Cinema Cat

Marshall (2017) Chadwick Boseman Josh Gad Reginald Hudlin, Director How did Thurgood Marshall get to be Thurgood Marshall ?  The movie which bears his name opens at a point in his life when he’s already successful, having founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ’s Legal Defense and Education Fund – when he was 32!  By this time he had argued and won  cases before the Maryland Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. “I’ll take care of the big picture,” Marshall (played by Chadwick Boseman ) tells his confused and struggling conscripted co-counsel Sam Friedman (played by Josh Gad ) who must learn the nitty gritty of defending a black man, Joseph Spell (played by Sterling K.Brown ), accused of raping a white socialite (played by Kate Hudson ), in a racist system that almost certainly guaranteed failure. Marshall knew the importance of this milestone case, but he never lost sight of his bigger, ...

Photo: Little White Lies See this movie. But first:  Did you see the original Blade Runner?  You should see it.  It has  all the elements – an intriguing story, riveting characters, powerful visuals, a haunting soundtrack – that keep a movie  alive for generations. No worries though.  You don’t have to have seen Blade Runner to ‘get’ BR 2049 .  Villenueve gives you a quick bit of context in text at the opening of the movie, kind of like Star Wars’ scrolling narrative, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” but a lot gloomier ,and ‘way more ominous. From that moment forward, we are drawn into a time and place not so distant from here and now, and every bit as real and engrossing.  We have a sense of being seated behind the eyes of Agent K ( Ryan Gosling ) and soon we experience his dark world and his darker mission as a Blade Runner:  “Retiring” Replicants, those almost-but-not-quite-human beings that do the bidding of wh...