The new movie “White Boy Rick” would be impossible to believe even happened, were it not for that fact that this is a true story. Is it possible for any child born in 1970 in the declining years in the inner city of Detroit Michigan while being raised by a lowlife single father who is a gun runner to succeed in life? In a poor depressing environment in the mid-80’s in Detroit where a 15 year old kid by the name of Rick Wershe Jr. is born, is it even possible barring some miracle that someone like this could amount to anything but someone who dies young from a drug overdose, a drive by shooting or winds up in prison? What are your options? Your education is a disaster and your father is a gun runner. Very few ever make more out of a life like this – born to you because of where you are and who your parents are. I was most amazed by this true story because its about a young white kid of 15 who was used by the FBI to spy on a group of drug pushers who are all black. Somehow, he was able to get into their group and then somehow, was able to help the FBI get information to arrest them. How he was then treated by the police and FBI is another amazing part of this true story that was hard to believe. On top of all of this, his sister was a drug addict that left their home and lived in flop houses in local Detroit squalor.

This movie was well acted by Matthew McConaughey and newcomer Richie Merritt – who seemed very adept and getting the mumbling incoherent dialogue of not only that period in the 80’s but also to meld with the black drug pushers that he was able to become friends with. The downside of this is that very often its hard to understand what he is saying much of the time. The actor Bruce Dern was also in this movie, playing the boys grandfather and he also does a very good job despite his advanced age.

This movie as an average rating of 60% on Rotten Tomatoes and for me I would have given it about a 70%. I was surprised that McConaughey had so little screen time, given that he is supposedly the star of this film. I give a solid recommendation to White Boy Rick.

“Blaze” is a movie about a little known Country and Western singer, Blaze Foley. For me this movie was all about the very harsh realities of pursuing a life in show business – any show business. With the few who make it an any art form, we all see the end result of their success, we will never fully realize what they went through to become successful. If any of us who have thought about making it in Hollywood as an actor, comedian or writer, how many of us would be willing to pay the dues necessary to succeed in an impossible business?

The new movie Blaze is one of the very few stories I have ever seen where the lows of trying to make it as a Country singer in the south are depicted in such a real life and depressing way. I recognized no acting or movie magic in this film – with the entire two hours all about living in squalor, hitching rides to a gig, getting drunk and doing drugs to drown your sorrows, audiences who ignore you and a failing relationship, because what relationship could survive a precarious life like this one? It would be nice to know that at the end of many years of misery that you will finally make it one day – but the reality is, so many people try their whole lives because they just have to and they never know if they will ever make it. All of us have heard famous actors who talk about their lean years of bad jobs and waiting tables, many of them just days or weeks from giving up their dream. Most recently an actor, formerly famous on the Cosby show was disrespected because he had to work at Trader Joe’s. In life we have to make a living, despite our dreams and despite having to do things that we just do not want to do. How many of us would be willing to go through so much to achieve a dream that may never happen, even if they knew that in the end they would succeed.

The problems with this film are the depressing songs, because the lead actor who played Blaze, Ben Dickey – sang nothing but depressing songs the entire movie. On top of of this, he talks with such a mumble most of the time that very often you have no idea what he is saying. This film was hard to watch, mainly because of the squalor and the depressing real life we are seeing – as human being wants to be a singer so badly he is willing to risk everything for that one and only goal. This movie also includes many other named actors, including Steve Zahn, Sam Rockwell, Kris Kristofferson and Ethan Hawk who both co-wrote and directed this movie. While watching this film I had great respect for the work that must have been involved and all the hours of filming in run down depressing areas that show the harsh reality of trying to be a Country singer is all about.

The ratings for this movie on Rotten Tomatoes are a perfect 100% – a very rare mark for any movie and just might get this movie an Academy Award nomination for best picture. I thought this movie was very well done, but not at a rating of 100%. I recommend Blaze, but for anyone who decides to see this film, prepare for a dark depressing story about a little known but talented Country singer who was one of so many who paid so many dues for little or no payoff.

It has been said that screenwriting is the most difficult of all art forms. The reason is that there are so many moving parts to any screenplay and they all have to interact with each other and be understandable and make sense and conclude in a satisfying way. This is why most screenplays require so many re-writes. The new movie “A Simple Favor” attempts a very challenging and complex story with many movie parts. The story works mostly, but there were several holes in the logic that involved many different movie parts that made this film very far from perfect, but OK enough to recommend. There is one caveat that involves the constant showing of a painting this movie that I thought was in very bad taste – most especially they showed this painting way too many times. The good news is that at least there was no smoking.

This movie stars two well known actors, Blake Lively with Anna Kendrick getting by far the most screen time. Both are very good in their roles but this movie is not up to Oscar level caliber.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are a solid 82% and I agree with this rating. I do recommend A Simple Favor.