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Flash Movie Review: Carry-On
ON MY RECENT FLIGHT, I WAS flagged by TSA. I could not believe it because I purposely do not wear a belt, wristbands, watch or shoes with any kind of metal on them. Everything is stuffed in my jacket which I take off to put through the X-ray machine. I normally do not take my wedding ring off, but in this case, we were wearing our traveling silicon ones; so even that could not set off any alarms. And I must add, as a passenger I am fine taking off jackets and shoes, only checking through liquids in 3-ounce containers, no bottled water; whatever they want us to do to keep safe I will do it. Having arrived at the airport early enough so I would not have to fret about being late for my flight, I was more annoyed that I was randomly picked for further scanning. The TSA agent asked me to step out of line and stand in front of that machine that looked like the machine Jeff Goldblum was in that turned him into a fly. Of course, my first thought was what the other people in line were thinking about me. For some reason, my first thought is what did I do wrong; did I look like an evil person, was I blinking too much or fidgeting too much. I could have gone through a multitude of reasons but chose to remain calm and let the agents do their job. THERE WERE TWO PASSENGERS AHEAD OF me, waiting for the glass X-ray booth. The first one, I could see, was agitated; they complained they were going to be late for their flight. When it was the second person’s turn, it must have been their first time because they wanted to know exactly what the agent could see from the scan. After being reassured, they stepped in and let the scanner do its thing. When I was told to step in, I smiled and lifted my arms up above my head. I figured it would earn me points though I was not sure for what. While I retrieved my items, I watched the TSA agents working. I wanted to see the screen they sat in front of that shows the inside of everyone’s carry-on bag. It intrigues me, how can they quickly decide whether something is illegal or not. From the many times I have flown, I have seen all kinds of behavior on display and do not understand why people take their frustrations out on the TSA agents. Why get an agent so angry that they might want to do something like what the agent was asked to do in this action, crime mystery. A MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER DEMANDS A TSA agent allows their carry-on bag to go through without any conflict. If the agent refuses, then his girlfriend will die. With Taron Egerton (Rocketman, Eddie the Eagle) as Ethan Kopek, Jason Bateman (Air, Game Night) as Traveler, Sofia Carson (Purple Hearts, Feel the Beat) as Nora Parisi, Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall, Till) as Elena Cole, and Theo Rossi (Emily the Criminal, Sons of Anarchy-TV) as Watcher; this film had a strong vibe reminiscent of those older action films like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. I was quickly hooked on the story, despite the script not always being believable. It did not matter, because the action and mystery started right up and kept up a strong tension throughout the story. The cast worked so well together, where Taron and Jason pushed everyone to dig deeper into their characters. This was such an entertaining movie watching experience; I enjoyed every minute of it, though a small part of me was wondering if this could ever happen. Hopefully not.
3 ½ stars
Flash Movie Trailer: Till
WHEN I WAS A SMALL BOY, I hated a bunch of things. Granted, most of them were food based. I hated tuna, broccoli, peas, grapefruit, and the school crossing guard who used to make fun of me. Back then the word “hate” was my go-to word; I did not fully comprehend how strong of a word was “hate.” It was nothing for two friends or neighborhood kids to tell the other they hated them for something they did or did not do. Whenever in a conversation with my friends about students in our classes or in school, it was not unusual for me to share my hatred of the students who wronged me in some way. My method of dealing with kids who I hated was to maintain my distance from them. I figured the less they saw of me the better off I would be. To be invisible, I had to make sure I never drew attention to myself; whether laughing or talking too loudly or spending too much time at my locker talking to a friend. The key was to keep moving with the flow of kids as much as possible. And the most important thing I had to make sure I was doing was to go right home from school, to never linger outside of the school’s exits in case a bully or antagonist was leaving the same time as me. THANKFULLY, THE SCHOOLS I ATTENDED DID an excellent job of teaching me all the aspects of “hate” and how strong of a word it could be. We saw and read examples of hatred, with the books we read, the movies we watched and the archived newspaper articles we viewed on microfilm. Seeing what humans did to other humans was frightening. Whether it was during a war or from a group or individual, I found all of it so disturbing and appalling that I realized I was using the word “hate” incorrectly. It became my goal to never or rarely use the word “hate” when I was saying or describing something to someone. To be honest with you, this promise was a challenge because I experienced forms of hatred early on in my schooling. Encountering people who hate you without even knowing or talking to you was so confusing to me. The trend continued when I finished school and found myself marching for causes that were important to me and witnessed hatred that was near flammable, it was so vile. Some of it was in the same vein as what was shown in this biographical crime drama. THOUGH THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI IS not that far from Chicago, Illinois; back in 1955 they were a world apart. Visiting his cousins in Mississippi required knowing how to act by Mississippi’s standards, something Emmett Till’s, played by Jalyn Hall (Bruiser, The App that Stole Christmas), mother knew all too well which explained her hesitation on letting him go. His trip would facilitate a change throughout the country. With Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall, The Devil to Pay) as Mamie Till-Mobley, Frankie Faison (Do the Right Thing, I’m Your Woman) as John Carthan, Haley Bennett (The Magnificent Seven, The Girl on the Train) as Carolyn Bryant and Whoopi Goldberg (Sister Act franchise, King of the Dancehall) as Alma Carthan; this film had a strong affect on me. Maybe because we are coming up to the anniversary date of Emmett’s date of death and the government just recently designating a national monument honoring him, I was glued to the story being depicted. Also, Danielle Deadwyler’s acting was outstanding and tragic at the same time, absolutely amazing. It was not easy watching several scenes in this movie; the amount of hate on display was startling and tragic. Everything came together, such as the sets, costumes, and direction to create a beautiful, sad movie about a mother’s worst nightmare.
3 ½ stars
moviejoltz 