Review: "The Hate U Give" is a Vital Conversation Starter

Scene from The Hate U Give

The world of America in 2018 is an unfortunately hostile place. With a sweltering sense of injustice in the world, it's hard to make sense of what the value of a human life can be. For director George Tillman Jr.'s The Hate U Give, he not only tackles one of the most upsetting conflicts of the modern age - police shooting innocent victims - but manages to dive further into the social ramifications as to why that is. It's a story whose imagery is already hot-wired into our subconscious, leaving us to ask ourselves the moral questions as Tillman presents these uncomfortable scenes with a purpose and vigor. It's a drama that goes beyond understanding racial profiling and gets to the heart of how hard change is, though it can still be achieved. The film doesn't have an easy answer on the search for empathy, but it's the type of rallying cry that is needed in this day and age, and helps to elevate this teen drama into something more powerful and timeless.

Review: "Detroit" is a Great Film That Is As Uncomfortable As It Is Insightful

Scene from Detroit

When someone thinks of a war film, they think of the classical sense of a World War II scene in which two armies fight each other in gruesome fashion. It has the power to create powerful imagery and question the very nature of violence. However, there is another type of war film this summer that looks a little different: director Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit. Set in 1967, it follows a riot that took place in the city when overcrowding and police brutality slammed rudely against each other. It's a war not of countries, but of opposing views in American society. In some ways, it makes the events that follow more uncomfortable. It's also more powerful because, unlike something like Dunkirk, there is something about Detroit that still feels contemporary even 50 years after its story.

Kathryn Bigelow Returns with a Powerful First Trailer for "Detroit"

Scene from Detroit

It has been five years since director Kathryn Bigelow released a movie. That was the phenomenal Best Picture nominee Zero Dark Thirty, which chronicled the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. While it goes down as one of the more controversial movies of the decade, it is also an intricately paced procedural style through obsession and what fulfillment comes from it. While her recent films have dealt with war overseas, Detroit looks to be capturing the war at home in America. The first trailer shows her tense pacing mixing with her powerful imagery of violence and misunderstanding. Much like her previous films, it's one to look out for this year. It's also probably going to be full of great controversy.

Super Delegates Bonus: Lyndon B. Johnson in "All the Way" (2016)

Bryan Cranston

Welcome to Super Delegates Bonus. As a subsidiary of Super Delegates, the sporadic additional column is meant to explore depictions of politicians on film outside of the conventional methods of the column. This ranges from everything such as political candidates in TV movies and miniseries to real life candidates providing feedback on their pop culture representation. While not as frequent or conventional, the goal is to help provide a vaster look at politics on film as it relates to the modern election year. Join in and have some fun. One can only imagine what will be covered here.

Nothing But the Best: "The Hurt Locker" (2009)

Scene from The Hurt Locker

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Does "The Fifth Estate" Predict Cumberbatch's Best Actor Nomination?

Left to right: Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl

Hours after posting my piece on one of my most anticipated movies of the year, 12 Years a Slave, a trailer for director Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate is released. The irony lies in how insistent I was that this would be Benedict Cumberbatch's chance at an Oscar nomination. It doesn't seem that far fetched, considering that this almost seems to be similar to The Social Network in terms of relevancy to the modern era and the reliance on computers. What the trailer delivers is a glimpse into Cumberbatch's take on Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks. Is it a look into potentially one of the most celebrated performances of the year?