Month: February 2022

Based on a true story, this follows the experiences of the Wiley College Debate Team during the 1930s. Denzel Washington portrays the professor who trains and inspires a team that includes Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, and Denzel Whitaker. I feel like there aren’t a lot of period pieces regarding educated Black Americans, so the setting here was refreshing though being in the South, there were expected racism experiences. Also interesting to see star and director Denzel Washington as a disheveled socialist and his interactions with college president Forest Whitaker. Somewhat annoyingly, it seems the male debaters were given much more backstory than Smollett. She was relegated to the center of a love triangle and despite having mention in the epilogue, her character didn’t share the name of a real person. I understand there are often changes in ‘true stories’ but they just as often annoy me for their portrayal of alternative facts.

As a dramatic movie, this was comically bad in most parts. After a night at the gym, Farrah Fawcett is assaulted and almost raped in her car. With no evidence, the police aren’t able to help her, but unfortunately the assailant James Russo grabbed her purse in the scuffle and is able to track her down some time later while her two roommates, Diana Scarwid and Alfre Woodard, are away at work. After a rather long intro, there are so many infuriating instances as the two fight in the house. Not trying to victim blame, but Fawcett makes stupid moves left and right to the point where it seems like she was just waiting for him. When her roommates do come home, they sympathize with the rapist instead of the person they have shared a home with. I love all three of the actresses and Farrah gives her physical all in a very weak role., but the material just doesn’t work for them here. I imagine as a play on a barebones set it works incredibly well, particularly as the women provide their various experiences with violent crimes and criminal offenders.

In the 1950s, nomadic Ellen Barkin and her son Leonardo DiCaprio make a stop in Seattle, moving to nearby Concrete, Washington after she meets and marries charmer Robert De Niro. Underneath De Niro’s charm is controlling personality that explodes into abuse when his authority is questioned. Despite the dire circumstances, the stakes never actually feel very high with De Niro’s mood swings almost comically bizarre, reminiscent of his actual comedy turn in Meet the Parents. Though not given enough screen time, Barkin lends a believability to her character and somehow regardless of his actual age, DiCaprio looks about 11 at the beginning of the film, physically aging to a mid-teenager by the end.

In a post-apocalyptic American wasteland, Viggo Mortensen and his son Kodi Smit-McPhee head to the hopefully warmer south, struggling to find enough food to survive while also avoiding cannibals. It’s a long, dark, and depressing trip, even the ocean lacks color and moments of succor are quickly dowsed. I personally would have gone with mom Charlize Theron who gave up before the film even started.