I have said this many times and I say it because it’s absolutely true. There are some instances where a film sneaks right by you and somehow later on you wonder why you’ve never seen it. That was definitely the case for today’s film which is the Los Angeles gang violence film Colors. Robert Duvall (Days Of Thunder) plays CRASH officer Bob Hodges, a man with one year left until he gets his pension from the LAPD. Sean Penn (Fast Times At Ridgemont High) plays hot shot CRASH rookie Danny McGavin who gets paired with Hodges after a gang member is murdered in a drive by. The two are on the streets as they try to investigate the murder while trying to keep gang violence between the Bloods and Crips to a low. The film also stars Maria Conchita Alonso (The Lords Of Salem) as Louisa Gomez, Randy Brooks (Reservoir Dogs) as Ron Delaney, Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) as Rocket, Damon Wayans (Major Payne) as T-Bone, Trinidad Silva (UHF) as Frog, Glenn Plummer (South Central) as High Top, Grand L. Bush (Lethal Weapon) as Larry, Gerardo Mejía (Can’t Buy Me Love) as Bird, Courtney Gains (Children Of The Corn) as Whitey, and the film was directed by Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider).
I know that the film is not really a coming of age movie, but I think that it’s a point that could be legitimately argued. Think about it for a second, what is the definition of coming of age? According to Google, “a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature and film that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood (“coming of age”). Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action, and are often set in the past.” While the film isn’t set in the past, you do see Sean Penn go in a s this hot shot rookie on the CRASH force who just wants to bust heads and kick ass. Then when the going gets a little tough and something happens to his partner, he begins to realize what he was doing wrong and he changes for the better. In my opinion, that could be a coming-of-age story. This was one of those films that was trying to show you just how bad things were in Los Angeles as we would eventually see Boyz N the Hood, South Central, Menace II Society, and so many more films that focused on the issues. Robert Duvall and Sean Penn were both equally amazing in the film as they were almost the perfect pair. The cinematography in this film was superb in my opinion as they captured some amazing shots of East LA and Los Angeles. I had to get used to the fact that Damon Wayans was in this movie, but the role was perfect for him as he played T-Bone who is basically a junkie. This is definitely a film that must have opened people’s eyes to what was going on in the world and the problem that is gang violence. I definitely recommend this one and that is why I am giving the film an A- for a final grade.
For this week’s Cheeseball Cinema film, I tried to search for the right film to follow up the ones we had before and thanks to IMDB I found one. This weeks film is called Jocks and it was released in 1986 by Crown International Pictures. Colleges all across American have becomes obsessed with the idea of their athletic teams winning championships that there are constantly weighing out what sport works and what doesn’t. For Los Angeles College, they are having the same problem and their athletic director Coach Beetlebom (R.G. Armstrong) has to make the difficult decision. He decides that he wants to cut the Tennis program, but their president is against it cause they’re winners. So, he gives the coach of the tennis program (Richard Roundtree) an ultimatum, win or the program gets cut for good. The film also stars Perry Lang (Men Of War) as Jeff, Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) as Nicole, Stoney Jackson (Angels In The Outfield) as Andy, Adam Mills (Only You) as Tex, Trinidad Silva (The Jerk) as Chito, Donald Gibb (Revenge Of The Nerds) as Ripper, Christopher Murphy (Valley Girl) as Tony, Scott Strader (The Karate Kid) as The Kid, Christopher Lee (The Man With The Golden Gun) as President White, and the film was directed by Steve Carver (An Eye For An Eye). To read the rest of the article and check out the rest of the pics, click 
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