Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Rent

Musicals are not often my preferred form of entertainment. The worst are contrived, people just bursting into song with wide and silly smiles on their faces.
And bits of Rent are contrived, but Jonathan Larson put so much heart and soul into the songs you can't help but get caught up in the whole experience.
Years ago, I saw the stage production, and I had my doubts that Chris Columbus of "Home Alone" fame could do the film justice.
But with six of the original cast members, the film works, even if the actors are too old to be playing 20-something artists struggling with poverty and AIDS in the East Village.
The movie, as the play, is set in 1989, where being gay and dying of AIDS were shocking. In 2005, AIDS isn't shocking anymore; it is depressingly routine. And in a culture where we have Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, homosexuality is not as taboo as it once was.
What makes Rent soar is sheer exuberance, a fervor for life that's damn near infectious.
In the midst of what's typically downer material is an urgent and bold declaration of carpe diem. No wonder Rent has garnered such cult status.
It celebrates youthful idealism, love of friends and the pursuit of dreams against harsh reality.
Who wouldn't love that?

Monday, November 21, 2005

The Last Dragon

As a child, I thought The Last Dragon, Berry Gordon's vision for a black Bruce Lee, was the bomb.
You had cool kung-fu moves by Taimak, El Debarge's song, "Rhythm of the Night" and the lovely, luscious Vanity.
Funny how snobby you get in your old age. Now, you see the stilted dialogue (though Sho'Nuff is still a hoot) and once your eyes adjust to Vanity's beauty, you realize just how untalented she was. Can't dance, can't sing, can't act. She just flutters her eyes alot and plays well the damsel in distress.
And the fight scenes? I wonder what I ever saw in them. Taimak has moves but the fights are poorly choreographed. Maybe The Matrix and Unleashed have spoiled me.
Of course, the movie also features many snippets of Bruce Lee and we see how this movie has no chance of being a fair comparison.
Still, the movie entertains. You have to just enjoy the silly ride.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

50 Cent: The Non-Actor

Sheer curiosity pulled me into the movie theater to see 50 Cent's acting debut in his semi-autobiographical "Get Rich or Die Tryin'."
A shrewd move by 50 Cent was to surround himself by incredible talent. Jim Sheridan, acclaimed director of "My Left Foot" and "In America," helms this movie. Terrence Howard, fresh off a year of powerful performances in "Crash" and "Hustle & Flow," co-stars, and Bill Duke gives this movie some heft.
But the center of the movie is 50 Cent. And 50 Cent can't hold the center.
The muscle-bound rapper never exposes much except his rippling chest. His face is drained of emotion. He smiles at times, and in one pivotal scene, he cries.
Yet, 50 Cent's character Marcus seems distant. We don't understand his passion for rap because we don't see it. We don't see how the death of Marcus's mother affects him, how it influences how he lives his life.
Marcus's motivations remain a mystery. Considering this is 50 Cent's life, I can't question the authenticity of this movie.
But I do question 50 Cent's performance, in which his presence barely registers, where we never get beyond the surface of 50 Cent's life.
We hear enough of 50 Cent's life in his rhymes. We deserve something deeper to appear on the screen and we never get that.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Get Rich or Die Tryin'

50 Cent, a sly smirk creasing his face, is out heavily promoting his film, making sure to display his muscle-bound, tatooed chest and stoking controversy whenever he can.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' is the movie, ostesibly Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's semi-autobiographical tale of his rise from crack dealer to platinum-selling rapper.
It opens this Wednesday. Whether I will see it remains to be seen.
For 50 Cent has made his name for being so gangsta, waxing nostalgic about his crack-dealing days and beefing with other rappers.
Ja Rule, Fat Joe, his protege The Game and even Kanye West are victims of his venom, all designed to increase record sales.
It's sickening, and one is left to wonder what redeeming quality his movie will have. What message will it send?
50 Cent has had a hard life, his mother a drug dealer who died when he was just a child. And a few years back, nine bullets pierced 50 Cent's flesh.
He is a walking miracle, his life a precious gift. But with that gift, 50 Cent gives little but tired gangsta tales with catchy hooks and hard-to-resist beats.
Curtis Jackson seems to liken himself to Tupac Shakur, the late 25-year-old rapper who died in 1996.
But Shakur he is not. For Shakur, flawed as he was, had more depth and substance in his rhymes than 50 Cent has ever had.
Never does it seem that 50 Cent really regrets the trajectory of his life. And worse, he relishes his conflicts with other rappers, for they "justify his thug" and help him sell more records.
The title of his movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," sums up well his philosophy of life: materialism trumps morality. It trumps responsibility.
Life is never this black and white, this spiritually empty. Get Rich or Die Tryin'? Please. Life is worth more than 50 Cent.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

BET: 25 Years

Tonight, I sit here watching BET's 25th Anniversary Celebration, and there is certainly much to celebrate.
Growing up, my family never had cable, so the only chance to see BET was at someone else's house, and most of what I saw was music videos.
As I got older, I began to appreciate the other aspects of BET, things such as Lead Story and Teen Summit. These were places where issues important to black people were discussed, and to see that was empowering.
So it is depressing for me to see how far BET has fallen over the years, to see shows such as Lead Story and Teen Summit and BET Nightly News fall by the wayside and replaced by videos and little original programming.
Yes, there is the reality that BET has to make money, and I sincerely hope that the leadership by Reginald Hudlin will turn things around.
Still, watching this celebration only reminds me of what BET used to be and the potential of what it could be.