Movie Review: Chevalier

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While watching the new movie “Chevalier”, a true story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner – I kept thinking about the risk this man was taking in the late 1700’s France, given that he was half black. Due to his amazing musical talent as a musician, violin player, and composer, he was given much more leeway than any other black person of that era. However, Joseph Bologne took risk after risk, including having an affair with the married woman of a powerful political rival, that if this were not a true story, It would be hard to believe that anyone would risk their life so blatantly, even if they were white.

I thought that the story was well told, but too boring and slow-moving in too many areas. The acting was good, with the only known actor in this production Minnie Driver, and the main character played by Kelvin Harrison Jr. With all movies about the 1700’s and 1800s it is still hard to believe that the style in those days, was for everybody to wear a huge wig. Why this happened, over the centuries is anybody’s guess. For the most part, everybody looks ridiculous, especially the men in those days.

There are some good references to French history, including frequent appearances by Marie Antoinette played very well by Lucy Boynton.

Overall, I give this film a marginal recommendation, which is in the area of the 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Movie Review: Evil Dead Rise

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The new movie “Evil Dead Rise” is one of the few films where I recognized that the casting director was one of the most important ingredients in making this movie what it was supposed to be: scary and insane. The main character in this movie, Elli played by Alyssa Sutherland – is possessed and mutates into an evil horrendous creature, that with impressive makeup, would not work with many actors as well as it worked with Alyssa. Her long facial features and presence pull off one of the most horrible-looking evil creatures in the history of cinema.

This story, about a family and some other residence of a dilapidated dark high rise apartment building, is about impressive special effects, and more blood than I have ever seen, but not much else. Nobody goes to a horror movie like this, to see a well told story. Some of the gore in this production is way over the top, especially at the end, with the appearance of what can only be described as a “combination spider creature”, that has to be seen to be believed. The climax in an underground parking garage includes a giant wood chiper – that would never be in any parking garage, but to pull off the record breaking special effects, and all of that blood, this machine had to be there at the end.

This is a straight up special effects horror movie and not much else. I give this movie a marginal recommendation, only for the insane scenes of horror and gore, with my rating of around 70%, about 15 points lower than the Rotten Tomatoes opinion.

Movie Review: The Covenant

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The new movie “The Covenant” for some reason has the name of the director in front of the title. The last time I saw something this was for “Lee Dan Daniels: The Butler”, released in 2013 – hopefully not a new trend with movies.

The Covenant is one of those true stories that are hard to believe really happened, even in this case during the war in Afghanistan that started in 2001 after the terrorist attacks on 911. This film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as John Kinley, who is an army sergeant serving in Afghanistan leading a team of soldiers in 2011. There are several very well-done and believable battle scenes with the Taliban within this story, the most important one involving an ambush where John and Ahmed survived and run for their lives. The second soldier Ahmed, played by Dar Salim is from Afghanistan and had been hired by the United States Army to help translate – in exchange for a promised visa and transport to the United States for him and his family.

After the ambush, both Ahmed and John try to escape the dangerous and mountainous terrain of Afghanistan and are attacked multiple times. In one attack John is shot by the Taliban, badly injured, and then rescued by Ahmed. What follows is an incredible trek by Ahmed to get John out of the country and this is part of this true story that is the most difficult to believe actually happened – considering how difficult Ahmed’s attempts to drag John out of the country over the impossible terrain of Afghanistan.

The remainder of this movie is all about John, the politics of the Federal Government of the United States, and the Army, trying to find Ahmed to honor the Covenant – the sacred promise made to get Ahmed and his family out of Afghanistan and to the United States with Visas. Several scenes I appreciated the most were John’s desperate attempts, over the phone, constantly being put on hold, for hours trying to save Ahmed and his family. This part of this true story was the easiest to believe really happened, where politics and red tape were more important than trying to save a man and his family – who saved the life of an Army sergeant. John’s relentless and undying pursuit to save the man who saved his life about 100 times was the most impressive part of this amazing true story. How many of us would have done what John did, including mortgaging his own house to get the 150K to obtain Ahmed’s visas and airlift his family out of a very dangerous Afghanistan.

I thought that the battle scenes within this war movie were very well done, as was the solid acting throughout. I agree with the 81% rating on Roten Tomatoes and recommend this film.