Kam's Kapsules: For movies opening February 18, 2011

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening February 18, 2011


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (PG-13 for sexual humor and brief violence) Martin Lawrence returns for third go-round as a cross-dressing, undercover FBI Agent at an all-girls’ school where his 17 year-old stepson (Brandon T. Jackson) witnessed a murder. Ensemble cast includes Dr. Ken Jeong, Sherri Shepherd, Faizon Love, Jessica Lucas, Michelle Ang and Portia Doubleday.

The Chaperone (PG-13 for profanity, violence and crude humor) Rowdy, road comedy about a reformed bank robber (Paul Levesque) who agrees to serve as a chaperone on his 13 year-old daughter’s (Ariel Winter) school bus trip to New Orleans only to find himself on the run from members of his former gang. With Kevin Corrigan, Annabeth Gish and Ashley Taylor.

I Am Number Four (PG-13 for profanity, violence and intense action sequences) Sci-fi thriller about a teenage fugitive (Alex Pettyfer) from another planet who tries to hide from the ruthless alien assassins on his trail in an idyllic Ohio town where he falls in love with a local gal (Dianna Agron). With Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer and Jake Abel.

Unknown (PG-13 for violence, brief sexuality and intense action sequences) Psychological thriller about a doctor (Liam Neeson) who awakens from a coma after a car accident in Berlin to discover that a stranger (Aidan Quinn) has not only assumed his identity but has even managed to trick his wife (January Jones). With Frank Langella, Diane Kruger and Bruno Ganz. (In English, German and Arabic with subtitles)


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Brotherhood (R for sexuality, violence and pervasive profanity) Reality check drama about a college freshman (Trevor Morgan) pressured to participate in a cover-up after a fellow, fraternity pledge (Lou Taylor Pucci) is shot during a convenience store robbery which was supposed to be the final phase of their initiation. With Arlen Escarpeta, Jon Foster and Jennifer Sipes.

Even the Rain (Unrated) Bolivian drama about a couple of filmmakers (Luis Tosar and Gael Garcia Bernal) in the midst of shooting a controversial bio-pic about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba when the locals rebel against plans to privatize the city’s water supply. With Raul Arevalo, Karra Elejalde and Pau Colera. (In Spanish with subtitles)

Immigration Tango (R for profanity and sexuality) Green Card comedy about a Russian transfer student (Elika Portnoy) with a Colombian fiancé (Carlos Leon) forced to keep up appearances after swapping marriage partners with a Miami couple (McCaleb Burnett and Ashley Wolfe) in order to avoid deportation.

The Last Lions (PG for violent images) Endangered species documentary, shot for National Geographic by conservationists Dereck and Beverly Joubert, chronicling the decline of Africa’s lion population over the past 50 years from a half-million to a mere 20,000. Narrated by Jeremy Irons.

Loveless (Unrated) Wry romantic comedy, set in NYC, revolving around an aspiring film director (Andrew von Urtz) who seduces women by promising them roles in his fledgling movie projects. With Cindy Chastain, Genevieve Hudson-Price and Scott Cohen.

Now & Later (Unrated) Cross-cultural romance drama, set in L.A., about a suicidal, disgraced banker (James Wortham) embroiled in a tempestuous affair with the compassionate illegal immigrant (Shari Solanis) who offered him shelter. Cast includes Luis Fernandez-Gil, Adrian Quinonez and Marcellina Walker.

Putty Hill (Unrated) Baltimore mumblecore, unfolding at a karaoke bar where friends and relatives of a young man who died of a drug overdose gather to eulogize him while conducting a post mortem about where he went wrong. With Sky Ferreira, Cody Ray and Zoe Vance.

Vanishing on 7th Street (R for profanity) Suspense thriller set in a Detroit bar where the only four survivors (Thandie Newton, Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo and Jacob Latimore) of a citywide blackout band together to defeat the shadowy menace which has left the decimated population on the brink of extinction.

We Are What We Are (Unrated) Mexican horror flick about a cannibalistic clan’s struggle to continue their man-eating rituals in the wake of the sudden passing of the family patriarch (Humberto Yanez). Cast includes Adrian Aguirre, Miriam Balderas, Carmen Beato and Alan Chavez. (In Spanish with subtitles)

Zero Bridge (Unrated) Redemption drama, set in Kashmir, about a college-educated American woman (Taniya Khan) who unknowingly befriends the 17 year-old pickpocket (Mohamad Imran Tapa) who pilfered her purse and passport. With Ali Mohammad Dar, Fahad Banday and Bilal Bhat. (In Urdu and English with subtitles)

Carbon Nation

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Inspirational Eco-Documentary Advocates Grassroots Solutions for Global Warming

Today, there’s a consensus among experts in the scientific community not only that global warming is occurring, but that man-made climate change might not be reversible. Meanwhile our inept politicians continue to pass around the hot potato in the face of readily-observable phenomena like receding glaciers and the melting of the polar ice caps.
Given the leadership vacuum, “It’s the people nobody’s heard from who are going to solve the problem,” asserts Van Jones, the former Obama Administration Green Czar who resigned last year in the wake of a right-wing smear campaign. He is just one of a number of results-oriented innovators, including luminaries like Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard Branson and ex-CIA Director James Woolsey, sounding an urgent clarion call to action in Carbon Nation.
Directed by Peter Byck and narrated by Bill Kurtis, this eco-expose’ is unique in that it does more than merely warn of the devastating consequences of a continued dependence on fossil fuels. Rather than waiting for Congress “to take its head out of it ass,” the film exhorts each of us to take personal responsibility and to start doing what we can to help the cause on an individual basis.
For example, we meet Bernie Karl, an enterprising Alaskan who has discovered a way to use 165-degree water to generate geothermal power. Then there’s Michael Dunham, aka “The Fridge Guy,” who has designed a safe and sustainable means of disposing of CFC-11, a destructive greenhouse gas contained in many old refrigerators.
Still, it is Jones’ novel vision that proves the most inspiring here, given his utilitarian ideas for creating grassroots green jobs for the masses. Van also tugs at the heartstrings when he waxes sentimental, choking back the tears while discussing the dire prospects for the planet he’s likely to leave to his children in the absence of effective activism. “I know the ending… I know where we’re headed,” he laments.
A sobering documentary which makes a convincing case that climate change is a national security issue.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 86 Minutes
Distributor: Clayway Media

Carbon Nation opens in theaters in New York City on February 11, and will open elsewhere around the country later in the month and in March before becoming available on DVD in April.

Raw Law (BOOK REVIEW)

Raw Law:
An Urban Guide to Criminal Justice
by Muhammad Ibn Bashir, Esq.
Cash Money Content
Paperback, $15.99
224 pages
ISBN: 978-1-9363-9904-8

Book Review by Kam Williams

“I understand that it is really hard out there, when you target a community. I think of this generation as a generation of great swimmers left in an ocean. As you navigate your way through life, some of you will get out of the water safely.
But the sharks own the ocean, and one such shark is the criminal justice system. In most criminal cases, the enemy is clear. It is the system itself.
I am a criminal trial attorney. I have been doing this for 23 years… Each and every time I step into a courtroom on a criminal matter, I am ready to wage war because, as quiet as it is kept, criminal justice is war.
Consistently, I represent kids from the hood or the streets who really think they know something I don’t about court. But the truth is, when you do not know the rules,or you choose to ignore them, you get burnt.
In order to teach you this, I have opened my files. Just understand that this system has never been anywhere you wanted it to be and is not headed anywhere you want it to go.”

-Excerpted from Chapter One - “Rules Rule” (pgs.1 -6)

One thing they never teach you in school is that America has a two-tiered
system of justice, or that if you are African-American, you never want to find yourself caught in its duplicitous clutches. But all you need is a little common sense to know that there has been a surge in the incarceration rate of brothers over the last quarter-century to the point where there are now around a million blacks behind bars.
For, after Congress passed harsher drug statutes with mandatory minimum sentences in 1987, “Whether by design or happenstance,” as publisher Tiffany Chiles recalls in the Introduction of Raw Law, “the government started locking up all of our men.” Is there anything that can be done to prevent yourself from adding to the statistics?
Absolutely, according to Muhammad Ibn Bashir, author of this practical survival guide. Although he’s a veteran criminal attorney, Bashir is well-enough grounded to be able to break his sage advice down into readily-accessible layman terms.
In so doing, he warns not only of bad influences lying in wait in the inner-city but of traps being set by corrupt cops willing “to violate the citizen’s rights so easily.” Not one to mince his words, he goes on to state that, “I don’t trust any police officer to report or testify to the whole truth.”
He further adds that even if the cops have unfairly arrested a young black man for possession of narcotics, “whether they were his drugs or not will not matter to anyone other than him and maybe his mother.” Bashir is very empathetic about the overall plight of po’ folk because, “No one wants to live in a community where kids with less than a ninth-grade education, and an even lower level of community pride or self-respect, play war games on the street to the destruction of innocent babies and grandmothers.”
Thus it should come as no surprise that he sees the slums as an ocean teeming with sharks, and a place to be escaped from at first chance. A priceless primer on negotiating your way around the dangerous waters of the criminal justice system designed for folks who need it the most.

My Soul to Take DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Wes Craven’s Latest Horror Flick Comes to DVD

No one can question Wes Craven’s credentials as a master of the horror genre, given his having crafted such classic spine-tinglers as Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream trilogy. But judging from the absolutely-dreadful My Soul to Take, it is only reasonable to wonder whether the legendary director might have lost his touch entirely.
For nowhere to be found are any of the distinguishing trademarks which have made Craven’s work riveting, from the slowly-ratcheted, edge-of-the-seat tension to the cleverly-concealed plot twists to his terminally-hip characters’ running social commentary to a brand of gallows humor almost mocking the grisly goings-on.
Instead, what’s served up here is straight slasher fare overindulging in gratuitous gore. Consequently, this high attrition-rate affair aspires to nothing more lofty than vivid displays of guts and gore as the villain stacks up a pile of disemboweled corpses.
The adventure opens in the quaint town of Riverton, Massachusetts with a flashback from 16 years ago when the police ostensibly ended the bloody reign of terror of a savage serial killer (Raul Esparza). Although this madman with multiple personalities stabbed his pregnant wife to death prior to perishing in a fiery ambulance crash, doctors were miraculously able to save the life of the couple’s unborn son, Adam, aka “Bug” (Max Thieriot).
According to local legend, just before expiring, the Riverton Ripper vowed to return from the grave to slay any baby born there that evening. Fast-forward to the present, where we are introduced to affable, if naïve Bug and his half-dozen classmates at Riverton High who happen to share that same fateful birthday.
Conveniently, each is a readily-recognizable stereotype, ranging from the beefy school bully (Nick Lashaway), to the perky cheerleader (Paulina Olszynski), to the proselytizing Jesus freak (Zena Grey), to the prescient blind kid (Denzel Whitaker), to the practical joker (John Magaro) to the nerdy Asian (Jeremy Chu). Soon, a body is found floating in the river, and everybody figures out that either the Ripper never died, or has been reincarnated as one of them.
The senseless slaughter escalates as people are picked off by one-by-one. Too bad none of the characters is developed and the dialogue borders on the laughable. Worse, Craven’s lame excuse for a plot doesn’t hang together, and the story’s flaws are compounded by a total technical meltdown.
Might not be Wes Craven’s best film, but it’s certainly his worst.

Poor (0 stars)
Rated R for sexual references, pervasive profanity and graphic, gory violence.
Running time: 108 Minutes
Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Alternate opening and two alternate endings, deleted and extended scenes, feature commentary with cast members and director Wes Craven.

Orgasm, Inc

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Scathing Expose’ Uncovers Pharmaceutical Industry Plot to Exploit Female Pleasure

Is Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) an actual illness diagnosed by doctors or a phony ailment cooked up by lobbyists looking to cash in on a non-existing condition? It’s definitely the latter, according to Orgasm, Inc., as scathing an indictment of the pharmaceutical industry as you are likely ever to find on film.
This shocking expose’ was directed by Elizabeth Canner who devoted nine years to chronicling the drug companies’ effort to get the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first to recognize FSD as a medical disorder, and then to approve a class of prescription drugs as female versions of Viagra. With the help of physicians placed on the pharma business payroll, some of whom were reportedly paid as much as $75,000 per day (that’s right, per day), the FDA soon certified the newly-discovered illness as an affliction marked by a woman’s “lack of desire, lack of pleasure and/or painful intercourse.”
That governmental go-ahead triggered a race among biotechs which immediately plunged headlong into a competition to be the first to bring a billion-dollar cure for the supposed malady to market. However, as this damning documentary alleges, it appears that what we have “is a case of corporate-sponsored creation of disease.”
For skeptical experts, such as Harvard Med School Professor Susan Bennett, point out, there have been “no new medical discoveries regarding women’s sexual problems.” Might this merely be “the medical industry’s attempt to change our understanding of health, illness, desire, and that ultimate moment, orgasm?”
This damning documentary highlights a larger issue, namely, “how the pharmaceutical industry, through a whole range of very sophisticated PR and marketing strategies, is changing how we think about our bodies, our health, and our diseases.” After all, ever since drug advertising was deregulated during the Reagan Era, the public has been bombarded with commercials for an array of bizarre new afflictions ranging from Restless Leg Syndrome to Male Menopause.
An eye-opening, cautionary tale unveiling a diabolical corporate conspiracy to turn healthy people into patients by medicalizing everyday aspects of the human condition.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 97 Minutes
Distributor: First Run Features

Top Ten DVD List for February 8th 2011

This Week’s DVD Releases
by Kam Williams

Headline: Top Ten DVD List for February 8th 2011

Ultimate Jordan


Middle Men


For Colored Girls


Year of the Fish


Paranormal Activity 2


Thelma & Louise – 20th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]


Life as We Know It


Space Jam


Ong Bak 3


It’s Kind of a Funny Story



Honorable Mention

You Again


Glee Season 2, Volume 1


Care Bears to the Rescue Movie


Speed Dating


The Romantics


I Do (but I Don’t)


See You in September


My Soul to Take


Bazaar Bizarre


How I Married My High School Crush

Speed-Dating DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Players Aplenty in Battle-of-the-Sexes DVD

Best friends Too Cool (Wesley Jonathan), Beaver (Leonard Robinson) and Dog (Chico Benymon) are confirmed bachelors in search of nothing more meaningful out of life than enjoying a different sexual conquest every night. Each brings his own brand of swag to the singles scene, starting with millionaire TC whose playboy philosophy is “I don’t do love.”
By contrast, Beaver is a brother who might be on the down-low, judging by how relatively clean-cut and well-spoken he is. As for Dog, he’s a freeloading pervert whose favorite porno flick is the infamous R. Kelly sex tape with an underage teen.
TC is rich only because he’s acquired control of the finances of his senile Aunt B (Roxanne Reese), a genius who made a fortune as a computer game developer before developing Alzheimer’s. Courtesy of the windfall, the trifling Romeo has purchased a nightclub with plans to turn it into a pick-up bar primarily to attract lonely females for himself and his pals.
Trouble is, the building is a bit dilapidated, and persnickety City Inspector Red Green (Chris Elliott) has given him just 30 days to bring the place up to code. So, TC and company put their heads together and come up with an erotic way of making the place pay for itself, namely, by hosting speed-dating parties where guys and girls can participate in what is essentially a game of musical chairs during which they audition potential mates for three minutes each.
The goal is to make an instant lust connection with a perfect stranger. So we soon find these jive dudes testing out lame pickup lines such as, “My name is Dog, and I like to bite” and “Why don’t we make a Barack,” the latter being leveled at a Caucasian customer.
This is the morally-repugnant premise of Speed-Dating, a crude comedy which makes light of indiscriminate copulating as the misogynistic protagonists proceed to seduce and abandon a pretty parade of naïve suckers. Then there’s the picture’s bizarre treatment of gay sex, with the ostensibly confused Beaver being in and out of the closet.
Just about the only reason to recommend this politically-incorrect production is for its brazenly, bawdy brand of humor designed for folks who appreciate booty call music videos like Nelly’s “Tip Drill.” It’s not this critic’s taste, but if seeing a credit card being swiped down a curvaceous anal cleft is your idea of quality entertainment, then Speed-Dating is a lowest common denominator adventure right up your alley.
A titillating tribute to the novel notion of strangers with benefits.

Good (2 stars)
Rated R for sexuality.
Running time: 104 Minutes
Distributor: Image Entertainment
DVD Extras: Cast interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and a theatrical trailer