Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

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

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

WORLD TRADE CENTER (PG-13)

MOVIE BIASES: Cautiously pre-sold.

MAJOR PLAYERS: Nicolas Cage (The Ant Bully), Michael Pena (Crash), Maria Bello (The Cooler), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Mona Lisa Smile), and director Oliver Stone (JFK)

Based on the true events that happened to two Port Authority cops, "World Trade Center" starts off slowly, with a minimalist's score, even an ounce of humor as New York City wakes up on just another ordinary day. We meet five-time father John McLoughlin (Cage) head into work as shift sergeant of a crew of ordinary cops ready to do their ordinary duty. Called into evacuate the towers after the first plane hits, McLoughlin, rookie cop Will Jimeno (Pena), and several others are buried alive after the building collapses on top of them. What follows are several harrowing hours where the barely surviving McLoughlin and Jimeno small talk to stay alive as their respective wives Donna (Bello) and the very pregnant Allison (Gyllenhaal) try to
hold down the home front while their very worlds begin to crumble from the inside out.

There are two popular questions commonly posed going into this movie: one, is it too soon, and two, is Oliver Stone going to go...well...Oliver Stone on us and cook up some harebrained conspiracy theory? To answer the former, as a person who physically was unaffected by the tragedy of September 11, I believe that it is never
too soon to address the culture of grief, whether artistically or emotionally. Although time has softened the blow, no amount of time will dampen the impact of seeing a woman soaked in blood, or bodies plunging from a wounded skyscraper, trading one death for another of being burned alive. To answer the latter question is to acknowledge the ignorance of it, or that of the right-biased outlets of the media
whose kneejerk response to Stone's artistic interpretation and continual questioning of authority only mirrors its own insecurities. Before Stone ever posited the "Magic Bullet Theory" in the "so fantastically done it must be real" "JFK," he was the director of "Born on the Fourth of July." "Wall Street." "Platoon." To assume that
Stone cannot mount a straightforward picture that still packs some style and verve WITHOUT a conspiracy theory, is simply ludicrous. And because of Stone's talented, diverse range of veteran filmmaking, "WTC" succeeds because of his steady, detailed, auteurish hand.

Stone has a lot to work with here. Although riding a currently curious career crest of love-him or loathe-him, Nicolas Cage is utterly believable in the subdued, Everyman role of Sergeant McLoughlin. After the towers are struck, his McLoughlin is billed as the one guy who would know what to do for these type of situations, only to softly
admit to a colleague that "There's no plan. We haven't made it." Cage quietly controls his scenes, even when buried beneath rubble and offered limited mobility - not an easy feat, a la Denzel in "The Bone Collector" - with a matter-of-fact terseness befitting those in real life who are in charge, and have grudgingly accepted a leadership position amid chaos, even when it's the blind leading the blind. Pena is more than a capable second lead, offering fleeting moments of
gallows humor to deal with the flash fires he's helpless to control,the untimely death of fellow officers, and the crushing hopelessness of their situation. It's their realistic, savvy combativeness against despair that anchors the movie, with their talking through the pain just so they will stay awake and not die ("Pain is your friend," says
Will. "It keeps you alive.").

At almost every other role, Stone and company have staffed solid, dependable, unheralded all-stars, such as Michael Shannon's clipped diction, retired Marine sergeant who commandeers the Ground Zero rescue effort, Viola Davis as a grieving mother, and Roger Cross (TV's "24") as an ER doc. Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal provide real life gravitas as their cop wives deal with their overwhelming sense of uncertainty amongst their respective families in differing ways.

Moreover, what truly takes centerstage in a tragic movie like "World Trade Center" is its script. Written by new talent Andrea Berloff, "WTC" excels because of its humanity. With just the right amount of guilty laughs to inform the drama, Berloff's script does an ambitious, if not ultimately rewarding, survey of crisis and grief handling, and all the myriad ways of coping the human mind can create. Do we
concentrate on the little things to get us by like folding the clothes, or replaying in our head the argument we had over baby names? Some take drugs, some take a walk, some just watch TV, sit back, and take it. While Stone avoids oversentimentality, he seems painfully astute with the details of the day and the families. In fact, watching the enormity of the collapse - from the inside - is such a massive, frightening experience, your senses are overloaded with fear just as
McLoughlin and Jimeno's must have been. This is a tender, humanely wrought script rife with human emotional complexity, warmth, and honesty that, under Stone's capable hands, elicited a consistent stream of sniffles from the screening audience. You can tell you're getting old when Oliver Stone actually creates an incredible, moving, MAINSTREAM film of perseverance, family, and faith. It's never "too soon" for that.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

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 ReelReviewz@aol.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: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare WORLD TRADE CENTER (PG-13) MOVIE BIASES: Cautiously pre-sold. MAJOR PLAYERS: Nicolas Cage (The Ant Bully), Michael Pena (Crash), Maria Bello (The Cooler), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Mona Lisa Smile), and director Oliver Stone (JFK) Based on the true events that happened to two Port Authority cops, "World Trade Center" starts off slowly, with a minimalist's score, even an ounce of humor as New York City wakes up on just another ordinary day. We meet five-time father John McLoughlin (Cage) head into work as shift sergeant of a crew of ordinary cops ready to do their ordinary duty. Called into evacuate the towers after the first plane hits, McLoughlin, rookie cop Will Jimeno (Pena), and several others are buried alive after the building collapses on top of them. What follows are several harrowing hours where the barely surviving McLoughlin and Jimeno small talk to stay alive as their respective wives Donna (Bello) and the very pregnant Allison (Gyllenhaal) try to hold down the home front while their very worlds begin to crumble from the inside out. There are two popular questions commonly posed going into this movie: one, is it too soon, and two, is Oliver Stone going to go...well...Oliver Stone on us and cook up some harebrained conspiracy theory? To answer the former, as a person who physically was unaffected by the tragedy of September 11, I believe that it is never too soon to address the culture of grief, whether artistically or emotionally. Although time has softened the blow, no amount of time will dampen the impact of seeing a woman soaked in blood, or bodies plunging from a wounded skyscraper, trading one death for another of being burned alive. To answer the latter question is to acknowledge the ignorance of it, or that of the right-biased outlets of the media whose kneejerk response to Stone's artistic interpretation and continual questioning of authority only mirrors its own insecurities. Before Stone ever posited the "Magic Bullet Theory" in the "so fantastically done it must be real" "JFK," he was the director of "Born on the Fourth of July." "Wall Street." "Platoon." To assume that Stone cannot mount a straightforward picture that still packs some style and verve WITHOUT a conspiracy theory, is simply ludicrous. And because of Stone's talented, diverse range of veteran filmmaking, "WTC" succeeds because of his steady, detailed, auteurish hand. Stone has a lot to work with here. Although riding a currently curious career crest of love-him or loathe-him, Nicolas Cage is utterly believable in the subdued, Everyman role of Sergeant McLoughlin. After the towers are struck, his McLoughlin is billed as the one guy who would know what to do for these type of situations, only to softly admit to a colleague that "There's no plan. We haven't made it." Cage quietly controls his scenes, even when buried beneath rubble and offered limited mobility - not an easy feat, a la Denzel in "The Bone Collector" - with a matter-of-fact terseness befitting those in real life who are in charge, and have grudgingly accepted a leadership position amid chaos, even when it's the blind leading the blind. Pena is more than a capable second lead, offering fleeting moments of gallows humor to deal with the flash fires he's helpless to control,the untimely death of fellow officers, and the crushing hopelessness of their situation. It's their realistic, savvy combativeness against despair that anchors the movie, with their talking through the pain just so they will stay awake and not die ("Pain is your friend," says Will. "It keeps you alive."). At almost every other role, Stone and company have staffed solid, dependable, unheralded all-stars, such as Michael Shannon's clipped diction, retired Marine sergeant who commandeers the Ground Zero rescue effort, Viola Davis as a grieving mother, and Roger Cross (TV's "24") as an ER doc. Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal provide real life gravitas as their cop wives deal with their overwhelming sense of uncertainty amongst their respective families in differing ways. Moreover, what truly takes centerstage in a tragic movie like "World Trade Center" is its script. Written by new talent Andrea Berloff, "WTC" excels because of its humanity. With just the right amount of guilty laughs to inform the drama, Berloff's script does an ambitious, if not ultimately rewarding, survey of crisis and grief handling, and all the myriad ways of coping the human mind can create. Do we concentrate on the little things to get us by like folding the clothes, or replaying in our head the argument we had over baby names? Some take drugs, some take a walk, some just watch TV, sit back, and take it. While Stone avoids oversentimentality, he seems painfully astute with the details of the day and the families. In fact, watching the enormity of the collapse - from the inside - is such a massive, frightening experience, your senses are overloaded with fear just as McLoughlin and Jimeno's must have been. This is a tender, humanely wrought script rife with human emotional complexity, warmth, and honesty that, under Stone's capable hands, elicited a consistent stream of sniffles from the screening audience. You can tell you're getting old when Oliver Stone actually creates an incredible, moving, MAINSTREAM film of perseverance, family, and faith. It's never "too soon" for that. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. 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 ReelReviewz@aol.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 © 2004, Edwardo Jackson