Ty Watches "The Trial of the Chicago 7"

Continuing my quest to watch historical movies, last night I finished “The Trial of the Chicago 7”.

It was great. I really enjoyed this movie. I know it may be weird to use the word “enjoy”, but that’s what I felt. There was a difference from this movie as compared to “Judas and the Black Messiah”. “Judas and the Black Messiah” was a better movie in my opinion, but it was bleak. That’s because it is more realistic, and it ended tragically. I know both movies are based on true stories, but “Judas and the Black Messiah” felt more real. But “The Trial of the Chicago 7” starts fast, moves fast, intertwines the multiple storylines fast and ends fast. It was a very quick 2 hours and 10 minutes, and I appreciated that.

The cast is great in this film too. John Carroll Lynch was dynamite as the conscientious objector and soft spoken father and husband. Yahya Abdul Mateen II was perfectly cast as Bobby Seale. He was a force. The three main lawyers, played by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ben Shenkman and Mark Rylance did wonderful. I appreciated that Gordon Levitt didn’t have a “white savior” moment either. He played a republican lawyer, and he didn’t really change his attitude too much throughout the movie. Frank Langella was a monster, a racist and mean. He nailed the judge, and this judge was truly a monster. Eddie Redmayne and Alex Sharp were very good, especially Redmayne, as the young and opportunistic student democrats leader. Michael Keaton was spectacular in his five minutes on screen. But for me the true stars were Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin, and especially Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman. They knocked their roles completely out of the park. Strong was a perfect hippy, who happened to be extremely smart. He had some of the best lines, he was funny at moments and he really sounded and looked and acted like a hippy. I totally bought it. Cohen, he was a revelation. I know he can act. I’ve seen both “Borat” movies. I’ve watched his shows. He is good in bit parts in other stuff. But here he got to show his dramatic side, and man was he great. His line, “I’ve never been on trial for my thoughts” was powerful. I was stunned at how great he was in this role. He brought Abbie Hoffman back to life. It helped that he got to be a bit comedic, but when drama was needed, he nailed it. Delroy Lindo or Daniel Kaluuya deserve the Oscar, but Cohen is a very close third. The movie was so well done too.

The actors were great, as mentioned, but so was the writing and directing and recreating of this pivotal moment in American history. They showed the good and bad. They put in real footage with their shot footage, and it worked. The recreation of interviews and meetings and court scenes was great. The stories jumping back and forth in time was a great way to keep the story moving. I have no bad things to say about this movie. It is worth the hype. It lives up to it. It is a very well made movie that hits all the criteria for an Oscar worthy movie.

As I said, I think “Judas and the Black Messiah” is a better movie about this time period. But, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is no slouch, just a different perspective. Watch this movie too. It is also a very important one.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm"

I, like most of the rest of the country, watched "Borat 2" this past Friday.

Right off the bat, this was a solid sequel. It wasn't as good as the original, most sequels aren't, but it achieved its main goal. There are parts of the US that are as terrifying as anywhere else in the world, and Sacha Baron Cohen, as Borat, proved that yet again. In fact, while this movie is a comedy in genre, I view it almost like a horror film. The people not named Borat, Tutar and 3 other ladies, legitimately have me worried about the country I live in. This was as eye opening as the first "Borat" movie, but in so many different ways, and in a very new, very racist light.

The main plot of the movie is simple. Borat is in prison for the first movie, he is let out to give a present to the current "government", to get in their good graces, things go awry and we meet some truly awful, awful people. The "present" is supposed to be a very popular monkey from Kazakhstan that is a movie star. Unfortunately for Borat, his daughter hides away in the cargo, eats the monkey, and then she becomes the "present". It is as simple as that. But, it just got worse and worse and worse from there. Again, I liked the movie, but the people we meet in it, with three exceptions, are the worst people I can imagine. When Borat realizes he has to give his daughter as a gift, this is when things get nuts. The first person we meet that is horrendous is an Instagram "influencer". I never understood that "job", but this lady seems to make money off of it. But the way she talks to Tutar, Borat's daughter, it is so demeaning and so misogynistic. She tells Tutar, "women have to be more submissive", or, "we kind of have to let the men do everything". It is pretty demeaning. The actress that plays Tutar does a great job of egging her on, trying to get more from her, and the other stuff she says is truly embarrassing. That lady should be ashamed of herself, for real. There is a preacher they meet later on, and Borat tries to get him to "get a baby out of her", "that he put in her". The "baby" is a plastic toy from a cupcake, but they don't tell the religious guy that. They make it seem like he actually put a baby in her. They try to get this monster to help them out, but he refuses to do anything, and says something along the lines of, "it doesn't matter how the baby got there, now we are here". Again, when these words came out of his mouth, I was stunned that someone could be that ignorant and stupid and disgusting.

It only gets worse from there. Tutar leaves Borat to be a journalist. We then cut to the US when the pandemic first hit. This is when the movie gets truly scary. Borat finds a few guys that let him stay in their home during the beginning of quarantine. The stuff that comes out of these guys mouths, on film, is some of the most vile and hurtful and horrible things I have ever heard. They say they are "sad" that "unfortunately democrats have the same rights as us". I mean, we are all people. Jesus Christ why is it that hard for people to see. They read QAnon constantly. They call the pandemic and COVID a hoax. It is really bad. It gets even worse when they go to an anti mask rally. This was the second scariest moment in the movie. Borat changes his outfit because he has to hide out. He proceeds to sing a song that the crowd sings along with, which is one of the most heinous songs I have ever heard. The lyrics are truly, truly horrifying. I don't even want to repeat them on my blog because I fear it will put me on some weird list. While singing the song, the cameraman cuts to maskless people in the crowd standing too close to one another, people holding AR 15's for some unknown reason and racist assholes doing the Nazi heil sign. I was so upset it made my stomach hurt. And this wasn't the worst thing in the movie. T

he worst thing happened next. Tutar gets a job doing fake journalism for conservative nutjobs. She is so beloved by these maniacs that believe what she is doing is real, she gets a one on one interview with Rudy Guiliani. He is a real, real, real dirtbag. I don't know if anyone has had such a hard fall as he has. He was considered an okay person after 9/11, and now here we are. He starts the interview off calling Tutar "sweetie" and "honey". Tutar is supposed to be 15 years old by the way. From there Tutar kind of sees how far she can go. She keeps laughing and touching his knee. Meanwhile, Guiliani is drinking a scotch, not wearing a mask and openly coughing while stating that "we've done a great job containing this virus". There is so much wrong with everything that is going on in this short little segment. He's openly drinking hard alcohol with a 15 year old. If you are not in someone's bubble, please, please, please wear a mask. The coughing, to me, is a clear sign that he has some form of COVID. And the statement is patently false. We have lost far too many lives, and still counting, because of the current "government's" lack of doing anything, and thinking this virus would "just go away". It is all wrong. From there, Borat storms in, pretending to be a boom mic guy, and messes up the interview. Tutar takes him to the back, and tells him she is fine. Then Tutar escorts Guiliani to her room in the hotel to "have some drinks". Then, in a wildly disgusting, disturbing and telling moment, Guiliani lays on his back and looks to be unzipping his pants. Borat storms in in a thong and bikini underwear and tells him to take him instead. He says that Tutar is too old for him, again, she is 15, and tries to get him to take him. Of course Guiliani takes offense to this and tries to make Borat look like the bad guy. Borat is not. He saved the actress that plays Tutar, although I am sure she would have saved herself too. This is, by far, the most heinous and gross and disturbing thing I have seen in a movie in quite some time. If it weren't for the babysitter and the two Jewish ladies in the movie, there would be no redeeming characters. They are the soul of the movie.

I recommend watching this movie if only to see how truly terrifying some people in this country can be. It is startling and upsetting, but this is who we need to fight and vote out of office. These people are monsters and just outright awful, and "Borat 2" proves that tenfold. We live in a weird and scary world, and this movie shows that. Now is the time to revolt and vote. Please vote. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.