Only a few things for us this week. Up first is I’m Charlie Walker. I wasn’t familiar with the story in the film and knew nothing about the man. He wanted to get into trucking, but couldn’t get jobs because of his skin color in 1970s California. But then an oil spill and his ability to sweet talk got him a contract cleaning up the beach and made him a bunch of money. People questioned him and tried to set him up for a fall. Mike Colter (Luke Cage) plays the man and he’s fine in the role. The film itself isn’t great and looks low budget. The costuming and cars are period correct, but Colter seems like the only one trying. I also didn’t like the voiceover the wife does for pretty much the entire movie. I did like learning about someone I didn’t know about so that’s a positive I just wish the movie was better in terms of production and acting.
Second we have Sexual Drive out of Japan. It’s sort of an anthology film involving one guy and people’s desires for sex and food. Yeah I didn’t quite get the food angle out of it especially early on. The first act is about a man who finds out his wife is having an affair with a man who had a stroke and she was his nurse. He eats a food she loves and tells the husband all about the affair. The second is about a woman who bullied the man as a kid and he tells her all about it in her car after she hit him with it. The third act involves a guy hearing about a girl in a Ramen shop. I’m not sure what the point of it was, maybe something is lost in translation. It’s pretty short in terms of runtime so it’s easy to get through.
Third we have Poppy Field. It’s about a closeted police officer in Bucharest. It opens with him getting with his lover so you think it’s just going to be a love story. Then you realize he’s a cop and there is a protest at a theater over the showing of a film. One side is anti-homosexual religious types. The others just want to see the film. One man recognizes the cop and the cop hits him after he says he’ll expose him. The actor playing the lead role was very good. The story is still timely today and it’s another short runtime film which helps it get right into the story and not wander too far from where it needs to be. Solid acting in this one.
Last we have Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2. This animated series is a fun look at the characters you don’t see in Star Trek shows/movies, the nobodies if you will. This takes place on the unimportant USS Cerritos which leads to some funny stuff. How unimportant? Well the first episode of this season is about making second contact, not first. The show isn’t perfect, but I’ve enjoyed both seasons. It has a good voicecast including Jack Quaid from The Boys. It’s definitely a guilty pleasure type show that I know some people like and others don’t. If you watch it for the comedic elements and not as a Star Trek show it’s fun. I’ll watch a third season when it comes my way for sure.
The Nerds Templar 