Remake – Matthew Liedke on Film

“The Color Purple” makes sense as a title, because the hardships the main character goes through will have someone feeling blue and seeing red.

Based on the stage musical, which itself was an adaptation of a 1982 novel, “Color Purple” is a film centered around the character Celie Harris-Johnson (Fantasia Barrino). As a teenager, Celine is raped by her father and gives birth to two children, who are taken from her and given to the church for adoption.

The cruelty doesn’t stop there, as he then arranges Celie to be married to an abusive farmer named Albert (Colman Domingo). During this time, she’s also separated from her sister, Nettie (Halle Bailey). Celie goes through many hardships, but finds some kindness and encouragement from other women, including Sofia (Danielle Brooks) and a singer named Shug (Taraji P. Henson).

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘The Color Purple’ powered by cast, weakened by script”

Tonight… Tonight… I’m rather disappointed tonight.

Because I didn’t enjoy this “West Side Story” adaptation as much as I hoped I would.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, this marks the second time the 1957 musical was adapted for the screen, the first released in 1961. In the film, there are two gangs in New York City the film revolves around, the Jets and the Sharks, the latter made up of Puerto Rican immigrants. Tensions have already been high between the two, but their battles appear ready to reach an even higher level of violence.

Before that takes place, though, both gangs end up at a dance. There, a former member of the Jets, Tony (Ansel Elgort), meets Maria (Rachel Zegler), the younger sister of the Sharks leader. While the two fall in love, their relationship only complicates the situation between the two groups.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ doesn’t sizzle like its 60s counterpart”