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The Trial of the Chicago 7 Quicktake

Rating **** 1/2

The Trial of the Chicago 7 by Aaron Sorkin tells the story of how Mayor Richard Daily used overwhelming police force to prevent peaceful protesters from protesting at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Rather than contain the protestors, the efforts to prevent the protestors from protesting at the convention resulted in street violence with many of the protestors being injured by police. Sound familiar? The organizers of the protests were targeted and rounded up and put on trial for inciting the riots.

As the title suggests, a lot of the story centers around the trial of the eight people indicted. One person, the head of the black panthers, was removed from the proceedings after the judge was forced to declare a mistrial because of his treatment of the defendant, which included bounding and gagging the defendant. The trial scenes were memorable thanks in large part to the bizarre rulings by the judge, played by Frank Langella. The riots for which the men had been put on trial are shown in flashbacks using both archival footage and dramatizations.

One of the better scenes in the film revolves around the idea of just who started the riots. Was it the protestors, who were there to protest the Vietnam War? Or was it Tom Hayden played by Eddie Redmayne. The scene starts out with a recording made the night of the riots where Hayden appears to incite the protestors. The answer is not black and white. As the scene unfolds it appears that Hayden did incite the crowds. Later, though, it becomes apparent that it was just a misunderstanding.

As good as the film is, I think it may have been even better if done as a two or three-part series. It seemed to me that a good deal of the story was condensed in an effort to save time. For example, five of the defendants are found guilty, but we never get to see the verdict being handed down. They just show up unexpectedly wearing jumpsuits. Another thing missing was images of the real people. And while updates were given for a number of the characters, there was no update on Attorney General John Mitchel, who was a lot like our current Attorney General Bill Barr.

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A soundtrack disaster

Since this site is dedicated to nonfiction, I won’t write a full review of the film Da Five Bloods. Besides, I could not make it all the way through. So writing a review would be unfair. But I did want to see if anyone out there shared my viewpoint on the soundtrack to this film.

Before I get to the mismatch of the soundtrack, a few words about my initial reaction to the film. First thought, this is what you get when you give a director total control. It had a decent concept. But Spike Lee kept getting in the way. Here is a short list of problems I picked up in the first hour that I did see: the jarring use of aspect ratio and film format to portray flashbacks, stereotype characters, the fact that the characters stay the same age even in the flashbacks; the random use of archival footage that added nothing, prolonged use of scenes that do nothing to advance plot or character, like the ten-minute long scene about a Vietnamese man trying to sell them a chicken.

Now to the soundtrack. I am a fan of film soundtracks. I have a playlist of nothing but film soundtracks A good soundtrack lifts a film from good to great. Here are just a few examples of great movie soundtracks: Risky Business, Gladiator, Braveheart, Amadeus, Jane Eyre, and Thelma & Louise.

A good soundtrack should not call attention to itself. If you want an example of how a soundtrack can ruin a film, watch Da Five Bloods. There is one scene in particular that completely took me out of the film. It’s the battle scene after the helicopter crash. The scene is bad enough without the mismatched music. So, there is a fierce gun battle going on, and Spike Lee has a jarring soundtrack from a sixties romance movie playing overly loud in the background.

The lousy soundtrack keeps popping up, instantly taking me out of the film. I would love to hear some comments. Maybe it’s just me.

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Ford vs. Ferrari my Oscar confession

Ford vs. Ferrari written by Jez Butterworth, John Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller, Directed by James Mangold rating *****

Every year I attempt to see every nominated movie before the Oscars. This year I saw every film but Ford vs. Ferrari. The showtimes didn’t match up with my schedule. And, to be honest, I’m not a fan of racecar movies. I missed the boat on this one. It may not have gotten the buzz like 1917 or Parasite, but I felt that Ford vs. Ferrari was the overall best picture from last year.

I liked everything about this movie. I’ll start with the acting. Both Christian Bale and Matt Damon were great. But so was everyone else. Every supporting character had a moment to shine. That says a lot about the script. It should have at least received an original screenplay nomination.

Before I saw the film, I watched the documentary The 24 Hour War, which I highly recommend seeing either before or after watching Ford vs. Ferrari. Having watched the documentary, I knew about the story and the characters going in. I think the filmmakers did an excellent job of telling a compelling story while still sticking to the facts.

The premise of the movie is how Ford, known for its box-like family cars, decided to change their image by building a racecar to compete in the 24 hour Le Mans. That effort coincided with the release of the sporty Mustang. If all you saw was the trailer, you might think that Carol Shelby and Ken Miles had just 90 days to make a car from scratch that went on to win. That’s not quite how it goes down.

More than anything else, this film is about the people behind the racecars.

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My 2020 Oscar Picks

For the past several weeks I’ve asked a lot of people about the Oscars. Which film do you think will win? What was your favorite documentary? In almost every case the person I’ve asked hadn’t seen any of the nominated films. I don’t go to the movies anymore was a typical answer. I wait for them to come out on Netflix was another typical response. Okay, many of the nominated films are available on Netflix or Amazon Prime. So what gives?

There is a quote from George R. Martin that sums up this sad state of affairs. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” The same goes for films. If you only go to the movies to see the latest super hero film, you’re missing out.

Here are my picks for this year’s Oscars.

Best Picture:

Ford vs. Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
1917
Parasite

Winner – 1917

Best Director:

Bong Joon Ho – Parasite
Sam Mendez – 1917
Todd Phillips – Joker
Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Winner – Sam Mendez, 1917

Adapted Screenplay:

The Irishman – Steven Zailian
Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi
Joker – Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
Little Women – Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten

Winner – Taika Waititi

Best Original Screenplay:

1917 – Sam Mendez and Kristy Wilson-Cairns
Knives Out – Rian Johnson
Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
Parasite – Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-won

Winner – Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story

Best Documentary:

American Factory
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Winner – The Edge of Democracy

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Review of Dark Waters

Review of Dark Waters written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Mario Correa. Directed by Todd Haynes
Rating *****

I’m a fan of those who expose wrongdoing, whether that be in print, documentary, or film. In the case of Dark Waters, the wrongdoings of chemical giant Dupont have led to treatments in all three formats. Regardless of who is telling the story or in what format, the conclusions are the same: Dupont is responsible for manufacturing and selling a product harmful to humans. More egregious is the fact that Dupont continued to profit off of this product even though they knew it was dangerous.

The product in question is Teflon and similar products, such as waterproof flooring and Scotchguard. Imagine that we were to learn that microwave ovens caused cancer, but manufacturers of microwave ovens hid that information from the public and continued to sell the product because the profits were too significant to relinquish. That is what Dupont did with its chemical PFOA, also known as C-8.

Everyone associated with this film should be proud of their efforts. They took a complex story that took years from beginning to resolution and turned it into an entertaining expose of corporate greed and government malfeasance.

I first learned of this story after watching the documentary The Devil We Know, which I reviewed on this site. I highly recommend that you watch the documentary as a companion piece to this film. Both will leave you outraged.

Mark Ruffalo, who plays lawyer Robert Bilott, shows that you don’t have to be a superhero to accomplish great things. He gives an understated performance that lets the story evolve without trying to win an award through angry theatrics. The one outburst of indignation in the film comes not from Mark Ruffalo’s character but from Tim Robbins, who plays the head of the law firm that goes after Dupont. I couldn’t help while watching Tim Robbins in that scene that he wasn’t acting; he was showing how he felt about the facts uncovered not just in that scene but in the film as a whole.

Dark Waters tells an important story relevant to all of us. Even today, considering all that we know and have learned about the harmful effects of PFOAs, the Trump EPA refuses to set safety guidelines on how much PFOAs are safe in drinking water. The answer is that no amount of the chemical is safe, but the cost to cities and communities whose drinking water have been contaminated would be astronomical. So the EPAs solution is to avoid setting a guideline at all.

See the film and watch the documentary. You won’t be disappointed.

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The Report Quicktake

The Report written and directed by Scott Z. Burns
Rating *****

A few years ago the film Spotlight won an Oscar for best picture. I put this film in the same league as that picture. Both films cover investigations into wrongdoing. In the case of The Report, the wrongdoing is state sponsored torture by our own CIA.

While Spotlight involved a team of investigative journalists, this story has one determined individual undergoing the investigation. Working for Senator Dianne Feinstein, played by Annette Bening, Daniel Jones, played by Adam Driver, spends five years going through millions of pages of documents to uncover the truth of both the torture and the attempts to cover up the actions of the CIA.

I can remember at the time the claims by the Bush/Cheney administration that the enhanced interrogation of detainees resulted in actionable intelligence. The claims were false.

This film shows that a good story and acting can beat any super hero movie. Adam Driver gives an Oscar worthy performance. I would also nominate the script.

You can stream The Report right now on Amazon Prime.