ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... Review

It was seventy degrees in Miami Beach, Florida on the night of February 25th, 1964. It had reached temperatures as high as eighty-one earlier in the day, but the night was mostly cloudy and pretty damn humid. Ironically, this rather oppressive climate would be the backdrop for the night Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) would become the heavyweight champion of the world at the unbelievable age of only twenty-two. Clay, in a somewhat shocking upset, defeated the animal that was Sonny Liston-who was ten years Clay’s senior-by technical knockout when Liston refused to answer the bell at the start of the seventh round. Because no one actually expected the young, cocky Clay to take home the title there was no large celebration planned. Instead, Clay and a thirty-eight year-old Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir)-his spiritual mentor-who Clay had flown in for support along with the likes of eventual NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), who'd just turned twenty-eight eight days prior, and the absolute musical legend that is Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) who'd celebrated his thirty-third birthday at the end of January, but who had no idea he'd never see his thirty-fourth as he'd be killed only ten months after the events of the film all retreated back to the black section of town and mostly hung out in the small, unremarkable hotel room that Clay had arranged for his friend Malcolm X. On February 26th, 1964 Clay would announce that we was becoming a Muslim and henceforth become known as Muhammed Ali. 

One Night in Miami…, the feature directorial debut of Oscar winner Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) based on the 2013 stage play by Kemp Powers is about what theoretically happened on this single night when four men who would come to define their era and play immeasurable roles in the larger fight for civil rights explicitly had nothing better to do than celebrate their friend's win with cheap booze and vanilla ice cream. Of course, there is no way to know the actual conversations held between these men that fateful night in Miami, but Powers-who adapted his own stage play for the screen-has surmised what was on the minds of each man given the circumstances of their lives at the time and what each would come to do in the months following that February night. In many ways the film is almost an origin story for the mythical status the four would come to be renowned for, but what is not only insightful about Kemp's screenplay and King's direction, but absolutely critical to the success of conveying the main ideas infused through each of these figures is that even these men who would go on to be regarded as legends, heroes, martyrs, and what have you-even they were vulnerable human beings who doubted themselves and questioned their choices. Obviously, this is something of an over-simplification of what's at the heart of One Night in Miami... and yet it perfectly encapsulates that no matter how deep this thing cuts or what complicated questions it poses the execution of it all feels absolutely effortless.

OLDBOY Review

Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy will go down as one of the bigger disappointments of 2013, that is, if it is remembered at all. This is unfortunate though as it feels to me that this is one of those films that was locked out and given up on before it even had a chance. Initial reaction to that previous statement goes to the fact this was originally planned as a wide release, but was quickly cut back to a limited roll-out which typically accompanies smaller films where the studios expect positive buzz and strong word of mouth to build anticipation for it once they expand to more cities. This obviously didn't happen in the case of Oldboy as it was pretty much dead in the water from the time the earlier decision was made to push it back a month from October 25th to November 27th. Back to the initial reaction statement though, while it may go to the aforementioned unfortunate scenario it seems the truth is that this project was probably dead from the moment it was greenlit by whatever studio head thought it a good idea to remake the 2003 Korean film that has amassed an extremely loyal following and is considered a masterpiece by many. Though I always thought the purpose of re-making something was to bring it to the attention of those who might not otherwise discover the original there are those more cynical who believe the sole purpose of piggy-backing off the name of a successful foreign film and Americanizing it is purely for profit while hopefully guaranteeing a win financially; they are probably right. Still, that clearly all but backfired here as no one thought through how you might market a film where much of its story and the suspense that goes along with it are dealt in the twists and surprises the film holds close to its chest. No one seems to have thought through that this brutally dark picture isn't what most moviegoers are looking for at Thanksgiving and that it would have likely been better facing off against Bad Grandpa than Frozen. This piece is not meant to question why the film failed financially or in its marketing though, but instead if the film itself was even necessary. I haven't seen the original Chan-wook Park film and so I was no less than intrigued by the trailers and anxious to see what a director like Lee might do with this perplexing material.

First Red Band Trailer for Spike Lee's OLDBOY

I’ve heard a lot about the re-make of Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy from director Spike Lee, but I’ve never seen the original and wasn’t sure what the big deal concerning the film was. I just caught Park’s first English-language film Stoker and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Today, the first trailer (and a red band, no less) for Lee’s re-make has debuted and it is easy to see the intrigue surrounding the plot and why there has been such reaction to the brutal violence that is on full display here. Josh Brolin stars as a man who is kidnapped and locked away for twenty years before being released with little to no explanation why he was there in the first place or for what reasons he’s been set free. This looks like a nice vehicle for Brolin to display the kind of stone-faced, rough persona character he plays so well while being part of a bigger story that serves that type of attitude correctly. Hopefully, this will lift the actor out of the funk he’s been feeling lately from flops like Jonah Hex and Gangster Squad. The tone for the film seems pretty grimacing and Brolin is doing his best to match it. The only problem with the trailer is the fact that the story is supposed to be cloaked in mystery yet the trailer feels as if it gives too much away. I came away from it, not having seen the original may I remind you, and felt as if I knew the beats of the story and how all of this was probably going to play out. Still, I have hopes for the film as I’ve always enjoyed the work I’ve seen of Lee’s and there is a great supporting cast at work here that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, Lance Reddick, Michael Imperioli, and James Ransone. Oldboy opens on October 25th. Hit the jump to check out the trailer and let me know what you think.

THE CALL Review

It is tough to walk into a movie like The Call without having somewhat of low expectations. In seeing the trailer it appears to be a beat by beat thriller we've seen time and time again that could just have well been a Lifetime movie about the epidemic of abductions, especially considering the focus of the kidnappings here are teenage girls. It also didn't bode well for the film that it starred Halle Berry. For me, she has become somewhat of the equivalent to Cuba Gooding Jr. and that is in no way a shot at their ethnicity. That train of thought is more directly influenced by the fact that since winning her Oscar, Berry has appeared in almost nothing but lackluster films. The exceptions being a few shots at redemption such as Things We Lost in the Fire which never caught on and of course last years widely debated Cloud Atlas. I truly enjoyed Atlas and believe it to have been a film not appreciated because it was misunderstood, but regardless Berry was neither the reason that film succeeded in execution or failed at the box office. Still, her presence has long become an indicator of the quality a film might possess and though she hasn't dissolved into the straight to home video star Gooding has, there is no reason as of late to believe that something like The Call would be worthy of any positive chatter. Turns out, this film is a pretty fun, engaging, and even sometimes truly thrilling piece of entertainment. Maybe it was the fact I didn't expect to much or that the audience I viewed the film with seemed to enjoy it so much, but I came out of the film rather impressed by the way director Brad Anderson (The Machinist) taught an old dog some new tricks.