Zootopia

BRYCE **1/2
"Zootopia" is the latest film from Disney Animation Studios and it's a thinly veiled commentary on the prejudice and fierce tribalism within our society.  Thinly veiled may be an understatement.  The filmmakers beat you over the head with the story's message ad nauseam.  I'm fine with a family film tackling such heavy subject matter, but I felt the filmmakers stepped over the line in few places here.  For example: do we really need a reference to the interracial use of the "n" word in this type of movie?  Despite that rather major annoyance, there is much to admire in "Zootopia."  The animation is incredible, the main characters are likable and the script turns out quite a few laugh-out-loud moments.  I just wish they would've pulled back on the politics.

CHASE ***
LANDON ***
LOGAN ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

Race

LANDON **
"Race" is based on a great true story.  It's about Jesse Owens, an African American athlete in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.  It's an inspirational narrative that deserves a big screen showing, but it deserves better than this.  Stephen James as our hero is a superstar.  He brings a lot of talent to the screen and deserves to be in more films in the coming years.  There are some scenes in this film that are absolutely fascinating.  The conflict between Germany and America at this time regarding this topic is engrossing and will keep you compelled just from that angle alone.  Unfortunately, the movie takes some missteps, especially from a screenplay standpoint.  There's a lot of heavy-handed anti-Nazi material here.  It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't try to shove it down your throat at every chance they had.  And there's quite a few scenes that are well-acted, but serve zero purpose to our plot.  It drags forever too, so you could have very easily narrowed it down and made it a half an hour shorter.  This film manages to tell a really good story and nothing more.

LOGAN **1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: **