January 4, 2017 The Skanner Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
Shemar Moore: ‘The Bounce Back’ Interview
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
S
hemar
Franklin
Moore was born in
Oakland, California
on April 20, 1970
to an African American
father and a mother of
Irish and French-Cana-
dian extraction. Shem-
ar spent his early years
abroad with his single
mom in Denmark and
Bahrain until the two re-
turned from the exotic
locales in 1977.
They settled in Palo
Alto, where he graduated
from Henry Gunn High
School before studying
Communications
and
Theater at Santa Clara
University. While still in
school, he started mod-
eling on the side to help
pay the bills.
Since college, Shemar
has flourished both as
an actor and as a fashion
model. He’s probably best
known for playing Derek
Morgan on the TV-series
“Criminal Minds” for
11 seasons and for the 8
years he spent prior to
that as Malcolm Winters
on the popular soap op-
era, “The Young and the
Restless.”
Here, he talks about
starring opposite Nadine
Velazquez and Bill Bella-
my in the big screen re-
lease, “The Bounce Back.”
Kam Williams: Hi She-
mar, thanks for the in-
terview. I’m honored to
have this opportunity to
speak with you.
Shemar Moore: Well,
I appreciate your tak-
ing the time to show me
love and to talk about the
movie, Kam.
KW: What interest-
ed you in “The Bounce
Back”?
SM: It was the sweet,
fun script that had been
around about a decade.
But it’s all about timing.
10 years ago, I was just
getting my feet planted
with “Criminal Minds.” It
didn’t work out with my
schedule back then. For-
tunately, the script came
back around. I thought
it was a silly, fun, sweet
story that people would
like. To be honest, in
the beginning, I knew
that the transition from
“Criminal Minds” was on
the horizon, so I started
FILM REVIEW: ‘A Monster Calls’
a Bittersweet Escapist Fantasy
on The Broth-
ers years ago. I
knew he could
deliver
the
jokes and bring
the
relation-
ship of being
my best friend
and manager
to life. He liked
the idea and we
knew Nadine
Velazquez from
within our cir-
cle of friends.
We showed her
the script. She
was interest-
ed, and pieces
kinda of fell
Shemar Moore stars opposite Nadine into place from
Velazquez and Bill Bellamy in ‘The Bounce there. And the
Back’
next thing you
know, here I
thinking about the next
steps I could take as an was executive producing
actor, going forward with the picture, and raising
my career. After unsuc- $630,000 through my fan
cessfully shopping the base. I call them my Baby
script around, I seized Girls. It was a great hug
upon the opportunity to and pat on my back that
produce the film myself. I they believed in me and
said, “Why not go the in- were so loyal to me. I’m
dependent route?” I felt very proud that we not
that I could identify with only made a movie, but
the Matthew Taylor char- got it out into theaters,
acter. I just needed some and that my Baby Girl Na-
help with the others. So, tion was part of it.
I went and found Bill
KW: How similar are
Bellamy who I’d so much
you
to your character,
fun and chemistry with
Matthew Taylor?
SM: As an actor, I find
the essence and elements
of myself in any charac-
ter I play. I think I believe
a little bit of Matthew’s
philosophy and a little
bit of Kristin Peralta’s
philosophy. One can’t
exist without the other.
Love is a tricky, beauti-
ful, exciting, complicat-
ed, elusive entity. But it
hits when you least ex-
pect it. Matthew Taylor
figured it out, and so did
Derek Morgan on Crim-
inal Minds, towards the
end. So. now it’s Shemar
Moore’s turn. I’m a ro-
mantic, and I believe in
love.
KW: “The Bounce
Back” has a nice twist at
the end.
SM: What I love about
this movie is that we
didn’t try to reinvent the
wheel but we did find
an original way to tell a
love story about falling
in love, the heartache of
being betrayed and still
having the courage and
faith to fall back in love,
and from both the male
and female perspec-
tive. It illustrates that
See MOORE on page 11
We honor the many
accomplishments of
African Americans.
Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) befriends a giant tree monster (Liam Neeson) in ‘A Monster Calls’
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
C
onor O’Malley (Lewis MacDou-
gall) is understandably miser-
able. First of all, the 12 year-old
divorced mom (Felicity Jones) is
terminally ill. Second, they’re both es-
tranged from his father (Toby Kebbell)
who has long since started another
family over in America.
Third, Conor is tired of being mis-
treated by his cold-hearted grand-
mother (Sigourney Weaver) who cares
“
be a meaningful lesson to be learned
from each of the parables.
That is the point of departure of A
Monster Calls, a bittersweet escapist
fantasy directed by J.A. Bayona (The
Impossible). The movie is based on the
illustrated children’s novel of the same
name by Patrick Ness who also adapted
it to the big screen. Ness’ award-win-
ning book was inspired by the late
Siobhan Dowd, who passed away be-
fore she could tackle the semi-autobi-
ographical project herself.
The film is less a feel-good flick than a
picture about making
the best of a bad sit-
uation. For, the mon-
ster’s stories paint a
sobering picture of
life that’s anything but
rosy. However, they do ultimately en-
able Conor to own up about his deepest
fear, when it’s his turn to share.
Given the mature themes and the dire
plot developments, it’s hard to recom-
mend “A Monster Calls” for vulnerable
youngsters. Nevertheless, it is unique
in its approach to preparing a tweener
to processing an impending tragedy.
A visually-enchanting, if fateful,
fairy tale.
The film is less a feel-good flick
than a picture about making
the best of a bad situation
more about her prized possessions
than his welfare. And finally, he’s rou-
tinely teased at school by a bully (James
Melville) about always being off in his
own dream world.
So, it’s no surprise when Conor starts
being plagued by nightmares on a dai-
ly basis. A few minutes after midnight,
the giant yew tree (Liam Neeson) stand-
ing in the graveyard outside his bed-
room window turns into an intimidat-
ing, anthropomorphic monster.
Despite its imposing presence, the
beast gradually gains the kid’s confi-
dence, agreeing to tell a trio of insight-
ful allegories on the condition that
Conor reciprocate with one of his own.
The idea, ostensibly, is that there will
Very Good HHH
Rated PG-13 for mature themes and
scary images
Running time: 108 minutes
Distributor: Focus Features
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