Can we ever get enough of Muhammad Ali? No! And so, another documentary about him is automatically good news on some level. Particularly during these troubled times when stirring up memories of “The Greatest” can connect us back to the best in humanity.
Is this just another passive servant movie, like Gone With the Wind, The Help, or Roma? Or does it have a new kick?
“Bull” marks director Annie Silverstein’s debut. It’s set in
Houston and follows Kris, a troubled 14-year old-girl (Amber Harvard) whose mother is in the state penitentiary, and Abe, an ex-bull rider (Rob Morgan) way past-his-prime who is barely making his living working the weekly rodeo circuits. Both damaged beings are at a crossroads in their lives—very different but none the less the form an unlikely bond and attempt self-discovery before it is too late for them both.
“Premature,” as a film, is a tight indie art piece.
Ladj Ly‘s stark realism, also exemplified by his documentary-style filmmaking, is fairly evocative for 102 minutes and gives the film a soul.
Two hours and nine minutes roll by, and the film is about as frustrating as standing in a TSA line at the airport. Fault the strained writing. Blame the lifeless direction.
It was an historic power grab. Not the Republicans taking back the White House after a controversial, razor-thin win by George W. Bush over Al Gore. It was the vice president-elect, Dick Cheney, out-maneuvering George Jr. and becoming the puppet master.
So it makes sense that one might have great expectations of the production, given that it was also directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg and co-stars Tom Hanks and perennial Oscar-nominee Meryl Streep
Reverential Biopic Chronicles Rise, Fall and Triumphant Return of Legendary South African Singer/Activist Zenzile Miriam Makeba had the misfortune of being born black in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1932, which relegated her to second-class citizenship. In fact, she spent the first six months of her life behind bars with her mother, a sangoma (witch doctor), sent to prison days just after her birth. Luckily, her mom was also an amateur singer, and that was a gift Miriam inherited. She married at 17 and had a child a year later, but was soon abandoned by her abusive husband. So, she started
But the fighting isn’t over for Sergeant Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell), a black man reluctantly returning to the repressive Jim Crow system of segregation.
That’s because they exist in parallel universes. You see, Destined is one of those “What if?” affairs set in a couple of alternate realities.
This unorthodox arrangement worked well for Roman who, besides his disorder, is a longtime political activist dedicated to a progressive agenda, namely, to assist downtrodden individuals unfairly ensnared in the net of the prison-industrial complex.
NASA Docudrama Belatedly Credits Contributions of Unsung African-American Mathematicians