My Take:
- What did I dislike more than Denzel in this movie? Denzel’s singing in this movie.
- Denzel’s character was a mean man who treated everyone around him like shit. I know I was supposed to be sad when he died due to whatever self-placed issues he might have had. I didn’t.
- Just like Blue Velvet did not win an Oscar because the dead man kept standing, I would not vote for this one to win the Oscar because snot kept snotting. Personal thing that made me turn away from the screen through the big sad scenes.
I was not a fan. I get that everyone loved it and thought that Denzel was amazing. I just did not like it. This was the second of four movies Erin and I saw in a single day. The first one was horrendously sad. This one was horrendously angry. I looked at Erin in the middle of this movie and said, “I need some happy in my life.” With Manchester, my humble opinion was that you did not leave loved family behind. With Fences, I feel that cheaters are cheaters and they should be kicked to the curb by strong women. Again, my humble opinion and it forms a barrier to thinking this movie was as great as advertised. I give it a D+.
Did you see the movie? Did you like it? If you did, let me know in the comments below.
Additional Information:
Synopsis: Fences is the story of Troy Maxson, a mid-century Pittsburgh sanitation worker who once dreamed of a baseball career but was too old when the major leagues began admitting black players. He tries to be a good husband and father but his lost dream of glory eats at him and causes him to make a decision that threatens to tear his family apart. Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning play.
Starring:
Clips for the movie can be found: here.
There are a few play clips that give you an idea of the stage performance:
It received a Rotten Tomatoes review of 93% Fresh. It received a Rotten Tomato audience rating of 79% liking it. Average Rating: 3.9/5 with a number of User Ratings: 26,987.
A behind the scenes vid:
Additional reviews by:
It had an estimated budget of $24M. It has a 139 minute run time.
More Trivia from IMDB:
Denzel Washington felt comfortable with the source material since he had been involved with 114 performances of the play on Broadway.
Fences was originally a 1983 play by August Wilson. Set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson’s ten-part “Pittsburgh Cycle”. Like all of the “Pittsburgh” plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience, and examines race relations, among other themes. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.
When Paramount Studios originally acquired the film rights to the play in 1987 with the involvement of Eddie Murphy, it was largely due to Murphy wanting to take on a more “serious” film role: that of the seventeen year-old son Cory. However, in 1987, Murphy was already a full decade older than the character of Cory, and the many filming delays meant that Murphy quickly aged out of eligibility for the role.
In the film’s opening shot, the most prominent building on the left side of the street is lettered PITTSBURGH COURIER. The Courier was Pittsburgh’s African-American newspaper, among the country’s most respected. One of its sportswriters, Wendell Smith, advocated for ending the color line in major league baseball and traveled in 1947 with Jackie Robinson through his inaugural season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The production of the film was continually interrupted by an elderly neighbor to the film location. http://kcby.com/news/entertainment/denzel-washingtons-fences-shoot-was-continuously-interrupted-by-elderly-neighbor
Thoughts and Ponderances 