BEFORE: It's the last day of July, so here's a breakdown of what I watched this month, and how I watched it:
12 Movies watched on Cable (saved to DVD): Serial Mom, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic, Camelot, The Nun's Story, Knights of the Round Table, Paris When It Sizzles, The Children's Hour, In Her Shoes, Very Bad Things, The Box, Marshall
5 Movies watched on Cable (not saved): The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, Going Clear: Scientology & The Prison of Belief, October Sky
2 Watched on Netflix: Get Me Roger Stone, Enemy
1 Watched on Academy screeners: Life, Animated
2 watched on iTunes: The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line
3 watched on Amazon Prime: Fahrenheit 11/9, Trespassing Bergman, The Lost City of Z
4 watched on Hulu: Life Itself, Gilbert, Love Gilda, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
2 watched on YouTube: Client 9, The Last Laugh
1 Watched in Theaters: Spider-Man: Far From Home
32 Total in July
Wow, cable is really making a comeback - 17 out of 32, that's more than half! HBO really came through for me in the second half of documentary month, providing 5 docs that I really wanted to see, and they all linked neatly together, with some help from the other platforms. Netflix might have had a better showing in July, if they had held on to some documentaries like "The Last Laugh" and "Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine" - see what you get when you drop films before I've had a chance to watch them? You're only encouraging my use of Hulu, since they tend to pick up some of what Netflix drops. (Speaking of which, it's time for me to follow that monthly clickbait link and find out "What's coming to Netflix in August, and what's leaving..."
Only 1 movie seen on the big screen this month? I've got to get out more (actually, I did, but I'm saving those reviews for needed links in September and October...) and I've really cut down on screeners, because even easier than carrying home a disc from the office is finding that film on Hulu or Amazon Prime, two platforms that are seeing more and more traffic from me, now that I can watch them both through the PlayStation.
The good news is that it's been weeks since I've seen a film that's excessively flashback-y - though I've probably just jinxed myself for August by pointing that out. John Magaro carries over from "The Box", where he played "weird student/cater-waiter", and this is an actor that looked very familiar to me, at least until I determined I was confusing him with Michael Angarano, from the cable show "I'm Dying Up Here". I've seen John Magaro in everything from "Not Fade Away" to "The Finest Hours", but I still confused the two actors, they do look a lot alike. Maybe it's because I saw Michael Angarano a couple months ago in "The Stanford Prison Experiment".
THE PLOT: The story of Thurgood Marshall, the crusading lawyer who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases.
AFTER: I'm a little bit split on this one, because on one hand, this is a biopic about a very important and revered American figure, Thurgood Marshall, a champion of civil rights who argued many of them before the Supreme Court before he was given the honor of serving on the court himself. And this is based on a true story, one of his early cases, Connecticut v. Joseph Spell, a high-profile well-publicized case that not only created sensationalist headlines, but also struck a blow for proper legal representation for African-Americans and symbolized a victory for the NAACP in that sense.
And I don't quite understand the sudden fascination Hollywood has with Supreme Court justices (oh, yeah, wait, maybe I sort of do...) because last year saw the release of "On the Basis of Sex", which I think also served as a similar sort of "origin story" for Ruth Bader-Ginsburg. But that should be regarded as a good thing, that teens are learning about real American heroes who championed equality and spoke out against racism and sexism, right?
But then, on the other hand, there's that little part of me that wonders if a landmark court case like this, something that's so intertwined with the civil rights movement and represents a watershed moment in U.S. history should be presented in what, essentially, can be regarded as the "Law & Order" format. Maybe I shouldn't have watched an episode of "Special Victims Unit" right before watching this movie, but it was the season finale from two months ago, and I wanted to get to it before I heard any spoilers. I couldn't help but notice the similarities to a typical episode - have a bit about the lawyer's (or cop's) personal life, then get into the case, someone falsely accused, or so we're led to believe. But wait! Don't forget the "Law & Order" twist! Halfway through the episode, there's always an eye-opening revelation that turns the whole case on its ear, and it seems that nothing is actually what it appeared to be at the start of the show! Black is white, up is down, and the defendant hasn't been telling the whole truth! Damn, this changes everything!
I'm kidding, of course, but only slightly. There is something that Thurgood Marshall figures out, and it does put an entirely new spin on the case, but that's the thing that also cracks it open and reveals the real truth, and also manages to give the jury something akin to reasonable doubt. Which neatly contradicts the unreasonable racism of the prosecuting attorney and the judge - in Bridgeport, Connecticut, no less. And here I thought that the New England states were more enlightened, and weren't full of the racism usually seen down at that time down in the Southern states. The judge portrayed here won't admit Marshall to the bar for the case, though he will allow him to sit with the defendant's attorney during the trial - provided that he remain silent. The symbolism here is unmistakable - while the judge is forced to admit that this black man has a law degree, he won't allow his voice to be heard. And so this leads to a lot of written-down notes about legal points, which isn't exactly very cinematic.
You have to wonder why the screenwriter chose THIS case, and not the more famous Brown v. Board of Education. Is it because the rape case is more lurid, more intriguing than segregation, or did some studio ask for a script that was more like "To Kill a Mockingbird", only with an upbeat ending? Were they saving Marshall's more famous case for a sequel that may now never happen?
But, honestly, this could be a TV series, with Marshall traveling from city to city, defending one falsely-accused person of color after another each week, and then getting back on the train to another case in another town, on behalf of the NAACP. And then for sweeps week, one of his cases goes all the way to the Supreme Court - and if it catches on and goes for five seasons, and works its way through Marshall's entire case history, the show ends with Thurgood Marshall being called up to serve as a justice himself. Somebody get me Netflix on the phone, I've got a pitch meeting to make.
I wonder if Josh Gad is ever going to be able to climb out of the "pudgy but well-meaning loser sidekick" box. It's not looking good if he keeps taking roles like this one.
Also starring Chadwick Boseman (last seen in "Avengers: Endgame"), Josh Gad (last seen in "Thanks for Sharing"), Kate Hudson (last seen in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"), Dan Stevens (last seen in "Beauty and the Beast"), James Cromwell (last seen in "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"), Sterling K. Brown (last seen in "Black Panther"), Keesha Sharp, Rover Guenveur Smith (last seen in "The Birth of a Nation"), Ahna O'Reilly (last seen in "I Am Michael"), Jeremy Bobb (last seen in "Going in Style"), Derrick Baskin, Jeffrey DeMunn (last seen in "Adult Beginners") Andra Day, Sophia Bush (last heard in "Incredibles 2"), Jussie Smollett (last seen in "Alien: Covenant"), Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, Barrett Doss, Zanete Shadwick, Brendan Burke (last seen in "The Post"), Marina Squerciati (last seen in "Frances Ha"), Daniel Stewart Sherman, Mark St. Cyr.
RATING: 6 out of 10 objections (overruled)
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