Movie Review - Beckett

Director: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Genre: Thriller/ Crime/ Drama/ Action
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: John David Washington, Alicia Vikander, Boyd Holbrook

Description: Following a tragic car accident in Greece, Beckett (John David Washington), an American tourist finds himself at the center of a dangerous political conspiracy and on the run for his life.

Review: When Becket is on vacation with his girlfriend April they get into a car accident. In this accident Beckett sees a boy with red hair, but doesn’t know if it is an illusion or not. When Beckett wakes up in the hospital, he goes back to the place where they crashed to see what exactly happened. From that moment on, Beckett is on the run for his life and must survive in a strange country where he doesn’t know who he can trust or not.
The movie has a quick introduction to our main characters, before we get into the action and suspense. “Beckett” has a lot of tension and you really become eager to find out why this is happening to him. The movie captivated me from start to finish.
John David Washington, in the lead, does a good job and proves ones again that he can carry a movie well. Boyd Holbrook and Alicia Vikander both have smaller roles, but are solid.
I liked “Beckett”, but it will probably be a movie that will be easily forgotten.

Rating: 3/ 5

Movie Review - Tenet

Director: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Action/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 150 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Clémence Poésy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Caine

Description: Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the wntire world, a Protagonist (John David Washington) journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

Review: That Christopher Nolan would one day make a film about time travel was of course a matter of time (no pun intended). When early in “Tenet” a simple clock is turned back an hour, it seems like a conscious wink from the always time juggling filmmaker. But you can also see it as an indication that the time travel rules used will be a bit more complex than turning back the clock. The general gimmick is presented relatively quickly: a reversed experience of time. Since Nolan’s oeuvre can be summarized as an intellectual puzzle of macho subjects, we should not be surprised that this concept is explained by a means of a pistol: as a shot, bullets are not fired, but go back into the firearm. But this technology also appears to be applicable to people, with all its complications.
Now Christopher Nolan is far from being the first to use such a narrative element. Tenet are consistently in reverse mode. In their own experience they do everything normal, but anyone who moves forward in time sees them walking backwards and hears them talking backwards (lost me yet?).
“Tenet” is in everything a pure Nolan film: a grand action spectacle about well-dressed men who deal with serious matters, seasoned with bombastic music and well-crafted stunts, wrapped up in a complex puzzle. But while Nolan still managed to put all these elements perfectly to his hand in “Inception”, this time he may have overplayed his hand a little. This way, the difficulty has been increased to such an extent that after a while t becomes difficult to connect al the plot points. The time travel aspect would suffice for a complex narrative, but “Tenet” has been set up as a spy thriller full of shadowy players and double agendas, which doesn’t exactly make it easier to understand. A war between the present and the future? Such ambition compels admiration, but it’s likely that the viewers gradually loses sight of exactly what’s at stake.  
The film becomes a lot easier to watch when the spy plot is released slightly and is used more on the time travel elements. The it turns out that the complexity is not much greater than that of a time travel movie “Déjà Vu”. Although Nolan makes sure that the viewers will have to keep puzzling until the end.

The film has some amazing scenes, like a car chase scene or a fight scene between two people who experience each time in a different way.
You might say that Nolan was over-ambitious and over-complicated this film. For me, the complexity of the film is reason enough to rewatch “Tenet” someday, because I really want to fully understand this film. It’s a beautiful looking movie, with a formula that is starting to show some cracks, but even a Nolan film that isn’t perfect, is still worth watching.

Rating: 4 / 5

10s Movie Review - BlacKkKlansman

Director: Spike Lee
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 135 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Alec Baldwin, Laura Harrier, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Robert John Burke, Brian Tarantina, Arthur J. Nascarella, Ken Garito, Frederick Weller, Michael Buscemi, Damaris Lewis, Ato Blankson-Wood, Corey Hawkins, Dared Wright, Faron Salisbury, Ryan Eggold, Jasper Pääkkönen

Description: Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate (Adam Driver) who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.

Review: Director Spike Lee starts with a raging Alec Baldwin, trying to film a promo video for the Ku Klux Klan. We also see clips from “Gone with the Wind”, a classic with a doubting reputation because it romanticized the slave period. The opening scene is funny, but also has a worrying undertone. And that’s also the tone for “BlacKkKlansman”. Lee tells the bizarre yet true story about racism in the 70s, which shows the painful and entertaining political and social situation and brings it back to modern day America.
“BlacKkKlansman” is a typical Spike Lee movie: angry, funny, colorful, painful and topical. It’s funny to see Alec Baldwin being cast as a KKK member, he is known for his Trump imitation. And lines like ‘America First’, ‘take back our country’ and ‘to achieve its greatness again’ are used very often in this film.
This starting point is perfect for a director like Spike Lee. At the end of the 70s, tha black cop Ron Stallworth manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch in Colorado Springs. he pretented to support the KKK and was in close contact over the phone with the klan, even with the ‘Imperial Wizard’ David Duke himself. When he has to meet th members, he sends his white, Jewish colleague Flip Zimmerman.
The movie is based on Stallworth’s book, that he wrote many years after the fact because of secrecy.
The most impressive scene is also the one with the least nuance. Lee jumps masterfully between two meetings that happen at the same time: a ceremony where members of the KKK are cheering during the showing of the classic film “Birth of a Nation” and a meeting of a black student group where an elderly man tells about how his childhood friend was killed by the KKK.
“BlacKkKlansman” is a fantastic film, with a parallel between the past and present. It’s powerful and very wonderfully done, how Lee manages to wrap the heavy message into an entertaining cover. John David Washington is really the man to watch and Adam Driver is amazing as Flip Zimmerman.

Rating: 5/ 5