Blog Archives
Flash Movie Review: Rustin
THROUGH THE YEARS, I HAVE HAD the good fortune and just plain good old luck to have met activists for various causes I believed in. One man was only a couple of years older than me, but his wisdom and foresight were way beyond his chronological age. I was an intense individual, but I was nothing close to the intensity that streamed out of him. There was something about the way he looked at you while talking that would be unnerving for many people. He would lock eyes with you, and they would stay on you without ever blinking while he was talking. The first time I experienced this, I did not know how to handle it; I thought it would be disrespectful if I broke my gaze with him. His words were measured but they flowed out, sometimes with a slight melonic tone, at other times in a rapid staccato. There was a newsclip I happened to see while watching the evening news, where he debated a politician who was trying to justify his argument with bible passages. This activist did not miss a beat, correcting the politician’s misuse of the passage, quoting the passage back to him and then explaining what it meant. The politician did not know the activist’s previous ‘life” was studying for the priesthood at a seminary. ANOTHER ACTIVIST I MET SEVERAL TIMES over the years, who came out of a seriously dysfunctional environment, took her energy, and focused it on creating safe environments for people to discover how to find healthy ways to express their feelings. Listening to her having a conversation, I was so impressed how she would call a person out for their ”BS.” Not in an antagonistic way, but in a calm way by asking the person to further explain the statement they made. I must tell you it was a revelation to experience that because seeing that event stuck with me and put me on the road to becoming a better communicator. With her and the other activists I have encountered in my life, one of the things that they all had in common was the ability to corral and focus all types of personalities into a unified force. The only way I can describe it would be to say they were like musical conductors. They could immediately tell upon talking to an individual what they were best suited for in helping the cause. Looking at the end goal and being able to navigate a monumental number of roadblocks, these activists never gave up. It was so inspirational to witness it and the feeling I had around them was like the feeling I had watching this biographical, historical drama. BELIEVING IN MARTIN LUTHER KING’S NONVIOLENT resistance philosophy, an activist and friend of his came up with an idea to show the country how it could work. However, to succeed he needed to get everything in place in a short amount of time while being met with resistance. With Colman Domingo (The Color Purple, Selma) as Bayard Rustin, Chris Rock (Amsterdam, Nobody’s Fool) as Roy Wilkins, Glynn Turman (Super 8, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) as A. Philip Randolph, Aml Ameen (The Maze Runner, Til Death) as Martin Luther King Jr and Gus Halper (Cold Pursuit, Holler) as Tom; this Oscar nominated film was a fascinating piece of history that I was never taught in school. Having recently seen Colman in The Color Purple and seeing him now in this picture made his acting ability stand out even more for me because of the huge contrast between the two roles. He was incredible, to the point I felt he was channeling Bayard. The story and script were overall wonderful, but I felt the story being rushed towards the end and some of the scenes seemed like a setup. Because of the historical value, I still loved watching this movie and am amazed at what Bayard, who might be unknown to many viewers, set out to do under tough complications.
3 ¼ stars
Flash Movie Review: The Maze Runner
One possible spoiler alert near the end of this review.
As infants most of us I believe asked that perpetual favorite question at any nearby adult, “Why?” I bet some of you thought I was going to say, “Are we there yet?” As young children, with a world of unexplained phenomenons taking place around us, our inquisitive minds questioned everything. When I was a kid I had a curious fascination with many of my toys; I always wanted to know how they worked. After playing with them for a short time I would try to take them apart to see what was inside that made the toys do what they did. The problem with this was I could never put the toys back together, so I quickly learned to suppress my curiosity if I wanted to keep playing with my toys. This may have been the very beginning where I slowly lost my inquisitive nature and began to take everything at face value. As an adult I tend to be more suspicious of things than curious; this possibly developed from my environment than my nature. But when I look at the people around me, the majority of them are similar in their lack of curiosity. I wonder if it has to do with that mindset of “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it?” CURIOSITY wasn’t the only thing missing from the boys who found themselves in the middle of a maze; they had no memory of their past except for their name. Things would begin to change once Thomas, played by Dylan O’Brien (The Internship, Teen Wolf-TV), showed up. Though he could not remember his past, he was not satisfied with the boys around him who did not question the things happening around them. Based on the novel by James Dashner, this action mystery had a gloomy dark dread to its story. I thought the actors were well cast for this film. Besides Dylan, I also admired Aml Ameen (Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Evidence) as Alby and Will Poulter (We’re the Millers) as Gally. I am not sure if it was intentional but I felt the story had a “Lord of the Flies” flavor to it. Surprisingly I found myself becoming anxious during the movie as the story became more intense. The special effects were good which helped make the action scenes even that more tightly wound up. Seeing this film without any knowledge of the book, I found the story had a bit of predictability to it. My major complaint had to do with the ending. For me it was unsatisfying; I prefer every movie being able to stand up on its own. In this case, a sequel is needed to figure out what had just happened. The big question is whether moviegoers are that curious.
2 2/3 stars
moviejoltz 