Skip to main content

Quickie Review - End Of Watch

Let me start by saying I absolutely hated Training Day and wouldn't have watched this had I know it was written by the same guy.  This film, much like Training Day, had more plot and continuity holes than most wheels of Swiss cheese.  That being said, it's not a bad movie at all, but hardly deserves the multiple star reviews it has received.  It manages to entertain despite being painfully and I mean painfully predictable.  There is so much good and so much bad, I honestly don't know where to start.

I'll start with the good. The dialogue is crisp and not contrived like Training Day. People actually speak the way the characters speak and it gave it a bit of authenticity.  The four main characters are ridiculously likable.  The two women, Martinez and Kendrick are stunningly beautiful and ridiculously cute and play off their male counterparts beautifully.  The two mains, Gyllenhaal and Pena have incredible chemistry and it's nice to see Pena finally get a major role as he's always been a scene stealer. Another thing I admired, was the incredible soundtrack, which fit perfectly with each scene.

Now for the bad. The whole idea that a police officer would put the lives of his fellow officers at risk to videotape everything is ridiculous. This and all the camera work becomes incredibly distracting. The fact that these cops just happen to bust the same Mexican drug cartel multiple times is ludicrous. The fact the attackers were completely inept at shooting, but geniuses at surrounding them was silly.  And finally two things that are completely the directors fault.  He seems obsessed with homosexuality.  In Training Day it was a near male rape and in this it is multiple lesbian kisses. Enough with the stereotypes.  Finally, the "second" ending almost ruined the film for me. On Netflix, I'd keep it at 3, but on a ten point scale, I'd drop it from 6 to 5, just based on the ending. Oh and did I mention it's one of the most predictable movies you'll ever watch?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

White Privilege

This was a post I wrote on Facebook after surprisingly not seeing any moaning about the Documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas, titled White People Dayyum! I just scrolled my timeline and not a single white person got their feelings hurt by White People. I unfortunately haven't seen it, but the number of fake accounts that popped up on twitter, tells me it was a damn good show. Here's the thing. If someone of color aka non-white says "White Privilege," are you offended? If you said yes, then you are exhibiting white privilege. It has nothing to do with how hard you work or study, how you stayed out of trouble, because here's the thing, that is entirely the point. Somewhere out there, there are 100 Black, Spanish, Native American, Arab, Asian, who worked and studied as hard as you and never got in trouble, but they don't have what you "earned" or achieved. Stop looking at the one person you know who isn't white that achieved as your benchmark. Loo...

Quickie Review - Finding Vivian Maier

While I thoroughly enjoyed the film, especially the first 15-20 minutes, I was a little bothered by the way the film played out. The interviews with the clearly disturbed brother, sister and the mother, who obviously, was in for a cut, didn't need to be in the film. Then the woman who suggested abuse, yet seemed to have her life defined by Maier, as she tried to muster every ounce of emotion and fake guilt. Her friend, more than happy to be party of the charade. People who talk about abuse for the first time, usually don't do so on camera. The fact these scenes were so prominent, shows that they felt wronged that they were not rewarded. Maloof on the other hand, seems to disappear from the documentary during this part, almost hiding away from the fact, he went from complete praise, to even making money off of her, to destroying her personal legacy. He almost mentions the family of boys taking care of her rent, as an afterthought. Her burial spot, never shown, yet a video of her...

If You Listen To One Speech - Lana Wachowski

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/lana-wachowski-opens-up-about-difficult-past-and-attempted-suicide-20121024 Today I saw a link to a video for a speech by Lana Wachowski.  The last name rung a bell, but I could't put my finger on it. Lana, used to be Larry, one of the writer, director, producers of the Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta and the upcoming Cloud Atlas.  Lana is transgendered and has "come out" as a woman.  She was being honored by the Human Rights Campaign. I didn't know what to expect when this broad woman with crazy hair and a raspy voice began to speak.  She began with the usual pleasantries and told of her hair dresser. She then tells of her desire to be a quiet person and how hard the success of the Matrix movies made this.  The first ten minutes is telling of how she's not quite ready to be this spokesperson.  Then she speaks about the new movie Cloud Atlas and reveals the heart of the movie and this speech. She states,"The resp...