Commune DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Retrospective of Hippies’ Free Love Lifestyle at California Ranch Out on DVD

During the hippie movement back in the Sixties, many young people retreated from the cities to the wilderness. Whether visionary or merely naïve, these discontented souls sought to reshape the cultural landscape by creating a utopian society based on free love and shared property.
Commune examines what life was like at one such idealized oasis, Black Bear Ranch located in an abandoned gold mine in Siskiyou County, California. The film is fascinating because it features an abundance of archival footage showing exactly how they lived, and also because many of the original Black Bear members (including actor Peter Coyote) participated in the project, allowing themselves to be interviewed on screen to reflect upon how their lives were subsequently shaped by the unique experience.
This revealing documentary shares that at Black Bear the men were macho and wielded Bowie knives, while the women were very submissive. And in order to prevent the formation of any nuclear families, orgies were the order of the day, and no one was allowed to mate with the same person for more than two nights in a row.
At its peak, 36 adults and 11 children lived there, but in an atmosphere apparently permeated by pain and jealousy. The proverbial bull substance hit the fan, however, when a cult of child worshippers arrived and ugly rumors about pedophilia reached the FBI which launched an investigation.
Sadly, a lot of the Black Bear alumni don’t seem very well-adjusted today, especially the kids raised in an atmosphere which must have been confusing to impressionable young minds. One recounts how her mother handed her over to hippies headed for The Philippines, where she was soon abandoned to be raised in a tree house by a family of aborigines.
Not exactly groovy, or anybody’s idea of nirvana, dude.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for sex, expletives, and frequent nudity.
Running time: 78 minutes
Studio: First Run Features
DVD Extras: Black Bear family album and history, extended Peter Coyote interview, secret FBI file on Black Bear Ranch, filmmakers’ biography, original theatrical trailer, trailer gallery and “Uncensored – The Bare Truth of Communal Living” featurette.

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 October 26, 2007


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Dan in Real Life (PG-13 for sexual innuendo) Steve Carrell assumes the titular role in this romantic sitcom about a widowed relationship advice columnist struggling to raise three daughters (Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson and Marlene Lawston) alone who suddenly finds himself in a quandary after unknowingly falling in love with his brother’s (Dane Cook) gorgeous girlfriend (Juliette Binoche).

Music Within (R for profanity, sexual reference and drug use) Docudrama chronicles the true story of Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston) a severely hearing-impaired Vietnam vet who returns from the war to dedicate his life to speaking out on behalf of Americans with disabilities. Cast includes Melissa George, Michael Sheen Leslie Nielsen, Rebecca De Mornay and Hector Elizondo.

Saw IV (R for profanity and pervasive torture and gruesome violence) Despite the apparent demise of the infamous Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his apprentice (Shawnee Smith), we find the slasher franchise revived for a fourth installment of grisly fare when a couple of FBI profilers (Scott Patterson and Athena Karkanis) are assigned to the depleted police precinct only to find themselves and the surviving SWAT team members (Lyriq Bent and Costas Mandylor) suddenly facing a sinister series of deadly traps perhaps set by the serial killer’s ex-wife (Betsey Russell).


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (R for profanity, nudity, violence, drug use and graphic sexuality) Legendary director Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Network, The Verdict) assembles a talented ensemble for this suspenseful crime thriller about two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) whose perfectly planned heist of their parents’ (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris) jewelry store goes horribly wrong when their accomplice improvises with disastrous results during the botched robbery. Cast includes Marisa Tomei as one sibling’s spouse who’s secretly sleeping with the other, too.

Bella (PG-13 for mature themes and disturbing images) Serendipitous romantic romp, set in Manhattan, revolving around a pregnant waitress (Tammy Blanchard) who finds a ready shoulder to lean on in the former international soccer star (Eduardo Verastequi) who has just taken a job as a chef at his brother’s (Manny Perez) Mexican restaurant. With former Miss USA Ali Landry of the award-winning Doritos Super Bowl commercial fame.

DarkBlueAlmostBlack (Unrated) Dysfunctional family drama about a janitor (Quim Gutierrez) who has trouble finding a decent job after spending several years caring for his invalid father (Hector Colome) while working his way through college. The plot thickens when his recently-paroled, sterile sibling (Antonio de la Torre) requests that he impregnate his girlfriend (Marta Etura) for him. (In Spanish with subtitles)

The Island (Unrated) Psychological drama, set in the mid-Seventies at a monastery in Northern Russia, revolves around a disconsolate WWII veteran-turned-priest (Pyotr Mamonov) still haunted by Nazis’ atrocities who suddenly experiences a crisis in faith upon the arrival of an Admiral (Yuri Kuznetzov) and his possessed daughter (Viktoria Isakova) in dire need of an exorcism. (In Russian and German with subtitles)

Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains (PG for mature themes and disturbing images) Jonathan Demme directed documentary follows the globetrotting 39th President on a book tour promoting his controversial Middle East opus, “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.” Co-starring his ever-present Rock of Gibraltar, wife Rosalynn.

The Living and the Dead (Unrated) Harrowing horror flick about a mentally-unstable young man (Leo Bill), left in charge while his father (Roger Lloyd-Pack) is away on business, who barricades himself and his terminally-ill mother (Kate Fahy) inside their English manor, keeping her nurse (Sarah Ball), the cops and any visitors at bay.

Lynch (Unrated) Bio-pic presents an intimate portrait of David Lynch, iconoclastic director of such unorthodox adventures as Eraserhead, Mulholland Dr., Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet.

Mr. Untouchable (R for brief nudity, violent images, pervasive profanity and continuous drug content) Uncritical documentary revisits the rise and fall of Nicky Barnes, the notorious Harlem heroin dealer whose million-dollar empire collapsed soon after he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine for being above the law.

The Signal (R for brief nudity, pervasive profanity and brutal bloody violence) Experimental, sci-fi adventure flick shot in three parts by a trio of directors (David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry) and set on New Year’s Eve in a mythical city where mysterious electronic transmissions being broadcast via TV, radio and cell phones are sending the citizens who receive them on a homicidal rampage. Cast includes Anessa Ramsey, Justin Welborn and A.J. Bowen.

Slipstream (R for profanity and some violent images) Sir Anthony Hopkins wrote, directed and stars in this sci-fi fantasy about an aging scriptwriter who’s having trouble keeping separate his real life and the characters he’s creating for his latest murder mystery. Cast includes Michael Clarke Duncan, Fionnula Flanagan, Camryn Manheim, Christian Slater, Jeffrey Tambor, John Turturro, Sharon Epatha Merkerson and Stella Arroyave, Hopkins’ wife.

Black White + Gray

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Wagstaff and Mapplethorpe Remembered by Cinematic Retrospective

This bio-pic turned out to be informative, if relatively tame for a retrospective about the relationship of a gay patron of the arts and his famous photographer lover best remembered for graphic, homoerotic snapshots featuring shocking sights like a bullwhip in a tight place and genitals on a hot dog bun. Nonetheless, Black White + Gray is a decent documentary for anyone wishing to become superficially reacquainted with the ambience of the downtown New York art scene of the Seventies and Eighties.
Samuel J. Wagstaff (1921-1989) was apparently proud of his aristocratic roots including his boarding school upbringing, Ivy League education and serving in the Navy during World War II. This led to his toiling away on Madison Avenue during the Fifties, in an unfulfilling job in advertising.
Lucky for him, by 1973, he had inherited millions which enabled him to come out of the closet, start collecting both art and people, and generally get his freak on. He also began indulging in mind-altering drugs because of how they inspired him to shed his every inhibition.
Eventually, Sam found a kindred soul in Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), even though this youngster some 25 years his junior came from the other side of the tracks. Robert, who had grown up in a blue collar corner of Queens, had studied at Pratt Institute for awhile before dropping out to try his hand at taking portraits with a Polaroid camera.
With Sam serving as his well-connected and deep-pocketed benefactor, Robert’s career skyrocketed, as did that of their close friend, poet/punk rocker Patti Smith. And by the time both guys would succumb to AIDSs in 1989, Mapplethorpe would be an icon with shows at the Whitney and other leading museums, this despite the continual controversy caused by criminal allegations and confiscations of his pieces which would dog him to the end of his days due to subject-matter involving children and sadomasochism.
Black White + Gray actually is more a homage to Wagstaff than to Mapplethorpe, as it openly bemoans the fact that the former is all but forgotten when the latter probably wouldn’t have had much of a career without Sam. But the narrator’s protestations to the contrary, this pair seemed perfectly suited for each other, one, a much-needed moneyed muse, the other, an irreverent iconoclast.
Gay kismet!

Very good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 72 minutes
Studio: Arthouse Films

Saving the Race: Empowerment through Wisdom

Daily Affirmations for Young Black Males
by Anthony Asadullah Samad
Kabili Press
Paperback, $15.00
406 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9723880-3-0



Book Review by Kam Williams

“Manhood is a journey to define one’s self, family and community within a certain reality. For black men, manhood is a constant pursuit to establish credibility and respect.
For young black males, adolescence is a trying endeavor... Most will have an encounter with law enforcement before they are 15, have a sexual experience before they are 14, be approached by gangs before they are 13, and have no male in the home (if they ever had one) by the age of 12.
Their biggest barrier to attaining manhood will be the constant attempts to emasculate them before they reach manhood… [They] must be wise enough not to fall into the traps that society has laid for them…
Our young men need our help to help them make the right decisions. Yes, they need education. Yes they need work. But more than anything, they need wisdom from the ancestors.”
 Excerpted from the Introduction (pgs. ii-vi)

Everyone is aware of the well-publicized plight of the black male in America. If one is to believe the dire statistics, this at-risk segment of the population is in acute crisis due to skyrocketing incarceration, dropout, unemployment, HIV infection, drug addiction and homicide rates.
Obviously, intervention is in order, and help in one form has arrived in Saving the Race: Empowerment through Wisdom by Anthony Asadullah Samad, Professor of Political Science at East Los Angeles College. The book is a collection of inspirational affirmations aimed at young black males, culled by the author from a variety of sources, including the Bible, African proverbs, and dozens of different luminaries like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Malcolm X, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, and Muhammad Ali.
Designed to be read chronologically over the course of the year, starting with January 1st, each entry opens with a theme for the day, and is followed by four sage insights, the first of which is by Mr. Samad himself. Among the subjects addressed are self-control, faith, love, growth, patience, friendship, humility, ego, learning from mistakes, pursuing your passion and respecting your elders, to name a few.
The basic goal, here, is to offer guidance to adolescents during their formative years when they are most in need of good role models as they make choices at critical crossroads in life. Permit me to close with a telling quote contained in the text by Malcolm X which has ostensibly withstood the test of time: “America’s greatest crime against the black man was not slavery or lynchings, but that he was taught to wear a mask of self-hate and self-doubt.”
In sum, Saving the Race is a worthwhile opus which ought to serve as a regular reminder to impressionable young minds to resist negative influences as they strive for success in their every endeavor.

To order a copy of Saving the Race, visit: http://www.anthonysamad.com/books.php

Roots: The Next Generations DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Emmy-Winning Sequel to Alex Haley’s Roots Re-Released on DVD

Two years after Roots (1977) captivated TV audiences with the heartbreaking saga of Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) who was seized by slave traders and shipped to America from Africa, the series was followed up with an equally riveting sequel. Picking up where the original left off, the show traced creator Alex Haley’s genealogy from the Civil War through Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement.
This program landed a couple of Emmys, including one for Best Mini-Series and the other for Best Supporting Actor to Marlon Brando. The A-list cast was comprised of many leading movie stars of the era, such as Academy Award-winners Brando, Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland, Oscar-nominees Paul Winfield, James Earl Jones and Beah Richards, plus Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Pam “Foxy Brown” Grier, Rosey “The Thing with Two Heads” Grier, Dorian Harewood, Ernie Hudson, Debbie Allen and Barbara Barrie.
The ensemble includes plenty of famous faces from television, too, including Janet “Willona” DuBois (Good Times), Robert “Kelly” Culp (I Spy), Greg “Barney” Morris (Mission Impossible), George “Terry” Stanford Brown (The Rookies), Richard “John Boy” Thomas (The Waltons), Roger “T.C.” Moseley (Magnum, P.I.), Kene “Tyler” Holliday (Matlock), Andy “Andy of Mayberry” Griffith, Diahann “Julia” Carroll. Kim “Tootie” Fields (The Facts of Life), Philip Michael (Detective Tubbs) Thomas (Miami Vice), Norman “Mr. Roper” Fell (Three’s Company), Howard “Virgil Tibbs” Rollins (In the Heat of the Night), and Damon “Lionel” Evans (The Jeffersons), to name a few.
Besides these thespians, also aboard were singers like Carmen MacRae, Bobby Short, Telma Hopkins (of Tony Orlando and Dawn) and Linda Hopkins, Olympic champion Rafer Johnson, and even author Haley himself. Worthwhile for the nostalgic walk down Memory Lane alone, as you play spot the celebrity cameo as you enjoy each episode.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 688 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Extras: An interview with Alex Haley conducted by David Frost, ”Roots: The Gift” – a two-hour holiday movie new to DVD, a behind the scenes documentary plus more.

Jill Scott: The Why Did I Get Married Interview

Interview
with Kam Williams

Headline: Great Scott! It’s Jill!

Born on April 4, 1972, Jill Scott, an only child, was raised in North Philly by her mother and grandmother. After graduating from the Philadelphia School for Girls, she worked two jobs while attending Temple University where she studied teaching for three years before dropping out after being disillusioned about the profession.
Next, she bounced around in a variety of odd jobs until she met with overnight success as an R&B singer. Her very first album, Who Is Jill Scott, which was released in 2000, went double platinum, and the rest, as they say, is showbiz history.
Now, she not only has a new CD, The Real Thing, but can also currently be seen in theaters making her impressive big screen debut in the nation’s #1 movie at the box office, Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married. Here, she talks about her role as Sheila, a woman stuck in a loveless marriage with an abusive husband.

KW: What interested you in this project?
JS: I couldn’t stop reading the script. It was funny, and it was truthful. And being a married woman, you get an opportunity to see yourself on paper, or onscreen. So, I thought, “This is good. I want to be involved.”
KW: How would summarize the plot?
JS: Why Did I Get Married is about four couples who, every year, take a retreat together. And they’re there, basically trying to save each other’s marriages, as well as their own. It’s honesty and counseling through friendship and camaraderie. And this year, the stakes go way high, because there’ve been some secrets going on, and it’s all coming to a boiling point.
KW: Tell me a little about your character.
JS: I play Sheila. Sheila is unhappily married, although she doesn’t know it, I don’t think. She’s married because that’s what she believes God wants for her. She does love the man, but it’s not necessarily reciprocated.
KW: How did you feel about wearing a fat suit for this role?
JS: That’s been really interesting. I’ve never, well I won’t say never, but it’s been a long time since I was a small girl myself. I’m on average about a size 14. My character is about double my size, about a size 28, so I wear a lot of padding over the course of the film. And it’s been interesting the difference in the way that people look at and talk to me when I put Sheila’s costumes on. It was very interesting to see that.
KW: How would you describe Sheila’s relationship with her husband?
JS: Mike [Richard T. Jones] is harsh. Mike is cruel. Mike is a very mean-spirited guy towards his wife who loves him. When the scenes are over, I know that he’s definitely trying his best to hurt Sheila’s feelings. Or maybe he’s not even trying. He just doesn’t care. I’ll say that. He just doesn’t care about Sheila’s feelings at all. Richard’s such a great actor that when he says things, it feels like he means it. Afterwards, he always hugged me or kiss me, or crack a joke and say, “You know I don’t mean it.” But it was really great for the film, because every time he said something, I felt affected by it, which was great for my character as well.
KW: How would you compare acting to singing on stage?
JS: Acting and singing aren’t that different, at least to me, anyway. When I’m singing, I have to be really honest with the music and with what I’m feeling. I want every word to come out as truthful as possible. And it’s the same way with acting. I just want to be honest with what is written, and try to make it come to life as you do with a song.

Michael Clayton

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Convoluted Potboiler Pits Law Firm’s Fixer versus Crooked Corporate Client

Although attorney Michael Clayton (George Clooney) has been with Kenner, Bach and Ledeen for 17 years, he’s never made partner. Ironically, despite being low man on the totem pole, he still enjoys a certain grudging status, since the nature of his work makes his services invaluable to the prestigious Manhattan law office.
You see, as the firm’s fixer, Michael’s job involves mopping up other’s messy situations by any means necessary, even if that might sometimes mean breaking the law. For example, when a wealthy client is involved in a hit-and-run accident, he’s quickly called-in to in order to devise the best strategy to keep the story out of the press.
But nothing in his checkered career has prepared him for the chain of events about to unfold in the wake of the apparent mental breakdown of Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), a colleague defending a billion-dollar class action suit against U-North, an agro-chemical company accused of manufacturing cancer-causing chemicals. After six years as the lead lawyer on the case, Edens inexplicably did a striptease while mumbling incoherent flibbity-jibbity to himself during a deposition being conducted in Milwaukee.
So, the firm’s managing partner, Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack), rushes his reliable “fixer” to Wisconsin to do damage control. However, Clayton soon discovers that he’s in over his head because Edens hasn’t merely gone off his meds as suspected, but has had a crisis in conscience and plans to go public with some very incriminating U-North internal memos. Plus, the rogue attorney has developed a crush on one of the plaintiffs, a cute, young, milk-fed farm girl he hopes to seduce during a rendezvous in the Big Apple.
“I’m not a miracle worker. I’m a janitor,” an exasperated Clayton complains about a situation that even he can’t cover up completely. This doesn’t sit well with steely Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), U-North’s chief in-house counsel who reports directly to CEO Don Jeffries (Ken Howard). With so much money at stake and no longer trusting anybody at Kenner, Bach and Ledeen, behind closed doors the company’s upper management devises its own dastardly plan to make the problem go away.
Thus, corporate ethics is at the center of the intricate web woven by Michael Clayton, a modern morality play marking the directorial debut of Tony Gilroy, a seasoned scriptwriter best known for the Bourne trilogy. Here, Gilroy has assembled a most talented cast capable to execute his convoluted potboiler, a chilling tale which subtly suggests that the criminal behavior of U-North might be par for the course among power-crazy captains of industry in today’s globalized economy.
Employing a wraparound as a cinematic device, this flashback flick opens with some visually-captivating pyrotechnics provided by the deliberate detonation of Michael’s late model Mercedes by saboteurs. He survives the explosion, then the plot rewinds to four days earlier, subsequently devoting itself to delineating how the hunter had come to be the game.
By the closing meta-tableau, which is actually a repeat of the film’s beginning, it’s now no surprise why Clayton’s been reduced to crying out to his employers-turned-tormentors, “I’m not the guy you kill. I’m the guy you buy off.” Erin Brockovich (2000) meets A Civil Action (1998), but featuring a flawed hero with blood on his hands and an ace up his sleeve.
Vintage Clooney.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for profanity.
Running time: 120 minutes
Studio: Warner Brothers