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Reviews
Unsolved (2018)
Very detailed- Well cast and well researched. A TV series that puts the hollywood versions of these stories to shame.
This is a very good investigative biopic. While most productions will focus on either Tupac or Biggie, this one takes on the daunting task of exploring both mudrers and tying them together, and really does a great job of it. With so many expose's in recent years in conjunction with the 20th anniversaries of the murders, from the Fox Tv special featuring Ice Cube, to the BET production focusing on the rise and fall of Death Row records, I wasnt expecting much going in, as it seems at this point that the angles of these murders have been explored ad nauseum. But as someone who was a fan of both artists who has closely followed the careers and investigations into their deaths, I must say the producers did an excellent job of taking a step back and looking at these murders from a fresh perspective.
Instead of trying to put forth any one prevailing theory as so many of the other investigative productions about Tupac and Biggie have done, this one really implores the viewer to think like an investigator and look at all possible angles and motives, even those that may seem far-fetched. I was expecting more of the same old Tupac and Biggie revisionist crap and thought it might be worthy of a quick laugh, but I was very pleasantly surprised. There is actually a great deal of substance here. This was excellently researched and there was clearly a lot of time, thought and effort put into this production, which in and of itself seems rare for productions today as so much tv and movies now operate from half baked premises and poorly thought out plot-lines, to the point that is condescending and insulting to the viewer's intelligence.
There is a lot of primary source word for word information here that is far more in depth than many of the other investigative documentaries about these subjects. It's so surprisingly detailed and accurate that the viewer forgets it is dramatization. This is almost to a fault because the casual viewer would assume that a USA miniseries would be mostly fake and embellished and won't realize just how authentic much of the story is to real life.
Beyond just the solid research and exploration of facts, the dramatizations here are also very detailed and very well executed. For example,it is obvious that they did not have the rights to Biggies music, so instead of having his character perform generic sounding hip hop, they actually took the time to create their own original music, writing and producing songs that incorporate many of his catchphrases and vocal inflections with very similar sounding beats. While this idea sounds cringe-worthy, they actually did such a good job that it sounds like you might actually be listening to authentic unreleased Biggie material.
The casting is impeccable. The character of Tupac is flawlessly executed, much better than in previous attempts such as all eyes on me. Biggie is also very well cast. But what is really amazing is how well some of the smaller characters were treated such as Suge and most especially Tupac's bodyguard Frank Alexander who is portrayed exceptionally well. The detail here can't be overstated as they really capture the mannerisms, speech patterns, physical appearance, build and wardrobe of these four characters to an absolute T.
The one character that seems to take a wide departure from his real life counterpart is that of Detective Russel Poole, upon whom the entire mini-series is based. I assume since he is the main focus, the producers wanted to spice this character up a bit, as when you see actual footage of him he looked and talked nothing like the way he is portrayed here. They give him a little bit of an edge and even an inter-department love interest which seems purely fictitious. To be honest, some of the exchanges between the cops are a bit overdramatized and slightly cliched and somewhat campy. They also portray Poole as having the full support and resources of the LAPD at his disposal, however he mentioned numerous times in real life interviews that he lacked support and was often stonewalled by his department which ultimately led to his investigations being closed inconclusively and his early retirement from the force. Even though this is not authentic, it is helpful because it causes the viewer to think how they might solve the cases if they had full resources and support of the LAPD.
And that ultimately is what makes this series so great, is that it causes the viewer to think. Instead of just regurgitating the often quoted popular narrative of the 'nothing to see here folks' simple gang retaliation story put forth by Greg Kading that has been the main focus of most Biggie and Tupac productions in recent years, Unsolved really lives up to it's title by exploring multiple viewpoints and raising some of the many important unanswered questions about these cases, underscoring the fact that even 20 years later they still remain unsolved.
It even touches on the often overlooked aspects of LAPD corruption and the officers who worked in deathrow records security, some of whom were also named in the infamous Rampart division scandal around the same time. They also touch on head of death row security Reggie Wright, whose father was head of the Compton gang unit before the Compton PD was disbanded for corruption, this angle alone providing enough material for it's own documentary. This is just one example of the many real life details explored in this in depth dramatization of real events. Many potential suspects full actual names are given, so much so, one wonders how some of this passed muster through the legal department.
There are so many interesting parallels and unanswered questions about these highly complex investigations, and Unsolved does a great job of incorporating them without relying on an oversimplified open and shut approach for the sake of wrapping things up in a nice neat package for the viewer. It simply poses the hard questions and allows the viewer to draw their own conclusions. The production values are incredible for a tv miniseries. The reenactment of Tupac's shooting is the most thorough and detailed I have seen, and there have been many attempts over the years. Overall this is an unexpectedly good series that will satisfy even the most hardcore and knowledgeable Tupac and Biggie fans. It also appeals to the non rap fan casual viewer who enjoys good crime investigation in the vein of first 48 or CSI. It's a shame that it will be overlooked by many simply because so many Tupac and biggie features have already been done, but this one is truly unique and rises near the top of the list.
Murder Was the Case: The Movie (1995)
This is 16 minutes of pointless crap
Whether you call this a short film or a long music video, it utterly fails on both fronts. You would think with such creative talented people involved that they could have churned out something better than this. 1st year film students and amateur youtubers could have done much better. This lacks both style and substance and makes you wonder why they bothered to make or release this in the first place. This served as nothing more than a vehicle for the platinum selling soundtrack, which was quite good, however only 4 songs that appear on the soundtrack actually appear on the film, and the most recognizable title track was a re-release from Snoop's solo album. Even as a big fan of Death Row's music, I thought this film was terrible. You would think they might have wanted to give a visual window into the style and creativity that fueled some of the best rap music of the 90's, but instead you get 16 minutes of boring unmitigated garbage. Even looking back at this over 20 years later, this film lacks any appeal whatsoever even for nostalgic purposes. It doesn't even showcase any of the other rappers who were on the label at the time. Just Snoop and a bunch of D level actors, if they can even be called that. This film was poorly conceived and poorly executed. I understand the idea of them wanting to branch out into film, but if this was the best they could do they shouldve just shelved the whole idea. This video is freely available on youtube. I don't think anyone would even want to try to claim the copyright on this crap. But even freely available, this isn't even worth 16 minutes of your time. Even if you are the biggest Snoop fan I would say skip this and forget that it ever existed. Home movies are more interesting.
Miami Vice (2006)
Disgrace to the franchise
As a fan of the original series, I was beyond disappointed. When I heard they were making a 'vice' movie, I was excited. There's so much material and fertile ground to work with, that you have to really try hard to make a bad film based on Miami vice. The film makers succeeded in doing just that.
First off the casting. You can't underestimate the impact Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas had in making the show such a huge hit. Even without great acting, just on visual appeal alone they were very intriguing. If you get that part wrong, you ruin the whole thing and that is what happened here. Apparently Jamie Foxx suggested this film to Mann after working with him in Ali. This pretty much guaranteed the part of Tubbs to Foxx, dooming this picture from the start. I think Foxx may be the most over rated actor of the past decade. While certainly not Oscar-worthy, he did do a decent job of portraying Ray Charles, but I have never been able to take him seriously as an actor and any time I see his face I keep waiting for some buffoonish punchline ala in living color or the Jamie Foxx show. He comes across as cheesy and fake and it is impossible to take him seriously in any dramatic role. With humor being his strong suit, you would think they would have given him a couple of jokes, as even the original Tubbs had his share of punchlines, but Foxx remains overly serious and stiff throughout. It was rumored that Will Smith was considered and he would have suited the role of Tubbs much better. Colin Farrell makes an equally bad Sonny Crockett. Part of Crockett's appeal was the fact that he was a plain spoken all American guy working in a vibrant international city. Put in a foreign looking guy with a foreign accent and it just doesn't work as well. Apparently Don Johnson himself suggested Ferrell. What was he thinking? Another element of the TV series appeal was the surrounding characters. Zito and Switek. Gina and Trudy. And of course Lt. Castillo. In the movie, these characters are completely under developed or nonexistent.
As for the plot, it was throw away. Generic international smuggler routine taking us around the globe. The beauty of vice was it's focus on Miami. There's so much potential for juicy plot lines right there that there's no need to go overseas. The villains in the TV series, although stereotypical, were very colorful and more believable to the city. The Italian mafia goons, Cubano, Colombian and Jamaican villains that inhabited Miami in the TV series should have been reprised here. Instead they chose to go for a non believable neo nazi type. What white supremacist would ever live in Miami? the least white major city in America.
While the cinematography was okay, it did not do the legacy of Miami Vice justice. The original Miami Vice was criticized for style over substance. The movie took away the cool style and left zero substance. What made Vice so iconic was the bright sunny Miami backdrops. Beach scenes, beautiful women, groundbreaking wardrobe and awesome houses cars and boats. They would do scenes right on Ocean Drive surrounded by highly recognizable Miami landmarks. They were known for using bright neon and art deco colors. In the film they went for low lighting and dark and grey color schemes. Gone are the neon cityscapes, bright south-beach scenes and the beautiful women. Take all that away and Miami vice just isn't Miami vice. The digital photography gave the film a feeling of a bad reality TV show. The Miami of the 80's was fast paced, dangerous, and is remembered as a mythical time. By setting the film in modern times it just becomes somewhat stale and boring, but even with a modern day setting it could have been way more interesting and entertaining than it was. The pacing and lack of action in this movie are inexcusable especially with 100 million plus budget. The great thing about the TV show was the high action. The fist fights, the shootouts, the car chases, the boat chases, the explosions. The movie overlooked these almost entirely and opted for blood and violence just for violence sake. While the TV show had a lot of killing, there was a lot less blood. More of the actual violence was left to the imagination.
Overall, the movie is Miami Vice in name only. They very loosely follow the formula of the original in that it is set in Miami, there are smugglers to be caught and the bad guys get killed. But they do this without any of the charm that the show so masterfully employed in getting us from point a to point b. The eye candy and the danger of Miami at the time, laced with a little bit of humor, an authentic Miami feel, a clever twist at the end with some folksy cop wisdom of lessons learned by Sonny usually followed by a catchy phrase, beautiful Miami sunset and credits. I think part of this movies problem is that it takes itself too seriously while the series was somewhat tongue in cheek. They have done a great disservice to the franchise. People who never saw the show will think 'what was all the hype about Miami vice' and people who did see the show will assume the film makers were trying to distance themselves too much from the original. The film doesn't stand alone on it's own merits or in comparison to it's predecessor. It shows that Mann probably had little to do with the TV show's success. Then when it came time to do the movie he really had nothing. They had one shot to get this right as the 20 year nostalgia cycle was coming around and they completely blew it.
Skip this movie, especially if you liked the series.