As the Christmas and Hanukkah season rolls toward this evening’s midnight crescendo, Hollywood’s year-end prestige movies beckon. Here are my thoughts on three films that I caught while visiting my family and friends in southern California.
The Color Purple: Green light.
Despite what I thought, and perhaps common perceptions, director Blitz Bazawule’s new motion picture is not simply a remake of Stephen Spielberg’s 1985 film of the same name. Rather, this is a cinema version of Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical based on Spielberg’s adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel.
The Color Purple spins a compelling yarn. It’s very well acted, shot, and directed with excellent music and fancy footwork throughout.
Thanks to our painfully slow eating habits at lunch and some unexpected traffic, my sainted father (age 91) and I walked into the theater a minute or two late. I was astonished to see the cast singing a vibrant opening gospel number and dancing like crazy. “Oh, it’s a musical,” I concluded to myself. (Nothing slips past Deroy Murdock.)
While this is a musical, it features long stretches of dialogue and dramatic action between the scenes in which the highly capable cast bursts into song. When they do, they acquit themselves quite well, with their vocal cords and their feet. Choreographer Fatima Robinson’s dance steps sparkle amid Paul D. Austerberry’s lush production design. (READ MORE: Bradley Cooper Is Leonard Bernstein — And I Am Marie of Romania)
I had forgotten much of this story, as I suspect millions of others have, since seeing the original film 38 years ago. It covers the lives of Celie and Nettie, two sisters mistreated by a cruel father. Celie (played expertly by both Phylicia Pearl Mpasi as a girl and the fantastically named Fantasia Barrino as a grown woman) winds up as the victim of an arranged marriage to a monstrous husband whom she calls Mister. Colman Domingo portrays him as the ultimate abusive spouse. Mister considers her nothing more than a combination living, breathing blow-up doll, a maid, and a house slave. Mister’s evil mistreatment of Celie is tough to watch, which makes his eigth-inning comeuppance thoroughly satisfying.
The Color Purple Official Trailer (Warner Bros. Movies/Youtube)
Taraji P. Henson is outstanding as Shug Avery, a traveling blues singer and free spirit who lights up the small Southern town in which this film is set as well as the Silver Screen on which she exudes charisma and abundant sexual sparks. Henson, a fine actress equipped with a terrific voice, uses her previously unheralded gift to deliver “Push Da Button,” a remarkably naughty song that explodes with erotic innuendo. As with so many blues tunes, that which is sung about is rarely what is sung about.
Danielle Brooks is outstanding as Sofia, an incredibly tough and pugilistic woman who suffers fools not at all. As James Brown might have put it: Momma don’t take no mess. This eventually lands her in huge trouble, in one of this picture’s most dramatic twists.
The Color Purple spins a compelling yarn. It’s very well acted, shot, and directed with excellent music and fancy footwork throughout. Also, if you like slick old cars, there are some beauties here, too.
The Boys in the Boat: Row, row, row towards it.
Rather than slick old cars, slick old sculls are the focus of The Boys in the Boat. This true David v. Goliath story concerns the University of Washington’s men’s rowing team and its efforts to defeat the far-better funded and established squads from California’s dominant Berkeley and such Eastern powerhouses as Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Harvard. Director George Clooney stays behind the camera and beautifully photographs his handsome young cast as they train like fiends, both to prove their moxie as West Coast upstarts and, eventually, earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Their goal: Put Adolf Hitler’s Master Race in their place at the 1936 Berlin games. (READ MORE: Beauty’s Last Stand – TV Christmas Movies)
Led by rowers Callum Turner and Sam Strike, coxswain Bruce Herbelin-Earle, and coaches Joel Edgerton and James Wolk, the ensemble acting is first rate. Kalina Ivanov’s production design is lovely, in and out of the waves. Ditto Jenny Eagan’s costumes.
It would have been satisfying to learn more about four or five of the other members of the eight-man crew, although that would have made the film less sleek in the water. Regardless, this is an exciting motion picture that also is mighty easy on the eyes.
Ferrari: Not so fast.
Michael Mann’s Ferrari is another male-competition film. Unfortunately, it ends up sitting on blocks, thanks to way, way, way too much emphasis on marital trauma.
All things considered, and in a bad way, Ferrari reminded me of musician Billy Preston’s eternal question: “Will it go ’round in circles?”
While this picture is being marketed as a thrilling ride through the world of a classic sports car company, its far more a meditation on founder Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) and his problems with his wife, mistress, and love child. Every time that things speed up on various Italian racetracks, we head back to Ferrari’s home, where Mrs. Ferrari (Penelope Cruz) screams at him about his adultery. Cut to a country house where Ferrari and his other love interest (Shailene Woodley) brood over their son’s upcoming church confirmation. (READ MORE: It’s a Wonderful Film — Yes, the Best Ever)
ZZZZZzzzzz….
To be fair, this is all more interesting than getting stuck in a California traffic jam.
Barely.
Michael Mann’s bigger sin might be total confusion.
His film builds up to the 1957 Mille Miglia, a major race between Ferrari and Maserati. Big-league problem: The rival companies’ cars are both painted red!
So, as these vehicles speed through some gorgeous Italian terrain, Mann leaves filmgoers utterly baffled as to whether a Ferrari driver is ahead, if one of Maserati’s racers takes the lead, or whatever.
At one point, one car slides off a winding road and slams into a boulder. The driver survives, jumps out of his car, and then hops into a waiting speedster for a free ride to the next town.
Did a Ferrari crash? Did its driver get a lift in a Maserati, or was it the other way around?
This does not become clear until the next scene, when one owner castigates his driver for cruising in as his competitor’s passenger.
Mann should have made one set of cars red and the other blue, black, or any other color. Placing the different teams in distinctly hued uniforms would have helped.
Historical accuracy might have suggested keeping all these cars indistinguishable, save for the logos on their grills. However, Michael Mann is a good enough director to take the cinematic license to keep things clear in the minds of his audience, 66 years after this actual race occurred.
Ferrari Official Teaser Trailer (IGN Movie Trailers/Youtube)
Also, as its name states, the Mille Miglia covers 1,000 miles. But Italy’s length spans 721 miles, from Como, abutting the Alps, to Santa Maria di Leuca, at the boot’s heel. So, how do these drivers cover this much territory while the dialogue seems to have them travelling from Modena to Bologna, just 26 miles away? Mann and screenwriters Troy Kennedy Martin and Brock Yates leave this a mystery. (READ MORE: Keep Pasolini’s Christ in Christmas)
A map of the race route would have helped and added no more than a few hundred dollars to Ferrari’s $95 million budget.
All things considered, and in a bad way, Ferrari reminded me of musician Billy Preston’s eternal question: “Will it go ’round in circles?”
Happy New Year and happy filmgoing!
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor.
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