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Frankly My Dear...

    Frankly My Dear...

    Movie Review: Thunder Soul

    Posted: 24 Sep 2011 04:21 AM PDT

    Houston’s Kashmere High School was an all-black institution in the less-than-affluent Fifth Ward of the city that benefited from the presence of one dedicated, visionary and inspiring teacher.

    He taught music and ran the stage band, which fused jazz and the emerging funk of the late ’60s and early ’70s to create a legendary sound that lifted the band, the school and the entire student body to the heights of musical and academic glory.

    “Thunder Soul” was their sound, and “Thunder Soul” is the name of the winning documentary about Conrad O. Johnson and the students — they all called him “Prof” — he impacted during his decades on the job. It’s an uplifting and entertaining film about that music — rediscovered by DJs and music producers, decades later — and the kids who embraced the music and used that experience to launch the rest of their lives.

    “He could see the future inside of us,” one remembers.

    Johnson was not a young man by the time his glory days arrived. He’d been teaching kids jazz and inspiring them to higher ambitions for decades before he, through them, discovered James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire and funk. In vintage TV interviews, Johnson recalls composing and arranging pieces in that vein, which his students dove into and further funked up with a lively, bouncy, dance-in-their-seats showmanship.

    Kashmere kids dominated competitions and toured the world. The film remembers those days, and follows a reunion concert arranged to relive that glory and to celebrate Johnson, a lively 92 when “Thunder Soul” was filmed.  Former students recall the era — hot on the heels of the Civil Rights movement, in the middle of Women’s Liberation (“A girl playing trombone? You never saw that!”). And they recall the teacher.

    “He set incredibly high goals.” “He taught me how to be a man.” “That band was going to take me somewhere some day.”

    One serious omission in the film — identifying what these seemingly prosperous alumni of the band do for a living and did with their lives. If you figure, in the period in question — maybe 200 members went through Kashmere’s stage band, with 30-40 of them showing up to perform in the reunion concert, and the film makes claims that members went on to be “doctors, lawyers,” etc., why not show some examples? No, the many shots of concertmaster Craig Baldwin’s BMW don’t cover that.

    Nothing would buttress the movie’s subtext — that one inspiring teacher, and that music education itself — can make a difference, raise expectations, improve the quality of life and build success — than a few simple graphics — “Class of ‘77, Doctor, Taos, New Mexico,” and the like.

    MPAA Rating: PG for brief language and momentary historical smoking

    Cast: Conrad O. “Prof” Johnson,alumni of the Kashmere Stage Band

    Credits: Directed byMark Landsman, produced by Jamie Foxx.  A Roadside Attractions release. Running time: 1:23

    Sunday’s Interview: Hugh Jackman

    Posted: 24 Sep 2011 04:21 AM PDT

    He’s about to do a quick run on Broadway.

    He is about to star in the long-awaited film of the stage musical “Les Miserables.”

    There’s always Wolverine news of some sort.

    And Hugh Jackman’s “Real Steel” is about to hit theaters.

    Got questions for Hugh? Looking for suggestions. Post them as comments below. Thanks!

    ‘Moneyball,’ ‘Lion King’ and ‘Dolphin’ are neck and neck at the box office

    Posted: 24 Sep 2011 04:04 AM PDT

    “Moneyball” had a big enough Friday to suggest a “low 20s” take at the box office this weekend. The $23 million predictions by many seem to be right on the, um, money. A baseball movie that opens that big has to be due to Brad Pitt.

    And whatever you want to say about Steven Soderbergh’s summary dismissal from directing the film a few years back, owing to the costs his version was going to rack up, Sony’s move is now looking like a smart one. Bennett Miller’s more modestly budgeted film will make money (baseball movies don’t travel overseas well). Barely. Soderbergh’s “Contagion” will out earn it by a far piece ($75-85 million, by the time it’s done).

    “Dolphin Tale” opened on a school day, which means that it’s Friday take doesn’t extrapolate to exactly how it will do the whole weekend. Variety is thinking upper teens to right around $20 million. But Saturday will tell. I still think it will win the weekend.

    “The Lion King in 3D” is holding up very well, probably draining just a hint of audience from “Dolphin Tale,” and could pull another $20 million this weekend. Disney may want to reconsider its limited two week release window on that one. It comes out on BluRay in early October, so probably not. Still, box office may end up covering the cost of the 3D conversion. Betcha “Beauty and the Beast” is next.

    “Abduction,” “Killer Elite” and “Contagion” will all tally in the $9-12 million range and probably finish in that order.

    EXCLUSIVE: Director Marc Forster on ‘World War Z’ and zombie mania

    Posted: 23 Sep 2011 10:30 AM PDT

    Marc Forster helped Halle Berry win her Oscar and Daniel Craig put his stamp on James Bond.

    His new film is “Machine Gun Preacher,” a biography of Sam Childers and his exploits in trying to save children under threat or murder, torture and kidnapping in Sudan and Uganda, his orphanage and the lengths he has gone to (combat) in order to keep those children safe.

    But when I chatted with him about that, I caught him on the way from the set of his latest, the film of the zombie apocalypse novel “World War Z.” Brad Pitt and Bryan Cranston are the stars of this December 2012 release. It promises to be the capstone to a recent onslaught of zombie pictures — from “28 Days Later” to “Zombieland.” Orlando even has its own Zombietoberfest coming up.

    What’s up with our need to see and shoot the walking dead, Marc?

    “It's like in the '70s, when zombies were very popular. There was a lot of change happening in the world. George A. Romero made his movies something of a comment on commercialism and consumerism. Right now, the world is in turmoil again. Tremendous change. Social and economic change, villains unpunished at every turn.

    “That's why the zombies are back. There is no better metaphor for the dark side of human nature than zombies.”

    Movie Preview: ‘Justice’

    Posted: 23 Sep 2011 06:42 AM PDT

    Now wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute.

    A Nic Cage thriller that isn’t sci-fi junk/supernatural silly?

    And actually looks pretty good?

    I don’t know what I can believe in any more, up is down, right is wrong, Cage is in a(possibly) good genre picture.

    Guy Pearce co-stars in “Justice,” which is about a vigilante society that does a favor for you, so you have to do a favor (with a gun) for them. January Jones plays Cage’s character’s wife. Not sure if and when it opens in the US, but check it out.

    A new book — ‘John Huston: Courage and Art’

    Posted: 23 Sep 2011 05:29 AM PDT

    John Huston, the late director of “The Maltese Falcon,” “The African Queen,” “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “Prizzi’s Honor” and “The Dead,” hasn’t inspired a lot of scholarship over the years. The last book length piece on him that I can recall was his autobiography, “Open Book,” which was illuminating but full of his spin on things, as you might expect.

    That’s why I’m thoroughly enjoying Jeffrey Meyers’ new Huston bio, “Courage and Art.” Like me, Meyers sees this guy are terribly under-rated, a real character of swagger, bravado, cruelty and genius. And Meyers’ argument is the one you apply to Hemingway (Meyers’ favorite comparison, and apparently Huston’s model for living the artist’s life), John Wayne, Chanel, Picasso or Polanski.

    Separate the art from the artist.

    Because as he details in his book about Huston, the guy was a thorough cad when it came to women, a short-attention span bungler on too many of his films (the ones he lost interest in are legion) and a mean SOB who bullied and tormented more than a few leading men and leading ladies, most famously, Montgomery Clift on the set of “Freud.” (pictured)

    But Meyers gives us a new appreciation for Huston’s particular style — formed by his painting and boxing background, his love of literature and the somewhat spoiled way he grew up, a child of a broken marriage, the son of a famous actor (Walter Huston) who gave him money and screenwriting and directing breaks when it mattered.

    It’s a terrific, revealing read — all these exes talking about JH, Bacall and Bogie and screenwriting collaborators, the feuds, the fights (Errol Flynn, most famously). There’s his role during the Hollywood Witch hunt (noble), his patience with Marilyn Monroe on “The Misfits,” (a very different take from a Strasberg book I read some years back), his attempts to kill Gregory Peck on “Moby Dick.”

    If you’ve ever loved reading about “the stuff that dreams are made of,” “Courage and Art” is well-worth picking up. There will be more great film titles mentioned here than in most any filmmaker bio you can think of — “The Man Who Would Be King,” “Reflections in a Golden Eye,” “Fat City,” “Wise Blood,” heck — even a lot of the trash (“Key Largo,” “Roots of Heaven,” “Victory”) sings.

    “John Huston: Courage and Art” hits your bookstore (what few there are of them still standing) on Sept. 27.