The Post

The Post is the latest film from Steven Spielberg. The film documents the behind the scene drama of the Washington Post decision to publish top secret papers that outlined a cover-up that spanned several presidential administrations, which sparked an unprecedented battle between the government and the free press back in 1971. Obviously with the current administration that has been so openly hostile towards the press one can’t help make parallels.

The film stars Meryl Steep as Katharine “Kay” Graham the publisher in process of takin The Washington Post public, further adding to the drama. Tom Hanks is Editior Ben Bradlee whom is in the middle of butting heads with over editorial choices when all hell breaks loose. The New York Times published a story with top secret information from the Pentagon leaked by a former military analyst. Bradlee and his reporters are on the hunt for more leads. Tom Hanks kills it as the seasoned, relentless newsman. He, like Will Smith, is master playing a lovable jerk. Meryl Steep is Meryl Streep, so yeah she great. Her character has the most to lose if they publish additional “Pentagon papers” making easy not to sympathize with her struggle to do it, even thou we know she’s gonna do it.

There’s no doubt that some of the scenes were over dramatized to make the movie more suspenseful. The climax when Graham makes the decision, she’s seemed to miraculous grow a back bone after spending most of the film as a doormat. That was the only fault I found. People in the audience cheered and clapped for her. I must have been the only one there that thought it played out melodramatically. It’s a high steaks drama starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep and directed by Steven Spielberg, so I expected some over the top scenes when three powerhouses get together.  9/10

Wonder Woman Revisited

So, I bought the Blu-ray of Wonder Woman. It was on sale for $10 and I have Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman so I needed to complete the Trinity. I'm sentimental like that. So today I finally watch it for the first time since I saw it in the theater last June. When I initially reviewed it I was not impressed. It felt like  my childhood super hero was wronged by a mediocre and corny adaptation.

I don't know how but after see it now I fucking love it. Almost all of it. The weakest part are the supporting characters like Eddie, the shooter that can't shot. He was a pointless character.  I think his only purpose was to so how compassionate Diana is. Actually Steve Trevor's whole team could have been better fleshed out. Felt like they didn't want them to be more interesting than Trevor. I understand some characters are supporting character that let the leads shine but come on, they were the definition of lame.

But I digress, she was amazing, the action was amazing. To have another super hero besides Captain America that not brooding or sarcastic or silly is nice especially a woman.  I pretty sure the only thing I truly like during the 1st viewing was Wonder Woman/Gal Gadot. She was perfectly cast and I don't care about her accent. There was a sincerely to her that we just don't see in films anymore unless its a fairy tail. Even thou she's a feminist icon she doesn't have the baggage of the struggle for equality. She's a fish out of water. She don't know about being treated like a second class citizen. She not fighting that sexist battle, she just trying to save the world. So when the old white guys make bad decisions she just say what she thinks no matter how hard Steve tries to stop her. She has a purpose and those fools couldn't stop her.

I could go on and on but you get the point. Maybe I was in a bad mood when first saw it. Maybe my hopes were so high I couldn't not be disappointed not matter what. I didn't hate it before I  thought I was okay but not worthy of the praise it received. I guess everybody was right and I was wrong. Who knew? Now its definitely my favorite in the DCEU. Which is not that big of a compliment. 9/10

DEN OF THEIVES

HEAT with hot younger actors, kinda.  This movie isn’t what I expected. It was much better. However, I don’t think this is the case were I thought something was going to be horrible but it was average and thus making it seem greater than it actually was. I would have been happy if it was literally a remake of Heat with younger sexier actors.

Okay so we have cops, Nick Flanagan, (Gerard Butler) and his team and then we have Merriman, (Pablo Schreiber) and his team of robbers. This is not a fun movie a la Oceans 11 but its almost as clever. The movie has minimum dialogue and is all business. There’s no friendly chit chat or fooling around with these guys. We only get brief looks into the lives of our robbers and cop with two very different impression.

Nick Flanagan (Gerard Butler) plays the proverbial bad cop. He drinks, parties, and cheats on his wife with strippers. He’s a jerk and bully with little to no redeeming qualities. Quite frankly I hated this guy and hoped I died at the end. On the other side we see the home of the robbers, Levi Enson (50 Cent) as his daughter goes out on what looks to be a prom date. Merriam and their crew gives the daughter’s date a hard time. These men have been friends since high school, played football together and even served together in the armed forces and jail. Their family and have each other backs. Dare I say but their the Fast and The Furious, but the danger is real. I know dudes like this, not robbers, but sweet tough family guys, that may have a criminal background.

The only wild card is Donnie (O’shea Jackson).  Donnie is new babyface member to the crew of robbers. He’s the driver and proves to a weak link that the cops lean on to bring down the team. This film I book ended with two brutal and realistic action scenes. What’s in between is very slow, deliberate. We see the robber plan the heist and the cops watch them learn about the crew. The cops seem like they know every move because of Donnie. But then it goes down and not how we’ve been seeing it planned. That’s because it’s not until the end do you understand what you were really getting was bold face misdirect and I fucking loved it.

Pablo Schreiber is the stand out of this film. His intense and focused performance made you feel like he could have been a cop if not for some bad choices. Not only that by probably a better, more dignified cop than the ones after him. However, we don't get to learn his whole background and why he went in to crime and not law enforcement after the marines.  We just know he's good and efficient at robbing banks.  I hope to see Schreiber more in lead roles. Jackson on the other hand, well actually Jacksons of both hands (50 Cent is no longer using his proper name Curtis Jackson in movies) at times kinda let me down.  50 Cent and O'Shea Jackson acting skills are lacking and at times took me out of the scene because everyone else felt real meanwhile they felt like they were rehearsing lines, especially while on screen next to Schreiber.

But thankfully the movie is focused on Merriman and Flanagan. The whole movie you think know who running things but you have no idea. At least I didn’t and I don’t think I’ve been surprised by a ending of a crime thriller since The Usual Suspects. Usually I can guess who did what but maybe not how they did it. This time I kind of figured out the how but not the who. If this had been a more comedy driven film the ending wouldn’t have been such a surprise. It really didn’t need to recap of the real ins and out of the robbery. Just the reveal alone would have been more impactful and more in line with the rest of the film somber tone. Overall really good film, I recommending to you to see in theaters before it hits the Redbox. 8/10

PROUD MARY

Taraji P. Henson is playing Mary, a badass hit woman. She works for Benny Brown (Danny Glover) the head of a crime family and his son Tom who just happens to be her former lover. Mary finds herself looking after a young boy she helped make a orphan.

Was the film great? No. I have to admit my hopes were up.1st off I'm bias ass hell. Black woman in the lead role in a action movie. I've been waiting forever for this. I wanted a black woman John Wick and I more or less go are run of the mill predictable action film. What's worst is the action was belief and wholly unspectacular. Nothing over the top or original.

The best thing about the film if the relationship between Mary and her orphan friend Danny played by Jahl Di'Allo Winston. Even thou the young man isn't the most convening actor, the bond between the two was.

Would I recommend PROUD MARY. Yeah, when it hits Netflix or Redbox. However I wish SONY had promoted this film properly. Maybe there would have been more people in the theater today. I was 1 of 6 in the theater. I wish all films with black cast and poc in the lead general will do well financially so maybe POC can have more opportunity and studios can stop hiding behind numbers to justify not casting POCs.

BRIGHT

BRIGHT, hear of it? Yeah, it is Netflix film directed by David Ayers, starring Will Smith and a unrecognizable  Joel Edgerton, that came out right before Christmas that all the critics were dogging out. I manage to just see the headlines and avoided the actual reviews. I didn’t want any of them to poison me to it. I wanted to see it with a open mind. Im a fan of Ayer but not the screenwriter Max Landis, so I already had issues of my own to overcome.

The trailer didn’t do anything for me. I just seemed gimmicky and silly. But then twitter blow up with the talks of shitty reviews and everyone else saying it was great and wanting a sequel. Critics and audience seemed to watch 2 different movies and I had to see for myself what the deal was.

 Well the deal is critics can be stuck up assholes that take films too damn seriously. I guess it was my bread and butter I would be too. But critics are not normal people. They don’t go to movies to have a good time. They’re looking for flaws and holes. For something to interesting to write about. They seen damn near every movie ever made and have to keep up with all the movies that come out as they’re careers go on.  They have to watch every thing, including The Emoji Movie. Think about that. They had to watch The Emoji Movie! Being a film critic fulltime is my dream job but if I got that assignment I would tell my editor to go fuck 'em self or at least call out sick until it was no longer in theaters.

Bright is a fresh take on the buddy LA cop film we’ve already seen a million times. Some of  those films David Ayer written and directed himself. The movie takes place in a world were faries, elves and orcs live side by side. Not peacefully, however. Orcs are the minorites that society shits on. Officer Scott Ward(Will Smith), whos having a hard time of it after being partnered up with the 1^st  Orc in the LAPD Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton).  So racial undertones aren’t subtle at all. People treat Jakoby like he was a black man trying to be a cop in the damn 1900 or something. Way over the top. Apparently, Orcs chose the Dark Lord 2000 years ago. What does that even mean I don’t know. But  that didn’t bother me because this world felt real and lived in. All of explanation would have been too extra.

The chemisty between Smith and Edgerton is the best thing about the whole movie. At first it’s a bit uncomfortable bc Ward is all most as hateful to Jakoby as everybody else is. But once the shit hits the fan and they have to start running for their lives they start to gel. Smith’s wise cracking one liner switch is turn all the way up. Classic Will Smith but maybe one of his most unlikable character to date. But on the scale 1-10 of unlikability Smith tops out at 4. But then he’ll save the day at the end, so it doesn’t even matter. He’s Will Smith, he never play real assholes, just grouchy good guys. Edgerton is the straight man that never gets the jokes. His unwavering earnestness and naivety was endearing amidst the seedy L.A. atmosphere. Besides being a Orc he would be a better fit in Mayberry.

Overall Bright was a fun action movie. Was it perfect? No, but it kept my interest from start to finish. Do you know how hard it is for me to watch a movie at home without scrolling my phone. It’s damn near impossible but I did while watching Bright. I think it would make for a better series. They created a whole world to explore but we barely got a taste of it because it all focused on the 2 leads. I want to know why the elves are so bougie and are there dragons out there. Are there Hobbits out there somewhere? Is there a Fairy equivalent to Oprah. Who is the president? Is this world ready for it’s first Orc President? Prehaps not, if being a Orc cop is such a big deal. There looks to be a Bright 2 in the works and hopefully I can get some of my question answered.  4 out of 5 STARS.

Top Anticipated Films of 2018

This is my list of  top 10 films of 2018 that I'm most looking forward to seeing and there is no order just like the rest of my life.


1. READY PLAYER ONE
Based on Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American author Ernest Cline, which I never heard of or read. But I saw the trailer and was blown away to see so many movie and video game characters and props in one world, even if its virtual reality world. And the fact that its Stephen Spielberg's first adventure/ action film in forever. Well the BFG was an adventure film and it was okay but this unlike that feels like a good old 70's and 80's Spielberg films like Close Encounter of the Third Kind, Raider of the Lost Ark. I really haven't been this hyped for on of his films in a long while and don't get me wrong I don't thinks he's made bad movie (the only exception being the Curse of the Crystal Skull) but his old films had a magical and awe inspiring. Of course most of those came out when I was a kid and there is some notaslic vaule for me and I don't care. This gives me those 80s feels. In theather March 18.

2. PROUD MARY
I've only seen the trailer one time and I was so fucking hyped. I was watching Marshall with my very sweet friend Di whom has a very different tastes and likes. She about the same age as my mom would be if she were alive and I'm the same age as her daughter that lives in another state. So it don't matter to me that we don't like the same things bc I like having a motherly woman in my life. The point is I was so overwhelmed by the trailer. Taraji P. Henson shooting shit up and being a full blown bad ass. When it was over I turn to Di like, "were going to see this!" but before I could say a word she said, "I never thought shed be in a movie like" with her face all messed up like she tasted something gross. Di does not like shot em up movies. I think she's still mad I took he to see Pain and Gain and that was 5 years ago. But this movie has the #1 things I love to see in a film I don't see enough of, a black woman in the lead role. And its a action movie?!?!!? Black women almost never get to do that shit. Actually women of color period. An Asian actress can't even get a lead in a film based on Japanese anime.



3. BLACK PANTHER
Straight up I didn't know a damn thing about Black Panther before I saw Captain America Civil War. I just thought he was African Batman. When sat down  I was just hoping Chris Evans would take his shirt off. Well he didn't but Chadwick Boseman came in with more swagger than Billy D., just kicking ass and stole my heart. So now I'm so ready. A big budget superhero movie will a mostly black cast, you know I'm down. I don't normally hurry to see the Marvel films, I'm a DC girl, but ill definitely be there on the first night and will call off work if I can get ticket to a screening.Feb 15

4.DEN OF THIEVES
I loved this movie when it was called HEAT and starred Robert Deniro and Al Pacino. This time they're calling it Den of Thieves, starring Gerard Bulter. Even the IMBD description sounds like HEAT. "A gritty crime saga which follows the lives of an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. and the state's most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist...." they could of just saved all that and said "Heat. Were doing Heat again, but with younger sexier dudes!" A film from both the cop and the criminal prospective is not a easy thing to do. And HEAT did it perfectly and is on my top 10 films of all time. So why do I want to see this film so much? It's HEAT with younger sexier guys ya'll! Were you not paying attention! I'm not proud of myself but I refuse to be a shame. Don't get it twisted. I don't usually like rehashing of my beloved movies. I have still not watched  Point Break 2.0 bc I knew damn while they didn't out sexy Reeves and Swazye. The both of them together, perfection. But Pablo Schreiber, that boy, that boy is the real deal.


5.ANNIHILATION
Another movie adapted from a book which I never hear of before but the trailer pulled me in completely and I still don't even know what its about. I watched it like 5 times and I'm clueless. Natalie Portman I running around with a gun looking intense as hell. She aint fucking arourd and I'm shook. This is on some futuristic/sci-fi/war/acid trip type shit. What more can you ask for. Feburary 23rd.

6. DEADPOOL 2
John Wick co-Director David Leitch is taking over and with the success of the 1st Deadpool movie D2 looks to be set to blow more shit up with a overload of crude humor. Seriously all this has to do is be ridiculous as the marketing for the film and it wins. I hope they don't fuck it up by trying to edit out recently accused rapist T.J, Miller. Maybe they can do what they did with Spacey in All The Money in the World and replace him or maybe cg him out of his scenes and make it a joke without ruining the integrity of the film.. That would be awesome, but doubtful.  June 1st.


7. INCREDIBLES 2
the 1st Incredible came out over 13 years ago. I'm not good with time. I cant remember if I talked to my dad 2 weeks ago or month. The last time I went to the doctor or how long ago I had a minor operation for that thing or what that thing was even called. I have a shit memory is the point. But I remember this came out 13 years ago in the 1st week of November bc my son was born a week before in the last week of October. That baby is now a full blown teen that's a whole inch taller than me. I didn't get to see it in theaters bc I had a new born at home that I didn't want to leave. I did watch with my mom on her bed while  my son played on the floor. We both loved it. She loved even more than me. Kari, the babysitter, was so funny to her. I don't think I'd seen my mom laugh so hard before. My mom has been gone for 10 years now and it breaks my heart that she won't be seeing this with me and her grandson. So this one is bittersweet. June 15.


8. OCEAN'S 8
Ocean's 11 but with women and the ringleader is Danny's Oceans sister? Hell yeah and why did it take so long? In heist/ action films we only get one or two women in key roles so this is extra cool to me to have a whole female time.  I can't wait for this and the sequel so they can add even more women in to mix. I mean they that to go up to 10 to complete the theme right? The only down side is Matt Damon apparently makes a cameo. I know Clooney is busy with his twins but they could have got anybody else. Well not Casey Affleck but Don Cheadle might have been available between Avengers movies. June 8th.

9. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 6
Mission Impossible movies never late me down. The last one, ROUGE NATION, was my least favorite in the fanchise and the fact that the director of that film is back for 6 does give me pause but the the old cast and new cast of actors that I love, including Superman himself, Henry Cavill and Angela Bassett, it's still a must see. Plus Tom Cruise doing his own stunts I worth the ticket proice alone. July 27th.

10. VENOM
Yeah I'm jazzed about INFINTIY WAR and all but Tom Hardy ain't in that, is he? No my boy T Hard is Venom. Ya'll already know I don't know jack about any Marvel character until I see the movie or show and Venom is not different. But its Tom the man Hardy in a comic book movie and that s all I need to know. I mean, I would love a standalone Bane movie but I'll just be happy with this. I think Venom is a bad guy I guess and when I say, "I guess" I mean I don't have a clue. It's Tom fn Hardy.What can I say, I'm a sucker for handsome men with intense acting chops. October 5th.