Some Movie Critics Need a Southpaw

After seeing the movie Southpaw last weekend the first word that came to my mind was WOW! Since then I have read several reviews and again feel the need to say WOW!  This time, not in a good way though.  While this doesn't completely surprise me - I tend to disagree with the critics - I am saddened that I haven't seen more favorable reviews.  In case you're interested, here's my thoughts on the movie.

Southpaw (2015)

Rated R / 2 hrs. 4 min.

Action / Drama / Sport

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Skylan Brooks, Naomie Harris, Victor Ortiz, Beau Knapp, Miguel Gomez, Dominic Colon, Jose Caraballo, Malcolm M. Mays, ....

Director: Antoine Fuque

Writter: Kurt Sutter

IMDB description: Boxer Billy Hope turns to trainer Tick Willis to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services.

That description, while accurate, really doesn't do this movie justice.  I felt such a range of emotions while watching it.  I knew I would like it.  I like action movies.  I like drama movies.  I like sports movies.  Win Win...  I don't realy care for sports in real life but I love movies about sports. It's the first film written by Kurt Sutter...I loved his story telling with Sons of Anarchy so I was certain I would love his story telling with this movie.

Some of the reviews I read said that it was just a knockoff of all the other boxing movies that had been made (i.e. Rocky, Raging Bull, etc...).  I agree and disagree.  Someone once told me that there is not a story out there that hasn't already been told.  This movie is no exception.  It's the typical rags to riches to rags story with a happy ending....but the ride it takes you on in the process is great.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Billy Hope....and gives an Oscar worthy performance.  I love Jake Gyllenhaal and have seen pretty much everything he's been in.  He is a very versatile actor and has proven once again that he can evoke strong emotions from the audience.  The physical transformation he went through to play this role is amazing.  I read that he did 1000 sit-ups a day, 100 dips, 100 pull-ups, and a lot of cardio to get into this shape!!!

There's nothing about the way he carries his self in this film that would make you doubt that he is a boxer.  And the emotion that he displays makes you feel everything right along with him.  When his wife dies (no, that's not a spoiler, it's in the trailer) it's impossible to not feel the pain while watching his reactions.  When he is winning you feel exhilirated.  When he is losing you feel defeated too.

Rachel McAdams plays Mareen Hope - Billy's wife who he's known since they were orphans.  Loved her in this!!!

Forest Whitaker plays Tick Willis...and also gives an Oscar worthy performance.  As a trainer with his own demons to fight he proves to be just what Billy Hope needs to get him back on track.  And finally, a movie shows someone working with kids that shows them how to be disciplined and respectful!

And I can't not mention Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.  He was great.  You know his character is just going to do what's best for his business (promoter) but you still can't help but to like him.

The movie is a sports movie but it's main theme is redemption.  The redemption of a champion who lost and found his way back.  The redemption of a father who lost his child and worked through his own demons to get her back.  The redemption of a husband who lost his wife and found a way to keep living without her.

As for the title....Southpaw is a term (in boxing) that basically means when a right handed boxer uses his left fist to deliver a blow - usually the destructive blow because it's unexpected.  I'm sure you can guess since this is the title of the movie that this is exactly what happens in this movie.  While that means the ending is predictable it does not make it any less exciting to watch.  Even though I was humming the Rocky tune in my head with each punch... Even though I knew that Billy Hope would be beat down and would still manage to to get back up... I loved this movie.  For all those critics that likes this movie "high five" to you.   And for all those critics out there that didn't....here's my virtual southpaw.

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Southpaw Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/SouthpawMovie
Southpaw Twitter link: https://twitter.com/SouthpawMovie

The Gunman - A Sure Shot For Me

The Gunman 

Rated R / Action, Crime, Drama

Stars: Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Jasmine Trinca, Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance…

**spoilers ahead**

With two new movies out this weekend Ron and I decided to start early and take in one of them on Thursday night.  Last night we went to see the new Sean Penn flick The Gunman.  The movie is based on the 2002 novel The Prone Gunman written by Jean-Patrick Manchette. 

The Gunman is an action movie and in many ways is presented like every other action movie I’ve seen – which is not a negative thing in my opinion.  Sean Penn, who is now 54 years old, looks great physically!  He has obviously been spending lots of time in the gym as evidenced by his buff and toned body (you can get a good look at it during a surfing scene later in the movie – yes, I said a surfing scene).  My only complaint about him in the entire movie is his continual need to smoke a cigarette!

Sean Penn plays Jim Terrier.  Jim is a private security contractor who also happens to be a sniper on a mercenary assassination team in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  The movie starts in 2006 with images that I would definitely have rather not seen…but were important for the theme of the movie.  Thankfully the images of starving babies, war, and other atrocities were brief as they were extremely hard to look at.  While showing these images there were also clips from news programs as well as voice over discussing things like the private security contractors, world’s deadliest conflict, rape, vast mineral wealth, and meeting the demands of the Western world.  From this you know right up front that there will be lots of political overtones throughout the movie.

Jim’s girlfriend Annie is played by Jasmine Trinca, and exotic and beautiful woman.  Annie is an aid worker at a local clinic – where she gets to see firsthand the results of all of the atrocities in the Congo.  From the way they look at each other it’s obvious that Jim and Annie are deeply in love…something that seems to be a problem for Jim’s colleague, Felix (played by Javier Bardem).

During an operation, which I’m sure was supposed to be one of those “good for the country” operations but seems more like a “good for greed” operation, Jim kills the minister of mines of the Congo on the orders of an unknown client, unknown to everyone but Felix anyway.  As a condition of the successful operation Jim must immediately leave the Congo and his girlfriend Annie behind.  But don’t worry about Annie…Jim asked Felix to look after her so she’s bound to be in good hands…right?

Eight years later Jim returns to the Congo, but this time is not there as a private security contractor; instead he works for an aid group providing safe drinking water.  See, Jim is a good guy after all.  Jim is still having flashbacks from the minister’s assassination in which he pulled the trigger.  The flashbacks are accompanied by horrible headaches (as they should) which we later find out is because he has “post-concussion syndrome”.  While I don’t doubt that he would have these flashbacks, I do doubt that a person that can accomplish this kind of assassination would not have done MANY other things that would also be causing him duress, yet we never see flashbacks of those.

While working with the aid group the group is attacked by locals looking for “the white man”.  Jim manages to evade death (after killing most of the others in true action star style) and then commences his trek to find out who sent them.  He is certain it has something to do with the DRC assassination so he hunts down some of his old colleagues in London, Terry (played by Mark Rylance), who is now an executive at the security firm they both used to work for, and Stanly (played by Ray Winstone), who appears to be a beach bum.  You know that one of these is going to end up being a bad guy for sure.

Jim eventually ends up in Barcelona, where he finds that Felix and Annie are now married.  This seemed to surprise him but I doubt that anyone in the audience was surprised by this. After some “as expected” confrontations between the three of them, and some adultery between Jim and Annie (you knew that was going to happen right?), the action (and violence) in the movie really starts to heat up. 

It turns out that Jim has been keeping journals containing evidence of all the things the security company, including himself, did over the years.  Needless to say, the security company doesn’t want this information to come out….enter Interpol.   Of course Interpol is very interested in obtaining this information and they have the perfect agent for the job – Idris Elba.  Idris Elba really doesn’t do a lot in this movie…but he still looks good just standing there.

The remainder of the movie is full of action sequences, including a bull fight, leading up to the “happily ever after” ending.  Ok, so maybe I left out some significant scenes…I don’t need to tell you everything, do I?  You really need to watch this movie to truly appreciate the action scenes. 

I’ve seen some bad press about this movie criticizing everything from the Africans in the film not having any lines to speak to Sean Penn’s performance to the degrading of women to the predictable storyline.  But I enjoyed it.  I knew exactly what to expect when walking into the theater…an action film with political overtones.  I thought Sean Penn’s performance was great.  The movie actually kind of reminded me of the Bourne movies and the Taken movies….and I wouldn’t mind seeing other movies with the Jim Terrier character in them.  So even though some may not like it…it was a sure shot for me. 

You can find the movie info on IMDB here:

IMDB - The Gunman

And the official site here:

Official Site - The Gunman

And if you want to read the novel it was based on you can get that here:

Novel - The Prone Gunman 

  

Chappie Did Not Make Me Happy

This weekend my husband and I went to the movies and saw the new Sci-fi movie Chappie.  Being a Hugh Jackman fan, as well as a Sci-fi fan, I expected to enjoy this movie.  Boy was I wrong!  I was extremely disappointed in it on so many levels.

The description of the movie according to IMDB is:  In the near future, crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. 

The link to the IMDB page is here:IMDB - Chappie 

The link to the official page is here: Chappie Official Page

The movie was written and directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9)…yet one more reason to expect it to be a good sci-fi flick.  

The idea of a robot learning to think and feel for himself is actually very intriguing to me.  With all the advances in technology recently this seems like something that could definitely be on the horizon….and could actually be a good thing on many levels.  Blomkamp really missed the mark on telling this story though. 

**Spoilers ahead**

The movie is set in Johannesburg, South Africa in the near future at a time when order is maintained largely by a robotic police force called Scouts of which Chappie is one of.  Chappie is injured early on and scheduled for destruction.  Deon Wilson, the developer of the Scouts (played by Dev Patel) wants to test a new program on Chappie (to see if robots can actually learn to think and feel on their own) but is denied by his company’s CEO (played by Sigourney Weaver).  So what does Wilson do?  He steals the robot out of the scrap pile to test on his own and as he is leaving with the robot he is carjacked by some street thugs (played by the rap group Die Antwoord).

This is where the movie went downhill to me.  The street thugs began teaching Chappie their way of life….the criminal way of life.  In the next segment of the film Chappie learns how to talk and walk like a gangster, how to use a gun, how to use a knife, how to harm humans (and repeadedtly does so), how to steal cars, etc…generally, he is taught how to be a thug.   And of course, there is the unnecessary dog fight scene.  They didn’t actually show the dog’s fighting but they implied it and they did show dogs dead.   

Hugh Jackman’s character, Vincent, has also developed a robot, The Moose, which is operated by a human wearing a helmet that links him to the robot.  The Moose is loaded with armaments and extremely lethal with Vincent at the helm.

The altercation with The Moose and Chappie, and all the humans in the crossfire, is over-the-top violent….to the point of one person literally being cut in half by The Moose.

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m not easily offended by violence in movies.  I prefer to watch crime movies, thrillers, action…you get the idea.  But I have a huge problem when the violence in the movie is done in such a manner that it actually teaches people, especially children, to be violent just for the sake of being violent. 

This movie was rated R – something definitely not made clear through the trailers. In fact the trailer made the movie seem as if it was more geared for children…WRONG. 

While I am not big on censorship, I would strongly recommend that parents use caution when allowing their children to watch this movie.  The lessons they will learn from this movie are simply how to be (or at least act) like a thug.  I told this to Ron while we were watching the movie and my point was proven as soon as we walked out of the theater.  There was a group of children (probably all under age 10) that watched it with one adult.  They left in front of us and when leaving the theater were talking about how much they liked the movie while pretending to hold guns and talk about shooting.  Yes, I know this is something that is shown to children everyday…on television, movies, video games, books, etc….but there really has to be a line drawn somewhere.

I can’t seem to find the right words to really express how much this movie disappointed me.   And I don’t want to be a voice for censorship.  I really do think that people should make up their own minds.  I would hope that all parents that allow their children to see this movie also take the time to sit down with them and discuss it.  And again I will say…Chappie did NOT make me happy.  L