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PopeyeTheSailor
Reviews
September 11: The New Pearl Harbor (2013)
Arguably one of the best investigative documentaries ever made
There are a lot of documentaries about an alleged conspiracy to cover-up the true cause of 9/11. None of them reach the level of The New Pearl Harbor both on a sheer informational level as well as from a storytelling angle. If you only watch one doc related to the attacks, this is it. Period. A lot of the stuff presented is all available to the public but this is where the talent of Mazzucco shows and reminds us how powerful + important the art of film can be really be. I personally put this as the single best expository documentary of the past 10 years.
If you're not ready for 5 hours of this masterpiece, "Decade of Deception" is definitely the best out of any of the rest under 2 hours and it documents an important event related to the movement. I've watched a solid number of the most popular ones and these are the only 2 you need.
Runaway Train (1985)
Magnificent film
No question one of the most underrated films out of the 80s. Jon Voight's incredible performance stands out, but the directing, supporting cast, and especially the writing deserve an equal amount of praise. Definitely an intellectual thriller that caught me by surprise on how much humanity was displayed in the story and scenes.
For the record I'm rating it a 10 to boost it's rating from 7.2, which I feel is far too low. In reality, I'd say this an 8.5, maybe a 9 in my own personal book as I really loved this movie but I can accept some objective flaws such as the slightly dated soundtrack in certain scenes.
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Poorly-writtena adventure film masquerading as a war movie with a message
I got just over an hour into the movie before I had to turn it off due to the quality. This is a truly awful movie, and I have reached the point i have to question my own Spike Lee fandom. Everything he's done since Oldboy has been very bad, with the sole exception of maybe Blackkklansman which I thought was average.
This is his second worst film, only being outdone by the unwatchable "Da Sweet Blood of Jesus." (Similar titles ironically) And yet, his self-referencing that was cringe in the early 2010s is still ever-present. We get it. You're from Brooklyn, you went to Morehouse, you think Trump is the worst president ever... And yet you're still making these same points in a damn VIETNAM WAR movie without any care in the world about the quality of the story, characters, pacing, or acting. There wasn't a single redeeming quality of the movie. It was certainly the worst edited movie I've come across in awhile... I don't know what Spike Lee was thinking with the intermittent Ken Burns-style b-roll of history, but it was extremely corny and unnecessary.
I'm done with Spike. He's lost in his own ego at this point and a bunch of clueless liberal critics will just keep inflating it. Oldboy, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Red Hook Summer, Chiraq, the She's Gotta Have It series... And now Da 5 Bloods. I believe the strength of 1990s and 80s work was in his cast but either way, I'm certainly not wasting another minute with this type of cheesy nonsense. It's hard to believe this came from the same guy who directed a masterpiece like Malcolm X.
Dead Presidents (1995)
Classic
Although on a re-watch I can see some flaws that other reviewers have brought up, "Dead Presidents" still stands up as one of my personal favorite films. Maybe somewhat cliche for some, but I put it right along side of Set it Off and Point Break as one of the great mid 90s bank robbery films. I wouldn't say the script is as clever as Usual Suspects and it falls a little short of being a total masterpiece like Heat. Nonetheless, I regard it as a classic and I am happy that many in the African-American community including myself have kept its relevance alive despite it getting a mixed critical reception.
I was very impressed with the acting overall. Tate carries the film quite well as the lead, playing a likable all-American teenager looking to follow in his father's footsteps of being a Marine. I personally think his performance in this movie was a little underrated. What makes it work better is that he's joined by an all-star Black supporting cast ranging from a Chris Tucker pretty much playing himself but entertaining nonetheless to Terrence Howard who rivals Keith David in my eyes in giving the best overall performance in the entire movie.
The Hughes brothers were quite young during this time. Although it maybe didn't match Menace to Society, (easily one of the best directorial debuts I can think of) there's no question it's the second best narrative film either one made. While I can maybe understand why they wanted to diversify their portfolio, I can't help but wonder on my most recent viewing if they should pull a John Woo at some point and return to their roots because while maybe a little over-the-top in a few areas, Dead Presidents was a step in the right creative direction.
The story is really where people seen divided but I love it. It really captures the essence of a 1960s/70s Black community. Characters are fully realized, layered, and have a wide range of motivations ranging from monetary greed to downright psychopathy. It highlights society's problems, touches on the Black panther movement, veterans with PTSD, drug issues, etc. all while avoiding being preachy.
I'm giving it a 10/10 because I have a general bias for these type of movies as a Black filmmaker. In an era where highbrow fake woke Hollywood garbage like "Widows" or "Queen and Slim" get mind boggling rave reviews, I'm not going to feel guilty about trying to raise its overall IMDB score. On an objective level, I can see it being in the 7-8 range.
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
For better or for worse, not an average film
Off the top I'll say that I personally don't consider this movie "good" according to my own tastes. I felt that the acting besides Danny Glover to be unbelievable, the story to be cheesy/preachy, and the forced imagery to be eye-rolling akin to Spike Lee's post-2010 work. I'll also further say that if you have conservative views or just don't like overtly leftist material, DEFINITELY avoid this. You're just wasting your time watching it and for your own blood pressure, don't even bother reading the rest of this review. The story/script isn't strong or clever enough like RoboCop, Dawn of the Dead, etc. to subvert its anti-Capitalist themes for right wing audiences that may be stubborn on having their views challenged. Not saying this is right or wrong, but it's a fact regardless.
If it's relevant, I want to say that I have a lot of the same stances as STBY's director, Boots Riley, myself being an African-American who has grown very skeptical of neoliberal capitalism. If you are someone who is passionate about political subjects like imperialism, American socioeconomic relations, etc. this is where the movie can shine in my eyes and why I decided to finish the film despite genuinely not enjoying it. Its subject is extremely relevant and actually rather important on how culturally manipulative a destructive economic system can be. Although written sloppily in my view, it does cover many topics that I find necessary to address in this time and age.
The problem with the movie isn't its heart, it's the components. All of leads give average or subpar performances. Tessa Thompson is beautiful to look at, but I've never been a fan of her acting and here she plays another boring exaggerated extension of herself. Fowler and Yeun were alright in their respective roles, but Hardwick was extremely cringe in his appearances. The white antagonists were equally bad as their Black and Asian counterparts, delivering doctrine in their lines rather than subversive dialogue. These things wouldn't be as much an issue under a visual visionary building strong characters but I was damn near about to turn it off until Glover sold me on the movie's concept in his monologue to Stanfield. At this point, this is where I found it amusing for the reasons stated earlier.
Unlike some friends who rated the movie lower than me, I actually did find the twist to be one of the movie's few strong points despite how weird it is. I like the fact that the movie has a unique voice and takes risks storytelling-wise. Perhaps if the buildup to this revelation was stronger, I would have enjoyed the movie. But in addition to the writing, acting, and I guess even the directing... I gotta say that I wasn't a fan of the editing either. Several transitions seemed sudden and awkwardly comical.
Overall, I don't ever see myself giving this movie another viewing. The writer definitely has a lot to say and the preachyness at least avoids "Bright"-level stupidity. (a far worse anti-racist sci fi film) However, I can't with any good faith put this movie in the recommended category.
Us (2019)
Trash
So I wasn't going to write a review about this movie but I scrolled down the reviews (About 60% of people had a similar opinion) and I see someone else write "Move over John Carpenter." in reference to Jordan Peele's career because of this movie.
... To even compare "Us" or "Get Out" (better movie, but thats a different story) for that matter to the work of John Carpenter (Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing, etc.) is downright lunacy.
"Us" fails as a horror film, a comedy, psychological thriller, social commentary, or whatever genre this movie was going for. It never scares you, the non-forced laughs are few and far between, and the plot had so many holes built off of uninteresting characters that you never really care about what happens to anyone including the big "twist" at the end. Every interesting concept that made up the stunning trailer for this film was ruined from an unfinished, ludicrous screenplay that I guess we're supposed to excuse because there are some interesting images planted throughout movie.
I'm sure it'll make tons of money because the critics have no balls and it was marketed brilliantly, but this was a terrible movie. I think the originality and artistic ambition gives it an edge over truly horrific work like the DCEU movies, Bright, etc. But don't waste your money on this, just wait for Redbox or get it for free.