Isiah Whitlock Jr. – People Talking

Movie Review – ‘Cocaine Bear’ – “Exit, pursued by a bore”

Oh, boy.

I’m so sorry, Ray.

I’m so sorry that Cocaine Bear is your first big screen posthumous release (although I guess I’m glad it’s not your last?).

And I’m particularly sorry that the movie ends on a title card that says “In Loving Memory of Ray Liotta.”

You deserve so much better…

Anyway, Cocaine Bear, the new “based” “on” “a” “true” “story” feature film (it did make the Times, to be fair; although there aren’t enough quotation marks in the world for this “adaptation”) from writer Jimmy Warden and director Elizabeth Banks (neither of whom I’m eager to see in those roles ever again) is not especially humorous, horrifying, or heartwarming, despite attempting to be all three in a roughly ninety-minute span.

To be fair, I did laugh out loud a few times, so I can’t say that Cocaine Bear is a comedy that never tickled my funny bone, but… I also just saw Munich for the first time the other night, and I’m pretty sure I laughed out loud more during that movie, which, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Munich, but, it is decidedly not a comedy.

Look, making a film is many things, but one very important aspect is making creative choices and committing to them.

This is supposed to be a period piece, right? It’s supposed to take place in 1985?

They got things like the vehicles right, and I guess the music, and, for the most part, the clothes, but none of the characters act like they’re in the 1980s (all the news footage and PSAs in the world can’t convince me otherwise). They just act like characters in a crappy contemporary comedy. You could have moved this story up to 2022 and it would barely (bear-ly?) affect the final product.

And, I’m sorry, but if you can find me a uniform (not undercover) cop in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1985 who ever looked like this… I’ll buy you a delicatessen, in stainless steel!

Another failing, and I can’t pinpoint it specifically, because I don’t know what was in the screenplay nor what scenes were actually shot, but the movie sometimes feels like there was a two-hour version that got cut down with no logic behind the decision-making. Not so much that the film is incomprehensible, but more that, rather than cutting down one particular subplot to reduce the runtime, it seems like they cut pieces from every subplot, leaving the movie feeling more than a little underbaked.

And, finally, I’m always squeamish about criticizing performances, because, by-and-large, actors simply do whatever directors demand of them, and then the editing process can make-or-break performances even more so, but, if the best performance in your movie filled with professional actors comes from a social media star (in the best sequence in the movie, to be honest), that’s probably not a great sign.

Overall, I wouldn’t say I hated Cocaine Bear. Like I said, it did make me laugh a few times, but it’s just such a missed opportunity across the board. It actually could have been really funny, or scary, or heartwarming, or any combination of the three, but, in the end, it’s just a damp squib.

Sorry, Ray.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

P.S.
If you’re looking for an underseen movie with Ray Liotta that’s actually good, I can’t recommend The Iceman highly enough.

Cocaine Bear (2023)
Directed by Elizabeth Banks
Written by Jimmy Warden
Cast: Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Alden Ehrenreich, Christian Convery, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Aaron Holliday, J.B. Moore, Leo Hanna, Matthew Rhys, Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Ayoola Smart, Kahyun Kim, Scott Seiss
Soundtrack: Mark Mothersbaugh

Twofer Movie Review – ‘Summer of 84’ and ‘BlacKkKlansman’ – Kickin’ it Old School

Directed by François Simard, Anouk Whissell, & Yoann-Karl Whissell (aka RKSS)
Written by Matt Leslie & Stephen J. Smith
Cast: Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, Cory Gruter-Andrew, Tiera Skovbye, Rich Sommer, Jason Gray-Stanford, Shauna Johannesen, J. Alex Brinson, Harrison Houde, Mark Brandon, Susie Castillo, William MacDonald
Soundtrack: Jean-Philippe Bernier & Jean-Nicolas Leupi (aka Le Matos)

I’m not exactly sure what got the ball rolling on this whole Eighties pop culture revival (maybe Super 8?), Stranger Things being the most prominent example, but the film-making trio of RKSS had one of the first loud shots across the bow with 2015’s Turbo Kid, and three years later they’re making noise again with Summer of 84.

I was cautiously optimistic heading into this one, excited for what it could be but also prepared for a possible let down; but then the movie started, and I loved it, and I loved it, and I loved it. I actually thought to myself, “I’m going to give this five stars; it’s that amazing,” not to mention it combines elements of two of my favorite Eighties light horror pieces, Silver Bullet and The ‘burbs.

Then, the last ten minutes happened.

I won’t reveal anything specific, but I will say that it was enough to knock a full star rating off of what could have been a nearly perfect film.

The crux of the problem is that I’m fine with many different kinds of endings, be they happy, sad, bittersweet, ambiguous, or a complete tonal shift, but, no matter what, they need to feel earned. For example, as much as I enjoy Near Dark as one of the best vampire movies out there, it has a happy ending that I don’t really buy, because it’s inconsistent with the rest of the film in terms of what’s been set up and the overall journey we’ve already been on.

In the case of Summer of 84, I’m not sure who to blame. Perhaps the writers for writing it or the directors for not executing it in a way that feels right, or perhaps it’s just a “lost in translation” thing, I don’t know, but I think they could have gotten their point across in a way that’s not a complete betrayal for the audience (at least in my opinion; others will no doubt feel differently).

Still though, I don’t want to totally sandbag a movie I very much enjoyed and appreciated. All-in-all it’s a tight script, the kids have a surprising amount of individual ability and collective chemistry, and there aren’t many moments where it betrays that fact that it’s a Canadian production. And, it’s got a killer synth soundtrack.

If you can find it at a local theater, I highly recommend giving it a whirl. If not, it’ll be on-demand soon enough, but, either way, it’s worthy of your support.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Directed by Spike Lee
Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, based on the book by Ron Stallworth
Cast: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Corey Hawkins, Jasper Pääkkönen, Paul Walter Hauser, Ryan Eggold, Ashlie Atkinson, Robert John Burke, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Alec Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Craig muMs Grant, Arthur J. Nascarella, Ken Garito, Frederick Weller, Michael Buscemi, Nicholas Turturro
Soundtrack: Terence Blanchard

Truth be told, I haven’t seen very much of Spike Lee’s work, and what little I have seen I’ve found mostly to be frustrating and tedious (dear Lord, save me from Clockers), but I’m almost always willing to set the past aside if something looks promising enough, which brings us to BlacKkKlansman.

Based on an extraordinary true life tale, BlacKkKlansman is the story of Ron Stallworth, the first Black officer and detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, who, despite his skin color, managed to infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

I have not read the book, so I can’t confirm or deny the authenticity of the film (it seems movied-up, just a bit; though for all I know it could be a case of reality being crazier than fiction, a la Hacksaw Ridge), but nevertheless the story is its main strength, along the with the performances, particularly from John David Washington and Adam Driver. Even Topher Grace showed me a nice little range I didn’t know he had in him (I still can’t figure out why Nic Turturro is in the movie though, and if you see it you’ll know what I mean).

Because of this, I will go as far as to say that the movie works in spite of Spike Lee’s direction, not because of it. I understand he wants to be directly confrontational to make his message clear, but in my opinion the way it’s structured is to the detriment of the overall film (I mean, come on, Dear White People handled its business better, and that was from a first time writer/director).

Still, there’s a lot to appreciate, just not enough for me to give it a full theatrical recommendation.

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

P.S.
Even though I don’t know why he was in the film (other than being a friend of Spike Lee), it did make me happy to see Nic Turturro and Frederick Weller in the same movie, as twenty-five years ago they played Al Capone and Eliot Ness in Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues. Nobody cares about this but me, I know. Deal with it.

Movie Review – ‘Pete’s Dragon’ – Summer Magic

Directed by David Lowery
Written by David Lowery & Toby Halbrooks (screenplay), based on a screenplay by Malcolm Marmorstein, based on a story by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field
Cast: Oakes Fegley, Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oona Laurence, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Isiah Whitlock Jr., John Kassir (Elliot vocals)
Soundtrack: Daniel Hart

Apparently, I missed the memo notifying us that 2016 would be such a great year for family films shot in New Zealand.

First came ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople‘, and now we have ‘Pete’s Dragon’, although no one would accuse them of being the same movie (though there are a few similarities). Whereas ‘Wilderpeople’ is something of an oddball Kiwi comedy, ‘Pete’s Dragon’ is a classic “Disney movie” Disney movie (and, though shot in New Zealand, takes place in the Pacific Northwest).

Now, you may recall another Disney movie called ‘Pete’s Dragon‘ from 1977, a live-action/animated musical film, which, while fascinating in its own regard, is not-so-secretly creepy. While comparisons are fair because they share the same name and are based on the same story, the old doesn’t really provide much context for the new. The most striking difference is that this new version is not a musical, but also the setting is updated (though still a period piece, somewhere in the late 1980s, I assume), and pretty much everyone outside of the boy and his dragon is a brand new character, not to mention the new dragon is basically a giant dog with wings (which I’m totally fine with).

In short, it’s not a “remake” so much as a re-imagining, but enough talk about the past.

‘Pete’s Dragon’ is a labor of love from writer/director David Lowery (in his big budget/major studio debut), and is the heartwarming tale of an orphaned boy named Pete and his dragon friend named Elliot. For six years, they have lived freely in the woods, until one fateful day, Pete makes contact with the outside world, and their lives, and the lives of everyone they meet, change forever.

Flat out, I really enjoyed this movie. The set-up is perfectly done (it could have easily been distasteful), the dragon is great, the story tugs at your heartstrings, everyone in the cast is giving their all, and, perhaps most importantly, the kid actors are on point, especially Oakes Fegley as Pete. I don’t know where he came from, but I’d say he’s going places, because he did an incredible job, especially given that he plays so much against a CGI character.

Now, that’s not to say the movie doesn’t have flaws, because I do have some criticisms. For one thing, there are some relationships between characters that could be more firmly established for the audience, namely brothers Jack and Gavin (Wes Bentley and Karl Urban), and there also comes a point where Gavin decides to take certain action and his motivation doesn’t feel all that fleshed-out. Perhaps there were scenes explaining all of this that were shot that just didn’t make it into the final cut, or maybe they were never in the script to begin with, but, either way, the movie could have used them.

Also, the story, at least for grown-ups, is a bit predictable. About half-way through you can see all the strands and where they’re likely headed toward, but, the movie is charming enough that you can forgive this.

All-in-all, ‘Pete’s Dragon’ is a feel-good movie for the whole family, but I think there’s some general audience appeal as well. It’s adventurous, it’s heartwarming, and, if you let it, it might just take you back to your childhood, when your imagination was less hindered.

Rating: ★★★★☆