Prisoners

Prisoners (2013)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Wayne Duvall, David Dastmalchian, Kyla-Drew Simmons, and Erin Gerasimovich

This is the first English language movie from Denis Villeneuve. It is highly rated on IMDb. I can see why.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, two girls; Anna and Joy (Gerasimovich, Simmons) go missing. Keller, Grace, Franklin and Nancy (Jackman, Bello, Howard, Davis) try to find the girls. Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) is tasked to find the girls. When a person of interest in the case, Alex (Dano) is let go, Keller decides to put matters in his own hands.

I love a good crime thriller. This one is very solid. If I was in the same situation that the parents were, I would do the same thing to find my child. Not the lengths that Keller does, but I was try anything. The parents were going through it. I can understand. Gyllenhaal, Jackman, and Dano were very good in the movie. I wish this movie got more love when it was released.

The thing that bothered me was the pacing of the film. The movie was too long. I understand that Villeneuve wanted to have the tension build over time. I get that. If the movie could have been trimmed twenty to thirty minutes-- a tight two hours-- I would have loved it more.

I knew the ending of the movie a good hour into it. I was waiting for the characters to catch up. It felt frustrating that the film meandered along I wanted to scream that "X" did this with the help of "Y", because you found "Z".

Rating: 9/10

Red Tails

Red Tails (2012)

Directed by Anthony Hemingway

Written by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder
Based on the book by John B. Holway

Stars: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Method Man, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr

Since I had my 2011 movie fast, I wanted to start this year with the movie that should been seen, Red Tails. Damn the critics. This is a story that needed to be told. It's sad that the movie took over twenty years to get to the big screen.

Am I saying that the movie is best movie of the year? No. This is a part of history. Pioneers of the sky. The first Negro squadron during World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen. They were told that they were colored; they could not pilot a plane, because they don't have to the intelligence to do it. It shows that when the men escorted Allied bombers into target zones, they did not lose one bomber. That's says something.

Being a man of color, it was a duty to see that movie. It was our history on the big screen. I learned some things that I never knew. I learned that the title of the film came from the squad paints the back end of their new planes to escort the bombers. I don't know if all the other stuff in the film was true about somebody drinking problem, another being trapped behind enemy lines or a misguided romance.

Much like another film about a black outfit, Glory, this generation of young people needs to know their history that may not be in history books. It is up to people like George Lucas who put up $93 million of his own money to fund this picture. To this day, a studio will not support an all-black film. It really shows you that some things never change.

Don't go into this movie thinking that it is the best movie of the year. The dialogue sounded like "Movie of the Week" territory. There were some wonkiness with the editing. Go to the movie for the dogfight scenes. They were the highlight of the movie.

My Rating: