Adapted plays that play out on the silver screen in a fashion that makes you feel like you are watching a play are not my favorite. That’s not to say they don’t always work because sometimes they do. Fences is an excellent example of this done correctly. That movie undoubtedly was successful because of its actors (most notably Denzel Washington and Viola Davis). Like Regina King’s One Night in Miami, Fences only had a couple of stages (in the backyard, front porch, and house). But while each movie was based on a stage performance, Fences felt raw and honest, whereas One Night in Miami felt…well…staged.
Category Archives: Aldis Hodge
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Straight outta Compton and straight into the Oscar buzz. It’s early, and this movie will be forgotten by Halloween (just like most of the great films released in the first eight or nine months of each year). Still, for now, this movie is hot with audiences (over $100 million grossed in its first eight days) and critics (89% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), like 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 further under the radar (Ex Machina and The Gift are the two that come to mind for me). Still, it was a movie that could be very good or very bad, depending on the acting, which parts of the story would be told, and, most importantly, the 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 and impressive work to date. While I think it’s an extremely 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.