May 8 to May 14, 2014
www.coachellavalleyweekly.com
Movie Reviews with Robin E. Simmons
A
COMING SOON!
fter informally surveying, or possibly annoying, dozens of strangers in Westfield’s food court, more than 80% of the people I spoke to said they were planning to see a movie in a theater this summer. Only 80%! Sometimes I assume that everyone is a movie buff, but I know that’s not so. Kind of sad, isn’t it? We movie lovers are ever hopeful that some of the most anticipated -- and hyped -- films may actually deliver the premise of the poster and promise of the trailer! It’s a rare event, but sometimes it happens. There’s nothing like the surprise of a great film that never breaks that strange hypnotic spell from fade-in to final credits. That’s a high we cinema addicts crave. Here are some of the most mentioned of this summer’s titles based on my unscientific poll. GODZILLA
for this film and wide praise for its director Gareth Edwards, who has only directed one previous film, the micro budgeted ($12,500), but great looking MONSTERS. Bryan Cranston is featured in the trailer and already people are asking, “Can Godzilla survive Heisenberg?” Opens May 16. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
The last reboot of the great Ape saga was well-written and tightly directed. It had emotional power and a great look, to say nothing of the remarkable physical acting of Andy Serkis in a motion capture performance that left no doubt about Caesar’s intelligence and anger. Now, the human survivors of a devastating plague threaten the league of evolved apes. With Gary Oldman and Keri Russell. Directed by Matt Reeves. The word on the street is “intense and nightmarish.” Opens July 11. SEX TAPE
The rubber suited Godzilla first stomped the Tokyo in 1954. His rampage has been understood as a pop culture response to the atomic and hydrogen bombs dropped on Japan. Now, sixty years later, a bigger and much badder Godzilla rises from the depths of the abyss and threatens mankind for what we have wrought. There’s huge buzz
22
What an inspired premise: A couple married for a decade decides to spice up their love life by video recording a marathon sex session. Only problem is, when they
Screeners No.111
wake up the next morning, they realize it has been inadvertently sent to friends and family. If the couple is to maintain a shred of dignity in their world, they must somehow undo the potential damage immediately and, to our delight, they make an increasingly desperate effort do to so. Director Jake Kasdan’s spicy, cringeworthy comedy stars ace comic performers Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel who have great on screen chemistry. Opens July 25. GET ON UP
Chadwick Boseman ignites the screen as James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. Early talk of a Best Actor award is already attached to this biography that tracks Brown’s life from his dirt-poor childhood to his stardom. It’s big, mostly true melodrama with a brilliant, soul-throbbing score. From producers Brian Grazer and Mick Jagger. Opens August 1. A MOST WANTED MAN
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final screen performance is in an adaptation of a tense novel from spymaster author John Le Carre. Set in present day Hamburg, Hoffman is a mysterious, tortured, near dead ChechenRussian searching for his Russian father’s stolen fortune in an Islamic community. Major international intrigue unfolds as catalytic forces and disparate desires converge while the clock ticks. Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe co star in this promising thriller adapted by Andrew Bovell and directed by Anton Corbijn. Opens July 25. MALIFICENT Who better to play the wicked witch behind “Sleeping Beauty’s” curse than Angelina Jolie? Beyond inspired casting, there’s said to be a darker than expected interpretation from Jolie in the retelling of this classic fairy tale about a betrayal and
its consequences on truth, goodness and beauty. In IMAX 3D and no, it’s not from Disney. Opens May 30. LUCY
Scarlet Johansson has established herself as an actress and a star. The aboutto-be mom hotness remains combustible on screen -- even if only for her singularly seductive voice. In Luc Besson’s sci-fi thriller set in a futuristic Taipei, Johansson is a drug mule who accidentally ingests a drug she was carrying in her stomach that gives her incredible abilities including great physical strength and massive intelligence that’s beyond any other human! High hopes for this film that promises to be a roller coaster thrill ride that tickles the mind and dazzles the senses. Keep you fingers crossed. Opens August 8. Strangely, no one, not even male teens, brought up anticipation for the gargantuan budgeted TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION that’s about an amateur
inventor (Mark Wahlberg) who comes up with something that reopens the robot war. The fourth version of this movie that reinforces the notion that Hollywood is bereft of originality is again directed by Michael Bay and will be shown worldwide in 3D. Opens May 30. robinesimmons@aol.com
Book Review
www.coachellavalleyweekly.com
May 8 to May 14, 2014
By Heidi Simmons
A Quest For Freedom
We live in a world where there is an ongoing history of shameful human behavior. Recent headlines continue to inform us that people can act in despicable ways. What lessons have we learned? In Sue Monk Kidd’s new novel, The Invention of Wings (Viking, 373 pages), she constructs a first person narrative about American slavery based on the real lives of the Grimké sisters who took a stand as abolitionists and feminists. The story begins in 1803, Charleston, North Carolina, when 11-year-old Sarah Grimké is given, as a birthday gift, ownership of a ten year-old slave girl named Hetty, also known as Handful. As a small child, Sarah witnessed the beating of her mother’s personal slave, at her mother’s request. Sarah was traumatized at the first blow. Little Sarah develops a stutter and terrible distaste for people owning people. In addition to the family home, they have a large plantation with more slaves. A precocious child, Sarah is more interested in her father’s work -- a judge -- than woman’s work -- needlepoint and home details. She longs to be a lawyer, desiring a life with purpose.
The Invention of wings By sue monk kidd fiction
At an early age, Sarah’s learns Latin and she reads in her father’s extensive library. She is her father’s favorite daughter until she uses legal means by way of a “certificate of manumission” to free Handful. The document is torn up and she is punished. When another Grimké is born, Sarah asks to be baby Angelina’s godmother. Sixteen years older, Sarah shapes her little sister with her anti-slavery views. Handful’s mother Charlotte, is a troublemaker and rebel, but is tolerated because she is an expert seamstress. She sews a quilt with the story of her life starting with her grandmother leaving Africa. She tells Handful that those that came before had wings and could fly away from harm or bad spirits. Charlotte informs Handful
that her skinny shoulder blades used to be wings. She says no matter what, mother and daughter could never be separated. One day they will be free. Sarah is Handful’s first indoor assignment. She is confused by Sarah’s strange nature. Sarah just wants to be friends. Handful develops a rebellious side like her mother that makes her difficult. Seeing that Sarah is different from the others, Charlotte makes Sarah promise she will free Handful some day and Sarah agrees. As time goes by, she realizes how difficult it will be to keep her promise. As a woman she has little say about anything. Soon Sarah comes to realize teaching Handful to read is one way to free her. Handful becomes a good reader and learns to write. When it is found out, Handful is whipped and Sarah is banned from the library and forbidden all books. As the women age, conditions do not improve. Sarah refuses to become a “society” woman while the horrible treatment of slaves exists in her community– including in her own home. Her father is ridiculed for his softness on slavery laws, partly brought about by Sarah’s outspoken nature. When Judge Grimké becomes ill, Sarah must take her father north to Philadelphia for medical treatment. There she discovers a new world where both white and black people live freely together. After her father’s death, Sarah decides to stay and is befriended by Quakers. Drawn to their liberal ways -- anti-slavery and clergywomen -- she finds her purpose and decides to become a Quaker minister. Eventually, Sarah and Angelina move north – the only place they can openly express themselves. With the help of northern Abolitionists, they each write a pamphlet that circulates across the country causing an up-roar. Even Handful finds a partly burned document blowing on the ground in Charleston. The sisters are banned from Charleston with orders to be arrested on sight for sedition. With the sisters gone and the death of Charlotte, Handful can no longer bear to live as a slave under Mrs. Grimké and plots her escape. She writes Sarah and says she will
be free or die. At risk to her own freedom, Sarah returns home to help free Handful as promised. This fictional account about slavery and freedom is told by Sarah and Handful as a first person narrative. Kidd has successfully taken real lives and events and formed them into a story that gives the reader a personal look at the tremendous struggle, shameful horror and terrible cruelty that is slavery. The real Grimké sisters not only worked hard to tell people the truth of what life was like for slaves, but insisted slaves be freed and made equal citizens. They thought the best way to bring about change was to appeal to women – both in the north and the south. Even with the Quakers, the sisters became aware of their limitations due to their gender. They realized their fight for the freedom of slaves was also a fight for the freedom of women! The Quakers asked them to not pursue the feminist issue, afraid it would divide the abolitionists – which it did. The sisters were excommunicated from the Quaker community. My favorite sentence in the book comes when Angelina and Sarah are asked to abandon their feminist stance. Sarah says to the Quaker leadership, “All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our neck.” The line was actually spoken by Sarah Grimké. This is skilled story telling, merging facts with fiction. It is a testament to Kidd’s thorough research and ability to create a powerful narrative around truths that are relevant and meaningful. The Invention of Wings is a captivating story about women desperate to take flight but are held down by the “man.” Makes one wonder if people will ever get it right.
23