Movie Reviews: The Equalizer, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Equalizer
directed by Antoine Fuqua

Do not f*** with people you do not know. This goes double if they happen to be Denzel Washington. That's pretty much the only message here. It's a simple enough mantra but one that evidently needed to be hammered home to a few people with leaky brains. Although I enjoyed this film it didn't need to run for over two hours. Washington is effective as McCall. It's hard to believe that the man is almost 60 years old. Given that the original Equalizer hero was also a bit past his prime I guess that's ok. Although this is based on the television series and is in its way an origin story for the McCall character the obvious comparison will be made to Man on Fire. Well in this movie the young lady in peril is not really an angel. She's more of a broken angel while Washington's character is far from despondent, suicidal or alcoholic. Although he may regret some actions he took in a past life they certainly don't force him into self-destructive activities. It is somewhat ironic that Denzel Washington made his debut in Death Wish as an uncredited alley mugger and now all these years later he's playing the secretly dangerous older gentleman with a hidden past. So much of Washington's acting here is wordless. There's a lot that his character lets people know just via his body language, and facial tics or expressions. In the seventies and eighties films it was often the Italian-American Mafia that was portrayed as being the dangerous organized business savvy baddies. Blacks or Hispanics were shown as the street thugs with a surfeit of testosterone and a constant need to show proof of same. In many modern films both roles have been given to the Russian Mafia. In film, these fellows all walk around with muscles on their muscles, slicked back hair, tattoos on just about every conceivable inch of their body and are always looking for a chance to hurt someone. Aggressive masculinity is how they roll. As Charlie Daniels might say they are mean as a snake, sneaky as a cat and belligerent when they speak.

Robert McCall (Washington) is a shift worker/supervisor at a huge hardware box store. Think Home Depot or Lowes. He's circumspect about his past work but is friendly and helpful to everyone he works with, especially Ralphie (Johnny Skourtis) an overweight co-worker who dreams of becoming a security guard. McCall encourages Ralphie to eat less and exercise more. He even works out with him on his time off. McCall is a spartan man who avoids sugar, likes everything organized and does not waste time. He uses his stopwatch religiously.

Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a Russian born Boston area prostitute. She infrequently runs into McCall at an all night diner/coffee shop which they both like. Alina, who goes by the street name of Teri, views the place as a brief respite from her job. McCall, in what is likely a hint of a burdened conscience or simple grief, has trouble sleeping. He reads constantly, usually classic books like "The Old Man and The Sea" or "Invisible Man". McCall does not lust after or judge Alina, who wants to escape whoring and become a singer. Alina appreciates being able to talk to a man without sex or violence being involved. These late night chats are often interrupted by Alina's work. Aline occasionally shows up with bruises or welts. One day, enraged by her attitude, her pimps beat her so badly she winds up in the hospital. Armed only with a business card McCall goes to reason with her pimps. He offers them what he considers a fair amount to let Alina leave the business. Well as the Godfather would say you can't reason with some people.  So the pimps and thugs see the other side of McCall's personality. To paraphrase Wolverine, McCall's the best at what he does. But what he does isn't very nice.

These events attract the attention of the primary Russian Mafia troubleshooter Teddy (Martin Csokas) who was perfect for this role. Teddy must find McCall and deal with him painfully, publicly and permanently. Detective Masters (David Harbour) is a corrupt cop assigned to squire Teddy around as he tries to discover who McCall is and where he might be. This movie was quite heavy on the violence but I don't recall there being much in the way of sex or nudity. Although Washington is slightly showing his age, his character's actions remain believable if only because he's constantly out thinking everybody. Once he's committed to an action that's it. It reminded me of the Liam Neeson character in the first Taken. Washington is ice to Neeson's fire but they would make a hell of a team if anyone ever did a crossover/mashup. Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo play a married couple from McCall's previous life. I thought they were underused. Basically there won't be a lot of surprises for you here but if you like action movies this is a decent one. You will have to ignore the action film cliches though. Does the hero ever RUN away from an explosion he created? Of course not. He walks away because he's a bad motherf- shut your mouth! Although Fuqua tells more than shows Washington can effectively imply menace just by putting a tool back on the shelf.
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier
directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

Captain America has a long history. I have relatives who could quote you chapter and verse. I don't know all the backstory. But unfamiliarity with Marvel lore won't hinder film enjoyment. I thought the film was too long at about 136 minutes. It tried to wring some pathos from some betrayals I didn't care about. Nevertheless it was consistently entertaining. One pertinent question was how does Captain America or Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) adapt to a world in which everything he believed in has changed or disappeared. His peers are all dead or dying. This could leave a man a bit disoriented. This is occasionally played for laughs in regard to gender roles or music, but there's a more serious underpinning. The movie has some important things to say about our world. In the film world as in ours, the US military-industrial complex reigns virtually supreme. It can be difficult to tell who is the good guy or bad guy when the "good guys" claim the right to monitor communications across the planet, make war without Congressional or UN sanction, transfer intelligence and military equipment to other states without Congressional or Presidential approval, murder American citizens without warrant or trial and kidnap and torture "terror suspects" without any judicial oversight.

Captain America is first and foremost a soldier. He likes order and appreciates a clear chain of command. He favors simple direct solutions. He's not overly fond of complexity, secrecy, or lying for the "greater good". He makes very sharp distinctions between what's good and bad. This moral clarity means that he's having increasing difficulty working for S.H.I.E.L.D. , the intelligence/counterinsurgency/law enforcement organization headed by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Fury has no such qualms about his work and neither does one of his favorite agents Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). Black Widow and Captain America have a friendship that could have been more were she not already pledged to Hawkeye. Romanoff is amused by Rogers' forties' sensibilities. She shares tips about dealing with modern women. Captain America probably shouldn't be working for an organization such as S.H.I.E.L.D. but as I wrote he's a patriot who's used to following orders. Romanoff also believes in following orders but unlike Rogers is not that concerned with questioning or challenging morality. Although the Black Widow is still sexy (she is after all played by Scarlett Johansson) things are toned down. I don't recall a plethora of downblouse shots. 

Although this film is a superhero movie and features the normal genre conventions of explosions,  feats that defy physics and human biology and so on it's much more centered in reality and the modern day than your run of the mill Marvel film. This is brought home when Nick Fury narrowly escapes assassination in a setpiece reminiscent of Sonny Corleone's murder. He flees to Captain America's apartment where he tells Rogers not to trust anyone, that S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised and that they're all being monitored. And just like that the film takes a welcome and impressive shift into full blown conspiracy theory mode. Fury has been followed by his would be assassins. They succeed in killing him. Rogers chases the sniper only to find that the unknown assailant's speed and strength seemingly matches his own. The new head of S.H.I.E.L.D. (although I'm unclear as to whether he was the civilian head all along while Fury was operational chief) is Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford). Pierce is cool, calm, and collected. He thinks that Fury was murdered in order to stop a particular project. Pierce intends to see that the project continues and Fury's killers are captured.  Piece is suspicious of Fury's final visit to Rogers. Redford is really smooth. Redford brings a certain charm and gravitas which grounds the movie in realism.

Rogers and Romanoff continue their investigation into Fury's death. They run afoul of the military-industrial complex and more sinister forces behind it. They attract the attention of an operative known only as the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). They must seek help from another former soldier named Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) with his own secrets. This film did a wonderful job of tying up many different conspiracy theories with Rogers' own past. It also walked the fine line between condemning the security state which we increasingly find ourselves living under and conceding that even in a democracy, some secrets must remain. The question is and always has been just how much freedom would you sacrifice in order to maintain your safety and security. I never was much of a Captain America or Superman fan as both characters seemed too impossibly straitlaced but this film showed that even goody two-shoes guys can have internal conflicts and character growth. This film has non-explicit violence. In the movie Kill Bill Volume 2, Pai Mei forces Beatrix Kiddo to learn how to throw a devastating punch from only 2-3 inches away. She doesn't see the point of this technique. Pai Mei dismisses her objections asking her what would she do if her enemy was only a short distance from her. In an elevator scene that IIRC was also in one of the Die Hard films, Captain America illustrates how to fight in close quarters. Other actors featured include Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Hayley Atwell, Gary Shandling, Toby Jones,  Emily Van Camp, Maximiliano Hernandez. Marvel godfather Stan Lee makes his customary cameo.
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Movie Reviews: Get on Up, Clue

Get on Up
directed by Tate Taylor

Like Ray Charles but only more so James Brown was a larger than life musical figure who would likely be worshipped as a demigod if we lived back during pre-Christian times. There are very few people who had the influence that he did on popular music, not only in America but across the world. From Africa to Central America, the Caribbean to the Middle East, Europe to the Pacific there weren't very many people who didn't know who James Brown was. There weren't many popular or even more esoteric musicians who weren't influenced by him in ways great or small. People like Prince, Fela, Michael Jackson, vast numbers of soul and funk musicians, The Talking Heads, and many many more people or genres would not exist as they did then or do now without James Brown. James Brown had a pretty long run as someone making original music, maybe even as someone making high quality original music. I would argue that he was doing it to death for at least fifteen to twenty years, maybe even longer. That's unusual, in a music business that has always tended to reward the new, fresh and young. 

James Brown's impact went far beyond the musical of course. Along with such people as Miles Davis and Nat King Cole, Brown made it clear that a dark skinned black man could be not just a musical icon but a pop culture one, in a non-demeaning and even sexual manner. This was revolutionary stuff.

When Brown wrote and sang songs like How you gonna get respect? (when you haven't cut your process yet) or Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm proud) he both channeled and inspired the nascent black self-love and black power movements of the sixties and seventies. Brown was a mess of contradictions. He gave women singers front lining status but could also be abusive publicly and privately. He talked of black power and endorsed Nixon. He spoke of mutual respect but ran his bands in a manner that let band members know he considered them all interchangeable and expendable. Brown constantly fined musicians for an array of mistakes or miscues, whether it be a note played a quarter second too long, arriving late to practice, a wrong dance step, a solo he didn't order or shoes that weren't properly shined. Practices were constant, grueling and extensive even by the demanding standards of the day. Brown knew exactly what he wanted and would figuratively and occasionally literally beat the band until he got it. As author Charles Shaar Murry wrote, Jimi Hendrix would not have lasted more than five minutes in Brown's band. Maximum.

So basically it would be very difficult for any single film to capture all of the facets of Brown's oft complicated personality, legacy and music. Get On Up makes a game try at doing this but in my view fell a little short. I've thought more about this and I don't blame the director/producers as much as I initially did. There's just so much to write or learn about Brown that it would be difficult to pick out one theme. The director decided to make the central theme of Brown's life his turbulent friendship with Bobby Byrd.

Get on Up jumps around chronologically, something I didn't like that much. Chadwick Boseman, despite being much taller and lankier than the relatively short Brown, did a masterful job at bringing across Brown's joys and depressions, his raspy voice and insistence on having non-intimates address him by his surname. We see him meet his lifelong friend and sounding board Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis) while both are doing a stint in prison. Brown's charisma, audacity and financial savvy propel him to become the leader of what was Byrd's group. It becomes Brown's group, something that is made official in an ugly way when Brown's manager Ben Bart (Dan Akroyd) gets the group signed to King records as James Brown and his Famous Flames. Byrd is relegated to on stage valet, dancer, second singer and occasional pianist. Generally speaking though Byrd holds to the famous Dirty Harry dictum of "A man's gotta know his limitations". Byrd knew that whatever it took to be a star, Brown had it and he did not.

The films shows that this star power, this belief in self even when everything else was going against him is what helped Brown survive and escape from uncaring and occasionally abusive parents (Lenny Henry, Viola Davis) and work in a brothel run by an aunt (Octavia Spencer). The scenes with the younger Brown (played by twins Jamarion and Jordan Scott) are the film's most emotionally engaging. We see the ups and downs of Brown's life, including a tempestuous marriage with his wife Dee Dee (Jill Scott), tense relations with his primary soloist Maceo (Craig Robinson) and a surreal meeting with Little Richard (Brandon Smith). But as mentioned, the Byrd-Brown relationship is the key link between all the different time periods. I thought this was a decent enough film but it could have been better. It breaks the 4th wall quite a bit. A wrong note is played when Brown appears more distraught by the death of his manager than that of his oldest son Teddy. All in all I guess I'm glad I saw the film but it wasn't special to me. I'm rarely without Brown's music wherever I am but I did listen to it a bit more after seeing this film. Fun fact, most people don't know that most if not all of the children singing in Say It Loud.. were actually white or Asian not black, as the film depicts. The film is likely worth seeing if only for the music. Because the film breaks the 4th wall as often as it does, it takes you out of the suspension of disbelief. It reminds you that Boseman, talented as he is, is playing a role.
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Clue
directed by Jonathan Lynn

On one, admittedly low level, some people men may enjoy this older film simply for the implausibly and impossibly low cut or clingy outfits worn by the French maid Yvette and the sultry Miss Scarlett. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that I might add. But even putting that aside I thought this to be a fun enjoyable movie. It did not do very well at the box office because of a mishmash of contradictory endings but later gained some fame as a comic cult film. Clue was primarily held together by the sly drollness and manic energy of Tim Curry. But Clue had an ensemble cast with many actors known for their comic timing. Everyone got a chance to shine. It's based on the old whodunnit board game which I doubt that very many people play any more. Do people even still purchase board games? I don't know. But there was a time back in the day when people did. The film's basic theme is an Agatha Christie type murder mystery at an isolated mansion in the early 50s. Six very shady strangers have all received an invitation to a dinner party, one which they dare not refuse. The guests, who have been assigned aliases, include:

• Mrs. White (Madeleine Kahn) a self assured multiple widow who calmly insists that she had nothing to do with her husbands' mysterious disappearances and/or deaths. Accused of luring men to their deaths like a spider with flies she responds that flies are where men are most vulnerable.
• Miss Scarlett (Lesley Ann Warren) an extroverted lady of the night and D.C. madam who caters to politicians, members of the military industrial complex and rich businessmen.
• Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull) a pompous, smug, officious military man who became well off during the war.
• Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd) (my favorite character) a sex obsessed UN psychiatrist who always manages to be next to Miss Scarlett, Mrs. White or Yvette. When he sees that Miss Scarlett's car has broken down he offers her a ride to the mansion. That's not the only ride he would like to give.
• Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan) a senator's wife who may not be the ditzy dame she seems to be. Some people talk a lot because they're nervous. Some have other reasons.
• Mr. Green (Michael McKean) a nerdy State Department employee who is homosexual, feckless, and stereotypically frightened of everything.

These people are met at the house by the fastidious butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry), the va-va voom maid Yvette (Colleen Camp) and the silent cook (Kellye Nakahara). Wadsworth, and Curry really has fun with this character, explains to the guests after dinner that they are each being blackmailed by his employer, Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). Mr. Boddy discovered all of their deepest secrets and rather than turn them in to the authorities, like any good American he decided to make some money from it. Wadsworth explains this to the guests in the presence of Mr. Boddy who is obviously not too pleased with this turn of events. But Boddy is one cool customer. Giving each of the guests weapons he tells them that if he is arrested, he'll expose them all. But if one of them will kill Wadsworth right now then they can all go on as if none of this ever happened. After all Wadsworth hangs around with communists (that's what Boddy was blackmailing him and his wife about) so whoever kills him will be doing his or her patriotic duty. Boddy turns out the lights. There's a thump, a scream and a shot. Someone turns the lights back on but it's not Wadsworth who's dead. It's Boddy.

This kicks off a mystery as the group of people try to figure out who killed Boddy and how it was done. As other people start to drop like flies, the mystery thickens. For me anyway this was a tremendously funny film. It's full of visual puns and gags, tons of one liners and double entendres and a fair amount of Three Stooges style slapstick. The dialogue is something else. It moves very quickly. Some of it, such as a famous monologue by Mrs. White, was improvised by the actors. I still fall out laughing whenever I watch Wadsworth flawlessly imitate Green in a key moment. There are plenty of lines from this film which I still find myself using today in certain work situations such as when the mulish Colonel Mustard states "There's still one thing I don't understand." and the other guests sneer "One thing?" or someone will say "..so to make a long story short.." and everyone else interrupts "Too late!" There are three different endings to the story. The theater versions all had just one different ending. On the DVD all three endings are included. The first two endings are set up with "This is how it could have happened" while the third and most satisfying ending is introduced with "But here's how it really happened". As mentioned not all the conclusions line up 100% with what actually happened in the film but if you're the kind of person to nitpick over things like that and miss out on the fun and silliness this may not be the film for you. Otherwise if you're perceptive and notice things you may indeed watch closely to see just who had access to the lead pipe, how many shots were fired from the revolver and who wasn't there when everyone ran to the kitchen. 
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Movie Reviews: Lone Survivor, Bad Blonde, Baggage Claim

Lone Survivor
directed by Peter Berg

There is a scene from the book Gates of Fire which captures what I think of as the elite warrior ethos which is displayed so magnificently in Lone Survivor. In the book scene a feared Spartan warrior has caught a recruit making an unforgivable mistake in weapons handling. So he smacks the recruit across the face with a handle, cutting the man's scalp and breaking his nose, before continuing to harangue him about all the things he was doing wrong. After a moment the recruit tries to wipe the blood off his face and out of his eyes. This was an even worse error as his captain inquires sarcastically if the youngster thinks that during battle everyone will stop to allow him time to wipe blood from his face so that he will look pretty. He also hits him again. Things go downhill from there for the recruit. I was reminded of that scene because of Lone Survivor's reveal of real SEALs training and the fact that its heroes are indeed pushed far beyond their previous already hardened levels of endurance in their desperate battle to stay alive and complete the mission. They have no time to wipe the blood off their faces. Whether you've been shot repeatedly, are drowning on your own blood, have limbs shot off, or are coping with broken bones as long as there's life there's fighting to be done. Because the enemy certainly won't stop. And neither should you. SEALs and associated Special Forces units are operating at the tip of the spear, just as Spartans did so long ago. By definition most people won't ever get anywhere close to that sort of excellence in their everyday endeavors but the never give up never say die can do spirit can inspire everyone in whatever their mundane day to day business might be. 

Lone Survivor then is both a sort of hagiography to this sort of excellence in action as well as one of the most effective war movies I've seen in a while. There aren't any political statements here, which makes the heroism shown something above and beyond petty little partisan squabbling.

Fortunately never having been in war I can't say flatly whether the film was realistic or not but it certainly did a good job of raising my blood pressure. This is a film I might purchase and watch again. I think it might have been realistic because not only was the film was based on eyewitness stories but also SEALs and other military personnel acted as technical advisers. The film is based on a real life military operation. Lone Survivor is so far distant from the movie Battleship it's hard to believe the same director helmed both films. Lone Survivor is an action movie. You don't really get to know a whole lot about the four primary characters. This isn't an in depth emotional talkie. The men love their wives, girlfriends or children. They will kill and die for each other. They are painted in broad swaths but that's ok for this sort of flick. In Afghanistan, a Taliban bad guy, Ahmad Shah, is running around killing Marines, American sympathizers and anyone else who's gotten on his nerves. Shah has certainly gotten the attention of the American military command. The decision is made to kill or capture him along with his eye-shadow wearing right hand man, who likes beheading people. To this end, Lieutenant Commander Kristensen (Eric Bana) is tasked to oversee this operation. He plans out all the details and contingencies. The front line folks will be a four man recon team who will avoid contact with the enemy, identify Shah and then summon more troops and more firepower for extraction. 

The recon team is traveling light and has nothing but rifles, radio and phones, sidearms, magazines and a few grenades. No machine guns, no medical kits, and no heavy weapons are being carried. This SEAL recon team includes cool headed team leader Lieutenant Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), intense Matt Axelson (Ben Foster), worried Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and easygoing Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg). The recon team gets inserted into hostile territory easily enough but as you can guess from the title the mission starts to go badly. Communications are spotty and even when they aren't, Commander Kristensen's superior officers have their own problems to deal with and emphatically don't want to hear about setbacks. I mean if your boss answers your phone call with "WTF are you calling me for? I thought I told you not to do that!" you can guess the conversation will be short and unpleasant. When Murphy makes a moral decision that Ned Stark would no doubt applaud, before too much longer the four men must make a desperate stand in the mountains against what seems like an entire brigade of Taliban fighters. And these guys brought their big guns. Literally. They've got machine guns, bazookas, and rocket propelled grenades. They know the terrain much better than the Americans do. So if you're outgunned, outnumbered and surrounded, what do you do? Well if you're an American Bada$$ you attack, that's what you do.

Again, utilitarian principles raise their ugly head. What is the value you place on your own life and those of your fellow soldiers? In war obviously you care more about yourself and your fellow soldiers or citizens than you do enemy soldiers. You're trying to kill them, after all. But what about enemy civilians? What about enemy children? How important are they if they get in the way of mission success? You may think in advance about what you would do to survive but if you stand around thinking about it while the s*** is hitting the fan you won't survive long enough to think about anything else. The person who goes home is the person who is reacting, not thinking. This movie is so exciting because there are multiple times (really the vast majority of the film) where the four men must make split second decisions to survive. As I mentioned before where there is life there is hope, even if survival means jumping off cliffs, pulling shrapnel out of yourself without benefit of morphine, or making a last stand to save your brother-in-arms from being flanked. This was a really good film and will be enjoyed by anyone who is partial to war or action flicks or for that matter Wahlberg, Kitsch or Foster. The way the film was shot makes you think you were there.
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Bad Blonde
directed by Reginald LeBorg

Contrary to popular perception Hammer Films was not a schlock horror production company solely dedicated to gothic dramas, technicolor and truly astounding amounts of cleavage. Those characteristics may have been among my favorite things about the company but Hammer Films actually produced a pretty wide variety of film genres and styles. One such style was film noir. Some time ago my brother sent me a DVD four pack of old school Hammer Films that were all about morally conflicted heroes, dangerous dames and seemingly hopeless situations. The package included the 1953 film Bad Blonde. I just got around to watching it. This film was perhaps art imitating life. It starred American Hollywood actress Barbara Payton, who after a very brief time near the top of the starlet food chain, burned out just as quickly. She had affairs with everyone from Howard Hughes to Woody Strode, inspired two other actors to assault and near murder, and compulsively cheated on her husbands. She allegedly even tried to blackmail studio execs. Both of her parents were alcoholics. Maybe she was congenitally prone to substance abuse. Who knows. As her career stalled due to scandal and unreliability Payton succumbed to alcohol and drug abuse. She eventually fell into prostitution. She declined from a $300/hr upscale escort to a $5/transaction streetwalker who was robbed and beaten by customers and police. She drank herself to death before her 40th birthday. Even today her story remains among Hollywood's most infamous and tragic. Bad Blonde was filmed around the beginning of Payton's commercial decline though her physical collapse was not yet noticeable.

It amused me that this film, which depicted adultery and murder, still conceded to the mores of its time by showing a husband and wife using separate beds. Although I thought the two leads lacked chemistry this film still worked for me because of the setting, lighting and writing, which were all good. There's something to the complementary claims that women who marry for money end up earning every penny or that there's no fool like an old fool who thinks he can marry and satisfy MUCH younger women. There are countless books or films based on a trophy wife getting bored or irritated with her older husband and deciding to get rid of him. The nearest comparison to Bad Blonde is obviously The Postman Always Rings Twice. Bad Blonde opens up in England with former boxing manager Sharkey (Sid James) hustling carnival rubes to go a few rounds with his stable of pugilists. If they win they make money, otherwise they don't. No one accepts the offer so Sharkey gives the high sign to a plant to enter the ring and win on purpose to make people more willing to gamble. But the plant is deliberately tripped by the blond Adonis Johnny Flanagan (Tony Wright) who takes his place in the ring. Flanagan beats Sharkey's fighter like a rented mule. Sharkey doesn't like this and doesn't want to pay Flanagan. But all is forgiven when Sharkey meets Flanagan's trainer Charlie Sullivan (John Slater). Sullivan and Sharkey go way back together. They're old friends. The whole thing was a set up to let Sharkey see how Flanagan can handle himself. Flanagan could be the middle-aged Sullivan's and Sharkey's ticket back to the big time.

As a trainer and manager with a fighter all they need now is a promoter. They choose to work with Giuseppe Vecchi (Frederick Valk), a cliched extroverted bighearted loudmouthed Italian who sweats a lot and wants everyone to be his friend. Vecchi is a man who would walk into a dark alley on the bad side of town and be honestly surprised and emotionally damaged that someone would rob him. It's not that he's dumb. He simply can't comprehend anyone deliberately trying to hurt him. His circle of trust almost includes the entirety of humanity but is centered on his icy blonde wife Lorna (Barbara Payton). Flanagan first sees Lorna changing a stocking through a conveniently open door. He's immediately both attracted to and repelled by her. Flanagan refuses to train with her around though he sneaks some sharp looks her way every chance he can. The feeling is mutual as Lorna dismissively tells the muscular Flanagan that she's seen better bodies hanging in a butcher shop. But when she watches Flanagan fight she gives indications of erotic rather than martial interest, what with her staring eyes, open mouth, lip licking and leaning forward. When Vecchi invites Flanagan and team to live at his home during training, the stage is set for people's worst impulses to take over. This film is shot in glorious black and white. I would hate to think of it in color. There's a lot of shadows and for that matter foreshadowing, what with Vecchi smiling blissfully under a horned stag's head. The film drags slightly in the middle but other than that moved pretty fast. It's about 80 minutes.

Tony Wright's acting was pretty stiff for most of this film. I wonder if the annoyance which Payton's character showed towards him was based on Wright's real shortcomings. Sid James really carries this film. His Sharkey knows all the angles. I also liked Selma Vaz Dias as Vecchi's protective and suspicious sister. I almost expected her to produce a butcher knife and start screaming "Vendetta!!".
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Baggage Claim
directed by David Talbert

If About Last Night was a well written funny adult romantic comedy which appealed to both genders and generally avoided stereotypes, Baggage Claim isn't. And that's putting it mildly. The only reason (as a man) to view this film was to watch Paula Patton bounce around in a few revealing outfits. And although that's always fun, it's not enough to recommend this film. In fact I think I might have damaged or lost a few brain cells watching this movie. You might as well title this film "Black Comedy 2: The Stereotypes Strike Back!" There's the over the top effeminate gay best friend, a crass sex obsessed obese black woman, and an aggressive bossy busybody black mother. Of course from a female perspective there's a great deal of eye candy in terms of men so perhaps women viewers may look at this movie somewhat differently. I can't call it. Because of differing biological clocks men and women may stereotypically view the ideal time to get married rather differently. One of my female cousins recently sent around a meme which showed an elderly toothless man grandly announcing to eligible ladies that lucky for them he's finally ready to quit playing the field, settle down and get married. That's the spirit which animates Baggage Claim. Montana Moore (Paula Patton) is a thirty something stewardess who is becoming needier and needier for love, real love, that is, not just love that lasts for a few hours of sport sex. And for her real love means something leading to marriage. She thinks she may have found something worthwhile and meaningful with the classy gentleman Graham (Boris Kodjoe) but soon discovers the unpleasant truth of the bromide that "gentleman is simply another word for a patient wolf".

Making matters worse Montana feels that's she's being constantly negatively judged by her abrasive brassy mother Catherine (Jenifer Lewis). Catherine has been married multiple times and is brimming over with unwanted advice for her daughter about men. Montana lives next door to her old high school buddy William (Derek Luke), who has constantly provided emotional support to her over the years but even if William were available Montana generally doesn't think of him in that way. When Montana learns that her kid sister is getting married in a month that's the last straw for her. She doesn't want to show up as a bridesmaid to her younger sister's wedding without having a fiancee/engagement of her own to brag about. She's been to enough weddings and is sick and tired of living the cliche, always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

It's the holiday season so Montana and her so-called brain trust, fellow flight attendants Gail (Jill Scott) and Sam (Adam Brody), decide that that the best plan is to arrange for Montana to travel on the flights that her various exes will be on and hopefully restart the flame. Obviously this assumes that the breakup was amicable which as you probably know in real life isn't always the case. I mean there's a few women that if I never see them again it will be too damn soon but this is a movie. So for the next 30 days Montana flies across the US, meeting various ex-boyfriends, played by Taye Diggs, Trey Songz, and Djimon Hounsou among others. Comedy ensues or tries to as Montana runs through airports or rediscovers that there was a reason that things didn't work out with boyfriend X the first time around. This movie tries and fails to combine Sleeping Beauty fairytales with you go girl feminist self-empowerment. 
There's a minor subplot with Ned Beatty and a few ham fisted shots at Black Republicans and chauvinists that didn't really add much to the story. Maybe with better writing it might have worked? This is a film for the lowest common denominator. There's nothing wrong with that. Just know that going in. Tia Mowry and Lala Anthony also have roles.
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Movie Reviews: About Last Night, Rage, Devil's Due

About Last Night
directed by Steve Pink

This is a remake of a 1986 film of the same name that had a predominantly white cast. This film has a predominantly black cast. Each film was based on a David Mamet play. There was a recent interesting discussion at The Atlantic about the need to make more non-white and/or non-male people the center of story lines instead of just being at best the sassy best friend. Judging by some of the comments by self-identified whites you would have thought that the writer was suggesting harvesting women's ovaries to sell for cheap in Eastern Europe. It was sort of depressing but also quite predictable how many people not only accepted but defended the idea that they wanted no black characters in their books or movies, not a one. They thought that cinematic and literary monochromatic depictions were not only normal and realistic but preferred. Similarly although this remake was directed and written by white people, the writer talks of the ugly, skeptical, and horribly racist reactions she received from some white people in so-called liberal Hollywood when it became known that her film would have a predominantly black cast. "I heard some very interesting reactions to the casting, specifically from white people who work in the movie industry. While I was doing the rewrite, I got dozens of really mean jokes, most of which I don’t feel comfortable putting into writing here because they were sometimes racist and always hurtful. The most clever one (still lame) was: "How’s your David Blamet script going?" It was like my script was suddenly not as good or less than or just plain not cool because of the casting. Whatever. Those people suck."

I would say that the writer, Leslye Headland (who also wrote the Bachelorette film), and director Steven Pink (who wrote High Fidelity and directed Hot Tub Time Machine) did a good job at creating a funny romantic comedy. It's only occasionally harsh but is always very honest. Hopefully much like Bill O'Reilly's surprise when he visited a Harlem restaurant and learned that black people weren't actually cursing each other out or shooting each other, perhaps some white people who might otherwise dismiss this as a "black" film will give it a shot. To dip into cliche for a moment, the story and themes are universal. They aren't made any less so because the lead characters are black. Lastly if I recall correctly this film had no racial caricatures. Specifically there were no morbidly obese or masculine black women, no thugs and no drugs, and no black best friend of either gender who only exists to help the white character along his or her journey to love and happiness with someone else. In other words this film was a breath of fresh air. When I was very young it was not uncommon for my relatives to call people on the phone to let them know "Black people were on TV!". It didn't matter what the black people were doing, just being on TV was sufficient. That had started to dissipate by the time I was in second grade as black politicians and other movers and shakers became more common. Still I want to give a virtual shout of "Black people in a movie!" in a nod to those long gone days.

Ok. Enough with the social commentary already. What's this film about? Well as mentioned it is an acerbic romantic comedy which has four lead roles. There's Danny (Michael Ealy) and Bernie (Kevin Hart), good friends who work as salesmen/distributors in the Los Angeles restaurant supply business. Bernie is a confirmed player (and he gets the lion's share of the film's funny lines) who doesn't really believe in love. He thinks that his hopelessly romantic friend Danny needs to stop moping around about being dumped by the love of his life Alison (Paula Patton-man that is one sexy lady) and get back in the game. To this end he has invited Danny along on his date with Joan (Regina Hall), a sexy and occasionally over the top dentist. Joan has asked her roommate, Debbie (Joy Bryant), a telecom exec, to tag along. In a recurring theme throughout the film Bernie and Joan are more down to the earth than their friends and often (occasionally hysterically wrongly) think that they know what's best for Danny and Debbie. Unsurprisingly Bernie and Joan hook up. Somewhat more surprisingly so do Danny and Debbie, after Debbie is impressed with how Danny is not threatened by her prior relationship with Terrell Owens (playing himself). It's been a while for both Danny and Debbie. Debbie is looking for a gentleman and Danny seems to be just such a man. 

Now it wouldn't be a romantic comedy if there weren't some conflict. This film delivers on that front. It makes some very funny and true to life observations about the challenges couples face in meeting each other's friends and family, moving in together, accepting or rejecting each other's quirks and flaws, dealing with the reality that you probably weren't your lover's one and only, being honest about the emotional vulnerability that saying "I love you" brings, and learning how to handle conflict with your significant other. That last could mean that you shut up and smile or become willing to respectfully but passionately fight on an issue that's important to you. In a modest subplot Danny doesn't like his job very much, especially since it brings him in conflict with his deceased father's best friend Casey (Christopher McDonald) a tavern owner who is chronically unable to pay his debts or update with the times. But Danny is concerned that quitting his job will lose him Debbie's respect since as he ruefully tells Bernie "There's a good chance she makes more than I do". In what seems like a tip of the hat to (500) Days of Summer, this film occasionally uses animated sketches that morph into real life sets. There is some blink and you'll miss it toplessness from Joy Bryant and extended (though not full frontal) nude scene from Michael Ealy. Again although EVERYONE did a great job in this flick special note must go to Kevin Hart. His character's manic behavior and utter pragmatism really drove the humor.
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Interview with Headland





Rage
directed by Paco Cabezas

Rage stars Nicolas Cage. There are some people who will automatically not watch the film just because of that fact. A lot of times Cage seems to act as if he is zoned out on Quaaludes. And in the instances where that's not the case he's often incredibly frantic, looking or sounding as if he's pumped up on speed. Well that's the impression I often get anyway. I can't recall too many recent movies where he wasn't at one polarity or the other. Well that's also the case with this film but in a bit of a surprise it actually fits the character and his situation. The issue with this film was that there really wasn't a strong second actor or actress role for Cage to well..rage against. Rachel Nichols has a toned down/desexed role as Cage's wife. Danny Glover has a small part as a cop who may or may not be trying to help Cage. But the bad guys lack a little panache, a little style a little badness. Paul Maguire (Nicolas Cage) is a businessman. He appears to be a developer and real estate investor. He has a pretty younger wife Vanessa (Nichols) and a cute teen daughter Caitlin (Aubrey Peeples). Paul also has a large home, nice clothes and everything else that one would expect a middle aged man of means and substance to have in this great country of ours. His daughter is the apple of his eye. He dotes on her. Her mother died years ago. Like many fathers in that situation, Paul holds on fiercely to his little girl because she's the only reminder of his deceased wife. She's growing up quickly though. The boys are starting to come around. Although Paul is accepting of this fact as all men must become some day I suppose, he is still protective. 

Movie Reviews-A Band Called Death, Only God Forgives

A Band Called Death
directed by Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino

The story of the punk-rock band Death is one that I'm not sure could have been written as believable fiction. Three black brothers from Detroit were playing punk before the Ramones, Sex Pistols, or several other punk bands. I had heard of this group before. I have their long out of print cd. I didn't review it here because I'm not a huge genre fan. Nevertheless this documentary is worth watching. I liked seeing some familiar Detroit landmarks and hearing about some classic 1970s Detroit area music names. I wouldn't necessarily say this was a sad tale but it is a sobering one because Death never fulfilled its musical potential. For every musician who writes songs the whole world wants to hear and becomes a multi-millionaire or billionaire there are thousands of others who must put their dreams on hold and find jobs as janitors or fall into substance abuse. However after a long period in the musical wilderness Death is making something of a comeback. 

Death had its beginnings among the younger three brothers of the close knit Hackney family. All of them were musically inclined. Their parents encouraged them to follow their dreams. David Hackney, the oldest in that section of brothers, was a fan of the 60s and 70s hard rock groups. He became an acolyte of a hard edged guitar sound that took its cues from musicians like The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Grand Funk Railroad. As he and his brothers had been taught unity above all else he convinced them to join him in a power trio. They practiced incessantly and loudly, around the neighborhood and at home. This music was NOT popular within their community as David made almost no concession to traditional blues, soul, funk, jazz or early rock-n-roll. He was interested almost exclusively in what neighborhood critics called "white boy music". He liked to play fast, hard and above all loud.

Eventually the band, which is to say David, decided to call itself Death. The film elides over how much live/paid work Death got. I'm thinking it wasn't that much. Death had a very unpolished sound. Of course YMMV. Bobby and Dannis Hackey reminisce how the band's name and to a lesser extent, the band's race made it difficult to find local gigs. Persevering, Death eventually obtained a record deal with Groovesville/United Sound, a local Detroit area recording studio and production company that was primarily engaged with soul artists. After a lot of rejection, United Sound was able to contact Arista record mogul Clive Davis, who heard the band's master tapes and liked them. He agreed to a record distribution and promotion deal. This could have put Death on the fast track to fame and fortune. There was just one requirement. Like most other music industry big shots Davis didn't like the band's name. He wanted the band to change it. David Hackney refused in quite profane terms. For him the band's name, concept and music were all connected. As he told his brothers if we let them change the name that would be giving ownership of our soul. His brothers weren't crazy about the decision but supported their older brother. But that ended their initial involvement in the music industry as Death. Davis withdrew his offer. United Sound decided to find musicians who actually wanted record deals.

The band Death would disappear for the next quarter century. Ultimately Bobby and Dannis would move to Vermont, meet Peter Tosh and reinvent themselves as a reggae and later a gospel group. David stayed in Detroit, brooded and fell into bad habits. It wasn't until one of Bobby Hackney's sons fortuitously heard a friend raving about a mysterious old school Detroit rock group that Death would reform. Musicians such as Questlove, Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins, Vernon Reid and Kid Rock talk about Death. The film is bittersweet. It has interviews with the two surviving original Death members and several of their family members. It details their ups and downs, loves and losses, their frustrations with life and even occasionally their brother David, whom they love and miss terribly. As they point out consistently, throughout the documentary, one of the last things David did before leaving this earth was to hand them the Death master tapes for safekeeping, predicting correctly that someone would come looking for them some day. Even if you're not a fan of this music this documentary is as much about family as it is punk rock. I certainly saw echoes of my family in this story. You also might do so. This movie made me think that you should try to avoid regrets. Let your loved ones know what they mean to you today.
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Only God Forgives
directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

This film was a hot mess. I don't necessarily mean it was no good at all but the director was obviously interested more in visuals and style than he was in telling a story or actually ensuring that actors and actresses had dialogue. Upon thinking about it some more I'm not willing to say it was a s*** sandwich with a cherry on top, which was my initial viewpoint. This is done by the same man who directed Drive. Just as in that movie he evidently wanted his star Ryan Gosling to give a minimalist performance in Only God Forgives. The problem here is that almost everyone else in the film also gives a minimalist performance. So there is no hero or heroine to hang your hat on. There is a LOT of bloody violence. Also the film continues what seems to be a trend of bringing Freud back to the forefront as an explaining factor for people's (or at least men's actions). Maybe Freud was right. It's not like Freud wrote Oedipus Rex or Hamlet, to name just a few Western works that touch on actual or sublimated incest as a motif in socio-sexual development. He just put together some of those things into a theory. And incest is, if not explicit in this story certainly implicit. The protagonist's mother first greets him with a hug that is anything but motherly. She attempts to shame him into action by speaking dismissively of the size of his manhood as compared to his brother's. One wonders how she would know that. The two come across as more embittered ex-lovers, which I think they must be, rather than mother and son. The mother's relationship with each of her sons appears to have been complicated.

Another director would have made this into a standard action/revenge flick. Refn went for something else. I don't think it quite worked for me but it was different at least. Gosling has only a handful of lines. The movie felt like a silent film.

Julian (Gosling) manages a Bangkok, Thailand boxing club. Some fights are fair; others are fixed. The club provides thugs for and is a money laundering front for the drug import-export operation overseen by Julian's older brother Billy (Tom Burke). To say that Billy is unstable is an understatement. After the conclusion of a match Billy is desirous of rough sex with a prostitute, the younger the better. He is turned away by a few pimps until he finds one willing to give him what he wants. The sex is not shown but the aftermath is and it's ugly. Billy has raped and murdered the underage prostitute. For whatever reason Billy doesn't seek to escape. He is still there at the scene when the quiet and serious police Lieutenant Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm) arrives to handle the matter. Chang's a very hard but brutally fair man whose idea of justice might be looked upon approvingly by Tywin Lannister. He allows the girl's father to beat Billy to death. However, disgusted by the fact that the father pimped out his own flesh and blood, Chang later amputates the man's hand as a reminder to be a better father to his remaining children. Chang is never without his trusty short sword (really more of a machete). Chang is also equally devoted to his family and karaoke.

This incident brings Billy's boss, his and Julian's mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) to Bangkok. She's a racist, foul mouthed, cold eyed, mean, sexually charged drug baroness who can't believe that Julian hasn't already taken revenge. Julian looked into it but refused to act when he found out his brother's actions. Crystal could care less about the "yellow n*****s" as she calls them, saying only that whatever Billy did he must have had his reasons. Crystal constantly tries to manipulate Julian into doing something (maybe something of a more intimate nature as well). But as boss she is also quite comfortable ordering Billy's crew to put people in the ground. The rest of the movie goes on from there but again the story and plotting are very weak and virtually non-existent other than what I've outlined. This is a dreamy surrealistic flick full of neon colors and fantastic sets. Dreams, flashbacks and reality combine and confuse both the viewers and the characters. I've heard that Refn, who also directed Valhalla Rising, had a similar visual style but better story in that film. I may have to check it out. Bottom line with this film though was that it was strange. Thomas and Pansringarm give the best performances. But their work was almost was wasted here. Do not see this if you are expecting Gosling to give a well, driven, performance. But if you just like watching Gosling this movie might be up your alley.
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Movie Reviews-42, Fruitvale Station, Evil Dead, Vehicle 19

42
directed by Brian Helgeland

I'm not a huge baseball fan. Although I do happen to be currently kicking behind in my fantasy baseball league. Go figure. Snicker. Nevertheless obviously I knew about Jackie Robinson and the mythic figure he became to several black Americans in the post-war era. So watching this film I attained a better understanding of why my maternal grandfather, like Robinson a WW2 veteran, was such an enthusiastic Dodgers fan (Robinson's team). Though this is a sports movie and as such is mostly concerned with struggles between and among groups of men, it has a surprisingly strong secondary story line concerning the love between Jackie Robinson and his wife Rachel. She is key to providing Jackie support and love to keep going. She even has some relevant baseball advice. They protect and nurture each other. It's rare to see this in a black couple in a big budget Hollywood movie. This is really odd when you think about it. 42 is a traditional feel good movie. It's also big on sports cliches but it has the advantage in that a great many of these cliches in the story actually occurred.

This film takes place shortly after WW2. Last season the Brooklyn Dodgers were almost but not quite good enough to win the pennant. Changes in American society were afoot. Brooklyn Dodgers general manager/president/part owner Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) is determined to be part of what he thinks are required changes in American society, most specifically baseball. Rickey intends to find a black player who is skilled enough to play in the previously all white major leagues and who is smart and strong enough to deal with the eruptions of hatred that will surely follow from fans, rival players and even his own teammates. Rickey thinks that man is Jackie Robinson.

Robinson is one of the most skilled players on The Negro Leagues Kansas City Monarchs, a flashy shortstop with a quick temper. But what gets Rickey's interest is thinking that Robinson, a former Army officer with a history of standing up for his rights can put that on the backburner and instead more or less turn the other cheek for the greater good (advancement of rights for all black players) . This is something that was probably required at the time and which is still echoed today. It is most definitely not something that was healthy. Robinson would die at only 53 from heart problems and diabetes which were no doubt related to the stress he endured.
Nevertheless Robinson (excellently portrayed by Chadwick Boseman) reluctantly agrees to Rickey's demand. Then as now a white man and a black man taking the same action were often viewed quite differently by white media and fans. Rickey frames this as the guts not to fight back. Don't know that I'd quite see it that way but then again those were different times. Even today black people in white environments often code switch and hide their true feelings. So there you are.

So Robinson, accompanied and supported by his beautiful wife Rachel (Nicole Beharie), embarks on a journey through the minor leagues in Montreal and Panama which will ultimately end up with him starting in the big leagues for the Brooklyn Dodgers. To say that this came at a cost is something of an understatement. Often sometimes black people can joke about how the open racism of years past could be preferable to the "Who me, I'm no racist" passive-aggressive incidents that are more common today. And often times white conservatives claim with a straight face that black civil rights leaders actually yearn for the legal racism of the good (bad) old days. Well I don't think that's actually true. Nobody black or in their right mind would really want those days back. Some things in America haven't changed of course or are just hidden but many things have changed. The movie shows more than it tells but whether it's something as simple as trying to get a bite to eat or flying on a plane that an airline employee doesn't think black people should be using or having mobs threaten your life with impunity or de jure public segregation in the South and de facto public segregation in the North, being black in 1947 America was full of legal and routine insults to your dignity, safety and life.

Robinson tries to deal with this by attempting to ignore it and rise above it but it's not that easy. The forceful Dodgers manager Leo Durocher (Chris Meloni), who claimed indifference to Robinson's race, profanely and almost violently shut down a Dodgers' petition drive to drop Robinson, and who may have coined the phrase "Nice guys finish last", was suspended from baseball in part because of gambling allegations but also for sleeping with a Hollywood actress not his wife. So he's not around to run interference for Robinson. He's replaced by aged and seemingly ineffectual manager Burt Shotton (Max Gail). Robinson must negotiate the initial hostility or disregard of his teammates and more importantly the hatred of white players on other teams who do things like hit him in the head with baseballs, spike him and try to break his ankles. The worst of the worst is Phillies manager Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk) who can not help himself from unleashing the ugliest racial and sexual vitriol whenever Robinson appears at the plate. As Robinson himself later tells his wife (paraphrasing) "I will never be broken by these people. But they came close today".

This is ultimately a hip hip hooray movie and so it ends on a positive note, one that happened (slightly differently) in real life . If you're looking for a heroic story this could be a movie you'd want to see. There's no cynicism or antihero stuff here. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. Some bad guys later become good guys. You don't have to be a baseball or sports fan or even mildly knowledgeable about sports to enjoy this film. Robinson and my grandfathers were of the same generation so it was interesting to me to look back and see the sorts of things that people of that age had to deal with. And everyone is dressed sharp! If you have any 40s style clothing readily available, hold on to it. I tell you that style is coming back. Lucas Black, John C. McGinley, and Andre Holland also star.
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Fruitvale Station
written and directed by Ryan Coogler

Just see this film. Okay that's really all I need to say. It's by far the best of the movies mentioned here today. From a purely technical point you would have thought this film was directed by a middle aged or old master of film, someone who had been making movies for decades. Nope. Ryan Coogler is only 27 years old and Fruitvale Station is his first feature length film. I don't know how he got so good so young and so quickly but I'm betting this won't be his last good work. The level of quality of display here in terms of the camera work, the lighting, the writing and the way the entire film fits together is truly freaking astounding. There's a reason the Weinstein Company distributed this. There's a reason it won Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance. There's a reason Forest Whitaker helped produce it. There's a reason it won at Cannes. Coogler really is that good. This is literally a rookie coming out of nowhere and tutoring grizzled veterans in his field on how to succeed. This has Oscar written all over it but it never feels like it's TRYING to be Oscar bait material, if that makes any sense. This is a rare film that could be critically and commercially successful AND make social commentary. It's rare that one film can do any of those things superbly let alone all three. 

Regardless of what you think of the Zimmerman verdict and we may yet have some final thoughts on that later, one of the most despicable things that the defense attorneys and conservative writers and personalities did and are still doing was to put Trayvon Martin on trial. In their telling a seventeen child was transformed into a MANDINGO SUPER THUG who was looking for trouble and got what he deserved. Well of course he wasn't that. On the other side of the spectrum exactly because the racist mindset has trouble dealing with complexity or recognizing humanity, the Civil Rights movement spent a lot of time trying to find and/or groom perfect victims, precisely because it knew that racists will seize on any imperfection and seek to blow it out of proportion. So if you're an unwed mother or have a fast reputation, sorry lady but you can't be the face of a bus boycott. Trying to integrate baseball, nope you can't fight back against a white racist who hits you in the head with a 90 mph fastball. And so on. 

Well as most people know black people are neither saints from heaven nor demons from hell. Black people are just people. And that is the approach in depicting Oscar Grant that Coogler takes in Fruitvale Station. Of course if you're reading this blog you already know this but again it is quite unusual to see it in a Hollywood movie. Strictly speaking this is an independent film.

Fruitvale Station depicts the last day of Oscar Grant's (Michael B. Jordan-Wallace from The Wire) life. Grant is neither saint not sinner. He's somewhere in between trying to make it. He cheated on his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz), though he may have stopped. He occasionally sells weed to get by. Oscar has been to prison and suffered through the experiences there. He's a gallant man but he may be somewhat of a lazy one as he's been fired from his grocery store job for being consistently late to work. All the same he loves Sophina. He loves his sister Chantay (Destiny Ekwueme) though he's not crazy about paying her rent. He loves his mother (Octavia Spencer). And he is insanely devoted to his and Sophina's daughter together, Tatiana (Ariana Neal). There is nothing he won't do for her. He's an engaged father. He could be good husband material. Sophina's not sure about that. But when a stranger sees the affection that Oscar has for Sophina he not so jokingly asks Oscar why hasn't he married her. Oscar looks like he's deciding to do that. He's on the verge of turning his life around. He wants to provide for Tatiana and ensure that he has the respect of Sophina and his mother.

Of course we all know how this story ends. It's the little things that make this such a powerful movie. Coogler blatantly foreshadows things at least three times. If the film had a weakness that would be the only thing I could point to. But those moments almost create a majestic and biblical flow to the story. We know what those seemingly innocuous incidents indicate but we can't stop them. Michael B. Jordan hit this out of the proverbial park but everyone involved in this film gave very strong performances. Neal and Diaz deserve special mention.

There's a certain unfair arbitrary nature to life. Why does one person happen to get cancer and die young while another works in an asbestos and lead rich environment and lives a long and healthy life. We don't know. Similarly Coogler shows all the tiny little decisions in Oscar's life that lead him to be on the train and have the fatal encounter with Officer Caruso (Kevin Durand), fictionalized version of real life Officer Johannes Mehserle.
This movie will make you angry but really the defining emotion is sadness. Death is final. There's no coming back. All you can do is hope/believe you will see that person on the other side or remember the good times you had while they were here. This is a tremendously powerful film.
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Evil Dead (2013)
directed by Fede Alvarez

I guess you could say this is the anti-Cabin in the Woods. This is of course a remake of the classic 1981 film Evil Dead. I wasn't going to see this but obviously changed my mind. The beauty of the original film lay in just how much dread, horror and unease the actors, producer and director were able to squeeze out of a very low budget movie. And let's not forget the swooping masterful camera work. This remake would have been okay on its own but doesn't hold a candle to the original though it cost multiples of the original budget.  But I think this was aimed at people who hadn't seen the original film. 32 years was a long time ago. There are plenty of people walking around who seemingly don't pay much attention to anything that happened before they arrived on the scene.

So if you saw and enjoyed the original this film might be just ehhh to you. If you didn't see the original, although I would certainly want to know why, if you're a horror movie fan then you will probably enjoy this film. It lacks the visceral nature of the original but tries to make up for it with even more grand guignol. And judging by the massive box office returns it succeeded. This film had limited or non-existent use of CGI. Sometimes classic tropes work for a reason and don't need to be mocked, reworked, parodied or deconstructed. Young people inadvertently calling up forces they neither understand nor control is an old chestnut but it works. Mix it with some Lovecraftian overtones and it works even better. This is not a shot for shot remake. It does some things the same, turns other things around and tries to make its own story. One big change is that one woman takes a much more active role. Actually you see that in a lot of movies these days.

Anyway for those of you who aren't familiar with the story Mia (Jane Levy) has been taken out to an old cabin in the woods by her friends Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and Olivia's boyfriend Eric (Lou Pucci). They are waiting for the arrival of Olivia's brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) and his girlfriend Natalie (Liz Blackmore). Evidently Mia is a junkie. She's tried and failed to get clean before. Olivia, a registered nurse has decided to lead this intervention in a last ditch attempt to help Mia to get and stay clean. The last time Mia overdosed she was clinically dead for a while. Olivia is a take charge sort of woman and wants David's buy-in to not give in to any of Mia's sure to arrive whining, pleading and guilt tripping. David's not sure he can do this because as with all families his sister knows just the buttons to push to trigger his guilty feelings. In this case they have to do with David not being around for their mother's decline and death.  Later the young people venture into the basement and discover what the viewer via flashback already knows is some serious bad mojo. For some insane reason Eric finds a book (basically The Necronomicon) that should not be read - it even has warnings saying do not read this book- and decides to read from it. Mia ends up getting possessed though neither she nor her friends or brother are aware of this at first. The craziness and bloodlust starts to spread. And there are only a few ways to stop a demon possessed human. And two of them involve total bodily dismemberment or burning. I'm sure you can figure out the rest. Eric is so stupid you want to leap through the screen and slap him around but his poor judgment is a genre norm.
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Vehicle 19
directed by Mukunda Michael Dewil

This wasn't a very good movie. Let's just get that out of the way upfront. Unless you happen to be a hardcore Paul Walker fan this movie is not for you. And even if you are such a fan I still wouldn't waste time on this flick. The story started out kind of promising but fell off a cliff. It was hard to care about any of the characters in the story. Because almost the entire story takes place in the confines of a minivan, claustrophobic doesn't even begin to describe the film. People have used this trope with phone booths, car trunks, coffins and elevators and for my money it rarely works unless the director switches back and forth between the confined location and something going on in the outside world. That raises tension. But in this story, the minivan is it. And not only is the location stripped down but along with that almost by definition this is a movie where Walker has almost all of the dialogue. The only good thing about this film was they it helped me to more easily distinguish between a white South African accent and an Australian or New Zealand one.

Michael Woods (Walker) is an American felon who's breaking parole to meet his ex-wife Angie, who works in the US embassy in Johannesburg. Woods obviously wants to meet Angie and make a case for why they should get back together. Angie is just as obviously on the verge of telling Mike to get lost for good. Her voice (we never really see her face) is full of annoyance, regret and almost devoid of affection. But Mike feels that a million to one chance of getting back together is better than no chance. He's not too proud to beg. When he arrives in South Africa he finds that the rental car agency has given him a minivan instead of the sedan he requested. But since he's already late and doesn't quite know how to get to his ex's place (either the embassy or her home) he decides not to make a stink about it.
Unwise.

As it turns out there's a phone in the van that rings. He answers and someone with a very thick Afrikaans accent tells him to make it quick and that everything he needs is in the car. Mike is like who is this and hangs up. He talks to Angie and tries to explain he's running late but she thinks he's either scoring drugs or getting drunk. He then finds a gun under the seat. And shortly afterwards a bound and gagged woman spills out of the space behind the backseat. It turns out that she's a missing prosecutor Rachel Shabangu (Naima McLean) who has information about police financed and directed sex crimes. Someone calls back. This someone has identified Mike as an American who is breaking parole by being in the country. They say no harm no foul about the rental mixup but very strongly suggest that Mike drive the minivan to an abandoned warehouse where they can sort everything out. And Angie is calling Mike every 10 minutes wanting to know where he is now. Rachel doesn't want Mike to go to the warehouse. And this kicks off a lot of relatively boring car chases, shootouts, attempted carjackings and so on. Yawn. Mike is an incredibly stupid and selfish man. Rachel is a cardboard cut out. They could live or die but I could not have cared less.
TRAILER