Bad Timing — This Week’s Releases

Posted on February 13, 2009 at 10:00 am

Both of this week’s big mainstream releases are suffering from bad timing. “The International,” inspired by the BCCI banking scandal of 1991, is about a multi-national bank that is involved in everything from weapons sales to political payoffs and even murder. And “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” based on the best-selling book, is about a young woman who loves to shop for extravagant clothes so much she runs up $16,000 in debt. Both are about problems that, even as fiction, seem almost trivial in light of current economic conditions. Despite the awkward insertion of a massive shoot-out in “The International” to make it more exciting and a line of dialogue about the precarious position of the banks in “Shopaholic” to make it seem more timely, both movies have been so overtaken by events that they seem off-key. It will be interesting to see a year from now the way that movies currently in production reflect current economic and cultural concerns and how well they connect to wherever we are by the time they are released.

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Commentary Understanding Media and Pop Culture

The Uninvited (1944)

Posted on February 11, 2009 at 7:35 am

The new release called “The Uninvited,” based on a Korean horror film, reminded me of the unrelated (but very spooky) 1944 movie of the same name, starring one of my favorites, Ray Milland.
The original The Uninvited is the story of a brother and sister (Milland and “The Philadelphia Story’s” Ruth Hussey) who move into a mysterious house on the English coast. A series of eerie clues lead them to a story involving a woman who once lived in the house and her young daughter Stella (Gail Russell), now grown up, who still lives nearby.
This is not a horror film but a psychological drama with mystery, romance, and ghosts. When I first saw it as a teenager, I was especially intrigued because it had a rare screen appearance by stage actress Cornelia Otis Skinner, co-author of a book I loved, Our Hearts Were Young And Gay: An Unforgettable Comic Chronicle of Innocents Abroad in the 1920s. It also introduced a song that has become a standard, “Stella by Starlight.”
I watched it again recently and found it still one of my very favorite ghost stories, with appealing characters and very satisfying conclusions to both the romance and the mystery. Fans of “Rebecca” will love this one, so if you’re looking for a good, old-fashioned, non-gory ghost story, this is one of the best.

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Fantasy For Your Netflix Queue Rediscovered Classic

Soul Men

Posted on February 10, 2009 at 8:00 am

If you see this movie, stay through the end credits to watch an interview with co-star Bernie Mac, who died not long after filming was completed. It is a better reminder of his gifts than the movie itself, a formulaic road trip that relies primarily on insults and pratfalls.

Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac play Hinds and Henderson, once part of a popular 60’s soul group. But when Marcus, their lead singer (real-life soul singer John Legend), decides to go solo, they are unable to sustain performing careers. Henderson develops a successful car wash business and Hinds ends up in jail.

Marcus goes on to become a superstar, and when he dies, VH1 organizes a tribute concert at the Apollo and invites Hinds and Henderson to perform. Henderson does not fly, so they get in Hinds’ convertible and drive across the country, fighting pretty much full-time and stopping along the way to revisit some memories and try out their act. It’s “The Sunshine Boys” with less shtick and more Viagra jokes.

Director Malcolm D. Lee (the hilarious “Undercover Brother” and the charming “Roll Bounce” but also the terrible “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins”) has a strong sense of structure and timing but too many of the jokes rely on bad language and gratuitously outrageous behavior. Jennifer Coolidge (“Best in Show,” “American Pie”) is wasted as a voracious one-night stand and Sean Hayes (“Will and Grace”) is wasted in an under-written role as the producer of the VH1 special. There are pointless detours for a stupid and abusive grille-toothed boyfriend of a young woman befriended by the duo, a doofus intern assigned to them by the producer, and an arrest just as they are about to arrive at the Apollo. But Jackson and Mac are clearly enjoying themselves, and their moments together manage to inject some fun into the story and even a little bit of soul.

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