Stay Cinematically Healthy by Avoiding Salt in Your Diet

Angelina Jolie: Spreading goodwill (for UNHCR) and taking names...

Well that didn't take long, did it? Or maybe it was just a dream. Only a week after moviegoers were treated to Inception's intelligent and original story (albeit maybe it not quite as intelligent as advertised), it's time for us to bracingly wake up to reality. Or, depending on if the totem is spinning, accept that this is "limbo". Wherever we are, it's a dreadfully dull place, where movies like Salt deliver a steady stream of mind-numbing clichés and altogether stupid plots. This puffy spy thriller is a particularly brainless affair: half-Bond, half-Bourne, half-baked, and, mercifully, half an hour shorter than expected, when it doesn't end but simply stops mid-scene.

Originally produced as a star vehicle for Tom Cruise before he dropped out for what can only be assumed was the disastrous Knight and Day, Salt was rewritten for Angelina Jolie (the "best woman in the world" who, we should remember, "dies for our sins"), who predictably signed on to play yet another sexy assassin. The change in gender of our anti-hero is perfectly appropriate for the purpose of the story, but that doesn't excuse the eye-rolling flourishes of Jolie making kissy faces and tiger scowls during hand-to-hand combat, or inexplicably removing her panties and using them to shroud a security camera.

300 Words About: Redbelt

On paper, Redbelt looks like a mad lib: "Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster) stars with Tim Allen (Wild Hogs) and Emily Mortimer (Lars and the Real Girl) in a movie about martial arts, written and directed by David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross)."

What?

My curiosity got the best of me (as it usually does when Mamet is involved with something), but in this case, curiosity unfortunately almost killed the moviegoer. Redbelt is a dull, tedious, inane film, saved from the lowest depths of mediocrity by one Chiwetel Ejiofor, who we'll assume took this particular role simply to diversify his credits and/or add Mamet to his Rolodex. Had Ejiofor been given the chance to do more within his role, Redbelt just might have achieved Mamet's vision of a story of a man in the midst of a moral storm, forced to choose between money, honor, love and life.

This particular man is Mike Terry (Ejiofor), a Jiu-Jitsu instructor in L.A. who's apparently the only pure master left in the sport, his peers having sold out to the showy (and profitable) mixed martial arts pay-per-view culture. Mike refuses to compete despite the financial troubles that are straining his marriage to an aspiring fashion designer, Sondra (Alice Braga, I Am Legend; City of God). An accident at Mike's training academy between a traumatized lawyer (Mortimer) and a troubled cop is the first in a series of unfortunate incidents for Mike, tangling him up with loan sharks, fight promoters, the cop's wife, and Chet Frank (Allen), a washed up, worn down actor who wants to use Mike's secret training techniques in his next film. As you would guess, all of this eventually leads to an alternate ending from The Karate Kid.

Mamet's inclusion of unnecessary characters and silly plot contrivances dilutes a potentially great character study. His distinctive writing is on full display here, but it's nothing to appreciate in a dead-end story. I think most people have already given up on Mamet (I was the only person in theater), and at this point it will probably take more than curiosity for me to pay for his next film.

I Have a Dream: A Worthy MLK, Jr. Biopic

Forty years ago tomorrow, a courageous man was gunned down on a hotel balcony in Memphis, TN. Only 39 years old at the time of his assassination, he dared to dream about a future that seemed unfathomable to America at the time. Really - considering the context of the American culture around him in the 60's, does it register with you how forward-thinking he was? It would be like talking about moon colonies now - conceptually you can imagine it, but come on, not gonna happen, right? Granted, his dream hasn't been fully realized yet either, but we'll keep working at it. In the meantime, I have a dream of my own: a full-length, theatrical feature about this man's life and legacy.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was by all accounts enigmatic and extremely self-aware - even withdrawn at times. In other words, he is a layered character from which to develop a biography. As much as he's been celebrated as a martyr and hero, there have been those who've attempted posthumous character assassination as well, pegging him as an unfaithful husband and a political radical. Well, I've certainly revered him during my life for his positive work and bold spirit, but I'm not going to sit here and defend his flaws either, because he wasn't a saint and it doesn't really matter anyway. I've done (I think) some decent things in my years, but if you want to bring me down because I ran a stop sign last January, well I'm very sorry, but there's nothing I can do about that. Anyway, the point is that King is the kind of human (and that's all he was) that you don't meet everyday, and his life is worth another look regardless of what you think of him.

Are you wondering if there has really never been a movie about him? Well, there has - but a made-for-television biopic was produced about John Denver, too (no offense to John Denver fans). I'll admit that I haven't been able to get my hands on "King," the 1978 miniseries that apparently received positive reviews, nor have I seen HBO Films' Boycott from 2001. So yes, it's been done, and maybe those are great, but if Anna Nicole Smith has already had her day on the silver screen (Anna Nicole, coming soon to a theater near you), so should King.

It's not as if the issue has never come up before. Just last year, around the release of the completely underrated Talk to Me, Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post wrote a great piece, "Waiting for 'Action!'," about the overall lack of civil rights-era movies. She gives a nice review of what's been done and what's been proposed, but she only hints at countering the excuses put forth by studio executives: "Black-themed films don't play overseas. African American actors can't open movies. American filmgoers don't like dramas. Multi-character historical dramas are just too expensive." Obviously those are ridiculous reasons, but it still doesn't sound like anyone is stepping up to the plate with a King biopic in the near future.

How about this? I'll find the talent while someone else finds the funding, since that's where this will start and end. In fact, give me a free pass to the premiere and I'll organize a fundraiser, too.

Let's get to work.

When searching for the actor to play King, we have to consider several fundamental criteria. First, the person must not be too well known or already overexposed; we have to be able to see them as King and not as themselves. Secondly, they have to look somewhat like King, so as not to be a constant distraction. Lastly, they actually have to be able to act. Can't forget that. So, who could fully inhabit this man?

Casting Call:
(please excuse spacing issues)

Anthony Anderson - Recent credits include Transformers, The Departed, and Hustle & Flow. You laugh, but dude actually has acting chops, and he's not only good for comic relief. I've heard positive words about his roles in TV's "K-Ville" and "The Shield," though I can't speak from personal observations there. He seems like a nice guy, he might be able to pull it off, and he could use a career boost.


Terrence Howard - Best known in recent years for his hot period that included roles in Ray, Crash, and Hustle & Flow (for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nom), Howard is young and promising, despite his questionable choices in recent years. He actually played King's friend Ralph Abernathy in 2001's Boycott, and he seems like someone who would take the role of King seriously.


Ving Rhames - Yeah, it's a stretch to think Marsellus Wallace could translate to Martin Luther King, Jr., but Rhames has just enough gravitas to do real justice to a dramatic role. He seems to always play a sidekick or otherwise diminished character, but some part of me thinks he could ably handle one of King's rousing pulpit speeches. Eh...maybe. Like I said, it's a stretch.


Jeffrey Wright - After a notable debut in 1996's Basquiat, Wright recently reemerged in Broken Flowers, Syriana, and HBO's "Angels in America." He clearly has talent, but you won't see it on display in two horrifyingly terrible recent movies - 2007's The Invasion and 2006's Lady in the Water. Tragic. Oh yeah, he also won an AFI Award for his role in Boycott. His character? Martin Luther King, Jr.


Bernie Mac - That's right, Bernie Mac. All of his wild comedy aside, I saw just enough of his real acting talent in Bad Santa, Pride, and Spike Lee's Get on the Bus to think that he might be able to pull this off. It would take some real patience on the part of the viewer, but you never know how some actors will fit their part. Did you ever think the star of "The Jamie Foxx Show" would win an Oscar?


Mykelti Williamson - You know him as Bubba from Forrest Gump (and as Baby-O from Con Air - was that the same character?), but you've forgotten that he had impressive turns in Three Kings, Ali, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, and most recently, ATL. If this were a pool of some sort, he would be my sleeper pick.


Cuba Gooding, Jr. - I know. Since his Oscar win in 1996, he's either been blacklisted or he has the worst agent in Hollywood. You'll find his post-Jerry Maguire movies in the movie library at Guantanamo: Instinct, Snow Dogs, Rat Race, Boat Trip, Norbit, Daddy Day Camp - I'll stop. He finally landed a chance in American Gangster last year, but it was unfortunately a flashy, shallow role. Call me certifiably insane, but I still think he has potential.

Chiwetel Ejiofor - I consider his breakthrough Dirty Pretty Things, but he's really come on the scene since Kinky Boots in 2005, maybe Inside Man in 2006. Choose what you like, he's a deserving star on the rise. It's crazy that I've included Ejiofor on this list because I've criticized his poor American accent for years. Fortunately, King had a speaking inflection of his own that Ejiofor could probably pull off, and conveniently, he looks exactly like him.

There are others, of course, that I briefly considered: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Cedric the Entertainer, Wesley Snipes, Jamie Foxx, Omar Epps, Donald Faison, Andre Braugher, Eddie Murphy, Laurence Fishburne, Eric La Salle, Larenz Tate, and more, including others that don't look the part (Don Cheadle, Forest Whitaker). Despite the popular vote, you can't consider Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, or Morgan Freeman. They wouldn't fit at all, they would never take the role, and Denzel's already been robbed once for Malcolm X.

But even after our casting decisions, how do you tell the story? After all, we're talking about one of the most complex public figures in history. Developing a filmable biography of King is not the easiest task Hollywood has faced. Potential screenwriters won't be considered at this time, but it will certainly be a massive project deserving of special attention.

Finally, what about directors? Not as much science here, but equally as important. I'll just throw out some names - Spike Lee (Malcolm X), Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), James Mangold (Walk the Line), Oliver Stone (Nixon, JFK), Taylor Hackford (Ray), Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man), and Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). These are all currently working American directors who have, in my opinion, already proven they can handle a dramatic male character biography. I would also deliberately add African-American directors John Singleton (Boyz 'n the Hood, Rosewood) and Albert and Allen Hughes (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents) to the list, despite the fact that they've done hardly any work of significance in recent years.

So that's it. The hard work is done.

Actually, he did the hard work.

Now it's our turn.

REVIEW: American Gangster (B)

Background: Ridley Scott’s (Blade Runner, Gladiator) new film, American Gangster, is based on Mark Jacobson’s New York Magazine article “The Return of Superfly,” which is in turn based on the true story of Frank Lucas, notorious drug kingpin (and king) of 1970’s Harlem. Both Lucas (played by Denzel Washington - Deja Vu) and his former NJ police rival Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe - 3:10 to Yuma) were consultants during production, helping with accuracy and accents. The messy pre-production of the film took several years and scripts, and at different points involved director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), screenwriter Terry George (Reservation Road), and actors Don Cheadle, Joaquin Phoenix, Ray Liotta, John C. Reilly, and Benicio Del Toro. Of course none of these people ended up working on American Gangster, but Del Toro actually collected a $5 million paycheck before production was shut down the first time. One other interesting piece of trivia - a number of the Thai extras were actually involved in Frank Lucas's real drug-running operation. Must be a statute of limitations for drug-related crimes in Thailand.

Synopsis: Harlem, late 60's. Frank Lucas (Washington) is the successor to local druglord/crimeboss Bumby Johnson. Richie Roberts (Crowe) is a divorced New Jersey cop who is too honest for his line of work. Lucas is committed to monopolizing the booming heroin market in Harlem, and he actually visits the source in Thailand before moving his entire family (including 5 brothers) to Harlem for assistance in the new venture. Before long, junkies all over New York are hooked on his "Blue Magic," and the corrupt NYPD, led by Detective Trupo (Brolin), look the other way while stuffing their pockets. After losing the trust of his fellow officers, Roberts is picked to head a federal taskforce whose only goal is to stop the drug trade at its source. By this time, Lucas has wealth, power, influence, and the reputation as the baddest dude in Harlem. Despite his low profile (quiet suits, simple routines, weekly church-going, etc.), Lucas (and Det. Trupo) eventually attract the attention of Robert and his team. Their surveillance pays off when they learn of one final, massive heroin shipment coming in from Thailand, and a major raid ensues. Lucas is dramatically arrested on his way out of church and forced to either take life in prison or rat out all of his NYPD bedfellows.
I Loved:
+ The production design - great sets, on-location filming, and a believable 70's look to it all.
I Liked:
+ Denzel Washington's ice-cold performance - better and more believable than his silly turn in Training Day.
+ T.I. - he was good in a limited role and shows as much potential as he did in ATL.
+ The RZA - outacting professionals and showing off a Wu-Tang tattoo.
I Disliked:
- Josh Brolin's exaggerated bullying, Russell Crowe's dull indifference, Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s typical spasticity, and Common's boring coolness.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor being miscast as an African-American again (as in Talk to Me and Inside Man) - he's British and excels in roles where he doesn't have to fake an accent or an attitude, like in Dirty Pretty Things and Children of Men.
- Not seeing images/interviews with the real Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts - I know, I know, wait for the DVD. Well I never see DVD's so I'll miss it.
I Hated:
- Nothing, really.
Grade:
Writing - 9
Acting - 7
Production - 8
Emotional Impact - 8
Music - 5
Significance - 4

Total: 42/50= 84% = B

Last Word: With all of the mess in getting this made, where was Spike Lee? I have to believe he would have made a better movie, though he may not have extracted better performances from the cast. American Gangster is not a bad movie, it's just not a very likable one. Basically, it's another shoulder-shrugger. Aside from showing that Denzel Washington can legitimately play a ruthless criminal, not much is accomplished. I didn't know anything about Frank Lucas, and still I have to read the original article and look for more information about him and Roberts. The corruption in the story, from the military to the police, is incredible and should have played a larger role. Although it kept my interest, some scenes could have been trimmed, mostly those involving Roberts' family matters. Speaking of Roberts, I have to stick up for Crowe here regarding his accent. I'm not from North Jersey, but I think Crowe probably got closer than the others (Del Toro, Phoenix) who would have played Roberts. He did fine with the accent, but just didn't seem very passionate about what he was doing. Maybe that's the real Roberts, though. American Gangster was the right idea for an old-school gangster movie, but the final product isn't as dark or as revealing as you'd hope for. Or am I just that desensitized by this point?