Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN

Before Spike Lee came onto this project as director, Norman Jewison and Oliver Stone flirted with the idea of making a biopic on Malcolm X. While I could see those great filmmakers making a good film on the controversial black Muslim leader, I believe they would have lacked the passion that Lee brought to what is one of his best films. A white director may have watered down Malcolm X's segregation rhetoric, or his dismissal of white people's help. But this is not what Lee did. Some looking at DO THE RIGHT THING believed he would make an angry film. But this is not what Lee did. Lee crafted a captivating story of how one man moved through life and learned and grew from his experiences and his mistakes. Many good films create sympathy for characters, but few come close to empathy. Lee achieves that here.

THE COLOR PURPLE was a turning point in the career of Stephen Spielberg. It was his first adult drama. Menno Meyjes' screenplay tones down Alice Walker's novel, especially in the area of sexual experimentation. But what it retains is its sense of survival. Some criticize its contrivances and it's one-dimensional male characters, but when looked at as a parable, it is a life-affirming and joyous experience.

Celie (Whoopi Goldberg, GHOST) was raped by the man who she knew as her father, baring two of his children, which were adopted away from her. Unable to have any more children, she was virtually sold off as a wife/house keeper to a cruel farmer named Albert (Danny Glover, LETHAL WEAPON), who has several children from his first marriage that need taking care of. Celie simply calls him Mister. The only beckon in her dim world is her sister Nettie (Akosua Busia), but when she rubs Mister the wrong way, she is kicked out of the house. Mister pines away over an alcoholic juke joint singer named Shug Avery (Margaret Avery, WHICH WAY IS UP?), who comes to stay with them when she's miserably sick. She looks at Celie and says, "You sho is ugly." But when the beautiful singer sobers up, she sees the goodness in Celie and their friendship becomes the turning point in Celie's life.

Whatever you think of Roman Polanski, he is certainly a survivor. Marina Zenovich's documentary about the famed director ROSEMARY'S BABY and CHINATOWN makes one wonder how he does it. His parents were murdered during the Holocaust. As a boy he was forced to survive on the streets of Nazi-occupied Poland. His beautiful wife Sharon Tate and his unborn child were slaughtered by Charlie Manson's devotees. Then he went into a self-imposed exile in Europe after pleading guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old, after providing her with booze and drugs.

Many people remember that final chapter vividly, tainting his image forever. Zenovich's film doesn't attempt to venerate Polanski's actions, only paint the full picture. Polanski didn't flee to avoid punishment. He pled guilty, submitted himself to a psychological review, and then even agreed to a 90-day psych evaluation at Chino State Prison. What he ran from was a judge more interested in his own public image than service justice. This isn't only filmmaker Zenovich's opinion, but that of defense attorney, Douglas Dalton; assistant DA, Roger Gunson; and Samantha Gailey Geimer, the young girl involved in the case.

This satirical coming-of-age drama is awkward. Depending on your point of view that's why I believe it has received a "love it or hate it" reception. Looking at it through my memories of puberty, the constant awkward feeling like everyone my age knew something I didn't and my parents had never been teenagers feels just right. But looking at this film as an adult, I felt awkward toward its frankness toward its 13-year-old sex. Did it cross a line?

Jasira (Summer Bishil, upcoming CROSSING OVER) is just getting that hang of being a teenager. Her divorced parents are still fighting out their own teenage hang-ups and unfortunately Jasira is often the punching bag. She lives with her mother Gail (Maria Bello, THE COOLER). But when Gail's boyfriend helps Jasira shave down there, her mom blames her and ships her off to live with her father Rifat (Peter Macdissi, TV's SIX FEET UNDER), who tells her that only whores and married ladies wear tampons and then leaves her home alone night after night to sleep over at his girlfriend's house. So often alone, Jasira takes up babysitting the bratty, foul-mouthed, racist next-door-neighbor kid named Zack Vuoso (Chase Ellison, MYSTERIOUS SKIN) who introduces her to his father's porn collection. She likes it, and when Mr. Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart, IN THE COMPANY OF MEN) discovers this, he likes it too.

It's nothing new for Hollywood to copy a hit to death. Following the success of HARRY POTTER every studio wanted its own fantasy franchise based on a best selling young adult book. Some trends are not always a bad thing, especially when it brings books like Cornelia Funke's INKHEART to the screen. While the story seems better suited to the written medium, director Iain Softley (HACKERS) retains the sense of discovery and adventure that the source material has.

Mo Folchart (Brendan Fraser, THE MUMMY series) has a powerful gift (or curse depending on how you look at it). When he reads written words out loud items from the stories come into the real world. The problem is that he has little control over how it works. Folchart is a book collector and travels around the world with his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett, NANCY MCPHEE), looking for a copy of the rare book Inkheart, which seems to have something to do with the disappearance of his wife Resa (Sienna Guillory, ERAGON). But when he finally does find a copy, it sets off a strange series of events, which include a bitter and selfish fire-blower named Dustfinger (Paul Bettany, A BEAUTIFUL MIND), the lonely author of the book Fenoglio (Jim Broadbent, MOULIN ROUGE!), one of Ali Baba's 40 thieves named Farid (Rafi Gavron, BREAKING AND ENTERING) and the Inkheart villain Capricorn (Andy Serkis, LORD OF THE RINGS), who likes the real world's riches and firearms. Also whipped along on the adventure against her will is Mo's reclusive, but feisty, book-loving aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN).

At one point in Stephen Daldry's THE READER, a teacher tells his class that the key element of Western literature is secrets. People keep secrets for noble reasons or selfish reasons or to conceal shame. Sometimes the reasons aren't that clear. Michael Berg has secrets and so does his lover Hanna Schmitz. When they're revealed how does that change the way they look at each other and themselves?

Michael Berg, played as a young man by David Kross and as a grown man by Ralph Fiennes (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), was fifteen when he came down with scarlet fever. A kind trolley toll taker named Hanna (Kate Winslet, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) helped the young man home. When he is well, he takes her flowers to thank her for her kindness, which begins his obsession with the thirtysomething woman, who loves to be read to. Their affair consumes Michael, but he can't reconcile his strong emotions with Hanna's casual feelings toward him. As these kinds of affairs often do, it lasted a mere summer, but had a profound effect on Michael throughout his life. During law school, he sees Hanna again, as an accused Nazi guard. This revealed secret shakes his worldview, and his view of himself.

Oscar nominations will be announced next Thursday. In previous Getting Buzzed columns, I looked at the top 10 contenders for Best Picture and Best Actor/Actress. Now I'm running down the top 10 contenders for Best Supporting Actor. There are about three locks in each category and a lot of uncertainty for the final few slots. Discover the buzz below.

From the Cold Case File
In an added bonus, I just wanted to throw this trailer out there. KILLSHOT has been languishing on Weinstein Company shelves for years. Directed by SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE's John Madden, this hitman thriller stars Thomas Jane, Diane Lane, the hottest actor in Hollywood Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Johnny Knoxville. Trailer covers the plot, the cast is great, but taking two years to be dumped in January is not promising. Judge for yourself.

Getting Buzzed
10) Ralph Fiennes (The Duchess) & Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married)
The Duchess review & trailer
Rachel Getting Married review & trailer
While it’s a very, very long shot, a Ralph Fiennes performance is never too far from Academy members' minds when voting. He's never won, which they would love to remedy one day. But if can't win for SCHINDLER'S LIST than he probably won't get nominated for THE DUCHESS, despite the Golden Globe nomination. Rosemarie DeWitt really deserves to be the Best Supporting Actress nominee from RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. The MAD MEN actress really delivers a subtle and touching performance as the title character in the Best Film of 2008. She may not get an Oscar nomination, but the respect that her performance will garner when people actually see this film will have her working for a long time.

With Ed Harris's APPALOOSA now on DVD, This Weekend's Film Festival takes a look at classic buddies in Westerns. The once popular genre might have faded from the spotlight, but not from the minds of filmmakers looking to make classic archetypical tales. The genre represents freedom and camaraderie. This week's lineup shows off those qualities well in the friendships of the main characters. We have outlaws. We have two Wyatt Earps and two Doc Hollidays. We have a classic comedy duo. And we have laconic friends.

When it comes to Western buddies, the first duo that might come to mind is Paul Newman and Robert Redford in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. Newman is Butch, the leader of the Hole in the Wall gang, which he runs by the seat of his pants. Redford is his longtime right-hand man Sundance, the fastest draw in the West with a temper to match. Along for the adventure comes Sundance's girl, the schoolteacher Etta Place, played by THE GRADUATE's Katharine Ross. Life is all fun and games for these thieves, who keep running from their past and never look back. Never look back until the train and bank owners are tired of being robbed and hire a skilled posse to follow the duos every move. Is death nipping at their heals? These two don't really want to think about it. As I said in my original review, "Like children trying to bargain their way out of punishments, they’ll try anything…" They're going to outsmart the authorities and live life to the fullest. And if they have to they'll go out with a sarcastic comment and guns blazing.

Westerns were the most popular genre films during the first part of the 20th century. Gritty thrillers took over the mantel in the '60s and '70s, and sci-fi and fantasy are leading the pack today. At the time they were most popular, the Wild West was not distant history yet. The subject of this film was an advisor on early Westerns even. As much as the popularity of the genre has faded with the public, its respect has not faded with filmmakers and true film fans. Ever so often, a director, or even a studio, will dust off a Western and give the genre one more try. For all involved with this production, they threw everything at it, and made a humdinger.

Kurt Russell stars as Wyatt Earp, the legendary lawman from Kansas who has moved to Tombstone, Arizona. He's got himself a wife and says he wants to settle down like a man is supposed to do. He's looking to make a mint in town with his brothers Virgil (Sam Elliott, MASK) and Morgan (Bill Paxton, ALIENS). Also looking to make a killing in Tombstone is notorious gunman and gambler Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer, THE DOORS), an old friend of Wyatt. However, the Earps' quiet retirement from law is challenged by the unruly gang of cowboys, led by Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe, FRAILTY). Wyatt is determined to stay out of problems with the cowboys, but as Virgil says, Tombstone has made them rich, so don't they owe it something back?

Stanley Donen is best known for his musical classic SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. But in 1957, he got his first chance to work with the Oscar-winning new star Audrey Hepburn. Unlike her more famous musical, MY FAIR LADY, later in her career, Hepburn actually sings the tunes here. The film combines two musicals FUNNY FACE and WEDDING BELLS, and features assorted songs from George and Ira Gershwin.

The plot mainly comes from WEDDING BELLS. In the film, fashion magazine editor Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson) wants something new and fresh for her new edition. Photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire, TOP HAT) is having no luck with his empty-headed model. The two decide to take the photo shoot on location to a trendy Greenwich Village bookstore, where they push around the intellectual shopkeeper Jo Stockton (Hepburn). However, after Avery develops the photos and sees Jo in them, he believes she is the new look they need. So with the allure of a trip to Paris, he convinces Jo to put aside her prejudices toward high fashion as a means to an end. It's a free trip to Paris, where her hero, philosopher Emile Flostre (Michel Auclair, THE DAY OF THE JACKAL), lives.

I hope no other filmmaker ever has an opportunity to make a film like this one. When you hear this devastating story you'll understand why. Kurt Kuenne is an independent filmmaker whose been making fictional films ever since he was a kid. His best friend Andrew Bagby acted in every one of his amateur productions. Then he got a call that changed everything. Andrew had been murdered by his ex-girlfriend, who turns out to be carrying Andrew's child and has now fled the U.S. for Canada. So Kuenne decided to travel the U.S. and England to capture the thoughts and memories of all the people Andrew touched so that his son, Zachary, would have an idea what his father was like.

This devastating film uses home video, news footage, photographs and interviews to combine elements of a personal doc with a memorial and a crime story. From the dozens and dozens of friends and family interviewed for this film, Andrew made a strong impression. As we discover, he was a lot like his amazing parents David and Kathleen. Of course in a memorial film as this one, people are going to make Andrew look like a saint, but there are details that back up the praise. He had been or would have been the best man at dozens of friends and family members weddings. His memorial service drew hundreds from various countries. He was portrayed as a good doctor who cared about his patients. As the saying goes, calculate the greatness of the man by the number of his friends. By that standard, Andrew was a great man.

Someone says stoner flick and you think about high people acting dumb. But not all stoner flicks are dumb. With PINEAPPLE EXPRESS arriving on DVD this week, This Weekend's Film Festival takes a look at the five best stoner flicks. We have something fruity. We have something served up with Ice Cube. We have two heterosexual life partners. We have a whole high school class. And no stoner party would be complete without The Dude.

David Gordon Green's PINEAPPLE EXPRESS is a major departure from his previous moody Southern gothic work. But as I said in my original review, "The daring moviegoer who likes all kinds of films will care about Dale and Saul as they laugh about what idiots they are." Penned by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the duo behind the surprisingly good SUPERBAD, this stoner flick takes absurd developments and silliness and wraps it around two compelling characters. Like all good stoner comedies, the film isn't funny because the characters are stoned, but it's funny because how getting stoned brings out the characters' personalities… and how it gets them in trouble. Rogen stars as subpoena server Dale Denton. One night on a job, he witnesses a murder by drug dealer Ted Jones (Gary Cole). In a panic, Dale runs to the apartment of his dealer Saul Silver, played hilariously by James Franco. Turns out, Cole is Saul's provider forcing the two to go on the run. Through their run-ins with the cops and various thugs bent on killing them, they only dig themselves deeper and deeper into an impossible situation. Stoner flicks are often buddy comedies, and Dale and Saul are a great comedic duo. Franco, known as that guy from SPIDER-MAN, emerged from the film as a star. The title might be a drug reference, but the film is about friendship.