rishona Reviews

Barry (II) (2016)

A Biopic With No Point?

[5/10 · 18 December 2016]

I really was looking forward to watching this movie, and had the release date earmarked to see it. But after spending my early morning watching it, I was overall disappointed and realized that I could have waited.

So I'll start off with the good parts. Big props to Devvon Terrell on getting Barack's speech, mannerisms and attitude to a tee. He really could be a dead ringer for the younger version of the President; so casting did a fabulous job there. For her few moments in the film, Ashley Judd did a great job as Barack's mother. I enjoyed seeing a peek into their relationship and I wish it was fleshed out more. It was also interesting to see the film show Barack's fish out of water moments. Being bi-racial in 1980s New York, for sure he experienced a lot of them.

But the rest of the film fell flat. It just wasn't compelling at all. The trailers made it seem like you would be presented with key experiences from Barack's formative years; the things that help make him into the man we know today. The truth is you got very little of that. It was more of just a conflicted college kid trying to navigate the relationships with his on-campus peers and his (White) girlfriend and family. The script kept trying to bring in Barack's desire to have a relationship with his father, but it just felt random and out of place each time.

Overall this film wasn't a horrible waste of time. But it was far from being remarkable. I have yet to see "Southside With You", but I feel as if this was an ambitious effort that just fell short of the mark.

Steve Jobs (2015)

Just Fell Flat

[4/10 · 23 January 2016]

The history of Steve Jobs and of Apple is a story rich with drama, colorful characters, and exciting twists and turns. And even with all of that, this movie turned out to be quite boring. It just didn't pull you in and the script failed to make me feel anything for anyone in the film. Steve's daughter Lisa seemed to be the most relatable character....but the movie wasn't supposed to be about her. Seth Rogan was woefully underutilized and written for as Woz. Jobs himself was just portrayed as an intolerable jerk and nothing else.

I would not consider myself to be in "the cult of Mac", and even so, this movie was not insightful or revealing of anything regarding Steve Jobs as a man or the Apple Computer company. I gave it four stars because it was interesting to see how some of the key players were situated during Apple's 1984-1998 run. But other than that...it just wasn't interesting.

Concussion (2015)

Will Smith is good, but struggled to pull off Omalu.

[7/10 · 28 December 2015]

As a Pittsburgh native (parts of the film were even shot in and around my office building), I was looking forward to this film. It was enjoyable, and I learned a thing or two. I think that it framed Dr. Omalu and how he is as a person (including what drives him) very well. I'm also a first generation American, so I could really relate to the conflict between doing the right thing, and potentially sabotaging your long term goals and dreams for the future.

While I generally like Will Smith, and I think he did his best in portraying Dr. Omalu, I just do not think he was the best choice. Not when there are plenty of African actors, such as Djimon Hounsou, Edi Gathegi, or even Desmond Elliot (who is Nigerian, and even looks a lot like Dr. Omalu) that would have nailed this part. I admit, the writing was good. The words and phrasing had me thinking, "Oh yeah, that's definitely how an African would talk." And like I said, I think Will Smith pulled it off. But you could tell he was trying; whereas for another actor, the cultural mannerisms could have some across more natural. {Sigh} My other (small) gripe was the way that Pittsburgh was portrayed. Don't get me wrong...it wasn't horrible. But there were some moments that made me cringe. 'Danny' from the coroner's lab filled the bill as a 'typical yinzer' who is boorish and blinded by their love for the Steelers. Ms. Omalu refers to Pittsburgh as "...this rusty city" (???). In spite of Pittsburgh having one of the most stable economies in the nation, the film still managed to work in references to the massive job losses in the 70s and school closings in the 80s (due to population decline). Any of these things on their own...no big deal. But through the course of the movie, Pittsburgh somehow gets bundled together with the NFL as the proverbial bad guy.

And finally since the film was based on a true story...I wasn't expecting a happy ending or anything like that. But the blurbs at the movie's conclusion focused on the characters...not the changes made to the NFL's playing policies in regards to tackled that are not allowed anymore; which I believe were a result of Dr. Omalu's findings.

Overall this was a good movie. I think it would have benefited from better casting and a bit more insight to the NFL's side of things. But overall...nice job.