Netflix And Chill: Straw (2025)

Taraji P. Henson is someone I really like. She's a fantastic acting talent, and I keep wishing that she would get more roles fully deserving of her talent. I decided to be optimistic when I saw Straw being advertised. Written and directed by Tyler Perry, it looked to be a film in need of the right person strong enough to carry the weight of it all on their shoulders. Henson is able to carry that weight, but it's not easy when Perry continues to add to her load.

Henson plays Janiyah Wiltkinson, a single mother having a really bad day. She's struggling to pay the bills, including her rent, struggling to maintain a decent quality of life for her sick daughter (who needs medication for a condition that leads to her having seizures), and struggling to keep hold of her job, where she's ruled over by a tyrannical asshole named Richard (Glynn Turman). Things go from bad to worse when Janiyah tries to get her latest paycheck from her boss, one that she needs to cash immediately at a local bank, and it's not long until police are involved when people mistakenly assume that Janiyah has plans to rob the bank.

Whatever you think of his films, and I've not been the biggest fan of the few that I've seen, it's hard not to admire the massive success that Tyler Perry has had. He makes films for a large audience of people who have largely been ill-served by the mainstream movie business, and he knows the details and specific cultural touches that will resonate with black American viewers. Others are welcome though, and there's plenty in Straw that anyone can identify with, whether it's the constant struggle to remain financially solvent or the pain that comes from working under a power-hungry little dictator. There's a hint of Falling Down about this, as well as a hint of Dog Day Afternoon, and a dash of The Negotiator, which should be a description that lets you know whether or not you will enjoy it at all. 

Henson is superb in the main role, even while asked to keep her performance at an eleven and repeat certain phrases like a mantra as her character becomes more and more bewildered by the situation she finds herself in. Sherri Shepherd lends great support in the role of Nicole, the bank manager who wants the whole situation to end peacefully for everyone involved. Teyana Taylor and Mike Merrill are a good pair of police officers, the former strongly identifying with the difficulties that Henson's character has faced, Anthony E. Williams has a small, but vital, role as a very bad police officer, and Turman spends every moment of his screentime making himself as thoroughly unpleasant as possible. There are many others in the cast (including Sinbad, Ashley Versher, Rockmond Dunbar, Diva Tyler, and Shalèt Monique), and it's also good to see that Perry can work hard to put together convincing numbers when our lead is in a busy public area or surrounded by crowds.

There are some negatives here though, and I don't want to give the impression that I loved this. I liked it, although even liking it was tricky on a few occasions. It's hard to watch something that is so unrelentingly overwrought for most of the runtime, and it's hard to accept an important plot point that is highlighted towards the end of the film in a way that makes you realise that Perry has been slightly cheating us. As much as I knew how things would turn out by the very end of the film, one bit of deliberate obfuscation was sorely disappointing for how much it felt like what it was: an easy way to add emotional weight to the last act. Things also aren't helped by the fact that our lead spends so much time being unaware of how everything could be viewed by others that it makes her seem wilfully ignorant.

Still . . . it's Henson. In a lead role that at least makes some use of her formidable talent. That may not be enough to keep some viewers pleased, but I was happy enough. 

6/10

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A Madea Christmas (2013)

In the interests of full disclosure I have to start this review by saying that this was my first Madea movie. I checked with a friend to find out if I could/should view this one without having seen any of the others and was given the okay (cheers Kieran). And I WILL check out other Madea movies. Not because this one was fantastic - it wasn't - but because I am now fascinated with seeing how Tyler Perry puts his creation into different scenarios.

Having first appeared in a number of stage plays (about half of which have since been adapted into movies), Madea is an elderly African American woman with a hellish attitude, brutal honesty, and the ability to overreact to many minor incidents while staying calm in the face of more emotional moments. This is what I have gleaned from one film anyway. And she is played by Tyler Perry.

Now that we both know a bit about the character, let's move on to the plot of the film. Madea ends up heading along with Eileen (Anna Maria Horsford) to visit Eileen's daughter, Lacey (Tika Sumpter). Lacey has to hide the fact that she is married to a lovely young white man (Conner, played by Eric Lively), pretending that he is her helper, and is also facing trouble at the school she works at, struggling to help fund local Christmas celebrations that will allow the kids to shine. One of those kids is extremely bright, much to the delight of his mother (Alicia Witt), although his father (Chad Michael Murray) has more immediate concerns about his farmland and struggle to make ends meet. Oh, and Conner's parents (Larry The Cable Guy and Kathy Najimy) are about to visit.

Yes, that was me trying to be brief with the plot description there, but there's a lot more to mention. The character played by Chad Michael Murray spent many years bullying the character played by Eric Lively. The funding for the local festivities comes with a number of strings attached. There's a random Ku Klux Klan meeting gag. And so much more.

Although I have no other experience with this character, or these plays and movies, A Madea Christmas gives me the distinct impression that Tyler Perry likes to stir plenty into the pot, all the while having his female creation ready to take centre stage whenever necessary. She doesn't necessarily solve any, or all, problems but she enables others to find their own solutions. And she does this by cutting through any bullshit, in between scenes that have her either throwing her weight around and cussing or spouting some tiresome homely wisdom.

The acting ranges from soap opera levels (Murray and Horsford can't overcome the poor writing) to the genuinely good (Perry, despite the broad comedy of the character he plays, is great in the lead role, and other very good turns come from Sumpter, Lively, Mr Cable Guy, Najimy, and Witt), and the direction is solid, if deliberately leaving aside any flash and sizzle in favour of simple camerawork and scene set-ups.

The big problem here is the script, veering between comedy to earnest drama back to comedy again like some drunk driver heading along an empty four-lane stretch of highway while searching for the packet of cigarettes he just dropped under his seat. One or two moments work while mixing the two - particularly a revelation and clearing of the air scene in the third act - but most make you feel as if you're watching two different movies that were dropped en route to the editing department and then just spliced together into one ill-judged hybrid.

So there you go. Feel free to take this review with a pinch of salt. And whenever I see my next Madea movie I can find out if my initial impressions were correct, or if her character is better suited to some of the other adventures that Tyler Perry has created for her.

5/10

Here you go, my American friends, buy it here. We have a lot less available to us here in the UK, which may not be a bad thing.

Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl is a good film. At times it's a very good film. It also turns out to be the weakest one yet from director David Fincher. It's as if the opportunity to direct this came along when he wanted to coast slightly, matching his style and meticulous craftmanship to material that never really seems to deserve it. This is, let's be honest here, daytime TV movie stuff, given some added spice and edge to make it more of a talking point.

Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, the husband who goes home one day to find that his wife (Amy, played by Rosamund Pike) has gone. He calls in the police, and soon finds that he is the main subject of their investigation. As the evidence starts to pile up against him, Nick begins his own investigation. And he starts to suspect that perhaps he didn't really know his wife at all.

Written by Gillian Flynn, adapting her novel for the big screen, this is a film that seems to think it's always one step ahead of the viewer. It's not. Yes, there are one or two moments that will wrong-foot those wondering whether they are watching a real version of events, or something created by either of the main characters, but even those moments are easy to dismiss if you pay close enough attention to what's going on. There are a couple of BIG shocks, I guess, but even those are so heavily signposted that their impact is sorely muted.

Thankfully, none of the weaknesses in the source material cause any problems for the cast. Pike and Affleck deliver two fantastic performances, with the former able to enjoy a real variety of roles (depending on how she is being viewed by others) and the latter making the best use yet of that certain smug quality his detractors often accuse him of having. I've never had a problem with Affleck, but even those who tend to dislike what they view as his persona may end up liking his turn here, seeing him turn on charm for the sake of cameras and crowds while constantly having a large finger of suspicion pointed in his direction. Kim Dickens is great as the cop determined to crack the case, and Patrick Fugit tries his best alongside her, despite the fact that he seems trapped in a state of perpetual adolescence. Carrie Coon is the twin sister of Affleck's character, and very good she is in her role, Tyler Perry impresses as a hotshot lawyer willing to act in defence of a man who is starting to look guilty as sin, Neil Patrick Harris is an ex-lover who may or may not have information, and both Sela Ward and Missi Pyle have fun playing two TV celebrities, both with differing approaches but the same aim.

There's also the bonus of having Fincher at the helm, even if he IS on auto-pilot (or so it seems). The cool colour palette, the music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the slow and steady camerawork, the pitch-black humour. I seem to spend half of my time saying that familiarity breeds contempt with the other half of my time appearing to be a bloody hypocrite when I say that familiarity can often be an easy, comforting layer used in movies. This movie falls in to the latter camp.

It's not often that a film can overcome weak source material. This one manages it. But there's only so much that can be done, which is why it ends up being merely a good film, as opposed to a great one.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Girl-Blu-ray-Tyler-Perry/dp/B00Q5996EQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1419685676&sr=1-2&keywords=gone+girl