This weeks selection I’ve watched dramatic films about hip-hop
The first film on my list, F. Gary Gray‘s Straight Outta Compton, tells the story of the rise and fall of the gangsta rap group N.W.A. In the process, it looks at race relations in the late eighties, the Rodney King riots, and the aids epidemic.
I had first heard of this film most of the things I’ve heard about it was the complement of the ensembles betrayal of NWA and this is indeed the case with the excellent cranial from the entire cast.
The biggest problem I have with biopics, in general, is the way they have to cram years into a couple of hours. I find they do better when they focus on certain key elements. In this case, the focus is the relation between the band and their manager Jerry Heller played by the wonderful Paul Giamatti.
All in all, my only real problem was an overuse of close-ups.
Next on my list was Curtis Hanson‘s8 Milewhich tells the story of white rapper B-Rabbit played by the real-life rapper Eminem as he struggles with his job, the life on the streets and terrible home life as he makes it to the underground rap battle. Loosely based on Eminem‘s early career (give or take a couple of embellishments), Eminem gives a surprisingly good performance and it is in his Intensity that holds the whole thing together
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I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do for my theme this week. So in a desperate act of a creative approach to scraping the barrel, I googled “obscure sub-genres”. What I found in a list of possibilities with something the page called “aquatic sports”. Which, in this context, seems to mean people fighting marine life… So don’t go expecting high art here.
The first on my list, Minoru Kawasaki’s The Calamari Wrestler, takes us to the world of Japanese pro wrestling where wrestler Koji Taguchi (Akira Nogami) has just about one the championship. Just as he’s about to accept his prize, a giant squid in wrestling boots (Osamu Nishimura) appears on the ring easily taking out anyone who tries to throw it out and taking the championship belt from Koji.
Now in order to keep his belt, you have to be about against the Calimari Wrestler… And what’s this about the wrestler being a reincarnation of former champion, Kanichi Iwata who had allegedly died of a terminal illness?
This movie was really stupid. New with the main character looking like a recycled Kaiju. But it’s still fun and sweet in its own really strange way. I think it works because it takes itself way too seriously. (Also there’s something cute about a squid monster shopping for groceries)
The next on my list Mark Locke’s Crust, tells the tale of Bill, a bartender who spends his life savings on a giant boxing shrimp with a killer punch, and then travels to London with his friends to use the shrimp to make their fortune.
This movie was mostly… Meh. For the most part, it was Dale and uninspiring, though the shrimp running amok at the end meet up for some of the tedium.
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This week I watched comedies about business. (Or at least I thought I did.)
The first on my list,David Swift’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, direct adaptation of the stage musical the same name which in turn is based on the parody self-help book by Shepherd Mead’s, tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse) a window washer who has just bought the eponymous book and decides to start fresh and get a job in a big company. (Specifically one big and manic enough that he will not be noticed as he climbs the ladder.) From there, using the advice of the book, his gift of being a good listener, people skills and general trickiness, begins to schmooze his way to the top. But how high will he go?
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with one of those musicals that, as a fan of musicals, I’ve been aware of for years. What little I knew about it was negligible, because the soundtrack had not impressed me very much. However, while I still think there are still only about three songs in the movie that I actually really like, it had a good story and was one of the better stagings of a musical on film in a while. (admittedly the last musical to film I had seen this Carousel which is not a good example) the musical numbers did a wonderful job tiptoeing around reality making the more theatrical elements much more convincing (considering the choreography was one of the early works of Bob Fosse I shouldn’t have been surprised.) Perhaps there was a few too many close-ups in the middle musical number but the way the camera and choreography worked together makes up for this. The best part, I thought was Morse’s performance as Pierrepont who exists somewhere between the archetypes of the trickster and the fool. Watching his expressions as he desperately improvises, impressing his superiors is one of the pleasures of watching this film.
The next film on my list, John Swanbeck’sThe Big Kahuna, an adaptation of Roger Reuff’s play Hospitality Suite, takes place in a hotel in Wichita Kansas where three marketing people are attending a trade show for industrial lubricants and running their company’s hospitality suite. Two of them are old friends, Larry, (Kevin Kline), and Phil, (Danny DeVito) both burnt out veterans who have given their lives to the company and Bob (Peter Facinelli), an eager young Christian from the company’s research department, who doesn’t know any better yet.
From here we watch them argue about things like the room they were given, the choices they’ve made in life and loyalty. The biggest concern they have is how to make contact with the most valuable contact at the convention a man referred to Larry and Phil as the big kahuna.
I’m not sure what I thought about this movie. Yes, I was told it was a comedy and yes, there’s plenty of humor in it, but it’s a comedy the way Waiting for Godot is a Comedy. Sure you can laugh, but the big picture is there over your head and you can’t escape. Normally, I like film adaptation’s of small plays, but this one just came off as dry for me. My favorite performance came from Danny DeVito, playing wonderfully against type, as the brunt out and depressed Phil.
After watching a pair of dry and depressing art films I needed a change of pace. So I decided to take a look at one of my favorite director’s attempts at comedy. Make no mistake, Alfred Hitchcock has always had a sense of humor, and the wit in even his darkest thrillers are what makes his work so enjoyable. I thought it would be fun to watch all of the times he turned it all the way to the light side.
The first film my list, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, tells the story of the eponymous couple Ann and David Smith ( Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery). A loving couple with the occasional challenge. To deal with these challenges, they have some strict rules. The first is that whatever the fight might be, they dib; t leave the bedroom (the film opens up with day three of one of these fights) and to be completely honest to each other at all times. It’s because of this that Annie asks if he had it to do it all over again would he marry her. He says no but thinks it doesn’t matter since it’s strictly hypothetical.
The next day a man from Ann’s home town arrives at David’s office to tell him due to a technicality none of the marriage licenses printed that year are invalid and the Smiths are not technically married.
This was a funny, well-done film with Lombard owning every scene she’s in. If I have any problem with it is that as good as the film is, in loyally following the formula of the screwball comedy, he’s not really showing any signs of his own vision. In fact, if it wasn’t for his name on the credits and the obligatory cameo, you wouldn’t even know it’s a Hitchcock film.
The next film on my list, The Trouble With Harry, takes place in the wonderful Vermont countryside in autumn where a retired sea captain (Edmund Gwenn) is hunting rabbit. After his last shot, he stumbles over a dead man. He immediately assumes he did it. But hides as more people keep coming by the body. We learn that his name is Harry and we find he is not a very nice person. We also learn that the captain is not the only person who could have killed Harry… some of them even have a motive. Because of this, he’s not the only person who wants to get rid of the body… However, it turns out that this is easier said than done.
This was a fun film with a very dry and dark sense of humor with a wonderful ensemble cast who have a great time demonstrating just how crazy us Yankees can be!
I wanted some fluff after some of what I watched the other week. I decided to check to see if there were any high fantasy films I hadn’t seen before. Regrettably, it looked like I’d watched a lot more than I thought. However, by sheer luck, I stumbled over some Indian fantasies by S.S. Rajamouli. So I decided to take a look into Tollywood fantasy films. (No, that’s not a typo, the nickname Bollywood specifically refers to the Hindi language film industry based mostly in Mumbai. “Tollywood” refers to the Telegu language film industry.)
The first film on my list, Magadheera, Begins with two lovers dying on a cliff before they can declare their eternal love. They fall off and the last we see of them is a close up of their hands as the desperately reach out to each other.
From here we switch to the present day we are introduced Harva (Ram Charan ) a hotshot bike racer who on the way to his next competition has a case of love at first sight with stranger he sees in the crowd. Her name is Indira, Indu to her friends.(Kajal Aggarwal) and after much hilarity he tracks her down and gets to know her. As the story goes on it’s gradually revealed that Harva are reincarnations of the dying lovers. And we watch and are told the truth to the story of the previous tragedy and brace ourselves to avoid watching it happen again.
This was fun fluff with all of the over the top melodrama and musical numbers that I’ve come to expect in Indian film.
There were some elements of where my knowledge of Indian culture made me unsure if if some of the humor was intentional or not, but I was certainly amused.
The next film on my list Baahubali: The Beginning is an epic opens with a dying woman carrying a baby. As she drowns in a river she manages to hold the child above the water long enough for the child to be rescued and adopted by peasants.
Well, if you know your Campbell how this goes. The child, Shiva grows to manhood becoming Shiva (Prabhas) a strapping God amongst men who wishes to return to his birthplace. He finally successfully climbs up the mountain to his homeland where he finds it in the middle Civil War with his birth mother held this week prisoner in the middle of the city square.
Shiva successfully rescues his mother, kills the evil overlord and rallies the people. We immediately flash back to the story of Shiva’s father, Amarendra Baahubali, and his epic battle against the barbarous Kalakeyas. The film ends with his victory.
I had hoped to make this week’s viewing, the entire Baahubali series, but regrettably the second film, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, but regrettably it doesn’t appear to have arrived stateside yet. However, this first film was enjoyable and wonderfully over the top.
The theme for this week’s selection was blackmail. From two different extremes of the genre one taking it extremely seriously and to another treating it like dark, comic gold.
The first film My list, Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail, tells the story of Alice White (Anny Ondra ) who killed a man in self-defense after he lured her to her apartment and tried to rape her. Unfortunately for her someone saw her go into the building.
This is the earliest Hitchcock film I’ve ever seen. As well as his first talkie. It’s really interesting to look at this beginning of the masters craft. It’s far from a perfect film, at least by Hitchcock’s standards, but it is so cool to see him beginning the experiments that will develop into his classic techniques.
The next film on my list is the Cohen brothers Burn After Reading. John Malkovich plays Osbourne Cox a CIA analyst who was encouraged to get reassigned due to his drinking. In a rage, he quits. This is the excuse his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) who has been cheating on him with a married U.S. Marshal Harry Pfarrer, (George Clooney) to divorce him. Before she does this she researches his financial status and puts it on a CD, along with Osbourne’s draft for his autobiography. Regrettably, the disc is left at a gym. When trainers Chad (Brad Pitt) and Linda (Frances McDormand) find the disk, they mistake it for CIA secrets and gets the idea to return the disk for a reward. When she and Chad call to return the CD, Osbourne mistaken for blackmailers and things go downhill from there.
This was a dark but funny parody of the spy thriller, featuring an all-star cast playing a group of self-absorbed idiots who each thinks the world revolves around them and can’t accept reality, much to the fate of everybody around them.
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