Dwight Brown2013-05-20T23:13:13-04:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.news.moviefone.com/author/index.php?author=dwight-brownCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Dwight BrownGood old fashioned elbow grease.St. Lucia - Come for the Jazz & Arts Festival, Stay for the Islandtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32812162013-05-16T12:43:10-04:002013-05-17T13:39:40-04:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/St. Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival came to a rollicking close May 12, over 50 artists had whipped audiences into frenzy and sustained a cool vibe that lasted for 13 days. When they weren't listening to toe-tapping music on Pigeon Island National Landmark, festivalgoers dined out, went sailing, sightseeing, beach hopping, zip lining or hung out at a diverse range of resorts that offer travelers very distinct vacations.
The Caribbean's Longest Running Jazz Festival
The St. Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival was inaugurated in a 1992 and originally set in few hotels and small venues. It was designed to both showcase the country and bring vacationers to the island in the traditionally slow tourist month of May. That humble beginning has evolved into one of the Caribbean's most venerable music festivals that showcases jazz, R&B, Afro-Caribbean, neo-soul... Concerts are staged all over the island, for a full week, leading up to the grand finale weekend that is set on the picturesque grounds of Pigeon Island, a 40-acre national park attached to the mainland's north coast by a causeway built in 1972.
In years past John Legend, Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross and Buddy Guy have graced the stage. This year the final weekend featured a rare performance by The Jacksons (Randy, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine -- their voices blended like angels, but none of the brothers can sing like Michael could), the lively sounds of Tito Puente Jr., soul music by Ginuwine and classic tunes by The O'Jays (Eddie Levert still has it).
Saturday night and Sunday night, respectively, Akon and R. Kelly battled for the attentions of the ladies in the audience. Off the cuff you might think that R. Kelly would be the better performer, but he was out-classed by Akon, who chatted up the audience and then, in a sheer act of courage, got one of his big, burly body guards to hoist him on his shoulders and walk him out into the crowd. The audience freaked. There were hands grabbing all parts of his body as he crooned and was in all his glory. R. Kelly was not quite as magnetic and bold, but he did have an eccentric routine. His crew placed black towels at the edge of the stage and Kelly asked female admirers to wipe his brow. And they did. Almost fainting in the process.
Explore the island
Mornings are concert free and a great opportunity to go exploring. The weekend festival finale takes place near the town of Rodney Bay on the northern tip of the island. At the nearby Vigie Cove, adjacent to the George F. L. Charles airport, Captain Mike's makes a lively business with its Hackshaw Boats, which will take you sport fishing, whale watching and cruising. The ride down the west coast on the placid Caribbean Sea takes you pass a Hess oil refinery and the village of Marigot Bay (where they filmed Doctor Dolittle). Heading south, the two majestic volcanic-formed Grand Pitons come into view: Gros Piton 2,619 feet, Petit Piton 2,461 feet. As you approach the southwestern coast the boat docks in the fishing town of Soufrière (established in 1746, it is St. Lucia's oldest city and original capital).
Not far out of town there's the Morne Coubaril Estate, where Soufrière Hotwire hosts zip lining, backdropped by the Petit Piton, with views of Soufrière and the Caribbean Sea. You climb steep stairs to the first landing and the next thing you know you are off on eight zip lines attached to Banyan trees. You glide 30-miles-an-hour around the estate, pass coconut, plum and mango trees, across a bamboo-shadowed gorge and over a pond. You can tour the Estate's grounds and its Great House.
Other places of interests: The concept of a drive-in volcano might seem far-fetched until you drive into St. Lucia's dormant Qualibou volcano, which dates back almost 39,000 years. It's a crater, filled with sulfur, calcium oxide and other minerals. The volcano's Sulphur Springs are therapeutic and bathing in them removes skin blemishes. The sulphur odor is annoying during the day, but far more pungent at night.
The village of Rodney Bay is filled by day with locals and tourists who walk along Reduit Beach Avenue darting in and out of Rodney Bay Mall. At night the same strip is innundated with party people who hit the lounge bars (Fire Grill), cocktail bars (Delirius) and ice cream parlors (Elena's Bar Gelateria, try the Run Raisin ice cream). Stop by for dinner at the plush hotel Cap Maison in neighboring Cap Estate and dine at their elegant The Cliff at Cap Restaurant. The eatery sits right over the water, has panoramic views and though the French/West Indian cuisine is outstanding, their signature item has to be their smartly concocted Rum Punch: 1 part cane syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, 3 parts Mount Gay Dark Rum Extra Old (or St. Lucia's own Chairman Reserve Rum might do), 4 parts ice, a few drops of angostura bitters and the secret ingredient is freshly grated nutmeg. Delicate flavor. Supreme texture. World's best Rum Punch cocktail.
Hotels For All Occasions
St. Lucia offers a variety of accommodations that can suite every vacationer's tastes, from large expansive Shangri La resorts, to quiet off-the-beaten-path boutique hotels, to lively inns that are walking distance to night life and party places.
The former Jalousie Plantation is now a Sugar Beach A Viceroy Resort and the transition has turned the dramatic-looking property, set between the Pitons, into a chic hotel with cool, hip interiors. 59 Luxury Villas, 8 new Luxury Beachfront Bungalows and 11 fully renovated Luxury Sugar Mill Rooms give guests a variety of choices, but you'll spend most of your day at the beach or pool, gaping up at the Pitons thinking you are in a Hawaiian paradise. The gym is very comprehensive, there are tennis courts, a smartly constructed kids lounge with a karaoke stage, a pool table hall and a very eco-friendly looking Spa that is a series of wood huts on labyrinth-like paths. When you eat at the beachfront Bayside Restaurant, try the appetizer Roasted Chicken Wings, then the main course of Grilled Kingfish Souski (with Black Beans, Baked Sweet Potato, Bok Choy, Cherry Tomato). You will be in a quandary as you choose between the Watermelon Soup (with Strawberry Sorbet and Basil Syrup) and the Lemon & Basil Cheesecake Wild Berry Purée for dessert. But you can handle it.
Honeymooners and those who want to getaway from it all will appreciate the Water's Edge Cottages at Calabash Cove Resort & Spa. The nine, hillside, handcrafted teak and mahogany abodes come with private plunge pools, outdoor rain showers, Jacuzzis, hammocks and views of the Pitons and a near private beach. Their Windsong Restaurant serves only fresh produce and local food on a menu designed by a French chef. Start with the Local Octopus Tempura, dive into the entrée Papa Snapper (with papaya chutney and grilled pineapple on an artichoke ragout) and top it off with Lemon Tart. The grounds are so quiet you can hear an olive drop into a martini glass.
The Bay Gardens Beach Resort and Spa is located in the heart of Rodney Bay Village, minutes from Pigeon Island and on Reduit Beach Avenue. You're walking distance to the nightlife and the hotel's beach is lively and populated. If you're looking for people watching and socializing, this is it. Weddings take over the resort's entire pool and restaurant area. Music blares. This hotel is far less pricey than the aforementioned places and its rooms, restaurants and exceedingly slow service are an acquired taste. If you grow impatient waiting for your food (and you will) or for a waitress to show up on the beach (never saw one), take a break in their small intimate spa where a massage is just $44 U.S., which is unheard of at most resorts. The deep-tissue massage is surprisingly good.
Come for the jazz festival stay for the views, adventure and versatile accommodations in St. Lucia.
]]>New Orleans and All Its Jazztag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32011362013-05-03T06:00:00-04:002013-05-03T07:42:48-04:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival takes center stage. Thousands of music lovers sojourn to a city that already has a rhythm all its on. Wine flows, tasty food is served, the sidewalks are crowded, nightclubs jump and music fills the air.
The Big Easy Has Big Music
Music is New Orleans magic elixir. It's everywhere. Musicians serenade you on sidewalks, street corners, in restaurants, at hotels ... It is no wonder that the city has created arguably the nation's most celebrated musical soiree, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Started in 1970 with Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington at Congo Square near the French Quarter, it now has relocated to Fair Grounds Race Course, the third-oldest racetrack in America (circa 1872).
The fest runs the last weekend in April and the first weekend of May and features local bands, international artists and music legends who perform on so many stages you can barely count them. The Acura stage presents pop music greats and legends: Maroon 5, John Mayer, Billy Joel, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint. Gentilly hosts rock acts: Ben Harper, Gary Clark Jr., and Patti Smith. Congo Square presents soul acts: George Benson, Earth Wind & Fire, and Jill Scott. There's a Gospel Tent, Blues Tent, Jazz Tent, Kids Tent, a Pavilion for Native American Music ... The liveliest venue is the Sheraton's Fais Do Do stage, which features French Canadian Roots music and other Americana styles (Le Vent du Nord of Canada, Terrence Simien & the Zydeco Experience with special guest Queen Ida). It's the one place where people dance all day.
Crowds also flock here for the food. You'll find collards greens, fried chicken livers and chicken wings at Praline Connection's stand. Kajun Kettle's famous Crawfish Monica dish has been a festival staple for 30 years. Chef Pierre Hilzim created a spicy cream sauce, tossed it with pasta and crawfish tails and named it for his wife, Monica.
Eat Till You Can' Lift Your Fork!
If music is the city's elixir, food is its aphrodisiac. Brennan's Restaurant, a near 70-year-old grand dame eatery, is famed for its elaborate brunches and inventing the pyrotechnic dessert Bananas Foster. Start breakfast with a sublime Brandy Milk Punch, followed by New Orleans Turtle Soup, Eggs Hussarde (Poached eggs atop Holland rusks, Canadian bacon and Marchand de Vin sauce. Topped with Hollandaise sauce). Finish with Bananas Foster, bananas sautéed in butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and banana liqueur, and then flamed in rum. Served over vanilla ice cream. Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, headed by master chef Alfred Singleton, serves the city's best beef (iron skillet-seared strip steak, oven-baked prime rib, grilled Ribeye), but that's only the beginning: For appetizers Seared Crawfish Cakes; then hearty Seafood Gumbo; move on to the Creole Seasoned Sirloin Strip; end the night with the signature Coconut Cake.
Arnauds favors Creole and traditional New Orleans cuisine. Taste the Alligator Sausage, then the Veal Wohl, it's a sampler main course of Veal Chantal, Arnaud's Crab Cake and Crawfish O'Connor. Perhaps the most visually stunning restaurant in New Orleans is Palace Café on Canal Street, which looks like a large two-story French bistro with a dramatic spiral staircase and murals of musicians that evoke a jazzy spirit: The house specialty is the fluffy starter Crabmeat Cheesecake. For the main event go for the delectable Andouille Crusted Fish and dessert must be the White Chocolate Bread Pudding. The newest addition to NOLA's top tier restaurants is Tableau. Their unique balcony dining space has coveted views of Jackson Square. Try the Crabmeat Ravigote to start and end with the Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.
NOLA Goes Way Back
Native American settlements in this region, that is set between the Mississippi river and Lake Pontchartrain, date back to 400 A.D. The French (fur trappers, traders--a swarthy bunch) came next, establishing the city of Nouvelle-Orléans in 1718. Spain gained New Orleans and Louisiana as a concession from their defeat in the Seven Years War in 1763, only to give New Orleans back to the French in 1800. Then Napoleon sold it to the U.S. in 1803 in the historic Louisiana Purchase. Whites, Free Blacks, and Slaves inhabited the city. Two centuries later, New Orleans has become a multicultural, international commerce center with the largest seaport in the world and a tourist mecca.
Culture Reigns Supreme
When you view Mardi Gras on TV, you see revelers standing on second-story verandas, throwing beaded necklaces down to pedestrians on the street. That mayhem is on Bourbon Street, in the French Quarter, on a week that leads up to Fat Tuesday. People on Bourbon St. let lose. The lane is lined with bars, strip clubs, and lively music joints (Pazzoo) with barkers outside beckoning patrons. It's quite the scene, and that laissez faire attitude includes being able to legally walk around NOLA with a cocktail in your hand. It's as normal as rain.
Speaking of normal, New Orleans is a slow-paced, friendly city. That's the vibe. There is no such thing as fast. Slow down. Slow your roll. Locals say, "Hello," "Good Afternoon," "Thank You." You should too, it's part of the culture.
Around the Town
Venture away from tourist-heavy Bourbon Street. Take in a show at the House of Blues on Decatur Street. Walk down Royal Street and go shopping for antiques (Keil's Antiques) or paintings (Galerie d'art Francais). Head to Jackson Square where a statue of Andrew Jackson on his steed anchors the sculpted lawns and flowers. St. Louis Cathedral (oldest still operating cathedral in the U.S.), Cabildo (site of the Louisiana Purchase signing) and The Presbytère (a museum) sit like majestic sentries. This open space is bordered by upscale boutiques and cafes and its old world flavor mixes well with the new city charms.
Head down the hotel-lined Canal Street, which is divided by palm trees and streetcar car tracks, to the Mississippi River where there's a harbor, a ferry building and Harrah's Casino, in case you're determined to lose your rent money. Take a two-hour cruise on the NATCHEZ, the last authentic Mississippi steamboat. Enjoy Golden Fried Pangasius Fish for lunch as you get a detailed narrative profile of the sights: The 9th Ward neighborhood which was badly flooded during Hurricane Katrina; the battlefield for the War of 1812's Battle of New Orleans; the Crescent City Connection Bridge.
Ride a streetcar down St. Charles Street where the Mardi Gras parade runs and you'll pass Loyola and Tulane Universities and the stately mansions of the Uptown neighborhood. Go to the Contemporary Arts Center which hosts exhibits like Beyond "Beasts": The Art of Court 13; new work and early films by Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin and his New Orleans-based Court 13 film collective. Or visit the Faubourg Treme neighborhood. It's considered to be the oldest black neighborhood in America, the origin of the Southern Civil Rights Movement and the birthplace of jazz
You can hit some tennis balls with tennis pro Gerald Davis or head pro Corey Clarke at the City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center in the 1,300 acre City Park. There are golf courses, an equestrian center, the New Orleans Museum of Art & Sculpture Garden...
The New Orleans Haunted History Tour, guided by Ernest Sylvester, starts at the Rev. Zombie's Voodoo Shop, 723 St. Peter Street and ends at the Saint Louis Cemetery Number One, where Homer Plessy of the famous Supreme Court case "Plessy VS Ferguson" is buried.
A Room With A View
The stately, 48-story, 1,100-room Sheraton New Orleans at 500 Canal Street is centrally located and just steps away from Bourbon Street and the riverfront. All the streetcars pass by their front door. Roux Bistro, on the second floor, features traditional and innovative New Orleans-inspired cuisine and serves a very savory Grilled New York Sirloin Steak with mushroom and fries. Follow it with their Big Apple pie topped with crisp granola and caramel sauce. After dinner, go down to the lobby-floor Pelican Bar; it's great for people watching long into the night. And during the festival don't be surprised if you find musicians like the guys from Earth Wind & Fire riding alongside you in the elevator.
The hotel's vast health club features Sheraton Fitness Programmed by Core Performance®. With tips on nutrition, strength-training machines, weight benches & free-weights, Life Fitness Signature Series cardio equipment pieces and an outdoor pool the club has plenty of ways to help you fight off the pounds you'll gain by eating all the great food in NOLA.
]]>42tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30003832013-04-09T17:26:11-04:002013-04-09T17:26:20-04:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/ 42 vividly captures defining moments in the legendary baseball player's career. It spans 1945 to 1947, when he married his sweetheart, played with Dodger farm teams and eventually the Brooklyn Dodgers. Chronicling Robinson's entire life might have been a gargantuan task, and too lengthy an endeavor for one movie, but it's a pity the filmmakers didn't try. When this well-intentioned 2hr 18min bio-film comes to an abrupt end, you'll want more. You'll want to know about his pre- and post-career life.
In 1945, when African American servicemen returned from World War II, they encountered an America deeply entrenched in prejudice, Jim Crow laws and segregation. Major League Baseball teams were all white, until one fateful day Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decided to stir things up. "Everyone will be against it... I'm going to bring a Negro player to the Brooklyn Dodgers."
The alliance between Rickey and Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) is no accident. The manager is looking precisely for a courageous man who has both guts and restraint, which is what it will take to weather an impending barrage of criticism and resistance. During the war, Robinson had been court-martialed for not sitting in the back of a military bus. That bold move intrigued Rickey, and he sought him out. The fearless veteran tells the GM, "You give me a uniform, you give me a number on my back, and I'll give you the guts."
Director/writer Brian Helgeland is a decent director (Knight's Tale) but a much stronger writer (Oscar winner for L.A. Confidential and Oscar nominee for Mystic River). He's assembled a very professional production crew, and that is the flaw in his approach. This film needed to be grittier than it is.
All the characters are wearing brand new clothes (courtesy of costume designer Caroline Harris), as if they just went on a Macy's shopping spree. Cindy Carr's sets are too perfect and obvious, you can detect when a Hollywood back lot is substituting for a real New York location. The cinematography (Don Burgess) is super glossy, like a car commercial. Trumpets blare incessantly like Caesar is entering the room. The editing is the one production element that is right on the mark; Peter McNulty and Kevin Stitt make the footage fly by like a fastball.
As a minor league player, Robinson is forced to live a shadow existence, staying with local black families because hotels reject him. His chauffeur and guide is Wendell Smith (Andre Holland), a black sports writer for the Pittsburgh Courier. When Robinson gets despondent over his maltreatment and being shunned by the team, Smith lets him know that his experience is not isolated. "You aren't the only one. Negro reporters aren't allowed in the press room either."
Robinson's struggles with his fellow players, with rival teams and their managers are well documented. As he works his way through the minor leagues, he's psychologically and emotionally abused. White pitchers use his head for target practice. Through it all, you're horrified, angry, and sad. When Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk), the manager of the Phillies screams the 'N' word at the nerve-frayed Robinson when he comes to bat, in front of a packed stadium, you wonder how can this man bear it. Then the day he steps on to Ebbets Field, as a full-fledged Brooklyn Dodger, your emotions peak and you get the chills. It's a milestone. Historic. He is the first black man to play a Major League Baseball game. The past is erased. The future is now.
Despite the film's sleek feel, the basic life story with its tribulations and triumphs remain intact. It's inspiring, especially as depicted by Boseman who has the swagger of a young Denzel Washington. Serious, stoic, pent-up. If anything he suppresses his anger better than Washington, letting it ride under the surface, so when it erupts, it's dramatic, forceful. The physicality of his performance--mimicking Robinson's awkward batting stance and freaky, base-stealing agility -- is uncanny.
The romance between Jackie and his wife Rachel (Nicole Beharie; Shame and American Violet) depicts a strong foundation. Beharie flaunts the charm and determination that is trademark of the real Mrs. Robinson. Lucas Black as Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese, is the quintessential character actor; the one you call when you need a Southern man with a solid persona. Tudyk as Chapman is suitable vicious and unremorseful as the "N" word rolls off his tongue with a venom that would shame the KKK. Harrison, a lead actor, is not an obvious choice to play a historical character. His performance seems a bit studied, clunky and theatrical, but eventually he wins you over.
Hegeland's script spends the right amount of time exploring Robinson's inner self. He wasn't just a skilled athlete; he was a keen strategist, a smart man's player. He could get under the skin of any pitcher by stealing bases with the cunning of a fox. He was ferocious, yet a gentleman. The flaw in the script is that too often the characters talk in platitudes, and not like real people. Particularly Rickey; probably he was as smart businessman with certain ideals and solid morals. It's unlikely that every sentence he uttered was prosaic, poignant and prophetic: "Dollars aren't black and white, they're green."
One evening, while strolling through Brooklyn Jackie and Rachel are confronted by a white stranger. She is scared, he steps in front of her to protect her. They are surprised when the admirer says: "If a man's got the goods, he deserves a fair shake." That fairness doctrine drives American culture. Seeking justice is the film's hook and the major attraction to Robinson's storied life.
This honorable and enlightening film pays due respect to Jackie Robinson -- a sports legend and courageous American hero.
]]>The Call tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.28754512013-03-15T17:40:59-04:002013-05-15T05:12:01-04:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/
We don't call 911 often, but when we do, we expect the person at the other end of the line to be calm, collected, probing and knowledgeable. They're no more than voices. Even if they gave us their names, who would remember them? After all, it's all about us, not them. 'Till now. This tension-filled thriller focuses on the strained, frayed but oh so mutually dependent relationship between victims and their helpers. And for the most part it does so admirably, giving Halle Berry her juiciest role in eons.
Jordan (Berry) works in the L.A. 911 call center. They call it the hive, because with the constant din of conversations it sounds like bees at work. On her shift, she gets calls for help, nuisance calls, calls from admirers. As she will someday teach future operators, there are two basic survival rules: 1. Stay emotionally detached. 2. Never make a promise, because operators rarely see the end results of their work -- that's a cop's job.
Screenwriter Richard D'Ovidio hadn't thought much about 911 call center operators until his wife listened to an NPR show about the subject. Good writers don't just sniff out intriguing subject matter; they base further exploration and development on whether they are gong down a path that is unique or too well worn. 911 folks have never had their story told, so D'Ovidio did some investigating and witnessed their coolness under fire: ""Every time a call came in, my stomach would drop, but they were so calm!" "...they were the glue of the city. They held the police, the fire, the ambulances -- nobody moved in the city without them."
"A man is trying to break into my house!" The young girl on the phone is terrified, but Jordan tries to talk her through an escape plan. "Open a window." "Hide." "Don't talk." The teen follows her commands, but they don't work. She's kidnapped, murdered and her body is found in a field. Jordan is devastated. Six months later a rookie operator answers a similar call from a teen named Casey (Abigail Breslin), who has been abducted in a mall and thrown into the trunk of a sedan. The rookie panics and Jordan takes over, calming the screaming victim. The police are alerted, and their efforts are spearheaded by Jordan's boyfriend Officer Paul Phillips (Morris Chestnut) and his partner Jake Devans (David Otunga). Jordan is determined not to let this caller down, but sometimes determination is not enough.
Halley Berry is a movie star, but it's hard to remember why these days. She's been in so many big-budget soulless films and her persona has been chipped away by tabloid headlines that reduce her to failed relationships, contentious custody battles and the men who literally fight for her attention. There couldn't be a better time to for her to get the press to refocus on her acting, and she makes the most of this opportunity. The script gives Berry a blue-collar character she can make accessible, vulnerable and gutsy. She works the screen like Meryl Streep, giving her best performance since Monster's Ball.
Chestnut is suitably gallant and stalwart as her caring lover and a cop on a mission. WWE wrestling champion David Otunga (Jennifer Hudson's main man) is a cool sidekick. Breslin, in her most adult role yet, shrieks and cries for help on cue as her character struggles to find her bearing and gumption. Michael Eklund (TV's Shattered and True Justice) plays the psychopathic kidnapper with surprising depth. It's helpful that he doesn't have a familiar face, and hasn't played a string of cliché bad guys. His wiry, jittery sleazy demeanor leaves a lasting impression; like John Hawkes from the film Winter's Bone.
Back in 1996, director Brad Anderson cut his teeth on a $40,000 film called The Darien Gap, which premiered at the Sundance film festival. His thin filmography includes the indie classic The Machinist, starring a very emaciated Christian Bale. He didn't need movie credits to prepare him for this tight-has-a-drum, riveting thriller. Directing episodes of The Wire and The Shield gave him the perfect sensibility for guiding this grizzly crime story, which will play even better someday on Saturday night cable TV. He gets great performances out of Berry, Eklund, Breslin and Morris. Gruesome scenes are well staged and choreographed. Anderson's only serious error is a postscript ending that takes you from reality to cheap horror effects. Even with this misplaced coda, his direction is solid.
The lag time in between call center work life and horrific events is negligible thanks to the pacing of editor Avi Youabian. Cinematographer Tom Yatsko gets all the lighting right -- love the bright Southern California skies juxtaposed with the inside of a pitch dark car trunk. Berry's Jeri Curl Afro wig is a bit distracting. The kidnapper blares his car radio with deafening music, but the musical score is innocuous. Costumes, set design and art direction are on point.
Don't be fooled. This film is a whole lot scarier than you think it's going to be. When Casey screams to her tormentor, "Please just kill me," you get it. At that point, she is so terrified, exhausted and beaten down, she just wants the seemingly inevitable to be over. But it isn't.
]]>A Review: War Witchtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26701522013-02-21T10:48:16-05:002013-04-23T05:12:01-04:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/
A quiet life in a sub-Saharan Africa lakeside shantytown is disrupted when rebel soldiers invade. They round up the young who try to flee. Twelve-year-old Komona's (Rachel Mwanza) legs cannot carry her fast enough. She's caught. A vile soldier, putting a rifle in her hands, commands her to shoot her parents. "If you don't kill them, I will with my machete," he bellows. And so it begins, a nightmare. Abduction. Extraction to a jungle. Boot camp. Indoctrination into brutal gorilla warfare. Mastering the intricacies of AK-47s. Participating in murder missions.
Director/writer Kim Nguyen, in his third feature film, concocts a thrilling, dramatic examination of the exploitation of children in countries where adults capture, coerce and employ young people who rampage and kill. He was inspired the day he read a news report on 10-year-old twins named Johnny and Luther Htoo, chain-smoking child soldiers who had become sacrosanct images for rebels. Nguyen filmed his contemporary allegory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but there are parallel tales in other African countries and parts of the world. A decision to film in sequence and not let the cast read the completed script made them live in the moment. That candor gives the film a cinema verité sensibility that flourishes. Acts of extreme violence and degradation, mixed with romance, kindness and mysticism prove a volatile mix.
As Komona and the rebels go on killing sprees, she learns to suppress her fears and sadness, "I had to make the tears go inside my eyes." The soldiers drink a milky sap from a plant, a hallucinogen. Komona sees ghosts; chalk white spirits with blank eyes who guide her. The ghosts save her from an attack. The supreme rebel leader, the Great Tiger (Mizinga Mwinga), notices her clairvoyant skills. He thinks she's a sorceress, a rebel War Witch. The warfare and carnage rot her soul. Visions of her parents' restless spirits begging her to come home and bury them haunt her. The only kindness she experiences comes from a fellow soldier, Magician (Serge Kanyinda), an albino. Can his fists protect her? Will his love save her?
The heart of this very alarming study on war is the entrancing performance of Rachel Mwanza, a young girl from the streets of Kinshasa, who with a stare, a tear, a grimace emotes more than an ensemble of Shakespearean actors. She's poised. Mature. Focused. Transparent. You root for her to survive ungodly conditions that would destroy most adults. The perfect balance to this hardened, emotionally threadbare female lead is the very romantic Serge Kanyinda; he plays her savior. Their romance is more daring and destined than Romeo and Juliet's, and a welcomed respite from the demonic Rebel Lieutenant (Alain Bastien), who maims and rapes without flinching. He's the surrogate for all the evil men who create child soldier armies.
Nguyen's direction and script rarely falter. It's a near-perfect blend of harsh reality and mysticism. You can't guess where the gruesome plot line will take you. You hope for relief from the violence and exploitation, but there are no guarantees. That's the mark of smart leadership and imaginative writing. When the storyline has an occasional lull, it gives you a chance to take a deep breath, gather your courage, and continue. Also Mwanza could not have created her thoroughly convincing performance without strong guidance from an astute and nurturing mentor. She finds that in Nguyen.
Nicolas Bolduc's cinematography captures the action, the winsome moments and the surreal white figments of human spirits with equal verve. Richard Comeau edits the footage down to the minimum. There are no wasted scenes, no fat, just lean drama. African folk music fills the air establishing a tone that evokes the motherland.
There is harshness. Conflict. Atrocities. A life is ruined. However, there are acts of compassion, moments that provide the life balance of good versus evil. The director shows great restraint and never kills the war witch's instincts. Her spirit will carry you through this heart-tugging film. It will hang over you as you find out if her will to live is enough to survive.
This 2012 Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film fully deserves the highest accolades. It puts a human face on child exploitation, a scourge of mankind. It's brilliant.
]]>LUVtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.24925152013-01-23T11:40:14-05:002013-03-25T05:12:01-04:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/
Sometimes Woody Watson (Michael Rainey Jr.), an 11 year-old, is a vulnerable kid. "Only one place I have is OK. Inside me where I can hide everything." Other times he's a little man, a baby gangsta tuff; one morning he points a squirt gun at a mirror with a scowl on his face, "What you gon' do? I'm the man, I'll kill you."
Woody lives with his grandma (Lonette McKee) at her house in the Baltimore 'burbs. His Uncle Vincent, nicknamed V (Common), has been "away" for eight years, and he's shacking there too. V is caring and nurturing, when he's not acting like a smooth-talking, well-dressed thug. He dreams of opening a high-class crab joint, cause local folks like to eat those indigenous crustaceans. But, dreams cost money.
Life changes for Wood the day V lets him skip school and so he can show him the ropes, "You with me today. I'm gonna teach you real work shit." V's trying to stay on the up and up, but devils from his past tug at him. In the middle of a drug war, a crime lord named Fish (Dennis Haysbert) and his cagey older brother Arthur (Danny Glover) scheme on V. A buddy named Caufield (Charles Dutton) tries to steer him in the right direction, but bad choices and circumstance pull him down harder than gravity.
There is something so disturbing about watching a child being initiated into a life of crime. This daring film does it with gruesome authenticity drawn from true, life experience. Sheldon Candis, director and co-writer, was just 9 years-old when he rode shotgun with an older family member who was a purported drug dealer, "During those rides, he would explain to me what it takes to be a man." But a child can't really comprehend adulthood; they can't fathom the consequences of their actions. They just posture. Wood drinks, shoots a gun and scams like a 40-year-old, but he is clueless. You feel for him.
Candis and Justin Wilson's screenplay starts off almost magical, like urban ghetto fairy dust, then becomes more and more grim as the boy and his uncle descend into a merciless crime world that devours them. V is like the devil, tempting an angel, yet he still has redeeming qualities and he imparts wisdom: He confirms that Wood knows Frederick Douglass taught other slaves to read, right there in Baltimore: "When you think you can't make it, think about your ancestors cause that's what's in your spirit."
As a director, Candis has perfect instincts for urban storytelling. The gritty atmosphere he creates is so real you can taste the fresh Baltimore crabmeat, smell the streets and you flinch and duck when bullets fly. If you liked the cable series The Wire, this is your cup of java. There's a very refined blend of memorable dialogue, graphic action, silent moments, pained glances and eye-catching visuals. Candis doesn't overcook the characters or dramatic scenes; he lets them simmer. He gives the actors plenty of time to work their craft. In ways this film feels like an intelligent, artistic character study with a European sensibility.
Portuguese composer Nuno Malo has created a hypnotic score with strained strings and synthesizers. It's not typical music for an urban tale, but the contrasts works. Some of the cinematography (Gavin Kelly) feels a bit soft almost emitting a blinding cloudy light. It's too atmospheric when stark realism might have been a better choice.
Common has a natural swagger; it helped him become a noted rapper. In this film, the musician becomes an actor capable of emoting and conveying deep feelings. He goes head to head with veteran thespians like Danny Glover (his Arthur is impeccably nuanced), Charles Dutton (sure-footed as ever) and Dennis Haysbert (he should stop doing those insurance commercials and go back to film or theatre so people can be reminded that he is a top-notch actor). If there is a scene-stealer, it is the very endearing and natural Michael Rainey Jr. He has acting chops far beyond his years and turns in a performance that is on par with Quvenzhané Wallis' in Beast of the Southern Wild. When Rainey Jr. and Common get into their screaming matches, it's powerful stuff.
V tries to prepare Wood for the worst, "If you show weakness they gon' get at you."
]]>Best Films of 2012: Black Actors, Directors and Others Shinetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23131172012-12-19T16:33:00-05:002013-02-18T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild (****) On a tiny budget, using great imagination, director Benh Zeitlin creates a Slumdog Louisiana netherworld where a six-year-old warrior princess (Quvenzhané Wallis) flourishes with help from a stern but crazed father (Dwight Henry).
2. The Central Park Five (****) Documentarians Sarah Burns, her father Ken and husband David McMahon investigate the rush-to-judgment "Central Park Jogger" case and give its wrongfully convicted suspects a pathway to total vindication.
3. Flight (***) A drug-abusing veteran pilot (Denzel Washington) flies a 50-ton jet. Things don't go well. Washington gives a four-star performance. Ably directed by Robert Zemeckis. Tamara Tunie, Nadine Velazquez, Bruce Greenwood and Don Cheadle leave indelible impressions.
4. The Impossible (***1/2) Mom, dad and three little boys encounter the Southeast Asia tsunami. It's a traveler's worst nightmare. Brave mom: Naomi Watts. Stalwart dad: Ewan McGregor. Courageous son: Tom Holland. Astute filmmaker: Juan Antonio Bayona.
5. Les Misérables (****) The actors sing in this ingenious screen adaptation. Director Tom Hooper guides this epic musical to greatness, Anne Hathaway fulfills her destiny and Hugh Jackman gives an Oscar-worthy, show-stopping performance.
6. Marley (****) Director Kevin MacDonald (Last King of Scotland) pays supreme homage to the reggae legend in a thorough, ambitious documentary with the help of Marley's family, friends and babies' mommas. You'll fondly remember the man and his music. One love.
7. Middle of Nowhere (****) A prisoner, his wife and her suitor form a love triad. Sensitive writing/direction (Ava DuVernay) and genuine performances (Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo, Lorraine Toussaint) touch the heart.
8. Silver Linings Playbook (***/12) Days out of a mental institution, a former teacher (Bradley Cooper) stalks his ex-wife and courts a nymphomaniac (Jennifer Lawrence). Perfect ensemble acting (Jacki Weaver, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker). Humorous filmmaking (David O. Russell).
9. Skyfall (***1/2) The best-directed (Sam Mendes), acted (Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Naomie Harris) and written (John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade) Bond movie. MI5 is under attack and 007 is up to the challenge. It's a perfect thrill ride.
10. Zero Dark Thirty (****) The ghost of Osama bin Laden must have been looking on in horror as director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal chronicled his assassination. It's brilliant, edge-of-your-seat filmmaking. Superb acting: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Harold Perrineau, Reda Kateb.
Honorable Mention:Amour, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Project X, Searching for Sugarman, Red Tails, The Bourne Legacy, Lawless, Argo, Sessions, Warriors, The Raid, Think Like a Man, Marvel's the Avengers, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Brave, Pitch Perfect, Anna Karenina, Hitchcock, Killing Them Softly, Hyde Park on Hudson, Polisse, The Other Son, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Magic Mike.
Overrated:Lincoln, The Hunger Games, The Intouchables, Prometheus, The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight Rises, The Master, End of Watch, Not Fade Away, Moonrise Kingdom.
Worst Films:The Paperboy, Red Hook Summer, The Dictator, Rock of Ages, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, To Rome With Love, The Campaign, Cosmopolis, The Oranges, Wuthering Heights, The Bay, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.
The movie's original, pre-Civil War Spaghetti-Western premise is novel and has merit. According to Tarantino, "The initial germ of the whole idea was a slave who becomes a bounty hunter and then goes after overseers that are hiding out on plantations." That kernel of a thought and an empty canvass gave Tarantino endless possibilities. After all, Hollywood has never told a slave-out-for-vengeance story before (e.g. Nat Turner's Rebellion). So what happened?
Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds), a German ex-dentist, now a ribald bounty hunter, trolls the South looking for criminals. He sets his sights on the Brittle Brothers, killers. He encounters a slave, Django (Jamie Foxx), who can identify the brothers. Schultz promises to buy Django his freedom if he helps him nail the bad guys. Several corpses later, the German profits and schools his protégé on the tricks of the trade: Schultz: "Bounty hunting is like slavery, it's a cash for flesh business." Django: "I want to shoot white folks for money."
Shultz teaches his apprentice marksman and gunslinger skills. Django, unchained, is both lauded and envied by slaves. The newly freed man, who has been separated from his loving wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), seeks her. The two bounty hunters track her down to Candyland; a Mississippi plantation owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is pampered by his Stepin Fetchit house slave, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson). The guys hatch a convoluted plan to free Broomhilda. Things go awry.
Varied supporting characters pepper the storyline: An evil overseer (Don Johnson as Big Daddy); a jealous slave (Jarrod Bunch); a testy sheriff (Tom Wopat); and hangers-on (Jonah Hill, Bruce Dern, Robert Carradine, Franco Nero -- who played Django in the original 1966 film -- and Tarantino who makes an over-conspicuous cameo). The potluck approach to casting is added to a jittery, debauched and circus-like atmosphere. Heads are graphically shot off. A slave is pulled apart and killed by ferocious dogs. Broomhilda is whipped like she is no more than a stubborn mule. Then in an over-extended scene a picayune KKK-type posse bitterly complains about their ill-fitting, can't-see-through-the-eye-holes, white pillowcase hoods. The acts of violence and senseless degradation coupled with silly antics make the depravity of slavery seem simply buffoonish, not tragic. History begs to differ.
Even if you got your psych degree on eBay, you can probably figure out that the chatty, loquacious self-absorbed, patronizing Shultz is Tarantino's alter ego. He doles out information in condescending platitudes like Dr. Phil with an acute case of noblesse oblige. The trailers, posters and press photos hype Django, but it feels like most of the attention and dialogue goes to Schultz for the first two thirds of the movie. At the end of the film Django charts his own destiny, but it's too little, too late -- especially considering the film's original premise.
The hodgepodge dialogue fails to set itself firmly in the 19th century. It wavers between tough-talking street language, Southern drawls, Western twangs, Aussie and German accents. The language is also incendiary: The "N" word is uttered about 112 times. As a noun. As an adjective. Whites use it. Blacks use it. Men. Women. Other derogatory words for African Americans are summoned up occasionally to break the monotony, but curiously the slaves don't use degrading terms for their overseers.
The direction stays firmly within the predictable bounds of Tarantino's violent sensibility (e.g. Kill Bill). Some of the brutal murders are so absurd it's almost like you're watching a horror movie where zombies are shot but they just won't die. Other killing scenes are more nuanced, like when Schultz employs his suit-sleeve derringer; there is a finesse to these dainty homicides that is far more memorable than some of the brutal slaughters.
The eclectic musical score ('60s Spaghetti Westerns music, hip-hop, rap and folk music) never gels. There are shots (cinematographer Robert Richardson, Hugo) of Foxx riding bareback on a horse with a rifle in hand that are simply iconic. Sharon Davis (Dreamgirls), a master costume designer, gets Foxx to wear an oddly funny teal blue Little Lord Fauntleroy suit with a frilly white lace shirt.
Kerry Washington pouts and looks befuddled on cue. Her eyes moisten up when she is being beaten, but it is hard to take her seriously, or any other character for that matter, because you're watching silly action/comedy and not earnest drama. Leonardo DiCaprio's righteous indignation is wasted on a worthless character. With decisive conviction and eyes bulging like 100-watt light bulbs, Samuel L. Jackson hurls the "N" word like it's a tomahawk; it's a unique skill he's honed since Pulp Fiction. Not a covetable distinction.
Jamie Foxx has his simmering, brooding moments. His best scenes are when he is slinging a gun with wild abandon. His worst are when he mumbles. Also, he might want to ask his agent how he got a starring role in a movie where a showboating, scenery-chewing supporting actor (Waltz) takes up all the oxygen in the room.
This film will spark debate. Is it legitimate, innocuous satire backdropped against history? Is it hideously demeaning? Does it trivialize slavery? Should Hollywood introduce one of America's most heinous, genocidal institutions to this generation as a 180-minute joke?
You can tell you're watching a Quentin Tarantino film if ... you know the rest.
Visit NNPA Syndication Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwighBrownInk.com.
]]>The Central Park Five (****)tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21372872012-11-16T16:50:14-05:002013-01-16T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/
Years down the road, after the case unraveled, Sarah Burns, an American Studies Major at Yale, wrote her senior essay on this miscarriage of justice. After graduation, she compiled her findings and views on race relations in the book The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding. Using her published work as a blueprint -- with the help of documentarian David McMahon (The War) and her noted father, PBS filmmaker Ken Burns (The War and The Civil War) -- Sarah sought to examine the truth. This enlightening, investigative documentary exposes a tragedy of historic proportions using firsthand interviews with the suspects, journalists, a juror, and experts in the fields of race relations and social psychology. Their words and recollections indict a criminal justice system and those who rush to judgment.
It's April 19, 1989. Thirty restless Black and Latino youths head into Central Park at night on a lark. Some turn the excursion into a rampage, led by a few real troublemakers, who harass people, even beating a male jogger. Victims call the police who arrest who they can. That same night a female jogger is beaten and raped in the park. In a city on edge and reeling from a crack-epidemic crime wave, the cops are pressured to find suspects. They focus on several teens, easy prey they cornered for the "wilding" incident: Yusef Salaam is a close friend with Korey Wise, a hearing impaired, mentally challenged youth. Yusef lives in the same apartment complex as Kevin Richardson, who is also detained. Antron McCray attends school in the same building as Raymond Santana.
The kids are 14-15 years old, except Wise who is 16 but with the mental capacity of a much younger person. The police, through intimidation, suggestion, taunting and lies ("the others are pointing to you") coerce the kids into confessions, becoming witnesses and implicating themselves. Miranda rights be damned. Parental consent, non-existent. And when parents finally do get involved, they, like their offspring, are almost willing to say anything to end the matter. They just want to take their children home. To their detriment, concentrating on the immediate future and not the big picture sets in motion a series of events that become irrevocable.
The filmmakers display archival footage (some shot by the police) and Q & As with the now thirty-something, more mature and circumspect five. You find out how the lambs were led to slaughter. Sensational headlines. A determined D.A. A tough judge. Inadequate defense. A derisive Mayor Koch, "We call them 'suspects' but we all know the deal." Momentum was against the kids. Contradictory confessions, a lack of DNA evidence and the truth do not provide a sustainable firewall.
Watching these poor, uneducated teens and their overwhelmed parents/guardians get bullied is a horror. Emotionally you're incredulous, scared and then angry. People in positions of authority abandon logic, project racial strife and the anger of millions onto defenseless kids. Maybe the boys weren't saints, but they weren't felons or rapists. You wonder could this happen to your kids? Or if you were a teenager, could you withstand the barrage?
The graphic footage is shocking, astonishing, disheartening but does not express an opinion. With distinct objectivity, you draw your own conclusions after investigating the facts, witnessing testimony and getting the point of view of both the teens and their entrappers. Credit editor Michael Levine (the 119-minute length feels like a half-hour), cinematographers Buddy Squires and Anthony Savini, and composer Doug Wamble for making the experience succinct, graphic and totally absorbing.
After screening this film you'll feel like you just took a graduate course in civics, sociology, race relations, criminology, politics, urban studies, African American and Latino history. Under close examination, this tragedy is on par with other classic cases of injustice: Sacco and Vanzetti, Emitt Till, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the Scottsboro Boys. And though the film is academic in its attention to detail, it is thoroughly compelling and ambitious, like an historical drama worthy of a theatrical release.
The boys served out their full sentences for the beating and rape of the Central Park Jogger. Their lives were destroyed, youth taken, innocence lost. What this film does for those kids, now men, is reveal the real rapist, tell the truth and give them a pathway to vindication. Those noble elements make The Central Park Five, a searing, purposeful documentary -- a 21st century cautionary tale.
]]>Flighttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20407882012-11-06T15:30:37-05:002013-01-06T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/Denzel Washington) hits the drug-abuse trifecta. And that's just hours before he straps himself into the cockpit of a 50-ton jet, with 96 passengers and six flight crew members aboard. On the plane's ascent from the Orlando, Fla. airport, he battles treacherous weather with blinding storm clouds and hurricane-like winds; his co-pilot gets so scared he nearly wets his pants. Fasten your seatbelts.
Washington often plays anger in his films (Training Day, Hurricane). It's almost like being perturbed is his pet emotion and he finds roles to suit his disposition, or he gravitates to perpetually pissed-off characters. Either way, when you fathom a Denzel Washington movie, you are likely to envision an angry persona. It is refreshing, almost novel, to watch him play a role that is far more nuanced and emotionally and psychologically multifaceted.
As the plane levels off, past the bad weather, Whip snoozes and the co-pilot (Brian Geraghty) calms down. The head stewardess (Tamara Tunie) and her staff are about to serve drinks and snacks when there's a malfunction. In seconds a dozing Whip awakes and attempts to rescue his airliner from an abrupt nosedive and certain disaster. In most films the daring flight alone would be a movie. In this instance it is the aftermath, the retelling of the events, that causes enough consternation and drama to begat a compelling storyline that deals with values, morals, lying, falsehoods, drug addiction, alcoholism, family strife, subterfuge...
The germ of an idea for the script came from the inquisitive screenwriter John Gatins, who had a fascination and fear of flying that lead him to research airplane disasters and rescues, like the "Miracle on the Hudson" incident where Captain Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger, III guided U.S. Airways Flight 1549 to a safe landing on New York's Hudson River. The writer was also wrestling with inner demons, and hence the great personal conflict he projects on to Whip, who is in a state of denial that has cost him his marriage, the respect of his son, possibly his career and maybe a prison sentence.
Gatins mines the depths of addiction and life-threatening illness in the pursuit of a treatise on life and its frailties. Whip, a heroin addict (Kelly Reilly) and a cancer victim clandestinely meet in a stairwell in a hospital to smoke cigarettes. They size each other up and slowly reveal themselves. Cancer victim: "Wish I could harness this feeling I have about how precious life is." That life philosophy and the crash are a catalyst for the lead character to confront his out-of-control existence.
Director Robert Zemeckis has channeled his talents towards animated movies recently (A Christmas Carol), but this script brings him back to the live action world (Forrest Gump) and to a project that focuses on another soul-searching male character. His no-frills direction of the dramatic and romantic scenes is solid, but not extraordinary. The moments in the plane however, when Whip flips the jet over and back again and the subsequent crash are a marvel to behold. His steady hand, overall, prevails. But the film's direction, editing, camerawork, special effects and catchy musical soundtrack that dips into 60s and 70s classics (What's Going On, Gimme Shelter) stand in the large shadow of Washington's stunning portrayal of Whip.
Washington smolders throughout the entire film. The turbulent emotion that's under the surface is more powerful than the heated outbursts. It gets under your skin. It troubles you. How does a human being reconcile devastating addiction with hero worship? How does he come to an understanding of who he is when his disillusioned life is chained to a dope dealer (John Goodman), casual sex with his staff and a romance with a heroin addict?
The script hands Washington a plum, complex role, but he takes it further than most actors could. The swagger, the debauchery, the remorse -- he's belligerent, testy, defensive, humble, fearful and confused. By the time Washington has shaped the character, you are riveted to Whip, dying to know whether he can scam his way out of an incriminating legal inquiry or succumb. Washington's thespian magic takes you down a road you won't veer off until it comes to a dead end.
Tamara Tunie, as the conflicted stewardess, is perfect. Don Cheadle, as the crafty lawyer who tries to tame the beast, displays the perfect mix of cunning determination and righteous indignation. John Goodman as the dope-peddling best buddy with gut-busting laughs and a sheer disdain for anything conventional just may receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nom for his role. Better yet, Washington could take the Best Actor Oscar trophy home. He gives a four-star performance in a three-star movie.
Whip: "No one could have landed that plane like I did."
Lawyer: "It was an Act of God."
Whip: "Whose God would do this?"
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at www.DwighBrownInk.com.]]>Miami: Comfortable Beach Town, Deluxe City Life (PHOTOS)tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19345032012-10-26T07:00:00-04:002012-12-26T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/ South Beach Has All the Fun
Walk down Lincoln Rd., South Beach's pedestrian mall, and what's noticeable is that tourists have taken over. They're in the restaurants, nightclubs, galleries and performing arts centers. You pass them by and expect to hear English spoken. Instead you hear snippets of Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Italian... South Beach is a tourist mecca, filled with people on vacation looking for a good time. Keep that in mind...
Finally, a Comfortable Hotel in South Beach
Kimpton's new Surfcomber, a boutique Hotel on Collins Avenue off 17th St., is only three stories high and sits right on the beach. It's not overbearingly snobby, like other South Beach hotels. Instead it has a stylish, friendly, informal and non-pretentious atmosphere. At Surfcomber, you can let it all hang out. You'll know this the second you walk into the lobby and see the eclectic furniture, statues of sheep and bovines and the surfboards on the walls. The 186-room hotel is eccentric and fun and its guests look comfortable, like they can really relax.
The intimate guest rooms, with cheery patterned interiors are quiet as a nun's convent. Wake up in one and you'll have no clue that the 77-foot-long heated pool and the pool scene are so lively. Singles, couples, families. Americans, Europeans, South Americans. A din of laughter. In other hotels, you're afraid to get in the pool and muss your hair because you think everyone is looking at you. And they are! At Surfcomber, the cocktails flow, guests float around nonchalantly on air mattresses and beach balls are batted around with abandon. It's almost like you're in someone's backyard. Except, there are statues of bovines, a constant reminder that you should lighten-up, grin and have fun. The pristine shoreline is just across a footpath and inundated with sun seekers egging you on to the beach.
You can bike up and down the boardwalk that extends 77 blocks from South Point to North Beach. Tennis at Flamingo Park is going to get even better, they're adding a new drainage system to the clay courts. The people watching, café hopping and window shopping on Lincoln Rd. is an all-day, all-evening event: Apple Store, Banana Republic, Pottery Barn, William Sonoma. However if you're a serious shopper, take a 35-minute drive up to the Sawgrass Mills Mall (12801 West Sunrise Boulevard, Sunrise, FL), arguably the best discount shopping mall in the country: Barney's, Hugo Boss, Burberry, Saks Fifth Off, Nike, TJ Max, Best Buy... If you can't find a bargain here, you can't find one anywhere!
Spas on the Beach
The Canyon Ranch Spa (6801 Collins Ave.) is South Florida's largest: 70,000 square feet. The saunas, steam rooms, Jacuzzis and waiting rooms are as lavish as a Fellini film set. Try the Deep-Tissue Thermal Therapy or the Muscle Melt for "Road Warriors" or the Ashiatsu, Deep Barefoot Massage. Martha Stewart, Justin Bieber, Alex Rodriguez, Eva Longoria and Ricky Martin have all stayed in one of the apartment-sized suites at Canyon Ranch or lounged on its beach.
The La Maison de Beauté Carita treatments and European wellness and beauty rituals at the Ritz-Carlton Spa (1 Lincoln Rd.) includes their signature Rhythm Massage. This unique service combines the distinct flavor and culture of Miami using Latin music to create a tropical feeling of relaxation. You wake up refreshed, almost craving a margarita.
Eating and Swinging
At Surfcomber, Chef Ferdinand Ortiz's Asian cuisine Lantao restaurant serves up Blue Crab Spring Rolls and signature, slow-cooked-all-day Korean spiced BBQ Pork Ribs that start a meal with a bang. The Singapore Chili Prawns & Crispy Kale (spicy Singapore crushed chili sauce, toasted sesame seeds, scallions) is perfect for dinner and the Crisp Citrus and Thai Basil Marinated Whole Fish looks like it will jump off the plate.
Billowy white curtains drape and flow against pillars in the night breeze at the indoor/outdoor Italian restaurant Bianca, at the Delano. The Grilled Octopus (char-grilled, cherry tomato salad, aged balsamic) has the consistency of a thick tender pork belly and a deliciously smoky taste you can't pinpoint. For pasta, the Veal Ravioli is just right. The King Salmon (organic faro risotto, Barolo reduction, roasted baby eggplant) will wrestle your taste buds to the ground.
Stroll down Lincoln Rd. at night if your sweet tooth is craving something sugary and creamy. Take an outdoor seat at Icebox Café and order The Bomb, Oprah Winfrey's favorite dessert: Layers of dark chocolate, creamy cheesecake brownie and chocolate mousse filling with dark chocolate ganache. For evening excursions and culture, hang out at the Britto Art Gallery, Colony Theatre, New World Symphony and Regal South Beach Cinemas.
There's New Life Downtown
During the real estate bust, downtown Miami turned into corridors of tall glistening, empty condos -- an urban ghost town. These days, low rents, and affordable prices have brought bargain hunters and renters to a city center that's one part bustling financial/business hub another part burgeoning residential district. Signs are up for the building of a Whole Foods at 3rd Avenue and SE 2nd Street, and that will be a game changer in an area innundated with swank hotels, condos and precious few stores.
Vacationing Downtown
A downtown hotel for all or part of a Miami vacation will suit the off-the-beaten-path vacationer. Kimpton's Epic Hotel, at 270 Biscayne Blvd. Way, just around the bend from iconic Biscayne Blvd., makes the perfect refuge in a concrete jungle dotted with palm trees. It's not on busy, four-lane Brickell Avenue; it's off on the banks of the Miami River, a stone's throw from Biscayne Bay where both waterways meet. Cruise up the hotel's circular driveway and you'll encounter a sea of Range Rovers and Mercedes (in Miami, people judge you by the car you drive). The swank cars outside portend whom you will see inside. As do the luxury boats that are anchored in Epic's marina.
A vast, serene, beige-colored lobby leads you to elevators that take to you the 411 guestrooms and suites. Floor to ceiling windows, spacious balconies, marble bathrooms and plush carpets set the tone. This is New Age luxury. By day you can hang out in a private cabana on the sun-drenched 16th floor terrace, which has two swimming pools and a café. It's tempting to sit there indefinitely and enjoy the skyscraper views with Key Biscayne Island in the distance. But if you venture out, activities abound.
Play by Day
Grove Isle Tennis Center, in nearby Coconut Grove, offers lessons or play on 11 Har-Tru tennis courts. Or practice your strokes on any of the 26 courts (18 hard, 6 clay, two grass) at Crandon Tennis Center on Key Biscayne Island, home of the Sony Ericcson Open, which features the world's top 96 tennis players. For peanuts ($13 per hour), you can play on center court and pretend you are whipping the hell out of Murray (a Miami resident), Federer or Serena. Mariano Parris, director of tennis, can regale you with the rich history of the center. Next door, Crandon Golf Key Biscayne is open to the public. This championship, par-72, 18-hole golf course has hosted Senior PGA Tour events and attracted Lee Trevino, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Gary Player. The par-four seventh hole veers to the right and sends golf balls soaring over the bay.
If you're thinking your body needs to get buff, take a "Core Fusion" class at Epic's 12,000-sq.-foot Exhale Spa. A Core Fusion Barre class mixes core conditioning, Pilates, the Lotte Berk Method and yoga. When you're done you will ache in places you've never felt before, but the next day your gut will be tight as a drum. Ask for the instructor Julie Wiesman; she looks like a ballerina but works you like a Marine drill sergeant.
When you've done your last pushup, reward yourself with a Fusion Massage, which combines therapeutic massage with potent herbal and aromatherapy oils; choose from an uplifting, detoxifying or relaxing blend. The unique spa menu even offers DogaTreatments (massage for the dog, yoga for the human).
Eat, Drink and Be Merry Zuma, at the Epic Hotel, is the hot culinary spot in downtown Miami. The clientele tends to be upscale, local and moneyed at this trendy Japanese/sushi restaurant. The crowd here gazes over the extensive drink menu and orders shots of exclusive sakés like "Hidehiro Shinbo" Daiginjo, which sells for $1,900 a bottle; there are only 18 bottles in the U.S. If alcohol is not your thing, try a refreshing Bishonen (muddled raspberries and strawberries shaken with white peach and calpico water). You could eat a full dinner, but the herd comes for grazing, snacking their way through appetizers: like the Caterpillar Maki (prawn tempura with freshwater eel, avocado roll).
The nautical term for the waters from North America to Brazil, where this hip eatery gets most of its fish, gives Area 31 Restaurant & Bar at the Epic its name. Chef E. Michael Reidt serves delicious Fish Fry (citrus aioli) and Confit Of Pork Belly (banana-lentil salad, crispy chicken skin, chili-caramel) for appetizers. For dinner the Tasting menu ($60/$95 paired with wine) features locally grown ingredients in dishes like Crispy Skin Snapper (shrimp grits, fava beans, shrimp powder, preserved lemon).
Literally across the street from Epic at JW Marriott, Db Bistro Moderne, created by famed New York Chef Daniel Boulud, serves an exquisite Duck Pâté, which should be followed with Pan Roasted Diver Sea Scallops (on a bed of black truffles, golden chanterelle mushrooms, risotto with white truffle oil and Parmesan emulsion). Don't trouble yourself with picking a dessert, have two! Fluctuate between the Pandan Scented Rice Pudding and the Deconstructed Key Lime Pie. Forget about the calories, you can hold your stomach in as long as you keep taking the Core Fusion classes.
]]>Middle of Nowhere (****)tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19455312012-10-12T13:49:36-04:002012-12-12T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/Ava DuVernay, became the first African American woman to win the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
We've been fed a steady diet of Tyler Perry caricatures. Black actors have been relegated to second banana roles, subservient positions, gangsters, pimps, maids and losers in so many Hollywood films. And reality TV has desensitized and dehumanized us with high-pitch screaming housewives from wherever. On the big and little screen we are starved for real-to-the-touch black images. Characters and storylines that reflect us. Not distorted visions. Not self-loathing delusions.
Back in the day, twenty something-year-old Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi, Young and the Restless) was an ambitious med student. She married Derek (Omari Hardwick, Sparkle) and the two dreamed of a brighter future. Their hopes were dimmed the day police raided their home and arrested Derek for a serious crime. He was imprisoned, staring down eight years of hard time.
Ruby quits school to be with her man. Faithfully she takes the long bus ride through Compton, L.A., to visit him. She encourages Derek when he becomes despondent and wants to give up. She goes broke paying for a lawyer to regain his freedom. Her negative, temperamental mom Ruth (Lorraine Toussaint, Saving Grace) shows disdain and offers no support. Ruby feels alone. As if no one is watching over her. But there is. It's her bus driver (David Oyelowo, Red Tails). She's hardly noticed him, but he can't take his eyes off of her. Guardian angels have tunnel vision.
Writer/director Ava DuVernay (who began her film career as a public relations executive) started this project's journey with a simple vision: a woman riding on a bus, at dawn, "It was a mental image that stuck with me for a long while. I couldn't shake it." The purity of that notion remained as she developed the indelible characters, the heart-breaking relationships, parent/child conflict, betrayals and the emotional rescues that make her script so rewarding on so many levels.
Ruby is a vulnerable character, the product of a psychologically abusive mother. Yet somehow she remains altruistic. She weathers setbacks, regaining her focus. She's willing to sacrifice everything for her marriage. Almost immediately, you want nothing but the best for her. Derek feels like the guy around the corner who has made one fated mistake. Where but by fortune go most of us. The mother is that irritating taskmaster parent who both produces ambitious children, and then breaks them down with a glance. And Brian is the angel of mercy. All the characters play off each other perfectly.
DuVernay, in just her second feature film, exhibits the skills of a master filmmaker. She knows when to let the actors go, when to rein them in. She can choreograph a love scene, a mom/daughter confrontation or an intimate jailhouse conversation with amazing dexterity, setting an even tone that becomes increasingly affecting as the film progresses. No wrinkles. No questionable choices. She's made a classic, powerful character-driven film, in the vain of the timeless Nothing But A Man.
Emayatzy Corinealdi is a gorgeous looking woman with a smooth complexion that glistens in every shot. The camera loves the angles in her face. Her eyes. Her lips. Her chic, pixie haircut. Her performance is subtle, tender, determined. You think, in the back of your head, that Derek, as depicted by Hardwick, is streetwise but immature. As his seedier side shows, you begin to question his moral compass. Credit Hardwick's ability to layer on depth for the character's complexity. Toussaint as Ruth plays the mother from hell who can make you feel nervous and uncomfortable with one sigh. Which is the exact opposite of David Oyelowo's interpretation of Brian, who makes you feel safe, even when disaster lurks. No one over-acts. Everyone has mastered his or her role impeccably.
Kathryn Bostic's musical score lifts every scene. Spencer Averick's editing creates a perfect pace. Bradford Young's discerning eye and subtle cinematography makes so many scenes seem like picture postcards from Compton.
As an audience you can't ask for anything more from a writer, director, cast or technical crew. This is a simple, affecting love story that will stick with you. It takes you to a haunting place that is not nirvana or hell. As Ruby says: " We are somewhere in-between the forgotten and the foreseen." That's true. It's a world you might never want to leave.
Middle of Nowhere is absolutely poetic.
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at www.DwightBrownInk.com. ]]>Movie Review: Lee Daniel's Latest - The Paperboy( *1/2)tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19370502012-10-05T12:21:34-04:002012-12-05T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/Precious) has enlisted and army of A-list actors in his screen adaptation of The Paperboy, Pete Dexter's Deep South Florida bayou crime novel. Daniels should personally thank David Oyelowo, Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron. Their performances give this crude, misguided and deranged Cat on a Hot Tin Roof-wannabe a few redeeming qualities.
In 1969, Miami Times reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) returns to his rural, swamp-laden Florida hometown to investigate the case of death-row inmate Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) who's been convicted of murdering a racist sheriff. Jansen brings an arrogant colleague with him, Yardley Acheman (Oyelowo), whose haughty English accent and off-putting manner ruffles the feathers of Jansen's stepmom, dad and adolescent brother Jack (Efron). Even their maid Anita (Macy Gray) is uneasy. The journalists team up with Charlotte Bless (Kidman), a nymphomaniac who is in love with the prisoner, and they pool their talents to uncover the truth about the murder.
A provocative premise set in a volatile time period, the heart of the civil rights movement when race relations in the rural south were explosive. Daniels co-wrote the screenplay, a demonic, absurdist and cartoonish cocktail that's overflowing with eccentric characters. The first mistake is dispensing too much of the plotline through a narrator's voiceover. The second mistake is making Macy Gray the storyteller. Fine pop/soul singer. Amateurish, affected performance. She stumbles through her monologues blindly like a drunk in a dark bar searching for the bathroom. Oh, and then there's the odd scene in which Nicole Kidman urinates on Zac Efron on a beach after a jellyfish has stung him. Her first aid saves his life, but it's an image that could make you lose your lunch.
Characters abound, but it's difficult to bond with any of them. It's tough to make an emotional connection with the pushy journalists, ungrateful younger brother, serial lover or the maid who is almost incoherent.
Daniels, who ingeniously created a perfect, homogenous tone with Precious, can't find his directorial bearings. There's Southern Gothic (Tennessee Williams). Outlandish comedy (John Waters, Hairspray). Shocking sexuality (Russ Meyer, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!). Homo eroticism (Pedro Almodóvar, Law of Desire). Noirish brooding (David Lynch, Mulholland Drive). Gruesome violence (Sam Peckinpah, Straw Dogs). Racist rants and degradation (Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction). It's as if Daniels has thrown a potpourri of directing styles up against a wall and hoped one would stick. None do.
Roberto Schaefer's (Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball) cinematography makes the footage look like it comes from a 1970s porn film. It's grainy and everything looks dingy. Editor Joe Klotz's (Precious) snail-like pacing makes the 107-minute length grind on and on. Exacerbating the pace are the torturous moments of gratuitous racial humiliation that seem to fester in slow motion: Jack calls Anita the "N" word. She's the woman who raised him and yet, he debases her. Why? If you look for a reason, you will scratch your head bald. The eclectic musical soundtrack neither helps nor hinders, though hearing the very esoteric, but very hip 1976 Labelle song Man in a Trenchcoat, with Nona Hendryx screaming the chorus, "Taboo Voodoo..." is ultra cool.
If the opening credits didn't list Nicole Kidman, you'd have no idea she was in the movie. She hides perfectly in her blonde sexpot character. Oyelowo struggles to find the right temperament in his snobbish role, but eventually he does. Credit a novice like Efron and a veteran like Cusack for taking on difficult characters and making them plausible. McConaughey, as a closeted, masochist scribe, is enigmatic at best, but he holds your attention.
It's puzzling why an African American director would choose this unsettling project in the first place; his fans will be perplexed. All that went right in his previous film -- a simple storyline, a vulnerable compelling protagonist, clear antagonists and obstacles and a consistent tone -- has gone awry in this sour, bitter-tasting mint julep. But if Daniels could create Precious, he's likely got another good film in him somewhere. One can only hope.
This post has been updated to indicate that David Lynch was the director of the film Mullholland Drive.
]]>Toronto's Lights Are Brightest Downtowntag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.18955972012-09-20T07:00:00-04:002012-11-20T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/ Downtown Has a Heartbeat
Put on your walking shoes and the fun begins. The 1,815 feet-high communications and observation CN Tower defines Toronto's skyline; it's a beacon for the Financial District. This section of town bustles with banks, corporate headquarters, accounting firms, insurance companies and stockbrokers. For $175 you can get tethered to the tower and walk around the edge of the roof of the CN Tower's restaurant (alumnae of the walk are called EdgeWalkers) and gaze down with wonderment at the thousands of workers pounding the pavement. They look like ants.
Toronto's vibrant Theater District is reminiscent of New York's Time Square, without the overly dense, manic crowds. Checkout top plays and musicals at modern or historic venues: Death of a Salesman (Until Oct. 6) at Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Ln; La Cage Aux Folles (Oct. 10 to Nov. 18) at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King St W; Sister Act (Oct. 2 to Nov. 4) at Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria St; Bloodless (Oct. 16 to Nov. 4) at the Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge St; Miss Caledonia (Oct. 16 to Nov. 25) at the Tarragan Theatre - Extra Space, 30 Bridgman Ave; and WarHorse (now until Nov. 4) at the Princess Of Wales Theatre, 300 King St W.
Get Cultured
For a cultural tour trek to Chinatown near Spadina Ave. to try out the Bright Pearl Seafood Restaurant (Jumbo Shrimp, Peking Duck and Dim Sum); party like there's no tomorrow on Chinese New Year and wear read for good luck. On Tuesday's until Oct. 28, head to the Riverdale Farmer's Market (201 Winchester St.) in the Cabbagetown neighborhood for fresh beaked bread, crafts, organically raised meat and fresh vegetables and to mingle with locals. Walk around Kensington Market (67 Kensington Ave.) on Pedestrian Sundays and shop for vintage clothes and furniture. The Distillery District mirrors New York's SoHo or Chelsea neighborhoods with its brick-lined streets, restored Victorian Industrial buildings (the oldest in North America), galleries, boutiques, and restaurants all centered around the Gooderham and Worts Distillery, which first produced whiskey back in 1837.
And if you have a sweet tooth, hang out with Tasty Tours, and take a food tour that specializes in sweets; on walking excursions you'll explore Toronto neighborhoods and sample chocolates, churros and other delicacies from local stores while learning about the district and its gastronomic history. Other attractions of note: Royal Ontario Museum; Art Gallery of Ontario, Bata Shoe Museum, Casa Loma, and Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art.
Festivals Galore Beckon
The annual, star-studded Toronto International Film Festival®, headquartered at the TIFF Bell Lighbox building (350 King St W), is the city's crown jewel. It attracts the industry's top directors (Brian De Palma, Mira Nair, Paul Thomas Anderson), international actors (Halle Berry, Gael Garcia Bernal, Ziyi Zhang, Robert DeNiro), chic parties (e.g. Producer's Ball, thrown by HGTV's Property Brothers, Canadian identical twin brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott) and audience loving films: In 2012, the winner of the TIFF Blackberry People's Choice Award, the festival's highest honor and voted on by festivalgoers, was David O. Russell's endearing, eccentric comedy Silver Linings Playbook. The award often starts its winners on a road to a Best Picture Oscar (e.g. The King's Speech). TIFF, under the guidance of Artistic Director Cameron Bailey, is just one of many exciting Toronto fests:
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport sits just off a dock at the beginning of Bathhurst St., in the Harbourfront District. (A direct flight to Billy Bishop cuts out a 35-minute commute from the Toronto Pearson International Airport to city center.) Free ferry service takes you on a five-minute ride to the airport where Toronto HeliTours offers 10-minute sky-high rides that give you an eagle's panorama of the city. The helicopter lifts off like a feather before it hovers around the downtown area and swirls around CN Tower and the Rogers Centre stadium (home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team). Bring a camera and you can catch a shot of the EdgeWalkers on CN Tower. (And no, you can't hear their screams for help above the sound of the copter's rotors.) The ride is a real treat, a perfect present for the kids or to surprise a loved one.
As the chopper returns, you'll get gorgeous views of the Toronto Islands, the largest urban car-free community in North America and perhaps Toronto's best geographical treasure. This 570-acre string of small isles sits about two miles off shore, in Lake Ontario. Canadian geese, deer and mink roam wild on the national park land. Take a sightseeing boat ride to these fun islands where residents and tourists alike dine at outdoor cafes, sunbathe, ride rented bikes ($7 per hour), or take it all off at the nude beach.
Restaurants Flourish
You can debate the entire night whether the seafood or the steak is better at The Shore Club (155 Wellington St. West), perhaps Toronto's ritziest dining experience, but you'll have to do some sampling to enter the fray: The Dungeness Crab Cakes, Scallop & Prawn Ceviche with cilantro citrus marinade and Lobster Bisque (Atlantic lobster, finished with sherry) will sway you one way; the Double-Cut Lamb Chops, Bone-In Rib Steak and Braised Short Ribs will point you in another direction.
At Ki Modern Japanese + Bar (181 Bay St.), you can take your pick of 50 high-quality sakés (culled from fermented rice). The astute Saké Sommelier, Michael Tremblay, can help you make the right choice; perhaps it's the Izumi 'Nama-Nama' Junmai Nama (made in Toronto, Canada); it's unpasteurized, fresh, bold and fruity with a hint of nuttiness. Sip before you bite into Ki's famed sushi dish: Tempura Butterfish (Alaskan king crab, salmon, butterfish, avocado, cucumber and flying fish roe deep fried in tempura). For the main course zero in on the Half Rack of Smoked Baby Back Pork Ribs which are marinated in Kasu (rice sediment from the saké-making process) and dabbed with Ki barbeque sauce. Cap the night off with Pear Cake.
For French cuisine Marcel's and Le Saint Tropez (315 King St. West) serves Escargots (in garlic cream and white wine) for a tasty appetizer and Coquilles Saint Jacques (seared sea scallops in a saffron velouté) for dinner. The Italian food at Il Fornello (214 King St. West) is famed around the city for its Antipasto Plate and Steak & Gnocchi (8 oz. New York strip loin served with gnocchi del giorno).
Shopping and Self-indulgence for the Chic Set
Bloor Avenue runs 16 miles through the city and is the divider between downtown and midtown. The stretch between Avenue Road and Yonge Street is known as "Mink Mile," and the nearby vicinity has been dubbed "Yorkville." It's in the same vein as L.A.'s Rodeo Drive, New York's Fifth/Madison Avenues and Miami's Bal Harbour. Try Tiffany's (85 Bloor St West) for gold, silver and precious stones; Herman-Sellers-Gough Furs (87 Avenue Rd.) for shearlings and mink coats; and Vera Wang (38 Avenue Rd) for the perfect wedding dress. Add in Hugo Boss, Porsche Design, Prada, Louis Vuitton and it's enough to give your credit cards heartburn.
To replenish your body and soul, stop in at Novo Spa (66 Avenue Rd.) and enjoy its unique Steam Bed Body Therapies: Start with a soft scrub massage, then have your body covered with warmed mud while steam released from the treatment bed enhances healing properties. Then enjoy a scalp, foot and aromatherapy massage. After you've nourished the body, refresh the face. Gee Beauty (2 Roxborough St. West) offers makeup and skincare beauty treatments for women and facials specifically created for men in an ultra-classy venue. No matter how you enter, you will leave looking like a million!
A Room With a View
The iconic 1,377-room Sheraton Center Toronto (123 Queen St. West), a CAA/AAA Four Diamond hotel, is in the heart of the Theater and Financial Districts. The city's tallest hotel, with jaw-dropping vistas, is conveniently connected to PATH, a 16-mile underground network of shops and services. On the third floor you'll find the Sheraton Fitness Programmed By Core Performance, a fully equipped gym. Soak in a Jacuzzi, lay in the sun and then take a relaxing swim in Toronto's largest, year-round, indoor/outdoor-heated pool. At the newly renovated lobby restaurant BnB (Burgers and Bistro), cuddle up to a Pickle Brinetini Martini (Gin or Vodka with pickle brine, squeeze of lime, sprinkle of salt) and snack on Crusty Pulled Pork Rolls with Roasted tomato salsa or Flame Grilled Beef Sliders. The Club Lounge on the 43rd floor offers breakfast and amazing views of City Hall and the downtown skyline.
There's so much to do. People and sites to see. Festivals, cuisine, culture, shopping, adventure... Everything's waiting for you, in Toronto's downtown.
]]>Black Films, Actors and Directors Enliven 2012 Toronto International Film Festivaltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.18889522012-09-17T18:08:53-04:002012-11-17T05:12:01-05:00Dwight Brownhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dwight-brown/ Feature Films
Cloud Atlas (**1/2) Only deft filmmakers like Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix) would even attempt a screen adaptation of a complicated, multiple-narrative, multi-time period novel (by David Mitchell) set on various continents. The theme relays a noble, sometimes pedantic left-wing viewpoint. A mid-nineteenth, century slavery-era Pacific Ocean voyage; a 1931 Belgian musician's love life; a 1975 murder at a California nuclear plant; an English gangster story; and post-apocalyptic Hawaii. Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Keith David and David Gyasi (Red Tails) head a cast that interprets a visually stunning but over-ambitious epic.
Disconnect (**1/2) There's no debate in this thought-provoking somewhat provocative film that the Internet, Facebook and Twitter dehumanize and desensitize us and the repercussions can be devastating. Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), Jason Bateman, and Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) along with director Henry Alex Rubin (Murderball) explore lives that are affected by this modern estrangement in semi-engaging vignettes that are sometimes prophetic.
End of Watch (**) Writer David Ayer (Training Day) turned director shapes the daily lives of two L.A. cops characters well and works wonders with their smart-mouthed, quick-witted repartee giving lead actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña (Tower Heist) a large canvas to paint their personas. The narrative, regarding a drug cartel that seeks revenge on the policemen, however, gets progressively weaker. Violence escalates, but it can't camouflage what's missing--originality and depth. Everton Lawrence portrays a very convincing street thug.
Middle of Nowhere (****) The heart of a young woman (sultry newcomer Emayatzy Corinealdi) is torn between her imprisoned, indifferent husband (Omari Hardwick, Sparkle) and a nurturing, attentive bus driver (David Oyelowo, Red Tails). Director Ava DuVernay weaves this compelling, romantic, urban L.A. drama with threads of innocence, anger, love and devotion. The triad is as combustible as the young woman's relationship with her overbearing mother (Lorraine Toussaint, TV's Friday Night Lights). Par excellent directing, acting and writing. Absolutely poetic.
The Paperboy (*1/2) Lee Daniels' (Precious...) direction takes an awkward John Waters-type (Hairspray) turn in this embarrassing noir-ish, comedy/drama/erotic/thriller. A Miami Times reporter (Matthew McConaughey) returns to his swamp-laden hometown to investigate a death-row inmate (John Cusack) convicted for the murder of a racist sheriff. Nice set-up, an awful execution stymied by unsettling tonal shifts, ultra violence and degradation. David Oyelowo as a fellow reporter, Zac Efron as a younger brother and Nicole Kidman as a nymphomaniac turn in convincing performances. Macy Gray is badly miscast as the maid, the pivotal narrator. Ugh!
The Place Beyond the Pines (**) Style over substance. Violence over reason. A motorcycle stunt rider (Ryan Gosling) robs banks to provide for his estranged girlfriend (Eva Mendes) and child. His disdain for his baby momma's new lover (Mahershala Ali, HBO's Treme) and a fated confrontation with an ambitious cop (Bradley Cooper) change everyone's lives. Director/co-writer Derek Cianfrance, though a gifted visual artist, may be a one-trick director. This movie has the same brooding and heavy-handed, brutal feel as his Blue Valentine, but with more preposterous moments.
The Sapphires (**) Four teenage Australian Aboriginal girls, led by their eldest sister (Deborah Mailman) perform as a singing group for US troops in Vietnam, 1968. Based on a true story, and written by the son (Keith Thompson) of one of the young ladies. Poignant story, very superficial delivery. Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids) plays the white, Berry Gordyish road manager. The views of racism seem way too trite for a real life story where race and prejudice were probably serious as a heart attack. Director Wayne Blair has a TV sitcom background, and unfortunately it shows.
Silver Linings Playbook (***/12) He's barely left a forced stay in mental institution, and a former teacher (Bradley Cooper) is back to stalking his ex-wife. Damn the restraining order! The hardheaded son refuses to take suggestions from Mom (Jacki Weaver) or dad (Robert DeNiro) but accepts some coaching from a buddy (Chris Tucker). Can a quirky, flirtatious woman (Jennifer Lawrence) save the day? Writer/director David O. Russell (The Boxer) turns a ho-hum premise into a compelling, heartwarming, laugh-out-loud comedy. Near perfect ensemble acting.
Smashed (**1/2) They're married to each other ... and alcohol. She (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) hits rock bottom and seeks sobriety. He (Aaron Paul, TV's Breaking Bad) is jealous, but won't go along for the ride. Her AA buddy (Octavia Spence, The Help) plants seeds of encouragement. A very sobering look at alcoholism that will make you drop your martini. James Ponsoldt directs and co-writes (with Susan Burke) a cautionary tale for this generation.
Documentaries
The Central Park Five (****) Veteran documentarians Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon investigate the rush-to-judgment "Central Park Jogger" rape case that led to the wrongful conviction of five black and Latino teenagers in the volatile 1980s. The kids, 14 to 16 years old, took the stand, but the irresponsible media, police, New York politicians (Mayor Ed Koch) and celebrities (Donald Trump) are on trial in this explosive doc. Compelling interviews with the accused teens, now freed adults, make this one of this decade's best documentaries.
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (*** 1/2) The life and times of noted intellectual, academic and civil rights crusader Angela Davis is thoroughly investigated in this comprehensive documentary. Her trail for murder and weapons possession gets the most play. In the end her struggle for black power becomes a struggle for all political prisoners. Archival footage, photos, newspaper headlines and dialogues with Davis herself depict a personal drama of historic proportions.
Reincarnated (**) Snoop Dogg heads to Jamaica, immerses himself in Rastafarian culture and emerges with a more positive self-image and a new persona, "Snoop Lion." This revealing doc chronicles Snoop's chameleon career as he shifts record labels, dodges assassinations and raises a family. Is this for real? Or is this a phase? (He once flirted with being a Black Muslim). Don't dwell on the obvious. Enjoy the rap/reggae metamorphosis that sends Mr. Lion in a new direction. Cheesy, cheap-looking cinematography, but a refreshing film.
Venus and Serena (***) They have transformed the world of tennis and women's sports into a marketing juggernaut. Now we get the back story and personal lives of Venus and Serena Williams in a very intimate documentary. Near-death experiences, murder, debilitating disease, triumphs and letdowns. It's all on view thanks to the prying lens of documentary filmmakers and journalists Maiken Baird and Michelle Major. The best scene is a clip in which their father, Richard, angrily confronts a TV commentator who questions a pre-teen Venus' confidence. He's Papa Bear, hear him roar! Enligtening and inspiring.
This year, the winner of the 2012 TIFF Blackberry People's Choice Award, the festival's highest honor, which is determined by festivalgoers, was Silver Lining Playbook. The award is often a harbinger for Oscar success so stayed tuned, as the Oscar race gets under way.
For more information about the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival go to: www.tiff.net/thefestival