How to be an American Gangster

WEB EXCLUSIVE

By Cody Quinn
Editor-in-Chief
Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe sit down for a little chat.
Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Movies

To call Frank Lucas (a stellar Denzel Washington) a gangster would be an understatement. In the lore spelled out in Ridley Scott’s new crime drama, American Gangster, Lucas is a vicious businessman who brings all new meaning to kill or be killed ethics.

Gangster is a gripping tale of Lucas’ rise to the top of the underworld on a wave of cheap but high quality heroin. Intermixed with the violence and family life inherent in any criminal enterprise is Russell Crowe, who plays Detective Richie Roberts. If you weren’t sure Roberts is Jewish, the large gold Star of David around his neck is a pretty good hint.

Both actors are at the top of their game in this movie, splitting plot and screen time like the seminal movie Heat did. The two Oscar-winning actors don’t even meet until the obligatory arrest near the film’s end.

Washington gets the meatier of the two roles. He plays Lucas as man who knows how to build a criminal empire, but also knows that the nature of crime and corruption never lends itself to lasting endeavors. Lucas struggles to keep the threads together as long as he can, and he foresees the end to his enterprise long before it occurs. Washington plays Lucas as a man knowingly over his head, but never afraid to take what he wants.

Crowe makes the most out of his detective scenes, and you really get a sense of the difficulty of police work when corruption is near its peak, but he gets bogged down in family moments. Roberts, being a hard working and honest policeman, must divorce his wife (Carla Gugino doing what she has to) and get into a custody battle, as all honest policemen must.

These scenes take away from the main and more interesting part of the movie: Lucas’ rise to power. The end lets us know that Lucas was worth at least $250 million, but you never get a good sense of how large his empire really is. Everything is kept at street level, which lets us see Washington at his most vicious but doesn’t let us appreciate how much Lucas really accomplished.

Scott keeps things moving at a brisk pace, barring a few family court scenes and Robert’s personal problems, and the film is prettily dressed in seventies era clothes, music, and scenery. Add some interesting turns for Cuba Gooding Junior and Josh Brolin, plus eye candy Lymari Nadal as Lucas’ wife, and the whole is pretty good.

However, to be critical (and that’s my job), the ending eerily echoes Catch Me if You Can and leaves you wondering about what the real life characters are doing now. American Gangster is not necessarily the next The Departed, but it’s the best crime move since The Departed.

Concession Stand Equivalent: Milk Duds. Sweet inside and out, but the more you chew on it, the harder it goes down.

Bee Movie Buzzes Along Lazily

WEB EXCLUSIVE!
By Cody Quinn

Editor-in-Chief

Jerry Seinfeld looking for a suitable place to put his stinger.
Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Movies

It’s not every day a movie about insects makes its way into theatres. It must have been at least a year since the last one came out. Bee Movie is Dreamworks addition to the digitally animated insect genre and, with the help of Jerry Seinfeld, it surpasses Antz, and almost reaches the heights of A Bug’s Life.

Bee Movie is the tale of Barry B. Benson (yes, there is no shortage of the letter “B” jokes), who is voiced by Seinfeld, and his interactions with the human world. Throughout the movie Benson takes on the uniform system of the hive, takes on the consumerism of man, and ultimately realizes that everything has a purpose in the world.

If the movie has a fault (which it does), it’s that it was written by Seinfeld and his cohorts from the old days. When I caught a midday show, I was surrounded by families with small children. I didn’t hear a lot of laughter for the subtly disguised irony and the slight pokes at convention Seinfeld made a career out of.

Not that there wasn’t any laughter at all; the movie is beautifully animated, and the sight gags are at least as well done as in the Shrek movies - just not as plentiful. The verbal humor is top notch, especially in a court scene featuring a well-casted John Goodman.

Casting on the whole is pretty spot on. Chris Rock gets a title credit for about ten lines worth of work as a mosquito. Ray Liotta has about as scene stealing a role as an animated character can get playing himself. Matthew Broderick settles for a typecast appearance as Benson’s nebbish friend Adam. And Renee Zellweger voices a disturbingly attractive CGI woman named Vanessa.

The relationship between Vanessa and Benson rides that fine line between sweet and whatever the insect equivalent of bestiality is. It’s hard to fathom what effect Seinfeld was going for, but it seems like he added the relationship only because some form of romance is standard fare for these types of movies.

Which brings me to the main reason this movie never seems to get off the ground: Seinfeld alternates between ditching convention and embracing it. The plot is paint by numbers for children’s animation: character feels different from others, character rebels, character realizes importance of friends, character defeats adversity, character lives happily ever after.

Then again, Seinfeld treats his characters like throwaway prop gags and meanders from point to point on a wing and a joke. Taken in bits, things seem funny enough, but when you try to follow the punch line from point A to “Bee” in the movie, you end up little more than mildly amused.

Bee Movie is certainly not just for kids. Seinfeld’s pedigree dictates that. However, the cutesy elements put it out of date movie range.

In all fairness, Seinfeld has been out of practice for a couple of years. Maybe Bee Movie is just him shaking off the rust. I kind of enjoyed this movie, but I’m anxiously looking forward to his next.

Concession Stand Equivalent: Large diet coke. Will quench your thirst but not as good as it should be.

Turkey Land USA

WEB EXCLUSIVE!
By Donovan G Brown
Staff Writer

Throughout history many cultures have given thanks to something or someone for being generous in providing their needs. One such experience is Thanksgiving - or should I say “thanks for the stuffing day?”

In 1621 the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast. This is now known as the first Thanksgiving. Although cooking methods and table etiquette have changed as the holiday has evolved, the meal is still consumed today with the same spirit of celebration and overindulgence.

This was set as day for giving thanks to God by this great country’s forefathers and foremothers. Now it has become a best-seller time of year, when you can see “Shoppers Gone Wild.” You can purchase yours for only $9.99 while supplies last, on DVD and blue ray disk.

When dysfunctional families like mine gather together (or not), it is to be glad everyone is still alive and well, to enjoy the time we don’t get to spend together all year round. We get stuffed, argue about who’s not coming to whose home because of what happened last year, and then go home.

I decided that it would be interesting to see how many students I could interview to find out more about Thanksgiving in this age. While speaking to art student Lawrence Itoka, I was surprised to hear how he celebrated this day in the country of Liberia. According to him, they celebrate Thanksgiving on the first Sunday of November. The people from the village go to church and bring a plant for the pastor/priest to bless so that they can have an abundant harvest. But in America, Itoka said, the turkey represents Thanksgiving.

Brian Parker, a first year accounting major said, “I look forward to Thanksgiving. I have 11 aunts and uncles. They has a great time as a family. There’s love in this home. We eat, give thanks, and then the men sneak off to watch football.” As he spoke, a big smile crossed his face, and he just lit up.

Walking the halls of Housatonic, I saw many faces. One such face was Cathy Cox. She was busy reading the Connecticut Post, getting ready for her next class. According to her, “it’s just a day to visit with parents, eat and hang out. Nothing special.”

In the country of Laos, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but now that Christina Xayath lives in America she “does as the Romans do.”

In other countries – like my country of Jamaica - they also do not celebrate Thanksgiving, even though they may be a part of the old British colonies. However, there are people who have lived in America, and have returned home celebrate it as a new tradition.

Thanksgiving should be a time to reflect on having one more year under our belts, and how fortunate we are. Every day should be an opportunity to give thanks, and especially a day called Thanksgiving. It should not just be a day off, but a day that requires our time to get involved and give thanks.