Monthly Archives: January 2020

JUST MERCY offers inspiration and urgency but wants for a nuanced dissection of hope

Based on a true story, ‘Just Mercy’ is at its most effective when it highlights the disconcerting ways the bar of justice and decency for black people is lowered to upsettingly low levels. It tells the story of Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson’s (Michael B. Jordan) idealist charge towards righting some wrongs on the deathContinue reading “JUST MERCY offers inspiration and urgency but wants for a nuanced dissection of hope”

The zestful BAD BOYS FOR LIFE proves life can begin after 50

We are partying like its 1995 in ‘Bad Boys For Life’ as Belgian directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah inject streams of wit and vitality into a series that left a sour taste in many mouths some 17 years ago. The only way was up for the iconic Will Smith-Martin Lawrence vehicle whenContinue reading “The zestful BAD BOYS FOR LIFE proves life can begin after 50”

THE INFORMER ticks the box for serviceable January action fare

‘The Informer’ offers more genre thrills that its lame title would have you think. This Joel Kinnaman led vehicle is the kind of January action cinema fare we have come to expect, packaged in a semi tedious confidential informant drama that finds its feet when it finds itself within the confines of a prison movie.Continue reading “THE INFORMER ticks the box for serviceable January action fare”

GOLD COAST LOUNGE offers fleeting pleasures despite an undercooked script

Is Afro-noir going to be a thing after ‘Gold Coast Lounge’, the latest cinematic offering from writer-director Pascal Aka? Film noir serves as the obvious inspiration for this post-independence crime flick which is rife with distracting anachronisms brought on by budget constraints and drab archetypes given life by an undercooked screenplay. Whilst the aesthetic andContinue reading “GOLD COAST LOUNGE offers fleeting pleasures despite an undercooked script”