2046

Visual Poetry... One of the greatest Love stories made.

POPCORN!!!: Quick Random Reviews

Simply, a visual masterpiece... If the Russians would have applied the ingenuity it took to pull off these camera shots to the space race, maybe they could have made it to the Moon.



Richard Sandler turns a video camera into a cartoonist's fountain pen... This period piece is proof that Times square has not always been Disneyland and once was the battle grounds of the world's grimiest Street preachers.




Very Stylistic piece without much substance... too bad eye candy does not fill the appetite of a true cinema lover.




An original spin on the old topic of race in America... White Dog could have only been pulled off by master director Samuel Fuller.

Young Man with a Horn

I was introduced to Young Man with a Horn through a documentary on that I saw on cinematographers. I was impressed by the scenes presented in the documentary. I initialy went to two stores looking for the film but it proved to be obscure. I ran across the film on Youtube in it's entirety. Enjoy.

Note: The rest of the film can be seen on youtube.com under the title YMWH b, YMWH c, YMWH d, etc.

The Cry of Jazz (Directed by Edward Bland)

Do you want to know what jazz is? This movie is the place to start.

Right off the bat, this film reminded me of John Cassavetes' Shadows. The Cry of Jazz, like Shadows, is an ode to 50's Beat-Era. However, Unlike Shadows, this film is an interesting mix of dialouge (very cheesy) and documentary.

The Cry of Jazz is a deep look into what jazz actually is and its metaphoric relationship to it's creators, Blacks in America. Interestingly, it was made before the civil rights movement. The ideas and thoughts expressed by the main character/ narrator Alex were the seeds of the civil rights movement. In my opinion this film is a historically significant picture and should be added to the United States National Film Registry.

One thing I found VERY INTERESTING was that Alex proclaimed Jazz dead. I had no idea that Jazz was proclaimed dead before Rock and Roll and even Hip Hop. I wonder if the rapper Nas has seen this film and equated the reasons Alex gave to Jazz being dead to Hip Hop's current state. Alex states, "Jazz is dead because the Negro needs more room to tell his story.... JAZZ JAZZ JAZZ! Jazz for all it's power, beauty, and world domainance is too limiting! It's a genteel slavery!." Later he states, "The Jazz body is dead but the spirit of Jazz is Alive... The spirit of Jazz will remake serious music but the sounds of Jazz will not be used." With this statement I believe he foresees Hip Hop Culture. Perhaps the rapper Nas realizes the same thing with Hip Hop in its current state.

2012

The Mayan calander stops 12/12/2012. Some scholars predict this is the day the world is to end. OF course Hollywood grabbed ahold of this story and is coming out with a movie depicting the events of our end... Is this another day after tomorrow?

The problem I have with disaster movies is that they always take the form of a typical mainstream film. There is always a main character, who, despite any odds is able to elude fate and find love. I DON'T want that. I want 2 hours of sheer destruction. I want the makers of the film to actually use science. It would be great if the directors of this film would watch the National Geographic Population Zero Documentary to get some ideas of how the Earth would be without humans...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Directed by David Fincher)

When you really think about it... there is no way that this film could have been good. Honestly, the film is a gimmick. I must admit even I fell for the hype and added to it by posting a trailer on my blog.

I saw this film last weekend with a couple friends so the film isn't as fresh as it could be but I still remember leaving the theater unsatisfied.

What gets to me the most is the fact that this film has parts of the film that are not related... There is a complete mini story that has no actual tie in to the film besides a weak attempt to use a clock as a metaphor. I have heard from a couple people, most notably my barber Troy, that this film was similar to Forrest Gump. I agree that this is a watered down version of Forrest Gump. Where Gump shined is where Button failed.

The beautiful thing about Gump was the fact that the director of that filmed tapped into our collective view of history and placed the character in the defining moments of the past 50 years. He utilized the fact that our memory of the past comes from the media that records it. Within this setting he was able to provide political commentary. Gump was a catylast of change. He was an Extrovert. Button was an introvert. This story is not so much about the changing of events in the world as it is about the changes that Button is experiencing. As Mick, one of the people i saw the film with, pointed out, this film would benefit if the Antiwar theme were more pronounced. I think the true meaning of the film is lost with the attempt to appeal to mainstream moviegoers...

If the aging backwards gimmick was taken away, this film would be considered the worst film of the year... It makes me curious to know what people see in Benjamin Button.