20s Movie Review - The Color Purple

Director: Blitz Bazaluwe
Genre: Musical/ Drama
Runtime: 141 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, Phylicia  Pearl Mpasi, Ciara, H.E.R., David Allan Grier, Louis Gossett Jr.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 19: A MUSICAL
 
Description: A woman faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.

Review: This is the musical rendition of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Color Purple”, already very successfully adapted into a drama film by Steven Spielberg in 1985. And seen as a play in 2005.

In the hands of director Blitz Bazawule, the raw account of the oppressed Celie, who slowly breaks fre from an environment filled with misyny and violence, does not gain the depth and layering of the original and its source material. However, lead actors Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks and the beautifully executed music make up for much.

I still think they should have left the original film alone and leave it as is, it’s not the best story to be turned into a musical.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 130: A Fighting Man

Director: Damian Lee

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 85 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Dominic Purcell, Louis Gossett Jr., Famke Janssen, James Caan, Adam Beach, Freddie Roach, Kim Coats, Michael Ironside

 

Description: An aging fighter (Dominic Purcell) is in search of redemption. He steps into the ring with a hungry young pugilist (Izaak Smith) with something to prove.

 

Review: The boxing veteran Sailor O’Connor has never been knocked out in over sixty matches he has fought. Still he’s a broken man, haunted by a tragic past. When Sailor gets one more chance in the ring, he takes the opportunity. His opponent is young and much faster. With the help of his old coach, Sailor prepares for what is probably going to be his last fight.

Boxing is a source of inspiration for Hollywood and many great movies about boxing have been made already. The heroic feel and the controversy are perfect for a movie.

The constant factor in the film is the fight between Sailor O’Conner and King Solomon. In between we see flashbacks, from both perspectives. Everything that happened before the fight. This way of storytelling works pretty good. Most questions you have as a viewer, are answered at the end of the movie. For instance the story of Diane Schuler. “A Fighting Man” isn’t just a boxing movie, but also a film filled with symbolic. The punches Sailor receives in the ring symbolize the rough life he has lived.

Visually the shaky shots and quick montage fit the character and the feel of the film. And the story isn’t told chronologically, which really works and doesn’t make it a standard boxing movie with the big fight at the end of it. The movie does have some clichés and some storylines that have loose ends.

All in all “A Fighting Man” is a pretty good film, definitely worth your time.

Rating: 3/ 5