Movies I've Seen..
Queen of Katwe
Based on the true story (and based on the ESPN article and ensuing book by the same name), “Queen of Katwe” is vibrant and profound underdog story that shows that fortitude and strength of spirit that pushes people beyond the confines of their situation.
Unable to find a full-time job in engineering, Robert Katende (David Oyelowo) works part-time as a coach for the sports ministry. Upon meeting Mugabi (Martin Kabanza), he urges him to join his chess club: The Pioneers.
When Mugabi ditches their job of selling maize to help support their family, Phiona (Madina Nalwanga) follows her brother to Robert’s club.
Under Robert’s tutelage, Phiona flourishes as a keen chess strategist. Realizing her potential to become the greatest chess player Uganda has ever seen, Robert pushes Phiona to think beyond the slums where she lives, stoking her dreams of becoming a master in chess.
As doors open for Phiona, she struggles disillusionment as she feels her dreams are being crushed under the weight of crushing poverty; while her mother Nakku (Lupita Nyong’o) worries of Phiona’s dreams not coming true but also a fear of her realizing them and leaving her family behind.
As shown in her film “Mississippi Masala”, director Mira Nair treats the people as Ugandan not as poverty porn subjects, but of fully fleshed and realized people. People have been waiting for a substantive post-Oscar role for Nyong’o and this is it. Her Nakku is a fiercely determined woman and mother who won’t give up on her principles in order to make a way for herself. It also deals with that reality of a child being able to achieve more than the parent and the resentment that can create. Phiona isn’t only portrayed as a golden child but as a real, life kid who is sometimes bratty, who is sometimes ashamed of her family and at times only focused on her own wants.
I rather loved the other kids in the film: the spunky Gloria played by Nikita Waligwa and the sore loser Benjamin played by Ethan Nazario Lubega
The beauty in the film is also the backdrop of Uganda and the culture. It shouldn’t be so surprising to me but it is that Disney essentially released an African film in that it didn’t try to change elements to make it accessible for people because I think (and perhaps the box office attests to it), when people see the poster or hear the story they feel it’s not for them. It’s a sad reality that films with a largely Caucasian cast is seen as mainstream and other films are considered niche.
Despite the box office, it’s a great film and a wonderful opportunity for the young actors.
My friend attended a cast Q&A at the Disney owned El Capitan theatre and David Oyelowo recounted how the kids in the film had never been to a movie theater because it’s so expensive in Uganda, IIRC equivalent to a months’ salary for their families. He took the kids to see “Jurassic World” and Madina gripped his hand and dug her nails in each time a dinosaur came onscreen.
Lupita and Madina with the real Phiona
Lupita, Madina and Martin
David and Mira with Madina, Lupita and Martin
such a gorgeous dress!
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
I always associate Tim Burton films with dreamlike, or magical elements that are fantastical and whimsy. Despite the oddity of the characters, this film is neither fantastical or whimsical. It’s actually very grounded oddly enough. More like “Big Eyes” than “Edward Scissorhands”.
When he begins having nightmares about monsters after the death of his beloved grandfather Abraham (Terence Stamp), Jake (Asa Butterfield , “Hugo”) wants to travel to Wales to seek out the woman or students of the school his grandfather was sent to in order to gain a better understanding of his grandfather and the hard-to-believe tales he told him of this school.
Along with his father Franklin (Chris O’Dowd),
in the background behind Rupert Everett and his new, old face
Jake goes to Wales only to find out that the home was destroyed in the war. But Jake quickly learns that the reality is grander than that. Miss Peregrine (Eva Green)
managed to save herself and her wards by creating a time loop in which to hide themselves from the same creatures Jake is envisioning: the hollowgaust. In this loop the kids and Miss Peregrine relive the fateful day their home was destroyed.
In the loop Jake befriends Olive (Lauren McCrostie), who is able to create fire with her hands, the invisible boy Millard (Cameron King), the very strong little girl Bronwyn (Pixie Davies), Fiona (Georgia Pemberton) who can control vegetation, the grim Enoch (Finlay MacMillan) who can resurrect people briefly, Hugh (Milo Parker, “Hugo”) who has bees living inside of him, Claire (Raffiella Chapman) who has a mouth in the back of her neck, Horace (Hayden Keeler-Stone), the fashionista with the ability to project his dreams and see the future, the clothed covered Twins (Thomas and Joseph Odwell) and Emma (Ella Purnell), who controls the air and water and who has an attraction to Jake.
When the time loop is discovered by the villainous Mr. Barron (Samuel L. Jackson) who has control over the hollowgausts
and whose cabal wants to find and destroy all the loops that Miss Peregrine and her kind created, Jake and the Peculiars find the courage within to stand up and fight back.
The film shifts between current day Florida and 1940s Wales and there is little distinction in terms of color and tone. The film feels as washed out as its color palette. The mad thing is that the film is sprinkled with Burton-there’s bits of “Beetlejice”, “Frankenweenie”, any Burton film that deals with father issues (and there’s a lot of them), but it lacks his distinct touch.
As a lead Butterfield’s Jake is dead weight. He’s as plain as a bowl of tofu and a glass a water. Without a strong lead to carry the film, no amount of oddball characters matter. Green is great as the strong willed Peregrine, but she is given so little to do besides look glam and stern. I’m thankful for Jackson whose cartoon villainy is the best thing about this film.
The cast out of costume
The Birth of a Nation
Derived from this artwork
I’ve yet to see a review for the film that doesn’t spend more time on Nate Parker’s rape trial than it does on the actual film.
I don’t begrudge anyone their feelings on Parker or those who are boycotting the film due to his actions because I don’t believe art trumps moral conviction. If people don’t want to see it, but I would hope people wouldn’t diminish or discount the film sight unseen. Just don’t speak on it.
I have, however, seen “The Birth of a Nation” and it is, to me, the most accurate and raw depiction of slavery that I’ve seen in film or television. It is at time unbearable to watch but I’m glad it is a hard watch if only to dissuade some people of the notion that slavery was a business deal in which slaves benefited just as much as their owners. For those people who feel that slaves had it better under slavery than after Emancipation because at least they had a home and food, I want them to see this film(they won’t because they don’t really care about the inhumanity of slavery) and see the ugly, painful, truth of that practice.
Nate Parker stars as Nat Turner who was taken from the slave quarters and away from his mother Nancy (Aunjanue Ellis, “Quantico”) and grandmother Bridget (Esther Scott, “Hart of Dixie”) into the house of their owner where the wife Elizabeth Turner (Penelope Ann Miller)
decides to teach Nat to read the Bible (and only the Bible since she felt the other books were only for white people). Nat is eventually sent back to the fields but now armed with the words of the Bible and he uses that knowledge to preach to the slaves in between being the driver for Elizabeth’s son and man of the house Samuel (Armie Hammer).
Struggling financially, Sam takes up the request of Reverend Walthall (Mark Boone Junior, “Sons of Anarchy”)
to have Nat travel to various plantations and preach to the slaves in order to get them in line and motivate them.
As Nat sees the plight of the other slaves and realizes that the Bible was being used by the slave owners to serve as yet another yoke to the slaves.
Fueled by the destiny divined to him as a child and his own knowledge of the Bible that gives him the ability to use it the same way the slave owners did, but this time as a tool to motivate slaves to question the cruelty invoked on them.
After the assault of his wife Cherry (Aja Naomi King, “How to Get Away with Murder”),
Nat recruits other slaves to lead a rebellion against slave owners.
Since the actual rebellion only lasted for 48 hours it is a small part of the film with the proceeding two acts focused on Nat’s childhood, his meeting of and marriage to Cherry, the odd dynamic between himself and owner Sam where Sam treats Nat better than other owners treat their slaves (something Sam pats himself on the back for in one scene), but Sam is his master nonetheless. While there are excellent turns by Jackie Earle Haley as Raymond Cobb, slave catcher and obvious villain of the piece
and Aunjanue Ellis
and Esther Scott who imbue their characters with quiet strength, dignity and ingenuity as they can only make the best out of their lot in life; but this is a showcase for Parker. He gives blistering fire and brimstone sermons, summoning up the rage to condemn his oppressors; and in the next, tear soaked anguish.
As a director, he didn’t necessarily bring any new way of camerawork to the screen. As a writer he fares much better. He not only fleshed out Turner (real and imagined history just like everything else on the man) but other characters. I especially liked that he didn’t play the house slave Isaiah played by Roger Guenever Smith against the other slaves. While Isaiah was against the rebellion, it was solely out of concern for the slaves not their overlords. While he benefitted from being in the house he never came across as someone who felt he was better than the other slaves. So often in films house slaves (primarily light-skinned) are played against the dark skinned slaves. This only heightens the discord between light-skinned and dark-skinned black people that so very sadly exists today (and still plays out in casting IMO).
If people do see this film I hope it gives context to Nat Turner. When people invoke his name they don’t think of the reason why he and the slaves rebelled, they just view him as a murderer. The cry is always the same, “He killed innocent women and children.’ Yes, sadly, he and the other slaves did. But what of the innocent men, women and children who were murdered legally because they were property? The victim mindset is the same with the U.S as a whole. The U.S government has historically used its might to subjugate and kill people in other countries with mass casualty just being genteelly called collateral damage. We get 9/11 and all of a sudden it’s “why would someone do this to US??” So not to approve the murders of the slaveowners and their families, but the slaves reportedly killed 60 people. The slaveowners and other citizens in that county killed *at least* 200 black people free and enslaved as a way to quell further unrest and get revenge. So if Nat was wrong to murder, why was the response from slaveowners et all reasonable?
As I was leaving the theater a security guard I know from various events stopped me, an older Black lady, and she asked me if I was okay. I thought it was odd of her to ask considering I spoke to her at length when I first arrived. She was asking because people were leaving upset. Furious, she said, raging about how their slaves were treated, the rape of slaves. She said she told them to learn their history, that the film was depicting the reality of the situation. I told her I understood the anger, because when “Rosewood” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_(film)
came out in 1997 I knew people who wanted to riot. The most kindly, soft spoken people were ready for a rebellion that’s how hurt and angry they were by the injustice that film depicted. While we know it’s historically accurate and people always say, ‘You can’t look at those days behind the lens of modern eyes” that hurt and anger doesn’t go away. That’s just human nature. I can sit her and understand the nature of slavery but there is a scene in the film where the uprising is underway and they dispatch of one of Samuel’s cronies and the slave makes his way to the man’s bed and I’m conflicted thinking, “I know you think you have to do this and this man’s wife is going to be a victim of his actions” when the camera pans and it’s not the man’s wife emerging from the covers but a slave child no older than eleven or twelve the implication, obvious.. I saw this on September 22nd, it’s October 6th and I still cry when I think of that shot.
My friend worries that people will be angry and she doesn’t want this film to be something to inspire rage but I believe history should be taken to task. No one tries to downplay the Holocaust and for a very good reason. I’m tired of films depicting Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings relationship like some love story when she was a fourteen year old slave. I’d rather cry and feel the hurt over slavery than to act like it was a mere inconvenience. Who are we protecting by not showing the ugliness of the past?
It was the premiere
It was pretty somber before and after the screening. I think it was a combo of the subject matter and Parker’s rape accusation. I wondered if someone would yell out during the introductions that he was a rapist.
As we waited there was live music courtesy of a young violinist who played everything from La Vie en Rose to Coldplay’s Clocks.
Afterwards a chorale sang a hymn.
The head of Fox Searchlight came up to introduce the cast. He spoke of loving the film when they saw it at Sundance and knew that they wanted to get it to as many eyes as they could. He said in light of recent events with the killing of so many unarmed Black men that this story feels very current.
The cast came up and Nate spoke, thanking all of the cast all of whom didn’t get paid what they deserve. He said that he could not have done it without their support (in the thank yous he thanked George Lucas, James Mangold and Mel Gibson among other directors).
The cast elsewhere
I saw Jack Falalhee and Alfred Enoch of “How to Get Away with Murder” (Jack looks hot in person, Alfred still looks like C. Thomas Howell in “Soul Man”.), Deon Cole and Peter MacKenzie of “black-ish”, Andre Royo of “The Wire”. At the end of our row was Myklti Williamson who walked around on his cell-phone the entire time leading up to the screening, Garcelle Beauvais (The Jaime Foxx Show) and Chadwick Boseman was in the row to our left. Normally the seats are numbered but for some reason they didn’t number the tickets, they only placed reserved signs on the seats so people kept trying to get Chadwick to sit next to them. Jesse Williams was there and I didn’t see him at all, but my friend saw him twice. I was too busy being on the search for Armie Hammer who I only saw as he and his wife left. Still looking around the room, my friend said, “There he goes again. I’ve seen Jesse Williams twice now.” Still staring out at the door Armie exited out of. “I want to see Jesse Williams.”
Friend: He was right behind you.
Me: When.
Friend: Just now. That guy who walked behind you was Jesse Williams.
Me: Oh. (still staring dumbly at the door Armie left out of).
Because this film made me realize that it’s not a professional appreciation of Armie that I have, but apparently I think he’s really, really, really attractive. My friend said I beamed like a proud wife the entire time he was at the front of the room. I also spent considerable time looking at his bare feet in one scene.
Dammit, why do I have to like you??
*with that little boy Timothee Chalamat who plays his lover in the forthcoming “Call Me By Name”.
**Okay, he’s not a little boy. He just looks like one.
*There are now a few thinkpieces on how “Birth of a Nation” uses women as victims but those writers should know that Aunjanue Ellis wouldn’t just take “a victim” role. Ms. Ellis was co-founder of a group that pushed for the removal of the Confederate flags in Mississippi. She would use her wardrobe as a showcase to her cause.
Masterminds
No one sets out to make a bad movie and I can see with this being a story from Jody Hill and Danny McBride (“Eastbound and Down”, “Vice-Principals”) that Relativity thought they had a sure hit on their hand. Instead they have a woefully unfunny film (can you call it a comedy when it’s so patently unfunny?).
Based on the real life 1997 Loomis armored van heist, “Masterminds” stars Zach Galifianakis as David Ghantt, a simple (and simple minded) armored truck driver who is engaged to Jandice (Kate McKinnon playing the wide-eyed/dead-eyed oddball character that has become her go-to) but in love with his coworker Kelly (Kristen Wiig).
After quitting the armored truck job, Kelly is talked into robbing one of the trucks by her friend the low-life Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson).
Needing a patsy, she uses her knowledge of David’s feelings for her to convince him to rob the vault and hightail it to Mexico where she would join him. Only she doesn’t. And as the Feds led by Special Agent Scanlon (Leslie Jones)
work to find David, David is being chased by hired gun Mike McKinney (Jason Sudeikis).
The film is directed by Jared Hess who directed “Napoleon Dynamite” so it’s the same weird, off-kilter and zany energy as that film. It feels very much like “Raising Arizona” just not funny. Or well-written. Or good. I seriously wanted to leave after ten minutes. If I had an aisle seat I would have.
I’m keeping a weather eye out for Brett Ratner’s response about the terrible box office of the film. Weeks ahead of its release Ryan Kavanaugh
and executive producer Dana Brunetti went on a Tweet spree about how much of a hack and a sleaze Brett Ratner is and that his production company RatPac-Dune isn’t a real player in town. Now, the sleaze reports is something many people have said about Brett. He does look like a coke sniffing, sleaze. But it’s unfair and just not true to say that RatPac isn’t a viable company when it has had a hand in producing numerous films. Maybe not all have been hits, but at least they had reach.
And the fact that earlier in the year Kavanugh sat down with the Hollywood Reporter for a very open and emotional interview about the failure of Relativity I would think he would be more humble. Now, a week after the film was released Relativity will likely fold after emerging from Chapter 11 months ago.
.
Berlin Station Q&A
I had already seen the first two episodes of Epix’s upcoming show but I wanted to go to the Q&A to see if the series would seem less convoluted with the cast there to explain it.
It wasn’t. But the good thing is that the cast knows it. Both Richard Armitage and Leland Orser talked about how they spent the entire shoot trying to find out the tone, structure of the show. The hope is that it gets a second season because they are confident that in Season Two the producers would have mastered the tone.
After was a mixer because Epix really wants people to see this show, so the cast stayed behind to socialize. They never made it out into the lobby for the food and drinks, instead they hung out in the theater. Michelle (they call her Mishka, her Twitter handle) was the first to leave after 20 or 30 minutes, but while there was a raucous dame, throwing her arm around people’s shoulders like an old friend. Richard was second to leave after 9pm, Leland, I haven’t a clue because I left before he did. By this time he made it to the lobby with the food and drinks and continued chatting with people.
I stood around listening or taking pictures for people who couldn’t figure out how to do the selfie bit.
I spent more time around Richard, mostly because I wanted to tell him how much I enjoyed his scenes in S2 with Rhys Ifans (I told him, he thanked me and he waited for a picture request that wasn’t forthcoming and I said, “that’s it. Congratulations on the show. He said, “Thank you for waiting so long to say, ‘hi’.”) so I waited as he took picture, after picture…after picture with people. What I was privy to:
*an older lady, but L.A older lady meaning she’s on the far side of 70 with ducklips and extensive work. She opens with “I’ve done musical theater”
Richard: Are you a hoofer(dancer)?
Woman: I teach tap dancing.
Richard: I knew it!
Woman talks about singing
Richard: I can see you lying across a piano.
A younger guy who is seemingly in production as he asked a lot of questions about shooting, grant money and licensing. He said that he was happy they actually shot in Berlin instead of trying to dress up London as Berlin and something about London and Ireland tax credits.
Richard: Why would anyone want to shoot in London when there’s Ireland and it’s greenery.
Richard said he doesn’t think UK productions will get tax credits since they voted out of the EU. He said that there isn’t a release date for “Berlin Station” in Germany yet and people are getting antsy thinking it won’t be shown there. “Of course, you’ll get it! We filmed there!”
*I thought he split his time between London and New York, but he says he lives in New York, didn’t prefix it with “part-time” or anything like that. He was leaving straightaway from the mixer to the airport as he was beginning previews for the play “Love, Love, Love”.
*Someone complimented him on his Russian in “Spooks” or “MI5” and he groaned and threw his head back and ran his hands down his face. He said he hated having to speak Russian even though he has Russian heritage. It was just hard for him.
*They shot the Panama scene in the Canary Islands.
*When asked if they know about a second season he says he doesn’t. He’s not sure how Epix counts viewership. He didn’t even know it was a channel until he got the script. He hopes it is picked up because he feels the cast was flying blind for the entire 10 episodes and that they weren’t really sure what the show was going for and he wants people to hang in there.
*He says they shot alternate endings for the season and he doesn’t know which one they’ll use. He asked us if we noticed a scar on his character’s back and three out of the five of us had because it was prominently displayed(it’s like Checkov gun, if you see a gun on a wall know that it will go off). He said there will be an episode about that.
*My friend eventually steeled up the nerves to ask for a picture.
Richard: I should move this cup out the way.
Me: You should post it on Instagram like promotion.
Richard: Like they need more money.
Done with Richard we moved on to Leland. My friend went in not liking Leland due to the fact that he is married to her crush Jeanne Tripplehorn. When they announced Leland’s name when he came out, she glared at me. When he mentioned Jeanne, she nudged me like, “how dare he rub it in?!”. At the end of the night after talking to him about Mexico City she says to him, “Tell your wife she’s incredible.” He puts his hand on her shoulder and says, “I tell her that every day.” So now my friend says she approves of the Orser/Tripplehorn marriage and says he’s a good guy.
The topic of Mexico City came up because my friend raved about the graffiti in the show and how Mexico City has the same kind of creative street art. He says that it’s actually encouraged in Berlin because they have a big art community. When asked by someone about a second season he seemed to be conflicted. He said it was really hard to leave his wife for so long to parent a 13-year old boy. The way he said it seemed to convey that their son was at that age where he’s pushing back.
*I told him that I loved the scene from episode 2 with his character in the diner. He put one hand out waving it and held my hand with the other, “No spoilers!”
My friend: I haven’t seen it yet.
Leland: Then you have to tune in to see it. (to me) You liked that?
Me: I loved it. I thought you were incredible.
Leland: 23 takes.
During the Q&A the moderator played a guessing game.
Mod: Which one of you were on the “Golden Girls”?
Leland raises his hand. He says that the women were great and (raising his hand as he says emphatically), “Bea Arthur.fcuking.knew.comedy.” He told of the director suggesting a line and Bea telling him that it wouldn’t work. She did the line and when it fell flat as she predicted she leveled a glare (he did it the way “Maude” does in the opener of the show) at the camera.
Michelle was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her work on The Guiding Light.
Michelle: I played Sonni and Solida.
Lelad: You were a dual? Twins?
She goes on to say that was hired and got the script and he lines for Solida were all in Spanish which she doesn’t speak. All of the dialogue was re-written but to drive home that her character was from Spain they would pepper her lines with “Mi Corazon” or “Mi amor.”
She downplayed the job but Richard reminded her she had to be good if she was nominated for an Emmy. She said that soaps were a big training ground for her but hard that she would get to the studio when it was dark and leave when it was dark.
Richard got his start in musical theater. He’s been in Cats and 42nd Street. Leland asked if there was a clip.
Richard: That was before iPhones. No one has that footage.
Richard said the direction he always received while doing Catswas “Smile. You don’t look happy.” He says the good thing that came out of it was that with the money earned he was able to pay for drama school. Now he says he’s sure this is the type of acting he wants to do.