Brooklyn’s Finest
This morning I caught a movie I’ve been waiting for for months, Brooklyn’s Finest, and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. If I had to use one word to describe it, the word would be dark. You can watch the trailer and know what type of world you’re getting into, but to watch how it all plays out, this film at times makes Training Day (also directed by Antoine Fuqua) look like Police Academy.
The three central characters of the story are a cop played by Ethan Hawke, who willingly bends the rules to provide for his increasingly expanding family, an undercover cop played by Don Cheadle who is ready to get out of undercover work and wants his regular life back, and a retiring cop on his last week of the job, played by Richard Gere, who just wants to get to retirement without any trouble. You don’t have to be as big of the fan of the crime genre as I am to know you’ve seen these character types; Donnie Brasco and Se7en immediately come to mind. So as with any genre film, you judge it against how it takes these archetypes and give you an interesting take.
I thought in this case the cast of characters was stronger than the story that was told. And is that a surprise? Kansas City bias aside, I’d pay full price to watch Don Cheadle drink a glass of milk, he doesn’t disappoint. I’m not the first person to note the (deliberate?) similarities between the kingpin character played by Wesley Snipes here and his trademark role of Nino Brown. The East Coast locale and type of story surely played into seeing a few familiar faces from a certain greatest TV show of all time that came on HBO and was set in Baltimore. He looks the exact same, but the difference between Ethan Hawke’s LA cop in Training Day and his Brooklyn cop here gave me more respect for him as an actor. And much of the film revolves around Richard Gere’s character. I think the best compliment I can give him is the man still has ‘it’: the ability to be the anchor in a ridiculously talented ensemble. And there’s a few other ‘names’ who pop up but I won’t name who.
The crime genre (and its most lucrative subgenre, the gangster genre) have both hit that point where greatness is almost impossible to get to. So when a film does a good job, you acknowledge how hard it was. And Brooklyn’s Finest is a good film; worth checking out for the great acting alone.
Inglorious Basterds
This one’s been out for a minute, but with the Oscars next weekend I made a point to check out Inglorious Basterds tonight. I’m not a Tarantino fanboy, but as a film fanatic that man’s craftmanship cannot be denied. The two Kill Bill movies are still two of my favorites of the past ten years. I’ve heard a few references to Basterds being Tarantino’s best film…I don’t know about that, but it might be his definitive film.
Like I said, not a fanboy, but one thing I’ll give the man is that he’s created his own motifs over his career that you recognize no matter what story he’s telling: Samuel L. Jackson cameo, feet closeups, a cringe-worthy use of the word n!gger (spoken by Joseph Goebbels no less!), and fantastic, fantastic dialogue sequences. As flat out silly as this film is in premise (is there such a thing as Jewspoitation?), there are some great scenes of dramatic tension and throwaway dialogue that will (sadly) inspire more copycats and second rate storytellers who will try to mimic his style moreso than create their own.
Christoph Waltz was fantastic. He looks to be the favorite to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and he wouldn’t be the most unworthy winner. Not that I expect him to be anything like the character he played, but he certainly made playing the Nazi looked like fun! I think Tarantino knows this isn’t his year as far as Best Director or Best Picture goes, but give the devil his due, when people complain there aren’t enough ‘entertaining’ movies being made these days, you certainly can’t blame him, can you?
Michael Jackson’s This Is It
So last year when I first heard about this film, I made the gut decision I wasn’t going to see it. I was at the NAACP Image Award nominated memorial service, and as I wrote at the time, to be there was as draining for me emotionally as anything I could imagine. I understood the business behind releasing the documentary (promoters making back their money, ‘one last glimpse’ for the conspiracy theorists and the diehards like myself) but no film could top what I experienced that day in Staples.
Then I started to hear about how good This Is It was on its own terms. My mother and sister first; “You haven’t seen it?!?” Then various friends who know my lifelong admiration of Michael; “You haven’t seen it?” Then my homegirl who went to the memorial with me; “You haven’t seen it?” Then people who I know for a fact didn’t have nothing but jokes about Mike for the last 20 years; “You haven’t seen it?” Then the homeless cat who sleeps at the park where I run on the weekends; “You haven’t seen it?!?” HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!? I digress…
Since at this point I’ll assume that yes, you HAVE seen it, I’ll just give you some of my thoughts in bullet point form as I watched it…
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For those of you who get on me about not eating enough (and you know who you are), I look like Fat Bastard compared to Mike in this movie. I know the man was never known to hit the gym, but my goodness he was skinny. He sure seemed healthy enough throughout the rehearsals though didn’t he?
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Along those lines, it’s ironic that in the past few weeks I’ve had stepshows on my brain from my college days. I say that to say, I know when you’re gearing up for a show in front of a live audience, you’re pretty much going half-speed all the way up until the week/day before the big show. So seeing rough cuts of various songs/sequences didn’t throw me off as much as some people who might have been expecting more. Frankly, Mike at half speed would still get my money before damn near everybody else right now who’s touring live.
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Maybe it’s because I didn’t hear him sing it as an adult alot, if ever, but the half speed version of “I’ll Be There” still had my hairs standing up. I don’t know if I wanted to see that full production number; that was clearly set up to be a show-stopper.
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The editor deserves a little credit on this one, but I’m seriously starting to doubt if there will ever be a song that guarantees an “Awwwww shyt!” more than the intro to Billie Jean, especially when you don’t see it coming.
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Seeing 50 year old Mike go through the motions of Beat It and Thriller put a smile on my face, I couldn’t help it but rewind the Blu-Ray, get up, and dance along with Mike in my living room.
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I heard Prince told Mike once that if he really wanted to throw down on a comeback tour, he should do a straight accoustic set to remind people how good of a vocalist he was. Even though he complained about it after the fact, I know I wasn’t the only one who could, as my Captain would say, ‘feel the moistness’ when Mike freestyled a little at the end of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”. I think I went psychically deaf for a few minutes.
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Finally, more than a few times as they were going through it, you could clearly see Mike smiling and enjoying himself. In retrospect, I think that’s what I was looking for. For all the damage both self-inflicted and done by others to this man, did this cat that I borderline worshipped for so many years actually enjoy his gift as much as we did? Or was he more like a Brando who always seemed to have a borderline contempt for his own extraordinary talents? Without getting into all of Mike’s issues (which would take all week), I think on the most basic level he enjoyed what he could do.
Again, it’s funny to watch it now, completely separated from all the hoopla. At the moment (right after watching the film) I’m sad he’s gone again. But I will admit I stand corrected, for all of you who told me I had to see this movie as a Michael Jackson fanatic, you were right. I’m glad I changed my mind and finally got around to watching it.
Crazy Heart
Crazy Heart tells the story of an alcoholic, washed up country singer who is inspired to try for one last chance at redemption. In the lead role, Jeff Bridges comes off as more than believable in the lead role of the singer whose real name we only hear briefly in the third act. As me and my friend joked on the way out, you almost forget that he’s the son of a Hollywood legend in his own right (and not somebody who grew up in Texas or Oklahoma). Almost. As far as Maggie Gyllenhall goes, this is the perfect type of role for her. I was pleasantly surprised to find out when I got home that she’s also nominated for her performance in this movie. Well deserved.
As far as the film itself, it takes me back to the 70s in terms of the style of filmmaking. A first time writer and director probably helps; I couldn’t help but smile to see Robert Duvall prominently involved, both in a supporting role in the film, as well as being one of the producers. There’s another star in this movie who’s not advertised in the promos; he’s a good actor but feels miscast in this film; I won’t ruin it for you if you haven’t seen it. Like Duvall, he also only appears in a few scenes. But this is Bridges’ movie. He won the Golden Globe for his performance; if he takes home the Oscar too, it won’t be surprising.
The New Year
A few different things going on as 2010 gets into full swing…
For those of you who come by for the film reviews, I’ve been invited to post my reviews on 7tavern.com. A relatively young site like this one; their angle revolves around gathering the reviews from bloggers like myself in all types of formats. I look forward to the opportunity to expand my own base, and yes, I’ll still be posting my reviews here.
Speaking of films, those of you who’ve kept up with me for awhile probably remember that during Oscar season my old partner and I would do a unique “Oscar Prediction” type special where we picked the winners (and threw in our particular sense of humor). I talked with him last night, and he’s down to do some form of the prediction show again this year, so look for that after the nominations are announced.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this within this space, but a story I started writing as a teenager but could never finish…well I’ve finished it. The story at least. My ‘James Cameron’ esque piece, a little sci-fi, a little supernatural. The question for me now as an artist and a producer is what format to tell the story in: is it a comic book? a video game? a novel? a TV series? a web series? a feature film? all of the above? something else entirely? The next step for me is writing the treatment, and I’ll see where it goes from there.
Lady In My Life: it’s been noticed and played in some nice places on both coasts; this year I really plan to put my foot in and get it seen in as many places as possible. As I get more dates I’ll post them here.
I’m putting together a nice streak of productivity at the moment. Simplifying my desires has made it easier for me to set daily goals and stay in the present moment. Rome wasn’t built in a day as they say, but it was built. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Invictus
Invictus tells the story of the 1995 South African rugby team. Hyped up by the newly elected president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, the rugby team goes on a great run in the 1995 World Cup. (I won’t ruin it for you if they won or loss; rugby is not my forte so the outcome didn’t automatically register with me). I have no idea how Clint Eastwood is still directing quality films at his age, but he is. The first half of the film is about Mandela using the rugby team as a metaphor for bringing the two races of his country together; in the last act a sports film breaks out. If you know Eastwood’s directing style (slow burn, working the plot to its breaking point) you probably know what you’re getting into here. His style is what it is, so if you don’t care for his other movies too much, this isn’t the one that’s going to ‘win you over.’ A few other quick points from me:
I’ve raved before about my respect for Matt Damon as an actor. And the cat is still so young! Hollywood is a different animal than sports obviously, but when Damon’s career is done, it will be interesting to see where his name is mentioned with the all time greats (keep in mind, he’s already won an Oscar, headlined an action franchise, established his comedy chops and I believe he won People’s Sexiest Man Alive a couple years back (don’t quote me on that last one)). And like I said, he’s still a pretty young guy.
Morgan Freeman was Mandela’s hand picked choice to play him in a movie. No surprise he pulled it off: the gait, the accent, the dignity and the quiet charisma. Others have said this before me, but I don’t feel like this was Morgan’s best work. He did great, but Mandela (the character in this movie) didn’t have much of an arc. We get all the references to what he was before, but all that happened before the film’s story started.
I doubt I was the only one (and if I was, leave me alone), but I’ve known the poem Invictus for a long time; I learned it as a teenager. I know it wasn’t intentional, but for someone like myself who memorized the poem in a different way; hearing Morgan’s slow, Hollywood, melodramatic recitation left me chuckling a little bit. I could never get away with saying it that slow in my day….(but it really is a tremendous poem for those of you unfamiliar with it).
All things considered, I wouldn’t be surprised if this film is one of the TEN Best Picture nominees (yeah, it’s time to start thinking about that) off of name recognition alone.
Avatar (in 3D!)
A couple hours now after coming out of Avatar, I have to say I feel like the ‘masses’ on this one: it was undeniably impressive, but didn’t completely grab me as a filmgoer. The look of the film and the CGI aspects, I mean, WOW. The legend is James Cameron waited for the technology to catch up to the story he wanted to tell, and I don’t think you need to see it in 3D to feel like it was worth the wait. Depicting a ‘natural’ planet, everything (to my eyes at least) looked and felt ‘alive.’ The 3D aspect wasn’t blowing me out of my seat every five minutes, which from what I understand was also Cameron’s intention.
‘Complaint’ is not the right word, but if I didn’t go all in with Avatar it’s because the story felt familiar. Colonial power goes into the ‘jungle’, one of the colonialists falls for the ‘native girl’, fights against his own kind. Cameron seems to acknowledge this when the main villain says at one point “You’re turning your back on your own race.” At this stage of the game of course, every story and mythology has been told; the creative storytellers just find new ways to tweak it to get us (the audience) engaged. I can’t even fault this movie for lack of character development if you think that’s where I’m going; there were defined arcs and I understood who everyone was and what everyone wanted, which I can tell you from first hand experience is HARD to do when you’re trying to tell an ‘epic’ story (and this fact may be Cameron’s greatest strength as a filmmaker). I guess my one sentence synopsis is that the technology of the film was even ahead of the story itself, if that makes sense. The best parallel I can make is a debate I have with a friend of mine of getting a great Superman movie with the technology we have now. I think something along those lines is the next benchmark for cinematic storytellers.
Anyway to sum up, Avatar is not a bad film by any measure, but it’s not quite Titantic either. How’s that?
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is the latest character to get a ‘reboot’ for today’s generation in an attempt to start a new Hollywood franchise. And in this case…I think they got it right (as a film, the box office will decide if it becomes a franchise of course). Robert Downey Jr. continues to make all of us who are fans of his immense talent look good for hoping he would conquer his demons (personally I’ve been a big fan of his since Chaplin). As the title character, Downey plays into the best parts of his own persona (a possible genius internally who looks like a simpleton on the outside) to headline a fun, ‘could/should this have been a summer release?’ movie. And in my opinion, the action may be a wee bit too slow for the summer, but it’s perfect counterprogamming right now (even though that didn’t stop Downey from getting a Golden Globe nod here). Jude Law is pitch perfect as Watson, used here as the sensible more down to earth member of this Dynamic Duo, and Rachel McAdams still has one of the prettiest smiles in Hollywood and is perfectly charming as the love interest.
Even the story of the film feels right, a ’supernatural’ villain who comes back from the dead to terrorize London. But that’s not possible right? I don’t know how ‘rewatchable’ this film is,but it’s fun for the audience to play along with Holmes and try to figure out how certain things happen in the story.
So a fun film for the holiday season in the middle of the more serious stuff that’s popping up with awards season also in full bloom. Nice if you just want some good old fashioned Hollywood ‘junk food’.
Up in the Air
Written and Directed by Jason Reitman
Starring George Clooney
Jeremy Osbern – Rigging Lighting Techinician
Michael Stoecker – Rigging Grip
(and yes, Jeremy and Michael drove straight to St. Louis to work on this film from the set of my film so I’m shouting them out here)
I’ll try to keep this one short and sweet, since this film is a big front runner for the Globes and most likely the Oscars. The hype is deserved in my opinion. For all the various gripes everyone inside and outside of it has about Hollywood movies, when a Hollywood movie is done right like this one is, it’s well worth the price of admission. The story about a ‘corporate hitman’ literally could not be more timely, and Clooney knows how to pick a role (a big reason why I admire him). I won’t spoil it for you, but things happen along the way that go outside of the audience’s expectations, and the movie is better than average because of it. As someone who has played the ‘my career is all I need’ AND the ‘disconnect from the Midwest and the wife and kids’ cards, this character and this story arc hit a little close to home at certain points (no comments from the Peanut Gallery). Last comment: the casting in this movie was phenomenal. Can never say enough about how much easier it is to get caught up in the story when you believe in the characters.
As promised, kept that one short and sweet, but I imagine it will come up again as awards season kicks into full gear…
My 2009: Part 3 of 3
Not long ago, I went to the movies with a friend I don’t see very often. I told her I was going back to my hometown for the holidays, so she asked me about growing up in Kansas, and what I was like before I was ‘Malik Aziz’ (literally and figuratively). I’m only being slightly sarcastic to say I started to have a flashback like Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) when Charlie asked him about his childhood…
The most dominant memory for me is of the place I spent most of my time: the basement of my parents’ home. It is an unfinished basement: the floor is cold concrete, as are the cement walls. The lights are old school: a lightbulb attached to a string you pull on. There is a small one foot wide window that provided a little natural light when the sun was shining, but at night it was pitch black. I had a weight bench in one corner that I used every night to take out my frustrations (and thus began my lifelong appreciation for fitness). My other outlet was DeNiece, who I would call once a week, usually on Saturdays, when I had to express my frustrations to another person. I could usually hear what was going on in other parts of the house, but overall it was very quiet. It was the perfect place for me to study the Qu’ran initially. And no, I’m not trying to deliberately make it sound like I was in Shawshank. (Okay, maybe just a little).
Jokes aside, all of us are forever marked by how we view our childhood. In my case, I will always have that memory of being spiritually miserable, geographically/professionally miserable, and socially miserable all at the same time. And I vowed then that I would not live my life like that forever.
The point I was trying to make to my homegirl was to go from that vivid memory of complete frustration, to being where we were; sitting in a private screening room in Beverly Hills, watching a probable Oscar contender before it hits theatres; I feel as I’ve gone from 5 percent of what I wanted to somewhere around 80 (and on nights like that it hits the high 90s). I work to have the life I want and it’s a never ending process.
But getting from point A to point B is not something I’ve ever really done alone, and this year as much as any other I had a quite a bit of help, support, and favors done on my behalf. I’ve spent a good few days thinking of everyone who’s done something for me in the past 12 months, so if I’ve left you out feel free to yell at me, but know it wasn’t on purpose. Like I said, I work very hard to get what I want, but I’m also aware I’m very, very blessed to have folks like these in my life.
So, in no particular order, thank you to Sev, Nate, Kareem, Jamaal and the Ummah around the world, Vahagn for hooking me with the comics, Booker for hooking me up with the games, Rosanna, Ekpo, and Q for the great memories from NYC, Chris, Jeremy, Steve and everybody associated with Through A Glass who helped me bring ‘Lady’ to life, Brad, Tina, and Sophie, Adrian and Aida, Al, Amber, Ava, and Cole, the Kernel, Henry, Barb, Kam and everybody associated with USC First Team, Molyneaux and the guy who sat to the left of us all season for the unsolicited running commentary through the roughest Trojan season so far, Shane for looking at my script, Lisa for the screening invites, the folks at Markee Magazine, the folks at GQ Magazine, Ralph and my friends at Black Entertainment Television, the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, and the Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival, Randy, Jason, and my Stark Family (I owe you guys lunch dates in 2010 if you call me out on it), Doug, Christine, James, David and the entire Pigskin League for letting me back in (Compton is back and he’s here to stay you suckas!!!!), Aaron, Ama, and De’sha of course (you didn’t think I’d forget?), my Facebook Fam, my Twitter Fam, Monica (saving the best for almost last, how you like that?), Pops, Mom, and Sheena, B and Tracee, and last but definitely not least, everyone who comes here to check out what’s on my mind, whether you stop by daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever, it’s much appreciated, and it keeps me writing.
Happy Holidays to all and stay blessed. 2010 is already looking like it’s going to be something else!
M
