My Review: Lakeview Terrace (6/10)

"It's his word against yours. And he has, let's say, the color issue on his side. And that color happens to be blue."

Lakeview Terrace is a thriller that some consider to be underrated. This film has always been on my radar after reading Roger Ebert's four star review, but most critics didn't really dig this film. I wasn't blown away by it like Ebert, but I still enjoyed this suspenseful thriller thanks mostly to Samuel L. Jackson's crazy eyed performance. If someone you know is complaining about their neighbors, then recommend them this film and  I guarantee you they will never complain again. Compared to director, Neil LaBute's, previous film, The Wicker Man, this is a masterpiece. The film does manage to maintain a certain level of suspense and the characters are well developed, but the final act is a bit of a letdown. The film lacks some subtlety at times, but it did keep me at the edge of my seat throughout most of its running time. LaBute wasn't afraid to hold back on the racial comments and Jackson's character was very outspoken about it; he definitely succeeds at making the audience feel uncomfortable with several remarks. 

Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Lisa (Kerry Washington), arrive to their new home in sunny California despite the news reports of several wildfires across the area. They are a recently married couple and are excited about having purchased their first home together. Lisa's father (Ron Glass) is ready to head back home after having finished helping with all the moving, meanwhile Chris and Lisa meet their new neighbor, Abel (Samuel L. Jackson), who happens to be an LA police officer and so they feel even more secure about their purchase. What they never see coming however is that Abel is a very strict man who doesn't approve of their interracial marriage. Not feeling comfortable with their presence, Abel who lives with his son Marcus (Jaishon Fisher) and daughter Celia (Regine Nehy), begins to bully and threaten them in order to force them to move out of their new home. Abel also happens to be experiencing some struggles of his own back at work for his abusive behavior, so this cop doesn't seem to be the one you want to live close to.

Samuel L. Jackson is known mostly for playing a good guy in his movies, so getting to see him in this very different role felt like a breath of fresh air. He gives a terrifying performance here and his presence always made me feel uncomfortable. Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington also gave strong performances for a thriller like this considering they weren't the perfect couple. They each had flaws and their characters were developed really well. Unfortunately the movie doesn't end on a strong note and that is what ultimately brought it down for me. I still think this film is worth seeing for Samuel L. Jackson's performance, he carries the movie throughout its weak moments. The story may sound familiar considering it is a conventional thriller, but there are moments thanks mostly to the strong performances and well developed characters, that make this film stand above other films in its genre.

My Review: Django Unchained (9/10)

¨Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.¨

I am a huge Quentin Tarantino fan and enjoy his movies very much so I had huge expectations for this film and I wasn’t disappointed. Django Unchained is one of the top five best films of the year and deserves all the awards it has been receiving. Is this Tarantino’s best work? No it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a fun film to watch. It has several flaws; the movie feels messy and a little overlong at times with some editing issues, but the story is just so fun that it’s worth it. Inspired by the Spaghetti westerns that Tarantino grew up watching, he pays homage to those films with Django Unchained. Just like those spaghetti westerns ended up reinventing a genre that was dying, in a way Tarantino has reinvented a genre now that had been long forgotten. We’ve seen very few westerns come out in the last decade (my favorites being 3:10 to Yuma and True Grit), but none as gritty and dark like this one. It is a western mixed with Tarantino’s classic dark and violent trademarks. Tarantino actually defines this film more a southern than a western considering it takes place in the South pre Civil War era, and it truly is worth the watch. Django Unchained has some great performances as well; it was a surprise to see Leonardo DiCaprio playing such a vicious and ruthless role, Samuel Jackson also nails his role as DiCaprio’s adviser, Foxx takes a while to settle in the lead role but he does deliver halfway through the film, and then there was Christoph Waltz who was the highlight of the film for me. Waltz had already surprised film lovers with his Oscar winning performance in Inglorious Basterds, and here he surprises us once again although this time playing the hero instead of the villain. In my opinion his character carries this movie and shouldn’t even be considered as the supporting character, but rather the leading one. He is a delight to watch on screen and is truly magnificent. Who would have thought that he could play such a likeable character after seeing him in the despicable and vicious role in Tarantino’s previous movie?

This is one of Tarantino’s most straightforward films with hardly any flashbacks, and it isn’t divided into chapters either like his other movies. The story opens somewhere in Texas during the pre-civil war era where we see Django (Jamie Foxx) being carried off in chains towards a slave market along with some other folks. They are interrupted by a former dentist, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), who has come to free Django. He is very much against slavery and racial segregation, so he buys Django his freedom with the condition that he help him find three brothers who are wanted men, and only Django has seen their faces. Schultz isn’t working as a dentist; he has found a much more profitable living as a bounty hunter so he teams up with Django who is more than willing to help find these men who abused his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) and sold her to a ruthless plantation owner down in Mississippi known as Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Django and Schultz become such good friends that they become partners in the bounty business and later the Dr. agrees to help Django on his quest to free his wife from Candie. It won’t be an easy task so they have to come up with a plan first, but Schultz is so inspired by Django’s love for his wife that he agrees to help him. In Candie’s gigantic residence we are introduced to some new characters such as his loyal adviser, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) who is in charge of all the slaves and household duties, and several other employees of Candie. One thing is for sure, freeing Broomhilda from all these men won’t be an easy task.  

My major complain (although it really is a minor one because I did love this film) is that it runs a bit too long. I thought the climax was reaching its highest point at least 30 minutes before the ending, and it did hurt the movie a bit that it extended itself. Tarantino is a master at creating tension and suspense, and he does it once again here, but he could have ended the film there instead of including another act where he has a small role as an Australian that just doesn’t work. The film is very violent, but Tarantino always finds a way to make you laugh (a task that isn’t easy) with a smart and inventive script. Racial abuse is pointed out here in a very strong way similar to when Tarantino showed the Nazi’s abusing the Jews in Inglorious Basterds. The excess in racial abuse is very clear and can be hard to watch for some, but it has a powerful effect, especially thanks to DiCaprio’s portrayal as the vicious and abusive slave owner. The real star of the film however is Christoph Waltz who really makes this film a lot more fun. It was one of my favorite performances of the year. Django Unchained may have just reinvented the western genre altogether with this inventive Tarantino script. The ending might be pretty predictable for a Tarantino fan, but the entire ride was just so exciting and such a fun experience. I agree with what A.O. Scott said about the film: ¨It is digressive, jokey, giddily brutal and ferociously profane. But it is also a troubling and important movie about slavery and racism.¨ This is one of the most entertaining movies of the year, but it could be divisive for some.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

My Review: Ray (9/10)

¨If you want to do something to make your mama proud, promise me. Promise me you won't let nobody turn you into no cripple, you won't become no charity case, and you'll stand on your own two feet.¨

Ray Charles kept his promise and stood on his own two feet on the road to becoming one of the most beloved music entertainer`s of our century. Sure, he had to battle blindness and several addictions that tried to cripple him for life, but he was able to rise above them and become part of music history by being the first to fusion rhythm and blues with gospel music, and he even made country and western music popular throughout the world. Taylor Hackford (The Devil`s Advocate and Proof of Life) did a great job with the direction of this movie focusing more on Ray`s early years and his rise to fame during which he had to battle drug addictions that almost crippled him for life. Hackford also co-wrote the story with James L. White. The film is very well produced, but the success of the movie relies heavily on the performance from Jamie Foxx. He really captured the essence of Ray Charles and mimicked his every movie. Thanks to the great amount of footage of Charles`s life Foxx was able to study him and also met him for a couple of weeks while shooting the film. Foxx`s Oscar winning performance was stunning and he made me believe I was actually seeing the real Ray Charles and not an actor. Foxx was mostly known for his comedic performance, but he had proved himself in dramatic roles before with Any Given Sunday and Collateral. The musical score of Ray was absolutely breathtaking and another reason why this biopic works so well. Ray runs for more than 150 minutes and the main focus of the movie is on his music. The movie doesn`t waste time diving in too deep on the psychological elements of his life and focuses mainly on his music, but it doesn´t leave out his personal fight with his addictions so it doesn`t try to make him look like an angel either. In other words, his life isn`t sugar-coated.

 The movie begins with a nineteen year old blind Ray (Jamie Foxx) who is travelling to Seattle in the late forty`s to audition for Gossie McGee (Terrence Howard). He plays at a small bar for a few people, but he shows his talent playing some Nat King Cole songs. Gossie loves his music and so does his manager Marlene (Denise Dowse) who decides to sign him to perform at her bar. I guess the movie opens in Seattle because it marked an important time for Ray where he met his friend Quincy Jones (Larenz Tate) and also was introduced to drugs. The movie also has several flashbacks of Ray`s childhood (young Ray was played by C.J. Sanders) in Florida where he grew up with his mother Aretha (Sharon Warren) and younger brother George (Terrone Bell). These flashbacks deal with his humble beginnings, the death of his brother George, the disease that left him blind at seven, and his mother`s impact on his life. Ray is taken advantage of in Seattle, but he is no dumb blind man and slowly works his way to the top signing deals with Jack Lauderdale (Robert Wisdom), executive of Swingtime Records where he meets his future band manager Jeff Brown (Clifton Powell), later on with Atlantic Records where he truly finds his own voice and is not taken advantage of for the first time in his life. The producers of Atlantic are Ahmet (Curtis Armstrong) and Jerry Wexler (Richard Schiff), but before signing with them Ray decides to get married with the lovely Della Bea (Kerry Washington). This is when Ray becomes a success and begins his love affairs with Mary Ann Fisher (Aunjanue Ellis) and Margie Hendricks (Regina King). The movie focuses on his career from the late fortys to the mid 60`s when Ray finally is able to end his battle with drugs and continue successfully making music for 40 more years.

I already mentioned Foxx`s great performance, but Regina King and Kerry Washington also give strong performances as secondary characters. The story works really well focusing on Ray`s achievement in the music industry showing he was not only a great musician, but a talented businessman as well. The film doesn`t portray Ray as a saint and isn`t afraid of pointing out his weaknesses as well. There are several memorable scenes in the movie that doesn`t drag at all beside the fact that it is two and a half hours long. There are just so many rich details that couldn`t be left out of Ray´s life. Some of the memorable scenes were when Ray defied racial discrimination in Georgia when the theater he was going to perform for wanted to segregate the audience and only open for white folks, the scene where he is recovering in the hospital from addiction and has a vision of his mother and brother, and the scene where Ray has to perform for twenty more minutes to honor a contract and comes up with the song ¨What`d I say¨, which truly prove his musical genius. This is one of the best biopics ever made and I highly recommend it.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/