Tag: biopic

Categories
Movie Review

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Movie Review

Judas and the Black Messiah – Powerhouse Performances.

Director: Shaka King

Writer: Will Berson, Shaka King (Screenplay) Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenneth Lucas, Keith Lucas (Story)

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith

Plot: The story of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and his fateful betrayal by FBI informant William O’Neal.

Runtime: 2 Hours 6 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Judas and the Black Messiah starts as we see a small-time car thief Bill O’Neal (Stanfield) get caught by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Plemons) who cuts him a deal. The deal will see Bill avoid any jail time, if he will undercover in the Black Panther.

Bill needs to get close to the Chairman of the Illinois party Fred Hampton (Kaluuya) who has been spreading the word to bring about equality in America. Here Bill will find himself trapped by Roy who threatens him with jail or the Panthers who have the rumours of torturing someone who betrays them.

Thoughts on Judas and the Black Messiah

Characters & Performances – Fred Hampton is the charismatic leader of the Black Panthers in Illinois. He will give speeches that will motive people to follow him and learn from the messages he is trying to spread to the world, without resorting to violence. Away from the spotlight, Fred is a calm presence who just wants what everyone else does, a quiet life. Daniel Kaluuya gives us a brilliant performance, rightfully involved in the award conversation, the speeches grab your attention. Bill O’Neal is a car thief that pretends to be an FBI agent to rob other black men, caught in the act by real FBI agent Roy Mitchell. He is left to face a decision, jail time or go undercover in the Black Panther party. He does have the confidence to step into the position, but he is also filled with fear about what will happen if he gets caught, he is always looking over his shoulder in fear. LaKeith Stanfield is also brilliant here, with the performance that is filled with the uncertainty he is facing. Roy Mitchell is the FBI agent that recruits Bill, he seems to try and play it fair to start with, before changing as the time roles on, I do believe we did need more from this character, was he trying to help or just following orders. We do also get to meet different members of the Black Panther, each member wants the same things, but does have a different way of wanting to bring the change.

Story – The story here follows an FBI informant who gets recruited to go undercover in the Black Panther party to get close to the local chairman Fred Hampton. This is a story style we have seen before with many films where a person goes undercover in a gang/mob or in this case a political party and must keep their identity secret or face the consequences. We get to see how the man is recruited and gets left in the middle of no man’s land, facing jail or betrayal. We do focus more on this character’s different decisions over what the Black Panthers stood for and their battle against the Law who constantly framed them. We might have gotten more time looking at this side of the discussion, as it would put the spotlight on the people who did or didn’t make the right decisions.

Themes – Judas and the Black Messiah is a biopic looking at a great leader who was helping to make a change the right way and how he was betrayed. We do seem to focus more on the betrayal over the movement Fred Hampton was part of. The film does recreate the look of the late 1960s very well too.

Judas and the Black Messiah is an important drama that does have powerful performances from the lead stars.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – O – Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Movie Thoughts

This is under O because of Peter O’Toole leading performance.

Director: David Lean

Writer: Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson (Screenplay) T.E. Lawrence (Writings)

Starring: Peter O’Toole, Alex Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif

Plot: The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.


Tagline – A mighty spectacle of action and adventure!

Runtime: 3 Hours 48 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Epic

Story: Lawrence of Arabia starts as we see how people remember T.E. Lawrence in his time as an English Officer fighting in the desert, where he looks to unite the Arab Tribes during World War I, he looks to unite them to stop killing each other over small matter, when a bigger threat the Turks are waiting to walk through Arabia, knowing the tribes would be easy to defeat.

Thoughts on Lawrence of Arabia

Final Thoughts – Lawrence of Arabia is considered one of the greatest movies of all time, you can see why, the epic production value, the pure scale of everything in the film is massive. The story leads us down the trail of dealing with endless amounts of military power that the English had, the stuck up nature of the leaders who only cared about the prim and proper side to how everything is achieved, rather than dealing with the proper problems required. This does have amazing performances with Peter O’Toole standing head and shoulders above everyone else and will fill you in on one of the biggest changes created in human history. It might not be as assessable for the new film audience with a runtime of close to four hours, which is clearly doesn’t need to be, if we are being honest.

Overall: A Movie that defines epic scale.

Categories
Movie Review

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) Movie Review

Director: Justin Chadwick

Writer: William Nicholson (Screenplay)

Starring: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Zolani Mkiva, Simon Mogwaza

Plot: A chronicle of Nelson Mandela’s life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.


Tagline – It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Runtime: 2 Hours 21 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Too Much to Fit In

Story: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom starts as we see how the young lawyer Nelson Mandela (Elba) fought for equal rights in South Africa, he helped black people get their time in court, to fight for what was right, before finding himself mixed up in a activist group, one that would bring damage to the world.

Nelson is caught, thrown in prison for life, instead of executed, his wife Winnie (Harris) continues to fight peacefully for what is right on the outside, while Nelson builds his reputation within the prison, to the level where the white government officials turn to him, in hope of bringing peace to the country.

Thoughts on Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Final Thoughts – When it comes to Nelson Mandela, we do have one of the most important men in history, his story is beyond amazing, with this film telling his story from his early lawyer days, until he becomes the leader of South Africa. The film does have a lot to get in, which is disappointing, because there is so much to tell, it just feels like we are skipping over the major events without getting the main details of what is happening. We can’t fault the performances with Idris Elba being fantastic, with Naomie Harris being strong in the supporting role. This film would have been nicer to see more, or focus on just a smaller part, but trying to cover such a great man’s whole life, is nearly impossible in film format.

Overall: We could have seen more.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – H – Harriet (2019) Movie Review

Director: Kasi Lemmons

Writer: Gregory Allen Howard, Kasi Lemmons (Screenplay)

Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr, Joe Alwyn, Clarke Peters, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Janelle Monae

Plot: The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman‘s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.


Tagline – The unbelievable true story of Harriet Tubman, an American legend

Runtime: 2 Hours 5 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Harriet starts as slave Minty (Erivo) is looking to have her freedom with her husband, only her owner isn’t going to let her be free, despite her time being up with them. Minty decides to run away risking her life to escape joining William Still (Odom Jr) and Marie Buchanon (Monae) to help rescue other slaves.

Minty takes the name Harriet Tubman as her free name and fast becomes one of the leading freedom fighters for slaves, breaking many out of their plantations giving them the freedom they deserve, making history with her efforts.

Thoughts on Harriet

Characters – Minty was the name from slavery, a woman looking to get her freedom with her husband to start their own family, not being granted this, she runs for her freedom, becoming Harriet Tubman, her free name, working with other people to help free slaves from different locations, risking more, saving more, being one of the most important people in the rescuing of slaves. William Still has been running an operation to help escaped slaves have normal lives, he welcomes and shows Harriet how to achieve this. We do get to meet plenty of other people involved in the rescues, as well as the people trying to stop this happening, preventing the freedom the slaves should have.

Performances – Cynthia Erivo in the leading role is sensational getting her Oscar nomination for her work, always being a signal for strength through the film. The rest of the cast give us strong performances throughout, without needing to reach the levels of Cynthia.

Story – The story here follows Harriet Tubman rise from slave to leader in rescuing slaves from across America, branded Moses, saving thousands. This is a story that will show how the country was against letting black people have their freedom and how they need to work with the few good people that would risk everything to grant them the freedom they deserved, it shows us how Harriet used her determination to make more of the rescues to make sure she helped as many people as possible, teaching us the importance of the history of her actions.

Biopic – This is an important history lesson telling us the story of one of the people that risked their own life, to save many more in a world where being black was considered a crime if you were free.

Settings – The film uses the settings to show the conditions the slaves must work in as well as the condition their journey to freedom would take them through.


Scene of the Movie – The calls.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The white people turning on each other feels like it should have had a more shocking moment.

Final Thoughts –Harriet is an important story about an incredible woman, that should be seen by all to show what people risked to save others, with Cynthia Erivo shining through the film.



Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch Up 2020 – B – Bad Education (2019) Movie Review

Director: Cory Finley

Writer: Mike Makowsky (Screenplay) Robert Kolker (Article)

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ray Romano, Welker White, Allison Janney, Annaleigh Ashford, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolf

Plot: The beloved superintendent of New York’s Roslyn school district and his staff, friends and relatives become the prime suspects in the unfolding of the single largest public school embezzlement scandal in American history.


Tagline – Some People Learn the Hard Way

Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Entertaining, But Shocking

Story: Bad Education starts as we meet Superintendent Frank Tassone (Jackman) and his deputy Pam Gluckin (Janney) who are popular in the school district. Pam has been using the budget to fund her own life, until her son gets caught using the card, leading to the school board Big Bob Spicer (Romano) needing to fix the problems.

A student for the paper starts investigating the figures, while the board look to cover up the problems to save face, but Frank hasn’t had his information given away too, in what shows the corruption going on within the school higher ups.

Thoughts on Bad Education

Characters – Frank Tassone is the superintendent at a New York school, he is very popular, he gets to know the students and has seen the district rise with his leadership. He has to cover up the discovery about Pam even though he has his hand in the pocket too, needing to convince people to side with him as it will be the best for the business. Pam is the deputy Superintendent that gets caught cheating the system, she has been for years and cleverly covering up the expenditures, until she is forced to leave the school to cover up for the school. Big Bob Spicer runs the school board, he is left shocked by the behaviour, not just going to be ruining his reputation but the school district he has seen become popular in the housing market with the change. Rachel is the student that looks to write a simple story about a skybridge, only to start digging deeper about what has been happening, being caught in the middle of the decision on whether to write the story or not.

Performances – Hugh Jackman is excellent in the leading role, he brings the confidence required for the role, while using this to hide the more sinister side to his actions. This is one of the best acted movies of the year, everyone is wonderful to watch throughout the film, all with their own story to tell.

Story – The story here follows a Superintendent and his deputy that caught out in the middle of an embezzlement scheme at a public school, which will see them needing to race the consequences of the damage they caused. The story here shows how two likeable figures in the schooling system, managed to get away with committing a embezzlement scheme for years, without anyone looking twice, before they started making mistakes, which exposed the truth of what they were doing. This is shot in a way that shows the people responsible for committing the crime were the ones that knew how to get people to look away when things started getting too serious, trying to push guilt onto them instead of admitting their own mistakes. The true story is even more shocking knowing this happened without more people picking up on the errors is even more amazing to think about.

Biopic/Comedy – The biopic side of the film shows us just how they got away with things, sometimes not even trying to hide what they were doing from anyone, which is done in a slightly comical way to make us laugh at the reality of the story.

Settings – The film does keep us in and around the school and private lives of the two criminals, we see how they are living it up for their own benefit, which leaves bigger questions on why no one picked them up on it before.


Scene of the Movie – The truth on how it started.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – How no one saw this happening earlier.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the more shocking looks at how corruption could happen, that is wonderfully acted and opens the eyes to how easily people think they can get away with it.

Overall: Surprising.

Categories
Movie Review

Mank (2020) Movie Review

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Jack Fincher (Screenplay)

Starring: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey, Arliss Howard, Tuppence Middleton, Charles Dance

Plot: Follows screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz‘s tumultuous development of Orson Welles‘ iconic masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941).

Runtime: 2 Hours 11 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Mank starts as we meet Herman Mankiewicz (Oldman) a renowned screenwriter in the golden era of Hollywood and after an accident he is bedbound working on his latest screenplay for Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, where Rita Alexander (Collins) transcripts his writing. We flashback to earlier in Herman’s career, seeing how his relationship with Louis B Mayer (Howard) will always put his career in rollercoaster, while William Randolph Hearst (Dance) loves having Mank around, with his daughter Marion Davies (Seyfried) showing us the difficulties of being in the Hollywood spotlight.

Thoughts on Mank

Characters – Herman Mankiewicz is one of the most popular screenwriters in Hollywood, his work has given him a reputation of being one of the best, but his drinking also making him the entertainment at a party and the fact he won’t just follow the secret rules of Hollywood, will see him pushed out of the spotlight. We follow two main times of his career, writing Citizen Kane and his career ups and downfall in a system that shows the political side of movie making. He does steal every scene in the movie, where he will always want to be the centre of the attention. Marion Davies is the star of the movies at the time who becomes friends with Herman, along with her father, she is someone who always wanting to see Herman and what he will do next. Rita Alexander is hired to help Mank finish of the screenplay for Citizen Kane, her husband is away in the military, she will need to learn with Mank’s turns when it comes to his drinking. Louis B Mayer is the studio head that knows the talent of Herman, but is getting tired of his behaviour, his power in the industry could cause more problems for Mank’s future in the industry. We meet many people who are in Mank’s life, his long suffering wife, his brother, fellow writers, the biggest player in the business, Orson Welles himself clashing with him, plenty of the characters from the industry.

Performances – Gary Oldman is brilliant in this film, he dominates the screen every single scene he has through the film, it is hard to go against anyone who doesn’t think he will be on the shortlist for best actor this year. The supporting cast are amazing too, never looking out of place, with wonderful moments from everyone through the film.

Story – The story here follows the rise of Herman Mankiewicz in the golden age of Hollywood, played along side the latest writing which has seen him put on the outside of the industry where he is placed after not following the system. This story is told in a way that truly feels like we are in the 1930s era of Hollywood, with the way that everything is told, the split timeline even makes a point to tell us we are entering a flashback and even the sound feels like an older movie. It shows us just how political the Hollywood system was in the 1930s too, where he literally had to follow suit or you would have been pushed out, with this showing us how Mank was given more chances than others too.

Biopic/Comedy – The biopic side of the film does show two main parts of Mank’s life, two that do come hand in hand showing the different moments that created the most important screenplay of his career, with the comedy in the film coming from how Mank treats each day, never being quite in control of the situations.

Settings – The film does an amazing job to recreate 1930s Hollywood where nothing looks out of place, with each location around the grounds looking like we are experiencing the journey.


Scene of the Movie – The tour of the grounds.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Nothing.

Final Thoughts – Mank is a brilliantly acted movie that pays respect to the 1930s era in style and storytelling.



Categories
Movie Review

Maudie (2016) Movie Review

Director: Aisling Walsh

Writer: Sherry White (Screenplay)

Starring: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Kari Matchett, Gabrielle Rose, Zachary Bennett

Plot: An arthritic Nova Scotia woman works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community.

Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Wonderfully Acted

Story: Maudie starts when a shy woman Maud (Hawkins) who finds her house sold and she is left feeling worthless, until she finds employment under outsider Everett (Hawke), who is demanding when it comes to his standards, until wealthy woman Sandra (Matchett) learns of her artistic talents.

Maud ends up involved in a relationship with Everett, as the two find happiness together, while Maud’s new artwork starts to attract attention from people around, with her positive use of colours through her designs.

Thoughts on Maudie

Characters – Maud has had a lonely life, one where she is left on her own through most days, where she paints to keep herself happy, she decides to become a housekeeper, which will see her movie in with outsider Everett, here she finds an unusual love, that her talent is loved by people and that she is important in life, no matter how many times she has been hurt through it. Everett is the outside in the town, he has chance most of his housekeepers away with his demands and behaviour, not wanting to be involved with many people’s lives, he holds everything inside, even though he has so much more going on than he is will to let people know. Sandra is the wealthy woman that first sees Maud’s work and wants to show the world, she offers her a friendship, unlike anything she has received before.

Performances – We do have two of the best actors of a generation here, with Sally Hawkins taking the leading role shining once again, Ethan Hawke working wonders in the supporting role too, where they help increase the talents of each other through the film.

Story – The story here follows the life of Maud, from the time she meets Everett and started making art which mad her famous with the community, as she see the struggles the couple had being outsiders in their own right. This does look at the struggles that Maud when through in her life, though however talented she was, her life didn’t seem to be eventful enough to get a feature length story out off. This is because she did keep herself to herself along with her husband, not getting herself into any trouble, just letting herself live a quiet life.

Biopic/Romance – The biopic side of this film does show us just how quiet Maud kept her life with a love life that was never flashy about their love.

Settings – The film does show us just how away from the world the couple live, they are happy together and never look for more.


Scene of the Movie – The interview.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – However talented Maud was, her life doesn’t seem like enough for a feature film.

Final Thoughts – This does show the quiet life the couple looked to live and how they found love with what kept them happy.

Overall: Biopic 101.

Categories
Movie Review

A Call to Spy (2019) Movie Review

Director: Lydia Dean Pilcher

Writer: Sarah Megan Thomas (Screenplay)

Starring: Sarah Megan Thomas, Stana Katic, Radhika Apte, Linus Roache, Rossif Sutherland, Andrew Richardson

Plot: In the beginning of WWII, with Britain becoming desperate, Churchill orders his new spy agency – SOE – to recruit and train women as spies.

Runtime: 2 Hours 3 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: A Call to Spy starts during World War II, The British have seen the German walk through Europe and with their latest attempts to create spies failing, Winston Churchill has decided to try bringing in women spies, with Vera Atkins (Katic) needing to select the first candidates, with American Virginia Hall (Thomas) and Noor Inayat Khan (Apte) being the ladies she turns too.

We see how the three women all played their part in the war effort, form different locations, one from guiding from home, another on the field, while the other using their communication skills to show that everyone is fighting for the same thing.

Thoughts on A Call to Spy

Characters – Vera Atkins is the woman that is painted to be like a secretary, but her work is much more than that, she helps recruit the first female spies, she knows how to pick the women that will not look the part, making them perfect for the selections, while running the operations from back home. Virginia Hall is an American that is trying to get into an diplomatic role for the country, only to be getting rejected, she is selected because of language skills and due to her injury, which makes her look even less spy like from the outside, she however is very smart, resourceful and always keeps her calm. Noor Inayat Khan is from a mixed background, she is an expect on the communication side of things, which sees her being selected to hide away from enemy and communicate back to England.

Performances – The performances from the three leading women are wonderful throughout, they show the strength they needed to bring the real life people to life, easily being the strongest part of the acting in this film.

Story – The story here follows the idea that in World War II, Britain looked to women to become spies to try and outsmart the Germans, we follow the first recruits as they risked their lives in the war effort and made history for their efforts. This is a brilliant look at the history of spies, seeing once again how many different people came together fight with what would be right. We see how some of the men wouldn’t be interested in letting women into the field, but we don’t seem to spend too much time covering this side of things. The only the other weaker side to the story comes from the fact we don’t seem to see how much intensity to any of the trading of material or attempts to rescue people.

Biopic – This biopic side of the film shows the women that risked their lives to help the country during the war, it shows more of their mission over their personal lives.

Settings – The film gives us the setting ideas to show us the secret places people would turn to for support in doing the right things.


Scene of the Movie – Recruitment.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The spy side of things could be seen as routine, without many thrillers about it all.

Final Thoughts – This is an important look at how women become spies and helped changed things during World War II.

Signature Entertainment presents A Call to Spy in Cinemas and on Digital HD 23 October 2020

Categories
Movie Review

Bigger (2018) Movie Review

Director: George Gallo

Writer: Andy Weiss, George Gallo, Brad Furman, Ellen Furman (Screenplay)

Starring: Tyler Hoechlin, Julianne Hough, Kevin Durand, Victoria Justice, DJ Qualls, Aneurin Barnard

Plot: The inspirational tale of the grandfathers of fitness as we now know it, Joe and Ben Weider. Facing anti-Semitism and extreme poverty, the brothers beat all odds to build an empire and inspire future generations.


Tagline – He Created Fitness As We Know It, Together They Changed the World

Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Bigger starts as we learn how Joe Weider (Hoechlin) and his brother Ben (Barnard) have turned to learning about fitness, with Joe wanting to make his own magazine to help people have a healthy body, not just one that has muscles like magazine tycoon Bill Hauk (Durand) has been running for years.

As Joe continues to face Anti-Semitism from the rivals, he continues to build an empire, one that will see the pair become the most iconic names in the world of fitness.

Thoughts on Bigger

Characters – Joe Weider grew up with his brother in poverty, in his childhood he will find himself getting into trouble, before learning about fitness, looking to help create a healthy living not just for the naturally gifted, but for everyone who wants to improve their fitness. He creates a magazine, one that is meant to be looking for the positives, despite having competition that is looking to use dirty tactics to bring him down. Betty is the beautiful model that sees what Joe is trying to create, becoming his wife and muse with his creation. Bill Hauk is the rival muscles and fitness publisher, he does it for the wrong reason, looking to cash in on people’s looks over their fitness, he tries to use every trick in the book to bring down Joe. Ben is the brother of Joe, he will think more along the lines of making money from his ideas, often keeping his brother’s ideas grounded. We do get to meet different icons of the industry through the film too, which will help us understand how much Joe did to make it a bigger, more iconic event.

Performances – Tyler Hoechlin in the leading role is great, this is easily his strongest performance of his career to date, showing the uncomfortable social skills Joe had. Julianne Hough looks the part, not making her character fit into the brackets you might imagine, while Kevin Durand is great as the villainous rival.

Story – The story here follows a poor boy that grew up loving and studying fitness, before coming up with his own ideas on how important it is, how anyone can do it, breaking ideas put in people’s heads to try and bring the art of bodybuilding to centre stage, while not looking down on people that just want to get into better shape. This is an interesting look at one man who wouldn’t stop looking into his dream, not for the stardom, but for the better of everyone else, with his theories now being part of the major culture, we get to see how two people would be against each other when it comes to being the most popular, and how one focuses on the work, over the greed. This will help prove how keep plugging away will be the thing that would help you achieve something more from your dreams.

Biopic – Joe Weider helped shape fitness for the generations to come, this puts the spotlight on how hard he worked, how much he sacrificed and risked making his dream a reality.

Settings – The film does take us over most of his professional life, which will see us taken to plenty of different settings, each one showed us the next step in his career.


Scene of the Movie – Meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We could have seen more from Ben’s side of the rise.

Final Thoughts – This is a movie that will put the spotlight on one of the more unknown genius behind making bodybuilding more popular and showing us it was for more than just his own gain.

Signature Entertainment presents Bigger on Digital HD 26th October