It is no accident that the new Spike Lee movie “BlacKkKlansman” is now released almost a year to the day of the White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville Virginia. There are references to President Trump in this movie as well as several disturbing videos at the end about the racial incident in Charlottesville, where one woman died after being hit by a car that was driven by a White Nationalist. Much of the dialogue is highly disturbing with the frequent use of the N word and other horrendous racial language. The depiction of the members of the Klu Klux Klan is highly accurate with their pathetic lack of intelligence and overwhelming all consuming hatred of every other human being who is not white and Christian. Fundamentally this level of life-long hatred is derived from an extreme lack of intelligence and an ongoing generational passing down of idiocy that seems to have no end – as we were all reminded of last August in Charlottesville.

Surprisingly, despite the disturbing images of hatred, this movie has its share of humorous moments as well, in an attempt by Spike Lee to try and diffuse the non stop bigotry and hate, which over a long two hours can become overwhelming. This movie stars the son of actor Denzel Washington, John David Washington, who has some huge shoes to fill as a film actor, but in this movie does an outstanding job playing the lead character. Washington plays police officer Ron Stallworth who in 1972 was able to fool representatives of the Klu Klux Klan and was signed on as a member. Another white police officer, played by Adam Driver shared the undercover responsibilities and they both walked a precarious line within a very dangerous organization and ultimately were able to prevent the bombing of local black neighborhood.

I thought Lee did his best work both in directing and casting many of the pathetic idiots who make up the group of Klan members who sit around all day, drink beer and use foul racial language attempting to make themselves feel better about being a bunch of incredible losers. The level of hate and stupidity depicted in this movie is difficult to sit through, and it will be always impossible to believe that lowlife morons like this exist in this or any other country.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for BlacKkKlansman are an extremely high 98% and while I do not agree with a rating this high, I do strongly recommend this movie.

The title of the new movie “The Meg” is short for Megalodon, which is a the largest shark that has ever existed and lived millions of years ago and is thought to be extinct.

The way this story brings back this huge shark I thought was well done, but after the shark comes back to terrorize and kill almost everybody in this movie – some of the logistics due to the decisions the characters make to try and kill or escape this shark are some of the stupidest I have ever seen. What makes making a new shark movie so difficult is that it has to be something we have not seen before – and this idea is new. Then the story has to make sense, but for this movie any level of plausibility is thrown out the window within the first 30 minutes. One scene that stood out for me as one of the dumbest ever was when one professional diver played by Jason Statham makes an idiotic decision to go into the water with a 70 foot shark – in an attempt to spear him with a tracking dart. He decides to do this after a scientist says to him, “sharks are not threatened by one person in the water”. The problem here is a total lack of common sense in an attempt to create a dramatic moment. Nobody would ever do something this stupid, no way, never. There are so many idiotic decisions like this from too many characters to make this film enjoyable enough to recommend. If a movie makes no sense because the decisions of the characters are so absurd – then the whole story dies.

This movie probably marks the first time that Jason Statham has ever been in a role where he did not use his impressive Karate skills. Statham is also the only named star in this movie and the only other standout actress, who I thought was the best part of this entire movie is actress Shuya Sophia Cai – who is just about the cutest child I have ever seen in any movie. Her presence just about steals the entire story about a prehistoric shark that comes back to life. Anyone who has seen the 1975 first summer blockbuster will recognize about 3 references to Jaws – including a dog named Pippin.

The ending of this story has the usual expected attempt at a twist that really did not work and surprisingly I thought the special effects were probably the result of a budget that was not high enough for impressive special effects.

The Rotten Tomatoes review of this movie is an anemic 50%. For me, mostly because of the idiotic decisions of the characters in this movie – to create drama, I cannot recommend The Meg.

The new movie “Dog Days” is another screenplay that follows the “Gary Marshall” paradigm of having about 10 stories in one script that loosely connect together. This multi-story concept is kind of like fishing with dynamite. The idea is, to have as many stories as possible because if 2 or 3 of them work then the movie will make money and become a success. The common thread throughout this story is dogs and for those who see this film, some will want to get a dog and others will not – mainly because of the constant barking of more than a few of them during the 2 hours. The barking issue and having to get up in the morning and walk your dog is a major commitment for anyone who is not a big dog lover. I for one do not like the constant barking, which is why I am more of a cat person.

As far as the many stories of this film, I thought some of them worked and some of them did not. Towards the end there were several emotional moments that were very well done and for me was enough to give this movie a mild recommendation. Dog Days stars Vanessa Hudgens Eva Longoria and Nina Dobrev as the only well known actors and they do enough good acting carry the series of about 10 stories.

Overall I give Dog Days a mild recommendation – despite the Garry Marshall mass produced story.