Selma

Selma - 128min - PG13

I am honored to be in a society that was blessed to include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I remember reading about the march in Selma. But it was out of a school book. It lacked the depth to show how compelling this story truly is. It is set in a time where racism is prevalent. The start of the civil rights movement was a dangerous time. This is a green light film that leaves you with much to think about. I recommend you see this movie with someone else so you can enjoy the conversation this movie will undoubtedly create.

Dr. King (David Oyelowo), fighting against voting inequality, heads down to Selma to stage a peaceful protest. The small town is the backdrop of the bigger fight between Governor Wallace (Tim Roth) and the changing views of America under the leadership of President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson). The first march was attacked by state troopers. Being televised it was a galvanizing event in the civil rights fight. Dr. King calls on everyone who feels that people are equal to come and march with them. Together thousands marched from Selma to Montgomery but not without its costs.

This film had me engaged from the moment it started. This is the kind of movie that sparks some wonderful conversation about its themes and some of the history we have been through. It would be easy for historical films that focus on race and how we as a country have fought long and hard for equality to push an agenda in today's political struggles. This movie does set the stage for conversations that could include racial views today but keeps focused on what has happened on the past.

David Oyelowo is remarkable as Dr. King. The sprit of the man faced with such a hard choice in a world on the brink of change can be seen in his demeanor and his face. The enormity of the journey and its impact on us as a people can be felt in every word delivered on screen. Tom Wilkinson has always impressed me as a performer and in this production he raises the bar. He has a line in this movie that really resonates with me and should resonate with all political figures. I am going to horribly butcher the real line but I am paraphrasing. "We should not be thinking about 1965 we should be thinking of 1985, and how they will see us when they look back." Simply powerful.

Ava DuVernay is now one of my favorite directors. This picture masterfully tells a very moral story without beating us over the head with morality. She tells us the events that happened and gives us a glimpse into the personal lives of those affected. Her work on this picture gives us all a connection point to our shared history and should be listed among the other directors up for consideration for best director.

Removing race and gender from the argument the movie stands on its own merits to be considered for best director. It's almost too ironic that a black woman who did a stellar job, making a spot-on movie about inequality gets overlooked by an Academy that is primarily white males. Her work clearly out matches anything else on the ballot.

What do you think about the lack of diversity in the Academy?

The Debt

The Debt – 113Min – R

This one is going to be hard for me. This move has some great story elements that I do not want to spoil it for you. Let me give you this much, it was a great espionage film that had the all the right elements. The stars did a wonderful job of making the movie entertaining and the story had you on the edge of my seat a few times. The overarching subplots are quite involved and they do a decent job of keeping the past and the present characters inline. I would say that the best part of the film is the dynamic between the characters. For overall entertainment value I give it a green light.

The movie starts off with a blending of flashback and current time. The story starts to come into focus as we see a party for a book release. The book follows the actions of Rachel (Helen Mirren) Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) and David (Ciaran Hinds) when they were younger. These three Mossad agents were on a mission to capture a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin. The younger versions were played by Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, and Marton Coskas, respectively. The mission brings the three together in close quarters and under stress, they bond. The movie captures how events in the past come back to haunt the present. Everything we do has a price and sometime we must make amends

Director John Madden did a great job of taking the elements and blending the story together in an entertaining way. His films in the past, such as Shakespeare in Love to Proof, have focused more on human relationships. That experience shows in this film. This is defiantly more action-oriented than his previous films but he pulls it off.

The writing team that worked on this film’s screenplay also has an eclectic resume. Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman have worked on films like Kick Ass, X-men: First class and Stardust. Peter Straughan has worked on Men Who Stare at Goats, and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. This list does not really ring as one that could make a leap to espionage thriller, but they do good work in this film. I do think the end of the movie has a softer climax than it should, which you can see more about under the spoiler heading, but overall the whole movie was entertaining.

I have been very pleased with the work that Focus Features has done. Many of the films I have enjoyed have come from them. Now that I have started to look at the people who make the movies, I have a new perspective. Production companies that have done a great job in movie making keep popping up. I am going to have to keep my eye out for their next projects.

Warning: Spoilers!! Top Secret!!!

One of the most gripping scenes was when they were trying to get the doctor out of Germany. I was completely nervous on that scene. it was well times and everything was paced marvelously. They paced it like a heist movie, making sure that things had to hit right or everything was going to be lost.

I like Sam Worthington He is a fine actor, but throughout the film his accent was muddled and inconsistent. He did a great job showing the emotion and delivering the suffering, but the accent made me look like the RCA victor Dog. The casting on the older version of him was a bit off as well. His older self and younger self did not play convincingly enough.

I thought that the fight with the very old Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen) and older Rachel was the failing in the ending. It is just not exciting to see them fight. I was much more concerned with her sneaking in to the news room and into the Hospital than I was with the fight. Perhaps have her meet the reporter and give him an interview after they find the Nazi dead would have been a better ending.

What is one movie that was told out of order that really entertained you? Tell me about it.

The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet - 119min – PG-13

Seth Rogen plays Britt Reid, a rich kid slacker who inherits his father’s(Tom Wilkinson) estate and is now in charge of his father’s newspaper. While taking revenge on his father’s image he and Kato (Jay Chou) stop a crime in progress. Britt is changed by this experience and now wants to use his resources to become a superhero. Not just any superhero, a superhero that is pretending to be a bad guy to cover up his heroic activities. With the help of Kato and Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), Britt works through his team to take over the territory of the current crime lord Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz).

I have never watched or knew anything about the original stories, I have heard a few old radio programs but I think they did a good job of representing the characters and the story. I was not lost because of my lack of historical knowlage. This is a great action hero film. I enjoyed 95% of it. I would say the only parts that were hard to watch were Seth’s tomfoolery with the main character. In many scenes Seth’s attempt to overpower a joke with uncomfortable humor took the jokes over the top. A prime example of this is a scene that was in the trailer. Brit wakes up from being knocked out by his own hand with the gas gun, and then takes out his frustrations with the situation on Kato by gassing him in the face. This interaction could have been better served if the two had not had a poorly constructed moment between them where Brit realizes he has been out for several days not a few hours. The interactions between the two would have been fine without dragging out the joke. There is an uncomfortable moment where Britt implies he is surprised that Lenore a woman of declining age would be applying herself to her pursuits, um… She is still hot and does not look like a woman in her twilight. Despite Seth’s playing his character over the top the overall movie experience was still ok. One actor I really liked is Edward James Olmos. Edward played Axford, the second in command at the newspaper. Olmos never disappoints as an actor. I felt the main bad guy was a bit weak, we know Christoph can play a menacing villain from his work in Inglorious Bastards. I don’t know why this character was not as good as his previous one. There is a funny bit where his character has an identity crisis that perhaps his is not as menacing as the Hornet so he decides to reinvent himself, but the change seems to fall flat. Cameron Diaz is good as a supporting character that is the brains of the partnership. Lenore is the organization, Seth is the face man and Kato does all the heavy lifting with the crime fighting.

The film was good in 2D I did not see it in 3D but I can’t see a specific reason it needed to be in 3D. The credits were done to play to the 3D effects but overall in the film it did not seem to play to the fact it had a 3D version out there, no one was pointing to the screen or things were not flying at the camera. I would say it was fine as a 2D picture. There were some creative editing on a long shot that was sped up to let us see time pass, this shot seemed out of place for this kind of film, as a style it should have made a reoccurrence but it was only used once at the beginning. The movie kept me involved to where I did not notice any other gaps in the filming of this movie. Overall a well made film and they need to pull in the reins on Seth’s asshattery and you might really have something here. A go see movie even if it is at a matinee.