Lackawanna Blues (2005)

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Every Community
Has a Nanny

Rachel "Nanny" Crosby (S. Epatha Merkerson) takes in every stray human she finds and puts them up in her boarding house, feeds them, and helps them make their way. Into her life comes the baby Ruben Santiago, Jr. when his addict mother Alean (Carmen Ejogo) abandons him and his father (Jimmy Smits) can't raise the boy alone.

Ruben grows into a fine young boy (Marcus Franklin) influenced by the diversity of this community, its cultural life and music. Nanny, whose husband Bill (Terrence Dashon Howard) years her junior, loves this little boy as her own whilst she goes about the business of being the Nanny to many adults, too.

Other characters in this wonderfully music driven film include
Mos Def as the jivin' singer/bandleader; Louis Gossett Jr. as
Ol'lem Taylor; Macy Gray as argumentative Pauline; Ernie Hudson as the dreamy Dick Barrymore, Rosie Perez as the hairdresser Bertha' Liev Schreiber as the social worker; Patricia Wettig as the wealthy mother of Laura (Julie Benz) who Nanny saved from an abusive husband (Henry Simmons); Charlayne Woodard and Byanca Godwin as Bill's girlfriends; Jeffrey Wright as Mr. Paul, the mysterious murderer; Barry Shabaka Henley as Shakey Winfield; Lou Myers as the insane Ol' Po Carl; Adina Porter as the stylish lesbian Ricky. Hill Harper plays Ruben, Jr. as an adult.

The real Ruben Santiago, Jr. actually wrote this as an autobiographical play which was a big hit on Broadway. He also wrote the screenplay for this film, a loving tribute to his Nanny.

Directed for HBO by George C. Wolfe.

My personal rating: A-

Dexter (Showtime Series)

Angelic Serial Killer

Okay, so I'm almost always "up" for a bizarre storyline and gore doesn't usually bother me, but I have to admit that the first four episodes of Showtime's Dexter were way over the top for me.

The premise is that Dexter (Michael C. Hall), a Dade County, Florida, forensics expert in blood spatter, learned a vigilante code of ethics from his foster father. Seems that he's intent on destroying those who have perpetrated heinous acts on others by himself performing heinous acts on them. If a murderer has escaped justice, Dexter will hunt him down and do dastardly deeds to the death.

Neither Dexter's girlfriend (Jennifer Carpenter) nor his beloved step-sister (Julie Benz) have any idea that this seemingly gentle, loving man harbors the soul of a sociopathic serial killer -- not just a killer but one who tortures his victims and annihilates them in the most bizarre ways.

I'm not sure if I'll get around to viewing further episodes of this series. Maybe, if I have nothing else to watch, but with 250 DVDs in my Netflix queue and new releases every week at Red Box, I kinda sorta think I'll not have the chance. Four episodes may have been my limit not just due to the violence but also because it's often just too ethereal in tone for me.

Based on novels by Jeff Lindsay.

Not for the squeamish due to explicit violence in the manner in which Dexter tortures and murders.

My personal rating: C