Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES:Early 30s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

WEEKEND PREVIEW: 4/20/07

Capsules for movies out or coming out this weekend

FRACTURE (R)
Biases: Two Oscar-worthy leads plus the universally adored Gosling? Let's get it!
Players: Ryan Gosling, Anthony Hopkins, David Strathairn, and director Gregory Hoblit
Logline: Self-admitted wife-killer Ted Crawford (Hopkins) seemingly has planned the perfect murder, representing himself at trial against hotshot, assistant District Attorney Willy Beachum, who has one foot out the door towards a heralded corporate law job. What's supposed to be a slam-dunk case gets slam dunked on Willy's head, pitting Ted's overarching intelligence against Willy's slick, charismatic,
competitive ambition.

The Deal: "I didn't work this hard to stay where I belong." Pitch perfect as always (and this time with an easy, Southern swagger), Gosling slips into the skin of the cocksure, self-satisfied ADA (with the 97% conviction rate) as easy as Bond into a tuxedo. Playing another social deviant, Hopkins injects Ted's willful, all-consuming
arrogant intelligence with a puppeteer's glee; he obviously likes to use his intellect to abuse others. "Fracture" is that rare thriller that not only thinks it's two steps ahead of you but actually is at all times. Aided and abetted from a perilously smart Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers screenplay, Hoblit does his best to get out of the way,
keeping the film fraught with tension while shining a light on its two cerebral, limitlessly talented stars. How desperate and to what lengths will Willy go to win? How many more tricks and misdirections can aeronautical engineer Ted throw at a distracted, beleaguered Willy? Ted's intelligence is his greatest but also his greatest flaw ("Love is pain."). The question is will it catch up to him before he
gets away with murder? Can Willy overcome his own self-absorbed ambitions to do the right thing, even when the wrong thing may be called for?

Although apart more than they butt heads, Gosling and Hopkins are individually electric and mildly amusing when brought together. Because it is such a mismatch in the way the characters were written (Ted dangles his formidable intellect in front of a blindfolded Willy like a pinata out of his reach), there's not true intellectual
sparring in an evenhanded sense. The odds are stacked against Willy, whether he knows it or not, and I'm okay with that - particularly with Gosling's effervescent confidence even in the face of overwhelming career jeopardy. After this, "Murder by Numbers," "The Notebook," and "Half Nelson," I am firmly convinced Gosling never makes a role misstep; he's a fearfully talented performer. Mix in sensuous lighting, moody music, and strong if background performances by Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, and Billy Burke, and "Fracture" is the year's first, most perfect thriller.
@@@@ REELS (An urban legend/instant classic)

THE HOAX (R)
Biases: Hallstrom, Gere, true story, let's ride!
Players: Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, director Lasse Hallstrom
Logline: Frustrated, midlist McGraw Hill writer Clifford Irving (Gere) claims to be working on "the most important book of the 20th century," an exclusive, authorized bio on the world's most reclusive "lunatic hermit" billionaire, Howard Hughes, for which he milks millions of dollars out of his publisher while working in a shroud of secrecy with his research partner Dick Suskind (Molina). Sounds great - if only it
were true…

The Deal: "It's not a matter of getting through the door. There's not a door to get through." That, my friends, is "The Hoax" in a nutshell. Accompanied by Alfred Molina's snappily American accent as Dick, Irving's flawed but somewhat loyal friend, "The Hoax" is Gere's Clifford Irving, and Gere's Clifford Irving is "The Hoax." Never has a lie seemed so attractively plausible as when it meanders confidently
from Gere's silver coiffed tongue. The higher the stakes, the more grandiose the lie. With each obstacle that clearly threatens to undue his Charlotte's Web of deceit, Irving steps it up a notch to the realm of self-delusion. Seriously: the movie is pleasantly haunted by Irving's paranoid, Hughes-infested hallucinations. Clifford Irving is a lying, cheating, opportunist huckster who deserves us to champion him about as much as a first show dropout on "I Love New York." So why ARE we rooting for this philandering, spendthrift fraud, other than he's Richard Gere? Maybe it's the one-time midlist Random House writer in me that wants to see him put one over on the big boys, getting by on sheer cajones-iness. Gere's Irving is totally despicable, selfish, and completely fascinating; all that early Oscar talk isn't too far
off. A perfectly '70s Hope Davis as Irving's "lie to me please" editor and Marcia Gay Harden (sorry - that's Academy Award winning Marcia Gay Harden to you) as his "lie to me. Please?" enabler of an artist wife both deserve mention. However with a "Hoax" as big as this, Hallstrom skillfully keeps the focus on Gere and the action light, lean, and…loopy. A story that's clearly a winky precursor to reality TV,
"The Hoax" proves that everyone pimps somebody for 15 minutes. "New York" had VH1. Clifford Irving had the USA.
@@@@ REELS (An urban legend/instant classic)

GRINDHOUSE (R)
Biases: Pre-sold.
Players: Writers/directors Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino Logline: As an homage to the blaxploitation, zombie, horror, and sexploitation crap movies of the '70s, Rodriguez and Tarantino respectively have given us zombie invasion movie "Planet Terror" and serial killer muscle car flick "Death Proof" combined in a three hour feature, including fake trailers for more crap movies in between, linking the two.

PLANET TERROR - When an alien virus is unleashed from a military base, its face-bubbling, mucus-spewing disease overruns a small Texas town. The Deal: With cartoonishly appropriate violence and cheesy, overwrought music to match, "Planet Terror" pumps geysers full of grotesque gore and blood (sometimes literally) on the screen. Rodriguez enjoys himself with his own, shameless Breast Cam, never
missing a curve on pop star Fergie's anatomy or Rose McGowan's palely beautiful form. Yep, she's the one in the commercials who's a go-go dancer named Cherry Darling with a machine gun prosthetic for a leg - SEXY! Marley Shelton bounces around with full-bodied gusto looking like a younger, hotter version of Heather Graham. Josh Brolin's bad man goatee pouts its way throughout the invasion. Toss in some nonstop zombie action, Freddie Rodriguez's no-nonsense, unnecessarily
whispering hero, and disgusting, darkly humorous script that's clearly a tongue-in-cheek affair that's amazingly played straight by all the actors, and "Planet Terror" will suck you into its orbit.
@@@ (THREE REELS)

THE TRAILERS - Hysterical, and pitch perfect. "Werewolf Women of the S.S.," directed by Rob Zombie actually looks crappily watchable. "Don't" is nonstop comedy, poking fun at all those trailers that constantly (and I do mean CONSTANTLY) tell you what to do/think. And "Saw"-mill Eli Roth himself helms the lewdest, funniest, nastiest trailer this side of a '70s Times Square grindhouse called
"Thanksgiving." You may never look at cheerleaders and turkey the same. Delicious!
@@@@ (FOUR REELS)

DEATH PROOF - A gaggle of hot but aimless women encounter a stuntman relic at a bar named Stuntman Mike (Russell) who turns out to be a serial killer who murders via his car. The Deal: Talky, pointless, and slow up until its octane-fueled last third, "Death Proof's" best attributes are its random laughs and hot chicks. Yes, these are chicks not women, as the Tarantino-lensed flick visually objectifies them only one step behind how much these ladies objectify themselves. The long, dark, curly tangle of hair that is Sydney Tamiia Poitier and Angelina Jolie's smoldering apprentice Vanessa Ferlito damn near burn up the screen with Fahrenheit degrees of hotness. Rosario Dawson leads a butt-kicking girl power troika that fights back against Stuntman Mike in an exciting car chase, but by the
time this rolls around, you kinda don't care. Kudos however to Tarantino for the purposefully bad editing, ADR dialogue skips, and
ample booty shots.
@@ (TWO REELS)

OVERALL - Strategically placed missing reels, scratched up footage, nudity, gore, mindless violence and many other "exploitable elements" (as Tarantino likes to call them) and the "Grindhouse" aesthetic is mostly a fun piece of stunt filmmaking. However at three hours long, it is a commitment. Just be prepared to grind it out.
@@@ REELS (It's pretty hot – go give it a shot)

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at EJAce1@gmail.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street* by Edwardo Jackson BIASES:Early 30s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare WEEKEND PREVIEW: 4/20/07 Capsules for movies out or coming out this weekend FRACTURE (R) Biases: Two Oscar-worthy leads plus the universally adored Gosling? Let's get it! Players: Ryan Gosling, Anthony Hopkins, David Strathairn, and director Gregory Hoblit Logline: Self-admitted wife-killer Ted Crawford (Hopkins) seemingly has planned the perfect murder, representing himself at trial against hotshot, assistant District Attorney Willy Beachum, who has one foot out the door towards a heralded corporate law job. What's supposed to be a slam-dunk case gets slam dunked on Willy's head, pitting Ted's overarching intelligence against Willy's slick, charismatic, competitive ambition. The Deal: "I didn't work this hard to stay where I belong." Pitch perfect as always (and this time with an easy, Southern swagger), Gosling slips into the skin of the cocksure, self-satisfied ADA (with the 97% conviction rate) as easy as Bond into a tuxedo. Playing another social deviant, Hopkins injects Ted's willful, all-consuming arrogant intelligence with a puppeteer's glee; he obviously likes to use his intellect to abuse others. "Fracture" is that rare thriller that not only thinks it's two steps ahead of you but actually is at all times. Aided and abetted from a perilously smart Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers screenplay, Hoblit does his best to get out of the way, keeping the film fraught with tension while shining a light on its two cerebral, limitlessly talented stars. How desperate and to what lengths will Willy go to win? How many more tricks and misdirections can aeronautical engineer Ted throw at a distracted, beleaguered Willy? Ted's intelligence is his greatest but also his greatest flaw ("Love is pain."). The question is will it catch up to him before he gets away with murder? Can Willy overcome his own self-absorbed ambitions to do the right thing, even when the wrong thing may be called for? Although apart more than they butt heads, Gosling and Hopkins are individually electric and mildly amusing when brought together. Because it is such a mismatch in the way the characters were written (Ted dangles his formidable intellect in front of a blindfolded Willy like a pinata out of his reach), there's not true intellectual sparring in an evenhanded sense. The odds are stacked against Willy, whether he knows it or not, and I'm okay with that - particularly with Gosling's effervescent confidence even in the face of overwhelming career jeopardy. After this, "Murder by Numbers," "The Notebook," and "Half Nelson," I am firmly convinced Gosling never makes a role misstep; he's a fearfully talented performer. Mix in sensuous lighting, moody music, and strong if background performances by Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, and Billy Burke, and "Fracture" is the year's first, most perfect thriller. @@@@ REELS (An urban legend/instant classic) THE HOAX (R) Biases: Hallstrom, Gere, true story, let's ride! Players: Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, director Lasse Hallstrom Logline: Frustrated, midlist McGraw Hill writer Clifford Irving (Gere) claims to be working on "the most important book of the 20th century," an exclusive, authorized bio on the world's most reclusive "lunatic hermit" billionaire, Howard Hughes, for which he milks millions of dollars out of his publisher while working in a shroud of secrecy with his research partner Dick Suskind (Molina). Sounds great - if only it were true… The Deal: "It's not a matter of getting through the door. There's not a door to get through." That, my friends, is "The Hoax" in a nutshell. Accompanied by Alfred Molina's snappily American accent as Dick, Irving's flawed but somewhat loyal friend, "The Hoax" is Gere's Clifford Irving, and Gere's Clifford Irving is "The Hoax." Never has a lie seemed so attractively plausible as when it meanders confidently from Gere's silver coiffed tongue. The higher the stakes, the more grandiose the lie. With each obstacle that clearly threatens to undue his Charlotte's Web of deceit, Irving steps it up a notch to the realm of self-delusion. Seriously: the movie is pleasantly haunted by Irving's paranoid, Hughes-infested hallucinations. Clifford Irving is a lying, cheating, opportunist huckster who deserves us to champion him about as much as a first show dropout on "I Love New York." So why ARE we rooting for this philandering, spendthrift fraud, other than he's Richard Gere? Maybe it's the one-time midlist Random House writer in me that wants to see him put one over on the big boys, getting by on sheer cajones-iness. Gere's Irving is totally despicable, selfish, and completely fascinating; all that early Oscar talk isn't too far off. A perfectly '70s Hope Davis as Irving's "lie to me please" editor and Marcia Gay Harden (sorry - that's Academy Award winning Marcia Gay Harden to you) as his "lie to me. Please?" enabler of an artist wife both deserve mention. However with a "Hoax" as big as this, Hallstrom skillfully keeps the focus on Gere and the action light, lean, and…loopy. A story that's clearly a winky precursor to reality TV, "The Hoax" proves that everyone pimps somebody for 15 minutes. "New York" had VH1. Clifford Irving had the USA. @@@@ REELS (An urban legend/instant classic) GRINDHOUSE (R)** Biases: Pre-sold. Players: Writers/directors Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino Logline: As an homage to the blaxploitation, zombie, horror, and sexploitation crap movies of the '70s, Rodriguez and Tarantino respectively have given us zombie invasion movie "Planet Terror" and serial killer muscle car flick "Death Proof" combined in a three hour feature, including fake trailers for more crap movies in between, linking the two. PLANET TERROR - When an alien virus is unleashed from a military base, its face-bubbling, mucus-spewing disease overruns a small Texas town. The Deal: With cartoonishly appropriate violence and cheesy, overwrought music to match, "Planet Terror" pumps geysers full of grotesque gore and blood (sometimes literally) on the screen. Rodriguez enjoys himself with his own, shameless Breast Cam, never missing a curve on pop star Fergie's anatomy or Rose McGowan's palely beautiful form. Yep, she's the one in the commercials who's a go-go dancer named Cherry Darling with a machine gun prosthetic for a leg - SEXY! Marley Shelton bounces around with full-bodied gusto looking like a younger, hotter version of Heather Graham. Josh Brolin's bad man goatee pouts its way throughout the invasion. Toss in some nonstop zombie action, Freddie Rodriguez's no-nonsense, unnecessarily whispering hero, and disgusting, darkly humorous script that's clearly a tongue-in-cheek affair that's amazingly played straight by all the actors, and "Planet Terror" will suck you into its orbit. @@@ (THREE REELS) THE TRAILERS - Hysterical, and pitch perfect. "Werewolf Women of the S.S.," directed by Rob Zombie actually looks crappily watchable. "Don't" is nonstop comedy, poking fun at all those trailers that constantly (and I do mean CONSTANTLY) tell you what to do/think. And "Saw"-mill Eli Roth himself helms the lewdest, funniest, nastiest trailer this side of a '70s Times Square grindhouse called "Thanksgiving." You may never look at cheerleaders and turkey the same. Delicious! @@@@ (FOUR REELS) DEATH PROOF - A gaggle of hot but aimless women encounter a stuntman relic at a bar named Stuntman Mike (Russell) who turns out to be a serial killer who murders via his car. The Deal: Talky, pointless, and slow up until its octane-fueled last third, "Death Proof's" best attributes are its random laughs and hot chicks. Yes, these are chicks not women, as the Tarantino-lensed flick visually objectifies them only one step behind how much these ladies objectify themselves. The long, dark, curly tangle of hair that is Sydney Tamiia Poitier and Angelina Jolie's smoldering apprentice Vanessa Ferlito damn near burn up the screen with Fahrenheit degrees of hotness. Rosario Dawson leads a butt-kicking girl power troika that fights back against Stuntman Mike in an exciting car chase, but by the time this rolls around, you kinda don't care. Kudos however to Tarantino for the purposefully bad editing, ADR dialogue skips, and ample booty shots. @@ (TWO REELS) OVERALL - Strategically placed missing reels, scratched up footage, nudity, gore, mindless violence and many other "exploitable elements" (as Tarantino likes to call them) and the "Grindhouse" aesthetic is mostly a fun piece of stunt filmmaking. However at three hours long, it is a commitment. Just be prepared to grind it out. @@@ REELS (It's pretty hot – go give it a shot) Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at EJAce1@gmail.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2007, Edwardo Jackson