This review was written for the theatrical release of "Illegal Tender".A considerable improvement over his messy 2002 gangster drama, "Empire", Franc. Reyes' "Illegal Tender" is quite an entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus.
It may be another mob-related movie, but this one is better focused, storytelling-wise, with a more plausible plot twist and far fewer caricatures than last time out.
Although writer-director Reyes still has a weakness for melodrama, De Jesus, playing a fiercely protective mother raising her two sons in an affluent New England neighborhood when her late husband's drug-dealing past catches up with them, holds those impulses in check through sheer conviction.
The result is a late-summer crowd rouser that could generate a respectable chunk of legal tender from its young, Hispanic-targeted demographic.
After a brief, situation-setting flashback, the action moves 21 years ahead to an upscale Connecticut suburb where De Jesus' Millie DeLeon lives with her two sons: college-age Wilson (Rick Gonzalez) and his much younger half-brother, Randy (Antonio Ortiz).
Wilson's still at that age where his single mom can do no right, especially where her choice in boyfriends in concerned, but he's also getting tired of her abruptly pulling up stakes with little warning and heading for a fresh start in a brand new city.
Millie is set to bolt again after a chance grocery store run-in with a woman from her past, only this time Wilson wants an explanation before he agrees to flee.
Millie tells him what we already know from the prelude -- that his father, Wilson Sr. (Manny Perez), was a New York drug dealer who was gunned down by his double-crossing associates.
Whatever bad blood there was between Wilson Sr. and the mob has extended to his widow, who has been outrunning and/or outgunning would-be assassins ever since.
This time, however, Millie doesn't have to go it alone, as Wilson Jr. takes up the cause, going mano a mano with the kingpin ordering the hit, the powerful Puerto Rican nightclub owner Choco (Tego Calderon).
By keeping the mother-son loyalty element at the forefront, Reyes is able to pile on all the obligatory gangster bling while holding audience involvement right until the final (gun)shot.
He's also done a good job of flipping around -- or at least toning down -- some of the stereotypes that weighed down "Empire".
But at the end of the day, what makes "Illegal Tender" a particularly lively ride is De Jesus, who, knowing she's been handed one of those flashy roles that only comes around once so often, grabs it by the horns and charges out with guns blazing. She never loses sight of those maternal underpinnings that lend her character a refreshingly fuller dimension.
Following her lead, Gonzalez ("Coach Carter") brings a youthful righteousness to the part of the headstrong son. Musician Calderon effectively underplays the resident heavy.
Production values for the John Singleton-produced film, shot in New York and Puerto Rico, are all on the money, though Heitor Pereira demonstrates an itchy trigger finger in a score that greets every tense moment with an unnecessary amount of sound and fury.
ILLEGAL TENDER
Universal
Universal Pictures and New Deal Entertainment present a John Singleton production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Franc. Reyes
Producer: John Singleton
Executive producers: Dwight Williams, Preston L. Holmes
Director of photography: Frank Byers
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Heitor Pereira
Costume designer: Rahimah Yoba
Editor: Tony Ciccone
Cast:
Wilson DeLeon Jr.: Rick Gonzalez
Millie DeLeon: Wanda De Jesus
Ana: Dania Ramirez
Wilson DeLeon Sr.: Manny Perez
Randy: Antonio Ortiz
Young Millie: Jessica Pimentel
Choco: Tego Calderon
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
It may be another mob-related movie, but this one is better focused, storytelling-wise, with a more plausible plot twist and far fewer caricatures than last time out.
Although writer-director Reyes still has a weakness for melodrama, De Jesus, playing a fiercely protective mother raising her two sons in an affluent New England neighborhood when her late husband's drug-dealing past catches up with them, holds those impulses in check through sheer conviction.
The result is a late-summer crowd rouser that could generate a respectable chunk of legal tender from its young, Hispanic-targeted demographic.
After a brief, situation-setting flashback, the action moves 21 years ahead to an upscale Connecticut suburb where De Jesus' Millie DeLeon lives with her two sons: college-age Wilson (Rick Gonzalez) and his much younger half-brother, Randy (Antonio Ortiz).
Wilson's still at that age where his single mom can do no right, especially where her choice in boyfriends in concerned, but he's also getting tired of her abruptly pulling up stakes with little warning and heading for a fresh start in a brand new city.
Millie is set to bolt again after a chance grocery store run-in with a woman from her past, only this time Wilson wants an explanation before he agrees to flee.
Millie tells him what we already know from the prelude -- that his father, Wilson Sr. (Manny Perez), was a New York drug dealer who was gunned down by his double-crossing associates.
Whatever bad blood there was between Wilson Sr. and the mob has extended to his widow, who has been outrunning and/or outgunning would-be assassins ever since.
This time, however, Millie doesn't have to go it alone, as Wilson Jr. takes up the cause, going mano a mano with the kingpin ordering the hit, the powerful Puerto Rican nightclub owner Choco (Tego Calderon).
By keeping the mother-son loyalty element at the forefront, Reyes is able to pile on all the obligatory gangster bling while holding audience involvement right until the final (gun)shot.
He's also done a good job of flipping around -- or at least toning down -- some of the stereotypes that weighed down "Empire".
But at the end of the day, what makes "Illegal Tender" a particularly lively ride is De Jesus, who, knowing she's been handed one of those flashy roles that only comes around once so often, grabs it by the horns and charges out with guns blazing. She never loses sight of those maternal underpinnings that lend her character a refreshingly fuller dimension.
Following her lead, Gonzalez ("Coach Carter") brings a youthful righteousness to the part of the headstrong son. Musician Calderon effectively underplays the resident heavy.
Production values for the John Singleton-produced film, shot in New York and Puerto Rico, are all on the money, though Heitor Pereira demonstrates an itchy trigger finger in a score that greets every tense moment with an unnecessary amount of sound and fury.
ILLEGAL TENDER
Universal
Universal Pictures and New Deal Entertainment present a John Singleton production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Franc. Reyes
Producer: John Singleton
Executive producers: Dwight Williams, Preston L. Holmes
Director of photography: Frank Byers
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Heitor Pereira
Costume designer: Rahimah Yoba
Editor: Tony Ciccone
Cast:
Wilson DeLeon Jr.: Rick Gonzalez
Millie DeLeon: Wanda De Jesus
Ana: Dania Ramirez
Wilson DeLeon Sr.: Manny Perez
Randy: Antonio Ortiz
Young Millie: Jessica Pimentel
Choco: Tego Calderon
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/24/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A considerable improvement over his messy 2002 gangster drama, Empire, Franc. Reyes' Illegal Tender is quite an entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus.
It may be another mob-related movie, but this one is better focused, storytelling-wise, with a more plausible plot twist and far fewer caricatures than last time out.
Although writer-director Reyes still has a weakness for melodrama, De Jesus, playing a fiercely protective mother raising her two sons in an affluent New England neighborhood when her late husband's drug-dealing past catches up with them, holds those impulses in check through sheer conviction.
The result is a late-summer crowd rouser that could generate a respectable chunk of legal tender from its young, Hispanic-targeted demographic.
After a brief, situation-setting flashback, the action moves 21 years ahead to an upscale Connecticut suburb where De Jesus' Millie DeLeon lives with her two sons: college-age Wilson (Rick Gonzalez) and his much younger half-brother, Randy (Antonio Ortiz).
Wilson's still at that age where his single mom can do no right, especially where her choice in boyfriends in concerned, but he's also getting tired of her abruptly pulling up stakes with little warning and heading for a fresh start in a brand new city.
Millie is set to bolt again after a chance grocery store run-in with a woman from her past, only this time Wilson wants an explanation before he agrees to flee.
Millie tells him what we already know from the prelude -- that his father, Wilson Sr. (Manny Perez), was a New York drug dealer who was gunned down by his double-crossing associates.
Whatever bad blood there was between Wilson Sr. and the mob has extended to his widow, who has been outrunning and/or outgunning would-be assassins ever since.
This time, however, Millie doesn't have to go it alone, as Wilson Jr. takes up the cause, going mano a mano with the kingpin ordering the hit, the powerful Puerto Rican nightclub owner Choco (Tego Calderon).
By keeping the mother-son loyalty element at the forefront, Reyes is able to pile on all the obligatory gangster bling while holding audience involvement right until the final (gun)shot.
He's also done a good job of flipping around -- or at least toning down -- some of the stereotypes that weighed down Empire.
But at the end of the day, what makes Illegal Tender a particularly lively ride is De Jesus, who, knowing she's been handed one of those flashy roles that only comes around once so often, grabs it by the horns and charges out with guns blazing. She never loses sight of those maternal underpinnings that lend her character a refreshingly fuller dimension.
Following her lead, Gonzalez (Coach Carter) brings a youthful righteousness to the part of the headstrong son. Musician Calderon effectively underplays the resident heavy.
Production values for the John Singleton-produced film, shot in New York and Puerto Rico, are all on the money, though Heitor Pereira demonstrates an itchy trigger finger in a score that greets every tense moment with an unnecessary amount of sound and fury.
ILLEGAL TENDER
Universal
Universal Pictures and New Deal Entertainment present a John Singleton production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Franc. Reyes
Producer: John Singleton
Executive producers: Dwight Williams, Preston L. Holmes
Director of photography: Frank Byers
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Heitor Pereira
Costume designer: Rahimah Yoba
Editor: Tony Ciccone
Cast:
Wilson DeLeon Jr.: Rick Gonzalez
Millie DeLeon: Wanda De Jesus
Ana: Dania Ramirez
Wilson DeLeon Sr.: Manny Perez
Randy: Antonio Ortiz
Young Millie: Jessica Pimentel
Choco: Tego Calderon
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
It may be another mob-related movie, but this one is better focused, storytelling-wise, with a more plausible plot twist and far fewer caricatures than last time out.
Although writer-director Reyes still has a weakness for melodrama, De Jesus, playing a fiercely protective mother raising her two sons in an affluent New England neighborhood when her late husband's drug-dealing past catches up with them, holds those impulses in check through sheer conviction.
The result is a late-summer crowd rouser that could generate a respectable chunk of legal tender from its young, Hispanic-targeted demographic.
After a brief, situation-setting flashback, the action moves 21 years ahead to an upscale Connecticut suburb where De Jesus' Millie DeLeon lives with her two sons: college-age Wilson (Rick Gonzalez) and his much younger half-brother, Randy (Antonio Ortiz).
Wilson's still at that age where his single mom can do no right, especially where her choice in boyfriends in concerned, but he's also getting tired of her abruptly pulling up stakes with little warning and heading for a fresh start in a brand new city.
Millie is set to bolt again after a chance grocery store run-in with a woman from her past, only this time Wilson wants an explanation before he agrees to flee.
Millie tells him what we already know from the prelude -- that his father, Wilson Sr. (Manny Perez), was a New York drug dealer who was gunned down by his double-crossing associates.
Whatever bad blood there was between Wilson Sr. and the mob has extended to his widow, who has been outrunning and/or outgunning would-be assassins ever since.
This time, however, Millie doesn't have to go it alone, as Wilson Jr. takes up the cause, going mano a mano with the kingpin ordering the hit, the powerful Puerto Rican nightclub owner Choco (Tego Calderon).
By keeping the mother-son loyalty element at the forefront, Reyes is able to pile on all the obligatory gangster bling while holding audience involvement right until the final (gun)shot.
He's also done a good job of flipping around -- or at least toning down -- some of the stereotypes that weighed down Empire.
But at the end of the day, what makes Illegal Tender a particularly lively ride is De Jesus, who, knowing she's been handed one of those flashy roles that only comes around once so often, grabs it by the horns and charges out with guns blazing. She never loses sight of those maternal underpinnings that lend her character a refreshingly fuller dimension.
Following her lead, Gonzalez (Coach Carter) brings a youthful righteousness to the part of the headstrong son. Musician Calderon effectively underplays the resident heavy.
Production values for the John Singleton-produced film, shot in New York and Puerto Rico, are all on the money, though Heitor Pereira demonstrates an itchy trigger finger in a score that greets every tense moment with an unnecessary amount of sound and fury.
ILLEGAL TENDER
Universal
Universal Pictures and New Deal Entertainment present a John Singleton production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Franc. Reyes
Producer: John Singleton
Executive producers: Dwight Williams, Preston L. Holmes
Director of photography: Frank Byers
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Heitor Pereira
Costume designer: Rahimah Yoba
Editor: Tony Ciccone
Cast:
Wilson DeLeon Jr.: Rick Gonzalez
Millie DeLeon: Wanda De Jesus
Ana: Dania Ramirez
Wilson DeLeon Sr.: Manny Perez
Randy: Antonio Ortiz
Young Millie: Jessica Pimentel
Choco: Tego Calderon
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Black Snake Moan".PARK CITY -- She's a backwoods nymphomaniac, and he's a Southern-fried cuckold, and together they make one very odd couple in "Black Snake Moan". This ludicrous Southern melodrama with over-the-top performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake is so convinced of its own righteousness that it almost makes a damn good comedy. Certainly the image of Ricci wearing panties and a peek-a-boo top getting dragged around by Jackson tugging on a chain wrapped around her tiny waist is one any publisher of '50s dime novels would have loved for a book cover if only he dared.
Screenwriter-director Craig Brewer likes to make films about how music can heal people, and he got away with some pretty ludicrous fantasies about pimps and whores in his last film, "Hustle & Flow," thanks to the music and winning performances. The blues music in "Moan" is superfine, but my oh my, what to make of the ripe Southern cliches and this absurd story. The film is so jaw-dropping awful that it just might become a boxoffice hit. The cast certainly is a plus as long as no one minds that Jackson sings and Timberlake doesn't.
Ricci plays Rae, the tramp of a Southern town who has somehow snared an understanding guy in Ronnie (Timberlake). But when he ships off to boot camp despite her protests, she reverts to form in about five minutes. She gives herself to a local criminal, swallows heroic amounts of booze and drugs, plays football in the rain wearing only panties and shoulder pads, gets raped while smashed and is finally beaten and left for dead on a country road by Ronnie's best friend.
She is discovered, unconscious and bleeding, by Lazarus Jackson), a man who once played the blues but is now living them, his wife having just walked out on him to shack up with his brother. Don't you just love the Old South?
Anyway, Lazarus takes it in his head to cure this woman of her wickedness. Oh yes, he does, praise the Lord. He chains that woman to a rusty old radiator, where he means to drive the devil out of her by quoting scripture.
Seems she gets these spells that start in her head and work their way down to her crotch. When she goes into heat like this, only intercourse with the nearest male can relieve her suffering. But Lazarus recognizes this infirmity to be not wantonness but child abuse and lost love. Dr. Phil, watch out!
He drags into this dicey situation a preacher (John Cothran) and then an innocent Boy David Banner). Rae screws the innocent boy, but she does listen a mite to the preacher. Then Lazarus unchains her and takes her to a juke joint, where his blues-playing has her dancin' and rubbin' against men and women. But she really is better now and realizes all she wants is Ronnie.
What's this? Ronnie is back in town! Seems he has anxiety attacks all the time, so the Army sent him home. But when he finds his gal singing the blues with old Lazarus in his farmhouse, Ronnie pulls a gun. Good thing he never saw those chains.
Brewer throws in a forgettable subplot involving Lazarus' growing affection for a local pharmacist S. Epatha Merkerson), but this is weak tea compared to the main story's moonshine. There is a good fight scene, though, between Rae and her white-trash mother (Kim Richards).
Even this synopsis can't capture the overheated writing, acting and imagery. This is a world in which everyone solves their immediate problems with sex or violence -- or violent sex. It's a movie in which the leads shamelessly overplay the melodrama. And it has a director who fails to put his faith solely in the music he claims to adore. When Jackson gets around to singing the title song, for instance, he does so in his farmhouse one night as lightning and thunder crash all around him outside as if God were playing backup.
Cinematographer Amelia Vincent, in her second collaboration with Brewer and third with Jackson, makes Keith Brian Burns' interior sets burn with the fever of sin and redemption while the countryside and backwater town feel bucolic and ominous. And those costumes by Paul A. Simmons surely do belong on that dime novel cover.
BLACK SNAKE MOAN
Paramount Vantage
New Deal Prods./Southern Cross the Dog Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Craig Brewer
Producer: John Singleton, Stephanie Allain
Director of photography: Amelia Vincent
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Scott Bomar
Costume designer: Paul A. Simmons
Editor: Billy Cox
Cast:
Lazarus: Samuel L. Jackson
Rae: Christina Ricci
Ronnie: Justin Timberlake
Angela: S. Epatha Merkerson
Preacher R.L.: John Cothran
Gil: Michael Raymond-James
Sandy: Kim Richards
Tehronne: David Banner
Running time -- 115 minutes...
Screenwriter-director Craig Brewer likes to make films about how music can heal people, and he got away with some pretty ludicrous fantasies about pimps and whores in his last film, "Hustle & Flow," thanks to the music and winning performances. The blues music in "Moan" is superfine, but my oh my, what to make of the ripe Southern cliches and this absurd story. The film is so jaw-dropping awful that it just might become a boxoffice hit. The cast certainly is a plus as long as no one minds that Jackson sings and Timberlake doesn't.
Ricci plays Rae, the tramp of a Southern town who has somehow snared an understanding guy in Ronnie (Timberlake). But when he ships off to boot camp despite her protests, she reverts to form in about five minutes. She gives herself to a local criminal, swallows heroic amounts of booze and drugs, plays football in the rain wearing only panties and shoulder pads, gets raped while smashed and is finally beaten and left for dead on a country road by Ronnie's best friend.
She is discovered, unconscious and bleeding, by Lazarus Jackson), a man who once played the blues but is now living them, his wife having just walked out on him to shack up with his brother. Don't you just love the Old South?
Anyway, Lazarus takes it in his head to cure this woman of her wickedness. Oh yes, he does, praise the Lord. He chains that woman to a rusty old radiator, where he means to drive the devil out of her by quoting scripture.
Seems she gets these spells that start in her head and work their way down to her crotch. When she goes into heat like this, only intercourse with the nearest male can relieve her suffering. But Lazarus recognizes this infirmity to be not wantonness but child abuse and lost love. Dr. Phil, watch out!
He drags into this dicey situation a preacher (John Cothran) and then an innocent Boy David Banner). Rae screws the innocent boy, but she does listen a mite to the preacher. Then Lazarus unchains her and takes her to a juke joint, where his blues-playing has her dancin' and rubbin' against men and women. But she really is better now and realizes all she wants is Ronnie.
What's this? Ronnie is back in town! Seems he has anxiety attacks all the time, so the Army sent him home. But when he finds his gal singing the blues with old Lazarus in his farmhouse, Ronnie pulls a gun. Good thing he never saw those chains.
Brewer throws in a forgettable subplot involving Lazarus' growing affection for a local pharmacist S. Epatha Merkerson), but this is weak tea compared to the main story's moonshine. There is a good fight scene, though, between Rae and her white-trash mother (Kim Richards).
Even this synopsis can't capture the overheated writing, acting and imagery. This is a world in which everyone solves their immediate problems with sex or violence -- or violent sex. It's a movie in which the leads shamelessly overplay the melodrama. And it has a director who fails to put his faith solely in the music he claims to adore. When Jackson gets around to singing the title song, for instance, he does so in his farmhouse one night as lightning and thunder crash all around him outside as if God were playing backup.
Cinematographer Amelia Vincent, in her second collaboration with Brewer and third with Jackson, makes Keith Brian Burns' interior sets burn with the fever of sin and redemption while the countryside and backwater town feel bucolic and ominous. And those costumes by Paul A. Simmons surely do belong on that dime novel cover.
BLACK SNAKE MOAN
Paramount Vantage
New Deal Prods./Southern Cross the Dog Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Craig Brewer
Producer: John Singleton, Stephanie Allain
Director of photography: Amelia Vincent
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Scott Bomar
Costume designer: Paul A. Simmons
Editor: Billy Cox
Cast:
Lazarus: Samuel L. Jackson
Rae: Christina Ricci
Ronnie: Justin Timberlake
Angela: S. Epatha Merkerson
Preacher R.L.: John Cothran
Gil: Michael Raymond-James
Sandy: Kim Richards
Tehronne: David Banner
Running time -- 115 minutes...
- 1/29/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- She's a backwoods nymphomaniac, and he's a Southern-fried cuckold, and together they make one very odd couple in "Black Snake Moan". This ludicrous Southern melodrama with over-the-top performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake is so convinced of its own righteousness that it almost makes a damn good comedy. Certainly the image of Ricci wearing panties and a peek-a-boo top getting dragged around by Jackson tugging on a chain wrapped around her tiny waist is one any publisher of '50s dime novels would have loved for a book cover if only he dared.
Screenwriter-director Craig Brewer likes to make films about how music can heal people, and he got away with some pretty ludicrous fantasies about pimps and whores in his last film, "Hustle & Flow," thanks to the music and winning performances. The blues music in "Moan" is superfine, but my oh my, what to make of the ripe Southern cliches and this absurd story. The film is so jaw-dropping awful that it just might become a boxoffice hit. The cast certainly is a plus as long as no one minds that Jackson sings and Timberlake doesn't.
Ricci plays Rae, the tramp of a Southern town who has somehow snared an understanding guy in Ronnie (Timberlake). But when he ships off to boot camp despite her protests, she reverts to form in about five minutes. She gives herself to a local criminal, swallows heroic amounts of booze and drugs, plays football in the rain wearing only panties and shoulder pads, gets raped while smashed and is finally beaten and left for dead on a country road by Ronnie's best friend.
She is discovered, unconscious and bleeding, by Lazarus Jackson), a man who once played the blues but is now living them, his wife having just walked out on him to shack up with his brother. Don't you just love the Old South?
Anyway, Lazarus takes it in his head to cure this woman of her wickedness. Oh yes, he does, praise the Lord. He chains that woman to a rusty old radiator, where he means to drive the devil out of her by quoting scripture.
Seems she gets these spells that start in her head and work their way down to her crotch. When she goes into heat like this, only intercourse with the nearest male can relieve her suffering. But Lazarus recognizes this infirmity to be not wantonness but child abuse and lost love. Dr. Phil, watch out!
He drags into this dicey situation a preacher (John Cothran) and then an innocent boy (David Banner). Rae screws the innocent boy, but she does listen a mite to the preacher. Then Lazarus unchains her and takes her to a juke joint, where his blues-playing has her dancin' and rubbin' against men and women. But she really is better now and realizes all she wants is Ronnie.
What's this? Ronnie is back in town! Seems he has anxiety attacks all the time, so the Army sent him home. But when he finds his gal singing the blues with old Lazarus in his farmhouse, Ronnie pulls a gun. Good thing he never saw those chains.
Brewer throws in a forgettable subplot involving Lazarus' growing affection for a local pharmacist S. Epatha Merkerson), but this is weak tea compared to the main story's moonshine. There is a good fight scene, though, between Rae and her white-trash mother (Kim Richards).
Even this synopsis can't capture the overheated writing, acting and imagery. This is a world in which everyone solves their immediate problems with sex or violence -- or violent sex. It's a movie in which the leads shamelessly overplay the melodrama. And it has a director who fails to put his faith solely in the music he claims to adore. When Jackson gets around to singing the title song, for instance, he does so in his farmhouse one night as lightning and thunder crash all around him outside as if God were playing backup.
Cinematographer Amelia Vincent, in her second collaboration with Brewer and third with Jackson, makes Keith Brian Burns' interior sets burn with the fever of sin and redemption while the countryside and backwater town feel bucolic and ominous. And those costumes by Paul A. Simmons surely do belong on that dime novel cover.
BLACK SNAKE MOAN
Paramount Vantage
New Deal Prods./Southern Cross the Dog Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Craig Brewer
Producer: John Singleton, Stephanie Allain
Director of photography: Amelia Vincent
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Scott Bomar
Costume designer: Paul A. Simmons
Editor: Billy Cox
Cast:
Lazarus: Samuel L. Jackson
Rae: Christina Ricci
Ronnie: Justin Timberlake
Angela: S. Epatha Merkerson
Preacher R.L.: John Cothran
Gil: Michael Raymond-James
Sandy: Kim Richards
Tehronne: David Banner
Running time -- 115 minutes...
Screenwriter-director Craig Brewer likes to make films about how music can heal people, and he got away with some pretty ludicrous fantasies about pimps and whores in his last film, "Hustle & Flow," thanks to the music and winning performances. The blues music in "Moan" is superfine, but my oh my, what to make of the ripe Southern cliches and this absurd story. The film is so jaw-dropping awful that it just might become a boxoffice hit. The cast certainly is a plus as long as no one minds that Jackson sings and Timberlake doesn't.
Ricci plays Rae, the tramp of a Southern town who has somehow snared an understanding guy in Ronnie (Timberlake). But when he ships off to boot camp despite her protests, she reverts to form in about five minutes. She gives herself to a local criminal, swallows heroic amounts of booze and drugs, plays football in the rain wearing only panties and shoulder pads, gets raped while smashed and is finally beaten and left for dead on a country road by Ronnie's best friend.
She is discovered, unconscious and bleeding, by Lazarus Jackson), a man who once played the blues but is now living them, his wife having just walked out on him to shack up with his brother. Don't you just love the Old South?
Anyway, Lazarus takes it in his head to cure this woman of her wickedness. Oh yes, he does, praise the Lord. He chains that woman to a rusty old radiator, where he means to drive the devil out of her by quoting scripture.
Seems she gets these spells that start in her head and work their way down to her crotch. When she goes into heat like this, only intercourse with the nearest male can relieve her suffering. But Lazarus recognizes this infirmity to be not wantonness but child abuse and lost love. Dr. Phil, watch out!
He drags into this dicey situation a preacher (John Cothran) and then an innocent boy (David Banner). Rae screws the innocent boy, but she does listen a mite to the preacher. Then Lazarus unchains her and takes her to a juke joint, where his blues-playing has her dancin' and rubbin' against men and women. But she really is better now and realizes all she wants is Ronnie.
What's this? Ronnie is back in town! Seems he has anxiety attacks all the time, so the Army sent him home. But when he finds his gal singing the blues with old Lazarus in his farmhouse, Ronnie pulls a gun. Good thing he never saw those chains.
Brewer throws in a forgettable subplot involving Lazarus' growing affection for a local pharmacist S. Epatha Merkerson), but this is weak tea compared to the main story's moonshine. There is a good fight scene, though, between Rae and her white-trash mother (Kim Richards).
Even this synopsis can't capture the overheated writing, acting and imagery. This is a world in which everyone solves their immediate problems with sex or violence -- or violent sex. It's a movie in which the leads shamelessly overplay the melodrama. And it has a director who fails to put his faith solely in the music he claims to adore. When Jackson gets around to singing the title song, for instance, he does so in his farmhouse one night as lightning and thunder crash all around him outside as if God were playing backup.
Cinematographer Amelia Vincent, in her second collaboration with Brewer and third with Jackson, makes Keith Brian Burns' interior sets burn with the fever of sin and redemption while the countryside and backwater town feel bucolic and ominous. And those costumes by Paul A. Simmons surely do belong on that dime novel cover.
BLACK SNAKE MOAN
Paramount Vantage
New Deal Prods./Southern Cross the Dog Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Craig Brewer
Producer: John Singleton, Stephanie Allain
Director of photography: Amelia Vincent
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: Scott Bomar
Costume designer: Paul A. Simmons
Editor: Billy Cox
Cast:
Lazarus: Samuel L. Jackson
Rae: Christina Ricci
Ronnie: Justin Timberlake
Angela: S. Epatha Merkerson
Preacher R.L.: John Cothran
Gil: Michael Raymond-James
Sandy: Kim Richards
Tehronne: David Banner
Running time -- 115 minutes...
- 1/29/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director John Singleton returns to crime-ridden inner-city streets in Four Brothers, a movie that is part murder mystery and part sociological wish fulfillment. The murder part involves a victim, an angelic older woman, who never met a dead-end kid she wouldn't take into her foster home to turn his life around. The wish fulfillment comes when her four "sons" set out to solve and avenge her murder: Two whites and two blacks, who think, speak and act as blood brothers, go up against Detroit gangsters and cops, where corruption knows no racial divide. A white cop may be bad, and a black gangster might turn out to be a brother.
How willing you are to buy into this multiethnic fantasy might depend on how engrossed you are in the fast action, furious gunfights and the street-hardened characters' unorthodox investigative techniques. The movie possesses energy and a bunch of savvy actors, so it is highly watchable. Yet its increasing implausibility, tipping over into sheer nonsense finally, is likely to mean mixed boxoffice results in markets outside of urban venues.
David Elliot & Paul Lovett's screenplay portrays Detroit as rougher and woollier than Dodge City in a Republic Studios Western. Bad guys and good roam the streets with an arsenal of weaponry. When gunplay breaks out, nary a police officer is in sight.
Indeed, you might not be able to tell them apart except for a helpful expository primer offered by police Lt. Green (Terrence Howard) to his partner, Detective Fowler (Josh Charles), at the burial service of Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan). She performed her last good deed on Earth moments before two convenience store robbers murdered her.
The Mercer brothers all show up: Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), a mercurial roughneck just out of stir; Angel Singleton regular Tyrese Gibson), looking to hook up with hot-blooded Sofi (Sofia Vergara); and the youngster Jack Garrett Hedlund), who thinks he's a rock star. The fourth brother, Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin), is the only one with a wife and kids, so he has ambitious business plans.
Green, who once played hockey with the Mercers, advises them to leave police work to the police, which prompts Bobby to sneer. Bobby galvanizes his brothers to kick in doors, knock heads and do whatever it takes to find out who killed Mom. A favorite interviewing technique is to splash gas and threaten to light a match.
The Mercers soon realize their mom's murder was a contract killing. Which brings them up against underworld ruler Victor Sweet (British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor with a thoroughly convincing street manner).
If you take any of this seriously, you are not going to enjoy the movie very much. But as an absurd riff on baadasssss gangsta movies, Four Brothers has an undeniable visceral kick. Here, justice is swift. Bad guy gets popped in moments -- though you realize that with the brothers' interrogation style, a good guy or at least a not-so-bad guy might get popped, too. There's that much room for error.
Actors appear to be having a fine time, which always helps. Wahlberg is a full-bore hothead, a guy comfortable with the notion that a bad temper can be a good thing. Gibson is a commanding presence, as he has been in Baby Boy and 2 Fast 2 Furious. Benjamin, as the one domesticated Mercer, gives his character an appealing complexity. Hedlund has an underwritten part but brings an infectious boyish vigor to the role.
Howard, getting rave reviews for "Hustle & Flow," gives a steadiness to this less flamboyant role until the script makes him do something incredibly foolish. Ejiofor is as thoroughly repellent and unrepentant a villain as you could ask for.
A car chase and a daylight gunbattle are brilliantly executed, both flashbacks to an era when action meant stunts and not CGI. Similarly, the soundtrack is old school, ranging from Jefferson Airplane to Motown classics.
Cinematographer Peter Menzies Jr. and designer Keith Brian Burns give wintertime Detroit an appropriately chilly, inhospitable look with a lot of grays and whites -- and the occasional splash of blood red.
FOUR BROTHERS
Paramount Pictures
A di Bonaventura Pictures production
Credits:
Director: John Singleton
Screenwriters: David Elliot & Paul Lovett
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Executive producers: Ric Kidney, Erik Howsam
Director of photography: Peter Menzies Jr.
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: David Arnold
Costumes: Ruth Carter
Editors: Bruce Cannon, Billy Fox
Cast:
Bobby: Mark Wahlberg
Angel: Tyrese Gibson
Jeremiah: Andre Benjamin
Jack: Garrett Hedlund
Lt. Green: Terrence Howard
Detective Fowler: Josh Charles
Sofi: Sofia Vergara
Evelyn Mercer: Fionnula Flanagan
Victor Sweet: Chiwetel Ejiofor
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 109 minutes...
How willing you are to buy into this multiethnic fantasy might depend on how engrossed you are in the fast action, furious gunfights and the street-hardened characters' unorthodox investigative techniques. The movie possesses energy and a bunch of savvy actors, so it is highly watchable. Yet its increasing implausibility, tipping over into sheer nonsense finally, is likely to mean mixed boxoffice results in markets outside of urban venues.
David Elliot & Paul Lovett's screenplay portrays Detroit as rougher and woollier than Dodge City in a Republic Studios Western. Bad guys and good roam the streets with an arsenal of weaponry. When gunplay breaks out, nary a police officer is in sight.
Indeed, you might not be able to tell them apart except for a helpful expository primer offered by police Lt. Green (Terrence Howard) to his partner, Detective Fowler (Josh Charles), at the burial service of Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan). She performed her last good deed on Earth moments before two convenience store robbers murdered her.
The Mercer brothers all show up: Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), a mercurial roughneck just out of stir; Angel Singleton regular Tyrese Gibson), looking to hook up with hot-blooded Sofi (Sofia Vergara); and the youngster Jack Garrett Hedlund), who thinks he's a rock star. The fourth brother, Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin), is the only one with a wife and kids, so he has ambitious business plans.
Green, who once played hockey with the Mercers, advises them to leave police work to the police, which prompts Bobby to sneer. Bobby galvanizes his brothers to kick in doors, knock heads and do whatever it takes to find out who killed Mom. A favorite interviewing technique is to splash gas and threaten to light a match.
The Mercers soon realize their mom's murder was a contract killing. Which brings them up against underworld ruler Victor Sweet (British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor with a thoroughly convincing street manner).
If you take any of this seriously, you are not going to enjoy the movie very much. But as an absurd riff on baadasssss gangsta movies, Four Brothers has an undeniable visceral kick. Here, justice is swift. Bad guy gets popped in moments -- though you realize that with the brothers' interrogation style, a good guy or at least a not-so-bad guy might get popped, too. There's that much room for error.
Actors appear to be having a fine time, which always helps. Wahlberg is a full-bore hothead, a guy comfortable with the notion that a bad temper can be a good thing. Gibson is a commanding presence, as he has been in Baby Boy and 2 Fast 2 Furious. Benjamin, as the one domesticated Mercer, gives his character an appealing complexity. Hedlund has an underwritten part but brings an infectious boyish vigor to the role.
Howard, getting rave reviews for "Hustle & Flow," gives a steadiness to this less flamboyant role until the script makes him do something incredibly foolish. Ejiofor is as thoroughly repellent and unrepentant a villain as you could ask for.
A car chase and a daylight gunbattle are brilliantly executed, both flashbacks to an era when action meant stunts and not CGI. Similarly, the soundtrack is old school, ranging from Jefferson Airplane to Motown classics.
Cinematographer Peter Menzies Jr. and designer Keith Brian Burns give wintertime Detroit an appropriately chilly, inhospitable look with a lot of grays and whites -- and the occasional splash of blood red.
FOUR BROTHERS
Paramount Pictures
A di Bonaventura Pictures production
Credits:
Director: John Singleton
Screenwriters: David Elliot & Paul Lovett
Producer: Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Executive producers: Ric Kidney, Erik Howsam
Director of photography: Peter Menzies Jr.
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: David Arnold
Costumes: Ruth Carter
Editors: Bruce Cannon, Billy Fox
Cast:
Bobby: Mark Wahlberg
Angel: Tyrese Gibson
Jeremiah: Andre Benjamin
Jack: Garrett Hedlund
Lt. Green: Terrence Howard
Detective Fowler: Josh Charles
Sofi: Sofia Vergara
Evelyn Mercer: Fionnula Flanagan
Victor Sweet: Chiwetel Ejiofor
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 109 minutes...
- 8/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- Producers John Singleton and Stephanie Allain put up their own dough and didn't kowtow to any studio input in getting "Hustle & Flow" off the ground. Smart -- now they've got a big deal and a winning, "Rocky"-style story. Most immediately, the film should wrap up the Audience Award here at Sundance and then flow to a big boxoffice hustle. The biggest marketing challenge will be to lure those who don't give a rip about rap.
This rap-world story, perhaps not surprisingly, is built on generic components, like rap itself. It's from the "There's-a-barn, let's-put-on-a-show" type of musical. In this savvy update, DJay (Terrence Howard) is distressed, fearing that he's becoming just another bum, in his case a low-level pimp. Dragging around in his beater with his ho, a plucky bottle-blonde (Taryn Manning), he rags on himself but doesn't do anything to change his world. Inspired by a chance meeting with a high school chum, Key (Anthony Anderson), who has kept to his dream by staying in music, DJay admits that he's only been talking the talk and needs to walk the walk.
DJay gets to writing rap lyrics, and things pop -- especially when Key brings in a scrawny white kid (DJ Qualls) whose beat machine is torqued by his blues/country knowledge. Operating out of an egg-carton-lined sound stage, the three hook and spark.
Fortifying the narrative with blues-'n'-barbecue slabs of Memphis, filmmaker Craig Brewer lays down a rousing story that crescendos naturally with its characters' transformations. While flavored with pimp-world drama -- crazy bitches and cruisers -- "Hustle & Flow" is, at heart, a sweet story of redemption as each guy battles deep personal hurdles to remain focused on the common goal: creating a demo tape for a big-time rapper DJay claims to know from the "old days." Quite remarkably, the creative process of creating the demo tape -- like the "Rocky" training montages -- charges the story; a wonderful exuberance struts naturally, both from the story and the sounds.
What's best about this "Hustle" is that screenwriter-director Brewer transcends his generic story, laying out his beat from each character's heart. We come to know their inner fears and demons, including those of some particularly well-drawn supporting characters.
Like its emotional antecedents, namely "On the Waterfront" and "Rocky", "Hustle & Flow" ends up with a big fight and the ultimate triumph, a personal one. This magic is in large part due to the talented cast, assembled for their abilities rather than what they might bring to the boxoffice. Longtime supporting player Howard shines in the spotlight with his gritty, inward performance as the rappin'/battlin' DJay. Anderson brims with conflict as a man torn between his love for his formidably proper wife (Elise Neal) and his creative dream. Spindly Qualls is powerful as the energized white rap man, and Paula Jai Parker is a force of nature as a mouthy stripper.
Indicative of this film's personal power, our biggest emotional gulps come from a very special supporting performance. As a pregnant street ho who loves DJay, Taraji P. Henson's rousing portrayal befits a tender soul.
Tech credits are rich, highlighted by composer Scott Bomar's raw sounds and musical supervisor Paul Stewart's tight selections.
HUSTLE & FLOW
Paramount
A New Deal Entertainment presentation of a Crunk Pictures Homegrown Pictures production
Cast:
Producers: John Singleton, Stephanie Allain
Screenwriter/director: Craig Brewer
Executive producer: Dwight Williams
Associate producer: Preston Holmes
Director of photography: Amelia Vincent
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Editor: Billy Fox
Music: Scott Bomar
Music supervisor: Paul Stewart
Costume designer: Paul Simmons
Casting: Kimberly R. Hardin
Sound mixer: Andy Black
Cast:
Djay: Terrence Howard
Key: Anthony Anderson
Nola: Taryn Manning
Shug: Taraji P. Henson
Lexus: Paula Jai Parker
Yvette: Elise Neal
Arnel: Isaac Hayes
Shelby: DJ Qualis
Skinny Black: Ludacris
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 115 minutes...
This rap-world story, perhaps not surprisingly, is built on generic components, like rap itself. It's from the "There's-a-barn, let's-put-on-a-show" type of musical. In this savvy update, DJay (Terrence Howard) is distressed, fearing that he's becoming just another bum, in his case a low-level pimp. Dragging around in his beater with his ho, a plucky bottle-blonde (Taryn Manning), he rags on himself but doesn't do anything to change his world. Inspired by a chance meeting with a high school chum, Key (Anthony Anderson), who has kept to his dream by staying in music, DJay admits that he's only been talking the talk and needs to walk the walk.
DJay gets to writing rap lyrics, and things pop -- especially when Key brings in a scrawny white kid (DJ Qualls) whose beat machine is torqued by his blues/country knowledge. Operating out of an egg-carton-lined sound stage, the three hook and spark.
Fortifying the narrative with blues-'n'-barbecue slabs of Memphis, filmmaker Craig Brewer lays down a rousing story that crescendos naturally with its characters' transformations. While flavored with pimp-world drama -- crazy bitches and cruisers -- "Hustle & Flow" is, at heart, a sweet story of redemption as each guy battles deep personal hurdles to remain focused on the common goal: creating a demo tape for a big-time rapper DJay claims to know from the "old days." Quite remarkably, the creative process of creating the demo tape -- like the "Rocky" training montages -- charges the story; a wonderful exuberance struts naturally, both from the story and the sounds.
What's best about this "Hustle" is that screenwriter-director Brewer transcends his generic story, laying out his beat from each character's heart. We come to know their inner fears and demons, including those of some particularly well-drawn supporting characters.
Like its emotional antecedents, namely "On the Waterfront" and "Rocky", "Hustle & Flow" ends up with a big fight and the ultimate triumph, a personal one. This magic is in large part due to the talented cast, assembled for their abilities rather than what they might bring to the boxoffice. Longtime supporting player Howard shines in the spotlight with his gritty, inward performance as the rappin'/battlin' DJay. Anderson brims with conflict as a man torn between his love for his formidably proper wife (Elise Neal) and his creative dream. Spindly Qualls is powerful as the energized white rap man, and Paula Jai Parker is a force of nature as a mouthy stripper.
Indicative of this film's personal power, our biggest emotional gulps come from a very special supporting performance. As a pregnant street ho who loves DJay, Taraji P. Henson's rousing portrayal befits a tender soul.
Tech credits are rich, highlighted by composer Scott Bomar's raw sounds and musical supervisor Paul Stewart's tight selections.
HUSTLE & FLOW
Paramount
A New Deal Entertainment presentation of a Crunk Pictures Homegrown Pictures production
Cast:
Producers: John Singleton, Stephanie Allain
Screenwriter/director: Craig Brewer
Executive producer: Dwight Williams
Associate producer: Preston Holmes
Director of photography: Amelia Vincent
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Editor: Billy Fox
Music: Scott Bomar
Music supervisor: Paul Stewart
Costume designer: Paul Simmons
Casting: Kimberly R. Hardin
Sound mixer: Andy Black
Cast:
Djay: Terrence Howard
Key: Anthony Anderson
Nola: Taryn Manning
Shug: Taraji P. Henson
Lexus: Paula Jai Parker
Yvette: Elise Neal
Arnel: Isaac Hayes
Shelby: DJ Qualis
Skinny Black: Ludacris
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 115 minutes...
- 1/27/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens
Friday, April 9
NEW YORK -- A genial family comedy well-timed to capitalize on the rising popularity of comedian Cedric the Entertainer, "Johnson Family Vacation" is a distinct if more genteel throwback to National Lampoon's popular 1980s "Vacation" series starring Chevy Chase. Mild in both humor and impact, this well-cast comedy should provide welcome diversion during the holidays for audiences looking for a somewhat lighter experience than the crucifixion of Christ or the massacre at the Alamo.
The rudimentary plot by first-time screenwriters Todd R. Jones and Earl Richey Jones has The Johnson Family piling into their loaner Lincoln Navigator -- at times the film plays like a feature-length car commercial -- on a road trip from California to Missouri for a family reunion. Said car has been tricked out with various hip-hop-style accouterments, which becomes one of the film's running gags.
The family is not exactly a harmonious unit, as the irascible Nate Johnson (Cedric) is currently separated from his beautiful wife, Dorothy (Vanessa Williams), with the inevitable tensions leading to much squabbling. Things aren't much easier between Nate and his children: teenage son DJ (Bow Wow), who aspires to a rapping career; precociously sexy daughter Nikki (Solange Knowles), who dresses to show off her assets; and young daughter Destiny (Gabby Soleil), who brings her imaginary dog on the trip.
The series of mildly slapstick comic misadventures that ensue, including one elongated episode with a comely young hitchhiker (an amusing Shannon Elizabeth) who turns out to be a witch, are largely unmemorable, though Cedric manages to extract as much humor as possible out of the various situations, many of which revolve around his character's horniness toward his ex. (The less-than-buff comedian and the gorgeous Williams represent one of those mismatched couples who only show up in the movies or sitcoms.) Things perk up appreciably toward the end with the appearance of Steve Harvey as Nate's highly competitive brother; you can feel the performers, who toured together as two of the "Kings of Comedy", bringing out the juice in each other.
Cedric, who stole the "Barbershop" movies with the ease of a master vaudevillian, delivers a more conventional, Bill Cosby-style turn here but generally finds the laughs. He also has good chemistry with the cannily cast young music stars Bow Wow and Knowles (the latter making her film debut), both of whom deliver engaging performances.
Johnson Family Vacation
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Hallway Pictures
Credits:
Director: Christopher Erskin
Screenwriters: Todd R. Jones, Earl Richey Jones
Producers: Paul Hall, Cedric the Entertainer, Eric C. Rhone, Wendy Park
Executive producer: Andrew Sugerman
Director of photography: Shawn Maurer
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Editor: John Carter
Music: Steve Bartek
Cast: Nate Johnson: Cedric the Entertainer
Dorothy Johnson: Vanessa Williams
Nikki Johnson: Solange Knowles
DJ Johnson: Bow Wow
Max Johnson: Steve Harvey
Chishelle: Shannon Elizabeth
Destiny Johnson: Gabby Soleil
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 9
NEW YORK -- A genial family comedy well-timed to capitalize on the rising popularity of comedian Cedric the Entertainer, "Johnson Family Vacation" is a distinct if more genteel throwback to National Lampoon's popular 1980s "Vacation" series starring Chevy Chase. Mild in both humor and impact, this well-cast comedy should provide welcome diversion during the holidays for audiences looking for a somewhat lighter experience than the crucifixion of Christ or the massacre at the Alamo.
The rudimentary plot by first-time screenwriters Todd R. Jones and Earl Richey Jones has The Johnson Family piling into their loaner Lincoln Navigator -- at times the film plays like a feature-length car commercial -- on a road trip from California to Missouri for a family reunion. Said car has been tricked out with various hip-hop-style accouterments, which becomes one of the film's running gags.
The family is not exactly a harmonious unit, as the irascible Nate Johnson (Cedric) is currently separated from his beautiful wife, Dorothy (Vanessa Williams), with the inevitable tensions leading to much squabbling. Things aren't much easier between Nate and his children: teenage son DJ (Bow Wow), who aspires to a rapping career; precociously sexy daughter Nikki (Solange Knowles), who dresses to show off her assets; and young daughter Destiny (Gabby Soleil), who brings her imaginary dog on the trip.
The series of mildly slapstick comic misadventures that ensue, including one elongated episode with a comely young hitchhiker (an amusing Shannon Elizabeth) who turns out to be a witch, are largely unmemorable, though Cedric manages to extract as much humor as possible out of the various situations, many of which revolve around his character's horniness toward his ex. (The less-than-buff comedian and the gorgeous Williams represent one of those mismatched couples who only show up in the movies or sitcoms.) Things perk up appreciably toward the end with the appearance of Steve Harvey as Nate's highly competitive brother; you can feel the performers, who toured together as two of the "Kings of Comedy", bringing out the juice in each other.
Cedric, who stole the "Barbershop" movies with the ease of a master vaudevillian, delivers a more conventional, Bill Cosby-style turn here but generally finds the laughs. He also has good chemistry with the cannily cast young music stars Bow Wow and Knowles (the latter making her film debut), both of whom deliver engaging performances.
Johnson Family Vacation
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Hallway Pictures
Credits:
Director: Christopher Erskin
Screenwriters: Todd R. Jones, Earl Richey Jones
Producers: Paul Hall, Cedric the Entertainer, Eric C. Rhone, Wendy Park
Executive producer: Andrew Sugerman
Director of photography: Shawn Maurer
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Editor: John Carter
Music: Steve Bartek
Cast: Nate Johnson: Cedric the Entertainer
Dorothy Johnson: Vanessa Williams
Nikki Johnson: Solange Knowles
DJ Johnson: Bow Wow
Max Johnson: Steve Harvey
Chishelle: Shannon Elizabeth
Destiny Johnson: Gabby Soleil
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Opens
Friday, April 9
NEW YORK -- A genial family comedy well-timed to capitalize on the rising popularity of comedian Cedric the Entertainer, "Johnson Family Vacation" is a distinct if more genteel throwback to National Lampoon's popular 1980s "Vacation" series starring Chevy Chase. Mild in both humor and impact, this well-cast comedy should provide welcome diversion during the holidays for audiences looking for a somewhat lighter experience than the crucifixion of Christ or the massacre at the Alamo.
The rudimentary plot by first-time screenwriters Todd R. Jones and Earl Richey Jones has The Johnson Family piling into their loaner Lincoln Navigator -- at times the film plays like a feature-length car commercial -- on a road trip from California to Missouri for a family reunion. Said car has been tricked out with various hip-hop-style accouterments, which becomes one of the film's running gags.
The family is not exactly a harmonious unit, as the irascible Nate Johnson (Cedric) is currently separated from his beautiful wife, Dorothy (Vanessa Williams), with the inevitable tensions leading to much squabbling. Things aren't much easier between Nate and his children: teenage son DJ (Bow Wow), who aspires to a rapping career; precociously sexy daughter Nikki (Solange Knowles), who dresses to show off her assets; and young daughter Destiny (Gabby Soleil), who brings her imaginary dog on the trip.
The series of mildly slapstick comic misadventures that ensue, including one elongated episode with a comely young hitchhiker (an amusing Shannon Elizabeth) who turns out to be a witch, are largely unmemorable, though Cedric manages to extract as much humor as possible out of the various situations, many of which revolve around his character's horniness toward his ex. (The less-than-buff comedian and the gorgeous Williams represent one of those mismatched couples who only show up in the movies or sitcoms.) Things perk up appreciably toward the end with the appearance of Steve Harvey as Nate's highly competitive brother; you can feel the performers, who toured together as two of the "Kings of Comedy", bringing out the juice in each other.
Cedric, who stole the "Barbershop" movies with the ease of a master vaudevillian, delivers a more conventional, Bill Cosby-style turn here but generally finds the laughs. He also has good chemistry with the cannily cast young music stars Bow Wow and Knowles (the latter making her film debut), both of whom deliver engaging performances.
Johnson Family Vacation
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Hallway Pictures
Credits:
Director: Christopher Erskin
Screenwriters: Todd R. Jones, Earl Richey Jones
Producers: Paul Hall, Cedric the Entertainer, Eric C. Rhone, Wendy Park
Executive producer: Andrew Sugerman
Director of photography: Shawn Maurer
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Editor: John Carter
Music: Steve Bartek
Cast: Nate Johnson: Cedric the Entertainer
Dorothy Johnson: Vanessa Williams
Nikki Johnson: Solange Knowles
DJ Johnson: Bow Wow
Max Johnson: Steve Harvey
Chishelle: Shannon Elizabeth
Destiny Johnson: Gabby Soleil
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 9
NEW YORK -- A genial family comedy well-timed to capitalize on the rising popularity of comedian Cedric the Entertainer, "Johnson Family Vacation" is a distinct if more genteel throwback to National Lampoon's popular 1980s "Vacation" series starring Chevy Chase. Mild in both humor and impact, this well-cast comedy should provide welcome diversion during the holidays for audiences looking for a somewhat lighter experience than the crucifixion of Christ or the massacre at the Alamo.
The rudimentary plot by first-time screenwriters Todd R. Jones and Earl Richey Jones has The Johnson Family piling into their loaner Lincoln Navigator -- at times the film plays like a feature-length car commercial -- on a road trip from California to Missouri for a family reunion. Said car has been tricked out with various hip-hop-style accouterments, which becomes one of the film's running gags.
The family is not exactly a harmonious unit, as the irascible Nate Johnson (Cedric) is currently separated from his beautiful wife, Dorothy (Vanessa Williams), with the inevitable tensions leading to much squabbling. Things aren't much easier between Nate and his children: teenage son DJ (Bow Wow), who aspires to a rapping career; precociously sexy daughter Nikki (Solange Knowles), who dresses to show off her assets; and young daughter Destiny (Gabby Soleil), who brings her imaginary dog on the trip.
The series of mildly slapstick comic misadventures that ensue, including one elongated episode with a comely young hitchhiker (an amusing Shannon Elizabeth) who turns out to be a witch, are largely unmemorable, though Cedric manages to extract as much humor as possible out of the various situations, many of which revolve around his character's horniness toward his ex. (The less-than-buff comedian and the gorgeous Williams represent one of those mismatched couples who only show up in the movies or sitcoms.) Things perk up appreciably toward the end with the appearance of Steve Harvey as Nate's highly competitive brother; you can feel the performers, who toured together as two of the "Kings of Comedy", bringing out the juice in each other.
Cedric, who stole the "Barbershop" movies with the ease of a master vaudevillian, delivers a more conventional, Bill Cosby-style turn here but generally finds the laughs. He also has good chemistry with the cannily cast young music stars Bow Wow and Knowles (the latter making her film debut), both of whom deliver engaging performances.
Johnson Family Vacation
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Hallway Pictures
Credits:
Director: Christopher Erskin
Screenwriters: Todd R. Jones, Earl Richey Jones
Producers: Paul Hall, Cedric the Entertainer, Eric C. Rhone, Wendy Park
Executive producer: Andrew Sugerman
Director of photography: Shawn Maurer
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Editor: John Carter
Music: Steve Bartek
Cast: Nate Johnson: Cedric the Entertainer
Dorothy Johnson: Vanessa Williams
Nikki Johnson: Solange Knowles
DJ Johnson: Bow Wow
Max Johnson: Steve Harvey
Chishelle: Shannon Elizabeth
Destiny Johnson: Gabby Soleil
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Opens June 6
This sequel to 2001's hit "The Fast and the Furious" doesn't star Vin Diesel, and that's not all that has changed in "2 Fast 2 Furious". The original movie, a kind of souped-up rendition of an old Roger Corman youth flick, got its super-charged energy from Los Angeles' import-car street racing scene. The new film has morphed into an episode of "Miami Vice" about money laundering, crooked cops, undercover feds and, oh yes, a couple of guys who drive cars very fast.
It probably was a smart move by producer Neal H. Moritz and his new director John Singleton (taking over for Rob Cohen) to change the formula, giving this movie a new look and new location. Certainly there are enough hard bodies -- both human and mechanical -- to attract the movie's core audience of young males. Business looks robust, though "2 Fast" may not equal the $144.5 million domestic gross of the original film.
Writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (working from a story concocted with Gary Scott Thompson, who co-wrote the first film) perform due diligence in setting up the key car chases and races despite a surfeit of contrivances and credibility-stretchers. Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner, the street racer and undercover cop bounced out of the LAPD for letting Diesel's big-rig hijacker escape the law at the end of the first film, has drifted to Miami, where he picks up spending money at illegal races.
The script would have us believe that the feds in Miami desperately need a street racer to take down a slick gangster and money launderer, Carter Verone (Cole Hauser). Seems an inside source -- his girlfriend Monica (Eva Mendes), who is actually an undercover U.S. Customs officer -- has learned that Carter intends to send two cars containing large bags of cash racing down to the Florida Keys to a waiting plane on an isolated airstrip. This sounds like a strange way to move money in this day of electronic transfers and offshore banks, but that's what our cigar-smoking villain wants to do. So the feds trap Brian after his latest street race and tell him all his crimes in Miami and L.A. will disappear from the record if he applies for the job of Carter's driver.
Brian agrees on the condition that he can bring along as the second driver an old buddy, ex-con Roman Pearce (recording star and actor Tyrese). By the way, Roman blames Brian for his three-year prison stretch and hates his guts, which nicely sets up the movielong animosity between our two rebellious heroes. This hostility only gets exacerbated when Brian starts making eyes at Carter's sultry girlfriend and Roman tries to steal things in Carter's Coral Gables mansion.
For a movie with only a so-so setup and a droopy, cliche-ridden middle, "2 Fast"'s third act neatly brings together all the plot threads for an extended race/chase that pays everything off quite well. Singleton directs efficiently but with no trace of the directorial personality displayed in films that have more meaning to him.
Walker and Tyrese go for a no-frills style, giving the antiheroic protagonists solid emotional underpinnings before all the fancy driving gets started. Rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges is a natural laugh-getter as a street racing promoter, model-actress Devon Aoki adds sass as a female racer who favors cars in hot pink, and James Remar delivers his usual solid performance as a hard-ass customs agent.
Matt Gallini and Roberto (Sanz) Sanchez as Carter's thugs make perfect foils for our bad-boy heroes while losing none of their scariness. Speaking of things scary, the film contains a torture scene involving a frightened rat that will make even those with strong stomachs squirm.
While there are two races in the film, most of the stunts involve cars dodging in and around traffic in South Florida. The stunt work is superb, though Singleton favors quick cuts and tight shots, so we often do not get the full picture of all the car maneuvers.
Singleton's technical support helps him create a glossy-looking film where everyone in Miami seems to live the good life with fast cars and women readily at hand.
2 FAST 2 FURIOUS
Universal Pictures
A Neal H. Moritz production
Credits:
Director: John Singleton
Screenwriters: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas
Story by: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Gary Scott Thompson
Producer: Neal H. Moritz
Executive producers: Lee R. Mayes, Michael Fottrell
Director of photography: Matthew Leonetti
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: David Arnold
Co-producer: Heather Lieberman
Costume designer: Sanja Milkovic Hays
Editors: Bruce Cannon, Dallas Puett
Cast:
Brian O'Conner: Paul Walker
Roman Pearce: Tyrese
Monica Fuentes: Eva Mendes
Carter Verone: Cole Hauser
Tej: Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
Agent Bilkins: Thom Barry
Agent Markham: James Remar
Suki: Devon Aoki
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating -- PG-13...
This sequel to 2001's hit "The Fast and the Furious" doesn't star Vin Diesel, and that's not all that has changed in "2 Fast 2 Furious". The original movie, a kind of souped-up rendition of an old Roger Corman youth flick, got its super-charged energy from Los Angeles' import-car street racing scene. The new film has morphed into an episode of "Miami Vice" about money laundering, crooked cops, undercover feds and, oh yes, a couple of guys who drive cars very fast.
It probably was a smart move by producer Neal H. Moritz and his new director John Singleton (taking over for Rob Cohen) to change the formula, giving this movie a new look and new location. Certainly there are enough hard bodies -- both human and mechanical -- to attract the movie's core audience of young males. Business looks robust, though "2 Fast" may not equal the $144.5 million domestic gross of the original film.
Writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (working from a story concocted with Gary Scott Thompson, who co-wrote the first film) perform due diligence in setting up the key car chases and races despite a surfeit of contrivances and credibility-stretchers. Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner, the street racer and undercover cop bounced out of the LAPD for letting Diesel's big-rig hijacker escape the law at the end of the first film, has drifted to Miami, where he picks up spending money at illegal races.
The script would have us believe that the feds in Miami desperately need a street racer to take down a slick gangster and money launderer, Carter Verone (Cole Hauser). Seems an inside source -- his girlfriend Monica (Eva Mendes), who is actually an undercover U.S. Customs officer -- has learned that Carter intends to send two cars containing large bags of cash racing down to the Florida Keys to a waiting plane on an isolated airstrip. This sounds like a strange way to move money in this day of electronic transfers and offshore banks, but that's what our cigar-smoking villain wants to do. So the feds trap Brian after his latest street race and tell him all his crimes in Miami and L.A. will disappear from the record if he applies for the job of Carter's driver.
Brian agrees on the condition that he can bring along as the second driver an old buddy, ex-con Roman Pearce (recording star and actor Tyrese). By the way, Roman blames Brian for his three-year prison stretch and hates his guts, which nicely sets up the movielong animosity between our two rebellious heroes. This hostility only gets exacerbated when Brian starts making eyes at Carter's sultry girlfriend and Roman tries to steal things in Carter's Coral Gables mansion.
For a movie with only a so-so setup and a droopy, cliche-ridden middle, "2 Fast"'s third act neatly brings together all the plot threads for an extended race/chase that pays everything off quite well. Singleton directs efficiently but with no trace of the directorial personality displayed in films that have more meaning to him.
Walker and Tyrese go for a no-frills style, giving the antiheroic protagonists solid emotional underpinnings before all the fancy driving gets started. Rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges is a natural laugh-getter as a street racing promoter, model-actress Devon Aoki adds sass as a female racer who favors cars in hot pink, and James Remar delivers his usual solid performance as a hard-ass customs agent.
Matt Gallini and Roberto (Sanz) Sanchez as Carter's thugs make perfect foils for our bad-boy heroes while losing none of their scariness. Speaking of things scary, the film contains a torture scene involving a frightened rat that will make even those with strong stomachs squirm.
While there are two races in the film, most of the stunts involve cars dodging in and around traffic in South Florida. The stunt work is superb, though Singleton favors quick cuts and tight shots, so we often do not get the full picture of all the car maneuvers.
Singleton's technical support helps him create a glossy-looking film where everyone in Miami seems to live the good life with fast cars and women readily at hand.
2 FAST 2 FURIOUS
Universal Pictures
A Neal H. Moritz production
Credits:
Director: John Singleton
Screenwriters: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas
Story by: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Gary Scott Thompson
Producer: Neal H. Moritz
Executive producers: Lee R. Mayes, Michael Fottrell
Director of photography: Matthew Leonetti
Production designer: Keith Brian Burns
Music: David Arnold
Co-producer: Heather Lieberman
Costume designer: Sanja Milkovic Hays
Editors: Bruce Cannon, Dallas Puett
Cast:
Brian O'Conner: Paul Walker
Roman Pearce: Tyrese
Monica Fuentes: Eva Mendes
Carter Verone: Cole Hauser
Tej: Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
Agent Bilkins: Thom Barry
Agent Markham: James Remar
Suki: Devon Aoki
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating -- PG-13...
- 8/12/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Robert Townsend's "B.A.P.S". is a purported comedy about two best girlfriends from Decatur, Ga., who follow their dreams and end up heading for the twinkling Hills of Beverly.
While some may find the term, "B.A.P". -- an acronym for Black American Princess -- offensive, that's nothing compared with the film itself.
Awkwardly written (by co-star Troy Beyer) and directed (by Townsend), this unfunny production has all the substance and half the laughs of a five-minute sketch.
Halle Berry, determined to shake up her glamorous image, and newcomer Natalie Desselle play the title characters, Nisi and Mickey, respectively. Armed with extreme hair, milelong press-on nails and gold-capped teeth, these "Homegirls in Outer Space" cash in their life savings for two plane tickets to Los Angeles, where there's a talent search for a new Heavy D video that pays $10,000 to the winner.
Hoping to use that money to open the world's first soul-food restaurant/hair salon, Nisi and Mickey instead find themselves in a swank Beverly Hills manse as guests of the nephew (Jonathan Fried) of the kindly but terminally ill Mr. Blakemore (Martin Landau). Nisi is hired to pose as the granddaughter of the forbidden, long-lost love of the elder Blakemore's life -- Lily the housekeeper.
Of course, not everything is what it seems to be, but by the time the girls realize they were pawns in a sinister scheme to take control of the Blakemore fortune, they have become better, spiritually enriched human beings.
Missing comic opportunities by the barrelful, "B.A.P.S". actually generates a few snickers. Unfortunately, that happens once Townsend and Beyer have abruptly switched gears at the halfway mark, turning the picture into an unbelievably maudlin heap of mush. The resulting giggles are purely unintentional.
Berry is willing enough to go there, but her comic chops remain untested by the lame material. The usually effective Landau also appears out of sorts. Only Ian Richardson manages to mine the most from his role as Manley, the sullen butler. Those unfortunate enough to agree to cameos include Dennis Rodman, LL Cool J, Downtown Julie Brown and Heavy D.
On the other side of the camera, those who truly deliver are costume designer Ruth Carter ("Malcolm X") and hair consultant Kimberly Kimble, whose wild assortment of fashion fiascoes and hair-don'ts (Kimble's award-winning helicopter 'do is particularly impressive) are responsible for generating the few laughs to be found.
B.A.P.S.
New Line
An Island Pictures production
A Robert Townsend film
Director Robert Townsend
Screenwriter Troy Beyer
Producers Mark Burg, Loretha Jones
Executive producers Michael De Luca, Jay Stern
Director of photography Bill Dill
Production designer Keith Brian Burns
Editor Patrick Kennedy
Costume designer Ruth Carter
Music Stanley Clarke
Casting Valerie McCaffrey
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nisi Halle Berry
Mr. Blakemore Martin Landau
Mickey Natalie Desselle
Manley Ian Richardson
Isaac Jonathan Fried
Tracy Troy Beyer
Antonio Luigi Amodeo
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
While some may find the term, "B.A.P". -- an acronym for Black American Princess -- offensive, that's nothing compared with the film itself.
Awkwardly written (by co-star Troy Beyer) and directed (by Townsend), this unfunny production has all the substance and half the laughs of a five-minute sketch.
Halle Berry, determined to shake up her glamorous image, and newcomer Natalie Desselle play the title characters, Nisi and Mickey, respectively. Armed with extreme hair, milelong press-on nails and gold-capped teeth, these "Homegirls in Outer Space" cash in their life savings for two plane tickets to Los Angeles, where there's a talent search for a new Heavy D video that pays $10,000 to the winner.
Hoping to use that money to open the world's first soul-food restaurant/hair salon, Nisi and Mickey instead find themselves in a swank Beverly Hills manse as guests of the nephew (Jonathan Fried) of the kindly but terminally ill Mr. Blakemore (Martin Landau). Nisi is hired to pose as the granddaughter of the forbidden, long-lost love of the elder Blakemore's life -- Lily the housekeeper.
Of course, not everything is what it seems to be, but by the time the girls realize they were pawns in a sinister scheme to take control of the Blakemore fortune, they have become better, spiritually enriched human beings.
Missing comic opportunities by the barrelful, "B.A.P.S". actually generates a few snickers. Unfortunately, that happens once Townsend and Beyer have abruptly switched gears at the halfway mark, turning the picture into an unbelievably maudlin heap of mush. The resulting giggles are purely unintentional.
Berry is willing enough to go there, but her comic chops remain untested by the lame material. The usually effective Landau also appears out of sorts. Only Ian Richardson manages to mine the most from his role as Manley, the sullen butler. Those unfortunate enough to agree to cameos include Dennis Rodman, LL Cool J, Downtown Julie Brown and Heavy D.
On the other side of the camera, those who truly deliver are costume designer Ruth Carter ("Malcolm X") and hair consultant Kimberly Kimble, whose wild assortment of fashion fiascoes and hair-don'ts (Kimble's award-winning helicopter 'do is particularly impressive) are responsible for generating the few laughs to be found.
B.A.P.S.
New Line
An Island Pictures production
A Robert Townsend film
Director Robert Townsend
Screenwriter Troy Beyer
Producers Mark Burg, Loretha Jones
Executive producers Michael De Luca, Jay Stern
Director of photography Bill Dill
Production designer Keith Brian Burns
Editor Patrick Kennedy
Costume designer Ruth Carter
Music Stanley Clarke
Casting Valerie McCaffrey
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nisi Halle Berry
Mr. Blakemore Martin Landau
Mickey Natalie Desselle
Manley Ian Richardson
Isaac Jonathan Fried
Tracy Troy Beyer
Antonio Luigi Amodeo
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 3/31/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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