SYNOPSIS: After 31-years “The Naked Gun” franchise returns to theaters with Liam Neeson playing Police Squad detective Frank Drebin Jr., son of the bumbling cop made famous by the iconic Leslie Nielson in the TV show “Police Squad!” and the1988-1994 trilogy. Directed by Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer, “The Naked Gun” sees Drebin Jr. following in his father’s footsteps, blundering his way through a murder investigation involving the brother of femme fatale Beth (Pamela Anderson) and tech giant Richard Cane (Danny Huston).
CAST: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, and Danny Huston. Directed by Akiva Schaffer.
REVIEW: The last few years at the movies have been no laughing matter. The Hollywood studios, dollar signs dancing in their eyes, by and large stopped making comedies, opting instead to cater to international audiences with IP-driven superhero movies, sci-fi epics and action franchises.
With a mix of absurd humor, sight gags, and deadpan delivery the rebooted “The Naked Gun” hopes audiences will once again embrace their inner silliness at the theatre.
Based on David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker ‘s crime parody television show “Police Squad!,” which inspired three big screen comedies starring Leslie Nielsen as the bumbling police lieutenant Frank Drebin, the new film captures the spirit and, more importantly, the rat-a-tat rapid-fire joke density.
In other words, don’t like a joke? Don’t worry, the movie is so tightly packed with gags you won’t have to wait long for another laugh. It’s not subtle. From farce and spoof to beastly puns and even pretend bestiality, it’s willing to try anything to raise a smile, including poking fun at itself with a gag about O.J. Simpson, who starred in the original three movies.
It wouldn’t work if Liam Neeson wasn’t game. Whether he’s prancing around in a schoolgirl’s outfit or ripping the arms off a bad guy and using them to beat him into submission, he’s fully committed to playing it straight amid the chaos. His commanding presence, coupled with echoes of the dramatic work that has dominated his career, brings gravitas to a character who does idiotic things. It’s that push-and-pull that generates the film’s anarchic humor.
Leslie Nielsen will always be the king of “The Naked Gun” style comedy, as a pioneer of the sincere deadpan, but Neeson may be the genre’s clown prince.
At his side is Pamela Anderson as Beth Davenport, femme fatale and Drebin’s love interest. Following up her Golden Globe nominated role in “The Last Showgirl,” she pivots to a character that plays off her bombshell image but allows her to showcase her comedic chops. She embraces the absurdity, as seen in her preposterousness jazz scat solo scene. Once seen, it will not soon be forgotten.
“The Naked Gun” has a few things going for it. In 84 tight minutes (with two post credit scenes), it’s nostalgic and doesn’t play it safe but most of all, it brings laughter back to the theatres. Surely, you might ask, the reboot can’t be as fun as the original movies. Yes it is, and don’t call me Shirley.
SYNOPSIS: “Piece by Piece,” a new fanciful documentary about musician, rapper, producer, fashion designer and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams, told through animated Lego, is a brightly colored trip down memory lane for one of the most influential musicians of the 21st century.
CAST: Pharrell Williams, Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Chad Hugo, Daft Punk. Directed by Morgan Neville.
REVIEW: Content wise “Piece by Piece” is a rather straightforward music biography. The story of a young music obsessed outsider who, through tenacity, talent and luck finds his way to the inner circle of the music business isn’t new, but the telling of the tale is. Shot like a regular doc, with talking heads, recreations and “archival” footage, it is rendered completely in colorful Lego bricks. “What if life is like Lego,” Pharrell Williams says early on, “except you can put it together however you want?”
The imaginative visuals will make your eyeballs dance. Williams’s early life in Virginia Beach, Virginia is vividly portrayed as a time filled with diverse influences, like Stevie Wonder, Carl Sagan and his grandmother, who encouraged him to join his school’s band club, but it is music that sparked his imagination. Literally. In one eye popping sequence director Neville illustrates the future producer’s synesthesia, the ability to see colors in the mind’s eye when listening to music.
Later the Lego is used to maximum effect when recalling incidents in Williams’s career, like getting the contact high in Snoop Dogg’s studio that resulted in “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and in a splashy sequence that sees Williams return to the neighborhood where he grew up.
By the time the end credits roll, “Piece by Piece” touches on Black Lives Matter, his brand work with everyone from Chanel to McDonalds and the dry spell that saw him briefly lose his way in the business. The talking heads provide good information, but there are holes. We never learn why his original band the Neptunes split, and while there is a great of talk about his genius at coming up with beats, the actual creative process remains mysterious.
Still, as a fun night at the movies, the Lego look and good time tunes like “Hollaback Girl,” “Rockstar,” “Frontin’” and “Happy” are a blast but it is his philosophical vantage point—the movie could easily have been called “The Tao of Pharrell”—that provides the film’s uplift. It’s mostly Pop Psychology 101, and never really digs deep into Williams’s head, but it does serve as a testament to the power of music, positive thinking and being true to oneself as key components to personal and profession success.
Director X (real name Julien Christian Lutz) has captured some of hip-hop’s most iconic images on film. His Hotline Bling music video for Drake racked up almost 300 million online views, and he’s directed promos for everyone from Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar to Iggy Azalea to Busta Rhymes, but now that he’s made the leap to the movies don’t expect a big screen musical from him.
“I’ve lived my life for almost 20 years with guys rapping or singing or singers who wish they were rappers,” he says.
“I’ve swum in those waters enough. Now that I’ve got people talking I don’t want them to talk about rapping and singing. Forgive me if that is not something I’m into right now.
“Maybe when I’m an old man doing a period piece about this time it might be interesting but I’ve always felt hip hop is like a movie right in front of your face. Chris Brown and Drake really got into a fight at a bar and threw vodka bottles at one another. Me fictionalizing a movie of that [isn’t necessary], you’re watching the movie unfold in front of your face, bullet time. For someone else, go on ahead, but there are other stories I’d like to tell and speak in my own voice.”
Over the years Director X has been connected to other projects — there were rumours he would direct a vampire film called Razorwire — but says he chose Across the Line as his debut feature film because “it was actually about something.”
“It’s about where I’m from,” he says. “It’s about Canada but a deeper level of Canadian history and Canadian communities. It’s not just a story about Toronto or a story we know, regardless of the city.”
Inspired by true events, the film is a study of race in small-town Nova Scotia as seen from the perspective of a young National Hockey League prospect. When his chance at the big league is threatened by family problems and racial tension at his high school, he must overcome intolerance, cultural tension and the odds to fulfil his dream.
“It’s a story that needed to be told,” says the director, whose next film is a sequel to the movie Center Stage.
Director X’s music video work is characterized by his own particular sense of style, something he had to put on the back burner while making Across the Line.
“I brought myself to it but at the same time there aren’t any scenes that are just pure visual fun,” he says. “There was no John Woo cool. When you’re making movies you have a responsibility to respect the story over cool awesome shots that belong in blockbusters as opposed to a narrative. But at the same time it’s not just turning on the lights and putting the camera on a tripod. It’s finding a style that aids the story as opposed to just something that is cool stuff.”
Across the Line’s story has already connected with festival audiences. It won Best Atlantic Feature at the Atlantic Film Festival and earned kind reviews at the Beverly Hills and Boston International Film Festivals, which he thinks are driven by the realism on the screen.
“It’s inspired by life,” he says, “and takes turns that only come out of life.”
