New Releases For Home Viewing This Week

I have two new releases for home viewing to note this week. Both can be classified as ...okay.

RACE
Directed by Stephens Hopkins
Screenplay by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse
Starring: Stephen James; Jason Sudeikis;Shanis Banton; William Hurt; and Jeremy Irons




Jesse Owens (James) quest to become the worlds greatest track athlete leads him to the 1936 Olympics where he faces Hitlers crooked vision of supremacy.

This is a very hard film to review.  Mainly because this film slightly just lays there and does not go very deep. At the same time for what it is, it is a pretty good film.
It is well acted highlighted by Stephen James perfectly cast as Jesse Owens. He has the mannerisms down and he really does not over do it  by sayimg a lot, he lets empty space quietly speak for it self. Shanice Banton as Jesse's wife has great chemistry with James. Jason Sudeikis as Jesse's coach may have been miscast a bit but he does do a good job in the part.
Now for the screenplay. The screenplay works if you have never heard about Jesse Owens. You get a glimpse of his early life. You get surprisingly a tiny look at his poor treatment as a black man. You get the clash of "Owens vs Nazi Hitler" the battle. If you have never heard of Jesse you probably learn a lot.
As for me, and it is me who is posting the review, it misses a big chance at telling an interesting story. The Director (Hopkins)/Screenwriters (Shrapnel/Waterhouse) decided to just focus on the lead up to that Olympics while Jesse was at Ohio and the Olympics itself. I just think there is a bigger story to tell and that is his life. His love for his wife. His poor treatment by racist Americans when he returned. A White House that refused to acknowledge him. His relationship with his parents before and after the Olympics. The first Olympic athlete to take on advertisements and the Olympic committee then dumping him, then that is followed by the same advertisers dumping him also. Jesse racing a horse as he gets desperate for money, Jesse filing for bankruptcy. There is more of a story here. They elect not to dig deep.
So as I said it is difficult to review this film for what it is and what it could have been.
However I have to be fair to the film I saw .
I saw a well acted film that was a bit too long. It could have left out the parts played by Irons and Hurt. Their story lines were not needed, it was almost like the studio wanted star power so that part of the story which had nothing to do with Owens was added. Also, they went with to much cliche drama and some of it was not true.  The Hitler non hand shake was not true. It was seen by many people. By the way, they tried to make us feel upset that Hitler did not want to shake his hand, which was not true, but even if it was, why should I care or Jesse care. Hitler was pure evil. Who cares if Hitler never shook his hand. If I was Jesse I would not sweat it.
4 stars out of 5 for a well done film that could have been more. After you watch the film read Triumph The Untold Story Of Jesse Owens, for more detail.


TRIPLE 9

Directed by John Hillcoat
Screenplay by Matt Cook
Starring: Casey Affleck; Chiwetel Ejiofor; Anthony Mackie; Aaron Paul; Woody Harrelson; and Kate Winslet



A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.

It is no secret the cast is amazing. Big time actors are everywhere.

It is an odd film. It is so dirty you feel like you have to take a bath afterwards.
You have police who are greedy. Police who are blackmailed. Police have drinking and drug problems. Russian mob hiding kids and killing people. Gang member who are up to no good.
Now as a movie goer the stars can suck you in to watch this. It is not a bad movie, however not great either, which you would expect with the star power. There is a confusing beginning, so  once you get by the first say 15 minutes the film has a nice slow burn leading up to the main "Triple 9" part of film. Now the Triple 9 part seems to go to fast and it ends up being kind of flat. All leading up to a really bad ending.
As for the stars. Another problem. There are so many stars to fit into this film you really do not have much development which means you do not really get to know the characters. 
Well if I had to choose highlights I will go with Casey Affleck for the second time this year (The Finest Hour) he shines. He plays the part of Chris Allen here so soft as every one around here is just extremely wired. You can almost see his thoughts. I know his brother received a lot of attention for Batman/Superman this year but so far Casey is killing it on the big screen. Also it was kind of fun to Kate Winslet in this evil role with the Russian accent. She almost felt like a Bond villain.
Well back to the film...Yes it has a nice slow burn, and you cheer on Woody Harrelson as an investigator as he slowly fights through his drunken haze to figure the mess out, but as noted before, the ending is just awful....it leaves just to many open story lines, so I am giving it 3 1/2 stars out of 5. 

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.