Till (2022)

I am not sure why I have recently decided to put myself through the emotional wringer. I think it just happens during the time of year that is labelled “awards season”, forcing me to go out of my way to watch movies that I hope will be worthwhile, even as I worry about feeling drained by the time the end credits roll.

As much as I like to avoid spoilers, Till is based on a real incident that eventually, decades later, led to the creation of a law named after young Emmet Till. So I am going to specify that incident. Now. Here is your last chance to look away, if you have so far remained unaware of the case of Emmett Till.

Emmett Till was an African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched for offending a Whyte woman in Mississippi. He was fourteen years old. It was sadly obvious from the outset that the jury would vote one way when the case went to court, but that didn’t stop Emmett’s mother from campaigning for change, for some good to come out of the horrendous murder of her baby boy.

Directed by Chinonye Chukwu, who is someone new to me (although I really want to see her previous feature, Clemency), this is a film that uses a factual event to underline how dangerous and unwelcoming many parts of the USA can be to black people. It may be a period piece, but seeing how slowly anything changes, and seeing parallels in the news today to show how many things have stayed the same, makes it horribly relevant. It is a potent reminder of how the imbalance in modern society has been set up over decades and centuries of prejudice and abuse.

Chukwu also worked on the script, alongside Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp (the latter having also directed a documentary on Emmett Till back in 2005), and the focus stays on the death of Emmett, and the subsequent court case. That’s a smart move, allowing viewers to see the butterfly effect of Emmett’s death, and providing a valuable opportunity to show the real courage of those who decided to speak up in the face of overwhelming odds, and risking their own lives to do so.

The cast all do their bit to elevate the material, and I will now be keeping my eyes peeled for whatever a couple of them do next. Jalynn Hall is as lovely as he needs to be in the role of young Emmett, his more childish moments all the more poignant while we await his fate. Whoopi Goldberg does good work in the role of a caring grandmother, and Frankie Faison, Sean Patrick Thomas, Tosin Cole, and John Douglas Thompson are a number of different men who play varyingly important roles in the life of Emmett and/or his mother. Haley Bennett is the woman who claims that young Emmett mistreated her, and she is duly viewed as a major villain by those who know the truth of the matter. I have omitted one notable name, and that is Danielle Deadwyler, in the role of Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. Deadwyler is consistently great here, often remaining composed, determined, and mindful of the perception of onlookers while others start to have doubts about the path they are set on. There’s one display of grief here that is heart-wrenching, and it is that moment that made me determined to watch more work from Deadwyler, who gives the kind of powerful performance that should affect everyone who sees it.

Till works exactly how it is supposed to work, and I think that is at least partly tied to the fact that it presupposes viewers having knowledge of how things play out. Highly recommended, and it should be mandatory viewing for idiots who say “all lives matter”, conveniently forgetting the slavery, abuse, legal wranglings, and deaths that brought us to the here and now.

8/10

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The Grudge (2020)

Here we are with another take on The Grudge, a movie series that has been going on now, in some incarnation, for about twenty years. I have loved most of the movies in the series, from those I have seen, and hoped for the best from this, despite hearing some pretty scathing reviews. Sadly, it's a whole big pile of nothing.

Shown in the series-standard non-linear style, the basic story concerns a Detective Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough) and her young son, Burke (John J. Hansen) being affected by the cursed house. She is working with a Detective Goodman (Demián Bichir), who saw his partner (Detective Wilson, played by William Sadler) driven to madness by the house. There's also a tale of a young couple (John Cho and Betty Gilpin) going through some major horror, and an elderly couple (Lin Shaye and Frankie Faison) who show some terrible sights to someone visiting to discuss assisted suicide (Jacki Weaver).

Written and directed by Nicolas Pesce, The Grudge feels like a movie written by someone given a summary of the previous films, but no direct experience of them. There's no impressive atmosphere here, no consistency in the way scares are built, or delivered, and generally not much that makes it feel like a film in the series. The juggled chronology quickly becomes annoying, especially as it all leads to a finale that absolutely underwhelms.

Without intending to offend most of the people onscreen, the casting doesn't help. Riseborough is a particularly cold nominal lead, and her scenes with Bichir are quite abysmal. She fares better with Sadler,who is a definite highlight. The scenes involving Shaye, Faison, and Weaver are the best in the film, mainly due to their comforting familiarity, but both Cho and Gilpin are wasted in their story strand, as much for the sad inevitability of it all as for the lack of any solid scares.

Considering the films he has done before this, I am even struggling to figure out why anyone would think Pesce a good fit for the series. He seems to specialise in mood and strangeness, which may have been marked in his favour, while The Grudge does best when full of palpable dread, punctuated by major shocks.

And, as lame as this may sound, this take on the material also underuses some other strengths, namely some fantastic audio and visuals that have given fans goosebumps for years.

Very disappointing. You would be better going back to revisit the many other interpretations, sequels, and tangents that the series has had since the start.

3/10

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Down To Earth (2001)

Chris Rock stars in this remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, a film already revisited a couple of times before this outing, with sadly underwhelming results. The material has some added jokes about race, and creates potential for some bigger laughs by making the main character a struggling stand-up comic, but it ends up falling flat far more often than it succeeds.

Rock is Lance Barton, a young, funny guy who just can't seem to transfer that humour to his stage act. Yet he keeps trying. His main venue is going to be closing soon, which makes him desperate for one last shot to win over the audience there. Unfortunately, his plans are thrown into disarray when he's hit by a truck. It's all a big mistake, which an angel named Keyes (Eugene Levy) only realises when Lance is already in heaven. While they try to resolve the situation, Lance is offered a "loaner" body by King (Chazz Palminteri), another heavenly being who seems to be in charge. That body ends up being one that belonged to a wealthy, white businessman named Charles Wellington, III (Brian Rhodes). Lance has to use the body to pursue his quest for a spot at the upcoming stand-up event, while avoiding the dangerous scheming of Wellington's wife (Jennifer Coolidge), and his assistant (Greg Germann). And things become more complicated when he falls in love with Sontee Jenkins (Regina King), who hates him.

Down To Earth is a very frustrating film to watch. You can see moments when it might be able to step up a notch or two, when it could let Chris Rock rant and make the most of his power as a comedian. Sadly, those moments do nothing more than get close to something good before sinking back down to mediocrity.

The cast includes some great performers, especially in the supporting roles. Levy and Palminteri are both great fun as the angels trying to correct a terrible mistake, Coolidge does well with her usual mix of ditzy and wannabe-sexy, and Germann works very well alongside her. Mark Addy does okay as a perplexed butler, while Wanda Sykes steals a couple of scenes as a housekeeper who does very little to hide her disdain for her employer. Even John Cho raises a smile or two, despite his role amounting to little more than a cameo. Regina King is easy to like, and Frankie Faison is very likable as the manager who continues to see the best in Lance. The weakest link, unfortunately, is Rock. He seems neutered, at best, and just stilted and awkward, for the most part.

Directors Chris and Paul Weitz don't seem to put in any effort at all, while the script (co-written by about four people, including Rock and Louis C.K.) reeks of similar laziness during the many moments that aren't comedic. The love story angle just never feels real, despite the efforts that everyone goes to in order to make viewers forget that Regina King is supposed to be enjoying time with an elderly, white businessman.

It's actually a shame that this was such a missed opportunity, a star vehicle created around someone who never seemed comfortable as a leading man. I love Chris Rock, but I don't think his style and energy work when being forced into a package like this. Thankfully, we can always revisit him in the greatness that is Osmosis Jones.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Down-Earth-Chris-Rock/dp/B00005JH9O/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1406542627&sr=1-2&keywords=down+to+earth