babygeniusesvseightcrazynights Reviews

Dope Case Pending (2000 Video)

Dope Case AWESOME!

[10/10 · 27 November 2007]

We might as well start referring to Sean Levert as the 21st century's Sidney Poitier. My boy can *act*. From the deadpan delivery of one-liner's like "as long as they still drugs, we sell 'em." to two eye-blinks and a head-shake after told of his mother's death, Hollywood needs to put an APB on this modern-day ghetto-thespian! To the casual viewer, the story may seem to be just another "black youth with star athlete potential gets involved with drugs and gangs and screws over his and his family's future" flick, but if one digs deeper a clear parallel (hommage?) to Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" can be drawn easily.

Also, one may wonder if the writer was quite familiar with the literary works of Thomas Pynchon, because there are two scenes (the hot-tub, open-mouth, sloppy tongue-kiss scene, and the scene in which Coolio is taunting Devon in the bar and purposefully mispronouncing his name) that are direct references to certain parts of "Gravity's Rainbow".

In short, this is a masterful commentary on the plight of poor black youths in the late 1980s. It goes without saying that, when one looks past the misprints and misspellings on the DVD case and the horrible lighting and camcorder-quality cinematography and absolutely horrible sound, much care and flawless craft went into this production.

BOOYAH!

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Quite a change from modern films

[9/10 · 29 December 2004]

This 1943 Hitchcock film is really like nothing I've ever seen. It is devoid of twists or needlessly flashy film-making—it just tells a story from beginning to the end, and all the while keeps you very entertained with great acting, dialog and various indescribable nuances.

The story revolves around a family in a small California town (interesting note: the movie was made in 1943 yet there's no mention of the war. I think this helps preserve the feeling of small town isolation). The oldest daughter named Charlie is bored with her family's ho-hum life. Then, UNCLE Charlie comes to town (played magnificently by Joseph Cotton) because he wants "to settle down", but to the viewer it seems like he's running away from something. He has a lot of cash and wants to open a bank account. Two men have been carefully following him since the beginning of the film. I'm not going to give away any more because it's pretty cool.

What was so stunning about this movie is that we as modern movie enthusiasts expect a good movie to have something hidden, something up its sleeve. Well, this one doesn't, which is a fresh change for us modern types. A remake would be impossible--modern audiences would consider it "tame". However, the story excels within the confines of its time. Any remake would be a joke.

The family is very interesting to observe. The little girl Anne almost steals the show. She's literate and unintentionally snobby—like a nine-year-old Ayn Rand. The father is kind of aloof and simple—he and his neighbor friend are constantly talking about the "science" of committing murders, which serves as a great backdrop to the suspense going on right under their noses.

Thornton Wilder wrote it. This may have something to do with the story and dialog being so engaging.

That Was Then... This Is Now (1985)

Entertaining and worthwhile, I contend

[6/10 · 28 December 2004]

It's a very Hinton-esquire story. Emilio's character has a crappy family life, and spends most of his time with Sheffer and his single mom, who treats Emilio like her own son. They steal cars and get in fights, but Sheffer is clearly the more well-behaved of the two. Morgan Freeman plays the owner of a local bar that the boys frequent, and does a fine job. SPOILER: he gets killed. END SPOILER. The story revolves around the two main characters friendship and the tough S.E. Hinton trademarked teenage obstacles they encounter.

This is a very entertaining movie and I have to recommend it. Nothing fantastic as far as sophisticated filminess goes, but if you're a child of the 80s you will definitely enjoy it; there's lots of 80s high school/adolescent nostalgia to be found throughout this film. There are 80s punks with spiked hair who are so hardcore that they hang out at the prom but don't go inside. Kim Delaney is in it too, and she is (was?), of course, Hott.

Of note: Delaney's younger brother, who is kinda screwed up in the head, is named "M&M". Could this (the novel or the film) be where Eminem got the idea for his name?

The Stranger (1946)

Worth your time and attention

[8/10 · 28 December 2004]

The story is very intelligent for its time...a Nazi war criminal (Welles) lives incognito as a college professor in a small, peaceful Connecticut town, and a detective is hunting him down.

Welles acting is, of course, superb, and a tense scene at a dinner table in which he rants intelligently about the possibility of Germans embracing democracy is reason enough to pick up this movie. The fact that we know he's a Nazi makes his monologue intricately suspenseful--will the detective pick up the hints that we, as an omniscient audience, are able to detect with relative ease? There's a little drugstore/coffee shop that the detective frequents throughout the movie in an attempt to gather information about the mysterious professor, and these scenes are charming and offer some slight comic relief that doesn't seem as dated as it should be.

The finale is one that has been paid homage to numerous times in film history, and rightfully so. That said, the fact that we've seen so many references to it softens the effect of what was surely, at one time, a shocking scene.

I recommend this, especially if you have little faith in the ability of older films to captivate. It's kind of short for this type of film (95 minutes), so excitement and intrigue are rarely absent.

This movie made me want to watch Citizen Kane again--along with Touch of Evil and The Third Man.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Masterful (and Commanderful)

[10/10 · 28 December 2004]

Interestingly, Russell Crowe helps rather than hinders the picture. It's hard to believe that he's such a jerk when out of character, because his acting as the captain is totally believable. His character is great because he's smart, very stern, but very caring of his crew. While they fear him, they look up to and idolize him too.

The presumably accurate historical details really piqued my interest, from the little 12 and 13-year-old kids on the crew (and taking part in battle--viciously!), to the intricate chain of command, to the sheer power of the battle scenes. Splintering wood shrapnel, how often have we seen that in movies? Some of my favorite scenes are when Crowe is playing his cello in his quarters. His room—I never would have guessed a ship like that would have such a nice and fancy décor hidden within it. I mean the captain's room resembled a room out of "Clue" (The Study? The Library? I cannot say…) Anyway, the visual details are great. Lots of money was spent on this movie and it was spent on things that really mattered, like recreating interiors and antiques. The guns and cannons look like artifacts to the modern viewer, but they're also well-kept and shiny.

The dialog is fantastic, too…I can't remember exact quotes, but when Crowe gave some of his powerful, rallying speeches to the crew, I was ready to climb the mast myself.

This movie is an incredible addition to the action/adventure/historical genre. It's also very much a man's movie. I'm not sure there's a chick in the whole thing.

Days of Heaven (1978)

Nearly perfect

[10/10 · 28 December 2004]

Gere and Adams are poor lovers that flee Chicago after Gere does something bad and doesn't want to get caught. They end up working on a large crew of farm laborers for a rich wheat farmer, Sam Shepard, who has less than a year to live. Sam falls in love with Brooke, and Gere convinces Brooke to return the favor so she can be his heiress after he's dead and gone. Thus begin the shenanigans.

While slow and simple, this is a totally stunning movie. Through subtle yet powerful images of nature (and man interacting with nature), Malick sends the viewer into almost a cathartic swoon. Okay, maybe not _that_ hypnotic but I really can't say enough about the visuals in this movie and how they tell the story nearly as well as the dialogue does.

I don't want to give too much away about the story, because it's a good one, but I'll just say that none of the characters is without fault (as in each of Malick's movies). In fact, the thrust of the film is centered around moral ambiguity; you have to really think through what's going on to decide what's right and wrong. You never really know who to root for, which, along with the carefully tempered dialogue and subtle atmospheric touches, gives the film a very realistic edge.

I guess I shouldn't recommend this if you want something terribly entertaining (in conventional terms), but if you want something that will stick with you forever, go for it. I, personally, am entertained by this type of film. I loved it.

It really sucks that Malick has only made 3 movies since 1973. I guess he's making one now called "The New World" about the settlement of James Town in the 1600s, the trailer for which is incredible.

Matewan (1987)

A greatly under-appreciated classic

[9/10 · 28 December 2004]

This 1987 film aims to document real events that concerned a small coal mining community (called Matewan) in West Virginia in 1920. The miners are trying to organize a union, much to the dismay of the company that employs them. All of the acting is great, including, in the starring role, Chris Cooper, (the Kansas City native who was the abusive father from American Beauty and who starred in another fantastic Sayles film from 1996, Lonestar), David Strathairn as the good-natured but stern police chief, and, in his only theatrical movie role ever (here at 14 years old), indie-folk legend Will Oldham, of Palace Music and Bonnie Prince Billie fame. He plays a preacher-in-training in the film, and does such a great job that it seems damn unfortunate for all of us that he didn't continue his acting career--though he would go on to make some great music, and continues to currently. It also features James Earl Jones, aka Darth Vader.

Anyway, the film is very honest, subtle and exquisite. You don't feel, as you do with many films churned out by Hollywood, that things have been altered and embellished for the sake of making it interesting--it's very natural, and it seems very real. You're confidant that Sayles is giving you the truth here, as best he can, through his visual style, restrained, natural dialogue and engaging historic atmosphere.

It's movies like this that renew my faith in period pieces. Important historical films at their best are able to capture a period and bring the audience as close as possible to experiencing the 'feel' of that time--I guess that kinda goes without saying though.