James' World 2

The Little Things is a neo-noir crime thriller written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and produced by Hancock and Mark Johnson. The Little Things was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures. I had hoped for more substance in this film, which was just ok.

The Little Things opens in the year 1990, with a young girl driving on the highway, stalked by someone in a pick-up truck. In a panic, she pulls over at a gas station, the driver exits his vehicle and follows her. She knocks on the windows and doors but the gas station is closed causing her to run on foot through the desert. Ending up on another road, she is able to solicit a passing truck driver and escape.

The Little Things then switches to what appears to be sometime in the near future. In Bakersfield, CA, deputy sheriff Joe “Deke” Deacon…

Polar is a neo-noir action thriller based on the 2012 webcomic of the same name and is directed by Jonas Åkerlund.  The film revolves around an aging assassin on the verge of retirement, who becomes targeted by his employer. I discovered Polar while looking for another movie.  It’s turned out to be an excellent find.

Somewhere in Chile, a former assassin who was employed by Damocles (a firm of assassins) is eliminated by the company’s special hit team:  Sindy, (Ruby O. Fee) who serves as a decoy, Facundo (Anthony Grant) the company sniper, and the assault team; Alexei (Josh Cruddas), Karl (Robert Maillet), and Hilde (Fei Ren).  Duncan Vizla, known as The Black Kaiser (Mads Mikkelsen), is a Damocles employee nearing mandatory retirement on his fiftieth birthday. By making sizeable contributions into his company retirement fund, he is owed over $8M, due the day of retirement…

Resistance is a biographical drama written and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz and is inspired by the life of Marcel Marceau. The film was very informative and well scripted and well-acted.

The film opens in 1938, just before the start of World War II, in Munich, Nazi Germany. The Nazi Brown Shirts invade the home of a young Jewish girl, Elsbeth (Bella Ramsey), and kills her parents. Resistance continues in Strasbourg, France, near the German border, where Marcel Marceau (Jesse Eisenberg)works unfulfilled in his father’s butcher shop. Marcel’s passion was for the arts,  especially mime and painting. During 1939, when Nazi power consolidates and World War II approaches, Marceau performs a cabaret impression of Charlie Chaplin, using the narrow mustache also favored by Adolf Hitler. Visual similarities between Chaplin and Hitler frequent the film. Marceau’s passion for theatre grows stronger after he discovers his father Charles Mangel…

Sylvie’s Love is a drama written, directed, and produced by Eugene Ashe. A sweet story of a young girl living in Harlem, finding herself and falling in love but promised to another by a conceided and overbearing mother. I really liked Sylvie’s Love but find many loose ends. Sylvie’s Love opens uptown in New York City, better known as Harlem. The year is 1962 when jazz is still popping.  There is a chance encounter outside of town Hall between two people who obviously know each other.  She calls his name, he turns towards her and a big smile lights up his face. The film then turns back time, 5 years earlier when life was less complicated, and reveals how Sylvie and Robert originally met and fell in love.

Sylvie Parker (Tessa Thompson) works at her father’s Mr. Jay (Lance Riddick) music store while Robert Halloway (Nnamdi Asomugha) is a saxophone player…

Promising Young Woman is a black comedy thriller written, produced, and directed by Emerald Fennell in her feature directorial debut. Margot Robbie serves as a producer through her LuckyChap Entertainment banner. The film tells the story of a woman who seeks to avenge her best friend who was a victim of rape. I only came across this movie looking for something else.  While I thought the movie was decent, it featured an ending I loathe.

Cassandra “Cassie” Thomas (Carey Mulligan) at the age of 30, lives with her parents, Stanley and Susan Thomas (Clancy Brown and Jennifer Collidge), respectively, and works at a local coffee shop with her friend Gail (Laverne Cox). Several years ago, Cassie dropped out of medical school to take care of her best friend, Nina Fisher who also dropped out because she was raped by a classmate.  The school and the legal system totally failed…

News of the World is a Western drama, co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass. The movie is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Paulette Jiles. The film follows a Civil War veteran who must return a young girl who was stolen by Native Americans as an infant to her last remaining family, over 400 miles away. The trailers were quite interesting and so was the movie.

In 1870, retired Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) a former member of the Confederate Infantry now makes a living traveling from town to town keeping folks informed of the latest news as they gather to listen as he reads from local newspapers for 10¢ a person. One day while traveling to the next town, Captain Kidd spots an overturned wagon.  Upon investigation, he encounters a lynched Black man and a wild, young white, 10-year-old girl.  Suspecting the two were…

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a drama directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, based on the play of the same name by August Wilson. Ma Rainey was produced by Denzel Washington, Todd Black, and Dany Wolf. The film, while based on a true story as well as its source play, focuses on Ma Rainey, an influential blues/jazz singer who was the first popular stage entertainer to incorporate authentic blues into her song repertoire. She performed during the first three decades of the 20th century and enjoyed mass popularity during the blues craze of the 1920s. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom dramatizes a recording session that occurred in Chicago.

In 1927, Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), a highly regarded blues singer was recently been contracted by white producers. A recording session for songs slated for Ma’s next album is scheduled by her manager Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) to take…

Outside the Wire is a science fiction film directed by Mikael Håfström. Anthony Mackie serves as a producer as well as starring in the film. Once I knew Outside the Wire would stream in 2021, I waited patiently for its January release.  The film ended up being worth the wait as it focuses on an android officer who works with a drone pilot to stop a global catastrophe.

The year is 2036, Russian mercenaries convince the United States to deploy peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. During a military operation, a team of  US Marines and “Gumps” (robotic soldiers) are ambushed. Disobeying a direct order not to deploy a missile, drone pilot 1st Lt. Harp (Damson Idris) deploys a Hellfire missile in a drone strike against a suspected enemy launcher, killing two of the Marines but saving the remaining 38. As punishment for disobeying a direct order, Harp (who has never personally…

Tenet is a science fiction action-thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who produced it with Emma Thomas. Tenet is a co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States. The plot follows a CIA secret agent as he manipulates the flow of time to prevent World War III.

I had heard Tenet was anticipated among viewers but wasn’t as good as was expected, I concur.

A CIA agent, known as the “Protagonist” (John David Washington), takes part in an undercover operation at Ukraine’s Kyiv opera house. His life is saved by a masked soldier with a red trinket, who “un-fires” a bullet through a gunman. After seizing an artifact, the Protagonist is captured by mercenaries. He endures torture before consuming cyanide. He awakens to learn the cyanide was a test of loyalty, his team has been killed, and the artifact is lost.

The Protagonist is recruited…