Training Day (2001)

It’s the 20th anniversary of Training Day and while we had no fewer than 3 big anniversaries this week, we managed to get to them all in due time. This is the only role that Denzel Washington has won an academy award in a leading role for, which seems crazy, I know! But it’s pretty well-deserved as he and Ethan Hawke carry this movie. Without either of these performances, the movie wouldn’t work. Join us for the podcast to hear our thoughts on this early 2000s dirty cop drama.

Bald Move Prestige - Once Were Warriors (1994)

Jude from New Zealand shows some homeland pride by selecting the incendiary Kiwi film from 1994, “Once Were Warriors”, for her commissioned podcast pick. Directed by Lee Tamahori and starring Temuera Morrison and Rena Owen, it features a soul destroying portrait of life for a Maori family living in the slums of Auckland. The picture pulls no punches, and yet manages to be thought provoking, sympathetic, and even uplifting and hopeful, assuming you calibrate your definition of “uplifting” and “hopeful” to David “The Wire” Simon settings. We simply are blown away by the performances of everyone in this film, particularly Morrison who plays the extremely charismatic, extremely violent Jake “the Muss”, and are intrigued by the examination of domestic violence, crime, and racial issues as seen through the very distinct lens of New Zealand.