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Recommended Movies – Moonlight, Fences & All is Lost

I have seen a few great movies in the past few weeks, 2 oscar winning movies and also one which is available for download.

Moonlight

This movie is one which I was in two minds about, both before seeing it and also afterwards. It is done almost in 3 acts as it looks at 3 defining chapters in a boy and ultimately a man’s life. Chiron is a young black man growing up in central Miami and the movie starts with him as a child. He watches his mother played by Naomie Harris become addicted to drugs, and he battles to understand his sexuality. Mahershala Ali is amazing in the first section of this film and very much deserved the oscar win.The film is shot in an unusual style and afterwards it took me a while to digest the movie, but this only help you appreciate what you have seen. Worth a watch!

Fences

Fences was actually a play which was transitioned to the big screen. The movie is the story of a black family who’s son played by Jovan Adepo gets a chance at a scholarship but his father Troy Maxson played by Denzel Washington had that chance but doesn’t want his son to go down that route.  Maxson once had that opportunity and dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but he was just too old  when all of the baseball major leagues began admitting black athletes. Although the father never admitted it was age, claiming it was racism, he still remained bitter over this missed opportunity. The father removes the son’s chance to meet a college football recruiter and the splits in the family begin to show. This movie has a few plot twists and is very well played by all involved. I would actually rate this higher than Moonlight and it is a very engaging movie.

All is Lost

This movie (available on Netflix or iTunes) is quite unusual in that it has very little dialogue. Infact it can be a few minutes before you hear any utterance from Robert Redford. It is set on a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean as a man (unnamed and played by Robert Redford) awakes to find his yacht taking on water. The yacht hit a stray shipping container and water is pouring into the vessel damaging his radio and navigation equipment. He sails into a violent storm and almost dies. He hopes drift into a shipping lane at some point but eventually sees no hope and is faced with his death, to which he has no option but to face head on. A tense and dramatic film, some lulls in action but the end I thought was good.

Moonlight Trailer

Fences Trailer

All is Lost Trailer

 

What do you think … if you have seen any of these movies, leave a comment with your thoughts…

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