October 7 - The journey begins!

Films featured:
"Every Little Step", Rated PG-13, 96 minutes
"The Girlfriend Experience", Rated R, 78 minutes
"500 Days of Summer", Rated PG-13, 95 minutes
"Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself", Rated PG-13, 113 minutes


Most of the films I’ve seen lately have been average at best. I simply have no patience to watch anything, because nothing really draws my attention. But now I have the internet, which allows me to seek out the films that I want to see. Being a true film freak, there are many.
This week’s cinematic journey took me all over the map. I happily report that the trip was affordable, and for a change, worthwhile.

I started with “Every Little Step”, the documentary about the Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line”. This was one of those “Oh yeah – I wanted to see that” films I had almost forgotten. Told through archival footage, the film alternates between the original production and the casting of the new one. Even though I’ve never been to a Broadway show, it’s easy to see how much these dancers give for their craft. The only downside is that parts look (pardon the pun) staged, like a reality show. But by the time they make it down from the original 3000 auditions to the finals to the actual Opening Night chorus line, I found myself cheering and singing along. ***1/2

From there I went to Adventureland (not that one, been there, done that, wasn’t all that) and watched “The Girlfriend Experience”. This is a recent Stephen Soderbergh effort, and it’s one of his more odd pieces. Only 78 minutes long, it tells the story of a female escort as she goes about her life. Eventually her “home life” and “personal life” cannot coexist. The biggest hype about this film was the casting of Sasha Grey as the lead. Yes, she made a living in the adult film industry. Yes, she can deliver lines. However, her delivery is wooden. I found it difficult to decide whether that was because the character is supposed to be so matter-of-fact, or because the writing just didn’t work. I also couldn’t understand whether I was supposed to feel sorry for her or not. In the end, I decided it didn’t matter. Although I respect the attempted “Experience”, it didn’t really do that much for me. **

Next stop was one of the highlights of the summer film slate, “500 Days of Summer”. This one had a great deal of favorable press, tauted as the “anti-rom com”. Given my hatred of rom-coms, I had extremely high expectations which were almost completely met. The film is realistic and honest. It uses the same technique as “Girlfriend” by telling events out of sequence. However, here there is a counter telling you what day you’re on. I found the characters completely believable due to the combination of good writing and solid performances of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With one small exception of a misplaced song and dance number, it was a great non-rom-com romp. The short run time of 95 minutes means that the film doesn’t have time to meander; I found the length perfect. It’s like a piece of watermelon – there might not be much there, but it’s fun while you enjoy it. ***1/2

To close out the cinematic trip, I ended on a downer. Tyler Perry’s latest effort, “I Can Do Bad All by Myself”, has led me to believe that Perry’s formula may be growing long in the tooth. I’ve liked the last few Perry films a great deal, and I thought he was finally stretching. Unfortunately, I was wrong. There is far too much stereotyping. The thing that I like best about Perry’s films is that I can always relate to the characters, but they’ve all gotten too cookie-cutter. Taraji P. Henson plays a woman who lives a shallow life until a tragedy forces her to grow up and take responsibility, and of course becomes fulfilled with a bevy of solid relationships. A friend of mine told me that it could be the African-American version of “Raising Helen”. She was right – and she hadn’t even seen the film! **

All in all, there is cinematic hope. It will indeed get better. Tune in next week (or whenever I get around to doing this), and please join me for the next installment of my never-ending cinematic saga. Till then, take care and have a glorious day.