I just read about this film in Variety, because it's doing so well on Netflix. It's full of creativity and this is a team that we will see a lot more of, and with significantly bigger budgets. I particularly love the bringing together of Black and Latino cultures in L.A. And some revisions of cliches and tropes we are used to seeing in gangster movies and Westerns which is what this turns out to be. Enjoy!
Reviews
6 Reviews
The Mentor
(2020)
10 Stars for Ingenuity and Creativity
28 April 2020
Well here's a movie that doesn't look like anything else you've ever seen, except for one thing: it's about filmmaking. So, if you have ever wanted to make a film, or struggled to make a film, or dreamed of simply writing a script, this is for you. A radiant performance by Brandi Nicole-Payne as the young wanna-be filmmaker. Twists and turns as the thriller and kidnapping turns out to be anything but what at first appears.
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice...
4 September 2017
Martin Luther King's famous quote is seriously challenged by this second iteration of the climate change documentary, and it both questions whether or not the statement is true when it comes to the safety and health of our planet, and also motivates us to keep working for the future.
Directors Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen weave a complex narrative that both terrifies and enlightens. They focus on the extraordinary character: Al Gore, and by looking at his past as well as his present, bring the work of climate change into a historic perspective that can truly be compared to the civil rights movement.
Growing up as he did in the segregated South, Gore was born into a world in which the equality of the races seemed impossible, and yet, change has come. This may be the very reason, the film argues, that in the face of profound setbacks and the evidence of climate change all around - from the melting ice in the North Pole to the flooding in the streets of Miami - Gore can keep going. Even with the disaster at the Paris climate conference - overshadowed by terrorist attacks - and the shocking election of climate change-denier, Trump at the end of the film, we have to keep going.
See this film to have your desire-to-keep-fighting-batteries re-charged.
Directors Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen weave a complex narrative that both terrifies and enlightens. They focus on the extraordinary character: Al Gore, and by looking at his past as well as his present, bring the work of climate change into a historic perspective that can truly be compared to the civil rights movement.
Growing up as he did in the segregated South, Gore was born into a world in which the equality of the races seemed impossible, and yet, change has come. This may be the very reason, the film argues, that in the face of profound setbacks and the evidence of climate change all around - from the melting ice in the North Pole to the flooding in the streets of Miami - Gore can keep going. Even with the disaster at the Paris climate conference - overshadowed by terrorist attacks - and the shocking election of climate change-denier, Trump at the end of the film, we have to keep going.
See this film to have your desire-to-keep-fighting-batteries re-charged.
Jason Watkins is a revelation
28 January 2016
An acting tour de force! Extraordinary! Jason Watkins is absolutely amazing. This is a kind of exploration of character that requires the deepest understanding of the craft of acting.
This is all a true story told with care and respect about the horrifying behavior of the British Press, the terrible consequences of being falsely accused of murder, and the possibility of human beings to change, even when they are convinced they are set in their ways for life.
I highly recommend this film.
It's available on Netflix.
This is all a true story told with care and respect about the horrifying behavior of the British Press, the terrible consequences of being falsely accused of murder, and the possibility of human beings to change, even when they are convinced they are set in their ways for life.
I highly recommend this film.
It's available on Netflix.
Music from the Big House
(2010)
Prison Documentary
12 July 2012
Music from the Big House is really good. It's very interesting the way they deal with the inmates who all are such interesting thoughtful people. The music's really nice.
It seems that the inmates are people who have grown older and wiser during their time inside. They are really thoughtful and talk about redemption and forgiveness. They are spiritually sophisticated.
Documentaries can take the audience into places, lives, and situations we wouldn't otherwise be able to go. Narrative film does that to a certain extent, but only a documentary can go to a place like Angola Prison and show what it is really like to live there and how it's possible to end up there.
It seems that the inmates are people who have grown older and wiser during their time inside. They are really thoughtful and talk about redemption and forgiveness. They are spiritually sophisticated.
Documentaries can take the audience into places, lives, and situations we wouldn't otherwise be able to go. Narrative film does that to a certain extent, but only a documentary can go to a place like Angola Prison and show what it is really like to live there and how it's possible to end up there.
Magic Mike
(2012)
Sweet? movie about male strippers
12 July 2012
Ever since I first heard that Steven Soderbergh was making a film about male strippers, I knew I had to see it. I prepared for the experience by watching Tatum Channing in a movie he made a few years ago, and had to lower my expectations in a hurry.
Magic Mike is such a happy, joyous film that it's hard to believe it's a Soderbergh piece, but there are definitely truly cinematic moments. However, the entire film has a Hollywood glitz shimmering over the entire sordid world of stripping, drug dealing, booze and floozies. In fact, the director's main achievement may be the deft ability to bring glamour to this dark world. Atom Egoyan's Exotica this is not.
But what I enjoyed the most about the film was the excellent acting. Tatum Channing was not only funny, smart, and an entirely winning screen presence, but he was also required to be multi-faceted and have some depth. He handled it really well. Matthew McConaughey is one of my least favorite actors, but he completely destroyed my low opinion of him with his great performance as the aging stripper who still has more chops than his younger employees.
Nice script. Good music. And I haven't even mentioned the gorgeous bodies...
Magic Mike is such a happy, joyous film that it's hard to believe it's a Soderbergh piece, but there are definitely truly cinematic moments. However, the entire film has a Hollywood glitz shimmering over the entire sordid world of stripping, drug dealing, booze and floozies. In fact, the director's main achievement may be the deft ability to bring glamour to this dark world. Atom Egoyan's Exotica this is not.
But what I enjoyed the most about the film was the excellent acting. Tatum Channing was not only funny, smart, and an entirely winning screen presence, but he was also required to be multi-faceted and have some depth. He handled it really well. Matthew McConaughey is one of my least favorite actors, but he completely destroyed my low opinion of him with his great performance as the aging stripper who still has more chops than his younger employees.
Nice script. Good music. And I haven't even mentioned the gorgeous bodies...
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