Training Day

 

                                   The Awards season is near or coming to an end well unfortunately we got a month and a half or a simpler term March 12. So, we still have time to watch the movies that are nominated for Best Picture for which I doubt no one is really going too. Or you can do what I am doing and go back in time and look back at some movies that won an Oscar of a certain performance direction or best score. Which in all honesty is cheaper than wanting to spend thirty or forty dollars to watch Avatar: Way of Water. Anyway, back to reality Training Day a movie that Denzel Washington won Best Actor in 2001, a movie at that time I had no idea he was the main antagonist of the film, now re-watching this he did a fantastic job playing the corrupt cop in a modern-day L.A. And him along with Ethan Hawke does a great job in a movie that asks the question what the right way is and what is the wrong way to dispense justice. 

                                   "Training Day" is a blistering action drama that asks the audience to decide what is necessary, what is heroic and what crosses the line in the harrowing gray zone of fighting urban crime. Does law-abiding law enforcement come at the expense of justice and public safety? If so, do we demand safe streets at any cost?

                                     I have always watched a good majority of Denzel Washington's movies through the years some of them I will admit has been a long time. And to be fair I've seen parts of Training Day, knowing Washington was playing the antagonist to Ethan Hawke's character moreover watched Denzel's performance in American Gangster, but in all honesty this was the first time ever we get to see him morph into a villain for the ages, because through the course of the movie you see Denzel's character as just a normal looking Narc cop that's been around the streets and knows how the system works but through the course of the film you began to realize how evil and manipulative too Ethan Hawke's character who when you first see him he's a up and coming rookie getting a full doze of crime that he'd never imagine. And to be truthful both Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke's performances are what makes this movie great to watch it is almost like a corrupt cop training a rookie to be a wolf who when he first sees him is a sheep and by the end of the movie Hawke becomes a wolf but sticking to his principles or not sticking to his principles. The other thing in what makes the film great is that the film is basically a twenty-four-hour day and though the course of the movie Hawke's character is a young pup but by end is a grown man by the end of the movie and to the movie's credit, if you are ever wanting to make a cop movie of a young cop growing up, Training Day is a great example of that. A lot of famous singers and rappers do a great job in the film as well from Macy Gray to Snoop Dogg and although they have small role is they both do a great job in making the film itself believable. I will say one bizarre fact about the cast was that Matt Damon and Samuel L. Jackson where being consider the number one choices for the roles of Jake Holt and Alonzo Harris and to be honest I really don't think those men would of make this film work, because at that time Damon was an up and coming good looking actor and really as great of an actor Sam Jackson was I honesty wouldn't of thought of him as that character that Denzel Washington created because he was just an absolute monster through the course of the movie moreover ruthless to the point that you never wanted him to succeed furthermore I don't believe at that time Jackson would of made Washington's character believable had he been cast in that role, so thank God Denzel and Hawke played those roles and played them well. Training Day is at its core a great cop movie where the audiences can think on what is right and wrong when it comes to bringing justice and making the city a better place. Moreover, I would consider this the best crime film based in L.A., so if you are looking for a Denzel Washington movie, but wanting something different then I would highly recommend watching Training Day for many reasons this was the second Oscar worthy performance he made furthermore this was one of the first movie's he did where he plays a villain you love to hate, and he did it well.

     

                                     

January Recommendation: Buried

 

                                    I was kept in isolation for a day because the winter in Nebraska just decided to murder us for no apparent reason. So, I thought of what better way to start off the new year and the month of January, with a movie about isolation and loneliness. Buried is a movie where Ryan Reynolds does a one-man performance being buried alive for his crimes of bad movie choices, not really but it is one of those movies like Locke where its one actor is performing a one-man act for ninety minutes. Although this has more intrigue and more WTF moments this movie can muster. Also, I know I am acting crazy when I say this, but this is hands down one of Ryan Reynolds best performances of a lifetime, I mean if I can find four movies that I consider his best it would most certainly be Deadpool 2, The Hitman's Bodyguard, Deadpool and Buried. So, lets dive in deep into being buried alive.

                                    A civilian truck driver in Iraq, Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) falls victim to a band of insurgents. An unknown length of time later, Paul awakens in a coffin, with little more than a lighter, a cell phone, and his ever-glowing anxiety. Faced with a dwindling oxygen supply and a dying battery, Paul must fight panic, despair and delirium as he awaits a rescue that might not arrive on time.

                                    Surprisingly, when thinking about this great movie I finally realized that this movie does remind me of the film Locke with Tom Hardy, and both movies just have these great one man acts where they are in a small place, we are the one character does not have anyone with him just all by himself with the loneliness and isolation. Although Locke is another great film this movie brings the isolation and claustrophobia to a whole new level of madness. Out of all of Ryan Reynolds I've seen, this movie without a doubt is his best performance ever, but the problem is after this movie, he continued to make nothing but absolute garbage, for example after this movie which came out in 2010, he comes out with Green Lantern and that Jason Bateman movie The Change-Up and it's like yeah sure you have to make the personal movies then make the big budget movies but there's a thing called READING THE SCRIPTS, moreover having a clear thought that this movie might be bad, though the thing I'm beginning to accept is that none of these actors or actress that deliver a good performance and is remembered for a certain movie but just chooses not to read is beyond me and Ryan Reynolds is a great example of that. Director Rodrigo Cortes, in terms of filmography this is the one movie where he's most famous for which, yeah I think it’s obvious that he was or maybe tired of Hollywood so I guess it makes sense that he's disappeared off the face of the earth, but I will have to give this man great praise because he was more influenced by two Alfred Hitchcock movies Rope and Lifeboat (for which now I need to check out Lifeboat) moreover this was an outstanding movie that kept you on your seat for ninety minutes of one man inside a coffin. The film was filmed in Barcelona for 16 days, and Ryan Reynolds stated while filming he suffered from claustrophobia (much like the character he plays). Furthermore, the coffin he was in was gradually filled with sand as filming went on such that he was buried while shooting the climatic moments, and when you watch this movie yeah, it is just shocking and creative in terms of how Cortes was able to create. Even the Cortes and his production crew had a team of paramedics on standby in case Reynolds lost his shit or told him that the Canucks or Senators lost the Stanley Cup. Defiantly a forgotten hidden gem of a movie that hands down needs to be seen, by the entire world it is again one of those great one man acts that keeps you on the edge of your seat till the final frame moreover has the inspirations of Alfred Hitchcock as well. So, if you loved Reynolds in the Deadpool movies but hate his other movies I would highly recommend watching Buried and it will convince you that this was Reynolds best movie ever. 

               

The Last of Us: TV Series Episode 1

 

                            One of those nights where your bored possibly your Hockey team has lost nothing good to watch at all, so me and my brother decided to watch HBO's video game adaption to the Last of Us, at first I have to admit that I wasn't at all wanting to watch the show, mainly because if you've played Naughty Dog's video games from Uncharted to The Last of Us they're both movies in their own format they even look like movies a side from the game play. Though watching this I will admit it does feel like you are playing the game all over again but really you have real actors playing these roles furthermore make you feel every step of the way especially when it comes to casting Mandalorian actor Pedro Pascal as Joel, moreover, thought he did a fantastic job the character and I'm looking forward to the upcoming episodes and the same with Bella Ramsey who plays Ellie. Granted this is a short review, but I am looking forward to watching the Last of Us moreover may think about going back into replaying the first game. I am not going to give you all spoilers because I assume majority of you have played the games and some of you have watched the previews, but I assure you to give this show a shot and have a good time seeing it.  

Movies I haven't seen in a while: The Black Dahlia

 

                                     So, after watching my December Recommendation LA Confidential, I decided to prepare and watch another movie associated with writer James Elroy's novels. A movie that was not all much a praise moreover was not all up to par with its predecessor LA Confidential. To everyone who’s not familiar with the Black Dahlia, it all started around January of 1947, where aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found brutally murdered in Hollywood, California and became a publicity sensation during that time, unfortunately the case was never solved and was left unsolved for decades, in fact that it became a popular unsolved case that there are fans to this day that are still interested which is beyond strange because really there's no way to solve this even if you can catch the killer so, yeah. I remember going to see this movie with my brother mainly because he was also at the time interested in the Black Dahlia murder and wanted me to get a history lesson, unfortunately the movie was not really a good idea for a history lesson. 

                                     Two cops in 1940's Los Angeles investigate the murder of a Hollywood starlet (Mia Kirshner), and one (Aaron Eckhart) puts his marriage in jeopardy by obsessing over the crime, while the other (Josh Hartnett) becomes involved with a woman (Hillary Swank) from a prominent family, who happens to have unsavory tie to the victim.

                                     I remember watching this movie in the theaters as I said before, moreover, to be truthfully honest reliving this movie now it still has not changed what I felt about the movie and that is basically that it sucked. Granted this really is not the worst I have seen it is just that this movie basically sucked, and I have no interest re-watching this film again now that I've seen it, there are some funny moments, and a lot of the actors really chew up the scenery and I don't mean chew up the scenery I mean eat up the entire set and sodomizing it by end of production. Furthermore the entire cast really doesn't show much truth in their performances and it just feels like they just don't know how to act or they just gave up, two great examples Aaron Eckhart in the film, becomes a typical charming guy to a crazy nut job who escaped from Shutter Island, in his famous scene he all of a sudden barks at ScarJo who was just offering him food but flips when she puts it on the table hell even barks at Hartnett for no reason as well, and I felt bad for Hartnett in the movie because really, if I was him I would of just hit my breaking point when Aaron and ScarJo are arguing again decides to bring psych doctors over and say to Aaron's character "hey buddy how's it going"? "Making a lot of racket out here aren't you”? 

"Why don't you do me a favor and put this shirt on", then Eckhart asks how come the sleeves are so long, then I would say, "oh that's because we're going to tie your arms behind your back because you’re out of your f**king mind". And what is sad is that this came out a year after Eckhart delivered his best performance in Thank You for Smoking and he comes out with this performance that makes me want to laugh at how bizarrely strange in how he plays obsessed with a dead girl’s murder. Two years before this movie came out Hillary Swank won her second academy award for Million Dollar Baby, after that she came out with this movie where she plays a mysterious femme fatale who as visually is stunning on screen but in all honesty don't really picture her as a antagonist and a great example would show that is when she introduces Hartnett to her family it really feels like I can look at them and say that they both need to be questioned indefinitely because they are probably wanted for murder. Moreover, I felt like Swank just half assed with her performance in this movie and it really did not seem right for the role in my point of view. There was so much sexual tension between ScarJo and Hartnett, that I was almost was about to show "STOP MAKING THIS WEIRD AND BANG EACH OTHER" because there two scenes where Hartnett is creeping on ScarJo and then the next they were in a stare down that I was thinking to myself, what does this have to do with the movie. ScarJo was not the only one being overdramatic, though I also felt bad for Hartnett after watching this movie because he was at the time a good actor, he just made one to many bad choices, moreover his character kept talking about Eckhart saving him and said it around three times that I could be Mr. Mackey and say, "yes he saved your life, mmkay". I refuse to believe that Brain De Palma stayed true to Elroy's novel, mainly because I've browse through some of the plot in the book and there's more storyline and character development then the movie has, furthermore this film is supposed to be a murder mystery and a so called tribute to the detective movies of the 1940's but I felt it really need to be its own movie not just another rip-off of LA Confidential and you can tell because they both have the same mystery jazz music, also suffers from not just the performances but also it's inevitable comparisons to other, more successful films of its genre. And deep down, this movie really needed to be its own movie with both the mystery and horror mixed in, but not be a typical crime noir. I think of all actors that are in this movie I feel bad for Josh Hartnett because he was in up and coming actor, he did a few movies I liked him in and I wished he did more even though I believe Hollywood did drain him out when it comes to the promises, I'm not going to feel bad for Brian De Palma because he should know better and he just failed miserably as a director, which is a reason why he never got much work after the Black Dahlia, in fact a long time ago in the late 1970s he gave crap to George Lucas in not understanding Star Wars, so I hope that he went to De Palma's house and say how horrible the Black Dahlia was for him as a moviegoer. As a movie it is probably the strangest and yet funny at the same time and it would probably be a while before I re-watch this film again. So, if you are ever feeling the need to watch an over dramatic movie, I would say this would be up your alley, but I would probably be lying.

         

Hands of Stone

 

                             Typical nights not sure what to watch, moreover I even asked a friend what a movie of choice would be a Nic Cage movie called Drive Angry or a movie where Usher plays a legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. Unfortunately, the friend thought it was funny that Usher was playing Sugar Ray Leonard, so he said the movie with Usher. But sad news the movie is not about Sugar Ray Leonard it's about a rival that I've never heard of at that time, which was Roberto Duran. I will confess, I heard about this movie via trailers on YouTube, moreover was intrigued by the premise of the movie, though once I saw the 30 for 30 movie of No Mas which tells the story of Duran and Leonard and once I saw the whole story, I felt best that I should just avoid the movie all together, though as time when on and Tubi is the hidden gem app that you can watch things for free, moreover wasn't sure what to watch so might as well give Hands of Stone a shot.

                             At age 72, legendary trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro) comes out of retirement to coach world-class Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramirez). Arcel becomes a mentor to the ferocious fighter, convincing him that winning ultimately comes down to strategy. After scoring knockout after knockout, Duran prepares for a bout against Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher), the undefeated lightweight champion. Five months later, on Nov 1980, the two titans meet for an infamous rematch that makes boxing history.

                             Surprisingly, this was not so bad of a movie that I have envisioned, in most bio pic's this was not doubt. But, in all honesty there was something unique and special about it because in most cases the show Drunk History kind of ruined the bio pic's when it comes to story wise. I will admit it has been a while since I have seen the documentary of No Mas, so my memory was vague but watching Hands of Stone all the way through I must admit that this was a good boxing movie to watch from start to finish. The best casting, they did was bring Robert De Niro in the role of Arcel, and to be honest if you are ever making a movie about Boxing whether it is a comedy or drama you should always cast De Niro in a boxing movie, probably not a comedy since him and Stallone failed at that, unless you make a good comedy with right hands. Edgar Ramirez actually did a great job playing Duran he really does a good job showing all emotions in terms of anger and happiness then showing some doubt when it comes to not succeeding, he also has the best line where he talks about not wanting to be starve no more, a side from the lazy script writing I thought Ramirez did a great job playing Duran furthermore embodied all of the emotions and stubbornness Roberto Duran carried his entire life. The one person I was surprised was in the movie to begin with was Ana de Armas who plays the wife to Roberto Duran, for which I was like "oh snap" because I had no clue, she was in this movie at all and not to say she was great when it comes to performance wise which she is does a great job, but she was also beautiful as well. The main problem I have with the movie, is that the movie itself is very on the poor writing scale when it comes to writing a Boxing film, granted the movie does focus on Roberto Duran, but should also focus more on Sugar Ray Leonard and good as Usher portrayed him I feel like we didn't get enough of him and why he wanted to fight him because in the documentary we have a reason as to why he wanted to know what happen that people believed that Sugar Ray forced Duran to back down, and I felt like when we get to Duran's downfall and needing to make a comeback we should also have more of Sugar Ray being haunted by the rematch on if he won or not, and really the biggest problem is that the movie should focus a lot more equally on both Duran and Sugar Ray, and this movie is roughly about two hours so you could at least squeeze in a good two hour and ten minute film to add more of the rivalry between these legendary fighters. Now before I close this, I should give on praise to a guy that was uncredited but does a killer Don King impersonation Reg E. Cathey, though granted the man is in very little of the movie but it is always awesome to see at least one actor in the world that can pull off a killer Don King accent. The movie itself is not bad at all, just the poor writing and less character development is what drive the movie down as a whole. Hands of Stone is not the worst I have seen moreover still like the telling of Duran's story so I would most certainly recommend watching this from start to finish. 

        

The Banshees of Inisherin

 

   

                                       Well, Happy New Year to all your movie goers that go to either every Superhero movie that makes me feel burnt out or to those who have seen Avatar: Way of Water, or just like some simple movies. Whichever the case, we are now in the new year of 2023 so, why not start of fresh with a new Martin McDonagh movie about to Irish fellows falling out of friendship. To those who have never seen any of Martin McDonagh's work like In Bruges or Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, he does a fantastic job in blending both a sense of dark comedy with flawed characters but along the way brings out a certain message to his films about life as we all know it today. Staring both great actors in Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson who previously worked with McDonagh on In Bruges, both men and director bring out a story of what happens when a friendship ends for no reason.

                                   On a remote island off the coast of Ireland, Padraic (Colin Farrell) is devastated when his buddy Colm (Brendan Gleeson) suddenly puts an end to their lifelong friendship. With help from his sister and troubled young islander, Padraic sets out to repair the damaged relationship by any means necessary. However, Colm's resolve only strengthens, he soon delivers an ultimatum that leads to shocking consequences.

                                    In all of Martin McDonagh's films there is always a personal message for the human soul or being, and they all consist of personal messages we as an audience member can relate to in our own way. In Bruges is a great example of trying to not let the past consume us, and try to push forward in life, Three Billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri tells us that killing your enemies with kindness much of less your own hatred will save your own life. The Banshees of Inisherin, I honesty can understand the meaning behind the movie but deep down I really don't understand the entire meaning, I mean it was just like okay one of the two don't like one another and which doesn't accept why, and to be truthful I honestly can say that I'm on Colin Farrell's side of the feud mainly because I don't understand Brendan Gleeson's reason, because in his mind he wants to be remembered for his music and doesn't want to be bothered by Farrell's annoyance towards him, but in all honesty I didn't find Colin that annoying in the entire movie, moreover I'm a judge of character when it comes to picking out whose the most annoying people on the planet, for example The Kardashians, Politicians, even Joy Behar, and the list goes on and on but Farrell's performance wasn't even close to being annoying. Furthermore once we get to the second act of the movie Gleeson's character gives in ultimatum that becomes the center piece of the whole movie which is insanely dark, and even I as a audience member can look at this and say "yeah I don't get your reason, your just turning into a complete a**hole, so stop being an a**hole" Now sure I get that the Irish Civil War (because that's where the movie is set) is a metaphor for the two men's feud and the fact that he's explaining that these types of feuds don't make a ton of sense but either way I was still lost through the course of it. Now a side from the story not making much sense, I can still appreciate that the movie alone was a well-directed movie and a lot of those scenes where some great scenery just like a painting with one great scene where two birds get into a fight with one another is also great, and both Farrell and Gleeson give some great performances out of their roles, that they should do more movies together. As a Critic I would give this movie a shot although, if you feel differently about the movie then me, then I would have to ask you what the meaning was behind it, but if you felt the same way as I did not than I do not blame you, but I would recommend it for the visuals moreover Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson duo.