FLICKANALYSIS

Birth of a Nation- Karl Sides “The Flick Fanatic”

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BIRTH OF A NATION

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Nate Parker stars, directs and even wrote the screenplay for the new film about the slave rebellion in Virginia led by Nat Turner called “Birth of a Nation”

Years before the civil war erupted, a young boy named Nat Turner was growing up on the Turner plantation (slaves took the last name of their owner as they were property). Nat was raised by his mother after his father ran off to avoid being lynched after killing a slave hunter when he was caught stealing food. Nat would also take books from the main house and taught himself how to read. Elizabeth Turner (Penelope Ann Miller) found out about Nat and instructed his mother to send him to the main house and he would be taught properly. Mrs. Turner gave Nat a bible to read and study.

Nat grew into a young man and began to preach to the other slaves on the plantation. Following his father’s death, Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer)took over the farm. Mrs. Elizabeth left to live with her daughter Catherine and her new husband on a neighboring property. As a gift Samuel, after being prodded by Nat, bought a slave girl Cherry (Aja Naomi King) to serves as a house girl for Catherine (Katie Garfield). Nat was infatuated with Cherry and would take every opportunity to go to see Cherry. Nat would eventually marry Cherry as they jumped the broom. Cherry still remained at the other farm with Catherine.

Word got out about the Turner farm and how there was never any issue with the slaves there. Rev. Zalthall (Mark Boone Jr.) suggested to Samuel that he take his slave preacher to other farms to help get their slaves in line. This would generate the much needed money for Samuel to keep the farm. Drought was keeping crop numbers down and putting the crunch on the farmers. Nat agreed and then got his first look at what slave life was like at other farms under abusive owners.  One such farm had a slaver force feeding his slave who had refused to eat by chiseling out his teeth and putting a funnel down his throat.  I could barely watch parts of this film because there were brutally gruesome. There were whippings, beatings, rape and murders, this all before Nat decides to rebel.

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Tony's Take

DEEPWATER HORIZON review

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deepwater-horizon-posterWhen Faced with Our Darkest Hour, Hope is Not a Tactic

On April 20th of 2010, an oil rig, named the Deepwater Horizon, located just-off the coast of Louisiana suffered a major blowout and erupted into a major oil spill, spilling over 200 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.  Over the days that followed, most of the story centered-around the oil, but the real story is what happened on the Deepwater Horizon.  The film follows the crew from Transocean as they arrive for their three-week stint on the vessel.  Upon arriving, a few issues Continue reading

FLICKANALYSIS

Deepwater Horizon- Karl Sides (The Flick Fanatic)

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DEEPWATER HORIZON

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Wahlberg and Russell bring the greatest oil disasters in US history to the big screen in “Deepwater Horizon”

Peter Berg directs this tale of the crew of the BP oil drilling platform “Deepwater Horizon” with corporate cost cutting, accelerating timelines and faulty/failing equipment as the platform fails. Mark Wahlberg stars as Mike Williams, the crewmember that is responsible for patching the equipment and keeping the station working. The captain referred to as “Mr. Jimmy” is Jimmy Harrell played by Kurt Russell, who calls the BP officials on their negligence and insists on test before the DWH moves on to a new drilling location.

April 2010, Mike Williams (Wahlberg), Mr. Jimmy (Russell) and Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) are aboard a helicopter in route to their job, a crew on the BP Oil drilling platform Deepwater Horizon. The Deepwater Horizon is located about 10 mile of the Louisiana coast and is in the final stages of drilling out the mud from the ocean floor before it moves on to a new location. Jimmy finds out the BP executives cancelled a concrete test, a test crucial to the stability of the station, and he is furious. Jimmy insists on a negative pressure test to see if the concrete base on the ocean floor is going to hold. Mike Williams (Wahlberg) agrees and begins to rifle off all the things broken at the station when asked by Vidrine (John Malkovich) as the BP folks thinks the crew were just dragging their feet. There is cautious and then there is careless.

The crew does the negative test and the results show pressure, but no mud is coming up the pipe. So Vidrine is satisfied, but Jimmy is not. Vidrine agrees to run another pressure test on the auxiliary line. As the test is being done, there are ripples on the ocean floor and the pressure red lines and mud is spewed out of the pipe all over the DWH. The crew tried to shut down the pipes and normalize the pressure, but there are gas alarms everywhere just as the plat form explodes.

Now the crew is on a Oil rig, 10 miles into the ocean and it’s on fire. Jimmy, who was in the shower at the time of the explosion, trying to feel his way to the command center with glass in his face and one eye swollen shut. Mike and the surviving crew try to get to the lifeboats. Mike gets an injured crewmate on the boat and goes back for Jimmy and Andrea. When he returns to the launch area, he sees that the boats have left him and Andrea on the burning rig.

Deepwater Horizon is an exciting thrill ride and should be seen on the big screen, I even recommend spending the big bucks for the IMAX version. Deepwater Horizon also stars Kate Hudson as Williams wife (in a film with her step-father for the first time). All the monitors and equipment in the film are accurate and Mike Williams and Jimmy Harrell themselves were on set to consult.

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I am Karl the Flick Fanatic, and I am telling you to catch the adrenaline rush that is Deepwater Horizon this weekend!

5.5/6

 

Tony's Take

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN review

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the-magnificent-seven-posterJustice Has a Number

Based on the original “Seven Samurai” and “The Magnificent Seven”, 2016’s re-imagining from Antoine Fuqua opens-as the mining town of Rose Creek is under threat from the owner of the mine, Bartholomew Bogue.  Showing no care for its townspeople, it’s clear he only has one goal in-mind, finding gold.  Warrant Office Sam Chisolm is a three days-ride Continue reading

FLICKANALYSIS

Sully- Karl Sides “The Flick Fanatic”

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SULLY

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Tom Hanks “Soars” as Chesley Sullenberger, the man who piloted the “Miracle on the Hudson” in “Sully”.

Clint Eastwood brings another award contender to the big screen this week with Sully, the story behind the “Miracle on the Hudson”. Tom Hanks stars in the title role as the pilot that manages to land a plane full of passengers on the Hudson river after both engines fail. Aaron Eckhart co-stars as his co-pilot Jeff Skiles.

Everyone knows the story of US Air flight 1549, that hit a flock of birds minutes after take-off and had both engines destroyed and was forced to land a plane with 155 passengers on the Hudson river 208 seconds after the left LaGuardia airport in New York. Sully tells the story of the investigation that followed the water landing conducted by the NTSB. Sully was a hero to American and a superstar as he did the mandatory media tour following the incident. So it will come as a surprise as the insurance company pressured the National Transportation Safety Board to pin the accident on the crew.

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