
Demolition, Mr. Right, Everybody Wants Some
On a recent plane ride, I watched three films. Demolition, Mr. Right, Everybody Wants Some. Demolition was the best among the three. It tells the story of a hardworking man on Wall Street who on his way to work into the city has car crash in which his wife is killed. As he is mourning his wife’s death, he is learning that his wife unbeknownst to him was not happy in their relationship. He now starts to demolish his old life to find out why.

Miles Ahead
A couple of months ago, I watched the documentary on Jimi Hendrix Hear my Train Coming. Starting in his teenage years, Jimi was only interested in two things: his guitar and women with music clearly in first place. The film draws much on live performances where the genius of Hendrix becomes very clear. At the end of the film, we learn that the estate of Jimi Hendrix “commissioned” the documentary. Only then did it become clear that we are watching a sanitized version of Hendrix’s life. The man died from a drug overdose. But in an effort make Jimi appear as likable and charming as possible and increase for his estate sales from his music his death is portrayed more as an accident of someone how dabbled a bit in drugs. Miles Ahead takes a very different approach.

Purple Rain
Prince’s premature death prompted me to see Purple Rain for the first time. The film feels a bit like Flashdance. Incidentally, Jennifer Beals, the star of Flashdance was asked to play lead female role but declined. The plot is apparently based on Prince’s life but the main story is Prince’s talent. No plot can compete with his musical genius. The movie’s ending, where Prince shows off his musical talent, is worth seeing.

Carol
The discrimination and legal persecution that gay men had to go through until laws were gradually changed starting in the 1960s has been covered in many films, most recently in the film about the British mathematician Touring. But I had never seen a film about a woman facing legal persecution for having sexual relationships with another woman. Carol takes place in New York of the early 1960s. The strongest part of the film was how well it portrayed the style of the period.

The Reverent
I had heard that The Reverent contains a lot of graphic violence and was not that good.