Monsters and Men Is a Timely Look at the Quiet Courage Needed to Confront Systemic Racism

CW: References to police brutality ahead 

Monsters and Men is a 2018 feature from writer/director Reinaldo Marcus Green that was intended to be inspired by the death of Eric Garner. Though we don't technically see the death of the Eric Garner stand-in at any point in Monsters and Men, pieces of dialogue (particularly mention of the now-deceased person being murdered by police for selling cigarettes) make it clear who this story is about. Of course, Eric Garner is not the first Black person to die at the hands of the police. Acts of violence on the parts of police officers motivated by racism have been going on since basically the police were invented. They've also certainly been rampant in the six years since Garner's death.

Bradley Cooper And Especially Lady Gaga Soar In An Emotionally Powerful New Take On A Star Is Born

Living out here in a suburban town in Texas, I'm isolated from any and all big film festivals as well as all the major movies that premiere there so, naturally, that means I've been removed from all the hype surrounding A Star Is Born ever since it premiered a little over a month ago to rave reviews. I've been hearing non-stop about just how good this movie is, and yet, when I finally got to see this new motion picture over the past weekend, I was shocked to discover that not only did it exceed the massive amount of hype it had generated but just how surprising it's best qualities were. Even though it had been screened so many times before its proper domestic release date, there were still plenty of tricks up A Star Is Born's sleeve for us Texas yokels removed from the festival circuit!