Tonight at 10 p.m., Logo will air a comedy special called One Night Stand Up: Dragtastic, marking the extremely rare occasion in the history of the fledgling gay cable network where it features a bunch of really funny drag queens. Oh, wait. Who the hell are we kidding? Really funny drag queens—hello RuPaul’s Drag Race, which launches its third season a week from today!—are the bread and butter of Logo! And thus, why we here at EW are always glued to the network. One of the best parts about tonight’s stand-up special Dragtastic—even though...
- 1/17/2011
- by Tanner Stransky
- EW.com - PopWatch
Opened
Dec. 3 (France)
PARIS -- Following in the footsteps of his huge hit "On connait la chanson" (Same Old Song), veteran film director Alain Resnais once again indulges his passion for musical comedies with "Pas sur la bouche" (Not on the Mouth). Resnais delights in a journey back in time to a glamorous Paris of 1925 to revive a distinctly unfashionable style of theater -- the music hall. The movie oozes kitsch but is not without class. Resnais alternates dialogue with songs from an original score of the 1920s, and audiences will either let themselves go and enjoy the ride or want to get off at the first stop.
The story line is light opera with a splash of farce. Gilberte Valandray (Sabine Azema) is married to Georges (Pierre Arditi), a successful businessman who is unaware that his wife was previously married. Years before in America, she married Eric Thomson (Lambert Wilson). The two have since divorced, but Georges is a puritan who firmly believes that true happiness only exists between two people who have never before made a marital commitment. When Georges announces to Gilberte that he is about to sign a lucrative contract with an American counterpart, Gilberte is horrified to see Eric arrive at her house to finalize the deal. Around the central intrigue are a series of interwoven subplots. The young Huguette (Audrey Tautou) is trying desperately to seduce bohemian artist Charley (Jalil Lespert), who is in turn madly in love with Gilberte. Arlette (Isabelle Nanty), Gilberte's unmarried sister, acts as a Greek chorus, keeping the audience up to speed with events.
The film harks back to a simpler time when form outweighed content. Or does it? "Pas sur la bouche" could read "Pas sur la bush". There is a whiff of the age-old rivalry between the two countries. Eric is a highly unflattering portrait of Europe's trans-Atlantic cousins. He is arrogant, boorish, culturally moribund. The film's title stems from his dislike of being kissed on the mouth because he finds it unhygienic. The French Kiss is not for him. At 81, Resnais still knows how to throw a barb or two.
Wilson does a superb job of playing the sinister Eric. But he is just one in a supremely entertaining cast of characters. Tautou shows her versatility as the scheming Huguette, equally matched by Lespert as Charley.
PAS SUR LA BOUCHE
Arena Films
Credits:
Director: Alain Resnais
Screenwriter: Andre Barde
Producer: Bruno Pesary
Director of photography: Renato Berta
Production designer: Jacques Saulnier
Music: Maurice Yvain
Costume designer: Jackie Budin
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Gilberte: Sabine Azema
Georges: Pierre Arditi
Arlette: Isabelle Nanty
Eric Thomson: Lambert Wilson
Huguette: Audrey Tautou
Charley: Jalil Lespert
Running time -- 115 minutesr="none" />Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Dec. 3 (France)
PARIS -- Following in the footsteps of his huge hit "On connait la chanson" (Same Old Song), veteran film director Alain Resnais once again indulges his passion for musical comedies with "Pas sur la bouche" (Not on the Mouth). Resnais delights in a journey back in time to a glamorous Paris of 1925 to revive a distinctly unfashionable style of theater -- the music hall. The movie oozes kitsch but is not without class. Resnais alternates dialogue with songs from an original score of the 1920s, and audiences will either let themselves go and enjoy the ride or want to get off at the first stop.
The story line is light opera with a splash of farce. Gilberte Valandray (Sabine Azema) is married to Georges (Pierre Arditi), a successful businessman who is unaware that his wife was previously married. Years before in America, she married Eric Thomson (Lambert Wilson). The two have since divorced, but Georges is a puritan who firmly believes that true happiness only exists between two people who have never before made a marital commitment. When Georges announces to Gilberte that he is about to sign a lucrative contract with an American counterpart, Gilberte is horrified to see Eric arrive at her house to finalize the deal. Around the central intrigue are a series of interwoven subplots. The young Huguette (Audrey Tautou) is trying desperately to seduce bohemian artist Charley (Jalil Lespert), who is in turn madly in love with Gilberte. Arlette (Isabelle Nanty), Gilberte's unmarried sister, acts as a Greek chorus, keeping the audience up to speed with events.
The film harks back to a simpler time when form outweighed content. Or does it? "Pas sur la bouche" could read "Pas sur la bush". There is a whiff of the age-old rivalry between the two countries. Eric is a highly unflattering portrait of Europe's trans-Atlantic cousins. He is arrogant, boorish, culturally moribund. The film's title stems from his dislike of being kissed on the mouth because he finds it unhygienic. The French Kiss is not for him. At 81, Resnais still knows how to throw a barb or two.
Wilson does a superb job of playing the sinister Eric. But he is just one in a supremely entertaining cast of characters. Tautou shows her versatility as the scheming Huguette, equally matched by Lespert as Charley.
PAS SUR LA BOUCHE
Arena Films
Credits:
Director: Alain Resnais
Screenwriter: Andre Barde
Producer: Bruno Pesary
Director of photography: Renato Berta
Production designer: Jacques Saulnier
Music: Maurice Yvain
Costume designer: Jackie Budin
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Gilberte: Sabine Azema
Georges: Pierre Arditi
Arlette: Isabelle Nanty
Eric Thomson: Lambert Wilson
Huguette: Audrey Tautou
Charley: Jalil Lespert
Running time -- 115 minutesr="none" />Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
First Run Features
NEW YORK -- Formulaic plot elements don't greatly hamper the impact of this French charmer about the relationship that develops between an elderly widower and the 8-year-old neighbor girl whose mother neglects her. Michel Serrault's typically expert performance and writer-director Philippe Muyl's ability to avoid the usual cliches in his execution of the tale give "The Butterfly" an undeniable appeal. Perfect holiday entertainment, albeit for those Small Fry who can read English subtitles, the film opened Friday at New York's Cinema Village.
Julien (Serrault) is an elderly entomologist living alone in his spacious apartment with only his cat and extensive butterfly collection for company. His next door neighbors are 8-year-old Elsa (Claire Bouanich) and her mother, Isabelle (Nade Dieu), the latter a single working mom who has little time for her little girl. When Julien sets out on a country excursion in search of an elusive butterfly whose life span is only a few days and who appears only one week out of the year, Elsa, as children in these sorts of movies are likely to do, hides out in his car. By the time the flustered Julien realizes that he has a stowaway, he's too far away to turn around and so reluctantly agrees to let her tag along. With Julien's cell phone not working, the inevitable complications ensue, with the police searching for the missing girl even as she learns life lessons from her gruff companion.
While it seems reminiscent of countless earlier efforts featuring the same themes, "Butterfly" manages to find fresh dimensions thanks to its smart and frequently amusing screenplay, its multidimensional characterizations and its refreshing lack of sentimentality. Julien is not the standard grumpy senior, Elsa is far less cutesy than the usual movie moppet, and the relationship that develops between the two has a genuineness of feeling that is ultimately quite moving. chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Formulaic plot elements don't greatly hamper the impact of this French charmer about the relationship that develops between an elderly widower and the 8-year-old neighbor girl whose mother neglects her. Michel Serrault's typically expert performance and writer-director Philippe Muyl's ability to avoid the usual cliches in his execution of the tale give "The Butterfly" an undeniable appeal. Perfect holiday entertainment, albeit for those Small Fry who can read English subtitles, the film opened Friday at New York's Cinema Village.
Julien (Serrault) is an elderly entomologist living alone in his spacious apartment with only his cat and extensive butterfly collection for company. His next door neighbors are 8-year-old Elsa (Claire Bouanich) and her mother, Isabelle (Nade Dieu), the latter a single working mom who has little time for her little girl. When Julien sets out on a country excursion in search of an elusive butterfly whose life span is only a few days and who appears only one week out of the year, Elsa, as children in these sorts of movies are likely to do, hides out in his car. By the time the flustered Julien realizes that he has a stowaway, he's too far away to turn around and so reluctantly agrees to let her tag along. With Julien's cell phone not working, the inevitable complications ensue, with the police searching for the missing girl even as she learns life lessons from her gruff companion.
While it seems reminiscent of countless earlier efforts featuring the same themes, "Butterfly" manages to find fresh dimensions thanks to its smart and frequently amusing screenplay, its multidimensional characterizations and its refreshing lack of sentimentality. Julien is not the standard grumpy senior, Elsa is far less cutesy than the usual movie moppet, and the relationship that develops between the two has a genuineness of feeling that is ultimately quite moving. chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Opens
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Shadow Distribution
NEW YORK -- Gyorgy Palfi's debut feature, this year's Hungarian entry for the Academy Awards, is a nearly wordless but far from silent impressionistic film depicting the comings and goings in a small Hungarian village. Subtly transforming from a bucolic portrait to one tinged with menace, "Hukkle" is at once impressive and indulgent, hypnotic and patience-inducing with its languorous rhythms. It is, in other words, decidedly not for everyone. Previously showcased at many festivals, the film is playing a theatrical engagement at Chicago's Music Box and New York's Cinema Village theaters.
The film is bookended by shots of an elderly man sitting on a bench, his loud and constant hiccuping (hukkle is the Hungarian word) providing a comical commentary on the proceedings. Most of the running time is occupied depicting the human and animal denizens of the village engaging in a variety of innocuous activities: women working at sewing machines and preparing meals for their families, men playing bowling games and tending to chores on a farm, insects and animals doing what they do, etc. This collage of bland moments, resembling one of those film portraits of various aspects of Americana shown on public television, is accompanied not by dialogue but rather by the accompanying natural and mechanical sounds, often amplified on the soundtrack.
Things eventually take a darker, if unclear, tone with such visuals as a cat, previously seen lunching on some prepared meat, suddenly keeling over, and a decomposing human body at the bottom of a lake. We also see a puzzled, ponytailed policeman investigating the mysterious events.
The film eventually doesn't manage to sustain its thin premise over its 75-minute length, and one ultimately wishes that director-screenwriter Palfi had been less oblique in his storytelling style. But it must also be admitted that "Hukkle", stylistically audacious and visually accomplished, does provide a singular and original cinematic experience.ards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Gyorgy Palfi's debut feature, this year's Hungarian entry for the Academy Awards, is a nearly wordless but far from silent impressionistic film depicting the comings and goings in a small Hungarian village. Subtly transforming from a bucolic portrait to one tinged with menace, "Hukkle" is at once impressive and indulgent, hypnotic and patience-inducing with its languorous rhythms. It is, in other words, decidedly not for everyone. Previously showcased at many festivals, the film is playing a theatrical engagement at Chicago's Music Box and New York's Cinema Village theaters.
The film is bookended by shots of an elderly man sitting on a bench, his loud and constant hiccuping (hukkle is the Hungarian word) providing a comical commentary on the proceedings. Most of the running time is occupied depicting the human and animal denizens of the village engaging in a variety of innocuous activities: women working at sewing machines and preparing meals for their families, men playing bowling games and tending to chores on a farm, insects and animals doing what they do, etc. This collage of bland moments, resembling one of those film portraits of various aspects of Americana shown on public television, is accompanied not by dialogue but rather by the accompanying natural and mechanical sounds, often amplified on the soundtrack.
Things eventually take a darker, if unclear, tone with such visuals as a cat, previously seen lunching on some prepared meat, suddenly keeling over, and a decomposing human body at the bottom of a lake. We also see a puzzled, ponytailed policeman investigating the mysterious events.
The film eventually doesn't manage to sustain its thin premise over its 75-minute length, and one ultimately wishes that director-screenwriter Palfi had been less oblique in his storytelling style. But it must also be admitted that "Hukkle", stylistically audacious and visually accomplished, does provide a singular and original cinematic experience.ards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Seventh Art Releasing
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Empire Pictures
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex (Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex (Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Opens
Friday, Dec. 5
The girl's gotta dance -- and meets little resistance -- in this hip-hop take on an age-old theme. With its (Toronto-shot) New York flavor and echoes of "Flashdance", "Fame" and "Saturday Night Fever", "Honey" flirts with the shadows but is a decidedly upbeat number, centered on a good-hearted character determined to realize her dreams without selling her soul. As counterprogramming to the season's more serious fare, the film could find a niche with younger audiences who haven't seen the birth-of-a-star scenario countless times. Its fashion parade and lessons in self-esteem should click especially with teenage girls.
Jessica Alba of the series "Dark Angel" stars as 22-year-old Honey, who is juggling jobs and dreaming of dance glory when she's discovered by a smarmy music-video producer, Michael (David Moscow). She breathes new life into the hip-hop moves on a Jadakiss & Sheek video, and in no time Michael has promoted her to choreographer to the stars -- among them Tweet, Ginuwine and a comically mouthy Missy Elliott.
Honey leaves behind not only her bartending and record-store gigs but also the hip-hop dance class she taught at a Bronx youth center run by her mother (Lonette McKee). Although Mom would rather she teach ballet and see the world, Honey's heart is with the neighborhood kids, whose dancing provides joyful release from daily disappointment. When the center's future looks uncertain, the suddenly well-paid Honey embarks on a plan to buy a building and create a new place for the kids.
The film moves through its formula paces with energy, seldom stopping long enough to let dramatic complexities interfere with the spirited music. Scripters Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson find a poetic charge in flavorful slang, but that doesn't disguise the dialogue's clunky exposition. More problematic is that every conflict or setback is resolved with a minimum of friction, whether it's Honey's inevitable clash with Michael or a young boy's stint in juvie.
Alba is a personable performer with good-natured appeal. It's largely a reflection of the script and direction that her performance, along with that of most of the cast, is only CD-deep; the writers and first-time feature director Bille Woodruff, a music-video vet, aim not to stir the soul but to give it a pep talk.
As Honey's wisecracking best friend, Joy Bryant ("Antwone Fisher") makes an impression delivering most of the good lines, and Mekhi Phifer does what he can with the role of Honey's ultrasupportive, platitude-spouting boyfriend. The most riveting performances are those of 14-year-old recording star Lil' Romeo, making his big-screen debut, and 8-year-old Zachary Isaiah Williams. As brothers who inspire Honey's big-sisterly instincts, they own every scene they're in.
For all its reveling in dance -- there are more than 90 credited dancers -- the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Dec. 5
The girl's gotta dance -- and meets little resistance -- in this hip-hop take on an age-old theme. With its (Toronto-shot) New York flavor and echoes of "Flashdance", "Fame" and "Saturday Night Fever", "Honey" flirts with the shadows but is a decidedly upbeat number, centered on a good-hearted character determined to realize her dreams without selling her soul. As counterprogramming to the season's more serious fare, the film could find a niche with younger audiences who haven't seen the birth-of-a-star scenario countless times. Its fashion parade and lessons in self-esteem should click especially with teenage girls.
Jessica Alba of the series "Dark Angel" stars as 22-year-old Honey, who is juggling jobs and dreaming of dance glory when she's discovered by a smarmy music-video producer, Michael (David Moscow). She breathes new life into the hip-hop moves on a Jadakiss & Sheek video, and in no time Michael has promoted her to choreographer to the stars -- among them Tweet, Ginuwine and a comically mouthy Missy Elliott.
Honey leaves behind not only her bartending and record-store gigs but also the hip-hop dance class she taught at a Bronx youth center run by her mother (Lonette McKee). Although Mom would rather she teach ballet and see the world, Honey's heart is with the neighborhood kids, whose dancing provides joyful release from daily disappointment. When the center's future looks uncertain, the suddenly well-paid Honey embarks on a plan to buy a building and create a new place for the kids.
The film moves through its formula paces with energy, seldom stopping long enough to let dramatic complexities interfere with the spirited music. Scripters Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson find a poetic charge in flavorful slang, but that doesn't disguise the dialogue's clunky exposition. More problematic is that every conflict or setback is resolved with a minimum of friction, whether it's Honey's inevitable clash with Michael or a young boy's stint in juvie.
Alba is a personable performer with good-natured appeal. It's largely a reflection of the script and direction that her performance, along with that of most of the cast, is only CD-deep; the writers and first-time feature director Bille Woodruff, a music-video vet, aim not to stir the soul but to give it a pep talk.
As Honey's wisecracking best friend, Joy Bryant ("Antwone Fisher") makes an impression delivering most of the good lines, and Mekhi Phifer does what he can with the role of Honey's ultrasupportive, platitude-spouting boyfriend. The most riveting performances are those of 14-year-old recording star Lil' Romeo, making his big-screen debut, and 8-year-old Zachary Isaiah Williams. As brothers who inspire Honey's big-sisterly instincts, they own every scene they're in.
For all its reveling in dance -- there are more than 90 credited dancers -- the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Opened
Dec. 3 (France)
PARIS -- Following in the footsteps of his huge hit "On connait la chanson" (Same Old Song), veteran film director Alain Resnais once again indulges his passion for musical comedies with "Pas sur la bouche" (Not on the Mouth). Resnais delights in a journey back in time to a glamorous Paris of 1925 to revive a distinctly unfashionable style of theater -- the music hall. The movie oozes kitsch but is not without class. Resnais alternates dialogue with songs from an original score of the 1920s, and audiences will either let themselves go and enjoy the ride or want to get off at the first stop.
The story line is light opera with a splash of farce. Gilberte Valandray (Sabine Azema) is married to Georges (Pierre Arditi), a successful businessman who is unaware that his wife was previously married. Years before in America, she married Eric Thomson (Lambert Wilson). The two have since divorced, but Georges is a puritan who firmly believes that true happiness only exists between two people who have never before made a marital commitment. When Georges announces to Gilberte that he is about to sign a lucrative contract with an American counterpart, Gilberte is horrified to see Eric arrive at her house to finalize the deal. Around the central intrigue are a series of interwoven subplots. The young Huguette (Audrey Tautou) is trying desperately to seduce bohemian artist Charley (Jalil Lespert), who is in turn madly in love with Gilberte. Arlette (Isabelle Nanty), Gilberte's unmarried sister, acts as a Greek chorus, keeping the audience up to speed with events.
The film harks back to a simpler time when form outweighed content. Or does it? "Pas sur la bouche" could read "Pas sur la bush". There is a whiff of the age-old rivalry between the two countries. Eric is a highly unflattering portrait of Europe's trans-Atlantic cousins. He is arrogant, boorish, culturally moribund. The film's title stems from his dislike of being kissed on the mouth because he finds it unhygienic. The French Kiss is not for him. At 81, Resnais still knows how to throw a barb or two.
Wilson does a superb job of playing the sinister Eric. But he is just one in a supremely entertaining cast of characters. Tautou shows her versatility as the scheming Huguette, equally matched by Lespert as Charley.
PAS SUR LA BOUCHE
Arena Films
Credits:
Director: Alain Resnais
Screenwriter: Andre Barde
Producer: Bruno Pesary
Director of photography: Renato Berta
Production designer: Jacques Saulnier
Music: Maurice Yvain
Costume designer: Jackie Budin
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Gilberte: Sabine Azema
Georges: Pierre Arditi
Arlette: Isabelle Nanty
Eric Thomson: Lambert Wilson
Huguette: Audrey Tautou
Charley: Jalil Lespert
Running time -- 115 minutesr="none" />Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Dec. 3 (France)
PARIS -- Following in the footsteps of his huge hit "On connait la chanson" (Same Old Song), veteran film director Alain Resnais once again indulges his passion for musical comedies with "Pas sur la bouche" (Not on the Mouth). Resnais delights in a journey back in time to a glamorous Paris of 1925 to revive a distinctly unfashionable style of theater -- the music hall. The movie oozes kitsch but is not without class. Resnais alternates dialogue with songs from an original score of the 1920s, and audiences will either let themselves go and enjoy the ride or want to get off at the first stop.
The story line is light opera with a splash of farce. Gilberte Valandray (Sabine Azema) is married to Georges (Pierre Arditi), a successful businessman who is unaware that his wife was previously married. Years before in America, she married Eric Thomson (Lambert Wilson). The two have since divorced, but Georges is a puritan who firmly believes that true happiness only exists between two people who have never before made a marital commitment. When Georges announces to Gilberte that he is about to sign a lucrative contract with an American counterpart, Gilberte is horrified to see Eric arrive at her house to finalize the deal. Around the central intrigue are a series of interwoven subplots. The young Huguette (Audrey Tautou) is trying desperately to seduce bohemian artist Charley (Jalil Lespert), who is in turn madly in love with Gilberte. Arlette (Isabelle Nanty), Gilberte's unmarried sister, acts as a Greek chorus, keeping the audience up to speed with events.
The film harks back to a simpler time when form outweighed content. Or does it? "Pas sur la bouche" could read "Pas sur la bush". There is a whiff of the age-old rivalry between the two countries. Eric is a highly unflattering portrait of Europe's trans-Atlantic cousins. He is arrogant, boorish, culturally moribund. The film's title stems from his dislike of being kissed on the mouth because he finds it unhygienic. The French Kiss is not for him. At 81, Resnais still knows how to throw a barb or two.
Wilson does a superb job of playing the sinister Eric. But he is just one in a supremely entertaining cast of characters. Tautou shows her versatility as the scheming Huguette, equally matched by Lespert as Charley.
PAS SUR LA BOUCHE
Arena Films
Credits:
Director: Alain Resnais
Screenwriter: Andre Barde
Producer: Bruno Pesary
Director of photography: Renato Berta
Production designer: Jacques Saulnier
Music: Maurice Yvain
Costume designer: Jackie Budin
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Gilberte: Sabine Azema
Georges: Pierre Arditi
Arlette: Isabelle Nanty
Eric Thomson: Lambert Wilson
Huguette: Audrey Tautou
Charley: Jalil Lespert
Running time -- 115 minutesr="none" />Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/23/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
First Run Features
NEW YORK -- Formulaic plot elements don't greatly hamper the impact of this French charmer about the relationship that develops between an elderly widower and the 8-year-old neighbor girl whose mother neglects her. Michel Serrault's typically expert performance and writer-director Philippe Muyl's ability to avoid the usual cliches in his execution of the tale give "The Butterfly" an undeniable appeal. Perfect holiday entertainment, albeit for those Small Fry who can read English subtitles, the film opened Friday at New York's Cinema Village.
Julien (Serrault) is an elderly entomologist living alone in his spacious apartment with only his cat and extensive butterfly collection for company. His next door neighbors are 8-year-old Elsa (Claire Bouanich) and her mother, Isabelle (Nade Dieu), the latter a single working mom who has little time for her little girl. When Julien sets out on a country excursion in search of an elusive butterfly whose life span is only a few days and who appears only one week out of the year, Elsa, as children in these sorts of movies are likely to do, hides out in his car. By the time the flustered Julien realizes that he has a stowaway, he's too far away to turn around and so reluctantly agrees to let her tag along. With Julien's cell phone not working, the inevitable complications ensue, with the police searching for the missing girl even as she learns life lessons from her gruff companion.
While it seems reminiscent of countless earlier efforts featuring the same themes, "Butterfly" manages to find fresh dimensions thanks to its smart and frequently amusing screenplay, its multidimensional characterizations and its refreshing lack of sentimentality. Julien is not the standard grumpy senior, Elsa is far less cutesy than the usual movie moppet, and the relationship that develops between the two has a genuineness of feeling that is ultimately quite moving. chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Formulaic plot elements don't greatly hamper the impact of this French charmer about the relationship that develops between an elderly widower and the 8-year-old neighbor girl whose mother neglects her. Michel Serrault's typically expert performance and writer-director Philippe Muyl's ability to avoid the usual cliches in his execution of the tale give "The Butterfly" an undeniable appeal. Perfect holiday entertainment, albeit for those Small Fry who can read English subtitles, the film opened Friday at New York's Cinema Village.
Julien (Serrault) is an elderly entomologist living alone in his spacious apartment with only his cat and extensive butterfly collection for company. His next door neighbors are 8-year-old Elsa (Claire Bouanich) and her mother, Isabelle (Nade Dieu), the latter a single working mom who has little time for her little girl. When Julien sets out on a country excursion in search of an elusive butterfly whose life span is only a few days and who appears only one week out of the year, Elsa, as children in these sorts of movies are likely to do, hides out in his car. By the time the flustered Julien realizes that he has a stowaway, he's too far away to turn around and so reluctantly agrees to let her tag along. With Julien's cell phone not working, the inevitable complications ensue, with the police searching for the missing girl even as she learns life lessons from her gruff companion.
While it seems reminiscent of countless earlier efforts featuring the same themes, "Butterfly" manages to find fresh dimensions thanks to its smart and frequently amusing screenplay, its multidimensional characterizations and its refreshing lack of sentimentality. Julien is not the standard grumpy senior, Elsa is far less cutesy than the usual movie moppet, and the relationship that develops between the two has a genuineness of feeling that is ultimately quite moving. chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/23/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/19/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Shadow Distribution
NEW YORK -- Gyorgy Palfi's debut feature, this year's Hungarian entry for the Academy Awards, is a nearly wordless but far from silent impressionistic film depicting the comings and goings in a small Hungarian village. Subtly transforming from a bucolic portrait to one tinged with menace, "Hukkle" is at once impressive and indulgent, hypnotic and patience-inducing with its languorous rhythms. It is, in other words, decidedly not for everyone. Previously showcased at many festivals, the film is playing a theatrical engagement at Chicago's Music Box and New York's Cinema Village theaters.
The film is bookended by shots of an elderly man sitting on a bench, his loud and constant hiccuping (hukkle is the Hungarian word) providing a comical commentary on the proceedings. Most of the running time is occupied depicting the human and animal denizens of the village engaging in a variety of innocuous activities: women working at sewing machines and preparing meals for their families, men playing bowling games and tending to chores on a farm, insects and animals doing what they do, etc. This collage of bland moments, resembling one of those film portraits of various aspects of Americana shown on public television, is accompanied not by dialogue but rather by the accompanying natural and mechanical sounds, often amplified on the soundtrack.
Things eventually take a darker, if unclear, tone with such visuals as a cat, previously seen lunching on some prepared meat, suddenly keeling over, and a decomposing human body at the bottom of a lake. We also see a puzzled, ponytailed policeman investigating the mysterious events.
The film eventually doesn't manage to sustain its thin premise over its 75-minute length, and one ultimately wishes that director-screenwriter Palfi had been less oblique in his storytelling style. But it must also be admitted that "Hukkle", stylistically audacious and visually accomplished, does provide a singular and original cinematic experience.ards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Gyorgy Palfi's debut feature, this year's Hungarian entry for the Academy Awards, is a nearly wordless but far from silent impressionistic film depicting the comings and goings in a small Hungarian village. Subtly transforming from a bucolic portrait to one tinged with menace, "Hukkle" is at once impressive and indulgent, hypnotic and patience-inducing with its languorous rhythms. It is, in other words, decidedly not for everyone. Previously showcased at many festivals, the film is playing a theatrical engagement at Chicago's Music Box and New York's Cinema Village theaters.
The film is bookended by shots of an elderly man sitting on a bench, his loud and constant hiccuping (hukkle is the Hungarian word) providing a comical commentary on the proceedings. Most of the running time is occupied depicting the human and animal denizens of the village engaging in a variety of innocuous activities: women working at sewing machines and preparing meals for their families, men playing bowling games and tending to chores on a farm, insects and animals doing what they do, etc. This collage of bland moments, resembling one of those film portraits of various aspects of Americana shown on public television, is accompanied not by dialogue but rather by the accompanying natural and mechanical sounds, often amplified on the soundtrack.
Things eventually take a darker, if unclear, tone with such visuals as a cat, previously seen lunching on some prepared meat, suddenly keeling over, and a decomposing human body at the bottom of a lake. We also see a puzzled, ponytailed policeman investigating the mysterious events.
The film eventually doesn't manage to sustain its thin premise over its 75-minute length, and one ultimately wishes that director-screenwriter Palfi had been less oblique in his storytelling style. But it must also be admitted that "Hukkle", stylistically audacious and visually accomplished, does provide a singular and original cinematic experience.ards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Seventh Art Releasing
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Empire Pictures
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/16/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens
Friday, Dec. 5
The girl's gotta dance -- and meets little resistance -- in this hip-hop take on an age-old theme. With its (Toronto-shot) New York flavor and echoes of "Flashdance", "Fame" and "Saturday Night Fever", "Honey" flirts with the shadows but is a decidedly upbeat number, centered on a good-hearted character determined to realize her dreams without selling her soul. As counterprogramming to the season's more serious fare, the film could find a niche with younger audiences who haven't seen the birth-of-a-star scenario countless times. Its fashion parade and lessons in self-esteem should click especially with teenage girls.
Jessica Alba of the series "Dark Angel" stars as 22-year-old Honey, who is juggling jobs and dreaming of dance glory when she's discovered by a smarmy music-video producer, Michael (David Moscow). She breathes new life into the hip-hop moves on a Jadakiss & Sheek video, and in no time Michael has promoted her to choreographer to the stars -- among them Tweet, Ginuwine and a comically mouthy Missy Elliott.
Honey leaves behind not only her bartending and record-store gigs but also the hip-hop dance class she taught at a Bronx youth center run by her mother (Lonette McKee). Although Mom would rather she teach ballet and see the world, Honey's heart is with the neighborhood kids, whose dancing provides joyful release from daily disappointment. When the center's future looks uncertain, the suddenly well-paid Honey embarks on a plan to buy a building and create a new place for the kids.
The film moves through its formula paces with energy, seldom stopping long enough to let dramatic complexities interfere with the spirited music. Scripters Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson find a poetic charge in flavorful slang, but that doesn't disguise the dialogue's clunky exposition. More problematic is that every conflict or setback is resolved with a minimum of friction, whether it's Honey's inevitable clash with Michael or a young boy's stint in juvie.
Alba is a personable performer with good-natured appeal. It's largely a reflection of the script and direction that her performance, along with that of most of the cast, is only CD-deep; the writers and first-time feature director Bille Woodruff, a music-video vet, aim not to stir the soul but to give it a pep talk.
As Honey's wisecracking best friend, Joy Bryant ("Antwone Fisher") makes an impression delivering most of the good lines, and Mekhi Phifer does what he can with the role of Honey's ultrasupportive, platitude-spouting boyfriend. The most riveting performances are those of 14-year-old recording star Lil' Romeo, making his big-screen debut, and 8-year-old Zachary Isaiah Williams. As brothers who inspire Honey's big-sisterly instincts, they own every scene they're in.
For all its reveling in dance -- there are more than 90 credited dancers -- the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Dec. 5
The girl's gotta dance -- and meets little resistance -- in this hip-hop take on an age-old theme. With its (Toronto-shot) New York flavor and echoes of "Flashdance", "Fame" and "Saturday Night Fever", "Honey" flirts with the shadows but is a decidedly upbeat number, centered on a good-hearted character determined to realize her dreams without selling her soul. As counterprogramming to the season's more serious fare, the film could find a niche with younger audiences who haven't seen the birth-of-a-star scenario countless times. Its fashion parade and lessons in self-esteem should click especially with teenage girls.
Jessica Alba of the series "Dark Angel" stars as 22-year-old Honey, who is juggling jobs and dreaming of dance glory when she's discovered by a smarmy music-video producer, Michael (David Moscow). She breathes new life into the hip-hop moves on a Jadakiss & Sheek video, and in no time Michael has promoted her to choreographer to the stars -- among them Tweet, Ginuwine and a comically mouthy Missy Elliott.
Honey leaves behind not only her bartending and record-store gigs but also the hip-hop dance class she taught at a Bronx youth center run by her mother (Lonette McKee). Although Mom would rather she teach ballet and see the world, Honey's heart is with the neighborhood kids, whose dancing provides joyful release from daily disappointment. When the center's future looks uncertain, the suddenly well-paid Honey embarks on a plan to buy a building and create a new place for the kids.
The film moves through its formula paces with energy, seldom stopping long enough to let dramatic complexities interfere with the spirited music. Scripters Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson find a poetic charge in flavorful slang, but that doesn't disguise the dialogue's clunky exposition. More problematic is that every conflict or setback is resolved with a minimum of friction, whether it's Honey's inevitable clash with Michael or a young boy's stint in juvie.
Alba is a personable performer with good-natured appeal. It's largely a reflection of the script and direction that her performance, along with that of most of the cast, is only CD-deep; the writers and first-time feature director Bille Woodruff, a music-video vet, aim not to stir the soul but to give it a pep talk.
As Honey's wisecracking best friend, Joy Bryant ("Antwone Fisher") makes an impression delivering most of the good lines, and Mekhi Phifer does what he can with the role of Honey's ultrasupportive, platitude-spouting boyfriend. The most riveting performances are those of 14-year-old recording star Lil' Romeo, making his big-screen debut, and 8-year-old Zachary Isaiah Williams. As brothers who inspire Honey's big-sisterly instincts, they own every scene they're in.
For all its reveling in dance -- there are more than 90 credited dancers -- the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/5/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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