This Week in Cinema, I Learned…Feb 25-Mar 2 2024
Written by Cameron Geiser
Welcome to This Week in Cinema, a yearlong film criticism project wherein I will be watching a new film that I haven't seen every single day.
This week marks the end of February bringing the celebration of Black History Month to a close. From the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s to the historical works like Malcolm X and I am Not Your Negro, or the works of Melvin Van Peebles and Eddie Murphy, February was a wild ride and I am so glad to have immersed myself in these films. The remaining portion of February here contains some of my favorites of the month in American Fiction, Boyz n the Hood, and Straight Outta Compton. Though I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Spike Lee’s Crooklyn and Denzel Washington's third entry in The Equalizer series too. Admittedly, I did find it particularly funny that the first film to follow up Black History Month was Moonrise Kingdom from Wes Anderson, a director whom I absolutely love- but who is also objectively one of the whitest filmmakers of all time. The final film of the week, however, was a change in the schedule and a delightful one at that. As it was my birthday, I figured, why not go see the new movie from my favorite working filmmaker Denis Villeneuve? Here's to a new month! Which I am titling, Mish-Mash March. It's a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. Cheers!
February 25th
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
4/5
I unknowingly created a strange phenomenon by scheduling Friday the day before watching Straight Outta Compton. I knew that Ice Cube played a role in both films as an actor and then as a character portrayed by his son, O'Shea Jackson Jr, but I did not know that both films were directed by F. Gary Gray. You can really see Gray’s evolution as a director in that twenty-year gap. However, as this is an ensemble piece, one of the things that struck me most was the clarity of the pacing. Since each major character gets their time to shine the story flows by at a brisk and enjoyable pace. Bookending the film with Eazy E’s story was a good way to structure the story while still attending to each character’s needs. I always tend to forget that the rap and hip-hop game was actually a dangerous one in the beginning, and this film (as well as Boyz n the Hood) recreates that tension with precision. It’s an outstanding cast of characters that all believably transform into Ice Cube, Eazy E (Jason Mitchell), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Suge Knight (R. Marcus Taylor), and even Snoop (LaKeith Stanfield). It may hold some of the noticeable hallmarks of the Music Biopic, but it’s handled in such a way as not to be a handicap unlike other big biopics of the last decade (looking at you Bohemian Rhapsody).
February 26th
The Equalizer 3 (2023)
4/5
Admittedly, I was a little worried when the film opened in Southern Italy and Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) ended up spending the majority of the film there. I feared the film series would lose that critical sense of community that was so well established in the first two films. However, that feeling quickly subsided after the story really got rolling. The Equalizer 3 is easily the most violent of the three films, but it is also the one that plays up the cinematography and Western imagery as much as possible on this final outing with our Hitman-turned-Ghost-turned neighborhood-vigilante. Robert Richardson is the cinematographer this time around, and you can feel the visual difference that separates this film from the first two. Not just in the Sicilian setting, but in how everything is framed and where the movement of the camera is concerned. It’s the best-looking film of the franchise, and it’s a rollicking good time too. This time around he’s waging war with the real Mafia, as always, to protect a threatened community that never deserved such treatment. We don’t get his true reason for going to Italy until the last few minutes of the film, but truthfully, he could be anywhere. As long as the film stays true to the morality of the character, and his penchant for serving up justice through brutal violence (it does!)- then hey, Denzel can be a modern gunslinger any day, any time.
February 27th
Crooklyn (1994)
3.5/5
Crooklyn is a semi-autobiographical familial drama directed by Spike Lee, but he included his brother and sister in the writing process here. Which, after watching the movie, makes a whole lot of sense. While not a direct adaptation of any of their lives, but informed by it, the film has a tactile atmosphere that feels lifted from real-life experiences. The family of the film is headed by Woody (Delroy Lindo), a musician caught in the ongoing battle of artistic expression and financial stability, and Carolyn (Alfre Woodard) a teacher and force of nature keeping the family going whether they like it or not. The pair wax and wane in their performances, occasionally having to do some heavy emotional lifting, and they work well together as the foundation of the family. While all of the kids in the family were well cast, the standout was Troy (Zelda Harris), who we find is the focus of the story. It's set in 1970’s Brooklyn and it follows the family's financial troubles, as well as the chaotic family dynamic wherein everyone gets a moment or two to shine. The film is very slice of life in its depiction, and I was surprised to catch so many mainstream songs used throughout the film. I was also struck by the wonderfully abstract filmmaking used to depict the director’s cameo as one of the glue huffing neighborhood scamps as they floated upside down through the street.
February 28th
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
4.5/5
As a film that's very anti-violence, I found Boyz n the Hood to be a rather compelling film. Aside from the performances, which were all pretty entertaining, did anyone else find the Stand by Me references to be strangely endearing? From the opening childhood sequence where one of the kids asks “Do you wanna see a dead body?” while on railroad tracks, to the end sequence where characters fade out of frame with onscreen text detailing their futures- Maybe this wasn't Stand by Me specific, I just wasn't expecting it and it gave me a chuckle. While the story begins with Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) moving to his father’s (Laurence Fishburne) as a kid, I was glad the rest of the film opened up as more of an ensemble piece involving the neighborhood as a whole. The story goes to great lengths to showcase the insane circle of violence that has been perpetuated by years of neglect, societal and local, and how stupid all of that is. Ice Cube as Doughboy was the scene stealer of the film. The whole performance was great, but my favorite part was when his mom kicked him and his friends out of the house before everyone got a turn to play Duck Hunt.
February 29th
American Fiction (2023)
5/5
As February comes to a close, I wanted to end with American Fiction. Not least which because I simply missed the earlier theatrical window of Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut, but also because the film focuses so intently on the core concepts that nearly all of this past month’s films have touched on, at least in part. Namely that our society is so seemingly addicted to reducing people down to stereotypes without being willing to do the legwork of what makes a rich narrative so compelling in the first place. As a similarly grumpy and occasionally feisty writer who enjoys the prodding of hypocritical surface-level fools, I loved this film. I loved the character of Monk played by Jeffrey Wright. He fills the page with bristling agitation and artistic *righteous* fury when needed, but he's also one to make the most out of silence in moments of grief and sadness. When push comes to shove and Monk needs a financial hit to provide for his mother’s (Leslie Uggams) healthcare, he writes an obscene and blunt joke of a novel that plays up the worst stereotypes of Black culture imaginable. Which, of course, is immediately greenlit for publication with the highest advance of his career. As this was never intended to be a success, Monk keeps trying to deny this sham Novel from expanding, but it keeps paying the bills and before long it's being talked about for a film adaptation. American Fiction is a brilliant film and one that would certainly have made my top ten of last year's contributions.
March 1st
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
4/5
As I continue to wind my way through the films of Wes Anderson, I am consistently surprised at the variation that he imparts with each film. While his style may be incredibly obvious and apparent in any of his films, the tone and nature of each story is always wildly different as is necessary with a pastiche as strict and self-referential as his. Set in 1965 on a northeastern island not far from the mainland, a small camping troupe, led by Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton), loses one of their scouts one morning and puts out a distress call to the local police, one Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis). We eventually catch up with the well-prepared camper, Sam (Jared Gilman), as he meets a girl in a field, apparently a preordained meeting location. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand star as Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, the aloof-yet-present parents of said girl in the field, Suzy (Kara Hayward). Thus the small community of New Penzance Islanders are on the case, searching the valleys, forests, and fields in attempts to find the two before a reported Hurricane reaches the bay. This film sets itself aside from Anderson’s other efforts in that this story lives within childhood innocence. All of his other films contain characters that seem lost, trying to regain the innocence of youth, or if anything else are simply weighed down by the complexity of adulthood's problems. Moonrise Kingdom is a delightfully charming, dorky little summer romance between two kids who can relate to each other through neglect and shared instances of fraught social interactions.
March 2nd
Dune Part Two (2024)
5/5
I have a whole lot of personal bias going into this film. Denis Villeneuve is my favorite working filmmaker, and he often finds himself working in my favorite genre, Science Fiction. With that in mind, Dune Part Two is a staggering feat of filmmaking that succeeds at making political intrigue and intergalactic war a fascinating stage for tragedy. As the middle chapter of Paul Atreides’ (Timothée Chalamet) rise to power amidst the manipulation of religious fervor in the Fremen, the indigenous peoples of desert planet Arrakis, the film is a stellar middle chapter- but it is most certainly only part of the whole. We'll have to wait on the third film to see if Villeneuve can stick the landing, but in his defense, the man made a sequel to Blade Runner, and it was actually quite good. What can I say? I believe in Denis and his abilities as a filmmaker. Part Two expertly expands on everything the first film established, with special care given to Chani (Zendaya) and Paul’s romance, and Paul's acceptance and ascendance within the Fremen society. The film is absolutely stacked with great performances from a slew of well-known actors including Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgård, and Dave Bautista. However the newcomers to the franchise in Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Christopher Walken- all bring something unique to the franchise that altogether raises the quality of Part Two just above the first entry for me personally. Go see this one in theaters folks, it's well worth your time and money.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.