THE LONGSHOTS (2008): A MOVIE REVIEW

Curtis coaching Jasmine in The Longshots (2008)

This is a relatively simple film of personal discovery, healing and transient triumph. The film is set in a small southern town. As I recall, it is specifically Louisiana, but it could be any town in the South (or America). It is rather neatly directed, moving the story bits along at a suitable pace. Although the important elements of the story have appeared in many films over the years, the moviegoer will not feel discontent or annoyance. The quality of acting is uneven. The film is directed by Fred Durst.

The focus of this film is “Jasmine” (KeKe Palmer). I thought Ms. Palmer was effective as a somewhat alienated teenager whose studious, intellectual inclinations (reader) and withdrawn personality are awakened to a new Jasmine, when her uncle (Ice Cube) sees something unexpected in her. She is naturally athletic. A secondary story line involves this uncle, Curtis Plummer, who is down-n-out, since he lost his job at a factory which had shut down. As a major employer of the locals, the company’s departure hurt many. Oddly, Curtis’ recovery was made possible by his brother’s walking out on his wife and daughter. It is the precondition for his getting to know his niece better and seeing her hitherto unknown gift. They develop it and mutually recover in the process.

The story capsule with commentary: A single mom is trying to work a low-paying job, while keeping her daughter moving onward and upward. Sometimes she needs a little help from her friends. When they aren’t there, well–there’s her brother, Curtis. The film opens with mom, Claire (Tasha Smith), preparing to send her daughter to school and herself to work. The camera follows Jasmine to her high school, where she is seen to be quiet and not interacting with others too well. At her school locker she finds herself approached by two of the schools “popular girls.” On a pretext they lure her to another location for the purpose of ridiculing her. One may say that a constant theme in high school flicks is the tyranny of cheerleaders or “the rich & beautiful” set. Regular people are–well–regular. Those who aren’t either are destined for the role of “it.” Jasmine’s quiet, deferential manner makes her a juicy target. She turns away from the abuse, going her own friendless path. Yet, in all this one sees an inner strength of character. Perhaps one of her sources of strength is the fixed idea that her father is a good and loving father who will return to her when he can solve his personal problems–whatever they are. By this I mean that she has “faith.” With it, then, all she needs is to grow enough to recognize where it is misplaced. Her yearning has an element of a young woman trying to create “a knight in shining armor” out of a man who was actually a player, a user, and an abandoner. The father, “Winston,” effectively acted by Glenn Plummer, pays no support to his family, and he humiliated his wife, Claire, when she sought him out to help his family with some money, if not love. He is viewed by the locals as “no good.” Yet, Jasmine clutches a memento that her father gave her and refuses to believe any negative comments about him. At this time in her life he represents hoped for, fatherly support. It so happens that Curtis Plummer is destined to displace that hope for a better and more real one. There comes a point early in the film when Claire turns to her “down-n-out” brother to look after Jasmine for a day or two. When the camera focuses on Curtis, he seems to be living on the streets, so to speak. There is a sort of shantytown, whereat the moviegoer pays witness to the pain that comes when “free trade” decrees that it is good sense to shut down a factory and flee across the border where low pay and “life in hovels” is the norm. Meanwhile, Americans are encouraged to adapt to world standards. Curtis’s friends such as “Cyrus” (Dash Mihok) and the “Rev. Pratt” (Garret Morris) are keeping body and soul together by fellowship and humor. Curtis does dress a bit as one would aspect of a man long unemployed and nearly pennyless–but not completely. He has a cocky little hat that sort of symbolizes the man. When he was in high school, he was a local hero. He still has some pride within him, as one deduces (or is it vanity?) from the sharply edged beardline he sports. No real street person would bother to have a sharp, clean edge to his beard. Still, his expectations are low. When his sister asks him to watch Jasmine, he agrees only reluctantly, and his skids had to be greased a bit to do it. Jasmine doesn’t think too much of her uncle. He really comes up short when compared to her fantasy image of her father. He has little use for her nor for the burden she represents. However, if nothing else, they develop a better idea of one another. He shows up with a clean football jersey and shows her where he lives. She sees pictures, including her Dad. At school Jasmine seems to be well-thought-of by the pretty young teacher, “Ronnie Macer” (Jill Marie Jones). On an occasion when Curtis goes to the school, she invites him to talk to the class, thinking he was Jasmine’s father. Some of the kids razz him a little as a liar, as he makes up a position. Any way, the fact that Jasmine sees him razzed by the other kids must have quietly drawn her closer to him, as she had experienced some of the same treatment. It also served to introduce Curtis and Ronnie, and Curtis knows something about teamwork. It doesn’t take too much to make him want her on his team. Jasmine plays cupid here. So, as things progress with uncle and niece, the background, smalltown culture of Friday night high school football marches into prominence. When football season arrives, the townpeople gear up for a run at State Champion. However, the local team isn’t doing too well. “Coach Fisher” (Matt Craven) has a willing team, but it can’t get the job done. Curtis played under Coach Fisher and his and other’s presence at practices wasn’t uncommon. Curtis on an occasion of “watching Jasmine” took her to watch the practice. She knew most of the football players, and some, including the quarterback, were nasty to her. This quarterback was no all-state, and Jasmine would soon have a measure of revenge. Curtis had watched her toss a football he had along with him, and he saw she had an arm. Wheels began to turn in his head. “Ask not what your football team can do for you; rather, ask what you can do for your team,” may have been his thinking. His solution for a team with quarterbacking problems? His niece, Jasmine. It was a revolutionary thought for a Southern smalltown culture. A girl quarterback!? No one but Curtis saw this as possible. Further, as a result of Jasmine’s gift, Curtis was being reborn as a decisive coach-father figure. He made her practice, practice, practice. He taught her the tricks of the quarterbacking trade. She now had a strong and accurate arm. She knew how to take the snap, drop back and set. She knew how to pick her open receiver and wing it to him (or her).[ Her practice receivers were images over the center of tires, such as Beyonce.'] When the time was ripe, Curtis approached Coach Fisher about giving Jasmine a chance. At first resisting the idea, Fisher’s team losses and the right mood and moment conspired to allow Jasmine a shot. She was greeted by a general mocking hostility, but her pluck and obvious ability soon won over her teammates. Meanwhile, Curtis had also taken Ronnie Macer out on a date (on a quid pro quo deal with Jasmine), and she began joining Curtis at the Jasmine routing club. Now the moviegoer was left wondering who would score first: Jasmine or Curtis. As things happened, Jasmine’s abilities reenergized her team, and, wonder of wonders, were headed to the championship. There was some sort of high school superbowl being played that year in Miami. Jasmine was leading her team there. She had by now picked up a lot of local, and some national, media coverage. Lo and behold! This brings home the runaway dad, Winston, to “make it up” with his daughter. Although Claire and Curtis both tried to warn her, she had no ears for any negative comments about her “Dream Dad.” However, she soon begins to experience some of her dad’s “not there for meisms.” And his lying excuses. Nevertheless, she leads her team to near victory in Miami. Her dad couldn’t make it. More excuses. Jasmine was now a gal who didn’t need the crutch of a fantasy dad; she had the support and respect of real people. She didn’t need a “jive turkey” absentee dad. One of the unique aspects of this film is that writer Nick Santoro resisted any temptation to cause Winston to change for the better at the end. Some things never change. The moviegoer will leave satisfied that Jasmine has bloomed into a promising young woman and that Curtis, now one of the high school coaches, with Ronnie at his side, will issue a better day into being for a town that needed a lift.

All rights reserved. Gobigfoot, 2008.

TROPIC THUNDER (2008): A MOVIE REVIEW

Damien & Four Leaf Confer

Tugg Speedman and the gang

This is a movie within a movie. Interestingly, both movies satirize other movies, which need not be in the same genre as the movie hosting the making of a movie. It is a rather liberating concept. Director-writer-star Ben Stiller makes this project work, due primarily to his keen satiric aptitude. It’s a fun project. Stiller has no problem, apparently, in inducing a boatload of familiar actors to do brief scenes, or cameo roles. Included amongst these is Jon Voight and Tobey Maguire. Many of the film stars are graduates of the “Saturday Night Live Comedy College.” Well, they may not have actually graduated but did “have fun” for a year or so.

The film opening can catch you napping, as it begins with a series of seemingly unrelated video subject matters. Pop, pop, pop, and pop. One after the other are scenes of “Tugg Speedman” (Ben Stiller), a film superhero of the Superman sort; “Alpa Chino” (Brandon T. Jackson), doing a MTV type of gig; “Jeff Portnoy” (Jack Black), doing all the roles in a “fat family that farts” film; and “Kirk Lazarus” (Robert Downey, Jr.), doing a topical scene from a movie “study” of young monks mutually “mooning” at matins.

Now all of these various “teasers” from their respective films are genre satiric. Readers should note that “Alpa Chino” is a name play on Al Pacino. All of the names were selected for a purpose–mostly to imply something of the character’s personal traits, as “Lazarus.” Naturally, this fits an actor whose career is “dead” and is trying to “rise again.” Also, it fits more generally the white man “born again” as a black man. And so it goes with the names of players, generally. Tom Cruise plays “Les Grossman,” which is a pretty good character moniker for more than a few of the Hollywood moguls.

Character types are not the only sources of humor, of course. Ben Stiller almost overdoes his satirization of “Platoon” and in particular the scene of Willem Dafoe’s trying to reach a helicopter while being pursued and shot at by Viet Cong. While racing, staggering, and with arms reaching up to the sky, he receives numerous shots in his back and falls dead. Stiller himself does the “arms reaching” bit at least twice. Generally speaking, all the movie-within-a-movie shots were either “borrowed” from the Platoon or Rambo flicks, and reworked with Stiller’s satiric eye.

However, the making of the movie is also a grand parody of this sort of film. The recent, Peter Jackson version of King Kong (2005), in which Jack Black was a star, is a case in point of a movie-within-a-movie. Hence, it seems likely that he had some comic contributions to make in its usage here.

In Tropic Thunder the Downey character is so committed to his role that he undergoes an operation to darken his complexion so that his portrayal would be more authentic. This calls to mind the almost luny commitments of actors from Lon Chaney Sr. to Robert De Niro and Renee Zellwanger to achieve almost physically exact types of the character being played, exclusive of special effects and make-up. Folks, some actors are very  committed.

Since I found parts of this film very funny, I can hardly condemn it. It also makes you feel better about the acting professing. After all, how many professions regularly make fun of themselves?

A Small Capsule: A group of disparate actors and entertainers sign on to make a film being produced by tight-fisted Les Grossman. They rendezvous and get to the Southeast Asia locale for shooting. Naturally, the talent elbow each other a bit to establish a “pecking order.” They confer with their director, “Damien Cockburn” (Steve Coogan), who is a rather “unstructured” Aussie. Earlier, by means of print, the moviegoer learns that the movie to be made is based on the “real life” story of Viet Nam hero, “Four Leaf Tayback” (Nick Nolte), who claims to have lost a hand in combat. He is present as an “advisor.” Nolte plays him as a grizzled, no-nonsense, and possibly dangerous individuals. Once the actors realise that Cockburn is uncertain in his direction, they all want to dance to their own motivational music. Grossman has to step in. Tough, crude and tyrantical, he keeps the film going more or less on schedule. Even the capture of Tugg Speedman by Golden Triangle drug peddlers does not particularly bother him. They have a movie of his (satire of Forest Gump ) on DVD and recognize him. They both hold him for ransom and compel him to entertain the drug militia with “stage” acting. This drug warlordship is ruled by a young, mini-Ho Chi Minh named ‘Tran” (Brandon Soo Hoo). Grossman listens to their ransom demands and then gets tough himself. Ultimately, “Tugg” is expendable. Tuggs agent, “Rick Peck” (Matthew McConaughey), is forced to “wheel and deal” to save his premier “property.” In a sense the film revolves around Les Grossman, who becomes as weighty and central as the Sun in our solar system. But Stiller and Downey command the most attention in terms of filmtime, which is what you’d expect of stars playing stars. Still, Stiller generously doles out filmtime to the others–and they all seem to enjoy the fun of it. The “realistic” film tribute to the bogus ‘Nam hero, Four Leaf Tayback, turns into a real war flick between rescuing actors and the hardnose, drug-pushing militia. Fantasy turns into bloody reality early in the film with the “accidental death” of director Damien Cockburn. This serves as a prefigurement that the movie is turning real. However, since nearly everything is played for laughs, the moviegoer is not too upset about anything in the film. When life imitates art, where is painful reality to be found? When the Great Architect is a Special Effects Man, what can be taken seriously other than the magic of sound and fury. Incidentally, this film ends with the “sun” – Fatima-like – dancing with the stars.

All rights reserved. Gobigfoot, 2008.

RIGHTEOUS KILL (2008): A MOVIE REVIEW

Rooster and Turk talking shop

This is a film study of the NYPD and police partnering. As is usual, the New York cops send forth a message which is mixed. They are seriously at war with criminals. They are also at war with anyone who gets in the way of that war, including other cops. Zealousness beyond the letter of the law is not the film issue. In the film’s focus on “Turk” (Robert De Niro) and “Rooster” (Al Pacino) the story begins to embody the aphorism: “Choose your enemies well, for you will become your enemy.”  It is a tale of two partners, one of whom trespasses the law, and the other becomes the destroyer of its meaning.

To realize this film, Jon Avnet, the director, sets out a decoy. This allows for many moviegoers to be “surprised.” He has a couple of good actors to lead the audience through this rather well-travelled movie path. It is sprinkled with basically extraneous scenes whose purpose is titillation. The overall supporting cast is above average.

A Small Capsule: By means of a grainy, graytone video of Turk reciting a confessional statement, the moviegoer infers that the “jig is up” for him and that he is in custody. Using camera cuts, an incident involving the murder of a twelve-year old is rendered. The mother, “Cheryl Brooks” (Melissa Leo) is distraught, as her live-in boyfriend killed her daughter. This boyfriend, “Charles Randall” (Frank John Hughes) was memorably played by Hughes, whose scenes were brief. His interview at prison by Turk and Rooster was arguably the best bit of character portrayal in the film. At any rate his name runs through this entire film, as a motivating force relative to the behavior of the two cops, Turk and Rooster, on which this film focuses. The fact that there is insufficient evidence to convict Randall leads to a framing of Randall, who is apparently guilty–though not provably so. There is also the developing story of a “serial murderer” in their precinct’s jurisdiction. There is another precinct partnership, “Det. Simon Perez” (John Leguizamo) and “Det. Ted Riley” (Donnie Wahlberg), who increasingly intereact–often with ire–with Turk and Rooster. Above them both is “Lt. Hingis” (Brian Dennehy), who doesn’t like it when things don’t run smoothly. The dawning realization that a “serial murderer” is operating in his precinct doesn’t sit well, as Hingis knows the media will play it up for ratings and newspaper sales. That sort of publicity always means that the politicians will begin screaming for a solution. Hingis wants to captain a ship in smooth waters. Through much of the film, Turk is fleetingly depicted interacting romantically with Police Officer “Karen Corelli” (Carla Gugino). It isn’t altogether a normal trysting, however, as Karen seems to like simulated rape in her apartment, as well as somewhat sadistic “romancing” toward her by her partner. This aberration on her part is “played with” by Rooster occasionally at the office. There are also occasions when Turk and Rooster get involved in community work, such as little league baseball. Therefore, the moviegoer is provided glimpses of the mundane, the romantic, and the political aspects, as well as the interoffice workings, that normally envelope Turk, Rooster and the others. Incidentally, Det. Perez seems to be a sometime alternate to Turk for Karen Corelli’s fantasy sessions, adding to the tendency for the two to clash. Still, the film focus is certainly on the operational partnership of Turk and Rooster. As Turk comes under increasing suspicion, Rooster displays admirable loyalty. Things get more explosive at the precinct, when, prompted by Rooster, the concept of a cop being the serial murderer is set forth. Det. Perez buys into it, and he soon zeros in on Turk as the police officer serial murderer. A Black drug dealer named “Spider” (50 Cent) has been appearing off and on as a precinct troublemaker. He has reason to feel ill toward Turk and Rooster. Dets. Perez and Riley force a “sting” which is intended to establish Turk’s guilt. Rooster monitors the other two detectives as they view and listen to the sting scene by means of hidden electrical devices. Turk executes a countermove, including a mocking “poem” using the same crime scene identifying evidence (poems) of the serial murderer. Then Rooster and Turk play it for “horse’s laugh” against Perez and Riley. Still, Perez is not convinced that Turk is innocent. The character of Rooster has been mostly that of a guy who likes his job, is untroubled by his actions, and supports his partner 100%. At one point a “shrink” is brought in to talk to Turk and rooster at Lt. Hingis’s order. Well Rooster is kind of light and playful, as well as cooperative with the shrink, Turk isn’t. He has no patience with it. He sees it as  an intrusion. Further, he is projecting a tire and troubled man. The Avnet film has painted Turk into a corner. Even his partner knows that he had taken the murder weapon of the 12-year-old back into the Brooks home and hidden it under a sofa cushing just to have evidence against Randall. “Mum’s the word!” says Rooster. Yet, for all his upbeat attitude and loyalty to his partner, Rooster has flashed some irregular internal workings in some scenes with Karen. Speaking of which, she goes home late in the movie is sadistically raped for real. The moviegoer sees the gloved hand and reckonizes the technique, yet it seems different somehow. Has Turk gone over the top? The film pulls into the station. Things have been wrapped up. The train The conductor cries, “Everybody out!” What happened? Cherchez La Video.

All rights reserved. Gobigfoot, 2008.

DEATH RACE (2008): A MOVIE REVIEW

The Mask of Frankenstein in Death Race,

This is a far-fetched movie concept filled with “snarly” people. It seems to possess the same spirit as Nazi “Death Camp” flicks, which is a small subgenre of the war genre films. The “commandant” of this contemporary version is “Warden Hennessey” (Joan Allen). Needless to say, she is depicted as diabolical, cruel, avaricious, cold and authoritarian. She is “set-up” to be a hypocrit, as well. Inspired, perhaps, by the FCI Unicor system, she runs her prison as a profit center (for herself), using modern media to facilitate a global audience of gambling and sadistic fools. She likes it too much to retire.

Parenthetically, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons (or the State in question’s bureau) has no idea what’s going on, apparently. Maybe Warden Hennessey is also bribing key “higher ups. After all, according to the film she’s been running this racket at least five years. It seems that “protection” is provided somewhere. If Mr. Paul W.S. Anderson wanted to make an interesting film, he would have attempted to exploit the systemic corruption which made the “Death Race” possible. Alas, he stayed focus on the lesser revenge motivation of an unappealing protagonist, “Jensen Ames.”

Her nemesys in this story is “Jensen Ames” (Jason Statham), who begins the film as an innocent victim of a deadly plot. In prison the pieces fall into place for him, and he becomes an avenging angel of death. Now, he is never presented as an typical middle class guy who mows his lawn every other day. He is a former professional NASCAR driver of some repute. It is precisely due to this skill that he is to suffer the murder of his wife and his own unjust prosecution as the murderer. Bitter! As is all too possible in today’s courts, the prosecuting attorneys find a way to “win” their case, whether the defendant is innocent or guilty.

A Medium-Sized Capsule: Former NASCAR driver is framed and found guilty of murdering his wife. He is sent to an island prison joined to the mainland by a short causeway. He has to also endure separation from his child under dubious circumstances. He’s not in a good mood. He promptly gets into a tussle with two or three “Aryan Brothers.” This is meant in Hollywood code to suggest that he’s basically good. Naturally, the leader of the Aryan Brothers, “Pachenko” (Max Ryan), is a sometime assassin employed by Hennessey, and, indeed, it was Pachenko who killed Jensen Ames’s wife for the warden. He wears a mask for the job but naturally employs a “signature gesture” by which Ames will subsequently identify his wife’s slayer. But why did the warden want to have Jensen’s wife killed? To frame him, stupid! Doncha know that she wants to make him her next “Frankenstein driver” at the Death Race! Say Who!? That’s right–Frankenstein driver. After arriving at the prison and rumbling with the “Nazi Surrogates,” Jensen Ames settles into prison life. He has a meeting with Warden Hennessey, who introduces to him the possibility of being a driver in a prison race she runs. He’s not too interested but she makes him an offer few longterm inmates would turn down–a chance to walk. The fate of Jensen’s daughter is dangled, also, as incentive. He’s in. He’s introduced to “Coach” (Ian McShane) and the other members of his “pit crew.” Among his crew is “Lists” (Frederick Koehler) who serves to provide Ames (and the moviegoer) with “profiles” of his main competitors in the race. Naturally, they are a violent, murderous, and otherwise unsavory crowd. This is menacing news, since the racing vehicles are blends of James Bondian and Mad Maxian contraptions. Most carry fifty caliber machine guns as their lightest weapon. Naturally, Pachenko is part of the competition. Another is called “14K” (Robert Shou). Another is called “Gunner” (Jacob Vargas). Another is called “Grimm” (Robert LaSardo). However, the most menacing competitor is “Machine Gun Joe Mason” (Tyrese Gibson). He’s big, intimidating, African-American, and homosexual. Director-writer Anderson may well consider this character to be a daring revolt against moviegoer expectations. Be that as it may, he is a former race winner and is determined to “win and walk.” Gibson’s character turns out to be another Hollywood code: A Black homosexual can’t be all bad. Hence, the film offers a balancing scale on one side of which are the framed Jensen and the consciousness-raised “Machine Gun” Joe, and on the other the two crypto-Nazis, Hennessey and Pachenko. Folks, it’s not an equal test. The race takes place. Crypto-Nazis, violent inmates, framed innocent man, and a Death Race are not allowed, alone, as that might be risking the chance of boring the mostly male audience (my speculation); Anderson now introduces the sexy babes. Each of the men, excepting “Machine Gun Joe” (he gets a male “navigator”), is provided with a female ”navigator.” These fine-looking women are said to be borrowed from a convenient female facility (apparently Hennessey pays off the head of the female institution). Ames Jensen’s navigator is “Elizabeth Case” (Natalie Martinez), who is called “Case” by others (as in “Hard Case”). Not to worry! Jensen Ames doesn’t cave in to anyone–male or female. He learned that she killed her husband. He’s not fazed. Let’s drive! Slowly the picture emerges of an evil warden, indeed. As it does, there are cuts to inmate interactions, races, and the machinations of Hennessey. This takes place in a generally gritty, metallic environment. Hennessey springs the “Frankenstein driver” role on Ames, and he dons the mask. No matter how many men die in this role, the mask lives on. “Frankenstein is dead! Long live Frankenstein!” Hennessey is using Ames to keep her “Death Race” TV ratings up. Ames is not important; Frankenstein is. Toward the end Jensen Ames understands that Pachenko killed his wife, why he–an inmate–could do it, and who was the real Resident Evil in the prison. Hennessey has given him a prepayment of papers of freedom, if he wins the race. She doesn’t expect to have them “pay off.” Further, he comes to an understanding with and mutual respect for “Machine Gun” Joe. This is a man he can handle–even live with–in some remote sanctuary. Case, too. And his daughter. They are only a causeway away from the first step to a new life in that sanctuary.

This is a movie that packs in ingredients which generally deliver an audience sufficient to make a profit. Jason Statham is wearing a grim, mean, threatening, “bring it on” look most of the film. Occasionally, he looks quizzical or stoical. He is good in action scenes. Ian McShane has a fine weathered sort of face that adds to a film and he provides a credible performance here. Tyrese Gibson has a role that he can’t pull off credibly. Joan Allen does a good job of rendering her cold, contemptible warden. It is helpful when there are other actors around; alas, she is often “alone in a crowd.” Natalie Martinez is a good-looking woman, who realized her role. The rest of the main supporting cast seemed to have more in common with the characters working on a Vince McMahon production than legitimate theatre. Hollywood films should at least be halfway between these poles.

Furthermore, I thought that the Anderson-sanctioned “remake” of the dreadful person, “Machine Gun” Joe, indicates a bizarre homophiliac “spin move.”

All rights reserved. Gobigfoot, 2008.