Sunday, January 29, 2006

Climbing Brokeback Mountain

Finally, I trudged up Brokeback Mountain and found I enjoyed the view.
The movie lives up to the hype. This is a film of small moments that build to emotional payoffs sprinkled throughout.
Ang Lee takes his time so you can invest in Ennis and Jack, watch as their relationship evolves over quiet mornings and cold nights in Brokeback Mountain, herding sheep.
And we see how one night of unexpected passion matures into a steel-like bond that endures their need to hide the truth of their love.
You see Ennis bowed down by pain the first time Jack leaves him, and you see his wife, played by Michelle Williams, whose bottled-up rage boils as she realizes that her husband's true love is not her.
The lush scenes of the two cowboys in Brokeback Mountain is laid out against the harsh confines of their lives with their wives and children.
And you see how their existence, where they can only steal a few weeks a year together, crushes them.
Brokeback Mountain, as critics have noted, is not self-righteous; it simply tells a story, one about two men who try to love each other in a world that does not accept them together.
This is a good movie, and to just call it a gay love story does no justice to it.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Oprah flogs James Frey

Don't make Oprah mad. James Frey didn't heed the advice. Today, he looked rather sheepish.
He should. He lied. And Oprah has every reason to be angry, embarrassed, whatever.
Like I said, don't make Oprah mad. I sure wouldn't.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

The Downfall of Flavor Flav

Flavor Flav's clock-wearing mug, his gold-encrusted teeth blaring, saved Public Enemy from being too self-righteous. He was the fun that balanced Chuck D's baritone protestations against political corruption and racism.
That was then; this is now. Flavor Flav, desperate for money, stars in The Flavor of Love, a pathetic, low-down piece of crapola reality television show that features a dozen women vying for the hype man's attention.
This is his third show, after making his debut on The Surreal Life a couple of years back.
We see women cry, actually cry, because they might not have the chance to be the one for our man, Flavor Flav, a has-been who is far from handsome and who certainly doesn't have much money. Ah, the things people do for money.
Chuck D, your friend needs help, like now.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Why Straight Guys Don't Want to See Brokeback Mountain

No, I have not ventured to see Brokeback Mountain. I like to think of myself as enlightened and so I've said to myself that I won't see Brokeback Mountain because the movie has gotten too much hype. But maybe the reason is really this.
Guess I should just man up and see the movie, imagining Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are really Jessica Alba and Halle Berry. Yep, I'm such a guy.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

A Million Little "Fake" Pieces

The extent of James Frey's lies in his best-selling memoir, A Million Little Pieces, is astounding.
And the response from his publisher is, well, sad and predictable.
Then again, Random House is making money so why should the higher-ups care about the truth.
But I deal with truth every day as part of my profession. And while it might be hard to get to an objective truth in a memoir, I do expect that the central facts an author lays out in his memoir are substantially accurate.
Frey, by his own admission, made up most of what's in his book. He didn't embellish.
He lied. And he's being awarded by selling more books and having the chance to see his life story told on the big screen.
Thanks to Oprah, Frey has gotten national exposure, selling his fiction as testimony designed to inspire people struggling with their own alcohol and drug addictions.
I haven't read his book, and the latest revelations make it highly unlikely that I ever will. But from what I heard, Frey spins a great story.
Too bad it's not truth.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Hostel

The movie "Hostel" is gross. Not just gross but the squirm-in-your-seat gross, the kind of gross that has you either looking away or putting your hands over your eyes.
And I loved it.
This is what a good horror/slasher movie is supposed to do.
"Hostel" starts off as a "Porky's in Amsterdam" kind of movie. We have three guys backpacking in Europe, all looking to get smashed and laid.
And when a nerdy looking guy shows them pictures of beautiful naked women who can only be found in Slovakia, they hop a train and head for what they think will be nights of debauchery.
They do. For awhile, fun is had by all.
Then, as in movies like this, something goes horribly wrong. Toes are chopped off. Heads become detached from bodies. Drills go into flesh.
Nasty stuff.
Helming this is Eli Roth, who made the cult classic Cabin Fever a few years ago. I never thought much of "Cabin Fever," but Roth blesses this movie with gorgeous cinemotography, believable acting and teeth-clenching suspense.
"Hostel" is simply put an adrenaline rush. This is a good gory mess.

Monday, January 02, 2006

The Ho in Hip-Hop

Sexism in hip-hop is nothing new, but as this article makes clear, some rap artists have taken misogyny to rauchier and degrading lows.
Some question whether hip-hop, a cultural movement that began in the South Bronx more than three decades ago, should take the full blame for the depiction of women, black women in particular.
After all, take a quick look at the cultural landscape. Sex sells, and exploiting women has been refined into a sick kind of art. Witness Paris Hilton splaying her half-naked wet body to sell hamburgers.
Watch Jessica Simpson in a skimpy two-piece bathing suit prancing around in a country music video to promote that Dukes of Hazzard movie.
It ain't just hip-hop. But in many ways, it is. And as a black man, I wince when I watch the images of black women in too many rap videos and songs.
And I struggle to see black women as human beings when all I see in mainstream hip-hop are parts of women, a breast here, a butt cheek there. None of those parts speak.
And for me, that speaks volumes.