Movie Review: Our Family Wedding

This weeks rom-com is Our Family Wedding starring America Ferrera and Lance Gross from Ugly Betty and House of Payne. After finishing the movie I went up to the refreshment counter to get a refill of my large soda before heading out to the bus stop. I was asked by the person behind the counter what movie I saw and what I thought of it. Speaking to the concession person I told her it was good, not worth the price of a full ticket but maybe a matinee price. While sitting on the bus and taking the ride from the Dole Cannery where I usually see my movies to Downtown Honolulu I had a chance to reflect on what I had seen.

Then I got distracted. As the bus was passing by I'olani Palace and the Kamehameha the Great statue there were all sorts of vehicles parked along Mililani Street and around Ali'i 0 Hale indicating that some sort of filming was going on. I got off at the stop and poked for a moment. Turns out the remake of Hawaii Five-O was there doing filming. I took a picture of some trailers and posted up to my Twitter, Flickr and Facebook accounts.

The trailers were for "Danny Williams", "Chin Ho Kelly", "Steve McGarrett" and "Mary McGarrett". I then got back on the bus to complete the ride home. In case you're wondering, if you have one of the new state quarters, the Hawaii quarter has the statue on the back of the quarter and Iolani Palace is the location used for the Five-O office in the original series. On the bus I pulled myself back into thought and as I reviewed the movie in my mind realized this movie was neither romantic or a comedy, it's really a tragedy.

Ferrera plays Lucia who is in love with Marcus (Gross) but neither has told their parents the game plan to get married. The two families get together for dinner where Lucia's Mexican family gets to meet Marcus's African-American father. The two dads, Lucia's dad Miguel (Carlos Mencia) and Marcus' dad Brad (Forest Whitaker) immediately start to clash for various reasons. Even in a posh restaurant the two dads start throwing around stereotypes raising voices and embarrassing everyone. Have we seen this before? Yes we have. Take part of Guess Who and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, try to fix them into the formulaic rom-com but don't develop character depth or put in comedy and go light on the romance and you end up with this flick.

I really like Ferrera and hopefully once Ugly Betty ends, she'll have more time to pick roles better than what the role of Lucia offered her. The character didn't get enough development for us to care about her decision and why she thought standing by Marcus was a good decision.

As I watched Gross, I really didn't see much apart from what he's done as Calvin Payne. He had a lot of help around him. Taye Diggs makes a cameo. Charlie Murphy in his role talks about being a whipped husband. Warren Sapp has a moment of screen time. Ultimately, it was Calvin Payne on the screen and not a fully formed Marcus.

Mencia was not inspired at all. Every time he was on the screen I was hoping he'd soon get off the screen. Enough said about him.

Whitaker's character didn't seem realistic. As a DJ, would he really make that kind of money to support the life style that was shown. Highly doubtful.

The set up and premises were not in any way believable. From the police department to the modern bathroom to how to combine traditions the plot didn't flow. But like most romance stories, Act One thru Three: boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy regains girl were followed.

One scene that I found difficult to take in was during the boy loses girl act. In my head, I have a heard time wrapping my brain around a dad trying to sooth his own problems with alcohol and when the son shows up with his problems the dad offers the son alcohol so they both could try to wash away their troubles with 100 proof on the rocks. Just because their personal lives are on the rocks doesn't mean you should use the same metaphor while drinking.

Was it 100% bad. No, but there was way more bad than good. The ending of the movie showing the blending of the traditions between the two cultures seemed forced. The one scene that I thought was really good was in the planning of who sits where at the reception. They had a peg board of sorts that represented the layout of tables. Using pegs to represent people and the "What if?" scenarios did get some of the biggest laughs from me and other people in the theater.

The movie ran 90 minutes and rated PG-13 for some language and some sexual content. From what I understand, Red Box on the mainland rents for a dollar a movie. That price seems about right for this instead of the price of a matinee.

Why we love Sandra Bullock

I'm sure that out in the vast expanse of the cold cosmos there is a star. It's a bright shinning star that you look at it in wonder and amazement. It is so beautiful and inspiring you go "oooooh". Right next to it is a black hole. We can't see it directly because no light can escape it. We know it's there because it does have an influence upon the bright shining star next door giving the star extra flare as it deals with the sucking gravitational influence of the hole. Over the weekend we got to see a live example of these two opposing forces here on Earth focused into one body known as Sandra Bullock.

Award seasons are funny. Watching who gets ignored for their work who gets fingers pointed at them so other people will notice them or others who get lifted up on platforms for all to see. Sometimes the finger pointing is good as in the case of The Oscars when the Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says these are the best that Hollywood has to offer. On the flip side are the Golden Raspberry Awards more affectionately known as The Razzies which points the finger at someones work and says "Dude (or dudette), that really sucked!"

In the cinematic year that was 2009 the mystical forces came together in the right proportions to allow the Magellanic Cloud to part, streams of flowing protons to filter through, the hand of god to reach through the heavens with his outstretched finger to point at Sandra Bullock and say "This year, you will be the best and the worst that Hollywood has to offer!" Sandra tosses her long brown hair about, shining in the celestial glow as choirs of angels sing "aaaaaahhhhh".

The worst as recognized by the Razzies was Sandra's portrayal of Mary Horowitz, a not all too hip crossword puzzle creator who is smitten and stalks TV news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper) in the movie appropriately named All About Steve. It was painful to watch this intelligent woman mindlessly chase a man across the country and be lead on by a no good news reporter feeding her lines to advance his own cause. While Mary has a heart of gold her self-esteem she doesn't feel is as valuable. This was not a story about self empowerment and I'm sure feminists everywhere were cringing if they watched this movie. For her efforts in this film, the Razzies awarded her two awards: the first being the Worst Screen Couple which she shared with Bradley Cooper and the second being Worst Actress.

At the other end of the spectrum was the portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, a no nonsense southern lady who took a homeless black child off the street and provided him a stable home life. Fierce, determined, strict, gutsy, nurturing and loving describe the women Bullock brought to the big screen. To see Bullock stand at 5'7" next to Quinton Aaron who portrayed Michael Oher at 6'8" and close to 400 pounds was like seeing a poodle stand next to an elephant, an interesting combination whose story pulled at the heart strings in The Blind Side. It was a role that Bullock turned down several times. It wasn't until meeting Tuohy did Bullock decide to accept the role. It was almost a lost opportunity. Now, I'm sure she's glad she decided to accept the role!

So for the first time in the history of cinema, one person, one actress was recognized on one weekend for the two sides of the good/bad coin that is Hollywood Cinema. After being nominated for the Razzie, Bullock said she would show up if she won and true to her word she showed up and accepted the award with grace, humility and humor, lots of humor!



When she was called on stage to accept the Oscar for the Best Actress, it was heart warming, heart felt and again very humorous.


(Here's hoping this video doesn't get taken down by YouTube)

I'm sure there will be a very special case in the Bullock household. It will hold the 13.5" 8.5 lb 24K gold plated Oscar Statuette and right next to it will be the empty 8mm film reel with the glued on raspberry that is spray painted gold for a cost of $4.97 (at least according to the founder of the Razzies John Wilson) The bright shining star and the sucking black hole poised next to each other in that case. Sandra gave us her best and worst performances in 2009 and accepted both in a very genuine and sincere way. For this how could you not love this women Sandra Bullock.

Movie Review: Shinjuku Incident

For American audiences, we don't get to see Jackie Chan in the light that this movie casts. We see him in movies like Shanghai Noon, Rush Hour, The Tuxedo or his latest US flick, The Spy Next Door. He plays a likable guy with killer martial arts skills who is able to use whatever is around him clay pots, sofas, scaffolding, clock works to move around and vanquish his opponent. He uses comedy throughout to bring smiles to the audience's faces. Shinjuku Incident is not like that at all. Released in April 2009 in Hong Kong it is just making its way into US theaters. Done in Japanese and Mandarin, we watch the action and are lead via the subtitles.

I had two people in the theater with me who kept talking back and forth trying to figure out the language and that they had to read the subtitles. After the first two minutes if they didn't like reading subtitles they always had the option to leave.

Chan plays Steelhead an illegal Chinese immigrant in Japan. Back in China he used to repair engines. His fiance Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei) moved to Japan to try to find a better life saying that she'll come back but when she doesn't and communication stops, he follows his heart to try to find her. After escaping the authorities on the Japanese beach he meets up with his brother Jie (Daniel Wu) who introduces him to other illegals who are picking up odd jobs and stealing in order to survive.

During an immigration bust Steelhead saves the life of Detective Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) who is greatful and wishes to repay Steelhead. When he discovers his fiance is now the wife of a Yakuza boss Steelhead decides to become a legal citizen of Japan. In the process he gets caught up in Chinese gangs and the Yakuza. To keep his brother out of trouble Steelhead buys Jie a chestnut cart. Jie unfortunately has a run in with another gang and ends up with severe injuries. Steelhead while trying to exact revenge for Jie ends up saving the life of his ex's husband. Eguchi (Masaya Kato) hires Steelhead to kill those people who were trying to kill him.

For the first time we see Jackie Chan, not in defensive mode but playing offense. While trying to play protector he ends up being aggressor. It's not what we American audiences think of when someone drops the name of Jackie Chan. We see a side to him that we haven't been presented. Instead of this coordinated flailing martial arts master that deflects blows, we see a man who gets hurt and shows emotions.

After taking care of Eguchi's request and being rewarded with control of specific districts including Shinkuku, Steelhead tries to lead a normal life going back to repairing engines leaving the control of the Chinese gang to the people who originally helped him. Without his sense of fairness the other immigrants start to fall into illegal activities that Steelhead never would have imagined. One of the corrupt leaders is none other that his brother Jie.

Detective Kitano gets called upon to crackdown on the illegal activities at the same time parts of the Yakuza decide they want to take back control of the areas that were given to the Chinese. The undercurrent of racism rears it head and comes out. Kitano thinks it's Steelhead not realizing Steelhead has stepped back from control but wants to work with him to pay back his personal debt he owes to Steelhead. All hell breaks out as the Yakuza and formerly illegal immigrants fight for control.

Chan plays good guy and he plays bad guy. The good guy isn't like what we see with his movies made for America. There were some typical Chan traits, but not over the top. The bad guy we haven't seen before. This is a drama not a comedy or martial arts flick although there is some martial arts involved. One of the challenges with watching foreign flicks with subtitles is having to focus on the bottom of the screen. Without understanding the languages involved the nuances of the vocal part of the performance is lost.

The movie was an interesting story of immigration challenges set in Japan. It presented something that we normally see with issues between the US and Mexico. Presented with another culture and location but similar reasoning we're given another level of interest to draw us into the story. If this two hours which is rated R due to graphic violence, brief sexuality and drug use is playing in your area, I would recommend checking it out for another side of Jackie Chan's acting abilities.