"
"APOCALYPTO" -- MEL GIBSON GIVES "LETHAL WEAPON" AND "MAD MAX" TREATMENT TO ENLIVEN PRE-COLUMBIAN MAYAN SOCIETY HISTORY ADVENTURE STORY
JAMES BROWN'S FILM LINKS REMEMBERED ON HIS PASSING
This page has been visitedThe Word NetPaper>: A Collection of News Articles, Photos, Travelogs, Reviews, and Social Commentary
-- Photos of Far Flung Trips
>"BEEN THERE, DONE THAT": More Extensive Articles From My Worldwide Escapades to Egypt/Kemet; Greece; Jordan; Palestine, Israel; Italy; Cyprus...and the Extreme Walking "ONE MAN MARCHES"
"THE WORD NetPaper's 511 & OUT & ABOUT":Features, Restaurant Critiques & The Like From Forays About Brew Town
ADVENTURES OF THE TRAVEL GRIOT!
More Exotic Travels and Tales (With Pictures)From From Globe-spanning Escapades to Egypt/Kemet; Greece; Jordan; Palestine, Israel; Italy; Cyprus... PICTURES INSIDE THE GIZEH PYRAMIDS, AND THE TOMB OF KHUFU!!!
There are links to all these places, including the Travel sites which are even now having the digitized pictures added.
CINEMA VIEWS with Kevin J. Walker, Film Critic
walkernet@gmail.com/FONT>
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA
United States
Cinema Views of Current Releases and News...
"IDLEWILD" -- OUTKAST DUO MOVIE PAYS HOMAGE IN 1930S PERIOD MUSICAL WHILE INJECTING MODERN TOUCHES
"X-MEN III THE LAST STAND" -- Halle, Jackman, Bill Duke in the Mother of All Battles
2006 Oscars: "CRASH" DERAILS "BROKEBACK MT'S" HARD RIDE TO GOLD
KING KONG
"LAST HOLIDAY" WITH DANA OWENS AND LL COOL J
"UNDERWORLD:EVOLUTION" SHOWS EVIDENCE OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN
Past Cinema Views:
RICHARD PRYOR PASSES
"GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN"
VIDEO VIEWS:
"HUSTLE & FLOW"
"REVENGE OF THE SITH"
Episode 3 of the Star Wars saga is a dark and pleasing wrap-up to George Lucas' vision of the descent of a good man into Evil, and the spirit of freedom
UPCOMING:
DENZEL FILM FEST, AND OTHER STARS AND THEMES...
IN MEMORIAM:
BROCK PETERS PASSES; WAS ADM. CARTWRIGHT IN "STAR TREK" FILMS;
MAKE THAT TWO TO BEAM UP:
JAMES MONTGOMERY "SCOTTY" PASSES
OTHER VIDEO VIEWS:
"xXx: State Of The Union" Is Delivered By Ice Cube and Samuel L.Jackson
"SAHARA" -- Penelope Cruz, Steve Zahn, and Matthew McConaughey go to the Motherland in search of Confederate gold?
"SIN CITY" -- Comic books weren't like this back in my youth! Frank Miller, Roberto Rodriguez and Quarentino's violent, sexy opus.
"BEAUTY SHOPPE" LADIES CUT UP PLENTYIN NEW FILM FRANCHISE THAT'S BETTER THAN PARENT
"CONSTANTINE"
ACADEMY AWARDS OF 2005
"HITCH" -- WILL SMITH SAVES THE ROMANTIC COMEDY THIS TIME IN ENGAGING COMEDY WITH EVA MENDES AND KEVIN JAMES
"LACKAWANNA BLUES" ON HBO
PAST CINEMA VIEWS:
"I, ROBOT" -- WILL SMITH TAKES OVER THE SUMMER AND SAVES HUMANITY IN FILM VERSION OF ASIMOV'S CLASSIC
"CATWOMAN" -- HALLE BERRY LEAPS INTO ACTION FRANCHISE OF '60S PRE-FEMINIST ICON
"NEVER DIE ALONE" -- DMX STARS IN DONALD GOINES' TALE OF URBAN RETRIBUTION
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"TUPAC RESURRECTED"
"MATRIX: REVOLUTIONS" WRAPS UP TRILOGY RIGHT
"KILL BILL" IS QUARANTINO'S HOMAGE TO CHOP SOCKY ACTION GENRE
"OUT OF TIME" WITH DENZEL WASHINGTON, SANAA LATHAN, EVE MENDES
Cinema Views With Film Critic Kevin J. Walker
– 30 –
Cinema Views With Film Critic Kevin J. Walker
thewordnepaper @excite. Dotcom
walkernet @gmail dot com
http://cinemaviews.tripod.com
Godfather Of Soul Passes
"Soul Brother Number 1", "The Bad Busta from Augusta and "The King Of Soul," Also "The Hardest Working Man In Show Business" Mourned as James Brown Passes at Age 73;
Spike Lee BioPic film set for 2008
James Brown "The Godfather of Soul" has passed on, and there are many thoughts on what his legacy is and has meant. His influence in music is well known, but he also had an impact in film, including the present "Dreamgirls" where a character is based on him...
Kevin J. Walker, Netitor,
THE WORD NetPaper Online News Service
Milwaukee, WI USA
thewordnetpaper @excite dot com
walkernet@gmail.com
Milwaukee,Wis USA
FILM CRITIQUES
TRAVELS to Kemet, Middle East; Mediterranean: Athens, Greece; Rome
PHOTOS of Pyramids, Jerusalem, Hawai’i
WalkerWorld Science
WalkerWorld Politics Analysis Column
Local Milwaukee Politics
thewordnetpaper@excite dot com
Milwaukee,Wis USA
Brown went to an Atlanta hospital last weekend and was diagnosed with pneumonia where he died from complications of congestive heart failure. Funeral arrangements call for a public viewing at the Apollo theatre in New York's Harlem before internment in Augusta, Georgia where he grew up.
He was born James Joseph Brown Jr. in North Carolina although raised in Georgia, giving him one of his original nicknames as "The Bad Busta From Augusta" from an early boxing career. James Brown and the Famous Flames traveled the nation, playing in the "Chitlin Circuit" of Black owned and operated clubs throughout the Southland before their fame grew.
They became one of the many Black groups such as the Temptations, Spinners, Supremes and more with multigenerational crossover appeal, especially with the Nostalgia Music wave when Baby Boomers brought the music to the fore and in so doing brought Brown to more generations of youth.
He had become so famous that he could become a subject of parody like the late crooner Barry White whose visage appears through Robin Williams in Happy Feet" as the king penguin with the plastic six pack plastic binder around his neck. This only made others more interested in his music and showmanship.
Handing over the torch or sorts was seen in the joint appearance with Usher Raymond at the 2005 Grammy Awards, where the two danced alternatively. The NBC broadcast showed a clip and has a link at their archives of James Brown film clips.
Stories were told of his largesse in his many Milwaukee appearances. He carried a shoe shine box in his car when in the late 1950s he pulled up to one Black venue he was scheduled to play and saw a gaggle of young boys on the corner looking for shoes to shine.
"Here let me show you how to do it right," said Brown.
He shined THEIR shoes, while impressing messages of entrepreneurship to the young boys.
Seeing a group of youngsters gathered at the doors at a downtown venue and unable to get in, he ordered that they were to be let in for $1.00. Those who didn't have even that were to be let in for free.
BUSY SCHEDULE BY NECESSITY NOT CHOICE
The week he went into the hospital he had three appearances booked for the following week. This active schedule was not of his choosing. He wanted to sit back and enjoy the fruits of a long and successful career; he had millions; a personal jet; and homes in two states. But he also had several wives and many children. Tax bills, child support and wife payment problems called for increasing revenue streams and kept him on the road.
James Brown's stage antics were renown and imitated, mentioned by White TV anchors who evidently were acquainted with the material. This was such as the "Microphone Tango" he performed, holding the mike cord and tossing the head of the stand forward, then snatching it back, cradling the microphone while dropping to the floor on one knee, sweat pouring down his face.
There was one that was more dramatic, and even performed by White TV VJs:
The man kneels onstage, screaming pleadingly into the microphone while the backup singers harmonize:
"Please, please, please...
"..Don't go...
"...I love you so...""
A friend come out of the wings, and places a glittering cape over his shoulders while he leads him off the stage a broken man bent over in his grief, his hunched shoulders shuddering with his sobs as he and his friend slowly march off to the wing in time to the beat.
He rebels, throws the cape off, runs to the front of the stage and grabs the mike again, repeating the refrain. He breaks down again.
Another glittering cape of a different colour, again he is led off. This would be repeated a good four or five times. Everybody who'd seen it knew the routine, but like Shakespeare's plays some things retain their power over time and although we know the plot still enjoy seeing its execution.
Prince of Minnesota who at one we time worked in the James Brown Revue even incorporated many of the stage mannerisms into his own concert tours. Female vamps strut suggestively about, band members engage in their own antics while in front Prince holds court. He learned this "3 Ring Circus" technique from Brown.
Spin-off Brown groups from the James Brown Revue included The JBs who produced "Monorail," one of the early "Bus Stop" tunes, sort of Urban Square Dancing done without partners in a large group. The Horny Horns were sort of another spin-off who played with acts such as Bootsy Collins.
RAP MUSIC INFLUENCE
Brown's influence was vast, affecting not only his native R&B, but Rock And Roll, and even Rap Music. Estimates are that Brown is the most sampled performer in rap. Eric B and Rakim; Ice Cube; and NY DJ Cool Herc were among those who sampled his tunes.
His dance moves also had an impact. The Mash Potatoes and Camel Walk, which is sort of a forward Moon Walk was in his repertoire. There is an old audition tape of a young Michael Jackson doing his moves. Usher, MC Hammer and even Mick Jagger's stage moves were aped, along with his general looting of Black music.
There was a Dancing James Brown Doll, along with those Dancing Santas that one can buy in discount stores. Press a button and a dance tune issues forth, with Brown's 14 inch figurine moving in time to the beat. The rendition is accurate even down to the oversized belt buckles and the processed hair. Charles "Dapp" Wilson, the late Milwaukee community activist and Old School music and R & B booster, purchased a bunch of the dolls and passed them around the community.
SPOKE LEE JOINT OF BROWNS LIFE IN 2008
James Brown knew theatre and theatricality well and like many performers went at least partway into film. The death announcements weren't long issued before talk evolved of a film Biopic of Brown. But the producers of Hollywood were ahead and far beyond the talking stage. Spike Lee has been tapped to craft a film on Brown's life. Brian Glazer who produced "A Beautiful Mind" will be producing for Paramount Pictures.
Black talk radio was rife with who should be the star.
"It has to be somebody who can sing and dance," offered up one member of a panel on Milwaukee's 1290 WMCS-AM
"Jamie Foxx would be my choice..."
"I would think Leon of (Robert Townsend's) "The 5 Heartbeats"
"The actor has to be dark-skinned, too" concluded another.
Brown has had an appearance in films, both in presence and in spirit.
* "BLUES BROTHERS" -- Many people think his first film foray was a small role in this John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd musical road trip of two R & B loving White private detectives trying to save their clients' property. Along the way they encounter Brown as the pastor of a Black church with truly rocking services who sings from the pulpit mike in hand while the choir wails away, and the rotund Joliet Jake turns handsprings down the aisle. The film was partially shot in Milwaukee (the freeway chase scene where the car goes off the unfinished bridge) and featured Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul to James Brown's King.
* ROCKY V - Brown performed "Livin' In America" during the 4th of July extravaganza between boxers Apollo Creed (modeled after Muhammed Ali) now Rocky Balboa's friend and trainer after two brutal fights in the first two movies; and Ivan Drago from the old Soviet Union. The Las Vegas spectacle is renown and replayed often, featuring Brown singing and his red, white and blue clad dancers all about as in one of his stage revues
* "ROBOTS" -- Halle Berry and Ewan McGregor co-starred which had a recurring joke where a broken robot lost his voice box and encountered various other voice units along the way, including James Earl Jones' Darth Vader from "Star Wars." In the film's big dance finale after they'd won their freedom, the little robot leads off the big party with "Get Up Off Offa That Thing" and bending over the microphone stand James Brown-style, while all around his dancers and background singers cavort. To one side another robot dances the Robot!
* "DREAMGIRLS" has Eddie Murphy's character James "Thunder" Early who is patterned after James brown during the era of his early stage revues with the singing style and processed hair. It is he who gives the Dreamgirls their first big break as backup singers
In fact it was this sort of three ring action onstage that Brown honed in the "Chitlin Circuit" that was later incorporated by Prince, who worked in Brown's operation. Rap groups have used the technique as well, with a stage full of sexy dancers and poseurs prancing about in and endless display of visual and auditory treats.
RACE-PROUD BROWN BOUGHT AND BANNED OWN MOVIE;
PENNED "SAY IT LOUD -- BLACK & PROUD" BUT MARRIED WHITE WOMEN
While many people think Browns' first film foray was a small role in "Blues Brothers" that was about his second film. The first was such an embarrassment that Brown did what the family of
The man played by Orson Wells' movie "Citizen Kane" weren't able to do.
In the late 1960s film, Brown played one of the millions of former Enslaved in the chaos of the Civil War and Emancipation. He was searching for his former master because he was unused and uncomfortable with this frightening new thing called "Freedom."
The racially proud Brown who would go on to record "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" bought the film work prints and negatives so it would not be shown. Brown later went on to sample the Other White Meat, marrying White women and having court battles with several other women to join those of the government.
The woman who identified herself as Mrs. Brown was locked out of the mansion thereby providing fodder for the likes of Entertainment tonight and inside edition for weeks to come, alternating her with Anna Nicole Smith's battles for her own piece of a dead husband's estate.
ACTIVELY POLITICAL, SPENT ENTIRE WEEK ON MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW
James Brown was political, and in an unorthodox way. He was a Republican who visited the Nixon White House and worked to bring other African Descended into the GOP. He started the Black And Brown Trading Stamps in the late 1960s and brought them to Black communities all across the nation.
With the B&B stamp program as the sponsor, Brown bankrolled his own national radio show for Black stations which featured ground breaking subjects with incendiary hosts, who one time were unceremoniously flipped off the air when they discussed the Black Mafia and explored their legitimacy and acceptability. The microphone however was left on for a few seconds while the host and station management argued.
Brown spent a week on the Mike Douglas Show in the late 1960s. It was over a weeklong school holiday like Easter of Christmas so many of us were able to see it. He spoke of politics, having ownership of land, political and economic empowerment. To young people this was something new, and for a week we were schooled by an African Descended millionaire who stayed close to his people. It coloured our views of his movement and life passages.
James Brown made many songs, but below are some particular ones of note. If you think we omitted one or two that should have been listed, drop us a message at thewordnetpaper @excite dot com, or walkernet @ gmail.com
JAMES BROWN SONG LIST:
Please, Please, Please
Try Me
Prisoner of Love
Papa Got A Brand New Bag
Man's World (This Is A)
Sex Machine
Super Bad
Mother Popcorn
I Feel Good (I Got You)
Living In America
Black And Proud (Say It Loud)
Santa Go Straight To The Ghetto
I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothin'
King Heroin
Kevin J. Walker, Netitor,
THE WORD NetPaper Online News Service
Milwaukee, WI USA
thewordnetpaper @excite dot com
walkernet@gmail.com
Milwaukee,Wis USA
FILM CRITIQUES
TRAVELS to Kemet, Middle East; Mediterranean: Athens, Greece; Rome
PHOTOS of Pyramids, Jerusalem, Hawai’i
WalkerWorld Science
WalkerWorld Politics Analysis Column
Local Milwaukee Politics
thewordnetpaper@excite dot com
Milwaukee,Wis USA
---------------------
Stage Views by Critic Kevin J. Walker
walkernet@gmail dot com
"Dreamgirls" The Original Stage Play is Fondly Remembered 25 Years Later
"Dreamgirls" The Movie is finally on its way out, after a long tortuous road almost a quarter century when the hit play first astounded audiences and made stars of people like the original Deena Jones and Effie White.
The song "One Night Only" is a rousing production piece that is in the film, after the "Dreamgirls" success starts to take hold. It’s a toe-tapper and the editing of the scenes draws you in in a way that plays cannot their being in the present with an immediacy that cannot be matched by the detachment of film or video.
The troubles early Black audio entrepreneurs had in marketing their music outside of their traditional audience; getting played and paid; managing personal and interpersonal lives; touring; and having the right look such as Dark versus Light-Skinnedness are just a few more of the subjects covered in the play "Dreamgirls" some of which are sure to surface in the film version if it is to have any relevancy as well as entertaining.
Effie White, whose signature song with its mixture of rejection and stubborn/determined profound self-deception that brought normally reserved theatre audiences to their feet in a helpless outburst of joyful noise.
There are reports that in preview screenings the same thing is happening when the song is performed in the movie version which co-stars Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé Knowles, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy.
I can still feel the electricity that went through the crowd as people were shushed by seatmates in the know when the rotund backup singer asks "Where's my dress? What happened to my locker?" and nobody will look her in the eyes…
And I am telling you, I am going to the movie when it comes out next week. How can I not, since I was one of the few, the so very very few who actually saw the original touring play back in its heyday?
I well remember the time I saw the touring stage show of "Dreamgirls" when it came to Chicago. Buses were full as we trekked down the 150 kilometres to the Windy City as part of the late Minnie Townsend's Travel Agency lunch/shopping/dinner theatre packages. My girlfriend Laura and I went on one of her trips.
We walked the streets of America's Second City we shopped – more like window peeked– along the Magnificent Mile, and dined at Shauer's restaurant, a Black-owned establishment with impeccable service that was formed from a building that once housed an old auto repair business. It was a testament to what was to later become the revitalization and recycling boom now taking place there and other rising Downtowns of Rustbelt cities that are being condo-ed from the docks to where the Black and Brown used to live.
This was all a buildup to the main show of course, the "Dreamgirls" stage play musical. It covered such topics as ambitious backstabbing friends and the cutthroat business of show business; the practice of palatable White acts "covering" Black tunes as they rode them onto commercial success, and more. Laura was impressed, as was I.
When the DVDs come out I can envision a "Ray", "What's Love Got To Do With It?," and "Deamgirls" triple bill for those home Movie Nights with the widescreen TVs. They cover similar territory and some of the time periods. I just hope the Process doesn't come back! Its bad enough seeing the Rev. Al Sharpton still running around with his antiquated 'Do, which is as bad as some of his political positions. But I digress.
The play by its nature had to compress time and hint at things, and it will be interesting to see how a movie with its different abilities and lesser limitations can expand and extend the original concept. One particularly striking special effect in the play was to illustrate Effie's commercial success.
She sings a song alone in a joint, dressed plainly. There is a small spotlight on her face, the rest of the stage is dark. When it widens she is now dressed in a spectacularly expensive sequined dress –courtesy of the quick black-garbed stagehands– and we infer Effie's now in a large venue such as the one we were in, back in the game, large and in charge. The audience responded as expected, and in so doing completed the effect for Effie.
It was a splendid use of theatre and psychology, for who among us doesn't root for the underdog, and those who succeed despite overwhelming odds, especially if they've been laid low by the machinations of others they once called friends?
Plays because of their immediacy have these limits on physical acts, but movies don't. Flashbacks, simultaneous acts and quick editing can greatly enhance a film version of a work, which is why so many films first started life as books. Lots more people have read the "Harry Potter" books, and sometimes creative juices flow the other way, with plays being made from movies and cartoons. This cross fertilization is all good.
"Dreamgirls" the Play tore up New York, shredded audiences and staid critics, and helped the idea that there were Black historical themes that didn't have to be watered down to reach a wide audience, i.e., ticket paying White Folks. Book authors, playwrights, and even talk show stars would eventually all benefit from the breakthrough.
The play was packed with music from start to finish, made easy because they were performers and recording people. This gets around that strange reaction from some of actors "breaking into song." As opposed to say, shooting energy beams out of their hands and eyeballs, or flying around busting concrete buildings in half or something?
Even in "Chicago" which broke the curse against modern musicals they had to have Roxie the Mankiller have her daydreams while in the women's lockup to excuse the musical numbers. "Idlewild" the rousing rappish period film about a Southern speakeasy starring Paula Patton from "Déjà Vu" and the Outkast duo used the dream or imaginary sequences when outside of the club. These are movies, people; the suspension of belief is central to the creative arts. Get over it, and just let them sing for the Goddesses' sakes.
The movie "Dreamgirls" might not have as much music because it goes necessarily in other directions, and they need to because of the many people who know of the original. Even in play form when the audience is in the hundreds of thousands even for a successful touring play.
From the clips the movie "Dreamgirls" covers more ground between the eager Diva/Starlet in training but reluctant to hurt her onetime singing pals; and the Dreamgirls' ambitious and duplicitous manager played by Eddie Murphy, who is being spoken of for an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a few months. I wrote back when he did the cop drama "Metro" that Murphy showed his dramatic strengths when he played an alcoholic cop opposite the always good Michael Rappaport ("True Romance", "Higher Learning") as the straight-laced by the book Rookie paired with Murphy's hostage negotiator in the San Francisco PD.
But Hollywood as did the general movie going public seemed to prefer Murphy better in familiar comedic roles, so back he went to the "Nutty Professor", "Daddy Day Care" and "Haunted Mansion" movies that put buttes in the seats and bring home the bucks for the studios. Maybe its time for another "Another 48 Hours." Or "Beverly Hills Cop," or a combination of the two. I mean, now that there is a "Rocky 6" anything can happen, especially for a sequel preferring public.
Ross lived her life as a dream girl to be sure, and like Deena in the film rode into superstardom and went on to solo success and a star in films. Some roles were well received such as her first as the tragic Billy Holiday in "Lady Sings The Blues," with an equally acclaimed Richard Pryor in his first role. Both racked up later lesser roles in forgettable movies. But for Ross one was particularly ill-advised as the protagonist, and she had Pryor again as a co-star.
In a monumental miscasting Ross played a regrettable role as a grown school-marmish Harlem-dwelling Dorothy in the travesty of the movie made from "The Wiz" stage musical. It was instead notable for its other supporting characters such as Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow; Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man; and chock full of stars such as Pryor as the Wizard; and Quincy Jones as the player of a 100 foot long super-grand piano (with a transformed and then still fairly new World Trade Center with a inspiring semicircular multi storey bridge joining the two towers!).
But the true Golden Rule is Those Who Have The Gold Make The Rules. Berry Gordy the producer of The Wiz wanted his honey to be the lead, and that was that. But what else would we think of someone who would make sure his name would be listed first in film titles as in "Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon?"
It was crafted from the tale of the rise – and some would say fall – of the Supremes, one of the original Girl Groups who arose from the projects of Detroit and became part of the powerhouse that would become Berry Gordy's Motown records. Although the producers laughably made noises that it wasn't, everyone knew it was largely the story of what would become Diana Ross and the Supremes, and the ouster of Florence Ballard from the group, to be replaced by Cindy Birdsong.
I had the thinnest of connections to the Supremes/Dreamgirls story: In college my sister Cheryl Anita Walker of Oakland went out with Cindy Birdsong's brother when the two attended Howard University.
This is about as thin a connection as me being apparently the only one in Milwaukee who never saw Halle Berry when she came here with ex-husband the singer Eric Benet. If I shopped in the area malls more I probably would have seen Halle at least once, since reports are she was an enthusiastic high-end shopper. As for her philandering husband there's a picture of Eric Benet in dictionaries as the definition of "Stupid," and for "Guys Who Messed Up, Big Time." But I digress.
Sadly, Flo's personal story didn't reflect Effie's triumphant arc. She died as a single mother on welfare in the same Detroit projects the girls once escaped, traveling and giving concerts in Paris, London, and Rome. Diana Ross after much criticism paid for a college fund for Ballard's children. The nagging question is why didn't she throw a bone or two to her old chum while she was traipsing around European castles and jet-setting with her beaus? A few concert dates from a couple of phone calls would have meant the world to Ballard. This is why for many Ross is an ace villainess and without redemption, with a hot furnace waiting for her all her own.
Just in time to capitalize on "Dreamgirls" here comes Ross ready to drop another album, I mean CD, her first in years. Of course her daughter Traci Ellis Ross of TVs "Girlfriends" has gone onto her own success on the show by producer Kelsey Grammer's ("Frasier" ).
Mary Wells is still around, and she has her own story to tell of the Supremes era, but she has tried to cast her ownself in the public eye as the Effie character. This is so since unlike Flo Ballard, Wells actually had a longtime solo singing career along with the dozens of others riding the Nostalgia music wave of the 1960s and '70s, as aging baby boomers and Buppies relive the music of their teenage years.
Of course there were plans launched immediately during its theatrical run to make a Dreamgirls movie, and the failure should be an abject lesson in the perils of hubris and greed. None of the principals could agree and so nothing was done, and the years turned into decades. Creative teams dissolved, stars aged, musical tastes changed as even the venerable Movie Musical genre went into a generational hiatus.
Now they finally made a "Dreamgirls" film, with lovely songstress Beyoncé as the named star. Her historical connection to the Supremes/Dreamgirls story as being the powerhouse behind Destiny's Child before she herself jettisoned them for a more lucrative solo career springs immediately to mind.
Although Knowles is supposedly the star of the movie, as with the Doc Holliday character in the various incarnations of the Wyatt Earp movies, everybody knows that the second banana is the real star of those shows. Effie White and how she deals with the backstabbing of her show business compadres is what people remember even to this day. Beyoncé demonstrating a wisdom beyond her years knows this and has wisely and graciously gone with the flow.
"People would always ask me 'who is playing Effie, who's going to sing her song?'" and praising Hudson's performance.
When the Golden Globe nominations were announced ousted American Idol star Jennifer Hudson was one of the lucky ones; the movie received 5 in all. The ever smiling, pleasant Chicago Homegirl and her positive family life is a welcome relief indeed from the 'Hood Rat attitude of actual Idol winner Fantasia Barrino. The semi-literate, dark-skinned proud Babymomma has now gone Blonde – as so many other Black female stars who go off the track in a discouraging display of racial self hatred.
There is of course a
forum on the subject of fake Black blonde women such as Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and even Lauryn Hill, who some once thought as someone somehow Deep and Intellectual; to demonstrate that the one time private school Buppie Preppie's miseducation of herself and others is ongoing. But I digress.
Sheryl Lee Ralph was the original Deena Jones, and she has gone on to appear in feature films and a couple of television shows. She was the estranged wife of island lawman Denzel Washington in "The Mighty Quinn," and in the film "To Sleep With Anger." On TV Ralph was on a New Age "Charlie's Angels"-ish techno spy operative action adventure show on NBC in the 1980s, scuba diving and blowing up things. Now she's on one of the innumerable crime investigative shows on network TV.
Jennifer Holliday was the original Effie, and was launched into a recording contract, but although she has become legendary as a singing diva from her performances did not parlay her fame into success as much as her compadres of the play. She has become largely forgotten to the point she doesn't even have a bit role or a cameo in the film, as by contrast Loretta Divine.
Divine was the third Dreamgirl who has had the most wide ranging success, especially her role in movies. Divine's size – not apparent in the original play as the posters can attest – has since become one of her several strengths, and the "Waiting to Exhale" star has gone on to make over a dozen films with a few playing sassy cops as in "Crash;" and from action dramas such as her Pig Feet Mary in Laurence Fishburne's "Hoodlum," to horror Teen Slasher films.
One reason there was early on an interest in making a film from the play is it had a positive theme, unlike "The Five Heartbeats" which hurt it.
"Why would I want to go see a movie about some Brothers makin' it then failing?" asked a Brotha about why despite his age group and interests he avoided the most excellent period film modeled after The Dells and directed by Robert Townsend ("Meteor Man").
He has a point. Why spend $8.00 and up per movie ticket, not counting concessions, parking and babysitting fees, to leave the house and voluntarily pay to see something over two hours that will bring you down? Some of us only have to stick our heads out of the window and look down the block to see negative stories.
Or as one youth succinctly said about a well-meaning Ghetto Film in the 1980s, "who wants to go to the movies and see Black people bein' Poor?"
Plays survive even today hundreds of thousands of years later because there is still nothing like a live production even in an era of multimedia; streaming foreign concerts over the global mind that is the evolving Internet, even into cellular phones and Hand-Helds. Plays can't be TiVo'd or rewound, there are no Do-Overs. And of course, what you see is what you get!
But plays harken back to our primeval and communitarian impulses, and is related to the reason why we still go and pay good money to sit outside in the cold or with sometimes boorish strangers to watch athletic games or movies when we could do so comfortably at home on large screen TVs.
– KJW
Kevin J. Walker, Netitor,
THE WORD NetPaper
Online News Service
Milwaukee, WI USA
walkernet@gmail.com
FILM CRITIQUES
TRAVELS to Kemet, Middle East; Mediterranean: Athens, Greece; Rome
PHOTOS of Pyramids, Jerusalem, Hawai’i
WalkerWorld Science
WalkerWorld Politics Analysis Column
Local Milwaukee Politics
thewordnetpaper@excite dot com
Milwaukee,Wis USA
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Cinema Views With Kevin J. Walker, Film Critic
"Idlewild" launches OutKast Duo into Upper Level of Performer/Actors;
Musical Genre Invigorated With Modern Touches
"Idlewild" is a rousing, toe tapping and emotionally draining period film that follows the successful musical formula of "Let's Put On A Show!" combined with the message of Following Your Dream. Any reports of the demise of the musical in these days of "Chicago" others have been greatly exaggerated.
The movie was inspired by the real life Idlewild, Michigan enclave which was an island of creativity during the early years of the 20th century, although this one is transported from the Great Lakes Midwest to Georgia.
The northwest Michigan enclave, near Grand Rapids and Traverse City, wants you to kjow more about the place that inspired the film: The Real Idlewild
The film also broke the self-conscious prohibition of people breaking into song, which is no more ridiculous than gun battles with six shooters that fired off rounds like modern Niners, which the film also features.
The mortuary aspect was similar to the film "A Rage in Harlem" with Gregory Hines as the street savvy one and the bookish Forest Whitaker as a funeral parlor accountant who falls in with femme fatale Robin Givens and her luggage bag of pilfered gold. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" of the Gravedigger Ed and Coffin Jones film series had production scenes that were akin to the energy and creativity of a people finally free to create, dance, write, or just enjoy life. The Harlem Renaissance was part of this freeing-up of formerly restricted energies.
[ Percy breaks out with his talent for a wider audience]
I became conscious of the acting skills of Antwan Patton, or Big Boi of the OutKast duo from the movie "ATL." I wasn't aware he was even in it, it being packed with so many other rapper-performer-actors. In that coming of age film of neighborhood skaters, their loves, and their last year of high school before going out into the world, Patton played a ghetto Thugpreneur whose illegal business threatens the future of the lead character's li'l brother.
He had an effortless style, and like many actors find playing villains more to their liking. Isaiah Washington before he became a medical heartthrob in TVs "Grey's Anatomy," was a notable villain in several movies; Christopher Walken too at one time actually was a cinema Good Guy. That was a long, long time ago!
Patton plays Rooster, a man with a foot in both sides of the law. He's a family man with a wife and four daughters who deals with bootleggers and gangsters as a regular pert of his business as a club owner of a nightclub cynically named Church.
[The flamboyant Rooster is played by Big Boi Antwon Patton of OutKast]
He is featured as the entertainer and club owner, but its fellow OutKast member Andre Benjamin who is the primary focus of the movie, and his romance with the chanteuse Angel Davenport, portrayed by the luminous Paula Patton. Andre 3000 cut his teeth on the films "Four Brothers," and earlier as a trigger happy henchman for Cedric The Entertainer in the dreadful John Travolta "Get Shorty" sequel "Be Cool.
The Church is only a couple of levels above a Southern juke joint, with sawdust on the floor and patrons who aren't averse to throwing their bottles onstage as a form of expression. Percy moonlights at his childhood friend's club as the Piano Man, with almost crippling bouts of stage fright unless he's face down in his piano keys.
[The thuggish Trumpy puts the squeeze on Rooster's club operation]
"Get out there and play something!" says Sunshine Ace when Rooster is late for the nightly gig, declaring "ain't nobody getting' they money back!" Ving Rhames plays Spats, the benevolent dictator and crime kingpin. Paula Jai Parker again uses her booty --I mean beauty-- as the salacious and cheating girlfriend of the bar owner Sunshine Ace. Her scenes will be largely cut from the broadcast version!
Patton's resemblance to singer/songwriter and pianist Alicia Keys need not be overly remarked upon but it is there nevertheless. At first, I thought it was indeed the Grammy-winning artiste as they're readying Keys for a film career, now that they've got that nonsense out of her head about wanting to be known for her art and not her considerable good looks. She was going around wearing baggy clothes onstage, but even they couldn't hide all her goodies. Keyes is going to play a world class hit woman in an upcoming film, inheriting roles that as in "The Matrix" sequels would be going to the late Aliyah. But I digress
"Idlewild" is packed with loads of actors. Ben Vereen is Percy's stifling dad, but he has no performing scenes. As a onetime toast of Broadway this was unusual. And why have Pattie Labelle, the once outrageous stage diva and 1990s Superbowl halftime performer in a movie if she isn't going to sing? Use an unknown for those bit parts and save the cash!
Malinda Williams has made a successful transition from playing the teenage girls she's portrayed in films such as her hilarious comic turn in "High School High" with Mekhi Phifer, directed by "Airplane!" and "BASEketball" co-creator and Milwaukeean David Zucker, and co-starring Jon Lovitz. Williams plays Zora, the beleaguered wife of the philandering Rooster and mother to his children, But she's no dummy, as she makes quite plain.
The sprawling film has a cast of dozens of speaking roles, and many more dancing ones. And these women have real world looks and figures; even the thin ones have womanly hips and shapes, instead of those otherworldly Reel World boyish shaped looking ones, who have been unduly thrust forth before us by an overly Homosexual influenced Hollywood who prefer their women to resemble long, thin and boyish looking.
The leaps and lifts of dancers are augmented by some interesting camera work as the Jitterbuggin and Lindy-Hopping dancers are frozen and slowed down, then speeded up; with the camera darting between their legs, then shooting the dancers from above as they are leaping and being tossed and flipped.
Such exuberance and energy hasn't been seen since the dance antics in the enjoyable "You Got Served," also starring rap performers who are populating films these days. Not even the musical based on the Maryland High School of The Arts – that's Tupac Shakur's alma mater-- "Step Up" had such an infectious feel.
The music and lyrics were composed and recomposed to have a modern feel, but placed in the period of the Depression mid 1930s. the effect at first threw Jean.
"Don't the music and songs seem a bit – out of place?" Jean said sideways to me. We saw "Idlewild" at the invitational preview screening Tuesday night at the Marcus Ridge cinemas in New Berlin, hosted by the Milwaukee Community Journal, the state's largest Black newspaper which carried the print column of Cinema Views. The preview was also co-sponsored by Fox TV Channel Six and radio station V-100.
Indeed, the record scratching barely minutes into the film alerts you right off that there is going to be some tampering with the musical formula, although they'd have to go a long ways farther to beat out Baz Luhrman's "Moulin Rouge."
That movie starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor was one of the few I almost walked out on, but I'm glad I stayed. As a musical it was daring and effective, melding modern songs to old styles such as a Country Western song to a Tango; using Jazz and Waltz, even the Can-Can, but placed in early 20th century Bohemian Paris.
"Idlewild" likewise has rap lyrics that actually fit well into the stage performances of Rooster and his nightclub and after a bit you don't notice. In fact, you can see how there is a thread that ties together Rap, Dance, music and the Southern culture that was transplanted North from the Chitlin' Circuit of clubs to the new Black communities in the first couple of generations after Emancipation.
When the chanteuse tells the audience to "…taste my Bitch's Brew…" we recognize that this is an ode to Miles Davis and his album of the same name with the cover artistry that had many college students unfolding it and attaching it to their dormitory walls. The soundtrack was released a week ago and I hope the titles, which are often taken from scene descriptions don't give away too much of the minimal plot.
"Afterparty" is one of the purely verbal songs, and at a welcome slower pace as Angel sings at her club debut, with onstage jitters that recall Anita Baker's music video "No One In The World" staged at the Apollo theatre's amateur night in post-world war II Harlem.
"I sing best when I sing for you" says the fun-loving beauty, who laid herself out in one of his coffins to the churchy mortuary attendant.
[Angel and Percy ponder their future as their attraction grows]
Macy Gray portrays Taffy, the veteran singer who gets put to the curb when Angel arrives. Gray is a HBO vet from "Lackawanna Blues," and had a nice short role as the neighborhood drug mama in Denzel Washington's "Training Day," although she's had other short roles.
In the Katrina aftermath in New Orleans Gray was spotted anonymously serving food to evacuees in the Superdome, just doing what she could. There were reports of several others of her stature doing the same, just there with no press agents, but Macy's hard to miss with that height, hair and thickness!
Jean, my movie date, was bothered by the lack of law enforcement seen throughout "Idelwild," with bullets flying and bodies piling up all over the place.
"Where were the police?" Jean asked. "There wasn't any retribution, or justice seen in the movie," she said.
You know, she's right. It seemed particularly lawless, even for a 1930s backwoods Georgia community. Like those Martial Arts films where all these people are fighting and revenge killing over a period of days and there are no authorities around to stop it. Only a newspaper article seemed to signal any official connection. Even in a time of Segregation this would be unusual.
That notable observation aside, this is why I like seeing movies with intelligent people such as Jean; they point things out that would escape me. I would have granted "Idlewild" that bit of license as part of the normal suspension of belief. After all, there were already talking whiskey flask crests and an animated wall of Cuckoo clocks. And rappers.
HBO, which also exposited other African American oriented features such as "Lackawanna Blues", "Tuskegee Airmen" and "Miss Evers Boys" also is involved in Spike Lee's four hour film about flooded New Orleans and post-Hurricane Katrina "When The Levees Broke" which premiered last Monday and Tuesday nights.
"IDLEWILD" directed and written by Bryan Barber is from Universal Pictures in conjunction with HBO, and is rated a well deserved "R" for adults because of depictions of automobile sexual encounters, YMCA dining, ceiling shots of bedplay, et cetera. Leave the little ones at home for this one! Get a sitter, spend the cash.
Cast:
Andre Benjamin -- Percy
Antwan Patton -- Rooster
Paula Patton – Angel Davenport
Terrence Dashon Howard -- Trumpy
Malinda Williams -- Zora
Paula Jai Parker – Rose
Ving Rhames – Spats
Macy Gray -- Taffy
Ben Vereen – Percy Senior
Cicely Tyson – Mother Hopkins
Faizon Love – Sunshine Ace
Jackie Long -- Monk
Patti LaBelle -- entertainer
"X-MEN 3: THE LAST STAND"
by Kevin J. Walker, Film Critic
Black Web Portal Wire Releases
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"I don't answer to my Slave Name anymore."
- Mystique, once called Raven Darkholm
This is a most satisfying conclusion to the original X-Men series. I say that because there is the option for more, and as much as these films have made this is as much a possibility as the four "Alien" movies. Or the twenty two James Bond 007s. Just stay for ALL of the credits, that's all I can say. (Hint: Remember after the credits in "DareDevil?")
Sci Fi Brothas and Sistahs are making their presence felt in big budget films. In the latest and third X-Men venture "The Last Stand" Halle Berry gets her wish and flies; Genocide of a class of people as government policy is devised and discussed; and the Holocaust, the Illegal Immigration problem, and African American Slave Revolts are used as templates for the confrontation of Humans and Homo superior.
[Storm battles Callisto in X-Men 3]
When I heard Halle Berry as Storm was displeased at her character being screen dressing and might not be returning for the second sequel I wasn't thrown by it. Even in the comic book she was not one of my favourite characters. Control the weather? Big deal. All she did in the movies was stand around and talk.
But the lightening bolts she can shoot are cool, and her eyes go all white to match her hair, which is given a new 'do here. Also she lost that weird Eastern European accent from the first film, although she's supposed to be from the Caribbean. In "The Last Stand" she now talks like a regular suburban girl, or like her native Ohio.
"I felt like a real part of the movie this time" she said in an interview for the Extra TV magazine in France after the Cannes film festival.
"Storm can do all the things she does in the comic book," gushed the onetime Milwaukeean.
We won't be seeing her in these parts now that she and onetime hubby Eric Benet are divorced. When they went to the movies they didn't go to the fancy theatres, they sat with everybody else, even in theatres I wouldn't go to! She liked shopping the malls, too from what I hear.
Halle sightings were numerous back then. Its not that we don't have some celebrities here. I mean, Coo Coo Cal made "My Projects about his experiences at Westlawn. But I digress.
Halle Berry is really laid back, and a regular person with a well-developed sense of humour, as seen in her appearances to pick up her Harvard Hasty Pudding award. (She had to stand at a blackboard and write "I will not make Catwoman 2" five times).
Bill Duke is Trask, a government operative who put into motion the plan to convert - forcibly if need be - the millions of mutants who roam free. Duke has done more directing than acting of late, although he had memorable roles in two Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, "Commando and "Predator."
Almost alone among mainstream movies the X-Men saga has escaped the dreaded Sequelitis affliction with strong storylines and identifiable characters. Instead of a weak follow-up to cash in, the Marvel movies division and their gifted writers have continually upped the ante, and this time out they threw down mightily. They also weren't afraid to kill off a few people here and there. Actually lots of people.
There is lots of blood spilt, both Mutant and human. This is a rough film, but mostly bloodless. Still there are many deaths, and when cars are compacted into disks and cubes with screaming passengers inside you don't have to see the squishiness, or the deep red running out from over the floorboards.
[There is lots of mayhem in "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" ]
Having strong directors who know what people want helps. The first two were helmed by Bryan Singer who wasn't at all a comic book fan of the Marvel strip. He was known for the thrilling and bloody crime drama "The Usual Suspects." Brett Ratner from the "Rush Hour" movies handles things this time.
Action adventure movie makers discovered they could get women to come buy by focusing on relationships. Rogue has the ability to temporarily draw out the powers of other mutants, and if she holds on, she can kill anyone. When she hears there is a cure for Mutancy she's all for it, and is packing her bags to leave the mansion and stand in the long lines at the treatment centers.
"All I want is to be able to touch someone, to hug them and give them a kiss..."
And that someone is Bobby the Iceman. But Kitty Pryde, or The Girl Who Walks Through Walls, has her own designs. She's grown up a bit, and has some impressive scenes. I just wish Colossus did too.
[Iceman, Kitty Pryde and Storm in the lead
must work as a team to defeat Magneto's
Brotherhood of mutants]
What did super beings do for powers before Quantum Physics? Pryde - they'll make up a name for her someday, its like a rule - can "phase through matter,", and by touch can affect others the same way. I also like the consistency of the X-Men universe. Most Mutants have increased mind reading ability; some can pass on their attributes by holding onto someone, as Colossus does to protect another from flying debris.
Singer brought the same Male Stuff bravado and conflict to the X-Men movies, particularly through the rivals for Jean Grey's affection. Scott's Cyclops is her boyfriend and Wolverine, or Logan the Canadian, was the new Bad Boy and has been the centerpiece of the series. Hugh Jackman the current stage darling has played Wolverine in all three movies.
Thrown into a leadership role against his natural wandering nature, the indestructible, instant healing Wolverine becomes an elder big brother to the School for Gifted youngsters, partnering with the sexless Storm in helping run the school.
[Hugh Jackman's Wolverine with Storm
get ready for action on a supposedly quiet
and peaceful subdivision]
His origins were explained in the second film, and where he got his skeleton and retractable claws made of the indestructible alloy Adamantium. And his amnesia. I bought that DVD, which featured the attack on the White House and the drawing of first blood by the increasingly reactionary humans led by Brian Cox's agents when they attacked Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
This was the crucial middle part of the nearly seamless series leading up to this colossal throw-down and battle royal where it's the military with plastic weaponry going against Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, with the depleted ranks of the X-Men having to choose which side they're going to be on, the scheming, discriminatory and fearful Humans, or the Brotherhood?
Indeed, many have to make their choice. TVs Kelsey ("Frasier") Grammar is Dr. Hank McCoy, aka the blue-haired and brainy Beast, and in the comics he was one of the five original X-Men. Here he is a member of the president's cabinet, and the secretary of the department of Mutant affairs.
Hank McCoy is trying to work from within the system, but there comes a point where he tells the president as he's resigning that decisions are being made without his input, such as weaponising the Mutant Cure into pistols and aerosols, and where participation is no longer going to be "voluntary." A Final Solution for the mutant problem is being implemented.
"In a time like this, I have to be with my people" McCoy tells the President. This is like when Wisconsinite Tony Shalhoub of Green Bay (cable TVs "Monk") an Arab American FBI agent assigned with Denzel Washington in "Under Seige" elects to stay behind the barbed wire in the stadium prison when his cop friends come to get him out. All Middle Eastern men in the city were rounded up by Bruce Willis' occupying Marine general after terrorist attacks on New York, and he was swept up with them.
"Tell them I won't be their 'Sand Nigger' anymore. This is where I belong, here with them..." Shalhoub says, as he backs away from the fence, and is lost in the shuffling crowd of detainees.
[ Storm played by Halle Berry prepares to blast
a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants in
"X-Men III: The Last Stand" ]
The X-Men have always used current events and cultural attitudes as a template for their stories. This time there are two. Much like "Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes" used the Enslaved Revolts in 1700s and 1800s America as their backdrop, "The Last Stand" also uses the Slave Insurrections where Magneto, the Jewish Holocaust of WWII still fresh in his mind, plots in secret in the forest like Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey. The also had their Uncle Toms and Thomasinas as well who fought against them and their cause, and they wanted to see the enemy coming.
There are also further cultural references. Under interrogation, the captured Mystique is referred to as "Raven." She sits there silent and sullen as the warden (the same jerk as in "Silence of the Lambs") repeats.
Finally, she says "I don't answer to my Slave name." Hello!
The shape-shifter and deadly martial artist with the prehensile feet also ominously tells a brutal Brotha security guard who's guarding the mutant detainees as they're being moved around in the secret mobile prisons that "when the time comes --I'm going to kill you myself."
"Yeah right. Move back from the bars or I'll Mace you again, you blue bitch!"
But the new X-Men movie has a more modern relevance, and that is the current Illegal Immigration brouhaha. When a large pharmaceutical firm announces an injectable "cure" that permanently suppresses the Mutant X gene it launches the nation into a contentious discussion as processing centers are opened up, and mutants are urged to report to get their free and voluntary treatments.
"But there's nothing wrong with us!" says Halle Berry's Storm, who gets lot more to do in this movie, including fly, as she does in the comics. I mean "Graphic Novels." There is lots of discussion about ethics in the film, along with Genocide. This aspect made me sit up, because I'm writing a series of articles on the subject.
[Storm and Prof. Xavier question Logan
about the whereabouts of the Phoenix,
the transformed Jean Grey ]
In fact, the Illegal Immigration furor may exacerbate the temptation for Genocide, because while some are saying "there's no way to get 12 million people out" of the country that's not quite true. The Pentagon for years had - and may yet have - an Ethnic Weaponry program in the 1970s and '80s, where they could target an entire group for elimination by their group genetic signature. The Human Genome project only makes it easier.
So, if it becomes perceived as a problem with projections by some think tanks that by the middle of this century 170 million Central Americans and their descendents will overwhelm this nation there are options, just not humane ones. But if lots of urban Chicanos start getting coughs and colds that won't get away, don't say that you weren't told!
"How can Democracy survive when one man can move cities with his mind?" the President asks. Prof. X back at his school for Gifted Youngsters leads a discussion by asking "when do we cross the line into tyranny?" by misuse of their powers?
Eric Lensher's Magneto has been given a very understandable motivation. As a Holocaust survivor he has seen this before, and is driven to make sure Never Again. He shows his concentration camp tattoo to the disunified rabble as he raises his army for the war against Homo Sapiens, and tells them how its going down:
"While you're planning and holding your meetings they will come in the still of the night. Make no mistake my young friends, this is extermination."
"Nobody's been talking of extermination!" someone protests.
"No one ever speaks of extermination, they just do it," Lensher tells them.
"In the coming fight and the inevitable Genocide, on whose side will you stand? If we want our freedom we must fight for it! And that fight begins now!"
[ Magneto joins forces again with Prof. X
and the X-Men after the government tries to
"cure" its Mutant problem ]
Still, when the renegade Pyro complains about Prof. Xavier, considered a go-along Uncle Tom by the young Turks Magneto brings him up short.
"Charles Xavier did more for Mutants than you will ever know!"
Ian McKellen is in two monster hit films at once, to go along with his role as Gandolf in "The Lord of the Rings" movies. His stage skills do him well here, as does Patrick Stewart's, reprising his role as Prof. Charles Xavier, trying to create a world where Mutant and human can live in peace.
In addition to Magneto, some of the Old School mutants have been recycled and make an appearance in "The Last Stand." There is the Juggernaut who can crash through anything when he gets up momentum; the Angel with his magnificent dove-white wings which he straps under his extra large and extra long trench coat. Colossus is another Marvel re-invention from Giant Man, but who is here a somewhat normal sized Russian with organic steel flesh. I really wanted to see him go against Juggernaut.
The Old School Giant Man had his own opposite analog as the former Ant Man, therefore going from the smallest superhero to the tallest! In one episode, while down in Mexico Giant Man lost the potion he has to take to return to normal size, sticking him at 12-15 feet. He was hiding in alleyways, and frightening children who saw him behind the market stalls. "Mira! Mira! Un hombre grande!" to their disbelieving parents.
[Back at Alkali Lake, Jane Grey mysteriously
returns as the ultra powerful and
unstoppable Phoenix ]
Vinnie Jones plays Juggernaut. He appeared as the silent mechanic in "Gone in 60 Seconds," and also in "Swordfish." He thus continues the Hollywood Six Degrees aspect with Halle, who also was in "Swordfish" with Hugh Jackman, playing the henchwoman to John Travolta. Come to think of it, she did do a bit of flying in that film. Sort of.
The New Jack ones among the mutant villains include Callisto, with super speed and the ability to sense mutant abilities. Dania Ramirez is Callisto. Ramirez' first film was Spike Lee's "The Subway Stories" for HBO. Other Spike Lee projects were "25th Hour" and "She Hate Me." In the latter, she was the Lesbian partner of Kerry Washington who wants to have a baby with her attorney girlfriend, aided by "Serenity" and "Inside Man" actor Cheiwetel Etiofor as their helpful BabyDaddy.
Other new additions are Jubilee, who can project sonic waves; Arclight; and a fella I just call MultiMan, like from the Saturday morning cartoons that used to come on after the most excellent "Herculoids." He can multiply himself in a flagrant violation of scientific principles such as the Conservation Of Mass. But this is a movie, and some suspension of belief is okay, but sometimes they stretch things a bit much. There has to be some plausible Science in Science Fiction.
There's also the Porcupine Boy (even when used, their screen names are tossed around fast during "X-Men III: The Last Stand" and couldn't always be written down. Also, the studio Cast List doesn't help because we don't know who's name is who, or even what sex the actor is. Who is Arclight? Male or female? And almost everybody has an alias, except for Kitty Pryde and Jean Grey. The photos help out just a bit.
CAST OF X-MEN III: THE LAST STAND
Storm -- Halle Berry
Trask - Bill Duke
Callisto -- Dania Ramirez
Jane Grey, The Phoenix - Famke Janssen
Wolverine -- Hugh Jackman
Rogue, Marie -- Anna Paquin
Eric Lensher, Magneto -- Ian McKellen
Prof. Charles Xavier -- Patrick Stewart
Scott, Cyclops -- James Marsden
Iceman, Bobby -- Shawn Ashmore
Raven Darkholm, Mystique -- Rebecca Romjin
Jimmy The Leech-- Cameron Bright
Pyro -- Aaron Stanford
Warren Worthington III, Angel -- Ben Foster
Kitty Pryde -- Ellen Page
X-MEN III: THE LAST STAND is directed by Brett Ratner for 20th Century Fox studios. Its rated PG-13 for comic book style violence and mayhem on a massive and continuous scale, but little blood. There's some sexual groping betwixt Logan and Jean Grey, and the skinny Mystique appears pink-skinned and butt-nekkid in one scene. --kjw
There have been many movies made from video games, and even 1960-70s TV series. But one genre is really coming into its own because there is a built-in audience spanning generations.
MOVIES MADE FROM COMIC BOOKS:
"Meteor Man" by Robert Townsend is unmistakenly drawn from Green Lantern - at least by the green meteor and the sharp, green cape-less suit, and the story of Hal Jordan, who is part of the Green Lantern Corp of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Townsend wanted to make an African American superhero, which many of us lacked growing up.
"Meteor Man's" hero, played by director Townsend (who also directed Halle Berry in "B.A.P.S."), is struck by a mysterious meteor and given superpowers, which he uses to clean up his neighborhood of the criminality and drug dealers. The movie was referenced by me for the obituary of the late Luther Vandross because it was his first major screen appearance as the silent hit man and henchman of the golden haired gang. Meteor man also co-stars James Earl Jones, Darth Vader voiceman and Thulsa Doom villain in the first "Conan movie." Bill Cosby plays a pivotal bit part.
The Green Lanterns are the opposite of the Watchers, those Marvel eternals with powers akin to the "Star Trek: Next Generation" Q, but who have a strict Prime Directive hands off credo. I can remember when for a time all of the Green Lanterns were of colour. There are always a substitute GL, and when Jordan vanished, one was a brotha who the Guardians had to continually tell he couldn't use the rechargeable Power Ring to restructure the slums for instance.
Can you still remember the ritual rhyme? Don't even try and pretend that you didn't do it back in tha day!
"In brightest Day, in blackest Night,
No Evil shall escape my sight.
To those who worship Evil's might,
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
Superman Returns -- This will make the fifth movie in the franchise, as in the most excellent "Batman Returns" there was some retooling for out times.
In the film Superman returns after some years, and just as in the Jesus of Nazareth fable that the Jewish cousins in Cleveland thought up in the 1930s there are questions about his absence and what he was doing. Seeking wisdom? Strengthening his powers for a titanic battle to come?
Kevin Spacey plays Lex Luthor, using the same sociopathic leer he employed in "Seven." This is a good sign, because you can't have an unknown in this role. Gene Hackman has established a high bar for the villain role in three of the previous four Christopher Reeves versions.
Nick Cage, who told me once in an interview that he took part of his name from the early Black superhero "Luke Cage Power Man," lost out on the Superman role, but he's the "Ghost Rider" now. They're using Marlon Brando's voice again as the disembodied tutor of the super powered import. In Part Two of the original they had to use Susanna York, the mother of the truly Illegal Alien Kal-El because Brando was talking crazy about money for his few lines. Which he refused to learn, and had to read off cue cards.
The Hulk - This much maligned Marvel movie has a sequel planned, and its about time. This was a fabulously entertaining movie that was bad mouthed all through the Internet by the 30 year-old, high water pants wearing, still live downstairs in they mama's basement, never kissed a real girl bunch, who insisted that strict fidelity be paid to such things as ensuring the Hulk wear purple pants!
In comics they do that for visual effect, and it also cuts down on redrawing the numerous panels, you sissies! Shut up next time, and push away from the keyboards and go outside and get you some sun.
"She Hulk" The Movie is reportedly being planned. Good news, bring it on. And this time ignore the NaySayers. They ain't nobody special.
Wonder Woman -- Speaking of tall, thick women, this DC comic of the first female superhero, a rogue Amazon princess is due for a Hollywood version. There were actually two TV series made from it in the 1970s.
Unbreakable - This is really a filmed comic book, with a dissertation delivered by a real comic book fan in Samuel Jackson that was incorporated into the film. Reteaming with Bruce Willis from "Pulp Fiction," Jackson plays Mr. Glass, friend to the nearly invulnerable Willis who survived car and train crashes.
By contrast, Mr. Glass has very weak bones, and when he was born in a tenement his young mother was questioned for child abuse when the constantly crying baby boy was found with every bone in his little body broken!
M. Night Shyamalan has another film, "Lady In the Water" out this summer. And its nothing like the lightweight but enjoyable girl Mermaid flick "Aquamarine," trust me on this!
The Crow - This had three theatre feature film releases, and a fourth to TV. Originally based in Detroit, on Devil's night thugs break in and kill a young couple. Brandon Lee, son of Bruce, comes back from the dead to become the unslayable Killer of Killers and dark avenging spirit, still linked to earthly life. Lee died on the set under very mysterious circumstances that have fueled conspiracy theorists ever since.
Spawn
Blade
Catwoman
Supergirl
Spider Man
Elektra
Fantastic Four
Batman Returns
The Mask, Son of
Coming Up:
Nacho Libre - Jack Black plays a wrestler and sort-of monk/initiate who uses his ring skills to help support a Mexican orphanage in this comical farce.
Ghost Rider - Nick Cage plays the undead motorcycle rider who avenges his death, ala "The Crow"
Namor, the Sub Mariner
Aqua Man
Iron Man
She Hulk
Wonder Woman
Some of these are often turned into Cable Movies if the studios get skittish where the average action movie is 80 million dollars. That's why they like to cast unknowns in both acting and ddirecting, 'cause they cheaper. Until they blow up, like former unknown actors and independent music video directors.
Cinema Views with Film Critic Kevin J. Walker
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