Miami Vice 1.9 - Captain Miami

Miami Vice - Captain Miami

Genre: Crime / Action

Director: Peter Berg

Writer: Roy Horne

Based on the television series

Cast: Josh Holloway, Taye Diggs, Andy Garcia, Katrina Law, Mike Epps, Anthony Anderson, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Lance Reddick and Kyle Bornheimer

Plot: Crockett (Josh Holloway) and Tubbs (Taye Diggs) are impatiently waiting for a meet with a man named Tomas who supposedly ripped off a shipment of cocaine from a couple major smugglers. Tomas (Jimmy Jean-Louis) finally shows up and opens up a suitcase full of cocaine. Suddenly a voice commands everyone to freeze, then a man (Anthony Anderson) wearing a shirt with a M written on the front jumps out of the shadows. He announces that his name is Captain Miami and he is on a mission to rid Miami of drugs. He then tackles Tomas. Crockett and Tubbs arrest Tomas, but th so-called Captain Miami gets away.

Back at OCB, Tubbs interrogates Tomas, hoping that Tomas is ready to roll on the smugglers he stole from. An APB is put out on "Captain Miami" even though Crockett is embarrassed to make such a request. Crockett and Tubbs are called in for a meeting with Lt. Castillo (Andy Garcia), who introduces them to Miami-Dade Police Commissioner Hank Wallace (Lance Reddick). Wallace requests that a reporter be able to follow the Vice squad around to record a day in the life of a Miami Vice cop. Crockett and Tubbs object to the idea, but Wallace tells them that he was merely asking to appear courteous. The reporter will be tagging along with them whether they like it or not.

Tomas, who was out on bail after stone-walling Tubbs, turns up dead. When Crockett and Tubbs leave the crime scene, they see Captain Miami yelling at a crowd of people about the drug problems, asking others to join him on his mission to rid Miami of drugs. Most people simply laugh at his antics. Crockett chases Captain Miami off, telling him if he sees him and his stupid shirt again that he'll put him behind bars. Tubbs receives a phone call and tells Crockett that he just received word that they have a buy set up with the smugglers Tomas robbed. Crockett is excited since he's sure the smugglers must be the ones who had Tomas killed.

Izzy Lamont (Mike Epps) is running a scam on some Japanese tourists on the beach when Captain Miami shows up and reveals himself as Lamont's cousin Marcus, who tells him about his run-in with the Vice squad. Lamont tells Marcus to be careful, as he isn't sure who is scarier, the drug dealers or an angry Sonny Crockett. Back at OCB, the Vice squad is introduced to the reporter, Eric Terrio (Kyle Bornheimer). Terrio excitedly talks about getting Captain Miami's message on the next episode of his news show. Crockett and Tubbs, along with Terrio, are running surveillance on the smugglers when Captain Miami shows up once again. Terrio points his camera at Captain Miami as Crockett arrests the vigilante.

Back at OCB, Crockett and Tubbs interrogate Marcus. Terrio asks if he can record the interrogation, but Castillo keeps him out of the room. After the interrogation, Terrio interviews Captain Miami for his show. After they release him, Marcus dress back up as Captain Miami and almost immediately finds a minor drug deal to break up. Marcus beats up the drug dealer and throws the money to a nearby crowd of people, who happily fight over the flying bills. Later that day, while Marcus is walking down the street in his costume, he narrowly avoids being shot in a drive-by shooting.

Lamont is on the beach selling Captain Miami shirts he had made up when Crockett and Tubbs show up and ask Lamont to convince Marcus to let them take him into protective custody. Lamont goes to see his cousin and convinces him to come into OCB for his own protection. Marcus is taken into protective custody while Crockett and Tubbs head to their meet with the smugglers. While talking with Gina (Katrina Law), Marcus reveals that he began his crusade against drugs after his daughter died of an overdose.

At the meet, the smugglers want Crockett and Tubbs to kill the Captain Miami character in order to prove themselves. After the meeting, Crockett and Tubbs head to the hotel that Marcus was stashed at. They find him gone and Gina locked in the bathroom. Crockett and Tubbs track down Lamont and demand to know where Marcus could be, but he doesn't know. Gina has the idea to head to the place where Marcus' daughter died. They arrive to find Marcus crying outside of an abandoned house. They bring Marcus to a hospital where he is put under psychiatric evaluation. The smugglers call Tubbs and tell him that they are ready to deal now that Captain Miami is at least locked up.

Lamont sneaks into the hospital dressed as a doctor and breaks Marcus out. The two meet up with Terrio who wants to follow Captain Miami as he goes to thwart the drug deal. Terrio reveals a brand new costume he had made for Marcus. Captain Miami arrives to break up the drug deal. The smugglers fire on him, and Crockett and Tubbs fire on the smugglers. In the end, the smugglers and Marcus are all killed. Terrio is shocked by witnessing such death in person. He then mentions the ratings his show will get. Crockett then knocks him out. Tubbs consoles Lamont over the loss of his cousin.

Leaving Everything 1.7 - From Night to Dawn

Leaving Everything - From Night to Dawn

Director : Marielle Heller

Writer : Ann Morrow

Based on the novel by Anais Barbeau-Lavalette

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Robin Tunney, Tobey Maguire, Colm Feore, Lance Henriksen, Adam Arkin, Alan Ford and Zoe Kravitz

Plot: Suzanne (Rebecca Hall) dressed professionally with a skirt and a jacket enters an office with her boyfriend by her side, the much older Lenny (Adam Arkin) CEO of a small enterprise located in New York. She sits at the front desk and starts to write a letter. She works as a receptionist there and she seems… surprisingly happy. She has been working there for a couple of years now and, as opposed to everything else in her life, she decided not to leave. Lenny makes her happy, happier than Marcel ever made her. She writes in her free time and during her lunch break, in French, of course, so Lenny can’t read it and embarrass her by sharing it with his rich friends. The night has come and they go to a restaurant where they eat fancy, but not too fancy, Suzanne doesn’t want the rich lifestyle, she likes things to be simple. Lenny is too crazy about her and complies. Their evening goes well and they have sex at home.

The situation isn’t as good for Suzanne’s ex-lover and father of her two children Marcel (Tobey Maguire). He looks through a pile of papers in his small studio he shares with his mentor, Paul-Emile Borduas (Colm Feore). Marcel asks Borduas if he will ever find her again and Borduas hates to be pessimistic, but he doesn’t think he’s ever going to see her again. She left without a trace and it was clearly her goal never to be found again. Marcel tells Borduas that enough time has passed for him to get a divorce in Quebec, so he’s leaving by train tomorrow to divorce her and finally put that chapter of his life to bed. Borduas asks Marcel if he’s ready to put it to bed and he’s not entirely sure. 

In a more modern time, Anna (Robin Tunney) brought her uncle, Francis (Lance Henriksen) to meet his father Marcel (Alan Ford) after all these years. She’s not sure about what the outcome will be, but she was determined for them to meet again. Marcel just looks at him awkwardly and Francis just stands there, not understanding the situation fully, due to his lack of knowledge of social cues. Anna breaks the silence and she tells Francis that this is his father, he doesn’t remember him and it’s normal, because he abandoned him when he was still a baby. Marcel interrupts and he says he didn’t abandon his children, she did, Suzanne did. He said he loved his children with all his heart and he did not abandon them. Anna corrects him and she says that a man who loves his children doesn’t leave them on his sister’s porch never to talk to them again. Marcel says he talked to Anna’s mother and Anna quickly jumps the gun and she says that if he’s talking about the documentary, she wouldn’t consider it talking, he didn’t answer her questions, because he’s ashamed of what he did. Francis finally talks and he says one simple word: dad?

Suzanne gets to work early the next morning and she writes a poem, sitting at her desk. She doesn’t notice that Borduas entered and his watching her. She struggles to find a line and he utters: De la nuit jusqu’à l’aube (From Night to Dawn), which surprises her. She starts to panic, asking him how he found her, if Marcel knows and what he’s going to do. Borduas says he isn’t here to get her, he just wanted to talk to her. She was tough to find, but he recognized her at a public poetry reading. She wrote about freedom and it was in French, and that’s where it caught his attention. He says it is the last time he sees her. She clearly wants them out of her life, although he doesn’t understand why, but that’s normal, she’s an artist at heart. She left everything, a clean slate, and he senses she’s about to do it again, because between them, she’s not going to be a receptionist forever and, pointing at a picture of Lenny hung on the wall, she can do better than that. She completely broke Marcel, and as he said she had her reasons and he doesn’t want to know why she left. She said, in her poem, that she struggled for years to keep up, to stay on her course, to settle down like everyone, but she dreamed of freedom so long and the desire was so strong, that she turned her life upside down to chase that dream and right now, he’s disappointed in what he sees. He’s going to leave now, but she needs to promise that she’s not going to waste her life here, at this desk. She left bigger, more important things before and she can surely do it again. He gives her a folded piece of paper and he leaves, kissing her goodbye for the last time. Suzanne thinks about what he just said to her. She agrees with him and writes a heartfelt letter to Lenny, telling him that she’s leaving him. She needs to chase her dream, freedom. A dream so hard to achieve that she’s starting a third chapter in her life for it. She leaves tonight, she doesn’t know where she’s going and if shouldn’t bother to try to find her again, he won’t. She leaves the office and leaves, without a suitcase, and buys a bus ticket heading south. She doesn’t know where she’ll stop, she’ll stop when she will feel like it’s time. She gets on the bus and meets with her seat buddy, a charming young woman named Daisy (Zoe Kravitz). Daisy asks Suzanne where she,s going and Suzanne laughs it off, saying she has no idea. She asks Daisy where she’s going and Daisy says she’s not sure she can trust her with the answer, which intrigues Suzanne. Suzanne looks by the window and falls asleep as the bus starts.

Back in modern days, Francis asks his father why he never saw him and Marcel, overtaken by the emotion, can’t answer his son right away. He begins to lose his balance and falls on the ground slowly. Francis watches on, awkwardly, while Anna quickly grabs a chair. She bends down to pick him up and she sees tears in his eyes. She broke him.

Drive 1.8 - Roads Intertwined

Drive: Roads Intertwined

Genre: Action

Executive Producer: Drew Goddard

Writer: H.G. Hansen

Based on the 2011 film by Nicolas Winding Refn

Cast: Dan Stevens, Bruce Campbell, Morris Chestnut, Norman Reedus, Chloe Bennett, Aubrey Plaza, David Boreanaz, John Cena, Lee Byung-hun and Eliza Dushku

Herb (Bruce Campbell) is at his house as he looks intense. He breathes in and out as he grabs a bag from under the sink. He goes to the basement. He fills a bucket of water, grabs some towels and walks into a dark room. Herb turns on the lights to see the passenger from the car from earlier is tied to a chair with a hanger wire. The guy has blood running down his face and some worse for wear. Herb rolls up his sleeves and takes off his watch and his ring, which he looks at with regret. He turns around and breathes one more deep breath. He slaps the guy so hard he snaps back to reality. Herb starts by saying he wants every question answered and anything else, he’ll lose his patience which at this moment who be very unwise. He asks if the guy understands. He nods his head and Herb takes off the gag. The guy tries to scream but Herb quickly grabs a towel and pours some water over his face. Herb takes it off and warns him again that was just to show how serious he is. He wants to know why there is a hit on him and what Mr. S (Norman Reedus) truly wants.

Overhead view we see the burning house of Moses (Morris Chestnut) as the neighborhood is in panic. We see the “Hunting Party” get up which Ammo (John Cena) wants to check to see if Driver is alive but Long Shot (David Boreanaz) thinks they need to get out of here before authorities arrive and they have a new problem. They get into their car and drive away quickly. The camera pans to the pool in the backyard of the house. We go into the water to see Driver (Dan Stevens) floating underwater unconscious. “So what are you looking for man?...”

We see Driver’s and Moses’ first meeting together. Moses’ talks about how he never had someone come up to him for getaway jobs. Driver doesn’t speak to which makes Moses makes some jokes about him being a mute. “You know the dark and silent type doesn’t always rub people the right way.” “Works on some people…” Driver replies. “Just saying sometimes a hammer doesn’t always fix everything…” Driver smiles by how he likes Moses’ direct approach. Moses does it because it’s the only way to get things done in this town. Driver notices a photo of a woman and two kids. Moses quickly puts it away as Driver looks at his reaction. Driver accidently asks if he has a family to which Moses asks if he’s ever done something so horrible it ruins everything good around you. Driver is silent to that answer as it hits are. Moses makes a condition to not talk about personal stuff unless it’s needed. Driver nods as Moses goes to show him the car Driver will be driving for the job. Moses asks questions about previous experience with this kind of work to which Driver reminds him they agreed to not say anything to personal. Moses looks at Driver and agrees.

Driver wakes up in the water and swims up. He gasps as he struggles to get out of the pool. He breathes hard as he has no idea how long he’s been out. He sits up on the edge as he looks at the burning house and grows dull. He remembers a moment where he gets done with a job and sees Moses selling guns. Driver and he get into a fight as Driver knows one of the guns on the job was pulled on a kid. Moses agrees at that moment to sell to those he trusts. Driver hears the sirens of the cop cars and gets up to jump the fence to run away.

Mr. S is listening to Willy Nelson as he enjoys an expensive T-bone steak with a dark almost blood-colored wine. He starts talking like someone is eating with him. The camera widens and we see there is no one there but the hammer in the glass casing in front of him. He talks about how he’s close to getting Driver back into the fold. He’s close to making him realize what he’s tried to forget. “That family is everything… Without we’re just animals…” He’s interrupted by a phone call to which he is addressed about how Moses had blown up the house. Mr. S asks if Driver is okay but gets told the Hunting Party is okay and they think they know where the girl is. Mr. S is getting a little frustrated as he wants to know if Driver is okay. The police haven’t found a body yet so this makes Mr. S know Driver is still alive. He hangs up interrupting the other end’s thought and tells the hammer he has to leave to go do something real quick but will be back.

Herb is wiping his hands off as they are coated with blood and scrapes. The guy in the chair is pretty beaten up as blood drip out of his mouth. Herb congratulates him on last as long as he did. Herb hasn’t had to do that for awhile. Herb gets ready to go out but the guy manages to tell him he’s gonna die anyway. No matter what Mr. S will kill him just for getting in the way including if he lets him live. Herb is confused as he guesses his captive doesn’t pay attention to what’s around him. The guy sees plastic all over the ground to which he looks up to see Herb shoot him between the eyes. “Dumb motherfucker… Thinks I’d make a mess in my mother’s house…” Herb’s ma asks what’s that noise to which Herb reminds her he’s still trying to get rid of the rodents down there so she may have to keep her hearing aid down still. His ma remembers and asks if he’d like a sandwich at all. Herb says that would be great after he’s done cleaning up.

Daisy (Chloe Bennett) is at the safe house as she is watching a video on her phone of Mia’s birthday. She sees her and Rita (Aubrey Plaza) enjoy their time till Driver walks in with a cake. She notices how Driver looks happier than she’s ever seen him and how Mia somehow is the only reason he’s ever happy in photos or other stuff. She wishes she still was here so she knows what to do about him. A knock on the door and Daisy goes to answer thinking its Driver but to her surprise it’s a couple of goons. She wrestles with them to the point one looks to rough her up but a knife goes through his neck after he drops to the floor we see Mr. S standing proud with The Hunting Party. The goons go to fight but the Hunting Party makes quick work with Shadow (Eliza Dushku) using her skills to cut nerves, Ammo bashing a dude’s head in, Tozawa (Lee Byung-hun) using a throat punch to land a skull cracking knee to Long Shot shooting one’s kneecaps off. Mr. S apologizes for her to see all that but the kneecapped goon interrupts him. This makes Mr. S split-second slice his neck for it’s rude to interrupt when someone is talking. Mr. S smiles politely and asks to talk to her. We hear the sounds of the guy gurgling on his own blood in the background.

Herb is cleaning up as he has tightly wrapped up the guy in plastic. He hears a buzz from the phone he took earlier and opens it to see a group text of where to meet at the safe house. Herb knows this is his one chance at Mr. S as he quickly goes to take care of the body. Herb sneaks around his ma and puts the body in the trunk of his car. His ma is seen up to the car suddenly as she tells him to don’t forget about his sandwich she made him. Herb closes the trunk door, grabs the sandwich and kisses her as he tells her he just got called into work. She makes a comment that he needs to take it easy that work has been running him ragged. Herb makes a comment to himself about how that true but he just might get some days off if things go right tonight and drives off.

Mr. S and Daisy have a conversation as Mr. S apologizes how he almost got her killed at the diner. He didn’t know who she was and if he did, he would have made sure her and Rita would have been spared. Any friend of Derek’s is a friend to him. Daisy is silent while mean mugging him. Ammo asks what they do with the bodies to which S, with venom in his voice, makes a comment about feed them to strays for he doesn’t care. He notes her silence has to do with something he did. Daisy tells him he killed her sister. S makes a face and understands Daisy’s reaction then. He knows what it’s like to have someone you care about to have them ripped away. She laughs as she tells him how she knows the person he’s talking about was crazy. S is confused till he guesses Driver, or Derek he calls him, told her about their upbringing. Daisy talks about how they were made into killers to which S doesn’t think so. They were taught to survive. She thinks they made Driver a monster but S believes he was actually free to be what he’s always meant to be.

Driver sneaks up on the safehouse and goes to sneak inside to gain a clear advantage. He finds a gun and goes to sneak up on S. S talks about how they were alone and Andie helped them reach their full potential. Driver got to become the man every mob fears and he got to become the well resourced person he is. Driver grows angry by his words and points the gun up to his head. S blames Mia for trying to satirized what Driver is, making him believe he can leave his past behind. When in reality, he will never be like the sheep, he thinks like a wolf too much. “Don’t you agree, Derek?” S knows Driver is behind him with a gun as Driver tells Daisy to run and he’s gonna kill S. S doesn’t believe him to which Driver finds out the gun is empty and S pours bullets out of his hand. S makes a comment how love has made him safe.

Driver goes to hit him but Long Shot shoots him in the leg. Ammo charges at him and bearhugs him up to let Tozawa rain heavy lightening quick hits. Driver is held up as S is disappointed. He was able to handle them earlier but now that there’s another life in the room. Driver tells him he’ll rip his face off if something happens to her. S grows upset as he tries to prove his point that love and caring is what makes him weak. Only rage is how he has gotten this far. So he gonna prove it which Driver thinks he’ll hurt Daisy but actually S is gonna have Shadow do it. Shadow brings a blade to her throat. Driver tries to break free but no luck. Just before a cut could be made, the lights go out and gunshots are heard. Herb goes in and takes out Tozawa and Long Shot. Driver goes to bite Ammo’s index finger off and headbutts him to break free. Through the flashes of gun fire we see Herb and Driver fight off them but S takes Daisy with Long Shot and the rest as when the emergency lights come on we see Herb and Driver staring at each other with Herb pointing at gun at him and Driver ready to take him down.