DVD pick of the week: "Night Catches Us"

After watching writer/director Tanya Hamilton's "Night Catches Us" for the second time, I had to go and double check that it really is her feature film directing debut. It indeed is, and as such, its a bold and often powerful vision from an exciting new voice in the world of movies.

And it certainly doesn't hurt that in Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington she has two of the best young actors - black, white or anything else - working in movies today to tell at once a both intimate and ambitious story about the Black Panther movement and, more importantly, how its successes and failures impacted the individuals left in the wake of its peak.

Hamilton's movie opens with the pledge of allegiance read over images from the black power movement and ending with a question mark. Though it lacks subtlety, as her story does at points throughout, its an effective way to introduce a movie that asks big questions about the movement's effectiveness.

After that we find Anthony Mackie's Marcus Washington returning to Philadelphia in 1976 for the funeral of his father. The prodigal son gets a less than warm welcome from his brother Bostic (Tariq Trotter), who has joined the Nation of Islam, and this is the first sign among many that for Marcus, it's very hard to go home again.

From the outset of "Night Catches Us", we get a strong, effective and most importantly natural sense of time and place, accomplished not with the cartoonish attire that mars far too many portrayals of the era, but instead with the overall mood (or perhaps what Jimmy Carter famously called malaise), and with a big assist from the Roots (do they ever stop working?) in providing a funky soundtrack that pulses throughout the movie. And it helps that, having visited Philadelphia myself last year, I can report that some of the neighborhoods there do indeed look like they were frozen in time more than 30 years ago.

As Marcus reacquaints himself with his old surroundings, we slowly find out more about the world and the woman, Kerry Washington's Patricia Wilson, he left behind. In the past that shaped them and clearly still in many ways haunts them, Marcus and Patricia were soldiers in the Black Panther Party, along with Patricia's late husband, Neil, who goes unseen except in photographs but clearly hovers over everything that unfolds in "Night Catches Us". Patricia is now a lawyer raising her 9-year-old daughter Iris and 19-year-old cousin Jimmy, who is by far the more immature of the two dependents, and often much of the neighborhood, opening her home to any of the kids who need a hot meal.

Marcus also bumps up against more of his old Black Panther running mates, and that's when we find out more about his story, and why it's so hard to return. As we meet Duane "DoRight" Miller (played by Jamie Hector, aka Marlo Stanfield on "The Wire", and more on similarities with that great show later), we find out that Marcus is suspected of snitching to the feds in the case that led to Neil's death. And the truth about what did and didn't happen in that story shapes the most compelling portion of Hamilton's often complicated tale, and allows Mackie and Washington to truly shine.

Against the wishes of the older man she's involved with, Patricia offers Marcus a room in her home, and as they slowly become closer, the secrets and lies of their past also come simmering to the surface. "Night Catches Us" is at its best as they dance around the truth of their past as Iris, curious about what happened to her father, asks more and more questions. Even as Patricia claims "we don't talk about the past," she clearly clings to her idealized vision of it. Washington and Mackie let the percolating passion play out in glances that say much more than Hamilton's occasionally heavy-handed script, and its just a delight to watch the two of them on screen together.

Marcus and Patricia try to live in a world that is gray rather than starkly black and white, where, much like on David Simon's "The Wire". right and wrong collide so strongly they are often almost indistinguishable. It's when Hamilton steps out of this cocoon, however, to ask bigger questions about the often contradictory goals of the black power movement, that her story falls apart a bit in the third act.

Unlike with "The Wire", the white cops in "Night Catches Us" are one-dimensional composites that too often veer into caricatures. This robs much of the power from Jimmy's story, which asks one of Hamilton's most important questions: What is left behind after, rightly or not, so much anger is stirred up?

That Hamilton falls a bit short of answering this pales next to what she has accomplished, however, in diving into a period of American history that has too often simply been (for lack of a better word) whitewashed and telling the compelling story of two people caught up in it. She also assembles and utilizes the best largely black ensemble cast I've seen (also keep an eye out for another "The Wire" vet, Wendell Pierce, aka Bunk, as a detective who keeps hounding Marcus) since Darnell Martin's very entertaining "Cadillac Records". Check "Night Catches Us" out now on DVD, and definitely keep an eye out for what Tanya Hamilton, having dealt deftly with a complicated episode of America's past, now does with her own future.

My (and only my) best movies of the decade: The 2004 edition

Before I get into any kudos for movies that came out five years ago, the first (I believe) salvo in this awards season has been fired, and it has landed majorly in Kathyrn Bigelow's corner.

Her "The Hurt Locker" was the big winner at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, taking home the Best Picture award and, even more appropriately, the Best Ensemble award. I can certainly support that, because there's only one movie I've liked more than "The Hurt Locker" this year - Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" - and Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie did indeed lead an excellent cast in this flick that looks at war through the eyes of bomb squad soldiers.

But back to the game. 2004 was a good year for quirk, which I indeed like most of the time, but as you'll find out, also the first year of the oughts in which two of the year's box office champs made the final cut.

First off, the runners-up are: "The Ladykillers", "Hellboy", "Coffee and Cigarettes", "Garden State", "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" and "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie" (and yes really on the last two, but I really like to laugh.)

OK, here goes with the big 10, and as usual, please feel free to add any you think I may have snubbed.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
Going in, this mindbendingly sweet romance from the skewed minds of Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman was certainly the favorite for movie of the year, but as you'll find out shortly it was edged out by a director who still has - rather sadly - only managed to make very few movies. Still the only movie in which Jim Carrey is entirely enjoyable - in large part because of how well he plays off of Kate Winslet - this flick tackles big questions about love, life and memory with out a whiff of seriousness, but instead the dreamy feel that envelops Gondry's best flicks. (And yes, Kirsten Dunst dancing around in her underwear certainly is a delight.)

"The Agronomist"
Though Jonathan Demme has made many great fictional movies, his documentaries stand up just as strong, and one of the best is this flick about the late Haitian journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique. Through interviews with Dominique and the people who loved him, you get a thorough portrait of the man that just gets more insightful but also depressing as it leads up to Dominique's assassination.

"Napoleon Dynamite"
You either love it or hate it, I guess, and I'm certainly in the former category. I even stuck with Jared Hess through "Nacho Libre," which though far from anything approaching a great movie, was still almost as sublimely silly as "Napoleon Dynamite." I seriously doubt that Jon Heder will ever get a good part again, but he was just hilarious as Napoleon, and you can still quote this movie to me when I'm having a really bad day and get a smile every time.

"Spider-Man 2"
When Sam Raimi has fun, as he surely did in 2009 with "Drag Me to Hell," the audience does too, as I certainly did with this, still my favorite superhero movie of all time. Though the first "Spider-Man" was a good enough flick (with some of the cheesiest CGI ever), the second installment is better in every way: The Peter Parker/Mary Jane (yes, Kirsten Dunst again) romance is truly heartbreaking, the bad guy (Alfred Molina's Doc Ock) is a superbly complex villain, and it was just the best blockbuster of 2004.

"Maria Full of Grace"
This little gem from director Joshua Marston is indeed my favorite movie from 2004, and it would stand up well in any year since. Catalina Sandino Moreno (who really should be a very big star by now) is just thoroughly charming as a pregnant Colombian teenager who - out of complete desperation - becomes a drug mule running cocaine to the U.S. in her stomach. The movie manages to put a human face on the drug trade and just gets better as we see Maria finally start to work her way out of it, and Moreno was absolutely hosed in not winning the Best Actress Oscar she was nominated for.

"Shaun of the Dead"
Every thing I've seen about Edgar Reitman's next flick - "Scott Pilgrim" - just hints that it's going to be epicly good, but I certainly miss the days that he, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost made an unholy trio. This, their best flick, is a first-rate mix of humor and horror, and though "Zombieland" was a solid entry this year, it lacked both Pegg - who made the perfect antihero - and the blackest humor that made "Shaun" work so well. And that scene at the pub is still just wickedly funny.

"Infernal Affairs"
The source material for Martin Scorsese's Best Picture breakthrough is actually superior to his remake in almost every way. The original flick from directors Wei-keing Lau and Alan Mak keeps the intensity up much better than Scorsese did (though I like me some "The Departed" too), and the lives of our two heroes, a police officer who has infiltrated the Triads and a Triad mole who has infiltrated the police force, intertwine in more interesting ways. Rent this one immediately if you haven't seen it.

"Sideways"
I almost put "Garden State" in this spot instead, but Alexander Payne's flick (the last one he managed to make before moving on to HBO's show about the guy with the humongous unit) makes for an engaging road movie through the California wine country and just features first-rate performances from Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen. I still like this one as much as I just detest Payne's previous flick, "About Schmidt."

"The Incredibles"
My second-best Pixar flick ("Ratatouille" will always be the king in my corner of the world) had a much more innovative story than most animated offerings for kids as it looked at what happens when the world turns against superheros, and just about the best message (don't be afraid to let your talents shine) you could possibly give to a kid. There is, however, one animated movie from director Brad Bird that's better, "The Iron Giant."

"Hotel Rwanda"
Don Cheadle was just as screwed as Moreno in the Oscar voting for this year, because he told more with simple facial expressions in Terry George's movie about the Rwandan genocide than most actors do with longwinded speeches. The story about how a hotel manager saved thousand of Tutsi refugees from almost certain slaughter also introduced the world (or at least me) to Sophie Okonedo, who almost manages to steal Cheadle's show here and was the star of a flick I just saw at the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, "Skin," about the racial complexities of South Africa (too heavy-handed for my tastes, but she's great in it and it was an audience favorite, so check it out on DVD soon.) George also directed my favorite of the '90s IRA movies, "Some Mother's Son."

So, there you have it. Please feel free to add any of your 2004 favorites, and to check back tomorrow for a look at 2005, the year I actually started writing all this mess. Peace out.

What will Danny Boyle finally do to follow up "Slumdog Millionaire"?

You know, I should probably just stick around Macon this weekend, what with four movies opening here this weekend and even two ("The Men Who Stare at Goats" and Richard Kelly's "The Box") I actually want to see, but I still think I'm gonna make the hour or so trip up the road to see "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" on Saturday morning.

And not because, like Liz Lemon, I do anything Oprah tells me to, but a hearty endorsement from Tyler Perry does go quite a way in this corner. No, I was already intrigued, but I finally decided to bite when I saw this from a review on Collider.com, not exactly known for its embrace of black cinema: "Precious" isn't a Hallmark movie. It's one of the best movies of the year.

But enough about that movie I haven't seen yet until perhaps Sunday, if it moves me enough to get up in the morning and write a review. For now, there's more than a few tidbits out there worth commenting on, especially what Danny Boyle's gonna finally do to follow up "Slumdog Millionaire," after being idle for quite a while now.

And it in fact sounds pretty fascinating. Boyle, who has already directed two of my favorite flicks with "Trainspotting" and "Shallow Grave" and one I truly detest in "Sunshine," will next turn his attention to "127 Hours," which tells the story of mountaineer Aron Ralston, who got pinned under a boulder for nearly five days while climbing in Utah. Since I assume the story will be well known before the movie comes out (if it isn't to you already), I'll tell you he ended up using a dull knife to amputate his arm and then hiked a 65-foot sheer wall before a family came to his aid.

That all sounds great, if more than a little harrowing, to me. No word on who would play Ralston (though Christian Bale popped immediately into my mind), but Boyle has already written a treatment, and "Slumdog" scribe Simon Beaufoy is in talks to write the script.

It will begin filming next year for a 2010 release, so definitely keep your eyes on this one.

Another Iraq war movie I'll see?

It really is hard to overstate exactly what Kathyrn Bigelow accomplished this year with "The Hurt Locker," and I'm sure she'll get some earned recognition now that we've just entered awards season (already? I'm afraid so.) Before her great movie starring Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie, I had sworn off of Iraq war movies, but her approach of simply looking at war through the soldiers' eyes combined with her natural touch for pyrotechnics just made this one incredibly entertaining (I've seen it twice already, and just might again when it finally hits DVD, probably in January.)

And now, Ken Loach is taking on the subject, and given his rather extreme distaste for objectivity I'm sure he'll come up with a completely different animal, though another one I'll take a chance on when I can because I almost always dig his passion.

His flick, "Route Irish," will detail the story of two men who work as private security contractors in Iraq. When Frankie is killed on "Route Irish" - the road linking Baghdad airport with the Green Zone - Fergus, wracked with grief and guilt, rejects the official explanation and determines to investigate the truth of his friend's death.

Sounds awfully earnest to me, but like I said, I have a whole lot of time ("Riff Raff" is still one of my favorite romantic flicks) for Mr. Loach, so this is certainly one that intrigues me.

Is no TV cartoon character safe?

If I were to put together a comedic actors hall of fame, Anna Faris would certainly get a spot, at least in the up-and-comers wing, because she's just that funny in just about everything she does. And just this year, she certainly acquitted herself well as ambitious weather girl Sam Sparks in the goofy, fun animated flick "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."

That, however, doesn't mean I'm going to follow her anywhere near a "live-action/CG hybrid" movie about Yogi Bear. And no, I'm not making that up.

It at least sounds kinda funny that Dan Aykroyd will voice Yogi and Justin Timberlake will voice Boo Boo, but this still would have to get reviews hailing it as the "Citizen Kane" of "live-action/CG hybrid movies about talking bears" before I'd give it a chance. Faris will apparently play some kind of nature documentarian.

Dr. Horrible going to comics

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," the Web creation of Joss Whedon starring Doogie Howser and Captain Mal Reynolds, was never quite as funny in my book as it was hyped up to be, but it was still a silly enough brand of fun to be enjoyed as a diversion. You can still watch the whole 45-minute-or-so thing at Hulu, and now it seems the character is getting new life thanks to Dark Horse comics.

In a one-shot comic, Zack Whedon, brother of the "Buffy" mastermind himself, and artist Joelle Jones tell the origin story of the wannabe evil genius. According to Dark Horse, they "establish how a young, impressionable, but brilliant Dr. Horrible was drawn into a world of crime. Readers are reacquainted with the charming, brawny, crime-fighting superhero extraordinaire Captain Hammer when Dr. Horrible crosses paths with his greatest enemy in an all-out showdown of immeasurable proportions.

Since it's only a one-shot, I can guarantee I'll spring the three bucks or so this should cost when it hits my local comic book store Nov. 18.

And, since along with "Precious" I'm sure to also go see "The Men Who Stare at Goats" on Sunday this weekend, I'll leave you with this clip of George Clooney explaining to Ewan McGregor what gets him in the spirit to exercise his psychic abilities. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

Can Sam Rockwell really get an Oscar nomination?

The oddest thing about the Somali pirate story that grabbed our attention for a few days earlier this year is that no one has bothered to make a movie about it, but that's about to change.

It seems that Billy Ray has been hired to pen the story of captain Richard Phillips, who was held hostage by Somali pirates until Barack Obama gave the order for some rather badass snipers to give them three shots to the head. (I only mention Obama because he could certainly use whatever goodwill he can get these days.)

Ray is easily one of my favorite screenwriters. "Breach" finished in my top 10 for 2007, and if you haven't seen "Shattered Glass," his flick about serial journalistic fabricator Stephen Glass, it's even better and well worth a rental. He was also one of three (wtf?) writers listed for "State of Play," which I just watched on DVD and enjoyed quite a bit.

Assuming this all comes to fruition (and why wouldn't it?), I would hope they pick someone besides Ray to direct it, because although I like all the movies he's helmed, they're very claustrophobic and cat-and-mouse, really not what we have here.

And in other, odder news today, it seems that the often great Don Cheadle is somehow getting into the sitcom business with NBC.

It's certainly not surprising that NBC would order up more comedies (last night's episode of "Community" was easily the funniest one yet - and on another network, of course, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" also had its funniest episode of the new season.) But why would Cheadle lower himself to TV?

I suspect it's due to the involvement of "Boondocks" creator Aaron McGruder, who will write and I'd have to assume at least sometimes direct for the series. He'll certainly have to tone down his act for this new show about "mismatched brothers who reunite to open a private security company," but here's hoping he can keep it raw enough to be very funny.

But what sparked the headline for this post was that I saw there's now an online petition with about 700 signatures on it to get Sam Rockwell an Oscar nomination for his work in "Moon," and as far as empty gestures go, this one certainly has its heart in the right place. If you want to sign on, click here.

I had the distinct pleasure of squeezing into the screening of Duncan Jones' flick earlier this year at the Atlanta Film Festival 365, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It does steal more than a little directly from "2001," but it's still the kind of very smart sci-fi allegory we don't see on the big screen nearly often enough these days (and that, frankly, Neil Blomkamp's "District 9" only thought it was.)

And if you've seen this flick (if you haven't, it's finally coming to DVD Dec. 29), you know that Sam Rockwell's in just about every frame all alone, and he's sensational. Though Rockwell could have easily hammed it up with the descent into madness, he instead let it play out at a natural pace and turned in easily one of the best male performances I've seen this year.

So, is there any real chance that he could get a Best Actor Oscar nomination next year? I don't think so, but looking at the competition, I'd say he's at least a fairly healthy dark horse. Here's a look - as best as I can gauge it - at the contenders so far, plus a few players to come later. In my heart, I certainly wanted to include Peter Capaldi's gloriously profane turn as Malcolm Tucker in "In the Loop," but I really couldn't see that happening, so here goes:

Someone from "The Soloist"
I haven't seen this one yet because it just looks way too mawkish for me, but my fellow cubicle slave Randy Waters - whose taste I almost always trust - swears its good, so I should probably give it a shot on DVD. I'm certain, even without having seen it yet, that either Robert Downey Jr. or Jamie Foxx will get an Oscar nod for this - if not both - and I'd put my money on Foxx.

Someone from "The Hurt Locker"
Outside of Rockwell's run in "Moon," Kathyrn Bigelow's (not pro- or anti-, just) war movie has the best two male performances I've seen this year from Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner. Though they both just perfectly capture the state of soldiers in combat, I can't imagine they'd both be nominated, so I'll bet on Renner.

Matt Damon
I suppose this could come for either Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant" or for his upcoming role in Clint Eastwood's South Africa flick "Invictus," but I sure hope it's for the former. In Soderbergh's flick, he was just the perfect definition of a weasel as he kept digging deeper and deeper with the lies of Mark Whitacre, and it was thoroughly fun to watch.

Johnny Depp
And no, not just because he's Johnny Depp. In "Public Enemies," which made a surprisingly strong $97 million or so at the U.S. box office, Depp just carried the movie with ease as bank robber extraordinaire John Dillinger (and since he also had to carry the pretty much dead weight of Christian Bale as lawman Melvin Purvis, that was some truly heavy lifting.)

Future contenders

George Clooney
With "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Men Who Stare at Goats" and "Up in the Air" all coming in short order very soon, this fall will certainly be the season of Clooney, and I suspect you'll hear his name called next year for his role in the latter, the new flick from Jason Reitman and one I'm certainly looking forward to seeing.

Daniel Day Lewis
Because, well, he's Daniel Day Lewis and because, as the only dude in a sea of Oscar-winning women in Rob Marshall's epic musical "Nine," he'd have to just really, really suck to not snag a nomination for this, and I can't see that happening.

And there you have it. Please feel free to mention any I might have missed, and have a great weekend. As for my movie weekend, I'll probably go see Chris Rock's "Good Hair" and maybe "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," but not "Paranormal Activity," not because it looks too scary but because "The Blair Witch Project" was just easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen and I just don't think I can sit through another horror gimmick flick. Peace out.

The Golden Globes get it just about right, but when will we all get to see these?

A hearty congrats at the start to who I would have to say was the real surprise winner at last night's Golden Globes, "In Bruges" star Colin Farrell. I would have cast my vote in the Best Actor/Comedy or Musical category for his co-star Brendan Gleeson, but it's still a well-deserved win for a smart role in Martin McDonagh's wickedly funny little flick.

The overall movie winner at the 66th awards show, however, was Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," and a hearty huzzah to that as well. If that sets him up for a Best Picture (and hopefully that means best director, too, as it did at the Globes) victory, I'd be happy with that, since he made one of the most inventive flicks of the year that tells a warm and engaging tale.

My best five for the year, by the way: "Slumdog Millionaire", "The Wrestler", "Milk", "Let the Right One In" and "Tell No One". If I had to pick a single favorite right now, it would be Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" by just a nose over Gus Van Sant's "Milk".

But, in what might the real predictor, what does the Director's Guild of America have to say? "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" — David Fincher; "The Dark Knight" — Christopher Nolan; "Frost/Nixon" — Ron Howard; "Milk" — Gus Van Sant; "Slumdog Millionaire" — Danny Boyle. I'm still not too confident that "The Dark Knight" really will sneak into the party, and if it doesn't, I'd look for Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road" to come crashing in.

In Best Feature Comedy/Musical, I was pulling for dark horse "Happy-Go-Lucky" from Mike Leigh, but I'm also content with a win for Woody Allen's little confection "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." When's the last time a major award win and Woody Allen's name appeared in the same sentence?

In the Actor/Drama category, Mickey Rourke was a well-deserving winner for his portrait of Aronofsky's wounded warrior. Likewise, kudos for the recognition of Sally Hawkins' fairly remarkable turn in "Happy-Go-Lucky" in the Comedy/Musical Actress category, easily my favorite female performance of the year, albeit a hard one to watch.

When it comes to the other actress categories, however, there's just further proof that, in Hollywood, there are apparently only two actresses deemed worthy of recognition: Kate and Cate. I like them both plenty, and will concede I haven't yet seen either "Revolutionary Road" or "The Reader", but did they really have to give Kate Winslet both acting awards? Sheesh. Of the women nominated, I would have voted for Meryl Streep in "Doubt" for the Drama category, and an extremely deserving Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

A final word about the movie winners before I move on the the greater point (and, yes, there is one buried down here somewhere.) I was extremely happy to see A.R. Rahman's victory in the category of Best Score for his soundtrack to "Slumdog Millionaire." The sweet Spanish guitar sounds that fill the background of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" are a lot of fun too, but you can't do too much better at all than the wildly infectious Indian techno pop that provides the back beat of "Slumdog."

Isn't it time, however, that these movies finally play wide and make what is normally the Hollywood silly season (which I peg at lasting until March 6, when it looks like "Watchmen" will actually manage to come out after all) a bearable time at the multiplex?

I can only assume that the presence of Leo DiCaprio guarantees a "Revolutionary Road" wide run very soon, but having already seen the trailers for "The Wrestler" and "Slumdog Millionaire" playing in my little corner of the world, I have to wonder why they haven't played here yet, and if these wins will indeed be enough to mean they come this week.

Already, this week is shaping up to be a fairly good one for movies. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing what George Tillman Jr. has come up with for the Biggie Smalls biopic "Notorious." With Biggie's mother as one of the producers I'm a little worried it will be a sugar-coated affair, but with a cast featuring Angela Bassett, Derek Luke, Anthony Mackie and newcomer Jamal Woolard as Biggie himself, I really don't see anyway this one will suck.

I think Edward Zwick's "Defiance" is also widening enough to reach out this far too, but I can't say I'm as excited about that. Is it too much to ask that these (and, I'm afraid, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," "Hotel for Dogs" and " My Bloody Valentine: 3D") be supplemented by two of my favorite movies of 2008 out here in wide-release world?

Well, enough about that. I'll close with this "sneak peek" clip from Pixar's next flick, "Up," introduced by director Pete Docter. It doesn't reveal too much more than the little we've already seen, but there are couple of cool storyboard shots from what I'm sure will be one of my favorite flicks of next summer. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Monday.