Unsung Heroes: The Editing of 25th Hour

Hello again, Film Experiencers. Michael C here from Serious Film with another episode of Unsung Heroes. This week it is a tribute to one of my favorite of modern films and one of the most chronically under-appreciated of film professions.

Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) is a film that feels wired to the psyche of its main character. Working itself up into fits of rage and down into long, disconsolate sighs, it tells the story of drug dealer Monty Brogan's last day of freedom before turning himself over for a seven-year jail sentence. The filmmakers, including star Edward Norton and writer David Benioff, had the courage to leave a lot in the story unsaid, and it was editor Barry Alexander Brown who was there to have their back. He does such a masterful job evoking the mental state of the protagonist that at times it is like we in the audience are thinking Monty's thoughts along with him.

In Brown's hands, time stretches and contracts the way it would to someone experiencing the enormous stress of Norton's character. Shots stutter and double cut to express the way Monty is attempting to freeze moments in his mind, to make time stand still. When Monty brutally excoriates all of New York in the famed "F- you" sequence, the film coils into a tight ball of tension, if only so he can briefly push out all thoughts of how pained he is to leave it all behind. Probably the most poignant moment in 25th Hour is when Monty's interaction with the kid on the bus, probably the last human kindness he will know for seven years, ends all too abruptly. Brown is able in moments like this to underline the film's meaning without hitting us over the head with it.

Apart from carrying the film's thematic weight, there are moments during the course of the film when it seems Brown and Lee decide to bust out a virtuoso sequence just because they can. The dance sequence in the club is a show-stopper in the way so many similar scenes attempt and so few pull off. And the lengthy dream sequence that ends the movie is like the flip side of the "F- you" montage, a long, elegiac fantasy filled with an undercurrent of bitter rage at the inevitable reality approaching to wipe it away.

Late last year when the best of the decade polls started to accumulate, it was gratifying to see the frequent presence of 25th Hour on the lists. Overlooked in 2002 during the year-end glut of Oscar bait, it was dismissed by many at the time as a successful, if minor, entry in Spike's filmography. Now time has revealed its depth and staying power. But in all the accounts of the film's greatness not once did I read Brown's name. Why would I? When it comes to being overlooked who can beat the contribution an editor makes to a film's success? There is no evidence of his labors in the finished project that can't be credited to someone else. Yet when one looks at Brown's body of work it becomes clear that if the Spike Lee brand means anything to film lovers, then Barry Alexander Brown is a large part of that achievement.
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Decade in Review: 2002 Top Ten

As with 2000 and 2001, I'm reprinting my original top ten lists and commentary. If I've got something new to say, it'll be in red below.

Please note: This list was based on NYC release dates in the year 2002. Some movies are listed as different years at the IMDb based on when they were produced or released in their home country or in LA or whatnot.


Undervalued: Morvern Callar, Roger Dodger, About a Boy, White Oleander, Panic Room and Kissing Jessica Stein Top 10 Runners Up: Chicago, Monsoon Wedding, Punch Drunk Love and Spirited Away I still am glad I championed most of these movies though I am sad that some of them aren't in the top ten... particularly Morvern, Monsoon and the Miyazaki. The MMMs. Though I'm not sure I'd know what to remove to make room for them.

10. 8 Women (François Ozon)
Ever since I a French teacher took my friends and I to see french movies on a field trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts in high school, I have been in love with French cinema. So, you can imagine I was in heaven watching icons of French cinema sing and dance through this spiked-punch celebration of femme-fatale cinematic archetypes. My only real regret is that this giddy movie wasn't called 11 Women. You see, in my throes of Gallic ecstasy I accidentally shouted out "Binoche" "Adjani" and "Bonnaire" before being bitch-slapped back into submission by the inimitable divas that were on display: Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardant, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux, Ludivine Sagnier, Firmine Richard. A terrific, campy, twisty, and finally poignant film. (Full Review)

Maybe overvalued this. I still think it's great fun but...

09 Lovely and Amazing (Nicole Holofcener)
When I first saw this scathing comedy of self-image I admired it a lot but thought it little more than a well written indie. Trouble was, it wouldn't let me be. It kept playing again and again in my head until I returned the following week for another look. At that point I began to notice how marvelously it was put together. Its haphazard lack of plot felt instantly right. This film has bigger fish to fry than to live in subservience to the almighty plot. Upon a recent third viewing it felt churlish to leave something this direct, memorable, and incisive off of the list for something with flash or size. Despite its surface hostility there's something really lovely, humane, and 'just right' about this minor gem.

I rarely think about this movie now but when I do something really vivid usually springs up.

08 The Hours (Stephen Daldry)
In almost any article you'll read about this motion picture, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel upon which it is is based is mentioned as "unfilmable." Never mind all that. Unfilmable novels get made into movies every year. With actresses as talented as Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore onboard... unfilmable was always an inappropriate adjective. Who better than this exceptionally talented A list team to illuminate the interior monologues that this magnificent book is riddled with.

Though the film falls short of the masterfully complex feeling of Michael Cunningham's source material, it's a sophisticated, perceptive and fascinatingly assembled triptych. It casts a rarely seen thematic light on the generational progress of female as well as gay liberation. The carefully rendered and ambitious portraits of sadness illustrate how emotional struggles can be passed down and reverberate through bloodlines, art, and relationships.

07 Spider-Man (Sam Raimi)
Popcorn flicks are famous for their fast fade. But Spider-Man truly comes to life before your eyes while you're watching it. I kept reliving the film's terrific setpieces and thinking about the iconic characters afterwards. Sam Raimi's unashamed affection for his source material and the lead actors' sincere commitment to their characters breathes life into the legendary romantic coupling of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. The film's elated peak comes upside down with a passionate sure-to-be classic kiss in the rain. My passion for it didn't fade at all.

Some months later, I'm convinced that Raimi's Spider-Man has left the 70s Superman in the dust. I'm more and more prone to think that this inventive director has also surpassed even the weird grandeur of Tim Burton's Batman Returns. Spider-Man may well be the cinema's best superhero flick. Ever. (Review & Kirsten Dunst appreciation)

It's funny. I love Spider-Man 2 so much more than this one that I had altogether forgotten how much I loved this. Spider-Man 2 is easily my favorite superhero picture ever made. It gets everything about the fun, color, style, superpowers, and heightened emotions of comic book heroism just right. And it's got a better villain.

06 Late Marriage (Dover Kosashvilli)
My sixth choice is the most obscure selection to make my top ten list. Seek it out on DVD. This searing emotionally truthful drama from Israel was submitted for the foreign language Oscar race last year but it didn't make the shortlist. But never mind about the Academy. The truth is that it's better than any of the films that were nominated in that category last year. Late Marriage achieved a small degree of fame for its relatively explicit sex scene. But the film packs a powerhouse emotional punch that you won't soon forget. If debuting writer/director Dover Kosashvilli's subsequent efforts are this strong, watch out... (Review)

Lior Ashkenazi in the terrific Israeli picture Late Marriage

I wish this had been one of my "best picture" nominees. I think of it often. It has such potency. Sadly, Kosashvilli seemed to vanish afterwards. His follow up feature never made it to the States... never made it much of anywhere, actually. Though I guess there's hope still. He has two features in the works.

05 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
Last year's opening chapter in Jackson's astonishing interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth saga left my mouth agape. I have been an ardent fan of Peter Jackson since 1994's Heavenly Creatures and he continues to amaze. Filmmaking, storytelling, and grandeur are in his blood. Even his small guerrilla features have "scale" for lack of a better word. Whether Jackson is filming fornicating puppets or murderous schoolgirls, his commitment to showing you the world within his film is immense.

The only reason that The Two Towers isn't higher on the list is that I had a little trouble jumping in this time. I found the opening off-putting and consequently I had a little trouble with the initial rhythm of the crosscutting triple narratives. But one can't complain too much about a stop-and-go momentum when there is so much to see at every stop and so much momentum in every go. These films are the greatest the fantasy genre has ever offered. And more than that, irrespective of genre, the Lord of the Rings trilogy will eventually be taking its rightful place in history alongside other acknowledged masterworks like Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs and Coppola's Godfather films once the journey is complete. Though I'm anxious for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King I'm also a little sad to see it arrive. The journey is filled with sorrow but I wouldn't trade it for the world and I'll be sad to see it end.

Towers might be my least favorite of the LotR films though I think it's maybe a "better" film than Return of the King and it contains some of the greatest moments in the series. That's a puzzle. Is it because it's all middle -- no thrill of beginning or catharsis of ending? And I've lost a lot of faith in Peter Jackson since.

04 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
A bold, provocative work from one of America's most controversial directors. Spike Lee's latest joint is both a bracing portrait of a city in mourning and an intimate character study of a man approaching unavoidable crossroads. Responsibility is the larger theme and Lee approaches it with dry honest eyes and fearless maturity. This film hit me in the gut. It's a rarity...a 9/11 related piece that doesn't feel like a cheapening of the tragedy, but a tough love gift to a wounded beautiful city.

One of many films each decade to be undervalued primarily because it makes the mistake of opening when 70 other shinier films are opening and when everyone is too busy to think and when the media has too many other things going on to give it any due. Oh, Christmas time at the movies! You give but you take take take.

03 Talk To Her (Pedro Almodóvar)
I have been a devotee of Almodovar since I first saw Law of Desire in the 80s. I was scared, fascinated, and deeply in love with that movie... and I've eagerly awaited each subsequent film. There's been a lot of talk in recent years of Almodovar's "maturation" as a filmmaker but he's always been a great auteur. It's just that his recent films have more of a surface veneer of respectability. Thankfully he's retained his subversive edge. Almodovar's compassion for even the lowliest most morally reprehensible characters give his films an utterly moving humanism. Talk to Her is the perfect embodiment of this trait within his work. Depending on which angle you're seeing it from, this narrative of two comatose women and the men who love them is either a disturbingly pitch-black comedy or a highly effective melodrama (or both). But regardless of what genre from which the film springs, it's a great one. The auteur has again crafted another mysterious jewel. He's the kind of filmmaker who can move people to tears with a single shot; a man swimming underwater or a comatose woman whose sheets are being changed. He's the kind of filmmaker whose films grow richer on repeated viewings. He's the kind of filmmaker who can slyly drive his narrative straight through even the most diversionary moments like dropping a silent film right into the flow of the film. He's that kind of filmmaker. There aren't enough of them.

02 Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón)
By now it's already clear that Y Tu Mamá También has achieved classic foreign film status here in the States. Cuarón's take on the rowdy road movie is one of those rare film experiences where every element adds up to make the whole much greater than any of its individual parts. It moves rapidly on several layers and works on every last one of them: road movie, coming of age drama, teen sex comedy, sociopolitical statement. The recipe itself is deceptively simple: One gifted director + two randy boys ÷ one woman with a secret x a mythical beach = movie paradise. Like "Heaven's Mouth", the beach the boys invent only to discover in reality, this movie is a more magical thing than even Alfonso Cuarón probably imagined while dreaming it up.

I might reverse the order of this and the Pedro film now. They're so different, one is magic the other is a masterwork. But both are treasures.

01 Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)
We begin and end with Douglas Sirk, you see. If nothing else, this was the year of the great melodrama director. His name popped up all over the place in film conversations, in retrospectives, in essays, and his films on television screens in the background of the most unrelated films (like 8 Mile). Sirkian tropes and homages were in the air. 8 Women was a comic primer for one way of looking at that world but with Far From Heaven, the renewed interest in melodrama and Sirkian emotionality reached its apotheosis.

The most infrequently understood yet most crucial to understand thing about Far From Heaven is that its replication of a bygone era is only the jumping off point for a film that is resolutely about the here and now. Among the film's many wonders is the extraordinary alchemies that Todd Haynes performs. While fashioning a replica and homage, he creates a thing beautifully his own. While hypnotically immersed in 50s minutiae, Far From Heaven offers a looking glass for the neo-conservative now. It's a film for the eyes, intellect, and heart. Like Moulin Rouge! which topped last year's list, Far From Heaven has gloriously resurrected and elevated a lost and potent genre.

Here's to all artists like Todd Haynes who when looking at the past find in it not rusty templates or stagnant by-the-book filmmaking, but timeless truth and the impetus to experiment artistically. Haynes dives into the past to show us the relevant present. His experiment pays its respect then moves divinely forward, like its heartbroken protagonist, into the uncertain future.

Far From Heaven is so familiar to me now, after multiple viewings, that it strangely feels a bit stiffer. It's like I didn't break it in so much as break it by obsessing on it so shamelessly and for so long. Still love it though. "I just adore it... that feeling it gives."


How was 2002 for you? They weren't mentioned in this article but some of the movies people really cared about that year were Adaptation, Bowling For Columbine, Minority Report, The Pianist, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Signs, About Schmidt, Road to Perdition, The Bourne Identity, 8 Mile and Gangs of New York. Which movies still mean the most to you? Which have you cooled on or forgotten all about?
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Birthday Suits, An Oscar For Ed!

Each day we're celebriting the birth of various cinematic persons. Can someone in Hollywood please give their Oscar to Ed Harris today? I mean, my god how long does he have to wait for that damn thing? The rest of today's Sagittarians are less easy to shop for. What could we give Jon Stewart, for example, that he doesn't already have?

Ed, Laura and Jon

1896 Lilia Skala, Oscar nominated actress (Lilies of the Field)
1923 Gloria Grahame, Oscar winner (The Bad the Beautiful)
933 Hope Lange, Oscar nominated actress (Peyton Place, The Young Lions, Death Wish)
1941 Laura Antonelli, Italian actress, sex symbol
1946 Joe Dante He'll always have Gremlins, such a great 80s picture.
1949 Alexander Godunov, like Baryshnikov, he was a Russian ballet star who defected to America and co-starred in movies. It didn't go quite as well. He never achieved anything close to Misha's level of fame though he made for a memorable screen presence (Witness, Die Hard), and dated other celebrities (memorably 70s sex symbol Jacqueline Bissett). He died at 45. Alcoholism done him in.
1950 Ed Harris golden winner-in-waiting, fab actor... If I had to pick a favorite performance I'd say The Truman Show. But then there's always The Right Stuff, A History of Violence... Pollock!

1959 Judd Nelson "what we found out is that each of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basketcase, a princess ...and a criminal. Does that answer your question?"
1960 Barry Alexander Brown, edits nearly every Spike Lee joint. He still hasn't been Oscar nominated.
1961 Alfonso Cuarón one of my fav' current directors (Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien)
1962 Jon Stewart former actor, the most trusted (and funniest) newsman alive
1975 Sunny Mabrey film/tv actress (Snakes on a Plan, Species III)
1979 Daniel Henney actor (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Three Rivers), Bean Pole model
1984 Mary Elizabeth Winstead, horror star (The Ring Two, Final Destination 3, Grindhouse). Next up: bigger stardom via "Ramona V. Flowers" in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
2004 Twin Spawn of JULIA aka Hazel & Phinnaeous Moder

Today is also the 252nd anniverary of the birth of poet/painter William Blake. His work, often questioning organized religion (though he was spiritual himself) influenced the writing of The Golden Compass. There are still more movie connections. Johnny Depp reads his verse and is named after him in Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. Blake's painting 'The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Sun' is the one that Ralph Fiennes was so hungry for in Red Dragon. Because in the movies, you see, all serial killers are well educated aesthetes who love classical music and art and not seemingly average blue collar men like they tend to be statistically in real life. It's just part of Hollywood's dependable anti-intellectualism. Beware the big brain! It wants to eat your liver with some fava be... (well, you know the rest)

"LINKTUMSEPRA!"

Vanity Fair that lengthy piece on Heath Ledger is now online in case you haven't read it

The Big Picture offers a pointed critique of the same

Cinema Blend I Love You Philip Morris trailer. Does this explain the distribution problems?
PopWatch Another photo of Jake Gyllenhaal from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. For the sake of Gyllenhaalics everywhe

re, I hope this movie opens big. His taste seems to run towards smaller dramas and a franchise on the side would help bolster those opportunities

Coming Soon a couple of set and prop pics from Clash of the Titans and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Nick's Flick Picks has been doing a series on 00s films that need a second look. Nick & Tim discuss Spike Lee's controversial Bamboozled
/Film a third lawsuit for The Lord of the Rings. Will The Hobbit actually happen? Speaking of... worst idea ever: Harry Potter as Bilbo Baggins. I'm convinced that that particular casting rumor is only breathless fangasm and entirely removed from reality. Peter Jackson isn't dumb.
Antagony & Ecstasy offers up a great review/defense of (500) Days of Summer

One thing I've never mentioned here: I absolutely love the snide snail's

pace of Alan Rickman's line readings. He's a joy.

Potter Everywhere

i09 "Harry Potter and the Half-Hearted Ending"

Towleroad a few words from me... though you've heard my take on the vodcast
YouTube Harry/Voldemort rap battle. Kinda funny in concept. Less so in execution. I mean, a full 90 seconds before the rapping actually start? Er...

MTV Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has his eyes on being a musician?
The franchise's new hunk Cormac McLaggen? He's played by Freddie Stroma who already has breathless fangirls and gayboys going weak at the knee which is all well and good since Hermione wasn't the slightest bit interested. For those who love beefcake, these underwear ads featuring the actor have been making the rounds (NSFW). Hey, a man's gotta make a living before that role in a billion dollar franchise lands in his lap.

Lazy Eye Theater shares a personal response to the growing Harry Potter franchise but his defense of the movie reads to me like an ode to the strengths of television series, not cinema. Since the majority of moviegoers seem to only care about franchises, does this mean they'd rather be watching TV but just like the bigger screens?
Bad Manors Squirrel Diner Harry Potter hovers, Have you ever seen this live stream? It's so silly. Each day new objects for squirrels to interact with as they eat. (Today it's hula girls).

Do The Right Thing, 20th Anniversary

Today is the 20th Anniversary of Spike Lee's classic joint Do The Right Thing. There are a few retrospective interviews about the landmark film over at The Root. I'd include them here for you but their embed code leaves much to be desired.

I had no idea that Barack & Michelle Obama saw this on their first date together. But they apparently don't talk about that much. The movie was a hot potato back then and apparently still gives some people hot flashes today. But it's quite good. Have you seen it? I wonder if it would have made Oscar's shortlist if they had had 10 Best Picture nominees that year.

Maybe not. They didn't even nominate Malcolm X in 1992 and that's right in the Academy zone (epic biopic spanning the life of very famous individual who dies tragically). The nominees deemed better than Do The Right Thing for 1989 were:

• Born on the 4th of July
• Dead Poet's Society
  
• Driving Miss Daisy
• Field of Dreams
• My Left Foot

Ouch. But I'm not big on the 1989 Oscars in general. They weren't kind to The Fabulous Baker Boys or sex, lies and videotape or Heathers. In short: Oscar was feeling old and creaky that year. They were drunk on geritol and had no time for fresh unruly voices and plenty of love for sentiment and nostalgia.

Still, I remember being shocked -- SHOCKED -- that Kim Basinger, whom I'd never thought of as a tastemaker per se, spoke out against AMPAS for excluding it in the Best Picture race... and she did so on the actual Oscar broadcast. She did so while wearing a dress she might have borrowed from Wendy & Lisa. Well, she was all up in Prince's grill in the early 90s, don'cha know.
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Tuesday Top Ten: New Academy Members

for the list maker in me and the list lover in you

The Oscars used to hide their membership roster like they hide the final vote tallies. But for the past few years they've been letting us know who they've invited into their 6000 wide flock. They're trying to keep their numbers stable so we figure they're only passing out as many invites as people who die. It's too much to hope that they're jettisoning members who voted for A Beautiful Mind or Driving Miss Daisy. Of course even knowing who they've invited doesn't tell enough of the story since we don't know who is already in... and thus who is still snubbed. You can see the full list here but I'm sharing my choices for their most interesting choices.

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10 David Benioff (Writer) -Mr. Amanda Peet is a perfect example to me of how hard it is to judge talent in Hollywood, film being a collaborative enterprise. Answer me this: How do you write something as nuanced, intelligent and amazing as 25th Hour and then churn out something like his desecration of The Iliad with the über dumb Troy and then do The Kite Runner? I can't figure him out. Is everyone in Hollywood this hot and cold? And if so is that why the Oscars are so uneven in their discernment capabilities?

09 Allison Janney (Actor) Everyone loves Janney and I assume this invitation is at least partially due to the afterglow of Juno (Ellen Page, curiously, was not invited though Janney, Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman all were) but she's more of a TV star than anything. I include her because I think this choice is probably representative of how incestuous the film and TV academies have really become.

08 Kimberly Peirce (Director) This was a wise choice since she'll have plenty of time to watch all the movies each year since she never makes any. I kid, I kid... But seriously the Boys Don't Cry / Stop-Loss auteur has only two film credits. How ever does she pay her rent? Untitled 3rd Kimberly Peirce Project: coming to theaters near you in 2016!

07 Jet Li (Actor) I like Jet Li well enough but this made me scratch my head a bit. That said I applaud their obvious desire to get more international and racially diverse these past few years.

06 Barry Alexander Brown (Editor) He was Oscar-nominated once nearly 30 years ago in the documentary category. Inbetween then and now he's done great editing work on films as diverse as Salaam Bombay!, Madonna's Truth or Dare and several Spike Lee films including his three best films (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and 25th Hour) . So why invite him now... and not many moons ago? Could this be a precursor to more Oscar attention for Spike Lee joints?

05 Peyton Reed (Director) I've been pulling for him ever since falling in love with Bring it On, his first picture. He hasn't made a picture as good since but I still hope he will. It's an interesting choice since he works almost exclusively in very mainstream comedies which is the last place Oscar looks for people worth nominating.

04 Dylan Tichenor (Editor) I just love him is all. You should too. He's only been the lead editor on nine films but most of them have amazing rhythms and play just ever so smoothly: Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Brokeback Mountain and The Royal Tenenbaums... What a filmography.

03 Ray Winstone (Actor) Most cinephiles will be enthused about this choice. He's made valuable contributions to ensemble films (The Departed) solid popcorn fun (Beowulf... all CGI slimmed-down) and memorable indies (Sexy Beast). Good choice Academy.

02 Jack Fisk (Art Director) Color me astonished that Mr. Sissy Spacek and favored production designer of both David Lynch and Terence Malick and the Art Director nominee that should have won last year (for There Will Be Blood) is not already a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.


01 Michael Haneke (Director) I have a new obsession: trying to figure out what they were thinking when they decided to invite Michael f***ing Haneke (Caché, The Piano Teacher, Funny Games). He's a genius BUT I can't think of a working auteur more anti-Oscar than he. Can you? He likes to punish audiences rather than coddle them (a big Oscar no-no) and that's just for starters. After I get bored of this new obsession of wondering why they invited him, my next obsession will be enduring. I know myself well enough to know that I will spend hours each and every year moving forward, imagining what his Oscar ballot could possibly look like. My brain will hurt. Give 'em hell, Haneke.
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Another Bio For Spike Lee

That big box office take for the super fun Inside Man (2006) sure does seem to have rejuvenated interest or opportunities in Spike Lee's career. Buzz is strong, as we've discussed, on Miracle at St. Anna and his next project is going to be the adaptation of a memoir, i.e. a biopic. It's called Time Traveler and it's about the scientist Ronald Mallett (pictured left) who was obsessed with building a time machine. Perhaps Oscar will be forced into loving Spike even if they ignore Miracle since the lure of 'Biopic With Juicy Lead Actor Role' trumps most other Oscar biases. Not all the time I know. Spike Lee's Malcolm X (2002) for instance only landed 2 Oscar nominations in its day (what was that about? Not even technical stuff?) and it's quite handsomely made.

I hope that Lee gives the lead role to someone who could really benefit from a breakout part --perhaps Chiwetel Ejiofor? Nothing against Cheadle or Denzel (who seem like the most likely headliners) but they get plenty of leads. I'd love to see Chiwetel in larger parts. And barring that, maybe Jeffrey Wright? He was so stellar in Angels in America but that didn't seem to change his supporting only status.

[warning: political rant]
P.S.ssst, I got this news from Coming Soon and you really must click over to read the comments. One of the commenters would like to see Spike Lee direct a movie that "empowers caucasions for once". Ha! Oh dear. White people (a group to which I belong) really don't get it. It's like when you hear Christians or anyone who voted for Bush constantly bemoaning their put-upon lives or the state of things. Wake up: YOU CONTROL EVERYTHING. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and enjoy the entitlement. And for god's sake, please stop whining. It's unbecoming. Is there anything more disheartening / confusing / frustrating than majority groups (christians, conservatives, heterosexuals, men, whatever) who constantly think that any attention paid or equal rights extended to someone else is somehow an affront to them? Where does this paranoia / lack of empathy come from? It's like the gay marriage thing. How the hell does that affect Mr. and Mrs. Whomever? Shut up! Sorry. It pisses me off. But I guess I'm lucky. I have the white privilege but I'm also gay and that's been a blessing. It saved me from being clueless about hierarchies of power, privilege, discrimination and so much else. [/rant]

Short Reviews: Art School Confidential, Inside Man, Freedomland and Akeelah

Oh, it's been ages since I was "reviewing" dear readers but I'm getting back to it. Some short pieces on things I haven't gotten around to yet.

Akeelah and the Bee
Spellbound, that endearing spelling bee documentary from a few years back seems to have created a whole mini-wave of enthusiasm for this uniquely geeky competitive sport. There's been a Broadway musical, Bee Season, and now this charming if formulaic ode to to the bee. What makes Akeelah work despite its derivative nature is that its a genuinely warm movie. Nobody is breaking any new ground therein including the actors --I doubt this is what anyone expected when they prayed for Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne to work together again --but one senses that the sentimentality of the filmmaking is coming from a place of utter conviction rather than lathered on cynically to bait audiences into loving the film. It's still shamelessly sentimental but it's sweet. Keke Palmer, who plays the title character with natural grace, is a find.
B-


Art School Confidential
I did not attend an art school but I was a design major in college. I was smiling near the beginning of this new film from the Ghost World team as the various art 'types' were trotted out. I suspect though that these very broad targets for satire don't need the audience to have a working knowledge of this world. The targets are too broad really. It's a little hard to laugh when you can see a joke coming a mile away. Especially when the punch lines don't twist the joke you saw from a distance. I suppose I'd also hoped to see more visual wit in the filmmaking since that would have been fitting for a comedy about the arts. The chief pleasure (and also a source of disappointment) in Art School Confidential is waiting around for the more seasoned actors to do their thing. John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, and Angelica Huston as the professors are all great at what they do but they aren't given terribly much screen time in which to do it.
C-

Freedomland
This drama about racial tension erupting in the projects when a white child goes missing is in trouble from the very first frames. It starts off so loud and agitated that you start suspecting the reels were put in the projector in the wrong order. By the time the film quiets down and the story begins you've already got a headache. This technique ("start with a bang!") generally works well with action films but it's very problematic for what wants to be a wrenching psychological drama. Or is that really what this film wants to be? Freedomland is truly all over the place in tone and narrative. There's at least four movies in it fighting for dominance. All that's left is to watch the actors try to make sense of it. Samuel L Jackson phones it in. Edie Falco manages against all odds to eke out an interesting character. And Julianne... Oh, Julianne.

I've tried pleading with her directly but it's time to get her friends, husband, agents, and management involved. Do not even hand this woman a script involving a missing or dead child! Yes, she's good at this stuff and obviously drawn to fictional women with these issues but she's worked this terrain so many times now she's fast approaching self parody. That would be a sorry fate for one of the great screen actresses.
D+

Inside Man
Though he's an acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee also has a reputation for being highly uneven in execution. If the pleasures of Inside Man are any indication a director-for-hire gig now and then is just what he needs to rejuvenate his auteurial mojo. This bank robbery picture strikes me as one of those films that might not stand up to intense plot scrutiny but, as with any heist picture (or any other relative of the adventure genre), what matters is the fun you're having as an audience member. Fun is something that Inside Man provides in generous helpings.

Everything within Inside Man seems shot through with adrenaline. Take for instance the score. Terence Blanchard did terrific work with Spike before on 25th Hour (top ten in 2002) and this time there's an inspired addition of a Bollywood song to kick things off. It's not surprising to see multicultural elements in a Spike Lee joint but it's a pleasure to see them woven in to the film and narrative with wit and without much fuss as they are throughout this picture. The writing too is quick witted. The plot is complex and peculiar enough to keep you riveted for what amounts to an overextended running time.

Most importantly the performances are bliss. It's almost always annoying when actors speak directly to the camera but Clive Owen does it superbly. He plays this thief with such charismatic 'you love me. you hate me. you love to hate me' confidence that his scenes called to mind the 'razzle dazzle' con that the musical Chicago warns you about. It's also a kick to see Jodie Foster sprung from her woman-trapped-in-small spaces thriller phase and gleefully intoxicating to see her try and fail at something she's not suited for. (Hey, I'll take the often missing Jodie wherever I can get her these days). But in the end Inside Man is all about watching Denzel Washington having a ball. This actor sometimes gets bogged down in overly earnest characterizations. This is his most satisfying and lively star turn since the one that won him his second Oscar in Training Day (2001).
B+