BlacKkKlansman Is The Best Spike Lee Film In Years

      

      The fall of 2018 has arrived with what appears to be the first wave of award season movie contenders such as A Star Is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, and Neil Armstrong's biography First Man with Ryan Gosling. Along with those films comes BlacKkKlansman, another controversial yet well-crafted biographical crime drama directed by Spike Lee. The story is based around true events centering around an African American police officer from Colorado Springs named Ron Stallworth, who successfully managed to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan headquarters with the help of his Jewish partner and surrogate, eventually becoming its leader undercover. Based on true events, Spike Lee chose to bring a story to the big screen, carrying with it emotional weight and power with themes that are relevant with today's political climate as the film draws strong parallels between the past and present. BlacKkKlansman has Spike Lee doing what he does best, which is presenting stories that dive into societal issues in today's world, often ones that affect minorities and display racism in society. Here with this story, he services the film to deliver direct parallels from past events to present day situations while delivering what's hands down his strongest work in decades

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      BlacKkKlansman is not just one of the best movies of the year, it's a well-executed story that's brilliantly acted and directed with great doses of energy in telling its story. It helps that the concept of the story is unique and not one that most of the audience is familiar with. The film delivers an exceptional study of both cultural and institutional racism in America, while providing hope of change because as the film showcases at one point, as strange as the scenario was, it actually happened. Lee takes you on a trip through the 70's era in a way that's both highly entertaining and often hilarious, while becoming serious when needed regarding the issue of race in America. Director Spike Lee has a flair for making films that are rich in performances, satirical in tone, stylish in directing, and entertaining as hell while incorporating elements and themes that make the audience ponder over the topics presented long after the film is over. The film tackles themes such as slavery, integration, ethnic cleansing, black exploitation, and anti-semitism with the overall message of the film saying that horrible things have been done in the name of preserving an America that's all white with the film stating the obvious that the KKK and white supremacists are very dangerous. Spike Lee also makes it a point to state that racism can find itself sneaking into basic mainstream ideologies, while being buried under the layers with social issues such as crime, immigration, and tax policy. As was the case with films such as Do The Right Thing, Malcom X, Get On The Bus, and Inside Man, Lee is unapologetic in delivering his case of racism in his films, but here he balances out the two different sides of the coin in regards to the issue while making strong cases for his arguments.

      On an acting and technical note, BlacKkKlansman has a strong cast that delivers terrific performances and bring these real-life figures to the big screen while making them complex. As far as performances go, John David Washington, son of legendary actor Denzel Washington ends up delivering a strong performance as Ron Stallworth, demonstrating that he has the range to command a film like his father on a dramatic scale while being more on the comical side. Adam Driver delivers what's easily his strongest performance yet as Stallworth's partner, who successfully infiltrates the KKK while Stallworth gets the attention of it's leader David Duke over the phone. Topher Grace does a solid job playing the infamous leader of the Klan, showing both his misguided influence over the branch as well as his arrogance as he's not able to figure out that the person he's been engaging with on the other side of the phone is a black man. Laura Harrier does a solid job playing Patrice Dumes, Ron's love interest with notable supporting roles from Robert John Burke as police Chief Bridges and Alec Baldwin as a segregationist in the films opening scene. Virtually the entire cast does a terrific job of bringing realism to their parts and helping sell what comes off as an outrageous scenario to the audience with the twist being it's not fiction, it's real life. On a technical note, the films cinematography is top notch, giving the film a satire feel with the costume design and art-set decoration further driving home the 70's feel of the story. The films acting and technical aspect all blend well to help enrich the films storytelling. The film flows at a steady pace, allowing enough time to develop the plot and characters without ever feeling it overstayed it's welcome.

       As a piece of filmmaking, BlacKkKlansman is a beautiful mixture of biography and crime mixing with political drama meshing together to create a film, that's not only extremely entertaining but has something to say about racism in today's culture. Spike Lee gives the film a sense of style, humor, and conviction in telling the story presented here while making a final case of the parallels in the films closing moments. Lee makes a stunning parallel between the racism depicted in the 70's and the resurgence of racial hatred in today's climate. While it can be said that Spike Lee most likely stretched out elements of this story for dramatic purposes, he does a sure fine job of making this film highly entertaining while miraculously not dividing audiences with his approach to the story and incorporation of political themes. Even if those don't necessarily agree with the points that Spike Lee makes with the story, there's much to enjoy with the film on an entertainment level. It's entertaining, it's provocative, it's funny, it's moving, and has something to say about the issue of race in America. For John David Washington, his performance is quite impressive and shows that he has a future in the industry as an actor, and can stand on his own apart from his dads legacy of being a terrific actor. For Spike Lee, this is easily his best film in decades with a strong chance of gaining some Oscar recognition. BlacKkKlansman is one of the most surprising films of the year, that entertains it's audience but also makes valid points regards to the theme of racism. For some it might be a little heavy on the political side, for others it's an unusual gem for a biography and crime drama, that manages to be totally worthwhile as a piece of entertainment while making it's audience alarmed to the issues surrounding today's society. For director Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman is a triumph and masterful piece of entertainment that can dazzle as well as inform it's audience.

                                                                                                            Final Verdict: SEE IT

Crazy Rich Asians Is A Sweet Romantic Comedy That Entertains While Breaking Cultural Barriers

      

      The summer of 2018 brought many blockbusters that came and went with most consisting of being comic book sequels such as Marvel's Infinity War, Deadpool ll, Ant-Man And The Wasp along with other blockbuster much anticipated sequels such as Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, and Incredibles ll. However with all the major blockbusters that came out in the first two thirds of the summer, the real story was both the critical and box office success of a romantic comedy that ended up being the first Asian-led, major Hollywood studio to hit theaters since 1993's The Joy Luck Club, while also becoming the biggest romantic comedy in six years. Based on the adaptation of the book with the same title written by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians is a contemporary romantic comedy, that focuses on a native New York economics professor named Rachel Chu, who travels to meet her boyfriends family and becomes shocked upon the realization they are among the richest people in Singapore. As of the writing of this review, the film has grossed over a total of $236 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing romantic comedy in over a decade. For those who haven't seen the film yet, the question still begs of whether the movie was any good on it's own excluding the hype and box office success that made it one of the great success stories of 2018. To put it in blatant terms, the answer to that question that's on those moviegoers minds is an enthusiastic yes.

      Crazy Rich Asians is a charming, sweet, and entertaining romantic comedy that takes what's essentially become a generic formula with romantic comedies, and manages to place its own stamp on the genre while being heartfelt and monumental with doing so. Bringing the film from book to the big screen was always a risky move with the inclusion of an all-Asian cast not having been done before on the big screen in the last 25 years. Watching the film, one always gets the feeling that the movie was destined to become a hit not just because of it's cultural breakthrough in the genre with it's cast, but how it manages to hit all the right notes for a romantic comedy that would make for a surefire hit it with audiences. The film doesn't attempt to take itself more seriously than just being great fun for it's target audience while poking fun at some of the classic stereotypes that are associated with Asian culture. The film tackles themes such as racism, extreme wealth, traditions, expectations placed upon those within Asian families, pursuing ones happiness, pursuing one's passion, royalty, sacrifice, love, respect, and knowing one's place. The ultimate message that the film delivers by it's end is that wealth does not make happiness, love does. The film explores and delivers all of these themes in a fashion that doesn't take itself too seriously, but always remains heartfelt upon doing so. The film borrows all the classic formulaic elements from the romantic comedy genre while taking a bold step forward in regards to representation of Asian culture on film.

      As far as acting and performances go, Constance Wu delivers a strong and likeable performance as Rachel Chu with Henry Golding performing equally well, making the young romantic couple totally believable, convincing, and engaging to where the audience wants to follow their fun-filled journey and inevitably see them together at the end of the film. Gemma Chan and Harry Shum Jr. deliver strong supporting performances, but the one true standout of the film is Michelle Yeoh, who plays the main character Nick's disapproving mother taking aim at his relationship before ultimately warming up to the idea by the films end. The romance presented in the film comes with it's complications with Rachel being on Nick's arm raising hostilities towards them with jealous friends and socialities along with Nick's mother participating in the resistance. The script written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, is a strong one for the genre as it allows for the audience to take delight on the situations happening on the big screen with them also thinking about it from a cultural standpoint. The writers mix old school styles and formulas that go with romantic comedies while incorporating serious topics into the script such as societal boundaries. Director Jon M. Chu directs the film in a style that makes it feel both like a musical as well as being a classic black and white romantic film, that comes with much visual flair to it. The cinematography, art-set decoration, and costume designs are top notch with the film fully embracing the culture of the characters it represents while showing the audience the richness of the story.

 It can be said that Crazy Rich Asians is not your typical romantic comedy. The film deliberately separates itself from the other romantic comedies and comes at the audience with a new approach while tackling important issues such as growing up while giving perspective such as what it's like to grow up in Asian culture and the expectations, that are placed on the children of the families while growing up. The film is a simple yet charming tale about love that not only entertains and charm the pants off its audience, but also manages to leave an impact on it's audience while breaking new ground for the genre. While it can be argued that the storyline for Crazy Rich Asians is rather generic for a romantic comedy and reasoning behind the films success is because of it being the first Asian led Hollywood production since The Joy Luck Club, one can also say that it's also the movies heart and approach to it's story while maintaining absolute respectability to the culture it represents that made it a smash it both critically and financially. The movie feels like it was made with a labor of love as well as excitement and passion to tell this story and to do so in a way which can make the audience see the world from a different perspective and get into their shoes. If that was the intent of making this movie then the filmmakers succeeded as Crazy Rich Asians is nothing short of being fun to watch while making the audience feel good upon leaving the theater. It's truly quite surprising that one of the greatest box office stories of the year so far just happens to be the best romantic comedy of the year. Crazy Rich Asians is the perfect romantic comedy that audiences have been looking for and desire to see.

                                                                                                            Final Verdict: SEE IT

Venom: A Fun Yet Mediocre Origin Story Made Worthwhile By It's Excellent Lead

 

      For most comic book movies, 2018 has proven to be a groundbreaking year for comic book movies with Marvels Black Panther achieving both critical acclaim and box office stature to become the third highest grossing movie ever domestically, Infinity War receiving the same kind of critical and box office acclaim while being a massive improvement over Age Of Ultron, Deadpool ll being a stronger sequel than it's predecessor despite making less money in the end, and Ant Man And The Wasp proving to be the sweet dessert audiences needed after enduring the shocking climax of Infinity War. Fast-forward to October with the fall movie season already getting underway with October having record breaking box office success with Venom and Halloween 2018. There has been much controversy over the release of Venom with many fans desiring for Sony to hand the rights of the character over to Marvel so he can officially join the MCU, and receive a proper origin story along with the short running time and PG-13 rating spelling out disappointment for many fans. What cemented the fears of most Venom fans, was the critical drubbing the film received from critics upon it's release with many criticizing the films story and lack of true impact on the audience in comparison to some of the other comic book movies that came out this year. Having seen the film now, one can say with some reassurance that the film isn't as terrible as the critics made it out to be but it also isn't great either. The film falls in the category of being just okay to borderline decent and it's mainly due to it's exceptionally fantastic star who literally carries the film on his shoulders: Tom Hardy.

       Venom is not the trainwreck it's made out to be but rather a fun yet enjoyable ride, that works mainly because Tom Hardy is a truly awesome actor, who brings the character to life and gives him a level of depth that wasn't present with Topher Grace's Venom in Spiderman 3. Unlike that Venom, Hardy's Venom works and essentially makes the rest of the film worth watching even if the story isn't that great for it. The storyline for Venom centers around an investigative reporter named Eddie Brock played by Tom Hardy, gathering evidence against a corrupt scientist played by Riz Ahmed, who produces symbiotic human/alien creatures. When Brock becomes infected with an extraterrestrial being, he ends up becoming the host for the sinister creature called Venom with his dual personality speaking with two voices and demonstrating superhuman abilities including raging anger that manages to intoxicate the reporter with power. Reading the synopsis for the plot of Venom, it sounds true to the origin story of the character, but also has the audience asking on the back of their minds the question of where is Spiderman. The answer is Tom Holland Spiderman is nowhere to be found with this version of the Venom story focusing on the character of Eddie Brock and his transformation into the comic book super villain/anti-hero that audiences know him to be. This film basically rides on the performance of Tom Hardy, whose both convincing in the part as well as coming across as being rather goofy at times, particularly when he does his split personality as Brock and Venom. Those moments are easily the best of the entire movie and are sure to prompt huge moments of laughter from the audience. Hardy takes what's essentially a generic and bland origin story and makes it a rather enjoyable experience when he becomes Venom. Michelle Williams does a solid job playing Brock's fianc'ee and lawyer for the Life Foundation. Her relationship with Brock becomes more complicated when she is fired by her firm after Eddie reads her email for confidential information in order to confront the films main antagonist Carlton Drake regarding the information. What begins as being a rather generic female comic book character that Williams plays, takes an interesting twist as she becomes the female Venom that comic book fans are familiar with later on in the movie sharing one of the films best moments with Brock. Hardy and Williams are the strongest actors in the film and work hard to give complexity to their characters despite being given a rather bland script.

      On a technical level, the film plays out like a monster horror movie that has all the trimmings and makings of a superhero film with themes such as creating a super-race, extraterrestrials, world domination, crime, justice, courage, and conservation of resources being covered along with traditional superhero themes such as love, helping others, and commitment being incorporated into the films script. The message that Venom despite being sloppy fun that doesn't attempt to take itself too seriously, says that science that is meant to improve humanity can backfire on mankind. For the films main plot, it's neither groundbreaking or terrible, it just comes across as going through the motions for a comic book origin story mixed with a touch of classic monster formula. As far as the films look goes, the special effects are impressive and give Venom a far more appealing look than what Spiderman 3 presented to audiences. The moments in the film where Hardy transforms and becomes the Venom are the best scenes of the movie, delivering both nice visuals as well as laughter for the audience when both personalities clash with each other. Eddie and Venom's relationship are the moments where the film truly comes alive and makes it worth the price of admission alone. Their relationship is done so convincingly well, that one wishes they had their own symbiote latched onto them so they can dwell in similar conversations with their other half, no matter how absurd they become. As far as the films editing, the movie flies at a brisk pace and never feels like its moving slow, but it also doesn't leave enough time for the story to truly expand as well as the side characters and relationships to develop such as Eddie and Anne. The first half of the movie clearly struggles in terms of establishing the story and getting off the ground but once Brock becomes Venom, the movie truly comes to life and takes off with full steam. The CGI for Venom is not groundbreaking by any means, but it still manages to leave an impression with audiences as it looks and feels more like the Venom that fans grew up with both in the comics and 90's Spiderman cartoon that aired on FOX.

      Overall, Venom is not the horrific disaster that critics made it out to be, but it's also not on the same level of awesomeness that other comic book films this year reached such as Marvels Black Panther, Deadpool ll, and Infinity War. It can be argued though that Venom never attempts nor tries to be as epic as those films in regards to storytelling and scope, but rather chooses to tell a more simple yet fun-filled origin story. On that level, Venom succeeds despite having a rather bland and sloppy script that becomes saved through Tom Hardy's performance (That guy can truly act). Venom is not a bad movie but it's also not a great one, it falls somewhere in the middle and serves as being a fun ride but mainly due to the scenes where Brock and Venom share the screen together. Their moments give audiences a glimpse of what the film could've been had the script been stronger, the movie been darker with an R rating, and the running time being two to two and a half hours to allow for more characters and subplots to be further developed. For some fans, they will find themselves longing for these essential things and may end up agreeing with the general consensus from the critics, that the movie is severely lacking in quality compared to other superhero films that came out this year. For other that grew up with Venom, the movie will prove to be a step in the right direction in terms of getting a better version of the anti-hero put on the big screen with the next step being incorporating him into the Marvel Universe (Though I suspect that won't happen until after a sequel with Carnage emerges). Despite it feeling as if the filmmakers held back on showing Venom's craziness with the lack of an R rating and short running time, the movie still provides solid entertainment for the audience along with packs of laughter that's largely thanks to the films main star. It is a true testament to an actors greatness when the main star practically saves what could've been a disastrous origin story in a similar vein to Halle Berry's Catwoman or the 2015 Fantastic Four, and elevates the film to being a fun ride, that manages to just enter the territory of being decent. Here's hoping the script is much better next time and Sony gives the filmmakers more free reign with the sequel since Venom proved to be a huge success. As a standalone origin story, Venom just barely succeeds on its own without it's hero counterpart to stand on the opposite side, it's loud, it's noisy, it's chaotic, but also hilarious and somewhat accomplishes what it set out to do which is to entertain it's audience.

                                                           Final Verdict: SEE IT (But only for Tom Hardy's performance, he makes the movie)