On the night that Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight boxing crown in 1964, he met up with NFL running back Jim Brown, pop music superstar Sam Cooke and civil rights activist Malcom X. The film “One Night in Miami” is a fictionalized account of that event. Kingsley Ben-Adire, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge and Leslie Odom, Jr. are all solid in this absorbing movie that marks an impressive directorial debut for Oscar-winning actress, Regina King. It’s a thought-provoking speculation about the cultural, spiritual and political issues that the African American community was struggling with. “One Night in Miami” is entertaining and timely.
“Outside the Wire” is an action-packed sci-fi thriller set in the near future that is nearly undone by some preposterous plot holes. Anthony Mackie plays a cyborg soldier on a mission to stop Ukrainian terrorists from detonating a nuclear device. The movie delivers plenty of violent commotion for action fans, but stumbles with its plot. “Outside the Wire” doesn’t adhere to its own reality, so it’s a frustrating misfire.
It’s been well established that the FBI considered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be an enemy of the state, keeping him under nearly constant surveillance. The documentary “MLK/FBI” tells this ignominious story through a wealth of archival footage and voice-over observations from historians, former FBI agents and civil rights activists. While the film adds nothing new to this story, “MLK/FBI” is a good primer for those who may be unaware of this dark chapter of our history.
Liam Neeson stars in yet another generic action flick. In “The Marksman” he plays an aging Arizona rancher protecting a Mexican boy from a drug cartel. With more plot holes than bullet holes, this marksman misses the target.