"Straight Outta Compton" Review

Image Credit: IMDB

"Straight Outta Compton"

5 out of 5 stars

Family appropriateness rating: 1.5 out 5 stars
Rated R

-Strong language, including f-words, throughout
-Frontal female nudity as well as backside nudity
in a few scenes
-A few portrayals of sexual intercourse and one of

oral sex.

-Moderate amount of violence

"Straight Outta Compton" deals with issues that have become increasingly relevant today.

The film is a biopic about N.W.A., a group of artists who became pioneers of "gangster rap." When they first start out, people who did not grow up in tough neighborhoods (mostly white people) did not understand it. All they hear is "The police are horrible," and they have a negative reaction to it. They do not think of it as a serious art form.

This movie takes the controversial elements of rap music, namely the "F*** the Police" songs, and shows why the group would hate officers. It also shows why so many in the black community took it to heart.

The reason has to do with the racism that affected cops' decisions at the time. If there was a group of young black people anywhere, the police would assume they were gang members and approach them. Sometimes this would lead to either an arrest or brutal beating for no good reason.  

While many may argue "F*** the Police" is a harsh thing to say, it was obviously how the group felt. It must have been frustrating having to deal with the things members of N.W.A. had to live with. In the film, the character known as Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) tells a reporter their art is a reflection of their reality. Eazy then asks the journalist what he sees when he walks out the door. This is a way to point out that our experience as white, middle class people is very different than what black people from Compton go through.

All of this has recently come to the forefront of public debate. A big chunk of it started in Ferguson, Missouri when an officer named Darren Wilson killed an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown almost exactly a year ago. Since then, many other cases of police brutality on black people have come out, and many riots have erupted.

People who claim the Michael Brown shooting was not a racial thing have a point when they mention the forensic evidence. It shows that the narration of Brown putting his hands up in surrender could not have happened. However, the reason the officer approached the boy is hazy. Wilson claims it is because he had heard about a convenience-store robbery, but when that came out to the public initially, the chief of police said Wilson did not know about it. Another thing to point out is an investigation revealed the Ferguson Police Department had a lot of racist attitudes that affected their decisions before the Michael Brown shooting. In my opinion, even if Darren Wilson should not get any blame, the shooting was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The recent shootings were a catalyst for the movement known as "Black Lives Matter," which has been protesting modern-day systematic racism among police officers. Opponents claim police officers have a difficult job and the movement promotes disrespect towards them. They also think it diminishes the fact that white lives matter as well, and in fact, all lives matter. 

In my opinion, these people do not understand the movement. It is not that that cops should be disrespected. It is that they are humans who sometimes make racist decisions. The goal is to get them to not base their judgements on race. As for the "all lives matter" argument, that is a given. Everyone already knows white lives matter. We are not disproportionately targeted by law enforcement. When we get stopped or arrested, it is generally for good reason. That is not always the case when it comes to black people. Saying "Black Lives Matter" is important because it is what the public needs to understand, which it does not seem to know already.

Getting off the Soapbox

As a film, "Straight Outta Compton" gives me everything I want in a biopic. It is organized like a well-put-together, behind-the-music documentary that outlines the entire story about the rise and fall of N.W.A.

The thing that impressed me the most is the casting, particularly who plays Eazy-E, Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr., the son of the actual person). They look very similar to the real people they portray, and as the movie progresses, their appearance matures.

A big portion of the film outlines the relationship between the band members and Eazy-E, who I knew nothing about going in. Though he probably is not the most talented in the group, he is the one who leads them to getting a manager and a record deal. Ironically, he also causes some problems.

What amazes me about this film is just how fast N.W.A. gets really big. They put out one record, and everything falls into place for them. This may be because their style was so unique at the time that they had no trouble breaking out. 

"The Cokeville Miracle" Review

The Cokeville Miracle

4 out of 5 stars

Family appropriateness rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
-Shots of injuries/minimal blood
-Some of the intense scenes may be too
much for some people, including small
children.









Note: There are minor spoilers in this review, but it is impossible to talk about the movie without having them. It is about a real event, and history is in itself a spoiler. 

In the film, "The Life of Pi," the title character tells his life story to a novelist. Building up to it, he says it is "a story that will make you believe in God." I do not agree that a story can make anyone believe something, but it can trigger the process of doing so or even reinforce someone's faith. "The Cokeville Miracle"is one of those stories.

The film is based on the true story of David Young (Nathan Stevens), former marshal of Cokeville, Wyoming, who ropes his wife, Doris (Kymberly Mellen), into holding-up an elementary school there. They bring all the children into one room and threaten to blow them up with a homemade bomb if they do not cooperate.

When it goes off, the only people who die are Mr. and Mrs. Young. The fact that all the children and teachers escape safely is a miracle in-and-of itself. However, Ron Hartley (Jasen Wade), a parent of two survivors, finds out there is more to this story than meets the eye.

After seeing the movie, I got the chance to speak to writer/director T.C. Christensen about the film. He said he had heard about the Cokeville bombing in news reports and in a made-for-tv movie, but none of those media exposed the spiritual side of the story. That is the angle he takes with this movie. It goes beyond telling us "There was a bomb. It exploded, and everyone lived, which is a miracle."

What makes this film so interesting is it really happened. Christensen did first-hand research in which he talked to the survivors and learned their stories. More than one of them had a spiritual experience during the incident. It is impossible to prove God's existence to someone, but the events explained in this movie can be a catalyst that gets people to at least think about it.

As far as storytelling goes, the film is hit-and-miss. When it hits, it engages. The best scenes are the ones in the classroom where the Young couple hold the children hostage. Christensen constructed the scenes in a way that put me at the edge of my seat. It shows that one wrong move by anyone can end in disaster.

Kymberly Mellen steals the show as Doris Young. She is an interesting, complex character. She seems like a typical mother-type who loves children, but what she does contradicts this impression. I looked forward to every scene with her.

Where this film falls short is in the script. Christensen said he spent a lot of time on it, and it shows with the accuracy of the story and the characterizations. He does a good job developing the characters to where they each have separate personalities and motivations. Where it goes wrong is with the dialogue itself, particularly in the first act. It is a little redundant at parts, and it does not sound like the way people talk.

Some of the drama does not have sufficient build-up to be as impactful as it goes for. The main example I can think of is a scene where one of the characters drives to the police station to tell the cops what is going on. She runs in yelling. I understand why she reacts this way, but the last time we see her before that, she is much calmer. There is not sufficient build-up to warrant yelling.

The last criticism I have about this movie is while I enjoy the message, the ending can come off as preachy. Before the credits, there are explanations about what happened to the characters later, which is pretty standard for movies about real people. After that, there is an explanation of what we just saw and what we can take away from it. The movie would have been better off letting us think about it for ourselves rather than telling us what to think.

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"Pitch Perfect 2" Review

Courtesy: IMDB.com

Pitch Perfect 2

3 out of 5 stars


Family appropriateness rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
-Some mild language.
-Some of the jokes are about sex or body parts
-Some of the song lyrics are about sex










"Pitch Perfect 2" amps up much of what made the first film enjoyable. In some ways, this is a good thing, but in others, not so much.

The Barden Bellas are progressing. Instead of singing the same boring song, they perform creative mash-ups thanks to Beca (Anna Kendrick), who in the first film got the group to break out of its rigid mentality, and — much like an Apple commercial — to think different.

The fact that the characters are progressing is one thing this sequel has going for it. The main protagonists do not revert back to where they were at the beginning of the first "Pitch Perfect," and they end up in a different place as the film closes.

This is especially true of the Beca character. In this installment, she gets an internship and realizes the real world is not easy. She has doubts that her dreams can become a reality, and she spends much of the movie dealing with it. This plot point hits home for me because I am in the same boat as her. I too will be graduating college soon, and I am not entirely sure what I will do. I have big dreams, but I am concerned about whether or not they are realistic.

When I saw the first film, I thought it was decent, but it was overhyped by every girl in Utah. I saw it about five times the year it came out because people played it at most get-togethers. The film slightly disappointed me because there were not a lot of musical moments. The ones it had were good, but there were not enough. The second "Pitch Perfect" solves this problem by giving us more music. In that way, it is better than the first one. It finds every moment it can to add another song, and it has another, longer version of an a cappella battle.

Another aspect from the first film this movie amps up is the comedy, which does not work as well. Things happen in this film that are so ridiculous, they are unbelievable. The very premise of the story is Fat Amy rips her pants, revealing her private parts, during a performance in front of President Obama, and this causes so much controversy, the school threatens to break the Bellas up unless they can win the world a capella competition.

Not only does this joke take a little too much suspension of disbelief to buy, it sets the tone for a lot of other jokes in the film: forced and unfunny. I realize I am making it sound like the entire film is unwatchable. That is not the case. The the jokes are hit and miss. Some are funny and even quotable. There are certain lines I may repeat in future conversations.

The hyper-focus on humor puts the plot on back burner. I had to constantly remind myself that the characters want to win the world competition. By the time they either accomplish or fail (no spoilers), I honestly did not care very much.

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