Month: May 2022

An homage to Blaxploitation films of the 1970s, the titular character is an ex-CIA agent and Vietnam vet who must avenge his brother’s death while also combating the drugs that are littering the streets. Meticulously made to look like a film of the era it is honoring, even filming in Super 16 format, it is obvious that the creators had done their homework and were fans of the original genre. Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite is as bad ass as any of the well known heroes and anti-heroes from those films. He’s incredibly committed to the performance and is well supported by a cast that is a revolving door of well-known actors. I really hope a sequel is on its way. 

Ruby Dee entreaties Harvard professor Sean Connery to come out of retirement from the law to investigate her grandson Blair Underwood’s conviction for the rape and murder of a young white girl. Once down to Florida, Connery must contend with racist, brutal cops, his own wife’s connection to the case, and serial killer Ed Harris. I’d seen negative reviews of this that I couldn’t understand. The first half is rather compelling with Connery dealing with the aforementioned issues while also putting together the facts of the case. Then in the second half, it gets bad, really bad. Every single character suddenly acts opposite of how they’d been portrayed through the earlier parts of the film, except Ruby Dee because she’s criminally underused by that point, and what could have maybe been a compelling courtroom climax instead commits to the dumbest timeline.   

After he catches his new wife Naomi Watts cheating on him with Liev Schreiber, bacteriologist Edward Norton forces her to accompany him to the Chinese interior during a cholera epidemic. Watts’s character is a flighty, spoiled, rich girl while Norton is reserved, stoic, and often uncaring but somehow neither of them are completely unlikable. Romances where the couple finds attraction for each other over time, particularly when they previous had none, are some of my favorites and even if it’s somewhat predictable, the leads make it work. It’s a beautifully filmed picture with some rather breathtaking Chinese scenery throughout. 

When amnesiac schoolteacher Geena Davis gets into a car accident, the concussion she receives jostles memories of her previous life as an assassin. With the help of Samuel L. Jackson, a private investigator she had hired to find clues to her identity, she works to find more of the pieces while also taking care of the fall-out from her last mission. There’s a lot that’s bad in this: the script, the directing, and the dated special effects, but there are some moments that point to what could have been a pretty great actioner. Davis is uneven and over the top in both of the personalities (the makeup for the ‘bad’ side is particularly egregious) but she’s also committed and looks like she’s having fun. Craig Bierko makes for a pretty great sleazy bad guy. My favorite is Samuel L. Jackson. He’s not playing much different than any of his other action film roles, but he’s the sensible one in the crazy pairing and thus brings a different vibe.  

Chicago private investigator Pam Grier returns to her hometown of Louisville to help her father who is being terrorized by gangsters. I do enjoy Pam Grier-led blaxploitation and she brings the sass as always, but this isn’t one of my favorites. It follows the general formula of Grier having to work her way to the top of a criminal conspiracy, but it does so in such a plodding way that the stakes never feel very high or exciting. The only things it has going for it beyond Pam are a chase in an amusement park, which always offers clever bits, and a climax involving jet skis and speedboats.    

When bounty hunter Vonetta McGee runs across her ex-boyfriend Max Julien’s wanted poster, she hunts him down and the pair begin a crime spree robbing banks across the west and sharing their spoils with the poor and underprivileged. At its core, it could easily be described as a Bonnie and Clyde Blaxploitation Western. The two main character’s relationship is a beautiful one to behold with playfulness, love, and mutual respect. Aside from the expected ending, there is a bit of unfortunateness in seeing McGee’s agency dwindling somewhat when she rekindles the relationship even if it is in pursuit of her dreams of settling down.