![Begin Again](/uploads/profile_image/7a1/f4ca3089-c1ab-4c2c-9423-6dbeb73597a1.jpg?m=1594648144)
Begin Again
Book
James Baldwin grew disillusioned by the failure of the Civil Rights movement to force America to...
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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) in Movies
Jan 21, 2019
And...I'm glad I did, so I can warn you to stay away for IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK starts slow and then...slows down even more...and, if that isn't slow enough for you, kicks it down a couple of notches before finishing up on an even slower note.
Based on the best selling book by James Baldwin and telling the tale of a wrongfully incarcerated African-American man and his family, BEALE STREET is a languidly paced meditation on the constant living in fear of the African-American community in NYC in the early 1970's, and when "the system" fails this family, they are afraid of doing more for it might just make things worse.
The film starts out winningly enough when the 2 sets of parents of our young lovers get together to discuss the unexpected coming of a grandchild into this world. The 4 parents (Regina King, Coleman Domingo, Michael Beeach and Aunjanue Ellis) start out civilly, if coldly, but things quickly escalate into a crackling scene that explodes on-screen and I was looking forward to more of this foursome combating with each other for the rest of the film.
Unfortunately, the rest of the film focuses on the two young lovers (Kiki Layne and Stephan James) and these two are not charismatic or charming enough to hold the audience's attention during low-key scene after low-key scene.
Blame for this must go to Jenkins, who is making a very personal, intimate film, but - unlike something like ROMA - the world that this personal pastiche is thrown into is not interesting enough to hold interest nor are the pictures rich enough to look at, they are mostly washed out and boring.
Regina King is being touted as a "sure-fire" Academy Award nominee (and front runner to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar) and I just don't see it. She was "fine" but nothing more in an underwritten role that was just as low-key and uninteresting as the rest of the film.
Give me the 4 parents feuding and we just might have an interesting film.
If you are looking for a low-key, moody film, check out ROMA, you can skip BEALE STREET.
Letter Grade: C
5 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)
![Pure Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World](/uploads/profile_image/87a/9ae07433-1f0a-414c-b201-50f101d0987a.jpg?m=1522353402)
Pure Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World
Kevin Gillespie and David Joachim
Book
On Bravo TV's season 3 of Top Chef, Kevin Gillespie became known for his love of pork. He literally...
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Gareth von Kallenbach (971 KP) rated Equity (2016) in Movies
Jul 15, 2019
‘Equity’ appeared in competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and stars Anna Gunn, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Renier, James Purefoy, Sophie Von Haselburg, Margret Colin, Lee Tergesen, and Craig Bierko.
Investment banker Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn) was one of the most successful investment bankers on Wall Street. She was unstoppable. Until she lost her first deal. Well into her career, she is striving to keep her reputation intact as a ‘rain maker’. The one in her company that secures the deal every time and brings record profits for her company in the process. In jeopardy of missing out on a promotion, she pours all her effort into her latest deal and in the process passes over her assistant Erin Manning (Sarah Megan Thomas) for a promotion. An eager young woman with a new husband and a baby on the way, Erin also strives to break through the ‘gender lines’ that still exist and make her on mark on Wall Street. At the same time Samantha (Alysia Reiner), an investigator who has recently made the jump from investigating federal drug cases to white collar crime, is looking into the activities of investment banker Micheal Connor (James Purefoy). Who may or may not be with the same firm as Naomi Bishop and also Naomi’s significant other . Bishop soon discovers the tangled web centering on this latest deal and soon realizes that not only might she have been betrayed, but it might have been from more than one of the people she ‘almost trusts’.
I found this film to be very much an example of the chaos in the world of finance as well as the personal lives that people in this field may or may not have and the dangers posed when you become friends or close to others in said field. A great deal, no pun intended, hinges on this world. The ‘average person’s’ future can be decided here and they have absolutely no control over it and all the while you have these folks bickering amongst themselves and scrambling for every dollar. Sometimes breaking the law in the process and sometimes with no regard as to whether it affects those closest to them. It is indeed chaos in a purer form with no ‘happy ending’ and no ‘bad ending’. It’s a multi-billion dollar game of musical chairs with chairs and people being removed.
The film is ‘realistic’. As far as what we, outside that world, see it as. It’s all a numbers game with the potential for great profit or great lose to them. Your friends and those you trust will turn on you like that. They care about the money and the next big deal. People just fall by the waist side. It’s a rather refreshing take on ‘greed and ambition’. I give this film 4 out of 5 stars.
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Austin Garrick recommended Repo Man (1984) in Movies (curated)
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Austin Garrick recommended Videodrome (1983) in Movies (curated)
![Leaving Everything Most Loved (Maisie Dobbs #10)](/uploads/profile_image/0db/0cd110ec-914f-472a-b992-2acd2373a0db.jpg?m=1522324086)
Leaving Everything Most Loved (Maisie Dobbs #10)
Book
The death of an Indian immigrant leads Maisie Dobbs into a dangerous yet fascinating world and takes...
Mystery Historical > Historical Fiction Fiction Historical Mystery > Historical Mystery
![The British Cinema Book: 2009](/uploads/profile_image/48a/049d1b36-ef97-44f2-b068-252818c4f48a.jpg?m=1522356174)
The British Cinema Book: 2009
Book
The new edition of The British Cinema Book has been thoroughly revised and updated to provide a...
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David McK (3245 KP) rated The Blooding (Matthew Hawkwood, #5) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
I say mostly as, for approximately the first half, the novel actually flits back and forth - almost chapter about - between current events and those of Hawkwood's childhood (also in the States).
I also have to say that, as the series has progressed, it has seemingly moved further and further away from it's original Bow Street Runner in the Regency period: moving closer, perhaps, in mold (IMO) to the classic Sharpe stories of Bernard Cornwell, and - as a consequence - becoming in danger of losing it's own flavour that originally made it stand out.
Having said that, however, this - I felt - was an improvement on the previous book, which I personally struggled somewhat to connect with.
![The Big Bang Theory - Season 1](/uploads/profile_image/e35/9912e2de-833e-4091-a5fe-99223ced0e35.jpg?m=1522338133)
The Big Bang Theory - Season 1
TV Season Watch
Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists - geniuses in the laboratory, but socially challenged...
Lee (2222 KP) Jan 22, 2019
Lee (2222 KP) Mar 14, 2019