Change Your Image
Andubatman
Reviews
The Order of Myths (2008)
a very intriguing look into a still segregated world
another great documentary without narration, this one by Margaret brown. this deals with the still-segregated Mardi Gras celebrations in Mobile, Alabama. this is the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the u.s., with the first party happening 15 years before New Orleans was even a city.
with equal coverage of both the MCA (the white group) and the MAMGA (the black group), brown guides us through the preparation, the racial tensions and the celebration of the 2007 Mardi Gras. absolutely everything is separate in the celebration, from two royal courts, to two dances to two parades. it feels like the Jim Crow laws have not left Mobile, Alabama.
this year, however, the MCA court allowed (invited?) the MAMGA king and queen to attend their coronation, and the MCA king and queen attended the MAMGA's dance. it's up to the audience to decide whether the camera's presence influenced this new integration and whether or not it will continue, but for the most part it seemed natural.
through a series of events, however, it is revealed that the MCA (remember, the white group) queen's relatives brought the last slave ship to the u.s. as a bet, because it was post-civil war. after he didn't come back to the ship, the first mate set fire to the ship. but the slaves escaped into the forest nearby and formed a small town called Africa town. turns out, the MAMGA (remember, the black group) queen is a direct descendant of one of those slaves. so, even more racial tension. also, the state of Alabama officially apologizes for its involvement in slavery shortly before Mardi Gras. more racial tension brought to the surface.
then, several white people make the claim that nobody wants integration, even going so far as to say they want integration, and the black community are the ones who want segregation. however, according to the interviews, the black community are the ones making the effort for integration. the white people also make the claim that everything is already integrated, except for Mardi Gras.
the dances are all segregated, the mystic clubs (oh yeah, did i mention the crazy, drunk off-their-ass, mystic clubs?) are all segregated. Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, is completely segregated. in fact, at the white parade, black people aren't even allowed on the floats. they can only be in the band behind the floats. however, their is a vein of hope as one mystic group was recently formed. it's the first integrated group. it's mostly black, but it is integrated. it has ONE white member. unfortunately, as brown revealed in the q&a., he was shipped off to Iraq shortly after the parade and wasn't able to be interviewed.
overall, it was a really great documentary as it tried to be balanced, interviewing both groups, the MCA and MAMGA, but overall, it just came over that most of the white people are ass-backwards in Mobile. not all, though. there are the few. unfortunately, they're in Iraq.
Otis (2008)
bad direction, bad lighting, bad acting plague this. . . film?
reading the synopsis at SXSW this year, i was intrigued by the comparison to Jason and Freddy. sadly, this was not even close to the truth. ultimately, it came down to the fact that this was the first movie where i could absolutely tell that this was the fault of the director. Bostin Christopher was completely miscast. he looks 20, not 40, as they repeatedly say he is in the film. Ashley Johnson was about as good as i've seen her. but man, Illeana Douglas? Daniel Stern? i've seen these actors put on great performances, but this was horrible. and Kevin Pollak? i've never seen him do a bad performance, until now. it can only mean one thing when you have that many consistently bad performances from so many good actors: the director is to blame.
even the lighting was bad. when you have the torture chamber focusing so much on the light, you need to invest in a good cinematographer. sadly, this looked more like a soap opera with soft lighting, than a horror/comedy with harsh lighting. half the time it felt more ethereal than scary, because of the bad lighting.
the only saving grace for me was Jere Burns. his consistent "i don't give a rat's ass" mentality was great. over the top at times, yes, but he was the only thing i laughed with, not at.
Secrecy (2008)
a pretty decent, and well balanced documentary
going into this movie, i had the expectation that the filmmakers were going to present the argument that the old adage, "what you don;t know won't hurt you," doesn't hold true when it comes to the government. reading some other reviews, it seems i wasn't the only one with this idea. but, after watching the film, it not only doesn't necessarily go with that side, it doesn't necessarily take any side.
the documentary revolves around the initial formation of the c.i.a. and the secrets involved in the cold war and following. it keeps going back to this unexplained plane crash in 1948 and the ensuing case of one of the widows of one of the civilians on board (Mrs. Reynolds) vs.the u.s. government. the case was to sue the government for the accident report. the government stated that it didn't have to reveal what happened because top secret tests and equipment were on board. the courts ruled in favor of the government in 1953, and according to one of the interviewees, over 600 cases have used that trial as precedence for the government keeping things a secret.
yet, instead of the filmmakers using this and other evidence against the government, painting this demon in the background and foreground of our lives, they went ahead and interviewed several retired government officials, including some from the c.i.a. and n.s.a. this balanced with interviewing reporters and historical archivers without the use of a narrator forces the viewer to come up with their own conclusions about governmental secrets.
thus, the film battles between reporters making the claim that the public has the right to know (citing the reports of the lack of w.m.d. findings, the Unibomber discovery after newspaper reports, and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal) and the government officials making claims for secrecy (citing Osama bin Laden's satellite phone taps gone after public reports, and the Lebanese bombings of the American embassy and the following bombing of the marine barracks). there are a few officials who make the claim that secrets should be evaluated, and then there are some that say everything should be kept a secret. but once again, there's a balance to the interviews.
Constantine (2005)
'Constantine': Guilty Pleasure
OK, wow, 'Constantine' sucked the big one. Keanu is annoying as ever with this horrible rhythm in his dialogues, even worse than Neo. Rachel Weisz plays an OK curious detective. Shia LeBeouf . . . well, I'm not sure he was even necessary. Djimoun Hounsou was the only character I liked (other than Peter Stormare as Satan), and that mainly had to do with the fact that he was on screen so little. The writing sucked, the direction lacked . . . well, direction, and the whole movie had way too much CGI (this coming from the guy who liked 'Matrix Reloaded'). Yet, why do I like this movie? It's because it falls into the category of "so bad, they're funny" movies (aka guilty pleasures). This was definitely a guilty pleasure movie and I will be glad to go see it again. Sure, they're playing off 'the Matrix' and 'the Prophecy'. Sure, they generalize Christianity into just Catholicism (like most of Hollywood). Sure, there are blatant advertisements throughout the film. But it was entertaining to watch and make fun of. Think 'Mystery Science Theater 3000'. I rarely can come up with as many side comments when watching a movie as I could with 'Constantine.' As long as you go into this movie without taking any of it seriously, you can have a pretty good time with it. As far as the movie goes, it's about a 2-out-of-5 stars. But it's rather entertaining if you're willing to laugh at it.