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Flash Movie Review: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
AT A JOB, I HAD TO find a way to work with someone I did not trust. It is harder than you think. This person had an ego, which was not a reason to distrust them. One of the things that I had a hard time with was the fact they would never admit to being wrong. In my position at the company, I would get copied on emails with them because it involved one of my companies I covered. Reading the emails they would send in reply to questions from the company was an amazing experience. I could not make out what they were trying to say because they were mentioning things that had nothing to do with the questions. At times, I was embarrassed thinking the customer must wonder how our company can conduct business based on this one person’s remarks. Feeling protective of my company’s reputation, I had to jump in and try to deflect the comments being made and give the customer the answer they were seeking. You would think the employee on the emails would have thanked me privately or send some positive feedback, but no. That was who they were and there was nothing I could do about it. But, when an answer or solution is needed one needs to find a way to work with someone, no matter how you feel about them. MY PHILOSOPHY IS “WHATEVER IT TAKES.” At that company where I worked with that egotistical individual, it at least taught me the importance of looking at the end results. While visiting with a friend, their two children decided they wanted to play in the same room where we were seated. I normally would not have an issue, but these two kids were notorious for fighting. And soon enough they started up while we were trying to have an adult conversation. My friend’s scolding to stop bickering lasted only for a short time before the two siblings were at it again. I was not in the mood to hear the squabbling. Seeing some toys in a container in the corner of the room, I asked the two if they could build a bridge that was strong enough to hold the weight of one of their toy cars. They took the bait and proceeded to pull items out of that container and sat down to figure out which items went where in the construction of the bridge. My friend and I continued our conversation in peace. I hoped the two siblings would learn and understand the importance of working together in life. It is a great message and one I appreciated in this science fiction, action adventure. DESPERATE TO GET MONEY FOR HOSPITAL bills, an older brother agrees to steal a car, not knowing this car had a mind of its own. With Anthony Ramos (A Star is Born, Honest Thief) as Noah Diaz, Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah, Project Power) as Elena Wallace, Luna Lauren Valez (The First Purge, Dexter-TV) as Breanna Diaz, Dean Scott Vazquez (In the Heights, 9 Bullets) as Kris Diaz and Sarah Stiles (Unsane, Get Shorty-TV) as Jillian; this latest in the movie franchise was better than some of the previous installments. However, it was not the best either. The action was plentiful and fast paced with decent special effects. I liked the chemistry between Anthony and Dominique. My issue was with the story and script. It did not provide me with much to latch onto and feel connected. There were different angles the writers were writing from that never really gelled for me. Plus, the excitement and thrill levels needed to go closer towards the extremes. It just never felt like there was enough time devoted to the scenes to let them develop into a more meaningful state. Maybe it was a struggle between film studio departments with budgets and such, but this could have been a better movie if everyone had worked better together.
2 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: Judas and the Black Messiah
IT IS ALL IN THE DELIVERY I discovered. There is something about a dynamic speaker delivering a message to a group. I saw proof of it when I was a reader at a wedding ceremony. Not that I want to brag, but there was a person before me who did a reading that had no feeling to it. More importantly, I did not feel any connection to what the person was saying regarding the couple being married. I looked around the church and saw some of the guests were looking down or whispering to each other. This made me more nervous than I already was since I was to be the next reader to go up to the altar to read a passage. Despite having practiced reading my passage for a couple of weeks, when it was my turn and I stood up, my stomach still trembled with nerves as I made my way to the alter. Once in position at the podium, I looked out at all the guests before taking a deep breath and began to read. I made a point to read slowly and look up at the audience from time to time. My biggest fear was put to rest when I did not fumble mispronouncing any of the words. After the ceremony, people stopped to tell me what a wonderful job I had done. In fact, one guest asked if I would be interested in becoming a reader at her church. The spoken word was alive and well and I felt good about my “performance.” SINCE THAT WEDDING, I HAVE PAID closer attention to speakers I encounter. Whether they are in person or televised, I notice the things they do or not do to engage with their audience. At a convention there was a seller in front of his booth who was talking about the products his company had developed. I happened to be familiar with the products; however, if I hadn’t been, I would not have stopped to listen to this presenter. He was monotone in his delivery, just standing still in one spot. It was a shame because the products were quite good. To make matters worse, this booth was next to another one that had a spokesperson who was dynamic and funny. Too bad their product was limited in its abilities; but you would not know based on all the attendees who were congregated around this booth to listen to the presenter. I could only imagine how the dry speaker next door was feeling with no one paying attention to him. Let us face it, having a spirited person as a spokesperson/leader is what can motivate people to want to be part of the experience they are talking about. There is a clear example of this in this Golden Globe winning, intense biographical drama. AS MORE INDIVIDUALS BECAME ATTRACTED TO what Fred Hampton, played by Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther, Queen & Slim) was telling them; the more concerned was the FBI. They needed to find someone to get close to Fred and his organization; but who would want to do such a thing? With LaKeith Stanfield (Knives Out, Sorry to Bother You) as Bill O’Neal, Jesse Plemons (The Master, Game Night) as Roy Mitchell, Dominique Fishback (The Hate U Give, The Deuce-TV) as Deborah Johnson and Ashton Sanders (Moonlight, The Equalizer 2) as Jimmy Palmer; this film festival winner grabbed my attention from the beginning and never let go. The entire cast of actors were remarkable in acting out their characters; however, Daniel and LaKeith were the big standouts for me. The script was both powerful and scary at the same time, to the point there were parts of this film that came across as a thriller. Taking the story as it was presented in this film, I could not believe what was being done to Fred Hampton. Not only was this an historical period of time being depicted in this picture; it was being told in a powerful and engaging way that I would soon not forget.
3 2/3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Project Power
DESPITE BEING TOLD NO TWO WERE alike, I wanted to see for myself. During the next snowfall, I tried to catch and see if each snowflake was truly different. My experiment was not really thought out completely; but in my defense, I was a little kid who wanted to see if the teacher was right. The snowflakes that landed on my gloved hand all looked similar to me; I just wished I had a magnifying glass to see up close the flakes. In our schoolbook, the pictures of the flakes were finely detailed and each one was unique. I remembered at the end of our lesson that day, the teacher had us take out a sheet of paper, fold it up and use a scissors to cut out different shapes along the edges. Once we were done, she told us to unfold the paper to see the snowflake we created. It was a fun trick that we enjoyed, as each of us compared our paper snowflake to the ones being held up around us. Though several flakes looked similar, none of us could find two snowflakes that looked identical; the teacher was correct. I liked the idea of each flake being different; my adult mind would say being unique. I FOUND MYSELF RELATING TO THE snowflake because I felt I was different from my classmates. Overall, most looked and dressed in typical school wear, some even shared similar likes and dislikes; but there was no mistaking I was the only one like me. I say this because I felt my differences were something that no other student in my classroom had ever displayed in the slightest way; I felt completely alone in this regard. Growing up in a time where everyone looked like they were trying to match each other, both in fashion and thought, I found myself out of synch with the majority. As I grew older that chasm between me and other students grew wider. Some classmates started to ignore me while others started acting out with hostility towards me. I did not understand; I was just being me. There was nothing different I was doing in my daily routines at school; but for some reason, several students picked on me. If I had my grown adult mind at that time, I would have realized they were acting out with their own insecurities, wanting to be part of the herd and not stand out. That was not me; I started to embrace my differences once I was old enough to understand them. The idea of people reacting and being different in this dramatic, crime action story is what attracted me to watch this film. A NEW DRUG WAS BEING PUSHED out by the drug dealers in New Orleans. Its claim was it could give you a superpower for 5 minutes; what you did with it was up to you. With Jamie Foxx (Ray, Law Abiding Citizen) as Art, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Walk, Don Jon) as Frank, Dominique Fishback (The Hate U Give, Night Comes On) as Robin, Rodrigo Santoro (The 33, Ben-Hur) as Biggie and Courtney B. Vance (Office Christmas Party, The Hunt for Red October) as Captain Craine; this science fiction film’s story had a great premise to build on. Casting Jamie, Joseph and Dominique increased the chances for this pseudo superhero movie to succeed; however, the script did not provide enough power to catapult this picture into the top tier of this type of genre. The story had a level of predictability as it incorporated several themes that have been done better before. I still enjoyed watching this movie, mainly because of the acting and comic book flavor of the scenes. There were some scenes that were too dark visually for me. I wished the writers had dug deeper into the dark side of the characters, along with expanding on the uniqueness each of us possess inside.
2 stars
moviejoltz 