Sunday, September 25, 2005

Flightplan

First Red Eye, now Flightplan. I never knew flying could be so terrifying. Jodie Foster (Panic Room) returns to the silver screen as Kyle Pratt, lending her considerable talent to the story of a mother who loses a child on a flight from Berlin to NY. Suspenseful and harrowing, Flightplan was a satisfying movie experience. I see that this movie has been criticized by some...but I was sucked in from the beginning, due in large part to the fascinating premise. The audience can't help but be entranced from the start, because quite honestly, how in the hell can a woman lose her daughter on a plane? Where could she possibly be, and how come no other passenger remembers seeing her? Finding the answer to these seemingly simple questions is the driving force behind the movie, and it works. Like most flicks, Flightplan is not without its flaws. Namely, it makes NO sense that no other passengers remember seeing the kid, including two annoyingly nosey brats who are seated right in front of Kyle and her daughter. The other problem: a couple of red herrings. I know the director/screenwriter or whoever has to keep the audience guessing until near the end -- but spare me the cheap tricks please.

The aforementioned drawbacks are easy to accept when you have Jodie Foster and Peter Sarsgaard (The Skeleton Key) as part of the cast. Despite what you may have heard, Flightplan is hella good.

Roll Bounce

Malcom D. Lee (The Best Man) brings us "Roll Bounce," the tale of a group of young black kids coming of age in 1978, when apparently roller disco was all the rage. Starring Bow Wow (Like Mike), this movie is heartwarming and sweet, albeit a little disjointed.

Bow Wow stars as Xavier, aka "X", a young kid in Chicago. He spends his summer days at the local roller rink, but has to venture into new territory when that same neighborhood rink is closed down. He and his Southside crew must go to "Sweetwater's" if they want to skate: a rink located in a more affluent part of town. All of this is relatively insignificant. The point is: Bow Wow skates, faces off against the local playboy, romances Meagan Good, and comes to grips with the recent death of his mother. This movie is charming and cute. It's also cool to catch the 70s vibe, which I completely dig. My one complaint: some of the movie just comes across as shoddy. Some of the dialogue sounds forced and totally out of place. I'm going to venture a guess that 70's youth didn't use slang like "trippin'," nor did they refer to their area as "the hood." These colloquialisms are strictly 1990s at the earliest. Little missteps like this detract from the overall authenticity of the movie, which is a shame. The story also leaves a lot to be desired: it's rather corny. I'm not gonna beat this move up too badly, because all in all it's a cute little movie. I just wish it could have been more true to the era in which it took place.

Monday, September 19, 2005

G

G is a modern interpretation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, The Great Gatsby. I read Gatsby in high school and remember liking it…but ask me if I can recite a word of it today.

Bearing this in mind, I'm not sure how true G is to its source material, so I will evaluate it on its own merits. The basic plot: Blair Underwood (Set it Off, LAX, L.A. Law) and Chenoa Maxwell (Hav Plenty, Girlfriends) star as Chip and Sky Hightower, a handsome black couple vacationing in the Hamptons. Chip is an inattentive philanderer who puts his wife on a pedestal. He discourages Sky's use of profanity, saying that she's too beautiful to use such language. Huh? Sky's cousin Tracy (Andre Royo of Shaft and The Wire), a writer, is in the Hamptons for a visit, and to interview Summer G (Richard T. Jones of The Wood and Kiss the Girls), a successful rapper and record company CEO. Summer has recently purchased a vacation home near the Hightowers. Here's the kicker/conflict: Summer and Sky go back like babies and pacifiers. Sky used to be Summer's girl back in college, before she was "stolen" by Chip. That's the basic gist of the movie.

This movie is difficult to describe…overall I enjoyed it, but I also could not ignore little implausible details and silly side stories that yielded no fulfilling payoff. Certain things happened as a matter of convenience to move the story along, which detracted from the movie. Director Chris Scott Cherot (Hav Plenty) also relies on the audience's common sense instead of taking the time to reveal and explore important details. I'm not sure what the budget was for this movie, but I read on its website that they shot it in a few weeks. Perhaps haste is the reason for some of the contrived situations in the movie. Regarding the players, Blair Underwood is always very capable and he did not disappoint. I haven't seen him play a snake since Just Cause with Sean Connery, and he was quite loathsome in G. Chenoa Maxwell was okay…some things she did well (subtle facial tics and expression changes) and some things not so well (cutesy delivery of questionable dialogue). Richard T. Jones was alluring as Summer and was the perfect contrast to Underwood. Andre Royo did a fine job as well. He usually functions as a character actor but showed some talent here. G is very slick and polished, clean and nice to look at it with its attractive cast and inviting setting, but I was left wanting more. I felt like the movie had so much untapped potential. Why did Sky vacillate so much between Chip and Summer? Especially when Chip was such a dog? Yes, we know it's difficult to just walk out on a marriage, but I needed to see more of a basis for Sky's inconsistent behavior. I'd like to see Cherot get more opportunities as a writer and director, and hopefully he will improve.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Random Rant/Pop Quiz: What killed the victims of Hurricane Katrina?

A. Water, they drowned
B. Lack of food/water in the aftermath, they starved
C. Red tape, they were strangled by it
D. All of the above


ANSWER: Do I really need to tell you?

Saturday, September 03, 2005

The Constant Gardener

This is a dramatic political thriller with a few love story elements as well. It is the love aspect that is prevalent in the commercials, and that is what made me hesitant about viewing this film. I don't particularly enjoy love stories. As I began to hear that this movie was suspenseful, I reconsidered.

Starring Ralph Fiennes (Maid in Manhattan) and Rachel Weisz (Constantine), The Constant Gardener unfolds against an African setting. Filmed in stark colors, Gardener is visually arresting-both for its insight into African culture and its gifted cast. The story begins with Justin (Fiennes) and Tessa Quayle (Weisz) preparing for Tessa to depart for Nairobi(?) with Justin to join her later. Before he is able to join Tessa, Justin learns that she was murdered, along with her doctor and friend Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Kounde'). Almost instantly we are made aware that there is a surreptitious reason for Tessa's death. The intricacies of her marriage to Justin are revealed though flashback, and we see that Tessa kept many secrets from her husband: from her relationship with the good Dr. Bluhm (merely friends or more?) to her everyday activities.

Fiennes and Weisz give amazing performances, especially Fiennes as the grieving and indulgent husband. His character is sensitive, almost to the point of being weak. We rarely see flashes of anger, even as various people admit to different roles in his wife's murder. Weisz is the passionate wife, ardent in her humanitarian goals and uncaring about the corporate feathers she ruffles in Africa. This film is layered and interesting, definitely not for everyone, but worth checking out. If you enjoyed these movies, maybe you will like The Constant Gardener: The Interpreter, Frantic, Three Days of the Condor.