Category Archives: Film

Truth Comes Out in The Help

By Wendy Simmons

New to DVD and BluRay Dec. 6th, The Help is one for the collection.
 
Based on a bestselling novel by Kathryn Stockett, The Help reveals a world very rarely tapped into. It shows the side of African American maids and they’re experiences working for White employers.
 
It’s a heartwarming tale that allows you to understand the strength that these maids had to have in order to endure the disrespect and agony of being looked-over people. The point of the movie is to show how one inspiring young author and two brave maids ventured into a novel writing project that flourished into a emotional roller coaster of real-life accounts.
 
Starring Viola Davis, Emma Stone, and Octavia Spencer this stellar cast conveyed pain, sorrow, humility and joy worthy of Oscar recognition.
 
Although the film is fictional, it feels like biographical accounts that have been passed down from generation to generation. The Help definitely brings out real emotions. Grab this dvd, watch it with others and open up a discussion on passed times, racial divides and the hardships of others.

What Your Husband Don’t Know, Can Get Someone Killed

By Wendy Simmons

Every once and a while you come across a story about adultery that makes you feel for the adulterer and not condemn them. This is one of those times.

Stage play put to DVD “What Your Husband Doesn’t Know” engages us in the life of a loved and loving housewife, whose successful husband reluctantly neglects her. Not only is quality time put on the back burner but sexual interactions are also strained; so when a young attractive man begins working in her home, sparks fly and she is now tangled in a web of deceit that she can only hope to end before she ruins the perfect life that she and her husband built.

Lea, played by singer Michelle Williams, is married to Franklin, played by Amen’s Clifton Davis. Lea knows that Franklin has good intentions but the lack of affection and time pushes Lea into the arms of Paul, played by Brian White. With the guidance of her mother, Lea decides to end things with Paul; however his feelings quickly turned into an obsession. Lea has to now figure out how to stop Paul’s relentless approaches while trying to rekindle the flame that she and husband had throughout most of their marriage.

Lea confesses to her Pastor about the affair and ultimately her being forced to defend herself against Paul. While she narrates, we get the back-story of how a wife’s feelings of neglect can lead to a disastrous and possibly murderous ending.

This play, which was written directed and produced by David E. Talbert, wraps us into the drama of Lea’s life while allowing us to feel for her. I found this production to be very entertaining and captivating. I longed to see how Lea would be able to juggle a stalker and a loving husband.

There were a few musical numbers that I felt were not needed but it helped to showcase the talents of the cast. It’s not all drama through the play…Lea’s best friend and live-in house guest provides plenty of comic relief. There’s also a twist that helps to tie up some loose ends and give validity to Lea’s mother’s adamant advice on ending the affair.

This desperate housewife turned fatal attraction will keep you glued to see how a wife gets out of a terrifying situation. Pick this DVD up and question what you would do in that situation.

I give it $$$

DVD will be available for purchase on November 1st exclusively at http://www.davidetalbert.com

Reeling 2011: The Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival

Wish Me Away

REELING 2011: The Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary as the second-oldest LGBT film festival in the world, showcasing innovative gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender films from around the world. This year, films are featured at six different Chicago area theaters. The festival runs Thursday, November 3 through Saturday, November 12, 2011.

Reeling is proud to kick off ten days of exceptional filmmaking with our Opening Night selection, The Wise Kids by Stephen Cone, marking the first time the festival opens with a film directed by a Chicago-based filmmaker. This critically acclaimed, coming-of-age drama follows three teenagers from a religious community in South Carolina who are in the transitional space between high school and college, when life seems to be all questions and no answers, and the future is scarily wide open. Featuring a “brilliant cast of young actors” (Variety), the film won Outfest’s Grand Jury Awards for Best US Dramatic Feature and Outstanding Screenwriting; Newfest’s Audience Award for Best Narrative Film; and Sidewalk/Shout Birmingham’s Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.

The Wise Kids screens on November 3 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Avenue. Closing the festival is the wildly funny satire, Going Down in La-La Land, by award-winning director/writer and festival favorite, Casper Andreas (Violet Tendencies, The Big Gay Musical). A sexy and uncensored depiction of what an aspiring actor can – and will – do to make it in Hollywood, Going Down in La-La Land screens on Saturday, November 12, at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Reeling is also proud to present three Documentary Centerpiece films: We Were Here, Wish Me Away, and Vito. Congruent with Reeling’s 30th anniversary, 2011 also marks 30 years since AIDS was first reported. In the documentary We Were Here, filmmaker David Weissman revisits the generation whose lives were affected in unimaginable ways when their beloved city of San Francisco changed from a hotbed of sexual freedom to the epicenter of the “gay plague.”

In the intimate and moving Wish Me Away, filmmakers Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf follow country music superstar Chely Wright’s journey as she finds the strength to reveal she is gay to friends, family, and eventually, the public. The film won the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature and Frameline’s Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary. Vito is Jeffrey Schwarz’s heartfelt portrait of Vito Russo, well-known cinephile and author of The Celluloid Closet, and one of the earliest and important voices in the struggle for gay rights. Screenings for the festival take place at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema (2828 N. Clark St.), Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave.), Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.), Instituto

Cervantes (31 W. Ohio St.), the Block Cinema at the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art (40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston), and the Portage Theater (4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue).

The mission of Reeling is to recognize the important artistic and socially relevant contributions LGBT filmmakers have made to our culture and to counteract stereotyping with valid, meaningful, and diverse portrayals of LGBT people. For more information visit: www.reelingfilmfestival.org.

Vote Yes for Love?

By Wendy Simmons

What happens when two opposing political sides meet in a fiery battle? Fireworks commence. And that’s exactly what happens when pro-Obama Aretha meets the unlikely pro-McCain Kyle in the romantic comedy Politics of Love. 

Aretha, played by Bollywood star Mallika Sherawat, is Indian- American, raised by her biological Indian father and African American step mother, played by Loretta Devine. She grew up having to love and embrace both cultures; which can be an conflict when mom and dad can’t even agree on much of anything. After returning home from a failed career in New York, Aretha is convinced to work for the 2008 Obama election. That career change leads her to meet Kyle, played by Brian White. He’s her counterpart in the McCain camp and they’re both very passionate about their candidates, and other things as well. Kyle and Aretha’s attraction to one another is undeniable, but will it work? Can too sides of the aisle put aside their differences in order to let love blossom? That’s what director William Dear is trying to allow us to witness.

A wonderful cast makes up this romp of a comedy. Devine is accompanied by Ruby Dee and Gerry Bednob, making this film rich with acting history. The chemistry between the main two characters was very realistic.
But although the performances were enjoyable the silly antics caused this fairly smart comedy to appear immature . It’s a great concept and a wonderful way to relive a very historical moment in our country but the predictable plot was a little disappointing.

Perhaps, you can rent this one on DVD for date night.

I give it $$

http://politicsoflovethemovie.com/

MUST SEE: Pariah

A rousing success at the 2011 Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals, the contemporary drama Pariah is the feature-length expansion of writer/director Dee Rees’ award-winning 2007 short film Pariah. Spike Lee is among the feature’s executive producers. At Sundance, cinematographer Bradford Young was honored with the [U.S. Dramatic Competition] Excellence in Cinematography Award.

Adepero Oduye, who had earlier starred in the short film, portrays Alike (pronouncedah-lee-kay), a 17-year-old African-American woman who lives with her parents Audrey and Arthur (Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell) and younger sister Sharonda (Sahra Mellesse) in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. She has a flair for poetry, and is a good student at her local high school.

 Alike is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. With the sometimes boisterous support of her best friend, out lesbian Laura (Pernell Walker), Alike is especially eager to find a girlfriend. At home, her parents’ marriage is strained and there is further tension in the household whenever Alike’s development becomes a topic of discussion. Pressed by her mother into making the acquaintance of a colleague’s daughter, Bina (Aasha Davis), Alike finds Bina to be unexpectedly refreshing to socialize with.

Wondering how much she can confide in her family, Alike strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity – sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward.   

Connect with Pariah:

http://www.pariahmovie.com   

http://www.facebook.com/pariahthemovie 

 

Will He?…Will She?

By Wendy Simmons

Adultery is a headlining story in almost every gossip magazine and has always been a steamy subject to display on film. Well, here’s yet another movie about the temptation of the opposite sex and wonderment of whether the faithful will give in to that temptation.

‘Last Night’, starring Eva Mendes, focuses on a married couple that appears to be happy however when both are confronted with the option to indulge in affairs we are taken on a ride to witness if he will or will she.

Sounds tantalizing, right? Wrong!  This movie was a bore.  It teases you, heightens your expectations only to bring you back down.

The performances were worthy however, I expected so much more because cheating is usually a hot button issue but this didn’t push my buttons at all.

If you’re not fully alert you’ll snooze on this snoozer.

I give it $$

Wants To Be More Than White Irish Drinkers

By Wendy Simmons

What can push you to further yourself when you are surrounded by unambitious people? That’s what Brian, the sensitive artist, must face in White Irish Drinkers. 

Directed by John Gray and starring Nick Thurston as Brian and Geoff Wigdor as his rambunctious older brother Danny, we see the story of two youngNew Yorkmen that must live their lives the way they see fit. Coming from an abusive home, this strain takes a different toll on each. One is content but knows that there is more for him, but he may be too afraid to go for it. The other takes out his frustration with crime; but later it’s revealed that he had dreams but was also too fearful to try. What do you expect from two people that were never pushed to do more than live day to day?

The brothers face love, betrayal, abuse and degradation. This is not an easy life for them…but is life ever really easy?

Growing up Danny was Brian’s protector. Although there was constant struggle between them as men, they were truly devoted to their brotherhood.  Which also causes a dilemma for Brian…should he choose loyalty over morality? Should he choose happiness over contentment?

This multiple festival award winning film was very well acted. It was emotional and surprising. A wrap up gave an understanding to how a person’s experience, and lack thereof, can determine their situation.

The performances were outstanding and little known Thurston and Wigdor should be commended for giving such ordinary characters so much life.

A definite must see!

I give it $$$ ½

 

Can’t Knock the Hustle…For Trying

By Wendy Simmons

Fresh to DVD, The Hustle starring Charlie Murphy and Al Shearer engulfs us in a day of mishaps as the main characters (Murphy and Shearer) attempt to hustle their way out of trouble.

Directed by Deon Taylor, this Friday meets First Sunday comedy will make you laugh out loud with silly yet satirical comedic slapstick.  Filled with an ensemble of great comedians and actors that include David Alan Grier, John Witherspoon and Tamala Jones, it’s surprising this movie was not released in theaters.  And it was great to see Charlie “Eddie’s Little Brother” Murphy take a leading role.

While the film abruptly ended with quick resolutions, it managed to tie up loose ends and will leave viewers with the idea that a sequel may be in the works.

Definitely pick this one up and enjoy a good laugh at home.

I give it $$ 1/2

Countless Action in …Number Four

By Wendy Simmons

I Am Number Four is a never boring action packed sci-fi thriller new to DVD.

Directed by D.J. Caruso, the audience is introduced to John Smith, a teen alien from the planet Lorien. John is number four of nine survivors from the attempted annihilation of his planet. Those nine were sent to earth and spared in order to continue Lorien’s legacy. But staying alive is no easy feat and is filled with constant motion and life altering scenarios. Now that numbers one through three are dead it is of crucial importance for John to embrace and control his newly discovered special powers. By doing so he’s able to continue to fight and find the other five numbers to unite against the hunters that will go to no end to wipe the existence of Lorien away.

Starring Alex Pettyfer as Number Four, we also see him endure the same issues as any other teen…bullying, acceptances, and love. This allows this sci-fi film to appeal to a realist such as myself. Although it wraps up loose ends quickly, it will hold your attention and will definitely peek your curiosity throughout.

Be prepared for action and surprise when you pick this DVD up on Tuesday! You’ll want to catch this one because you can trust that there will be sequels to come.

Don’t Sacrifice for the Inheritance, Skip It

By Wendy Simmons

The Inheritance is a horror film trying to combine history with fright.

What was meant to be an impromptu winter family reunion morphed into a sacrificial ceremony. In the beginning of the film we are introduced to what appears to be a plantation enslaved family. No words, just images. Later, we are given the history of that family and how they sacrificed their children for a resurrected man named Chakabazz.  Chakabazz promised freedom and prosperity in exchange for chosen children. Because of the favorable outcome of this rite to freedom, the family continued this practice in order to maintain their wealth.

This leads us to the weekend where spirits and surprised bloody writings on walls terrify the new lambs of sacrifice. Trying to escape their fate proved to be a futile bout with destiny filled with confusion and a last minute email to tell the story of their weekend and their ultimate demise.

The film stars Golden Brooks of the sitcom Girlfriends. It was refreshing to see a horror film with an all black cast. However, too many inaudible scenes and not enough background left me confused and frustrated with the hour and 20 minutes that I kept hope alive, wishing that this all black scary movie would surprise me. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

I give it $$