Reel Critics: ‘Selma’ is a superb depiction of history

Modern cinema is full of fictional comic book heroes fighting fictional villains. They survive wild exploits, but their phony lives are never really in jeopardy. In contrast, “Selma” recreates a tumultuous time in American history when true heroes rose up to fight a very real and terrible evil.

Ordinary people risked their lives to give oppressed black citizens of the Deep South the right to vote. Many were beaten, maimed or killed for their efforts. But their valiant sacrifices greatly advanced the cause.

Martin Luther King Jr. was in the forefront of this struggle. Actor David Oyelowo gives an Oscar-worthy performance channeling Dr. King’s persona with understated precision and grace. Carmen Ejogo is outstanding as King’s wife, Coretta. Tom Wilkinson plays a conflicted President Johnson. This film does justice to all the complex historical issues involved.

The march from Selma to Montgomery was riveting news for me as a teenager in 1965. The brutal response of the Alabama police on national TV galvanized American opinion. Fifty years later, the issues raised so long ago reverberate anew in the disturbing headlines of today. “Selma” is sure to be a Best Picture nominee and deserves the widest possible audience.

—John Depko

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Not much virtue in ‘Vice’

I’m sitting through the first half hour of “Inherent Vice” and nothing is making sense. Then I remember — it’s directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Anderson’s idiosyncratic style is eccentric, non-linear and self-indulgent, but he did get memorable performances out of his stars in films like “There Will Be Blood,” “The Master” and “Boogie Nights.”

Based on a Thomas Pynchon novel, “Vice” centers on “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a pothead private investigator who spends more time on his couch than in his medical office. Is he really a doctor? Who knows or cares?

It is 1970, and Doc’s long hair and laid-back attire denote him as a “hippie freak” to the Los Angeles Police Department, especially Lt. Det. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), who thinks of Doc as a potential Charles Manson.

Odd, quirky characters wander in and out of Doc’s life asking for help, including pretty ex-girlfriend Shasta (newcomer Katherine Waterston), who suspects a plot against her married boyfriend. Everyone’s problems seem to be connected, but not connected. Think “The Big Sleep” with a lot of drugs.

The entire movie is made of disjointed little scenes to let the actors shine: Owen Wilson, Benicio Del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, and a hilarious Martin Short as a coked-up dentist are but a few.

Brolin is menacing and ridiculous. The funniest bit of the film is when he shouts out for more pancakes from a Japanese chef: “The food isn’t that great, but I like how I’m treated with respect.”

The same applies to Anderson. His movies aren’t great, yet you have to admire his talent for the unique. If this is your thing, go bask in surreal cinematic smoke for what feels like an eternity.

—Susanne Perez

JOHN DEPKO is a retired senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. He lives in Costa Mesa and works as a licensed private investigator. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a company in Irvine.