Denzel Washington is not only a brilliant actor, but is also an auteur director of a film that gears on the challenges of a debate team in harsh times. “The Great Debaters” is an extraordinary drama that left me in tears. Washington is at his best. It also stars Nate Parker (as Henry Lowe), Jurnee Smollet-Bell (as Samantha Booke), Denzel whitaker (as James Farmer Jr.), and Forest Whitaker (as Dr. James Farmer Sr.). “The Great Debaters” is such a triumphant adaptation, and is one that will be talked about for years.

“The Great Debaters” follows the true story of Melvin B. Tolson (Washington): a professor that taught at Wiley College Texas. The year is 1935, and he captivates the school to form a debate team. The three teammates are Henry Lowe, Samantha Booke, and James Farmer Jr.

The debate team is an experience that the students look forward to, but are put to the test to see if they can compete with all of the issues that are around them. The issues include a crucible by Jim Crow, Sexism, lynch mobs, affairs, jealousy, and the biggest portion of them all…the big debate being played around on a national radio audience.

James father is proud of James, but sees that his son is putting himself in danger. James saw a lynching happening, and almost got himself killed. Also with the segregation problems, his father sees that they may be an undefeated team, but judges could judge against them when they debate a white college. This makes James have most of his subjects be on how awful life is for how different races are treated. The response from the audience is them being surprised.

I was astonished by “The Great Debaters.” At one point in my life I remember wanting to try out for a debate team. I never did though. The intensity of the subjects in “The Great Debaters” makes viewers realize that debate is not a joking matter. “The Great Debaters” is heavy with preparation. When I saw this film, I realized that it would be too much pressure for me to do a debate team. “The Great Debaters” really defines the courage it takes for young students to debate serious topics.

Washington also promotes this film positively. He even donated a million dollars to Wiley College the week before the film’s release. For Harvard University (the white college that Wiley has debated), this film was the first film to be screened at Harvard and they have not screened a movie since 1979.

“The Great Debater” is amazing. Many will not forget the experience.

Written by David Domscheit-Berg and David Lee (both who were involved with the novel) and director Bill Condon, “The Fifth Estate” goes right to life of Julian Assange. Condon’s former films “Kinsey” (2004) and “Dreamgirls” (2006) are both well-crafted films. “The Fifth Estate” plummeted at the box office opening weekend and its budget only got up to $28,000,000 (estimated). This is shocking given that it gears on one of the most wanted man in history…Julian Assange.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks: a website invented to share the deceptions and corruptions of power in the government. His colleague is Daniel Berg (played by Daniel Bruhl); a professional hacker that teams up with Assange. Berg tags along, but becomes hesitant once he realizes that Assange wants to expose the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in history.

Once Berg realizes that Assange and him are on the grid for exposing illegal information, they both begin to criticize a defining question of their time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society-and what are the costs of exposing them? That question remains anonymous until the end of the movie.

The rest of the movie shows Assange getting too much into Berg’s personal life. The setup suggests suspicion, but Cumberbatch’s attitude is so laid-back that it seems his ego is all that matters to him. He advances at intelligence, but seems to struggle with caring about others. This is an issue for Berg and viewers. Lacking characterization, viewers wonder more about Assange and not so much about Berg.

Berg is playing against Assange. “The fifth Estate” quickly makes its viewers realize that Berg and Assange’s friendship is torn apart. Primarily the fact that colleagues work together for so long and become aggravated by the element’s of one’s behavior. “The Fifth Estate” portrays this issue as if it was a key-element of corruption–this is not just Assange’s ego, but that Berg tried to tell Assange from the beginning that what he is doing is wrong, but Assange continued doing what he wants and did not listen to Berg at all. “The Fifth Estate” easily leaves government to not be the meaning of the film (government should be the meaning though). “The Fifth Estate” ends up gearing on betrayal and revenge. That is why its adaptation is not accurate to the true story.

The relationship between Assange and Berg appears as if there friendship led to major accomplishments. As the camera focuses on the facial expressions on Berg at a convention, it becomes repetitive. Their friendship–like mentioned, their criticism–is causing them to hate each other. Assange himself, at first wonders but in the end, he still only cares about his ego.

Assange and Berg frequently find a concern to argue about. With an adaptation though, the issue is money is the bigger importance than the quality of films. Due to this, “The Fifth Estate” is unorthodox. The film enters a serious subject unprofessionally; whenever it seems to be a moment of truth, it only relies on arguments and jealousies that are not the purpose of the film.

I did not know anything about “Le Week-End” much before I saw it. The trailer captivated me to see it, given the fact that I love movies taking place in Europe. “Le-Weekend” is a dark comedy that is feeling like viewers are watching a retired version of “The Before Trilogy.” However, this is just ok. It is not amazing, it is not heartfelt, and it is not structured.

The two main characters are a couple and their names are Nick and Meg (Jim Broadbent and Lindsey Hunt). Both are a couple that travel to Paris (their former honeymoon location) to try and salvage their marriage. “Le Week-End” barely has any elements to understanding what the conflict is between the couple. If there was any key moment, the only one I recognized was Nick and Meg struggling to feeling like they are young and falling in love.

The dialogue was not very audible. Most of the conversations sounded like watching something through a computer monitor with computer speakers. I understand that independent films make their goal for their films to be low-budget, but what is a film that is not audible? I almost thought of asking for a hearing device from the manager of the cinema.

Director Roger Michell (director of Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) and Morning Glory (2010)) seemed to have lacked the quality of “Le-Weekend.” I remember that “Hyde Park on Hudson” was not that great, but the acting was phenomenal, and the same goes with “Morning Glory.”

The writer Hanif Kureishi wrote for Michell for a variety of his films. The following films include “Intimacy” (2001), “The Mother” (2003) “Venus” (2006), and more. Most of his films have a depressing premise and have received mixed reviews over the years. I do not see thing being an issue because of a lack of ideas or organization, I see this because of the movies they have made to just be very depressing and not uplifting whatsoever.

“Le Week-End” had a good concept, but lacked throughout. This film is intended more for a DVD viewing or on demand viewing. In the cinema, it is not very cinematic or memorable. Would be if the filmmakers cared about the audio.