Twinsters (2015); The Ladykillers (2004); The Closet (2001); East is East (1999); Straight Outta Compton (2015)

I figure it will be easier to update if I stay on top of my movie blog. I watched 5 movies in one week. Can we say cinephile?

• Twinsters (2015): Watched sola on Netflix. I think I remember hearing about this news item so it was really interesting to see the documentary about it and how it pans out for these two women. I like to think that I could tell the difference between the two of them but who knows if I was right or not. (It may have been because they split their hair differently.) It was a good story and followed a natural storyline progression so it was interesting to see how they met each other and where and how they research their own history together. I'm glad it was well documented and it turned out very well. We live in an amazing age.
  
• The Ladykillers (2004): Watched on Netflix with Andy. I'm intrigued to see what the original was like, as this was very 'Coen Brothers'. It was a motley crue of characters indeed. We didn't really know what we were getting into. We knew it was some heist movie. I like Tom Hanks, but his was a crazy role (slightly annoying at times). I think I was expecting a lot more stuff on the Trivia page on IMDb, but there wasn't terribly much. Sometimes that's half the fun - finding out about the backstory after you watch the film. I liked the cat. Pickles was pretty boss. ;)
  
• The Closet (2001): Watched on Netflix on a personal snow day. Yeah, those exist. It's a French situational comedy film and it was pretty good. Daniel Auteuil is a great actor. I also own his film The Valet (2006) which apparently came out after this one. Ha, I just made a funny! It was interesting to see the truth in it. That only by learning that someone could be gay does perception of said person change. And that times have both changed and NOT changed with relationship to treatment of gay people in the workplace. On a side note, the dang kitten was so cute! I thought the film followed the standard storyline pretty well (both for French and Hollywood standards).
  
• East is East (1999): Watched on Netflix on a personal snow day. It was a great presentation of the difficulties of immigrants and children of immigrants, but also showed the silver lining in people who accept them (in the guise of the young red-headed boy who cared for several people in the family). At first it was hard to tell the 4 oldest boys apart, but eventually one learned the characteristics. There was a lot of comedy, growth, and hard situations in this film. Om Puri is a well-versed actor with 280 credits since 1975 on his IMDb page! You may have seen him in The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014), Gandhi (1982), if you aren't familiar with his work in Bollywood films. Apparently there is a sequel to this movie West is West (2010), which I'd like to see, considering how much I enjoyed this one. I know I should have recognized Linda Bassett and looking at her IMDb page, I've seen her in Calendar Girls (2003), Kinky Boots (2005). There are a few others that other viewers would know too.
  
• Straight Outta Compton (2015): Watched on Blu-Ray with S.O. Andy. It was his choice, but I've been curious about the film for a while since I know it did well in theaters. I'd heard of NWA and Ice Cube, and Dre (and Suge, and Snoop and Warren G, and Tupac), so it was interesting to see the story of the rappers and how they came to be, how they fell apart and how it ended. I didn't enjoy some of the song content, or the crazy parties they threw, but as far as a film and story went, it was pretty dang good. After watching this (or near the end), we both exclaimed something along the lines of 'How in the hell did they not get nominated for an Oscar?!' My personal thought is related to a line Paul Giamatti said in the film: "They're scared of you." And related to rap music and the 'glorification' of the violence. But the film does a good job of contending that they were rapping about what their experience of life was. The film does a good job of showing the unnecessary police brutality and peacocking. It also shows how music artists can get screwed over in the desire to get out of a bad situation. I also couldn't help but think back to the origins of rap, with griots and wordplay contests. The film doesn't necessarily condone bad behavior, but shows it. It also shows the growth of these men, as they mostly settled down (or their own version of it). I know there were plenty of things that were left out from real life, but the film as story alone was pretty powerful. There really is a systematic problem in the film production and award world when a film like this with powerful performances (Jason Mitchell for Eazy-E or even Paul Giamatti for Jerry Heller) didn't get the nominations it should have. As a screenwriter, I know my responsibility is to create more roles for a variety of actors and characters. There are so many stories to be told, even if there is nothing new under the sun...