The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is a military drama that follows members of a bomb squad in Iraq. At the time when this movie came out it was praised for its storytelling, editing and cinematography. It also won the 2010 Academy Award for best picture and best director, which was a big deal, because the director, Kathryn Bigelow, was the first female in history to accomplish that feat. 

At the time Jeremy Renner who played, Sergeant First Class William James, and Anthony Mackie who played, Sergeant J. T. Sanborn, were relatively unknown. The roles they played in this film were compelling. They did a great job of really bringing you into their reality. Showcasing the intensity, stress and fear that is wrapped into their job. The film is 8 years old but still very relevant today. Roger Ebert said it best "a great film, an intelligent film, a film shot clearly so that we know exactly who everybody is and where they are and what they're doing and why. The camera work is at the service of the story. Bigelow knows that you can't build suspense with shots lasting one or two seconds. And you can't tell a story that way, either -- not one that deals with the mystery of why a man like James seems to depend on risking his life.”

What I don’t necessarily agree with was the movie winning an Academy Award for best picture. Although the cinematography provided for a very realistic feeling, personal and gritty film there were times when the movie moved too slowly for me. Additionally, even though I knew by that point why the William James character was making reckless decisions it didn’t make sense to me why he was able to get away with so many poor decisions, thus causing me some frustration. So because of those couple of things, I would say that, it was a good movie but not one what I would seek out to see again.

13TH

13th is an incredibly well researched documentary by filmmaker Ava DuVernay. She helps to break down the institutionalized racism within the United States and how that affects the disproportionate population of minorities, especially African Americans, in the prison system. 

It was compelling in detailing how the people in power have oppressed minorities for hundreds of years. It shows how easy the passing of the 13th amendment turned slaves into criminals. The documentary addresses laws that were dressed up a certain way but were really just ways of further disenfranchise the minorities in this country. They talk about the rise of the KKK and Jim Crowe laws, the way the FBI and other police sects would attack any minority political figure during the Civil Rights Movement all the way to the current state of the prison system and how Ronald Regan and the Clintons made it even easier to put minorities into prison for minor crimes. They also found ways to monetize the system thus making it even more lucrative to imprison minorities.

The documentary was easy to follow and engaging. Although what I saw was incredibly overwhelming, disheartening and depressing, I’m glad that it was brought to light. Hopefully documentaries like this will help to wake some people up and encourage more discussions on ending institutionalized racism and making some real change on prison reform. This is definitely a documentary that I think that everyone should see.

Breaking In

Breaking In is produced by and stars Gabrielle Union. It follows her character, Shuan, who is tasked with selling her recently deceased father’s tech savvy family home. She brings her children along, for the weekend, to assist with the sale, not realizing that they are not alone in the home. She then has to fight to protect her family from the invaders.

I thought it was great that Gabrielle Union choose to take the reigns as producer and star. I was hoping with that extra incentive that something really great would be brought to the screen. I thought that the acting from Gabrielle and the two who played her children were good and the casting of her daughter, Jasmine, played by Ajiona Alexus was spot on, but unfortunately that couldn’t save the movie. What I was hoping to be more like a new generation’s version of Jodie Foster’s Panic Room mixed with Jennifer Lopez’ Enough turned out to be more like one of Halley Berry’s recent barrage of D List movies that you wouldn’t even want to watch at home for free.

This movie had so many misses, it lacked strong character development, which made it hard to connect to any of the characters or care what happened to them. It also made it hard to understand the motive of the story. The plot was interesting and I kept hoping it would get better but dropped the ball when it became unbelievable. Additionally, the script was written terribly and at times very corny thus causing me to no longer want to be engaged in the movie.

Even though I really wanted to support this cast, this is a movie that I would suggest saving yourself the hour and a half of disappointment and the $20, by avoiding this one.

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is the story of Thanos, a villain looking to correct the plants overpopulation by destroying half of the souls on it. The Avengers, currently disbanded, try to rebuild in order to prevent him from ending it all. 

This movie picks up where Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther left off. This is the third Avengers film and so far the best of its series. Infinity War was an action packed blockbuster with an amazing cast. I liked that they mixed up the character groups and had heroes from different franchises interacting with one another.

I thought that the plot was unlike any other in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was unpredictable, clear, concise and at times, quite funny. It was a great mix of the last 3 hits, Captain America Civil War, Thor Ragnarok, and Black Panther.

The only issue I had was I thought that it was a bit overwhelming with the cast so large. I felt like we had to do a lot of jumping from scene to scene and planet to planet because we were following so many different characters. I really wanted to stay longer in certain scenes, and see more of some of the characters, but couldn’t because of all of the moving pieces. The crazy part is that we were Avengers characters that didn’t even make it into this film.

In the end though, this movie was really entertaining. The cliff hanger ending made me want more and I can’t wait to catch part two. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.