CARRY-ON (2024)

December 13, 2024

Greetings again from the darkness. Ever since Bruce Willis’ John McClane ‘Yippee-Ki-Yayed’ his way into saving Christmas in 1988, many filmmakers have tried to latch onto the action-filled Christmas crime drama sub-genre. Of course, none have reached the level of that Nakatomi Plaza classic, and often the biggest miss is in the form of the villain. Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber is often cited among the all-time best movie villains, and deservedly so. This latest film we welcome to the party comes from director Jaume Collet-Sera (JUNGLE CRUISE, 2021, ORPHAN, 2009) and co-writers TJ Fixman (Ratchet & Crank video game creator) and Michael Green (LOGAN, 2018).

The opening scene finds a mysterious man in a cap destroying a Christmas tree farm, violently taking out the two present workers. We then join Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton, ROCKETMAN, 2019) and his girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson, PURPLE HEARTS, 2022) as they celebrate a positive pregnancy test. They both head to work at LAX. She’s employed by an airline, and he’s a TSA Agent. We quickly learn Ethan’s supervisor (Dean Norris) recognizes him as coasting through his job, and subsequently shoots down Ethan’s request for a promotion.

Holiday travel is in full swing, and as Ethan goes about his work, he’s soon being blackmailed and threatened by a direct-speaking, calm-demeanored ‘traveler’ (Jason Bateman, “Ozark”). “One bag for one life.” The direction from the terrorist to Ethan is to just “do nothing” as a particular carry-on bag runs through his security line. The penalty for not following the traveler’s instructions is the death of Nora and the unborn child. There is a fascinating sequence where Ethan’s actions are juxtaposed with the work of Detective Cole (Danielle Deadwyler, excellent in this year’s THE PIANO LESSON). This is followed by one of the more creative and intense on-screen car crashes we’ve seen. It provides quite a visual jolt.

Ethan’s backstory is slowly uncovered here, as is the all-too-real threat of the terrorist and that suitcase. Supporting work is provided by familiar faces Theo Rossi and Logan Marshall-Green, and despite plenty of ‘that could never happen moments’, the film carries enough twists, turns, action, and suspense to keep us engaged. It’s a shame that the climax feels so rushed, yet any film that opens with Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and closes with Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” deserves a chance. Just stay away from Contraband Bingo with TSA agents.

Premiering on Netflix December 13, 2024

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Posted by David Ferguson

THE PIANO LESSON (2024)

November 26, 2024

Greetings again from the darkness. Playwright August Wilson has a nice string of his stage work being adapted for the big screen. First, there was FENCES (2018), then MA RANEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (2022), and now this latest is the first feature film from writer-director Malcolm Washington (son of Denzel), with a screenplay co-written with Virgil Williams (MUDBOUND, 2017). This thoughtful allegory asks the question, when is a piano more than just a piano?

The film opens on Independence Day in 1911, and as fireworks fill the sky, a group of men steal a piano from their slave owner. We quickly jump ahead 25 years to 1936 and find Boy Willie (John David Washington, also son of Denzel) and his friend Lymon (Ray Fisher, “True Detective”) taking a wagon full of watermelons to Boy Willie’s sister house. The plan is to sell the watermelons and his sister’s piano so that Boy Willie can purchase a plot of land where his ancestors worked as slaves. It’s a simple plan that makes sense … except his sister, Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler, so good in TILL, 2022) has no intention of selling the piano, a family heirloom.

Berniece and her daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith) live in Uncle Doaker’s (a reserved Samuel L Jackson) home and the piano sits, unplayed, in the living room. Ironically, it’s Boy Willie who talks us – and Maretha – through the piano’s history, including how his grandfather had hand-carved family faces into the front. Maretha was previously clueless as her mother Berniece had chosen to carry the weight of history to herself. The more brother and sister argue, the more activity from the spirits occur – known as ‘Ghost of the Yellow Dog.”

Doaker attempts to keep the peace, while wannabe preacher Avery (Corey Hawkins, THE COLOR PURPLE, 2023) relentlessly woos Berniece. Danielle Deadwyler delivers a remarkable performance as she remains steadfast. With a polar opposite personality to brother Boy Willie, she is a picture of pride and strength, and delivers the film’s best line directed to her brother, “All you ever had going for you in life is talk.” For those who don’t appreciate the stage-to-screen adaptations, the recommendation is to focus on the storytelling, rather than the sometimes distracting staginess. It’s a terrific script and, led by Ms. Deadwyler, the acting is mostly top notch.

Available on Netflix

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Posted by David Ferguson

TILL (2022)

October 21, 2022

Greetings again from the darkness. Don’t look away. Whether referring to Mamie Till-Mobley telling family members to look at the disfigured boy in the casket, or to the general counsel to all citizens in this day of division, the sentiment is the same … see with your own eyes so that you understand the injustice. Writer-director Chinonye Chukwu (CLEMENCY, 2019) and her co-writers Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp allow us to see the tragic story of Emmett Till through the eyes of his mother, and it’s a powerful approach. It’s Mr. Beauchamp who has diligently researched this story for almost 25 years, and was the driving force behind the 2005 documentary, THE UNTOLD STORY OF EMMETT LOUIS TILL.

The film certainly benefits from the powerhouse performance of Danielle Deadwyler (THE HARDER THEY FALL, 2021) as Mamie Till-Mobley. Mamie’s love and concern for her 14-year-old son Emmett (a terrific Jalyn Hall) is only surpassed by her strength and dignity after his death … and all of this is masterfully portrayed by Ms. Deadwyler in her surefire Oscar contending role. We see just enough of young Emmett to realize he’s a well-raised, considerate, and fun-loving boy who sometimes stutters. He’s so excited for his trip from Chicago to Mississippi to meet some of his relatives, while seeing and doing new things. It’s 1955, and Mamie tries to caution Emmett on the differences between their world at home and the southern world he’s about to enter.

There are varying accounts of what Emmett actually did or didn’t do to Money, Mississippi store clerk Carolyn Bryant (played by Haley Bennett, SWALLOW, 2019), but the shock of seeing Emmett’s disfigured face and body is handled brilliantly here, and though the actual violence occurs off screen, the impact remains. Against all of her motherly protective instincts, Mamie seizes the power of the moment to have a photograph taken and demand an open casket so that the world can witness the result of the atrocity. Her ability to think clearly catapulted the case to national attention, and allowed Emmett Till to become a name and example that is still studied today.

The supporting cast includes Frankie Faison (Mamie’s father), Whoopi Goldberg (Mamie’s mother), Sean Patrick Thomas, Tosin Cole (as Medgar Evers), John Douglas Thompson, and Jayme Lawson. The trial of the men accused of beating and killing Emmett plays a part here, but the only real courtroom drama occurs when Mamie takes the stand. It’s in that moment when Ms. Deadwyler truly shines and allows us to feel a mother’s pain and disgust. Afterwards, we get a taste of her activism … something she continued until her death in 2003 at age 81. Filmmaker Chukwu benefits from the performance of Deadwyler and the years of research by Mr. Beauchamp, and she delivers a film that allows us to experience a dark moment in history from a different perspective – the eyes of a mother.

Opens in theaters on October 21, 2022

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Posted by David Ferguson