Movie Review Little Black Book

Little Black Book (2004) 

Directed by Nick Hurran

Written by Melissa Carter, Elisa Bell 

Starring Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, Ron Livingston, Julianne Nicholson, Kathy Bates

Released August 4th, 2004 

Published August 4th, 2004 

I could go on for hours, and I probably have, about the problems with the modern romantic comedy. No genre has grown more stale, predictable and shrill as the romantic comedy. Its top stars, Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock, have recognized it and are quickly abandoning it in favor of serious drama. So color me surprised when I sat down and watched a romantic comedy I actually liked. Little Black Book has a number of the faults of modern romantic comedies but with the lowered bar of quality with which we must judge the romantic comedy, it is a tolerably quirky love fest with a couple of solid laughs.

Brittany Murphy stars as Stacey Holt. I would call her flighty but that would be redundant since she is played by Brittany Murphy. Stacey has a dream of becoming a broadcast journalist and learning her craft at the feet of her hero, Diane Sawyer. Of course, you have to start somewhere and Stacey's start in the biz is as an assistant on a cheesy talk show called "Kippy Kann Do.” Kathy Bates is the aloof host Kippy. Holly Hunter is Barb, another assistant on the show that shows Stacey the ropes and becomes her friend.

Stacey's private life is further along than her career. She is involved in what she thinks is a long-term relationship with a sports agent named Derek (Ron Livingston). The two are kind of living together though Stacey still occasionally goes home to her mother (Sharon Lawrence). Mom and daughter both share an obsession with Carly Simon whose music dominates the soundtrack of the film.

The film’s plot really kicks in when Derek goes on a business trip and leaves behind his Palm pilot. With encouragement from Barb, Stacey decides to go through the Palm pilot and find out about Derek's past. Derek doesn't like to talk about his past, perhaps because his Palm is full of old photos of his ex's including a former supermodel, a doctor and a chef. Using her job at the TV show as cover, Stacey meets each of the exes to dig up some background info on Derek. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see this is going to blow up in Stacey's face but you may be surprised how cleverly the whole story plays out.

Brittany Murphy can be a little hard to take. Her saccharine sweetness and obnoxious energy are traits that may always hold her back from big time stardom. In this film she reigns it in a little bit and is a little more believable, more human. Her biggest asset is being paired with the brilliant Holly Hunter whose hard-ass realism grounds the film’s many flights of fancy and fills in a few holes in the plot. Hunter is in a career renaissance after her Oscar nomination for 2003's Thirteen. Hopefully this role leads her to more starring roles.

The supporting cast is dotted with recognizable names including Kathy Bates and Ron Livingston though sadly both are badly underused. The most impressive supporting performance, aside from Holly Hunter, is that of Julianne Nicholson who plays one of Derek's ex's. Traditional romantic comedy rules state we are supposed to cheer for our heroine and hate the ex's but Nicholson's character is so engaging and sweet that not only does she win us over but Stacey as well, which leads the film to its unusual ending.

Director Nick Hurran and writer Melissa Carter have by no means reinvented the romantic comedy genre, but their script and the attention to detail improve greatly upon the usual cliches of the genre. Setting Stacey against the background of a cheesy parody of a daytime talk show, Jerry Springer-Jenny Jones style, could have been just a vehicle for bad jokes about midgets and whores, and it is, but it also provides an unusually rich background for the lead characters.

As Stacey and Barb dig deeper into Derek's past there are constantly things going on in the background, throwaway visual jokes and various bits of unusual banter. It's a change from the usual myopic approach to romantic comedy environments where the only story is the lead characters' problems with absolutely nothing else happening in the world around them. The ending of the film is its most unconventional element because there is no tidy wrap up. I don't want to give anything away but to say that it's kind of unique and very welcome.

Movie Review: City of God

City of God (2002) 

Directed by Fernando Meirelles 

Written by Fernando Meirelles 

Starring Alexandre Rodriguez, Seu Jorge 

Release Date May 18th, 2002 

Published November 22nd, 2003

At the end of 2002, while most critics were debating the historical accuracy of Scorsese's Gangs Of New York or making comic asides about Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose in The Hours, Roger Ebert was proclaiming a little seen Brazilian gang movie the best film of the year. City of God is a brutally realistic tale of poverty, crime ,and community in a Brazilian ghetto told with an immediacy and power that most Hollywood films could only dream of.

Directed by Fernando Meirelles and shot on digital video, City Of God tells the story of youth gangs in the real Brazilian ghetto known as the City of God. In the city's existence, it has known only gang rule and violence. For Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), hope of getting out of the ghetto lies in choosing which gang will protect him until he can find his way out. As a teen he finds a stolen camera and finds his calling as a photographer, earning a protected place in the ghetto as the official photographer of both warring factions who don't mind being on the front page.

While the story is told from Rocket's perspective the story is really that of the colorful and dangerous ghetto and its unique violent history. In one terrific series of scenes, Rocket recounts the history of one apartment, which over the course of a decade passed from one powerful drug dealer to the next. Then there is the story of Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge). Ned tried to stay out of the war but was forced into it by drug dealers suspicious of a guy who didn't want to fight.

The greatest tragedy of the film however is the story of Benny (Phillipe Haagensen), a bright charismatic kid and protege of the violent leader Lil Ze (Firmino Da Hora). Benny had grown up with Ze as his right-hand man. As they grew older and more powerful, Benny saw that power as a way to get out. When Benny fell in love, he was finally ready to leave the city. His fate seems predictable but the performance by Haagensen is absolutely magnetic and director Meirelles has a way of staging the story that builds the tension to a point that the tragic events feel almost cathartic.

City of God is a tremendous piece of work from a director who is making his feature film debut. Until City Of God, Fernando Meirelles was a commercial director. After this impressive debut, it's likely that commercials will be an afterthought for Meirelles, who is destined for greater things.

Because of some snafu with it's release, City Of God was not eligible for the Oscars and won't be this year either. I understand that we must have rules but how can an award for artistry be so restrictive that one of it's most deserving be left out because of some minor rule? Regardless of the Oscar, we don't need an award to tell us that City Of God is a magnificent film. See it for yourself. 

Movie Review: Chasing Holden

Chasing Holden (2001) 

Directed by Malcolm Clarke

Written by Sean Kanan

Starring D.J Qualls, Rachel Blanchard

Release Date October 11th, 2001 

Published June 3rd, 2002 

I have never read "The Catcher In the Rye". When I was a kid I thought it was about Yankee's catcher Yogi Berra, because I thought it was set in the 50's and Yogi was a catcher in the 50's. I still don't know the story fully though from seeing the straight-to-video feature Chasing Holden starring DJ Qualls I now have a good sense for the story and I may check it out. Maybe, if I find the time.

Holden is the story of Neil (Qualls), the son of the Governor of New York. Neil has just been released from a mental hospital after his father suspected he was contemplating suicide. Neil is troubled by his father’s distance that is covered by his father’s high-profile job but has more to do with a brother we never see.

Neil is enrolled at a private school where he meets the equally messed up T.J (Rachel Blanchard). They bond over Neil's dog-eared copy of “Catcher in the Rye” and their coupling in drama class. After following her home and having dinner with her parents, Neil is convinced she is a kindred spirit and invites her on his spiritual journey to meet the author of “Catcher in The Rye”, JD Salinger.

As Neil hides his past from TJ, she too has a secret health problem that she doesn't want to reveal in fear of scaring him off. As the journey goes on we begin to see that Neil's obsession with Salinger may not be a healthy one. An obsession that is well documented in a rather creepy scene where Neil explains to TJ why Mark Chapman killed John Lennon and how Chapman's motivation was linked to Salinger's book.

Qualls is a very unlikely romantic lead, but then with his gawky frame and goofy manner he is an unlikely actor. In Chasing Holden, Qualls's strange look works, giving the character an edginess that is unsettling from beginning to end. Blanchard on the other and isn't as successful. Her TJ isn't quirky enough to match Qualls's weirdness and her character's motivations are a little thin. In the end she seems more like a plot device in service of Qualls' Neil and his journey, rather than being a character in her own right.

Director Malcolm Clarke gives the feeling of a director still feeling his way around a camera. He has an idea of what he wants to do with each shot but isn't entirely sure how to make it work. In the end, Clarke's Chasing Holden is an interesting film. A little dull at times, but saved moderately by Qualls’ interesting performance.

Movie Review: Catwoman

Catwoman (2004) 

Directed by Pitof 

Written by John Brancato, Roger Ferris, John Rogers 

Starring Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Benjamin Bratt 

Release Date July 23rd, 2004 

Published July 23rd, 2004 

I don’t know what your opinion is, but for my money Michele Pfeiffer’s Catwoman in Batman Returns rocked. She was sexy, she was funny, and she and Michael Keaton’s Batman had a fiery chemistry. If ever there was a chance for Catwoman to be made into a stand-alone film character, it was with Pfeiffer and director Tim Burton about 12 years ago.

Of course, timing and good buzz do not mean much to dunderheaded studio execs whose arrogance tells them they can sell anything at any time. That arrogance is what gives us this new Catwoman movie without Pfeiffer and Burton and without any connection to Batman. Halle Berry and someone called Pitof are behind this Catwoman and while Berry fits the costume that is about all that fits in this lame repackaged comic book misfire.

Patience Phillips (Berry) is a mousy wannabe artist who works in advertising because she’s too scared to be a real artist. While working on a big project for a new cosmetics line, Patience comes across a chilling secret; the company’s newest product is an addictive face-destroying disaster. Before she can do anything about it she is found by the evil cosmetic company henchman and killed.

Yes indeed, Patience died, but is reborn when a gaggle of Cat’s discovers her body and one special cat delivers some kitty CPR. The strange cat called Midnight is owned by an even stranger woman, a crazy cat lady played by Six Feet Under star Frances Conroy. The crazy cat lady explains how Patience was brought back to life as a Catwoman and that she will now have all sorts of new powers and odd cravings.

Before Patience became Catwoman she met a guy, a cop named Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt). Tom happens to be the cop on the case when Catwoman is accused of robbing a jewelry store and eventually multiple homicides. The idea that Tom doesn’t recognize Patience is Catwoman is suspension of disbelief stretched to its breaking point. Catwoman must prove her innocence and stop the evil cosmetics company led by Laurel Hedare (Sharon Stone). If your thinking catfight, well duh.

Here is the amazing thing. Most, if not all of this mindblowingly-ridiculous plot is played straight. Anyone with half a brain could sense the camp potential of this material. Anyone that is, except for director Pitof who thinks he’s making a straight action movie. Pitof also convinced his star Halle Berry to play this material with a straight face which sinks any chance she had of succeeding in this role.

Halle’s Patience is a female Steve Urkel who, when she becomes Catwoman, is never believable. Delivering awful cat puns and mimicking cat behaviors, Berry comes off as something akin to a furry, minus the proper furry costume. She's got the cat cosplay down but any trace of anti-hero turned superhero is distinctly lacking. Part of the joy of Catwoman is her villainous side that softens ever so slightly via the tempting attraction to Batman. Since there is no Batman in this universe, Catwoman is forced to rely entirely on a badly contrived plot and the aforementioned and awful cat puns. 

There is the romance aspect, yeesh! Halle Berry and Benjamin Bratt spark the chemistry of two good friends or perhaps cousins who are a bit too close for comfort. But they never connect as potential bedmates. Benjamin Bratt has never been this bland on screen even on TV's Law & Order which didn't require much personality to begin with. Bratt is almost catatonic in Catwoman, his expressions rarely change. It doesn’t help that he’s saddled with a detective character more clueless than Clouseau.

The only member of the cast with any awareness of the camp material they’ve been given is Frances Conroy who tosses her dignity to the wind as the crazy cat lady. Conroy has to deliver the films most laughable dialogue as she explains what a Catwoman is and how it came to be. She deserves some kind of award for delivering her monologue with a straight face, though it likely took a few takes.

Pitof a former visual effects supervisor on films like Alien Resurrection and Luc Besson’s Joan Of Arc flick Messenger, he learned a little on those films as he does show some visual flare. However as a novice director he also has an unhealthy obsession with closeups and flashy unnecessary camera movement. The guy has some talent and with time he could round into a pretty good director but he is very raw and much too raw for such a high-profile project.

Though his background is reportedly in special effects, director Pitof comes off like an amateur when it comes to CGI. The Computer Generated Images in Catwoman are absolutely abysmal. Part of the problem could be that many of us have recently seen great CGI work in Spider-Man 2 and or I, Robot, two tremendously accomplished special effects spectaculars. But, the real problem is the seeming lack of care and ability behind the CGI in Catwoman. Just look at the way Halle Berry's Catwoman glistens when she becomes a special effect. She becomes shiny and rubbery and obviously not a person. She could be a character in a Pixar movie, that's how damningly obvious the special effects of Catwoman are, it's as if a Toy Story character emerged in real life but remained animated. 

The problem with Catwoman is the fact that it was made at all. There was a clamor for a female Superhero franchise but not this one. Wonder Woman has been gestating for awhile with a number of actresses and directors attached and unattached at various times. Catwoman had its moment in time back in the nineties on the heels of the success of Batman but that time has passed,

This Catwoman was doomed from the moment it was greenlighted. Doomed by executive overkill, businessmen whose only concern is printing money off of well-known properties. They put this film on the fast track, rushed the production, went cheap on a young, inexperienced director and maybe thought casting one of Hollywood’s hottest actresses would guarantee box office even if the quality film wasn’t there.

They were wrong. Very, Very Wrong!

Movie Review Buffalo Soldiers

Buffalo Soldiers (2001) 

Directed by Gregor Jordan

Written by Gregor Jordan, Eric Weiss, Nora Maccoby 

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Anna Paquin 

Release Date July 18th, 2003 

Published November 11th, 2003 

We have been waiting for quite awhile now for film adaptation of Robert O'Connor's caustic military novel Buffalo Soldiers. The film version is one of the last films delayed by the tragedy of September 11th.

It gathered dust on the shelves of Miramax because of its decidedly unpatriotic look at military life. The soldiers of Buffalo Soldiers are not the patriotic stick figures trotted out for numerous war movies dating back through all of Hollywood history. These soldiers are drug dealers, murderers, racists and pimps. So it's not surprising that after September 11th and subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that the film stirred enough controversy to be dumped into limited release and essentially disowned by it's studio.

This decidedly nihilistic look at military life on a German base in peacetime stars Joaquin Phoenix as PFC. Ray Elwood. From his smirking demeanor, he looks like any other acerbic rebel of a number of different military movies. However, on closer inspection, Ray Elwood is no one liner spouting caricature but rather an amoral drug-dealing, wheeler dealer with few if any redeeming qualities. Bill Murray-lovable loser type this is not. 

Ray runs the military base from the office of Colonel Berman (Ed Harris). As Berman's assistant, Ray can requisition any and all material goods and what he can't get he can trade for on the black market. Ray is also the best drug cook in the military, a skill that landed him in the military when a judge offered him the choice of the army or jail. Ray acquires and prepares heroin for the base's top drug dealer, a military police officer played by Sheik Mahmoud Bey.

Elwood's operation is thrown into jeopardy when a new top Sergeant (Scott Glenn) decides to put Elwood out of business. A former Vietnam veteran, the top sergeant has a reputation as a killer. This doesn't stop Elwood from pressing the Sergeant's buttons, even going as far as dating his daughter Robyn (Anna Paquin), a wild child in her own right, who introduces Elwood to ecstasy. The rivalry between Elwood and the Sergeant is the crux of the film.

From a story standpoint, it's interesting to consider what it must have been like for our military for the number of years between Vietnam and the first war in Iraq. Aside from the minor skirmish here and there, our military guys had a lot of time on their hands, and you know what they say about idle hands. Try idle hands with access to a lot of weapons and drugs.

The problem with Buffalo Soldiers however, is that it never establishes a rooting interest. Phoenix's Elwood is nearly charming enough for us to buy into his anti-hero bit. However, he just doesn't quite have the offhand charm of a good movie scoundrel. The performance is all too earnestly nihilistic to care about.

Director Gregor Jordan seems to go out of his way to separate Buffalo Soldiers from obvious genre movies. He isn't making straight drama or comedy but he seems to go out of his way, especially to avoid comedy. The film’s funniest moments come from Ed Harris playing against type as the bumbling Colonel Berman.

Imagine Stripes as envisioned by Chuck Pahlaniuk and directed by David Fincher and you get an idea what Buffalo Soldiers is going for. It's a take it or leave it portrait of questionable behavior, death, machismo, and murder. No one liners, no forced perspectives or lessons to be learned. Buffalo Soldiers is more of an interesting concept than it is a great movie.

Movie Review Buffalo 66

Buffalo 66 

Directed by Vincent Gallo 

Written by Vincent Gallo, Allison Bagnall 

Starring Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke, Anjelica Huston 

Release Date June 26th, 1998 

Published August 11th, 2003 

Actor Vincent Gallo courted controversy at the 2003 Cannes Film festival with his latest film, The Brown Bunny. It was called the worst film in the festival’s history and was roundly trashed by Roger Ebert amongst others. Gallo didn't take the rebukes lightly, lashing out at journalists at the film’s press conference and later chastising Ebert and calling him a fat pig. This is not the intelligent discourse one attributes to a great artist. Despite Gallo's horrible attitude and childish behavior at Cannes, he is undeniably an artist, as he showed with his most famous directorial outing, 1997's fresh oddball love story Buffalo 66.

The Buffalo of the title is Buffalo New York where our pseudo hero Billy Brown (Gallo) was born and raised until he went to prison. As we meet him Billy is leaving prison and headed home to Buffalo. Poor Billy desperately needs to use the restroom after his long bus ride, but finds every bathroom either out of service or locked until finally he wanders into a dance studio. Even then, an odd encounter with a male student causes Billy the inability to go. Instead, he uses a payphone to call his mother to tell her he's coming home.

Billy never told his parents he went to jail, his Byzantine excuse for his disappearance includes working for the government and a fictional wife. Desperate to appease his mother Billy decides to kidnap Layla (Christina Ricci), a dance student who just happened to overhear Billy's conversation with his mother. The abduction isn't very violent or frightening for Layla who seems to take this odd occurrence and even Billy's raging hostility in stride.

Once arriving at Billy's home, Layla is told that her new name is Wendy and that her only job is to make him look good to his parents, a task she takes to with relish.

Billy's parents Jan (Angelica Huston) and Jimmy (Ben Gazzara) are quite the odd couple. Mom is an obsessive Bills football fan whose photo albums contain only photos of Bills players and the one picture of her son is difficult to find. Billy's Dad is a former lounge singer who even serenades Layla in a strange almost dreamlike sequence. Angelica Huston has the film’s most telling and dramatic moment when she off handedly explains the film’s title.

Layla/Wendy does everything she can to make Billy look good to Mom and Dad, telling them about Billy's job with the CIA and his covert activities in the spy world. It isn't until she tells them that she’s pregnant that she gets their attention away from the Bills game.

While at the parent’s house, Billy calls his best friend Goon (Kevin Corrigan) and we learn the details of how Billy went to jail and his plans now that he is out. Billy it seems lost a great deal of money on the Bills Super Bowl loss to the Giants. He paid his debt to his bookie (played in a small cameo by Mickey Rourke) by confessing to a crime committed by one of the bookie's associates. Now that he's out Billy is going to get revenge, not on the bookie but on the Bills kicker who missed the game winning field goal.

That may seem like an actual plot but Buffalo 66 never settles into a conventional narrative. Instead, Gallo, who also wrote and directed the film, prefers to simply observe his characters and their reactions to the strange circumstances surrounding them. He employs a unique visual style, very gritty at times then straying into dream sequences that include musical interludes and a tap dance by Ricci. These flights of visual and narrative fancy are a welcome change from the downer story. Not that it's a bad story, it's very unique.

It is Ricci who carries much of the film with her sympathetic eyes and endearing sweetness, not to mention a weird quality that makes her character’s willingness to stick with Billy and even fall in love with seem perfectly natural. Characters thrust into the situation her character is in are supposed to be frightened and attempting to escape and other very correct and conventional reactions. Then again, there is nothing conventional about Buffalo 66

Movie Review: Bubba Ho-Tep

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) 

Directed by Don Coscarelli 

Written by Don Coscarelli 

Starring Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis

Release Date June 9th, 2002 

Published April 20th, 2004

Bruce Campbell made his name with arguably the best B-movie horror films series in history, Evil Dead. Army Of Darkness cemented his legend but since that film’s 1993 release, Campbell has not been able to rise to that level of genius.

Until now that is.

With the release of Bubba Ho-tep (it was released in late 2002 and just reached my small hole in the universe in April 2004), Campbell has recaptured that vibe that made Ash a legend. Playing an aged King of Rock N Roll fighting a mummy, Campbell reaches a level that flies well past camp and into a realm that only a Bruce Campbell B-movie could reach.

Just before Elvis Presley was found dead in his Graceland mansion, the real Elvis visited a man that was believed to be the best Elvis impersonator in the world. His name is Sebastian Haff and the deal he made was to become Elvis, allowing the real King to go into hiding, pretending to be an Elvis impersonator. Part of the deal the two men made was that Elvis could switch back whenever he wanted. Before he could though, Sebastian Haff died and the real Elvis fell off a stage during a performance and landed himself in a Texas old folk’s home where he's been laid up for more than 20 years.

Elvis fell into a drab, depressing routine of watching roommates pass away and unexciting sponge baths from the bitchy nursing staff. All the while lamenting the loss of his fame and fortune. Elvis's only friend and the only man who believes he really is Elvis is a man who is convinced that he himself is John F. Kennedy. This despite being a black man (Ossie Davis plays the unusual role). According to Jack, they dyed him after they shot him.

It is Jack that first becomes aware of a peculiar series of deaths in the home. Peculiar because they are precipitated by the appearance a huge cockroach-looking thing and electrical surges. Soon the two friends discover that the real peculiar thing is that there is a mummy in a cowboy hat that is sucking the life out of old people to keep itself alive. Now these two legends must find away to save their home and themselves from a creature that Elvis dubs Bubba Ho-tep.

Just the concept alone, Elvis and JFK vs. a mummy, is brilliant enough. Then, as directed by Don Coscarelli, the man who directed Phantasm, it reaches another level of cheesy brilliance. Coscarelli only knows one way to direct a film and that is with as minimalist a palette as possible. He’s a veteran director but he can never be confused for an artist. However, it is exactly that lack of precision and skill that so perfectly captures such a strange weird movie. It is my honest opinion that in this case, it takes a bad director to make a bad movie transcend its badness into something wholly brilliant.

Campy, kooky, over the top ridiculousness abounds in Bubba Ho-tep. From the gutter mouth dialogue to the cheeseball look to a mummy in a cowboy hat, Bubba is an ingenious B-movie that returns Bruce Campbell to his so-bad-it's-good brilliance. This is a film that has to be seen to be believed.