The Usual Suspects (1995)

I want to start the article by saying that I do not condone the actions of one of the actors in the film and the reason for choosing the film had nothing to do with that said actor. The director Bryan Singer (X-Men) and the writer Christopher McQuarrie's (Edge Of Tomorrow) and the rest of the actors in the film's art should not suffer because of one man's actions. With that being said, the film I chose for today is 1995's The Usual Suspects which was Singer's second film and it tells the tale of one lone survivor's recounting of the chaos that ensued from New York to Los Angeles that ended with one major gunfight and destruction on some boats and all thanks to one random police lineup where they met. The film stars Stephen Baldwin (The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas) as McManus, Gabriel Byrne (Vampire Academy) as Keaton, Benicio Del Toro (The Hunted) as Fenster, Kevin Pollak (Buffalo '66) as Hockney, Chazz Palminteri (Vault) as Dave Kujan, Pete Postlethwaite (Inception) as Kobayashi, Suzy Amis (The Ballad Of Little Jo) as Edie Finneran, Giancarlo Esposito (Okja) as Jack Baer, Dan Hedaya (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as Jeff Rabin, and Paul Bartel (Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills) as smuggler.

This was an interesting movie to say the least that took a different direction that most crime films. One thing that kind of bothered me is that if all of these guys did not know each other at all before the police lineup then why would you join up to do jobs in the first place? It's just such a random thing for me to believe that they would be as good as they were together if they didn't know each other before hand or maybe they are just that lucky. This ended up being one of those films where you were trying to figure out just who was Keyser Söze as they kept building up this character for the whole entire film as this mysterious enigma that apparently everyone was terrified of, but he was the link to all of them being there. As much as many of you may hate the man, he did a terrific job as he told the story and he kind of steals the show as the cripple who pretty much manipulates everyone and when you see the twist at the end, you're like I should have seen that coming. Chazz Palminteri also did an amazing job int he film and it was crazy to see him play a character that wasn't a mobster. I don't know what Benicio Del Toro's character was, but it was almost like he was the Boomhauer of New York. You could barely understand anything he was saying during the film which was kind of funny, but other than that it was an OK film. There wasn't anything revolutionary about it, but the caliber of actors was there and that was kind of what it had going for it. That is why I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.

Okja (2017)

I am always looking for interesting films to watch and it definitely helps if it contains an interesting story and even some actors that you enjoy watching. One film that I kept coming across on Netflix that I wanted to check out was one called Okja and it was released on Netflix in 2017 and it was written and directed by Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer). The film stars Tilda Swinton (Doctor Strange) as Lucy Mirando, the new CEO of Mirando Co. who has to clean up the mistakes of her family's past. Her solution is to genetically create a superpig that she will distribute all over the world for farmers to raise for a competition. The only problem for Lucy is that ten years later when it 's time to reveal them, she will meet her match in a little girl (Seo-hyun Ahn) who will do whatever it takes to make sure that they do not take her friend Okja. The film also stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) as Johnny Wilcox, Giancarlo Esposito (King Of New York) as Frank Dawson, Hee-Bong Byun (The Host) as Hee Bong, Shirley Henderson (Star Wars: Episode IX-The Rise Of Skywalker) as Jennifer,  Steven Yeun (Mayhem) as K, Paul Dano (Prisoners) as Jay, Lily Collins (The Blind Side) as Red,  Devon Bostick (Diary Of A Wimpy Kid) as Silver, and Daniel Henshall (The Babadook) as Blond.

This was an interesting film to say the least and one that is sort of divided into two parts. There's the fun adventure part of the film that shows you how everything is set up as well as the very relationship this girl has with Okja. Then there is the second part of the film that is all espionage and action adventure as the ALF tries to figure out how to rescue all of these superpigs before they get slaughtered and the harsh reality that is corporations especially those that deal with the food that we intake. It also shows what lengths they'll go to make sure the public thinks that their food is safe to eat and what not. One of the more shocking scenes had to be when Okja is first brought to the lab and you see all the deformed or defective diseased superpigs that they couldn't get right and you think is Okja the only real superpig till you get to the slaughterhouse scene. I loved Gyllenhaal in this film because he was just an insane version of himself like Depp in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and he got weirder as the film progressed, but he was sort of a villain we needed to compliment Swinton and co. I loved the cinematography in the film especially the scenes when we are in Korea and it's back at the farm. There are tons of beautiful shots of the landscape before we go to the ugly city shots. I definitely think that this is a film worth checking out that features both English and Korean with the subtitles. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.

King Of New York (1990)

There are so many different ways that you can access movies these days that I am barely touching the surface and many of them I just do not have any longer. One app that I decided to try recently was Tubi and one film that popped out to me was the 1990 film King Of New York. The crime, thriller was directed by Abel Ferrara (The Driller Killer) and stars Christopher Walken (Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead) as recently paroled gangster Frank White who has been out of action for so long that things have changed in New York. With the help of his loyal confidant Jimmy Jump (Laurence Fishburne), they'll try to take over all of New York as he strives to be King of New York. The film also stars Wesley Snipes (Blade) as Thomas Flanigan,  David Caruso (Proof Of Life) as Dennis Gilley, Victor Argo (The Last Temptation Of Christ) as Roy Bishop, Roger Guenveur Smith (Deep Cover) as Tanner, Janet Julian (Humongous) as Jennifer, Giancarlo Esposito (The Jungle Book) as Lance, Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire) as Test Tube, Theresa Randle (Bad Boys For Life) as Raye, Joey Chin (China Girl) as Larry Wong, Paul Calderon (Pulp Fiction) as Joey Dalesio, and  Robert LaSardo (Bubble Boy) as Italian Guard.

I was a little worried about how I would feel about Christopher Walken playing a gangster, but after watching this I remembered why I love the guy. Think of this as the pre-cursor to Suicide Kings which I also loved with Walken. The story is a very simple one that is all about a guy trying to take over the underworld so that he is the king of New York so there's nothing extra-ordinary about it. The one thing the film's writing does is that it appeals to the crime world and portrays police officers as the villains of the film. I mean, I don't think it's just me, but who could love David Caruso as a cop? I mean he is an asshole to criminals and the people close to him in the film so automatically you are rooting against him and his mindless partner played by Wesley Snipes. If you like at this film, it's a story of two families, one being Walken's crew and the other being the police officers. Walken runs his crew while Fishburne and co are loyal soldiers. Victor Argo runs his crew and they usually don't do anything without his permission so Snipes and Caruso are soldiers as well. Only in this film, you are rooting for Team Walken and I get why they did it, but a lot of people have a problem with that angle. There's plenty of action and violence to go with this film's use of women as objects so if you love it then you'll like this one. I really thought Laurence Fishburne was great in this film, much better than he was in Deep Cover. With all of that being said, I am going to give this film an B for a final grade.