3 Best Movies to Watch by Mike Colter

This true story of a white-supremacist and the civil rights unit that tried to stop his group was so gripping. 

You might recognize the title from the Oscars ceremony, as a shorter version of Skin (same director but different actors) won the Academy Award for Best Short Film. 

The longer movie provides much more time for the characters to develop, and room for more of a commentary on the current political situation in the U.S.

Fun fact: see that scary man in the picture? That’s Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell who went through a transformation for the role, including always wearing a device to pull his ears closer to his head because they were “too cute”.

Genre: Crime, Drama, History, Romance

Actor: Ari Barkan, Bill Camp, Cecil Blutcher, Colbi Gannett, Daniel Henshall, Danielle Macdonald, Jaime Ray Newman, Jamie Bell, Jenna Leigh Green, Joanna Herrington, Justin L. Wilson, Kylie Rogers, Louisa Krause, Maliq Johnson, Mary Stuart Masterson, Michael Villar, Mike Colter, Portia, Rob Figueroa, Rob Giumarra, Russell Posner, Samantha Jones, Seán Cullen, Vera Farmiga, Zoe Colletti

Director: Guy Nattiv

Rating: R

The plot of the Union feels insultingly childish. An undercover agency has to retrieve an important device before it falls into the “wrong” (i.e. non-Western) hands, and to achieve that, they absolutely must have Mike (Wahlberg) on their team. That nothing here seems plausible shouldn’t be the point--it’s an action movie anyway. But even the action isn’t thrilling. There’s no tension or buildup, no satisfying hits and falls. There’s nothing in here that you haven’t seen before. The potential saving grace lies in its A-lister leads, Wahlberg and Berry. They’re supposed to be lovers here but the chemistry they create is closer to “colleagues who have an unexplored spark” more than anything. The Union works as a mid-tier nostalgia-filled film. It’s a perfectly okay movie, neither bad nor good, which seems par for the course for streaming anyway.

Genre: Action, Comedy

Actor: Adam Collins, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Alex Brightman, Alice Lee, Andrei Lenart, Anthony Thomas, Cain Aiden, Christian Yeung, Claire Ashton, Dana Delany, Daniel Joseph Woolf, Fahim Fazli, Guy Robbins, Halle Berry, J.K. Simmons, Jackie Earle Haley, Jag Patel, James McMenamin, Jen Jacob, Jeśka Pike, Jessica De Gouw, Juan Carlos Hernández, Julianna Kurokawa, Lorraine Bracco, Lucy Cork, Mark Wahlberg, Mike Colter, Nathan Hall, Obie Matthew, Patch Darragh, Riley Neldam, Robert John Gallagher, Robert Ryan, Stephane Fichet, Stephen Campbell Moore, Susan Fordham, Tommy Bayiokos

Director: Julian Farino

Rating: PG-13