Tag Archives: Tessa Thompson

2015 Films, Drama, Liev Schreiber, Michael B. Jordan, Phylicia Rashad, Ryan Coogler, Sports, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson

Creed-2015

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Creed-2015

Director Ryan Coogler

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael B. Jordan

Scott’s Review #495

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Reviewed October 16, 2016

Grade: C+

Creed (2015) will please die-hard fans (and there are legions) of the Rocky (1976) franchise, eager for a trip down memory lane to revisit Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky Balboa”.

For those yearning for a slice of nostalgia and a harkening back to when the first Rocky was released, Creed will be a crowd-pleaser. For others expecting something new or innovative the story will not be as satisfying.

The film is predictable with all of the expected elements of a sports film.

Instead of Rocky Balboa being the main attraction, he is now a senior citizen and long since retired, now owning a modest Italian restaurant in Philadelphia, the action centers on a young fighter, the bastard child of Apollo Creed, Rocky’s nemesis turned friend from the first few installments.

Adonis Johnson Creed (played by up-and-coming star Michael B. Jordan) is his name and before being rescued from a group home (he has a temper and fights a lot, naturally) by Apollo’s wife (Phylicia Rashad) he does not know fighting is truly in his blood.

Determined to make it big in the boxing world, he moves to Philadelphia and convinces Rocky Balboa to train him.

Along the way, he meets a love interest, Bianca (played by Tessa Thompson), a musician.

The main positives are the nods to history and a few sentimental moments throughout the film. How wonderful to see Rocky Balboa again. It’s like catching up with an old friend we have not seen for years.

We learn that sadly, Paulie and Adrian (Rocky’s brother-in-law and wife) have long since died and a sweet moment shows Rocky visiting their side-by-side graves, pulling up a chair, and reading the newspaper to them.

Rocky’s son has moved far away so Rocky is left a lonely man, and Apollo’s son revives a father figure element within Rocky.

Also nice are some flashback scenes to the earlier Rocky films and we see portions of Rocky’s and Apollo’s fights. The plethora of external Philadelphia scenes does bring authenticity and familiarity to the film and this is a wise decision, instead of too many interior scenes in a studio.

Otherwise, the film is largely a miss.

The formulaic, predictability must have been intentional to make Creed an ode to fans and a film that is easy to watch.  We are served the many “inspirational” training scenes as Adonis trains and trains for the big match, with an arrogant, loud, Londoner, with an equally unlikable coach.

The “good vs. bad” mentality that the film develops is contrived and completely plot-driven. It makes Adonis that much more likable and gives him the rooting factor.

This occurs time and time again in sports films. Why not make both fighters nice guys?

But, of course, the film also gives Adonis a temper to ensure that he appeals to the testosterone-driven fans expecting such.

Phylicia Rashad and Tessa Thompson are stock characters. We get the standard reaction shots from both as they wince along with the blows that Adonis receives, and Rashad gets an unintentionally comic moment. When Adonis lands a flattening blow on his opponent, she proudly professes “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”.

Interesting to note, however, is the clever decision to make Bianca suffer from progressive hearing loss. Having her handicapped gives her nice humanity, though once the fight scenes begin this is never mentioned again.

A standard boxing film with the expected elements- testosterone, brutal fighting, sentimentality for good measure, and dutiful female characters with little substance, Creed (2015) is a guy’s movie, basic and predictable, with a little edge and lots of machismo.

However, it does capitalize on the Rocky franchise and offers a nice little nod to the past. Otherwise, it is a rather forgettable film with a mediocre story.

Oscar Nominations: Best Supporting Actor-Sylvester Stallone

2014 Films, Comedy, Dark Comedy, Dennis Haysbert, Drama, Independent, Independent Drama, Justin Simien, Satire, Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams

Dear White People-2014

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Dear White People-2014

Director Justin Simien

Starring Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson

Scott’s Review #274

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Reviewed September 18, 2015

Grade: B+

Dear White People (2014) is a highly creative, independent satire that begs to be watched for no reason other than for its message of existing racism in present times, homophobia, and class distinction.

Set at an Ivy League college and written tongue and cheek, but also with a direct message from newly discovered director Justin Simien, it is a meaningful gem that challenges audiences to think and be entertained and emit an occasional chuckle at the wit and comical lines presented.

Set in the present day- assuming 2013 or 2014, and well beyond the Civil Rights era, the film features a hip, sharp look and a myriad of characters, all with differing perspectives, all Caucasian or black in racial identities.

All the characters attend the affluent and sophisticated Winchester University, a mostly white, conservative school with a small community of black students, who curiously all seem to reside in the same dorm house.

In addition, the Dean is a black man (played by Dennis Haysbert).

Sam White is a rebellious female student, of mixed race, who runs a radio show entitled “Dear White People”, which challenges the current state of racism in America, specifically at Winchester University.

Supporting characters include Lionel Higgins, a gay, bookish student with an enormous afro, excluded from almost all the sub-groups. Lionel is intrigued by Sam’s radio show.

Other characters include Coco- an attractive black girl with typically “white” mannerisms and friends, who try to fit in with the white culture. Troy, a very handsome black student (who tries to act “white”), dates a white girl (who tries to act “black”).

Finally, the film features Kirk, a white student whose father is the school president, who values an old-style way of thinking. Kirk, shockingly, hosts a blackface party, which leads to major controversy at the school and is the focus of much of the film’s drama.

The main theme is race, but different characters have different viewpoints on the subject matter, and all are explored, which makes the film unique and interesting.

Sam, for example, is a true advocate for racial equality and constantly challenges white people’s motivations and actions, blatantly so.

Coco, on the other hand, is resistant to being stereotyped as a woman of color and, in one scene is incorrectly assumed to be from the hood by a reality television producer she is auditioning for.

She is envious of white people and the advantages they have, even going so far as having straight hair and blue contact lenses. Then we have Lionel, who is both gay and black, and considered an outcast. He fits in with no group and curiously seems okay with being his own person.

What is unique and compelling about Dear White People is that it brings up a controversial issue, mixes it in satire, humorously, but presents compelling arguments against stereotypes, also bringing those stereotypes center stage, which most films avoid like the plague.

One black character is frustrated that, in their mind, most black people are content watching dumb black comedies, thereby supporting a negative racial stereotype.

One interesting aspect regarding the score is the use of lily-white classic film music- such as Barry Lyndon (1975)- the most lily-white of lily-white films (British and Irish).

Famous film director, Quentin Tarantino, is called out as being a racist director. What wonderful irony!

Dear White People (2014) is a witty, intelligent slice of inventive filmmaking that is worth seeing if only for its controversial subject of inequality and racism, which is too often forgotten.

An indie treat for those inclined to think a little.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 1 win-Best First Screenplay (won), Best First Feature

2014 Films, André Holland, Ava DuVernay, Carmen Ejogo, Colman Domingo, Common, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Drama, Dylan Baker, Giovanni Ribisi, Historical Drama, Independent, Independent Drama, Jeremy Strong, LaKeith Stanfield, Martin Sheen, Niecy Nash, Oprah Winfrey, Tessa Thompson, Tim Roth, Tom Wilkinson, Wendell Pierce

Selma-2014

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Selma-2014

Director Ava DuVernay

Starring David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo

Scott’s Review #248

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Reviewed June 19, 2015

Grade: A-

An Oscar-nominated factual feast, set in the mid-1960s during the Civil Rights movement, Selma (2014) is a re-telling of the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr. and the struggles that black Americans endured during a tumultuous period in history.

The film includes dealings with then-President Lyndon B. Johnson and the famous and important 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights march, which led to the signing of the pivotal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This film reminded me quite a bit of 2013’s The Butler in subject matter and style-ironic since Lee Daniels was slated to direct and instead signed on for The Butler.

Both feature a charismatic and intelligent black man struggling with racial matters.

Despite being an independent undertaking, it is glossy, polished, and reflective of the time. Both The Butler and Selma boast a huge cast, and historical political figures, in a tumultuous era in history.

Selma features a bevy of real-life figures from George Wallis to President Johnson to the obvious leader of the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr., and his wife, Coretta Scott King, and the casting is very well thought out.

Tim Roth, David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, and Carmen Ejogo portray their roles professionally and passionately. None of the above received Oscar nominations and I am okay with that.

I did not feel that any were definite standouts from a crowded field of talent, though perhaps Ejogo could have been in the running with her understated though compelling performance.

The drama surrounding the lack of expected Oscar nominations is not shared by me. The truth is, the film was included in the Best Picture category and won Best Song.

While an emotional and compelling film, neither is it a masterpiece nor will change the art of cinema, though I must stress it is good.

I find Selma to be an important film- a look back on history and the shame and humiliation placed on blacks who attempted to obtain voting rights. A heartbreaking scene depicts a determined woman (played by Oprah Winfrey) being denied this right by a cold and racist authority figure as she is asked impossible and tricky questions to prove her patriotism, which of course, she cannot possibly answer correctly.

Yes, the film is directed by a black, female director (Ava DuVernay) and yes, one might argue that it has a black point of view. However, the film successfully sympathetically portrays several white characters and avoids the assumption that all white people were racist in this period.

Let’s face it- racism still exists, especially in the South, and in the 1960s even more so. I did not find the message in black people vs. white people’s terms, but rather as a humanistic struggle for rights.

And the struggles continue as the film makes abundantly clear in the message of the film.

While King was a life changer to the black people of the United States, his life was abruptly cut short in his prime. One wonders how much more good this man could have achieved.

The song “Glory” is an emotional, powerful number, especially during the marching and subsequent slaughter scenes highly emotional and effective.

And who will not become teary-eyed as the innocent marchers are beaten and treated like cattle, simply for taking a stand? One will gasp at the senseless bombing scene that rocks a building and takes four innocent little girls’ lives away with it.

Selma successfully transplanted me to a time before my time and made me appreciate and capture the positive and negative experiences of a race of people not long ago.

This film inspires and moves me and teaches me what a movement occurred in 1965.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture, Best Original Song-“Glory” (won)

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Feature, Best Director-Ava DuVernay, Best Male Lead-David Oyelowo, Best Supporting Female-Carmen Ejogo, Best Cinematography