Documentary Drama

“City of Lies”

By Brett_G on

8.2

Ready to hate the LAPD and love Johnny Depp? Have I got the movie for you!

This is a fascinating case study in the miscarriage of justice, social sicknesses we still suffer from, power corrupting, and incentives aligning to damage the most at-risk among us. After watching the Netflix series and working my way through the audiobook before seeing this, the story doesn’t get any more positive. 2 detectives who self-destructed in pursuit of the truth against every social and political pressure imaginable. 2 young men whose lives ended far too soon. A city with bottomless corruption. Captivating performances by all. A great example of real-life writing a far better story than a screenwriter ever could, transcribed beautifully to the silver screen by this crew. Very well done!

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Documentary Drama

“The Courier”

By Brett_G on

7.8

Benedict Cumberbatch at the height of his powers.

What begins as a knock-off of the film “Bridge of Spies” from a few years ago becomes a harrowing tale of espionage, friendship, and international geopolitical maneuvering. For me, the relationship between Grevel and Alex is the best part of this film. The complicated relationship between these two men and their wives being a close second. It’s a fascinating study in relationships. The best message from the film, other than we need to stay aware of recent history to avoid repeating it, per usual, is that often the citizens of two countries fall victims to two governments at odds. As Alex says at one point, “our countries’ governments may hate each other, but our people are very similar to your people. It starts with two people talking.” Something to that effect. No matter how toxic those in power may become, everything can be boiled down to a relationship between two people, and good often triumphs over evil. Much more positive of an ending than I was expecting, but you have to look for it. The gulags get a little dark.

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Action Blockbuster HBO

“Zack Snyder’s Justice League”

By Brett_G on

8.7

Worth every second of the 4 hour runtime.

Everything lacking from the first go-round or that didn’t fit, fixed. One of the few times I’m thankful for the power of a hashtag. Everything from the color palate to the soundtrack has been redeemed to it’s initially intended glory. I had my doubts, as I think we all did. Zack Snyder went ahead and blew expectations out of the water, and singlehandedly put the DCEU back on the map.

The characters finally get the screen time and TLC they all deserve, leaving each fulfilled to a degree not imagined in the first version. No more odd jokes, no more creeping on Wonder Woman, no more rushing the story to fumble the ending. A well thought out and constructed masterpiece, leaving hope for the legendary stable of superheroes once again, instead of the feeling of doubt and turn back to Marvel. The darkness in this film and unabashed nature of the consequences experienced was refreshing. The finale battle topped by one of the greatest 5 minute finale scenes I’ve seen in a superhero film in some time. The actors seemed engaged, and to fully buy into their roles in this version. You can feel the passion that went into the project. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, flying off to claw the eyes out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It took a couple days to process before I felt fully ready to write this. Great call on the part of Warner Bros. to green light this hairbrained idea, and even better call on Zack Snyder foregoing a salary for complete creative control.

Bravo!

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Drama

“The Father”

By Brett_G on

8.4

He’s not leaving his FLAT!!! Stop asking!

It took a hot second to figure out what was going on here, but once I caught up to speed, this is an absolutely breathtaking tale of the descent into dementia through the patient’s eyes. Anthony Hopkins better win an Oscar for this one. As someone who worked as a Nurse Aide with dementia patients, this hit close to home for me, and gave me many flashbacks. This poor gentleman hasn’t quite lost enough marbles to become “pleasantly confused” yet. I was not surprised to find that this was originally a play, as the scenes play in a manner that shows that hand very early on. It all works so effectively to put the audience in the patient’s shoes on this one. Haunting, and sometimes hard to watch, but an important subject told well on the silver screen.

For More Info: https://www.alz.org/

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Drama Romance

“Trust”

By Brett_G on

7.1

Well, the title says trust, but the story says paranoia. I’m a little tired of Hollywood glorifying red flags as “passion” and “depth.” No. Both of these people are terrible and shouldn’t be together. Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be. The blonde may have game for days on top of being gorgeous, and I mean, I’m not mad that Victoria Justice is here for the party… but damn, this is all toxic. Not a redeeming quality in sight.

Technically speaking, it’s a bit run of the mill, but an entertaining ride full of twists and turns for a tight hour and a half.

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