DAMIEN RILEY, world musician and performer

Author: Damien Riley

  • Call Me By Your Name

    This is the infamous “gay movie” I’d been hearing about months before seeing it. I learned it isn’t a gay movie but rather a movie about how lives cross in time and sometimes we find a spark: gay or not. As a heterosexual male, I enjoyed that aspect of this film very much. After all, there are also hetero relationships in the film and some very beautiful actresses. I’ve concluded this is more about summer relationships gay and straight than it is about revealing what it means to be gay. That may let down some people but there are other films out there that qualify as gay films.

    Call Me by Your Name (2017)
    R | 2h 12min | Drama, Romance | 24 November 2017 (USA)

    In Northern Italy in 1983, seventeen year-old Elio begins a relationship with visiting Oliver, his father’s research assistant, with whom he bonds over his emerging sexuality, their Jewish heritage, and the beguiling Italian landscape.
    Director: Luca Guadagnino
    Writers: James Ivory (screenplay by), André Aciman (based on the novel by)
    Stars: Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg

    When people have a spark between them, it’s wonderful. We think of two young men as knees and elbows and as awkward creatures less capable of romance. This is film is kind of nice as we are in an open time of acceptance for gays and bisexuals. They just feel it. Why do some begrudge them love they desire? There were a few parts that dragged a bit. Overall though, this is a brave film that shows the value of love’s spark, over the spanse of one Summer, in Italy. I recommend it. Your thoughts are invited in the comments.

    9/10

  • Seven Psychopaths

    Ensemble cast of psychopaths? Yep, exactly right! In this gem we have Colin Farrell playing an uninspired script writer who gets involved with some organized crime psychopaths in the writing of his movie.

    Seven Psychopaths (2012)
    R | 1h 50min | Comedy, Crime | 12 October 2012 (USA)

    A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved Shih Tzu.
    Director: Martin McDonagh
    Writer: Martin McDonagh
    Stars: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell

    We get to experience pure comedy gold in this hitman tale. Juxtaposed against that immorality, we see some of these killers have weak spots for a Shih tzu. In a huge cast, Sam Rockwell is my favorite and arguably the most crazed of all the psychopaths. He enjoys telling the movie ideas all too much to the writer. Colin Farrell is our anchor of sanity but then again, what sane person would hang out with these psychopaths. He has quite a few close calls. The Shih tzu belongs to Woody Harrelson’s character and he is truly side splitting the way he pines over it.

    Basically this film is funny but there are many shoot-outs and scenes of full-out violence. It’s a comedy not to be missed. Most of it takes place in the Southern California Desert.

    9/10

    At time of reviewing this, it was streaming on Amazon Prime.

  • Leviathan (1989)

    Undersea monsters are nothing new to film. The ocean is a lot like outer space as a background in Alien. Here, we aren’t in outer space but rather probing the depths of our own ocean space. A hapless crew works out, snaps towels on each other, and one by one encounter a life form that is growing.

    Leviathan (1989)
    R | 1h 38min | Adventure, Horror, Mystery | 17 March 1989 (USA)

    An American deep-sea mining colony stumbles upon a sunken Soviet vessel hiding a horrific secret.
    Director: George P. Cosmatos
    Writers: David Webb Peoples (story) (as David Peoples), David Webb Peoples (screenplay) (as David Peoples) | 1 more credit »
    Stars: Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays

    An impressive star-studded cast develops a far-reaching sense of fear aboard a deep sea submarine. It feels scientific but soon we start feeling there is something evil on board. The effects aren’t great but good enough to scare. Questions of what this thing could be are raised an different answers are given.

    It seems fairly early on that the entire cast may be wiped out. The final scene has the aura of a Die Hard ending. That’s probably because in 1989, most action films were as such. This film is great fun for its time and I highly recommend it. It’s far from perfect but it has all the elements needed for an engaging, entertaining, undersea, sci-fi horror.

    8/10

  • Detroit

    Social consciousness should be a genre on IMDB. I hope they’ll adopt it. Yes, this film is a crime/drama/thriller but this is a historical film that definitely should be seen by all people interested in racism and social consciousness. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, the racist theme I mean. Still, the fact that two police officers killled 2 black men in cold blood and were found innocent in 1967 is a story that needs to be shown and told again and again until this sort of thing ceases to happen.

    Detroit (2017)
    R | 2h 23min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 4 August 2017 (USA)

    Fact-based drama set during the 1967 Detroit riots in which a group of rogue police officers respond to a complaint with retribution rather than justice on their minds.
    Director: Kathryn Bigelow
    Writer: Mark Boal
    Stars: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith

    Another thing that needs to be noted after watching this movie is the power of directing that is Kathryn Bigelow. She is growing with every film to be a powerful social commentarist of this medium. Her other films include “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” Both are powerful statements about real events and about human nature. I will say the senes are hard to watch and I think many will be truned off by that. I would encourage you to get up and get a glass of water or a snack when it gets too violent. Some scenes my be a little overkill but I respect why Bigelow and made them that way. Overall, an impressive and powerful work from American racial history 7/10

  • The Lost City of Z

    Every child wants to explore and find something, does she not? Who among us hasn’t wandered on purpose into uncharted territory only to have a parent scold and call you back. Charlie Hunman and Robert Pattinson are men doing that, as every kid fantasizes. Hearing of an ancient, lost civilization of people in the Amazon, they are determined to find it.

    The Lost City of Z (2016)
    PG-13 | 2h 21min | Adventure, Biography, Drama | 21 April 2017 (USA)

    A true-life drama, centering on British explorer Col. Percival Fawcett, who disappeared while searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s.
    Director: James Gray
    Writers: James Gray (written for the screen by), David Grann (based on the book by)
    Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller

    Against the motherland’s warning, they set out and discover many clues about a civilization that far predates Christianity. As a result, they ambition is fettered because the English don’t seem interested in knowing of something like that. Hunman’s character makes a speech at one point stating “Bigoted Christianity” probably doesn’t want to learn from this older and possibly more successful civilization.

    This film has been rightly criticized as being long and at times dull. Still, if you’re looking for a true story that takes on the traditional thought of our civilization, including Christianity, I think you will enjoy it. I know I did.

    7/10

    At time of publishing, this film was streaming on Amazon Prime.

  • Beasts of No Nation

    This is an acting study of Idris Elba. He plays the commandant with such vigor and hateful passion, he steals the show. The oter boy actors are also excellent. Elba is turning them into killers by the minute in this film and it’s something to behold.

    Beasts of No Nation (2015)
    Not Rated | 2h 17min | Drama, War | 16 October 2015 (USA)

    A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
    Director: Cary Fukunaga (as Cary Joji Fukunaga)
    Writers: Cary Fukunaga (written for the screen by), Uzodinma Iweala (based on the novel by)
    Stars: Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor

    American adolescent children and young men, boys especially, should see this film. I don’t think young men that enlist in the military always have the necessary background knowledge of what it truly means to kill. In Africa, these young men are snatched away from their parents and forced to march with the land military. At that point they use machetes, guns, and whatever they have at their disposal to march and kill then repeat.

    This film is hauntingly good yet at the same time repulsive. Elbas’d character shows us what it means to never surrender in this African civil war. If for no other reason, film fans should see this to study the excellent acting Elba does. Because there isn’t much variance in what happens, nor explanation, it lost points but it is still highly recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

    8/10

    At time of publishing, this film was streaming on Netflix.