Thursday, July 14, 2016

Thursday Movie Picks: Female Ensemble


1989! 
the number, 
another summer (get down)
Sound of the funky drummer
Music hittin' your heart 'cuz you know I got soul...

Ahem...sorry. Let me take you inside the stream of thoughts that led me to starting off this post with the opening bars of the Public Enemy classic "Fight the Power." If you're here you're probably a movie buff. If this song is unfamiliar to you then you obviously haven't seen Do the Right Thing. Please do so, now.

Anyhoo, our host for Thursday Movie Picks, the wonderful and talented Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves, chose movies with a female ensemble as the topic for this week's edition. Me being me, the first movies that popped into my head were slasher flicks. Since I didn't want to use this particular topic to celebrate movies where young women were slaughtered en masse, I decided against using those. I started combing the shelves of my DVD collection and came across a movie fitting the criteria. The biggest star in this movie is Queen Latifah. In the background, Mrs. Dell was watching highlights from last night's Hip Hop Honors. It was subtitled "Ladies First" since it was solely devoted to some of rap's legendary women. Yup, you guessed it, Latifah was among the honorees. I said to myself, 'you know what, let's keep the Queen La train rolling' and decided to honor her, myself. That led to me reflecting on the first time I ever heard of her. It was on a song called "Dance For Me" from her debut album All Hail the Queen. The biggest hit from that album was a song called, all together now, "Ladies First." The year was 1989.

I could go on forever about why I truly believe she is one of the most important women of my lifetime, but you're here about movies. Let's get to them.


Beauty Shop
(2005)
Queen Latifah,
Alicia Silverstone, Alfre Woodard, Andie MacDowell, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Mena Suvari, Della Reese, Sherri Shepherd, Golden Brooks, and more
In this spin-off from the Barbershp franchise, Latifah plays Gena, a talented beautician opening up her own shop for the first time. Though Latifah is the headliner, she is helped mightily by a wonderful cast made up of a wonderful mix of seasoned vets and unknowns. Some of them are fellow stylists, others are customers, and all congregate in the beauty shop and take part in all the girl talk. There is also a pair of fun turns by guys in this one. Djimon Hounsou plays our heroine's love interest and Kevin Bacon steals every one of his scenes as her former boss and current rival.


Mad Money
(2008)
Queen Latifah,
Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes
So three is kind of small for an ensemble. So what. Just roll with it. Latifah is actually not the protagonist this time around. That role belongs to Keaton as Bridget, a well-off housewife who finds herself having to work after her husband is laid off. The job she lands is at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Immediately, she hatches a plan to steal from her employer. However, she can't do it on her own. This is where Latifah, who plays Nina, and Holmes, who plays Jackie, come in. They help her polish and carry out this plan. This isn't the greatest heist movie ever made, but it's a fun little flick that's better than people give it credit for.


The Secret Life of Bees
(2008)
Queen Latifah,
Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okenedo, Hilarie Burton
Again, Latifah is not really the main character. Young Dakota Fanning handles that role. She plays Lily, a fourteen year old who runs away from home to escape her abusive father. She has her friend/caregiver Rosaleen (Hudson) in tow. Eventually, they're taken in by the Boatwright sisters, June (Keys), May (Okenedo), and the matriarchal August (Latifah). This is another solid effort, if one given to over-sentimentality. Latifah gives an excellent performance showcasing her immense gravitas.


Bonus Pick:

Set it Off
(1996)
Queen Latifah,
Kimberly Elise, Vivica A. Fox, Jada Pinkett Smith
Latifah plays Cleo, one quarter of a group of friends who have decided to embark on a bank robbing spree after they have fallen on hard times. She gives a brilliant performance and stands out in a film in which all of our stars deliver excellent work. Yes, I've chosen this one before. That's why it's a bonus pick and not the first thing listed. I just couldn't resist it in light of the path I'm traveling this week. It's directed by F. Gary Gray who would go on to direct The Negotiator, The Italian Job, and Straight Outta Compton. It's also the best film of this week's bunch.


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24 comments:

  1. You can't go wrong with Queen Latifah. While I'm not really fond of Mad Money and Beauty Shop, Set It Off is a fantastic film while The Secret Life of Bees is a film I haven't seen so I won't comment on that one. How can anyone not love her cameo in 22 Jump Street where she says "I'm straight outta Compton but my husband is from Crenshaw"?

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    1. That was a fantastic moment from 22 Jump Street. Man, I love that movie.

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    2. Wait, I want to make a correction. It's not Crenshaw, it's North Ridge.

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  2. I love Queen Latifah, but the only one I've seen in full of your picks is The Secret Life of Bees, which I love. I remember all these people freaking out that Dakota Fanning didn't dye her hair brown like Lily was in the books, but I didn't care. I enjoyed the movie so much.

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    1. People freak out about the silliest things. I enjoyed it. If you decide to only watch one of the others, make it Set it Off.

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  3. Oh Yay! a theme within the theme! Love those and I love Queen Latifah with Last Holiday being my favorite of her pictures. I've only seen two of these, Mad Money started off well but got more ridiculous as it went along but Latifah and Diane Keaton made it worth watching. While I thought the performances were good I didn't care much for Set It Off. With that cast, although Sherri Shepard is a deterrent, I don't know why I haven't seen Beauty Shop yet. Have to fix that ASAP!

    Okay I’ve been looking forward to this week very much. I love this type of ensemble film and had a multitude of choices. So many I just could not get my list down to less than six! So I’ve split into two entries, one with three films from the studio era, the Golden Age of female led films and three more contemporary pictures. It killed me to leave out Steel Magnolias but I expect to see it pop up all over the place.

    Cry “Havoc” (1943)-As WWII rages in the Philippines a group of women volunteer to help the army nurses in a hospital unit on Bataan. Set mostly in their protective bunker and the switchboard that brings increasingly more dire war news this focuses on the struggles and hardships endured by the women as the front moves ever closer. The cast is comprised almost exclusively of great actresses, Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern, Joan Blondell and Fay Bainter among them, with only very brief glimpses of men, including a young Robert Mitchum. A compelling heavy drama leavened by doses of gallows humor.

    Westward the Women (1951)-Unvarnished look at the hard road faced by a group of women settlers on a wagon train to California. Robert Taylor, weathered and hard is the rough but fair wagon master and has the only significant male role. Hope Emerson stands out as a plain speaking, no nonsense traveler but all the performances are very good. The cost of the trip is honestly depicted as heavy with human lives. Written by Frank Capra and directed with an unflinching eye by Wild Bill Wellman, an involving, unusual picture.

    The Doughgirls (1944)-Frenzied comedy with a dated situation, the housing shortage in DC during WWII, and an amazing cast of brilliant actresses. Ann Sheridan, skillful with a quip or a withering look, Jane Wyman, sweet and endearing but a borderline idiot, and an ultra-glamorous Alexis Smith. They’re former chorus girls who all camp out in one of the few available rooms when they find their recent marriages called into question as many colorful characters pass through. They’re delightful but don't stand a chance when Eve Arden swoops in as a Russian commando stealing scenes with undisguised glee tearing into her character with abandon and wiping everybody out of the picture.

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  4. And three from more recent years:

    8 Women (2002)-As a wealthy French family, comprised it seems entirely of women, gathers for the holiday the patriarch is murdered off stage and they are trapped by a snowstorm to figure out which of the eight has committed the crime, occasionally bursting into song along the way. Unique, wacky and bizarre semi-musical comic murder mystery set during Christmas is jam packed with great French actresses including Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Fanny Ardant and Isabelle Huppert. They make the often preposterous goings on plausible.

    Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)-In a dusty Texas town near the location the movie Giant was filmed a devoted group of female James Dean fans reunite 20 years after the film wrapped at the Five & Dime that is was the center of their world. They laugh, argue and reminisce while wondering whether their sole male club member will return. Ultimately long buried secrets are revealed. Highly eclectic cast, Cher, Sandy Dennis, Karen Black and a just starting out Kathy Bates all give excellent idiosyncratic performances. Robert Altman’s filmization of the play he directed on Broadway with the entire cast returning is entertaining and unique.

    Tea with Mussolini (1999)-In 30’s Florence young Luca, motherless and ignored by his father due to his illegitimacy, is taken under the wing of the father’s secretary (Joan Plowright), her group of women friends, somewhat affectionately known as The Scorpioni (including Maggie Smith and Judi Dench), as well as old friends of his mother, Georgie and Elsa (Lily Tomlin and Cher). As Mussolini moves the country progressively towards Hitler’s ideology all their lives are affected but the strength of their spirit and devotion to each other never waver.

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    1. Beauty Shop is a solid flick, definitely worth a look. I've not seen any of your 6. I was previously interested in Tea with Mussolini, but never quite got around to it. Guess I need to.

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  5. Love the theme within the theme! I also love Queen Latifah, but I've only seen scenes from your picks. I should definitely watch them.

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  6. Good call! Queen Latifah ftw! I was one second away from going with Set it Off, but my own sort of theme within a theme took off and it didn't fit. Great picks!

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  7. Aha Queen L made a lot of women pictures....Chicago. I love that movie, Beauty Shop. It's funny and endearing. Kevin Bacon is hilarious. I haven't seen the other films but they are added to my list

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    1. She was great in Chicago. Hope you see the others soon.

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  8. Ahhh! I haven't seen any of your picks, and yeah, I do agree it would have been wrong to pick slasher films so I doubt you'll see Sorority House Massacre on a list

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    1. Way wrong, but yeah, Sorority House Massacre was the first one I thought of.

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  9. Love these picks!!! I think Beauty Shop is a guilty pleasure of mine - watched it on repeat on Netflix, I think its Queen Latifah that's just awesome. I started to watch The Secret Life of Bees and was enjoying it but as I had taped it - it cut off. Not happy. But I will look out for it again as I liked the cast.

    Hot Money is actually based on a British drama with a excellent cast. Its a true story too, these ladies actually did this. I watched 20 minutes of the remake and hated it. Can't compare to the Brits.

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    1. I hope you get to see the rest of The Secret Life of Bees. I really enjoyed it.

      Had no idea that was a remake...or a true story. Wow. Thanks for that tidbit.

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  10. ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!

    LOVE that you mention Set It Off. Instant '90s recall for me. I've always wanted to see Secret Life of Bees, but never had much interest in Mad Money or Beauty Shop (although now that I see Alicia Silverstone and Alfre Woodard are in it...).

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    1. Always happy to see a fan of Set it Off. Of the others, I would agree Mad Money is the one to skip if you're picking and choosing.

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  11. I shouldn't mention that I'm not really a fan of Queen Latifah, should I? Oh, shit. Just did.

    That said, I'll take your bonus pick for the win, as Set It Off was a pretty badass flick back in the day. I've never seen The Secret Life of Bees or all of Beauty Shop, but I absolutely loathed Mad Money. I do, however, like the theme within a theme, and will take Queen in Chicago any day. Cause..damn, you know? Damn.

    Good post!

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    1. Since you at least like Set it Off, I guess I can forgive you. And yeah, she killed it in Chicago.

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  12. Queen Latifah is great. Not for your list but she was awesome in Stranger than Fiction. Also a whatever happened to Alicia Silverstone?

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    1. Yes, she was. That's such an odd flick for Will Ferrell, too. Not sure about Silverstone. Best I can tell she woke up one morning and was no longer "it" and she hasn't really recovered.

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