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Wednesday, May 11, 2011
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Thursday, May 5, 2011
WAG THE DOG (1997), A BIZZEE Pick (Commentary on the Death of Osama Bin Laden)
Hello, WORLD!!! For the past few days, we have been overloaded with information on the USA's finally successful hunt for Osama Bin Laden. It took us 10 years to get him though, not to mention the countless lives that were lost on this mission. Was it worth it? I don't know but I bet I can ask some better questions andI will during this review, starting with: Are we just getting Osama now? It seems kinda odd that he was in a mansion when he was killed. We didn't look in any of his homes first? This whole thing incident reminds me of 3 things. First, it reminds me of the time when Jesse Jackson went to Belgrade & rescued those troops during the Kosovo War. I honestly never heard of the country before then and I found it odd that he would choose to do this right in the middle of Bill Clinton's impeachment trial... Second, it reminded me of the USA's first moon landing. It was a great big deal when it happened; now, we can't even proved it happened for real. Lastly, it reminds me of WAG THE DOG, a 1997 movie about a very real President in a very real predictament that dodges all kinds of reprecussions with a very made up war. An American President hires a spin doctor named Conrad Brean (a very mellow Robert DeNiro) for a little smoke & mirrors action. To take the media's attention from his President's indescretions with a underaged girl, Mr Brean decides to fake a war with help from a down & out Hollywood movie producer (played by Dustin Hoffman in his usual manic mode). The plot seems absurd but its quite possible that it could be closer to the truth than anyone ever imagined. It has a great cast that feeds off of the MEET THE FOCKERS costar leads, like Anne Heche as Mr. Brean's assisant & Woody Harrelson as a soldier who becomes the face of heroism but is a little better suited to be the face of the soldiers that war has driven insane. The cast is great together but I think the main selling point of this movie is the dialogue, written by one of my favorite writer's around, David Mamet. This is a must see if not for those above reasons, then just for viewing how easy it is to fool an Ameerican public that's on a witchhunt. A witch hunt is what chasing Osama Bin Laden boiled down to being. Ding Dong; the Witch is dead. Or is he? Or has he been dead for a few years now? Who knows when the truth is so easy to manipulate, right? Or is it?
Monday, May 2, 2011
BAMBOOZLED (2000). A BIZZEE Pick & A Commentary on the Spike Lee / Tyler Perry Beef
Hello, WORLD! First review in a long time & it's a BIZZEE pick at that! Hot on the hills of the hottest celebrity beef of the moment between directors Spike Lee & Tyler Perry, I decided to review one of Spike's best movies, the often overlooked BAMBOOZLED. In more ways than one, this review is timed perfect. I just got word that the Madea star is planning on remaking the urban classic JUICE. Really? Why? Hasn't Tyler already proved he's a talented director of stage plays BUT he hasn't translated that talent into directing great movies? Sure, his movies gross millions of dollars but none of his movies are what you would call "great". In my opinion, he is the main mass producer of what I call romantized hood flicks, the movies that almost always perpetuate African American sterotypes. Madea is so over the top sterotypical, she is as depressing as she is entertaining. I don't understand why she works so well in the stage plays of which I am admittedly a huge fan of & why I can't stand this same character in the movies which are almost line for line indentical to the plays.
Let's back up to the beef for 1 second before I go into the review. Where did this beef come from? It started with Lee last year critizing the Perry produced TV show's MEET THE BROWNS, based on the hit plays, & the recently canceled HOUSE OF PAYNE. Lee said these shows were reminiscent of Mantan Moreland & Sleep N Eat (if you don't know who they are or what they represent, you will if you get this movie!). Spike said these shows & Tyler's movies remind him of those stereotypically charicatures of African Americans. That's Spike's opinion & somewhat close to my own opinion. Here's my question: since win is it wrong to voice your opinion, especially one that Spike has had for years? Tyler isn't the only person Spike has called out on this issue & he won't be the last either. Spike, love him or hate him, is always trying to raise the awareness of the African American community & although sometimes he may go overboard, I applaude his efforts in this matter. Tyler, on the other hand, has done as much as he could since he rose to stardom to make sure that most of Black Hollywood are still working & for that, he also deserves some praise. I didn't say I hated his cast; the casting wasn't the problem with the DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN or MADEA'S FAMILY movies. The problem was the movies don't translate onto the big screen well, the reason being is characters in plays don't need as many dimensions as movie characters do. That's just my opinion, mind you, but apparently it's shared with a lot of other critics too so I don't feel I'm wrong on the subject.
Anyway, let me get to the review. This is probably Spike's most unoriginal movie. The reason I say that is it is an African American version of the 1977 (I believe) Best Picture Oscar winning movie NETWORK. In that movie, a TV newsanchor is fed up with the stuff that he has to report so he does a complete 360 &... You know, I don't have to go into details with that. But Spike's movie tackles a different subject altogether. A black television show creator named Pierre Delacroix (comedic genius Damon Wayans, playing it almost totally straight here) is pressed by his Caucasian (but Blacker than Pierre ever would be)boss (Micheal Rapport) to come up with a television series. The catch? It has to be more, er, "urban" than his most recent series ideas. Feeling sleighted, Pierre & his beautiful assisant Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith) come up with the most offensive television show to African Americans this side of AMOS & ANDY in an attempted to be fired. How offensive? Brace yourself: the show stars street performers Manray & Womack (Savion Glover & Tommy Davidson) as 2 "Alabama Porch Monkeys" and takes place in a watermelon patch for starters. Needless to say, instead of being fired for that bull, the show is a hit & Pierre embraces the success that his show brings while continually disrespecting African Americans such as a now disgusted-with-her-part-in-it Sloan & her brother Julius, who goes by the name "Big Blak Afrika"(rapper Mos Def in his acting debut), de facto leader of a militant rapper group the Mau Maus, resulting in tragic results. The acting in this movie wasn't nominated for any Oscars nor should they have been. This movie wasn't about entertaining (although I do find it entertaining in some of the worst ways; I honestly cracked up at some of the most offensive bits in this film). The film is a satire that takes aim at the things we call entertainment such as the movies & music videos that demean our woman, portray African Americans in unflattering lights and such. Before this movie, MARTIN was one of my favorite shows; nowadays, I can't stand it with a passion! I also have to applaud Dave Chappelle, whose self titled TV show was heading down the same path as MARTIN (and IN LIVING COLOR, an African American sketch comedy in the same vein as Dave's show). He turned down $55 million dollars because he was unhappy with the shows direction. I take that to mean he saw his show heading the "Stepping N Fetching" route but I could be wrong. No matter what his reasons were, he still had the integrity to walk away from that kind of money & that says a lot about his character. Anyway, the message of this movie is clear: we, as African American directors, actors, etc, have a responsibilty to truthfully depict ourselves in movies & in other media. Most foreign countries learn what they know about African Americans from our movies. Shouldn't they know we're not just porch monkeys by now? Then why do they still think we are? Maybe Madea can help answer that.
Let's back up to the beef for 1 second before I go into the review. Where did this beef come from? It started with Lee last year critizing the Perry produced TV show's MEET THE BROWNS, based on the hit plays, & the recently canceled HOUSE OF PAYNE. Lee said these shows were reminiscent of Mantan Moreland & Sleep N Eat (if you don't know who they are or what they represent, you will if you get this movie!). Spike said these shows & Tyler's movies remind him of those stereotypically charicatures of African Americans. That's Spike's opinion & somewhat close to my own opinion. Here's my question: since win is it wrong to voice your opinion, especially one that Spike has had for years? Tyler isn't the only person Spike has called out on this issue & he won't be the last either. Spike, love him or hate him, is always trying to raise the awareness of the African American community & although sometimes he may go overboard, I applaude his efforts in this matter. Tyler, on the other hand, has done as much as he could since he rose to stardom to make sure that most of Black Hollywood are still working & for that, he also deserves some praise. I didn't say I hated his cast; the casting wasn't the problem with the DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN or MADEA'S FAMILY movies. The problem was the movies don't translate onto the big screen well, the reason being is characters in plays don't need as many dimensions as movie characters do. That's just my opinion, mind you, but apparently it's shared with a lot of other critics too so I don't feel I'm wrong on the subject.
Anyway, let me get to the review. This is probably Spike's most unoriginal movie. The reason I say that is it is an African American version of the 1977 (I believe) Best Picture Oscar winning movie NETWORK. In that movie, a TV newsanchor is fed up with the stuff that he has to report so he does a complete 360 &... You know, I don't have to go into details with that. But Spike's movie tackles a different subject altogether. A black television show creator named Pierre Delacroix (comedic genius Damon Wayans, playing it almost totally straight here) is pressed by his Caucasian (but Blacker than Pierre ever would be)boss (Micheal Rapport) to come up with a television series. The catch? It has to be more, er, "urban" than his most recent series ideas. Feeling sleighted, Pierre & his beautiful assisant Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith) come up with the most offensive television show to African Americans this side of AMOS & ANDY in an attempted to be fired. How offensive? Brace yourself: the show stars street performers Manray & Womack (Savion Glover & Tommy Davidson) as 2 "Alabama Porch Monkeys" and takes place in a watermelon patch for starters. Needless to say, instead of being fired for that bull, the show is a hit & Pierre embraces the success that his show brings while continually disrespecting African Americans such as a now disgusted-with-her-part-in-it Sloan & her brother Julius, who goes by the name "Big Blak Afrika"(rapper Mos Def in his acting debut), de facto leader of a militant rapper group the Mau Maus, resulting in tragic results. The acting in this movie wasn't nominated for any Oscars nor should they have been. This movie wasn't about entertaining (although I do find it entertaining in some of the worst ways; I honestly cracked up at some of the most offensive bits in this film). The film is a satire that takes aim at the things we call entertainment such as the movies & music videos that demean our woman, portray African Americans in unflattering lights and such. Before this movie, MARTIN was one of my favorite shows; nowadays, I can't stand it with a passion! I also have to applaud Dave Chappelle, whose self titled TV show was heading down the same path as MARTIN (and IN LIVING COLOR, an African American sketch comedy in the same vein as Dave's show). He turned down $55 million dollars because he was unhappy with the shows direction. I take that to mean he saw his show heading the "Stepping N Fetching" route but I could be wrong. No matter what his reasons were, he still had the integrity to walk away from that kind of money & that says a lot about his character. Anyway, the message of this movie is clear: we, as African American directors, actors, etc, have a responsibilty to truthfully depict ourselves in movies & in other media. Most foreign countries learn what they know about African Americans from our movies. Shouldn't they know we're not just porch monkeys by now? Then why do they still think we are? Maybe Madea can help answer that.
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