118 - "Selma"

Explicit content warning

01/18/24 • 11 min

Ava DuVernay directed "Selma" that deals with the marches of Selma in 1965 led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This actually happened that led to an official to pass signed by President Lyndon B Johnson. A dramatized film of course but it's straightforward, it's gets to the point and the performances from the talent really give this film the attention it deserves. We get to see a MLK Jr. very human, almost too human, seeing him deal with all kinds of aspects in life epsecially with things that have nothing to do with him. People look up to this man because he is a leader and for the greatest cause any man can put themselves in because it'll literally set course to what's to come in America. The scenes of the bridge crossings are brutal and DuVernay does not relent, she shoves it to us because that is what happened. Injustice all the way to the physical level and thankfully during that time, people all over the world were able to see it and it's messed up. I'm sure in reality, it was far more brutal, you have to give it to DuVernary for showing us just a fraction of those events played out. It's hard to watch innocent woman just get beat for walking. FOR WALKING. Then again, it was George Wallace's Alabama and he didn't give a f. Tim Roth knocked the Wallace role right out of the park as he usually does. Although I feel that the film itself was a bit too scripted, like I feel the other cast were kind of robotic in a sense. The main characters, you can tell they had a lot of range to play around with and used it to their advantage. Overall, "Selma" is solid, effective and entertaining. It does get real and it makes you mad as how politics work. You ask yourself, does the president really care? Does the government really care? Regardless, when you want something you real bad, you're gonna do what you can to achieve it. MLK Jr. is the greatest example of that and he led millions.
Three and a half out of four tokes.
#selma #avaduvernay #injustice

Previous Episode

117 - "Anatomy of a Fall"

"Anatomy of a Fall" is a gripping courtroom dramam directed by Justine Triet. The film is literal in it's title. We are looking at a fall that resulted death to the husband/father of a family that secretly failing. We don't know if the fall was ruled out to be suicide or murder. The mother/wife is the only prime suspect and the family is thrown to the ringer. It's crazy how a courtroom is a place where the skeletons come out of the closet. One of my favorite characters is the dog in this film. The actor is named Messi and Messi acts his ass off and you'll know it when you see it. I talk about the film's screenplay, it's written very well because we out of those pages we see how creative the director was to give out this information for us to see. When we think we'll see full scenes of the married couple having a really aggressive argument, think again. All characters play their roles right and effectively. I talk about how flashbacks are used in this film Triet made it that work very well. We don't know much about the characters until we are witnessed through multimedia and not the characters themselves. Normally, this would be a problem in storytelling but the characters later shed their own layers to these surprises of sorts. The full fledged character is the son, as blind as he is, he wins people's hearts. Smart, understanding, and isn't afraid to show himself. The film won at the Cannes film festival and earned a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and it shows. We see a film where the elements of filmmaking are present but the characters drive the story. Even the dead man himself has light to shed. Leave stones unturned because eventually they will turn and it'll blow your mind. I wasn't feeling this film at first, with exception of the first act (which is a great first act), but when we the first courtroom scene, it brought me back and made me sit along with all the other people who were watching trial.
Three and a half out of four tokes.
#anatomyofafall #morningreel

Next Episode

119 - "Leave the World Behind" feat XG of WDSTS Podcast/Tinfoil Hat with Sam Tripoli/GPS Podcast

XG joins me on this episode for the film "Leave the World Behind". He requested it so we did it. Funny because I was gonna review this film down the road. The film isn't bad, it's just a bit too long and there's not much of a plot to work with which is crazy because you can do so many things with this type of story. It's weird that I had a hard time connecting with these characters. Almost as if they're robots in a sense except for Ethan Hawke who played Clay. He relly shines in this film. I really thought Julia Roberts playing Amanda was great. I don't think she's a bitch to be a bitch. We can all relate when we're just not fuckin' with nobody because everybody sucks, in general. Her character's behavior and mindset really does mold and move the story throughout. XG and I talked conspiracy theories concerning the things that happened in the film such as scamming, the 5G singals that suppresses life & alike, and Obama somehow was involved in this? And if he was, what's the conspiracy, haha. It's an enjoyable film but there's so much realism in the aspect of post-apocalyptic scenarios, we can't be ignorant about it. Kevin Bacon's was GREAT in his character and really encapsulates human behavor. Not the best film in the world but ti doesn't move the pendulum.
Three out of Four tokes.
Thank you XG for being a part of the podcast episode. Y'all can chek him out on:
http://fullytoxic.com
#leavetheworldbehind #filmreviews #morningreel