MOVIE REVIEW: Olympus Has Fallen

Sometimes you just want to go have some mindless fun at the movies. A group of co-workers decided a couple hours before to go check out the latest "patriotic disaster porn" movie by Antoine Fuqua, the director of Training Day. Olympus Has Fallen has a pretty ridiculous premise, as expressed in the rottentomatoes.com blurb:

When the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger crisis.

However the film does have a stellar cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Rick Yune and Oscar winners Morgan Freeman and Melissa Leo. Butler stars as the heroic ex-Secret Service Mike Banning who tries to save the President (Eckhart), his young son and the Secretary of Defense (Leo). Basset plays the female head of the Secret Service (truth mimicking fiction!) who inexplicably is deeply involved in the decisions in the situation room at the Pentagon when the Speaker of the House (played by Freeman) becomes the acting President.

The movie chock-ful of action, and is incredibly violent. There are many, many scenes of bullets entering human bodies as terrorists successfully execute a mission which enables them to completely over-run the White House and kidnap the President of the United States in a jaw-dropping 13 minutes. This is quite an impressive and disheartening sequence. While watching how the terrorists outgun and overrun the brave men and women defending the White House as an American one is horrified at the visions of the desecration of "the nation's house."

Olympus Has Fallen is just the first (but not the last!) of the "disaster porn" movies to depict a terrorist attack on Washington, D.C. that results in imminent danger to the president and the destruction of numerous national landmarks like the White House. The producers of disaster porn are exploiting the audience's strong feelings towards national symbols to enhance the emotional resonance and entertainment impact of the film.

Regardless of the excessive violence and the relentless emotional manipulation the movie is still an entertaining experience and good mindless fun.

Title: Olympus Has Fallen.
Director: Antoine Fuqua.
Running Time: 1 hour, 59 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong language and violence throughout.
Release Date: March 22, 2013.
Viewing Date: March 26, 2013.

Writing: C+.
Acting: B.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: B.

Overall Grade: B (3.0/4.0).

Black, Gay Mayoral Candidate Found Dead in Mississippi

Marco McMillian was the first openly gay candidate for political office in the history of the state of Mississippi. The 34-year-old Black gay Democrat was running for Mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi but his body was found recently in the river!

The 34-year-old McMillian was running for mayor of Clarksdale, a Blues hub where actor and Mississippi native Morgan Freeman co-owns a music club with Howard Stovall, a Memphis entertainment executive, and Bill Luckett, who also is running for mayor.

Meredith said the body was found between Sherard and Rena Lara and was sent to Jackson for an autopsy. He declined to provide further details or speculate on the cause of death.

[...]

McMillian was a Democrat. Campaign spokesman Jarod Keith said McMillian’s campaign was noteworthy because he may have been the first openly gay man to be a viable candidate for public office in Mississippi. 

Clarksdale, a town of about 17,800 people, is well known to Blues fans as the home of the crossroads, where Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil for skills with a guitar. 

I know the South is not what it was in 1965, but as recently as yesterday there was an oral argument before the Supreme Court where lawyers for a southern county (Shelby County, Alabama) basically argued that the South was changed and that racism would not be an impediment to voting rights and the exercise of minority political power.

Hmmmmm!

WATCH: HRC's National Marriage Equality Ad

Human Rights Campaign is launching a national advertising campaign promoting marriage equality. The ad is narrated by Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman, and says:

America stands at the dawn of a new day.Freedom, justice and human dignity have always guided our journey toward amore perfect union.Now across our country, we are standing together for the right of gay andlesbian Americans to marry the person they love.And with historic victories for marriage, we¹ve delivered a mandate forfull equality.The wind is at our back. But our journey has just begun.Join us.

The text is slightly problematic, since there is a somewhat unclear antecedent of the use of "we." One can interpret it to mean "We Americans" or one could also see it as "We Human Rights Campaign" since the ad ends with their logo and website. One would have thought HRC would have been more sensitive to multiple interpretations and made the connection between "We" and "America" tighter. (Or maybe they were trying for ambiguity.)

The ad overall is quite effective and affecting, with images of past civil rights advances (Martin Luther King, Jr, women's suffrage) and also has images of a diverse group of same-sex couples. You can watch it here.

FILM REVIEW: The Dark Knight Rises

The third movie in director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, is now difficult to be seen outside of the context of a horrific act of gun violence by a mad man and the follow-on to one of the most successful films of the last decade, 2008's The Dark Knight. However, to me, it was my most anticipated film of the year because it is the new film by my favorite director. Nolan's previous film was the brilliant Inception, my favorite film of 2010.

The Dark Knight Rises stars Oscar winners Christian Bale, Sir Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard and Morgan Freeman. Also in the cast are Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman. The film's screenplay was written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan. The film's story is credited to Nolan and David S. Goyer (Dark City, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight).

As expected, the film has set the box-office aflame, although not at quite the same torrid pace of the record setting The Dark Knight. That movie made over $1 billion worldwide, and grossed $533 million dollars domestically. It has a current rating of 94% on rottentomatoes.com while the sequel has a rating of 87%. The sequel The Dark Knight Rises  grossed $353 million domestically in the first 17 days of release, which is about 11% below where The Dark Knight was at that point.

So, which film is better? I would unequivocally answer that The Dark Knight Rises is the better movie, and clearly the best of Nolan's Batman trilogy. Having seen the film twice in its first two weeks of release, I can summarize the high points of the film.

They are: Hathaway's performance as Catwoman Selina Kayle, Hardy's performance as Bane and Gordon-Levitt's John Blake. Other key components are Nolan's direction, Hans Zimmer's score and the overall "look and feel" of the movie, which I think would be art direction/production design. I even apprecviated Cotillard's surprisingly small (but pivotal) role as Miranda Tate. Hathaway looks amazing as the cat burglar who forms an uneasy alliance with Bruce Wayne/Batman but who also betrays him in a potentially deadly fashion. I'm a Kinsey 6 (exclusively homosexual) but even I was looking at Hathaway in her catsuit going, "Damn that is one hot outfit!" Hardy is absolutely terrifying as Bane. One's first reaction when one sees him on screen is "Oh my goodness what have they done to Tom Hardy's body? The guy is huge!" Bane is physically imposing and extremely threatening. Despite (or maybe because he is) wearing a bizarre facial mask which only reveals his eyes, Hardy is forced to use his voice and physical presence to convey the nuances of his character and he does an outstanding job. Gordon-Levitt has left his child star days long behind him with his breakout roles in (500) Days of Summer and Inception. Here he plays the main audience surrogate as a fresh-faced police officer who is a fan of the now-reviled Batman and who never loses sight of the greater good. As in most Nolan's film the casting of every role is exquisite, even in essentially tiny roles. One of my personal favorite actors, the attractive Daniel Sunjata has a way too-brief appearance as a special forces officer.

The script is engaging, and includes some very nice twists and surprising reveals at the end. That is not to say that the plot hang together completely, but the central questions posed by entire trilogy such as "What are the implications and complications of an ordinary man with extraordinary resources who decides to put on a mask and fight crime and evil in a crime-ridden city?" The way Nolan resolves these issues in the third film are extremely satisfying and one walks out of the theater appreciating the way the three films work together as a cohesive and continuous story.

The Dark Knight Rises is not just an excellent example of a summer superhero movie but is also an example of simply a very good film, and finding one film which is able to exist as examples of both of these is quite a rare thing indeed.

Title: The Dark Knight Rises.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Running Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some sensuality and language.
Release Date: July 20, 2012.
Viewing Date: July 23, 2012 (and July 28, 2012).

Writing: A.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A+.
Impact: A.

Overall Grade: A/A+ (4.083/4.0).

Gay Donor Gives $1M To Pro-Obama Super-PAC

Mel Heifetz, 76, gave $1 million dollars to
the pro-Obama Super-PAC Priorities USA

Hollywood celebrities like Bill Maher and Morgan Freeman have each received attention for their 1 million dollar donations to Priorities USA, the super PAC that is working for Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Now comes word from TowleRoad that an openly gay donor named Mel Heifetz has donated $1 million to the Super PAC as well.

Heifetz explains why in his own words:

"Call it giving back. Call it paying it forward. What I know is I'm 76 years old, I probably don't have too many big elections left in my lifetime, and I have no reason to hold back now. People I admire like Bill Maher and Morgan Freeman have given significantly so why shouldn't I? Whatever I might want to contribute in the future, the future is now -- and I refuse to sit this one out as some try to take us back with policies that will weaken the country I love and have fought for all my life.

As a gay, man, I have lots of political issues that are personal when I look ahead to the November elections. One issue alone -- Gov. Romney's support for a federal marriage amendment -- is as insulting as it is harmful, most especially for gay and lesbian couples of my generation. Romney will take us back to the 1950s. And yet, what motivated me wasn't just one issue. I knew that, if I held back now and failed to help re-elect President Obama, I would regret it for the rest of my life. The urgency of donating in future years will be wasted if we don't get President Obama re-elected this year."

There are not that many openly gay people who can make a $1 million dollar donation without blinking. (I'm looking at you David Geffen, Jon Stryker, Chris Hughes, Tim Cook, Peter Thiel and Tim Gill!)

Cingratulations to Mel Heifetz for standing up for his beliefs.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad.

WATCH: TV Ad For Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady

Harvey Weinstein is pushing hard to help Meryl Streep to finally win her 3rd Oscar for her stunning performance in The Iron Lady. Watch the television ad which ostensibly is promoting the movie but is also pushing Streep towards her much deserved win. However, Viola Davis from The Help is the sentimental (*cough* white guilt *cough*) favorite and won the Screen Actors Guild award which is a good sign she has a big following among the actors, which is the largest branch of the Academy. If Davis were to win she would be only the second black woman in 84 years to win for Lead Actress (Halle Berry for Monster's Ball). In fact the number of Black people who have won Oscars in my lifetime can basically be counted on one hand  two hands (Denzel Washington (twice!), Jennifer Hudson, Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Foxx, Forrest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman and Monique).

What do YOU think is going to happen at the Oscars on Sunday February 26th?

2010 Oscars: Nominations Announced

The 2010 Oscar Nominations were announced this morning and MadProfessah did pretty well in predicting the Top 8 categories. I got 4 categories (Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor) completely correct and overall,out of 45 possible nominations, I predicted 37 correctly, or an 82%accuracy rate.

Interesting notes: Lee Daniels becomes the first openly gay and second African American nominated for Best Director, in the same year the 4th woman is nominated (Kathryn Bigelow, who will most likely win!)

Diane Kruger and Julianne Moore were robbed!

The fact that The Hurt Locker was able to tie Avatar for total nominations at 9 is huge, because roughly 100 times more people have seen the latter.

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus An Education
Precious
Star TrekThe Blind Side
The HangoverA Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Accuracy Rate: 7 out of 10.

Best Director

• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Lee Daniels, Precious
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Accuracy Rate: 5 out of 5

Best Actress

• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Casey Mulligan, An Education
  
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Accuracy Rate: 5 out of 5

Best Actor

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
• George Clooney, Up in the Air
• Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus
• Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Accuracy Rate: 5 out of 5

Best Supporting Actress

• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
• Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds Penelope Cruz, Nine
  
• Mo'Nique, Precious
• Julianne Moore, A Single Man Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart

Accuracy Rate: 3 out of 5

Best Supporting Actor

• Matt Damon, Invictus
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
• Christophe Walz, Inglourious Basterds

Accuracy Rate: 5 out of 5

Best Original Screenplay

• Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron, Avatar Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
• Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
• Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of SummerBob Peterson and Pete Docter, Up

Accuracy Rate: 3 out of 5

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
• Nora Ephron, Julie & Julia Jesse Armstrong and Simon Blackwell, In the Loop
• Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
• Nick Hornby, An Education
• Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Accuracy Rate: 4 out of 5

BREAKING: Morgan Freeman Injured In Car Accident

There are numerous news reports that 71-year-old Oscar-winning actor (and current co-star of The Dark Knight) Morgan Freeman has been injured in a car accident in Mississippi.

After you send good thoughts his way you can recall the famous parole scene from The Shawshank Redemption.

REVIEW: The Dark Knight

Saw The Dark Knight this weekend. Since it's release at 12:01am Friday July 18th the film has been repeatedly breaking box-office records, and as of this writing has grossed $312 million(!) in 10 days putting it a mere $2 million behind the box-office champ for 2008: Iron Man (MadProfessah's review). Some industry observers are predicting a $500 million final gross and say that Titanic's $1.8 billion worldwide gross may be in jeopardy (I doubt that).

The movie is directed by one of my favorite directors, Christopher Nolan, who made Memento and The Prestige (see MadProfessah's review), two of my favorite films of all time. In fact, in my opinion, Christopher Nolan (who co-writes and also produces his films) has yet to make a bad movie in the six feature films in his oeuvre so far: The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Begins, Insomnia and Memento.

The Dark Knight is a fitting member of this club. Although it is not as intellectually satisfying as Memento or The Prestige it is another example of damned good film-making similar to Batman Begins but it is better than that movie.

The cast (like in the original) is quite impressive and uniformly excellent: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal with even minor roles filled with excellent actors like Nestor Carbonell (The Mayor of Gotham City) and Anthony Michael Hall (an important cop) and Eric Roberts (an important gangster).

A little over half-way through the film I whispered to The Other Half "How much did this film cost?!" It looks incredible and you really can't believe all the things they were able to do on-screen, even with the magic of computerized visual effects.

The film does have a significant flaw: the film is simply too long. It is his longest film to date, and I think it's because he wanted to give the fans a summer entertainment where they feel they got their money's worth. Well, he had me after the first hour. The running time could really be anywhere between 15-30 minutes shorter. There's simply too much plot for a popcorn movie (how often does say that about a summer blockbuster?) which leads to a sense of enervated appreciation by the end.

The strengths of the film are many and much celebrated at this point, with the most significant being the performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker. He is absolutely riveting to watch, at times terrifying, funny and violent. It is an Oscar-calibre performance for which he will almost certainly win year-end acting awards posthumously (personally I would not vote for him for Best Supporting Academy Award if it were up to me because I think living actors should benefit from the exposure of winning the film industry's highest honor but there's no question it is one of the strongest supprting performances by a male actor in any film this year so far).

Unsurprisingly, Oscar-winners Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are also incredibly strong in their supporting roles, as is Aaron Eckhart as the politically ambitious District Attorney Harvey Dent. Gary Oldman is almost unrecognizable in his Sir Albert Finney-like disappearance into his character. The only slight weakness in the top tier talent is Maggie Gyllenhaal's although I do think she was an improvement on Katie Holmes who originated the role of Bruce Wayne's love interest Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins.

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (he doesn't really get to do any acting as Batman) is solid and I found it signficant that there are almost no scenes of Bale's incredible body shirtless--in fact there is almost no sexuality whatever in the film.

The film, instead seems to be more about the puzzle of vigilante-ism and the nature of the body politic of a city, as well as the nature of madness and criminality and how far "the good guys" will go to stop the "bad guys" from getting their way, even if that means the line between good and bad get blurred. But, ultimately, it is an incredibly entertaining way to spend almost 3 hours in the dark.

OVERALL GRADE: A-.

ACTING: A+.
IMAGERY: A-.
PLOT: A-.
IMPACT: B+.