Finding Mr. Right
Film Review by Kam Williams

JiaJia (Wei Tang) is expecting and hopes to marry her wealthy boyfriend, Lao Zhong (Yiwei Liu), even though the two-timing philanderer already has a wife and family. But the miffed multimillionaire is so worried about the unplanned pregnancy creating a scandal that he’s willing to send his high-maintenance mistress all the way from Beijing to America to give birth.

Because JiaJia loved the movie Sleepless in Seattle, she asks him to arrange for her to fly there. Upon landing, she’s met at the airport by a mild-mannered limo driver (Xiubo Wu) who quietly endures her verbal abuse for arriving late.

What JiaJia doesn’t know is that Frank happens to be a famous heart surgeon who once operated on her own father back home. Currently, he’s moonlighting behind the wheel and caring for an ailing daughter while waiting for his credentials to be approved so he can practice medicine in America.

As directed, he deposits JiaJia at a maternity center catering to Asian women planning anchor babies with automatic U.S. citizenship. Soon, she finds herself at odds with just about everybody around besides Frank, who has the patience of a saint.

This is the point of departure of Finding Mr. Right, a charming romantic comedy featuring likeable leads and a colorful enough supporting cast to hold your attention in spite of its predictability. Written and directed by Xiao Lu Xue, the film is hitting these shores after enjoying a phenomenal run in China earlier this year.

The movie is unlikely to make as much of a mark here, given that several developments in the derivative storyline are apt to strike a domestic audience as vaguely familiar. Nevertheless, the plot thickens when the spoiled-rotten heroine stops behaving badly after being dumped by her baby-daddy and starts to exhibit a sensitive side.

A pat, paint by numbers romp that telegraphs its every punch.

Good (2 stars)

Unrated

In English and Mandarin with subtitles

Running time: 121 minutes

Distributor: China Lion Features

To see a trailer for Finding Mr. Right, visit

Dallas Buyers Club

Film Review by Kam Williams

Matthew McConaughey Delivers Oscar-Quality Performance in Bittersweet Biopic

            Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) was informed that he had just 30 days to live when he was diagnosed as HIV+ in 1986. At that time, the Food and Drug Administration was dragging its feet in terms of finding a cure, perhaps because AIDS was still considered by many to be a gay disease.

            While pharmaceuticals elsewhere around the world were studiously testing hundreds of chemical compounds in hopes of developing an antidote, the only one approved for distribution in America was AZT, a medication so toxic to Ron’s system that it almost killed him. Rather than resign himself to a quick demise, the tough as nails Texan resolved to fight for his life.

            First, he visited a clinic in Mexico promoting a promising cocktail of alternative therapies, purchasing a supply sufficient to test the experimental regimen on himself. When the trial proved effective, he snuck back across the border, posing as a priest, to smuggle a trunk full of pills out of the country.

            Soon thereafter, the enterprising electrician founded the Dallas Buyers Club as a viable way of skirting the law to distribute unapproved substances such as Interferon, Peptide T and Compound Q. A mere $400 per month would afford members access to a variety of state-of-the-art, AIDS remedies. 

            Despite his homophobia, the gruff, good ol’ boy went into business with a partner with deep roots in the gay community. Flamboyant Rayon (Jared Leto), an HIV+ transsexual, played a pivotal role in attracting a loyal clientele of fellow AIDS patients, since Ron was a given to employing offensive slurs when referring to homosexuals. Together, the unlikely pair built the fledgling enterprise into an economic success which provided a priceless service for patients frustrated by the FDA’s delayed response to the epidemic.

            Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee (Café de Flore), Dallas Buyers Club recounts Ron Woodroof’s desperate struggle to survive in the face of a governmental bureaucracy that appeared to not care. The movie was inspired by “Buying Time,” an article by Bill Minutaglio which appeared in the Dallas Morning News on August 9, 1992.

            Riddled with historical inaccuracies, the bittersweet biopic frequently plays fast and loose with the facts in favor of fashioning an entertaining tale as dictated by the Hollywood fantasy formula. Truth be told, the real-life Ron was apparently not as intolerant of homosexuality as depicted. Furthermore, he was initially given a two-year life expectancy by his doctor, not the mere month stipulated in the picture.

            Perhaps most importantly, some of the overpriced drugs he imported were banned for very good reason. Nevertheless, the fairytale related here is a terrific tour de force likely, at last, to land Matthew McConaughey that elusive Oscar nomination.

            For, not only does the lanky thespian convincingly convey the acute mental anguish of an AIDS-ravaged soul but he even shed about 50 pounds for the role. Sexual politics make strange bedfellows, too!

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated R for nudity, drug use, graphic sexuality, pervasive profanity, ethnic slurs and homophobic slurs

Running time: 117 minutes

Distributor: Focus Features  

To see a trailer for Dallas Buyers Club, visit: 

http://www.focusfeatures.com/video/dallas_buyers_club_trailer?film=dallas_buyers_club 

Morris Chestnut
“The Best Man Holiday” Interview
with Kam Williams

The Best Chestnut!

Morris Chestnut was born on New Year’s Day 1969 in Cerritos, California, where he was a student-athlete in high school, en route to majoring in finance and drama at California State University. He made his big screen debut opposite Ice Cube in John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, and subsequently enjoyed his breakout role as the groom-to-be in Malcolm Lee’s The Best Man.

The handsome heartthrob has been a much-in-demand leading man ever since, starring in hits like The Call, Think Like a Man, Identity Thief, The Brothers, Not Easily Broken, Kick Ass 2, Two Can Play That Game, Breakin’ All the Rules, The Perfect Holiday, Half Past Dead, Like Mike, Ladder 94 and The Game Plan. A dedicated family man away from work, Morris and his wife, Pam, live in suburban L.A. with their son, Grant, and daughter, Paige.

Here, he talks about reprising the memorable role of Lance Sullivan in the eagerly-anticipated sequel, The Best Man Holiday.

Read the rest of this story »

Dear Mr. Watterson
Film Review by Kam Williams

The comic strip Calvin & Hobbes enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity soon after first appearing in newspapers on November 18, 1985. Drawn and written by Bill Watterson, it was voted Best Syndicated Cartoon 7 years in a row over the course of a decade-long run which also twice netted its talented author the coveted Cartoonist of the Year award.

The reclusive Watterson so cherished his privacy that he shied away from the spotlight despite constant clamor for him to cash in on his success. But he had no trouble resisting the temptation to license his characters to product manufacturers ostensibly out of a fear that mass merchandising might cheapen his comic.

Moreover, in 1995, Watterson stopped publishing the column on his own terms the day he decided it was time, and quietly slipped back into obscurity. This was easy to achieve, since he still lived in tiny Chagrin Falls, the idyllic Ohio town where he’d been raised from the age of 6.

Directed by Joel Allen Schroeder, Dear Mr. Watterson is a reverential retrospective which seeks to flesh out its inscrutable, impossible to find subject. The film features a flurry of accolades from colleagues and fans, including the widow of Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts.

Again and again, the contributors roll out superlatives, uniformly expressing their admiration of the enigmatic Watterson in glowing detail, whether appraising his rich artwork or deeply philosophical storytelling which helped shape a whole generation of impressionable young minds. Conspicuous in his absence, the only person missing from the movie is the Watterson himself, an inveterate introvert who, of course, didn’t participate in the project.

Nevertheless, this illuminating documentary does manage to paint a compelling picture of a modest genius who used his beloved, kid-friendly cartoon to convey the timeless message that there’s magic in everyday life, provided you’re young enough at heart to look for it.

Excellent (4 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 90 minutes

Distributor: Gravitas Ventures

To see a trailer for Dear Mr. Watterson, visit

Go for Sisters
Film Review by Kam Williams

Bernice Stokes (LisaGay Hamilton) is a parole officer in Los Angeles where her job routinely places her in close proximity with the dregs of society. She normally has no reason to associate with such miscreants after hours, being very straitlaced and coming from a solid, middle class background.

However, everything changes the day the single-mom’s only child (McKinley Belcher, III) suddenly vanishes without a trace. Rodney, an Iraq War veteran hadn’t been the same since serving overseas.

Bernice was aware that he’d been hanging out with some unsavory characters recently, including a suspected drug dealer who was just murdered. Desperate to find her son, she strikes an unspoken bargain with Fontayne Scott (Yolonda Ross), a new client who has just flunked a urine test.

Rather than report Fontayne to her superior, Bernice enlists the streetwise addict’s assistance in the search. Complicating matters a bit is the fact that the two had been close friends back in high school. So, while unearthing clues pointing to Tijuana, the former BFFs are afforded an opportunity to deconstruct the events leading to their falling out over a boy they both wanted.

Besides Fontayne’s help, Bernice also retains the services of Freddy Suarez (Edward James Olmos), a disgraced, LAPD detective whose investigative experience and fluent Spanish are likely to come in handy south of the border. Packing a guitar and singing in the car, the unlikely trio heads for Mexico, posing as a musical group in order to not arouse suspicion.

Written and directed by two-time, academy Award-nominee John Sayles (for Passion Fish and Lone Star), Go for Sisters is a deliberately-paced crime drama which benefits as much from absorbing character development as from the intrigue surrounding solving the underlying whodunit. Credit charismatic Edward James Olmos for keeping the movie compelling, although Yolonda Ross and LisaGay Hamilton manage to fold their own opposite the Oscar-nominated thespian (for Stand and Deliver).

A dangerous border town as no country for old men or middle-aged sisters either.

Excellent (4 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 122 minutes

Distributor: Variance Films