Jamie Foxx

Just Mercy

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Just Mercy
  • IMDb: link

Just Mercy movie reviewBased on true experiences of defense attorney Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan), writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton delivers a straightforward biopic that is more about one lawyer’s struggle against a broken legal system than the legal maneuverings of a crafty lawyer. After a brief introduction to the character, the film begins in earnest with Stevenson taking his Harvard education to Alabama to defend those on death row who never received a fair trial.

The film primarily deals with Stevenson’s attempts to earn a new trial for Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx) who was convicted of murder on the testimony of one unreliable witness (Tim Blake Nelson) and no physical evidence thanks in large part to the pressure and intimidation of a local sheriff (Michael Harding) whose motives the film never really examines.

Just Mercy is a solid film filled with actors who have given more memorable roles in other movies. Along with Foxx and Jordan we also get Brie Larson as another member of the defense team who helped Stevenson set-up the Equal Justice Initiative offices in Montgomery, Alabama.

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Robin Hood

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Robin Hood (2018)
  • IMDb: link

Robin Hood Blu-ray reviewWhile marginally more successful than King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, the latest take on Robin Hood suffers from many of the same mistakes such as injecting modern sensibilities into the legend. After a brief introduction to Robin (Taron Egerton) in England, the film races the Lord of Loxley through the Crusades only to return him two-years later after his compassion becomes a problem for his fellow soldiers. Robin returns to find Marian (Eve Hewson) shacked up with another guy (Jamie Dornan) and the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) taxing the locals into oblivion. With the help of the Arab (Jamie Foxx), Robin becomes an outlaw to restore justice.

Mixing various elements from other Robin Hood films, and stealing the Zorro/Don Diego set-up as Robin tries to both woo the Sheriff while also stealing form under his nose, director Otto Bathurst‘s film is a mishmash of stories we’ve seen done better before. The result is a somewhat entertaining but completely forgettable take on the character that even Egerton’s charm can’t save.

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The Top Ten Movies of 2017 (so far)

/ / Top Tens & Lists

best-of-2017-so-far

Is the year really half over? You know what that means! It’s time to look back on the year to find the best movies released so far this year. This year’s list includes a pair of animated movies, monsters, sequels, heroes, talking cars and appliances, a remake, mutants, a heist film, and more. Here’s a look at The Top Ten Movies of 2017 (so far).

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Baby Driver

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Baby Driver
  • IMDb: link

Baby Driver movie reviewWritten and directed by Edgar Wright, Baby Driver is a fast-paced crime thriller overfilling with plenty of humor and music. Centered around a getaway driver named Baby (Ansel Elgort) attempting to pay-off a debt to local gangster (Kevin Spacey), the film is a mix of over-the-top action and characters and much more realistic violence and emotion. At times Wright struggles balancing the two sides of the film, especially in the final act which drags on with multiple epilogues, but when it works it’s a joy to behold.

With Baby driving for Doc’s (Spacey) crew on multiple jobs, we meet an assortment of criminals including the romantic pair of Buddy (Jon Hamm) and Darling (Eiza González), Griff (Jon Bernthal), and Bats (Jamie Foxx). We also learn while others are quick to underestimate Baby, there’s more going on with the young man who drowns out the noise of the outside world with his constantly playing iPod than meets the eye. We meet his foster father Joseph (CJ Jones), while seeing tragic flashbacks to his mother (Sky Ferreira) and father (Lance Palmer), and are introduced to Baby’s new love interest in the beautiful waitress Debora (Lily James).

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
  • IMDB: link

The Amazing Spider-Man 2Building on the groundwork laid two years ago in The Amazing Spider-Man, the sequel returns all the core members of the first film (minus the Lizard) while continuing the story of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and the harsh lessons which frame Spider-Man’s mythology.

Although needing to spend the time setting up two different villain origin stories, one of the aspects of the sequel I most enjoyed was the fact that it never lost focus that this is primarily Peter Parker’s movie. Jamie Foxx is adequate as Electro, a super-villain with the power to absorb and control electricity, even if he’s given a rushed paint-by-the-numbers origin that relies on the introverted electrical engineer going from confused super-powered freak just trying to understand what has happened to him and deal with his new taste for all things electric to full-on super-villain a little too quickly for my tastes. The same could be said for Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) whose relationship with Peter doesn’t have enough time to develop and deteriorate to the point that the script needs to earn its eventual payoff.

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