Tag: Isiah Whitlock Jr.

PIECES OF APRIL (2003)

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Written & Directed By: Peter Hedges 

Cinematography: Tami Reiker

Editor: Mark Livolsi 

Cast: Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Alice Drummond, Sisqo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sean Hayes, Lillias White, Adrian Martinez 

April Burns invites her family to Thanksgiving dinner at her teeny apartment on New York’s Lower East Side. As they make their way to the city from suburban Pennsylvania, April must endure a comedy of errors – like finding out her oven doesn’t work – to pull off the big event.

The problem with this film is that for all its earnestness feel-good moments. It feels emotionally manipulative and I’m sure there are families and similar situations but the story development and characters feel more or less calculated than Flesh and Blood Real.

The hurdles everyone must get over just feel poured on a bit too much all at once. Especially for a film that takes place in one day. I could understand if this all happened over a weekend but all this emotional and physical baggage in one day is a bit too much. 

That having been said, the film is enjoyable, It is more of a warmer, tailed Indie film, especially since by the end not everything is solved, but there is at least peace. not offering total care or answers for everything. 

The film is a heartwarming story that tries to add an edge to certain situations and characters but finds itself going back to its emotional roots. It’s a downtown tail told about a bunch of outsiders. That gives it the feel of a lost recent error of the time.

This feels like a good novella stretched to its limits as it tries to make itself different like a teenager going through self-discovery. At first, it wants to be special, so it goes about trying to be different. Then it looks at itself in the mirror and comes to the realization That it must be true to itself. That is what will make you stand out.

The film is low budget with a big name, cast for its budget, who are all good and throw themselves into their roles. I even recognize many of the locations from my days working downtown at Tower video. They even filmed in one of my coworkers’ buildings, which gave me a strange strange connection to the film.

The stand out in the cast is the assured performance of Katie Holmes in the lead role. That easily could have been a stepping-stone film that revolved around her. So even though the title character. The film is more of an ensemble effort 

I wish she would have kept doing roles such as this one. She would’ve had a more respectable and maybe bigger career because underneath what appears to be blandish she surprised you with a powerful skill that peeks out at times. You see that glimmer.

The film put a spin on your typical family dinner film for the holidays. It succeeds due to some sly humor and a playful cast. 

Watching it recently puts me in mind of a certain time and place in my life. Which surprisingly makes it a nostalgic reminder of a certain time and place in my life. 

Grade: B-

COCAINE BEAR (2023()

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Directed by: Elizabeth Banks
Written By: Jimmy Warden
Cinematography: John Guleserian
Editor: Joel Negron 

Cast: Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ayoola Smart, Brooklynn Prince, Matthew Rhys 

An oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens converge on a Georgia forest where a huge black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.

This isn’t Another SNAKES ON A PLANE.  where the title not only says it all but is more built on hype than story. As this is partially based on a true story. What It revels in are shocks and more shocking humor.

A dark comedy that some might consider a bit macabre. 

As going along with the title the film seeks to have a need to push things as far as they can with characters who represent a different part of the audience. Though In the end a lot of them come across more as caricatures set up for impending doom.

The film is more built on sensationalism. As that is what you feel as you watch it as it is more, check your brain at the door. 

The bear is a beast that seems to be like jaws as it shows up from time to time with no rhyme or reason except the script needs it to on its hint for more drugs that seem to drive it to be more aggressive than in the final act throws a curveball as to why it should be spared 

More of an ensemble than expected. As we see the reasons why some of them are there to either survive. We root for or see their demise in inventive ways. Either way, before long l we get to know them To some capacity excellent and bad 

The film Calls itself a horror comedy and while it has violent gore and jump scares it comes across as a  Violent comedy with surprises and thrills. That is meant to be fun more than anything. 

It thoroughly Exploits its Set time period of the 1980s overly but overtly 

For what it does offer there always seems to be the feeling that something is missing. It should be a bigger film or story. Though that might be personal for this reviewer. As it certainly provides enough for a cinematic experience and audience expectations.

As it goes the places you expect, there seems to be so much more that could have been done but too grandiose as this works better as more of a contained story. 

While you are still on the edge of your seat you never truly consider most of this believable. Like Jurassic park, it’s an animal world of nature. They know it as they live it. The characters just inhabit it and struggle to survive. As they were the ones to disturb it and throw it off-center.

Its strength stays in the attack sequences that are more like set pieces. The ranger’s cabin, The Ambulance sequence, and The Tree Climb, they are both massacres but also memorable comedic sequences that go over the top.

Cocaine bear is an example of a movie that promises to go balls to the wall but only

Goes so far. It’s when a film tries too hard to be campy and misses what makes most films campy in the first place. Just believing it knows. It’s more mainstream reaching to be more out there but not knowing exactly how

Grade: C+

I CARE A LOT (2020)

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Written & Directed By: J. Blakeson 
Cinematography: Doug Emmett 
Editor: Mark Eckersley 

Cast: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza Gonzalez, Dianne Wiest, Alicia Witt, Chris Messina, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Macon Blair, Damian Young, Nicholas Logan 

A crooked legal guardian who drains the savings of her elderly wards meets her match when a woman she tries to swindle turns out to be more than she first appears.

This can easily be a polarizing film. On the one hand you have a savvy businesswoman who makes her career conning people out of their livelihood. So no one was ever going to find her likable or an adequate anti-hero.

Though we have seen films before where we have male protagonists who do the same thing and are more remembered and celebrated by audiences. Even if they are more disposable and waste the money on frivolous luxuries and vices.

What is more upsetting for an audience here is that not only is the protagonist doing this female. Where usually films treat female characters like her as damaged or coming around at the last minute or femme Fatales who get a comeuppance. More or less she keeps striving no matter the challenge or difficulty and ultimately what she traps comes back to her in worse ways. The same is never made of the antiheroes who are male in other films; they get a snack down but never so severe.

Though truth be told those movies are usually more based on specific people and cases. Here this is a made-up story of a very real cool. Games that are happening more and more. Only for intents and purposes here do we get a face with this type of crime. As well as more of a story.

What also might be upsetting is that in real-life cases there are faces and representatives of the victims. Usually late in the films when they are winding down. For us to realize the destruction and evils of the character even if not planned what the end results of their con games are for some. Here they are picking on the already defenseless the elderly. Which is the equivalent of kicking or torturing an animal on screen these days. Instantly turning the audience against your protagonist. Especially if they were being attacked by them.

So this film already gives you an unlikeable protagonist but also the film is filled with unlikeable characters. Even when you might start to feel for some of them. They show their true colors and you go right back to hating them.

I applaud throwing the audience off but when there is no one to root for. As the characters seem to compete for who is the worst and trying to make excuses for their behavior. It’s not really enjoyable even for a dark comedy.

The film is trying to tackle a subject and knows the best way to inform the audience is from an insider. As the film might be cynical but doesn’t offer false notes. As everyone is flawed and there is no heart of gold that comes through. This film presents a more scrubbed clean dog eat dog world. That is all about survival above all else.

It’s not necessarily an enjoyable film but like the characters it tries to make you as comfortable as you can be while watching these events unfold and tries to add some humor to the proceedings 

Rosamund Pike is excellent in the starring role. Even though it seems every few years she plays this type of role. A character who at first seems like a pushover but then reveals herself to be a shark. So it’s refreshing to see her play such strong female characters every so often. Making you wonder why she isn’t offered more roles. It might be as in these roles she comes off as threatening usually to male protagonists. Some might feel uncomfortable casting her in easier or less challenging roles?

Though at least the film is thought-provoking and wouldn’t expect anything else from writer Director J. Blakeson, Especially after his film THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED 

The film is upsetting for anyone looking for good to conquer evil. It is a dark and cynical comedy with heavy overtones. Though it isn’t bad or disappointing, just unlikeable.

Grade: B-