“SILK ROAD”
2 STARS
Several aspects read as off-key between the real story of Ross Ulbricht and Silk Road’s movie adaptation. Don’t get me wrong. Filmmakers grab two crude tools for dramatic license all the time. They pick a blade of choice, anything between a guillotine or a scalpel, for whatever is the desired severity or precision. They also pick a mechanism for inflation, which can range from a bulbous hand pump to whatever engine fills a hot-air balloon, because movie’s need entertainment value that floats.
When you read the source material coming from David Kushner’s 2014 long-form piece from Rolling Stone…
“FLORA & ULYSSES”
3 STARS
To borrow a term from the great Stan Lee, there are casual comic book fans and then there are “true believers.” The latter never miss an issue of their favorites and, even greater, walk through life inspired by the heroic pillars written in and drawn through those page-turning panels. In the new Disney+ film Flora & Ulysses, we are graced by one of those true believers in a film that has its cape hung up out of sight, tights put away in drawers, and heart smack dab in the right place. …
“THE MAP OF TINY PERFECT THINGS”
4 STARS
When the two central lively teens in The Map of Tiny Perfect Things finish a walk-and-talk day around their hometown that might as well be an unofficial first date, the girl turns to the boy, not fishing for any kind of first kiss, shakes his hand and says “thank you for your time.” More often than not, it’s a non-confrontational line of courtesy that punctuates the end of a tedious phone call or a lackluster job interview. Yet here, it’s a bit of a rug pull for how their spark-filled, magical day ends.
LESSON #1: BE THANKFUL FOR…
“JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH”
4 STARS
LESSON #1: LEARN THE STORY OF FRED HAMPTON — If you want to discover who former Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton was and what he stood for, go straight to the source beyond Judas and the Black Messiah. Read the young man’s words and speeches. Better yet, hear those words instead. You won’t read or hear an unhinged raving lunatic. You’ll read and hear a firm, eloquent man addressing a class struggle and demanding socioeconomic equality and fairness in the matters of justice and peace. What he was pleading for was kept from him and his…
“THE MAURITANIAN”
3 STARS
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 stirred a national unity in America with elements that are both better and worse. The good has been the lionization of first responders and brotherhoods of support to help those affected in moments of tragedy. The bad has been a subculture of xenophobia bordering in jingoism against Muslim citizens and nations. That cross-section of Americans would rid the world of a religious group different from them if they could, even though 99% of who they target aren’t part of the problem. …
“MALCOLM & MARIE”
5 STARS
Malcolm & Marie is nothing short of emotional pugilism. Not a hair is harmed on any head, mind you, yet hearts, feelings, and psyches are pummelled and destroyed over the tumultuous course of its 106 hard minutes on Netflix. It is a wringer of an experience that remarkably takes its loud and large volume of delicately vicious battery and orchestrates mesmerizing renewal that is downright captivating.
Shot in 15 days last summer during the COVID pandemic, the setup of Malcolm & Marie is simple and edited to play as if it’s real-time. John David Washington’s Malcolm is an…
“SUPERNOVA”
4 STARS
Harry Macqueen’s sophomore feature film takes its name from the celestial phenomenon of “the explosion of a star in which the star may reach a maximum intrinsic luminosity one billion times that of the sun.” We even watch the far off flicker of one occurring pre-credits. “Maximum intrinsic luminosity” meaning peak essential brightness, eh? Yes, that can aptly describe the very earthly power of Supernova’s loving relationship and the brimming personalities united in that bond.
The most miraculous part of such an endearing glow is that this film’s story is wrapped in corporal darkness. Supernova follows a man…
“PALMER”
3 STARS
The ex-convict narrative is a well-worn path of familiar small stories. Every variant builds drama on most of the same precarious tipping points. There’s the “you can always go home” affections of loyal open arms set against burned bridges and judgmental local side-eye. You have the urge to shake institutionalization and find a good job thrust into a difficult market that overwhelmingly looks down on felons. You have the tug-of-war between making better life choices or falling into old habits that trigger parole violations and a return behind bars.
Any of those routes boil down to admirable efforts…
“THE LITTLE THINGS”
2 STARS
The very accomplished Denzel Washington is and has been many superlative things throughout his illustrious career. His signature intensity and ardent commitment to character have filled trophy cases and made him a magnetic draw across five decades now. One thing you could never call him was boring. Sure, the same can’t be said about all of his movies, but he was never (and I mean never) part of the dullness. Well, after nearly 50 films, there’s a first time for everything and John Lee Hancock’s The Little Things, debuting on HBO Max, is the culprit.
It’s ironic to…
“THE DIG”
2 STARS
It’s rare, as rare as the ancient treasure trove shown in the movie at hand, but sometimes you encounter a “based on a true story” movie that may have been more compelling and richly told as a documentary than a theatrical drama. The Netflix new release, The Dig, is one of those. Why? Call it subject matter versus character and the pendulum of revealed truths against manufactured melodrama. Sometimes, the dramatic licence amplifies the impact of the embedded facts, but in other instances the injected theatrics water down the truism. …
EveryMovieHasaLesson
Don Shanahan of “Every Movie Has a Lesson” is a middle school educator who writes film reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical.
