Tag Archives: Marlon Wayans

Him – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating film full of a brooding presence that builds throughout, leading to an ending that feels less satisfying the more I ponder on it.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Warning – Contains sequences that include flashing lights.

Jets blasts over a goal post.

Setting the Scene

If there was ever a time to get me interested in a sports horror film, it is this week, as we are currently sitting in between the AFL and the NRL grand finales, and my teams are in both. It gives you a little buzz around the sporting world and prepares you to dive into some of the more questionable sides of the industry.

So, to set the scene, Cam’s (Tyriq Withers) whole life has revolved around football, conspicuously not the NFL, but I digress. All his life has been focused on making it to the top, and just when he is about to make his debut, someone cracks him in the back of the head. The doctor is sure that if he gets another crack on the head, it could stop him playing for good. But when Cam’s manager, Tom (Tim Heidecker), calls with an offer to train with his idol, Isaiah (Marlon Wayans), the current quarterback of the San Antonio Saviors, it is an opportunity he can’t turn down, even when all the red flags start popping up.   

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Air – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is both a well-acted and constructed film while also being one of the weirdest premises that I have ever seen for a biopic

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Ben Affleck looks out a window

Air Review –

There are many feelings that you may want to elicit from your audience as they walk out of the cinema. It could be triumph, anger, joy, or even deep sadness. But today was a new one because I had never felt peculiar and odd when I walked out of the cinema before. A feeling of ‘well, that was fine … but what was that for?’. Well, this is the film that we look at today.

So to set the scene, it is 1984, and while the general Nike brand is doing well, their basketball division is in the slumps. No matter what they do, they can’t outperform Converse or Adidas, grabbing a measly 17% market share. It is so bad there is a strong suggestion they should shut this down entirely and focus on jogging where they make bank. Well, Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) has the plan to fix that. It just happens to be targeting the unobtainable Michael Jordan (Damian Delano Young). But Michael’s mother, Deloris (Viola Davis), his agent David Falk (Chris Messina), the other two companies, and even Sonny’s boss Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), might have a different view on the matter.

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Respect – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film anchored by a transcendent performance that captures you from the start and never lets you go.      

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I attended a Press Screening of this film

Respect. Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

Respect Review –

It has been the era of the musical biopic, with Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and even the Sparks Brothers getting a film all about them. But if one person is missing from this list, it would be the seminal Aretha Franklin. Her voice is like no other, and you get taken to another world every time you hear it. Today, we get to look at a film that not only fixes that glaring gap but does so in a way that left tears in my eyes.

So to set the scene, we open in Detroit, 1952, in the house of Reverend C. L. Franklin (Forest Whitaker). He is hosting a party for several influential people in the African-American community. Making his way to the back of the house, he finds Aretha ‘Re’ Franklin (Skye Dakota Turner) asleep in her bed. He asks her if she wants to sing, and the answer is, of course, yes. Even at a young age, she leads the choir at her father’s church, but as Aretha (Jennifer Hudson) grows older, she wants to do more to help Martin Luther King Jr. (Gilbert Glenn Brown). But at a party, her father surprised her with a ticket to New York to meet with John Hammond (Tate Donovan), a famous music producer, who could make her into a star.

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