White House Down (2013), The Man (1972)

White House Down

I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. For the kind of film it is, its just about perfect. Action, a little bit of comedy, which seemed to have been enjoyed more by the audience I was in the theater with then myself, but no matter, decent twist, good performances, and all in all Roland Emmerich trying to make up for Anonymous. The film follows the directors tried and true general contours, wreaking monuments and a strained father child relationship that must be healed. Jamie Foxx is Barack Obama, Channing Tatum is action lead, and James Woods is most fun when he's evil. ***1/2


The Man

Another black president movie, perhaps the first. Adapted by Rod Serling from the novel of the same name by Irvin Wallace, this was originally a made for television production but apparently did get some theatrical distribution. When the President and Speaker of the House are killed in a building collapse and a critically ill Vice President demurs the position, the black President pro tempro of the Senate Douglass Dilman (James Earl Jones) is elevated to the Presidency (at the time the President of the Senate was elected to that position by his colleagues, today it goes to the longest serving member of the majority party in that body).

Now there are a lot of ways a film with this set up could go, but this movie choses to focuse on how President Dilman deals with a young a black American (George Stanford Brown) who may or may not have attempted the assassination of the South African Defense Minister, and whether or  not to honor that notoriously raciest regimes request for extradition. Dilman handles himself admirably on this point, though it takes him a while to really assert himself in his new office. A mildly though provoking little curio of its time, though it might have worked better as a TV series. ***