Commentary- The Joneses, The Good The Bad and The Weird, Allen Iverson: No Crossover

What inevitably happens during a film festival, even a short film fest – I run out of time to write posts about each film I see in a timely fashion. Sometimes it’s because I’m trying to fit in other life between screenings, other times, I do too much socializing at the festivals, but mostly, I lack stamina, after I write one film commentary, I’m spent.

So, better late than never, here’s commentary on the 3 remaining films I saw at the PFS Spring Preview:

The Joneses – As I wrote in my festival announcement post, this was the one I wanted to see because of my affinity for both David Duchovny and Demi Moore, wanted to see if they had any chemistry together. They do, but it wasn’t magical. What is magical is Demi Moore’s flawless beauty and discovery of the fountain of youth. She was on Regis and Kelly Wednesday morning and jokingly said it’s all due to a lot of sex – testimony for Cougars everywhere!
Although I can’t give The Joneses a 4 tine rating, it is entertaining and easy to buy into the premise of an exaggerated “Keeping Up With The Jones” uncover marketing business. The film would be even better if you didn’t know the premise going in, that way when you are introduced to this family doing very dysfunctional things, for instance the daughter seducing the father, you’d be more like – What the ?!*%. [Director/Writer: Derrick Borte / Story: Randy T. Dinzler] Rating: 2 Tines

The Good The Bad & The Weird – As you can imagine, an Asian Western is not my genre of choice. I’m not big on a lot of senseless killing, even tongue in cheek. However, there are some very good, distinctive characters – Woo-sung Jung – Park Do-won / The Good, Byung-hun Lee – Park Chang-yi / The Bad, Kang-ho Song -Yoon Tae-goo / The Weird, with great hairstyles in this story of revenge, treasure maps, and finger cutting. Director/Writer: Ji-woon Kim / Screenplay: Min-suk Kim] Rating 2 Tines

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson – Again, not big on sports, so although I know who Allen Iverson is, I was totally unaware of his early on incarceration: On Valentine’s Day 1993, 17-year-old Bethel High School basketball star Allen Iverson was bowling in Hampton, Va., with five high school friends. It was supposed to be an ordinary evening, but it became a night that defined Iverson’s young life. A quarrel soon erupted into a brawl pitting Iverson’s young black friends against a group of white patrons. The fallout from the fight and the handling of the subsequent trial landed the teenager—considered by some the nation’s best high school athlete—in jail and sharply divided the city along racial lines. Oscar nominee Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) returns to his hometown of Hampton, where he once played basketball, to take a personal look at this still-disputed incident and examine its impact on Iverson and the shared community.

This documentary had the World Television premiere on Tues (4/13) Presented as part of ESPN films’ acclaimed 30 for 30 documentary series. Again, why it’s better to do timely posts. Perhaps now, Iverson himself has seen the film, as he took no part in the making of this documentary. In fact, it’s amazing how complete the piece is considering most of those directly involved refused to give statements or be filmed. One exception, is Joyce Hobson, a political activist who was part of the group supporting Iverson and the other black teenagers arrested after the fight. She refused participation in the film early on, but now attends panel discussion & Q &A’s after the screenings.

By coincidence, I walked in on a discussion about No Crossover at the hairdresser yesterday. Most of the ladies, in varying states of weaves & washes, felt it was such an engrossing doc, it should be made into a movie. We all agreed Iverson was so, so much cuter as a 17 year old. My hairstylist chimed in, that’s because pot smoking hardens a face and makes your lips black. [Director: Steve James] Rating: 2 Tines
(* Excellent – 4 Tines * Great – 3 Tines * Good – 2 Tines * Fair – 1 Tine * Poor – Tarnished)