Rob Brown: The Express Interview

with Kam Williams



Headline: “Express”-ing Himself



Born in Harlem on March 1, 1984, but raised in Brooklyn, Rob Brown got his start in showbiz when he answered a casting call for extras in Finding Forrester. Although he had no prior acting experience, at the age of 16 this natural talent landed the co-starring role of Jamal Wallace opposite Oscar-winner Sean Connery. Since then, he’s appeared opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Coach Carter, Antonio Banderas in Take the Lead and Robert Redford in Stop-Loss.

A gifted student-athlete, Rob attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he majored in psychology while playing on the varsity football team. This year, Rob graduated and moved back to New York City, and he was named the national spokesman for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk, an annual event designed to raise funds for a cure and to bring hope to patients and their families.

Here, he shares his thoughts about handling his first title role in The Express, a bio-pic about the late Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. Although the young gridiron great succumbed to leukemia before he had a chance to turn pro, his heroic efforts both on and off the field are nonetheless destined to continue to serve as an inspiration for generations to come.



KW: Hi, Rob, thanks for the time.

RB: No problem. What’s going on?

KW: Last time we spoke, you had just done Take the Lead, and I interviewed you in while you were driving back to Amherst.

RB: Yeah, I remember that.

KW: Since then, you’ve graduated from college. Congratulations!

RB: Thank you, I graduated in May.

KW: How does that feel?

RB: It feels like a weight was taken off my back. Finally, I’m done and enjoying being a graduate.

KW: Have you relocated to Los Angeles?

RB: No, I moved back to Brooklyn.

KW: Did you move back home, or did you get your own place?

RB: Both. I’m trying to take advantage of this market. I just bought a two-bedroom apartment, and I’m making offers on some others.





KW: You went from playing football in college to playing football in The Express. How did you enjoy making the movie?

RB: It was like a dream come true. It was such an honor to get to play the character. And I basically got to play football everyday when I showed up for work.

KW: You must have been tough during the filming on your fellow actors who weren’t used to that physical contact.

RB: No, we had doubles for guys who didn’t know what they were doing. So, we figured it out.

KW: How was it working with director Gary Fleder and the cast of The Express?

RB: Gary was definitely hard on me, but I think that was necessary to get to the bottom of Ernie. Gary ran a tight ship, and I think it shows. He made a great film. And the cast was great. We had a real tenured group of guys in Dennis [Quaid], Clancy [Brown], and even Charles [S. Dutton]. Then we had a bunch of young actors including Nicole Behaire who’s playing my love interest in her first film. She’s excellent. And of course Omar [Benson Miller], he’s great, too. Nelsan Ellis is incredibly talented, and Darrin Dewitt Henson who plays Jim Brown does a fabulous job.

KW: Did you read Robert Gallagher’s book, “Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express” that the movie is based on?

RB: Yes.

KW: How did you feel about the adaptation?

RB: I’m just glad that we had the flexibility to tell the story in our own way. Part of our challenge was in figuring out how to get to the essence of Ernie Davis while maintaining that respect for his legacy. We didn’t want to take too many liberties. I think we did a good job, and I have the support of Mr. Jim Brown and also Ernie’s family who I met recently, so I can’t really ask for much more.

KW: What do you expect audiences to get from this film?

RB: Well, I think they’ll walk away with a lot more than what they expect to see from a quote-unquote football film. But what I want to get across to them is the essence of Ernie. I just want them to learn about him in general. It’s surprising that no one knows about him. So, it’s about time that his story be told.

KW: Yeah, I remember hearing his story back in the early Sixties when I was growing up, but it sort of faded away over the years.

RB: It somehow got lost unfortunately. It seems like it got lost in that era.

KW: Do you expect The Express to be compared to pictures which explored similar themes, movies like Glory Road, We Are Marshall and Brian’s Song?

RB: Oh yeah definitely, that’s just natural. But while people might go in expecting those films, but by the time they walk out of the theater they’ll realize it was a different picture which offered a lot more.

KW: Ernie Davis’ nickname was “The Express.” Do you feel any extra burden playing your first title character?

RB: That’s not where the extra burden came. The burden came with playing Ernie, not with playing a title character. It’s more about just making sure we respected him, his family, and the organization that he was a part of. That’s where the responsibility lay. Sure, I guess a title role’s more responsibility, but I figured I’ve been doing this long enough that that wouldn’t be the issue. The real responsibility lay with playing Ernie.

KW: How does it feel to be playing college-aged characters here and in Stop-Loss after playing a high school kid in Finding Forrester, Coach Carter and Take the Lead?

RB: That’s just a natural function of my getting older. So, I think at this time we’re through with high school.

KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?

RB: Yeah.

KW: Bookworm Troy Johnson’s question: What was the last book you read?

RB: Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream by Carl Elliott?

KW: Actress Tasha Smith’s question: Are you ever afraid?

RB: Just in general? Yeah.

KW: Music maven Heather Covington’s question: What’s music are you listening to nowadays?

RB: Hip-hop and R&B, although I have been on this weird little kick where I’ve been downloading some Eighties music, like Michael McDonald.

KW: Is there a question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?

RB: That’s a tough question to answer.

KW: How do you want to be remembered?

RB: I would like to be remembered as a responsible human being who handled business while also taking care of his family.

KW: Sounds great. Best of luck with both, Rob. You’re the man now, dog!

RB: Thank you very much.

KW: And may I say as Sean Connery told you in Finding Forrester:


To see a trailer for The Express, visit: http://www.theexpressmovie.com/site.html#/videos/1/1/

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Teens on the Rebound Roam Manhattan in Romantic Road Flick

How long will Michael Cera be able to continue playing the vulnerable, overly-sensitive social zero we saw in both Juno and Superbad? Probably until his wan baby face matures to the point it finally begins to lose its angelic air of innocence. Meanwhile, he remains the ideal foil to portray the nerdy nice guy opposite a relatively-savvy female lead, a role he reprises to perfection in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
Unfolding mostly in New York over the course of one very eventful evening, this tenderhearted teensploit based on Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s novel of the same name asks one simple question: Can love blossom between a couple of club kids from Jersey on the rebound while they’re careening around town in a yellow Yugo which is repeatedly mistaken for a taxicab?
At the point of departure, we meet Nick (Cera), a high school senior planning to attend Berklee School of Music. He is currently the bassist for an otherwise all-gay punk rock group currently called The Jerk Offs. He’s also been dejected ever since being dumped on his birthday a month ago by his narcissistic girlfriend, Tris (Alexis Dziena), a two-timer who finally left him for macho-type Gary (Zachary Booth).
Seemingly inconsolable, Nick spends most of his free time daydreaming about getting back together, leaving long messages on her cell phone, and making her CD mixes of songs she just tosses into the trash. Hoping to shake him out of the doldrums, his band mates book a gig in a dive in lower Manhattan.
Tris is in the audience that evening and teases her gal pal Norah (Kat Dennings) about being alone. Weary of her “friends with benefits” relationship with a shallow, emotionally-distant social climber (Jay Baruchel), Norah impulsively announces that she already has a new beau. She then marches up to Nick as he comes offstage, and whispers, “Will you be my boyfriend for five minutes?” in his ear before planting a kiss on his lips.
Dumbfounded, he goes along with ruse, a charade which ends up lasting until four in the morning. For they soon discover that they have something in common, an appreciation of “Where’s Fluffy,” an up-and-coming combo rumored to be playing an impromptu set somewhere in the city that very night. They gradually get to know each other during their ensuing search for the elusive Fluffy, an effort intermittently frustrated by an ever compounding comedy of errors, involving a car crash, a lost friend (Ari Graynor) and lots of bodily-function fare designed to trigger one’s gag reflex.
A meandering Manhattan travelogue with a payoff worth the wait, some gross moments notwithstanding.

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for mature themes, teen sexuality, underage alcohol abuse, profanity and crude behavior.
Running time: 89 minutes
Studio: Columbia Pictures

To see a trailer for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-btDYY-uLeY

An American Carol

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Pro-War Spoof Lampoons the Left While Painting Michael Moore as Unpatriotic

Michael Moore has staked his career on controversial documentaries exposing the dangers associated with everything from the outsourcing of jobs (Roger & Me) to the easy availability of guns (Bowling for Columbine) to the Bush Doctrine of unilateralism (Fahrenheit 9/11) to the profit-oriented healthcare system (Sicko). While many hail the intrepid iconoclast as a populist providing a valuable service as a cinematic whistleblower, there are also certainly those who deem his anti-establishment, anti-corporate antics as a combination of self-aggrandizing and unpatriotic.
Only folks who fall into the latter category are apt to appreciate An American Carol, a shameful spoof which takes cheap potshots at Moore ostensibly for the amusement of right-wing zealots. The picture was written and directed by David Zucker (Airplane!), the original inventor of the lampoon genre along with his brother, Jerry.
This film features Kevin Farley in the starring role as Hollywood moviemaker Michael Malone, a thinly-veiled caricature of Mr. Moore. The plot is very loosely based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, except that here Scrooge (aka Michael) hates the Fourth of July holiday instead of Christmas. The simplistic premise has him not merely being un-American but the unwitting dupe of a cell of radical Islamists planning to blow up Madison Square Garden.
Narrated by Leslie Nielsen in a series of flashbacks shared with a group of attentive youngsters gathered around a picnic table, the story unfolds in post 9/11 Afghanistan. There, we find Michael naively accepting $10 million in financing for his next project, “Fascist America,” from a trio of Taliban terrorists he proceeds to bring back to the States. Fortunately, he is visited by three ghosts, that of General George Patton (Kelsey Grammer), President John F. Kennedy (Chriss Anglin) and country singer Trace Adkins (himself), who take turns trying to show the Prodigal citizen the light in time to avert the impending disaster.
While a few of the film’s first jokes revolving around suicide bombers might be deceptively palatable, it doesn’t take long for the humor to turn twisted and be subsumed by a heavy-handed political message. Director Zucker resorts to his trademark slapstick, silly skits and sight gags to poke fun unfairly at Michael Moore and a host of liberal causes, including global warming, nationalized healthcare and gay rights.
Along the way, ACLU attorney are depicted as zombies who deserve to be shot on sight, student demonstrators are demonized for exercising their First Amendment rights, and Moore is repeatedly ridiculed for being a traitor who doesn’t support the troops. Less a legit satire than a scary soap box in service of a mean-spirited agenda. A dead giveaway is the cast which boasts a bevy of arch conservatives like Bill O’Reilly who gets to take delight in slapping Michael Moore right in the face.
Challenging authority as unpatriotic? Bah, humbug!

Poor (0 stars)
PG-13 for profanity, drug use, irreverent humor and crude content.
Running time: 82 minutes
Studio: Vivendi Entertainment

To see a trailer for An American Carol, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-VrRdzCs_U

Stuck DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Horror Flick Based on Real-Life Crime Released on DVD

On Friday, October 26, 2001, 27 year-old Chante Mallard, an African-American employed as nurse’s aide, was driving under the influence following a night of partying when she hit Gregory Biggs as he was crossing the street. The homeless white man landed on her hood, critically injured but alive, and Chante decided to drive home without reporting the accident to the police. Instead, she invited her boyfriend, Clete Jackson, over, and they continued to drink alcohol, smoke pot, do Ecstasy and make love, while Mr. Biggs gradually finally bled to death over the weekend.
Monday morning, the couple dumped his body in a park with the help of Clete’s cousin before setting the car on fire to destroy the evidence. And the only reason the trio got caught is because Chante was later overheard joking about the incident.
Stuck, a gruesome crime saga only loosely based on the above events, stars Mena Suvari (American Beauty) as Brandi, a white girl sporting corn rows and dating an overbearing black drug dealer named Rashid (Russell Hornsby). Just past the point of departure, she runs into a street person (Stephen Rea) with her car in an accurate recreation of the aforementioned accident. However, the screen version of the story departs considerably from the facts after that, portraying Brandi as a sympathetic figure and only her Svengali-like boyfriend as a monster.
While the two proceed to mate like rabbits in a controlled substance-fueled frenzy, the picture introduces an array of colorful passersby, from a kid chasing an errant soccer ball to curious illegal aliens to a dog walker to nosy neighbors, who come close to discovering the semi-comatose hobo moaning in Brandi’s garage. Surprisingly taut and absorbing, even if you’re already familiar with the facts of the famous case, Stuck turns out to be a grisly horror flick not to be watched on an empty stomach.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for nudity, profanity, explicit sexuality, drug use, graphic violence and disturbing images.
In English and Spanish with subtitles.
Running time: 85 minutes
Distributor: Image Entertainment
Disc DVD Features: Audio commentary, theatrical trailer and three featurettes.

The Happening DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Suspense-less Shyamalan Thriller Released on DVD

In 1999, The Sixth Sense established M. Night Shyamalan as the heir apparent to Alfred Hitchcock’s as the master of suspense. However, the once-celebrated wunderkind’s stock has fallen over the years since his subsequent offerings have generally been disappointing due to the identical failing.
The trouble is that his adventures rely on rabbit-out-of-the-hat revelations which retroactively render the rest of what you’ve just watched inconsequential. Consequently, Shyamalan’s critics have deemed him a one-trick pony undeserving of his lofty status as a cinematic genius. Now, perhaps in response to his detractors, he has crafted The Happening with a more-transparent, but equally-unsatisfying twist.
The film opens in New York where we find pedestrians exhibiting bizarre behavior which starts with catatonia and disorientation and culminates with their calmly committing suicide. The setting quickly shifts to the Philadelphia classroom of science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg).
He and the rest of the faculty are soon summoned by the high school’s principal (Alan Ruck) who informs them about the strange goings-on in Manhattan and summarily cancels classes for the rest of the day. It’s not long before the folks in Philly start becoming infected with the same self-destructive urges.
So, Elliot and his pal, Julian (John Leguizamo), decide to make a break by train to a presumably safe haven in the country. En route, they pick up a couple of loved ones: the former’s estranged wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), and daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). Together, the four then embark on a valiant struggle to survive the godforsaken plague.
Besides telegraphing what’s really at the root of the ho-hum havoc, The Happening is beset by a host of flaws, most notably, wooden acting jobs by Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg who barely demonstrate the emotional range of the zombies everybody around them is turning into.

Fair (1 star)
Rated R for violence and disturbing images.
Running time: 90 minutes
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, gag reel, plus five featurettes.

To see a trailer for The Happening, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fwccFTJIdo

You Don't Mess with the Zohan DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Raunchy Adam Sandler Comedy Comes to DVD

Although Zohan Dvir (Adam Sandler) is the best counter-terrorism commando in the Israeli army, he dreams of the day when he will be free to immigrate to America to open his own beauty salon. But such a move would definitely disappoint his family who see hairdressing as a gay profession.
Nonetheless, Zohan’s patience runs out when he is asked to track down The Phantom (John Turturro), a paroled Palestinian terrorist he’d already captured once previously. Seeing no end in sight to the never-ending Arab-Israeli conflict, Zohan fakes his own death and resurfaces in New York City as the flamboyant Scrappy Coco.
Willing to work his way up, Scrappy takes a position sweeping the floor at a fledgling beauty parlor owned by a Palestinian (Emmanuelle Chriqui) who has no idea that her new employee is an AWOL Mossad agent. Meanwhile, Zohan is equally unaware that his gorgeous boss’ brother, Fat-tush, is none other than his militant Muslim nemesis, The Phantom.
So, it’s only a matter of time before the truth is revealed and everything comes to a head in a big showdown. In the interim, Scrappy takes advantage of any opportunity to leave his mark on Manhattan by behaving in the sort of sophomoric fashion we’ve come to expect of an Adam Sandler.
Directed by Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore), You Don't Mess with the Zohan is a throwback to the sort of crude fare which made Sandler famous, including generous helpings of homophobia, misogyny, animal cruelty, bodily function slapstick and ethnic stereotyping. This bawdy insult to the intelligence is likely to resonate only with his rabid fans nostalgic for flashes of that locker room brand of humor.
Tasteless, a last minute appeal to tolerance notwithstanding.

Fair (1 star)
Rated PG-13 for nudity, profanity, graphic sexuality and crude humor.
Running time: 117 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
2-Disc DVD Features: Commentary with Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel, Rob Schneider and Nick Swardson, commentary with Dennis Dugan, deleted scenes, and ten featurettes.

To see a trailer of You Don't Mess with the Zohan, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Mc_rFTQ7Q

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 10, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Body of Lies (R for pervasive profanity and graphic violence, including torture) Ridley Scott directs this international thriller about a CIA operative (Leonardo DiCaprio) who attempts to infiltrate a Middle East terrorist network with the help of an veteran agent (Russell Crowe) and Jordan’s chief of intelligence (Mark Strong). (In English and Arabic with subtitles)

City of Ember (PG for mild peril and mature themes) Futuristic sci-fi fantasy about a couple of enterprising teenagers (Harry Treadaway and Saoirse Ronan) who try to save the day when their underground metropolis is suddenly plagued by blackouts. Cast includes Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau and Mary Kay Place.

The Express (PG for violence, mature themes, ethnic slurs and brief sensuality) Rob Brown handles the title role in this bittersweet bio-pic about college football great and first African-American Heisman trophy-winner Ernie Davis who succumbed to leukemia before having a chance to play in the NFL. Cast includes Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton and Omar Benson Miller.

RocknRolla (R for violence, drug use, brief sexuality and pervasive profanity) Campy crime caper, directed by Guy Ritchie, about a shady Russian billionaire (Tom Wilkinson) whose attempt to corner the London real estate market leads to lots of other mobsters muscling-in on the get rich quick scam. Ensemble cast includes Thandie Newton, Jeremy Piven, Ludacris, Idris Elba and Gerard Butler.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Ashes of Time Redux (R for violence) Remake of 1994 samurai saga, set in ancient China, about a broken-hearted hit man (Jacky Cheung) who moves to the desert where he sets up shop as a middleman arranging contract killings by skilled swordsmen. Cast includes Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and Brigitte Lin. (In Mandarin and Cantonese with subtitles)

Breakfast with Scot (PG-13 for profanity, drug use and mature themes) Three’s a crowd romance drama about a gay lawyer (Ben Shenkman) and his sportscaster (Thomas Cavanagh) life mate whose utopian bliss is ruined when they are awarded custody of the effeminate, 11 year-old son (Noah Bennett) of a recently-deceased friend. With Graham Greene, Megan Follows and Billy Parrott.

Choose Connor (Unrated) Coming-of-age drama about an idealistic 15 year-old’s (Alex D. Linz) loss of innocence after taking a summer job as the youth coordinator for a Congressman’s (Steven Weber) cutthroat, political campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Delwende (Unrated) Female empowerment saga, set in the African nation of Burkina Faso, revolving around the misfortunes of a traumatized, 16 year-old rape victim (Claire Ilboudo) and her mother (Blandine Yameogo) who is run out of town for being the witch behind a rash of mysterious deaths among local children. (In More and French with subtitles)

Good Dick (R for sexuality and profanity) Romance drama about a sexually-traumatized young woman (Marianna Palka) who finds herself being stalked by a geeky, creepy clerk (Jason Ritter) after renting some porno films at the video store where he works. With Tom Arnold, Charles Durning and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Happy-Go-Lucky (R for profanity) Slice-of-life romance drama about a Pollyanna-ish school teacher (Sally Hawkins) who finds her cheery optimism tested when she starts taking driving lessons from a cynical instructor (Eddie Marsan) with anger management issues.

Nights and Weekends (Unrated) Frequent-flyer romance drama exploring the emotional challenges faced by a couple (Greta Gerwig and Joe Swanberg) trying to maintain a long-distance relationship between New York and Chicago.

Quarantine (R for profanity, terror, gory violence and disturbing images) High-attrition horror flick about an L.A. apartment building sealed shut by the Center for Disease Control after blood-curdling start to emanate from inside. When the quarantine is lifted, the only evidence of what transpired is contained on a videotape shot by a TV reporter (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman (Steve Harris).

Talento de Barrio (R for violence, pervasive profanity, drug use and brief sexuality) Puerto Rico’s barrios provides the setting for this gritty crime saga about a drug dealer (Daddy Yankee) who finds himself torn between loyalty to his gang and his dream of finding fame as a Reggaeton singer. (In Spanish and English with subtitles)