Powder Blue (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Everyone has their problems. This we are constantly reminded of in Timothy Linh Bui's latest film, Powder Blue. Linh Bui, who both wrote and directed this film, is a newcomer to mainstream film, having previously directed one feature-length film, 2001's Green Dragon.
Powder Blue is the story of a pivotal week in the life of four individuals struggling to keep their lives together. Charlie (Forest Whitaker) is an ex-priest battling suicidal tendencies due to the anguish of losing his wife. Jack (Ray Liotta) is a recently released hit man who recently found out about the cancer in his body. Qwerty (Eddie Redmayne) is an awkward, twenty-something mortician whose asthma acts up when he tries to talk to women. And Rose Johnny (Jessica Biel) is a stripper trying to pay the medical bills of her comatose son. Each is hurting immensely. Each is looking for some glimmer of hope.
This is a strange film in terms of the press that it has been getting. The overwhelming majority of articles and news surrounding this project have narrowly focused on the fact that Jessica Biel has a small handful of topless scenes. In fact, one online site boldly proclaims, "this film is always going to be known for one thing -- Jessica Biel was topless in it." Many other sites which have written pieces on this movie have uniformly dubbed Powder Blue "the Jessica Biel Stripper Movie." Commentary on the hyper-sexualized yet stuck in a 15-year-old boy's body nature of American culture aside, this film is much more than a stripper movie and will hopefully be remembered as a good piece of art, rather than the fact that one of the actors shows some skin.
The core of this film is the nature of love. What is love? How do we find it? What happens when we lose it? Everyone has their problems, but no one should have to face them alone. The characters understand this and each has a deep sense of the need for relationships, they just don't quite know how to pursue real and lasting love. Instead, their pursuit is initially selfish, built on what they themselves can get out of feeling loved and fulfilled in hopes that their problems will all go away. So Qwerty attends functions in hopes of getting a date. Jack attempts to restore and build a relationship with his daughter out of the guilt of never being there for her. Rose Johnny throws herself at men looking for someone to not only financially provide for her and her son, but also to treat her and love her as a woman rather than a piece of meat on a stage. And Charlie, the most desperate of the lot, cries out for help to anyone he can find, propositioning them to end his life for him in exchange for $50,000.
Each must discover, however, that honest love can only be so if both parties give of themselves to each other. Each of these characters must be willing to be vulnerable, to let others see the hurt and struggles that they are going through, and then be willing to let others help them and love them in ways that they never imagined anyone could. But again, this is a two-way street, and they must also be willing to do the same for others, allowing them to be vulnerable as well and to work with them through the pains and trials of life. It's only after each of the characters realize this that they are able to see glimmers of hope and redemption in their otherwise shattered lives.
Powder Blue is a fascinating film. Linh Bui has captured something very real and true about life, a feat which most of Hollywood either avoids or fails miserably at. He shows that life isn't a fairytale, hope doesn't come easily, and, again, everyone has problems. However, he also shows that there is true love out there, that there is hope and redemption even if such comes through the pain and hardships that each of us face in life, if we will only allow others in and allow others to help us through whatever it is we are going through, and be willing to do the same when the chance presents itself.
It is this writer's hope that this is what Powder Blue will be remembered for.

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On the gritty streets of LA, the destinies of four people desperate for connection and redemption are about to collide. Jessica Biel, Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker and Eddie Redmayne lead a top-notch cast in this powerful thriller about an overwhelmed erotic dancer, a grieving husband who has lost his will to live, a terminally ill ex-con and a pathologically shy mortician. With Kris Kristofferson, Lisa Kudrow and Patrick Swayze in unforgettable supporting roles, this film movingly chronicles the imperfect lives of people teetering on the edge of despair and the miracles that bring them back.Stills from Powder Blue (Click for larger image)

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Bitch Slap (Unrated) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Oh yes, "Bitch Slap" is everything you think it is. Girls. Guns. Catfights. Explosions. Lesbian romances. A story of bad guys, booty, alliances, betrayals, and secrets. It's being billed as, "a post-modern, thinking man's throwback to the B movie/exploitation films of the 1950s - 70s," but the truth is it gives us little to think about, and I'm hard pressed to say that it reexamines modern assumptions of culture, identity, and language. It does, however, open with a Joseph Conrad quote: "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." We see the word "men" and automatically think it's a blatant anti-male message. But by the end of the film, it's made abundantly clear that women are just capable of being wicked. Equality through evil. Funny.
This movie is irredeemably enjoyable, preposterous in both its story and its characters yet magnetic as a satire disguised as a schlocky male fantasy. It tells the story of three bad girls, all smoking hot, who find themselves in a plot to extort diamonds and weapons from an underworld kingpin, whose identity is a secret. The redhead is Hel, presumably short for Helen (Erin Cummings); she seems to be the leader of the group, tough but levelheaded, able to see the big picture and plan accordingly. The blonde is Camero (America Olivo), an oversexed hothead who's on medication. She's one of those people that hates everyone and is mad about everything, and has the dialogue to prove it. The brunette is a stripper named Trixie (Julia Voth), always upset, always overwhelmed, always wanting to play by the rules.
Every opportunity is taken to flaunt their feminine assets, and boy, do they have them - a basic shot is a slow-motion close-up of heaving breasts and deep cleavage, although some time is set aside for bare legs. There's never a moment when they aren't wearing high heels or don't have makeup painted on their faces. And then there are times when they pause to do a little manual labor, such as digging in the middle of the desert. My, but it's burning hot, and ... is that a bucket of water sitting there? Maybe they should splash each other playfully in order to stay cool. Things will heat back up later on, when Trixie and Hel discover that their feelings for one another are deeper than they first imagined. That's about when the situation goes completely out of control. Loyalties change. Identities are revealed. People get shot. Things blow up. And did I mention the catfights?
Intertwined with this is a ridiculous but somehow appropriate subplot about a notorious criminal known only as Pinky, never dealt with directly and never seen but fabled to be the most dangerous criminal mastermind who ever lived. When Trixie innocently brings up the subject, Hel and Camero speak in the same tones as someone telling a ghost story around a campfire. "Many believe Pinky's a phantom," says Camero. "Others think he sold his soul to the devil. I think he IS the devil." Maybe so; a flashback sequence shows a silhouetted figure going nuts with what appear to be samurai swords, used to decapitate people left and right. Do we ever discover what Pinky looks like? With such gorgeous women displayed on the big screen, can you honestly say that you care?
When this movie is not going out of its way to be sexy, then it's being incredibly goofy. Take Olivo, for example; the angrier she gets, the funnier she becomes, not only because she spews unbelievably inane profanity, but also because her character is the most aggressive. And just wait until you hear of her tryst with a sideshow contortionist. Let's also consider the director, Rick Jacobson; he's currently at work on the new "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" television series and has been involved with "She Spies," "Cleopatra 2525," "Batwatch," "La Femme Nikita," "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," and "Xena: Warrior Princess." The last two are noteworthy because Kevin Sorbo, Lucy Lawless, and Renée O'Connor all have cameos in "Bitch Slap." Or maybe they aren't noteworthy at all. Whatever.
This movie is, essentially, a cross between an erotic photo shoot and a silly crime caper, one that has been fed into a low-tech special effects mill. And I suppose that's why I had fun watching it. While I ultimately have no good reason for recommending it, you have to admit, there is something infectious about a movie that actively tries to be bad. I'm reminded of an often repeated Pauline Kael quote: "Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash, we have very little reason to be interested in them." "Bitch Slap" is, indeed, great trash, projected up on the screen in all its violent, foulmouthed, double-D glory. Fellas, this is your lucky day.

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A modern throwback to the "B" movie exploitation films of the 50's-70's, mixing beautiful women, fast cars, big guns, nasty tongues, outrageous action, and jaw-dropping eye candy. The movie follows three bad girls, a down-and-out stripper, a drug running killer, and a corporate power broker as they arrive at a remote desert hideaway to extort massive booty from an underworld kingpin.

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Welcome to the Rileys (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)WELCOME TO THE RILEYS is a little sign on the garage doors of Doug and Lois Riley in Indianapolis, Indiana. It also serves as the title of this fine little film written by Ken Hixon and directed by Jake Scott that examines how the loss of a 15-year-old daughter Emily in an automobile accident has resulted in the crumbling of the parent's marriage and relationship. Doug (James Gandolfini) has an affair with younger waitress Vivian (Eisa Davis) while Lois (Melissa Leo) becomes so isolated in her agoraphobic state and psychotropic mediations that she is no longer available to Doug. A crisis occurs when Vivian dies in cardiac arrest and in Doug's honest grief he visits her grave only to find that Lois has unilaterally purchased a headstone with Doug's and Lois' names on it beside the grave of their departed Emily, a fact that enrages Doug.
Doug goes to New Orleans on a convention and there encounters stripper/prostitute Mallory (Kristen Stewart), a 16 year old unkempt, foul mouthed runaway from Florida: Mallory sees the kind Doug as a john but Doug's interest is in her plight, not her business offerings. Doug obviously responds to Mallory as though she were his lost daughter, moving into her filthy apartment, trying to improve her view of life. Doug phones Lois that he is going to stay in New Orleans a while, a message that gives Lois the courage to actually leave her home and drive to New Orleans: during Lois' somewhat comedic trip she stops for food and a strange man comes on to her - something that awakens her self esteem before she reaches New Orleans. Once Lois arrives at her destination she is proud of overcoming her agoraphobia and Doug is happy to see the healing Lois. Together they stay with Mallory, facing the fact that for both of them Mallory represents the chance to restore their love for the daughter they've lost. How the three cope is the remaining of the film.
The three leads offer polished performances - some of the finest work we have seen from both Gandolfini and Leo who together make this film better than the sum of its parts. Kristen Stewart immerses herself in Mallory and though she still remains a rather monochromatic actress, this role offers her the ability to stretch her acting chops: she is convincing as the victim of the dregs of society and makes us care about a character who seems to have few redeeming qualities. This trio of actors plays well as a small ensemble and the result is a film that has been far too overlooked by the general public. Recommended. Grady Harp, February 11

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Studio: Sony Pictures Home EntRelease Date: 02/01/2011Run time: 110 minutesRating: R

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