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Movie Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

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By: Yinka Adeboyejo
Email: adeboyejoa@findlay.edu
Twitter: @YinkaAdeboyejo

The film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri has a wonder cast with a lot of different roles under their belts. The main character is a woman named Mildred who, after her daughter was raped and murdered, put up three billboards asking the chief of police, played by Woody Harrelson, why it has been several months and the murder hasn’t been solved; Mildred is played by Frances McDormand.
Ebbing, Mo. is a very small, rural town and everyone finds out about the billboards by the end of the first day. Everyone in the town takes either the side of the police or Mildred. A good number of towns’ people feel that the billboards are inappropriate even though the town has no problem with inappropriate comments going against the grain, which has people uneasy. The characters in the film say things like that one relative we all have, you know the one without a filter. Sitting in the theatre, I was shocked by some of the things that came out of some of the characters’ mouths. A good number of those things were funny and things that no one would say to another person in public, however this small town apparently has no time for being discreet.
The towns’ people didn’t seem to care when a police officer tortured a Black American who was under arrest or when the same cop walks around and makes openly homophobic remarks. This film touches on the issue of why some things are acceptable while others are not with some dark humor that I think works very well. Mildred is only trying to get justice for her daughter and the town doesn’t feel like that publicly questioning Chief Willoughby is the way to do it. They believe Chief Willoughby is a good man and it shows throughout the film; you never get the feeling like he is covering up something.
Officer Dixon, who is in question for a lot of these bigoted actions and remarks, does a great job of showing change throughout the entire film; Dixon is played by Sam Rockwell. The character arch for Officer Dixon is one that changes him. In the film, he goes through a lot and sees a lot, which is why he changes. He starts off as someone who we are meant to hate, but ends up being someone we want to root for.
For someone like me who watches movies all the time, my favorite part about this movie was not knowing what was going to happen next. Watching most films today, we can most of the time guess the next outcome. However, these characters would make choices that didn’t even cross my mind.
Leaving the outcome of the story a mystery is one of my favorite things about films. Not being able to guess what will happen, and what the person on screen will do next, brings excitement back into watching films. All in all, I would give this movie a five out of five and recommend that everyone go see it. Please let me know what you all think!

Movie Review: Red Sparrow

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By: William Adeboyejo
Email: Adeboyejoa@findlay.edu

At first glance, the film Red Sparrow would seem like just your everyday, run-of-the-mill spy story.
The basic plot is about a Russian ballerina who only cares about her sick mother, gets hurt, and then is recruited to a “Sparrow” school where students are trained to use their body to get information from targets.
Before I sat down to watch this film, I checked out the run time and it is listed at two hours and 21 minutes. Red Sparrow starts off slow, the pace in the beginning was lulling me to sleep. Jennifer Lawrence’s performance was a stand out to me, as I really felt like she was into this role and took the time to prep for it. However, her Russian accent was executed very poorly and seemed really inconsistent over the film.
I thought the other actors did a good job, but the story didn’t really make me care for anybody. The motives of the characters felt fake and not genuine. SPOILERS/TRIGGER WARNING: For example, one scene has Lawrences’ character showering when a classmate walks in and tries to rape her.
Lawrences’ character has a meeting with the instructor of the spy school and the guy who runs the program. No punishment is given to Lawrences’ character, but in the next scene she is instructed by her teacher to have sex with her classmate who tried to rape her. She gets naked and sits on a desk waiting for him, but he doesn’t go along with it.
During this scene I was left wondering: Was this an important part in her character development? Did this add something to the movie that would make you understand how spies have to make hard choices?
While watching, I also had a hard time trying to understand what Lawrence’s character was feeling, so I had a hard time staying engulfed in the experience of the film. The two main actors, Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton, don’t seem to be competing against each other. It is mostly their governments, and I could only assume that they love their country so much that they will do anything for it, as they didn’t really convey it. Also, Edgerton’s character doesn’t really have any other goals besides to protect his information.
I’m going to rate films out of five, and I would give this one a two out of five. The two lead actors didn’t have that much chemistry on camera, the film tried to sell itself in the spy genre, and my thoughts of spy genres are completely different from what this film showed.
Overall, I’d say the best aspects of this film would be the locations they shot at, and the opening scene when Lawrence is a ballerina.

I will not go to a movie on its opening weekend, except Black Panther

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By: Cory William Berlekamp
Twitter: @Cberlekamp
Email: Belekampc@findlay.edu

With another movie production in the bag, Marvel Studios watched Black Panther pull in an estimated $201.8 million during its’ first weekend in theaters. This beat out Thor: Ragnarok which made $115 million in comparison. That number does not surprise me after seeing the lines at the movie theater.
I rarely see a movie in the theaters on a weekend, let alone its opening weekend. It is too much to handle; everyone slowly makes their way through the ticket line so they can stand for another 15 minutes at concessions while picking up spilled popcorn with the soles of their shoes. This is hardly what I call a good time. Not to mention, you have to show up 40 minutes ahead of time to ensure semi-comfortable seating in the middle of the theater with all of your snacks ready to go. For Black Panther, though, I gladly ran through this gauntlet.
It was Friday night and the projections were correct; the house was packed. My friend and I decided against seeing it in 3D, but instead opted for XD, Cinemark’s version of IMAX. At the 7:15 showing, there were only 13 seats left and they were pressed up against the screen at the very front. I was happy to buy them.
Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman, made his first appearance as Prince T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War. Without spoiling that movie, which came out two years ago, he punched his way in to the hearts of Marvel fans and moviegoers everywhere. Keeping in mind that some Marvel movies feel bloated at times, that there is a glossy look to all of them being doused in special effects, and that the A-list actors do their best to not look uncomfortable wearing hours of prosthetics and heavy costumes, I was ready to be immersed into the fictional country of Wakanda.
The setting of the technologically advanced African country mixed with the influence of tribal dress and African culture gave the film an authentic feel. A part of me wanted to believe that this country really exists and was not based on the comics. Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man and Spiderman are all from America, why can’t Black Panther be from a real African country? To be clear, I do not read the comics, and understand that there is a reason that this country does not actually exist, but it was still fantastic to see the world Marvel put up on the silver screen.
Besides being a general fan of the cinematic universe Marvel has built over the years, I was especially happy to see this film. Maybe it was because of the current political and social climate, and maybe it was because I was ready to watch a stand-alone film with a character that genuinely intrigued. Hollywood has had a problem with casting primarily white people in blockbusters including roles that were in no way Caucasian. Going as far back as John Wayne playing Genghis Kahn up to Christian Bale playing Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings, we have been watching white people act instead of those from other cultures. With Black Panther, however, it was nice to see a film that was not over taken by this issue.
Overall, I will continue to still stay away from opening weekends at the movie theater, but I would be glad to see Black Panther in theaters again. Maybe next time even in 3D.