Movie Reviews

‘Rustin’ Movie Review: Should You Watch Colman Domingo’s Biopic?

Published

10 months ago

November 20, 2023

Press Room

‘Rustin’ Movie Review: Should You Watch Colman Domingo’s Biopic?

Picture: Netflix

Premiering at Telluride & the Toronto International Film Festival ahead of its brief theatrical run, Rustin tells the true story of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, a strategist and activist promoting nonviolent strategies for social change for over half a century. He’s best known for organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the platform for Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Rustin’s work was sometimes hampered by many considered controversial pasts, including membership in the Young Communist League; a three-year prison term for refusal to cooperate with the military on conscientious grounds; and his open homosexuality, including an arrest for lewd vagrancy. However, his work & his legacy has persevered into the modern age as he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

It should come as no surprise that the man who granted Rustin that award is also the man who is behind the production of the film: former President Barack Obama. Under his Higher Ground Productions banner, Rustin is the third Netflix feature film the Obamas have produced (Fatherhood & Worth before this) before its fourth feature, Sam Esmail’s Leave the World Behind, is released in December. Higher Ground has also produced multiple award winning documentaries for Netflix including Oscar Winner American Factory & Independent Spirit Award Winner Crip Camp.

The Obamas aren’t the only Oscar Winners to be associated with the film as screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won Best Original Screenplay for the Gay rights biopic Milk back in 2009, co-wrote Rustin alongside “When They See Us” scribe Julian Breece. The film is directed by Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom helmer George C. Wolfe, who guided that film to 2 Oscar wins and 5 nominations for Netflix in 2021.

Wolfe has brought along multiple stars from his SAG & Critics Choice nominated Ma Rainey ensemble, including Bayard Rustin himself, Coleman Domingo, Glynn Turman as A. Philip Randolph, & Michael Potts as Cleveland Robinson. The film’s deep roster of acting talent also includes Aml Ameen (“The Porter”, Red Tails) as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., CCH Pounder (“The Shield”) as Dr. Anna Hedgeman, Chris Rock (Dolemite Is My Name) as NAACP head Roy Wilkins, & Primetime Emmy & Golden Globe Winner Jeffrey Wright as Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

The strength of Rustin lies with its namesake; an exceptional & vibrant man performed exceptionally & vibrantly by Domingo, an underrated & overlooked actor whose range & magnetism in this film will catapult him up the ranks into more prominent roles in the future. Whenever he is on screen, he draws us in and lifts us up. His brashness & ratatat dialogue mixed with his striking looks commands every scene and forces the audience to take in the messages we need to hear.

The film’s pace & score seem to match the energy of Rustin himself; with a lightness & charm that’s usually not reminiscent of a 60s civil rights era story. Snappy & sappy all at the same time with a horn led backing arrangement and a tight runtime.

Picture: Netflix

However, while George C. Wolfe is an exceptional theater presence, his direction is still a work in progress. With less than notable cinematography, stage play blocking, and soapy & speechifying performances at times, Wolfe leans more towards his theater direction than a more theatrical one. The film feels more akin to Netflix’s The Boys in the Band at minimum or The Trial of the Chicago 7 at its best; both directed by men who are getting their bearings at the helm of a film versus their previous lives in theater, screenwriting, or both.

However, one thing George C. Wolfe seems to be great at is collecting talented performers. Everywhere you looked in Ma Rainey and now around every corner in Rustin, you see an impressive actor lighting up the screen or anchoring the drama. His films are always sound of message and brimming with the best & brightest people that line up to work for him and his undeniable muses like August Wilson and now Bayard Rustin. You’ll never be bored or lost in a George C. Wolfe film, which is an accomplishment in itself.

Overall, Rustin is another successful film for the Obamas & Higher Ground Productions. Though it may lean less cinematic & more over-the-top, the energy, the messaging, & the performances will fill you up and fill you in. Colman Domingo puts the film on his back and never relents. He continues to impress audiences and he may impress voters come award season.

Watch Rustin on Netflix If You Like

Milk
Selma
Till
MLK FBI
John Lewis: Good Trouble
13th
Worth
Ghosts of Mississippi

MVP of Rustin

Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin

For many years, Colman Domingo has been a shape-shifting scene stealer. From indie projects like Zola & If Beale Street Could Talk to more high profile films like Candyman & the latest Transformers movie, Domingo shows that the spotlight is never too big or too small for him to make a huge impact. Now, with a prominent leading role that has Awards Season potential, Domingo raises his game once again. In Bayard Rustin, he finds the perfect harmony of charisma & pain that only allows love to get in the way of his ambitions. There is no one else who could have performed this role so admirably while going toe to toe with the rest of his impressive cast.

Colman Domingo and the exuberance & spirit of Bayard Rustin make for a magnificent combination. While the direction & cinematography might not leave you inspired, the cast & story might be enough to impress.

Movie Reviews

Speak No Evil (2024)

Published

4 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

Chilled American couple Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis) meet overfriendly Brits Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) on an Italian holiday and accept an invitation to spend a weekend with them in the West Country.  However, it becomes apparent that the charming hosts have a sinister hidden agenda.

Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 horror Speak No Evil — available on Shudder — was an impressive, frog-boiling psycho picture about polite Danish folks who unwisely agree to spend a weekend away with the hearty Dutch family they met on holiday and are subjected to many, many micro-aggressions before the macro ones start up. For a while, James Watkins’ English-language remake hews close to the original… then, the films diverge (around the time of the excruciating decision to go back for the daughter’s toy rabbit) and become different, if complementary experiences.

There’s no denying that the first film was upsetting, and having watched that you wouldn’t want to go back again, so new twists are satisfying. James McAvoy, with a Mummerset burr and an imposing too-much-time-in-the-gym physique, is a charismatic, intimidating presence. He’s not played an all-out villain before, and goes to town with this, repeatedly springing some unforgivable trespass on his guests before taking it back and begging for sympathy, or acting hurt that they’re offended and stringing it out for another few hours, even as clues pile up about the depth of the hole they’re falling into.

Director James Watkins is very good at ratcheting screws.

Both Watkins’ major horror films — Eden Lake, The Woman In Black — are fairly ruthless in killing off characters who ought to be safe in the genre, aligning his vision with the bleakness of Tafdrup’s film. However, this fight is more even-handed, and a Straw Dogs-ish farmhouse battle rousingly pays off multiple Chekhov establish-deadly-weapons-for-use-later moments, throwing in extra revelations which add bite.

The business of this story in both versions is suspense, and Watkins is very good at ratcheting screws — stringing out moments like a possible getaway, one the villain seems happy to let play out, in such a manner that a companion even compares him to “my aunt’s cat” because he insists on playing with his food — but also springs satisfying reversals and pay-offs.

It’s not Speak No Evil (2022)— because what would be the point of that? — but Speak No Evil (2024) is a quality horror-suspense picture. 

Movie Reviews

Creeping Death – Review | Screambox Halloween Slasher | Heaven of Horror

Published

11 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

Creeping Death – Review | Screambox Halloween Slasher | Heaven of Horror

Watch Creeping Death on Screambox

Creeping Death comes from writer-director Matt Sampere who makes his feature debut with this Halloween horror movie. As mentioned earlier, it’s based on his short film of the same name.

The cast works well overall and the design and practical effects for the Celtic spirit Aos Si are all impressive. With the one big and unfortunate exception of the writer-director himself who plays Tim.

As good as he is at directing the rest of the cast, he does not work in front of the camera for me. Not at all. In fact, the movie only works briefly for me, when he isn’t on screen.

I love when a movie is made with passion, but it must be accompanied by talent. For this movie, there is passion and also talent, but someone needs to come in and “kill the darlings” because Matt Sampere isn’t quite able to do this himself.

This may sound harsh, but my intention is an honest and heartfelt recommendation. I think he could make solid horror movies as a writer and director, but not with himself in front of the camera.

Creeping Death is out on SCREAMBOX on September 10, 2024.

Movie Reviews

Movie review: Say ‘Beetlejuice’ twice and an unnecessary sequel appears

Published

18 hours ago

September 9, 2024

Press Room

Movie review: Say ‘Beetlejuice’ twice and an unnecessary sequel appears

Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Credit: Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. via TNS

When one hears “Beetlejuice,” the 1988 Halloween classic often comes to mind, conjuring up memories of over-the-top campiness, oddball characters, zany horror and everything out-of-the-ordinary that is to be expected from a Tim Burton project.

The 2024 sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” despite having twice the title, possesses half of the spooky charm as its 36-year-old predecessor.

In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Winona Ryder reprises her role as Lydia Deetz; only this time around, Lydia isn’t the teenage daughter of a couple being haunted by the demon Beetlejuice. Instead, she’s the middle-aged star of a paranormal talk show — titled “Ghost House” — during which she provides families consultations on their haunted houses à la “Ghostbusters.”

Jenna Ortega steps into the cynical teenager role as Lydia’s daughter Astrid, who is skeptical of her mother’s profession and questionable new relationship with her business partner following the death of her father.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is primarily preoccupied with resituating the classic Halloween story in a modern context, and perhaps that’s the main reason why the original’s charm feels beyond saving. It’s hard to feel cozy and spooky watching a Burton film when the characters drive luxury sports cars and whip out their iPhone-esque cellphones with possessed vigor.

Beyond the natural growing pains of moving into the 21st century, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” lacks the first film’s eye-popping gothic chic. The campy, unrealistic practical effects and costumes are thrown out and substituted with air-brushed counterparts that strip the sequel of authenticity.

Though to be fair, complaints about the corporate-washed soul of the film could be excused if the story didn’t feel like it was vomited out by a trick-or-treater who had too much Halloween candy.

It’s undeniably true that the plot of the original “Beetlejuice” didn’t follow the most cohesive structure, but it never felt boring or convoluted. The same can’t be said for its sequel, which can’t seem to figure out if it wants to spend more time resurrecting characters from the first film or introducing half-baked new ones.

This dilemma is seen in Lydia’s new partner Rory (Justin Theroux), who overstays his welcome both in the world of the film and in screen time.

Additionally, Ortega is once again typecast as a grumpy, dark-humored teenager whose presence is made infinitely less interesting by a cringe-worthy romance subplot.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” still recaptures some of the original’s wacky exuberance, particularly when Michael Keaton gets to shine as the titular character, enabling his morbid charisma to — once again — be the film’s standout factor.

Unfortunately, Keaton is drastically underutilized, particularly in the film’s first two acts, during which it feels as though his character is given the bare minimum amount of screen time that still allows the film to be titled after him.

If you’re craving the spooky whimsy of “Beetlejuice,” you’d be better off relishing the original’s tricks and treats than going to see “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” a ghost of its precursor that didn’t deserve to be resurrected.

Rating: 2/5