'Lady Sings the Blues' and what might have been for black film

Re-watching Lady Sings the Blues, the excellent though apparently wildly inaccurate 1972 Billie Holiday biopic, is something of a bittersweet experience because it reminds me of what might have been when it comes to black cinema at the time.

The film, produced by Paramount, is bolstered by beautiful costumes, sets, music -- and a cast to die for. Diana Ross, against the odds, gives a riveting and very physically demanding performance as the drug addicted but soulful Holiday. Billy Dee Williams oozes sex appeal as her love interest (although the scripts calls for him to be uncomfortably patronizing at times) and Richard Pryor is heartbreaking as her loyal "Piano Man."

Along with the same year's black-themed Sounder, Lady Sings the Blues scored a handful of Oscar nominations (including a richly deserved one for Ross) and seemed to be indicating a renaissance of classy, thoughtful black movies.

Unfortunately, though, most of the decade was swamped with blaxploitation, which aside from some brilliant sidekicks and the occasionally iconic movie (Pam Grier's Coffy, for instance) -- were largely a waste of their stars' talents and now only serve to provide kitsch value.

The black filmmaking boom that Lady Sings the Blues signaled didn't really come into fruition until the late 1980s and the movie stars, for the most part, never lived up to their potential either. Ross followed up her galvanizing performance here with the campy Mahogany and the cult hit The Wiz, whose most ardent defenders must admit she was miscast for. Williams, of course, gave an iconic performance as Lando Calrissian in two blockbuster Star Wars sequels, but his career post-Lady Sings the Blues was sadly more misses than hits.

Billy Dee Williams' memorable megawatt smile

Pryor showed in this film, and later in 1978's classic Blue Collar, that he could be a really compelling dramatic actor if he wanted to be, but he largely stuck to broad comedic roles. And although he struck gold in at least two of his pairings with the great Gene Wilder, his movie career was largely middle of the road.

Motown, the music studio, came to Hollywood as Williams once put it, "not to make black movies but to make movies with black stars," but sadly, the financial failure of The Wiz prematurely ended that dream in the late '70s.

Still, there is much to look back on with awe. Lady Sings the Blues is romantic melodrama at its finest. While Ross has never been hailed as a supreme vocalist, she brilliantly approximates Holiday's unique singing voice and the music always serves as a deep commentary on the story. And her chemistry with Williams is undeniable.

The scene where she gets booed for not accepting tips in a nightclub (in a crude manner that I won't spoil here) and he offers her his money in kindness with the smooth as silk line: "Do you want my arm to fall off?" -- followed by a buoyant rendition of "Them There Eyes" -- is one of my favorite sequences in any film, period.

Diana Ross as Billie Holiday

The movie also does an incredibly effective job of portraying drug abuse. Scenes of people strung out can feel very artificial if they're not done right. Here, Ross does a phenomenal but subtle job of conveying the varied stages of addiction. Her large expressive eyes are in particular used to great effect as is her incredibly petite frame.

Also, the film does not shy away from race. Holiday endures segregation and encounters with the Ku Klux Klan. She is repeatedly rejected for more inferior singers who happen to be white. And she seems perpetually doomed even when her career appears to be on an upswing. That's part of why the final shot of Williams watching her perform at Carnegie Hall is so powerful. His expression of joy gives way to a sense of wariness. It's only a matter of time until she falls again.

Don't let that downbeat tone dissuade you from seeing the movie though. It's one of the great musical biographies of all time and evidence of what black cinema can be when it's realized at its finest.

'Boogie Nights': 10 reasons it's one of the best films of 1990s

Last night I did a revisit with P.T. Anderson's breakout film Boogie Nights because my girlfriend had never seen it.

I've always admired the movie for its ambition, brilliant performances and flawless editing but after viewing it with fresh eyes I'm convinced it's one of the best films of the 1990s.

Shockingly it wasn't even nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards in 1997, the year it came out. The safe (and I think forgettable) blockbuster Titanic triumphed that year instead.

Boogie Nights -- with complex and immaculately detailed plotting and character dynamics -- went 0 for 3. A travesty in my opinion.

Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore definitely should have won for their powerful portrayals of the patriarch and matriarch, respectively, of a kind of ersatz porn industry "family" -- but the movie is stacked with phenomenal acting from one of the most top-notch casts ever assembled. Here are 10 reasons why it's a masterpiece:

1) The soundtrack: Instead of just playing the perfunctory, obvious '70s songs that every period movie uses, Anderson digs deep with his selections and comes up with an incredible tapestry of moods and sounds that always accent the emotions or scenario, instead of distracting from it. The same thing goes for the costumes, they are appropriate but never silly.

2) The editing: Anderson's camera is so fluid here and there are some truly sublime single-take tracking shots that have to be seen to be believed. I never felt like he was showing off though; his flashy editing and dynamic staging always serves the story. That said, there are some of the most breathtaking cuts and pans in this movie that I've ever seen. It's a fast paced 2 and 1/2 hour film and the amount of information and emotion it's able to convey with a simple shot is awe inspiring.

3) The structure: The film is essentially two halves -- three years on either side of 1980 (the midpoint is marked with one of the most devastating moments of the movie). The years 1977 to 1980 are full of excitement as Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler makes his ascent in the adult film industry. The second half of this film is his character's (and most of the others') long slow descent into tragedy. There are occasionally titles which effectively put you in a place and time without manipulating how you feel.

Hoffman and Wahlberg in Boogie Nights

4) The cast: Speaking of Wahlberg. I can't say enough good things about his performance or the rest of the cast's contributions. With the exception of Reynolds, this was my first time getting real exposure to actors like John C. Reilly, Heather Graham (who is quite excellent here), Don Cheadle, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Wahlberg gives a very smart performance as a pretty dumb, callow character. Moore is heartbreaking as a woman estranged for her child who's trying to be a mother to everyone to make up for it. Meanwhile, Reynolds shows great depth and pathos as a porn director who wants to be taken seriously. And I haven't even mentioned William H. Macy yet...

Anderson is a great admirer of Robert Altman, and that really comes across here. It's a real ensemble film, where everyone has true character development and a chance to shine.

5) The story: Anderson had the guts to make a serious and yet unpretentious movie about the porn industry. He neither glorifies it nor vilifies it, which may be why more uptight critics 17 years ago didn't know how to feel about the film. And the porn stuff is just a part of the story. These are earnest working people trying to make a name for themselves, trying to feel wanted and special.

The film's wide array of characters and plots make the film feel like an all-encompassing statement of a time period that was both glamorous and incredibly naive -- the late '70s and early '80s. In doing so, it feels like one of those great epic films like The Godfather or Citizen Kane, which seem to be not just about their time but all times.

6) The films within the film: One of the great pleasures of Boogie Nights is the perfectly staged fake films within the film, such as the stilted porn movies with their inane names or the self-serving documentary starring Diggler which Moore's character puts together as a tribute to him. It's a master class in intentionally bad acting (John C. Reilly in particular is a genius at this) and also a great way to convey the sincerity, albeit misplaced, of the characters.

Moore and Wahlberg in Boogie Nights

These characters think they're making art, which makes their failures more pathetic, and more engaging.

7) The humor: The film has some terribly dark scenes and themes -- but the more troubling aspects of the film never prevent it from being wildly funny. Characters often say and do idiotic things but are totally oblivious to their absurdity, which is almost always ideal in comedy.

This is never more true than in the scenes featuring Reilly and Wahlberg trying to get their nascent music careers off the ground. Both actors bravely allow themselves to look ridiculous so that we can all enjoy "Feel My Heat" all the more.

8) The sex: There are horribly disturbing and uncomfortable sex scenes in Boogie Nights and there also genuinely erotic moments as well -- as there should be in a movie with this film's breadth and depth. This is one of the many wonders of the Moore performance. In one scene she's making love to Wahlberg's character in a porn film and yet treating him with the tenderness that a mother would her child. It's a surreal scene and yet she imbues it with so much realism.

9) The pure crazy: Even after all these years, Boogie Nights has not lost its ability to shock me. It's not just its matter-of-fact portrayal of porn films though, it's the sudden bursts of violence, plus the very plausible use of coked up characters. Take the much-talked about denouement that features Alfred Molina as a drug-addled dealer in a bathrobe singing along with his "awesome mix tape" as a young Asian boy randomly sets off fire crackers. In another film this scene would seem perfunctory and indulgent, but here it feels like a plot point too specific not to be true.

10) The ending: Despite plunging headlong into darkness -- Boogie Nights ends on a truly moving glimmer of hope. As Reynolds character glides throughout his inviting California home and touches base with all of the personalities we've come to know and love, there's a sense of familial bonds that can't and won't be broken. I am still on the fence about the very last shot. SPOILER ALERT: I have never felt like you needed to see Diggler's member, but there's a way to interpret it that serves the story, too. At the end of the day, that's all he is and that's all he has to offer to the world.

Ok, maybe the ending isn't so happy.

Chris Rock finally gets real with the uproarious 'Top Five'

Chris Rock and Rosario Dawson in Top Five

Top Five is far from a perfect movie but it's the first Chris Rock movie that captures the genius spirit of his stand-up, which make it one of the more enjoyable comedies of the year.

Rock is easily the best stand-up comic of his generation, an art that has sadly been diminished in the last few decades.

When he was at his peak, there was no one funnier or more incisive in American comedy than Rock, but when he went into movies -- which was inevitable -- he almost never delivered on his promise.

Part of the problem was Rock himself. He was never believable playing a character, because he wasn't a natural actor -- and he still isn't. But Top Five gives him his most effective screen presence to date because like his idol Woody Allen, he's cast himself as essentially an exaggerated version of himself.

In fact, Top Five very closely resembles Allen's own 1980 film Stardust Memories, in which he plays an accomplished comedy filmmaker trying to be taken more seriously by his fans.

Rock and his on-screen alter ego have a similar dilemma. He sold out long ago playing an absurd character called "Hammy the Bear" and is stuck in an unfulfilling relationship with a reality TV star (a surprisingly good Gabrielle Union).

The frame of the film is that Rock's character is being profiled by a New York Times reporter (a radiant Rosario Dawson) who is trying to find out why the ex-alcoholic comedian lost his way. Amid their byplay, Rock's character is promoting his first attempt at a drama film, a Haitian slave rebellion epic called Uprise.

There's a lot going on there, and the movie often trips over its own ambitions. Some of the material is fairly sexist or uncomfortably crude -- but much of it is also raw and revealingly honest, which is refreshing. Chris Rock isn't trying to be safe or likable in this film and he isn't ceding the spotlight to someone who isn't as clever as he is like Adam Sandler (although his ex-SNL co-star does have a very amusing cameo).

The movie is teeming with his passions -- for hip-hop, for comedy of the past and present, for sex and relationships. And it feels like the first time he's ever gotten personal on-screen.

That said, the film's flaws are plentiful. As lovable as she is, Dawson may be the most unrealistic and unprofessional journalist I've ever seen in a film. A scene of police brutality may have been intended for laughs -- I'm not sure -- but it reads as unpleasant in the wake of Eric Garner. The movie can occasionally be grating -- Rock hasn't found a consistent style or rhythm as a director. And yet, it has some very big laughs in it. And unlike most of the comedies this year it doesn't feel like a product that was hatched in a studio boardroom.

There's a cameo late in the film that I won't spoil -- but I will say that it's one of the funniest I've seen in years, and it involves a celebrity giving Rock's character props for being uncompromising. It could read as indulgent, as could much of the film -- but it actually works in Top Five because the movie is not a vanity project, it feels like a mea culpa to Chris Rock fans who miss his past no-holds-barred truth telling and also an opening salvo for a new stage of his career as both a filmmaker a performer.

There is much to love about Top Five, as a hip-hop fan, as a New Yorker and as a historian of black comedy. It may be a little messy at times -- the alcoholic subplot is not entirely convincing -- but it's full of ribald energy and memorable zingers. There are hilarious moments from Rock's crew of comedic friends from Jerry Seinfeld to Tracy Morgan and observations that only Rock could make -- like how the original Planet of the Apes may have inspired James Earl Ray to kill Martin Luther King.

The movie is also taking a side against Tyler Perry movies and the rest of what passes for black comedy these days. I have no idea if it'll be a success at the box office, but I'm grateful that Rock made it and I hope he's got the guts to go deeper.

Christopher Walken's five spookiest performances

Christopher Walken in At Close Range

Christopher Walken has been unfairly typecast as a "creepy" actor. This may be because the role that made him a movie star -- his Oscar winning role as a Vietnam vet who becomes a zombie-like professional Russian roulette player in The Deer Hunter -- cemented his status as a guy with a screw loose.

But aside from his unconventional looks and distinct, fun-to-imitate speaking style, he is actually a very charming and endearing character actor.

His villainous or spooky roles are some of his most iconic, but he has also been just as compelling in more sympathetic performances, like his Academy Award nominated turn in 2002's Catch Me If You Can.

The 71-year-old returned to the public's consciousness this month because of his eccentric performance as Captain Hook in NBC's live prime-time Peter Pan musical and I started thinking about his filmography again after watching his excellent performance as a particularly sadistic bad guy in the underrated 1986 drama At Close Range. Here's my top five:

As the iconic Frank White

Annie Hall (1977) - The first time most audiences saw Walken was in a brief, darkly funny cameo in Woody Allen's best picture winning masterpiece, Annie Hall. He plays Diane Keaton's morose brother Duane, who confides in Allen's character that he sometimes fantasizes about driving into oncoming traffic. His delivery of this scene, deadly serious and yet also hysterically funny, established Walken as one of the best deadpan psychos in movie history. Allen's reaction -- that he has to go because he's "due back on planet Earth," still makes me laugh as does the smash cut to his petrified face as he must ride along with Walken's character in a rainstorm.

The Deer Hunter (1978) - Most film buffs remember Walken's performance in the latter half of this epic Vietnam war film best, when his character Nick has given way to madness. But his character's arc may be this powerful film's most compelling. He starts out as a dreamer only to see his spirit crushed by the horrors of war. Walken won a best supporting actor award (appearing in back-to-back best picture winners to boot) and broke America's hearts. Spoiler alert: the scene where he dies in Robert De Niro's arms is a real heartbreaker, as is an earlier moment where he breaks down in tears while being interrogated at an army hospital.

The Dead Zone (1983) - Walken finally got to play an unabashed hero in this thrilling David Cronenberg adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Still, his role and the movie itself are chilling. He plays a man who gains the ability to visualize the likely death of any person he touches (following a near death accident of his own). Walken gives one of his best, most soulful performances in this creepy thriller, but he also has that unusual face and delivery, which keeps the entire story feeling off-kilter. An underrated masterpiece.

At Close Range (1986) - After The Deer Hunter, this acclaimed character study may be the movie most responsible for Walken's reputation for playing crazy characters. This powerful, shocking film portrays a real life hood (played by Walken) whose son (Sean Penn, in one of his best early performances) earnestly tries to join his father's gang and gets far more than he bargained for. Walken is supremely disturbing here, grinning like a cheshire cat one minute and snapping with cold, brutal, vindictive violence in the next. His scenes opposite Penn in this dark drama are an acting master class.

King of New York (1990) - Walken makes for the most unlikely icon of urban cool in this classic gangster epic which influenced a whole generation of hip-hop fans, including the late Notorious B.I.G. who famously compared himself to Walken's character Frank White in song. He is all chilly menace in this very-90s film, leading an all-black gang, including an against type Laurence Fishburne. After this role, Walken's performances largely fell into the realm of self parody, but this film was where his oddball persona reached its peak and his subsequent Saturday Night Live appearances proved that he was in on the joke.

I remember once reading that Walken literally takes every role he is offered because he considers every part to be a potential learning experience. I have no idea if that's actually true, but I love that he is the kind of actor where it could be true. Walken has appeared in countless films, most of which were beneath his talents, but every once in a while he strikes gold -- and when he does it's riveting fun.

I finally got 'Scrooged' (and I liked it)

Bill Murray in Scrooged

Although I am an enormous Bill Murray fan I had never warmed up to Scrooged.

The first time I saw it I downright disliked it. And when I recently compiled my list of the top 10 Murray movie performances, I never gave it serious consideration.

Murray has played jerks before but his character in Scrooged is his most aggressively obnoxious. I also thought the movie was a little too bombastic. It was more abrasive to me than funny.

But this weekend I decided to revisit the film, since it was streaming on Netflix, and because I found it hard to believe I could not appreciate a hit Murray movie made during his '80s prime.

I am happy to say that on second viewing, I loved Scrooged. I was able to enjoy its nastiness and its jarring tonal changes. It was a movie I studiously avoided as a child (I remember being petrified of the trailer back in 1988). And yet now I think it may just become a holiday staple for me.

Why the about face? I suppose I was in the mood for a more macabre Christmas movie, which Scrooged most certainly is. Even though it's directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, Superman: The Movie), it has all the hallmarks of a classic Tim Burton film. The musical score is provided by Burton regular Danny Elfman, the set design is classic horror comedy and the shot selection is also positively Burton-esque.

This scene would have terrified me as a child

The movie came out at an interesting time for Murray. After the blockbuster success of Ghostbusters, he was the biggest comedy star in movies save for Eddie Murphy. And yet he decided to relocate to France for essentially a four-year sabbatical after it was released. He made one small, very funny, cameo in the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors. But other than that, Murray was AWOL at the height of his career as an A-lister.

Scrooged was his triumphant return to the big time, and the combination of Murray opposite ghosts in a reboot of a classic holiday story was the perfect recipe for a surefire hit. Still, Scrooged was not a success on the level of Ghostbusters, whose sequel he would star in the following year, and a lot of critics were far from kind to it. Despite it's warm and funny finale it's a deeply cynical movie and it gets its sarcastic heart from infamously cantankerous former SNL writer Michael O'Donaghue.

I guess also can appreciate its charms more now in light of the cheesy holiday movies that have come in its wake. Yeah, I'm looking at you Love, Actually. I don't go for these treacly romantic movies where people do improbably adorable things by the fire. I'd rather watch something with a little edge to it, maybe something that's even a little crass.

That Scrooged certainly is, with its very savage parodies of 1980s television and a Murray performance that is loose, wild and for better or worse very committed. If you're not a Murray fan, steer clear of this one. And if you'd rather hear about angels getting their wings this time of year this isn't the movie for you.

But as more of Bad Santa/Christmas Vacation kind of guy, it put me in a happy mood. It actually does a really nice job of modernizing the whole Ebenezer Scrooge tale, and for Murray fans, it's a more personal movie than you might think. His real life brothers play three roles in the film. And the rest of supporting cast, including the always underrated Alfre Woodard, help keep the movie from ever being maudlin.

Stay tuned, my definitive favorite holiday movies list is on its way.

'Big Wednesday' could actually be called 'White Privilege: The Movie'

It's a weird experience watching the 1978 film Big Wednesday -- a nostalgia soaked homage to white America's loss of innocence in the 1960s -- in the wake of what's going on in the real world right now.

It's not that the movie is terrible, it has its charms and some really glorious surfing footage (the film's writer-director, John Milius, is an aficionado of the sport), but the movie features a lot of content that really reminded my that we truly live in two Americas.

For instance, although the movie is set in the '60s, there isn't a single mention of civil rights and there is barely a single black person in it. The three leads are white, blonde, tanned jocular types who party and carouse all day without a care in the world.

In the first third of the film the three lads (played by '70s staples William Katt, Jan-Michael Vincent and pre-meltdowns Gary Busey) throw a raucous, no holds-barred beach party. This lily white affair features girls getting wrestled, a house being virtually torn apart and plenty of 'good-natured' fistfights.

When I watched this seemingly harmless scene, in the aftermath of the Eric Garner and Michael Brown grand jury decisions, I couldn't help but think to myself -- what if the characters on screen were black? Would this unbridled hedonism and mayhem be interpreted as fun or would it be deemed repellent and even scary.

In my estimation, the cops would have been called 15 minutes into the proceedings, where in this film white lawlessness is met with a "boys will be boys" shrug. Later in the film one of the main character's girlfriends reveals that she's pregnant with an almost whimsical smile. The news doesn't plunge anyone into a panic, as if it's presumed that child will almost certainly be provided for.

Katt, Vincent and Busey in Big Wednesday

Milius, who has made no bones about the fact that he is a reactionary conservative, no doubt enjoyed this kind of lifestyle and to this day right-wingers talk about our pristine untroubled past as something we ought to return to. But as an African-American, when I watch movies like this about characters who needn't be troubled by prejudice or classism, I think I am so glad I wasn't alive then.

Sure the Vietnam war and other factors darken our heroes trajectory but they never face a monolith on the level of institutional racism. But of course that was going on that time. And while these California surfer dudes were having the time of their lives crossing over the border into Mexico, black and brown people were being oppressed to a stunning degree.

In the movie's defense, it was made in 1978 -- a time that was arguably far less contentious than the one we currently live in. The top films that year were movies like Superman and Grease, so light entertainment was very much in keeping with the spirit of the times.

I guess I am just less interested in being amused these days. After Eric Garner and Michael Brown, I'm in the mood for movies that reflect that reality of life, the struggles and the tension of the everyday grind. Escapism can be great, but at the end of the day you escape the pain of living in a racially polarized society.

'SPECTRE': Why I'm beyond euphoric about the next Bond movie

Daniel Craig as Bond in Skyfall

As one of the biggest James Bond fans on the planet I would be remiss if I didn't weigh in on the exciting news about the next adventure in the 007 series.

Although we will sadly have to wait until next November to see the new film -- entitled Spectre (more on that in a minute) -- I am almost positive it's going to be great for a plethora of reasons.

First off, I should preface what I'm about to say by making it clear that Skyfall is probably my favorite Bond movie off all time. I'm saying probably because, let's face it, there're several excellent entries in the 40-year plus canon.

But for me, Skyfall brilliantly continued what Casino Royale started (which was derailed by the disappointing Quantum of Solace). Skyfall managed to revitalize this iconic character and almost redefine, while at the same time retaining, all the elements of the series we fans have grown to cherish.

We always took Q, M, the gadgets and the girls for granted, but the Daniel Craig era has given them a backstory and supplied a genuine pathos that wasn't even present during the widely hailed Sean Connery era.

I for one was incredibly relieved to see that the same writing team and director (Sam Mendes) from Skyfall are returning for Spectre. The ending of Skyfall beautifully set the stage for a direct sequel, with Ralph Fiennes taking over the reins as M and Naomie Harris entrenched as the new Moneypenny. And now that the principle cast has been revealed, I'm positively giddy.

Monica Belucci

With all due respect to the very lovely Lea Seydoux (of Blue Is the Warmest Color fame) the Bond girl I am bananas about is Monica Bellucci. She has long been one my biggest celebrity crushes of all time and it's actually rather galling that she hasn't made an appearance in this series before. She is almost a throwback to the days of Ursula Andress and Barbara Bach, without any of the uncomfortable sexism of the olden days. I have no idea what part she is playing or how big it will be. But I can't wait to see her.

The casting of Christoph Waltz is also note perfect. Although, like most Bond productions, the nature of the role the Oscar winner is playing is wrapped in mystery. But I think it's safe to say, considering his track record, he will probably be playing the film's villain.

After Javier Bardem's Oscar worthy turn as the bad guy in Skyfall, I can't think of a better actor to follow in his footsteps. I was also excited to see that David Bautista, who proved to be one of the highlights of Guardians of the Galaxy, is also going to be co-starring in Spectre.

Finally, let's talk title. I'm sure some folks are scratching their head over this one, but die hard Bond aficionados are very familiar with the moniker. SPECTRE, which stands for "Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion", was a shadow organization which served as the principle villain in a handful of the first Bond movies. The figurehead behind SPECTRE was Ernst Stavro Blofeld, one of, if not the best, 007 bad guy of all time.

It's still unconfirmed whether Blofeld will make an appearance in Spectre, some are even speculating that this will be the Waltz character, but it'll be exciting to see the usually bald-headed, cat stroking villain re-imagined for a new generation.

One of the best things, if not the best thing, about the Bond movies is how they both stick to tradition but also (when they're good) tap into the zeitgeist. With Mendes at the helm, Craig in the lead and the cast of Spectre in place, this action hero's legacy looks secure to me.