Do the Right Thing

Last night we went to a friend's house for one movie of a series they are doing as part of a summer film festival.  We saw Do the Right Thing, which is a summer classic by Spike Lee from 1989.  The movie takes place in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn on one hot summer day.  The first two things that hit me before anything else was the vibrant colors that the production designer used for all the clothes and the number of now major stars who appeared in this movie. 

I don't want to give too much away to the film even though I think I might have been the last person on the planet to have seen it.  The movie highlights the very apparent racial tensions in Brooklyn between whites, blacks, Koreans, and Latinos.  At the end of the movie there are two conflicting quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, which I think have very direct connections to situations in Oakland today.  Obviously the MLK quote was about nonviolence and the Malcolm X quote was about the use of violence (in self defense), but both were directed at achieving justice.  After the film Spike Lee stated in an interview that viewers who question the justification of a riot (in the film) and subsequent destruction of property are implicitly valuing the white man's property over the life of a black man.  I was one of those viewers.  However, I apply my questions to the very recent riots in Oakland, which saw the destruction of property, among which were locally black owned businesses, following the murder black individual by white police officers.  Malcolm X implied in his quote at the end of the movie that in order to bring about change violence is necessary.  I don't agree with this, because in the situation in Oakland as I said in a previous post the violence had the effect of alienating the cause.  Furthermore, often in situations were a mob mentality takes over people are joining the looting/vandalization just for the 'fun' of it.  The type of violence that Malcolm X is advocating is more of a calculated thought out maneuver to make a point, but many of the people in the movie's riot (or even in Oakland or the Rodney King riots) were simply using the riot as a way to get material goods or have fun destroying things. 

Summer Movie #3: Up

Last weekend we went to see Up, the latest Pixar movie.  As with most Pixar movies I feel like they are either spot on (Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Wall-E) or not (Cars).  Up was spot on.  Many of Pixar's movies focus on worlds that are unfamiliar to us such as the perspective of rats, toys, cars, fish, superheroes, etc.  However, Up was the first in my mind to show a world that was for the most part familiar to all of us in one way or another.  I also like that recently Pixar is taking a direction with more mature themes, which in this case was the pursuit of your dreams vs the realities of life.  The underlying lesson in Up was that it is important to always have dreams to aspire to, but it is equally important to recognize that when those dreams don't pan out the ride is still enjoyable.  I guess it was Pixar's way of saying that the journey is more important than the destination. 

My favorite part of the movie was the first half hour or so, because it provides a good deal of context into the character's intentions.  I was interested to see if they would explain why the main character ties a bunch of balloons to his house and why he was such a curmudgeon.  Overall in my mind this movie is on par with the best of Pixar's movies and is also better than Star Trek for this summer. 

The Foolanthropist

I was sucked in on Wed night by the promise of what turned out to be one of the most least thought out asinine TV pilots I have ever seen.  The Philanthropist's premise is a billionaire who in the midst of a Nigerian hurricane has a crisis of conscience when he has a chance encounter with a little boy that reminds him of his late son.  This brief revelation disengages him from his glitzy and glamorous billionaire Richard Bransonesque lifestyle.  Upon returning to the US he once again traipses off to Nigeria in search of the town that the nameless boy said he was from.  Along the way meets a relief worker who is trying to transport vaccines to a remote village that is near the village he is trying to reach.  However, the vaccines are stuck in a corrupt customs lock up.  Promising to deliver the vaccines to a village our "hero" manages to buy off enough people, get himself arrested, solicit the help of a local drug kingpin, and get into a run-in with the DEA.  All this is before the real "action" starts, which is when after finding himself in the thick of the jungle the Foolanthropist manages to travel 25 kilometers by motorbike, without shoes, without food/water, and without any form of direction.  I'm not sure what is more absurd that the producers thought that they could convince their audience that he got through heavy jungle without food or map OR that I was part of the audience that was thought to buy into this premise. 

Anyways forgetting all the glaringly obvious coincidences and luck that the "hero" had I still have a major overarching problem with this show.  It reiterates the theory that if you have limitless capital and no heart you can do wonders in the world.  It is not that easy.  Sure money does take care of many of the problems and if you are a billionaire you can remove many obstacles.  What about the real heroes of the story?  The aid worker who was there long before the "hero" and will be there long after he leaves.  The best part of the whole show was a monologue that the aid worker has where she tells off the "hero" for thinking that he can come in there with all his money, do a little bit of good to ease his conscience, and then go back to the US and tell his friends what amazing things he did.  Unfortunately that little tidbit was probably missed by most of the audience as they were probably caught up in the adventure of the whole show.  I'm sure the same argument could be made about many of us who travel to do service work in India or other areas, but the major difference is that when we go the only things we have to offer is our compassion, our smiles, our dedication, and our hardwork. 

The Range

I went to a shooting range last night with some friends and had some fun doing some target shooting.  I won't go into the details of the guns I shot mostly because that's irrelevant and I don't really know myself.  All I know is that I shot pistols similar to what is standard military issue. 

I realized two things while we were shooting.  First guns are incredibly loud.  Of course stupid, right?  Well I have been somewhere that multiple guns are being shot before and it was outside.  Alternatively I have been shooting indoors, but we were the only ones shooting for the most part.  Now multiple people shooting guns indoors is really freaking loud.

I also realized that my adrenaline was through the roof when we were shooting.  My heart was doing 180bpm and I felt like it was an out of body experience.  Once I was done and we were in the car heading back I couldn't stop yawning.  I got home at 930 and literally went straight to bed, because I think after being amped up on adrenaline when I eventually came down I was exhausted. 

Both of these realizations have made me wonder about how police and military personnel do their jobs.  I think about the shootout that saw 4 cops get killed earlier this year and I wonder how it must have felt in that situation.  Certainly the movies don't accurately portray any of this, but it always looks easier than it is.

Untitled

For some reason I haven't really felt like writing recently.  That doesn't mean I haven't had inspiration to write.  Quite the contrary in fact while not wanting to write I have had several topics that I wanted to write about pop in my head, but have never quite got them out.  So now I'll do the blog equivalent of a pav bhaji or minestrone soup (that is put several unconnected ideas into one post just to clean out the "fridge"). 

Doubt

A few weekends ago we saw this movie.  Wow.  Not particularly intense, but still somewhat unnerving and somewhat crazy.  I don't think you can really give away the plot of the movie, because it has a bit of an open ended conclusion.  However, without giving anything away the premise of the movie is that Meryl Streep is the headmistress at a 1960s Catholic school and she has a bone to pick with Philip Seymour Hoffman who is the priest of the parish.  The thing that stayed with me after the movie is how manipulative and single minded Meryl Streep's character is.  She would stop at nothing to see her desired outcome achieved.  Even when the cards were stacked against her and it was clear that she was wrong she still manipulated the situation. 

As a side note I have to say that Meryl Streep never ceases to amaze me.  She has played some truly villanous and evil characters (Manchurian Candidate and arguably The Devil Wears Prada), but she has also played some beautiful characters (upcoming Julie and Julia and Music of the Heart).  She definitely has some depth. 

Point Break Live

At the other end of the spectrum of acting is a complete ridiculous and campy theatrical stage version of Point Break.  I really wanted to see this for my birthday, but we had to wait until we could get tickets.  It was hysterically horrible.  I loved it.  If you haven't seen the movie I think the live version would be pretty crappy, but even with some recollection of the original it was pretty good.  The HyWy felt it was just an excuse for guys to run around, act like idiots, and throw beer on each other/the crowd.  The highlight of the whole experience was watching them cast the role of Keanu Reeves from the audience with lines to be read from cue cards so that the acting most closely resembled his bodacious one. 

Sandman

This really deserves a post of it's own and if I can come up with something better then I might move it.  I finally finished the epic 10 part Sandman series and it was awesome.  I don't know how it was written or how it was envisioned, but I'm pretty sure Neil Gaiman hadn't forseen the whole series as one when he was writing.  This is part of the beauty of the series that he was able to weave such a complicated and complete story together over so many episodes.  The whole series is 75 episodes and by the time it ends there are references to characters and events from the very beginning.  There were also different artists who contributed to the each episode so that there are a variety of visual styles some of which are definitely better than others.  I think this is a series that I will likely purchase down the road to have, because it was well written and visually stunning.  Bear in mind by no stretch of the imagination do I recommend this for everyone, because it is at points very graphic (violently and sexually).