Long Shot is a terrible title for a not-so-terrible movie. I won’t mention too much more about the title other than to say that it’s a difficult title to remember and to associate with a film about a Secretary of State (who isn’t really a long shot) and her political campaign and run for the presidency after the incumbent president decides that he won’t be seeking reelection. Nevertheless, Jonathan Levine’s political rom-com (50/50, The Night Before) packs in the laughs while cutting into today’s political landscape just enough to be edgy but not so over the top that it will divide audiences. Long Shot may not be remembered for its title. Still, it will be remembered for its intelligent, timely writing, witty banter, crunch-worthy predicaments, and solid performances from its two leads.
Category Archives: O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Straight outta Compton and straight into the Oscar buzz. It’s early, and I guess this movie is forgotten about come Halloween time (just like most of the great films released in the first eight or nine months of each year are). Still, for right now, this movie is hot with audiences (over $100 million grossed after eight days) and critics (89% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) as just about any other movie of the year. As I will explain in my review below, Straight Outta Compton didn’t do anything (besides the music itself) that was amazing on its own, but it did do just about everything well. I wouldn’t call it the surprise hit of the year as many other movies flew much further under the radar (Ex Machina and The Gift are the two that come to mind for me). Still, it was perhaps a movie that had the potential to be very good or very bad depending on the acting, which part of the story would be told, and, most importantly, the movie’s direction. I’ll talk more about F. Gary Gray (The Negotiator, The Italian Job) later in the review, but, long story short, he nailed it. Straight Outta Compton was his most challenging work to date and his most impressive and, while I think it’s an extreme long shot based on the history of the Academy and its voting, his name could still be swirling around as a dark horse for Best Director come December.
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