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Stephan James

National Champions: Lost at the Goal Line

March 1, 2022 by Shelley McVea Leave a Comment

Thunder Road Pictures was probably hoping to score a touchdown with National Champions. Although baseball is officially America’s national sport, football is its favourite. This movie should be a winner. It is based on an Adam Mervis play by the same name and directed by Ric Roman Waugh. It has a strong cast of seasoned actors, an intriguing story line, and a built in group of football fans to draw on. Even this reviewer who knows little about football was looking forward to a few great hours of entertainment, and maybe gaining a better understanding of the intricacies of the game. Where did it go wrong? 

The countdown is on for the big game. The movie begins with a large, ESPN-type sports screen. 72 hours until kickoff. The most important College Champion game of the year is about to begin. Fans are arriving from around the country. Careers will be made or lost. NFL contracts are awaiting the outcome of the day.  Everyone is pumped up and ready to go. So far so good. The coaches and business partners are working out strategies, and almost counting the money in their pockets.  The great A.K. Simmons is Coach Lazor and he needs this game to solidify his reputation as the best. He loves his young quarterback like a son. He knows that LeMarcus James (Stephan James) is the best and that victory is within sight. 

But now the plot gets even more interesting. LeMarcus and his friend Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) are planning to boycott the game. Why would the star quarterback do this? Glory will be his. A huge NFL contract will follow.  We’re now presented with a scenario that we would actually like to see play out in real life. James is going to sabotage the game for the most noble of reasons. He will become famous and a multi-millionaire. But his teammates will not be as fortunate. After sacrificing their bodies and talent for this one game they will be forgotten. Broken bodies and with few prospects after college, they will have reaped none of the benefits of their work. Meanwhile their coaches and managers and TV moguls have become multi-millionaires. He wants them to be fairly recompensed for their work and skill. 

But now the movie loses the pigskin. Are we playing football or hockey or lacrosse? James and Sunday are mostly filmed in dark bedrooms, plotting how to get their story out to the media without being found. Is this now a spy movie? The coach is sure he can find them and dissuade James of his foolishness. A detective movie now? Sometimes the young men are seen praying and asking for God’s help. But this thread is never followed up. Are they partly motivated by religious conviction? We never find out. 

Coach Lazor’s wife (Kristin Chenoweth) now decides to leave her husband for her longtime lover (Timothy Olyphant) who just happens to show up at the hotel where the the team is staying. Will the coach decide to win his wife back or keep his mind on the game? Now we’re watching a B-romance movie. The coach opts for the team and now gives them a “pep” talk speech that we’ve heard every coach give to every team in every sports movie ever.  We also find that the lover is really advising James and Sunday on their actions.  We’re now into fantasyland. 

The final act brings the fabulous Uzo Aduba into the picture. If we can’t persuade the disruptive boys to get onto the field, then we’ll blackmail them. When big dollars are in play this seems like a good strategy. We’re now in a legal beagle movie. And it works. Aduba finds out some devastating information and James gives in. I think.  Rather than ending the movie with him suited up on a football field, we are sent back to the dark bedroom to have more discussions.

It’s difficult to see such great plot potential fizzle out in the final frames. It’s difficult to see such great acting not be rewarded with a single vision and great dialogue. If you are a huge football fan, or a great fan of these particular actors, maybe check this movie out.

If not, kick the football into the stands. 

National Champions is now available on VOD.

Filed Under: Featured, Film, Reviews Tagged With: JK Simmons, Stephan James

21 Bridges – Hunting Cop Killers

November 21, 2019 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“There are 21 bridges in and out of Manhattan. Shut’em down. Three rivers. Close them. Four tunnels. Block them. Stop every train line that leaves the island – Amtrak, PATH, New Jersey Transit, LIRR—and loop the subways. Then we flood the island with blue.”

That is certainly a dramatic undertaking! Just think of closing down all of Manhattan! That is the hook for 21 Bridges, a police thriller from director Brian Kirk and producers Joe and Anthony Russo.

Taylor Kitsch and Stephan James star in 21 BRIDGES

When a pair of criminals (Taylor Kitsch and Stephan James) steal cocaine from a restaurant used by a drug dealer, they are surprised by some police. In the shootout several police are killed. Detective Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) is brought in to investigate, and teamed up with narcotics detective Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller), a single mom struggling with the pressures of life. When it becomes obvious the killers are in Manhattan, and since it’s 2:00 a.m., the decision is made to shut down the island to find the killers. In a race against the clock the killers try to find their way out while Davis and the police zero in on them.

Davis is the real focus of the film. It opens with the words from Romans 13:4 being read at a funeral, and focusing on a child with tears in his eyes. It turns out that this is his father’s funeral, after his father, also a police officer, was killed in the line of duty. That verse, which of worldly authorities executing justice on God’s behalf, color how we see Andre throughout the film.

Chadwick Boseman stars in 21 Bridges

When we next see Davis, he is meeting with a police board. It turns out he has been involved in eight shootings in nine years—all justifiable. It is no wonder he is chosen to find these killers. No one wants them taken alive—except maybe Davis. The angry precinct captain (J.K. Simmons) is perfectly clear that he sees no point in prolonging the execution of justice. But Davis, we discover is not about killing bad guys—he’s about finding the truth. And the truth turns out to be far more complicated that just shutting down Manhattan. And when the truth is uncovered, Davis is determined to continue to be the manifestation of justice.

The film is very much a story of good vs. evil. However, the clear boundary between the two in the first half of the film becomes more complex in the second half. That makes the biblical quote that opens the film a bit sticky to consider. It is one thing to think of police as working with God’s authority to execute justice (I have some quibbles with this interpretation in the film, but I’ll let that pass), but what about when what we see the police acting in why that is clearly not in line with God’s justice? That becomes the central question of the latter part of the film.

J.K. Simmons, Chadwick Boseman and Sienna Miller star in 21 BRIDGES Image Courtesy of STXfilms

Oh, and the shutting all the bridges, etc.? I think it would make a really interesting film to focus on the logistics of that actually happening. Here it is really a minor plot point that very little actual attention is paid to. I wouldn’t be surprised that a plan to do that exists, but in this film it is far too spur of the moment to really be given credence.

Photos courtesy of STX Financing

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: Brian Kirk, Chadwick Boseman, crime thriller, J.K. Simmons, New York City, Russo Brothers, Sienna Miller, Stephan James, Taylor Kitsch

If Beale Street Could Talk: Smooth Jazz and Social Commentary

March 28, 2019 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

“Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street, born in the black neighborhood of some American city, whether in Jackson, Mississippi, or in Harlem, New York. Beale Street is our legacy.”

– James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk

Set in early 1970s Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk tells the story of Tish (Kiki Layne), a young woman who vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have deeply connected her to her artist fiancé, Fonny (Stephan James). Having known each other since childhood, the couple dream of a life together, yet their wistful dreams are thrown off-course when Fonny is unjustly arrested for a crime he did not commit.

Based on the book of the same name by James Baldwin, the latest offering from director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) weaves a complex narrative that entrances as it unravels. Featuring incredible performances throughout (especially from Regina King), Beale Street feels authentic in its portrayal of the African-American experience. Like Moonlight, Jenkins wisely opts to use relative newcomers in most of the key roles, allowing the audience to focus on the performances themselves as opposed to the film’s ‘star power’. While very different than Moonlight, Beale Street continues to showcase Jenkins’ talent as a storyteller and his unique ability to craft engaging and authentic characters.

What’s more, there’s an intrinsic beauty in Beale Street that serves as a reminder of the magnificence of life in the moment. Takes are long and slow moving, characters speak poetically and every scene plays out in such a manner as to make you appreciate every second. In a world where quick cuts and shaky camera work are used liberally to create tension, Beale Street wants you to feel every breath and note offered by its cast. In fact, the film seems to move visually like jazz, carrying the ebb and flow of musical transitions within its dialogue and structure.

While the pacing may frustrate those who are looking for the wildness of modern film, Jenkins makes no apologies for his style. Although the film takes place in 1970s Harlem, the film somehow feels timeless. Through his visual style and lyrical tone, Jenkins not only highlights the tragedies and brokenness of the African-American experience in ’70s America, he also celebrates every moment as part of a vast tapestry of life. The film recognizes that, in the midst of struggle and mourning, there still remains a sense that every second—and every soul—has value and meaning. We know that every moment in life matters, because every moment carries life within it. As a result, Beale Street is somehow both scathing and wondrous at the same time.

In the end, If Beale Street Could Talk, it would undoubtedly speak to the value of every soul that is encompassed within it. Emphasizing every breath and moment as something of value, Beale Street speaks life into the pain and suffering of its characters, offering hope in the midst of hopelessness.

Special features on the Blu-ray combo pack include commentary by director Barry Jenkins, deleted scenes, and the featurette, “If Beale Street Could Talk: Poetry in Motion.”

Filed Under: DVD, Film, Film Festivals, Reviews, TIFF Tagged With: Barry Jenkins, Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk, Jazz, Kiki Layne, Moonlight, Regina King, Stephan James

Maybe We Aren’t Ready for FOX’s Shots Fired

May 25, 2017 by Jacob Sahms 1 Comment

The Department of Justice sends an up-and-coming lawyer, Preston Terry (Selma, Race), and a seasoned investigator, Ashe Akino (Sanaa Lathan, The Best Man series, Love & Basketball), to investigate the shooting of a white college student by an African American sheriff’s deputy in a small, North Carolina town. But their investigation is a tangled web of lies and layers of racism that intersect with the murder of a black teenager previously – that no one has explored. This is the premise of FOX’s Shots Fired, created and written by Gina Prince-Blythewood (Secret Life of Bees, Beyond the Lights) and Reggie Rock Blythewood, cancelled before it even aired its final season one episode. Was it too on-point for the world we live in today?

Over the course of its ten episodes, the show revealed secrets about the practices of the sheriff’s department, through the life of the African American deputy, Josh Beck (Tristan Wilds), his commanding officer, Lieutenant Breeland (Stephen Moyer, True Blood), and the sheriff, Daniel Platt (Will Patton, Remember the Titans, Armaggedon). Local African American pastor Janae James (Aisha Hinds, The Shield, Under the Dome) wields power in the town, especially in the low economy area where the bulk of the black population lives, called The Houses; Governor Patricia Eamons (Helen Hunt, Mad About You, As Good As It Gets) has authority, but much of her power comes from well-to-do financial investors like real estate magnate Arlen Cox (Richard Dreyfuss, Mr. Holland’s Opus, American Graffiti).

This is a tangled political, social, and economic web that the African American team from the DOJ must investigate, but the lines they cross are far from easy. The blue line of the police force, the black and white line of race, and the green line of financial power and poverty threaten them at every turn; no one wants Terry and Akino there, because they might reveal the truth and exacerbate the problems before they return to Washington, D.C. If no one wants the truth to be known, how can the investigators get anywhere?

As Terry and Akino dig, they experience the deep anger and sadness of the dead college student’s mother, Alicia Carr (Jill Hennessey, Law & Order), and that of the dead African American teen killed just weeks earlier, Shameeka Campbell (newcomer DeWanda Wise). While the Blythwoods are wrapping a murder mystery into the FOX episode, the audience is gripped by the palpable grief of white and black mothers, the fear of the police force when wrestling with violence and crime, the years of hurt, abuse, and pain inflicted on the African American community, and the extent to which money, power, and white privilege are latent below the surface… until they’re not.

Adding depth to Terry and Akino are their own backstories: Terry is the less-favored brother to a Carolina Panthers star who is fighting to be accepted as a real lawyer within the DOJ; Akino is fighting for custody of her daughter, aware of her own mistakes on the job and in marriage. Both are African American, and their own biases (and perceived biases) cause them trouble as they investigate the sheriff’s department for the death of the white college student … and later the death of the seventeen-year-old African American teen.

In the midst of a world where race seems involved in every (other?) news story, Shots Fired entertained, challenged, angered, and saddened me. One African American friend told me he didn’t need to watch the show because it’s his reality; the events involving Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice… the list goes on and on… prove that what he says is all too true.

As a media critic and a pastor, I found myself torn between the desire to see “whodunit?” and a way forward through the racism and injustice. Shots Fired doesn’t wrap it all up nicely, cutely, in a box. But it does challenge our own impressions, insecurities, privilege, power, and bias. It does demand that we consider – those who embrace faith – where the line is between peaceful compassion toward reconciliation and angry, proactive action to justice. With a few exceptions, Shots Fired brings a multifaceted approach to a centuries’ old struggle in the United States and asks us to move.

I’m just not sure the audience was ready for it given the ratings. Hopefully, others will watch it on Hulu, On Demand, etc. because the truth is this:

We need more Shots Fired. We need more prayer. We need more action. We can’t watch silently any longer.

Filed Under: Current Events, Editorial, Featured, Reviews, SmallFish, Television Tagged With: FOX, Helen Hunt, Shots Fired, Stephan James

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