Category Archives: Wendell Pierce

2019 Films, Drama, Independent, Independent Drama, Wendell Pierce

Clemency-2019

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Clemency-2019

Director-Chinonye Chukwu

Starring-Alfre Woodard, Richard Schiff

Scott’s Review #1,068

Reviewed October 7, 2020

Grade: A-

I will be candid. Clemency (2019) is not a film that will be everybody’s cup of tea. The topics of prison, execution and psychological conflict among its characters are quite the heavies.

After a long day of work and the desire to snuggle on a comfy couch with a tall glass of wine, this film may not be recommended. But, for those seeking a thought-provoking experience about timely and serious social issues, with racial overtones, Clemency is a riveting and powerful story.

This film is written well, and it matters.

Haggard, prison warden Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) trudges along day after day managing the multitude of tasks that her job requires of her. She is committed to overseeing the prison executions and experiences her twelfth at the start of the film.

The procedure is botched causing the prisoner excess pain and an investigation is launched. Bernadine is conflicted and consumed by her job causing her marriage to Jonathan (Wendell Pierce) to deteriorate and her visits to a local watering hole to increase.

When Bernadine takes interest in Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge) a prisoner slated for execution in a case receiving national media attention and prison protests, her conflict escalates. Anthony’s ex-girlfriend (Danielle Brooks) and attorney (Richard Schiff) play vital roles, especially when the convicted cop killer’s innocence is called into question.

Will he or won’t he receive a last-minute pardon from the governor sparing his life?

Chinonye Chukwu, a rookie director, is a black, Nigerian, female with lots of interesting things to say and a bright future ahead of her. She also penned the screenplay and tackles a weighty issue of great controversy in the United States.

The age-old debate of whether capital punishment is inhumane or even thwarts crime in the film’s subconscious, but neither is the film about that per se. The fact that Chukwu and her characters of Bernadine and Anthony are both black introduces an additional racial element. In the time of “Black Lives Matter”, this is a powerful statement.

To say that Clemency is a downer is an understatement, though it leaves the viewer with some sense of hope amid an ambiguous ending. I won’t spoil the film, but we wonder what will become of Bernadine.

Has she had enough of the prison lifestyle and decide to fly off in a new direction or is she so consumed by her work that she is trapped for life, too forgone for any growth?

The final sequence is brilliant. An impending execution, emotional goodbyes are said, and a full minute or so of a closeup scene focused on Woodard’s face taps a range of emotions that includes compassion, disgust, and unbridled sadness.

The gloomy and stark atmosphere that Chukwu presents fills the film with a bleakness that is eclipsed ever slightly by the possibility of change.

A common theme, and not only with Bernadine, is the need to be heard and the frightening perception of being invisible. Jonathan, in a strong supporting role by Pierce, is the perfect husband. A teacher, he is responsible, loyal, and even prepares a surprise dinner on their anniversary.

He feels diminished by Bernadine and resides in a motel after he has had too much. Anthony’s attorney and a priest, both plan to soon retire, feeling their jobs are pointless, they are not heard, and their work neither appreciated nor noticed.

Interesting that Chukwu does not reveal which state within the United States the twelve or thirteen executions take place in, though we can only guess it’s somewhere in the south, Clemency (2019) is a bold offering fraught with debate, questions, and character conflict. A slow build, there is much to savor and mull over, and the story feels personal.

Woodard gives a soaring performance with exceptional work by all the supporting players.

I cannot wait to see what Chukwu comes up with next.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Feature, Best Female Lead-Alfre Woodard, Best Screenplay

2016 Films, Christina Applegate, Comedy, David Walton, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jay Hernandez, Jon Lucas, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Lowest Rated Films, Martha Stewart, Mila Kunis, Scott Moore, Wanda Sykes, Wendell Pierce

Bad Moms-2016

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Bad Moms-2016

Director Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

Starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn

Scott’s Review #706

Reviewed December 20, 2017

Grade: D+

Bad Moms (2016) tries to do for women what The Hangover (2009) did for men and create a raunchy, R-rated party romp that haggard mothers everywhere can relate to and appreciate.

The film’s billboard displays the three main characters boozing it up under the caption “Party Like a Mother.” Perhaps since I am not a mother, I did not entirely gravitate toward this film, but Bad Moms fell flat for me despite a smidgen of mild laughs.

Primarily because of tired characters, gimmicky situations, and an over-the-top tone.

The film, written by the same individuals who wrote The Hangover, is a direct ripoff with a different gender in the driver’s seat.

The central character is Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis), a thirty-two-year-old mother of two who is living a busy life in the Chicago suburbs.

Considered “old” by her hipster boss and with a porn-obsessed husband, she runs around frazzled and behind schedule most of the time.

After a particularly hairy day, Amy abruptly quits the school PTA run by militant Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate). She befriends fellow moms, sex-crazed Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and timid Kiki (Kristen Bell).

After she incites Gwendolyn’s wrath, Amy decides enough is enough and embarks on a plot to win the PTA presidency while dumping her husband and dating a hunky widower, Jessie (Jay Hernandez).

Admittedly, Kunis is very likable as Amy. She’s an incredible, energetic chick who most would love to befriend, and we empathize with her predicaments and schedule.

But this can only go so far in a comedic film. The setup pieces and the supporting characters are too plot-driven and lack authenticity. The result is little more than one root-able character.

As an actress, Applegate is quite capable, but Gwendolyn, the transparent foil, is primarily written as a cartoon character. Her bitchy comments to her underlings, who inexplicably are afraid to cross her, seem too staged.

Jada Pinkett Smith, in need of a paycheck, is disposable as “second in command” crony Stacy. Furthermore, Amy’s husband, Mike (David Walton), is portrayed mainly as a buffoon and childlike.

The point of these character examples is to stress that the film contains too many caricatures rather than characters. 

An irritating quality of Bad Moms that I cannot shake is that the film is written and directed by a duo of men! Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are the individuals in question, and the fact that the film, painted as a female empowerment story, is not written by females is almost unforgivable.

A case in point involves a bathroom scene where the ladies discuss uncircumcised penises, a dumb scene if you ask me, that is lousy taste considering men wrote and directed it.

In this day and age of Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment suits bubbling to the surface, the scene seems icky. It should not be this hard to find women to write for other women.

Of the additional trio of females, Kathryn Hahn’s Carla has a few funny scenes but is written as so sex-obsessed that it is impossible to take the character seriously, and the same goes for Bell’s Kiki.

When mousy Kiki finally lays down the law and tells her boorish husband to deal with their kids, it is meant to be a rah-rah moment, but instead becomes eye-rolling. Not the best actress in the world, Bell continues to get roles like this in sub-par films.

An attempt by filmmakers to make a girl film on par with male-driven raunchy comedies thrust on moviegoers over the years, Bad Moms (2016) comes across as too unoriginal and too desperate for laughs.

Undoubtedly hoping to win over the same audiences who flocked to the last funny female-driven comedy hit, 2011 Bridesmaids, the film falls flat and lacks genuine fun.

Kunis’s lead role and the sweet romance her character shares with Hernandez’s Jessie slightly bolster this.

2010 Films, Anthony Mackie, Drama, Independent, Independent Drama, Kerry Washington, Tanya Hamilton, Wendell Pierce

Night Catches Us-2010

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Night Catches Us-2010

Director Tanya Hamilton

Starring Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie

Scott’s Review #503

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Reviewed October 29, 2016

Grade: B+

Night Catches Us (2010), as a film, has some very good qualities and is quite captivating and interesting to watch. Largely, it is set during the 1970s in Philadelphia and encompasses racial tensions during that time.

Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie star and do a very nice job with the material given.

The film tells the story of a former 1960s Black Panther (Mackie) who returns home after a decade to start his life over, or so he hopes.

Night Catches Us is a combination of love stories and political/social commentary and is an important film to watch.

The leads, along with Wendell Pierce, are great and the real-life 1960s Black panther rally footage is interesting to see from a historical perspective.

My only criticism is I wanted a bit more.

Certain events seem plot-driven and forced- slightly clichéd in the romance department, but overall I enjoyed the film very much, especially for Mackie and Washington’s performances.

Great acting and a socially relevant story.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best First Feature

2015 Films, Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton, P. J. Byrne, Rebecca Hall, Thriller, Wendell Pierce

The Gift-2015

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The Gift-2015

Director Joel Edgerton

Starring Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton

Scott’s Review #264

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Reviewed August 9, 2015

Grade: A-

The Gift (2015) is a throwback to the type of psychological thriller made famous by Fatal Attraction in 1987 and similar films throughout their heyday into the 1990s.

An unstable psycho threatens a happy couple.

Interestingly, The Gift is similar in genre to a film also released in 2015, The Boy Next Door. The Gift is worlds superior to that film and contains surprises, frights, twists, and turns that I pleasantly did not see coming.

The film is not predictable which is refreshing in this particular genre.

Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall star as Simon and Robyn, a successful young couple who have relocated from Chicago to sunny California, near Simon’s childhood hometown, to begin a new life with the intent of starting a family.

They soon run into a man named Gordo, played by actor/director Joel Edgerton, a high school chum of Simon’s from twenty years ago whom Simon barely remembers. Simon and Gordo plan to re-connect over dinner, but the audience can sense that something is not right with Gordo.

As Simon, Gordo, and Robyn get to know each other again, Gordo begins leaving pleasant little gifts on Simon and Robyn’s doorstep as well as showing up at their house unannounced, which is particularly unnerving to Robyn as she is home alone all day long. Simon is consumed with his new career and possible promotion.

Interestingly, their home is located in a secluded area.

The film soon reveals that Gordo was nicknamed “Gordo the Weirdo” in high school and that an incident involving Gordo occurred, though nobody seems to remember the exact circumstances.

Perhaps they choose not to remember?

The vagueness of this situation is appealing because the audience is sure that these circumstances will be revealed later in the story and play a large part in the climax, which it does.

We also learn that another incident took place with Robyn in Chicago and that she suffered a miscarriage. She does not drink and avoids pills. Could she be unstable, imagining things, or overly cautious?

It is revealed that she does not handle stress well.

A wonderful aspect of The Gift is its surprise factor. As the plot twists and turns, I switched alliances and wondered who the villain was. Gordo? Simon? Robyn?

Edgerton (along with a great acting performance) compellingly directed the film and was undoubtedly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock.

The camera angles and score are excellent in establishing the correct level of tension at just the right moment. In more than a few scenes the audience knows something will jump out at the screen, so there is anticipation, but when and how it will happen is a surprise.

Many scenes are when Robyn is alone, during the day thank goodness, and she hears a noise or notices the water running. These scenes are traditional fare in horror or the thriller genre but are well done in The Gift.

Simon is an interesting character. Sophisticated, educated, and with a high-level executive job, he has a strange fear of monkeys.

The past is a common theme of the film- past events encase the three lead characters leading to conflict and ultimately these events come back to haunt them. Most of Simon’s friends are unlikable and appear interested in style over substance. They seem drawn to Simon more for his success than because they care about him.

This contradicts his wife’s character. Robyn is down-to-earth, and kind, and does not place as much stock in wealth and achievements as she does with personality and being a kind individual. She and Simon bicker and disagree about Gordo and their conflict increases.

It is not often in films anymore that one is truly frightened and “jumps out of your seat”, but two intense scenes, one involving a dog, and the other a shower, made me jump, and the hairs on my arm stand on end. Everyone in the audience gasped together.

Now that is fun!

The only negatives in The Gift are continuity issues and the suspension of disbelief in some scenes. Without giving anything away, how is Gordo able to do some things he can do?

The Gift (2015) is an old-fashioned thriller with excellent acting, compelling characters, and a wonderful debut for Edgerton in the director’s chair.

The film will leave the viewer pondering moral questions, and relating to each of the three main characters.

2014 Films, André Holland, Ava DuVernay, Carmen Ejogo, Colman Domingo, Common, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Drama, Dylan Baker, Giovanni Ribisi, Historical Drama, Independent, Independent Drama, Jeremy Strong, LaKeith Stanfield, Martin Sheen, Niecy Nash, Oprah Winfrey, Tessa Thompson, Tim Roth, Tom Wilkinson, Wendell Pierce

Selma-2014

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Selma-2014

Director Ava DuVernay

Starring David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo

Scott’s Review #248

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Reviewed June 19, 2015

Grade: A-

An Oscar-nominated factual feast, set in the mid-1960s during the Civil Rights movement, Selma (2014) is a re-telling of the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr. and the struggles that black Americans endured during a tumultuous period in history.

The film includes dealings with then-President Lyndon B. Johnson and the famous and important 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights march, which led to the signing of the pivotal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This film reminded me quite a bit of 2013’s The Butler in subject matter and style-ironic since Lee Daniels was slated to direct and instead signed on for The Butler.

Both feature a charismatic and intelligent black man struggling with racial matters.

Despite being an independent undertaking, it is glossy, polished, and reflective of the time. Both The Butler and Selma boast a huge cast, and historical political figures, in a tumultuous era in history.

Selma features a bevy of real-life figures from George Wallis to President Johnson to the obvious leader of the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr., and his wife, Coretta Scott King, and the casting is very well thought out.

Tim Roth, David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, and Carmen Ejogo portray their roles professionally and passionately. None of the above received Oscar nominations and I am okay with that.

I did not feel that any were definite standouts from a crowded field of talent, though perhaps Ejogo could have been in the running with her understated though compelling performance.

The drama surrounding the lack of expected Oscar nominations is not shared by me. The truth is, the film was included in the Best Picture category and won Best Song.

While an emotional and compelling film, neither is it a masterpiece nor will change the art of cinema, though I must stress it is good.

I find Selma to be an important film- a look back on history and the shame and humiliation placed on blacks who attempted to obtain voting rights. A heartbreaking scene depicts a determined woman (played by Oprah Winfrey) being denied this right by a cold and racist authority figure as she is asked impossible and tricky questions to prove her patriotism, which of course, she cannot possibly answer correctly.

Yes, the film is directed by a black, female director (Ava DuVernay) and yes, one might argue that it has a black point of view. However, the film successfully sympathetically portrays several white characters and avoids the assumption that all white people were racist in this period.

Let’s face it- racism still exists, especially in the South, and in the 1960s even more so. I did not find the message in black people vs. white people’s terms, but rather as a humanistic struggle for rights.

And the struggles continue as the film makes abundantly clear in the message of the film.

While King was a life changer to the black people of the United States, his life was abruptly cut short in his prime. One wonders how much more good this man could have achieved.

The song “Glory” is an emotional, powerful number, especially during the marching and subsequent slaughter scenes highly emotional and effective.

And who will not become teary-eyed as the innocent marchers are beaten and treated like cattle, simply for taking a stand? One will gasp at the senseless bombing scene that rocks a building and takes four innocent little girls’ lives away with it.

Selma successfully transplanted me to a time before my time and made me appreciate and capture the positive and negative experiences of a race of people not long ago.

This film inspires and moves me and teaches me what a movement occurred in 1965.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture, Best Original Song-“Glory” (won)

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Feature, Best Director-Ava DuVernay, Best Male Lead-David Oyelowo, Best Supporting Female-Carmen Ejogo, Best Cinematography

2012 Films, Independent, Independent Drama, Joshua Sanchez, LGBTQ+ Drama, LGBTQ+ Films, Wendell Pierce, Yolonda Ross

Four-2012

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Four-2012

Director Joshua Sanchez

Starring Wendell Pierce

Scott’s Review #20

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Reviewed June 17, 2014

Grade: A

Oh, how I wish there were more films like Four (2012) and they received mainstream support.

Movies like this are why I love and support independent films. Much better than much of the drivel at the local multiplex.

Four is a purely character-driven movie, not at all plot-driven with silly special effects or CGI.

It centers around four people on the 4th of July evening. There are two separate stories and the heart of the movie is the character’s loneliness, isolation, and need to reach out for human connections.

The stories interrelate at times throughout the film.

Exceptional acting is involved.

Four (2012) is an excellent little film.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Male Lead-Wendell Pierce