2016 Film Preview: February

February. Not quite the throw away month as January but there's usually a good picture or two worth watching. Although, the Oscars are approaching and Hollywood would prefer that you spend time viewing the nominated films. I get the list from Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, some other source or from watching tv. So some titles may slip through the cracks. Anyway, here we go...

February 5th

• Hail Caesar: The latest release from the Coen Brothers that touts an all-star cast. Set in 1950's Hollywood where a studio "fixer" must locate a kidnapped star. I'm a big believer in the Coens so I will be seeing this film.

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The zombie genre seems to be getting a little stale. What to do next? Send the zombies back to early 19th century England to let Jane Austen have a crack at them of course. It's perfectly natural to tighten up the old corset prior to laying waste to the zombie horde. This looks fun but also stupid. Kudos for trying to think of something different. Pass.

• The Choice: Another Nicholas Sparks adaptation where a studly white guy who can never keep a shirt on, falls a nubile, young blonde (there's a plot twist) hottie in an affluent North Carolina shore community. The blonde looks 19 and the shirtless stud looks about 30 but despite the odds they make it work I guess. The only "choice" is to not see this dreck. Who keeps reading Spark's books. They get adapted into the same movie. Every. Single. Time.

• Dad's Army: Hijinx in 1944 England (you know during funny part of WWII) where a group of elderly reservists try to catch a spy. Catherine Zeta Jones is the pseudo femme fatale and there's more of your favorite British actors whose names you may not know but have seen in a bunch of stuff, like Bill Nighy. Think Eye of the Needle meets a Monty Python sketch. British humor is hit or miss on this side of the Atlantic. Who knows how large of a release it will get here. Could be an interesting change of pace choice. Though, I didn't think the trailer was funny.

• Regression: Ethan Hawke is a Minnesota detective in 1990 who's investigating an alleged assault on Emma Watson based on repressed memories or something supernatural. I feel like this has been done before. Pass.

• Misconduct: Josh Duhamel is a good looking special prosecutor who's going after big pharma CEO Anthony Hopkins. Al Pacino, who uses a southern accent as a hot shot NYC lawyer, is Duhamel's boss or something. Malin Ackerman plays the Glenn Close role from Fatal Attraction. Seems a bit like The Firm. 

• Tumbledown: A small town music phenomenon dies unexpectedly and a reporter (Jason Sudeikis) goes to said small town to interview the dead artist's wife (Rebecca Hall). He's from the big city and she's small town. Can two total opposites fall in love? Given! By the looks of it, this picture is a refreshed version of Continental Divide.

• All Roads Lead To Rome: Sarah Jessica Parker takes her rebellious teenage daughter to Rome and coincidentally runs into old Italian heart throb she had a thing for. Standard middle aged American woman goes to Europe to find love snoozefest. Does Parker have any fans left? Are there studio execs who think the movie going public wants to see Parker in anything? 

February 12th

• Deadpool: Marvel tried to bring Deadpool out in the ill fated X-Men Origins: Wolverine film back in 2009. Ryan Reynolds gets another crack at the character in an adaption that appears to be a little closer to the source material. Deadpool was a little after my time as a comic book guy so I have no emotional investment in the film like I would say X-Men Apocalypse. The trailer looks good and I will probably find a way to see this film. Perhaps while I'm in Pomona in a few weeks.

• Zoolander 2: Why? Was there a real cry for a Zoolander sequel in the last 15 years? It's more than very possible that I missed it if there was. Did people miss the jokes from the first film? Because you're going to get the same ones this go around. Ben Stiller is creative, talented and funny with a proven track record. My only hope is that the studio gave him such a large truckload of money that he couldn't turn it down. I was never enamored with the original back in the day. Pass.

• How To Be Single: Pure dreck! Admittedly this film is not geared toward my demographic but the trailer is painful to watch. Rebel Wilson plays an Amy Schumer-esque (Trainwreck) mentor to Dakota Johnson's cutesy "small town girl in the big city" or "fish out of water" trope. Take your pick. Awful. It's set in NYC so there are awesome apartments that no one can remotely afford in real life and all the other stuff that goes along with these types of films. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

• Remember: This is a Canadian film that is getting it's U.S. release on this date. The subject matter is a difficult but worthy. Christopher Plummer plays a holocaust survivor who hunts down the Nazi guard that killed his family. 

• Standoff: Check out the trailer here. Laurence Fishburne is an assassin who gets IDed by a young girl after he kills everyone at a funeral. The girl runs to Thomas Jane's house for protection. Jane is a veteran who vows to protect the girl. Good cast. Good looking trailer. Might be worth the time.

• Bad Hurt: Another film with heavy subject matter. A small town family copes with having a veteran son with PTSD (that's my guess as it's not specified in the trailer) and a special needs daughter. Things take their toll as they try keep it together and weather the storm.

• The Final Project: Found footage film about a group of Southwest Louisiana University students that go and spend some time at a haunted plantation. Been there. Seen that. Next.

February 19th

• Race: The based on a the true story of Jesse Owens. For those who may not know, Mr. Owens went to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The capital of Nazi Germany run by that Hitler guy. He managed to win 4 gold medals and put a fly in the ointment of Hitler's master race theory. Mr. Owens was also Black. At a time when being Black wasn't easy in America, the bastion of freedom and equality. My hope is the this film can stand in the same room as 42 (2014's Jackie Robinson biopic). I would like to see this film at some point this year. 

• Risen: This is the 1st of two Jesus films in 2016 (how could get so lucky?). Ralph Fiennes brother plays a Roman soldier who goes on a manhunt for the body of Jesus Christ. Apparently there was a lot of hullaballoo about Jesus rising from his tomb and Fiennes is dispatched to find out what the hell is going on. 

• The Witch: Set in the 17th century, weird sh*t starts to happen to some pilgrim types and their simple minds go immediately to witchcraft. It doesn't help that one of the townsfolk has a creepy black horned goat that does creepy things. I'll be honest, the trailer wasn't bad but I'll wait to see what the buzz around the film is before viewing. 

• Forsaken: Jack Bauer goes back to the old West and is trying to escape his past but finds it hard to do so. Eventually he gets pulled back into what he does best. Killing. I don't care what century you're in, you DO NOT F*CK WITH JACK BAUER! Solid cast but it looks like a slowed down version of Tombstone without any historical reference. Pass.

February 26th

• Gods of Egpyt: Remember not too long ago when the film Exodus caught heat for having an all white cast set in ancient Egypt? Well this time, Gods of Egypt has made baby steps as it merely has predominant caucasian cast (progress!). Though, there's not too much diversity amongst the main characters. The very white, very British Gerard Butler is a shirtless villain who has a lot of power and is a bit of a despot. Lots of CGI. Not too different from Clash of the Titans except the gods are Egyptian. Instead of shirtless dudes with great abs in togas, you get shirt dudes with great abs in tunics. Pass!

• Triple 9: Set in Los Angeles, Casey Affleck joins Anthony Mackie's elite police unit and learns that there's more than meets the eye. Think Training Day with a little Point Break thrown in (bank robbing cops with Woody Harrelson in the Gary Busey role). This could be interesting or it could be terrible. I'm going to play it safe and wait & see. 

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny: Can a sequel be successful with 15 years between installments and without the entire original cast or director? The majority of the time that answer will be "not a chance." However, I'm a bit intrigued by the trailer considering Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of my all-time favorites. Michelle Yeoh is back but Ziyi Zhang (she jumped off Wudan Mountain at the end of the film, fate unknown?). Can Yeoh carry the film as the only major returning character. Who knows. The film is set for a limited Imax release on this date and will be available on Netflix as well. I will most likely watch this on Netfilx and get back to you later.

2015 Films: #32. Goodnight Mommy

An On Demand purchase for the evening of Saturday 30 January 2016 in Chicago. This Austrian film received an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it seemed like a good horror choice. The picture is written and directed by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz. A mother (Susanne Wuest) recuperates from plastic surgery in their isolated Austrian lake home (even in Europe, nothing good happens in an isolated home in the woods!) with her two sons (played eerily to perfection by Lukas Schwarz and Elias Schwarz). Elias and Lukas seem like any other 10 year old boys by swimming in the lake, exploring the woods and doing kid stuff. The only problem is that their mother seems a bit different. They start to feel that maybe, the person underneath the bandages isn't their mother.

As the film goes on, the twins become more convinced that they're living with an impostor. After she medicates herself, the twins tie her down to the bed and interrogate her. Despite her please, they don't believe her. The mother gets a chance to escape when she's ordered to change the sheets on the bed but she gets knocked unconscious by a trap that the twins set. When she awakes, she's bound to the floor and Elias interrogates her some more. The mother pleads for her life and promises to go back to the way it was but to no avail. There's a big reveal (if you're paying attention you can figure it out) and then things end badly.

This is a disturbing film. I mean, when it's creepy evil kids (regardless of nationality) things can get unsettling. Franz and Fiala keep it the story simple and use the countryside imagery to set the tone of isolation. If you're into creepy tension mounting horror films, then this is a must see. It's a really good film that's worth watching. Those twins are some twisted f*ckers.

2015 Films: #31. Sicario

This was an On Demand rental that was viewed on January 17th in the comforts of my own home in Chicago. This picture was released back in in the Fall and I was really interested in seeing it but just wasn't able to getting around to it for some reason. The film was well received critically (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) and has grossed $80 million worldwide to date against a $30 million budget.

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt)  heads up an FBI kidnap response team in Phoenix and while raiding a home they stumble upon over 40 bodies that appear to be victims of the drug cartel. In the expanded search of the grounds, 2 agents are killed in an explosion of an IED. Kate is then recruited by the mysterious Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) for an even more mysterious "task force" that Kate reluctantly volunteers for. Their 1st mission takes them to El Paso where the mission briefing talks of going into Juarez with a Delta Force unit leading the way to extradite a high ranking cartel member. At the briefing, Kate meets Matt's buddy Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and realizes that something is not quite right.

Graver let's Kate know that they are going after the Mexican Cartels and they don't do things by the book. Graver is going after the Cartel's top man in the U.S. with the hopes that he will lead them to his boss. Kate gets an idea of how deep things go when she's nearly killed by a Phoenix cop that she meets in a bar. Kate and her partner Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya) tag along on another mission into a drug smuggling tunnel. Alejandro breaks off from the main group and is followed by Kate. Alejandro lets Kate know that he's got his own mission parameters by shooting Kate when she tries to apprehend them. The body armor takes the brunt, but she's incapacitated. When she gets back to the group, she and Reggie confront Graver and he tells them that he's CIA and they're only here because the CIA cannot operate within U.S. borders without a Federal domestic law enforcement agency. The were just pawns all along.

This a really good film and it deserves all the accolades its received. However I was a little disappointed. I've come to the conclusion that this is a "me-problem" as I was anticipating a grittier front lines version of Traffic, which it isn't. Director Denis Villeneuve does a very nice job of portraying the government's lack of morality in the escalating drug war (very similar to the narrative in Clear and Present Danger). Great performances by an all-around solid cast. Benicio Del Toro is nothing short of scary asa the revenge driven Alejandro. He probably doesn't get enough credit for his performances. He's a very driven actor devoted to his craft. Brolin pretty much plays the same character he usually plays which is not to say he doesn't phone the performance in, far from it. I mean, if the CIA was conducting shady operations against the cartel, I would think a guy similar to Brolin's character would be on the team. Blunt is also very good as Kate Macer. Very believable a divorced FBI agent who's married to her job. I kind of feel that her character is very similar to Rachel McAdams' Detective Ani Bezzerides from True Detective...

Search for yourself. It's pretty close. Bezzerides is more of a bad ass. 

This is a really good film that people should see. Great performances and a very good director who's work should be viewed and future work anticipated. It's my own fault that I expected more from this picture. 

2015 Films: #30. Love and Mercy

This title was an iTunes rental that I watched while flying from San Antonio to Chicago on January 11th. This film was released back in June of this year took in over $2 million opening weekend while showing on only 480 screens and to date has grossed over $13 million. This film has gotten a lot of positive reviews and received a 90% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. The film centers on Brian Wilson, the creative force behind The Beach Boys during the recording of the 1966 Pet Sounds album as well as Wilson's life in the mid-80s.

Paul Dano plays the young Wilson and John Cusack plays 80s Wilson. Wilson suffered a crippling anxiety attack after a tour and asks the rest of the band to not tour so he can concentrate on making music. In addition to anxiety, Wilson is also suffering from other mental illnesses and he slowly starts the descent into insanity. Cusack's portion of the film deals with Wilson during his therapy with Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) circa 1985. Landy was Wilson's legal guardian during the 70s when mental illness and drug use turned Wilson into a 300 pound recluse.

Wilson on the left, Landy on the right. Not pictured is Wilson's burritos.

Wilson eventually comes out from under the thrall of Landy with the help of his girlfriend Melinda (Elizabeth Banks). Once again Hollywood proves that all that is needed to cure mental illness is love.

This film was highly regarded for good reason, it's really good. Dano, who seems to excel at playing strange characters, looks a lot like Wilson and does an excellent job of portraying Wilson under the pressures of writing songs for the band and the time where his grip on reality began to loosen. Cusack does a nice job but he plays Wilson kind of like Russell Crowe played John Nash in A Beautiful Mind (because in Hollywood, mental illness is portrayed the same way for males). Giamatti is great as the sleazy Landy, who keeps Wilson on a tight leash. There are some harsh scenes like when Landy blows up and Wilson for eating Melinda's hamburger that show the hold he had over Wilson.

Director Bill Pohlad neatly blends the different times in Wilson's life to tell the story. He is able to put to screen Wilson's artistic vision of what would become the Pet Sounds album (apparently a commercial failure but critical success at the time). Dano and Giamatti give great performances but apparently not enough to woo the Academy. This is a really good film that probably caters to an over 35 crowd or young Brian Wilson/Beach Boy fans. The accuracy may not be spot on, but it's really close.

2016 Film Preview: January

January is traditionally a dumping ground for films that the studios don't feel good about. Occasionally you get a home run like Taken in 2009 ($24 million opening weekend, total gross of $145 million against a $25 million budget and not an awful film) but for the most part the cupboard is pretty bare.

So I can across an article about January 2016 films to see and I had to put my two cents in. So I'll list the films that may not be bad and titles that should be ignored. This is only 2016 releases, a film like The Revanant are getting wider releases in this weekend after a limited release on Christmas Day. Here we go...

January 15th

• Ride Along 2: Most of the cast from the original returns as Ben is now a full fledged police officer and goes to Miami with Ice Cube to bust a drug ring. I never saw the firs installment but I guess that there's more of the same shenanigans here. Kevin Hart is very talented but he's pretty much typecasted playing the same person in every film. Wait until this one comes out in another form (streaming or DVD) and check it out then. It looks stupid which is a shame because both Hart and Ice Cube can do better.

• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi: The latest feature from Michael Bay deals with the CIA security contractors who defended the American diplomatic compound during the 2012 Benghazi attack. The trailer seems to deal with the men who fought off the attacks but who know if it gets politicized.It appears to follow in the footsteps of Lone Survivor (another January release), small group of highly trained ex-soldiers facing overwhelming odds. Might be worth a look but it's Michael Bay so buyer beware.

• The Benefactor: Written and directed by Andrew Renzi, the film is about a wealthy guy who inserts himself into the life of a young couple because due to the guilt over the death of his ow family. Things get a little weird. I'm neither hot or cold on this one. If the buzz becomes to great to ignore then I may check this out but I can see waiting until it hits Netflix. I'll probably forget about it though.

• 400 Days: A science fiction thriller about four prospective astronauts who go into a simulation to test the stress of being isolated in space (my guess is around 400 days). Something happens and things start to breakdown. Problem #1 with the film...Dane Cook in a sci-fi film. No thanks.

• A Perfect Day: The English speaking film debut of writer/director Fernando León de Aranoa features a solid cast as aid workers in 1995 Serbia. They're trying to fill a well but run into a dead body. Suffice to say that those in charge would prefer to just leave the body in the well and forget about the whole thing. Looks interesting.

• Intruders: Rednecks break into the home of a woman who's father just died and left her a satchel full of cash. However the thieves get more than they bargained for...

January 22nd

• The Fifth Wave: Earth has been invaded by aliens and they can appear human. It's a cross between ID4 and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Next!

• The Boy: A nubile twenty something female gets a nanny job in a creepy house with creepy parents and a creepy "kid." Scary things  happen. Ugh! No thanks!

                                     

Mojave: This rime thriller debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2015. It was released on DirecTV Cinema in December and is now getting it's theatrical release. Probably due to the fact that Oscar Isaac a hot commodity. Isaac plays a drifter that runs into a guy out in the desert and the meeting doesn't go well. Isaac proceeds to stalk the guy and things don't go well. Not too original. 

• Dirty Grandpa: Robert DeNiro teams with Zac Efron and hijinx ensue. Based on the title, who's the antagonist? Does DeNiro not have enough money? Did he feel the need to work with Efron because he dressed up like Travis Bickle in a another film? Run away!

• Synchronicity: Sci-fi thriller about a guy who invents time travel and things go awry. To be honest, this looks kind of cool.

• Ip Man 3: The 3rd film about Bruce Lee's master. There's some cool martial arts stunts and the trailer looked really cool. Until there's a fight with Mike Tyson. Not sure how I feel about that.

• Prescription Thugs: Documentary about America's prescription drug consumption and the power and influence that Big Pharma has. Remember the plot of  The Fugitive? Their power and profits have grown exponentially since then. This looks very interesting and I will see this picture in some form or another.

January 29th

• Kung Fu Panda 3: The latest installment of the franchise returns with your favorite voice actors. More Pandas equals more fat jokes. Has this franchise got anything left in the tank? Apparently not, so there's still money to be wrung out of it.

• The Finest Hours: Based on a true story, though it looks a lot like The Perfect Storm. Which is a different true story. Judge for yourself. I will take a pass on this.

• Jane Got a Gun: Natalie Portman's husband has some not so friendly gents coming for him and he's unable to defend himself. Portman enlists the help of a reformed gunman who happens to be very studly. Apparently this film has been plagued by production issues and multiple release dates. That's never a good thing. Check out the trailer but I'd avoid this film at the theater. 

• Fifty Shades of Black: Remember when Marlon Wayans did some real edgy stuff? I sure do. He's back doing spoofs. Work is work and I hope he's doing well. Sometimes I think he's wasting his talent but the mortgage doesn't pay itself. This time Fifty Shades of Grey gets the treatment. There's some jokes in there that would make some people (Caucasians) wonder if it's racist to laugh at them. Since I never cared enough about the source of this parody I'll probably pass on this. Here's a trailer link.

2015 Films: #29. The Big Short

This was the 2nd film in the New Year's Day double feature. Based on Michael Lewis' 2010 book of the same name about the 2007-08 global financial crisis that came about due to the the unstable mortgages and credit bubble. The film received an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and is directed by Adam McKay containing an all-star cast. McKay is probably not the director you would expect for this type of film but he does an amazing job of telling the story of the people who were able to discover that the traditionally rock solid housing market is unstable due to subprime loans. The bubble is predicted to burst in the 2nd quarter of 2007. By betting on the housing market's collapse, the short bettors stand to win big.

McKay puts the moments leading to the crisis in order and how the signs were there but no one wanted to see them because of the money being made. The systematic fraud of everyone involved from mortgage lenders to rating companies to giant banks were all culpable. There's a line that stuck with me, when the cast goes to Vegas for a bond convention, Ryan Gosling's character says to a group of investors, lead by Steve Carell, that "you guys bet against stupid money. It's time to see how stupid that money is." Carell and is group are appalled by the greed of the big banks and their contempt for their customers (they know they're selling a terrible product). Sure enough, the bubble bursts and it's not a housing crisis in America but the effects are global. A global financial crisis.

It's hard to explain the plot of the film without getting way to technical about credit default swaps or CDOs. The film is near brilliant. McKay sometimes takes a whimsical approach but he drives it home what effects when a family who pays their rent on time becomes homeless because their landlord didn't pay the mortgage. He also has the actors "talk" to the audience about how facts were changed slightly for drama and uses celebrity cutaways for the more mundane financial details, like using Margot Robbie to explain subprime mortgages.

The acting is probably some the best in any film with an ensemble cast such as this. There were no bad performances, everyone brought their "A game." The standout performance had to go to Steve Carell. He stole everyone scene he was in. He should get a nomination come Oscar time and this is probably one of the 3 best films I've seen this year. The Big Short is a must see film.

The subject matter of the film is hard to take sometimes. To me, the big banks all acted like one large criminal organization. This was a criminal conspiracy that went unpunished. They were all guilty of a litany of abuses, got away clean but managed to get a tax payer bail out. For other great films about the crisis check out the following...

2015 Films: #28. The Danish Girl

January 1st in Chicago, IL. This picture is loosely based on the life of Danish painter Einar Wegener who is one of the first people to undergo sexual reassignment surgery in the late 1920's to become Lili Elbe. The source material was a book of the same name written by David Ebershoff in 2000. The film is directed by Tom Hooper (King's Speech) and stars Eddie Redmayne as Einar/Lilii and the beautiful Alicia Vikander as Einar's wife Gerda Wegener.

The film opens up in 1926 Copenhagen, Einar is a successful landscape artist and Gerda is a struggling portrait painter. They are a very happy and loving couple but haven't been able to start a family. They're invited to an artists party but Einar doesn't want to go. Gerda suggests dressing up as a woman to have some fun. Except Einar kind of enjoys it. This puts a bit of a strain on their marriage. Slowly Einar becomes more immersed in the identity of "Lili." It actually solidifies when Gerda begins sketching Einar as Lili and becomes a sought after painter and goes to Paris. In Paris, Einar seeks help for his "ailment" but the "treatment" suggestions are horrifying to say the least. Gerda is able to locate Einar's childhood friend Hans (Matthias Schoenaerts) and enlists him to try and help Einar.

Einar accepts that he is a woman trapped in a man's body and completely discards Einar and becomes Lili. Her only choice is to have a series of dangerous procedures of sexual reassignment surgery. Gerda stays with Lili and they remain devoted to each other. After the first surgery, Lili starts her new life in Copenhagen and gets a job at the perfume counter at a department store. She decides to have the 2nd procedure to complete the transformation and dies in the arms of Gerda due to complications.

This picture is art house fare and is definitely not for everyone. Redmayne is very good as Einar/Lili and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a Best Actor nomination. Vikander is brilliant as the wife who stays with Einar/Lili until the end (even rebuffing the subtle advances of the very handsome Hans, though to be fair Hans could see that Gerda was very distraught and wanted to comfort her). Lili draws strength from Gerda throughout the process. Hooper does a really good job of setting in motion the events that change Einar. First he stands in for Gerda when her model is unable to attend a sitting and he realizes that enjoys wearing the silky nylons. He then takes a liking to a night dress that Gerda wears to bed. There's a scene when the two are getting amorous and Gerda discovers that Einaris wearing the dress under his clothes. She goes with it and they make very passionate love. I did think it was weird that the answer to Lili's problems would be found in late Twenties Germany of all places.

This is a fine film with some great performances and some excellent cinematography and color usage. Hooper and his production team do a great job with sets and costumes. This is an all-around good film that received a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes but I though it was a little better than that. 

2015 Films: #27. Chi-Raq

December 30th in Chicago. This is the latest Spike Lee Joint about the violence on Chicago's South Side. The film is actually based on Aristophanes' classical Greek comedy, Lysistrata. The play was set during the Peloponnesian Wars where the women of Sparta and Troy withheld sex from the men as punishment for fighting the war. Lee takes the same premise and puts in modern day Chicago. Lee and co-writer Kevin Willmont wrote the dialogue in ancient text. That means a lot of iambic pentameter. Very Shakespearean (or what I would consider Shakespearean). Here's how the cast breaks down:

• Nick Cannon as Chi-Raq, Spartan gang leader
• Teyonah Parris as Lysistrata, Chi-Raq's lover
• Wesley Snipes as Cyclops, Trojan gang leader
• Angela Bassett as Miss Helen, Lysistrata's neighbor
• Samuel L. Jackson as Dolmedes, The Narrator
• John Cusack as Father Mike Corridan, local priest who preaches non-violence
• Jennifer Hudson as Irene, Cyclops' lover
• D.B. Sweeney as Mayor McCloud, Chicago's Mayor
• Dave Chappelle as Morris, local strip club owner
• Steve Harris as Old Duke, leader of non-gang affiliated males
• Harry Lennix as Commissioner Blades, Police Commissioner

The film opens at a club where Chi-Raq is performing and violence erupts with a member of both the Trojans and Spartans are shot. Later that night there is an another attempt on Chi's life at Lysistrata's home. Chi retaliates but Lysistrata's home is damaged by a fire. The next day a young child is killed in the streets by a stray bullet. The girl's mother pleads for someone to step forward but nothing happens. Lysistrata is forced to stay with her neighbor, Miss Helen due to the damages of her home. As they talk about the violence in the neighborhood Miss Helen mentions that the power to end the violence lies with the women of the gang members. She cites a modern example a sex strike in Nigeria that produced positive results. Lysistrata begins to recruit her own friends and makes a plea to Irene and her crew (negotiations take place over wine, given). They realize that in order for this to work, they need to get all the women in the neighborhood to comply. Soon the sex strike takes hold and goes city wide.

Things come to a boil when Lysistrata and her army take over the National Guard Armory. The Mayor dispatches Commissioner Blades to lay siege to the armory and bring a settlement. The women won't budge and finally amnesty is offered by Lysistrata just wants peace. In order to end things, there will be a final "sex off" between Chi and Lysistrata, first one to finish loses. As the two are about to get amorous, it's all a ruse to get Chi and Cyclops to settle their scores and call a truce. Cyclops does just that, realizing that the cycle of violence is senseless. It's later revealed that Miss Helen's daughter was killed by Chi's father years ago. Chi breaks down confesses that he was the one who accidentally shot the young girl.

Teyonha Parris absolutely owns the screen and commands attention. Her performance was nothing short of masterful. Nick Cannon was surprisingly good as Chi-Raq. I was not expecting that solid of a performance from him at all. Samuel L. Jackson kept things going as the narrator. It's hard for me to imagine how difficult it was for the actors to deliver the dialogue, especially of they're not classically trained. Strong performances all around. There are some lighthearted and even funny moments but it never loses sight of the central theme, Chicago gun violence is an epidemic that needs a cure. Lee pokes fun at our country's gun culture by referencing Sandy Hook by saying, if white school children that get gunned down doesn't spark a wave of gun control then nothing will.

In my opinion this was a poignant film that made me think about our violent culture and our country's love affair with guns. To me it's deplorable. I understand that Spike Lee's films don't always have a mass appeal and the way the film is delivered is not for everyone but it's worth seeing. It's available On Demand or to stream if seeing it in a theater isn't an option. Once again Spike is able to make a film on a subject that people don't like to talk about. Chi-Raq may not be the return to form from his hey day (his films from 1988-1995, some of his best work) but it's a solid film.

2015 Films: #26. The Hateful Eight

December 29th in Chicago, IL. This is the 8th film from writer/director Quentin Tarantino. Shot in 70mm format, which in a digital world is a throwback to the old days that helped shape him. Tarantino doesn't venture far from the things that made him famous; strong dialogue, great soundtrack, great score, Red Apple Cigarettes, coarse language and violence. As usual, Tarantino assembles a top notch cast of actors for this film. There are Taratino veterans like Samuel L. Jackson (6 films), Zoey Bell (5 films), Tim Roth (4 films), Michael Madsen (3 films), Kurt Russell and Bruce Dern (2 films each). He's even got pretty boy Channing Tatum as his newcomer and Jennifer Jason Leigh as the career resurrection. Here's the character line-up...

L to R: Major Marquis Warren, John Ruth, Daisy Domergue, Sheriff Chris Mannix, Bob, Oswaldo Mobray, Joe Gage and General Sandy Smithers. Not pictured, Tatum. He's not quite as hateful as the others.

The film is made up of six chapters and of course, they're not quite in chronological order. Things open up in a post Civil War Wyoming blizzard. A lone stage is driving through the storm and is barely ahead of it. The stage runs into Major Warren, who's own horse died while transporting 3 bounties for collection in Red Rock. John Ruth booked this stage and is very wary of strangers, especially those out in a brutal blizzard. Ruth is transporting Daisy Domergue to Red Rock for a date with the hang man and a $10,000 bounty. No one is going to get in his way. Inconceivably, Ruth and Warren know each other and Ruth reluctantly let's him. Daisy isn't thrilled with this since she's not a big fan of Black Civil War veterans regardless of rank. The goal is to get to Minnie's Haberdashery, a kind of 19th century truck stop, and wait out the storm.

As the storm is catching up to them (they're making good time on the seemingly plowed road), they run into another horseless traveler in the form of Chris Mannix. Mannix claims to be en route to Red Rock to become it's sheriff. Ruth is a bit skeptical because he knows Mannix by reputation; a member of a guerrilla Confederate militia that kept fighting after Appomattox. Of course, Mannix happens to know Major Warren by his reputation and the ride to Minnie's is a bit uncomfortable. When they arrive at Minnie's the blizzard is only getting stronger. They're greeted by Bob who was just hired by Minnie. The same Minnie who just happens to be with Sweet Dave visiting her mother. Since Major Warren is a frequenter of Minnie's, he's instantly suspicious. Waiting inside Minnie's are fellow travelers Oswaldo Mobray, Joe Gage and General Sandy Smithers, a "retired" Confederate general.

Once everyone gets together, it turns out that Mobray is a contract hangman who is also on his way to Red Rock. Joe Gage doesn't say much of anything and General Smithers is looking for his son. As fate would have it, Warren and Smithers know another by reputation and the tension ratchets up a bit. setting in motion a deadly chain of events.

Since the picture was shot in 70mm format, there are no trailers, just a 3 minute overture and there's an intermission in it's 167 minute run time. Tarantino had legendary Ennio Morricone compose an excellent score and got great acting out of the cast. The picture plays out as a bloody "who done it." By chapter four, you've got a good idea of what's going on and more light gets shed on the plot during the backstory in chapter five but Taratino doesn't disappoint with the ending.

Tarantino does a good job of building the tension and making the audience get a feel for the claustrophobic conditions of the room (the Haberdashery is just one large room). The dialogue is witty and spot on. There's even some modern day critiques of American society. Warren mentions to Ruth that Black people only feel safe when white people are disarmed. Smithers tells Mannix something to the effect that being armed, keeps black people scared and white people safe. I thought that was a nice touch considering current events.

I rate Tarantino as a must see director. If you enjoy his work then please see this film in the theater. It is worth it. It's also worth mentioning,this is not a news flash by any stretch, that Tarantino's films take place in the same universe. It should be interesting to see how that pans out in any of his future work. It's hard to rate this picture against his filmography due to the fact that Tarantino seems to always make a solid film. This picture is no different.