BlacKKKlansman is a highly entertaining and thought-provoking movie from director Spike Lee. John David Washington (son of Denzel) stars as Ron Stallworth, the first African American detective to join the Colorado Springs Police Department. (The story of his actual life is pretty amazing). He is largely sidelined in menial positions until the Chief decides to give him an opportunity as an actual detective. He teams up with Flip (Adam Driver) and Jimmy (Michael Buscemi), and basically on a whim, calls the local KKK. He has several phone conversations with the local leader Walter (Ryan Eggold of “The Blacklist”) that lead him to ask his Chief if he could run an undercover operation. After he talks his partners and Sergeant (Ken Garito) into it; he comes up with a scheme to infiltrate the local KKK. While he talks on the phone with Walter, Flip actually meets the group and gains their confidence (except for one overly suspicious and creepy Klansman). He and Flip succeed, and Flip is taken in by the group, who become convinced he is a like-minded recruit. Ron even convinces none other than KKK Grandmaster David Duke (Topher Grace) that he is a white redneck who wants to join the organization. He also becomes emotionally involved with a black student leader who hates cops. Once he reveals his cover to her, things get complicated. The resolution of all the issues is fast paced and tense. Both Washington and Driver are fantastic, with good support from the entire cast (including Ashlie Atkinson as a disurbingly submissive and racist wife of the suspicious Klansmen). The issues examined in this movie are scary and disturbing, and no less timely now then they were at the time of the movie’s events. Spike Lee delivers a great movie; although if you are a fan of President Trump, you will not like the way that he not-so-subtly juxtaposes what is going on in today’s America with Stallworth’s story.
Mama Mia! Here We Go Again
So, this is my movie blog and I can rate this movie the way I want and not address the ABBA haters. I thought ‘Mama Mia! Here We Go Again’ was an enjoyable toe-tapper that found me singing along with the stars. Everyone is back, including the three Papas: Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgard; and Christine Baranski and Julie Walters as the likable best friends. The action moves between the present where Amanda Seyfried’s character is opening a hotel and the past where her mother (Lily James playing the young Meryl Streep) is sowing her wild oats. There are many other new cast additions including Cher and Andy Garcia, who get to sing “Fernando” together. If you didn’t like Mama Mia, don’t bother going to this one, you won’t like it. For eveyone else, be prepared to laugh, cry and sing!
Ocean’s 8
I liked this movie. It is light hearted and fun. Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, sister of the famous Daniel Ocean from three past movies (2 great and 1 terrible), who has recently passed away (although there are several jokes about the fact that no one is 100% positive that he actually is in his crypt). She has been in jail for five years, apparently framed by her former boy friend and partner in crime, Claude Becker (portrayed by Thorin Oaken…er, Richard Armitage). She’s had a LOT of time to think, and when she gets out, she is ready to pull off a seemingly impossible (aren’t they all?) heist that involves stealing a necklace – worth an incredible $150,000,000! – from the Met’s Annual Gala and the neck of the self centered Daphne Kugler (Anne Hathaway). Watching how she pulls this off with partners like Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Rihanna is entertaining. Director Gary Ross even throws in a few cameos from some of the original players of Ocean’s 11-13. Hathaway makes a really good mark, one with more on the ball than you might think, and Armitage lightly oozes the charm as the boyfriend who may or may not be part of a revenge subplot. The schemes are not as intricate and developed as the Clooney vehicles, but there are some good twists, some good performances and plenty of eye-catching fashion. Ocean’s 8 may not be an intense ride like Dead Pool or Infinity War, but for a summer popcorn movie – It definitely fills the bill.
Hotel Artemis
Hotel Artemis is not your run of the mill thriller; kudos to Drew Pearce for the original script. Set in the near future, Los Angles is being torn by riots. In the middle of the chaos we find The Hotel Artemis. No longer a hotel, The Artemis has become a high end hospital for criminals. As long as you keep your dues up to date, you can enter anytime you are injured in the course of your nefarious activities. If you haven’t kept your dues in order, Everest the Orderly (Dave Bautista) will ‘gently’ help you off the premises. The Nurse (JodiFoster) uses state-of-the-art diagnostics and nano technolgy to treat her patients, who are lodged in rooms named after exotic locales. You are welcome to stay as long as you need, as long as you follow the rules, which include “no killing each other.” This and other rules are enforced by Everest the Orderly. Things are going along fairly well, in spite of the riots outside the Hotel, until the owner, The Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum) is rushed in for emergency surgery, aided and abetted by his bad seed son (Zachary Quinto), and the wheels start coming off. The Nurse makes things worse by taking in a wounded cop (a SERIOUS violation of the rules) connected to a distracting side story. The superb cast also includes Sterling K. Brown, Sophia Boutella and Charlie Day. Now for the bad news. Hotel Artemis just isn’t as interesting or as entertaining as I thought it would be. The action lagged; Jodi Foster’s Nurse’s side story concerns her deceased son and wasn’t necessary. It really took away from the rest of the story. I wanted to see more of the day to day runnning and organization of this hospital. Drew Pearce had such an original idea, I wish he would have really ran with it more. This movie gets a very mixed review from me. Two thumbs up for the creative premise and the brilliant cast, but two thumbs down for the execution and direction.
Avengers: Infinity War
This is 160 minutes of movie jam-packed with every possible thing you could ever want in a super hero movie. First of all, want to see your favorite Marvel character? Everyone from Teenage Groot and Dr. Strange to Vision and Black Panther are here. Want to see epic batles? You will see several, including an amazingly complex one that threatens Wakanda. Do you love witty banter? The script writers have your back. Long for a terrible villian who is complicated by a twisted reality in which he feels he is doing the universe a favor by almost destroying it? Josh Brolin’s Thanos will not disappoint you. One concern I would have about this much anticiapted movie would be for people who haven’t been following these movies in the Marvel Universe. You are going to be confused by the myriad of characters who are all following threads that started in their various earlier movies. But don’t worry too much, the screenwriters have tied together a pretty cogent, understandable story. It was fun to see the Avengers meet the Gauardians of the Galaxy for the first time. I loved seeing Bruce Banner have a problem turning into the Hulk. There is also a cute cameo by Peter Dinklage as a rather large dwarf. ********** SPOILER ALERT********** This is a very ejoyable movie, but be warned, there are major characer deaths that will upset some fans. In fact, the end of this movie will leave some of you very unsatisfied and disillusioned. But don’t be downhearted, this is only the first half of Infinity Wars. The conclusion will be released in March 2019. I have a feeling that all will be put right in the Avengers Universe (and Marvel’s future money earnings).
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