The Reel Rejects - FRUITVALE STATION (2013) MOVIE REVIEW!!

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

BEFORE SINNERS!! Fruitvale Station Full Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Save & Invest In Your Future Today, visit: https://www.acorns.com/rejects Fruitvale Station Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review! In this emotional and powerful film, director Ryan Coogler’s feature debut brings to life the final day of Oscar Grant, portrayed by Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther), in a heartbreaking story based on real events. Joined by Octavia Spencer (The Help, Hidden Figures), Melonie Diaz (Charmed), and Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill, Freaky Friday), the film captures an unforgettable human story of injustice, family, and hope. Andrew Gordon (Cinepals) & Tara Erickson react to some of the most gut-wrenching scenes in the movie—including Oscar’s final moments, his interactions with his daughter, and the chilling BART station sequence. This film marked the beginning of a powerful collaboration between Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler, who went on to make Creed, Creed II (as a producer), Creed III (produced), Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever together. Fruitvale Station remains a vital, emotionally raw viewing experience—and one that continues to resonate deeply over a decade later. Follow Andrew Gordon on Socials:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MovieSource Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/agor711/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Agor711 Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to Acorns for sponsoring this video. More on them in just a bit. Yes, I think Tara we're ready to get into this. Let's do it. Yeah, let's do this. Fruitvale Station, commence. This was produced by Forrest Whitaker. Oh, I did not see that.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I didn't even know he was a producer. Oh, Octavie Spencer, co-producer. Love that. Okay, yeah. She gave a hell of a performance. Anyways, guys, that was Fruitville Station. Thanks to the fine folks over at Pryper for making sure that this was possible to be viewed over at YouTube.

They are working tirelessly and very hard, so we appreciate their dedication over there. Also, if you don't mind on Apple or Spotify, if you are listening to us over there, please give us a five-star rating. We would really appreciate it. Also, rejectnation shop.com. Where you can get cool teas like these. If you are a Patreon member, you do get a discount. So go on and check over there. Tara, how are you feeling after watching this film?

That's, it's just sad, but it's also very aggravating to see that because he mistook it for his taser, which what do you, you either had the shittiest training ever that a cop has ever gotten, or obviously you're just the worst cop ever. And the fact that they brought it down to involuntary manslaughter, sorry, but you should know the difference as a person who's supposed to protect and serve. And I think it should have been labeled still a homicide. And the fact that he got out only after 11 months, I just, like, I can't. It's, it is what it is. But I thought in general that this movie from, shooting it in a, in a P-O-V aspect, handheld.

It especially adds to the frenetic nature at the end when we're sort of on the hunt to go to him in the hospital. What's going to happen keeps us on our toes? But even in the beginning, there was still a lot of moments that they gave us that were unsettling, right? I like that they're trying to point out this man's life who was like taken. and putting a light on the humanity of who he was

as not only a father, but a boyfriend and a son. And yes, he had done bad things in the past as I'm sure some of his friends have done not so good things in the past. They're not perfect, but he was heading towards a better place, right? And so to see what happened, what's transpired there, you know it just makes it a really really sad story and I'm very curious if he did have that

actual conversation with a guy who gave him his card and said why haven't you haven't you you know asked the question yet you know if he was indeed thinking about all of these future plans for his girlfriend to make her his wife and have a life with her and his daughter because we could tell that he was a very good dad and so you know with what that cop did not only took away like a boyfriend but a son but also you know a father and it's sad yeah yeah no i agree with a lot of your points um this was a very well-made film ryan coogler and michael will be jordan i believe again this was their first movie together and they've made several pictures since so they really work very well together and

I really think this film did a great job of highlighting a really tragic event and I really like that this film also really took its time. It was a slow burn but he never really felt the time because we were spending it with this character and I thought it did a good job when it cut back to flashbacks whether he was in prison so we could see okay he was very reflective of the mistakes that he's made in his past

which led us to where we are today and that he wants to change and I appreciate that because I feel like a lot of us can be reflective of the past and what do we got to do now to make sure our future is in a better place obviously we saw he made mistakes

with his girlfriend where you cheated on her I don't know what led him to prison I don't think the film whatever case he's obviously made you know mistakes there he doesn't have a lot of money to support his family his girlfriend's doing all that by the way they did really foreshadow a lot of stuff that was going to be happening here at the end she said to him like don't leave me all alone to do all this shite so you know there was that

and then you got the dog that got hit by the car stuff that you can't control you know sometimes you know stuff that does again stuff that you can't control and then you get taken from life dog getting hit by the car the car and then a police officer who can't control his trigger finger so you know and then you know again you got and like I said there were a couple shots where we were following that that POV handheld from the back it just gave you a sense of dread of things to come obviously we know we saw that I would assume the real footage at the very beginning we didn't see who got shot or what we just saw a little bit of footage there but I mean it felt like something bad was

really going to happen towards the end but yeah it was just the whole film just building up towards this event but again i like that we got to spend so much time with this character just seeing that he's trying to write the wrongs in his past and he's trying to provide for his family he he really does love his girlfriend he loves his daughter he loves his family his mom his sister and it really also did feel like he was getting it from every which way in terms of like i I need the dungeonous crab, I need money for the card, I need money for rent, just all these things. And he wants to be able to provide. But, you know, he just didn't have the financial means.

And I can understand I've been there. Obviously, I don't have a child or a baby mama, so I can't understand from that. You know, I can't resonate from that sense. So that's a whole different type of financial security that, you know, is probably very, can be depressing. if you don't have that when you want to provide. So I can only imagine what he was going through is probably very panicky. And he also had that thin veil wall

where he was trying to keep it within. So because we saw that one scene where he got really scary with the store manager. I think that was all coming out from everything that had come within him. Like, I need this, I need that, I need this and that. And also I want to provide for my family.

It's like, dude, I'm like, I'm just so desperate. So I thought that wasn't a really good moment for Michael B. Jordan as an actor to let all that, that desperation and rage out in that moment. Whether we agreed or not with him doing that, obviously, I didn't agree with the dialogue. His character was saying,

but I understood because of where he's sitting and that I want him to help provide with his family. But I did like, again, I don't know what is exactly accurate. Like, did he really have that conversation with the web designer or not? I mean, it's interesting to see if he did or not. Having so that I do like that he really would. Like, he dumped out the grass. He saw that he didn't want.

to end up back in prison he did meet the web designer he was again i i appreciate that is like i like characters who can be reflective see the error of their ways and try to write the wrongs and try to go on the on the righteous and correct path and uh you know have have sort of an arc if you will so i did like all that and it just it was unfortunate and really sad that his life was cut short and it's just ridiculous again i don't know if it was real life or not that of all places that other prisoner who was you know disrespecting his mother was on the same train as him it's not impossible for stuff because i'm not going to lie i've run to random people in places in l.A i mean so it's possible to run into someone it's just what horrible timing if that really did happen but yeah it's just

it's very frustrating at the end there and again i'm sure you know in any job and profession there's obviously people who are really bad at their jobs so i don't want to throw all police I'm sure there's very good and noble and honorable police officers. It's a very dangerous job, obviously. But these specific police officers were extremely usurping their authority. And you could tell right away that they were, you know, just very power hungry in terms of, again, the authority that they had and they were happy to do it. Whereas, you know, you should just be in a position just if you're going to question, just question with respect. And that's. it so i just everything was just from the tone of how they grabbed him and just the questioning and the brutality of everything was just like everything like you were in a position to do some even if it was a wrongful mistake or whatever you everything was from the offset was off with these officers so you know you can say it was a mistake obviously but again from how you threw these guys out of the subway car to how you were treating them afterwards when they were being very cooperative and

respectful you know different story so uh i agree with you that's very upset especially with all the video footage that that officer was released rather quickly but another story in terms of the film again very well-made film uh just i i thought this character was a very compelling character and i also just felt so so sad for him that his life was cut so short and i feel so bad for his family yeah But an incredible performance by Michael B. Jordan. Incredible performance by Octavius. Everyone. Incredible. A great direction by Ryan Coogler. I really feel he captured the city as well, almost as a character in itself. But yeah, just so many different layers that I just appreciated. And really hit me in the fields in this film. I wish it wasn't a true story, but it's a great film. Yeah. I'll let you look up trivia. I have a couple more thoughts. Hey guys, I've hit a point in life where I realize time flies, and if you're not intentional about your future, it sneaks up on you. And my whole life, the advice was always, start investing when you're young, start investing when you're young.

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Checking them out does help support the channel, but more importantly helps support your bank account. account. And because we're talking about money and support that I do say. Payne on client endorsement. Compensation provides incentive to positively promote acorns. Tier 1 compensation provided investing involves risk. Acorns advisor LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important disclosure to acorns.com slash reex. For may corn's mighty oaks do grow. Thank you again, acorns for everything that you do. Is that they really, um, they didn't utilize music as much as I thought they would, meaning there's a lot of scenes in here that are, it's just a scene with just the characters, the, the, the hustle and bustle of the.

environment and or the silence of the environment, especially when Octavia Spencer is looking through the glass at her son. There's stuff when he goes through the daycare. We're just silently going through there until we meet her. And then when we go into the slow-mo when he's racing her, I think a little bit of music comes on. But they're very mindful about where they choose to bring in music and where they don't, which I think also is what makes me, reminds me of a very independent point of view, right? Where music isn't overly utilized, it's more just us being there in the life with them

in these characters. Because a lot of other films, even when we're sitting there in the waiting room with Octavia Spencer and all of the friends and she's saying, we have to lift him up, we have to lift him up. There is a way that you could play that that I assume other movies would

where it's this like type of music that is added there and then we find out that he's gone, right? Along with the montage of them helping him, but then slowly taking off those little tapey things, which tells us as an audience member that he's gone before they actually announce it to the family. But I actually like that they played it silently and just sort of took us through that without the music.

And I like how often in the script, I think it was two or three times give me the bad news first and then the good news, how their family operated in regards to good news and bad news. I just like that because it's sort of giving us a little, I guess, insight into how they communicated because that was the first thing his sister said. And that's what I think his mom said to him on the phone. Like, I don't know. It's basically just giving us a nice.

peek into their life and how they view things and how they communicate, right? And his life has been filled with a lot of bad news. But there's also some good stuff still in it, you know, which is good. Yeah, no, for sure. Like I said, even though he's got some amazing things, he's got a very loving family in terms of his mom, his grandma, his sister, his baby mama and his daughter, I also felt like, like you said in terms of the bad news, it just felt like so many different things

were being thrown at him throughout the film, as we mentioned. So, yeah, I just like, I think that was an interesting observation you make because I do agree with that. And that's also, too, it resonated with me because it's something like I always, whenever someone says to me,

I have good news and I have bad news. I'm always like, throw the bad news at me first because I want to end with something positive. I don't want to hear the bad thing second. That is a very interesting observation for sure. so yeah again amazing film sad story really sucks i hope also too because i don't think it mentioned in the text at the end terra i really hope the family sued the heck out of that police department and got a lot of money because this isn't this was ridiculous yeah very undeserved of the family

to not be able to have oscar with them anymore i agree all right looked up a few things terra what do you think the budget of the film was I am going to go with he probably knew that he wanted to come under budget and be like here you go we can still make films for not a lot of money I'm going to say

no but you have names in it oh god go with your gut I'm going to I'm going to say 850,000 but I think that's under oh my god i was like oh my god i was only 50 000 away 900 000 i did go with your guest i'm proud of you on that one good job wow worldwide box office we are counting domestic and international together worldwide box office i don't know that this movie did very well um i am gonna go with um one point

$17,385,830. Okay, but that's like, that's not like opening weekend. We're talking about overall time. Overall worldwide. Oh, overall, since it's come out. Yeah. Okay, got it. I love that.

All righty. Let's do Rotten Tomatoes. Let's start one at a time. What do you think the critics gave this film out of 100? I'm going to say the critics. went 86. Okay. And I'll say that the audience went 91.

I think I'm going too high for both of them, but let's see. So you said 86 for the critics. Yeah. It was 94. Okay. You said 91 for the audience. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So, all right. Yep. Really good scores on both. Yeah. Really, really, really good. Okay. Let's do some trivia.

Let's see what we got here. Really quick, I just want to see who was the composer. Because, like you said, there wasn't a ton of music in it, but I'm always just curious. Oh, Ludwig, Gornson. Oh, he did the, he's done so much. I think he did Oppenheimer. He also did Black Panther. Okay.

And he's done a bunch. The Mandalorian Tenet. Oh, wow. Yep, he did Black Panther. He's a big deal. I'm pretty sure he did Oppenheimer. I just want to double check for it. Oh, he did the new movie Sinners.

Let's see, did he do Oppenheimer? Yep, he did Ophenheimer. Oppenheimer. Great composer. Cool. Okay. Let's get into some Therlavia. After funding fell through, Octavia Spencer offered to forego her salary to help Ryan Cougler keep it to his budget. That's why she's a co-exec producer. Good for you, Octavia. Oscar Grant's Real Mom. Excuse me. Oscar Grant's Real Mom Wanda Johnson makes a small cameo appearance in the film. she plays Mrs. Stacey at Tatiana's preschool.

Oh, yeah, so are in the background. Okay, yeah, we did see her. Awesome. Cool. As co-executive producer, Octavia Spencer, had to find investors. One of the first investors she found was Catherine Stockett, her friend since they met in Los Angeles in the early 2000s.

Stockett wrote the Oscar-winning film of Minnie in The Help in 2011, specifically for Spencer. was the only investor to receive a very special thanks credit at the end of the film awesome footage of a gathering featuring oscar grant's daughter tatiana was shot on new year's day 2013 it was added a few weeks before its premiere at sundance very cool director ryan cugler created the the project with michael b jordan in mind for the lead role great choice yeah producer forrest whitaker became a very early supporter of ryan cougler after seeing his film work in college forest you got an eye for talent my friend um there's not much director ryan coogler said this was the hardest film he's ever made i can understand that uh i guess we'll just do a couple the spoiler ones yeah the scene where oscar grant is shot was filmed at the actual fruit fell station the original bullet hole is still there where michael b jordan was lying that must have been

i got to imagine for michael b jordan for ryan cougler and that must have been that must have been like emotional to shoot that scene knowing we're not at a location for like the film we're at the location that it's still there geez huh writer director ryan coogler is the same age as oscar grant and also grew up in the bay area and was living there at the time of grant's murder oh this is a personal story for him for sure got it makes sense too like i said again just getting off topic for half a second just makes sense now that ryan cougler chose Sanford Francisco for the area where Michael B. Jordan's character grows up in that film. So now it makes more sense. I had no idea of Cougler. Well, I don't think he chose it. It's just that this event happened.

I'm not talking about this film. I'm talking about Black Panther. Oh, got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure, obviously, like Oscar Grant's from here. Got it. I was just saying out love for that. Oscar Grant's father is never mentioned. Oscar Grant Jr. is a self-confessed former CO cane dealer who has, I wasn't sure if I was allowed to use that word. So that's why I spelled it like that. who has been in prison since at least September 8, 1985. He is serving a life sentence at California's Solano State Prison for first degree taking of life. He was permitted to sue Bart for his share of wrongful death payments. As of November 2013, his suit is pending grants, mother and daughter settled for separate total payments of $2.8 million. Okay.

At least they got some money there. That's good. yeah oscar's uh taking of life is similar in many ways to the dog that passed away earlier in the day they both were killed by people who were callous and careless yeah had done nothing wrong and hadn't seen the attack coming and even bled from the mouth they were also comforted by strangers on the scene the dog by oscar and oscar by the police supervisor yeah that's why i said that scene was like a real foreshadowing like they were very well good It was just very perilous in pattern, but unfortunately. Yeah. Anyways, Tara, any final thoughts on Fruitvale Station? No, I just got to get in my car, listen to some music, get over and out of this mood. This is a sad movie.

I'm glad that it was made. It highlights what happened here and that there's obviously still police brutality happens out there all of the time. and it's really shite and we all wish it didn't happen and I hope that people learn to do better. Amen. Totally agree. Well said, Tara.

Anyways, guys, let us know in the comments. What did you think of Fruitvale Station? Is this Ryan Cougler and Michael B. Jordan's best film together? And are there other films like this that you would like, Tara, myself, other members of the team to react to? We'd love to hear all your thoughts in the comments below. If you have stuck with us this long, seriously, we really appreciate it. and we will catch you on the next one.