Director:Marshall Curry
Cast: Cory Booker, Sharpe James
Release: February 22, 2006 (Limited)
Synopsis: Follows the bare-knuckles race for mayor of Newark NJ, between Cory Booker, a 32-year old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law School grad, and Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent twice his age. An urban David and Goliath story, the film chronicles Booker’s struggle against the city’s political machine.

Prognosis: Positive. I’m disillusioned with our political system as it is today.

Be it covert, secret initiatives that our president declares are in our best interest or the tub thumping our other elected officials do on a daily basis to show that their rhetoric is strong while being unable to do anything meaningful with their positions I just don’t believe in paying attention to words as I am to actions. One person last year, though, representing the city of Chicago in the Senate, Barack Obama, gave me hope that there are still reasons to believe in this convoluted system of ours. I like that his fiery spirit and words have been cashed in full with his follow-throughs to the people he represents. I’d like to believe there are more out there like him and I see this film as a chance to see whether there are.

This trailer is wonderful, right out of the gate. There isn’t any bullcrap narration setting things up for us all gingerly and such, no sir. We open with the meat of this story, mere split seconds, before we even have a chance to breathe. You’ve got a geezer who wants to keep his tenured political position to himself and you’ve got a young upstart who sees that fresh blood might be what’s needed to stir the passions of those in the community he wants to serve.

I’m floored by how much information you gain just by watching things unfold. The narrator lets us know that the position these men are vying for is won or lost in the streets in which they’re both trying to blanket with their faces and their speeches.

I didn’t really get a sense of who seems to be favored or who I wanted to win, the shots used are equally kind, until you get the old guy who likes his cushy gig turning to one of the cameras and gets a little ornery. I would go so far as to say his peeps try and start some shit with the documentary filmmakers.

You think you’re watching the paparazzi trying to get a shot of another nip slip by Lindsey Lohan as these big meaty fingers glom on to the dude’s camera and a verbal battle of a “let go you bastard” and “why don’t you make me, chump” ensues. I’m floored at the prospect of a fairly pleasant tale of these two dudes turning into a true Royal Rumble on the streets of Newark.

I thought politicians were all effete with their Dan Quayle-style hairdos that make them look better suited for playing tennis at “The Club” than they are with getting physical but I guess I’m wrong. We’ve got ourselves a Saturday Night ticket here, folks.

I think if I have any contention with this swiftly paced trailer it would be that we’ve got almost a quarter of the run time for this thing burned at the end with a slowly progressing series of awards this movie has been up for. I think it’s great that it’s been nominated for so many things but, man, give me some more footage or something because all that space is being burned away when you could be impressing me more with what this thing has to offer.

Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Heather Kafka, Dameon Clarke, Rory Cochrane, Jack Cruz
Release: July 7th, 2006
Synopsis: ”A Scanner Darkly” is set in suburban Orange County, California in a future where America has lost the war on drugs. When one reluctant undercover cop is ordered to start spying on his friends, he is launched on a paranoid journey into the absurd, where identities and loyalties are impossible to decode.

Prognosis: Positive. Even better than the old thing.

One of the things that intrigued me about the first trailer for A SCANNER DARKLY is that its presentation was captivating. It was so many months ago when I first had a chance to feel what was going on in this movie and, unlike teasers that need to find their “voice” before giving us a true trailer, this film gets more and more momentum with defining its threat to slam people’s minds.

I like that even though WAKING LIFE didn’t make quite the dent I hoped it would on cinema Linklater sees the potential in fostering this brand of moviemaking. It is at the same time strange and malleable even though we can’t get a grip as to what dimension this movie exists in.

This trailer grabs your consciousness and it is due to two moments within the first 15 seconds of film: the first noteworthy happening is Keanu’s introduction; it seems wildly animated, not real, and it seems like we’re watching a so-so cartoon. The next moment is the appearance of a completely anonymous person who seems to be in various states of shifting as he walks across a room; the effect is jarring if for only a moment. Something is afoot here and you can see how the passage of a few years and a script that lends itself better to the format of animated/photo realism than dudes just chatting about the meaning of love and life has done Richard well.

The next moment of Keanu’s friends just bull-shiating on a late evening at home is a comfortable one as it doesn’t try and show all the fantastic ways this movie is going to change before your eye. It’s weirdly humanizing for the players involved in this picture. The same sentiment can be said for Keanu’s ride in a car with some floozie that wants to do a little tequila shooters with our man Bill while his buddy’s very real or very hallucinogenic mind trip mixes in some very wild images.

Robert Downey seems perfect for a role that seems to command that he be a little on the wire, paranoid and completely sharp. I haven’t felt excited to see him really do anything as of late but his embodiment here as a revolutionary of sorts is really entertaining. Speaking of which, the music could not be better scored while taking all of this in; using M83 is not only hip but the tempo of the techno fits the source from where both of these visions have come from.

I think, if anything, Woody Harrelson’s and Winona Ryder embodiment isn’t as compelling as everyone else’s. I like that Robert and Keanu take this movie on their shoulders but the two tag-alongs here just feel like voices who are animating a cartoon; I either don’t believe them or their caricatures just come off as false.

Director: Asia Argento
Cast: Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Peter Fonda, Marilyn Manson
Release: March 10, 2006 (Limited)
Synopsis: “The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things” is based on JT Leroy’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name. The story is about Jeremiah, a child who is pulled from his foster home and thrown into a troubled life on the road with his teenage mother, Sarah. With Sarah, Jeremiah travels through the country roads of the U.S. and learns first hand about the troubles of the world. With an impressive cast including Oscar winner Peter Fonda (Easy Rider, Ulees Gold), Jeremy Renner (S.W.A.T), and Asia Argento (starred opposite Vin Diesel in XXX), The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things will be one of the most anticipated independent film projects of 2004.

Prognosis: Positive. The woman comes from a well-seasoned lineage, no question. If my scope of movies only included the one appearance of Asia Argento in XXX I might be alarmed by this movie being not only acted but written and directed by her. For someone who is only thirty years old she definitely commands respect for the work she has done outside the purview of bad Hollywood blockbusters that were just plain busted. Her pedigree is rich, indeed, and the quality of her parts, even though they can be debated here and there, has been well-ignored by the populace here in the states.

What I like, and appreciate, even before we begin to get into things is the disclaimer that’s run right before we see an inch of footage. That J.T. LeRoy was just a sham of an author, in this era of James Frey-ian level of subterfuge, the moviemakers are well served here in running the disclaimer about how the IT who wrote the initial story was, in fact, a lying cad who deserves all the literary ignominy usually reserved for people like Monica Lewinsky and their one trick antics. Far better writers are languishing in obscurity while this asshat makes a solid coin by making shit up. Why can’t Norton or Doubleday realize I can make shit up all day long?

Oh well, but it is a solidly well-executed PR move by sliding this whole explanation in about this low-level author’s conceit and deceit before the trailer begins. I was a little off-put by it at first but when the trailer eventually does begin I feel good in how I view the events that transpire.

You’ve got Asia to start off with. She’s off-the-wall insane, a drug addict perhaps, as she tears a room apart with Guns N’ Rose-ian aplomb and she’s about to inherit her son. Now, the kid is the narrator here. I’m willing to overlook the kid’s well reasoned and insightful commentary about the events that lead to his eventual custodial turn-over to this crazy woman, as the only thing on my mind at 5 was when the Bozo Show was coming on, but you’ve got a true sense of directorial style going on. It’s nice. Even though Asia is as punk and white trash as you could possibly make a woman there is a feeling of reality that I really enjoy being expressed though this picture.

Sure, things get a little awkward when our narrator takes a beating from an adult, abuse is never easy to watch, but it’s nice to see that it’s offered up here for us to partake in. Other, less worthy directors, go for the silhouette shot of something bad happening to a kid or a completely sanitized, after the fact, kind of moment but not here.

We see that our young child’s life is filled with dealing with the fact his mother’s a sleazy ho and that when he does look happy it is at a moment when his mom has dressed him up in girl’s clothing, curled his hair and has applied makeup to his face. Recipe for psychiatric care later on if you ask me but since we’ve ultimately discovered this is all fiction it’s all good in the context of this moment.

The descent this film takes after this moment is riveting if nothing else.

The kid discovers, clandestinely, his mother is a stripper and a whore, he has Peter Fonda smacking the crap out of him as well, he’s got real oddballs for friends (who didn’t sniff this out for the fiction it was in the first place?) and he has a lot of issues that will need a lot of resolving my film’s end.

I think what clinched it for me was the moment when mother and son are huddled together, head to head, Asia affecting a really good cry, and the son says that he’ll protect her. If this was a sitcom I would be puking but, again, seeing the execution of the material here I am floored by the energy that is packed into this little movie. I honestly will forgive Asia for XXX if the end result is a movie that makes me believe in this mother/son combo.

Director: Brett Ratner
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Shawn Ashmore, Daniel Cudmore, Alan Cumming, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Kelsey Grammer
Release: May 26, 2006
Synopsis: In X-Men: The Last Stand, the final chapter in the X-Men motion picture trilogy, a “cure” for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier (Stewart), who preaches tolerance, and Magneto (McKellen), who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test — triggering the war to end all wars.

Prognosis: I’m going, to be sure, but do I have faith? It’s waning. To paraphrase Mark Harmon from SUMMER SCHOOL, I’m a good sport, I’ll play along.

I that if you’re going to talk smack and break bad on a movie that hasn’t come out yet it’s in poor form to do so without any substantiating facts or reference points. Yes, Bryan Singer inherited a lot of Internet crosstalk about whether or not he would succeed at bringing a project that was languishing in Development Hell for a long time but he directed THE USUAL SUSPECTS, a flick that garnered two Oscar wins. He more than gained my confidence because of that movie’s staying power and prowess as a solid made movie. Brett Ratner, in contrast, has given us Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. There are differences between these two directors, to be sure, but I want to objectively break down what we have here in the newest X-MEN trailer creation. An argument cannot hold weight unless there is a foundation beneath it and I hope to prove why I am still dismayed at the prospect of this movie’s release.

To open, we’ve got our man Bill Duke, the best reason why PREDATOR is great is simply for his annunciation of the words “turn around” before taking out a scorpion on Apollo Creed, talking about what needs to be done, ostensibly, about the whole mutant thing. The tension that’s created is good and you’ve got a satisfactory establishment of the conflict that’s brewing between these two races. And, if you listen real close, the president’s voice sounds awfully close to the dude who delivers the lines about the “Lexus sales event” on television every now and then.

We’re then treated to an exterior shot of a convoy packed with SUV’s and one tractor/trailer holding Mystique; the black sheen on that big bad boy reminds me of that wicked show Highwayman. The lilting operatic music playing in the background has me confused, though. Is this an action movie or a drama? The slow, wandering pace of the trailer starts to get to me and even when we get Magneto delivering a speech that should stoke fear falls a little flat. The camera is far enough back that his words seem to be diminutive and without much fire.

Bobby getting his swerve-on with a young co-ed at Xavier’s only twists my confusion to another level. If this an action movie, not a drama or romance, then why are we spending time here? It’s just a personal feeling of mine that if this wants to be a tent pole for Fox then they’re not exactly firing on all pistons; hell, the peeps over at Paramount for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 at least gets this one right.

Before things fade to black we get Magneto on a close-up and I scream at the screen because this is what’s needed for Magneto to seem like he means business in this one: he needs to fill up our field of vision. He commands attention but it’s not afforded to him. Shame.

Sure, we got Wolverine flexing his skillz but, crap, he’s doing it in slow…motion. How am I supposed to be amped about a berserker attack with all claws extended when he seems to be performing a pirouette? Answer: I’m not and I don’t. Dr. Crane shows up in all his blueness and I feel torn between thinking this is much better than last time and feeling that this still isn’t the best result for what could’ve been a better looking creation.

From here we just get a little of the same old, same old from the initial teaser: Magneto flipping cars, Warren Worthington unleashing his mighty man wings, the Dark Phoenix walking around in her skivvies, etc…

We get to see the evil mutants doing their evilness on the Golden Gate Bridge as you’ve got Vinnie Jones still looking like he has way more abs than he needs and one chick who’s channeling the power of one member from The Misfits of Science which ran on NBC in the 80’s, she looks like she favors the hairstyling of that era as well, and then you get whisked away to the Danger Room where we know no one is any immediate danger.

I want a goddamn action movie trailer and all I’m getting here is a Very Special Episode of The West Wing.

I finally get a morsel, a taste of the goods when we have our X-MEN, Colossus in organic steel mode, ready to throw down. Now while Kelsey appears to be flying in a wire, which he is, and the whole thing looks like it’s set on a robust soundstage, which it most likely is, this actually excites me as a fan.

I don’t know if it’s too little too late but I know that I’m still not ready to believe that the best decisions were made for this project. But, as it stands, this is all my opinion. I could be wrong; I hope I am.

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