicago for New York as a backdrop and cinematic source of inspiration.
Written and directed by and starring Second City native Jeff Garlin, this flip farce revolves around his winning performance as the picture’s introspective, highly neurotic protagonist. Fortunately, he exhibits an endearing enough vulnerability to pull off the Woody Allen imitation, and with the help of a stellar supporting cast which includes Bonnie Hunt, Sarah Silverman, Amy Sedaris, Tim Kazurinsky, Elle Fanning and Dan Castellaneta.
Too bad comedienne Sarah Silverman simply is no Diane Keaton. La-di-da… la-di-da…

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 80 minutes
Studio: Genius Products
DVD Extras: Deleted scene and a director’s commentary.

Juno DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Coming-of-Age Comedy Revolving around Teen Pregnancy Released on DVD

16 year-old Juno (Ellen Page) is a precocious smart aleck who comes to regret her one-night stand with Paulie (Michael Cera), a grateful classmate with not much going for him. For she ends up pregnant by a boy she didn’t love.
With no interest in keeping the baby, she decides to run an ad in the newspaper offering the newborn for adoption, and she eventually settles on Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman), a happily-married couple eager to start a family who have found themselves frustrated in that endeavor. Now, the barren wife’s maternal urge conveniently dovetails with Juno’s need to place her kid in an ideal setting.
This is the novel point of departure of Juno, a quirky, coming-of-age teensploit rather reminiscent of Ghost World, another offbeat adventure revolving around a quick-witted, female with a blasé attitude. Set against the jarring candy-colored, Pee Wee Herman-style backdrops, the production has the same surreal wanderlust about it that worked so well in Garden State.
Juno was directed by Jason Reitman, whose Thank You for Smoking was this critic’s #1 pick on the Top Ten List for 2006. And it was written by former stripper Diablo Cody who won an Oscar for a screenplay which fails to differentiate much among its colorful characters in favor of going for the joke, forcing pithy remarks into the mouths of anyone and everyone, even when malapropos.
The upshot is a terminally-clever comedy that’s laced with lots of inspired sardonic humor but can’t quite convince you to take its slowly thickening plot seriously. This is unfortunate, because the production squanders its potential edginess surrounding some surprising developments, such as the sexual tension which arises between Juno and Mark, by always looking for laughs at the expense of substance.
Forget Napoleon, think Juno Dynamite!

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for profanity, premarital sexuality and mature themes.
Running time: 96 minutes
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
2-Disc DVD Extras: Commentary by director Jason Reitman and scriptwriter Diablo Cody, 11 deleted scenes, gag reel, gag take, cast and crew jam, screen tests, plus several featurettes.

Jellyfish (Meduzot) ISRAELI

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Women’s Lives Whimsically Intertwine in Serendipitous Israeli Adventure

In recent years, some of the most intriguing, feminist dramas have been coming out of Israel. The character-driven Nina’s Tragedies and Close to Home come immediately to mind. You can now add Jellyfish to that impressive list, a surreal adventure which whimsically intertwines the lives of several women whose paths crisscross in present-day Tel Aviv.
The fulcrum of the plot is provided by the plight of heartsick Batya (Sarah Adler), a waitress working at the wedding of Karen (Noa Knoller) and Michael (Gera Sandler). Shortly past the point of departure, we learn that the couple’s plans for a Caribbean honeymoon are ruined when the bride breaks her ankle after accidentally locking herself in a bathroom.
So, they opt to take a room right on the ground floor of the beachfront hotel hosting their reception. Supportive Michael soon finds himself waiting hand and foot on his suddenly whiny wife, and it’s obvious that he must be more than a little annoyed with her when he has his head turned by the flirtatious poet staying in the penthouse.
Elsewhere, we find Joy (Ma-nenita De Latorre), a homesick nurse missing the five year-old son she had to leave behind in her native Philippines. It doesn’t help any that although she asked to be assigned childcare because she doesn’t speak any Hebrew, her agency hired her out to Malka (Zaharira Harifai), an elderly woman who is not only grouchy, but bigoted to boot. Despite Joy’s exhibiting the patience of a saint, Malka would prefer to live with her daughter, an actress busily preparing to appear in a production of Hamlet directed by an Arab.
These assorted threads are woven together ever so subtly via the meanderings of Batya, a forlorn soul who besides being left by her boyfriend has had the rent recently raised on her dilapidated apartment. The carefree slacker reacts by drinking water dripping from a hole in the ceiling, and by adopting a naked, freckle-faced, five year-old (Nikol Leidman) she finds frolicking alone along the Mediterranean shore.
But after bonding, Batya becomes frantic when the mute little girl disappears almost as mysteriously as she had arrived. Then, back at the resort, jealousy rears its ugly head as Karen starts to wonder why her husband’s new friend has so generously offered to swap rooms.
In Jellyfish, always of more consequence than the give-and-take of any of the superficial personal dramas are the complicated cultural and psychological issues simmering just under the surface. Like Amelie with an attitude, this sinister flick links strangers serendipitously, but with an almost shocking absence of naivete.



Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In Hebrew, French and English with subtitles.
Running time: 78 minutes
Studio: Zeitgeist Films

Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening April 18, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

88 Minutes (R for profanity, disturbing violence and brief nudity) Al Pacino stars in this revenge thriller, set in Seattle, as a forensic psychiatrist with only 88 minutes to find out who’s behind the death threat leveled at him on the eve of the execution of a serial killer (Neal McDonough) he helped convict. Cast includes Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman and Alicia Witt.

The Forbidden Kingdom (PG-13 for martial arts action) Jet Li and Jackie Chan co-star in this time-travel fantasy about an American teenager (Michael Angarano) who finds an Oriental artifact which teleports him back to ancient China where he embarks on an adventure with a kung fu master (Chan) to free a fabled king (Li) unfairly imprisoned by an evil warlord (Collin Chou).

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (R for profanity, sexuality and graphic nudity) Romantic comedy about a depressed slacker (Jason Segel) who goes to Hawaii to get over being dumped by a famous actress (Kristen Bell) only to discover that she’s staying at the same resort with her new, rock star boyfriend (Russell Brand). Supporting cast includes Mila Kunis, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Steve Landesberg

Pathology (R for violence, nudity, profanity, drug use, gruesome images and graphic sexuality) Grisly horror flick about a med student (Milo Ventimiglia) who joins a conspiracy with classmates competing to execute the perfect crime only to realize that he might be the next victim on the hit list. With Alyssa Milano, Keir O’Donnell and Michael Weston.



INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Anamorph (R for profanity, violence and disturbing grisly images) Psychological thriller about a couple of detectives (Willem Dafoe and Scott Speedman) who think they’re on the trail of a copycat serial killer, until they begin to suspect that it might somehow be the work of the same sicko pronounced dead five years ago. With Clea Duvall, Peter Stormare, Michael Buscemi (Steve’s brother), Tandy Cronyn (daughter of Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn) and ex-pro wrestler Mick “Mankind” Foley.

Constantine’s Sword (Unrated) Former Catholic priest James Carroll traces the link between religion and violence in this provocative documentary examining faith-based fanaticism from the days of the Crusades right up to America’s present involvement in the Middle East.

Expelled (PG for mature themes, disturbing images and brief smoking) Snobby intellectual Ben Stein stars in this pro-Creationism documentary which finds the Nixon speechwriter-turned actor-turned eponymous game show host making the case for teaching Intelligent Design in public schools as a credible alternative to the scientific community’s generally-accepted Theory of Evolution.

Four Minutes (Unrated) Homo-erotic drama about the sexual tension which arises between a spinsterly piano teacher (Monica Bleibtreu) and the promising young inmate (Hannah Herzsprung) she gives classical piano lessons to behind bars. (In German with subtitles)

Glass (Unrated) Retrospective chronicles the musical career of Philip Glass, the prolific modern classical composer, who now in his seventies remains as driven as ever to crank out his experimental operas, symphonies, movie and dance scores and more.

The Life Before Her Eyes (R for violence, profanity, drug use and disturbing content) Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood co-star in this psychological drama about a housewife whose idyllic suburban bliss turns into a neverending nightmare when painful memories surface on the 15th anniversary of the Columbine-style tragedy which took the life of her best friend.

Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (Unrated) Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) directs this Roger & Me homage in which he perambulates the Middle East, speaking with Muslims around the Arab World, while searching for the harder to find than Waldo religious fanatic who masterminded the 9/11 attack.

Zombie Strippers (R for nudity, profanity, sexuality and graphic violence) Futuristic, horror comedy about a government-created virus which unwittingly turns the women working at an underground gentleman’s club in a conservative Nebraska community into a powerfully-seductive race of super zombie strippers. Cast includes Robert Englund, Jenna Jameson and Roxy Saint.

Stalags (ISRAELI)

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Documentary Examines Nazi-Themed Pornography Popularized in Israel in the Sixties

Who would think that Israel would be the birthplace of Nazi-themed pornographic paperbacks laced with lurid tales of buxom blondes in SS uniforms torturing concentration camp prisoners and ? That is exactly what transpired back in the early Sixties, and right around the same time that Adolf Eichmann was being tried in Jerusalem for committing crimes against humanity.
This salacious genre of pocketbooks published in Tel Aviv debuted with “Stalag 13,” a title which sold over 800,000 copies. And that initial best seller was soon followed by other increasingly-perverse accounts of sexplicit cruelty which eventually escalated to descriptions of cannibalism and incest.
Released under several pseudonyms such as Mike Longshot, Ralph Butcher and Mike Baden, the stories were rumored to have been published previously overseas in English before being translated into Hebrew. Truth be told, however, they originated in Israel and specifically targeted Jewish readers.
The big surprise was that they found a wide audience, and not just in the dirty old man demographic. Historians believe that they managed to capture the imagination of Israeli society because discussion of the Holocaust had been suppressed due to the survivors’ general inability to talk about their horrific experiences.
Consequently, in the absence of authentic autobiographies by real concentration camp victims, these “Stalags” not only filled the void but, worse, were embraced as factual memoirs rather than repudiated as trashy literature. In Israel, the phenomenon only died down when the authors were successfully sued by the government for the distribution of anti-Semitic pornography.
Unfortunately, by then irreversible damage had already been done, as they had so permeated the country’s consciousness that some books were apart of the high school curriculum. Furthermore, as revealed by this informative documentary, tour guides of Auschwitz today still quote from the works of one of the repudiated writers to suggest that Jewish women willingly lavished sexual favors on their Nazi captors in order to be spared, when there were no anecdotal reports or official records of any such behavior of this nature.
A chilling expose’ which shows how Holocaust internees have been victimized twice, violated again by purveyors of smut who would stoop so low as to fabricate a pack of sadomasochistic lies for a quick buck.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In Hebrew with subtitles.
Running time: 63 minutes
Distributor: Film Forum

Free Lunch

Free Lunch:
How the Wealthiest Americans enrich Themselves at Government Expense
(and Stick You with the Bill)
by David Cay Johnston
Portfolio
Hardcover, $24.95
334 pages
ISBN: 978-1-59184-191-3



Book Review by Kam Williams

“The evidence of a growing divide between the superrich and everyone else in America is so overwhelming that all but the few lightweight ideologues among economists acknowledge this harsh truth... A national debate has arisen over just what is going on
Why are the rich getting so much richer, while the middle class struggles and the poor fall behind? Why are the richest of the rich – billionaires – pulling away even from those whose net worth is in the many millions? Is education behind increasing inequality, as the White House says?
In the pages ahead we will examine just how thoroughly government has become the servant of the rich… who owe their fortunes less to their enterprise than to the generosity of our Uncle Sam.”
-- Excerpted from Chapter Two (pages 22-24)

Those who don’t have their heads buried in the proverbial sand are well aware of the split state of the American economy. Increasingly, the nation has been divided into a land of “haves” and “have nots” where the middle class is rapidly eroding. Proof of this phenomenon is in evidence at every turn, from the profusion of real estate foreclosures, to the record number of folks filing for bankruptcy, to the skyrocketing salaries of corporate executives coming at the expense of employee benefits, to the tumbling value of the dollar, to the outsourcing of manufacturing and jobs overseas.
This disturbing trend is not the natural consequence of an honestly-operating free market, but rather the result of a rigged form of capitalism in which the government is employed to ensure that the rich get richer, and the poor poorer. David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, delineates many ways in which the game has been fixed since the rise of Reagan Era in Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill).
According to the author, “The rich and their lobbyists have taken firm control of the levers of power in Washington and the state capitals while remaking the rules in their own interests.” That development explains why we have politicians willing to spend millions while running for offices which, theoretically, will only pay them a relatively-modest six-figure salary.
The book covers an impressive range of topics in the course of painting an overall picture of runaway greed gone hopelessly out of control, all with no restraints anywhere on the horizon. Johnston points out that the escalating situation is eerily similar to that which prevailed during the Roaring Twenties, just prior to the onset of Great Depression.
Labeling the country’s current predicament as a state of tyranny, given the flagrant abuses of authority, he concludes by calling for the masses to assert their sovereignty via a mandate to reinstate legitimate checks and balances. An excellent expose’ which deserves to be read by any concerned patriot hoping to help America avoid the impending financial collapse.

The Dhamma Brothers

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Inmates Find Inner Peace thru Meditation in Death Row Documentary

A maximum security prison isn’t the sort of place you’d expect to find a bunch of men mutely contemplating their navels and the meaning of life. But that’s what we find Alabama’s Donaldson State Penitentiary, where Warden Stephen Bullard opted to allow Jonathan Crowley to introduce an East Indian brand of meditation known as Vipassana to volunteers plucked from among the institution’s most hardened criminals.
The participants adopting the ascetic regimen understood that the initiation meant that for ten days straight they would not be allowed to talk, watch TV, use a phone, have sex or imbibe intoxicants. Those able to meet the challenge discovered that they emerged from the program calmer and with a new sense of purpose when they rejoined the general population.
The Dhamma Brothers, directed by Andrew Kukura, Jenny Phillips and Anne Marie Stein examines the before and after mindsets of the cons converted to the Eastern spiritual path. This fascinating film focuses on a quartet of contrite individuals, starting with Edward Curry Johnson, a once-promising student-athlete who was being scouted by pro baseball when, against his better judgment, he foolishly took part in a gang-related homicide.
Then, there’s Death Row inmate Grady Bankhead, who confesses here to being a co-conspirator in a plot which left its victim with a severed head and a torso mutilated by about 80 stab wounds. I’ll spare you the details of the felonies committed by Benjamin “OB” Oryang or Rick Smith, but trust me, they’re no choir boys either.
Yet, they all made amazing transformations via Vipassana, despite the fact that none have much hope of ever being paroled. Based on their mild-mannered demeanors, it seems that they really have come around to accepting responsibility for their horrendous deeds while making peace with still having to pay their debt to society.
Unfortunately, midway through the movie, we learn that Alabama’s Commissioner of Corrections ordered the program disbanded when he learned that it was turning so many in the jail from Christianity to a mysterious religious practice he considered occult. Afterall, ‘Bama is in the heart of the Bible Belt, and as one unsympathetic local yokel says, “I don’t believe in Buddhism or any type of witchcraft.”
Perhaps the picture’s most astute observation is made by a concerned counselor who points to the Dhamma Brothers as “proof that people don’t need to be incarcerated for their entire lives to be appropriately punished for their crimes.” A timely argument to give cons a second chance, given the fact that the country simply can no longer afford to keep so many hopeless souls locked behind bars.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 76 minutes
Studio: Balcony Releasing

There Will Be Blood DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Turn of the Century Saga Features Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar-Winning Performance as Self-Made Oil Baron

I’m not sure whether audiences love watching anything as much as a good Horatio Alger tale chronicling the triumphant struggle of an underdog who overcomes the humblest of circumstances to amass wealth beyond his or her wildest imagination. Fans of the American Dream genre will undoubtedly salivate over There Will Be Blood, a turn of the century saga ostensibly-inspired by Oil!, the class-conscious novel published by Upton Sinclair back in 1927.
This screen adaptation led the Academy Award hopefuls with eight nominations including Best Picture and Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), although it ultimately only won in the Actor and Cinematography categories. Despite clocking in at a patience-testing 2½ hours, the tortoise-paced picture is nonetheless worthwhile for the latest spellbinding performance by Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis alone.
From My Beautiful Launderette to My Left Foot to In the Name of the Father to Gangs of New York, the very versatile thespian has proven himself capable of adapting imperceptibly to any era and setting, and of adopting the requisite accent and mannerisms. Here, it is 1898, and he plays Daniel Plainview, a struggling silver prospector barely eking out a living in Texas, who decides to strike out for California with his son (Dillon Freasier) in tow, based on a tip that there’s oil in them thar hills.
Sure enough, the pair soon find plenty of petroleum, however, gaining the rights to the land to extract the black gold calls for a combination of ruthless manipulation and unalloyed greed that is most unbecoming. For not only do they sell their souls on the way to fortune, but even their familial bonds end up being sorely tested.
Exploring a plethora of themes of Shakespearean dimensions (ambition, faith, loyalty and love to name a few), this grand production inexorably builds to a showdown between the despicable Plainview and an equally-corrupt, Bible-thumping preacher (Paul Dano) who only wants his cut of the action. A curious morality play which hints at a tawdry connection between capitalism and Christianity.
The Beverly Hillbillies, sans the cement pond.

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated R for violence.
Running time: 158 minutes
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
2-Disc DVD Extras: “Dailies Gone Wild,” “The Story of Petroleum” (a black & white silent film chronicling the oil business in the 1920s), trailers, “Fishing” sequence, “15 Minutes” (pictures, research, etcetera for the making of the film), and Haircut/Interrupted Hymn.

Angela Bassett: The Meet the Browns Interview

with Kam Williams

Headline: Angela Gets Her Groove Back

Born in New York City, but raised by her single-mom, Betty, along with her sister, D’nette, in St. Petersburg, Florida, Angela Evelyn Bassett studied acting at Yale University, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies and a Master’s in Theater. She began her professional career on stage, performing both on and off-Broadway in productions of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Colored People’s Time,” “Henry IV, Part I,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” “Antigone,” “Pericles” and “Black Girl.”

Angela later landed what might be described as her breakout role as Reva Devereaux in John Singleton’s BOYZ N THE HOOD, and she received additional critical acclaim for her moving performance as matriarch Katherine Jackson in the ABC mini-series “The Jacksons: An American Family.” Nominated for an Oscar in 1994 for her unforgettable portrayal of Tina Turner in WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, Angela is also a thirteen -time NAACP Image Award-nominee, winning for that picture along with THE ROSA PARKS STORY, SUNSHINE STATE, THE SCORE, HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK, MUSIC OF THE HEART, WAITING TO EXHALE, RUBY’S BUCKET OF BLOOD and MALCOLM X..

The embodiment of dignity, pride and grace, she invariably electrifies audiences via her emotionally-charged characterizations. Away from the set, with her husband, actor Courtney B. Vance, she co-wrote FRIENDS: A LOVE STORY, a best-seller published on Valentine’s Day last year. The inspirational autobiography chronicles the real-life love story of Bassett and Vance, who were friends for many years before marrying.

In 2006, the couple became parents, celebrated the arrival of twins, daughter Bronwyn Golden and son Slater Josiah. Here, Angela talks about life, career and her new movie, Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, where she stars opposite former NBA star Rick Fox.


KW: Hi Angela, this is an honor. Thanks for the time.
AB: Sure.
KW: How was it being directed by Tyler Perry?
AB: It was great, even though there were some long, hot days in Atlanta. [Chuckles] But, they weren’t long enough.
KW: How about working with Rick Fox?
AB: It was absolutely delightful. He was a joy to work with.
KW: Even though you’re such an accomplished actress, and he didn’t have nearly the same amount of experience?
AB: That’s true enough, but he has life experience, and he certainly brought all of himself to the moment. He wasn’t afraid of hard work, and he was open and emotionally available. So, he won me over as a co-star.
KW: Where did you channel your character from? Have you ever known a single-mom at the end of her rope like Brenda?
AB: Oh, absolutely! My mom raised my sister and me single-handedly in Florida. So, day-to-day, I saw the struggles of doing it on your own without help, and how tired that makes you, and the dreams and aspirations you have for your children.
I know that she pushed us in regard to getting our education, finding advocates in our principals and teachers at school.
KW: And she was quite successful, given your graduating from Yale.
AB: Yeah, it was a wonderful victory and accomplishment for her, especially since she wasn’t able to go to college herself. Education was something stressed almost to my chagrin growing up, at times. Since we were toddlers, she stressed, “You’re going to college! You’re going to college! You’re going to college!” So, it was a happy moment for her.
KW: I can remember how my mother always made me finish my homework before I was allowed to go out to play.
AB: Yeah, all that extra-curricular stuff came to a screeching halt, if your grades weren’t up to par. And par was at least Bs or better. If you wanted to keep your good thing going, then you took care of your job, and that was getting those grades together.
KW: What sort of message do you want people to get from Meet the Browns?
AB: To persevere and keep on moving forward. Just put one foot in front of the other, whatever the obstacles may be. Hold out for hope, because you will turn a corner and find a situation that’s a whole lot better.
KW: Is there any question that no one has ever asked that you wished someone would ask you?
AB: Oh no, no question’s been off-limits. [Laughs] I can’t say I’ve ever thought to myself, “Oh, I wished they’d ask me this or that.”
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?
AB: Ecstatic!
KW: “Are you ever afraid?” I got that question from Tasha Smith.
AB: Oh really? Am I ever afraid? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I’m human, so...
KW: Who are you supporting for president?
AB: Barack Obama.
KW: Jimmy Bayan, “Realtor to the Stars,” wants to know where in L.A. you live.
AB: Hancock Park.
KW: Congrats on your many NAACP Image Awards. You might not know that I’m on the nominating committee.
AB: Oh, are you? I wondered who voted. Where are you based?
KW: I’m in Princeton, New Jersey. You have quite an impressive body of work. Which of your roles has been the most satisfying?
AB: I love all my “children” but I would have to say What’s Love, because it was the most challenging and the most fulfilling, because it resonated with so many people, and because it has stood the test of viewing again and again. It was the role that pushed me and pulled me more than any other.
KW: You’ve been everyone from Tina to Katherine Jackson to Betty Shabazz to Rosa Parks in bio-pics. Do you enjoy playing real-life icons?
AB: Yeah, I absolutely do, and I’m always humbled and I’m grateful for each opportunity.
KW: Have you ever gotten any feedback from a person you’ve portrayed?
AB: Yes, Tina was very, very pleased. I got very positive feedback from her.
KW: How about Rosa Parks?
AB: I was able to meet her, but she was elderly at the time, and had other priorities in her life. I also got positive feedback from Katherine and her children, and from Betty Shabazz and her family.
KW: Do you have any plans to work with your husband soon?
AB: We did a play a couple of years ago, His Girl Friday. And we’re always holding that out as a possibility.
KW: I hope to be able to catch you and Courtney again up on the screen. Well, thanks for the time, Angela, and good luck with Meet the Browns.
AB: Thank you so very much.

Leatherheads

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Clooney Courts Zellweger in Screwball Comedy Set in the Roaring Twenties

It is the height of the Roaring Twenties, an era generally associated with overindulgence and irrational exuberance in spite of Prohibition and the specter of the Great Depression looming over the horizon. The decade also signaled the introduction of professional football in the American heartland, and this is where we meet Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly (George Clooney), the owner/captain/coach of the Duluth Bulldogs.
While most folks fail to see much of a future in a game being played on turnip fields by miners, farmers and shell-shocked veterans, Dodge can already envision the fledgling league’s potential as a popular spectator sport.
Plus, the aging star is still a kid at heart, who would rather continue playing indefinitely than make any concessions to Father Time.
But with his Bulldogs enjoying more of a reputation for brawling in speakeasies than for greatness on the gridiron, they find themselves without a sponsor and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. So, in order to save his team from financial collapse, Connelly comes up with an inspired idea to bolster his flagging franchise’s box-office receipts.
The plan is to offer a record-setting contract to Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski), provided the Princeton University sensation is willing to abandon plans to attend Yale Law School and turn pro instead. For the 6’3” Golden Boy offers the added bonus of being a celebrated World War I hero who single-handedly captured a platoon of German soldiers during the Battle of the Argonne Forest in Northern France.
Carter signs up and, sure enough, the gamble works. Sportswriters covering the Bulldogs begin writing articles recounting the veteran’s exploits and enormous crowds start flocking to the team’s games. However, a fly in the ointment arrives in Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger), an up-and-coming investigative journalist looking to make a name for herself.
She suspects that the patriot’s war record might have been a bit embellished, so she sets about doing a little digging to elicit the truth. Meanwhile, she simultaneously finds herself being courted by both Carter and Dodge, and a love triangle ensues.
Written and directed by George Clooney (for Syriana), Leatherheads is an old-fashioned screwball comedy cut from the mold of a Preston Sturges farce. Half slapstick, half romantic romp, the picture is at its best when indulging in witty repartee between Clooney and Renee Zellweger. Reminiscent of Tracy and Hepburn, the two Academy Award-winners again prove their worth, generating an endearing chemistry while delivering their every line with perfect aplomb.
If only the rest of the script measured up to their inspired exchanges, the movie might have added up to something more memorable than a momentary diversion. Instead, what we have is a pleasant period piece harking back to days of yore, but one so superficial that it’s likely to be forgotten by the time you file up the aisle.

Good (2 stars)
Rated PG-13 for brief profanity.
Running time: 114 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures

Love and Other Four-Letter Words DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Features Tangi Miller and Flex Alexander in Marriage-Minded Sitcom

Stormy LaRue (Tangi Miller) is a popular TV talk show host in Chicago who has it all except a man. And that wasn’t really a problem until she went back home to Montgomery, Alabama to visit her supposedly terminally-ill grandmother (Aloma Wright).
For when Nana on her deathbed says her last request is to see her favorite granddaughter happily married, Stormy lies on the spot, saying she’s already engaged and the wedding is in just six weeks. Then, when granny miraculously recovers and announces that she plans to attend, the bride decides to find a guy to fake playing her groom for a day rather than ‘fess up to the fib.
This is the familiar point of departure of Love and Other Four-Letter Words, a formulaic sitcom based on a story created by its talented star, Tangi Miller. Despite the plot’s predictability, it is well-enough executed with the help of a colorful supporting cast to be rated a worthwhile rental.
Relying on her best friend, Roxanne (Essence Atkins), desperate Stormy begins auditioning potential husbands, only to settle inexplicably on Tiger (Marcus Patrick), a stripper she meets at her assistant Carrie’s (Mary Linda Phillips) birthday party. However, this arrangement soon starts to sour when the hunky boy-toy begins demanding an ever-increasing amount of money to participate in the ruse.
Matters become even more messy after possessive Carrie sleeps with Tiger and develops a bad case of Jungle Fever. And further complications ensue when Stormy’s trashy cousins, Frieda (Sandy Brown) and Lucille (Tasha Smith), show up on the scene.
Hope arrives in a local yokel who’s been there all along, Reverend Arnold Peterson (Flex Alexander), the minister hired to perform the phone ceremony. Arnold, aka Peanut, was a nerdy childhood friend who had long-admired Stormy from afar, but failed to turn her head. But now that he’s matured into a handsome man of the cloth, it’s just a matter of time before Stormy wises up and grabs the beefy bachelor.
Yet another African-American romantic comedy where a damsel-in-distress is rescued by an almost zombie-like perfect gentleman who’s seems a little too good to be true.

Good (2 stars)
R for nudity, sexuality and profanity.
Running time: 87 minutes
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Extras: Audio commentary by Tangi Miller and Flex Alexander, “Behind-the-Scenes” footage, film festival tour featurette, a trailer, and more.

The 11th Hour DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Discusses the Perilous Plight of the Planet Due to Global Warming

Anyone who watches The 11th Hour is likely to come away convinced that saving the planet from extinction ought to be high atop every advanced and developing nation’s political agenda. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, this chilling expose’ makes an even more convincing case than An Inconvenient Truth that time is of the essence, if there’s to be any hope for humanity to halt the trend towards global warming.
Where Al Gore’s Oscar-winner was essentially a “before” and “after” lecture delivered by the former Vice President standing on a stage pointing at a series of slides, this dire documentary features convincing contributions from a diversity of dozens of experts out in the field, including acclaimed physicist Stephen Hawking, CIA Director James Woolsey and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Backed by damning film footage, their assorted observations combine to lead to the conclusion that there is a burgeoning crisis in terms of climate change which borders on irreversible if allowed to continue unabated.
The good news is that most of the blame for the predicament is placed right at the feet of the human race, which means the solution to the problem is also within our grasp. Ironically, it appears that the man-made technological advances associated with the Industrial Revolution simultaneously led to the runaway consumption of fossil fuels now causing the rapid depletion of natural resources.
As a consequence of the rise in the Earth’s temperature and the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, we are witnessing a marked increase in such natural disasters as wildfires, drought, the melting of the ice caps, deforestation, air and water pollution, disease, the depletion of the ozone layer, etcetera. The segment of the scientific community consulted here has arrived at a scary consensus, namely that, left unchecked, this rapid degeneration will inexorably lead to planetary conditions which will no longer support life.
Overall, a cautionary tale sounding the alarm that we’re close to the tipping point of wholesale ecological disaster, if not already irreversibly past it.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 124 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Extras: “The Bonus Hour,” more than 60 minutes of extras exploring action plans for rescuing the planet.

Meeting David Wilson MSNBC-TV Special

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: MSNBC Special to Feature Reunion of Blacks and Whites Linked to Ancestors from Same Slave Plantation

If you were descended from slaves, would you want to trace your ancestral roots back to the very soil where your forefathers had toiled for generations? And if you did, how do you think you’d feel if you not only found the plantation but the kin of the white slave owners still living there?
This was precisely the project undertaken by David Wilson, a 28 year-old journalist from Newark, NJ when he ventured to Caswell County, North Carolina, which was where his great-grandfather was born in 1883. Concerned about what sort of reception he might get, given the subject of his daring research, he took along a white cinematographer, Daniel Woolsey, who recorded his every encounter on videotape.
The upshot of their efforts is Meeting David Wilson, a fascinating documentary which starkly contrasts the divergent fortunes of the descendants of slaves with that of the heirs of those same slaves’ masters. Upon his arrival in the South, Wilson paid a visit to the local genealogist, and discovered, lo and behold, that the Wilson Estate was in the hands of a white man also named David Wilson.
With a combination of determination and trepidation, the black David Wilson approached his white namesake for an interview and a tour of the property. What ensues is an emotional-draining experience during which tough questions are posed and honest answers given about reparations, history and America’s legacy while some personal skeletons are pulled out of a centuries-old closet.
After the Davids awkwardly erase the color line between them, they actually bond and opt to throw a family reunion. This is easier said than done, for we see one of black David’s sisters say, “I’m already angry enough, I don’t need to go down there and see somebody who owned my family.” Whites prove to be equally reluctant, such as the guy who concedes, “If I done you wrong, I wouldn’t want to meet you.”
Yet, in the end, over fifty African-American Wilsons do travel to Carolina and undergo a purification process, commiserating with their Caucasian counterparts on the plantation where interacting as equals was once unthinkable. The film also features DNA tests to determine whether the Davids are blood related, plus a trip to Ghana in search of African relations.
A heartwrenching bio-pic likely to inspire countless similar sojourns.
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 82 minutes
Studio: Official Pictures

Meeting David Wilson premieres on MSNBC on Friday, April 11th @ 9 PM EST/PST. (Check Local Listings)

Resurrecting the Champ DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Features Samuel L. Jackson as Hobo in Uplifting Bio-Pic

Hollywood has never been known to let the facts get in the way of an uplifting bio-pic, and this fiasco is no exception. Josh Hartnett stars as Erik Kernan, a struggling sports columnist for the Denver Post who crosses paths with Champ (Samuel L. Jackson), an alcoholic hobo rumored to be Bob Satterfield, a former heavyweight contender way back in the Fifties.
Seeing the story as the scoop which could establish him as a journalist to be reckoned with, Erik bribes his reluctant subject with beer to cooperate for a profile. But only after the paper has already published the piece does it learn that the story is a hoax since the real Bob Satterfield had died in 1977.
Nonetheless, the picture has been packaged as a feelgood flick, expecting you to be tweaked emotionally by the Champ’s nobly inspiring Kernan to mend fences with his estranged son. Unfortunately, the improbable tale unfolds in an utterly unconvincing fashion, and leaves one wondering how a big city paper could fail to check the basic fact of whether the subject of a cover story was dead or alive.
So, it was no surprise to this critic that a little research reveals the movie’s script to bear little resemblance to the real-life events that actually transpired. Turns out that the reporter, J.R. Moehringer, was not fooled by the impostor. Furthermore, instead of ever being an aspiring writer, J.R. was a very-promising Yale grad enjoying a meteoric rise on his way to winning a Pulitzer early in his career.
Pardon me for being offended when a flick revolving around the question of journalistic ethics takes so many liberties with the truth simply to spin a tall tale designed to tug on unsuspecting heartstrings.

Poor (½ star)
Rated PG-13 for violence and brief profanity.
Running time: 112 minutes
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Cast and crew interviews, and “The Making of” featurette.

Lions for Lambs DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Robert Redford’s Preachy Anti-War Drama Released on DVD

Directed by Robert Redford, Lions for Lambs is a preachy, anti-Bush polemic which repeatedly advances talking points lifted right out of the liberal playbook. Despite several parallel plotlines and dizzying editing designed to suggest a diversity of opinions, the truth is that the picture is essentially advancing only one point-of-view.
In 25 words or more, the movie seems to be making the point that: “The War on Terror is really over oil and was orchestrated by greedy, power-hungry right-wing neo-cons who’ve used patriotic buzzwords like ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ as a smokescreen to dupe idealistic poor kids into enlisting in a military with a disproportionate percentage of minorities in its ranks.”
Even if you agree with that message, you are unlikely to appreciate the ham-fisted fashion in which this flick forces it down your throat.
Redford himself stars as pontificating Professor Stephen Malley, a Vietnam vet who prods his pupils to make the most of their lives. Something in his sermonizing inspires a couple of minority students (Derek Luke and Michael Pena) to enlist to serve on the front lines in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the classroom remains filled with lazy white guys like Todd (Andrew Garfield), a party animal who could care less about either politics or academics.
The story then abruptly shifts to the Middle East where the soldiers soon land in a prickly predicament when their helicopter is ambushed by the Taliban while on a mission in the mountains. Another scenario unfolds in Washington, D.C., and pits veteran investigative reporter Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) against U.S. Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise). She sees straight through the transparent Republican’s self-serving spin about the goings-on in Afghanistan and refuses to be used as a pawn to propagate a pack of lies.
A simplistic, if well-intentioned, overindulgence in obviousms.

Fair (1 star)
Rated R for profanity and violence.
Running time: 92 minutes
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Director’s commentary, several featurettes, previews, and the theatrical teaser and trailer.

Flight of the Red Balloon (Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge) FRENCH

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Neglected Boy Bonds with Nanny in Surreal Cinematic Escape

Seven year-old Simon (Simon Iteanu) is being raised by a berserk single-mom (Juliette Binoche) so overwhelmed by her assorted responsibilities that she dumps him in the care of a new babysitter (Fang Song) who doesn’t even know where they live. The trouble is that puppeteer Suzanne is currently consumed with putting the finishing touches on her next show when not fighting with her troublesome downstairs tenant (Hippolyte Giradot).
By contrast, Song, a nanny from Taiwan, is a relatively-mellow soul. She also happens to be a film school student who wants to make a picture with the very imaginative child now entrusted in her care. Seems that she is able to escape to a parallel universe where Simon is followed everywhere he goes by a big red balloon, a development reminiscent of the 1956 French classic “The Red Balloon” about a peripatetic Parisian boy also trailed by what else but a red balloon.
This praiseworthy homage, directed by Hsiao-hsien Hou, doesn’t provide much of a linear plotline worth following, unless you care to be distracted by foul-mouthed Suzanne’s annoying caterwaul and her selfish concerns. Rather, this is a flick designed to be appreciated for its more subtle moments, those evocative interludes shared by the virtually abandoned child and his sensitive au pair as they perambulate the urban exoskeleton of an enchantingly-framed City of Light.
A slight, surreal cinematic experiment apt to enthrall the more discerning theatergoer, while leaving the mundane masses scratching their heads and asking, “Is that it?”

Very good (3 stars)
Unrated
In French with subtitles.
Running time: 113 minutes
Studio: IFC Films

Water Lilies (Naissance des Pieuvres) FRENCH

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Parisians Teens Feel Pangs of Sexual Awakenings in Coming-of-Age Adventure

Marie (Pauline Acquart) is passing away the lazy, hazy days of summer at the local municipal pool where she goes to watch her best friend, Anne (Louise Blachere), practice synchronized swimming every day. The sexually-awakening 15 year-olds, are social zeros who can barely contain the simmering passion they feel for the oblivious objects of their affection.
Anne has her eyes set on Francois (Warren Jacquin), a handsome lad on the boy’s squad. However, because she’s overweight, he barely seems to notice she even exists. Instead, he spends his time chasing flirtatious Floriane (Adele Haenel), the gorgeous captain who’s resented by her teammates but very popular with the guys.
Meanwhile, the skinny and barely pubescent Marie has lust in her budding loins for the fetching Floriane, but the latent lesbian is yet to reveal her suppressed same-sex leanings to anyone, let alone the female whose body she craves. Initially, she is simply satisfied with striking up a platonic relationship with Flo, but that liaison proves frustrating as soon as she realizes she’s just being used as a cover for steamy evening rendezvous with Francois in an abandoned building.
Thus, raging hormones unchecked is the prevailing theme of Water Lilies, a tale of the loss-of-innocence set in an otherwise unremarkable suburb of Paris. With virtually no adult supervision in sight, this novel adventure explores teen libido and angst from a variety of introspective adolescent angles.
So, between carefully choreographed scenes of underwater ballet, we’re treated to the contrast of chaotic permutations of kids caught in the midst of burgeoning sexual identity crises. Ultimately, the film proves to be a female empowerment flick in that it focuses on the fates of its three leading young ladies.
The plot thickens when Floriane informs Marie that even though Francois has been pressuring her to have sex, she’s saved herself and remained a virgin. Since Flo hasn’t gone gaga over any boy, does that mean she might be gay or bisexual and that Marie therefore still stands a chance afterall? And does this also mean that Anne has a shot at stealing away her dreamboat, provided she’s willing to let him have his way with her?
Jailbait gone wild, Parisian-style.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In French with subtitles.
Running time: 85 minutes
Studio: Koch Lorber Films

Sex and Death 101

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Arrival of Mysterious Email Interrupts Reformed Womanizer’s Wedding Plans in Romantic Comedy

Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) never expected to settle down. The confirmed bachelor had been content to parlay his good looks into a neverending string of sexual conquests. But that was before he fell in love with Fiona (Julie Bowen), a beauty for whom he’s willing to end his career as a player.
Then, just when they’re on the verge of marital bliss and set to tie the knot in a week, Rod’s secretary, Trixie (Mindy Cohn), opens up a mysterious email at work addressed to her boss. The letter contains a chronological list of the 101 names of every female he has ever slept with, or will ever sleep with.
After verifying that the first 29 are correct, right up to his fiancée, the handsome executive finds himself in quandary. Is this just an April Fool’s day joke being played on him by his best friend, Lester (Dash Mihok)? If not, who was the clairvoyant that compiled the incriminating scorecard?
Curious, Rod decides to postpone the wedding, sensing that otherwise he might be about to cheat on his bride with 72 different strangers. And sure enough, he suddenly finds himself enjoying “an embarrassment of bitches” in a dizzying string of one-night stands. “The sort of thing only happens in the movies,’ he observes in a distracting self-reference.
But don’t be duped into thinking Sex and Death 101 is just one of those predictable romantic comedies where the guy gets to sow his wild oats before finally wising up to ride off into the sunset with the girl who was meant for him all along. For writer/director Daniel Waters (Happy Campers) has a trick up his sleeve in the form of a fetching femme fatale who goes by the alias Death Nell (Winona Ryder).
The plot thickens when we learn that Nell is an avenging feminist assassin, a self-appointed vigilante who roams around town seducing and slaying known womanizers. The only clues she leaves behind can be found in the cryptic messages (like “Your wounds are deeper than your desires!”) she spray-paints in red on the wall next to the bodies.
What Rod doesn’t know is that Death Nell is somewhere on his list, but under her real name. But so are lesbians, strippers, an 88 year-old grandmother, and a busload of Christian schoolgirls and their driver. So the question becomes, will he cross paths with this sadistic serial killer while working his way towards number 101, or will he abandon his hedonistic indulgence and return to Fiona before disaster strikes?
That is the burning question threaded through Sex and Death 101, a kinky dramedy that is every bit as eerily chilling as it is irreverently funny. Australian-born Simon Baker, who made a big splash as the dashing chap who charmed Sanaa Lathan in Something New, is almost as effective here, narrating the play-by-play as a far less likable leading man. And Winona Ryder, though under gobs of war paint, does a decent job as a vindictive villainess fed up with being the victim of abuse.
A latter-day Casanova meets his match in the reincarnation of Lorena Bobbitt.

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated R for profanity and graphic sexuality.
Running time: 116 minutes
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment

Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening April 11, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

College (R for pervasive sexuality and crude humor, nudity, profanity, and drug and alcohol abuse) End-of-innocence comedy revolving around three high school seniors (Drake Bell, Kevin Covais and Andrew Caldwell) who enjoy a wild weekend at a raucous fraternity house during their visit to a prospective college.

Prom Night (PG-13 for violence, terror, sexuality, profanity and underage drinking) Remake of 1980 slasher flick about a group of teenagers who share a dark, childhood secret which comes back to haunt them when a sadistic killer bent on revenge starts stalking them on during their senior prom. Cast includes Brittany Snow, Johnathon Schaech and Jessica Stroup.

Smart People (R for profanity, sexuality, and brief teen drug and alcohol abuse) Dysfunctional family comedy about a widowed professor (Dennis Quaid), raising an emotionally-distant son (Ashton Holmes) and a wisecracking daughter (Ellen Page) alone, whose fortunes change when he crosses paths with a seductive former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) at about the same time his down-on-his-luck brother (Thomas Haden Church) arrives in town unannounced and needing a place to stay.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Body of War (Unrated) Former TV talk show host Phil Donahue makes his directorial debut with this sobering documentary contrasting America’s pre-war patriotic fervor with the ongoing challenges of rehabilitation facing Tomas Young, a 27 year-old soldier paralyzed by a bullet three years ago while fighting over in Iraq.

Bra Boys (R for profanity, violence and reckless behavior) Russell Crowe narrates this Australian documentary about a gang of misunderstood Sydney surfers from a beachside ‘hood unfairly associated with drugs, tattoos, partying, lawlessness and murder.

Dark Matter (R for profanity, brief sexuality and a scene of violence) Meryl Streep stars in this real-life, psychological drama, set at a U.S. university in the Nineties, as the wealthy benefactor of a promising Ph.D. candidate (Liu Ye) from China whose quest for a Nobel Prize is sabotaged by the Astrophysics Department because his controversial discovery is at odds with the conventional wisdom established by his mentor (Aidan Quinn).

Stalags (Unrated) Holocaust documentary explores the eroticized-violence contained in a curious genre of graphic pornography, set in concentration camps during World War II, which became popular in Israel in the Sixties.

Street Kings (R for graphic violence and pervasive profanity) Keanu Reeves stars in this whodunit about a vice cop implicated in the murder of his own partner (Terry Crews) who teams up with a young homicide detective (Chris Evans) to catch the real killers. Cast includes Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Common, Naomie Harris and Cedric the Entertainer.

The Take (R for violence, sexuality, profanity and drug use) Revenge-driven crime drama about an armored car driver (John Leguizamo) obsessed with tracking down the sadistic creep (Tyrese Gibson) who shot him during a holdup. Ensemble includes Rosie Perez, Bobby Cannavale and Roger Guenveur Smith.

Young@Heart (PG for mild epithets and mature themes) Musical documentary chronicles the concerts of a traveling chorus of senior citizens from New England as they entertain audiences all over the world with an eclectic repertoire of songs which ranges from Coldplay to James Brown.

Young and Restless in China (Unrated) Behind the Bamboo Curtain Documentary chronicles four years in the lives of nine young adults affected by the introduction of capitalism to their rapidly changing society. (In English and Mandarin with subtitles)

Don't Blame It on Rio: The Real Deal Behind Why Men Go to Brazil for Sex

by Jewel Woods and Karen Hunter
Grand Central Publishing
Hardcover, $23.99
304 pages



Book Review by Kam Williams

“Black women were once at the center of black men’s lives, as wives, mothers, lovers and partners… However, in this generation, black women have become somewhat of a nuisance, a burden, and perhaps even a pariah in black men’s lives…
For the first time ever, large and growing numbers of black men have the option to ask what they perceive to be a legitimate question: Are black women necessary?
This book is not only going to deal with the question ‘Are black women necessary?’ It will also take a look at the broader question of why black men are looking for something they think is outside black women.”
Excerpted from the Introduction (pages 2-8)

Did you know that Brazil, the country with the largest concentration of people of African descent in the Western hemisphere, has become the favorite vacation destination of a rapidly-increasing number of professional black men? Apparently, they’re flocking to Rio de Janeiro for more than a little rest and relaxation on a sun-drenched beach.
The country is now also a popular port of call with bourgie brothers due to the easy availability of beautiful Brazilian women (“Halle Berry on steroids”) who don’t have the attitude or emotional baggage they generally find attached to sisters back at home. Some of them describe attaining “a level of physical and sexual intimacy, a sort of sexual healing, that they see as lacking in many of their current relationships with black women.” Consequently, they don’t mind having to venture to Rio de Janeiro repeatedly for “an experience that they think are denied them by black women in America.”
We have Jewel Woods and Pulitzer Prize-winner Karen Hunter to thank for blowing the covers off this clandestine sex trade currently flourishing in Brazil. For these two investigative journalists interviewed dozens of the peripatetic African-American men, many leading double lives, in preparation for co-writing Blame It on Rio, a rather revealing look at an emerging cultural phenomenon,.
And exactly why is this generation of black men with money so fond of Brazilian women? The authors blame a variety of contributing factors. First, the fact that they grew up watching hip-hop music on BET which groomed them to expect a rainbow coalition of gorgeous models eager to satisfy. And that utopian fantasy is just a plane ride away, since “Going to Rio is like walking into a rap video: scantily clad women, gyrating and fawning over every man in sight.”
Another factor is addressed by an African-American physician who found salvation in Rio from sisters’ bad attitudes in the States. He asks point blank, “Where else in the world is a black woman’s attitude accepted as the social norm, except in America?”
Next, the issue of anger is raised, with the observation that, “In complete contrast to the warm and affectionate demeanor of Latin American women, the most prominent characteristic of black women is anger.” Here, Woods and Hunter again blame the entertainment industry for causing black men to view their women with contempt by perpetuating the mammy stereotype by having “Tyler Perry, Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy “ put on a fatsuit and a dress to solidify “the image of the fat, loud, rude black woman.”
Other chapters explore widespread rejection of black women over their frigidity, obesity and Christianity. The participants in the project are so relentless and rabid on their indictment of the African-American female, I couldn’t help but pause periodically to wonder whether this was all a joke, since I’ve never previously heard anyone mention Rio as a sexual retreat.
Despite all of the dissing, the authors are ultimately optimistic about black male-female relationships, though they suggest that professional brothers are in dire need of an extreme makeover. They close with a list of “Ten Things Black Women Need and Want,” including understanding and truth.
A controversial expose’ about a shocking trend likely to divide and devastate the Hip Hop Generation along gender lines in the absence of constructive conversation capable of paving the path to honesty and reconciliation.