Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Straight Outta Compton is a perfect example of a primary source on our present society. Sure, you can view it as a secondary source on the 80s and 90s West Coast hip hop scene. But the movie itself is a product of our time. The influence of our society is overtly present throughout, giving this movie more importance than at first glance. Any African American could tell you that police brutality has been an ongoing problem in their communities for decades. But for many who live in Ta-Nehisi Coates's suburban dream, the recent incidents of police brutality caught on video have been a startling wake up call. This is the reality that minorities live in this country. What has changed is the quick access to video.  Rodney King's brutal beating was caught on tape, otherwise we may never have heard his story. Camera phones can capture video in an instant and the video can go viral on the Internet the next day.

NWA tried to convey their struggles through music (simple exercising their first amendment rights that even the FBI tried to curb) to the suburban teens who knew of no such struggle but listened to gangsta rap. This movie puts visuals to their visceral rhymes. From the outset, F. Gary Gray captures the raw toughness of the streets of Compton.  It looks like a war zone, complete with a tank-like battering ram. The threat of gangs is real and close to home.

Considering the original members of NWA served as executive producers, the film is surprisingly candid. The group is not uniformly portrayed in a positive light. It is a brutally honest movie. I loved the casting of O'Shea Jackson Jr as his father. In fact, the whole cast made a very convincing ensemble. Including Paul Giamatti who is seemingly typecast as the evil music manager; it is just something about his look and his mannerisms that make him a fitting choice.

Finally, the film does a good job at portraying the immense influence of the revolutionary group NWA. Their seminal album Straight Outta Compton changed hip hop music. What I didn't know before was just how brilliant Dr. Dre is as a businessman. He first found success as a founding member of NWA. Then he left that for Death Row Records where he found more success before throwing that money away to found Aftermath Records, which still operates today. That is not even to mention the massive moneymaker Beats. It's astounding that someone with such business savvy let himself be cheated out of money early on in his career. It was Ice Cube that saw through the mirage and so he took his lyrics genius solo. And individually these giants of rap each shaped the music industry in their own ways.

Black Mass (2015)

Johnny Depp has never been creepier.  Even in his spooky collaborations with Tim Burton, Depp has never inspired the fear in me that he does as Whitey Bulger. That is how you know he gives a good performance. You feel the fear that the characters feel when in his presence, when be gets angry, and when the tension is released you can finally breathe again. His hair and makeup team did a phenomenal job as usual, making a complete physical transformation. This could be the year he finally wins an Oscar.

This is a classic gangster movie with a twist, complete with some guns (but plenty of physical violence), lots of blood, the rival Italian gang, and the brother with political power. Bulger is an informant for the FBI. He uses his position as a shield and his crony in the Bureau looks out for him. It is actually incredible how long they got away with this right under the nose of the FBI. The ensemble cast is very good; everyone puts on a thick Boston accent, even Brit Benedict Cumberbatch.  Joel Edgerton is excellent as the FBI agent that defends Bulger and his downfall unfolds slowly. It is a slow burn that let's the pain and panic settle in. I admit I had a little bit of difficulty following at times.

The End of the Tour (2015)

This is a really brainy movie, filled with effortless, thoughtful and intelligent dialogue.  The conversation is mesmerizing, almost on an Aaron Sorkin level.  But they're not talking politics--they're simply musing on life and humanity.  They have really insightful and thought provoking ideas.  The film follows David Lipsky of Rolling Stone as he interviewed author David Foster Wallace for a profile in the magazine following the success of his novel Infinite Jest. Lipsky says "You don't open a one thousand page book because you've heard the author is a nice guy.  You read it...because you understand the author is brilliant."  This movie features two brilliant portrayals of two brilliant people. It is the sort of character with the quirky fast-talking mannerisms that we have come to associate with Jessie Eisenberg, but Jason Segel is a revelation in this far cry from the comedy of How I Met Your Mother. He is at once calm, yet flustered, private but open, friendly yet off putting. Wallace is enigmatic, but that is what makes everything he says so interesting--it is always a pleasant surprise.

The film ends with Brian Eno's The Big Ship.  I wasn't sure when I had heard this song before but after some digging online, I recalled that it was used in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl in the homemade film.  Both films punctuate a death scene rather poignantly with this song and while they are different types of scenes (one of sorrow and the other of fond remembrance), the music works in both. 

The Comeback Kid (2015)

John Mulaney is my favorite (or second favorite after Tig) stand up comedian out there today. He is hilarious on TV and in person. He came to Hopkins to perform a preview of his Netflix special. He did a lot of the same jokes as in his Netflix special with some extra jokes (about 30 minutes longer than his special).  I love the voices he does (like of Bill Clinton) and his expressions and his sarcasm. He makes fun of these little moments in his life that anyone else might have forgotten.  The jokes were funny the first time in person, and even though I know the punch lines, they are timeless jokes that still make me laugh.  They're actually not totally timeless, they are topical to a certain time in the past sometimes, but he gives you enough background that it is still funny, like jokes about Back to the Future. For the record, he was worried that we wouldn't watch his special having already heard the jokes in person, but I did and it was totally worth it.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)

It's really long.  But so is the history of Scientology.  The structure of the movie is kind of complicated.  It is kind of linear in time, but not quite. It deconstructs the Church, its methods and its "beliefs." It uses testimonials from former members of the Church to bolster its argument.  In their last appearances on camera, the shots fade to white and it shows on the screen how long they were in the church and when they finally left.  It appears that the major turning point in the Church's history was when the IRS gave in to the Church, granting it religious exemption.  The film walks through the brainwashing the members go through and the ridiculous lies they are fed.  These are insider accounts that we otherwise would be unaware of, all the terminology, the creation myth, and the power struggle in the upper ehcelons of the leadership.  What is perhaps most astounding is how the members have avoided the internet in the twenty-first century.  It is one thing to not know all of the criticisms of the Church before the internet age, but how could they be so sheltered now?  The Church's power is its control over its members.  This film demystifies the mystery surrounding the secretive Church for the rest of us.

Southpaw (2015)

Southpaw is kind of like Raging Bull, but not quite as good.  It features the champion, self-destructive brutish boxer who inadvertently pushes his family away. Jake Gyllenhaal undergoes a total transformation, highly committed to his role.  He looks like a bloody mess spiraling out of control in and out of the ring.  Forest Whitaker makes an excellent trainer, but is kind of stereotypical in his role.  All movie boxing trainers are kind of similar.  But who really surprised me was 50 Cent, who plays the manager.  50 Cent is not just a rapper--his acting was pretty convincing.  But in reality, he was playing a businessman and 50 Cent has been doing business for decades.  And 50 Cent was discovered by Eminem, who produced the soundtrack.  And you can hear his influence throughout the movie. 

Everest (2015)

Everest is a film about torture.  These mountaineers inexplicably put themselves through misery for a steep $65,000 per summit. Climbing the highest mountain in the world does not look like fun. It is unbearably cold, the air is inhumanely thin, and everyone is perpetually exhausted.  I thought Jake Gyllenhaal would have a larger part in the movie, but he was hardly in it.  The visuals are incredible though.  You actually feel as miserable as the trekkers and you feel like you're on the side of the mountain.  You feel the snow pouring down as it becomes more difficult to breathe.  It is a truly immersive experience that probably would've been great in IMAX. Nothing ever goes right in the expedition doomed to fail.  It is a dangerous adventure disaster movie.  And it is done quite well. One of the scariest moments is crossing a ladder bridged across a deep crevasse in the ice.  It is a flimsy looking ladder and there is nothing protecting them from falling down into the depths.  The aerial shot over the bottomless pit is a dizzying visual.  These are some terrifying shots.

Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria (2005)

Screaming Queens was directed by Susan Stryker, a trans historian who is recovering a lost history.  The riot at Compton's Cafeteria in the Tenderloin in San Francisco in 1966 predates the Stonewall Riots of 1969, and yet it is often forgotten in LGBT history. History is a jigsaw puzzle that research detectives solve piece by piece.  Stryker interviews people who were actually at the riots back in the 60s, people who were regulars in the Tenderloin who could relate their experiences.  The documentary is very interesting and I enjoyed learning about an unfamiliar history.  

La Strada (1954)

Federico Fellini's classic features the original self-destructive brute, Zampano.  Fellini supposedly inspired Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull and Taxi and Driver.  It is a devastatingly beautiful story.  The road is the fateful location they find Il Matto. The side of the road is where Gelsomina falls asleep.  And la strada represents the journey of life and the lonely physical journey that Gelsomina and Zampano take. There is a perfect balance of humor and drama and tragedy and hope.  It is a depiction of life as its rawest.  The beautiful love theme is played out on the trumpet, the violin, and on piano.  Nino Rota's score is haunting and his legendary partnership with Fellini was at its finest here.

The Hunting Ground (2015)

The Hunting Ground is the documentary that this country needs. Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick followed up The Invisible War with this look at rape in another one of America's revered institutions: universities.  It is a brutal look at rape on campus.  It is an epidemic that is widespread.  The same stories recur across the country and the message that is repeated at university after university is that they don't care. Universities are businesses and allegations of rape are bad public relations.  Gloria Steinem spoke at Johns Hopkins last year at the Foreign Affairs Symposium and she said something that was echoed by this film: sexual assault happens at all universities. The ones that report zero incidences are not safer, rather they are worse for covering it up.  The film features candid talking head interviews with survivors of sexual assault.  These are intertwined with statistics and infographics.  Some very innovative students filed Title IX complaints, and taught other students how to do the same.  It is not the original intention of Title IX, but this interpretation is a brilliant application of the law: survivors of sexual assault are deprived of equal and free access to education because the failure to adequately respond to sexual harassment creates a hostile learning environment.  Lady Gaga and Diane Warren teamed up for the song "Til It Happens to You" which bravely asks the viewer to step into the shoes of survivors and try to understand the immense suffering they go through.  This is an important documentary and there have rightfully been screenings at universities across the country.

Beasts of No Nation (2015)

This film is notable for being Netflix's first foray into original fiction films. And it is an excellent first go.  The director of the first season of True Detective helms this movie and adds his personal touch.  Many of the shots are reminiscent of the dizzying panoramic and birds-eye shots from True Detective.  He paints a vicious, uncompromising portrait of the toll of war.  The acting is also exceptional.  Idris Elba plays the warlord Commandant who leads an army of child soldiers in an unnamed African country.   He nails the accent, and he plays the father figure to these orphaned children. But the star is the young Abraham Attah who plays Agu.  The movie explores the damaging psychological effects of war on child soldiers.  One of the most devastating scenes is one in which the children have difficulty adjusting from the only thing they know: war. Attah is this season's Quvenzhane Wallis--young, fierce, gritty, and starring in a movie that coincidentally also features the word "beasts."  Attah is less likely to get an Oscar nomination, but he is deserving of any acting award he can get attention for.

Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE with Jason Moran and the Bandwagon (2015)

I had no idea what to expect going into this performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.  I won a free ticket (and meal) from school.  I think the best way to describe it is modern African-jazz fusion dance.  The show opened with a jazz set by Jason Moran and the Bandwagon. Jason Moran is the artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center.  He led his trio at the piano, accompanied by a bass guitar and a drum.  Moran sits in a chair instead of a bench and smoothly plays jazz rhythms and gorgeous melodies.  The bass player was very good but he was actually difficult to hear over the drums.  The drums were overpowering at times.  The drummer is excellent and really hammered away his solo, but his rhythms drowned out the melodies from the piano.

Now, I expected the trio to play with the dance troupe, but the second act is pure EVIDENCE. EVIDENCE dance troupe does modern African-style dance. The moves are not terribly intricate, but they are highly rhythmic.  There are lots of shoulder movements, lots of knees and head movements. The African beats are super catchy.  The dancers look like they're having so much fun on the stage. They dance repeated movements in waves.  I am very glad that I got to see this performance and was exposed to this style of dance.

Finally in the third act, the jazz trio did accompany the dance company and the fusion worked beautifully.  The most unique part was a dance to a speech by Martin Luther King that was incredibly powerful to watch.  King had a cadence to his voice that is actually a well defined rhythm that can be danced to.  This was a phenomenal piece of art.

New in Town (2012)

To say that I love New in Town would be an understatement.  John Mulaney is hilarious in all of the stand up he does.  I was lucky that he visited Johns Hopkins and did an extended set, longer than he was paid for.  I have seen this particular set at least four times now, and I do not watch anything four times.  It's a shame his TV show didn't work out last year.  I love how he does voices, especially his impression of Ice-T.  He is capable of doing so many voices, and even the ones of people you don't know, his personal acquaintances, are still funny.  He makes jokes about mundane moments in his life that any one else might have simply forgotten, but he finds the comedy in it and he harps on it and lingers on the joke, and brings it back later, and it leaves me laughing every time.  

Titanic (1997)

Upon a second viewing of James Cameron's massive classic disaster film, it still holds up.  What I always found so amazing about the Titanic is that it is a story that everyone knows, we all know exactly how it is going to end, and yet it is still exciting.  You still feel sad for these fictional characters on this ill-fated ship. You still feel the anxiety and the adrenaline and anticipation.  The Titanic lasts over three hours.  It is a marathon that requires stamina and a big block of free time.  The ship actually taking on water and going down lasts literally for hours to give you enough time for panic and hopelessness and despair to set in as if you were actually on the ship.  The spectacular visuals really immerse the viewer in the experience.  The most extraordinary scene, of course, is the moment the ship snaps in half and sinks into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.  Arguably the romantic story is as important as the disaster.  The romantic leads Rose and Jack, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, are what make the sinking of the Titanic so tragic.  And what would the Titanic be without Celine Dion's iconic song with the pan flute accompaniment?    

Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo (2015)

Amy Schumer takes her signature unfiltered, self-deprecating, raunchy comedy to the legendary Apollo Theater.  But this is no amateur night--no, she is a pro.  She has rather masterfully filled a void in comedy by bringing the female perspective tot Judd Apatow-style humor, a refreshingly funny take. It is more or less exactly what we've come to expect from her in her movie and sketch comedy show.  She is confrontational, unapologetic, loud, and fearless.  She takes on the sexist Hollywood establishment,in a very funny bit on Kevin James.  Not all of the jokes are of equal caliber, but few comedians can sustain a full hour with all knockout jokes.  I'm sure she will continue her upward momentum and we will see a lot more of her stand up.