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Vice (2018)
Vice is compelling cinema
Vice is a modern masterpiece. It is the incendiary, insightful, informative, incisive, and illuminating movie of our times. I am struggling to summarize how I feel about this profound polemic that is educational and essential viewing for everyone. It is sad and disturbing that certain biased people are trying to malign this movie over a misguided agenda and I know the smear campaign is substantial. The film's controversial and unsettling essence is rooted in truth. It is a metacritical analysis/interpretation of the past, indictment of the present, and a cautionary tale for the future. We do get a comprehensive dissection of a megalomaniac's exploitation of the unitary executive theory.
The writing is exceptional and this film defies categorization. It is just as much as a tragedy, horror story, drama, than it is a dark comedy. Christian Bale blew me away. He is phenomenal in this role. Amy Adams gives a nuanced, extraordinary, and strong performance. The entire ensemble is impressive which includes Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, and Tyler Perry. This film has more substance, intelligence, complexity, depth, and value than the majority of the other highly critically acclaimed movies this year. This movie deserves Oscar nominations across the board from editing to original score to cinematography. It is a landmark film that is a brilliant companion piece to The Big Short.
Beautiful Boy (2018)
Candid, compelling, cathartic cinema
The best movie I have seen so far in 2018. It is heart-wrenching, compelling, emotionally raw, and authentic. The acting from Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell is strong and Oscar-worthy. Timothee is proving to be one of the best actors of his generation. It is a no-frills movie that illustrates the struggles and cyclical nature of destructive addiction, relapse, and recovery. It is beautifully directed and poignantly adapted from two memoirs. It also displays the emotional dynamic and turmoil of the father-son bond wonderfully. The cinematography is also top notch and captures the tone of the film. I am honestly baffled by some of the critic reviews. Beautiful Boy deserves a much higher rating. The film is honest and I empathized with the issues because the film explores the pain in such a real way. We witness how the addiction affects the entire family and how average people can be sucked into the black hole that drugs offers. It is relevant in this day and age to show the problems that relatable youth face. In most Hollywood films, we typically see the addiction melodramatically explored with individuals suffering from a specific trauma or living in abject poverty. In this film, we see the torment & despair of addiction powerfully & realistically explored within a middle-class family. Beautiful Boy is a must-see for everyone. It deserves Oscar nominations for Timothee Chalamet, adapted screenplay, cinematography, and directing. The entire cast is exceptional and should receive a SAG ensemble nomination. The movie is so much better than a number of the other acclaimed, flashy Oscar contenders of 2018. Beautiful Boy is candid and naturalistic. Not only does the audience get access to such fine artful filmmaking but also gets served with life lessons. There are a number of tear-jerking scenes and the pathos of it all, hit the core of my soul.
Guerrilla (2017)
Guerrilla is profound and powerful
John Ridley is an intelligent and progressive visionary. He is a master of addressing sociopolitical issues both past and present while tackling on controversial subject matters in a compelling manner. Brilliant acting, writing, and production design. It is Emmy worthy on all levels. Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay give electrifying & impressive performances in these roles. I was blown away. This is among the best and most important mini-series out there now. He has been effective in providing amazing representation to all minorities from different backgrounds. He is a pioneer and a brave soul.
The backlash that ignited against Guerrilla and John Ridley, that reflected a bigoted outlook on interracial romances between Asian women and Black men really disturbed me as well as an ignorant attitude towards a historical movement where Asians were involved in the Guerrilla/civil rights movement. Ironically, the people who attacked John Ridley are the ones who are expressing a prejudiced attitude, and are not being inclusive to the other minorities who were part of this movement. The media doesn't want to shed a light when some POC are being racist towards other POC. Discrimination exists in all communities where people do not want to be inclusive yet ironically pretend to be "fake woke" while abusing the race card while being racist themselves. I was so saddened about the backlash and hate that John Ridley & Freida Pinto is still being targeted with. The controversy against this series is manufactured, ignorant, and hateful.
John Ridley did NOT erase black women from this movement just because he casted an Asian woman as Jas Mitra as the female lead, which is the actual correct PC casting given that he is giving representation to the hundreds of Asians ( specifically Indians) who were part of this struggle. This reductive spin tarnishing an excellent mini-series with controversy and backlash is very upsetting to read. Neil Kenlock did back John Ridley up as well as other historians can back up him if people do their research because there were other minority groups such as South Asians, Caribbeans, and even Latinos that participated in the British Black Power movement. He said in other interviews that he was inspired by Darcus Howe and Farrukh Dondy's friendship, who was an Indian who was part of the original Black Panthers.
Yes, there were Asians who were part of The Black Panthers and John Ridley is groundbreaking in lending in a voice to a character that represents this. He went with an interracial romance instead of a bromance and I can imagine how much these accusations have hurt him considering he is in an interracial marriage with an Asian woman. The media is misportaying him as "shading black women" in a number of slanderous articles when the truth is that he DEFENDED himself to a group of militant radicals who happened to be some black women,at a press conference, who were embodying a racist mentality against the series over the female lead being Indian instead of Black. Then when he explained himself intelligently, there was a mob being disrespectful while this group continues to troll him online by misportraying the situation. He is a proud Black man who has casted o so many wonderful Black actors and actresses in many roles both in film and on TV, so this is absurd.
They are spinning what he said out of context, he referred to his own interracial marriage with his Asian activist wife to defend the interracial relationship on his show as well as had consultants who were part of the movement who defended the fact that Indian men & women were part of this movement. There were a number of prominent Asians who were members of the original Black Panthers. He is still being harassed on twitter and sites by certain prejudiced individuals in this community who are spreading hate against this series.
Zawe Ashton is a Black actress and she is excellent in Guerrilla. There is representation of Black women on this show but a militant group is protesting with hateful attacks because it does not suit their agenda of a Black female being the main protagonist or lead. There are tons of shows featuring prominent Black female characters and interracial relationships but barely any featuring Asians which shows a double standard here.
This is a fictionalized account of two characters that has some historical background, it is not a biographical piece. There is a lack of Asian women who play leads on any TV programs especially South Asian women. John Ridley has always been progressive in showing different types of representation for all minorities. It is Hollywood who has erased Asian women as being part of civil rights movements in history for years so John Ridley is being groundbreaking in providing that presentation and letting it be known that Asians were involved with The Black Panthers. You can look at any of his previous work including American Crime where Black female characters were crucial to the narrative so those accusations and hate against him is unfounded. I am reading a lot of racist commentary online from certain segments of a community who are being anti-Asian and are offended by a Asian woman being the lead or being in a relationship with a black character. Black people are still mostly the main characters in Guerrilla so I do not see the issue. There are many shows and series on TV that feature Black females as the leads. There are rarely any Asian leads on dramas. People need to be open-minded instead of aggressively imposing their agenda at the expense of other people. Guerrilla is a six episode mini-series, obviously not every type of representation would be provided in detail
War Machine (2017)
War Machine is a compelling and multi-faceted masterpiece
War Machine is a profound and politically socially resonant absurdist modern masterpiece that our world needs right now. Brad gives a brilliant, canny, zany, but dark portrait of a general who is undermined by his own hubris, lack of awareness, but also underscored by the flaws of the industrial military complex.
This is by far David Michod's best movie and it breaks my heart that a biased agenda against this film is really causing it to be underrated and maligned. War Machine is leagues above Fury and a number of Brad's most recent movies. This is a compelling and deft insight into military policy and the negative ramifications of occupation/war that the audience rarely sees in movies. It deconstructs the ignorant and yet earnest or possibly well intentioned mechanics of war and invasion. It revels in the gray area of the futility and irony of war.
The cast gives impressive performances across the board. Lakeith Stanfield, John Magaro, Topher Grace, Anthony Michael Hall, Meg Tilly, and the entire cast give great performances. I wish the film would be nominated for a SAG ensemble because the acting is strong and bold across the board. It is one of Brad's top performances ever. War Machine is an anti-establishment and relativist film in nature. There are no traditional antagonists or protagonists to root for. It will get under the skin of liberals and it will anger the extreme conservatives.It is not for the far right or even the far left. This film is enthralling for people who truly understand it. It is an intellectual and emotional journey for the invested viewer who is on the same wavelength.
The cinematography from Dariusz Wolski is amazing and the original score from Nick Cave is hauntingly beautiful. The film was so profound and engaging for me. I am very shocked about the reviews, I knew there would be a hateful fringe faction. I know there are critics who are very biased against Brad's movies but they are doing a disservice to the film industry by attacking a film they do not want to understand or accept. It appears they are too invested into making War Machine a controversial debacle for Netflix. Ten years from now or even 20 years from now, this film will be viewed as powerful.
All of the dialogue is sharp, multi-faceted, and full of very strong context for people who comprehend the meanings/references underneath. It is humorous and engaging but it require a special kind of intelligence and a certain sociopolitical attitude to truly embrace it. I found myself nodding along in agreement every time the script kept going on about the ramifications of invading countries and it even addresses what the people in Afghanistan has to go through. " You can't help people and kill them at the same time", is a perfect tag line. It is a tonally blunt satire about the military and the current inadequate foreign policies that will wake people up. This film resonated with me very profoundly. Brad's performance displays the ignorance and humanity of the General, while displaying a range of both dramatic and sly comedic overtones that is very tongue in cheek. This film is very impressive and should have been a top Oscar contender given how timely and crucial the subject material is right now.
This is a intelligent movie about a stupid war where there are no winners.
I am disgusted that American Sniper and Hacksaw Ridge received such strong critical acclaim while the biased critics are tearing apart an excellent film like War Machine to shreds. War Machine is our generation's Dr. Strangelove. People may not realize it now but cinemaphiles and historians, in the future, will realize that War Machine was ahead of its time and an incendiary portrait of war in America while being revolutionary its in sardonic attitude about America's foreign policy at the time. David Michod is a genius.