‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Review: Spike Lee and Denzel Washington Reunite for Another Thriller Through the Streets of NYC

August 12, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

But I Haven’t Seen “Highest 1 Lowest”! (CREDIT: A24)

Starring: Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, Aubrey Joseph, ASAP Rocky, Elijah Wright, Ice Spice, Dean Winters, John Douglas Thompson, LaChanze, Michael Potts, Wendell Pierce

Director: Spike Lee

Running Time: 133 Minutes

Rating: R for Language Mostly, Nothing Extraordinary

Release Date: August 15, 2025 (Theaters)/September 5, 2025 (Apple TV+)

What’s It About?: Operating out of a pristine Brooklyn high-rise penthouse overlooking his empire, Stackin’ Hits CEO David King (Denzel Washington) seemingly has it all: the millions, the cultural cachet, the beautiful family. But there are a few cracks starting to form. The sales aren’t as massive as they used to be, and there’s a buyout offer on the table. And then catastrophe strikes, when his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) is kidnapped for a $17.5 million ransom. Well, actually, the kidnapper meant to nab Trey, but he mistook his buddy Kyle (Elijah Wright) for him. He still wants those millions, though, even though Kyle’s dad Paul (Jeffrey Wright) isn’t in any position to put together all that cash. That leaves David in the driver’s seat, setting up an epic ethical struggle and a thrilling chase to exact justice when everything that matters is threatened from the bottom to the top.

What Made an Impression?: Big Big Big Big BIG: Spike Lee isn’t always the most maximalist filmmaker, but when he goes big, he doesn’t hold back. And in Highest 2 Lowest, let’s just say his approach is the opposite of small. Obviously, this is a high-stakes situation, but you can make some room for subtlety in even the most high-stakes scenarios if you want to. Or you can do what Lee and his cast and crew do and leave absolutely everything on the screen, and have it all triple-underlined by Howard Drossin’s bombastic operatic jazz score. Adjust your sensibilities accordingly if you don’t want to be absolutely overwhelmed.
NYC Isn’t Dead: Did you know that Spike Lee is a proud New Yorker? There are a few ways you might have found that out, like maybe if you’ve ever seen him courtside at a Knicks game, or if you’ve ever watched any of his earlier movies that just so happen to be set in the Big Apple. But even if Highest 2 Lowest is somehow your first exposure to Lee, there’s still a more-than-zero-percent chance that you’ll be able to figure out where he stands on the subject of his hometown, particularly during a subway-set piece in which a bunch of excited baseball fans start a chant of “Boston sucks!” while on their way to a Yankees game. It’s a little bit subtle, but not too hard to miss.
Arriving at the Crossroads: Ultimately, Highest 2 Lowest is preoccupied with posing the question: “Are you going to be the person you’re supposed to be?” Sure, there are some fun chase scenes and a raucous salsa concert on Puerto Rican Day along the way that might feel like they’re fun just for the sake of being fun. But the internal stakes are unmistakable. Is legacy more important than friendship and family? Can you be an artist and a thief? What do we owe the world if we have talents to share? Some characters are in more stable positions than others to answer these questions, but the stakes are captivating no matter what the specificities of the crisis.

Highest 2 Lowest is Recommended If You Like: The Bronx Bombers, Curating Your Record Collection, State Farm’s “Mayhem” Commercials

Grade: 4 out of 5 Ransoms

‘Gladiator II’ Review: Come for the Son of Maximus, Stay for the Animals and the Denzel

November 19, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Gladiator and the Scene-Stealer (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Connie Nielsen, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi

Director: Ridley Scott

Running Time: 148 Minutes

Rating: R for Warriors and Beasts Ripping Each Other Apart

Release Date: November 22, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Maybe one day there will be a time when all men will be free in Rome, but today is not that day. Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal) is just trying to live a relatively carefree life with his wife, but then the Roman army shows up. He makes a valiant attempt to defend his city, but instead he’s captured and forced into slavery. Perhaps that was always going to be his inescapable fate all along, considering that he’s the son of Maximus Decimus Meridius, the titular gladiator from the first Gladiator. He ends up in the hands of Macrinus (Denzel Washington) and becomes Rome’s new favorite plaything after displaying his prodigious combat skills. There might also be a reconciliation with his mother (Connie Nielsen) along the way, or perhaps he will just make a series of cynical philosophical declarations in between his stints in the arena.

What Made an Impression?: They Are Not Animals… But What If They Were?: There are a lot of characters to keep track of in Gladiator II. Maybe if you think about Ancient Rome all the time and/or you re-watch the first Gladiator every single day, it might be easy for you to keep up. But for someone like myself whose interest in this setting is much more casual, I can’t pretend that I was able to keep track of all the details. But what did leave an indelible impression were the beasts: specifically the pack of baboons let loose upon the gladiators. They are surely CGI creations, but I felt them as viscerally as any practical effect. And I guess I wasn’t terribly familiar with what exactly baboons look like, or at least not feral ones, because these particular baboons struck me as rather canine in nature. Did the Island of Dr. Moreau wander into Rome for a minute? If so, it was a welcome addition.
Chewing the Colosseum: I just spent the last paragraph making it sound like I didn’t care for any of the human actors, but there are actually a few exceptions. As co-emperor brothers Geta and Caracalla, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger provide the requisite depravity. But the major highlight is unsurprisingly the indefatigable Denzel Washington. It shouldn’t come as any surprise at this point in his career that he’s able to deliver a scene-stealing performance. And I’m not surprised. But what he’s doing here is no less impressive for how expected it is. Every line reading and every simple gesture is oozing finely calibrated personality. He’s the MC guiding us through this barbarism, making it clear how anyone and everyone could ever be seduced by a world that only speaks in violence.

Gladiator II is Recommended If You Like: Laughing at all the violence because that’s the only way to feel

Grade: 3 out of 5 Sandals

‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ Review: Shakespeare in the Dark

December 21, 2021

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

The Tragedy of Macbeth (CREDIT: Alison Cohen Rosa/A24)

Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Corey Hawkins, Brendon Gleeson, Harry Melling, Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Kathryn Hunter, Moses Ingram, Ralph Ineson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Stephen Root, Brian Thompson, Richard Short

Director: Joel Coen

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: R for Bloody Swordplay

Release Date: December 25, 2021 (Theaters)/January 14, 2022 (Apple TV+)

When reviewing a new Shakespeare adaptation, especially one of the Bard’s most popular productions, it makes sense to ask: what makes this version different? So as Joel Coen goes solo to take on The Scottish Play, what uniqueness has he brought to the table? Well, he did cast his wife Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth, so that could potentially be some fertile ground for psychoanalysis. Or maybe not! She’s already been in plenty of his films, and I’m willing to guess that this isn’t the first time that a director’s wife has been cast in something Shakespearean. Denzel Washington certainly brings some more melanin than usual to the title role, but ultimately that’s neither here nor there. He’s Denzel Washington after all, so why not cast him in one of the most dramatically hefty parts in all of English-language drama?

Overall, one word comes to mind when trying to identify The Tragedy of Macbeth‘s uniqueness, and that word is: surreal. I don’t know if that’s what Coen was specifically aiming for, and I in fact wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t a consideration at all. But no matter how it happened, it showed up. One huge reason for that is the dialogue itself; it’s strange to speak in iambic pentameter all the time, after all. On top of that, the geography within the castle walls never quite makes visual sense. Instead, it’s like a maze that the characters are perpetually stuck within. Combine that with Bruno Delbonnel’s stark black-and-white cinematography, and the whole film comes across as a dream that curdles into a nightmare. And as so often happens when I see a movie that lacks bright colors, I nodded off throughout, which only added to the sense that I slipped through some parallel dimension or underworld.

One more element that really stands out is Kathryn Hunter’s performance as the witchy weird sisters. She contorts herself into seemingly inhuman positions, which is a wise acting decision, considering that her characters are meant to be somewhere in between human and supernatural. I didn’t ask to see a huge disembodied toe stuck between someone else’s toes, but now I won’t be able to forget it. Nor will I be able to forget the shot of the one sister standing over a pool that reflects back the other two sisters. This is a striking Shakespearean adaptation, is what I’m saying.

The Tragedy of Macbeth is Recommended If You Like: Claustrophobia, Cruel fate, Maximum weirdness

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Usurpers

Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 1/29/21

January 29, 2021

jmunney Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music , , , , Leave a comment

The Little Things (CREDIT: Warner Bros./YouTube Screenshot)

Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.

Movies
–The Little Things (Theaters and HBO Max) – Denzel Washington and Rami Malek finally on screen together.

Music
-Weezer, OK Human

Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 6/14/19

June 14, 2019

jmunney Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Cara Howe/Comedy Central

Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.

Movies
–The Dead Don’t Die (Moderate Theatrically)

TV
-2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards (June 17 on MTV)
–Whose Line is it Anyway? Season 15 Premiere (June 17 on The CW) – The improv games will never end!
–Alternatino with Arturo Castro Series Premiere (June 18 on Comedy Central)
–The Detour Season 4 Premiere (June 18 on TBS)
–Drunk History Season 6 Midseason Premiere (June 18 on Comedy Central)
-AFI Life Achievement Award: Denzel Washington (June 20 on TNT)
–Holey Moley Series Premiere (June 20 on ABC) – So many Fun & Games.
–Family Food Fight Series Premiere (June 20 on ABC)

This Is a Movie Review: Fences

January 29, 2017

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , 1 Comment

Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson and Viola Davis plays Rose Maxson in Fences from Paramount Pictures. Directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson.

Every baseball stadium’s fence is unique. Some of them are harder to breach than others. I suppose we all put up different sorts of fences of varying difficulties in our own lives. Some of them are covered in ivy, sometimes we crash into them, sometimes we stand on top of them. If we break through them, no matter how we do it, and regardless of whether or not it is a good idea, it is usually at least somewhat painful.

Does it feel a little obtuse that this whole review is an extended baseball metaphor? Well that is pretty much the only way that garbageman/former Negro Leagues player Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) talks, and it is indeed maddening.

I give Fences 78 out of 100 … well, Fences.

This Is a Movie Review: The Magnificent Seven

October 1, 2016

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , Leave a comment

magnificent-seven-2016-cast

If you’re looking for some sustenance from the new Magnificent Seven beyond good ol’ horse-riding, pistol-wielding fun, then you’ll probably find it in the motivation of the villains and the diversity of the title crew. Ruthless industrialist Bartholomew Bogue is high on the drug of capitalism; indeed Peter Sarsgaard plays him like he’s perpetually intoxicated. Taking a last stand against him is a team that includes a black warrant officer (Denzel Washington), an Asian cowboy assassin (Byung-hun Lee), a Comanche warrior (Martin Sensmeier), a Mexican outlaw (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and some other nuts (Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio).

The Magnificent Seven does not explicitly underscore the angle of a melting pot of heroes defending decent hardworking Americans from a rapacious white man. But if you are sensitive to that theme, it’s hard to miss. This film hardly attempts to be the definitive voice on the subject, though it is nice enough that it is there to chew on. Instead, it focuses on what it does best, which is “a fun time at the movies.” As it rouses itself to the climax of the final siege and defense, it demonstrates crisply edited classic Western-style action, the consistent movie-star appeal of Denzel, and some kooky performances from Sarsgaard and an unstoppable D’Onofrio.

I give The Magnificent Seven 7 Horses Out of 10 Explosions.