Posts tagged family
“Fruitvale Station” All Story and No Movie
Aug 3rd
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“All Story, No Movie”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Fruitvale Station is based on a true story about a tragedy that occurred in 2009 in the San Francisco Bay area.
The title is the name of the station on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, or BART, where the event took place.
In fact, the movie opens with actual footage from the event, and then it goes into a couple of flashbacks in an attempt to fill out the story and show why it was such a tragedy.
The first flashback goes to the morning of New Year’s Eve, and we meet Oscar Julius Grant III, a young man 22 years old who is in bed with his girlfriend Sophina.
Oscar tells Sophina, “All I want is you and T, forever.”
“T” is their daughter, Tatiana, who is four years old.
December 31 is also the birthday of Oscar’s mother, Wanda, played by Octavia Spencer. So, Oscar calls Wanda and makes arrangements for Wanda’s birthday party that evening, which will be attended by family and friends, and we watch Oscar throughout the day taking care of the arrangements.
He goes to the supermarket where his brother works to get the food and where Oscar also helps out a customer arrange a fish fry she is hosting by having her talk to Oscar’s grandmother, who gives the customer advice.
Oscar also talks to his sister, Chantay, and promises to let her have $300 so Chantay can pay her rent that month, even though from what we have seem so far, we wonder if Oscar even has that amount of money to give to Chantay.
Then we go into another flashback to a year earlier when Oscar is in prison on drug-related charges, and his mother comes to visit him. Oscar gets into an argument with another prisoner, and it upsets his mother so much that she says that she won’t visit him anymore.
This flashback gives more background on Oscar and introduces a character who will play a part in the event that is the story that makes up the movie.
Then we are back to the events of the day on New Year’s Eve, and we see more of Oscar’s day leading up to the tragedy, which is preceded by going into San Francisco to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Fruitvale Station is all story and no movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Fruitvale Station – Movie Trailer
Jul 29th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, director Ryan Coogler’s FRUITVALE STATION follows the true story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother (Octavia Spencer), whose birthday falls on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz), who he hasn’t been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to Tatiana (Ariana Neal), their beautiful four year-old daughter. Crossing paths with friends, family, and strangers, Oscar starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easily. His resolve takes a tragic turn, however, when BART officers shoot him in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Year’s Day. Oscar’s life and tragic death would shake the Bay Area – and the entire nation – to its very core.
“Girl Most Likely” to Make You Laugh
Jul 27th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“To Make You Laugh”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Girl Most Likely is a witty, intelligent comedy about a girl who at the beginning of the movie is most likely to fail at everything she hoped for.
Including suicide.
Imogene Duncan is played by Kristen Wiig, and when we meet her she is desperately trying to get in touch with her boyfriend, Peter, whom she is meeting at a gathering in New York City.
When Imogene is asked if she is even married, her response of “Mostly, basically” is an indication of what problems she might be having in her relationship with Peter, even though they are living together.
However, when Peter tells Imogene that he is moving out because he doesn’t think they “go together,” Imogene’s life starts going downhill fast.
Imogene is fired from her job at a magazine where she describes a play in five sentences or less to make people want to see it.
You see, Imogene was once a promising playwright herself, and even though she even won a prize for her work, she never became successful.
So, Imogene does what anyone with a flair for drama would do. She writes a compelling note, leaves a message for Peter to come see her right away, and tries to commit suicide.
That doesn’t work, either. Imogene’s best friend, Dara, comes to her apartment instead, and Imogene is saved from dying by the wrong person.
And Imogene’s life continues to go downhill. She is put in care of her mother, Zelda, played by Annette Bening, who lives in Ocean City, New Jersey, and has a gambling problem.
At one point, Zelda tells Imogene, “If I say I’m sorry, I’m worried you’d
just get all mad at me … for ruining your life.”
In addition, Zelda has rented Imogene’s bedroom to Lee, a man who makes his living by singing in a tribute band, and Zelda also has a boyfriend living with them, played by Matt Dillon, whose name is either George or The Bousche, or perhaps both.
Imogene’s younger brother, Ralph, is also living in the house, and Ralph is obsessed with crabs, even building a human shell that he wears outside, whenever he goes outside, for protection.
Imogene also learns that her father is alive, whom she had been told died when she was nine.
Girl Most Likely will most likely make you laugh.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”