Trick of Light | Slow Burn

Timing is everything. In 2001, Mariah Carey released her big screen debut, Glitter, right after the September 11 attacks. The country may not have been in a mood for such light entertainment so soon after a national tragedy; or Carey’s acting and a horrid script may have kept audiences away. History repeats itself once again with the release of Slow Burn.

Originally produced in 2003 and slated for release in 2005, Slow Burn feels dated. The film is a complex tale of race and how it is used for positive results and its negative effects.


The film opens with a young woman, Nora Timmer (Jolene Blalock) in a police station, the survivor of a rape attempt. She’s also murdered a young man, Issac Duperde (Mekhi Phifer) in self-defense. Through a complicated backstory, we learn that she is the assistant D.A. and a rising star. This bi-racial Black woman has climbed the ladder quickly largely on her ability to prosecute gang members because of her access to them and her race.

Her boss, Ford Cole’s (Ray Liotta) star is on also on the ascent, he is running for Mayor. As the film opens he is being interviewed for a magazine story by journalist, Ty Trippin (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as he explains that his chief enemy is an unseen powerful gang lord, who has vowed to bring down. We find out through flashbacks that he too is involved sexually with the attractive Timmer.

But the night is still young when a mysterious stranger, Luther Pinks (LL Cool J) comes in, friends with Duperde, with an entirely different perspective on the sexy assistant D.A. He tells Cole that Timmer is a “trick of light,” someone who when the light hits them at a certain angle can pass for White. In Rashomon-type flashbacks, he paints a picture of an opportunistic, conniving operator selling out her office and the people closest to her. To complicate matters, Duperde has left a cryptic voicemail on Cole’s cell phone alluding to something major happening at 5 a.m., four hours away.

The film which is The Usual Suspects meets Wild Things, features a character that is supposedly “passing” for White that has features that make it hard to identify her as Black. Blalock definitely scorches the screen in the lead role, but the film looks and feels like countless other late-night movies that inhabit cable. Some of the fashions in the film look dated, while the screenwriter in an attempt to be clever gives the audience too much to digest further complicating the procedures.

By the time the film draws to its inevitable conclusion, you will be turned inside out. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this sexy thriller ultimately left me unfulfilled.

This review also appeared on BET.com.

The Fast and the Curious | Redline

Back in January, I had the misfortune of seeing the absolute worst film of 2007: 90 excruciating minutes of Epic Movie. If it had not been for that cinematic low point, Redline would most certainly claim my “Worst Film” title. This mishmash of fast cars, half-naked women, incredibly bad dialogue and horrible acting should not be wished on anyone’s worst enemy.

The story revolves around a group of high-rolling gamblers who place large stakes on car races in various locations. These “thrill-seekers” bet incredibly large sums of money on simple car races. We initially meet Infamous (the driving-impaired, Eddie Griffin) who is looking for a driver to race his car. We also meet our narrator and notoriously bad actress, Natasha (Nadia Bjorlin). Through several flashbacks, we find out that her racecar driving father was killed on the track. There is also the recently returned from Iraq soldier, Carlo (Nathan Phillips), the carefree uber-rich film producer, Jerry (Tim Matheson) and slightly deranged control freak, Michael (Angus Macfadyen).


This group of financial free-spirits embarks on a series of wild, unpredictable yet repetitive activities, all designed to showcase the beautiful collection of cars owned by the film’s producer, Daniel Sadek. Griffin, who was supposed to provide the comedy relief, dials in his performance while the others try to take the script’s lemons and turn them into lemonade. Good luck! One scene features Infamous, and his crew, 26,000 miles in the air getting into an altercation with a female friend. She commands him to “pull the plane over;” he obliges her by dropping off in the middle of nowhere and is back in the air.

In addition, it would help if the two lead characters who are supposed to be lovers had just a smidgen of chemistry that would make the audience believe they enjoyed being together. The only thing that saves the film from being a total zero is the cars; and even that gets tired and repetitive after awhile.

People throw around phrases like “bad” and the “worst,” but here it is truly applicable. Redline goes to the head of the lowlife class as one of the year’s worst films. Only an event of Epic proportion can keep it out of the top spot, but the year is still young.

This review also appeared on BET.com.

Off the Beaten "Path" | Pathfinder

Hollywood’s re-imagining of history continues with the release of the action-adventure film, Pathfinder. Unfortunately for the filmmakers, this overlong, cliché-ridden story is no 300, But Braveheart-lite.

Karl Urban stars as a young Nordic boy who is left behind during the plundering and pillaging of a Native American village. Found by a young Indian mother and raised as one of their own, Ghost (the filmmakers give no clue what the character’s name is until the credits roll at the end) has the blood of the sadistic Vikings, but the heart and compassion of his adopted people.

Fast forward 15 years and Ghost is full-grown with aspirations of becoming a “brave.” When a visiting tribe arrives in his village, he is denied a seat with fellow Indians and sent away. Ghost must prove himself worthy to his tribe and to himself. While away at a hunting expedition, the Vikings return and destroy his tribe and his village. Teaming with the chief of the neighboring tribe, Pathfinder (Russell Means), and his attractive daughter, Starfire (Moon Bloodgood), Ghost must find a way to avenge his family and destroy the Vikings.

The success (or failure) of Pathfinder hangs on the performance of Urban. Audiences know him primarily from The Lord of the Rings series, The Bourne Identity and The Chronicles of Riddick. He renders an uninspired performance in this forgettable National Geographic-style tale.”

Pathfinder offends on several levels, beginning with its length. The film labors far too long for such a simple story. Ripping off The New World and Apocalypto (as well as the sword-throw in Braveheart, viewers may also feel a sense of déjà vu when watching the story.

Ultimately, the story arrives at its predictable conclusion, proving once again that in a desire to give audiences a new experience, filmmakers continue to tramp the same, tired beaten “path.”

This review also appeared on BET.com.

Roscoe Lee Browne Dies at 81

The “voice” has been silenced with the news that Roscoe Lee Browne died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.

On television, he had several memorable guest roles. He was a snobbish black lawyer trapped in an elevator with bigot Archie Bunker in an episode of the 1970s TV comedy "All in the Family" and the butler Saunders in the comedy "Soap." He won an Emmy in 1986 for a guest role as Professor Foster on "The Cosby Show."

In 1992, Browne returned to Broadway in "Two Trains Running," one of August Wilson's acclaimed series of plays on the black experience. It won the Tony for best play and brought Browne a Tony nomination for best supporting actor.

Starting in the late 1960's, Browne increasingly became a guest star on TV on both comedy and dramatic shows like “Mannix,” “All In The Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “The Cosby Show” and dozens of other shows. He also was a regular on the sitcom “Soap” where he played Saunders, the erudite butler from 1979 to 1981 replacing Robert Guillaume who went on to his own show “Benson.” Incidentally, Browne guest starred on “Benson” with Guillaume. His appearances on “The Cosby Show” also drew acclaim as well winning an Emmy in 1986 for his guest role as Professor Foster.

"Some critics complained that I spoke too well to be believable" in the cook's role in The Cowboys, Browne told the Washington Post in 1972. "When a critic makes that remark, I think, if I had said, 'Yassuh, boss' to John Wayne, then the critic would have taken a shine to me."

Browne also lent his mellifluous baritone to the Oscar-nominated film, Babe and the sequel, Babe: Pig in the City. Four over four decades, Browne’s onscreen persona of class and dignity was his defining hallmark. A contemporary of Sidney Poitier, Ossie Davis and James Earl Jones, Browne was part of a vanguard of leading black actors in the traditionally white New York theater world and later gained acclaim for giving body and soul to over 100 characters in his long, storied acting career.

Browne made his film debut in 1961 and starred in many hit films including Black Like Me, Up Tight, The Liberation of L.B. Jones, Superfly T.N.T. and Uptown Saturday Night. Although he would continue to work on feature films, it was in television that Browne made his true impact.

He showed great versatility in a plethora of guest appearances in shows from “ “The Flip Wilson Show,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” “Good Times,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “Maude,” “Soap,” “Magnum P.I.,” “227,” “A Different World,” “New York Undercover,” “Cosby,” “ER,” “The Proud Family,” “The Shield,” “Law and Order” and “Will and Grace.”

Three memorable performances from Roscoe Lee Browne

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
After his wife has an affair with a white policeman, a wealthy black man (Browne) files for divorce in this violent tale of racism in the south.

Up Tight (1968)
A desperate African-American man betrays his friend, a black militant leader, for some money to help feed his girlfriend's children, and then becomes the object of a manhunt by a militant group.

The Cowboys (1972)
Wil Andersen finds himself with a herd of cattle which he has to get to market before the winter sets in, but he has no men to help him. He turns to a group of young school boys as his last hope to get the job done. There is no better training for these boys than hands-on as they don't know what they are in for. They set out as schoolboys but return as Cowboys.

This feature also appeared on BET.com.

Hell Up in Haven | The Reaping

Not since Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty bombed in the disastrous Ishtar has an actress made such a boneheaded choice as two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank in The Reaping. The film’s tagline is “What Has God Wrought.” Maybe that should be replaced with “What in the Hell is She Doing in This Picture.”

As biblical cautionary tales goes, The Reaping is standard fare. A former Christian missionary, Katherine (Swank), who specializes in debunking religious phenomena, investigates a small town which seems to be suffering from the 10 biblical plagues. At the film’s onset she and her assistant, Ben (Idris Elba) are investigating another “supposed” miracle in an unnamed South American country. She wanders into harm’s way to conclude that it was an evil corporation’s toxic spill that deceived the people (much in the same way the studio pollute theatres nationwide with these types of films).


Apparently, through multiple flashbacks, we discover that Katherine’s has lost her faith after the death of her husband and daughter in the Sudan. But her faith is put to the test when she is summoned to a small Louisiana town called Haven. Apparently, the river is overflowing with blood, frogs are falling from the sky and livestock are suddenly dying. The townsfolk seemed to believe that an outcast family, and specifically their 12-year old child Loren (AnnaSophia Robb), are responsible.

A priest, Father Costigan (Steven Rhea), has called to warn Katherine after several pictures of her in his possession inexplicably caught on fire – only burning away her face. He explains that she has to destroy the girl before all 10 plagues strike the town. Anyone who has watched enough biblical thrillers, The Omen, The Prophecy, Stigmata, etc. can see the outcome a mile away.

In Hustle and Flow, DJay (Terrence Howard) tells Nola (Taryn Manning) to put her hands on the wheel and proudly say, “We in control.” Well Swank lost control of this film and her credibility to grab the big paycheck and the end result is a story that spiraled out of control. The bible says “you will reap what you sow,” but audiences who put down money to see this horrible disjointed film will be foolish. Swank has now discovered Hollywood’s little secret that artsy films win you awards, but bad movies get you paid.

This review also appeared on BET.com.

Triumphant Grindhouse

Outside of Spike Lee, in the past 15 years, no two directors have taken more chances on screen than best friends Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino. Each has had both commercial and critical success with earlier work, but it seemed to act as a prelude for the cinematic experience of 2007, the exhilarating Grindhouse.

The much-hyped homage to 1970s cinema, Grindhouse seemed destined to be a midnight fixture, in the vein of Rocky Horror Picture Show. The experience not only includes a double-feature but also four “faux” trailers, which are also uproariously funny and perverse.

In Rodriquez’s “Planet Terror,” a poisonous gas has been unleashed from a military base on a small Texas town, initially infecting them and later turning them into zombies. Led by the vicious Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis), the soldiers are seeking payback for a botched military assignment that left an entire platoon infected. But a small group of uninfected survivors, led by El-Ray (the sensational Freddy Rodriquez) and go-go dancer, Cherry (Rose McGowan), tries to defeat the walking dead and escape the town.

Meanwhile, there’s a cheating wife, a suspecting husband, dueling brothers, flesh-eating zombies, a mysterious hero and an amputee’s explosive emergence. By the conclusion of “Planet Terror,” you’ll feel as if you’ve come to the end of a long rollercoaster ride as Cherry morphs from a one-leg killing machine to a post-apocalyptic Harriet Tubman.

Tarantino’s film, “Death Proof,” tells the story of a scarred Stuntman, Mike (Kurt Russell), who stalks innocent women for his perverse pleasure. He drives a car that has been reinforced, which gives him the ability to survive any crash; hence, his vehicle is death-proof. He stumbles upon a local radio personality, Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamilia Poitier), who is hanging out with her girls at a local bar. Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito) is suspicious of Stuntman Mike. “Are you afraid of my scar,” Stuntman Mike asks Arlene. “No, it’s your car, she replies. Unfortunately, her intuition is correct but too late to save her and her friends.

Fast-forward several years later, and another crew of ladies, featuring the feisty and colorful Kim (Tracie Thoms), adventurous Zoë (real-life stuntwoman Zoë Bell) and Abernathy (Rosario Dawson). Zoë is interested in buying a car, when they catch the attention of the lecherous Stuntman Mike. Kim and Zoë are to “Death Proof” as Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta) were to Pulp Fiction. What starts off another story of women in peril becomes a thunderous display of sisterhood, in a major way. The film features some of the most amazing stunt work ever captured on film.

Grindhouse is full of over-the-top effects, campy, colorful dialogue and larger-than-life heroes and villains. Rodriquez captures the honor and sheer audacity of Desperado; Tarantino matches him with the ferocity of Reservoir Dogs and the pro-feminist fervor of Kill Bill. The two together give viewers a visceral jolt that has not been witnessed at theaters in a long time.

No matter what other films are released this year, none will match the rush and excitement of Grindhouse. To call it a mere film is a disservice; Rodriquez and Tarantino have reached back into their past to give filmgoers cinematic hope for the future.

This review also appeared on BET.com.

Been There, "Done" That | Are We Done Yet?

Back in the late-1980s and the early-1990s, long before he made his film debut as Doughboy in John Singleton’s searing classic, Boyz ‘N the Hood, Ice Cube was known primarily as an incredible lyricist.

Over the past 16 years, since he exploded on the scene with startling authenticity in BNTH, Cube has settled into family-friendly fare. His latest film is Are We Done Yet? the sequel to the 2005 film, Are We There Yet?

For those who remember the original film, Cube played Nick Person, whose life became a living hell when he volunteered to transport two bad-ass kids, Kevin (Phillip Bolden) and Lindsey (Aleisha Allen), to Vancouver to see their mother, Suzanne (Nia Long). Unfortunately for Cube, both Kevin and Lindsey don’t like any man their mother is interested in and they proceed to ruin his Lincoln Navigator and get him in all sorts of trouble before understanding that he’s not that bad of a guy after all!

The latest film, based on Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), continues the story with Nick and Suzanne now married and with her kids living in Nick’s tiny bachelor pad. With Suzanne expecting a baby and Nick now trying to launch a magazine, Suzanne convinces him to look for their “dream house” in the country. The couple meet realtor, Chuck Mitchell (John C. McGinley), who convinces them to buy a house straight out of Money Pit.

He is recommended to a contractor that just happens to be . . . Chuck! When Nick rebuffs him and finds another lower-priced contractor, he is fined by the inspector who also is . . . Chuck! On and on it goes, for Amerika’s Most Wanted in this slightly superior version of a sequel.

Where both Lindsey and Kevin were absolutely obnoxious in the original, they are toned down a bit in the sequel – but they have still have their moments. Suzanne is featured much more in this film, and the chemistry between Cube and Long is believable, forged over several films including, BNTH, Friday and the first film in this series. McGinley lets loose and injects some of the film’s funniest and strangest moments. Ironically, the film tries too hard to go for easy sight gags and quick laughs.

Much in the same way that Eddie Murphy was able to reinvent himself into a family friendly, PG-rated star, Cube has taken a page from Murphy’s blueprint in this lightly funny sequel. Maybe Cube should write the franchise’s third film, Are We Back Yet? It would probably suck, but it would be gangsta. Really, isn’t that all the studios care about anyway?

This review also appeared on BET.com.