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 August 15, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Fly Me to the Moon (G) 3-D animated adventure about three flies (Trevor Gagnon, Philip Daniel Bolden and David Gore) who stow away aboard Apollo 11 during its historic spaceflight in order to be the first insects on the moon. Voice cast includes Christopher Lloyd, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Begley, Jr. and Kelly Ripa.

Mirrors (R for nudity, profanity, violence and disturbing images) Kiefer Sutherland stars in this remake of a Korean horror flick (into the Mirror) about a night watchman who finds himself confronting a malevolent force which is using mirrors to terrorize his family. With Paula Patton, Amy Smart and Frank Mayers.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (PG for smoking, mild epithets, and non-stop sci-fi violence) Animated adventure chronicling the heroic exploits of the Jedi Knights in another epic, intergalactic battle between good and evil. Voice cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee and Ian Abercrombie.

Tropic Thunder (R for violence, drug use, sexual references and pervasive profanity) Ben Stiller wrote, directed and co-stars opposite Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. in this action comedy about actors shooting a war movie on location in the jungles of Southeast Asia who suddenly find themselves in a battle with live bullets after they are mistaken for real soldiers by guerillas.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (PG-13 for sexuality, smoking and mature themes) Woody Allen directs this romantic comedy about two girlfriends Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson), spending the summer in Spain, who fall in love with the same artist (Javier Bardem), unaware that his unstable ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) is about to reenter the picture. (In Catalan, English and Spanish with subtitles)


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (Unrated) Warts-and-all bio-pic revisits the career of the legendary Anita O’Day (1919-2006), including not only classic footage of the jazz diva performing more than 30 songs, but also discussion of her overcoming a host of adversities which included heroin and alcohol addiction, and several abortions, arrests and failed marriages.

A Girl Cut in Two (Unrated) Claude Chabrol directs this love triangle about a TV weather forecaster (Ludivine Sagnier) who opts to marry the young heir (Benoit Magimel) to an industrial fortune after the middle-aged novelist (Francois Berleand) she’s really in love with who won’t leave his wife for her. (In French with subtitles)

Henry Poole Is Here (PG for mature themes and mild epithets) Luke Wilson plays the title character in this bittersweet comedy about a depressed loner with a dire medical prognosis whose desire for isolation is frustrated by the arrival of strangers who start flocking to his property to pray to the image of Christ which has miraculously appeared on the side of his house. With Radha Mitchell, George Lopez and Morgan Lilly.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (R for profanity, violence and gore) Horror comedy about a plumber (Trevor Matthews) with unresolved rage from having witnessed the murder of his family as a child who discovers his true purpose in life after awakening an unspeakable evil while working on a professor’s (Robert Englund) pipes.

One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story (Unrated) Delroy Lindo narrates this Born Again documentary about a controversial, 82 year-old, African-American folk artist who found himself called by God to repent through painting at 50 after having fathered 30 children during a life as a sinner with many mistresses.

The Romance of Astree and Celadon (Unrated) 88 year-old Eric Rohmer directs this pastoral romance drama set in 5th Century Gaul, adapted from L'astrée, Honoree d’Urfe’s historical novel revolving around the stormy, forbidden love which blossoms between a handsome shepherd (Andy Gillet) and a beautiful shepherdess (Stephanie Crayencour) in a world populated by nymphs and druids. (In French with subtitles)

Passing Poston

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Japanese-Americans Reminisce about Internment in WWII Documentary

Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. War Department ordered the removal of all Japanese citizens and aliens to internment camps. The Relocation Authority uprooted the 120,000 affected individuals and shipped them with little more than the clothes on their backs to ten different uninhabited locations in remote regions of Utah, California, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Arkansas.
This picture focuses fairly narrowly on what transpired at Camp Poston, Arizona, a dusty desert area surrounded by barbed wired. About 17,000 Japanese from California had to make do living in barracks and eating in a mess hall for the duration of World War II. And to add insult to injury, they were forced to perform slave labor, building homes, schools, roads and the rest of an infrastructure for a town they would never be allowed to enjoy themselves.
Furthermore, upon return to the West Coast in 1945, many families found homes they owned either trashed or occupied by strangers. Understandably, children who witnessed such mistreatment at the hands of their own country during their formative years might never fully recover from the trauma.
That is the message convincingly conveyed by Passing Poston, a poignant documentary about a shameful chapter in American history. The film relies primarily on the reminiscences of four senior citizens still haunted by the experience 60 years later after the fact: Ruth Okimoto, Leon Uyeda, Kiyo Sato and Mary Higashi.
Ms. Okimoto speaks wistfully about the sadness, shame, anger and rage which have plagued her all her life since being sent to Poston at the age of six. Meanwhile, Mr Uyeda admits that despite being freed after the war, he has never again felt fully American, sensing that his rights might again be arbitrarily taken away in an instant.
Who would think that full-fledged citizens, born in the States, could have lost their homes and businesses, never to recover financially or even own another house? Finally, in 1988, the U.S. made a belated gesture acknowledging its exploitation by paying $20,000 apiece in reparations to the 62,000 camp victims still surviving. “For the first time in 46 years,” one beneficiary says wistfully, “I was proud of America.” Still, no amount of money could ever compensate her for the humiliation and the neverending nightmares.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 60 minutes
Studio: Fly on the Wall Productions

Breaking the Code of Silence

by Alana Wyatt Smith
Xlibris
Paperback, $19.99
112 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4363-1265-3



Book Review by Kam Williams

“I felt even more secure with this man than I had ever felt in an previous relationship. Even though he had a complicated past, filled with children and their demanding mothers, I still felt as though I was number one. These women never posed a threat to me... ever. His children’s mothers would call my cell phone to speak yo him and he always took their calls, as he felt it was disrespectful to do otherwise.
I knew I was his wife and these were just the mothers of his children. Watching him take control of these crazy situations just made me feel even more secure with him. We continued to live happily as husband and wife, even when people tried their hardest to break us up. Instead, it made our relationship even stronger and more powerful.”
Alana on her marriage to Mos Def (pages 69)

Given the phenomenal success of Video Vixen Karrine Steffans’ tell-all, it was only a matter of time before other gold-diggers who’ve slept with a bunch of black celebrities would follow suit. Now, along comes 29 year-old, Canadian Alana Wyatt Smith, whose Breaking the Code of Silence is a bit disappointing, because she brags about her sexual conquest of lots of rappers and pro athletes, but doesn’t names names, except for Dante Smith, aka Mos Def.
Apparently, he was the only sucker dumb enough to marry her, tying the knot after a whirlwind romance of less than 4 days and while he was still married to his previous wife. Def is an incurable romantic with a checkered past when it comes to relationships, as he is reported to have 5 kids with 4 different baby-mamas.
This book is less valuable as a memoir than as the tragic life story of a lost soul obviously still very much in need of intervention. Afterall she’s gone from stripping to Islam and back to stripping again. Half-Italian, half-Jamaican, exotic-looking Alana dropped out of junior high school to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become an adult entertainer.
This was not much of a surprise, as we learn that she had been sexually assaulted by an uncle at the age of 6. After the incest, she became the victim of further sexual and physical abuse which only compounded the original childhood trauma.
Nonetheless, just because you feeling sorry for Alana’s rough upbringing, doesn’t make it easy to sympathize with her disgusting behavior as an adult when she goes on the offensive, getting even with men every chance she gets. Her priorities totally out of order, she has a baby with a rap star, but doesn’t bother to raise the kid.
Instead, she remains boy crazy, especially over any guy who’s famous and has lots of money to burn. The fatal flaw of this frustrating autobiography is that she drops big hints about her numerous lovers but never reveals their identities. Who wants to read a kiss and tell where you have to guess whom the author is talking about?

Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Grim Doc Chronicles People’s History of U.S. via Gravestones

As typically taught in grades schools around this country, U.S. history is a series of lessons of conquest and exploitation as told from the perspective of the victors who were most often white and male. I remember learning that Native-Americans had to go because they were standing in the way of progress and that African slaves were godless, cultureless heathens who took well to bondage.
Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind is a poignant documentary, which silently offers another point-of-view, simply by visiting the graves of famous anti-establishment figures and reading what’s written on their tombstones. For instance, there’s John Brown, the messianic religious leader who perhaps ought to be considered a patriot for leading a slave revolt at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
Also among the controversial anti-heroes appreciated here posthumously, are everyone from beheaded Indian chief Metacomet to abolitionists Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison to feminist Susan B. Anthony to suffragette Elizabeth Cady Staton to Malcolm X to Paul Robeson to James Baldwin to Crazy Horse to Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman to union organizer Mother Jones to environmentalist Rachel Carson to Medgar Evers to anti-war activist Philip Berrigan to hell-raiser Emma Goldman to Soledad Brother George Jackson to Thomas Paine to anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells.
Among the more memorable epitaphs is that of Red Jacket who died in 1830: “When I am gone, the graft and avarice of the white man will prevail. My heart fails me when I think of my people soon to be scattered and forgotten.” Equally evocative are the words etched into the tomb of Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun: “I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care.”
Then there’s the matter-of-fact eloquence of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer whose gravestone simply reads, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” In its own quiet way, Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind adds up to quite a moving, if belated tribute to a host of visionary iconoclasts who were unappreciated if not outlawed or outright assassinated in their time.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 58 minutes
Studio: Anthology Film Archives

To see a trailer of Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j-FIjAY500

Tiffany “New York” Pollard: The New York Goes to Hollywood Interview

with Kam Williams

Headline: The Sultry Side of the Sassy Sister Known as New York

Tiffany Pollard was born on January 6, 1982 to Michele Rothschild-Patterson and Alex Pollard and raised in Utica, New York where she graduated from Thomas R. Proctor High School. Tiffany skyrocketed from obscurity to fame as the scene-stealing seductress with a world-class attitude on Flavor of Love, the reality TV-series where contestants vie for the affections of hip-hop star Flavor Flav. The clock-carrying rapper didn’t choose her as his lifemate, but he did give her the nickname “New York,” and had the good sense to have her back for his program’s second season.
Since her outrageous antics had been so good for ratings, VH1 offered Tiffany her own show, I Love New York, flipping the script by letting her have her pick from among a score of fawning, eligible bachelors. She was assisted in this enviable endeavor by her ever-sassy mother, Sister Patterson, who helped her daughter settle on Tango, the first season, and on Tailor Made, the next.
Although New York accepted marriage proposals from both of her hunky heartthrobs, neither relationship would even last long enough for an exchange of wedding vows. After several years of frustration at trying to find Mr. Right, Tiffany recently decided to shift her focus from romance to her acting career, now allowing TV cameras to follow her around from audition to audition, of course.
Judging from the snippets I’ve seen so far of Tiffany’s latest reality series, New York Goes to Hollywood, her fans should be happy to know that the flamboyant vixen hasn’t toned down her act one iota for the sake of casting directors or studio execs. Here, she talks about all of the above, including the new show, which premieres on VH1, Monday, August 4th at 10 PM (check local listings).

KW: Hi Tiffany, thanks for the time. I really appreciate it.
TP: Oh, you got it, no problem.
KW: I must admit that I’m a bit intimidated, having seen you go off on so many people at a drop off the hat.
TP: Aw, you know what, Kam? I’m going to be good today. I don’t want you to be intimidated. At least not a lot, just a little bit.
KW: Thanks. Well, I watched some of the new series, and I have to admit I really enjoyed it. It was a refreshing change of pace from seeing you in nothing but romantic situations.
TP: Well, it has a different vibe. It’s definitely New York, but it’s New York grown up. I had fun making the show, but I’m serious about the acting business. So, I want my fans to know that this is a real chunk of my life, like this is my dream. You don’t know how people might receive it, because like you said, it’s different from Flavor of Love and I Love New York. I’m not running around the house with 20 guys looking for love. Basically, I’m on a mission. I think the show is going to go over well, because I had fun doing it.
KW: This program seems to have a much wider range of possible activities than the previous shows.
TP: Absolutely, because there’s so much room for error on this show. When I was with the guys, we had things planned, so I knew what to expect from day to day. But shooting New York Goes to Hollywood, you couldn’t escape day-to-day life.
KW: Should we anticipate seeing your mother on the show?
TP: Oh, come on Kam! Do you really need to ask that? You know my mom’s going to be there. Definitely, definitely. I couldn’t do it without her. She’s going to come down and make sure everything’s in order. You know how she does it. She’s going to be there for a large chunk of the show, actually.
KW: What happened to you and Tailor Made? I thought you lovebirds were getting married?
TP: Umm, Tailor Made and I experienced the ups-and-downs of a typical relationship. Unfortunately, we succumbed to what everyone succumbs to eventually. We broke up. I wanted it to last, but it didn’t happen that way. Nothing lasts forever. However, I’m back in my happy place. I’m in a good zone, and hopefully he is, too. I don’t see him losing any sleep over what happened, because he’s mostly to blame for the break-up.
KW: You initially declined his marriage proposal on the show. Why had you been hesitant in the first place?
TP: Why? [Laughs] Oh, you caught me out there. Why? Because I didn’t know if it was real, if he was just proposing to me because Tango did last season. There was a lot that went into it, and I didn’t want to make a hasty decision.
KW: Why do you think the relationship failed?
TP: The main ingredient that we lost was definitely the passion. And when I say “we lost” I really mean on his end. If you were to speak to him, he would admit it to you, because he even admitted it to me that he pulled out emotionally. We weren’t connecting or spending as much time together. We had a new relationship, and a very public relationship, so it needed a lot of nurturing. But he started doing his own thing, so I had to go on about my business and do my own thing. So, we kinda fell apart. But there’s nothing bad I could say about him, because he’s still the same person he was when I picked him on the show. He’s still a good guy.
KW: Do you think becoming famous might have gone to his head?
TP: I want to be honest, so I’m going to say, yes. That’s my take on it. I’m entitled to have my opinion and perceptions, and that’s what I saw. Tailor Made did everything for me from top –to bottom, until the show aired. And once he was able to get gigs on his own, and hang out with all his fans in all his glory, he didn’t know me anymore. He wasn’t calling me. He wasn’t texting me. I was the one trying to make things happen. It’s unfortunate that it ended up like that.
KW: Would you say Tailor Made broke your heart?
TP: [Pauses] Stop. I said I was going to be good. [Laughs] No, he didn’t break my heart. My heart never came undone with him, because he went his way, and I went mine.
KW: What is it like dating 20 guys at once?
TP: You definitely know how to be a multi-tasker. And you have to know how to separate the guys who are there for you from the ones who are there to be on television. I may have been in a house with 20 guys, but I only really connected with 2 or 3 on an emotional level.
KW: Did anything happen between you and Flavor Flav while taping that reunion show? I heard that you were off alone in the bathroom with him.
TP: He followed me into the bathroom, but not into a stall. Nothing happened. Definitely not. We were just talking, and he was hanging by the door. I was kinda like flipping my hair, getting the oil off my skin, and patting my nose down.
KW: Are you still friends with any of the losers from either season of I Love New York?
TP: Any of the losers? [Laughs]
KW: How about Boston or Buddha?
TP: Yyou know who sends me the cutest text messages occasionally? Midget Mac. He’s still really cool. And Buddha, will send me text messages, and It leaves me crazy voice messages. They’re both cool, too.
KW: What do you think are the odds of finding true love on a reality-TV show?
TP: I’m still optimistic, Kam. I definitely think it could happen for somebody but, unfortunately, some people, like Tailor Made, pull out, because they’re not used to having the fame.
KW: Does that mean that season three of I Love New York is in the works?
TP: [Laughs] Do you know something that I don’t know? Actually, right now, I’m on a journey pursuing my passion for acting. But if someone approached me to do another season, I would certainly consider it.
KW: How much would you say you’re similar to the person we’ve seen on TV?
TP: Seriously? I’d say I’m 100% like that person. I love makeup. I love hair. I’m larger than life. If you press the wrong button, if you step on my toes in the street, I’m gonna get pissed off. That’s totally me. When you go onto a reality show, they don’t draw a character up for you. I’m that same person. But you have to understand that you might see me fight a little more on reality television, because the circumstances cause me to fight since people are always coming at me. When viewers see me defend myself, they think I’m this crazy, loud person, but that’s not true.
KW: Why do you think the medium of TV loves you so much? Have you thought about what it is that makes you so magnetic?
TP: [Chuckles] I hear that a lot, that I’m so captivating. But I’m a humble person. A lot of people might not know that about me. I’m just an individual. There’s nobody else who looks like me, or walks like me. I would guess that I have some special ingredient.
KW: The “It” factor. Will that special quality translate to the big screen as an actress?
TP: That’s a different league right there, a whole different ballgame. That’s what’s so exciting to me about acting. You have to work extra hard at it. Reality-TV, you can just jump on the screen and be you, but with acting, you have to show up and be that character they need you to be. So, I like the challenge of it all. That’s what draws me toward it. If I keep working at it as hard as I’m working at it now, something definitely will come my way.
KW: Which actresses would you say are your role models?
TP: The ones who inspire me the most are the ones I grew up watching transition to the screen. The first one that always comes to mind is Queen Latifah. Watching her evolve was such an inspiration. I love her… Vivica A. Fox… Angela Bassett...
KW: Are you worried about being typecast as the sassy sister?
TP: To be honest, unfortunately, that’s the bittersweet reality of the business. You’re going to be typecast. It is what it is. It’s up to you to stay strong and try to break down the door, because it’s going to happen. Nobody’s going to cast me as a nurse or a lawyer right off the bat. So, I’m going to have to break down those barriers.
KW: What director would you like to work with?
TP: Spike Lee. I loved Jungle Fever, Do the Right Thing, Girl Six, all of his films.
KW: And what leading man would you like to be paired opposite as your romantic love interest?
TP: Love interest? Let me see… I have the biggest crush on Laurence Fishburne from back in the day right up ‘til now.
KW: “Realtor to the Stars” Jimmy Bayan asks: Where in L.A. do you live?
TP: When I first came out to Los Angeles, and lived here on my own, before anybody knew me, I lived downtown.
KW: Where do you live now?
TP: I don’t want to give too much information, because I’m a private person, but I’m really close to where we shot the last show.
KW: Which was?
TP: I think we shot this recent show in Sherman Oaks.
KW: Where were the mansions you lived in during I Love New York located?
TP: Oh boy, somewhere in the Hollywood Hills. The last mansion we shot in was right above or below J-Lo’s place. It was really huge and beautiful, with security guards at the gate. So, you couldn’t just walk onto the property.
KW: Are you living in New York City, too?
TP: Right now, I’m mostly in L.A. I kinda miss New York a little bit. I can tell that I’m going to be taking a trip back East real soon.
KW: The reason I ask is because a friend of mine, Danielle, was recently house-hunting in Manhattan, and she said she met you and your bodyguard. You were both looking at the same three-bedroom apartment in Nolita [North of Little Italy].
TP: Yes! Oh my goodness! That’s so funny. It’s such a small world. I was looking for a place in Manhattan, because I didn’t want to be on the outskirts. But I didn’t take that apartment. Did Danielle jump on it?
KW: No, she didn’t either. What do your high school friends think about how you’ve turned out?
TP: Growing up in such a small city inspires you to want more. Any person from Utica who knew me prior to my moving to L.A., would say they knew I had big dreams. I never let that go. I made it known to all my friends that I wanted to get out, do my thing, and be on television, because I always had that dream. And they supported me. So, the people back home are not surprised.
KW: What would you like your fans to know about you that might surprise them?
TP: That I have a real solid, spiritual background. I have a great connection with God. People probably don’t see that side of me, but I want them to know that it does exist.
KW: Were you involved with the church growing up?
TP: Was I? I went to Sunday school every Sunday, to Friday night Bible Study and to Sunday services. My grandfather is a pastor, so I grew up in the church. A lot of people probably don’t know that.
KW: Then, how do you explain your use of foul language?
TP: I look at it like this: nobody’s perfect. When I pray, I always tell God, “You know, I’m your work in progress.” I’m here on Earth just like everybody else. I’m not claiming to be a perfect person who is not going to slip up from time to time. He understands, and I really don’t answer to anybody else, so I’m good.
KW: You strike me as even tempered and totally different from on the show, where you always seem to have a very quick trigger. Do you ever try to stop yourself from blurting out an expletive?
TP: I definitely have that mechanism that can decipher right from wrong. But when I’m having a bad day, and you’re in my zone, and up in my face, you’re going to hear it. Basically, that’s what happens.
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?
TP: Columbus Short … he’s cute. Am I happy? You turn on the news, it’s trippy. Things are crazy. I don’t even remember it being this crazy five years ago. So, yeah, I’m ecstatic. I got my pets, my friends and my family. I’m doing great.
KW: How many pets do you have?
TP: I have my Chihuahua living with me. My mom has my cat, and I’m thinking of adopting another Chihuahua this weekend.
KW: How many kids do you want to have when you find Mr. Right?
TP: Three.
KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?
TP: Of course. This is life. We had an earthquake in L.A. just last week. You never know what’s going to happen. But that fear can actually sometimes be a good thing. I like walking into a place and not know exactly what’s going to happen. That’s a healthy fear without any anxiety.
KW: That’s interesting, because most people probably see you as tough and fearless.
TP: No, no, no, I experience the full range of emotions of any other human. Yeah.
KW: Bookworm Troy Johnson asks: What was the last book you read?
TP: Russell Simmons’ Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success. It’s a self-help book to get your life together and make it happen.
KW: That’s a coincidence. I’m supposed to interview Russell at a CD release party this week. I’ll tell him that you said his book was the last one you read.
TP: Thank you. It’s a really great book.
KW: What’s the most outrageous question a reporter has ever asked you?
TP: If I were really a woman, because of all the hair and makeup and the larger-than-life personality. He said, “That can’t be real. You must have some extra business between your legs.” I think that was the craziest question I’ve ever been asked.
KW: How do you want to be remembered?
TP: As a person who encountered life’s ups and downs, and twists and turns, and survived it all. I’d like people to remember me as a fighter and a go-getter, because that’s who I truly am.
KW: Who are you supporting for president?
TP: Oh come on! Barack Obama! I couldn’t shout it loud enough. Seriously, I have to say that I’m so proud of him. I never thought that I would see what he’s doing in my lifetime.
KW: Well, Tiffany, this has been delightful, and I’m going to tell my readers that you didn’t come close to using foul language even once. Good luck with the show and your career, and I’m eager to see what happens in the upcoming episodes over the course of the season.
TP: Kam, it’s been wonderful talking to you. This has been a really cool interview, and I’m glad you’re as excited about the new show as I am.
KW: I hope I’ll be able to get another interview when you’re a big movie star.
TP: Absolutely! We‘ll definitely have to do this again. Take care.

To see a sample of New York Goes to Hollywood, visit: http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1591496&vid=260885

Swing Vote

Film Review by Kam Williams



Headline: Apathetic Constituent Courted by Candidates in Election Day Sitcom



Ernest “Bud” Johnson (Kevin Costner) is a middle-aged slacker raising his daughter by himself in Texico, New Mexico, a desert oasis located along the border with Texas. He and 12 year-old Molly (Madeline Carroll) both miss her mother, Larissa (Mare Winningham), a selfish substance-abuser who ran off to Albuquerque to pursue a singing career. Bud, himself is also a wannabe musician, having played in a Willie Nelson tribute band called The Half Nelsons, at least until his rhythm section was arrested and ended up in prison.

Bud’s day job is at a local egg factory, where the pay is barely enough to keep a roof over their heads. And even that lowly, assembly line position is currently in jeopardy because of an influx of Mexicans willing to “work twice as hard for half the money.” So, he and Molly have had to make do in a modest trailer without a telephone or other modern amenities most of us take for granted.

Then, when Bud’s job does finally get “insourced” as he describes it, rather than look for gainful employment, he drowns his woes in alcohol at his favorite watering hole. Fortunately, his spousified daughter is mature enough to pick up the slack. Somehow, the spunky little enabler does everything for her dad from driving him home when he’s inebriated to voting for him on the sly on Election Day.

Life changes for Bud soon after state officials inform him that, due to an electronic voting machine malfunction, his ballot was the only one not yet counted. Otherwise, the tally ended in a tie, so his vote will determine whether New Mexico’s five electoral votes will go to the Democratic challenger, Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper), or to the incumbent, President Boone (Kelsey Grammer).

Furthermore, the national contest also ended in a draw which means that whichever candidate prevails in New Mexico will win the presidency as well. Bud is given ten days to make up his mind, during which time the press and politicians from both parties descend on tiny Texico, turning the town into a media circus.

The candidates proceed to court the affable but apathetic slob for his vote, freely changing their positions on everything from abortion to the environment to gay marriage to satisfy their final constituent. Will Bud reward the Republican, who has promised him employment as a lobbyist, or the Democrat with whom he appears more naturally aligned on the issues?

Even if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief long enough to swallow this idiotic premise, Swing Vote is ultimately the bitterly disappointing with nothing much to offer other than some sappy sermonizing about patriotically exercising right to vote. The picture ends on a cliffhanger leaving the election unresolved, as if setting us up for a sequel. What a cinematic slap in the face to generate tension and have an audience to invest emotionally for such an unsatisfying, anticlimactic resolution!

On second thought, maybe there was a winner here, corporate America, judging by the distracting omnipresence of very distracting product placements for everything from Budweiser to MTV to Old Spice to UPS to Monopoly to Pepsi to Chevrolet to Newsweek to Motts to Ritz Crackers to Quaker Oats to Verizon Fios and so forth. Because the mediocre script was of obviously of secondary import to the ads, the production squandered the services of a gifted supporting cast which included the likes of Nathan Lane, George Lopez, Paula Patton, Stanley Tucci, Judge Reinhold, along with innumerable celebrity cameos.

A string of shameless sales pitches sans the rudiments of a major motion picture. Next time, would you mind including an ending, if you’re going to ask us to sit through two hours of commercials?



Poor (0 stars)

Rated PG-13 for profanity.

Running time: 119 minutes

Studio: Touchstone Pictures



To see a trailer of Swing Vote, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWodSDYgfXA

All about Us DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Boris Kodjoe and Ryan Michelle Bathe Co-Star in Semi-Autobiographical Family Flick

Edward (Boris Kodjoe) and Stacey Brown (Ryan Michelle Bathe) are a young African-American couple trying to make it as filmmakers in Los Angeles. However, they haven’t met with much success, primarily because they’ve been pitching the studios with their script for a wholesome family flick.
The feedback they’ve received thusfar from potential investors is that “black people don’t care about good content.” Since they haven’t been inclined to compromise their values by dumbing-down the plotline, the Browns find themselves struggling financially.
This is fine until a baby comes along, when suddenly their infant son (Luke Swanson) becomes their priority. After agreeing that the Hollywood rat race is no place to raise a child, they decide to move to Clarksdale, Mississippi with hopes of not only producing their picture independently but of asking local celebrity Morgan Freeman to appear in the picture.
So unfolds All about Us, a semi-autobiographical love story chronicling the similar options once weighed in real life by the husband/wife team of producer Michael Swanson and scriptwriter/director Christine Swanson. Their tenderhearted morality play, set in the Delta Region, offers an array of valuable insights along the way about what really matters most in life while simultaneously delighting you for the duration.
The supporting cast includes LaTanya Richardson (wife of Samuel L. Jackson), Ruby Dee (widow of Ossie Davis) and, yes, Morgan Freeman in a quickie-cameo. The Oscar-winning actor proved to be a good sport, even graciously allowing the crew to shoot inside his restaurant and blues club.
Seems like the Swansons got the last laugh, given that in the end they were able to tell exactly the sort of high-quality tale the execs said no one would be interested in.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG for mature themes.
Running time: 90 minutes
Studio: CodeBlack Entertainment
DVD Extras: Commentary by the husband-wife team of writer/director Christine Swanson and producer Michael Swanson, theatrical trailer, cast interviews and a “The Making of” featurette.