The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Film Review by Kam Williams
In recent years, movie studios have started splitting into two their adaptations of finales from young adult book series, most notably, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and “Twilight: Breaking Dawn.” The money-making ploy is arguably little more than a transparent attempt to milk the last dollar out of a soon to expire franchise.
The Hunger Games is the latest such production to employ the cash-generating tactic, as it divides in half “Mockingjay,” the last opus in Suzanne Collins’ best-selling, sci-fi trilogy. Unfortunately, this uneventful installment basically treads water while functioning as a setup for the upcoming dramatic conclusion. Nevertheless, nothing in the power of these words could possibly affect the box-office returns of this review-proof episode.
Directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), the movie again stars Jennifer Lawrence (as protagonist Katniss Everdeen) augmented by a support cast featuring Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, Liam Hemsworth as Gale, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Jeffrey Wright as Beetee, and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee.
At the point of departure, we find the country of Panem plunged into chaos and on the brink of revolution. Hunger Games victor Katniss reluctantly allows herself to be recruited by the leader of the rebellion, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), to serve as the face of the struggle in propaganda videos designed to foment further insurrection.
However, besides Katniss’ frequently fretting about the mental state of her pal Peeta’s being caught in the clutches of Panem’s ruthless President, Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland), not a lot transpires over the course of this anticlimactic adventure. Worse, we have to wait another whole year for the decisive denouement.
A lame excuse to fleece the legions of loyal Hunger Games fans in the target teen/tween demo.
Fair (1 star)
Rated PG-13 for intense violence, disturbing images and mature themes
Running time: 123 minutes
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
To see a trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXshQ5mv1K8
Horrible Bosses 2
Film Review by Kam Williams
Timing is everything, when it comes to comedy, and this sequel suffers from an acute case of terrible timing. First of all, with the Bill Cosby rape allegations figuring so prominently in the news nowadays, the last thing anybody wants to laugh at is a premise predicated upon secretly slipping a knockout pill into the drink of an unsuspecting victim.
Equally distasteful is the running joke revolving around a female trying to turn a homosexual man straight by seducing him, suggesting that all you need to alter a gay guy’s sexual preference is an attractive seductress in a skimpy outfit. The picture’s political-incorrectness even extends to ethnic jokes, such as a cringe-inducing scene where a man mocks his Asian housekeeper’s thick accent.
Throw in unfunny skits about rape, pedophilia and the Ku Klux Klan, and you have a raunchy romp that repeatedly resorts to terribly tasteless fare simply for the sake of a cheap punch line.
Directed by Sean Anders (We’re the Millers), Horrible Bosses 2 features Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day reprising their lead roles as BFFs Nick, Kurt and Dale, respectively. Also returning are Jennifer Aniston as nymphomaniac Dr. Julia Harris, Jamie Foxx as feloniously-inclined Mother-[expletive] Jones, Kevin Spacey as conniving Dave Harken, and Lindsay Sloane as Dale’s wife, Stacy, while additions to the cast include Christoph Waltz, Chris Pine, Keegan-Michael Key and Jonathan Banks.
This go-round, the intrepid protagonists morph from disgruntled employees into hapless entrepreneurs with no clue about bringing their invention, the Shower Buddy, to market. Consequently, they soon find themselves ruined financially by a sleazy investor Bert Hanson (Waltz), who rationalizes cheating them with, “I make new enemies every day. It’s called business.”
So, the three hatch a cockamamie plan to recoup their losses by kidnapping the creep’s son (Pine) for ransom. What they didn’t bank on, however, was the possibility that Bert couldn’t care less about freeing his ne’er-do-well offspring (a motif reminiscent of Ruthless People (1986), where Danny DeVito ignored a demand for cash being made by his wife Bette Midler’s abductors).
Horrible Bosses 2 does admittedly have its moments, like a quite captivating car chase during which our heroes drag an uprooted chain link fence onto the freeway while on the run from the authorities. It’s just too bad that most of the movie is devoted to such a misanthropic and misogynistic brand of humor.
Fair (1 star)
Rated R for pervasive profanity and crude sexuality
Running time: 108 minutes
Distributor: Warner Brothers
To see a trailer for Horrible Bosses 2, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utriEZFno0E
Village Voice raves that Monk With a Camera is "marvelous." If you are in NYC on Saturday night come to the 5:20 screening at the Bunin Theater at Lincln Center and join Nicky Vreeland and Richard Gere for an intimate conversation at the Furman Gallery. First come first serve. There will also be a Q&A after the 7:20 screening with Nicky.
Buy tickets here. Opens in LA December 6th at the Laemmle Royal Theater. Click here to find other dates in other cities.
Who We Be
The Colorization of America
by Jeff Chang
Book Review by Kam Williams
St. Martin’s Press
Hardcover, $29.99
416 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-312-57129-0
“Race. A four-letter word. The greatest social divide in American life, a half-century ago and today. During that time, the United States has seen the most dramatic demographic and cultural shift in its history, what can be called the colorization of America…
How do Americans see race now? After eras framed by words like ‘multicultural’ and ‘post-racial,’ do we see each other any more clearly?
From the dream of integration to the reality of colorization, Who We Be remixes comic strips and contemporary art, campus protests and corporate marketing campaigns, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Trayvon Martin into a powerful, unusual and timely cultural history of the idea of racial progress.”
-- Excerpted from the Bookjacket
Each generation has its share of visionaries. Long ago, William Faulkner warned that “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In the Sixties, R. Buckminster Fuller conveyed the critical insight that “Geniuses are just people who had good mothers,” while Marshall McLuhan helped us understand exactly why “The medium is the message.” More recently, Ray Kurzweil anticipated the age of spiritual machines where computers lead and people follow.
“Who We Be” is the work of a new sage thinker with his finger on the pulse. Don’t let yourself be dissuaded by the grammatically-incorrect title of his opus, or it’s Ebonics chapter headings like “I Am I Be” and “What You Got to Say?” for the actual text isn’t written in inscrutable slang as implied, but rather offers a very articulate analysis of the evolution of American culture from the March on Washington to the present.
In fact, the author isn’t even black, but Asian-American of Chinese and Hawaiian extraction. Not one to be pigeonholed by his ethnicity, Jeff Chang previously penned a couple of books about hip-hop, “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop,” and “Total Chaos.”
Here, however, he successfully tackles subject-matter of much more depth and consequence in the process sharing a cornucopia of profound insights on themes ranging from the rise of Obama to multiculturalism to gentrification to the use of the N-word to Occupy Wall Street. For example, in a blistering critique of the economic system, he opines:
“Capitalism aspired not only to be the law, but morality, too. Freedom meant being free even from responsibility or empathy. All values would bow before economic value. Redemption would be redefined. Consumption would set the terms of the social. Creditors ruled everything around us. Debtors—a category that included almost everyone—were parasites. Capital and the state debased fundamental human relations… It’s sociality itself that’s treated as abusive, criminal, demonic.”
Sobering! With the help of a dizzying mix of evocative essays, anecdotes, quotes, quips and eye-catching cartoons and photographs, he amply illustrates what he refers to as America’s post-racial paradox. For although the country might be awash in a sort of melting pot imagery suggested by popular movies, TV shows and rainbow coalition commercials, that superficial symbolism flies in the face of the undeniable reality of rising re-segregation in terms of housing and schooling.
Pearls of wisdom from an Asian-American wannabe who deliberately employs double negatives, bad grammar, incorrect syntax and even an occasional double positive for the sake of street cred. Still, the Utne Reader saw right through that smokescreen and dubbed Jeff Chang among the “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.”
Who he be? He be a phat prophet! You feel me?
Kal Penn
The “Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain” Interview
with Kam Williams
Kalpen Suresh Modi was born in Montclair, New Jersey on April 23, 1977. He attended the Freehold Regional High School District's Performing Arts High School, as well as the Governor's School for the Arts, and received a degree from the prestigious School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA.
Kal is probably best known for playing the role of Kumar in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and a Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. His other notable feature film credits include Mira Nair's film The Namesake, based on the best-selling novel by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri; Van Wilder and its sequel, The Rise of Taj; A Lot like Love; and Superman Returns.
On TV, he’s widely recognized for his role as Dr. Lawrence Kutner on the critically-acclaimed series "House." And he also appeared regularly on "24," and guest-starred on the hit series "Law & Order: SVU" and "How I Met Your Mother.”
In 2009, Kal took an extended sabbatical from acting to serve as the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. During his tenure with the Obama Administration, he’s handled a variety of roles, including that of the President’s Liaison to the Arts Communities, Young Americans, and Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders.
Here, he talks about being back in front of the camera to -make his latest movie, Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain.
Kam Williams: Hi Kal, thanks for the interview.
Kal Penn: Thanks for having me!
KW: What interested you in Bhopal?
KP: The script was the first thing that drew me to the project. I was generally familiar with the real-life incidents upon which the film is based, but reading the first draft of the script, and realizing that the complexities resonated with me was the first draw I’d say. Sitting down with the director, and hearing his passion for the project was the second. And of course, it didn’t hurt that Martin Sheen was already attached. He’s incredible!
KW: You were just a child when the accident occurred. Do you remember hearing about it at the time?
KP: I do, vaguely. I also recall studying it in a few classes in college, but I wasn’t familiar as intimately as when we started researching for this project.
KW: Writer/director Ravi Kumar says the film is a work of fiction, ostensibly inspired by Sanjoy Hazarika’s book “Bhopal: Lessons of a Gas Tragedy.” I know your character, Motwani, was based on a real-life reporter, but what about Mischa Barton’s, Eva?
KP: You know, aside from Motwani, who’s based on real-life journalist Rajkumar Keswani, I’m not certain which other characters were specifically fictionalized and in which ways. Good question. I’ll ask our director this weekend!
KW: What message do you want people to take away from the film?
KP: I think with any film, first and foremost, you want the audience to be drawn to the complexity and depth of the characters and to remain engaged the whole time. Earlier screenings have had people leave crying, engaged in intense conversations, and asking each other some really fascinating questions. So I feel like I hope that continues, that a film like this of course is entertainment, but that it goes beyond that and sparks the kinds of conversations about relevant, tough issues. I love when art has the power to do that, and I think our writers and director have crafted a film that walks that line.
KW: Editor Lisa Loving says: Kal, the last time Kam interviewed you, you said that Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, a film in which you essentially joked about the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and where you smoked pot with President George W. Bush, involved no political statement. Is the same true of this film?
KP: Ha, ha! Good question. I think an entirely fictionalized buddy comedy is very different than a fictionalized tragedy adapted from real-world events, so I would say this is pretty different. I don’t know that there is any political statement being made by the film, that would probably be a question our writers and director would be best suited to answer, but from my perspective, I think this film touches on the multitude of factors that went into such a devastating disaster. We don’t look at “Bhopal” through a singular lens; we approach it from different characters and perspectives. So, I hesitate answering this as a “yes” or “no.” I think the story explores everything from corporate greed to government corruption to environmental and medical regulations to jobs, economy, human rights, and family. Inherently, it explores factors that are political, social, and humanitarian, but I don’t know that it’s making any particular political statement per se.
KW: Hirangi Patel says: Huge fan here! How did you prepare for a historical film which reflects such an integral part of India's history?
KP: Thanks, Hirangi. Most of the historical and contextual prep for the overall film was of course done by our writers and their research years before actors are attached. From the actor’s perspective, working on everything from dialects and language to looking at archives and information from the Eighties played a role in developing my character.
KW: Sangeetha Subramanian says: Kal! You were in two of the three films I organized at the Rutgers South Asian Film Festival in 2006 including Cosmopolitan and American Made. What is your advice for South Asian American actors/actresses trying to break in the industry?
KP: Thanks Sangeetha. I think my advice for any actor would be to be as trained as possible, and to not take “no” for an answer. There are so many more opportunities for performers of color now than there were 10 years ago, and there will be more 10 years from now. So many incredibly talented writers, directors, and filmmakers are emerging on their own shows, plays, and productions.
KW: Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier asks: Was your film translated into Hindi and how was it received in India?
KP: The film is going to be translated into multiple languages from what I understand. It releases in India on December 3rd, followed by Singapore and several countries in Europe.
KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?
KP: “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” by Barbara Demick.
KW: The Viola Davis question: What’s the biggest difference between who you are at home as opposed to the person we see on the red carpet?
KP: I’m not allowed to wear gym shorts with an old tee shirt on the red carpet.
KW: The Anthony Anderson question: If you could have a superpower, which one would you choose?
KP: Flight.
KW: Thanks again for the time, Kal, and best of luck with Bhopal and in the White House.
KP: Thank you, Kam!
To see a trailer for Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw7dZiYzKBY