Battle for Haditha

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Docudrama Reenacts Marine Massacre of Innocent Iraqi Civilians

On November 19, 2005, a roadside bomb detonated by Iraqi insurgents exploded under a vehicle killing Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, while wounding a couple of his comrades. The IED attack outraged about a dozen of the other Marines from Kilo Company riding in the convoy, and later that same day they allegedly went on a rampage in the vicinity, slaughtering 24 innocent civilians living in the City of Haditha.
Though the incident was originally covered-up, it came to light about four months later only because part of the massacre had been captured on videotape by a student with a camera. As a result, several soldiers were relieved of duty, court-martialed, and shipped back to Camp Pendleton where they are currently facing murder charges.
But was their overreaction warranted, given the stress they were under from the day-to-day rigors of patrolling the streets of a village where they were treated as invading enemies rather than like liberators as promised by Vice President Cheney? And wasn’t their predicament compounded further by the military’s use of stop-loss order as a hidden draft to force soldiers to re-enlist and serve longer tours of duty? Aren’t all things now fair in war, anyway, given America’s recent disavowal of the Geneva Conventions?
These are the fundamental human rights questions posed by Battle for Haditha, a super-realistic docudrama which takes a long look at ethnic cleansing from both the perspective of the cleansed and from the point-of-view of the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity. Shot in Jordan, the film stars numerous veterans of the Iraq War, so it has a feel so authentic, I initially believed I was watching actually footage shot on the front lines of the conflict.
A patriotic reminder to support the troops, regardless of the transgression, since it’s Bush fault that they’re sitting ducks in a godforsaken desert where they’re the only available outlet around for every terrorists’ anti-American impulse. What’s next, a picture suggesting that we have to excuse the Abu Ghraib excuses, too, as reasonable interrogation tactics?
Remember when your mother warned that playing all those gruesome video games would desensitize you to violence? Now witness Exhibit A: Battle for Haditha, showcasing Generation Kill’s all volunteer army in all its glory.

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
In English and Arabic with subtitles.
Running time: 93 minutes
Studio: HanWay Films

Dans Paris DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Dysfunctional Family Drama from Paris Due on DVD

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and we find Paul (Romain Duris) all depressed because he’s just been dumped by his girlfriend, Anna (Joana Preiss). So, he shows up unannounced at the home of his father, Mirko (Guy Marchand ) and younger brother, Jonathan (Louis Garrel).
Even though he’s divorced, Mirko enlists the assistance of his ex-wife (Marie-France Pisier), since they’re both still coming to grips with the suicide of their teenage daughter, Claire. But Paul’s predicament doesn’t prevent the still bickering couple from pointing out each other’s flaws, such as the fact that the “saint-whore of a mother ran off with a Canadian lumberjack.”
She also smokes like a chimney, curses like a sailor, and is generally inelegant. Unproductive papa, on the other hand, has retired prematurely and is living on a pension due to a neurological issue he’s been neglecting to own up to.
While his parents ponder putting him on tranquilizers, Paul sits there in a stupor, ostensibly considering using the balcony as a launching pad. Meanwhile, selfish womanizer Jonathan bolts from the apartment to fritter away the day ‘catting about town, and he proceeds to sleep with three different women by the time he returns in the evening.
This slice of life adventure transpires over the course of a frustrating 24 hours during which not much is resolved in terms of Paul’s mental state. Still, I sort of like the fact that writer/director Christophe Honore felt no need to end on an upbeat note, and even has the temerity to suggest that perhaps people are born with a sadness gene inside them, much the same as ones for skin, eye or hair color.
A maudlin mood piece offering an off-season opportunity to share
Christmas with the cracked.

Very good (3 stars)
Unrated
In French with subtitles.
Running time: 92 minutes
Studio: Genius Products

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

American Zombie

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Mockumentary Mission to Humanize Zombies

A couple of years ago, Grace Lee made a brilliant directorial debut with The Grace Lee Project, a documentary during which she interviewed dozens of Asian-American females who shared her name. The point of that fascinating multiple subject bio-pic was to show that despite certain cultural similarities in how they were raised, each Grace had her own unique personality.
Ms. Lee’s sophomore effort, American Zombie, is not of nearly as much consequence. For this silly mockumentary is based on the proposition that the undead are people, too. The picture is set in Los Angeles where Grace and her faux co-director, John Solomon, do their best to track down zombies to find out who they are, where they come from and why they exist.
The badinage is actually hilarious early on, when we see Grace complaining that “I don’t make monster movies” and “I don’t usually work with other directors.” John gets her back by asking her why she needs to be on camera, teasing, “Nobody wants to see The Grace Lee Project 2.
The film eventually settles down to focus on the day-to-day lives of four functioning, if socially-ostracized ghouls in their struggle to be accepted as normal. There’s Judy (Suzy Nakamura), who says she’s just like everybody else and just wants to get married. Ivan (Austin Basis), on the other hand, is a convenience store clerk who self-publishes a comic book called American Zombie in his free time.
Activist Joel (Al Vincente), meanwhile, runs ZAG, the Zombie Advocacy Group, an organization which seeks a guarantee of every reanimated creature’s right to vote, marry, healthcare, a job and a driver’s license. Relying on a variation of the Act-Up rallying cry, he and his cohorts demand equality with warm-blooded humans by chanting, “We’re here! We’re dead! Get used to it!” Finally, we have Lisa (Jane Edith Wilson) a florist whose specialty is funeral arrangements.
If the idea here was to have fun while delivering a subtle statement about tolerance and discrimination, that aim is achieved by the end of the first hour. Unfortunately, the story starts to drag a bit at that juncture and virtually runs out of steam until the plot belatedly thickens to make a secondary statement, albeit at the 11th hour, shortly before the closing credits roll.
Overall, a cleverly-comedic, high-concept adventure, artfully-executed, and thought-provoking, too. How else can you describe a flick which presumes to answer everything you always wanted to know about Zombies but were afraid to ask while simultaneously suggesting that our fascination with creature features might merely be a reflection of some sick human desire?

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 91 minutes
Studio: Cinema Libre

The Cool School

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: California Beat Era Artists Revisited in “The Cool School”

Back in the Fifties, in the days before TV had hopelessly homogenized America into a place where you could find the same merchandise in the same chain stores in every mall all across the country, the East and West Coast had distinctly different cultures, even counter-cultures. For instance, while New York was the home of beatniks and a frenetic style of jazz known as hard bop, Los Angeles gave birth to a much mellower alternative called Cool.
And though the leading Manhattan galleries on 57th Street were then showing the work of such emerging icons as Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol and Roy Liechtenstein, the West Coast scene was celebrating their own local artists like Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, Wallace Berman and Craig Kauffman. What many may not know is that the Ferus Gallery, started in 1956 by med school dropout Walter Hopps and self-taught, aspiring artist Ed Kienholz, played a pivotal role in launching the careers of “The Cool School” of abstract expressionists among collectors in the L.A. area.
The intriguing story of the rise of the Ferus Gallery is recounted in this documentary comprised of interviews conducted with still surviving principals along with reams of riveting archival footage. Designed more for the devotee of the arts than your average moviegoer, the film is still apt to enthrall even the uninitiated who wouldn’t know a Jackson Pollock from a Willem de Kooning.
For it focuses as much on quirky personalities and the hedonistic lifestyle, as it does on the paintings and sculptures themselves. Thus, we learn that Walter Hopps became hooked on speed and ended up in a mental hospital, while his wife Shirley left him for Irving Blum, the smooth operator who took over the business.
Despite all their success, seems like a lot of this salacious set went mad. We hear one embittered, elderly artist admit that he and his colleagues had “started out idealistic but ended up whores. And Irving was the pimp.” There’s videotape of another’s funeral during which he is buried behind the wheel of his favorite vintage automobile.
Decadent indulgences aside, The Cool School can still be readily appreciated for its valuable lesson that one need not be dependent on the New York Establishment or any Ivory Tower critics for validation. Furthermore, the enduring widespread enjoyment of the work of these modern masters proves the basic maxim that “art offers the possibility of love with strangers.”

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 86 minutes
Studio: Arthouse Films

Meet the Browns

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Struggling Single-Mom Seeks Salvation in Tyler Perry’s Latest Morality Play

Tyler Perry has his finger on the pulse when it comes to entertaining an African-American audience in an uplifting fashion which resonates as real with that target demographic. And Meet the Browns is no exception, this being the latest in a string of the prolific playwright-turned-film director’s screen adaptations of a popular stage production.
His modern morality plays invariably touch on timely themes of urgent concern to the black community, though their messages might generally be delivered in conjunction with healthy doses of side-splitting humor. But where Perry himself has generally played a lead role, bringing the comic relief by cross-dressing as the sassy senior citizen Madea, this time, he merely makes a cameo appearance in drag instead opting to introduce a few new equally-colorful characters.
The picture explores such universal themes as abandonment, trust, faith and redemption on its way to resolving the challenges facing Brenda (Angela Bassett), a single-mother of three who’s been struggling to provide for her family while living in the projects on the south side of Chicago. At the point of departure, we find her barely surviving paycheck-to-paycheck with no safety net to fall back on, and having to choose between paying her bills and putting food on the table.
We learn that this sorry state of affairs is due to her being burdened with raising her kids without child support from any of their fathers. She soon bottoms-out when she loses her job the same day she learns of the death in Georgia of the father she never knew.
Fortunately, she heeds the advice of her best friend Cheryl (Sofia Vergara), a loudmouthed Latina who puts Brenda and her brood on a bus in time to attend the funeral. Once they arrive in the tiny Southern town, not only do they “Meet the Browns,” the long-lost, if flamboyant relatives they never knew they had, but also a knight in shining armor in Harry (Rick Fox), a basketball scout. Handsome Harry is a Houdini who has the answer to their every problem, if only the thrice-burnt Brenda will let her guard down long enough to allow this good man to sign her high school phenom son (Lance Gross) to a pro contract, to buy them a house and to ask for her hand in marriage.
In the interim, the movie devotes plenty of time to getting acquainted with the Browns, as clownish a clan as you could hope to meet, starting with Leroy, an egg-head with the most garish wardrobe imaginable. Then there’s his morbidly obese daughter Cora (Tamela Mann), and the shrewish Vera (Jenifer Lewis), a witch with nothing nice to say about anybody. Kudos to a supporting cast which includes Margaret Avery, Frankie Faison, Lamman Rucker and Irma P. Hall
As the plot winds its way inexorably towards its very predictable payoff, it comes as no surprise that rather than hang around her embarrassing kin, Brenda starts to entertain the advances of her perfect gentleman suitor. Too laced with silly slapstick to measure up to the best of Tyler Perry’s previous offerings, yet still hilarious in spots and ultimately satisfying enough to be well worth watching.

Very Good (3 stars)
PG-13 for profanity, violence, mature themes, sexual references and drug use.
Running time: 100 minutes
Studio: Lions Gate Films

Irina Palm

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Desperate Widow Turns to Prostitution to Pay Grandson’s Medical Bills

Marianne Faithful was a Sixties sensation made famous by her hit single As Tears Go By, a song written for her by the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. While dating Jagger for several years, she experimented with drugs and eventually became addicted to heroin.
A tragic casualty of the hippie era, she became anorexic, developed laryngitis, lost custody of her son, declared bankruptcy, became homeless and essentially disappeared from the radar by the mid-Seventies. Now, this diva who had been reduced pretty much to a trivia curiosity makes a triumphant return playing the title role as Maggie, aka Irina Palm, the name she adopts while secretly employed at a whorehouse in London.
As a frumpy, overweight member of the geriatric set, Irina isn’t exactly what most johns are looking for when they come to a bordello. Luckily, her clients don’t want to see who they are having sex with. No, they pay to stick their privates through a hole in the wall in order to be satisfied by the hands of whoever happens to be on duty on the other side.
To be honest, the movie is not as salacious as it might sound, as it is less about the goings-on inside the house of ill repute than about what drove Maggie to the world’s oldest profession. Turns out she has a seriously-ill grandson (Corey Burke) in need of a life-saving operation, and his parents simply don’t have the money to pay for the operation.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so this suburban granny starts leading a double-life to raise the cash. Maggie’s predicament is complicated when her alter ego Irina proves to be one of the more popular “girls” in the club. Meanwhile, she increasingly finds herself the subject of gossip among her suspicious neighbors.
Will she be outed before she makes enough moolah to retire? Or might she not even decide to quit? At heart, this intriguing character study poses the ethical question whether what would ordinarily be considered reprehensible behavior can become acceptable when done for altruistic reasons.
A thought-provoking drama, which arrives in a timely fashion, given these dire days of skyrocketing medical costs and a governor caught consorting with high-priced call girls.

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R for nudity, sexuality and profanity.
Running time: 103 minutes
Studio: Strand Releasing

August Rush DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Musical Variation on Oliver Twist Arrives on DVD

Although Charles Dickens isn’t credited, Oliver Twist obviously served as the source of inspiration for this musical overhaul of his beloved literary classic. Set in the U.S. instead of England, this variation on the theme revolves around 11 year-old Evan (Freddie Highmore), a music-loving orphan who hears harmony in all of nature.
Institutionalized since birth, he sneaks off to Manhattan in search of his parents when he can’t take the teasing about having been abandoned anymore. Evan ends up in Greenwich Village, where he encounters the Artful Dodger, aka Arthur (Leon G. Thomas, III), a street urchin performing for tips who brings him to the abandoned Fillmore East Theater. Presently, the place is inhabited by an army of adolescent beggars being exploited by a Fagin-like figure known as Wizard (Robin Williams).
There, Evan picks up a guitar for the first time and, without needing any lessons, discovers that he can already play like a virtuoso. This development isn’t lost on Wizard, who dubs the prodigy August Rush and puts him to work in Washington Square Park. But as much as the blossoming boy enjoys exploring his just-unearthed talents, he never forgets that his true mission is to find his long-lost parents.
During the film’s opening scene, which is set a dozen years earlier, we learn that Evan was the product of a one-night stand between Lyla (Keri Russell) and Louis (Jonathan Rhys Myers), two ships passing in the night who parted company without even exchanging numbers. Only through sheer determination and a serendipitous series of coincidences does Evan manage to be reunited with the folks responsible for his being born with such magnificent musical genes.
A fanciful fairytale successfully blending elements of Oliver Twist, Ferris Bueller, Peter Pan and The School of Rock.

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG for slight violence, mild profanity and mature themes.
Running time: 113 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Extras: additional scenes.

Zebraman DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Japanese Superhero Adventure Arrives on DVD

Back in the Fifties, Japan was the source of a seemingly endless supply of badly-dubbed B-movies, mostly sci-fi adventures about mutant creatures doing a number on the city of Tokyo. Cineastes nostalgic for that bygone genre, might like to check out Zebraman, a picture about an underdog-turned-superhero who saves the day when his homeland is attacked by creatures from outer space. The point of departure is Yokohama in 2010 which is where we meet Shinichi Ichikawa (Sho Aikawa), a nerdy elementary school teacher and family man. His pupils make fun of him, his wife is cheating on him, his daughter sleeps around, and his son is a wimp.
So, it’s no surprise that the miserable loser maintains his sanity by retreating into a parallel universe watching tapes over and over of an action TV series called Zebraman. Nights, he takes his fantasy a step further, by donning a costume of his favorite television character and venturing out to the streets to fight crime.
After a UFO crashes in the city, a bizarre sequence of events ensues: birds begin to die mysteriously, bearded seals swim upriver and a mammoth mutated crayfish is found. When the cause of these mysterious occurrences turns out to be an invasion of aliens bent on world domination, Shinichi gets his chance to save the planet.
While the Japanese military finds its self flummoxed by their evil adversaries, increasingly intrepid Shinichi has an idea how to deal with them as his alter ego, since the terrifying scenario is unfolding exactly the same as in the plot of one of the Zebraman episodes. Though featuring cheapo special effects, phony-looking fight scenes and cornball dialogue, this throwback is readily recommended for anyone who might enjoy a campy cross of Mothra and The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Very good (3 stars)
Unrated
In Japanese with subtitles.
Running time: 115 minutes
Studio: Tokyo Shock

Black August DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Drama Revisits the Life of Black Revolutionary George Jackson

George Jackson (1941-1971) made a surprising rise to celebrated black radical status, given his decidedly unenlightened start as a street thug marked by run-ins with the law which led to his being sentenced at 18 to a year to life for armed robbery. But, while at San Quentin, he came of age politically, abandoning petty larceny for the philosophies of Marx and Mao.
He later joined the Black Panther Party and was transferred to Soledad Prison which is where he penned his best seller Soledad Brother. His legal troubles were compounded in January of 1970 when he was charged with the murder of a prison guard,
While behind bars, he also became soulmates with Angela Davis, though that relationship never had a chance to blossom fully, since he would spent his last eleven years incarcerated. His younger brother, Jonathan, want to help, ended up only finding his own 15 minutes of fame. He staged an ill-fated kidnapping of a judge at the Marin County Courthouse in order to spring George from jail. But the judge, Jonathan and several inmates perished when the cops opened fire during their escape.
About 12 months later, George himself died under mysterious circumstances. The official report was that he had smuggled a 9mm handgun given to him by a visitor in his afro, and that he was shot dead on the prison yard when he pulled it on a correctional officer. At the time, this story certainly sounded phony to African-Americans who knew full well there was no way he could have hidden a pistol in his hair.
Black August, starring Gary Dourdan of CSI: Las Vegas, is a riveting bio-pic revisiting the Jackson legacy by focusing on his very eventful final year of life from his perspective. Based on Adapted from George’s prison letters and other writings, the film isto be commended for shedding surprisingly sophisticated light on such a controversial cult figure.

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 100 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes.

Blade: The Series DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Complete Sci-Fi Series Starring Sticky Fingaz Available on DVD

After enjoy a theatrical run as a trilogy featuring Wesley Snipes, the Blade franchise was brought to television with rapper-turned-actor Sticky Fingaz entrusted with the title role. This 4-disc DVD is comprised of the pilot plus 12 additional episodes of the short-lived, Spike-TV series which was canceled after a dozen episodes, plus unrated and never before seen footage originally deemed too graphic to air.
The initial installment introduces half-breed Blade, a people-friendly vampire hunter who has dedicated his life to wiping that blood-sucking species off the planet and thereby save humanity. The surprisingly gruesome story is set in present-day Detroit where the motorcycle-riding avenger teams up with Krista (Jill Wagner), an Iraq War veteran whose twin brother (David Kopp) was murdered by the House of Chthon, an evil sect of vampires led by Marcus Van Sciver (Neil Jackson), a diabolical overlord bent on world domination.
When we first meet Krista, she doesn’t know from vampires, since her interest is initially just in cracking what she thinks is an ordinary case of homicide. But to her credit, she remains game even after learning about the supernatural powers of her adversaries, though she is obviously fortunate to be assisted in her endeavor by Blade, given his extensive knowledge about the use of garlic, silver and sunlight in combating the rabid breed of predators.
Though the IRS-entangled Snipes still remains too associated with the role to be forgotten, Sticky certainly held his own over the course of the year he was entrusted with the franchise, and he generates enough chemistry with his comely co-star to hold one’s interest for the duration. Most importantly, the episodes also have compelling plotlines and sufficient gore to satiate the bloodlust of fans of the genre. For, when all is said and done, don’t gruesome displays of vivisection explain the appeal of this sort of horror flick?

Very good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 558 minutes
Studio: New Line Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Audio commentary by director Peter O’Fallon, audio commentary by scriptwriters David Goyer and Geoff Johns, and a documentary entitled “Turning Blade.”

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.

Rambo

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Stallone in Sixties and Still Saving the Day

Sylvester Stallone may be in his sixties, but he hasn’t lost a step in terms of writing, directing or performing in balls-out, action movies. He proved that a year ago with Rocky VI, which was essentially a remake of his Academy Award-winning Best Picture of 1976. And now he proves it again in Rambo 4, a revival of the charismatic character he first introduced over a quarter century ago. John Rambo is a Vietnam War hero from Texas whose post-traumatic stress disorder was compounded by the fact that vets of his era weren’t welcomed back to America with open arms.
As the latest installment opens, we find him living alone along the Salween River in northern Thailand. He seems finally to have made peace with his tortured past, dividing his time between fishing on his longboat and catching poisonous snakes in the jungle. Thus, despite the fact that a decades-old civil war is raging just across the border in Burma, Rambo has no interest in venturing anywhere near the conflict.
Everything changes the day missionaries from the Christ Church of Colorado arrive, announcing their plan to bring Bibles and much needed medical supplies to the victims of the ongoing ethnic cleansing. Having heard that Rambo is the best river guide in the region, these naïve volunteers ask him for a ride into Burma aboard his rickety longboat. After repeatedly telling them in no uncertain terms to “Go home!” and warning that “You’re not going to change anything,” he succumbs to the womanly wiles of Sarah Miller (Julie Benz) who wraps him around her little finger and gets him to ferry them into the war zone against his better judgment.
So, it’s no surprise a couple of weeks later, when a panicky Pastor Marks (Ken Howard) shows up saying that his parishioners have been taken hostage by the Burmese army and that the U.S. embassy has refused to get involved. Fueled by a fear that some harm might come to Sarah, Rambo reluctantly picks up a gun again and leads a rag-tag team of mercenaries on a bloody, death-defying rescue mission.
At this juncture, the movie morphs into the familiar, testosterone-fueled fare associated with the high body-count Rambo franchise, replete with hand-to-hand combat, automatic weapons, and visually-captivating pyrotechnics. Critical to appreciating this revenge-driven flick fully is the dehumanization of the Asian bad guys into disposable sadists and godless rapists lusting over the only hot blonde to be found for miles around.
Not to worry, geriatric Rambo, AARP poster boy, still saves the day!

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R profanity, sexual assaults, grisly images and graphic violence.
Running time: 95 minutes
Studio: Warner Brothers

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (ROMANIAN)

(4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile0
Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Unwanted Pregnancy the Subject of Sobering Rumanian Drama

Judging by a couple of recently-released Oscar hopefuls, Western and Eastern European teenagers must have very different mindsets when it comes to an unwanted pregnancy. Afterall, it’s no big deal for Juno, the terminally-sarcastic tite character of the hilarious teensploit. With the help of her equally-blasé best friend, this proto-typical American rebel simply decides to find a perfect suburban couple to adopt the baby, and then behaves like she’s above it all for the rest of the film till her unplanned bundle of joy arrived.
By contrast, we find relatively-morose Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), the heroine of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, stuck behind the Iron Curtain in Rumania where abortion has been outlawed. Looking lost like Borat’s wayward sister, this glum college student lives in a grey dorm on a grim campus where practically everybody seems to be dealing in contraband (cigarettes, candy, even showers) or is up to some sort of shady shenanigans.
For, you see, this is the late Eighties, during the last days of Communism, so it comes as no surprise when Gabita turns to the black market rather than have the child. Accompanied by her very supportive roommate (Anamaria Marinca), who handles most of the details, she unwittingly seeks out the services of Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), the callous butcher of Bucharest, an unlicensed monster who could care less about the welfare of his vulnerable clients.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a relentlessly-depressing, slice-of-life drama which unfolds over the course of 24 hours. While the picture, perhaps a little too convincingly, palpably conveys the harrowing ordeal of a desperate female in Gabita’s predicament, before seeing this movie you still might want to make sure you’re in the mood for a feel-bad flick.
The Un-Juno.

Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 113 minutes
Studio: IFC Films