Archive for September, 2001

Sweet and Lowdown

She doesn’t say a word but her expressions speak volumes. Hattie is a sweet and unassuming yong woman who washes clothes for a living and obeys the same lunch ritual every day. When jazz guitarist Emmett Ray first encounters her, he has no idea she’s mute. He’s so smitten that he doesn’t allow her to get in a word edgewise. Read the rest of this entry »

Films Review September

KINGDOM COME (PG)

Whoopi Goldberg heads up a wonderful cast in this black ensemble film about an unexpected family reunion. Goldberg stars as Raynelle, whose husband Woodrow has just died of a stroke. Raynelle doesn’t seem to upset. Read the rest of this entry »

Films Review October

DR. DOLITTLE 2 (PG-13)

Flatulent bears, territorial dogs, rude raccoons. I’m not sure this is what Hugh Lofting had in mind when he wrote the original “Doctor Dolittle” stories. Read the rest of this entry »

Films Review September

61* (NR)

Billy Crystal directed this winning docudrama about the race by New York Yankees superstars Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to beat Babe Ruth’s single season record of 60 home runs. Crystal and his splendid cast hit a home run, delivering a film that takes a well known event and infuses it with great dramatic highs. Read the rest of this entry »

Urban Legend

Poor Natalie is having a bad day. Her best friend Michelle from high school has been decapitated by a madman hiding in the backseat of her car. Another friend found his precious pup baked in the microwave before having Pop Rocks and Drain-o shoved down his throat. Read the rest of this entry »

Bamboozled

Good intentions aside, Spike Lee’s latest film backfires. It’s difficult to sit through “Bamboozled” without wondering what Lee was thinking. It starts off with a promising idea, but by the time Lee is done, the film loses all of its strength. Damon Wayans is good as a Pierre Delacroix, a talented, Harvard-educated writer working for a fledgling network. Delacroix already feels enough pressure being the only African-American on staff, but when his boss demands that he develop a hip, urban show or he’s out, he panics. His desperation leads Delacroix to create a modern day Minstrel show featuring African-Americans in black-face. Read the rest of this entry »

The Haunting DVD

Watching the remake of “The Haunting” is the equivalent of going to a Halloween party you’ve really been looking forward to only to find out that the turd in the punch bowl is real. Forget things that go bump in the night, be afraid of things that go dump in the night. Read the rest of this entry »

Ulee’s Gold

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost thirty years since Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper took off on their choppers to discover America in 1968’s seminal classic, “Easy Rider.” It hasn’t been as easy a ride for Fonda, whose later films included “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry,” and “Race with the Devil.” Read the rest of this entry »

Films Review September

CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES (PG)

When it stays true to the original, this third entry in the “Crocodile Dundee” franchise is sweet and unassuming. It’s only when Paul Hogan and company try to be hip that the film falls flat. The more jaded movie audiences get, the harder it is to pull off Hogan’s style of humor, yet this film manages to entertain without being offensive. Read the rest of this entry »

The Cowboys

When the cattle drive finally reaches it’s destination, one of the local townspeople looks at one of the cowhands and comments “They’re just kids.” They’re not just kids. They’re “The Cowboys.” They may have started off as eleven kids, but after 400 miles of driving cattle and fighting off rustlers, you grow up fast. Read the rest of this entry »