Miami Vice

Miami Vice is the 2006 remake of the terribly cheesy 80's television series of the same name. Remember Don Johnson? Yeah, me neither, but he played the original Sonny to Phillip Michael Thomas' Rico. Today the bad boys (Ignore the reference for now) are played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, respectively, and the whole shebang has been Bruckheimered up by a factor of 3. Eh, 2.5.

As a remake, there are expectations. Many will expect inside jokes for the followers of the series. As an action flick, many will expect explosions, sex, and a well resolved ending that still allows for a sequel. As a Colin Farrell/Jamie Foxx movie, many will expect the same sort of camaraderie that was found in the Bad Boys films. All of these expectations are what make Miami Vice seem to be a bad movie. SEEM. It isn't bad. No, seriously. Shut up.

Expectations ruin movies because they turn into requirements. And it doesn't matter if you want the movie to be good so you can enjoy it or want it to be bad so you can rip on it. Whatever you expect it to be changes what you perceive it to be. An expectation of greatness usually leads to disappointment. An expectation of crap usually leads to...disappointment, because even though you expected it to be terrible you also expected it to exceed your expectations. In the case of Miami Vice you expect it to be some buddy cop piece of entertaining shit like Bad Boys and, to a much greater extent, Bad Boys 2.

But here's the difference: Bad Boys 1 and 2 were fun to watch but ultimately had nothing to say about buddy cop movies or action film or the life of a FBI agent, at least not anything new. Stuff blew up, people got laid, someone got shot in the ass and it was hilarious and what's her face was hot. Miami Vice is uncomfortable to watch, the first time, but makes up for that by portraying an FBI sting operation in a much more convincing manner. When things blow up, you believe that they could have. When people have sex, and it happens only once as far as I remember, it fits in with the characters' relationship and adds another layer to their personalities, rather than just adding some skin. When people get shot, it's bad and sometimes they don't come back 100% or at all. What's her face is still hot, but believably so. She's not, you know, ridiculous.

There's still some cheese in there. Jamie Foxx quotes Don Henley (he did the theme song to the original show) and it's freakin' stupid. Colin Farrell's character does the "single, swingin' bachelor " thing a bit too much, though you start to understand that he's constantly battling with a). his duty to work the bad girl for as much info as possible, b). his desire to bone her all the time, and c). his realization that he can't have the happy ending that shitty films usually pawn off on their viewers.

Actually, that last part is what makes this movie good. There are very real, very logical, responses to very real, very probable, events. The situation unfolds as you expect it might, and even the twists are at least plausible. There's no super-weapon. There's no commandeering of vehicles. People have to answer to their superiors and the arm of the law only extends so far. The dialogue is dark, mumbled and unspectacular and no one goes off on any monologue expounding the virtue of rogue vigilantism or explaining their evil plan. Farrell and Foxx make a good team, but a believable team who won't necessarily put themselves in harms way to defend their best friend or his honor or his girl. They each have their own lives and their own complications but they don't spend time talking about it.

At the end of the movie you may stand up and ask where the last fucking fifteen minutes went. I did. But then you'll start to think of how the movie unfolded and you'll realize that this Miami Vice is a more noir version of the original, campy television show. It's more real, in that in real life people don't always get that happy ending, people die, and, sometimes, the bad guy gets away.

I'm guessing there won't be a sequel to wait around for; they didn't really wrap up the case at the end, but there also wasn't so much of an open-ended, big old question mark ending. Either way, give it a look on DVD when you've got some time to kill and want to catch an action flick with a bit more substance than your standard Bruckheimer explosion fest. And yes, I've used Jerry Bruckheimer as a pejorative twice in this review. I fucking hate that guy.

Parade

Parade is a musical dramatization of the accusation, trial and lynching of Leo Frank for the rape and murder of a 13-year old girl in 1913, the only Jew to ever be murdered in such a fashion in the United States. The book was written by Alfred Uhry (who won a Pulitzer for the play Driving Miss Daisy and an Oscar for its screenplay adaptation) and the music and lyrics are by Jason Robert Brown (Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years). The musical opened on Broadway in 1998 and won two Tony awards, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Musical Score.

Going into the theatre, I was under the impression that the main emphasis of this show would be the love story between Leo and his wife Lucille, as they find a deeper love and understanding of each other through the ordeal. This emotional side of the story is what was stressed on Wikipedia and on the theatre company's website. Considering Jason Robert Brown's other work (perhaps my favorite musical of all time, The Last Five Years), I thought the whole historical premise of the show would just be a vehicle for his unsurpassable talent at telling a love story.

However, it's actually the portrayal of this period of time and the South in general that steals the show. The music is complicated and beautifully fitting for the location and subject matter, something I was afraid of given it's a musical about a lynching, not your typical broadway fare. Granted it's not the happiest of shows. The songs are not the kind you leave the theatre humming away in glee. They work as part of the whole, not as individual ditties. And since we're so egocentric as a species, it's hard for a musical like this to become a favorite with songs so difficult to relate to (at least for me). Had the love story been played up more, I may have found more to connect with and to sing along to after the show ended. But I'd sacrifice my own personal satisfaction for beautiful art anyday. Parade should definitely be seen and appreciated, even if you won't fall in love with it. We rarely fall in love with what we should.

The production I saw was put on by Speakeasy Stage Company, a professional theatre company that specializes in Boston premieres. It was mostly done well. The leads were competent enough, with the actor playing Leo Frank being better than that. The real standout was the actor playing Jimmy Conley, the African-American janitor at the factory that Frank was manager of and that the victim, Mary Phagan, worked at. Conley is also suspected of being the real killer of the girl. His song, at the trial of Frank, was the best part of the musical. It's the kind of number that a performer would kill for: a minor character taking center stage, belting out a show-stealing song, and then fading away into obscurity for most of the story's remainder. And this guy nailed it. The rest of the cast was so-so. From reading their bios, I learned that most of them are attending or have attended The Boston Conservatory, which showed. Their voices were fantastic and everyone always sounded great. Unfortunately, the acting didn't always reach the same heights. No one was terrible, but there weren't enough standouts either.

All in all, see Parade if it's playing in town. Clearly, I can't vouch for the quality of its execution, but the concept and writing of the musical itself is beautiful and not to be missed.