Morgan Freeman and Ed Solomon of "Levity"
courtesy of Columbia Home Video
"The Wisdom of Solomon"

Ed Solomon is the writer who brought "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" to life. With that on his resume you would hardly expect him to make a serious film his first time out. But that is what he did. He wrote, directed and created "Levity," a movie about forgiveness and the hard fought battles we endure to gain it.

The movie stars Billy Boy Thornton, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter and Kirsten Dunst. Now there is a cast. The story concerns a man who has committed murder and has served time for the crime. Now he has been paroled and he goes looking for forgiveness. 

"I was just incredibly lucky to get this cast," he said in a recent telephone interview. "You know who you would like to have in a movie but you never dream you can get them." But get them he did and they all worked quickly and accurately to bring his movie vision to life.

"We shot in Canada and I just remember it being so terribly cold. We would be standing around setting up shots and just freezing to death," he stated, and you could almost hear his teeth chattering with the memory.

When I asked if he had another movie lined up he answered, "I am working on a stop animation film. That is entirely different from 'Levity.' And I am still writing. I have been asked to submit a draft for the 'Catwoman' film."

This led to a question as to whether or not there was a book inside him screaming to get out. His reply was quick, "There is a book inside me screaming to stay inside." It seems there is an effort required to get his creative juices going.

Married with two kids, Solomon comes across as a talented man who is content with what he does. He liked his movie and he liked the way it turned out. And he particularly liked the score. "A lot of the music was played on an out of tune piano," and you can almost feel the smile coming through the phone.

Jet Li is an action hero who has a movie out on video this week. It is called "Cradle 2 the Grave" and in it he plays a cop who forms an alliance with a thief (DMX). They pair up to catch a diamond smuggler.

This is an action packed movie full of Jet Li's wonderful acrobatics. He is a modern version of Jackie Chan with better moves and more charm. DMX makes a good counterpart for him. Together they make the movie special.

Jason Mewes of "Jay and Silent Bob" fame appears in a movie that is offbeat to say the least. The name of the film is "RSVP" and it concerns a party for some college graduates. This is supposed to be the party to end all parties and the host really doesn't want it to end. He knows when it is over they will all go their separate ways.

So to keep the memories fresh he decides to kill all the attendees. How's that for the perfect host! I told you the movie was quirky.

For those of you who loved "E.R." back in the days when George Clooney was around, the entire first season is now out on DVD. Yes you can watch all of the first year episodes plus get interviews with the cast plus Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton.

There are "outtakes" and special stories to add to the fun, plus you get all of these first episodes. And wonder of wonders there are no commercials.

If you are a fan of action actor Mark Dacascos you will want to rent two of the new videos out this week. He stars in "Scorcher" and in "China Strike Force." "Scorcher" is about death and destruction caused by a nuclear explosion. It has the world imploding. Now they need to set off a nuclear devise to correct what has gone wrong. Kind of "it takes a nuke to correct a nuke."

In "China Strike Force" you have a policeman infiltrating a drug ring. Its been done a million times but it still creates suspense. Coolio stars with Dacascos in this one and he adds some humor to the proceedings.

Finally for the kids there is a trio of videos aimed just for them. We have "Barney's Best Manners: Your Invitation To Fun," "Blues Clues: Blues Takes You To School," and "Dora The Explorer: Rhymes and Riddles." There are enough musical numbers, stories and adventure in these wonderful movies to keep the kids entertained for hours.

 

 

 

 

 

©2003 Jackie K. Cooper

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