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Review of Midway

Written by Wes Tooke and Directed by Roland Emmerich
Rating *****

I almost didn’t see this film because of the negative reviews. I knew something was amiss when I saw a 42% critic rating and 92% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Bottom line – The critics were wrong.

Midway is a must-see film, especially for anyone interested in WWII. The battle scenes are spectacular. This film had a 100 million dollar budget, and every penny is up on the screen. Mix in some archival footage that doesn’t look like archival footage, and you have an accurate portrayal of what it must have been like to witness these events.

While the battle of Midway is the highlight, the filmmakers spend plenty of time setting up the events leading to this pivotal air campaign. It was all about the aircraft carriers. The Japanese dealt the U.S. a severe blow when they attacked Pearl Harbor, expertly recreated here. But they didn’t get all of our aircraft carriers. If the Japanese were able to take out the remaining carriers, they would have a significant advantage in the war. Similarly, if the Americans were able to take out a few of the Japanese aircraft carriers, they would gain the advantage.

I’m not sure what the critics disliked. I read one review where the reviewer complained about banal dialogue. As one of the characters says in the film, “that’s cowboy bullshit.” I remember the critics gushing over Dunkirk, mostly because of who directed it. I hated that movie. See this movie on the big screen. You won’t be disappointed.

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Review of Bryan Banks

Review of Bryan Banks written by Doug Atchison and directed by Tom Shadyac rating *****

I followed this story when it first broke. I knew then that it had the makings of a great film. A high school athlete on a fast track to college football and the NFL is accused of rape. He is sent to prison. His hopes and dreams are stolen. Once out of prison, life is no easier. He is a convicted felon. He is a registered sex offender. He is on probation. Everything changes when the accuser reaches out on Facebook.

This film uses Bryan’s story to highlight many of the problems with the criminal justice system. Bryan Banks was black and did not have the resources to go up against a criminal justice system stacked against him. His lawyer convinced him to take a plea rather than face the possibility of decades behind bars. He did not know the consequences of that action.

Being a convicted felon and a registered sex offender is perhaps the most oppressing circumstance one can find themselves in. Add to this the scrutiny of the probation system, and it becomes nearly impossible for someone to climb back out. Bryan’s only chance is to prove his innocence and have his conviction overturned. That glimmer of hope presents itself when the accuser reaches out to him on social media.

The story of what happens next is a story of people in positions of power doing the right thing. It doesn’t always happen like this.

Aldis Hodge as Bryan Banks and Greg Kinnear as the lawyer who helps overturn the conviction do justice to the real life people they portray.

This is an uplifting film worth your time.

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Three docudramas to stream right now

I have three excellent docudrama series to recommend. Each will take you on a deep dive into three compelling stories.

First up is Chernobyl. You can find this five-part series on HBO. Like the other two docudramas on this list, everything about it is top notch.

There aren’t many stories where a catastrophe has the potential to affect millions of people. Even with the heroic actions of hundreds of Soviet workers and scientists, the nuclear fallout from Chernobyl reached far and wide. The actual death toll is likely in the thousands, with thousands more affected by radiation exposure. But it could have been much worse.

This series looks at the disaster from the initial explosion, to the efforts to contain the damage, to a reasonably good explanation of what happened.

Because this series is for an American audience, most of the characters speak English with a Russian accent. I’d much rather have that than a film with subtitles trying to maintain accuracy.

In the end, the world’s worst nuclear disaster happened because of shortcuts taken during construction and the actions of one asshole supervisor.

Next up is When They See Us available for streaming on Netflix. This four-part series is a dramatization of the Central Park Five story. I’m not sure about the title. My best guess is that it refers to how the world viewed the Central Park Five before their exoneration.

After watching two separate documentaries about this subject, I wasn’t sure what a dramatization could add. What I discovered after watching all four episodes is that the dramatization helps paint a fuller picture. You can know the details that led to five wrongful convictions, but seeing it played out step by step adds an essential layer to the story.

What amazes me as I read and learn about wrongful convictions is how those responsible seldom admit to their errors. The prosecutors and detectives hold onto their belief that they got the right person no matter the contradictory evidence. You see this in the last episode.

Lastly, if you want to know how and why someone would confess to a crime they did not commit. Watch episode two. We know that the techniques used by the police can and do lead to false confessions. Countries that have abandoned these practices have seen a dramatic drop in wrongful convictions. We need to do the same.

Julianna Margulies as Dr. Nancy Jaax in the National Geographic scripted miniseries The Hot Zone, based on Richard Preston’s bestseller about the Ebola virus in the U.S. in 1989. (National Geographic/Amanda Matlovich)

Last on my list is the six-part series The Hot Zone, available for streaming on the National Geographic channel. Based on the best selling book by Richard Preston, The Hot Zone tells the story of an Ebola outbreak in 1989.

The Hot Zone is yet another story that involves the potential deaths of thousands of people, this time from a deadly virus. I’m only half way through this one, but I wanted to add it to my list to make sure I mention it before it’s gone.

Ebola has a 90% kill rate. The virus is easily spread through bodily fluids, meaning an infected person who sneezes can infect anyone nearby. Put an infected individual on an airplane, and a deadly virus can quickly become uncontainable without swift action.

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Two nonfiction film quicktakes

I have two really good nonfiction films to recommend. First up is Apollo 11.
Apollo 11 directed by Todd Douglas Miller.
Rating *****

Back in 1994 while working on the interactive CD-ROM Apollo XIII: A Week to Remember, I had the chance to fly to Houston where I interviewed four Apollo 13 flight controllers. I conducted the videotaped interviews in the original mission control. One of the controllers I interviewed was Gene Kranz. In putting together the CD-ROM, we were able to access a treasure trove of audio, images, and video to aid in telling our story. Best of all, we paid either very little or nothing for the material thanks to NASA public affairs.

Director Todd Miller did the same thing and ended up with a ninety-three-minute documentary made up solely of archival footage hidden away in NASA’s vaults. The end result is a compelling look at one of our most noteworthy historical achievements.

This film shows the importance of editing. There are no talking heads. There is no voice over. The whole film simply takes the available footage shot during this time period and pieces it together to tell the Apollo 11 story from the viewpoint of those who were there. No tricks. No special effects. Just skillful editing of existing footage.

We are fast approaching the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 space flight. I encourage you to see this film with your kids or grandkids. Let them experience the thrill of space flight as it actually happened. The real thing is so much better than Hollywood’s version as told in the film First Man.

Hotel Mumbai written by John Collee and Anthony Maras. Directed by Anthony Maras
Rating *****

I read a review of this movie by a critic who complained that there wasn’t enough character development. That’s nuts. You have two hours to tell a story that took place over several days and involved the murder of hundreds of innocent people. Do you really want to waste thirty minutes to more fully develop a few characters? That would require a documentary or drama series. This film does an excellent job of putting the viewer right in the crosshairs of those ten terrorists as they went about their murderous rampage.

This film kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. The acting was superb. The editing was spot on as the story unfolded from the initial attacks to the serene scene at the hotel before the terrorists arrived.

The last time I saw a film this intense was the film Aliens. This was at the same level of heart-pounding intensity.

What happened in Mumbai could happen anywhere. It already has. You don’t have to have superheroes and Road-Runner like killings every few seconds to tell a compelling story. The real thing is much more powerful.

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Everything the Holocaust

I have been steeped in the Holocaust for the past several months. It started with the book Denial by Deborah E. Lipstadt. While reading that book I started watching the six-part Netflix documentary series Auschwitz. When I finished the book, I rented the film Denial written by David Hare. It has been a deep dive into a dark past with plenty of warning signs for today.

Denial Written by Deborah E. Lipstadt
Rating *****

When Deborah Lipstadt wrote her book about Holocaust deniers, she mentioned a man by the name of David Irving, who was one of the more prominent and vocal figures among Holocaust deniers. Mr. Irving subsequently sued Ms. Lipstadt for libel, claiming that her false claims against him had hurt him financially through declining book sales and a lack of interest from publishers on future books. The subsequent lawsuit set up the perfect opportunity to challenge Irving on his distorted view of history. It also paved the way to contend with anyone else who shared his ideology.

The first part of the book is about Deborah’s efforts to fund her legal fight. Fortunately for Deborah, her publisher agreed to help with her legal bills. She also received donations from various other individuals and groups eager to expose Irving and his supporters. Irving, who represented himself, had his own financial backers.

The heart of the book is the trial. Irving’s main thesis was that while there were plenty of atrocities committed by German officers and soldiers, those murders were not done as a result of direct orders from Hitler. Irving also claimed that no Jews were killed in gas chambers.

The defense plan was to show the judge the many ways that Irving took fragments of evidence to support his view while discounting evidence that proved otherwise. In one example, Irving referenced a mass shooting and claimed that Hitler “bore no responsibility” for starting the shooting and that, upon learning of it, intervened to halt the violence. What Irving failed to mention in his recounting of the event was that while Hitler did give orders that there should not be any more shootings on that scale, Hitler instead gave orders that any future killings should be done more discreetly. While reading the many examples where Irving twisted the facts, I couldn’t help but compare that with the climate change deniers of today.

The book also touches on the subject of neo-Nazis and anti-Semitism. In the closing argument given by one of Lipstadt’s lawyers, Richard Rampton, I found myself once again comparing past events to today when he said the following: “‘Holocaust denial…is music to the ears of neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists to whom purveys it.'”

I won’t give away the ending except to say that good eventually triumphs over evil.

Denial written by David Hare and directed by Mick Jackson
Rating ****

As someone who has written two screenplay adaptations, I always enjoy watching other adaptations to see how other writers handle the task. David Hare had a difficult job insomuch that much of the book takes place in a trial setting. He rightly discarded everything dealing with the funding of the defense. Instead, he focuses on the defense strategy of not calling Deborah Lipstadt, played by Rachel Weisz, nor any Holocaust survivor to testify.

The film hit the major points concerning Irving’s many distortions of fact. There was a lot of exposition that was carried out in way too many restaurant scenes. But there were also more poignant scenes dealing with survivors and visits to Auschwitz.

One particular scene stood out for me. It dealt with how Irving claimed that he was guilty only of making a few minor mistakes. Rampton used an effective analogy of a waiter who always seemed to get the customer’s change wrong. If the waiter was simply not good at math, one would expect his mistakes to sometimes benefit the waiter and sometimes benefit the customer. With Irving, however, all of the mistakes favored Irving’s thesis.

The acting and writing were well done. The film would have benefitted from fewer scenes of characters giving exposition in restaurants. I would have also preferred a more involved soundtrack.

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Review of the film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Written by Chiwetel Ejiofor and William Kamkwamba, directed by
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Rating *****

Maxwell Simba and Chiwetel Ejiofor

I am always a little leary when I see a film that is written, directed, and stars the same individual. Most of the time these films are not that good because there is a lack of colaboration and feedback. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is the exception.

I read the book that this was based on. You can read my review of the book here. It’s a powerful story about how a young boy brings electricity to his village by building a windmill. I was also interested in seeing the adaptation.

You can call this a passion project for Chiwetel Ejiofor, but you can also say that the passion comes through on screen. You don’t need pyrotechnics to tell a compelling story. What you need is conflict, and this story has plenty to go around. The young man’s goal to build a windmill isn’t just a school science project, it’s a matter of life and death. He lives in a small African village where farming is the main source of income and food. Electricity is needed to run a water pump that can be used to help irrigate the dry soil.

The film touches on other themes including poverty, corruption, and the importance of education. There’s an old proverb that goes something like this: feed a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. This film carries that sprit and message.

My only criticism is that the first ten minutes are a little slow. I also wasn’t a fan of the framing device that was used. But those are minor complaints for an otherwise excellent film.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a Netflix original film. If you liked Roma, you’ll love this.