Showing posts with label Charlie Murphy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlie Murphy. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

#28DaysofBlack Review: Eddie Murphy's "HARLEM NIGHTS" is Still Cool

[A little over 21 years after its initial release, Harlem Nights remains unique.  It was the dream project of an African-American movie star, Eddie Murphy, who had reached heights that few African-American stars ever have.  I'm glad Eddie Murphy made this movie.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2021 (No. 1749) by Leroy Douresseaux

Harlem Nights (1989)
Running time:  116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Eddie Murphy
PRODUCER:  Mark Lipsky and Robert D. Wachs
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Woody Omens (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Alan Balsam and George Bowers   
COMPOSER:  Herbie Hancock
Academy Award nominee

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of comedy

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Della Reese, Berlinda Tobert, Stan Shaw, Jasmine Guy, Vic Polizos, Lela Rochon, David Marciano, Arsenio Hall, Thomas Mikal Ford, Joe Pecoraro, Robin Harris, Charles Q. Murphy, Uncle Ray Murphy, Desi Arnez Hines II, Roberto Duran, and Gene Hartline

Harlem Nights is a 1989 crime film and period drama written and directed by Eddie Murphy.  The film is set during the 1930s and focuses on a New York City club owner and his associates as they battle gangsters and corrupt cops.

Harlem Nights introduces Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor).  In 1938, Ray and his surrogate son, Vernest Brown, best known as “Quick,” run a nightclub, dance hall, and gambling house called “Club Sugar Ray,” located in New York City's Harlem neighborhood.  Ray's other associates include Madame Vera Walker (Della Reese), who runs the brothel at the back of Club Sugar Ray, and her longtime companion, Bennie Wilson (Redd Foxx), the craps table dealer.

Club Sugar Ray is wildly successful, making fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a week, and that has drawn the attention of a white gangster, Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner).  Calhoune wants the majority share of Sugar Ray's revenues, and to that end, employs his criminal associates:  his black enforcer, Tommy Smalls (Thomas Mikal Ford); his Creole mistress, Dominique La Rue (Jasmine Guy), and a corrupt police detective, Sgt. Phil Cantone (Danny Aiello).

Ray decides that he will have to give up his business and move on, although Quick is vehemently against this.  Ray decides to use an upcoming championship boxing match between the world heavy weight champion, black boxer Jack Jenkins (Stan Shaw), and a white challenger, Michael Kirkpatrick (Gene Hartline), the “Irish Ironman,” to disguise his ultimate heist plan against Calhoune.  But for the plan to work, Quick will have to avoid all the people trying to kill him?

Harlem Nights has some of the best production values that I have ever seen in an Eddie Murphy film.  The costumes (which were Oscar-nominated), the art direction and set decoration, and the cinematography are gorgeous.  Herbie Hancock's score captures Harlem Nights shifting tones – from jazzy and sexy to mixes of comic and dramatic violence.  The film's soundtrack offers a buffet of songs written, co-written and performed by the great Duke Ellington, plus performances by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Buddy Clark, to name a few.

Yet, upon its initial release, that is not what some critics noted about Harlem Nights.  They were obsessed with how many times Eddie Murphy's name appeared on the poster.  They counted:  Eddie was star, writer, director, and executive producer; it was too much – at least according to them.  That all played into the “Eddie Murphy is arrogant” argument that many of these critics, mostly jealous white guys, made.

Harlem Nights remains the only film that Eddie Murphy has ever directed, which is a shame.  Granted that his acting is stiff in this film.  Granted that the screenwriting is average; it is never strong on character drama, and sometimes the story really needs it to be.  Still, Harlem Nights moves smoothly through its narrative.  It is slow and easy, although there have been those that have claimed that the film is “too slow.”  Still, Eddie Murphy has a silken touch at directing.

None of Harlem Nights' problems matter to me.  At the time, there had never been a film like it.  Harlem Nights is a big budget, lavish, Hollywood period film that is thoroughly Black.  Its cast is a once-in-a-life-time event.  I'm not sure a black director could have gotten funding with Harlem Night's cast even as a low budget film.  Harlem Nights is a film that only Eddie Murphy could get produced, and one could argue that it was not until well into the twenty-first century that any other black filmmaker could get something like Harlem Nights made.  So I'm good with its problems, and I am simply happy that it exists.

Harlem Nights is an entertaining film, and I have highly enjoyed it every time that I have seen it.  It stands as a testament to what Eddie Murphy became by the late 1980s – the only African-American who was a real Hollywood “player.”  Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Della Reese:  they were a dream lineup, a fleeting coming together that seemed to be gone in an instant.  Harlem Nights lives on, as a gorgeous, strange hybrid drama-comedy-gangster-period film.  And I, for one, am always ready to recommend it.

B+
7 of 10

Tuesday, February 9, 2021


NOTES:
1990 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Joe I. Tompkins)



The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-----------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).


Friday, April 14, 2017

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from April 9th to 15th, 2017 - Update #28

Support Leroy on Patreon.

MOVIES - From Deadline:   Robert Duvall is the latest actor to join director Steve McQueen's "Widows."

----------
MOVIES - From THR:  Paramount Pictures has hired the original writing team behind 1988's "Coming to America," to write a sequel.

----------
MOVIES - From IndieWire:  J.C. Chandor has lost his stars (Tom Hardy and Channing Taturm) and his studio (Paramount Pictures) for his action-thriller, "Triple Frontier," one month before it was to start filming.

----------
OBIT - From YahooSports:   Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers owner, Dan Rooney, has died at the age of 84, Thursday, April 13, 2017.  Rooney was also highly influential in the development of the NFL, initiating "the Rooney rule" to help African-American coaches have more opportunities to become head coaches.

----------
MOVIES - From CinemaBlend:  Loosing the role of "Jack Reacher" to Tom Cruise was motivation for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

----------
CELEBRITY:  From BET: Tupac Shakur was arrested in Los Angeles last month...

----------
FILM FESTIVAL - From Variety:  Cannes 2017 film lineup is announced, and that includes 49 films and a few TV projects.

----------
COMICS-FILM - From TheWrap:  Josh Brolin will play the time-traveling mutant, Cable, in "Deadpool 2."

---------
OBIT - From People:  Actor and comedian, Charlie Murphy, has died at the age of 57, Wednesday, April 13, 2017.  He was Eddie Murphy's older brother, but Charlie established himself as an actor in comedies and rose to fame for his appearances on Comedy Central's "Chappelle's Show" from 2003 to 2004.

From THR:  The Murphy family releases a statement about the passing of Charlie Murphy.

From BET:  Charlie Murphy's final tweets.

From BET:  Dave Chappelle honors his friend, Charlie Murphy.

----------
OBIT - From IndieWire: German director of photography, Michael Ballhaus, has died at the age of 81.  He was known for his work with Martin Scorsese, including "Goodfellas" and "The Departed."

----------
OBIT - From YahooMusic:  J. Geils, guitarist and leader of the band, The J. Geils Band," has died at the age of 71.

----------
TELEVISION - From Variety:  John Ridley and Emmy-winner Regina King have previously teamed up for "American Crime," and are teaming again for "No Place Safe," for FX.

----------
MOVIES - From THR:  Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner, Barkhad Abdi ("Captain Phillps") talks about his character in "Blade Runner 2049."

----------
MOVIES - From YahooMovies:  How did The Rock/Vin Diesel feud begin?

From Variety:  "The Fate of the Furious" heading towards a global box office opening near $400 million.

From YahooCelebrity:  Jordana Brewster on why she is not in "The Fate of the Furious."

----------
MOVIES - From Variety:  Don Cheadle to star in a biopic, "Prince of Darkness," about Black American millionaire, Jeremiah G. Hamilton.

----------
MOVIES - From DeadlineHollywood:  Brett Ratner's production company, RatPac, options the life story rights of Hugh Hefner, founder of "Playboy" magazines and its empire.

----------
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo:  The winner of the 4/7 to 4/9/2017 weekend box office is "The Boss Baby," with an estimated take of $26.3 million.

From Variety:  "Ghost in the Shell" tops foreign box office.

----------
MOVIES - From IndieWire:  Anthony Hopkins says that Michael Bay is a genius...

----------
MOVIES - From DeadlineHollywood:  "Mission: Impossible 6" officially beings production.

----------
MOVIES - From THR:   Vin Diesel remembers Paul Walker at "The Fate of the Furious" premiere.

----------
STAR TREK - From YahooCelebrity:  Sonequa Martin-Green says her role on "Star Trek: Discovery" came after the fate of her character, Sasha, on "The Walking Dead" was already sealed.

----------
COMICS - From TheVox:  A Marvel VP blames diversity for Marvel's sales slumps - rather than pricey books, event/crossovers, and bad comics.

TRAILERS:

From SideshowCollectibles:  "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" first trailer.

From YahooMovies:  New trailer for "Thor: Ragnarok"

From YouTube:  New trailer for "War of the Planet of the Apes," which is due July 14th, 2017.


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Review: "King's Ransom" is Funnier Than I Expected (Happy B'day, Anthony Anderson)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 138 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

King’s Ransom (2005)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor and language
DIRECTOR:  Jeff Byrd
WRITER:  Wayne Conley
PRODUCER:  Darryl Taja
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Robert McLachlan with Daniel Villeneuve
EDITOR:  Jeffrey Cooper
COMPOSERS:  Luce Gordon and Marcus Miller

COMEDY/CRIME

Starring:  Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Kellita Smith, Nicole Ari Parker, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine, Donald Faison, Leila Arcieri, Brooke D’Orsay, Jackie Burroughs, Lisa Marcos, and Charlie Murphy

The subject of this movie review is King’s Ransom, a 2005 comedy from New Line Cinema.  Starring Anthony Anderson, the film follows a despicable businessman who arranges his own kidnapping as a way to trump his gold-digging wife’s plans for his money, only to see the plot go awry.  King’s Ransom was poorly received by professional film critics, but I like it anyway.

In King’s Ransom (a kind of loose take on the 80’s comedy hit, Ruthless People), Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson), the owner of King Enterprises, is a successful and wealthy man, worth millions of dollars, but he’s also an A-#1-asshole and jerk.  He’s made a lot of enemies, from overworked and under-appreciated employees to his soon-to-be ex-wife, Renee King (Kellita Smith).  He is very concerned about his messy and likely expensive divorce, in which he may have to give up at least half of his wealth to Renee, so he devises a plan to keep his money out of her hands.  With the help of his mistress, Peaches Clarke (Regina Hall), Malcolm plots his own kidnapping in order to secure a fictitious ransom of $10 million – money he can keep away from his wife.

Malcolm, however, isn’t the only one with kidnapping him in mind.  Bitter that she wasn’t made a vice-president at King Enterprises, long-suffering employee, Angela Drake (Nicole Parker), cooks up a half-baked kidnap plot, but a dimwitted, down-on-his-luck, local bumpkin named Corey (Jay Mohr) is also plotting to kidnap Malcolm.  And it wouldn’t be a three-ring circus if Renee, with the help of her tongue-tied lover, didn’t have her own snatch and grab Malcolm plan go awry.

King’s Ransom was nearly dead on arrival when it opened in theatres this past spring, and it, of course, received awful reviews from movie reviewers.  However, the film is a comical and occasionally side-splitting laugher full of dumb jokes, bawdy humor, and low brow comedy, which is was likely deliberately written to be.  King’s Ransom is not great slapstick (and the timing seems a little off), but it works because the cast tries like heck to make it funny.  They succeeded; King’s Ransom is funny as hell.  I must repeat: it’s dumb, dumb, dumb again, but it’s supposed to be dumb, but funny, and it’s hilarious.  An urban comedy, it’s three times better than Soul Plane, but not as good as the Barbershop movies or Malibu’s Most Wanted.

Anthony Anderson is a great comic actor.  He’s as good as members of the so-called Frat Pack like Vince Vaughn and Jack Black, and is way better than Owen and Luke Wilson, but he won’t get the kind of primo movie parts they do.  He’s just a funny guy, and his acting credentials show even in a simple-minded film like this.  Almost all the cast shines, particularly Charlie Murphy (Eddie’s brother and a supporting player on “The Chappelle Show”), but Regina Hall stands out amongst the supporting players.  She is superb at playing character roles in comedies.  I hope that like Anderson, her skin color doesn’t keep her from getting at least one meaty comedy role per year.

6 of 10
B

Updated:  Thursday, August 15, 2013

------------------------


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

"Our Family Wedding" Unites Black and Brown

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


Our Family Wedding (2010)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Rick Famuyiwa
WRITERS: Wayne Conley, Malcolm Spellman, and Rick Famuyiwa; from a story by Wayne Conley
PRODUCERS: Edward Saxon and Steven J. Wolfe
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Julio Macat
EDITOR: Dirk Westervelt

COMEDY/DRAMA/FAMILY

Starring: Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, Regina King, Lance Gross, Diana Maria Riva, Lipa Ontiverso, Anjelah Johnson, Charlie Murphy, Shannyn Sossamon, Anna Maria Horsford, and Warren Sapp

Our Family Wedding is a family drama and ethnic comedy about an African-American family and a large Mexican-American clan forced to unite when two of their brood decide to unite in holy matrimony. The families’ respective patriarchs, two overbearing dads, must put aside their differences in order to plan the wedding of a son and a daughter in less than two weeks.

Marcus Boyd (Lance Gross), a young African-American doctor, and his Mexican-American girlfriend, Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera), a former law school student, have arrived in Los Angeles to tell their families that there are engaged to be married in two weeks. Lucia suspects that her father, Miguel Ramirez (Carlos Mencia), may not be crazy about her being engaged to a Black man. Marcus also suspects that his father, Bradford “Brad” Boyd (Forest Whitaker), a popular L.A. radio personality, won’t be crazy about him being engaged to a Latino woman. Neither has any idea just how much havoc their fathers’ over-the-top egos will wreak their special day.

Meanwhile, Lucia’s mother, Sonia (Diana Maria Riva), is busy planning the wedding of her own dreams – a huge, traditional Mexican-American affair. As insults fly and tempers flare, Marcus and Lucia will find their relationship tested, unless they can convince themselves that it may be their marriage, but it is their family’s wedding.

The best thing about Our Family Wedding is how awkward it seems, but this is not because the narrative is awkward. The film deals honestly with the animosity, prejudice, dislike, etc that actually exists (to some extent) between the African-American and Latino communities. In this movie, it is fun to watch the elders and older adults of both families squirm as they are forced to deal with each other because of their children’s impending nuptials.

Director Rick Famuyiwa does a fine job of channeling the actors’ performances to capture prejudice and bigotry in a way that is appalling, but also appealing in the context of a comic film. Forest Whitaker as Brad and Carlos Mencia as Miguel, the battling dads, deliver performances that feel quite real as self-centered, comically bigoted jerks who are not at all harmless. Their antics are really endangering their children’s marriage.

One glaring fault of the movie is that the screenplay really never decides if the movie is about Marcus and Lucia or Brad and Miguel. Brad and Miguel’s antics are funny, but they should have been the supporting act. This film’s largely untapped wellspring is in Marcus and Lucia, and the internal workings of their relationship are largely hidden. The script even fails to take advantage of the best supporting character, Lucia’s smart-mouthed sister, Isabel, sharply played by Anjelah Johnson.

Still, Our Family Wedding has a large cast of characters, and there is always someone who will do or say something stupid at which we can laugh. We laugh because we recognize the narrow-mindedness, the bias, the stereotypes, and the intolerance. I can give Our Family Wedding credit for being funny, but also credit for being real about the discrimination that lurks in our hearts and minds.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, August 17, 2010


Sunday, February 21, 2010

Review: "Night at the Museum" Proves that Mediocre Can Still Be Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 256 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Night at the Museum (2006)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG for mild action, language, and brief rude humor
DIRECTOR: Shawn Levy
WRITERS: Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon; from their screen story based upon the novel by Milan Trenc
PRODUCERS: Chris Columbus, Shawn Levy, and Michael Barnathan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Guillermo Navarro
EDITOR: Don Zimmerman

FANTASY/COMEDY

Starring: Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Jake Cherry, Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Kim Raver, Steve Coogan, Mizuo Peck, Rami Malek, Charlie Murphy, Paul Rudd, Patrick Gallagher, and Owen Wilson

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a good-hearted dreamer who thinks he’s destined for something big, but his lack of a steady job means he’s always being evicted from his apartment. He’s also a divorced father with a 10-year old son, Nick (Jake Cherry). His ex-wife, Erica (Kim Raver), delivers an ultimatum: Nick can’t stay with Larry until Larry has a stable living situation. Nick certainly has that with Erica, an attorney, and her new husband, Don (Paul Rudd), a bond trader, and Nick admires Don, which bothers Larry a little.

Larry eventually gets a job as a night watchman at the Museum of Natural History, where an extraordinary thing happens when the sun goes down. At night, all the exhibits come to life. Mayans, Roman Gladiators, and cowboys emerge from their dioramas to battle one another. African mammals, cavemen, and even Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher) roam the halls of the museum at night. The one exhibit Larry can turn to for advice is a wax statue of President Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), that comes alive on his black stallion and helps Larry get the denizens of the museum under control.

The magical happenings at the museum come with one stipulation – nothing must enter or leave the museum at night. Still, something does go wrong. Larry has to stop a nefarious plot in order to save the museum and its inhabitants and maybe prove himself in his son’s eyes.

Night at the Museum is one of those films that work best during the feel good Christmas holidays. Warm and fuzzy, this family flick is chock full of magic and a sense of wonder. It also looks and acts like the mid-90’s CGI creature rampage movie, Jumanji, and some of the CGI and special effects look dated. The writers over-emphasize Larry’s quest to be a good dad, and some of the humor is forced. The writers make the women in the movie stock characters, and they’re little more than accessories to make male characters feel better about themselves.

Director Shawn Levy does give the film the same kind of frothy fun he did with the 2003 holiday hit, Cheaper by the Dozen. Night fairly hums with mystery and enchantment, thanks in no small part to Levy’s creative team. Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, whose specialty is fantasy and supernatural films (From Dusk Till Dawn) and even family films (Stuart Little and Spy Kids) creates a look for the movie that is a sweet mix of charmed sepia and gooey warmth. Costume designer Renée April does work worthy of Oscar notice with a variety of costumes that span the history of human clothing, and Alan Silvestri’s score hits all the right notes in creating an atmosphere of action, adventure, magic, and mystery.

Ben Stiller tends to play characters that are edgy, smart-mouthed and sometimes annoying, but his Larry Daley is a good guy. He’s more genial than jerk, and Stiller has a nice way of making Daley’s smarty attitude always bubble under the surface without ever coming up. Jake Cherry makes a lovable son, and Robin Williams is subdued.

In spite of its faults and missteps, Night at the Museum is just that kind of movie that can turn an adult who isn’t too jaded into a kid wide-eyed at the wonder and magic of what is essentially an entertaining and amusing children’s movie.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, December 24, 2006

--------------------------