Song Sung Blue is the true story of Lightning and Thunder, a Milwaukee based husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute act in the 1990’s. It was an enjoyable film, though much heavier than I had expected.
The film was directed by Craig Brewer, and was written by Brewer, based on Greg Kohs’s 2008 documentary Song Sung Blue.
The film begins at the Wisconsin State Fair with a Legends show. Claire Stingl, a divorced mom of two, played by Oscar nominee Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), is portraying Patsy Cline. Mike Sardina, played by Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables), is a Vietnam veteran, mechanic, and alcoholic who has been clean for twenty years and attends AA meetings. He is divorced and the father of a teenage daughter. When Mike, who prefers to portray Elvis, is asked to fill in as Don Ho, he refuses to do so, and quits the show. But he is soon taken by Claire’s performance as Patsy Cline.
Marshall is a well-acted film inspired by true events. It primarily tells the story of a 1941 case that future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther, 42, Get on Up) tried for the NAACP. The film is directed by Oscar nominee Reginald Hudlin (Django Unchained) and written by the father/son screenwriting team of Michael and Jacob Koskoff.
Marshall is sent by the NAACP to Connecticut to defend Joseph Spell, played by Sterling K. Brown (This is Us). Brown is a chauffeur that has been accused of raping and attempting to kill his employer Eleanor Strubing, played by Oscar nominee Kate Hudson (Almost Famous). Because Marshall is from out of state, he asks Jewish insurance lawyer Sam Friedman, played by Josh Gad (Frozen), to take the case and have Marshall join the defense team. However, Judge Foster, played by Oscar nominee James Cromwell (Babe), has a personal relationship with the father of prosecuting attorney Loren Willis, played by Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), and will not allow Marshall to speak in court, indicating that only lawyers licensed to practice law in Connecticut can argue in his courtroom. This unexpected turn of events results in Friedman, who has never tried a criminal case, having to do the work in the courtroom, with Marshall preparing him to argue before the all-white jury. Note: the real Friedman was an experienced criminal lawyer.
Marshall is not sure he believes Brown’s story, and tells him that he will not defend someone who is guilty. Brown has a checkered past to say the least, while the woman he is alleged to have attacked is a wealthy, respected, church going member of the community.
The film focuses a lot on the relationship between the black Marshall and the Jewish Friedman. I especially appreciated the scene in which Friedman quotes Scripture and realizes he’s acting as Aaron to Marshall’s Moses.
We see how Marshall’s important work as an attorney for the NAACP, which results in frequent absences from home, has an impact on Marshall’s wife Buster, played by Keesha Sharp.
The film is rated PG-13 for adult themes (rape), some adult language, including the “n-word”, and several abuses of God’s name. There is also some sexuality included, though nothing explicit is shown. Marshall is a well-acted film about a small part of Thurgood Marshall’s life. (Chadwick Boseman should receive an Academy Award!) The film portrays that Marshall, who would go on to become the first Black Supreme Court justice, was friends with poet Langston Hughes and author Zora Neale Hurston.
Near the end of the film Marshall is sent to Mississippi to defend a 14-year-old boy accused of killing a policeman. At the train station he’s greeted by Z. Alexander Looby (Benjamin Crump), and the boy’s parents, played by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, Trayvon Martin’s parents. Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old boy, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in February 2012.
This film is directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor and the upcoming Patriots Day, about the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon, which both also star Mark Walhberg). It is based on the well-publicized actual events that occurred on April 20, 2010, about 40 miles off of the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. A special oil rig was built just for this film, located in Chalmette, Louisiana where filming mostly took place. It is considered to be the largest set piece ever constructed.
Mark Wahlberg portrays Chief Electrical Engineer Mike Williams. He’s a loving husband to wife Felicia (Kate Hudson, whose stepfather in real life is Kurt Russell. This was their first time working together), and daughter Sydney (Stella Allen). We see Mike say goodbye to his family for a 21-day tour on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon. Kurt Russell plays “Mister Jimmy”, the respected General Operational Supervisor. Once Mike and Mister Jimmy reach the Deepwater Horizon, they encounter British Petroleum (BP) executives, including Donald Vidrine, played by John Malkovich. The drilling operation is already 43 days behind, and thus an important concrete test is not completed. We also see many items on the ship (phone system, etc.) not working properly. Early in the film there is a lot of technical talk related to drilling that most viewers will not be familiar with. But quickly we get the feeling that Vidrine and BP are all about the bottom line, and there is little concern for safety. This will soon have disastrous effects.
We are also introduced to other characters, such as Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), but much of the film focuses on the heroics of Mike Williams as we see him put other people ahead of his own personal safety.
This is an intense disaster film with an estimated budget of $110 million. The depiction of what goes wrong on the Deepwater Horizon is realistic and terrifying. There is water, mud, oil and then quickly fire everywhere. Even though the plot is predictable and shown in the previews, this movie kept our interest and is worth seeing for the depiction of teamwork, courage and self-sacrifice. There is a significant amount of adult language, including the abuse of Jesus’ and God’s names included in this PG-13 film, but it could easily be rated R. The film also includes a scene where the survivors kneel and recite the Lord’s Prayer together.
Most will already know that this disaster resulted in 11 people losing their lives and was the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Over the course of 87 days, about 200 million gallons of crude oil would flow into the Gulf. It’s estimated that British Petroleum’s (BP) cost for the clean-up, environmental and economic damages and penalties has reached $54 billion. So much for cutting corners on safety due to concerns for the bottom line.
It’s been a while since I’ve given a film zero stars, but this one certainly deserves it. It’s not worthy of a full review and certainly not worth your hard-earned money.
This is the third ensemble film for director Garry Marshall (following Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, neither of which we saw). Among the many actors and actresses in this film are Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson, Jason Sudeikis and Timothy Olyphant. But the writing here is truly dreadful, certainly not worthy of the cast assembled, and giving the standard faith-based film a run for their money in the worst script category.
The writers (four are listed in the credits) tell us about the following situations – a divorced couple in which the former husband marries an attractive woman much younger than him; a single father with two daughters trying to move forward a year after his wife and their mom died; two sisters, one who is married to an Indian but has lied to her parents about him and about them to him; the other sister is in a lesbian relationship but has lied to her parents about it and a young unmarried couple who have a child together. The writers try to pull every trick to emotionally manipulate the viewer, but the film is just a mess. All of the stories are based around the theme of Mother’s Day.
This is a truly bad film with no moral compass. The only reason for posting this short review is to warn you to run, don’t walk away from this film. With any luck, this film will be mostly forgotten by the time Mother’s Day rolls around next week.
Song Sung Blue, rated PG-13
Marshall, rated PG-13
Deepwater Horizon, rated PG-13
Mother’s Day, rated PG-13