The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Film Review by Kam Williams

Between Theodore (1901-1909) and Franklin (1933-1945), a Roosevelt was in the White House for 20 years of the 20th Century. It is not surprising, then, that they, in conjunction with FDR’s wife Eleanor, would reshape not only Americans’ relationship with the federal government but even the U.S.’ own standing in the rest of the world.

You probably think of Teddy as the tough-talking President whose foreign policy was reduced to, “Walk softly and carry a big stick!” And his cousin Franklin had his own iconic catchphrase, namely, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!” which was generally credited for buoying the country’s spirits during the Great Depression.

Meanwhile, Eleanor might be best remembered for having publicly resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution when the organization prevented Marian Anderson from staging a concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC because of her skin color. The First Lady subsequently took it upon herself to invite the snubbed opera singer to perform both at the White House (the first black ever to do so there) and on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday in front of  a crowd of 75,000.

What you might not know is that Eleanor Roosevelt was a staunch African-American advocate who insisted that housing, employment and equal education were basic human rights that this society had a moral obligation to provide to all its citizens. Fortunately, Ken Burns 14-hour series, The Roosevelts, fully fleshes out Eleanor, FDR and Teddy into the complex human beings they really were, including their triumphs, their transformations, their flaws, and their failings.

For example, we see how Franklin suffered from polio for most of his adult life, and how he went to great lengths to hide from the nation the toll the debilitating affliction was taking on his body. Covering over a century, from Theodore’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962, this revealing biopic paints a fascinating portrait, not to be missed, of perhaps America’s most influential political dynasty.

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated TV-PG

Running time: 14 hours

Studio: Florentine Films

Distributor: PBS

The Roosevelts airs on PBS from 8-10 PM ET/PT from Sunday, September 14th through Saturday September 20th (check local listings)

To see a trailer for The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcmGpZppPwA

To order a copy of The Roosevelts on DVD, visit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00JKJ0XJU/ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20

DVD Extras: 13 bonus videos; The Making of The Roosevelts; and deleted scenes with an introduction by Ken Burns.  

This Is Where I Leave You
Film Review by Kam Williams

When Mort Altman (Will Swenson) passes away, his children return home reasonably expecting to remain in town briefly. After all, despite being raised Jewish, they have no reason to expect to sit shiva, since their dad was an avowed atheist and their psychologist mom (Jane Fonda) is a gentile.

However, after the funeral, Hillary Altman informs her offspring of the dearly-departed’s dying wish that they mourn him for a week in accordance with religious tradition. And then, she announces that they’ve all just been grounded for seven days, as if they’re still children.

This development doesn’t sit well with any of the siblings, since they don’t get along and this is the first time they’ve all been sleeping under the same roof in ages. Furthermore, their dad’s death couldn’t have come at a more inopportune moment, since each is in the midst of a midlife crisis.

Judd (Jason Bateman) has just learned that his wife (Abigail Spencer) is having an affair with his boss (Dax Shepard). Meanwhile, brother Paul’s (Corey Stoll) marriage is in jeopardy because his wife’s (Kathryn Hahn) biological clock is ticking very loudly but she’s been unable to get pregnant.

Then there’s playboy baby brother, Philip (Adam Driver), a narcissist with unresolved oedipal issues, judging by the fact that he’s dating a shrink (Connie Britton) old enough to be his mother. He’s such a self-indulgent womanizer, he doesn’t think twice about shamelessly flirting with an old flame (Carly Brooke Pearlstein) right in front of his mortified girlfriend.

Finally, we have only-sister Wendy (Tina Fey). Superficially, she seems to be the most stable of the four as a doting mother of two with a devoted, if emotionally distant, husband (Aaron Lazar) who at least is a great provider.

Barry’s obsession with his career on Wall Street has come at the cost of preserving the passion and intimacy in the relationship. So, the last thing Wendy needs now is the temptation of a duplicitous dalliance being dangled in front of her eyes in the form of Horry (Timothy Olyphant). However, her hunky high school sweetheart is still single, still in shape, and still right across the street, even if he’s brain-damaged and lives with his mother (Debra Monk).

All of these sticky situations serve primarily as fodder for a sophisticated brand of humor in This Is Where I Leave You, an alternately droll and laugh out loud dramedy directed by Shawn Levy (Date Night). Adroitly adapted to the screen by Jonathan Tropper, author of the best seller of the same name, this relentlessly-witty film features some of the funniest repartee around as it simultaneously explores a laundry list of sobering themes ranging from religion and mortality to love and betrayal.

A character-driven examination of a dysfunctional Jewish family about as wacky as they come.

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated R for profanity, sexuality and drug use

Running time: 103 minutes

Distributor: Warner Brothers

To see a trailer for This Is Where I Leave You, visit

No Good Deed
Film Review by Kam Williams

It is usually a bad sign when a movie studio decides not to preview a picture for film critics. In the case of No Good Deed, Screen Gems claimed that it was refraining from doing so in order to prevent the spoiling of a surprising plot twist. Well, the butler did it! (Just kidding.)

Skeptical, I had to wait until opening day to see it. And while the movie is by no means a masterpiece, I’m happy to report that it’s nevertheless a tautly-wound nail-biter which keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. And yes, there is a humdinger of a revelation during the denouement, not a totally preposterous development but rather a plausible one which was merely cleverly-concealed.

The movie marks the theatrical directorial debut of Sam Miller, who is best known for Luther, the brilliant BBC-TV series featuring Idris Elba in the title role for which he won a Golden Globe in 2012. The two collaborate again here, with Idris playing Colin Evans, a serial killer who, at the point of departure, slays a couple of prison guards during a daring escape from a Tennessee prison.

He makes his way to his girlfriend Alexis’ (Kate del Castillo) house in Atlanta only to murder her, too, when he learns she’s already involved with another man. Colin remains so blinded with rage as he drives away that he crashes his stolen car into a tree along a suburban country road.

He subsequently knocks on the door of Terri Granger (Taraji P. Henson), an attorney-turned-stay at home mom whose husband (Henry Simmons) has conveniently just left town with his father away for a weekend golf getaway. Against the former prosecutor’s better judgment, she lets the tall, dark and handsome stranger enter the house, and it isn’t long before there’s trouble in paradise.

After all as the proverb suggested by the title warns, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Accordingly, Terri and her two young kids find themselves in the clutches of a desperate maniac until the protective mother’s maternal and survival instincts kick into high gear.

No Good Deed was ostensibly inspired by The Desperate Hours, a suspiciously-similar Broadway play starring Paul Newman which was first adapted to the big screen in 1955 starring Humphrey Bogart, and remade in 1990 with Sir Anthony Hopkins. Thanks to Mr. Elba’s menacing intensity, a potentially mediocre variation on the theme ends up elevated into a tension-filled gutwrencher his loyal fans won’t want to miss.

The urban-oriented audience at the screening I attended talked back at the screen a lot in the way that engaged black folks do, and they even applauded heartily as the closing credits rolled, surefire signs that the studio has a hit on its hands, conventional critics notwithstanding.

Very Good (3 stars)

Rated PG-13 for violence and profanity

Running time: 84 minutes

Distributor: Screen Gems

To see a trailer for No Good Deed, visit: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5VeowxERwM    

I Am Eleven
Film Review by Kam Williams

11 is that awkward age when most boys are bashful and self-conscious about their cracking voices while the girls are gangly and getting their first period. If you’re wondering what today’s kids are thinking about as they negotiate their way through that stage of life, you can easily find out from I Am Eleven, a delightful documentary marking the directorial debut of Genevieve Bailey.

The peripatetic Australian circumnavigated the globe to talk to children about everything from family to teasing to romance to war to intolerance to poverty to nature to their hopes for the future. Ms. Bailey found 22 young subjects to focus on over the course of her travels which took her to 15 countries.

Art Linketter coined the phrase, “Kids say the darnedest things,” ages ago and that hasn’t changed much, judging from the quotable bon mots served up in this film. Among the movie’s stars are Remi, an introspective boy from France who doesn’t mince words. “I don’t like racists,” he announces sternly, adding, “To know that there are still some people who differentiate between humans depending on race, that’s completely absurd.”

Relatively-innocent, but equally-endearing, is Remya, an orphan from India who freely admits that she didn’t even know what an interview was before being approached to participate in the project. In fact, Bailey is the first foreigner she ever met. Nevertheless, it doesn’t take long for the vulnerable waif to open up how she feels hurt whenever “someone is bullying me or shouting at me or telling lies about me.”

One adolescent I found particularly fascinating was Jack, an elephant whisperer from Thailand. He explains how the behemoths he works with are capable of healing. “Elephants can change the chemicals in your brain,” he suggests matter-of factly. “If you have a headache, all you’ve got to do is put your head to an elephant’s head and, within seconds, your headache just goes away.”

Pearls of wisdom from the mouths of babes uttered with such heartfelt conviction that you want to believe them, even when you’re a little skeptical.

Excellent (4 stars)

Unrated

In English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, German, Swedish, Berber, Thai, Malayalam, Hindi, Dutch and Bulgarian with subtitles.

Running time: 94 minutes

Distributor: International Film Circuit

To see a trailer for I Am Eleven, visit

Wetlands
(Feuchtgebiete)
Film Review by Kam Williams

Helen Memel (Carla Juri) has had hemorrhoids for as long as she can remember, an unfortunate affliction she probably developed as a result of a combination of probing herself and practicing very poor hygiene. For the headstrong rebel has made a habit of ignoring her mother’s (Meret Becker) sensible advice, such as to not sit on a public toilet seat.

Instead, Helen tends to go to the opposite extreme, taking a kinky pleasure in coming in contact with whatever bodily fluids might have been left behind by strangers in the ladies’ room. The sexually-insatiable 18 year-old also enjoys experimenting with everything from cucumbers to carrots to pulsating shower heads in a neverending quest for the next climax.

She even flirts shamelessly with her BFF, Corinna (Marlen Kruse), who’s straight and already has a boyfriend, Mike (Bernardo Arias Porras). But Helen is so curious and driven by lust that she fantasizes about seducing him as well.

What’s behind all the bizarre behavior? It might be explained by the trauma the poor child suffered as a consequence of her parents’ divorce. She’s desperate for the two of them to reconcile, and has been acting out since the separation, filling the void by deliberately seducing boys with a whiff of her very carnal feminine scent.

Directed by David Wnendt, Wetlands is a surreal, coming-of-age adventure which keeps you guessing whether what you’re watching is real or merely the product of the horny heroine’s fertile imagination. The picture is based on Charlotte Roche’s erotic thriller, “Feuchtgebiete” which was the best-selling novel in the entire world for the month of March, 2008. 

A non-stop sexcapade revolving around a literally and figuratively filthy hedonist who puts a whole new spin on the term “dirty girl.”

Very Good (3 stars)

Unrated

In German with subtitles

Running time: 104 minutes

Distributor: Strand Releasing

To see a trailer for Wetlands, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3PRY13WiwM