Loop-de-loop links

So I was gonna write about The Master today, but I've pushed it back (again) because Vija wants to see it next weekend, and maybe some of our friends too (don't know for sure yet). Getting kinda anxious, I admit, but hey, I've waited this long...

Is it madness to write about movies for 1000 days in a row (and counting)? Not if you're Ryan.

The Lady Eve spotlights Mickey Rooney on the occasion of his recent birthday. (I had no idea he's made so many movies.)

I have not become "the movie guy" to my friends yet (mostly because I've been "the cartoonist guy" for a lot longer), but John's post about the perils of being one still rings true to me.

Raquelle saw The Birds re-release and was not freaked out.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a really short story. Nevertheless, it has a long and distinguished history in film and other media.

In Contention has your Best Picture Oscar scorecard for this season.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The Paramount Centennial Blogathon is an event commemorating one hundred years of movies from Paramount Pictures, hosted by The Hollywood Revue. For a list of participating blogs, visit the host site.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture
from my DVD collection

The final episode of the original Star Trek TV series, "Turnabout Intruder," aired Tuesday, June 3, 1969, at 7:30 PM EST. Unlike the previous two seasons, there would be no reprieve from NBC brought about by a letter-writing campaign from the fans - which, it should be noted, was orchestrated by series creator Gene Roddenberry himself. Still, the science fiction adventure show that captured the imagination of millions during its brief three years continued to inspire its audience long after its cancellation, and that fervor became a major factor in bringing Star Trek to the big screen in a feature-length movie.

I've been a Trekkie for over twenty years, but by the time I first got into it, times had significantly changed. There was a second Trek TV show on the air, one that was every bit as popular as its predecessor, with a third one on the way. Trek fandom was a worldwide, multi-million dollar phenomenon, and a bunch of Trek movies firmly established it as a lucrative franchise. I couldn't have picked a better time to become a Trekkie.

But what was being a Trekkie like without any of that? Even during the period between the last Next Generation film, Nemesis, and the JJ Abrams reboot in 2009, when there was no new Trek, I still had plenty of other outlets to sustain me, not the least of which was the Internet fandom. In the 70s, however, it was vastly different.

Urbanworld FF: Runnin' down a dream

(Between Won't Back Down and a film with "Mary Jane" in the title, I felt the need to continue the Tom Petty theme.)

So did I mention how Being Mary Jane director Salim Akil made fun of me for having a cellphone camera? It was on Thursday, during the red carpet photo op prior to the movie, and both Akil and his wife, writer Mara Brock Akil, took their turn in front of the paparazzi. All the hotshot media people were there, with their digital cameras and video cameras and there I was, little ol' me, clutching my cellphone camera like a lifeline, thinking that if I just look like a serious journalist, I'll fit in. 

I hope Salim Akil's pic came out
as good as mine.

I imagine I did a better job of blending in than this guy in the back who tried to crash the red carpet earlier by taking pictures of his own, not realizing that this was for accredited members of the press only. He got into a shouting match with some shutterbug whom he leaned on a little too much. That was as bad as it got, though.

Anyway, the Akils arrived and the cameras flashed and clicked, and suddenly Akil sees me with my cellphone and laughed, saying something like, "Man, get a real camera! You're supposed to be a professional!" I suppose I could've explained to him that no, I'm not really a professional, I just play one on TV, but it's not like our paths were gonna cross again after that night, so I grinned and tried to play it off like it was no big deal. 

BET CEO Debra Lee

Fortunately, he wasn't mean about it - he came up to me, asked me my name, and shook my hand, joking that he'd buy me a camera. He even whipped out his own cellphone and took a picture of me as I took one of him.

I suppose it really isn't a big deal. I mean, if you had told me five years ago that I'd be snapping pictures of Hollywood film and TV stars on a for-real red carpet at a film festival, I wouldn't have believed it. But I made this happen, so I reckon it counts as one more milestone in my life. I won't always use a cellphone to take pictures, but it's what I've got right now, so it's what I use.

Once again, the tendency to see more movies than I have time for was a strong one. On Friday night I had to forego seeing another movie after Won't Back Down so that I could post some of my reviews. I had written them down in my notebook before, and now, sometime after 8:30, I was running around trying to find someplace that was (a) still open, (b) had wi-fi, and (c) had an outlet I could plug my laptop into. 

'Being Mary Jane' co-star
Tika Sumpter

Eventually I settled on the same cafe I used last year before going to Vija's party. They didn't close until ten, and I was the only customer in there, typing away as they started putting chairs upside-down on the tables.

I talked about the craziness of waiting for Middle of Nowhere, but I don't think I fully emphasized the excitement there was over this movie, and what that excitement means. It means that there is an audience that craves better movies by, for and about people of color. We don't have to settle for the same old Hollywood pap, and to see audiences turning out in large numbers (Nowhere was a sellout) is really encouraging. 

It would be even more encouraging if an Oscar campaign could get going for it (Original Screenplay? Actress?? Cinematography???), but even if it doesn't happen, everyone who has seen it knows its worth, which does not need to be measured in little gold men. And that goes for all the films that played at Urbanworld.

I'll have more pictures from the festival on my WSW Facebook page later in the week.

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Previously:

Being Mary Jane

Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till

Won't Back Down

Soul Food Junkies

The Last Fall

Middle of Nowhere

Urbanworld FF: Middle of Nowhere

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

Emayatzy Corinealdi

The truth is, I did not see Middle of Nowhere under the best of circumstances. The Saturday night show was a sell-out. While I was taking pictures from the red carpet, the lobby was quickly filling up with ticket holders and VIPs with all-access passes. I was actually warned of this by a woman whom I met in between shows on Saturday afternoon, and I believed it, given the excitement generated by this film. 

By my reckoning there were at least two lines: one for ticket holders and the other for all-access pass holders. I was told I could get on the latter with my press pass, so I did, but the lines were malformed and spread out over a great deal of limited space. Then we had to wait. And wait. And wait. Show time was eight PM, but we went well past that, and some people on my line were getting ticked off. The woman in front of me (who claimed to be from HBO) went up front to investigate, and she was told that the film arrived late and director Ava DuVernay was running a sound check. Arrived late? Really? 

Everyone REALLY wanted
to see 'Nowhere.'

On top of all that, when they finally let us in, there was more than a little confusion; they seemed to be alternating between the VIPs and the ticket holders, which was annoying the ones with large advance passes. As far as I could tell, everyone got in, but between the long wait and the confusing order of the lines, it was more than a little stressful. 

I ended up sitting in the second row, which was great for taking pictures afterwards at the Q-and-A, but not so much for watching the film - especially this film, which has a whole lot of close-ups, so not only could I see every pore, hair and blemish on the actors' faces, but I felt like I was looking up their noses as well! 

Corinealdi, right, with director
Ava DuVernay at the Q-and-A

Plus, it was the end of a long day for me personally, and though I didn't nod off, I was physically tired - and this is a quiet, introspective film that requires a good deal of attention. So what I'm saying is that I'm gonna have to watch this film again when it comes out next month in order to write about it properly. In the meantime, however, I can provide a few impressions.

Nowhere is about a woman who struggles to help her imprisoned husband get released early. At the same time, she's being pursued by a different man. Visually, this looks quite different from DuVernay's previous film, I Will Follow. Her DP was Bradford Young, who worked on the breathtaking Restless City and other films that played Urbanworld in the past, and also Pariah. He gives Nowhere an artier feel than Follow. Remember his name; I firmly believe this is only the beginning for him.

L-R: DuVernay, Corinealdi, producer
Paul Garnes, and DP Bradford Young

Newcomer Emayatzy Corinealdi (em-ee-YAHT-zee kor-en-AHL-dee) carries the film and carries it very well, backed by a strong cast that includes Omari Hardwick and David Oyelowo, who's been everywhere lately and has lots more work coming up. In DuVernay's script, you feel one way about certain characters, then you feel another way, and you're never completely sure which way to stand with them. I'm fairly certain there are a few things I missed, story-wise, hence my desire to see this again. Do I recommend it? Yes, because this is black filmmaking on a higher level and it needs to be supported.

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Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till
Won't Back Down
Soul Food Junkies
The Last Fall

Urbanworld FF: The Last Fall

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

Professional sports are great and all, but in this country, we sometimes place unfair burdens on our young when they try to pursue a career in them. We have a tendency to make too many concessions to them, pampering and coddling them and making sure they succeed at all costs, even if it means sacrificing their education, all in the name of entertainment. The fact is, however, that only a select few can compete on the professional level, and out of those few, even fewer have what it takes to sustain a career. The rest end up fending for themselves.

Matthew Cherry had a brief NFL career, spending one season with the Baltimore Ravens, before turning to filmmaking - first music videos, and now, with The Last Fall, feature films. It's a semi-autobiographical tale of a pro football player who has reached the abrupt end of his young career at 25 and now must learn how to begin his life all over again.

Last year at Urbanworld, the film All Things Fall Apart examined similar territory, but a good premise was undone by the mediocre acting of rapper 50 Cent. Here, star Lance Gross is much more polished and believable, as is co-star Nicole Beharie (whom you may remember from the Michael Fassbender movie Shame), who plays an old flame he tries to get back.

Cherry's screenplay has the ring of authenticity to it, informed as it is by his own experiences, though I would've liked to have gotten a little more insight into the circumstances that led to Kyle's premature retirement. When someone asks him why he's out of the game, Kyle says something about internal politics, a vague and to me, unsatisfying answer. I would've liked a little more elaboration, or failing that, a simpler explanation - perhaps he didn't perform as well as anticipated.

All Things felt heavier because of the cancer angle (and 50 Cent's opportunity to go all Method by losing a ton of weight), but Fall, by contrast, addressed not only the embarrassment and shame of falling short of a long-sought career goal, but the misconceptions that other people have about such a high-profile occupation. All Things felt like a star vehicle, but Fall felt more like the story was the main attraction, and that's a big reason why I prefer it.

--------------------
Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till
Won't Back Down
Soul Food Junkies

Urbanworld FF: Soul Food Junkies

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website. 

We never called my mother's cooking "soul food" when growing up. It was just what we ate, though perhaps our menu wasn't quite the same as in other black families. We had the fried chicken, we had the collard greens, we had the corn bread, but we had other kinds of food too. For instance, I remember some Sundays when my father would simply buy a pizza pie from our favorite pizza joint on Junction Boulevard, along with a dozen Dunkin Donuts, but that was an occasional treat. Both my parents grew up in the south, so I have no doubt that they were familiar with the phrase, but while we did eat together (though not all the time, I admit), we didn't necessarily need dinner or any particular meal to get together and talk. That was just us, though.

Director Byron Hurt (taken at the
'Middle of Nowhere' screening)

Many black families have grown up with soul food dinners as a cultural heritage, and the documentary Soul Food Junkies examines this relationship, particularly in light of how recent years have shown traditional soul food to be not all that healthy. This film attracted a large and boisterous crowd at Urbanworld, and it was clear that this was a subject close to many people's hearts. Director Byron Hurt weaves a general examination of black communities and their long relationship with soul food with the story of his own father, who ate pork sausages and candied yams and hamhocks all his life and saw no reason to change, not even when his own health was at risk. Seeing his father die from pancreatic cancer made Hurt think his diet was to blame, and making this film was his way of searching for answers.

Hurt goes all over not just the American south, but across the country, talking to all kinds of people, black and white, who love soul food, and asking why. In interviews with health experts and other scholars, he traces the roots of the cuisine back to the slavery era, and shows how cooking soul food grew to become a point of pride in many black communities, eventually spreading out towards the rest of the country as well. In the after-show Q-and-A, Hurt made the point of how throughout it all, he wanted to maintain respect for the people who make and eat soul food, without judgment. It's full of laughter and poignancy, and the story of Hurt's father makes it all the more intriguing to watch.

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Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till
Won't Back Down

Related:
Soul Food

Urbanworld FF: Won't Back Down

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

Co-stars Rosie Perez & Lance Reddick

Appropos of nothing: I remember how surprised I was earlier this year at the Oscars, seeing Viola Davis appear baring her natural afro. Surprised a lot of people too. Whether or not actors in general and black actresses in particular wear wigs is not something most people tend to think about - I never did - but from now on, whenever I see her in a movie, I probably will... and to be honest, I kinda wish she were able to go au natural more often. But that's a discussion for another time.

If it weren't for Urbanworld, I probably would've passed on seeing Won't Back Down (of course they use the Tom Petty song in the closing credits). I saw the trailer prior to this week, and to me it looked like one more inspirational "true" story that Hollywood loves to make every so often. The depressingly generic and unimaginative title certainly didn't help. 

Lance Reddick, with his wife

I didn't doubt the film's quality, but the trailer made it perfectly clear what kind of movie this was gonna be, as well as how it would end. Maybe Gene Siskel was right about not watching trailers.

Anyway, it turned out to be exactly as I expected, but I gotta admit, I was entertained by it, and that was due to the outstanding work of the film's stars, Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The latter plays a single Pittsburgh mom with a dyslexic daughter, trying to find a better school for her than the one's she's in, until she learns about a way to organize parents and teachers together into forging a better school system, even though it means defying the powerful teachers' union. Davis plays the first teacher Gyllenhaal recruits for the cause, one with a learning disabled child of her own, as well as a terrible secret.

Co-star Dante Brown

It's absolutely an important story. Won't Back Down goes into how the Pittsburgh school program proved inadequate to the cause of helping children like those of Gyllenhaal and Davis, through negligence or bureaucracy or both, and how the union is a vital force for providing security for its members. There are no villains in this story, just opposing points of view, and I appreciate that director Daniel Barnz went to such lengths to make this clear. 

Still, the film does follow all the familiar Hollywood beats - romantic subplot, darkest hour, rally from an unexpected source, final confrontation - and the outcome is never in any real doubt. It's a formula that doesn't provide much in the way of surprises.

That said, however, Gyllenhaal and Davis make it watchable. I never really gave Gyllenhaal much thought beyond being Jake's sister, but she was powerful in a great role that let her shine. As for Davis, she had me from the start, but she also has a crucial late scene with her son that sold me on the entire film. She didn't oversell it - god knows she could have - but it was one more reminder of why her work is so admired by her peers. (If only it was admired enough to have given her that Oscar...)

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Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till