At Last: A Berry Gordy Remake
Remember the days (“Pulp Fiction,” etc.) when Samuel Jackson (pictured) seemed like one of the toughest, most electric actors in American cinema? What happened? While he didn’t execute a complete Nicolas Cage sell-out, he has seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time lately in schlock like “Snakes on a Plane.” Here’s his latest cinematic peccadillo: he’s about to star in a remake of Berry Gordy’s 1985 “The Last Dragon.” Jackson will play the role of Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem. The Gordy is the kind of movie that’s billed as a “cult classic,” which is an insult to veritable masterpieces of that genre like “Pink Flamingos” and “Eraserhead.” I’m hoping the remake will be better. I mean, it’s not everyday that you get to hear actors of Jackson’s caliber utter a line like the one that Sho’nuff tosses his minions in the original: “Am I the baddest mofo lowdown around this town?” The minions reply, unforgettably, “Sho ’nuff!’
