Because of the ignorance that's out there in the world, you get two posts today.
Yes, we have a chance to elect either the first woman or black man as president of our nation. Awesome. But we still have brain farts like this one.
This is a link to Time Magazine's 25 Most Important Films on Race. That is the title. Except there's a problem. These are all black films, and some of them have little if nothing to do with "race."
I knew something was direly wrong when I saw Madea's Family Chance-At-Embarrassing-Black-America-Yet-Again on the list followed by I Am Legend. The author of the list, Richard Corliss, or his editor, either doesn't quite understand the meaning of race or didn't bother to come up with a good headline.
RACE doesn't equal BLACK. I expected to see movies like Crash, Babel, A Raisin In the Sun, White Men Can't Jump and Jungle Fever on the list. These are movies that deal with race.
Now, as far as black movies and movies that have significant black characters are concerned, Corliss had a good variety. But I still can't understand how he could dare put some trash (although some people do find it entertaining) like Madea's Family ... on that list.
There are several other GOOD movies he could have chosen including: Love Jones, Waiting to Exhale, Dreamgirls and Ray. Hell, he could have even gone with American Gangster. But not Madea or anything else Tyler Perry has done those far in his career (although he is quite adept at stacking that cheese).
Richard Corliss, if I had your e-mail, I'd send you one right this minute. Don't worry, I'm looking for it as we speak.
Friday, February 08, 2008
RACE = BLACK? Really?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
This is My Confession
I have an admission. It's something that in some circles might get me shot. In others, I might be looked as or presumed to be certifiably gay (which I'm not, though I have nothing against homosexual people).
My name is Vic Damone, Jr. and I'm a quasi-female television addict. About 40 percent of my television consumption consists of things no man would ever watch a full episode of even with a gun to his head.
I've watched a full season or two of Top Model. I loved the Golden Girls (though I refuse to watch re-runs). I'm intrigued by Project Runway (because I have a ton of female friends who watch it), though I haven't seen but like five minutes of it. I watch The Tyra Banks Show, Oprah and The View if I get the chance.
If you're wondering why, it's because I'm curious to see what females are thinking. If I could have one superpower, it would be that of Mel Gibson's character Nick in What Women Want (one of my favorite movies). I pick up Essence and Cosmo to try and learn as much about women.
If women are from Venus, television, magazines and my females friends are my satellites that's I've launched into orbit to study that planet.
More than anything, I'm addicted to The Game and Girlfriends and Sex and the City re-runs. I'm willing to admit this. The shows Mara Brock Akil and her writers have created are thought-provoking, witty and funny takes on the mid-to-upper class black life.
Writing the way they do is what I aspire to do with my life, thoughts and words. And I feel like I learn something about women and about writing with every word I hear on either of these shows.
So yes. I admit it. I've watched every episode of the first two seasons of The Game twice, at least. I've seen most of the episodes of Girlfriends, and will purchase every season on DVD once the prices come down.
And I'm overly excited for the return of the shows on Sunday night (although I hate that they're competing with the SuperBowl).
Whew! The secret is out. And I'm happy about it.
P.S. For discretion's sake: I'm a die-hard football junkie. I live and breathe baseball. I die during the Boondocks and Everybody Hates Chris. I still watch SportsCenter repeats. And CSI has kept me from even thinking about doing some really dumb things in life.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Peaks and Valleys: Falling From Grace
While talking about the Mike Vick saga again, a friend and I started to consider if there were any other bigger black collapses. We came up with an intriguing list of the 15 greatest falls from black grace. To make the list, you either lost a lot of money, did something mad stupid, ended up in jail or something along similar lines.
There are a few Joneses and Barrys, a couple of Marions and Roberts, the Godfather of Soul, the self-proclaimed King of R&B and far too many Mikes. But first we'll start with the dishonorable mentions.
No. 14: James Brown – The Godfather of Soul had a few falls from grace, a few spats with drugs and the law. But most recently his body lay in house for an extended period of time as his family members struggled about what to do with it because he didn’t redo his will.
No. 13: Marion Jones - Once considered the fast woman in the world, we learned why she was just that in federal indictments alleging she used performance-enhancing drugs. Her then-husband CJ Hunter was suspended from the track for using drugs, and she probably was right there with him. She then went on to date and birth a child with sprinter Tim Montgomery, who also succumbed to steroid use and scandal. Oh, yeah, Marion also lost all of her money and had to sell three properties including her mom’s crib to raise cash.
No. 12: Ron Isley – Mr. Biggz evaded paying his taxes since before he made “Between the Sheets.” He also took his dead brother’s money. Ron also recorded and performed a song written by R. Kelly named “Contagious.” The lyrics are disgusting if you really listen to them. Your contagious/touch me baby/give me what you’ve got. Really?
No. 11: MC Hammer – Helped run the Oakland Athletics as a child, but didn’t learn about money management from owner Charlie Finley. Hammer blew up, put everybody on the payroll and went bankrupt.
No. 10: Marion Barry – “The bitch set me up.” Former District of Columbia Mayor was caught with crack cocaine and a woman in a hotel room in 1990 while still in office. He stepped down as Mayor but was re-elected in 1995. We are a forgiving nation. There’s hope Mike Vick.
No. 9: Barry Bonds – “Accused” of using performance-enhancing drugs to improve his play on the baseball field even though he was already a lock for the Hall of Fame. This happened under Baseball Owners and Bud Selig watch, and they didn’t disapprove. Broke sports most hallowed record, the home run record, this summer.
No. 8: Master P – In 1999, he was worth more than $350 million. In 2004, he filed for bankruptcy. Three-hundred and fifty-million plus. Seriously? But he’s bankrolling off of Lil Romeo still.
No. 7: Condoleezza Rice – She’s smart as can be and an accomplished pianist, but she is also George W. Bush’s No. 1 go-getta. Need I say more?
No. 6: Whitney Houston/Bobby Brown – Their fates are tied together. He started falling before he reached his peak (and he did peak with the Don’t Be Cruel album), and when they got married, he brought her down with him. She called him the King of R&B. Then the television show. Drugs marriage, and coonery are a lethal mix.
No. 5: Michael Jackson – Even if he didn’t do anything to that little boy, Mike is mad crazy. Funny thing about him is that if he announced and booked a 30-city US tour, it would sell out in a week, and grown women would still pass out.
No. 4: Robert Kelly – What we said about Mike is almost true with Kells. Most of have seen what “the person alleged to be Robert Kelly” did in those tapes to that girl who looked a little to young to be “ready to go all the way.” But we still bump his music like we did back in 1992 when Twelve Play first dropped.
No. 3: Mike Vick – Stands to lose over $100 million in salary and endorsements because of his dogfighting scandal. Will likely be spend a year in jail, and be suspended for the next two NFL seasons.
No. 2: Mike Tyson – Got his ass whooped by Buster Douglas. Was convicted of rape. He lost hundreds of millions of dollars because of it. Let’s not forget that he bit a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear off, told Lennox Lewis he wanted to eat his children and then tattooed half of his face.
No. 1: OJ Simpson – Do I really need to go here?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Day dreaming, and I'm thinking of you ...
Yo, people. I've been doing a little writing. Here's a small sample of something I'm working on... It's the start of this screenplay idea that's working through my mind and onto my laptop slowly but surely. Here's a sample.
It’s when you start dreaming with your eyes open, that’s when you really begin living.
A wet dream, right? That’s what you’re talking about? (Jay laughs, Wade smirks but isn't amused) For real, that’s about the only type of dream I want to experience awake.
WADE
You need to find some way to get the sewage out of your mind.
Wade, please. You act like you’re holier than thou. Last time I checked, which was about three minutes ago, you were determining whether or not that breezy over there was questionable or probable for a late night extravaganza.
WADE
But what does that have to do with what I’m talking about? (JAY shrugs his shoulders) Right. I’m on a serious tip. I feel like I’m having a midlife crisis, man.
You’re like 25, so unless you want to die a young corpse at 50, you might want to rephrase that to “quarter-life quandary.”
WADE
Quarter-life, mid life, I just know I don’t want to spend every day of my damn life waking up at seven a.m. to get to a job where I begrudgingly sit behind a desk, typing and responding to e-mails that end with exclamation points, only to come home with just enough time to catch two minutes of SportsCenter before I fall asleep and wake up to do the same thing the next day. I want more. Ya know?
JAY
Yeah, I know what you mean. You start feeling like a zombie.
And I’m not spending the best years of the rest of my life sleep walking. I need to live.
Then you need to find a few dreams to live for – a wet one and a real one. (they both laugh)
I couldn't agree more.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Your heart is true ...
I've become a bad blogger. I used to give you two to three posts a week. Then life kind of happened. It was already going on, but I just kinda got mad busy. But anyways, as always, I'm going to try to be better about this.
Here are a few thoughts running through my mind:
I loved Transformers and Ratatouille, though the later bothered me some when it first started. Ratatouille is the movie about the cooking rat, but it started off as though it were about a family of rats who were black slaves in the 1800s with references to rats "not being able to read" and the rats taking a trip on an "underground" waterway. I wonder if anyone else noticed this. Beyond that it was a good film.
-------
I had two very drunken encounters this week, one was justifiable. On Independence Day, I forgot to eat before I started drinking, and that led to black spots in my evening and a two-day hangover. Ugh.
I swore off alcohol for at least a month. But I didn't last 72 hours.
On Saturday, seven of the nine of my line brothers (or pledge class) were in Kansas City. A few of us got together, and it was an ignorant, but great time. I felt like I didn't have much of a choice but to enjoy the time with the fellas. At least I ate, and didn't have any semblance of a hangover when I woke up the next morning.
The one bad thing I did do was have a Red Bull and Vodka. I think I only got two hours of sleep before I woke up and couldn't fall back into my slumber.
No matter, though. I'm still taking a prolonged break from alcohol. Approximately, a month.
-----
One of my good friends ended an AIM conversation with me last night by typing "thank you for being a friend."
She was in a bad moment, and I didn't want to laugh, but I couldn't help it because the theme song to the Golden Girls started running through my mind.
Hopefully you get the title because of this last bit. If you didn't, good for you. That means you had your head in a book and probably didn't watch too much television as a child as I did.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Jonesing Again
I wanted to go and see The Last King of Scotland on Monday, but after I got a gory review, I decided I'd wait a few more days. Most of you already know, I'm not a fan of gory movies. I won't see any of the Saw movies.
So anyway, I decided instead to watch one of my favorites, When Harry Met Sally, again, and a question posed in the movie got me to thinking about Love Jones (you do know that on the back of the Love Jones DVD case that it pretty much says Loves Jones is When Harry Met Sally but for black people?)
What happened to Nina and Darius' relationship after the dramatic/romantic, lip-locking in the rain scene that ended the movie?
I asked this question of belizeanchica, and she said that she thought the relationship lasted another three years, max. She thinks that Darius moved to New York to be with his woman. But he went through another spell of "masterpiece of minimalism" type writer's bloc and ended up frustrated because his woman was more successful than he was. She felt like they'd go through the mill of today's typical relationship. You know, the "breakup-to-makeup, we're doing it again, and again and again, mary-go-round" soiree until they realize that it it wouldn't work, three years after the fact.
My opinion differed, but not much.
I think they may have lasted six months more. I saw their rekindling outside of The Sanctuary as a brief spark, but not an eternal flame. Darius doesn't move to New York. Instead, they attempt to make it work via long distance with frequent visits. Through a few more fights ("Is Lisa's number still on his fridge," Nina says) They eventually realize that they are two different people with two different directions in life. They once shared a strong connection, but that time has past. Nina becomes a Felicia to Darius, and Darius becomes another Marvin, and they move on with their existences understanding that they got the chance to say "what if" again, and it realized that it wasn't worth it.
What do you think? It's an interesting one. One that makes you think.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Not Again ...
There is a reason why you do not attend movies with your parents, whatsoever.
I found out on Saturday when I treated my mother to a matinee. I don't know what I was thinking honestly.
We saw Catch and Release, the new Jennifer Garner movie. The movie was well, awkward, but good. It's about a woman whose fiancee dies before the wedding, and how she copes with it and deals with things she learns about him afterward.
Good plot thatI hadn't seen. It was full of good humor. But then everything went sour fairly quickly. Garner's character started to fall for someone, and they eventually went through the motions of "motion-picture sex."
Then i thought to myself, "My mother is really sitting right next to me."
I couldn't turn the channel. I couldn't get up and walk out. I was stuck, grossed out and wishing we'd gone to see Pursuit of Happyness again like she wanted.
It wasn't the first time it had happened, though. Somehow, the first time I saw Love Jones in the movies, it was with my mother. Weird, I know.
But I'll tell you this, the next time I go to the movies with mom, we will be seeing something G rated. Guaranteed.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Movie-going update
I finally got around to seeing Babel yesterday. It's my third of the five nominated films for the Best Picture Academy Award.
The other two: The Queen and The Departed.
It suffices to say that Dreamgirls probably should be on the list. The Departed is the most compelling/complex. The Queen was interesting, but not because of the acting. And Babel? Well, that one is just downright impossible to understand.
There's good acting. There's great cinematography, and even an interesting story line. But it really goes nowhere at all, which is kind of upsetting. It's like a (really) poor man's Crash, and it probably cost more money to put together. I'm almost mad that I went to see it. Speaking of which, do not see Children of Men. You will be disappointed. They don't even tell you why women stop making babies, and that's all you need to know.
Anyways, I'm glad Beyonce is not nominated for Best Actress because that would have been a token nomination. I wish Jennifer Hudson were up for best actress because when you steal a film like she did it's clear that everyone was supporting her, not the other way around. But she should win.
I'm going to see Little Miss Sunshine in a few days.
All this movie watching makes me want to write. Who knows? Maybe I will.
Oh yeah, I finally watched Akeelah and the Bee. Great movie, and the hispanic kid who befriended Akeelah was the best character in the film, better than Akeelah even.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
An Alright Black Movie
Before I begin, I'd like to preface this entry by saying that I do not know Columbus Short, nor do I know anyone related to anyone answering to this name. For some reason, a few of my female friends have called me asking for connection because this dude, the star of Stomp the Yar, is supposedly from Kansas City. But I did my research, and he moved from KC when he was 5.
I digress.
Stomp the Yard shocked me. I entered the theater last Friday with a fellow greek friend, an AKA, with low expectations and ready to bash the movie if it was bad. Surprisingly, it proved to be a decent movie and worth the price of admission.
But I must say, the story itself, not necessarily the script, acting or stepping for that matter, made it worth seeing. For me, the movie stayed away from what black greek letter organizations are about, and concentrated chiefly on the idea of stepping, in most ways portraying it as the most significant part of black greek life. That I didn't like, and could actually see why Alpha and AKA threatened to boycott if the organizations names and pari weren't pulled from the film.
The stepping really wasn't all that great. The majority of the steps rivaled things I learned within the first week of practicing for my first stepshow, i.e. they weren't that difficult. Then it turned to dancing to fill the void, and actually introduced dancing as a solution to boring steps, a bad idea.
Also, Keith Sweat served as a celebrity judge. Another bad idea.
So what made the movie worthwhile? How about Chris Brown only lasting 10 minutes in the film (Thank God).
There were the reminders of greek life - probate shows, not being able to sit down in chairs too quickly, being on the yard and brotherhood.
Then there was the main plot: Columbus Short and the love story between he and Meagan Goode. It actually had some innocence to it, and served as the meat of the story when every other angle fell through.
Short's (DJ) interest in Meagan was believable and sincere, and saved an otherwise lifeless film. Just showing DJ in pursuit of a woman already spoken for was interesting, then to somehow weave DJ's family life into took it to a new level and actually complicated the matter.
Now, only if the writers could have done something to make the other stories in the movie more believable. It seemed like it could have been the concept, but maybe some hot shots came in and said it had to be a "national" step competition that the same step team had one seven straight years. Really, believable.
Who knows? But I still say go see it just for the love story and the fact that it's a black movie about something other than sex or violence, something we haven't seen in quite some time.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
I Ain't Scurred of No Snakes ...
Among the things I did over the weekend included going to see Snakes On A Plane, that new Samuel L. Jackson movie (I prefer not to use the word flick because that makes it sound like porn with snakes, which it might as well have been but that's a story for another day).
I didn't really care to see it. But I needed something to do, and I figured since I onced owned a snake (you learn new ish about me every day if you read), I owed a debt to blow $8 on this film, Snakes On A Plane.
"What kind of a title is that," a friend of mine recently said. "Couldn't they have been more creative."
I don't know. All I know is that I laughed at maybe the most inappropriate time, but for probably the most appropriate reason. Let me explain.
Remember Deep Blue Sea, the movie where one black man (Sam Jack's character) died while reaching the crescendo of a high and mighty speech because a super smart shark decide to have SamJack as his salad and not his entree? Yeah, that one.
Snakes in a Plane harbored a moment just like that. Sam Jack on his high and mighty, on a plane full of crazy ass snakes, and all I could do was hope that one would snatch his ass up and bite the shit out of him like the super smart shark did. But it never happened.
I just bugged up for no reason because it was a perfect moment for that to happen. I don't care if SamJack was the main attraction in this film. It woulda been the equalizer.
Anyways, It was an OK film. If I had to give it up to five stars, it would get three for its entertainment value and that's it. No more because no ungrateful person would unleash that mainly deadly snakes on a plane.
Oh my God, I hope Osama and his friends don't have a movie theater or a bootlegging hustler anywhere near. (and I'm serious)
Sunday, June 11, 2006
"You (Non- PG 13 Word)ed Mia ..."
... is a line that led to a pummelling of a Best Man from a groom becuase well ...
He "(non-PG 13 word)ed Mia," the groom's bride to be. Most of you know this situation from The Best Man. It's my favorite line in the movie, I think.
But a fellow blogger recently wrote about the idea of dating a friend's ex (or in this case, sleeping with their bride to be), and whether or not it's okay. Now, let's get this out of the way: unless the bride is Halle Berry, there' s no reason for the Best Man to sleep with the groom's fiancee, and even that's a stretch.
Now dating a friend's ex: I don't think that should be done either, except for in extreme situations.
I remember back to middle and high school, the formative years, how friends would switch out boy and girlfriends like boys trading baseball cards or girls borrowing clothes. It was the thing to do.
I never really understood it. Why would I ever want to lay hands on a woman one of my boys had been drooling over. That's just wrong because you hurt people's feelings.
I didn't follow through with something this ignorant in high school nor college. Actually, I've never officially done it. But I did come close after graduation.
One of my boys had been feeling this girl for a while, and when they stopped talking on her accord he asked me to do damage control: talk to her and see where her head was. She seemed to be good people from the times we met.
And once we started talking, things kind of clicked, that good converastion, ya know? And at that time I thought it was extremely rare, and it still is, that you find people you can just talk for hours about anything and not want to get off the phone or leave that person's presence.
Well we both knew we liked each other. She knew nothing was going to work with this guy. But we also knew we weren't going anywhere more than friendship to make sure we didn't hurt our mutual friend.
She and I talked about it. Cleared the air, and definte our situation as just a friendship. We'd hang out every now and then - go stepping, drinking and chill out - but no romanticism in the place. Be adults, and that would be the end of it. Right?
Wrong. A day after our talk, our mutual friend asked me what was up with me and his ex. I don't lie, and I figured that telling the truth would be the best thing to do, so I did...
and I lost friend. Dude couldn't understand how I could even like her. In some ways, I felt him because I wouldn't want any of my guys after my exs - anybody I've slept with or talked to either - either, but it happens. It's probably happening right now.
It's a part of life. I thought I'd done him justice by not acting. But I was wrong.
Maybe I should have gone the whole way so he could have attempted to hold me over his balcony and scream at me about how I'm not God and how he could kill me. But this isn't a movie, and Taye Diggs role in the best man will not be the story of my life.
I've never slept with a friend's ex, and never will I.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
It's been a long time ...
I shouldn't have left you, without a new post to step to ... step to, step to, to step to ...
Yes, I'm back, and I could have come back to the blogging world with lyrics from the Mase remake "Welcome Back" rendition, but I decided to come correct via the Timbaland and Aaliyah track.
Yes, I have a song for everything.
You feel like you're in love: Brian McKnight - Never Felt This Way
Your girl just broke up with you: Brian McKnight - One Last Cry, After the Love has Gone, Shoulda, Woulda Coulda ...
You want people out of your business: Bobby Brown - My Perogative
You want to profess your love for your local neighborhood ho: T-Pain - I'm in Luv (Wit a Stripper)
Yes, I know what some of you are thinking, is this a real song? It is. Go to ITunes, pay your $.99 and hear it. It may or may not be worth it to you, but it's hilariously horrible.
The chorus is the title. Now can you actually imagine a man who wouldn't be embarassed to say that he was in love with a stripper? No (good, self-righteous) man in his right mind would tell any of his friends or post this message anywhere.
The only thing I think about when I hear the song is how Chris Rock said that "if your daughter's a stripper, you've fucked up" and then i think about what type of man goes after the daughter whose father "fucked up."
Not this one. Still, I digress to some other interesting news.
Hustle & Flow was a decent movie. I will not deny that. But there is no way Terrance D. Howard should be up for an Oscar for this movie. I repeat, no way. It's a great performance. But he was better in Crash. His role in Crash was gripping, better than Matt Dillon's.
I just wonder what kind of message the Academy is sending to America about Black people when it hands out Oscars to Denzel for being a crooked cop, Halle for being a whorish no-good mother and nominates Howard for being a pimp reformed by his ability to flow. And though it was a stellar performance, we can't discount Jamie's role of a coke-addicted, womanizing blind musician.
What happened to role's like Denzel's role in say John Q. One word: gripping. The movie came out the same year as Training Day, but to farless critical acclaim. Does the Academy and America prefer to see the black man as crooked, rather than see him trying to do right by his family and by his son?
Does America and the Academy prefer to see a pimp turn himself into a struggling rap artist more so than be unveiled to the racism played out in most every American community to this day?
Pure unadulterated ignorance.
More ignorance: Triple 6 Mafia, the Memphis group that brought you hits such as "Slob on My Knob" and "Ass & Titties" is nominated for an Oscar. No not a grammy. An Oscar for their rendition of "It's Hard Out There for A Pimp," from you guessed it, Hustle & Flow ...
I'll repeat that for you. Three 6 Mafia nominated for an Oscar. Before last month I had a better chance of taking home that statuesque gold figure more so than 36Mafia. Think about this, If they win for best soundtrack song, or whatever they're nominated for, they'll have voting rights.
Three Six Mafia with Voting Rights? I'm telling you if they win look out for State Property 3 for film of the year next February ...
I'm telling you. This is what they want from us.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
A Penguin-Like March ...
"I think the biggest factor is that films aren't connecting with the audience. I mean, look. March of the Penguins. How much did that movie make? I'm telling you, it's my belief that people went to see that film because there was nothing else to see. If there were good movies in the theater, they're not going to see a documentary about penguins. " ~ Spike Lee
So for some reason beyond me (I think I was drawn in by a friend who is fond of little animals), I wanted to finally see the Penguin Documentary. Anybody who knows me knows that don't rent movies. I buy them.
So when I saw March of the Penguins on sale for $14.99 at Wally World, I had to go through with the purchase. Now, I'll admit. I was slightly skeptical at first. It took me nearly an hour just to watch the first 2o minutes, and then I took a long (two-day) break before finishing it up last night.
I'll say that it was just okay. Intriguingly interesting. But just okay. There was one thing that really stood out to me, though. The likeness of the mating game in penguins and the black middle class social entity.
Here's an excerpt from Morgan Freeman's narration. Compare it to the stereotypical black middle class mating game and you'll understand.
"Because there are fewer males than females, hostilities amongst the females are inevitable. A taken male instantly becomes an unavailable male. So occassionally, a female will try to interrupt the courtship. The men don't seem to mind. They just wait for the fight to end and take the opportunity to preen. They're not that different from us really?"
Catch my drift?
Friday, December 23, 2005
My Most Favorite Movies of 2005
Note that I didn't say the best movies. I don't like all types of movies. I have an undiganosed version of ADD meaning it's takes a lot to hold my attention for two hours.
But here are the movies that actually captivated me this year. There are a few that I still need to see like Derailed and Rumor Has It. But this is my top 5 thus far.
1. Crash: A gripping tale of lives intersecting. The weird thing about this is Ludacris actually gave a great performance in this film along with Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton and Matt Dillon.
2. In Good Company: an atypical plot in your everyday setting. The relationship between Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid’s characters is so unusual that it’s quite intriguing. The thing I like most though, this doesn’t have a your everyday happy ending all around.
3. Batman Begins: I thought this movie would be flawed because they went backwards. But this is easily my most favorite of the Batman movies because it is truly dark and not goofy.
4. Just Like Heaven: I’m backwards because I like improbable romantic comedies. But I think this one got to me because of the serendipitous feel to the whole thing. It’s unlikely, but a lot of us need angels like the one in this movie to wake us up.
5. Hustle & Flow: To me, the story isn’t about the hood or ‘the life of a pimp,’ but rather a tale of a flawed man trying to realize a fairly impossible dream. And for the record, Ludacris sucks in this movie.
Quote of the day: "My only job in life is to keep her off the pole! Keep my baby off the pole. I mean, they don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you've fucked up." ~ Chris Rock talking about parenting a female child in Never Scared.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
The Indecent Proposal ...
(NOTE: I have never paid anyone to write anything for me that I was supposed to write ... lol)
Amid a bit of frustration and sleepiness in the midday, I asked a friend jokingly if she'd like to write a story for me. A 450-word masterpiece of minimalism for 20 GWs. I knew she wouldn't go for that, but I had to low-ball her at first. She told me I was crazy.
I then pushed the price up to a benjamin. She jumped at the idea of that. Since Ihave standards and morals, it was just small talk and there was no transaction. But the convo churned itself right into an interesting subject: Who would you not go to bed with if offered the $1 million price.
She proceeded to name a few famous people who she'd turn down no matter what, and I just thought to myself "ONE MILLION DOLLARS" - An obvious Dr. Evil moment - "How could you possibly turn that down even if it were Roseanne Barr herself?" I don't know.
If faced with the situation, I might have to consider setting aside my morals - at least for a few minutes - in an effort to accomplish the greater good.
I'm sure when you read this you immediately think of the Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson and Robert Redford classic. A great film with a great cast and an unbelievable plot, which brings me to my next point.
I think I could do it (notice that I said think). I'm good at putting things out of my mind that I don't want to trouble me after three days or so.
But I don't know that I would want my wife/significant other in that situation. At first thought, it seems enticing but it's something that can really stick with you - just the idea of someone you're intimate with sharing that with someone else. I guess in that right, I'm selfish. But who isn't?
My question for you: Is a million dollars worth a night like Demi Moore had in the movie? Leave a comment with your response ...
Monday, December 05, 2005
Spiking Black Hollywood ...
Excuse me for how harsh and point blank this is: Black Hollywood, accept for a select few, SUCKS. I said this a while ago (see here). I actually want to see something that is stimulating for the - black mind. Shit the mind, period. Not some bullshit about the Flux of Aeon, a flipping video game, or a story about a wack rapper making his money of the fact that he got shot nine times and survived it and some powerful beats by Andre Young aka Dr. "Not the fat one from Yo! MTV Raps" Dre.
Now I finally have some affirmation about the Black Hollywood from a man who always does the right thing. Spike Lee pretty much blasted Black Hollywood - well, most of Hollywood - for it's desire to make a quick buck and the overall lacking of good films.
His best remark:
"I'm still convinced that a larger segment wants to be stimulated. People are getting tired of seeing TV shows remade, or movies from the 1950s, and comic books, and sequels. People say, well, it can't be the films; it's the video games, it's the 900 channels, it's this and that. All those things are a factor, but I think the biggest factor is that films aren't connecting with the audience. I mean, look. March of the Penguins. How much did that movie make? I'm telling you, it's my belief that people went to see that film because there was nothing else to see. If there were good movies in the theater, they're not going to see a documentary about penguins. " ~Spike Lee to Slate Mag.
A little dialogue:
Slate: OK. But can you be so sure that if the gatekeepers were African-American they would promote films that are in the social or aesthetic interests of black audiences?
Lee: Look, you get into that position and you know that first of all your films have to make money no matter who you are. But I can confidently say that if there had been a gatekeeper at MGM, I don't think Soul Plane could have gotten made. I'm confident in saying that.
Slate: So, if you were the head of one of these studios for example—
Lee: No, that's not something I want to be or aspire to be.
Slate: But if you were, you wouldn't give a green light to projects like that.
Lee: Well, all I'm saying is that there would be more variety and diversity as far as subject matter. And I would hopefully see a greater picture of African-Americans' experience vs. one that's limited to comedies and hip-hop, drug, gangsta, shoot 'em up films.
Here's the link to the whole conversation he had with Slate Mag - http://www.slate.com/id/2131367/?GT1=7428.
Can we get a black Closer, About A Boy or Unfaithful? Something real. Please. And Soon.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Well after Harry Met Sally ...
So I'm watching this movie for the second time, and I'm not even halfway thru it. But I must say, this is one of the best movies that I've ever seen.
Have you ever watched a movie where you didn't really need the picture? This script is that good. Anyway, I've got an abundance of blog topics/relationship bullshit to write about thanks to Billy Crystal Lite and Meg Ryan. Stay tuned ...
