Justice Delayed, Justice Sought
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): By the time I get to "publishing" my next posting the Oscar nominations will be announced (March 15, 2021), so before then I’ll have to make my own decisions about a Top 10 of the expanded-2020-release-year as well as choices I’d render regarding those Oscar noms (except for not yet being able to consider The Father [Florian Zeller] which I can’t see until late March; the other top contender I’m behind on is Sound of Metal [Darius Marder, 2020] but I hope to see and review it by next week). I don’t expect much in the way of Oscar noms for the subjects of these current reviews, although The Mauritanian got a couple of Golden Globes nods, including a Best Supporting Actress win for Jodie Foster. It’s based on the true story (not quite so many of those watched by me yet in 2021 compared to the frequent appearance of them last year) of an African man, Mohamedou Ouid Salahi (played by Tahar Rahim, the other Globe nominee from this film), accused by the U.S. government of being a mastermind of the vicious 9/11 airliner-hijacking-attacks, then held at our Guantánamo military base, tortured for 14 years, maintaining his innocence without even being charged, also with little opportunity for his lawyer, Nancy Hollander (Foster), to see any evidence against him. If you think he’s guilty, you’d likely have little reason to watch this as it’s sympathetic to his situation, but more so it’s about anyone assumed of criminality being given some opportunity to at least be brought to trial where a clear verdict should be rendered.
In the Short Takes section I’ll turn to a movie with a more direct African connection—all fictional—as Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, and much of the cast of Coming to America (John Landis, 1988) return for a long-delayed-sequel, Coming 2 America, where now-king-Akeem of Zamunda finds he has an illegitimate son in Queens, NY he needs to groom as an heir, so various levels of hilarity ensue as Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, Wesley Snipes, and others join in what’s at least a pleasant diversion from the sort of reality still happening in so many places around our globe as shown in The Mauritanian (a film with a lot of compelling issues, encouraging me to ramble on probably much too long [what’s new about that?]). Also in that section I’ll offer suggestions for some choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be done by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, ye tedious software!) along with my standard dose of industry-related-trivia.
Here’s the trailer for The Mauritanian:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $. To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid those important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters like this:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: Based on true events in the U.S. “detention camp”—military prison, actually—at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba regarding the contested life of Mohamedou Ouid Salahi (Tahar Rahim) from 2002 until 2016. (There’s not much in the way of spoilers here because just about anything of substance you might want to know about this man is contained in historical records—well, OK, the government documents are largely redacted, but other detailed sources include this biography, extensively-documented, along with this in-depth New Yorker article, which together tremendously extend what’s presented in the film, itself based on Salahi’s nonfiction Guantánamo Diary [2015]—but I’ll stick in a short spoiler alert below just for procedural continuity, especially for the benefit of those who’d prefer not to have this presentation's ending revealed before they see it, given the pricey rental fee involved). We first meet Salahi in his home country of Mauritania (large presence in West Africa, extensive Atlantic Ocean coast) in November 2001, just 2 months after the deadly attacks on NYC’s World Trade Center Towers and Washington D.C.’s Pentagon. The main reason we get in the film for Salahi to be a wanted man by the U.S. is a call he got from his cousin using Osama bin Laden’s cellphone, but Salahi did have substantiated connections to al-Queda in the early 1990s in Afghanistan (when, ironically enough, the U.S. was also cooperating with al-Queda in opposition to the communist government of Mohammed Najibullah, after the Soviets pulled out in response to their failed invasion of that central-Asian country; Najibullah was later killed by the Taliban, although this film doesn’t get into all that). While Salahi claims he no longer has any connection to al-Queda nor had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks, our government is fiercely-convinced otherwise so he joins several hundred other uncharged-possible-conspirators in Cuba where regular torture (daily 18-hour-interrogations) also fails in extracting confessions of great value.
Nevertheless, Lt. Col. Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch) is determined to extract vengeance on a man he’s thinks was instrumental in the many deaths resulting from the hijacked-jetliner-assaults, including people he was close to; Salahi’s defense, starting in 2005, came from family requests to Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) of an Albuquerque, NM law firm (who claim to be “known for our willingness to take on the powerful on behalf of the weak and to defend individuals and businesses from government overreaching”) and her assistant, Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley), although their efforts are hampered by not being allowed to review evidence against their client or when they do receive anything it’s all so redacted as to be useless—what they can glean, though, does look damning enough so Duncan withdraws from the process for awhile, not wishing to be involved in defending a man who she’s increasingly-concerned is a legitimate mastermind behind those horrific murders, while Hollander tells Couch she’s defending the rule of law, not necessarily an inhumane client (she and Duncan are allowed to visit Salahi at “Gitmo,” where they get a quick sense of the harsh conditions). The most damning evidence against Salahi is his confession at some point during his incarceration about actually being involved in the 9/11 plot, but both Hollander and Couch doubt its veracity, given Salahi made these statements as a result of torture; in fact, Couch gets more distant from this prisoner as time goes on, earning distain from his superiors before he resigns from the investigation (happened in 2004 prior to Hollander’s involvement even though both are shown in the film still active in the case). ⇒With all of this background there’s not really much need for further detail because all we see of several years (beginning in 2010) of court maneuverings is one hearing where Salahi appears via video from Cuba, again maintaining innocence; in 2016 he’s finally granted release, sent back to Mauritania with restrictions on further travel. As we approach the final credits we see footage of the actual Salahi returning home to a hero’s welcome.⇐ Graphics prior to those credits tell us there have been 779 prisoners at Gitmo since 2001 yet only 8 of them have ever been convicted of anything, while 3 of those were overturned on appeal (40 are still behind bars there).
So What? Let’s be very clear here I have no sympathy for those actually involved in the 9/11 plot—anyone who truly was part of that atrocity should rot in jail in this life before rotting in hell in the next one (yes, I know, arguments can be made about how Western powers, especially the U.S., have drained Middle East resources for centuries to enhance our lofty way of life compared to the poverty/misery of many in those countries roughly between Greece and India, but for me that still doesn’t justify what was essentially an ideologically-based act of war against cultures not adhering to a radical branch of Islam; that grotesque action deserved an appropriate response so I was all for blasting the Taliban in Afghanistan, executing bin Laden on the spot [but not the invasion of Iraq, the ongoing presence of U.S. troops throughout this region trying without success to shape nations in our image, decisions made more so to protect oil fields than to promote stable governments])—so my positive response toward this film (including frequent use in flashbacks of the older 4x3 screen ratio to help us in 2021 get a sense of how long ago most of these events actually took place even as we finally get to 2016 as it all unfolds) is not in support of any person connected to planning/ executing the 9/11 atrocity as some form of absolution for their violent acts (although Salahi has been extremely generous in offering his forgiveness to those who tortured him those many years), I simply think this film is well conceived, appropriately difficult to watch, forces its audiences to acknowledge the complexities of the situations presented, offers a reasonable account of how avenging-driven-desires for justice can produce ill-realized-results, giving us reason to pause before flipping the switch on the electric chair even as circumstances seem to justify such acts of retaliation.
However, if you rely on critics’ evaluations (including mine) to decide if you’re going to see a certain film you might not find yourself very interested in what this one has to offer depending on how those reviewers you pay attention to present a learned opinion on something like The Mauritanian; in my case, I was ready to give it a pass when my local San Francisco Chronicle cinema guru (truly, he does know a lot, has even written a couple of useful-movie-related-books), Mick LaSalle, offered the weakest of endorsements ("[…] Rahim noses ‘The Mauritanian’ just over the line in the realm of a mild recommendation”), giving me good reason to consider something else to invest my time (and money) in last weekend, but then Rahim was nominated by the Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, bettered by Foster getting their award for Best Supporting Actress in Any Motion Picture (although nothing else was forthcoming from such groups as the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild of America, or the Directors Guild of America) so I watched it anyway, found it to be quite compelling, marking another time Mr. LaSalle and I go along our divergent ways.
For that matter, LaSalle was quite effusive over Coming 2 America (my review below)—“[…] it feels like the summation of the three decades of virtuosic silliness that Murphy has brought to the screen, and of all that has meant to us”—which I wasn’t all that enthralled with, so in these cases all I can do is follow my own instincts based on filmic content and probabilities, because while I often agree with LaSalle (and others in various national publications) I can’t always let them have the final say in my choices. FYI, in last Sunday’s … Chronicle LaSalle stated what would be his choices for winners in several major Oscar categories—prior to actual nominees soon to be announced—but his designees don’t even match most of those awards given by the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (of which I’m not a member, despite applying several times; you can see how much status I carry out here on the northern CA Left Coast), a group he’s a significant part of—with my assumption he’d have voted for his hypothetical-Oscar-favorites in the SFBAFCC balloting also—so he may be more of an outlier than I’d previously assumed, even within a group where he commands a lot of respect. Bottom line for these (extraneous [but useful?]) thoughts: If there’s something about a film that intrigues you, follow your heart not the pronouncements of someone you don’t even know personally because you need to have a deep sense of what drives their value judgments before you’ll know how their aesthetics align with yours. (A partial reason why I keep revealing so much of myself in these reviews, unlike most of the more-known-critics you’d read—a position I’ve been told by some of those SFBAFCC’ers as being anathema to appropriate reviewing—because I’d like for you to have a sense of where my opinions come from [tedious as it may be to read at times] which could help you understand whether to trust/dismiss my elaborations to whatever I’ve seen/reviewed.)
Bottom Line Final Comments: The CCAL’s mildly supportive with Rotten Tomatoes providing 74% positive reviews from their included-critics (143 of them) although those surveyed by Metacritic come up with only a 54% average score, so my 4 stars (as far as I usually go) is notably higher as I was quite impressed, although I’ll just have to take the seeming lack of any tangible evidence (beyond hearsay, assumption, inferences) against Salahi after all this time as acceptable defense of his innocence (hoping desperately that I’m right) so my satisfaction with this story is how it presents us with crucial choices to be made about what we’re watching, forcing us to contemplate what we can know about a situation (like juries must do, although there are no jurors involved here, just the heavy presence of prosecutors pushing a verdict intended to aid our common safety, like Col. Jessup’s [Jack Nicholson] retort to Lt. Kaffee [Tom Cruise]—in A Few Good Men [Rob Reiner, 1992]—“You can’t handle the truth!” about how the letter of the law must at times be put aside in deference to the overall spirit of a case), even when the raw emotion for justifiable revenge against a possible deadly terrorist makes it difficult to be objective. If you’re among the few patrons where seeing The Mauritanian at a theater is possible (was at a high point of 287 domestic [U.S.-Canada] venues [now down to 252] where over the past month it’s generated just about $660,000 in ticket sales [plus another $1.1 million internationally]) then you might want to consider seeing it in that manner for yourself, although if you’re going with a companion the price of at least a couple of tickets would likely exceed that $19.99 you'll pay to stream from several platforms, including Amazon Prime.
After all this, I’ll close with a firm recommendation for you to watch The Mauritanian, unless this implied-exoneration of the accused-protagonist—or the price—is just too much for you to invest in, wrapping it all up with my usual tactic of a Musical Metaphor to bring closure in an aural manner to what’s been said before; for this specific film, I suppose I could use Bob Dylan’s song, "The Man in Me" (from his 1970 New Morning album) because it’s a favorite of Salahi’s (used as the film moves into the final credits, with the actual guy singing some of it, lyrics meaningful to him such as “Storm clouds are raging all around my door I think to myself I might not take it anymore […] But, oh, what a wonderful feeling Just to know that you are near”). However, more appropriate for me in this situation (notice how in typical-critic-haughtiness I value my opinion, even over the subject of this story) is another Dylan song, “I Shall Be Released” (written by him in 1967, recorded first by The Band for their 1968 debut album Music from Big Pink, also on the 1974 Dylan-Band-concert-tour Before the Flood-album [I saw them in Houston, contender for the best show ever for me]; Dylan’s recording with The Band can be found in the multi-volume The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 [1991] and … 11: The Basement Tapes Complete [2014], then a different version’s on Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II [1971]) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBACxgvrCGo, from the documentary of The Band’s 1976 final show, The Last Waltz (Martin Scorsese, 1978) where Bob’s joined by the famous lineup from that notable event. I won’t deny Mohamedou Salahi’s own preferences, although I’d say lines like “Down here next to me in this lonely crowd There’s a man who swears he’s not to blame All day long I hear him cry so loud Calling out that he’s been framed I see my light come shining From the west down to the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released” feel to me to be even more directly what’s these filmmakers are trying to get across in presenting his difficult story.
SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)
A sequel to the 1998 huge-hit-comedy, Coming to America, with a good number of the original cast back (Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall again in multiple roles) plus other notable names as African Prince Akeem now ascends the throne of (fictional) Zamunda but needs a male heir to avoid conflict with a neighboring country, finds his solution with his previously-unknown, illegitimate son in Queens, NYC.
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.
It’s difficult to get deeper into nostalgia than this one, a long-delayed-sequel to Coming to America (John Landis, 1988)*—major box-office (lukewarm with critics)—where (fictional African country) Zamunda’s Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), after 30 years of peace/prosperity is set to inherit the throne from dying father King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) but problems arise as Akeem has 3 daughters but no male heir as required by local law so belligerent Gen. Izzi (Wesley Snipes) of neighboring Nextdoria insists Akeem’s Princess Meeka (Kiki Layne) marry his son, Idi (Rotimi), to unite the countries, a future Akeem dreads; just before Dad dies, though, he reveals to Akeem news about an illegitimate son, sired years before when Akeem went to Queens, NYC to find a suitable bride (now-Queen Lisa [Shari Headley]), had a forgotten-1-night-stand with Mary Junson (Leslie Jones). Today the boy, Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler), is almost 31, shocked to learn from now-King Akeem and royal-best-friend Semmi (Arsenio Hall) of his heritage but easily convinced to move to Africa (with Mom) when he realizes the financial windfall. Once there he must pass some tests to be accepted as a prince which proves difficult so he confides in royal groomer Mirembe (Nomzamo Mbatha), then sends for Uncle Reem (Tracy Morgan), who helped in raising him, leading to success.
⇒But, Gen. Izzi now wants Lavelle to marry his daughter, Bopoto (Teyana Taylor); Akeem accepts, leading disgusted Lavelle, Mary, Reem, and Mirembe to fly back to Queens on the royal jet. Akeem, encouraged by Meeka, flies there too, brings them all back to Zamunda for Mirembe and Lavelle's royal wedding—he'll become the Ambassador to the U.S., laws will be changed for Meeka to inherit the throne.⇐ Most of the original cast is back (including John Amos, Louie Anderson), small new parts go to Morgan Freeman, En Vogue, Salt-N-Pepa, Gladys Knight, John Legend, Colin Jost, while Murphy and Hall reprise additional silly minor roles. It’s pleasant enough as a diversion from the pandemic and politics but easily seen (free on Amazon Prime) and forgotten; many of the OCCU wanted their time back from even seeing it—RT, 52% positive reviews; MC tied with a 52% average score—so maybe just reading my summary will suffice. I’ll close out with another Dylan tune for my Musical Metaphor, “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” (1965 Bringing It All Back Home album) at https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZzyRcySgK8 because this sort of grounded, self-confident woman is what Akeem and Lavelle sought, rather than any arranged marriages to subservient nonentities; Queen Lisa and now-Princess Mirembe fit the description of “She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful Yet she’s true like ice, like fire,” each of them clearly the sort of woman being sung about here, needed to help bring evolving-Zamunda better into the 21st century with a joyous, thoughtful manner.
*If you need a refresher on the basic events of the original, go here (7:55; includes 2's trailer again).
Suggestions for TCM cablecasts
At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day-free-initial-offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees. While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week. All times are for U.S. Pacific zone so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed. These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some of those early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from you might like even better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click the down arrow at the right of each listing for additional, useful info.
I’ll bet if you checked that entire schedule link just above you’d find other options of interest, but these are the only ones grabbing my attention at present. Please dig in further for other possibilities.
Friday March 12, 2021 (an amazing day of filmic significance)
1:45 AM The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland, 1927) No aesthetic significance, horribly racist with Al Jolson in blackface signing “Mammy,” but it’s historically significant as the first feature movie using some segments of synchronized dialogue, not just synched background music as in earlier ones, as the advent of sound technology changed the entire concept of what this medium could offer. Jolson’s the son of a Jewish cantor who defies family tradition by going into entertainment. Some scenes are still done in silence with intertitles and music, but when he speaks: “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
3:00 PM East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1955) James Dean’s screen debut as Cal Trask, a WW I-era young man living near Monterey, CA trying to win the love of his stern father, Adam (Raymond Massey), who gives more support to other son Aron (Richard Davalos), adapted from the stunning John Steinbeck novel (with its intended Biblical overtones). Even when Cal makes a fortune for
Dad he’s rejected so he shames Aron by revealing Mom (Jo Van Fleet) isn’t dead after all but lives nearby, running a brothel. Won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Van Fleet); Dean (already dead by the time of the awards) was nominated for Best Actor (as he was for his last, Giant [1956]).
5:00 PM The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) Some claim this started the troubled-crime-tradition of film noir: Humphrey Bogart as Dashiell Hammett’s streetwise-private-eye, Sam Spade, whose life gets complicated when the takes on Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) as a client searching for the priceless “black bird.” A fabulous cast includes Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook Jr. Masterful “Hardboiled-detective” story with a sense of morality amongst greed.
7:00 PM Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Do you really need my description to know what this one’s about? If so, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre are “looking at you, kid,” to watch it! (A movie truly defining what I consider to be a 5 stars-“classic,” celebrated for decades as a story of hope, patriotism, and making the right decision when romance conflicts with greater needs in the early years of WW II.)
9:00 PM Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) Still my All-Time #1 (even though Sight and Sound’s poll dethroned it in 2012 in favor of Hitchcock’s Vertigo [1958] after 50 years on top); a triumph of script, acting, cinematography, editing, sound design, art direction, special effects, score, with Welles as director, star actor portraying Charles Foster Kane, an enormously wealthy (by chance as a kid) newspaperman (patterned on William Randolph Hearst) whose early progressive ideals succumb to pragmatics destroying marriages to 2 wives (Ruth Warrick, Dorothy Comingore) and a long-time-friend (Joseph Cotton), retaining loyalty only from his business manager (Everett Sloane). Except for the eye-of-God beginning & end told in flashbacks, 5 narrators imparting subjective accounts (hard for us to know what’s true). Won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz [granddad of noted TCM host Ben Mankiewicz]); scripting process the subject of Mank.
Tuesday March 16, 2021
9:15 PM Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks, 1958) Not as bluntly controversial as the stark Tennessee Williams play it’s adapted from, this still burns with passion, hatred, interpersonal misery as alcoholic, depressive Brick’s (Paul Newman) chastised by both his fed-up wife, Maggie “the cat” (Elizabeth Taylor), and dismissive, dying father Big Daddy (Burl Ives). Maybe if you’re from the South (I am) you’ll fully appreciate how true to some lives this more-or-less-fictional-story ultimately is.
11:15 PM Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966) Adapted from Edward Albee’s controversial play (1962), keeps story and most of the (profane) dialogue intact as a professor (Richard Burton) and his wife (Elizabeth Taylor), daughter of this small college’s president, verbally battle in front of house guests (George Segal, Sandy Dennis) as dysfunctionality reigns. Multiple-Oscar-winner: Best Actress (Taylor), Supporting Actress (Dennis), Art Direction, Costume Design, Cinematography (all 3 for B&W films), plus another 8 nominations; bitter to watch, grim masterpiece.
Thursday March 17, 2021
3:15 AM Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922) Another historically-significant film, recognized as the first feature-length documentary, supposedly chronicling the lives of Inuks living in Canada’s Arctic Circle in harsh conditions, getting by on the regular hunts (however, much of what we see is staged, although you’ll rarely find a summary of this groundbreaking film that admits this, but it still gives a proper sense of what these native people must endure in maintaining their ancestral lives).
If you’d like your own PDF of ratings/summaries of this week's reviews, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Extra items you might like: (1) Predictions for Oscar's Best Picture nominations before the actual noms are announced on March 15, 2021 (scroll way down in this article for predictions on the other categories); (2) Complicated process of how Oscar Best Picture winner votes are counted (unless the winner's challenged by certain GOP members of the U.S. Congress). As usual for now I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and a reminder that you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
One last piece of trivia: my last posting based on an ongoing flow of things seen in a movie theater was just about a year ago (March 12, 2020), a review of The Way Back (Gavin O’Connor, 2020) with Ben Affleck; the following week began a run of almost a year’s worth of comments about streamings (with the sole exception of Tenet [Christopher Nolan, 2020; review in our November 5, 2020 posting] during a brief time when theaters were open here in the San Francisco area, now in the process of reopening; not sure I really need to visit one until sometime after my 2nd coronavirus-vaccine-shot). Interestingly, that first non-theater-based-review was of Eddie Murphy in Dolomite Is My Name (Craig Brewer, 2019; review in our March 19, 2020 posting), now a year later I’m back again with old Eddie.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts.* Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage. If you’d like to Like us on Facebook please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it!
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AND … at least until the Oscars for 2020’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, April 25, 2021 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here as well as here due to many 2020 releases being tracked on the 2021 list, although the income situation for 2020’s skewed due to so many award-contenders getting limited or no theatrical releases)—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike many of the awards voters who simply fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they’ve never seen).
To save you a little time scrolling through the “various awards” list above, here are the current Golden Globes nominees and winners for films and TV from 2020-early 2021.
Here’s more information about The Mauritanian:
https://www.themauritanian.movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2aQPXH1_Sw (6:01 interview with director
Kevin MacDonald and actors Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mauritanian
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-mauritanian
Here’s more information about Coming 2 America:
https://www.amazon.com/Coming-2-America-Eddie-Murphy/dp/B08QZN6LCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPjloJjnEu8 (15:00 Jimmy Kimmel interview
with actors Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall [ad interrupts at about 4:00])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/coming_2_america
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/coming-2-america
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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game" offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker. But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion, lover, and wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"
—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes and wanes over the months/years to come.
OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.
Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 28,136 (as always, we thank all of you for your ongoing support with our hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers); below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (with appreciation for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):
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