Get On Up(2014)

This 2014 biopic directed by Tate Taylor(The Help) and produced by Brian Glazer and Mick Jagger, chronicles the life of Soul Brother #1, The Godfather of Soul, The hardest working man in show business, Mr. James Brown.

As a huge James Brown fan I was at first very worried about a feature length film about Brown being done, not from the musical standpoint because I knew they would get the licenses to use his real music in the film and which ever actor portrayed him could lip sync, Angela Bassett in What’s Love Got To Do With it is a good example.

My biggest problem would be which every actor that was cast would have too dance like James Brown, which would be a problem because of any entertainer James Brown is the only one that I can think of that his dance is simply called “The James Brown” and everyone can’t just do the James Brown dance.

Chadwick Boseman was cast as James Brown and once again I was very worried because not to long before he played another famous person Jackie Robinson in 42, I didn’t care to watch 42 not because didn’t think it would be a bad movie or anything, just that with everything that I’ve learned about Jackie Robinson over the years I knew I wouldn’t really learn anything new seeing that movie so I past.

I finally watched Get On Up and I was very let down with what I saw, firstly there is a a very good cast of talent, Viola Davis, Lennie James, Octavia Spencer, Dan Aykroyd, Nelsan Ellis, Craig Robinson, Jill Scott, Aunjanue Ellis with the except of Nelsan Ellis everyone else were wasted here with most of their roles being glorified cameo appearances really. 

Like I said earlier being a huge fan of James Brown I’ve watched documentaries that feature him Soul Power, Mr. Dynamite being two worth checking out,and have listened to countless songs of his, I was expecting to learn some stuff that I might not have known like what went on with his childhood and his mother(Viola Davis) leaving him and then coming back in his life once he became a huge star, all of that was glossed over moreso then anything.

Craig Robinson who plays Maceo Parker, might have been the second most featured member of the band of Bobby Byrd(Nelsan Ellis) but alot of the relationship that he and his brother had with James Brown were left out of the story or glossed over as well, also I was very disappointed that during none of the musical performances in the film, there is never any “Maceo, give me a little bit of that horn” which after probably calling out Bobby on songs Maceo name and solo were featured on alot of Brown songs.

One problem with the film is that instead of having a structured narrative It jumps around through the years to the point you as the viewer gets confused at exactly when things are taking place.

I will say that Chadwick Boseman is very impressive as James Brown as he nailed James speech perfectly which meant when he was just talking you couldn’t understand anything he was saying really, if you’ve seen interviews with James Brown then you know that’s how he talked when he wasn’t singing.

All in All if you’re someone who doesn’t really know anything about James Brown then this will be an ok film to watch, but if you are a fan and have seen other documentaries about him then this film isn’t for you outside of the musical scenes. which them in itself takes up more then enough of the runtime.

MY RATING 5/10

CAST

Chadwick Boseman-James Brown

Nelsan Ellis-Bobby Byrd

Dan Aykroyd-Ben Bart

Viola Davis-Susie Brown

Lennie James-Joe Brown

Craig Robinson-Maceo Parker

Jill Scott-DeeDee Brown

Octavia Spencer-Aunt Honey

Aunjanue Ellis-Vicki Anderson

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

"It's been a long time"

PLOT

65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so called moonlight begin again. is it a copycat or something even more sinister? a lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him




MY THOUGHTS

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a remake(Sort of) to the original film of the same name which was made in 1976 which was based on the true story of the mask killer known only as the phantom that terrorized Texarkana back in 1946.

This film begins with a recap of the real life events that took place in 1946 and then references the 1976 film, then comes to current day where Jami (Addison Timlin) and her boyfriend Corey (Spencer Treat Clark) are at the drive in watching the original film which has become something of a yearly thing for the people of Texarkana who somewhat have embraced the tragic events from years ago.

Jami not being really into horror films wants to leave which Corey has no problem in doing, as they are leaving Reverend Cartwright(Edward Herrmann) is warning everyone about the movie they are watching, he’s something of the prophet of doom.

Jami and Corey ends up at lover’s lane the original phantom’s hunting grounds and while their after 66 years The Phantom appears and forces them out of the car, he tells Corey to get on the ground and for Jami to turn around and not look as he gets down on top of Corey and stabs him repeatedly.

Jami manages to escape and ends up in the hospital and when the rest of the town hears about what happened it causes the town to go into a frenzy and opens up once long forgotten feelings about The Phantom killer.

One thing I enjoyed about this movie was how the filmmakers made homages to the original film a few of the death scenes are play out exactly like a few of the ones in the original, most of note being the trombone scene.

The cast was a little interesting with a few known actors (Anthony Anderson, Gary Cole, Veronica Cartwright, Denis O’Hare,Ed Lauter and Edward Herrmann) showing up threw out, It would’ve been nice to have seen the police play a more important role in this film but they took a backseat this time too the main character.

Anthony Anderson character is based off of the Texas Ranger from the original film played by Ben Johnson and even dressed like him but isn’t given much to do, same with Gary Cole but he does have one of the more memorable scenes in the film.

Denis O’Hare does very well with the limited screen time he gets here as Charles B. Pierce, Jr. the son of the original filmmaker. It would’ve been good to see more of him here since he seemed to be the most committed to his role and what the film was all about.

The lead Addison Timlin as Jami does a decent job as the only survivor of The Phantom attacks and we’re given much of her own backstory but even with all of that there did seem to be something missing, maybe like I mentioned before if the police played more of a role in this film then it would’ve made her seem like a better character some how.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown does a good job of bridging the original with this new film and I was entertained through out, but if there is one big problem that I had with the film would be with the finale, I will not spoil it but the ending felt rushed and weak for the most part and some what slasher film cliched which this film wasn’t for two-thirds of it.

All in all if you are a fan of the original film or even if you are not The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a good watch and more violent then the original, the story is well pace and played out except for the ending but that shouldn’t ruin the overall viewing, it’s one of the better horror films from 2014 and seemed to fly under the radar for a lot of people.

So check it out since it’s streaming currently on netflix as is the original so you could have a double feature and make a night of it.


MY RATING
7/10

CAST
Addison Timlin-Jami
Veronica Cartwright- Lillian
Anthony Anderson-Lone Wolf Morales
Gary Cole- Chief Deputy Tillman
Travis Tope- Nick
Edward Herrmann-Reverend Cartwright
Ed Lauter- Sheriff Underwood
Denis O'Hare- Charles B. Pierce, Jr
Spencer Treat Clark- Corey
Morganna May- Kendra
Joshua Leonard- Deputy Foster