Review: "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" Does All Good for Itself

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA- PG-13 for mature thematic material involving a sexual assault on a minor, violence, drug references and smoking
DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
WRITER: Tyler Perry (based upon his play)
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy
Image Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC with elements of comedy and romance

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Adam Rodrigeuz, Brian J. White, Hope Olaide Wilson, Kwesi Boakye, Frederick Siglar, Gladys Knight, Mary J. Blige, Marvin Winans, and Tyler Perry

One could make the argument that every Tyler Perry movie seems to be made from the same stencil or template. There are the good women and the bad men they love (Madea’s Family Reunion). There are also the good men and the troubled women they try to save (Madea Goes to Jail). And there are always those who need to go back to church because they don’t know which way is up (Daddy’s Little Girls). Of course, there is usually room for the unsinkable matriarch Madea, and her brother and housemate, the un-politically correct, Joe. Perry’s new film, I Can Do Bad All by Myself (based upon his play) distills the essence of Perry’s oeuvre into its most perfect form to date.

After the pistol-packing Madea (Tyler Perry) catches three siblings breaking into her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Madea marches 16-year-old Jennifer (Hope Olaide Wilson) and her two younger brothers, Manny (Kwesi Boakye) and Byron (Frederick Siglar), to the only relative she can find – their Aunt April (Taraji P. Henson), a hard-living, heavy-drinking nightclub singer. April lives off her married boyfriend, Randy (Brian J. White). Already having several children of his own, Randy doesn’t want April’s niece and nephews around, and April certainly doesn’t think her dead crackhead sister’s children are her problem.

Fate, however, brings Sandino (Adam Rodriguez) into April’s life. The handsome Mexican immigrant is looking for work, so the local Pastor Brian (Marvin Winans) asks April to allow Sandino to move into her basement room in exchange for doing handiwork. The hard-luck immigrant challenges April to open her heart, which forces her to make the biggest choice of her life. Will she keep Randy and her old ways or will she choose the new possibilities for life that taking in her niece and nephew offer?

Why do I think that I Can Do Bad All by Myself is the best Tyler Perry movie? I think this film’s strength is based on the performances of its cast. The script isn’t anything particularly special, at least in the context of Perry’s other writing. The motivations for their actions and explanations for what ails the characters in this film are the usual ingredients for a Tyler Perry psychodrama: alcohol, childhood sexual abuse, drug use, and not going to church.

It is a performance like the one given by Taraji P. Henson that allows I Can Do Bad All by Myself to soar as a film about triumph and redemption. Henson is such a natural that whatever character she plays comes across as honest and authentic. In her performance, the audience can buy April, in spite of whatever contrivances Perry fashions for that character’s past. Henson also deftly executes her skills so that she can amplify the comedic moments even in the midst of the intense drama of this film. For instance, there is pathos and merriment in the scene in which Madea first confronts April with her niece and nephews. This scene defines I Can Do Bad All by Myself’s attitude that there is joy even the darkest times in life. Using laughter, Perry and his star give the audience a chance to step back and take a different look at this pivotal moment in the film.

There are other good performances. Brian J. White as the philandering husband and boyfriend, Randy, is exquisite, and Adam Rodriguez alternately simmers and shines as Sandino, the do-the-right-thing handyman. I would be remiss if I failed to mention Hope Olaide Wilson as April’s fierce and stubborn niece, Jennifer, a character that is essentially a younger version of her aunt. It is a testament to young Miss Wilson’s talent that she could present Jennifer as being destined to follow April’s sad path in life without it seeming contrived.

It also doesn’t hurt to have two of the best ever rhythm and blues and soul singers, Gladys Knight and Mary J. Blige, belting out a few songs, giving the kind of vocal performances that will raise the roof and then knock down the walls. It is these performances that make I Can Do Bad All by Myself the standout drama, thus far, in Tyler Perry’s filmography and a movie not to be missed.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, October 04, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Black Reel Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actress” (Taraji P. Henson) and “Best Song, Original or Adapted” (Mary J. Blige for the song "I Can Do Bad All By Myself")

2010 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Adam Rodriguez); 2 nominations: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Taraji P. Henson) and “Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture-Theatrical or Television” (Tyler Perry)

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Review: "Madea Goes to Jail" a Message-Heavy Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
Running time: 103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic material, drug content, some violence, and sexual situations
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Tyler Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pullman, David Mann, Tamela J. Mann, RonReaco Lee, Ion Overman, Vanessa Ferlito, Viola Davis, Sofia Vergara, and Robin Coleman

In the seventh Tyler Perry movie (the sixth Perry has directed), his most popular character, the matriarch Mabel “Madea” Simmons, finally lands in jail in the film, Madea Goes to Jail. Madea’s commotions aside, this film’s primary focus is on the efforts of an up and coming attorney to save a former classmate from a life of drug addiction and prostitution.

A high speed car chase lands Madea (performed by Tyler Perry in drag) on the steps of the jail, but a technicality allows her another in a long line of reprieves. However, Madea’s anger management issues lead to an outrageous act of violence that finally earns her a stiff prison sentence. Madea’s eccentric family, including her daughter, Cora (Tamela J. Mann), and Cora's father, Brown (David Mann), rally behind her and lead the effort to free Madea.

Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke), who is on the fast track to career success, reunites with an old friend, Candace Washington (Keshia Knight Pullman), who is a drug addict and prostitute known to customers and colleagues as “Candy.” Joshua is determined to get Candy cleaned up, off drugs, and off the streets, but they share a dark secret from their past, which seems to hamper efforts to heal Candy. Joshua’s fiancé and fellow ADA, Linda Davis (Ion Overman) is simply enraged at Joshua’s efforts to help Candy, and she plots to permanently separate the two.

Like Tyler Perry’s other films, Madea Goes to Jail is filled with broad comedy (quite a bit of it slapstick), Christian themes, and principles of forgiveness, healing, and redemption, but of all of his films, this is one comes across as the most shallow in its message. Perry’s films, by his own admission, are more than just entertainment; they are message films, so criticizing them on the basis on that message or how the message is delivered is legitimate.

Madea Goes to Jail is Perry’s most polished effort to date, in terms of technical and craft aspects of filmmaking. The direction is smooth, and Perry has cast a group of highly-qualified and veteran actors. These actors bring a sense of weighty drama to this occasionally very dark movie. When this movie was first released earlier this year (2009), much was made of former child star, Keshia Knight Pulliam’s turn as a drug-addicted prostitute. This faux controversy about Pulliam (who played Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show) missed the truth of the excellent dramatic performance given by the underestimated Pulliam – not to mention that such criticism missed excellent dramatic turns by Derek Luke and the recently Oscar-nominated Viola Davis (Doubt).

What Madea Goes to Jail should be criticized for is its ultimately dishonest and shallow message to its audience, in particularly Black women whose lives are in shambles because of drug addiction and because of past and present physical, mental, and sexual abuse. They suffer such abuse at the hands of loved ones. Madea Goes to Jail is actually a great film until the last 15 minutes or so. Tyler Perry is good at depicting suffering and anguish, but not as good when he suggests methods of healing. It is during the last 15 minutes of Madea Goes to Jail that Tyler Perry, as he rushes to tie everything in a feel-really-good, happy-ending bow, offers Christian platitudes (such as forgiveness) and self-help bromides as the cure for deep-rooted ills. When life gives you lemons, you make Jesus-flavored lemonade? I don’t think so.

I don’t begrudge Perry his happy endings, but if he must send messages, he is going to have to think seriously about the social and personal issues that he makes the centerpieces of his films. If he is going to offer answers and solutions, they should be more than “forgive and forget.” Otherwise, Madea Goes to Jail is an entertaining, at times exceptionally entertaining, film. But it could have been a truly important film.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actor” (Derek Luke)

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Ken Loach Revealed (A Negromancer Bits and Bites Extra)

Reader Supported News gave its followers a chance to read the Guardian UK's piece on director Ken Loach.  The acclaimed and controversial director is currently the subject of a retrospective by the British Film Institute (BFI).

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Review: "The Matrix" Has Staying Power (Happy B'day, Keanu Reeves)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Matrix (1999)
Running time: 136 minutes (2 hour, 16 minutes)
MPAA – R for sci-fi violence and brief language
DIRECTORS: The Wachowski Brothers
WRITERS: Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
PRODUCER: Joel Silver
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bill Pope (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Zach Staenberg
COMPOSER: Don Davis
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION with elements of a thriller

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, Marcus Chong, Gloria Foster, Julian Arahanga, Matt Doran, Belinda McClory, and Anthony Ray Parker

The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film. Directed by the brothers Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski (who is now Lana), The Matrix was the first of three films and launched a franchise that includes video games, animation (The Animatrix), and a series of comic and webcomics that were eventually collected in two trade paperbacks. The film would go on to be influential and win four Oscars.

A computer programmer and hacker named Thomas A. Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is in a kind of funk; the world does not seem quite right to him, but he cannot put his finger on what bothers him. He encounters a mysterious band of rebels led by the Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who tells Anderson that Anderson is really Neo and that he is the Chosen One who will lead humanity out of the bondage in which machines keep them. Morpheus is abetted by Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss), who believes completely in Neo as the savior.

The year isn’t 1999; it is 200 years later, says Morpheus. The world in which Neo lives is not real; it is instead an elaborate façade called the Matrix created by a malevolent Artificial Intelligence. The real world is a bombed shell of its former self. The ruling cyber intelligence has stored humans in stasis pods and uses humans for the fuel with which it operates itself. The Matrix, a kind of computer simulation of reality into which humanity is plugged, keeps humanity placated while the A.I., to power itself, leeches the energy human bodies naturally generate. Humans think they are living their lives when they are really all asleep and jacked into an electronic version of reality.

Morpheus believes that Neo is the one who will destroy the Matrix. Morpheus and his warriors live in the real world. They can send their consciousness into the Matrix to recruit converts to their cause. Their nemeses are Agents, A.I. who infiltrate and police the Matrix for rebellious humans. Led by the vicious Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), the Agents pursue Neo and his newfound colleagues.

Written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers, The Matrix is glorious eye candy. Others have described the special effects as mind bending, and some audiences may have perceived them that way. The movie is visually dazzling, exciting, and invigorating; it’s a thrill ride in which you sit back and let yourself be entertained. While the Wachowki’s currently lack the skills to stage shots as well as Hitchcock or Kubrick would, they do know how to compose effective visuals. From a city with a sense of wrongness to the abandoned subway system where Morpheus and his rebels fight beautifully designed and wicked looking machinery, the film’s images deliver a coherent message.

Part Terminator and part The Invisibles (a comic book published by DC comics and created by Grant Morrison), the movie pretends at being ideologically and intellectually deep. However, man versus machine isn’t so much an issue in the movie as it is an impetus for violent action scenes. The brothers were smart in that they allowed Neo’s warrior friends to have the job of explaining the situation behind the Matrix.

The acting is very good. Fishburne has deep resonant tones, and he speaks clearly and confidently as explains things to Reeve’s somewhat slow Neo. Reeves, from the Kevin Costner school of wooden acting and halting speech mannerisms, would have lost the audience had he tried to make explanations. However, the camera loves the cool, West Coast looker, so Neo’s ascension from dull hacker to savior is something the audience can buy. Moss’s Trinity is a stand by you man woman and makes an able sidekick/love interest for Neo, and it is she who carries the load in the relationship. She delivers all the passion and provides all the strength while Neo finds his place as the One.

The most impressive, influential, and groundbreaking films usually sweep the technical Academy Awards for the year in which they are released, which The Matrix did while American Beauty won the high-end trophies. However, like Star Wars, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Terminator, and Jurassic Park, The Matrix will stand the test of time as a technical landmark in cinematic history. Besides that, it’s a very good film. What it lacks in subtlety and intellect, it more than makes up for in visual bravado, suspense, and drama. Like the directors of the best films, the Wachowski’s let the images do the talking.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 4 wins: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Dane A. Davis), “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, and Jon Thum), “Best Film Editing” (Zach Staenberg), and “Best Sound” (John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell, and David Lee)

2000 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (John Gaeta, Steve Courtley, Janek Sirrs, and Jon Thum) and “Best Sound” (David Lee, John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell, and Dane A. Davis); 3 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Bill Pope), “Best Editing” (Zach Staenberg), and “Best Production Design” (Owen Paterson)

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Viola Davis Justified! "The Help" Skips Past $100 Million Mark

“The Help” Surpasses $100M at Domestic Box Office

DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media’s Empowering Film Engages Audiences Nationwide

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DreamWorks Pictures announced today that its inspiring film “The Help” has surpassed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office. “The Help,” directed and written for the screen by Tate Taylor, is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett.

Ever since opening in the U.S. on August 10th, “The Help” has been a strong contender for the top spot on the domestic box office chart and has resonated with audiences around the country, sparking conversation and comments across all media platforms from such notables as Oprah, Scott Fujita, Tyler Perry, Russell Simmons, Katy Perry, Diane Sawyer, Jason Whitlock, Jackie Jackson and others.

Commenting on the widespread popularity of the film, Director Tate Taylor says, “We never imagined this film, which began its journey inspired by the enthusiasm of a small group of Mississippi friends, would ever even get made. Now to have it seen and embraced by so many people is just beyond our wildest dreams.”

Adds Dave Hollis, Executive Vice President, Motion Picture Sales & Distribution, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, “This achievement is a testament to an amazing ensemble cast and a wonderfully told story that has played well to men and women, young and old, resonating in a cross-section of all theaters be they urban, upscale or heartland. The viral power of word-of-mouth has us hopeful that we’ll continue to see ‘The Help’ exposed to as broad an audience as possible in the coming months.”

“The Help” stars Emma Stone (“Easy A”) as Skeeter, Academy Award®–nominated Viola Davis (“Doubt”) as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny—three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. Also starring Bryce Dallas Howard (“Hereafter”), Allison Janney (“Juno”), Academy Award®–winner Sissy Spacek (“In the Bedroom,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter”) and Jessica Chastain (“Tree of Life”), “The Help” is deeply moving, filled with poignancy, humor and hope—a timeless and universal story about the ability to create change.

Rounding out the cast are Ahna O’Reilly (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), Cicely Tyson (“Sounder,” “Fried Green Tomatoes”), Chris Lowell (“Up in the Air”), Mike Vogel (“Blue Valentine”), Aunjanue Ellis (“Ray”) and Mary Steenburgen (“Did You Hear About the Morgans?).

From DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment, in association with Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi, “The Help” was produced by Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan.

“The Help” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Ben Affleck Tackles Iranian Hostage Crisis in New Film

Filming is Underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and GK Films’ “Argo”

Ben Affleck directs and stars in the fact-based thriller

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and GK Films’ dramatic thriller “Argo,” directed by and starring Academy Award® winner Ben Affleck (“The Town,” “Good Will Hunting”). The film is being produced by Academy Award® winner George Clooney (“Syriana”), Oscar® nominee Grant Heslov (“Good Night, and Good Luck.”) and Affleck.

Based on true events, “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis — the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades.

On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

“Argo” also stars Oscar® winner Alan Arkin (“Little Miss Sunshine”), Bryan Cranston (TV’s “Breaking Bad”) and John Goodman (“You Don’t Know Jack”). The main cast also includes Kerry Bishé, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Victor Garber, Zeljko Ivanek, Richard Kind, Scoot McNairy, Chris Messina, Michael Parks, and Taylor Schilling.

Affleck is directing the film from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on a selection from Master in Disguise by Antonio Mendez. David Klawans, Chris Brigham, Graham King, Tim Headington, Chay Carter and Nina Wolarsky are serving as executive producers.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar®-nominated director of photography Rodrigo Prieto (“Brokeback Mountain”), production designer Sharon Seymour (“The Town”); Oscar®-nominated editor William Goldenberg (“Seabiscuit,” “The Insider”); and Oscar®-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (“The Social Network,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”).

Filming on “Argo” began in Los Angeles. Future locations include Washington D.C. and Istanbul.

Slated for release in 2012, “Argo” is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with GK Films, a Smoke House Pictures production, to be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Say Do You Remember Negromancer Reading in September?

Welcome to Negromancer, the rebirth of my former movie review website as a movie review and movie news blog. I’m Leroy Douresseaux, and I also blog at http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/ and write for the Comic Book Bin (which has smart phones apps).

All images and text appearing on this blog are © copyright and/or trademark their respective owners.