HAYWIRE review

How about this for strange casting? Haywire features Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum and Bill Paxton.

Yet who plays the lead? Mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano, whose biggest acting credit until now was performing as Crush on the “American Gladiator” series.

If that makes you skeptical, get over it. Carano delivers a strong first starring role and is the perfect actress for this movie.

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Watching My Son Watch MLK Jr.

My wife is showing our 6-year old the video of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. This has become a family tradition on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, one which we plan to continue for the foreseeable future. Watching him view the video prompts a number of thoughts.

First, I love my wife. Not just because she makes a point to show our son this video then discuss it with him afterward, but because of the way she does it. She didn’t make a fuss about it and present it like ‘a big important educational moment.’ Any kid will resist the message as soon as you create that scenario. Instead, she got it cued up and simply said, “Hey buddy, come here for a second.” Then she let Dr. King do the rest. She and I have both learned from teaching in various contexts that when the message is powerful enough, no extra push is needed, and one certainly doesn’t have to insinuate oneself between that speech and anyone who hears it. That speech stands as one of the greatest pieces of oratory ever captured. Just push play then get out of the way.

Second, my son’s reaction demonstrates just how powerful the “I Have a Dream” speech is. He, like his father, is a rather fidgety boy who’d rather be building Legos or doing some other physical activity. The video is in black and white, the lighting and resolution are awful – especially when viewed on Youtube, which is how we watched it this morning. Yet he sat through the entire thing and gave it every bit as much attention as he gave Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone last night. Words are powerful, especially when delivered with passion and righteous intentions.

Third, our son has no inkling that people from other ethnicities or who do not look like him are different on a fundamental level. He simply doesn’t see difference as a factor when he meets other kids. Being white parents raised in the Midwest who are now raising a child in the South, we’re quite proud of that. It isn’t by accident. We don’t expose him to racist things or racist people. We have a strict household rule against name-calling, whether it’s related to race or not. When the occasional, inevitable exposure to something discriminatory does occur, we talk about it to make sure he understands that we believe in acceptance (not just tolerance – acceptance) and that God deals with those who hate.

But we also know that sooner or later, this country we live in is going to try to teach him the wrong way to look at difference. Our struggle to teach him that there is only one race, the human race, is just beginning. And unfortunately, the people who will make it most difficult to teach our child the righteous way to view other people will, ironically enough, come from his own ethnic group. It isn’t that prejudice is exclusive to any one ethnic group, but because of how in-groups and social spheres function, he will hear discriminatory language and racist jokes from people who look just like him. Lord knows, growing up in Ohio I heard every racist joke in the book. It was normal in our rural, almost exclusively white area. My enlightenment began when I moved a few hours away, to a college near Detroit. I was suddenly in the minority, and my whole world view began to shift. Suddenly, the “I Have a Dream” speech was relevant. Suddenly, I heard it. I thank God for that, because I absolutely believe that our souls are at stake when it comes to racism.

Does my 6-year old understand everything in Dr. King’s speech? No, not yet. But my wife and I also know that we have to be pro-active. We must teach our child understanding and love before the haters try to teach him their beliefs. He needs a strong foundation that will keep any seeds of hatred from taking root.

I’m not sure why, but at times I cringe when I see white people thanking Dr. King. It’s probably my liberal over-sensitivity, but sometimes when white people thank Dr. King I get a feeling similar to the one I get when white females call each other “Girl” or white bands cover Bob Marley. Whites have appropriated so much from minority cultures. I don’t want to be part of that particular problem.

So I hope no one will mind if I thank Dr. King. I thank him for being so important to my own salvation, and I thank him for doing so much to make it possible for my own son to grow up in a better America. Because of Dr. King and so many other brave leaders, it is possible – not easy, but possible – for a child to grow up without ever learning to hate those who are different. My wife and I are raising a son on the red foothills of Georgia, and because of the courage and conviction of Dr. King, the table of brotherhood is in sight. My son does not know any racist jokes, but he knows the refrain, “Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!” My son does not know the names of racists, but he knows the name Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And for that I am truly thankful.

CONTRABAND review

January has apparently become thriller month on the movie calendar. The next few weeks will be dominated by high action, often violent, gritty action movies, including “Underworld: Awakening,” “Haywire,” “Red Tails,” “The Grey,” and “Man on a Ledge.”

Even this year’s first Shakespearean film, “Coriolanus” (which is outstanding, by the way), looks more like “The Hurt Locker” than an adaptation of the Bard.

Kicking off this month of kicking butt is “Contraband,” a tense actioner featuring a star-studded cast. It’s also the American debut of Baltasar Kormákur, an Icelandic actor and director whose work has won him international acclaim.

Click here for full review

 

Review of YOUNG ADULT

“Young Adult” is a rare, genuinely original comedy. Director Jason Reitman re-teams with screenwriter Diablo Cody — that’s the duo that gave us “Juno” — for a sardonic look at a former high school bombshell wallowing in the depths of delusion.

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Review: The Fat Boy Chronicles

“The Fat Boy Chronicles” is a low budget movie making a big impact. Based on a novel of the same title by Lang Buchanan (the pen name of writing partners Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan), director Jason Winn’s movie tells the story of an over-weight high schooler named Jimmy (Christopher Rivera). Already tired of being bullied and feeling awful about himself, Jimmy visits Dr. Jeffords (Ron Lester), who tells him the cold, hard truth: that the longer Jimmy remains obese, the harder it will be to lose the weight and the more health problems he will encounter. And eventually, Jimmy is going to die young.

Jimmy’s visit with the doctor is one of the film’s best scenes. Ron Lester used to be known as the fat guy from “Varsity Blues.” By age 30 he weighed 508 pounds. He had found a Hollywood niche as the lovable fat kid but was headed for an early death. So when Lester as Dr. Jeffords tells Jimmy about the physical and emotional misery that awaits him until he dies at a relatively young age, the words pack a great deal of power.

This is the final straw for Jimmy, who commits to a weight loss program that includes a change in diet, exercise, and some work on his self-esteem. Jimmy finds the bravery to take chances socially. He starts dating a girl named Sable (Kelly Washington). He starts tutoring Robb (Cole Carson), a jock who would normally bully Jimmy if he noticed him at all. Jimmy undergoes psychological and emotional changes as he transforms physically. The movie becomes a coming-of-age story plucked out of the lives of many real teens today.

All the while, he gets wonderful support from his father (Bill Murphey). Their relationship is one of my favorite parts of the movie. Jimmy’s friend Paul (Chris Bert), however, has a dad who puts him through the ringer. Paul is physically and verbally abused and falls into many of the standard traps that kids do when raised in that environment. Just like most real teens, all of these characters have troubles of one kind or another. Does anyone go through adolescence without pain? No one that I know, at least. “The Fat Boy Chronicles” deserves a lot of praise for recognizing that whether you’re fat or skinny, popular or a nobody, growing up is hard for everyone.

This is a vital, timely movie. Unfortunately, Jimmy’s prognosis is something that applies to a lot of American youth. According to the CDC, childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the past 30 years, and in 2008, more than 1/3 of children and adolescents were overweight or obese. “The Fat Boy Chronicles” takes an accurate, truthful approach to dramatizing the causes and effects of this trend. It’s the food at home and at school, it’s the low self-esteem created by family and peers alike, it’s the lack of awareness of how drastically being overweight effects our health, and there is a definite link between bullying and kids’ feelings about themselves and their lack of motivation to change.

I’m probably making the movie sound preachy, but it isn’t. Nor is it a public service announcement or after school special in disguise. It’s a touching drama that just happens to be built on these themes. It’s a legit movie earning an impressive amount of acclaim. It has been shown at too many film festivals to list. It has been featured on news programs throughout the eastern half of the U.S. And it has been shown at numerous high schools and church youth group events, which is part of a release strategy aimed at taking the movie to the viewers who would relate to it the most.

“The Fat Boy Chronicles” is also launching the careers of its actors and director. Rivera has since appeared in an episode of Law & Order: SVU. Washington has appeared on “Parks and Recreation” and two features. Winn also seems poised to break through after working for many years as a cinematographer on music videos, commercials, and independent features and shorts. It’s always a treat as movie fans to catch talent on the way up, and this is definitely an opportunity to do that.

The Fat Boy Chronicles releases on DVD on January 3rd.