Screened Out: Men of Character

SOFruitvaleStationFruitvale Station is an intimate biography that accomplishes great things. Based on an enraging 2009 tragedy, this film realistically shows us a deeply flawed character on the last day of his life. Michael B. Jordan’s nuanced performance deserves some serious award attention.

On Jan. 1, 2009, 22-year-old Oscar Grant (Jordan), his girlfriend, and their friends were coming home from celebrating New Year’s in San Francisco. A fistfight on the Bay Area Rapid Transit train got them pulled off and detained by an overzealous police force. While trying to handcuff Grant, surrounded by an increasingly confusing melee, an officer shot Grant in the back. Grant was at the time lying facedown on the platform at Fruitvale Station.

“Oh, my God! You shot me!” Grant cried.

Several passengers filmed this event on their phones and digital cameras. This footage, disseminated through the Internet and media, fueled violent and emotional pretests. This eyewitness footage is also the first minute of Fruitvale Station.

In 24 hours, Fruitvale Station presents both Grant’s small victories and many mistakes. It is not exactly an admirable biography. Grant is not a model citizen, many of us aren’t, and no one is perfect, but we all deserve more respect and dignity than Grant received.

It may be a hard film to watch, especially after the months of the Trayvon Martin trial, but it’s also vital. Tiny, well-rounded Fruitvale Station does what so many other films fail to do: it deeply moves us.



SORIPDThe undead comedy R.I.P.D. is D.O.A.

Reynolds is an ethically challenged cop trying to catch a major drug lord when he discovers some unclaimed gold. After barely convincing himself to turn in the treasure, Reynolds is killed over it, leaving a grieving widow (Szostak). In the afterlife, Reynolds is assigned to work in the Rest In Peace Department, partnered with babbling cowboy Bridges. The R.I.P.D. is responsible for capturing dead people, “deadies,” who have decided to remain in the land of the living. The deadies, though, have other ideas and they found a way to bring all of the other passed souls back to Earth so they can take over.

It’s strange that anyone thought that this project, obviously cobbled from Ghost and Men in Black, would work. It’s difficult to sympathize with Reynolds’ dull, unfunny character. Bridges is even sadder. He’s aping his brilliant turn in True Grit, but where his Rooster Cogburn was taciturn, this character cannot shut up. How does a venerable actor like Bridges get reduced to this?

Then there are the special effects. The dead monsters have terrible skin, and the lighting and shading are noticeably lacking. This is some of the cheapest looking special effects rendered since the I Am Legend zombies.

One more note: when a big studio like Universal holds off on all critic screenings of a summer blockbuster until the night before the film’s opening, you can pretty much guarantee a stinker.



SOTheWolverineWell, at least Mr. Jackman is shirtless a lot in the film. This has little else to recommend it.

Instead of a good superhero flick without lapses in logic, we get a Japanese melodrama that loses its theme and steam halfway through.

There’s not much of a plot. Jackman’s Wolverine, a claw-sporting mutant, is hiding in Alaska, grieving over lost love, when Fukushima locates him. It seems that back in WWII, Jackman saved a man who is now a dying Japanese tycoon. The rich man would love to see the mutant one more time, to thank him, and to lead Wolverine into, of course, something more nefarious.

It’s not as if the talent isn’t here, led by Jackman and director James Mangold (Walk the Line). The first “act” of the film boasts a very fun fight sequence in and on a speeding bullet train. The second section sags quite a bit. The last third reinstates the pace, but by this time, all credibility and plausibility have fallen apart. There aren’t enough mutants or action sequences. Also, there’s a plot hole you could drive a bullet train through, one of those moments where the villains could’ve won at the beginning but decide to stretch things out.

One last thing: The Wolverine has a brilliant tag, so if you have to go, at least stick around to the end. In that short moment is a film I’d actually want to see again.

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