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July 30

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

Charlie St. Cloud

The Concert

Dinner for Shmucks

The Dry Land

The Extra Man

Get Low

Helen

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel

Smash His Camera

What's the Matter with Kansas?

Who Killed Nancy

Is Wright In The Derby?

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In the view of Variety's John Anderson, Darnell Martin's Cadillac Records (TriStar, 12.5) "approaches the blues with the enthusiasm of an overcaffeinated brass band, [but] nonetheless makes some kind of music, mostly because she mines a righteous, mythic sensibility out of the story of Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and the birth of the Chicago blues.

"Jeffrey Wright's Waters is unforgettable, Eamonn Walker gives an unnerving performance as rival bluesman Howlin' Wolf, and Beyonce Knowles' Etta James should put bottoms in seats.

"The second feature this year to focus on the same musicians, Cadillac Records takes a far broader approach than Jerry Zaks' Who Do You Love, which concentrated more on the conflicted character of Chess than on the artists he hired, promoted, profited from and, some say, exploited.

"In Cadillac Records, Adrien Brody cuts an appropriately oily figure as the man who founded Chess Records in 1956, while Wright delivers a performance of eloquent, simmering dignity as Waters -- the first Chess star, one of the great vocalists in American music and the dramatic engine of Martin's film.

"As a racial parable that couldn't be timelier. Chess Records was a mixed marriage -- the owner was a Polish immigrant, his artists were African-American, and much of the America they inhabited was hostile to any such arrangement. This all comes to a head after Chess signs Chuck Berry (a dryly funny Mos Def), whose hybridized pop sound had some promoters thinking he was a white country singer.

"Berry is the guy who puts Chess over the top; as someone says, they're not sure what he's playing, but it's not the blues. But it sells, and it bridges the racial divide: In a scene duplicated in Who Do You Love, the velvet ropes separating whites and blacks at a Berry concert are toppled by the audience.

"That Martin later has Knowles reprise the entire racial psychology of America through James and her seemingly insoluble identity problems, by contrast, is overkill; Knowles gives a soulful portrayal, but her part of the movie seems to exist in another dimension entirely.

"The music -- most of it performed by the actors themselves -- has a real richness to it, if not quite the muscle of the Chess records themselves. Recording sessions are shot like live concerts; the club gigs feel sweaty and smoky. And Def's Berry performances succeed in capturing what it felt like when the blues had a baby and they named it rock 'n' roll."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 26, 2008 at 8:51 AM

comment #1

DavidF says ...

I don't know anything about this movie but Geoffrey Wright is consistently awesome and in need of an Oscar for something.

I just re-watched Casino Royale (ahead of eventually seeing QoS) and even in that bit part he's great.

Posted by DavidF at November 26, 2008 9:23 AM

comment #2

facls says ...

Big fan of Muddy Waters (and Chicago blues), and I think Jeffrey Wright is extremely underrated.

Nevertheless, I haven't been impressed with what I've seen (other than, of course, the soundtrack). The voice-over narration makes it seem like a dummies guide to Chicago blues.

There are some clips at: http://www.blackfilm.com/20081120/features/cadillacspecial.shtml

Posted by facls at November 26, 2008 9:25 AM

comment #3

The Winchester says ...

Wright deserves a nom, if only for being the only tolerable element in Quantum of Solace. Goddamn, was he badass in that.

Posted by The Winchester at November 26, 2008 9:26 AM

comment #4

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

And what's that other movie referenced -- Who Do You Love? I was completely unaware there were 2 movies on the same subject.

Posted by MikeSchaeferSF at November 26, 2008 9:34 AM

comment #5

actionman says ...

I really hope that Wright gets more meat in the next Bond outing. Felix is a cool mo-fo.

Posted by actionman at November 26, 2008 9:41 AM

comment #6

mauberley says ...

I saw Who Do You Love at the Toronto festival and the thing is dead on its feet. The story of Marshall Chess is told with almost no dramatic tension. Worse, the soundtrack is a joke. The soundtrack should have been saturated with great Chess recordings in the same way as were Goodfellas or Casino. If you knew nothing about Chess or his legacy, you would have learned almost nothing from this film. If you knew anyting at all, you probably could have qiualified to be a script consultant. As the story of a legendary label and its founder, the film was almost as bad as Dreamgirls.

Posted by mauberley at November 26, 2008 10:20 AM

comment #7

lipranzer says ...

Ever since I LIKE IT LIKE THAT, I've been waiting for Darnell Martin to direct another feature. I can't wait for this.

Posted by lipranzer at November 26, 2008 10:36 AM

comment #8

Hal says ...

I love me some Jeffrey Wright.

But they lost me at Beyonce. Her vacant, dears in headlights, beauty pageant posing is the 3rd circle of hell. Christ, even J-Hud would have been a better choice as the mighty Etta.

Posted by Hal at November 26, 2008 10:56 AM

comment #9

Herman Scobie says ...

The most troublesome thing about CADILLAC RECORDS is that Beyonce does her own singing. Can she sound like Etta, the world's best and most versatile singer? Not bloody likely.

Posted by Herman Scobie at November 26, 2008 11:15 AM

comment #10

deadre says ...

Crossing my fingers for Jeffrey Wright. He's been awesome in everything he's done for years, the most unheralded actor around. and he has the most gorgeous wife too. but seriously, from Basquiat forward, he has been nothing short of great!! I think he and Viola Davis have alot in common..

Posted by deadre at November 26, 2008 11:47 AM

comment #11

diesel says ...

when did she become an actress? was it after dreamgirls or before her daddy called dreamworks?

Posted by diesel at November 26, 2008 11:48 AM

comment #12

LexG says ...

This is a movie where I see the uninspiring, VH1-movie-looking trailer and tired musical biopic milieu and actually think, "Gee, this movie might actually might make less than $1 MILLION in its entire box office run."

Wright and Brody are fine actors, but this looks like that Frankie Lyman pic that nobody went to see. Yeah, Beyonce has a lot of fans, but not likely many/any of them are interested in this subject matter or era.

Posted by LexG at November 26, 2008 1:55 PM

comment #13