Tag: DRAMA

HURRICANE STREETS (1997)

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Written & Directed By: Morgan J. Freeman
Cinematography: Enrique Chediak
Editor: Sabine Hoffman

Cast: Brendan Sexton III, Mtume Gant, Carlo Alban, Edie Falco, Lynn Cohen, Shawn Elliott, Adrian Grenier, L.M. Kit Carson, Isidra Vega, Jose Zuniga, Heather Matarazzo, David Moscow 

A teenage petty criminal dreams of escaping his increasingly unlawful lifestyle when he meets a sweet girl who hopes to one day travel to Alaska.

This film comes across like a well Made student thesis film. Made all the more gritty for a more realistic feel and street credibility and for the film’s reputation. It comes across simple enough.

The film Has a central love story that is what helped sell the film. That romance actually stays very sweet and innocent. Actually, it’s the only part of the film that feels pure and natural making the film more endearing.

The film starts off with a strong opening though slowly gets duller. As the main character seems to get continuously plain red into a corner and tries his best to get out.

The film’s mindset stays juvenile and onto wales up to stone-cold reality towards the end. Which might be understandable as most of the characters are teens kids really. So we follow them.

How else do you explain that the crew couldn’t tell they had a snake in their midst. As well as a snitch. Though by the end you do feel a certain sympathy for all involved.

The recurring theme of the darts game feels silly and only later it’s importance is revealed.

This seems like the typical Sundance film festival youth crime story that was popular at the time that promised to show the grit that was going down but comes off softer than expected.

The film has an ambiguous ending that is clearly is inspired by THE GRADUATE. As both characters are hopeful but have nowhere to go. Only she doesn’t know it yet. She also stays the only innocent character throughout the whole film As she has done Nothing to deserve her troubles.

She already has to deal with an overbearing father. Who starts out a villain and then turns into a victim.

I remember loving this film when it first came out. Even watching it twice in theaters. Watching it today it’s a film that is very of its time period and doesn’t necessarily age well. Like an embarrassing photo from your youth that brings back memories but also feels a little embarrassed of.

Unfortunately, after that strong opening, we see the rest of the scene play out towards the end that more comes across as a desperate comedy of errors.

The film achieved certain popularity at the time due to a hit song that was featured on the soundtrack SEX & CANDY by Marcy Playground.

I try not to bad mouth it put down any films especially independent ones that have a hard enough time trying to find an audience in the first place.

This is the type of film that was praised as strong and authentic at the time though does feel like a film made for teens made by one of them, again at the time

In the end, the film ties into a carefree youth whereas most of the characters are poorer so that they base their decisions and behavior more on that and have bigger repercussions but more are doing things to fun as well as survival.

Grade: C

A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN (2017)

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prayer-before-dawn

 

Directed By: Jean-Stephane Suavarie
Written By: Jonathan Hirschbein & Nick Saltrese
Cinematography By: David Ungaro
Editor: Marc Boucrot 


Cast: Joe Cole 


Billy Moore, an English boxer, down on his luck, addicted to Ya Ba, and stuck in Thailand, ends up getting arrested and sent to Chiang Mai Prison, where he struggles to survive and eventually ends up fighting in Muay Tai boxing tournaments.

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THE HALF OF IT (2020)

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Written & Directed By: Alice Wu  Cinematography: Greta Zozula 

Editor: Ian Blume & Lee Percy 

Cast: Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemar, Alexxis Lemire, Wolfgang Novogratz, Collin Chou, Becky Ann Baker, Catherine Curtin 

A shy, introverted, Chinese-American, straight-A student finds herself helping the school jock woo the girl they both secretly love. In the process, each teaches the other about the nature of love as they find a connection in the most unlikely of places.

I can sometimes be a sucker for a coming of age story. even if it has a romance at the heart of it and they usually do.

This one isn’t as conventional but it is as sweet as any teen love story. Only here dealing more with confusion and revelation. An almost teen Cyrano story only with lgbtq romance and character. 

You’ll enjoy that the fil mHas the emotions but doesn’t overload the audience or story with it. It’s what brings the characters together but it’s not what the film Is all about. As the storylines never become so dire that it feels like life or death, not in the consequences.

This is an original unsuspecting love triangle tale with no true villains. It actually has more depth, drama, and humor than expected, but stays perfect for it’s intended audience. As the film is more character-driven by a few of them rather than Story or plot. As it actually feels layered.

While it has it’s Goofy moments it feels surprising down to earth and earnest. Even if it has the hallmarks of a more cute, quirky indie film. That with youth brings an amount of energy but also a still calmness. 

Which I applaud Netflix for presenting such a film Showing a balance as it has it’s More conventional teen films and then a film like this that actually approaches it’s Material respectfully and treats the audience the same way

This is an LGBT crush’s story that creeps up on you more like a romance and then a romantic comedy before becoming a love story and a surprisingly minor character study.

What can be really appreciative other than that the film and characters are more open-minded then you would expect is that the more all the characters get to know each other they like them for the qualities they notice and learn about them and appreciate that other then just looks. Just as the characters are more than their looks and have talents and know-how.

This film shows the beauty in the plain and makes small-town loving look luxurious itself in its own little hidden nooks, crannies, stories, and mysteries.

Grade: B

MS .45 (1981)

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Directed By: Abel Ferrara
Written By: Nicholas St John
Cinematography: James Momel
Editor: Christopher Andrews Cast: Zoe Lund, Albert Sinkys, Darlene Stuto, Helen McGara A timid and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York City after dark and randomly shoots men with a .45 caliber pistol.

It took me a while to finally watch this as the film Has certain notoriety which was why I was afraid of it and it’s reputation. Not as gratuitous as feared and lives up to the hype. 

It’s a cultural landmark movie as we are witnessing classic New York. 

The film seems simple but very subversive and well thought out for the first time. Still has moments that are meant to be shocking and tension-filled. This is the perfect movie for the #Metoo era. A kind of worst nightmare.

To introduce us To the atmosphere the film takes place in we see how The chorus line of guys waiting to Hit on the ladies as they are Leaving the office how bad it is in the streets for the ladies and how it used to be and still seems to be. 

The film is simple and matter of fact. As a rape-revenge film. Kind of like DEATH WISH. As the person who victimized her at first gets away. It’s the second one on the same day that she fights back against and gets revenge on.

The main character is So quiet not even introduced in the first scene she is the last to leave after all the other characters we know have left. Sort of just appearing in the film.  Everyone around her is constantly looking after her, her co-workers, and even her neighbors. 

She is Mute and this seems to be the way of getting her feelings out. Her way Of dealing with the train as she has no one to really discuss what happened. Even as she becomes increasingly cold. She becomes suspicious of others more and more the deeper she gets into her killing spree. We see The different types of her victims, not rapists but she is constantly aware of male aggression and feels she must stop them. She also never kills a woman. Taking on men in general who cross her other who are aggressive, violent, or come on strongly. 

The second victim who was trying to return her purse while hitting on her, Is more innocent but had similar behavior that made him still come off just as bad, don’t usually see that in these films makes the heroine not justified but just as guilty.

 She is Taking back power but throughout taking out violence on those attracted to her though tends to like to watch over a couple making out with Fascination. So she ends up hyper-sexualized whereas before she was just plain and innocent. She has a focus and purpose that consumes her. As she goes out Looking for victims. The dog in the film that belongs to her neighbor seems to be able to tell how bad she is. As he is increasingly violent or uneasy with her.

She never seems to buy new bullets but we assume she does as we later see her loading her gun at home but she never seems to run out or reload and has plenty of ammo There is a certain poetic justice when she is taken down by another female who she can’t bare to kill. 

Making exploitation films early director Abel Ferrera kept making these films some might consider sleazy until they were looked upon as art.

Grade: B 

HANDGUN (AKA DEEP IN THE HEART) (1983)

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Written & Directed By: Tony Garnett
Cinematography: Charles Stewart
Editor: William Shafter

Cast: Karen Young, Clayton Davis, Suzie Humphreys, Helena Humann

Shortly after moving to Dallas, a young woman is raped at gunpoint. Her intense anger drives her to seek revenge, and she becomes a hunter on a vengeance mission.

The movie is obvious yet simple definitely dated as of the attitude of the male lead and the characters, in general, might have been average for those times but comes off piggish, misogynistic, scary, and rather despicable.

Half of the enjoyment of the film is waiting and watching for him to get his comeuppance. The film Is made in Texas and has a more conservative attitude as most of the characters do The lead actress in this film Karen Young is one of these actresses you constantly see in things and are usually good but never quite become the star. This is the first time I have ever really seen her in a starring role.

Her character after being raped by a guy she is dating and not being able to find justice. We watch as she prepares to get revenge learning how to shoot and learning survival Info and technique. As well as taking an interest in knives.

The films differentiate in that while Learning this she keeps running into her rapist. Lawyer and gun advocate who belongs to the same gun club. So they keep running into one another and he notices a Definite change in her. As she seems to be warning him it seems she becomes more and more intimidating to him And it is obvious she is wounded yet on the hunt. 

The lead male played by Clayton Davis is believable yet amateurish. He comes off naturally as a mean spirited character. Who never comes off as charming as even the movie tries to hint at him being. Not only a good old boy but sex-obsessed as he leers at teenage cheerleaders and ice skaters but also spends his nights drinking with colleagues at bars ogling scantily clad busty girls fighting one another. (Somehow this is supposed to be above Mudwrestling? maybe cleaner?) 

He also shows himself to always be in control and knowing what he s doing. as even when raping her earning what could happen with the gun he has pointed at her and what will happen as he will explain her shooting as an accident. How it will be covered up and thrown out of court. If she doesn’t give in. As he seems dead set on bedding her from the beginning and gets more forceful the more she resists him. We see his frustrations and machinations. Especially as he believes he is right and this way is better for her. As her rejection of him sexually is obviously her having sexual problems and hang-ups. He seems like an obvious date rapist especially by modern-day standards. Before the Term and type were more common.

If it were made today he would come off as a stereotype. The film Shows every aspect of the Rape except for the act and shows his behavior as obviously premeditated. 

The film is pretty simple it seems a bit bold for the time period it was made during. It’s better Than expected. So direct it feels more like it was made for tv issue of the week. Rather than cinema, but it works with no inspired touches.

Being that it takes place in Texas most of the attitudes of the characters do come off racist/conservative old school. This allows the crime to happen but also allows for her revenge so easily.

The film doesn’t ask any moral questions. It pretty much has you rooting for her from the beginning. Never questioning her actions or decisions. 

The film is entertaining with not much finesse but a story that keeps you interested. The ending is not what you expect and comes off as rather light. This is a revenge tale, not a vigilante one. As she has her eyes all set on him And no one else nor becoming a crusader.

The film shows men aren’t All evil but seem to be bullheaded throughout. This makes a good double featured with them sally field vigilante movie EYE FOR AN EYE. 

Grade: B-

THE LADIES CLUB (1986)

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Directed By: A.K. Allen
Written By: Fran Lewis Ebeling & Paul Mason
Based on the novel “THE SISTERHOOD” By: Casey Bishop & Betty Black Cinematography: Adam Greenberg
Editor: Marion Segal & Randall Torno

Cast: Karen Austin, Diana Scarwid, Christine Belford, Bruce Davison, Beverly Todd, Marilyn Kagan, Arliss Howard, James LeGros, Carol Baxter, Paul Terafotes 

A raped policewoman forms a vigilante group of various rape victims. They abduct and castrate men whom have committed repeated violations of women, and got away with it through legal technicalities.

This rape-revenge vigilante tale is a little different In the way that the revenge seems to never be to kill the men who rape repeatedly. Like Batman, that question only seems to come late but they punish the men by castrating them.

The film for the tawdry subject matter. Plays more like a television movie on the subject as there is barely any bad language and at times the scenes while well-meaning in their direction and emotions come off more melodramatic and unintentionally humorous. 

Especially the scene when a character you get sister is sexually assaulted (luckily never shown) but the aftermath and how it is shown just seems like Something out of a public device announcement you would show to school children about the dangers of going off with a stranger. 

When it begins the film seems like it will be typical and even the perpetrators seem more of a stock room of suspects punks who are looking to rob a house. Discover she is a cop and then decide to rape her and they get off on court easily by acting and dressing like choir boys.

We meet various female characters throughout some of whom stay with their spouses who claim to not even believe them When they said they were raped (what). 

Though most of the males come off bad or unsympathetic by the end. Even Bruce Davison playing a fellow cop who is interested in Karen comes off as a weakling and ineffective even as he tries to romance her and be there for her. 

Arliss Howard shows up playing a co-star’s husband who when he finds out what she is dining and breaking the rules by telling him. As she only tells him because he suspects she was having an affair. He comes across more aggressive and abusive to be believably supportive later on.

While we meet plenty of these women in the group. We only get to know three In particular and by the end the one who didn’t sure become the strongest advocate for what they are doing and the one who was gung- ho at first. Now has reservations.

The third act while obviously done for dramatic purposes seems silly and only there for the ending to finally put a fine point on all of this.

So while the film offers a different take on the vigilante tale. Including where it seems the original Perpetrators that start off the lead and who is the very reason they seek revenge never really come back. 

So the film is something to entertain but very hard to take seriously watching it through the prism of modern times.

Grade: C

WHITE GOD (2015)

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white-god-2015

Directed By: Kornel Mundruczo
Written By: Kornel Mundruczo, Viktoria Petranyi & Kata Weber
Cinematography By: Marcell Rev
Editor: David Jancso 


Cast: Zsofia Psotta, Sandor Zsoter, Lili Horvath, Szabolcs Thuroczy, Lili Monori

Thirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.

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THE TAX COLLECTOR (2020)

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Written & Directed by: David Ayer
Cinematography: Salvatore Totino
Editor: Geoffrey O’Brien

Cast: Bobby Soto, Shia Lebouf, George Lopez, Cynthia Cardona, Jose Conejo Martin, Cheyenne Rae Hernandez, Cle Sloan, Elpida Carrillo, Lana Parilla, Neomi Gonzalez, Gabriela Flores

David Cuevas is a family man who works as a gangland tax collector for high ranking Los Angeles gang members. He makes collections across the city with his partner Creeper making sure people pay up or will see retaliation. An old threat returns to Los Angeles that puts everything David loves in harm’s way.

This film is very disappointing and it didn’t have to be. As the filM has some good elements the cinematography and the violence is over the top and brutal.

Though the story is typical and the characters are very thin and so is the story. They are more skit there to connect the things the film Seems More interested In The violence and more the machismo and rules of the streets.

Which at this point Writer-director David Ayer has made his career off of though on other projects the street code seemed more to go with the film. Here he more chooses to bathe the whole film in it. Even though it might not be as necessary except to tell a kind of gangster tale told more by the characters who are enforcers more than the boss.

It gives Shia Lebouf a role to play vicious and threatening as he does come off as imposing but it also feels very punched up. As we see how intense he is and even how threatening he is a bit we rarely see his character actually be violent and dangerous. It also feels like he is more chewing the props in as far as he calls attention to himself in the movie.

There is a scene with him dragging a body and him in a hazmat suit that takes place in the ost and is supposed to show how much of a butcher and mad man he is. We only see him dragging a body and smoking afterward. It seems there for no real reason or at least makes no real impact maybe if it was an imitation or done on the day’s events it would have made one. 

It boils down to where is this character is supposed to be memorable if not iconic but we never see him actually do what seems promised eventually. So that there is all this build-up and no real follow through a tease. Which is how this movie also comes off.

He seems to be maybe a David Ayer stand in as a caucasian who grew up around people of color and was taken in by them so he comes across as one of them and has similar characteristics. As David Ayer has said in the past he has. Though lebouf is not the stR of the movie and more comes across as a name star to put in the movie and help get funding. As it works he gets to stretch as an actor and only ends up being a smaller supporting role rather than the lead and it doesn’t rest on his shoulders. He is shocking at first int he roe bit settles Down.

The film Doesn’t offer anything you haven’t seen before. It does offer representation but unfortunately, all the characters are gangsters or work for them in an illegal manner. So there is very little positive here except that the lead character is religious and a man of god. So he does have a belief system that is practically spelled out in the beginning.

The film feels like a big waste of time. If it had been more structured or offered something different or original the film Might be worth it, but it is bathed in cliches and things we have seen way too much. The closest it gets to different is by having stand up comedian George Lopez play a dramatic role as a street boss. 

The first half of the film plays more like a gangster tale the second half plays more like a revenge tale. Now if that is what you are looking for plain and simple this is the film For you. As this is David Ayer making. A smaller-scale project after SUICIDE SQUAD and BRIGHT. As this is more in the vein of HARSH TIMES. These are the films he seems to prefer to make. At least there aren’t as many cops as he usually has in his films usually. As this is a straight-up organized crime only. 

Again do this offered something different this would be welcome but all this ends up being. Is an action gangster tale. Nothing more nothing less other than some credible cinematography and tough talk and brutal violence.

Either way somewhat entertaining as you watch though might have some problems

With it and once it is over quickly forgettable.

Grade: C-

THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (2001)

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centerofthe world

Directed By: Wayne Wang
Story By: Wayne Wang, Miranda July, Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt
Written By: Ellen Benajmin Wong
Cinematography By: Mauro Fiore
Editor: Lee Percy

Cast: Molly Parker, Peter Sarsgaard, Carla Gugino, Mel Gorham, Pat Morita, Bahlthazar Getty, Shirley Knight

A successful computer engineer meets a stripper in a cafe. He offers her $10000 and she offers 3 days and nights of no penetration in Vegas.

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