Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor

Directed by Tyler Perry.

2013. Rated PG-13, 111 minutes.

Cast:

Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Lance Gross

Vanessa Williams

Brandy Norwood

Robbie Jones

Kim Kardashian

Ella Joyce

Candice Coke

Judith (Smollett-Bell) and Brice (Gross) first met when they were six years old. Now in their mid-twenties, they’ve been married for six years. Things are looking up for them. She has just started her job as the in-house counselor at a dating service while he is pursuing his dream of owning his own pharmacy. Like lots of couples they’ve settled into a routine. It works, but it’s not necessarily thrilling, so she is feeling a little down about the whole thing. Brice has also forgotten his wife’s birthday which adds to her sadness. In comes fabulously wealthy, handsome, and young Harley (Jones). He’s looking to invest in the company Judith works for. The two have been paired together as he also works on a computer program that can assess compatibility between clients. Doesn’t every dating website already have this? I digress. Point is, Harley takes an immediate liking to Judith and begins to woo her with the finer things in life.

That simple premise, maybe tweaked a bit on the details, has been the starting point for numerous movies. We have all seen at least a few of them. However, as writer/director Tyler Perry has consistently shown, he can never leave well enough alone. He insists on stacking the odds much higher than needed against his protagonist. This could have been a thorough, mature examination of the two relationships involved, both Judith’s with Brice and Harley. Instead, we get very easy markers that are never dealt with and heaping helpings melodrama. Then there is always another problem to add to the pile. Each one is not just an emotional issue, either. These are potentially fatal problems so intently focused on our heroine the movie renders itself a farce rather than the engaging character study of a woman in flux. Other similar movies have subplots, occasionally lots of them. However, they generally concern other characters. They don’t bury the lead beneath an avalanche of earth-shattering dilemmas. It gets to the point where we realize the movie itself doesn’t like her. This is most evident in its harsh and cynical conclusion. Admittedly, this fits with his typically southern Christian viewpoint. Breaking the sanctity of marriage is cause for swift and eternal damnation.

To try and deal with all those issues raised, the movie simply shifts into hero vs. villain mode. This exposes another Tyler Perry trait. His bad guys are so over the top they cease to seem human. They are hissing, seething balls of rage. Harley is no exception. Robbie Jones is not a bad actor. The material leaves him no choice but to play it with both fists gripping ham and a mouth constantly full of scenery. This further adds to the feeling we’re watching something comical in nature. This wouldn’t be an issue if the movie didn’t so obviously want to be taken seriously. The mismatch of tone and content wreaks havoc on the film.

If there is one thing Mr. Perry usually gets right, it is wringing heartfelt performances out of his female leads. More than the zany antics of Madea (thankfully not present here) or the sermonizing of his elder characters, these ladies ground his movies. They provide an emotional core for the audience to latch onto. Though she’s not yet the same caliber of actress as Perry alums Kimberly Elise and Angela Bassett, Jurnee Smollett-Bell more than holds her own and shows great potential. She’s been in front of a camera since she was very young, but this is her first grown up role, as far as I know. Hopefully, she’ll have more in her future.

Conversely, Perry could not coax even one convincing line out of supporting player Kim Kardashian. She is just painful to watch. The few lines she had were far too many as it sounds like she’s reading them for the very first time. Also, the normally solid Vanessa Williams was equally as bad. Her faux-French accent was distractingly horrendous. It also doesn’t have to be there at all. It is merely used to set up an unfunny one-liner late in the movie. As the husband, Lance Gross is bland, but likable. This is actually high praise since the character exists to be exactly that. The only strong performance in the movie beside our leading lady’s is given by singer/actress Brandy Norwood. Unfortunately, her character occasionally appears to be in a horror movie all by herself. She eventually joins the rest of the cast in this movie during the third act.

Temptation is a movie that wants to be a mature portrayal of a marriage in crisis and how it might play out in biblical terms. In actuality, it is steeped in so much melodrama, its like the actors are performing a difficult trapeze act sans net. Since what it tries to be and what it is don’t line up it all becomes laughable. It’s also heavy-handed with an over-simplified conclusion. All grays are removed from this world in favor of easily contrasted blacks and whites. Judith ceases to be a woman and becomes a blatant scare tactic used against all women.

MY SCORE: 3.5/10

The Central Park Five

Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon.

2012. Not Rated, 119 minutes.

Cast:

Antron McCray

Kevin Richardson

Yusef Salaam

Raymond Santana

Korey Wise

Rev. Calvin Butts

Raymond Santana Sr.

Natalie Byfield

Ed Koch

Way back in April of 1989, I was a high school senior in Queens, NY counting down the days until graduation. Having already enlisted in the U.S. Army, I was going to be on my way to New Jersey for basic training shortly after that joyous event. It was then that news broke of The Central Park Jogger Case. A woman was found unconscious in the famed park, having been savagely beaten and raped. Back then I was in the habit of reading the newspaper every day and followed the story this way, as lots of New Yorkers did. Within a few days a group of five teenage boys, ranging in age from fourteen to sixteen, were arrested and charged with the crime to which they confessed. In my seventeen year old eyes, this was pretty much the end of it. There was coverage of it daily which certainly went on well past my July departure from the city, but it appeared to be an open and shut case. Indeed, they were all convicted and sent to jail.

Turns out, there was lots more to the case than I thought. There was never any evidence against any of these kids. They happened to be in the park that night, with as many as twenty-five boys all total, but nothing linking any of them to the rape. The state’s case against them was based solely on the strength of the separately video-taped confessions of each of the boys. Never mind that each of their stories was wildly different than the rest. The point is, they said they did it. The only question was whether these confessions were coerced or not. They were. That might seem like a spoiler, but it’s not. The important part is the odyssey it took to bring this to light. The Central Park Five, co-helmed by documentary god Ken Burns, explores the case from the night the jogger’s body was discovered by some people passing by up to the present.

One thing I did know back in ’89 was that this was a racially charged media sensation right from the start. It had to be. True, New York is as diverse a city as we have in the world. However, at least back then, it was operating under a form of segregation the citizens imposed upon themselves. Every ethnicity had their own neighborhoods. As is the American way, blacks and hispanics were pretty much lumped together. Often, crossing the color lines was met with violence. I have personal friends who were actually chased out of White areas. One such chase ended with the young black male very near my high school. I haven’t lived there since leaving for the Army so I’m not sure if it’s still this way. On top of all that racial tension, crack cocaine had hit the city only about five years prior and brought with it new levels of addiction, money, and violence. Here, we have a case where the victim is white and her alleged assailants are black and hispanic.

The documentary does a wonderful job of capturing the atmosphere of the city at the time. We get the sights and sounds of the day. We see a bleak urban landscape, and occasionally some late 80s hip-hop to go with the soliloquys of the various people involved and others who studied the case. We also see many headlines and snippets of newspaper articles, including editorials damning the boys to the lowest realms of hell. For me, this is a harsh reminder of how fractured and volatile a place New York was.

The boys are all grown now and the ordeal still brings tears to their eyes. The all speak about it with unbridled passion, this being their first reach chance to tell their side of the story. Surprisingly, for guys who had a large chunk of their formative years taken away, they come across as bright, reasonable, and mostly articulate men. None of them exhibit the bitterness they might be expected to harbor. Granted, they have now had some time to cope with it, but it’s still commendable. Their family members alo shed a few tears. Thankfully, these eventually become tears of joy and/or relief as things finally turn in their favor fourteen years later.

The one thing this movie lacks is something it could never have. From archived footage, we get news clips of then New York City Mayor Ed Koch, prosecuting attorneys Linda Fairstein and Elizabeth Lederer, plus various police officers involved in the original investigation. Of these people, all but Koch declined to appear currently. He is the only person interviewed for this documentary on record proclaiming the guilt of these kids back in 1989. Even knowing the facts as we know them today, he is still reluctant to say he was wrong. However, give the man credit. He shows up and speaks about how the entire thing played out from his vantage point in the mayor’s office. Still, he was never actually a part of the proceedings. How could he be? He had a city to run. Many of the people who were involved still have much to lose by an admission of wrong-doing and/or negligence. I fully understand why the would refuse to appear in such a film. That doesn’t stop me from badly wanting to see them and hear them speak to the matter at hand.

The Central Park Five is a movie that reveals a certain truth. That truth is that guilt and innocence are easily manipulated perceptions. Perception gives us the ability to ignore facts. After all, as the old saying goes, perception is reality. On a more grounded level, it is a horrifying tale about gross abuses of power, both illegal and incompetent police work, mob mentality and racism. It details a justice system run amok, one swift to punish those perceived as offenders and hesitant to correct itself when proven wrong, if it does at all. The scariest part of all this, the part left unsaid, is that we know similar things have happened in other cases and continues to happen. Powerful does not even begin to describe this movie.

Movies I Grew Up With: Enter the Dragon

As a very young boy, I had three famous idols. The first was none other than Muhammad Ali. Back then, I was just taken in by his charisma. As I grew and learned more about him, he became one of the people I most admire. The second was O.J. Simpson. Okay, that one didn’t work out too well. Still, at the time he was a great football player and had a squeaky clean image. Third was the one and only Bruce Lee. He passed away when I was two years old. Two or three years after that is when I became aware of him. This was largely thanks to his most famous movie, Enter the Dragon. Like with my other heroes I knew nothing of the man, but boy did he make some cool movies. This one is the coolest of them all.

Throughout my life I’ve returned to EtD dozens, if not hundreds of times. I know for certain that I’ve watched it at least once almost every year since I was five. I’d gamble that most of those years I watched it several times. During my military days, I found a group of drinking buddies that enjoyed kung-fu flicks. Once a week for a while we’d gather and watch one. You’d be correct in assuming that I made sure this was the feature attraction a time or two. Each of my children had at least one night during their infancy where they were draped across my chest sleeping while Bruce kicked ass in the background. My nieces and nephews who grew up in a house where their mom practically nursed them with Steven Seagal movies were given their first look at a “real” kung-fu movie when they spent the night at Uncle Dell’s house. All the while, I made sure to tell them that Bruce Lee would beat the ponytail off of Seagal. No one was safe.

This past year has seen my son start to become a cinephile in his own right. Aside from the constant rotation of rented, borrowed and streamed movies in my house, I also have a DVD collection of roughly 700 titles. The boy, now sixteen, has started combing his way through them. About two weeks ago, he announced to me he was going to watch all of the Bruce Lee movies. It then dawned on me that I hadn’t watched EtD in 2013. Yes! My son gave me an excuse to keep the streak alive. I gleefully sat down to watch it with him.

If you’re somehow unaware of what this movie, I’ll give you the short version. Mr. Han (Shih Kien) has a private island off the coast of Hong Kong and is hosting a martial arts tournament. “British Intelligence” suspects that Han is also trafficking drugs and running a prostitution ring there. They recruit “Mr. Lee”, Bruce – duh, to go in undercover and investigate. Before actually going though, Mr. Lee finds out that Han’s main henchman, O’Hara (Robert Wall), is responsible for the death of Mr. Lee’s sister. Two big subplots run alongside this main narrative. One is about Roper (John Saxon), a white fighter and playboy type there in part to escape his gambling debts. The other is about Williams (Jim Kelly), a black fighter just there for the tourney. He had to deal with some racist cops before boarding his flight and just happens to be an old friend of Roper’s.

Right from the start, I remember why I keep coming back to this movie. First of all, everything Bruce Lee does is amazing. The opening sequence of him beating the crap out of a very young Sammo Hung just sets the stage for what’s to come. Hung had a pretty successful career as an actor including a starring role on the American cop series Martial Law, which ran for a few seasons beginning in 1998. He is now one of the most revered figures in the history of Chinese cinema and one of the most sought after fight choreographers in the industry. His work on the Ip Man movies is astounding. Lee’s one-on-one battle, if you can call it that, with O’Hara is an epic display of hand speed. The true highlight for me, though, is his battle with the guards. This is the very pinnacle of movie martial arts, only equaled by Bruce’s showdown with Chuck Norris in The Way of the Dragon. Lee choreographed both, by the way. During this scene one of the guards gets his neck broken. You probably won’t even look at his face, let alone realize who he is, but its some teenager named Jackie Chan. He was actually used in a few of Lee’s movies then he did one or two things you might know.

In addition to Bruce, John Saxon and Jim Kelly also shine. They add a sense of style and certainly an American sheen to the proceedings. While our hero is being elevated to a mythical stature, these other two are the guys we can relate to. They bring humor and they still get it done when it’s time to throw hands…and feet. Saxon went on to a long career. Kelly’s career in movies wouldn’t be nearly as long, but he became a Blaxploitation icon. This movie also introduced me to the great Bolo Yeung. He still scares me a little. Finally, Shih Kien as Mr. Han is one of the coolest villains ever. I say this even though I’ve now noticed some inconsistencies with his false left hand. As the movie progresses he switches it out for something sharper and more heinous several times. However, when we think it is just a hand we see him move the fingers.

In the decades since I’ve first seen it, I’ve come to realize that Enter the Dragon is not only a showcase for Bruce Lee’s amazing physical skills, but touches on the philosophies he’s become famous for as well. He waxes poetic on the ways of Jeet Kun Do, the style of martial arts he actually invented. No, in the movie he never calls it this, but if you’re familiar with Bruce’s ideas on fighting you’ll recognize it when he says things like “the greatest technique is to have no technique.”

My son had seen the movie before. He was much younger, and in recent years I haven't forced him to see it whenever I did. It was long enough ago that I covered his eyes during the several naughty parts. I did no such thing this time and we had a grand time watching. For him, the time since he last saw it made this like a first viewing. He is where I once was in regards to this movie. He knows nothing of Bruce Lee’s depth or incredible worldwide impact on martial arts both in the movies and in real life, aside from my blabbing during the film. He doesn’t care that EtD is such an achievement that in 2004 it was deemed “culturally significant” and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. He just knows that this is one cool ass movie. I hope he’ll sit down with me when I watch it again in six months or so.

30 Minutes or Less

Directed by Ruben Fleischer.

2011. Rated R, 83 minutes.

Cast:

Jesse Eisenberg

Danny McBride

Aziz Ansari

Nick Swardson

Dilshad Vadsaria

Michael Peña

Bianca Kajlich

Fred Ward

Brett Gelman

Dwayne (McBride) isn't nearly as smart as he thinks. To boot, he is a slacker at odds with his wealthy dad (Ward). Really, he’s just waiting for the old man to die so he can inherit everything. When he lets this bit of info slip to Juicy (Kajlich), the stripper giving him a lap-dance, she tells him she knows someone who could expedite the process for a hundred grand. Of course, he doesn’t have that kind of money. With his sidekick Travis (Swardson), who happens to be good at making explosives, he decides to kidnap someone and force them to rob a bank for him. This is where Nick (Eisenberg) comes in. He’s a pizza delivery guy with problems of his own. He just had a fight with his best friend Chet (Ansari) and he’s attracted to Chet’s sister Kate (Vadsaria), but won’t tell her. He is also the unlucky chap who makes a delivery to Dwayne and Travis. He is quickly knocked out when he gets there. When he wakes up he finds he has a bomb strapped to his chest and is told he will rob a bank today, or else he’s going to go boom. In case you aren’t quite sure, this is a comedy.

Most of the movie consists of us, along with Dwayne and Chet, following Nick around as he decides what to do and figures out how to go about doing it, with Chet’s help, naturally. On both sides of this coin, we get lots of bickering between two guys. There is less where Dwayne and Travis is concerned as the former is mostly in charge. If you boil down all the yelling they do it equals one guy coming up with an idea and the other calling him stupid. Eventually, a course of action is agreed upon which doesn’t go as planned and the cycle starts over. This repetition lends itself to the theory of diminishing returns. The jokes yield fewer and fewer laughs as the movie goes on because they really haven’t changed since the beginning. The only real variation being how inventive the guys get with their swear words, of which there are more than enough.

To the movie’s credit, the plot hurtles forward with a kinetic energy. It rarely slows down, knowing it has to jam everything into an hour and a half. Those brief occasions are to set up our romance, but that’s about it. Most exposition is taken care of during those shouting matches I referenced. The rest of the film is made up of some form of action. Though they lack any real tension, they are occasionally entertaining.

More than any other genre, whether or not we like a comedy depends on how we feel about its stars. You either find certain people funny or you do not. I like Eisenberg okay, but can’t say I think he’s hilarious. I am also lukewarm on Danny McBride. Generally speaking, Ansari and Swardson both annoy me far more than make me laugh. When you add all that up, you get a movie that I believe has some funny moments, but mostly falls flat. The other aspects, like the story and action, are also rather hit-or-miss. Give it an additional demerit for reducing Michael Peña to a total stereotype. Now rewrite sentences three through six of this paragraph to better reflect how you feel about this movie’s stars.

MY SCORE: 5/10

Mud

Directed by Jeff Nichols.

2013. Rated PG-13, 130 minutes.

Cast:

Matthew McConaughey

Reese Witherspoon

Tye Sheridan

Jacob Lofland

Sam Shepard

Ray McKinnon

Sarah Paulson

Michael Shannon

Joe Don Baker

Bestest buddies Ellis (Sheridan) and Neckbone (Lofland) are a pair of fourteen year olds who spend most of their summer days exploring their surroundings when they’re not working with someone in their families. On a small island near their homes, the boys discover a boat lodged in a tree. They surmise it got that way due to the recent flooding in the area. With no one around, they claim it as their own. However, they quickly learn that someone has beat them to the punch. Someone has actually been living in the boat. That person is the scraggly looking and aptly name Mud (McConaughey). He appears to be practically coated in a layer of the stuff. Immediately, he begins bartering with the boys to bring him things from the mainland. Eventually, this evolves into running errands pertaining to the girlfriend he says he is waiting for. Meanwhile, we see that Ellis’ houme is not all that stable as his mom and dad appear to be on the verge of breaking up. For him, hard lessons in life and love ensue.

We like Ellis right away. He is adventurous, sure of himself, curious as all get out, and yet, still very naïve about the way relationships between men and wome work. He thinks it’s all black and white. Even when he’s shown it is not, he clings to his most romantic notions. This is the part of him we like most. It’s the part we want to protect. It is also the part that makes us want to shake him enough for him to realize things are not so simple. Tye Sheridan gives a wonderful performance to bring all of this across. He never feels too old nor too young. He feels fourteen.

We are not quite as fond of Ellis’ trusty sidekick Neckbone. It’s just a bit tougher to figure him out. As bits and pieces of his story are revealed, we certainly empathize with him. This stems from the fact that we realize his guardian, his Uncle Galen (Shannon), has very questionable parenting skills.

In that light, it almost becomes easy to see why two seemingly head strong young boys would become enamored with Mud, the homeless guy they bump into. He’s a man by all outward appearances, but he shares many of their same ideals. Mud is a hopelessly romantic man-child hiding from something. Of course, we eventually find out what that is, but even then his problems are revealed to be multi-faceted. We want to hate him, not so much for any harm he’s caused as for his potential to do so. However, his romanticism is so strong we can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. He doesn’t charm us like a number of McConaughey’s other characters. Instead, he comes off desperate and pathetic. This may be what draws the boys to him. Even though Mud is ultimately pulling their strings, he does it in such a way the boys at least feel like they have some measure of control over their interactions with him.

What we are and are not able to control is ultimately the dilemma most of the characters deal with, both emotionally and situationally. This is at the root of nearly every struggle. It is certainly that way with Mud, Ellis, and Ellis’ dad Senior (played wonderfully by Ray McKinnon). It’s interesting to note that the person who seems most in control is Ellis’ mom (Paulson), one of only two adult females in the cast. Arguably, she is the only one. As the movie progresses, she seizes more and more control of her own life.

On the other hand, there is Juniper (Witherspoon), the object of Mud’s desire. She is a complete and perfect mess. What it is that she and Mud see in each other is essentially the same thing. They each look at the other as the one that has already and will continue to save them. Starting with these two and permeating the rest of the movie are these delusions of the heroism of oneself and of others. Even the relationship between Ellis and Neckbone is affected by this.

By the time we get to the end, all the various strands are swirling about but pulled together in a hail of bullets. My first thought was that this is taking the easy way out of a story that spends lots of effort to complicate itself. It even sets up what at first glance is your run of the mill happy ending. Studying it a bit more in depth makes me thing the movie ends on an incredibly dark note. True, the main characters are all smiles and the sun in shining when the end credits roll. Still, I’m left with the sinking feeling that I’m merely seeing how the next repetition of a pair of vicious cycles starts. Worse yet, one of these cycles is the same as the other, just at an earlier stage. Therefore, Mud is a movie that allows you to believe everything is neatly tied in a bow, if that’s what you want, but also makes clear the possibility of a not-so-bright future.

Happy New Year

Another year is in the books. The first thing I want to do is wish you a happy and prosperous new year. You get an extra special thanks if you stop by Dell on Movies on a fairly regular basis to see what I have to say.

For 2014, I still plan on giving you plenty of straight forward reviews, and the occasional list. However, I also want to share some other cinematic thoughts. Within the last few weeks, I have started what I hope to a regularly recurring feature - "On My Mind." This will consist of my feelings about the many different aspects of the movie-watching experience. If you aren't sure what that means, click here to see what I've done so far.

Another feature I will be starting up fairly soon is "Movies I Grew Up With." As the title suggests, I will be revisiting films that I literally grew up with. They will all be from my youth (or more youthful days) and I will likely have seen them a dozen times or more. These will not really be reviews, though I will get into some of the same things a review would. These are going to be more about my experiences with these movies, why I relate to them and keep returning to them. I'll also get into whether or not they still work and, depending on the movie, how my wife and/or kids react to them.

There may be another feature or two that I come up with, but I'm not sure on anything else, yet.

Thanks again for hanging out here with me. I hope you return often and I love getting your two cents on anything I post.

Oh, one last thing. Please take a peek at my blogroll to the right and visit as many of those as you can. These people are all passionate about movies and work extremely hard on their blogs.


Happy New Year!!!

2013...so far

If you frequent movie blogs and websites you have probably read about a hundred different lists in the last few weeks for best and worst movies of 2013. If you hang out around this particular blog from time to time then you realize I usually don't see most movies until months after they have been released theatrically. That means to this point I have not seen enough movies to comfortably give my opinion on what this year had to offer. I have seen a bit over 30 of 2013's films, but only a few I can say have any shot of being in my top 20 once I see the 70 or 80 more I plan on watching. Still, I want to weigh in on the matter.

Here are the best 2013 movies I've seen so far (alphabetically)...

42
Luv
Mud
Side Effects
Spring Breakers
Stoker
This is the End
Warm Bodies

...and the worst (also alphabetically)

Baggage Claim
Beautiful Creatures
A Good Day to Die Hard
The Hangover Part III
Identity Thief
Peeples
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor

...and finally, three that are so bad they are awesome!!!

Fast & Furious 6
The Last Stand
Texas Chainsaw 3D


Oh, in case you're wondering, Mud, Spring Breakers, and Warm Bodies are the ones I think have a legit chance at my final top 20 whenever I get around to it.

A few of these I've yet to post reviews for. You click the titles of the others to get my full impressions on them.