Movie Review Bob Marley One Love

Bob Marley One Love (2024) 

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green

Screenplay by Terence Winter, Frank E. Flowers, Zach Raylin, Reinaldo Marcus Green

Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton

Release Date February 14th, 2024 

Published 

You can tell that Bob Marley One Love has four different credited screenwriters. The film has the chaotic feel of too many cooks in the kitchen. That's not to say that this is a bad movie, as music industry biopics go, this is among the better ones. Rather, it's just an observation of the style and tone of the movie which seems to shift gears oddly. You can sense a herky jerky quality of visions for the story changing and merging, and ideas not entirely cohering. The chaos comes however, in a haze of marijuana smoke and good vibes that prove to a saving grace. 

Bob Marley One Love stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as musician, radical, and revolutionary, Bob Marley. A star beloved around the world, Marley once wielded so much power that warring factions of Jamaica's would be leaders, vied for his attention, alternately threatening and offering to protect Marley from harm. All the while, Marley asks for none of this responsibility, accepting the kind offers from both sides while naively hoping that he can bring the two sides together by the sheer force of good vibes. Bob Marley One Love portrays the star as a man overwhelmed by wielding far more power than he deserves and a desperate ache for peace for himself and the people who have raised him to such a position of power in his home country. 

Capturing the contradictions of Bob Marley is actor Kingsley Ben-Adir who has a knack for playing historic figures who died before their time. Just a few years ago, Ben-Adir gave a stirring performance as Malcolm X in the movie One Night in Miami, a stagy but compelling based on a true story drama about Malcolm trying to recruit Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke, to rally together and use their collective star power in the fight for Civil Rights. In that film, Ben-Adir's casual charisma took a bit of the edge off of Malcolm X, making him feel real and human versus the outsized radical reputation assigned to him by a society seeking to blunt his influence. 

Find my  full length review linked here. 

Movie Review Waiting for Dali

Waiting for Dali (2024) 

Directed by David Pujol

Written by David Pujol, Miguel Garcia Navarette

Starring Jose Garcia, Ivan Massague, Clara Ponsot

Release Date June 18th, 2024

Published June 18th, 2024

The story of Waiting for Dali begins in Barcelona, Spain, in 1974 with a revolution in progress. Workers at a local restaurant have joined a revolution against the Spanish government and are now facing persecution.  Albert0 (Pol Lopez) and his brother, the second top chef at their restaurant, Fernando (Ivan Massague), have no choice but to turn to a mutual friend and fellow revolutionary, Francois (Nicholas Cazale) for help. 

Francois's plan has the trio travel to the small Spanish village of Cadaques where Alberto and Fernando will have to swallow their pride and take work in a kitchen that is not under their leadership. It's an especially big step down for Fernando who was making a name for himself as a French cuisine expert in Barcelona. Now, he's a prep cook at a seaside restaurant called El Surreal. The owner, Jules (Jose Garcia), built the restaurant solely on the hope that one day he might get the famed artist, Salvador Dali to eat there.

Cadaques in 1974 was centered entirely around Salvador Dali who chose the town as his home. Dali's blessing was a make-or-break proposition for any business in town. Thus, when Jules opened his seaside restaurant, he hung his hopes on getting Dali to eat there. Each day, Jules ventures into the main part of town in hope of getting the famed artist to take his menu or try some free food. And each time, he's unable to get anywhere near Dali. Much to his dismay. 

Find my full-length review linked here. 

Movie Review Borderlands

Borderlands (2024) 

Directed by Eli Roth 

Written by Eli Roth, Joe Crombie

Starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt Jack Black, 

Release Date August 8th, 2024 

Published August 8th, 2024 

Borderlands is a bad movie in the least interesting way. Take, for instance, Trap, M. Night Shyamalan’s most recent film, as of this writing. I’m mildly obsessed with Trap. That is a film that is bad in a very interesting way. Trap is misbegotten. It’s a failure in every possible way but it's ambitious and unique while being objectively bad. Borderlands, on the other hand, is bad in ways that are indistinguishable from other movies. It’s boring, it’s derivative, and, despite an all-star cast and a video game playground, it lacks personality. 

Cate Blanchett stars in Borderlands as Lilith, an intergalactic bounty hunter who plays by her own rules. If I had a nickel for every time a movie had a character like Lilith, I’d have enough to open a savings account at a local bank that comfortably accrues interest over time. Borderlands is boring in the same way that local banking with a small amount of money is boring. Lilith isn’t a character, she’s a collection of traits that look good in a trailer. She’s got an odd haircut, she’s sexy because Cate Blanchett is objectively sexy, and she shoots first and asks questions later just like every other cliche badass sci-fi character. (Yawn). 

Lilith is an anti-hero because she takes money from an evil corporate guy, Edgar Ramirez, making bank on being the most basic-bitch, go-to bad guy in Hollywood, to find his daughter. She’s the key to an ancient blah blah blah on some distant yadda, yadda, yadda. You get the gist. Ariana Greenblatt plays Tina, the daughter in question. Tina has been kidnapped by a mercenary named Roland (Kevin Hart) , former employee of the boring corporate villain, who is perhaps also seeking the magic whatever it is on the wasteland planet something or other. 

Find my full-length review linked here.