Word: bassette
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Strange Days, which is one of those movies that give fresh meaning to the term "guilty pleasure." This time it's millennial New Year's in Los Angeles. Ralph Fiennes is Lenny the virtual reality dealer, delivering taped real-life experiences directly into junkies' cerebral cortexes, while Angela Bassett counters as, well, as the Tina Turner character she played in What's Love Got to Do With It? Director Kathryn Bigelow's action scenes are mesmerizing, but the movie itself is stranded in a dark gloomy netherworld that's part Blade Runner, part Seven, and mostly bad. And since...
...Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, and Gloria Estefan (yup, the singer) star in Wes Craven's newest film, based on the documentary Small Wonders--the account of Roberta Guaspari, a single mother who moves to East Harlem to teach the violin to underprivileged children. Even though the film moves a bit slowly at the beginning where Roberta's personal life is the dominant plot-line, Meryl Streep is (as always) refreshing in her portrayal of Guaspari and compensates for the slow start. Streep's characterization of the man-dependent and recently divorced Navy wife is humorous and real...
...great acting is rounded out by Angela Bassett who plays Janet Reeves, the stubborn high school principal. Bassett is loud and emotional in her portrayal--the determination of her character shines right through. Moreover, Bassett and Streep complement each other well during many pivotal moments in the movie. When Guaspari's funding for the music program is cut and Reeves is unable to save it despite exhausting her efforts, the angry exchange between Streep and Bassett conveys the helplessness and frustration that many educators surely feel toward the politics of the education system. I was sold...
...Jamestown, to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. The material is inherently fascinating, and overall the producers have done a fine job of presenting it, combining historical images, impressionistic re-enactments, interviews with historians and voice-over readings of letters and diaries (the narration is spoken by Angela Bassett). If there's a quibble, it's that the re-enactments, done in soft-focus and slow motion, are overused, and one wishes for a fuller description of the slaves' separate culture. Nevertheless, the viewer will come away with a vivid understanding of how slavery flourished in the land...
...enough of an achievement that she gets to star in them. Bassett, who turns 40 next Sunday, was raised in Florida by her mother, a social worker, and a supporting cast of relatives. Her mother was from the old school. "If you wanted a life, you had to keep those studies up," Bassett says. "If you dropped to C's, no cheerleading, no community theater! I got the message." On the advice of a director in a summer-activities program, she was spurred to dream big and apply to the top schools. Presto, she was at Yale. "And who knew...