I tossed and turned in bed all Saturday night wrestling with Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station in my head. Perhaps I should recommend it for that alone. Isn’t that what art is supposed to do? I don’t remember losing any sleep over Pain & Gain. This is a very difficult movie to review because it’s impossible to seperate it from the real life incident it fictionalizes. That seems to be the intention of the filmmakers as Fruitvale Station opens with actual cell phone video footage of the event and closes with Oscar Grant III’s daughter Tatiana at a rally for her father in 2013. For those unaware, in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009, Grant was shot in the back on a BART platform while lying face down by Oakland police officer Johannes Mehserle. Meserhle (whose name has been changed in the film) claims Grant was resisting arrest and when he saw Grant reaching for his waistband, Meserhle mistook his pistol for his taser. Grant was unarmed. The officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years minus time served. Upon the release of the verdict, protests and small riots broke out all over the greater Oakland area. Fruitvale Station is the dramatized account of that fateful New Year’s Eve, the last in Oscar Grant III’s life. As a keenly observed, brilliantly acted human tragedy it’s one of the best films of the year. As the socially poignant call for justice it strives to be, it feels slightly disingenuous. Or at least unsure of its statement. Maybe it’s the details of the case, or my personal perception, but the film diverges too heavily into polemic by the end. That’s part of the Catch 22 of embellishing or omitting key elements of a true story when creating a narrative account. I should report that the audience I saw it with – a packed house in West Los Angeles – probably disagrees. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house (including mine) when the lights came up. What I appreciate most about Frutvale Station is the filmmakers’ decision to present Oscar Grant III warts and all. This is not an angelic martyr of social injustice but a conflicted human being sorting through the beginning of adulthood. When we first meet Oscar and his girlfriend Sophina (played with subtle force by Melonie Diaz), they’re arguing over an affair Oscar claims to have ended. He promises to be there for her and their daughter Tatiana. Unfortunately, he’s lost his job for being late. While picking up seafood for his mother’s birthday, he begs his ex-boss for his job back – going so far as to borderline threaten him. It doesn’t work. His only real option to pay the rent now is to sell drugs to an old connection. Having already done a stint at San Quentin for possession, that’s not what he wants to do, but what else is there? Much of December 31st, 2008 is concerned with Oscar’s attempt to make amends for previous transgressions – to be better to his girlfriend, daughter and mother – even though the odds are against him. Michael B. Jordan plays Oscar with an admirable ease, fully convincing us that he’s the living, breathing contradiction most 22-year-olds are. What a revelation. Not that fans of The Wire or Friday Night Lights will be surprised. His performance never waivers and that’s precisely why the last act of Fruitvale Station is so devastating. When that gun goes off, it hurts. Deeply hurts. Few on-screen deaths are this affecting and that’s in spite of the fact we know it’s coming. As Oscar fights for life in the hospital and his family and friends pray for his survival, we’re emotionally right there with them – hoping in vain against the inevitable. There are a few scenes that skew into novice territory, specifically: a) some of...

We’re a third of the way through Hollywood’s summer movie slate. So far, there are clear winners like Iron Man 3, retched garbage like The Hangover 3 and some middling-to-decent efforts worthy of a watch like Star Trek Into Darkness and Man of Steel. Given that it’s still only June, I thought it pertinent enough to preview five upcoming offerings that twinge my cinematic prostate to the point of excitement:   1. Elysium Neill Blomkamp’s long awaited follow up to 2009’s District 9, Elysium has the makings of a science fiction classic. Though I enjoyed the first half of District 9, I ended up shrugging through the second half when it eschewed its entire conceit and turned into a first person shooter. Elysium picks up Matt Damon who knows a thing or two about story and throws in the kind of class warfare hyperbole I’m a sucker for. The trailer kind of kicks ass too. We’ll see. Until then, my curlys are cautiously crossed in optimism.   2. The Wolf Of Wall Street Outside of a few documentaries, there hasn’t really been the definitive story of the 2008 financial crash. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was, for lack of a better phrase, fucking stupid and Margin Call was too low key to garner wide recognition. When Martin Scorsese is on point, no director can match him and Leonardo DiCaprio embodies the nature of afflicted privilege better than anyone. Let’s hope The Wolf Of Wall Street captures the rampant greed and the careless pursuit thereof better than Oliver Stone’s cartoonish misfire.   3. Pacific Rim It’s Robot Jox with a bigger budget and normally I’d roll my eyes at this production but it’s directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Everything Del Toro touches turns to gold and although the idea seems ridiculous to the point of farce, I’m on board anyway. Damn you Guillermo, on your reputation alone, you’ve got me interested in a movie with the tag line, “Go Big or Go Extinct.”   4. Fruitvale Station Oh man, I’m so in on this flick. Even if it didn’t star Vince from Friday Night Lights, the execution, mood and style of this movie stands the independent hairs up on the back of my neck. I hope, hope, hope it’s not another unintentional comedy like Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire. Liberal reviewers have a tendency to elevate socially relevant, yet artistically lacking productions to a much higher level than they deserve. Given the subject matter, I have faith this won’t be the case.   5. The Way, Way Back You ever have those movies you look forward to so strongly that if they don’t live up to your expectation you’re almost angry at them? Yeah, The Way, Way Back is like that for me. It runs the risk of being too quirky for its own good, but I trust the writers (including Jim Rash – Dean Pelton from Community) and the cast to deliver a top notch, memorable coming-of-age tale. Please don’t let this suck. That’s my list, what are you looking forward...