Movie Review: 'Detroit' burns down with its message

Detroit (2017, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. U.S.A., English, Color, 143 minutes) The most important thing about a society steeped in the arts and culture is the ability to observe our own behavior. Every form of media can be used to deliver a message about who we are, or who we have been, as a civilized group of people. In the history of American cinema we have seen film used to glorify the KKK ("The Birth of a Nation") and even excoriate a presidency ("Fahrenheit 9/11"). Needless to say, it's one of the most powerful and controversial mediums in the world for the stories it tells. "Detroit" is a movie presented as a contemporary art piece that exploits extremely raw emotions of modern events to create a telling of a previous heinous event in our history. The film is as empty, shallow and void of feeling as the society we live in.

Movie Review: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Is Masterful, Best Film of 2012.

Navy Seals prepare to storm bin Laden's compound in 'Zero Dark Thirty.' Image courtesy of Jonathan Olley

I remember I was sitting in the library at school studying for my last finals before graduation when I heard the news. The librarian came over the loudspeaker and said Osama bin Laden was dead. I sat comfortably in my chair wishing for my Monday final to be canceled in lieu of the good news, but no. As fellow classmates were excited about the news I sat and pondered, "How? I didn't even know we were close to him."

Thanks to the Oscar-winning directing/writing duo of "The Hurt Locker", I, along with all of America, get to see what (allegedly) went down.