Luv

Directed by Sheldon Candis.

2012. Rated R, 94 minutes.

Cast:

Common

Michael Rainey Jr.

Dennis Haysbert

Danny Glover

Charles S. Dutton

Lonette McKee

Meagan Good

Michael Kenneth Williams

Russell Hornsby

Hayward Armstrong

When all of your partners in crime know that you received a twenty year prison sentence, yet you’re home in eight, they’re going to be suspicious of you. This is just one of the issues Vincent (Common) has. As far as he’s concerned, it’s a small one. He’s much more focused on going straight. He wants to open up his own crab shack. To so, he’s trying to secure a $150,000 loan, legitimately. With his mother’s blessing he’s going to use her house as collateral. It’s Friday morning and he’s headed to the bank to get the verdict. On his way, he’s supposed to drop off his ten year old nephew Woody (Rainey Jr.) at school. After an unsatisfactory chat with the lad, he decides to take Woody with him and show him how business is handled. At the bank, he finds out mom’s house is $22,000 in arrears and about to go into foreclosure, obviously making a loan out of the question. However, with assurances he’ll be approved if he gets the money by Monday, he sets out to raise the capital the only way he knows how. Vincent, with Woody in tow, confronting the trust issues of his former colleagues ensues.

More than once on these pages I've noted I’m a fan of Common’s music, not his acting. That’s not the case, here. For the first time, he delivers a truly compelling performance. He really inhabits the role, bringing his character fully to life in a three dimensional manner. Vincent is not only the center of attention, Common helps him command that attention. Most impressively, he still shines when sharing the screen with such thespians as Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, and a super slick Dennis Haysbert, who sells something that definitely isn't car insurance. This is a leap forward in the evolution of Common as an actor. Of course, it helps that he has such a layered character to play. This is a guy who has obviously made some bad life decisions. He’s in the midst of another terrible choice, but his grand scheme includes a justifiable end. We root for him.

However, we don’t root for Vincent entirely because we want him to succeed. We just want his nephew to be okay. We hope Woody can somehow gleam the best from the often questionable lessons his uncle is giving. We fear it’s all too much for him. We pray that whatever’s next isn't. As good as Common is in his role, Michael Rainey Jr. stays with him step-for-step. Though asked to do some grown-up things we never get the sense we’re watching a small adult like in many other movies. He seems like a real kid, albeit one who grows up rapidly. His scenes with Common are endlessly fascinating as the two play quite well off one another.

Through all the harrowing situations and man-to-not-yet-man talks, a number of issues are dealt with. Still Luv, cheesy title aside, never gets preachy, weaving things into the ever-progressing plot. Just by being and feeling earnest, it provides us a welcome alternative to the type of urban movies of which we’ve become accustomed. There’s humor here, but this is no zany comedy. There’s also violence and we are dealing with a guy who received his education on the streets, but we’re not watching Menace II Society, either. It’s a well-told story that deserves to be seen.

Fame (2009)

Directed by Kevin Tancharoen.
2009. Rated PG, 107 minutes.
Cast:
Kay Panabaker
Naturi Naughton
Kherington Payne
Asher Book
Anna Maria Perez de Tagle
Walter Perez
Megan Mullally
Charles S. Dutton
Debbie Allen

We follow a class of students through their four years at New York's School of the Performing Arts. Any movie that happens to be a remake automatically sends up red flags. Before you even start watching this one, even more than normal go up. It's a PG-rated remake of an R-rated movie and is nearly a half-hour shorter. To me, this screams that it's a stripped down, scrubbed up but ultimately too thin version of the original. Well, that's precisely what it is. It maintains the original's hyper-kinetic energy through it's song and dance routines and may even be better at that aspect. It also manages to have intriguing classroom scenes. In fact, the scenes of teachers teaching are the best in the movie. This is particularly true of the acting classes taught by Mr. Dowd (Dutton). What it lacks is the ability to create any connection between the students and us, the viewers. It both needs and wants us to. However, instead of nurturing that relationship it just bounces along from one melodramatic scene to the next, showing us what happens but never making us feel it. It doesn't help that the students are largely the same on graduation day as they were when they were first auditioning to get into the school. Denise (Naughton) is a notable exception. This is where those extra 30 minutes could've come in handy. They could've been used to fully immerse us in their world rather than leaving us on the outside as it does. In that respect, it's much like 2008's Cadillac Records. It's a movie about people who pour their heart and soul into their craft, but it has no soul of it's own.


MY SCORE: 5/10

Legion

Directed by Scott Charles Stewart.
2010. Rated R, 100 minutes.
Cast:
Paul Bettany
Adrianne Palicki
Lucas Black
Tyrese Gibson
Dennis Quaid
Charles S. Dutton
Kevin Durand
Willa Holland
Kate Walsh
Jon Tenney

The Bible teaches us that once, a very long time ago, God had finally had enough of our crap. He was so fed up He made it rain for forty days and forty nights. This flooded the entire planet, completely wiping out the population of Earth, Man and Beast alike, save for Noah and the inhabitants of a boat that must’ve been the size of football stadium. What will happen should God be so angered again? Legion has some ideas.

We first meet Michael (Bettany). Because we’ve seen a lot of movies we immediately assume he’s either and angel or the mutant named Angel from the X-Men. You see, he has wings. Through a nifty bit of contortionism we don’t get to see, he very quickly cuts them off himself. After this and a gunfight with a shpe-shifting cop he begins his quest. Michael’s quest, we learn is to stop God from completely exterminating mankind and starting over. Michael still has faith in man while God does not. He feels God is making a mistake.

God is a particularly nasty fellow, here. He must really be ticked off with us. He doesn’t send a flood or plague. He turns all but a few into zombies and sends most of them to a dusty, roadside diner to stop a baby from being born, presumably taking away man’s hope and clearing the way for our extinction.

It’s an interesting idea but there are too many holes on either side of the equation. Theologically, it assumes God is capable of imperfection and questionable judgment. Nor is He all-knowing. This pretty much defeats the purpose of monotheism. It’s kind of like Michael’s beef is really with “a father” not “The Father.” On the other hand, is this the only baby near birth in the whole world? Or is this scene playing out in similar fashion all over the globe? But there’s only one Michael, so I doubt that.

Is this baby special? I dunno. I suppose he is if he makes it through the nicotine and tobacco filled gestation period a healthy lad, mom can’t quit smoking. The movie never tells us anything other than he must be born. I was expecting to hear that he’s the second coming of Christ, or at least John Connor or Neo (oh, you know them). Yet, Jeep (Black) and mom-to-be Charlie (Palicki) are indeed played like a modern day Joseph and Mary, except for that virginal and pure nonsense.

If it sounds like I’ve done way too much thinking about what’s going on here it’s because the movie invites you to do so. The problem is it isn’t thought out enough to stand up to scrutiny. It falls apart under its own weight. The crumbling starts from the very first time we’re asked to both believe that the God of Christianity is indeed real, but He isn’t perfect. By the way, if Michael, an angel, is so determined to disobey God’s orders doesn’t that mean he’s working for someone else? Hmmm.

However, all is not lost. It’s still just a movie. That said, it has some wild imagery and fun action scenes. Old ladies walk on ceilings, a man explodes. Angels have bulletproof wings and use them effectively in their own sort of martial arts. Though those action scenes are spaced a little far apart, there is some tension created. It’s a movie that’s somehow less than it wants to be, but more than it deserves. It’s not the deep, philosophical exercise it pretends to be, but it’s still an interesting watch.

The Opposite View: Joe Leydon, Variety

What the Internet Says: 5.0/10 on imdb.com (6/28/10), 19% on rottentomatoes.com, 32/100 on metacritic.com


MY SCORE: 5.5/10