Top Ten DVD List for September 5, 2017
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DVD
Review by Kam Williams
George
Lopez Tops Standup Tour Entertaining Troops Overseas
For over 50 years, Bob Hope served as emcee of the USO tour
traveling overseas to entertain the troops. From World War II through
Operation Desert Storm, Hope never hesitated to put himself in harm's
way. The well-received shows proved to be pretty popular back home,
too, where they aired periodically on NBC.
Although
no longer televised, an altruistic band of talented comedians have
continued to venture to war zones in the wake of Bob Hope's passing.
Their unheralded efforts are the subject of I Am Battle Comic, a
combination concert flick and documentary directed by Jordan Brady.
The
inspirational film was shot on location in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait
and Bahrain, and stars 14 standup veterans, including George Lopez,
Dave Attell and George Wallace, to name a few. While it's certainly
fun watching them perform onstage before very grateful audiences,
what's far more rewarding is the behind-the-scenes footage of them
bonding with the soldiers.
For
instance, we witness Lopez stick around after a show to sign an
autograph for anybody that wanted one, over 1,000 in total. Then
there's Bob Kubota, who explains that he's actually anti-war, and
isn't there for those who started or profit from the conflict.
Rather, he wistfully recalls the satisfaction coming from receiving a
letter from grateful parents thanking him for lifting the spirits of
a son who'd been down in the dumps for eight months.
The
picture also features funny archival footage of Bob Hope and Robin
Williams. Still, what'll probably stick with you longer than any
witty one-liners are sobering moments like a weeping private's
heartfelt reflections on his service and a comic's visit to an
infirmary to chat with wounded warriors.
A
moving concert flick that'll make you laugh while bringing a tear to
your eye in appreciation of our soldiers' selfless sacrifices.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 89
minutes
Studio: Brady Oil
Entertainment
Distributor: Monterey
Video
DVD Extras: Parrot
joke.
To
see a trailer for I Am Battle Comic, visit::
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e9Jg0-tOJ8
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Film
Review by Kam Williams
Partisan
Polemic Revisits Mike Brown Shooting in Ferguson, Missouri
On
August 9, 2014, Mike Brown was shot a half-dozen times by police
officer Darren Wilson on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, a
predominantly-black suburb of St. Louis. Because several eyewitnesses
said the 18 year-old had his hands up at the time, the incident
triggered nationwide civil unrest which gave rise to the Black Lives
Matter movement.
But
Wilson was not even indicted by the grand jury which deemed his
testimony credible. He claimed to have pulled the trigger in self
defense after Brown had punched him and tried to grab his gun. The
legal case divided the country along color lines in the same way as
the O.J. Simpson trial, with African-Americans generally feeling that
cops are too quick to shoot young black men, and most whites being
inclined to give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt.
Co-directed
by Damon Davis and Sabaah Folayan, Whose
Streets? is an incendiary documentary which revisits the tragedy in
partisan fashion, arguing entirely in favor of Brown's innocence
while conveniently ignoring the mountain of evidence which ultimately
exonerated Wilson. Granted, this provocative polemic might serve as a
Black Lives Matter recruiting tool, but it is likely to be of little
value to any truth seeker interested in an impartial investigation.
After
all, there was video proof that Brown and Dorian Johnson had robbed a
convenience store just 3 minutes before the encounter with Wilson who
was summoned to the scene by a police dispatcher. Furthermore, the
county, federal and independent autopsies corroborated the cop's
story while simultaneously refuting Johnson's claim that his
accomplice had been shot in the back and with his hands up. After an
exhaustive investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, even
Attorney General Eric Holder concluded that Wilson was innocent.
So,
what's dismaying about Whose Streets? is how its presentation of a
thief as an altar boy flies in the face of Dr. Martin Luther King's
appeal that black people be judged not by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character. Why make Mike Brown the poster
child for the Black Lives Matter movement, when there are so many
martyrs far more deserving, like Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and
Tamir Rice, to name a few?
A
soulful cinematic sermon elevating a sinner to sainthood for the sake
of an uncritical Amen choir still in denial about the truth of the
Mike Brown case!
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