Black and Blue

First Hit: An engaging drama made good by powerful scenes and excellent acting by Naomie Harris as Alicia West.

West is still considered a rookie cop on the New Orleans police force after three months of duty. She’s an Army veteran with two completed tours in Afghanistan and is not afraid of conflict. She had recently joined the department because she wants to make a difference in her hometown.

Her partner Kevin Jennings (Reid Scott) drives around and introduces her to areas in New Orleans. As he passes various neighborhoods, he points one out and says, we don’t ever go in there, unless it is to help a cop.

She voluntarily takes an extra shift and heads out with veteran cop Officer Deacon Brown (James Moses Black). He makes it clear that he isn’t wearing a body-cam and not to film him, ever.

Getting a call on his cell phone, Brown and West head to a vast empty manufacturing plant. Brown tells West to “stay put,” while he meets up with an informant. She hears shots, leaves the car, turns on her camera, and goes into the building. Following voices, she witnesses undercover cops killing people, execution-style. One of the undercover men sees her and shoots at her wounding her in the side.

She gets away and soon discovers that both the drug dealers and individual cops are out to get the camera and probably kill her as well.

The rest of the film is about her evading the crooked cops and drug dealers who think she’s the one who shot and killed their team members.

Leading the crooked cops is Terry Malone (Frank Grillo), who has been busting drug dealers, keeping half the captured stash, selling it through other dealers, and then killing them to keep them from talking. His primary enforcer is Smitty (Beau Knapp), who acts like Malone’s mad lap-dog and executioner. If West’s cop camera video gets into the Chief’s hands, Malone and his team will be found out and prosecuted. Malone wants West’s body-cam and would prefer West dead.

The head of the local drug cartel is Darius (Mike Colter), and he’s got a personal interest in who Malone’s team killed as this last killing was his nephew. Malone tells Darius that West killed his nephew.

Because West is on the run, she heads to her old neighborhood and is rejected by her former friends except one, Milo “Mouse” Jackson (Tyrese Gibson). Mouse works at a grocery store, and when West shows up, bleeding, and needing help, he reluctantly gives her assistance because she is an old friend.

There are some wonderful scenes in this film, but the one that stands out to me was when West and Jennings stop at the grocery store to get a coffee. Jennings goes into the store while West gets out of the police car and starts talking to a young twelve-year-old boy. The mother of the boy Missy (Nafessa Williams) yells at West and gets into an argument with her. West, recognizing Missy as an old friend tries to reason with Missy, but Missy disses her and tells her to shut the f*&% up. The layout of the characters, Darius, Missy, Mouse, Jennings, and West are well developed at this moment.

Harris was outstanding as Officer West, who is trying to make a difference in her old neighborhood by seeing people, not color, or anything else. She’s excellent in carrying this message and physically does a great job in this demanding role. Grillo is excellent as the crooked undercover detective. His intensity and attempts to keep everyone in line were perfect. Gibson was absolutely fantastic as the quiet gentle giant who ended up helping West escape all the people after her. Williams was terrific as West’s old high school friend, who had been twisted and hardened by the neighborhood. Colter was sharp as the leading drug dealer in this part of New Orleans. He embodied the intensity and drive of a man protecting what he has. Scott did a great job of feeling caught between two sides as he knew of the crooked stuff going on, but was always the one just looking another way. Black was good as the tough cop turning subservient to Malone when required. Knapp was perfectly unglued as Malone’s killing lapdog. Peter A. Dowling wrote a terrific script that created a high intensity by all the characters. Deon Taylor had everyone on the same page with his direction, and as I previously stated, some of the scenes were indelibly powerful.

Overall: I really enjoyed this film and thought it was well written, acted, and directed.

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.

Disconnect

First Hit:  A very good, interesting, powerful film about how our digital connections, and how we use them, can damage our lives.

This is a film about three stories: A son attempting suicide because of a picture of him nude was posted on the internet. Another about young kids who’ve runaway from home and make a living selling themselves for private sex over the internet. And, finally a couple whose personal tragedy grew to include identification theft, but this difficulty helped them grow closer together.

Each of these stories was based in today’s reality. The point of these stories was how technology creates new ways for us to communicate and do it poorly.

Rich and Lydia Boyd (Jason Bateman and Hope Davis respectively) have a daughter Abby (Haley Ramm) who is popular at school while her brother Ben (Jonah Bobo) is a loner who loves music and keeps to himself both at school and at home. Two boys, using technology, decide to harass Ben. They make up a girl that likes him and encourage him to do something stupid. A television interviewer wants to expose young kids selling sex over the internet. By getting more involved creates complications for both the person she’s trying to help and herself.

Derek and Cindy Hull (Alexander Skarsgard and Paula Patton respectively) have just lost a young son and turn to internet activities to soothe their pain, her a chat room, him online gambling. Their identity gets stolen and now they are losing everything except themselves. T

wo of the three stories are interwoven with Mike Dixon (Frank Grillo) who is a former cop who has turned to internet sleuthing and remedy.

Bateman is great as a father who loves his son but has gotten so involved with work; he lost his family connection and tries to get it back. Davis is strong as the mom who is trying to get her husband to pay attention to the family. Ramm is good as Ben’s sister, a brother she loves but is also embarrassed by his awkwardness. Bobo is fantastic as the boy who is so scared of showing up and lives within the world of his music. Skarsgard is really good as the father who has lost a child and doesn’t know how to reach out to his hurting wife. Patton is fantastic as the hurting mother who is looking for a way to find emotional relief. Grillo is very good as the single parent trying to do right by his son. Colin Ford as Grillo’s son did a superb job of showing his angst, sorrow and fear for his actions. Andrea Riseborough was really good as the reporter knowing she wanted to help but also wanting a story. Max Thieriot was fabulous as the young kid just finding his own way. Andrew Stern wrote an outstanding script. Henry Alex Rubin directed this three story film with precision and wonder.

Overall:  This was a really good film and deserves to be seen by a lot of people who don’t get how technology has changed our lives.