Miss Bala

First Hit: Although there’s a twist at every turn, it is predictable, but has enough of a twist at the end to make it interesting.

The film begins with Gloria (Gina Rodriguez) doing makeup for some fashion models in a Los Angeles fashion show. After the show, she gets in her car and heads to Tijuana Mexico to visit a close friend, whom she considers family. Suzu’s (Cristina Rodlo) family took Gloria in when she was small, and they spent their young years together. Gloria is headed there to help Suzu get ready for the Miss Baja California contest.

To introduce Gloria to Chief Saucedo (Damian Alcazar), who has some sway over who wins the contest, Suzu takes Gloria to a nightclub. What we also learn is that Saucedo is slowly taking over all the illegal trade that goes across the U.S – Mexico border. He’s attempting to take this unlawful business away from a gang called Las Estrellas.

Las Estrellas is led by Lino (Ismael Cruz Cordova). To shut down the Chief’s attempt to take over the border trade business from Lino, the Las Estrellas gang steals into the nightclub and starts to shoot it up. In the process they kidnap Suzu.

Gloria spends the rest of the film trying to find and rescue her close friend.

The storyline takes Gloria through being captured and used by the DEA, Las Estrellas, and the CIA. It is how the story weaves its way through all this that makes the film both work and not work. There’s too many tricks, story twists, and plot turns.

One thing that wasn’t very believable was the apparent age difference between Gloria and Suzu. This difference made me wonder about how they were friends when they were young. I also thought the some of the scenes were overly staged.

Rodriguez was good as an intense person who wanted to find her friend. Rodlo was OK as Gloria’s friend. Cordova was OK as the heavy leader of the gang. Alcazar was appropriately manipulative and arrogant as the crooked police chief. Anthony Mackie was OK as the undercover agent. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer wrote an overly trick-filled screenplay. I didn’t engage with all the twists and turns. Catherine Hardwicke did a reasonable job of directing through all the storylines. 

Overall: This was an overly complicated film, and it didn’t need to be.

Detroit

First Hit:  Extremely powerful film about racial injustice in the city of Detroit in 1967.

Kathryn Bigelow has a history of taking on difficult powerful subjects and bringing them to life. She is a master director. Her filmography continues to get stronger and stronger. From her Blue Steel and Point Break days to The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty and now, Detroit.

I feel fortunate that, once again, in the matter of a few short weeks I’ve been able to see films where the focus is the story and not particular characters. And what makes this film even better is that although it takes place in 1967 it reflects the targeting of blacks today by law enforcement.

To do this Bigelow seamlessly incorporates actual 1967 film footage and stills into her vision of this story. We follow several black characters who end up being innocently targeted by law enforcement for being at a particular place, at a particular time, and because of the color of their skin.

The script was developed from court transcripts and proceedings, interviews of some survivors and an honest interpretation by the writer. The focus is the murder of three black men and the beatings of seven other black men and two white women by the Detroit Police Department and tacitly condoned by US National Guard. This incident took place at the Algiers Motel, in Detroit during the 12th Street Riots. They victims had gone to the hotel to hide out and stay off the streets because there was a curfew and people couldn’t get home.

One of the guests at the motel shoots a toy pistol, which is mistaken by the police and National Guard as sniper fire. In rushing the motel’s building the police drag these motel guests down to the bottom floor and begin interrogating them to discover where the gun was and who shot the gun. Despite killing the person who shot the never found toy gun, the police used extreme tactics to scare the other guests. They systematically pulled people into rooms threatening to shoot them if they didn't have answers to their questions. They also mercilessly beat each person.

In doing so, they killed another two. For hours they continued to beat each of the suspects to get them to talk. Finally, the police decided they need to leave. To cover their tracks, they threaten each of the remaining suspects, that if they were ever to speak of this event again, they will die.

Eventually, this event and the officers are brought to trial and the all-white jury exonerates the three guilty police officers. Sound familiar?

John Boyega (as Dismukes) is amazing as the black private security officer that attempts to be the peacemaker and mediator between the cops and guests. Boyega is great at hinting, what appears to be, regret that he didn’t do more to help his fellow brothers. Will Poulter (as Officer Krauss) did a wonderful job being everyone’s nightmare. It was not an enviable role but as the racist officer he made the hate real. Algee Smith and Jacob Latimore (as friends and bandmates Larry and Fred respectively) were fantastic as their dreams were taken from them that night. Hannah Murray and Kaitlyn Dever (as Julie and Karen respectively were the beaten white women) were wonderful. They really made their roles standout with honesty. Anthony Mackie as Greene the Vietnam vet who got caught up in the motel was perfect. Mark Boal wrote a fantastic Oscar worthy script. Bigelow, as I previously said, is clearly one of the strongest directors of our time. Her clarity of vision and storytelling is amazing.

Overall:  I recall reading and seeing television news stories about these events when they happened, but only until I saw this film, did I understand the horror.

Captain America: Civil War

First Hit:  I was shocked that people applauded at the end of this film because the story was too fabricated and forced to make it interesting.

I like a good superhero film every once in a while. However, because they make money for the studios, storylines are created to put more of the heroes together.

It isn’t enough to have a group of Avengers focus on a single enemy, here the script writers and producers decided to have them pitted against one another. This, of course, will boost viewership, however I do not think it helps the brand in the long run. This action mirrors short term profits are more important than long term gain and integrity.

The best acting done in this film is by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Iron Man. The rest of the superheroes have their moments and it is obvious that the film is set up this way. Each of them gets to display their “super powers”.

The one exception to all of this is the introduction of Spiderman/Peter Parker (Tom Holland). His character is funny due to his newness to his spidey powers and his youthful attitude. The film does try to explore the importance of friendship through the relationship and actions of Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and the Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Their lifelong friendship is tested here.

Also friendship is overtly tested between Iron Man and Captain America. Then there is the issue of government control of The Avengers and their response to issues in the world. This is brought up  because innocent people have been killed through their heroic involvement. Both of these subjects are feebly addressed by the story.

Downey Jr. was the best of the group of actors mostly because he had a fair amount of introspective and intelligent dialogue. Evans is only OK, but I cannot tell if it is only because of the role, script, or Evans own acting abilities. Holland is fun and is the most amusing character. Stan is good as the stoic semi-enemy of The Avengers and the general public. Daniel Bruhl (as the real enemy Zemo) is good enough to pull off being the real antagonist. Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, and Frank Grillo are only OK as the superheroes that are pitted against each other because their roles are minimized. Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely wrote this, let’s make money, script that doesn’t fully address the friendship and government control questions and minimizes the skills of this extensive cast. Anthony and Joe Russo’s co-direction is evident because of the scattered way this film interprets the screenplay and use of this fine cast.

Overall:  This was a film I didn’t need to see.

Triple 9

First Hit:  This is a somewhat complicated slow-build up film with a satisfying ending.

“Triple 9” is police code for Officer Shot/Down.

In Atlanta when this call comes over the police radios, all units head to the scene above everything else. This is a critical piece of the plot of this film as we have crooked police officers Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie) working with former federal agents Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Gabe Welch (Aaron Paul) to obtain hard to get items for a Russian Jewish syndicate led by the crime bosses’ wife Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet).

First they obtain a safe deposit box by robbing a bank and then the get a file box from a NSA secure location. There are additional complications because Atwood has a child with Irina’s sister Elena (Gal Gadot) and both he and Irina use the child to get something they want.

Looking into the robberies and internal issues with the Atlanta Police force are Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson) and Chris Allen (Casey Affleck). The way this film unfolds the story is strong in that it gives you bits of the story and then bits of the characters as it fills out each in the end. The direction was strong and many of the scenes, and ways they were shot, were compelling.

Collins ended up being an intense critical component of this film. When he said he had no issue with a 999 you felt he meant it. Mackie was strong, portrayed a coldness in his police work while occasionally breaking into showing his heart in his role. The development of the partnership with Chris Allen was excellent. Affleck, as Allen, was very good as the no-nonsense brash new guy on the Atlanta force with the balls to move things forward. Ejiofor was very good as the father who was going to, in the end, exact the price for the betrayal of the Russian mob. Winslet was truly a surprise and not a surprise. She played the role of female matriarch and mob leader to perfection. Harrelson was odd and compelling as the strung out police detective who, in his own way, wanted the right thing to happen. Paul was strong as the disintegrating member of the team. His drug use and internal pressure had him spiraling downward. Luis Da Silva Jr. as Luis Pinto was great as the leader of a Latino gang. He showed great presence and a set of cojones when it came towards the police. Matt Cook wrote a very strong script. John Hillcoat did a good job of directing this complex story and creating a solid story and characters.

Overall:  This was a strong film with a few very strong performances.

The Night Before

First Hit:  A few sparse funny scenes in this uninteresting poorly scripted film.

There are some out-loud funny scenes but I cannot recall any of them the day after – I just remember laughing, however, most of the time I spent wondering who thought up this stuff. Low grade attempts at humor mixed in with a few heart driven points.

One of the heart felt moments was when Chris Roberts' (Anthony Mackie) mother, Mrs. Roberts (Lorraine Toussaint), tells Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to seize the moment for love if it arises and to not be afraid.

The scenes I disliked the most were with Isaac (Seth Rogen) as I didn’t find him funny – mostly low brow high-school humor. The mushroom trip he was on was not effectively shared and was not accurate to a "shroom" experience. The wearing of a large black Star of David woven into his light-blue and white Christmas sweater – was poorly contrived. His running out of the church yelling “we didn’t kill Jesus” was stupid and no one in the theater thought it funny – as there were audible groans.

The film's premise was reasonable in that Ethan’s friends, Chris and Isaac, supported him through each holiday season because his parents died early, but the execution just didn’t seem well thought out. The best part of the film were the scenes with Mr. Green (Michael Shannon) the long time drug/pot dealer.

Gordon-Levitt was fair in this poorly constructed role. Mackie was one of the better parts of the film in that he was believable. Rogen wasn’t believable stoned or otherwise and his annoying laugh made it worse. Shannon was the best part of the film, scary, insightful and thoughtful all at the same time. Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, and Evan Goldberg wrote a non-cohesive, sophomoric, mostly unfunny script – it felt like it was developed and agreed upon by committee. Jonathan Levine did little to enhance the poor script although a few of the sets were well crafted.

Overall:  I went to this film because of the dearth of new films out this week – should of stayed home.