The Ace Black Movie Blog

Showing posts with label Alexandra Shipp. Show all posts

Wednesday, 31 December 2025

Movie Review: Silk Road (2021)

Genre: Biographical Drama Thriller

Director: Tiller Russell

Starring: Jason Clarke, Nick Robinson, Alexandra Shipp

Running Time: 112 minutes

Synopsis: It's 2011 in Austin, Texas. Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson) is a young man drifting through life with strong libertarian views. After starting a relationship with girlfriend Julia (Alexandra Shipp), he launches a dark web marketplace free from government scrutiny. Using anonymous browsing and cryptocurrency, Silk Road becomes the go-to trading platform for illegal drugs and weapons. Separately, grizzled DEA Agent Rick Bowden (Jason Clarke) is reassigned to cybercrimes, and eventually starts to investigate Silk Road. But Rick has personal troubles of his own and cannot get his supervisor's attention.

What Works Well: Based on actual events with added artistic flourishes, this compelling biography explores the outcomes of unconstrained commerce enabled by burgeoning technology. Ulbricht may have initially held utopian objectives, but unimaginable money generated by an anything-goes ethos leads to dark places. Nick Robinson portrays an absolutist running an empire from a laptop and quickly in over his head, and Jason Clarke provides a sturdy counterweight as the DEA agent forced into a late career pivot and not beyond temptation. The private family lives of both men inject texture into the too-wild-for-fiction drama.

What Does Not Work As Well: With the emotions of the two central characters taking precedence, some critical details underpinning Bowden's investigation and the FBI closing in on Ulbricht are hopelessly muddled.

Key Quote:

Ross Ulbricht: Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to change the world.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Sunday, 12 October 2025

Movie Review: Shaft (2019)

Genre: Action

Director: Tim Story
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie T. Usher, Richard Roundtree, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp
Running Time: 112 minutes

Synopsis: In Harlem of 1989, private investigator John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) is ambushed by thugs working for gang leader Gordito. Shaft's girlfriend Maya (Regina Hall) is fed-up with the violence and leaves him, taking Shaft's young son J.J. with her. 20 years later, J.J. (Jessie T. Usher) is an analyst working at the FBI's New York office. When his best friend Karim dies under suspicious circumstances, J.J seeks his father's help to investigate. Father and son need to get re-acquainted, while the trail of evidence leads to a mosque, a veteran support group, and none other than Gordito. When more firepower is needed, Shaft turns to his legendary father John Shaft Sr. (Richard Roundtree) for support.

What Works Well: The fifth film in the series that started in 1971, this version benefits from Samuel L. Jackson in top form oozing confidence and swagger, and the ultimately irresistible premise of three generations of John Shaft joining forces to eliminate evil. The sharp script (by Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow) is filled with humour, profanity, and zingers, and packed with loud and intense action scenes. The rapid-fire father-son interactions are juiced by clashing inter-generational perspectives and a few character-driven surprises (J.J. does not like guns, until he does).

What Does Not Work As Well: The plot is overcomplicated, but also underexplained and reduced to filler material between the action set-pieces and buddy-movie dynamics. The balance tilts too far towards jovial, sanding-off the character's edge and any sense of jeopardy.

Key Quote:

Shaft: In general, women want a man... to be manly.

J.J.: I'm pretty sure women don't like being told what it is that they like.