Movie Review: HEADING SOUTH (2006)
Heading South – ***1/2 A few weeks ago, I wrote a review of The Last King of Scotland. The film was superb, but dissimilar in many ways from the film Heading South. Yet while watching Laurent Cantet’s drama of sexual colonization in 1970s Haiti, I couldn’t get The Last King of Scotland out of my head. Even with an Academy Award nomination, The Last King of Scotland can’t gain an audience, I assume, because the film doesn’t give us a happy ending. Likewise, or should I say more so, Heading South has the same problem. The dilemma, however, ensures that the film’s textured characters and complex political subtext make Heading South worthy of seeking out. Brenda (Karen Young) came to Haiti for one reason. To find and have sex with the same Haitian boy she slept with three years ago. The boy Legba (Ménothy Cesar) is now around eighteen...
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Movie Review: HALF NELSON
Half Nelson (2006)–**** If I were to review just the first 15 minutes of Half Nelson the review wouldn’t be pretty. The film looks like a low budget cliché, an art house rip-off of a film. The style doesn’t go away, but the beauty of Half Nelsonis the well-nurtured story envelopes the audience in the tumultuous emotional lives of the characters on screen. Ryan Gosling stars as Dan, a history teacher at an inner-city middle school. He’s a fun teacher, a supportive coach and a drug addict. When Drey (Shareeka Epps) discovers her coach in a bathroom stall smoking crack, Dan comes face to face with his addiction. Unlike most films, Dan’s lust for a fix doesn’t die when Drey makes the surprising discovery. He struggles to push his students beyond the boundaries set by the school curriculum, calling the students his...
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Movie Review: CONFUSIONS OF AN UNMARRIED COUPLE (2006)
Confusions of an Unmarried Couple (2006) – ***1/2 The Butler Bros. continue to amaze me. As filmmakers, they have a mental library of great directors they draw upon to make their own works. More importantly, I never feel that they are unworthy of the significant comparisons. Take the Bros. newest film Confusions of an Unmarried Couple, for example. The influences of John Cassavetes are unmistakable. It’s easily the strongest film to date from two of the strongest voices in indie film. But that also means it’s time for them to step it up to the next level of filmmaking. Confusions follows Dan, who months after finding his girlfriend Lisa in bed with another girl decides to collect his belongings from the apartment they shared. Apparently looking for a confrontation, Dan makes sure that Lisa is home before he barges in. An...
Read MoreReview: FACADE
Façade (2004)–**** Façade is a startling and profound film that could have been considered one of those wake-up call movies were it handled differently. Brian Bedard’s first feature avoids that designation to its benefit, so we aren’t distracted from the tragic and personal story that unfolds. The real-time film ominously begins with the words “This film will end in 89 minutes” fading in and then out on a black screen. It may not be as direct as William Holden face down in a swimming pool, but it’s enough to make you realize that Façade is headed toward a heartbreaking end. We meet Harold (Patrick J. Adams), a meek and distressed 19-year-old who spends part of his birthday writing a letter to his dad who is no longer in the picture for unknown reasons. Harold’s mom (Marilyn McIntyre) and her live-in boyfriend Ronnie...
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Quickie: THE PRODUCERS (2005)
The Producers (2005)-**1/2 Quickie Review A down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his dreamer of an accountant set out to make $2 million by producing a Broadway flop. This musical adaptation of Mel Brooks’ Broadway adaptation of his own 1968 film is funny but not consistently funny. Too much time in between the big laughs makes this overlong musical a little too boring a little too often. Susan Stroman directs this musical like I’ve wanted a musical film to be directed, but does it with a Broadway show that doesn’t allow her to use the technique to its fullest. Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Roger Bart and Gary Beach reprise their stage roles. Also starring a standout Will Ferrell and Uma...
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Movie Review: KING KONG (2005)
King Kong (2005)–**** Wow. Just when you thought the effects blockbuster was dead, here comes Peter Jackson with a remake of a classic film and nailing each of the film’s 187 minutes. King Kong, may or may not be considered a fantasy, but it certainly is fantastic. I loved this film not only because it is a massive epic of an adventure film, but also because Jackson has returned at least partially to his roots with the monster movie to end all monster movies. What does an overly ambitious director do when his investors pull out and tell him to stop making his film? He jumps on board a ship headed to an unexplored island to finish it anyway. At least that’s what a filmmaker like Carl Denham (Jack Black) would do. With the female lead dropping out of the...
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