Framing Britney Spears

Framing Britney Spears is a documentary surrounding the Free Britney movement produced by the New York Times.

It details her early rise to fame and shows how the media from an early age exploited her and treated her harshly. At the time, I never realized the level of harassment and the inappropriate questions that she had to navigate, especially very early in her life when she was on Star Search, later on during her break up with Justin Timberlake, where he weaponized potentially false allegations against her to sky rocket his career and after she shaved her head. You really do feel bad for her after seeing what she had to go through. I know people say it’s the tradeoff for frame, but is it, if men are not subjected to the same type of treatment? You can really see the deeply rooted sexism of our culture throughout this documentary.

It shows how quickly the media would turn on her, by poking fun at her mental health, or accusing her of being a bad mother and unfortunately she was a punchline for many years. The dangers of the paparazzi and how they could have been a detriment to her mental health, were also prevalent throughout.

The relationship between Britney and her father was presented in detail and showed what an opportunist he was, from the beginning, and how he could have been looking for a way to slide in as a conservator by exaggerating her health issues. There was also a case to be made that perhaps she never needed a conservatorship to begin with and that she was sound of mind enough to express her displeasure with the entire thing from the beginning.

If nothing else, the documentary does bring to light that some shady stuff may have gone on in regard to how her conservatorship was granted and also how her conservators have taken financial advantage of her for over 10 years. It also showcases the unfair treatment of women in the industry vs their male counterparts.

Freaky

Freaky is a campy horror film starring Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton. After serial killer, The Blissfield Butcher, played by Vaughn, stabs high schooler Millie, with an ancient dagger, their bodies are magically swapped, with less than 24 hours to break the curse.

The plot was a unique twist on Freaky Friday. It was entertaining and easy to follow. It had great themes around, finding your inner strength and being comfortable in your own skin. 

In regard to casting, I thought that Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton played well of each other and were great in their roles. Newton was a new face for me and brought a great mix of innocence and insecurity and later on fierceness and confidence. Vaughn was hilarious and also gave a bit of range outside his normal typecast. As for the rest of the group, I liked the diversity, I would have, however, liked stronger character development throughout. The stereotypical personalities for Millie’s two friends was overplayed. I would have liked to see more depth there.

If you are looking for proper, coming of age, black comedy slasher, this could be the one for you.

John Lewis: Good Trouble

 

John Lewis: Good Trouble is a documentary about former House of Representatives politician and Civil Rights activist, John Lewis. It was filmed about a year before he died.

I found it to be very informative. Some of the things brought up, I already knew about John, but there were some great additives in regard to his childhood, his early days of activism and the amount of positive impact he was able to have, in regard to legislation, while a member of the House of Representatives.

I particularly enjoyed seeing his more human side. It was great seeing him interact with the strangers that approached him in the airport, his peers and younger generation staff. You get to see him not only as a serious man, but also his more playful, light-hearted, funny side.

This documentary helped to enforce my appreciation for John Lewis and the sacrifices he made, until his dying day, for a more perfect union. He was a humble man of kindness and action, and this documentary showed that, making it well worth the watch.

One Night in Miami

 

One Night in Miami is the Golden Globe nominated drama, with a screenplay by Kemp Powers, which was based on his stage play of the same name. It focuses on a fictitious meeting between Cassius Clay (before he changed his name to Muhammad Ali), Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Malcolm X during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. Set in February 1964, after Clay won the heavy weight title in a surprise win over champion Sonny Liston, the four meet in a hotel to discuses each of their roles in the Civil Rights movement.

The direction by Regina King earned her a well-deserved best director nomination. The script was well written, the story was interesting and for a movie being completely driven by dialogue, it was still very entertaining.

The acting from the entire cast was Oscar worthy. They had great chemistry together and played well off of one another. British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir and Eli Goree were new faces for me and each of them did and amazing job brining their characters to life. Ben-Adir’s portrayal of Malcolm X was on the level of Denzel Washington. His mannerisms, his level of calm and the dictation in his voice was masterful. Goree's Cassius Clay was fun and likable in the way that Clay portrayed himself in real life. His delivery of his lines, especially the corny jokes, mixed his tone of voice, were spot on. I’ve seen Aldis Hodge in a few things now. I like the range of projects that he’s chosen and thought that his portal of Jim Brown was good. For me the one that stole the show was Hamilton’s, Leslie Odom Jr., who finally got to be “in the room where it happens” (Hamilton joke). He embodied Sam Cooke and also sang live, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

This was a very unique and believable idea. Even though there is no proof of this meeting ever happening, the fact that each of them were seen in Miami at Clay’s fight, and made major steps in pushing the Civil Rights movement forward, after this day, there has always been speculation that this meeting may have actually happened. I think that this movie brings a strong case for this idea and was well worth the watch.

Capone

 

Capone is a biographical drama detailing the last year of Al Capone’s life starring Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini and Matt Dillon.

Cardellini and Hardy had great chemistry. She as the devoted wife and he as the aging and dying former gangster. Hardy’s transformation as Capone was fantastic. His acting, mannerisms and voice, accompanied by the really well done hair, makeup and costumes, helped to solidify his standing as a leading man. His performance was so good, all I saw was Capone.

The script was a bit odd, it was marketed as a true story but there were definitely parts that the writer and director, Josh Trank, took the liberty to exaggerate or falsify for entertainment purposes. There were parts were you couldn’t tell if what the audience was seeing was real, a hallucination or a memory. There were scenes toward the end that almost felt like a parody, which was unfortunate because I don’t think the goal was for any of it to be particularly funny.

Even though Hardy put on a masterful performance, this movie wasn’t that great. Minus a couple of scenes, it was slow moving and lackluster.

To All The Boys: Always And Forever

 

To All The Boys: Always And Forever is a final installment of the To All The Boys trilogy, based off of the novels of the same name. It follows Lara Jean and Peter as they plan their futures together post high school while trying to navigate all the bumps that come with life after senior year.

This was another great acting performance from Lana Candor, who reprised her role as Lara Jean, and one of the better performances from Noah Centineo, who reprised his role as Peter. I thought he gave a lot more range and emotion this time around. As always the two actors had great chemistry together which really makes you want to root for them.

The plot was realistic, easy to follow and toward the end really gives you the feels. The character development was strong for the leads so it was easy to connect to their story. As far as the rest of the casting, they could have dug deeper, but I did appreciate the continued focus on diversity.

The editing with odd at times with the cartoonish backdrops. I'm not sure what the inspiration was for that, as they didn't do it in any of the other films.

To All The Boys: Always And Forever was in a sense a farewell letter to the fans. It provided a good amount of nostalgia mixed with a solid progression of this love story. An enjoyable and super cute wrap up of the trilogy.

The Little Things

 

The Little Things is a crime drama starring Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto. When Kern County Deputy Sheriff, Joe Deacon, is sent to Los Angeles he is under the impression that it will be a quick in and out to gather some evidence. Instead, he is lured into an active case to help search for a serial killer, which in turn, triggers old wounds for him.

The plot was interesting and the script was well written with some parts intentionally left open, encouraging the viewer to make their own decisions.

The acting from the entire cast was Oscar worthy, with Denzel leading the pack as Joe Deacon, a tattered and worn out former detective who is struggling with the ghosts of his past. Rami Malek was the new, hot shot detective, Jim Baxter, who will put everything he has into catching a killer and Jared Leto, was Albert Sparma, the creepy, self-proclaimed crime junky who is being investigated for the murders. The only critique I had is that the character development could have gone a bit deeper for everyone to allow a stronger audience connection.

The Little Things title comes from a phrase used in the film, “it’s the little things that get you caught in the end”. And it’s the little things that you have to pay to attention in this one. Overall it was pretty good film with some top notch acting. If you are looking for a thriller with some twists and turns throughout, this is one worth checking out.

After We Collided

 

After We Collided is the sequel to 2019’s After. It picks up a month after the original ended with Hardin fighting to win back Tessa’s love. Will Tessa forgive him or will she move on with her life? 

Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin reprised their roles as Tessa and Hardin, respectively. The casting also added some familiar faces such as The Vampire Dairies’, Candice King as Kimberly and How To Get Away With Murder’s Charlie Weber as Christian Vance. The acting from the majority of the cast wasn’t bad, Josephine Langford did the majority of the heavy lifting just like in the original. She’s the star that brings the range and connection to the role. I would have liked to seen an even deeper character development for her, but it looks like we will get more of that in the next film based off of the cliff hanger in this one. I haven’t seen Dylan Sprouse in many projects before this, but I liked his role of Trevor, the smart accountant, who is a bit awkward, with the dry sense of humor, who seems to have a genuine heart and looks after his friends. There were a couple of re-casts as well but it all went over smoothly and they continued to push the diversity of the cast which I appreciated.

I liked that they dug a little deeper in the character development for Hardin. I can empathize more with his addiction having a clearer picture of the root cause, but I had a hard time rationalizing some of his outbursts. I don’t know if he was written to be so emotional, destructive and childish, at times, or if that was overacting on Hero’s part, but either way, it was just too much.

The plot was entertaining and there were plenty of steamy, sexy scenes, but the script was pretty terrible and cheesy. It’s hard for me to get fully behind this 50 Shades of Grey mixed with Twilight inspired couple as I’m not a huge fan of romanticizing what appears to be a very unhealthy relationship but I'm game to see how this plays out in the next two installments.

Greenland

 

Greenland is an apocalyptic drama that follows a family fighting for survival in the face of an earth-shattering natural disaster.

The plot reminded me of Deep Impact. It was suspenseful and, for the most part, unpredictable. The script and character development didn’t fully lock me in but I was still down to be along for the ride.

The acting from the entire cast was well done. I thought that Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin, did well portraying a strained couple, with a complicated history, doing everything in their power to keep their child safe.

In the end I liked that Greenland was a typical action packed Gerard Butler movie. It’s one of those types of films that don’t require a lot of thought. I also thought that they did a pretty good job of tying everything up at the end. If you are a fan of Butler's work I’d recommend checking out this semi-descent thriller.

Soul

 

Soul is an animated comedy set in New York City. It follows the story of Joe, voiced by Jamie Foxx, a part-time music teacher and pianist. When he books the biggest gig of his life, an unfortunate misstep lands him in an unknown world, where he must help another soul, voiced by Tina Fey, before he can get back to the real world. 

I thought that the plot was interesting but might have been a little too complex for a kid-friendly movie. The themes of finding your spark aka your purpose in life and living your life to the fullest were prevalent throughout. The score was also a pretty good mix of upbeat and mellow jazz numbers that could be enjoyed by all. This I’m sure was due to the influence of a unique group of composures including Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Stephen Colbert’s band leader, Jon Batiste.

It’s nice that Disney/Pixar are focusing more on minority stories. Even though this movie was not my favorite and was a bit anticlimactic, it made a solid attempt at tugging at the heartstrings.

Like a Boss

Like a Boss is the story of best friends and cosmetic entrepreneurs, Mia and Mel, who are offered the deal of a lifetime by a beauty mogul only to discover that she will do anything to break up their friendship and steal their brand.

The plot was predicable but still enjoyable and the script was funny. I liked the themes around friendship, womanhood and promoting the beauty within.

I really appreciated the diversity of the cast. Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne did a wonderful job leading the group and had great chemistry together. At this point they both have been typecast but I still enjoyed their performances. I thought Salma Hayek looked beautiful and was able to successfully pull of being the villain. I hadn’t seen Jennifer Coolidge in a while and I’ve not seen Billy Porter in many roles so I enjoyed the extra comedy and flare they provided in their supporting roles.

The character development was pretty one dimensional. I would have liked them to dig a little deeper on the entire cast but overall you could still connect to the protagonists.

If you are looking for an easy to watch, heartwarming and witty comedy, this one is for you.