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Capone on BAD SANTA, HAUNTED MANSION, HOUSE OF SAND & FOG, IN AMERICA, LAST SAMURAI, HONEY & More!
Hey folks, Harry here with the man that just churns em out... CAPONE... If Moriarty is "one of those comic artists," ya know... the ones that miss deadlines due to peyote experiences... Well Capone is a John Byrne or a Curt Swan... the type that gets the job done and done well without fail. Me? I'm one of those obscure comic artists that self publishes cuz nobody would ever publish my shitty scrawls. ANYWAY - here Capone goes on many of the films coming out today and in the upcoming weeks... Enjoy...
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with a windfall of reviews of upcoming releases that I've had backed up in my head for weeks in some cases and just haven't had the time to spew out all over my keyboard. I'll be brief and direct...BAD SANTA
As much as I adore the sublime, more subtle humor of perfect little movies like LOST IN TRANSLATION and AMERICAN SPLENDOR, I'm also a gi-normous fan of balls-out vulgarity. I love to laugh at sick shit, and based on the heat that's coming down on BAD SANTA even before its release this week, I'd say we have an absolute winner in the "Most Wonderfully Sick Film of the Year" category. I loved this movie. It has no scruples, no class, and aims low in a tale of a professional mall Santa (Billy Bob Thornton) and his elf sidekick (Tony Cox) who pose at a different department store in a different part of the country every year and then knock off the place on Christmas Eve. The only problem is that Billy Bob is a drunken womanizer who hates children with a sadistic passion, and every year he risks blowing the gig through major acts of insubordination. He's a mean, crass S.O.B., people. Bernie Mac is on hand as the head of the pair's latest target store, and rather than turn them in, he wants a piece of the action. Also in the mix is Lauren Graham as a bartender that Billy Bob hooks into and who has a thing for guys in Santa suits, and the late John Ritter as the meek department store manager. He's really good here and as sad as it is to see him, it's great that he went out in such a funny movie like this. At the helm of this bit of nastiness is CRUMB and GHOST WORLD director Terry Zwigoff, who directs exactly as he should: as if he didn't have a heart or an ounce of sentimentality about Christmas or cute kids. The film is a ruthless look at human beings, and despite a vague attempt at redemption at the end of the film, pretty much everyone comes out looking like a asshole. It's great, evil fun. Give into your base desires, folks. Ho ho ho, bitches. It opens this week.
P.S.: I'm only going to say this once: THIS IS NOT A FILM FOR KID!! Consider yourselves warned. There is nothing in this film that children should see. Get a damn babysitter, you cheap bastards.HONEY
This might be at the top of my list right now for worst movie of the year, not because the acting is terrible (it is), not because the music is unlistenable and repetitive (ditto), not because the story and characters are vapid and pointless (check and check), but because HONEY offers oversized portions of all of these factors. This is the kind of film you're going to play for your friends five years from now just to piss them off. I WOULD wish this movie on my worst enemy, and I hope he chokes on it.
HONEY is the "story" of a dance instructor and bartender named Honey Daniels ("Dark Angel's" Jessica Alba). And in case you forget her name, nearly every song in this movie has the word "Honey" repeated over and over again. Honey biggest dream is to become a dancer in music videos....I shit you not. She auditions like crazy, but is eventually discovered by a video director (David Moscow) who sees her shake her amazing form at the club where she bartends. I found it a little disturbing that the only major white character in the film (Moscow) is also the biggest asshole and practically tries to rape Honey in the movie's most awkward sequence. Reverse racism is alive and well. Anyway, Honey eventually works her way into choreographing music videos and holds meetings with director and artists that seem about as real as...well, nothing. They seem fake and laughable. Honey "teaches hip-hop" (whatever the hell that means) at the local youth rec center, where she meets a basketball playing Chaz (Mekhi Phifer, whom I felt the most sorry for trapped in this garbage). Also zipping in and out of my field of vision for 80 minutes is hip-hop artist and non-actor Lil' Romeo, who reads his lines about as convincingly as Steven Seagal on "Saturday Night Live."
If HONEY had actually been about a woman making her way from dancer to choreographer, I might have been remotely interested, and I'll admit that watching Jessica Alba swing her hips is pretty inspirational. Unfortunately, she only really does this aggressively in the first 10 minutes of the film. Instead, we are forced to endure meaningless subplots about Romeo's crappy life. Will he deal drugs and go to jail, or can being a dancer in one of Honey's videos save the day? Who the hell cares? Will Honey blow off her best friend's (Joy Bryant) birthday trip to Atlantic City to go to a mega-hip music industry party with her would-be play-rapist director/mentor? Again, who cares? The entire gumbo of nonsense culminates with a "big show" that Honey must put on to put a downpayment on a dance studio she's trying to get off the ground. Apparently the big show lasts all of one routine, and a lame one at that. Oy! As much as this film would like to recall the pleasure of watching a SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER or FLASHDANCE, the movie it is most likely to be compared to is GLITTER. All that really happens here (like in GLITTER) is that all of the characters tell the lead actress how beautiful and talented she is for 80 minutes. If you're on the lookout for a film that will push you over the edge and inspire you to swallow a shotgun, we have a winner. It opens December 5 and hopefully closes December 6.MONA LISA SMILE
I've been genuinely impressed with some of the choices Julia Roberts has made lately, especially when she started (and hasn't really stopped) working with Stephen Soderbergh. OCEAN'S ELEVEN, FULL FRONTAL, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, ERIN BROCKOVICH, THE MEXICAN, even going back as far as CONSPIRACY THEORY, NOTTING HILL, and STEPMOM are all watchable, if not always successful, edgy endeavors. Because of this, I was a little let down by her latest work, MONA LISA SMILE, a return to safer ground for Roberts, but a film not without its highlights. Julia plays Katherine Watson, a rookie art history professor at the all-girls Wellesley College in the mid-1950s. She far more progressive and independent than any of the other teachers, and naturally her presence and influence on the girls polarizes the students and other faculty members. When she discovers that the school is essentially a finishing school for women who will aspire to nothing more than being the wives of successful men, she is furious and determined to not let that happen to her girls. The problem with Roberts is that she doesn't surprise us her. You can probably guess without even seeing the trailer how she's going to play this role. And if you have seen the trailer, well, you've seen the movie. She gets the job done, yes, but she isn't trying or challenging herself to play this part and it's a let down. As forward-thinking as she is, she still has time to fall for the school's hunky Italian teacher, Bill (Dominic West), who apparently sleeps with his students.
The upside of MONA LISA SMILE are the students. Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, and Maggie Gyllenhaal are among Roberts' charges. Dunst is a little too patently mean, but Stiles and the sexually liberated Gyllenhaal really shine here. Stiles, whose character is on the pre-law track (although she has no intention of going to law school) becomes Katherine's project. She wants her to think of a life outside of simple being a wife and standing in someone else's shadow. Also doing fine work here in smaller roles are Juliet Stevenson, who appears all too briefly as Katherine's lesbian housemate and fellow professor, and Marcia Gay Harden as the third housemate, who has given up on men entirely as is content to become an old maid before she's 45, watching T.V. in a sort of sad contentment.
Director Mike Newell (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, DONNIE BRASCO, and 2005's HARRY POTTER entry) has a sure hand guiding his story and characters through one pseudo-drama after another, but there's nothing really inspirational here. I'm not knocking the film's pro-independent woman messages at all. Girl Power, and all that. But I can't imagine women or young ladies of today getting anything of substance from this film. In case you hadn't heard, women can vote and run companies and do all sorts of manly things already. And since I'm pretty sure the story of MONA LISA SMILE isn't based on a true story (I apologize if it is), this tale isn't being told as a historical biopic. So why is it being told? I'm not exactly sure. The acting is top-notch and the film's locations a stunning to look at, but there's a valuable piece missing here: relevance. It opens December 19.THE LAST SAMURAI
Almost without fail, director Edward Zwick's films (GLORY, LEGENDS OF THE FALL, COURAGE UNDER FIRE, THE SIEGE) all have the same effect on me. I see all of their faults and there are probably a dozen reasons why these movies shouldn't work, but they always suck me in and force me to like them anyway. THE LAST SAMURAI is probably the easiest Zwick film to like despite what I believe is the dreadful miscasting of Tom Cruise in the lead as war hero Nathan Algren, a man who sours at the idea that his bet years are behind him and has begrudgingly settled into a life of personal appearances and drunken stupors. Still, Cruise won me over, especially in the film's second half, by simply shutting up and letting the beauty and elegance of a dying Japanese culture be the center of attention.
Algren is hired by progressive-thinking Japanese railroad tycoons looking to enlist American war heroes to go to Japan and fight the last of the samurai, who are struggling to hold on the old ways of Japan and resists Westernized ways. Algren is brought into the battle by his former commanding officer Col. Benjamin Bagly (Tony Goldwyn), who Algren has serious misgivings about for reasons I'll keep secret for now. Algren drags along with him the faithful Sgt. Zebulah Grant (Billy Connolly) for comic relief. Algren trains the Japanese troops in how to use rifles, and defend themselves against the samurai's awesome skills with swords, arrows, and staffs. In the first clash between the new Japanese army and the samurai, Algren is captured after putting up an amazing fight. The samurai leader, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) is so impressed with him that he takes him back to their village in the mountains rather than kill him. Despite their fighting on opposite side, Algren acknowledges the he has no real grudge with the samurai and, instead, takes to observing the disciplined manner in which they live every aspect of their lives. Algren and Katsumoto (who is learning English) form a tentative friendship based on mutual admiration of each other's warrior ways. Not a lot happens in this mid-section of the film, but that's okay. The training sequences (which Algren joins in on) substitute for action, and it works. The early stages of a love story also start up as Cruise begins to fall for the woman running the dwelling where he's being allowed to say. They have a unwelcome connection that he's unaware of, and it threatens the relationship, but the love story is a minor part of this movie.
In the film's jaw-dropping third act, the key themes are blood, gore, and death...and more blood. In the final battle between new and old Japan, it seems that every stroke of a samurai sword results in a gaping wound or a complete run through an opponents body. Blood is gushing from every sword cut and bullet hole. I'm sure there is some degree of special effects at work here, but it's flawless. And this is no KILL BILL-style sword fighting; you feel the weight and sharpness of every stroke. Thankfully, no wire works here either. This is reality, people. This battlefield is shear brutality, and those who loved Zwick's battle scenes in GLORY will not be disappointed as you wipe the blood from your brow. THE LAST SAMURAI is one of those rare films that works as well during its most quiet and serene moments as it does during its most booming and relentlessly violent. I was genuinely impressed by all of the actors, even Cruise who shows a gift for knowing when to step into the background, and Zwick's fantastic eye for action and scenic views. The visual style of THE LAST SAMURAI reminded me a lot of some of Kurosawa's later color films in its treatment of color, in particular, blood red. This is a hearty, worthy film filled with great things despite its few flaws. It opens December 5.IN AMERICA
In his most personal film date, acclaimed Irish writer-director Jim Sheridan (MY LEFT FOOT; THE BOXER; IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER) brings us an account of his mid-1980s' attempt to illegally move to America and become an actor in New York City. Paddy Considine is Johnny who enters America over the Canadian border with his wife, Sarah (Samantha Morton) and two daughters (real sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger). The family has recently suffered the loss of the only son, Frankie, an event that is still having a devastating effect on all of them. Despite being forced to live in a run-down building in the slums of New York, the two little girls stay upbeat and positive with talk of magic and conversations with their dead brother. The parents aren't as fortunate and tensions rise in the small, dark dwelling. The family make friends with a tortured artist neighbor named Mateo, played by Djimon Hounsou (AMISTAD), who encourages their spiritual thinking about their dead brother and the prospect for added inspiration in the form of a new baby for Sarah. IN AMERICA is a bit of a jumble but the important things are done right here. Hounsou's strength as an actor and a force of nature really jumps off the screen, and Morton power as an actor is unquestionable. Sarah's mental condition is always a factor in this story, and Morton conveys her fractured mind with sensitivity and authenticity. IN AMERICA is the kind of film whose faults are easy to overlook because what it gets right it gets so right. Jim Sheridan's storytelling abilities are without fail as he takes a simple stranger in a strange land scenario and beefs it up and gives it weight and substance. IN AMERICA is simply lovely in the most disturbing sense. It opens this week.HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
This holiday season may go down as the most depressing on record with films like 21 GRAMS and THE LAST SAMURAI (which you can probably tell from the title doesn't end well). But I think HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG (based on the book by Andre Dubus III) has them all beat. This film is drop-dead misery, and I mean that in the best possible way. It also just happens to be a film filled with great acting, a devastating story about the danger of letting your unchecking emotions get the best of you, and a visual style from newcomer Vadim Perelman (who some of you may have heard has been assigned the task of turning the Stephen King-Peter Straub novel THE TALISMAN into a film for 2005) that is both eerie and completely appropriate. I know people say crap like this all the time, but the look of this film (having much to do with the weather) is like its own character here.
Ben Kingsley plays a former high-ranking Iranian colonel named Massoud Amir Behrani who was forced out of Iran when the Shah left. He fled for America with his wife (Shohreh Aghdashloo), daughter, and son. He was unable to take much money with him, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to appear rich to his friends and associates. His main concern in life was to make money to give his daughter a chance of marrying well (which she does early in the film) and to get his son into a fine university. He works two menial jobs and nearly drives his family broke for appearances sake. Then one day he discovers the world of seized property auctions, and he uses all that his family has left to buy at a fraction of its price a spacious sea-side seized house, which was taken from a woman (Jennifer Connelly) for missing only $500 in back taxes that she shouldn't have even been charged in the first place. Connelly's Kathy Nicolo is a recovering substance abuser who lives at the house alone, doesn't look at her mail, and basically sleeps all day. When she finds herself suddenly homeless, she is befriended by the deputy sheriff assisting in her eviction, Lester Burdon (Ron Eldard). Kathy's lawyer (Frances Fisher) explains to her that if the Behrani will sell the house back to the county for what he paid, she could move back in. Otherwise, she's without a home or money. But Behrani has already had the house appraised for three times what he paid, and has no intention of selling. As he and his wife and son fix up the house, they start to grow fond of it, especially the seaside location, which reminds them of their home on the Caspian Sea in Iran.
This is the set up to a tragic chain of events that sees Kathy make several attempts at convincing the Behrani's to give up the property, a few threatening visits from the sheriff, and a plethora a poor decisions of everybody's part. The wonderful thing about HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG is that you can't imagine it working. On the surface it sounds like a film about real estate, but that couldn't be further from the truth. And what the hell are Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley doing in the same room? Actually, a pretty incredible job acting. The emotional tension in this film is sky high, and you never know in which direction the story will go, which adds a level of fear to the proceedings that I hadn't anticipated. I was particularly moved by the performance of Shohreh Aghdashloo, whose desperation to have a normal, happy life in America is unreasonably threatened by the sheriff. She doesn't understand many words in English, but she knows and fears what "deportation" means, despite the fact that the entire family are American citizens. There isn't a bad performance in the bunch. Even Eldard uses his usual book-on-tape delivery to advantage here. At first he come across as a by-the-book kind of officer, but when his emotional attachment to Connelly deepens and it becomes clear that he kind of digs her desperation, his cool demeanor melts away (as does his relationship with his own family). But the real surprise here is Connelly. Image her character from REQUIEM FOR A DREAM kicking the drugs and beginning a new life with no advantages other than her looks. That's Kathy in a nutshell, and Connelly plays desperate better than just about anyone.
I won't give any clues as to just how bad things get for these characters, but based on the opening shot of the film, you get an idea. HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG is about as fine a high-level emotional journey as I've seen in a long time. Powerful stuff. It opens December around Christmas.THE HAUNTED MANSION
I'll begin this review with two prefaces. First, I saw this film and THE CAT IN THE HAT a day apart; this film is much better. Second, when I was a wee lad, I owned The Haunted Mansion talking book on vinyl. I'm probably dating myself, but so what; I wore that thing out listening to it and I still remember every drawing from the accompanying book. It wasn't until year after I got this that I actually went to a Disney theme park and saw the actual Haunted Mansion attraction. Imagine the thrill I got seeing my dog-eared book come to life with the same voices, visuals, and sound effects I'd memorized. As my little egg shell cart was nearing the exit and I saw the hitchhiker ghosts in the seat next to me, I was in little kid heaven.
THE HAUNTED MANSION film may also be little kid heaven, but it wasn't mine, not entirely. The folks at Disney's second ride-turned-movie (after the way cool PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) have made something a bit more child appropriate, which isn't to say that grownups like me won't get something out of it. For Haunted Mansion faithful, we still have the body-less Madame Leota (Jennifer Tilly) chanting to musical unseen spirits, the barbershop quartet singing busts are here, the parties in the ballroom and adjoining cemetery, and yes, my favorite hitchhikers are well represented. Unfortunately, we also get strapped with a lame-brain story involving a real estate agent (Eddie Murphy), his wife (Marsha Thomason), their two annoying kids, and a weak backstory about a tragic lost love by the mansion previous owner (Nathaniel Parker). Yes, it's fun to see veterans Terence Stamp (as the scheming ghost butler Evers) and Wallace Shawn (as another ghost servant) hamming it up in dismissable roles; and I was thrilled to see makeup wiz Rick Baker back doing some neat rotting corpse designs, which may be a little intense the the youngest of kiddies, but just right for me. But to get to the good stuff, you have to endure some pretty mediocre plot points and the phoning-it-in performance of Eddie Murphy, who forces himself to smile at his own stupid jokes a few too many times. I'm not sure how Disney could have made this film any better, but PIRATES proved that the potential is there and left totally unrealized in HAUNTED MANSION. I big, but not unexpected, disappointment. The child in me has died a little more this day. It opens this week.
Capone
If you'd like to buy Chi-Town Charlie's BNAT ticket, drop me an email and a bid!
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I thought billy bob had some midget fear affectation along with his phony fear of old furniture.
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Isn't Haunted House the third Disney attraction to movie? Country Bears, Pirates, then Haunted House?
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I'm amped for some MUCHO depression this holiday season!!!
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Nobody says (or gets to say) that enough around here. Thanks Capone.
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i love ghost world, so one day I figured I'd rent Crumb.... Well i no longer like ghost world as much as I used to because Seymour was obviously based on Crumb. It really ruined Ghost World for me. I don't really want to see Lorelei gilmore getting it on with billy bob "the womanizer" thornton either. but the more and more I hear about this movie the more and more I want to see it.
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The man's a damn fine actor, and that's that. I'm looking forward to Last Samurai.
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Nov 26, 2003 12:17:25 PM CST
"The film is a ruthless look at human beings, and despite a vagu
by e.c.
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Nov 26, 2003 12:33:49 PM CST
aliencaptive1013, you want some cheese to go with all that bitch
by e.c.
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It is so boring and bad. It could have been great, but it missed the mark entirely. I don't know what these people are talking about. I can't BELIEVE people liked it.
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Nov 26, 2003 12:36:57 PM CST
!50 samurai should show up at the Alamo and fight alongside Croc
by fred
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Consider the following:
Capone is appalled that the lone major white character in Honey is a bad guy. Reading between the lines, you can tell he -
Nov 26, 2003 1:02:57 PM CST
Sigh, reverse-racism isn't when black people hate white people.
by rev_skarekroe
That's just racism, the hatred by one member of a certain race for members of another race. The REVERSE of racism would be if he LOVED everyone from another race. sk
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Aren't you just another one of those who cannot admit racism against whites CAN exist? It gets tiring, too. Sick of hearing how minority/anit-white racism couldn't happen, and/or why it's justified. Whites are way more tolerant than most other race groups, yet continue to get shit on the most, and I'm sick of hearing it. The review seems dead-on to me, and That situation occurs in quite a few mostly Black movies. Let me tell you something....It's wrong, and racist, yet you don't hear us bitchin about it all day, do you? I would KILL to see what your reaction would be if the reverse came out in the theaters. Imagine a CPA movie, where the only Black in the film was stupid or evil? We would have non-stop riots and boycotts, yet the reverse happens, and no one cares. NOW, who is the victims here? Enough of it. Learn to all get along, and stop the hate. Capice??
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Wouldn't loving every member of a single race of people still be pre-judging people based on their race, ie prejudice based on race, ie racism? If you take 'reverse racism' to mean the opposite of racism, then that should mean not having any preconceived notions or judgments of a person, positive or negative, based on race. See, I can be a pedant too! At the end of the day, I think we all understood what Capone meant? Like many, he applies the term 'racism' only to the discrimnation of someone from an ethnic minority by someone from the ethnic majority.
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Movies and shows have always been peppered with token black characters that are usually caricatures. Where do you think the old cliche of "black guy is the first to die" came from? Don't act like this is new. I REALLY don't want to turn this into a racial argument, but that tired sentiment of "white people are more tolerant" is just lame as shit, and SCREAMS naivete. But, I don't want to turn this into a racial argument. They balloon out of control and no one wins. And they're usually started 'cuz someone drops the race card for no good reason, CAPONE.
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What racism? "Honey" simply sounds like yet another culturally-bankrupt shitty wigga-tween hiphop abomination. BTW: House of Sand and Fog is totally Hubert Selby, jr. territory i.e. great and greatly depressing. Can't wait for the film even though I'm not a fan of either of the main actors.
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I would whatever movie that could give me the same feelings I get when listening to Concrete Blonde songs.
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Nov 26, 2003 2:30:44 PM CST
I like the fact that my half brother is of mixed races raised by
by big bad clone
I don't mean just hating everybody period. Rather he hates everyone based on their race, background, education, taste, religion, money, etc. He's really a good guy but just racist as a motherfucker.
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Nov 26, 2003 2:41:09 PM CST
Honey...The new Glitter? Best News I heard all week! Can't wait!
by mentallymariah
Opening night, will be there with pals, drunk and stoned yelling at the screen! Cant' wait to see House of Fog and Shit and uh Haunted Mansion, not in a million years...They should have named Mona Lisa Smiles to Mona Lisa's CamelToe, then maybe I might have gone to see it and Bad Santa sounds like the perfect antidote to Elf...Nice Reviews Capone!
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The fucking tired premise of Mona Lisa Smile should certainly be an element of any review of the film. Frankly, it's an open question whether it is still possible to make a "diversity issue" film and NOT have it be exasperatingly tired and redundant. This is true whether you think we have achieved Utopia or not. The concept is not played out because the world is perfect; the concept is played out because the media establishment has beaten the issue into the ground through the sheer overkill of incessant preaching. Sorry. If you sit down and choose to make a film with this particular "very special message" you better damn well make a masterpiece because if you don't, you may as well just tape an encounter group meeting at Mitsuibishi and call it a movie. Actually, that would probably be better than Mona Lisa Smile POSSIBLY could be, given the latter's wretched and intolerable star. And Capone gave plenty of reasons why Honey sucked outside of his problem with the one character. Frankly, how you could even see the commercial and not know it's as bad as "Glitter" is anyone's guess.
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I can't help but think it's ironic that a film portraying the death of traditional Japanese culture stars a westerner (and is, i'm guessing, narrated from his perspective) who is in the lead role. I'll admit I'm excited to see this film, but there is a part of me that cringes at what this movie represents as a whole in terms of Hollywood's treatment of Asians/Asian-Americans: the only time Asians are allowed to have starring roles is if they're playing ass kicking, kung-fu superheroes. I am excited to see the performances by the Japanese actors in this film though. Maybe it'll show Hollywood that Asians have more acting chops than... karate chops... and allow for the emergence of Asian actors in lead roles of dramatic films the way other "minority" actors have become hugely popularized.
On another note... Just saw Wonderful Days (a Korean animated film) and I think the positive reviews given on this site were a bit overdone. The movie is visually stunning, but I found much of the movie to be slow and boring. -
Nov 26, 2003 3:23:44 PM CST
Numero Cinco, are you bitching as a rhetorical exercise or do yo
by jimmy jazz
Honey is about "the struggles and challenges" of anyone resembling a human being, caucasian or otherwise? Did you see the same trailer I did? Can you honestly tell me that there will be anything worthwhile in this piece of crap at all? It's simply a lame, cobbled together ploy to get Jessica Alba's stalled career going again. It's fucking Glitter part 2. I suggest you choose you battles more carefully. You look like a moron.
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Nov 26, 2003 3:35:45 PM CST
Honey sounds like Breakin' 3. A plot so eighties, I imagine the
by big bad clone
"Honey, you got the talent to take it to the top" Then the video director turns to the producer and says that they have a hit on there hands. Montage of the video on TRL, the song climbing up the billboard listings, etc. It is unnecessary to see this movie unless Ms. Alba shows her two friends. Even then, I still might not even rent it.
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Break down that term.
Are you saying that there is only one line that racism travels on? -
I guess the review I sent Harry last Saturday for the Haunted Mansion wasn't good enough because I'm not one of his pals. Harry, if you have a link asking us to provide you with info on flicks, they why don't you use it? I could see if you got tons of reviews on the film but nothing has been posted until opening day. You are sad, man.
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I don't mind people disagreeing with me. That's bound to be the case when you say something controversial. But, folks, I ask that you read my entire post before you respond. To quote: "Look, I have no doubt that Honey is a wretched movie and I have no trouble believing it is one of the worst of the year. Though Mona Lisa Smile won
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Nov 26, 2003 4:55:22 PM CST
Remember in You ONly Live Twice the Bond film in which Connery d
by big bad clone
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I'm not gonna turn this into a debate, but there's a slight difference between "black guys being the first to die" (which isn't really true) and "white guys are smarmy, anxious bastards whose morals dissolve when they get frustrated," which is what Capone is implying 'Honey' implies (and which he's probably reading too much in to). It's not akin to a token black character; that would be the lone white dude in 'Drumline,' proving to the world that white guys can, to a degree, be with it, "dude." You want an example of racism, just look at Tony Cox's character in 'Bad Santa,' which basically incorporates stereotypes of both blacks and midgets. I find it ironic that Capone didn't have a problem with that; in fact, he probably laughed at some of them, and it's probably because he feels more threatened by the insinuation that whites are evil than that midgets are balls of attitude.
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With all that said, please don't misinterpret my words as an assertion that white people are more tolerant in general. I'm full aware that all cultural groups are subject to racism in movies made by another, I'm just stating that the rapist from 'Honey' and Mekhi Phifer's character in 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' are not caricatures in the same way.
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... And fucking stupid. Anyway who defends Honey should die, it is that simple, if you go see that film instead of 21 Grams or Last Samurai, you need to be killed. Also The Animal dealt with reverse racism, the movie sucked tho
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People who defend Honey should not be killed but should be shunned from society for liking a film like that
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there's no excuse for this many dreadful typos in this day and aga...
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Nov 26, 2003 10:48:27 PM CST
'The battlefield is shear brutality' -- great unintentional (?)
by truthseekr1488
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Nov 26, 2003 10:59:37 PM CST
Haunted Mansion is the *third* Disney theme-park attraction movi
by osmosis jones
Have we all forgotten the horror of The Country Bears...?
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What a great debate! Capone you are a knob head without a knob. What a retard thing to say! Poor me Poor me!! Why is it ok for you to whine about that but then you judge a girl on the merits if she
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Hot diggity I'm right!
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Your all a bunch of liberal mamby pamby panty wastes!
Quit being such a bunch of cry babys. So your a minority? Big deal. You probably get picked on right? Live with it. Everyone gets picked on. You're to fat...you get discriminated against. You're too ugly...the good looking chick gets the promotion. You're a poor white kid in a crappy inner city neighborhood...you can cry your eyes out because the black kid next door got a free ride to college and you get shit because your a priviledged white kid.
Everyone has to just get over it. Racism will be around as long as people actually care what color you are or what you look like, or what sex you are, or what sexual orientation you have. Racism will go away if we just don't give a shit about that stuff.
So if you're so anti-white man...your just perpetuating things.
Get over it people.
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"Well Capone is a John Byrne or a Curt Swan... the type that gets the job done and done well without fail."
JOHN BYRNE? what the hell harry? when was the last time you picked up any of his lastest stuff? its shit. AT BEST! stick to movies dude. -
Also anyone else agree Tom Cruise is annoying short arse impotent twat?
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Nov 27, 2003 5:21:20 PM CST
White People AND Black People need to get over themselves...
by zerocorpse
You anglos are just so full of yourselves, and black people aren't exactly showing the utmost humility either. Both of you need to get over it, get past your huge egos, and remember that you aren't the only two races in this country. I'm Cheyenne, and I get SICK of hearing black people bitch about how badly they were treated by white people. HELLO? They nearly wiped out MY people! We were slaughtered, given pox-ridden blankets (biological warfare), had our land stolen, our women and children raped and butchered, our way of life destroyed, and all we get in return are some reservations, some casinos, and college tuition IF we have enough paperwork to prove our bloodline. Didn't need to provide paperwork when white man came here to be considered a "savage" and slaughtered, but now we need to prove we're "indian" enough. What did blacks suffer? Slavery? Boo-hoo. You got food, you got shelter, you weren't killed by the thousands on sight. You were eventually freed and given the right to vote WELL before Native Americans, who weren't even considered U.S. Citizens (even though we were here first), or given the vote until 1924 AFTER several of our people had fought in World War I for this country! Black people have it SOOO bad. You have your own parts of town- Show me a Native American part of town. You have your own popular culture in the media (rap, awards shows, UPN, Motown, etc. etc.) -Show me ANY Native American pop culture on TV or the radio! We're almost extinct! Even latinos get two cable networks- Where's the Native American cable network (and if any of you bastards says "The History Channel" I'll kick your ass). White people opressed us, and black people co-opt our culture for their own mass-media and pop culture, all the while complaining how hard THEIR lives are. Hard? You don't know hard life- No more difficult than any poor white person. No more difficult than and poor latino. No more difficult than any poor Native American on a reservation. I'm saying that blacks haven't had it nearly as hard as some other races in this country. Nobody went to war to free the Native Americans or the Mexicans from racism, and being treated like animals (people used to pay for indian and Mexican body parts because we had no rights whatsoever- At least slaves were protected as property, and recognized as more than just wild animals) Nobody fought to free the Chinese from indentured servitude. EVERYBODY IN THIS COUNTRY comes from a rough background, and it's about time you all stop whining about it and just accept that things are better, and will continue to get better if we all stop playing the victim and start playing the benefactor. In other words, SHUT UP!
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Before 1924, Native Americans were not considered PEOPLE. At that time, they got the right to vote if they were land owners. Blacks gained the right to vote, despite land-ownership, in 1965. The emancipation proclaimation, however, granted blacks rights as human beings and citizens in 1863. So blacks were considered humans a full 61 years after Native Americans were granted official status as humans, but all Native Americans got to vote 41 years before all blacks did. Meanwhile, white women were granted the right to vote in 1920, which still predates blacks and Native Americans' rights. So everybody got screwed by the white men, no matter who you were.
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Once again you prove yourself to be hypocritical low esteem fools. We have to be able to talk about politics in relation to movies as for a lot of people movies are the only access to other worlds. We are a generation that prefers to watch a summer blockbuster than to read an informative book. Its all about the quick fix. That is a generalization I know but this site is focus mainly on the action genre. Why is it ok for us to celebrate death and not for us to debate racism sexism etc... in the context of movies. I have never been anti white. I am however pro black. If I feel like someone
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sorry about the spelling and grammer I'm at work and my boss will kill me
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yet another hollywood film in which the white man must save asians.
when AREN'T asians used as foils for white characters?
fawking unbelievable.
this movie got made because pop culture seems to be so set on exploiting "asian" things because suddenly it's so fucking cool. i hope you all choke on your goddamn buddhist wrist beads -
That Reynolds comment is priceless! Julia Roberts... is it me or is there anyone else who just doesn't get her. I've never wanted to see any of her movies, haven't cared for any of the roles I have seen, and don't understand why she's popular. A chick thing perhaps?
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This is the first talkback I've read that no one mentioned how much they hated Episode II. I'm so proud of you all.
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I can't stand that midget
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I can't stand that midget
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Someone sent me an email about my post asking the following: "Just curious to know why you say that slavery was nothing. Its not a competition on who suffered the most. Wrong is wrong and right is right and it saddens me to think that someone I thought I had a empathy with would basically call me a pussy for objecting to the type of thinking that killed 50 million of my ancestors." ----HERE'S MY ANSWER: You are making my point exactly. Everybody whines about their ancestors' hard lives, but that has ZERO to do with YOUR life. White men killing my ancestors to the point of near-extinction, both by outright slaughter and by biological warfare (infecting traded blankets with smallpox, for example, so that my people could die slow, painful deaths) is no reason for ME to complain about MY life. We need to consider the way things are today, and not continually bring up old grudges and make our ancestors' hardships our own. My great, great, great grandfather may have had a terrible time living in America, since he wasn't considered a human being by white men in his lifetime, and his friends and relatives were hunted for sport because of it, but that is no excuse for the way I live my life now, in the present.
I'm not saying slavery wasn't a bad thing- It was terrible, of course- But you can't run around claiming that your ancestors take the award for most suffering and that you, personally, have anything to do with it, or deserve respect because of something your great, great, great grandparents had to endure. People must earn respect for their own actions. Of course I have empathy for the people who were slaves- did you really READ my post? I just happen to also have an equal amount of empathy for the Native Americans who, during and after black slavery, were being treated like animals and killed by whites for no reason. I have empathy for the Chinese who worked on our railroads who were "indentured servants" which is pretty much the same thing as slavery. I have empathy for the Mexicans who, like Native Americans, were treated as if they weren't people and killed for sport. I have empathy for Jews who were persecuted and slaughtered in the millions during World War II. I have empathy for white men now who have to bear the burdens of their own ancestors, and who must certainly feel like they didn't do anything themselves, personally, to deserve being treated like racists, slave-owners, or killers. I don't know anybody today who was a slave- Do you? I don't know anybody today who was a slave-owner- Do you? I don't know anybody today who was an "injun killer" either. That's the far-off past... If we ever want racial equality we have to stop drudging up the past and pretending that we have a monopoly on suffering. ALL people suffer, and your ancestors' suffering is no worse or better than MY people's suffering, but neither should have anything to do with how people treat us today.
How far back should my empathy for suffering go? Should I still be sorry that the Cro Magnon people drove the Neanderthals to extinction? Should I feel sorry for the Aztec, who were slaughtered by the Spaniards? Should I feel terrible about the plight of white slaves in the Greek and Roman empires? Should I be kind to Jewish people because they were slaves in ancient Egypt? Should I weep for the victims of the Mongols, or should I weep for the Mongols themselves who were killed in the end? How far back should my reverence for someone's ancestors' suffering go?
I could get into a debate with you about how 50 million of your ancestors died, but hundreds of millions of mine were killed. I could try to show you that your grandpa suffered less than MY grandpa, but that's my point- WE have no claim to their suffering, and anybody who says that they do, and they deserve something because their ancestors were treated poorly, killed, sufffered, or displaced needs to gain some perscpective. I judge you on YOU- Not your grandpa. Not your great, great grandpa. YOU. If YOU are a bad person, I don't care what suffering your ancestors went through- You're the problem, not them. If you are a good person, then your ancestors can't take credit for it.
I'm sorry if you failed to read between the lines and get my point, originally. I'm of the mind that racism is hating someone because of their race, AND hating everybody else because of your own race. There's no difference in my book, and I fight against both equally. I'm sorry I'm not going to pat you on the back and say that I feel sorry for your ancestors. I do, but I don't see blacks rushing to hold pity parties for the other races who suffered just as badly under primitive thinking of the old days.
All I can say is that we need to concentrate on the here and now. There are plenty of racial issues today that still need to be addressed- Falling back on the suffering of our ancestors won't fix the modern problems- It just makes ALL of us- ALL "people of color"- look like we can't drop something which the white people today had NOTHING to do with in the first place.
White folks today aren't responsible for slavery, or butchery, or any of the past sins of their own people. We need to stop pretending they were, and learn to operate on a level playing field where we ALL stop pointing fingers and accusing each other of racism. -
Nov 28, 2003 2:11:54 PM CST
And by the way- tty_ka- your mailbox is full so I had to post th
by zerocorpse
It's much more coherant with carriage returns and proper structure, but since Harry's a cheap bastard who won't update his Talkback to the 21st century, this will have to do.
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joy and jessica what a nice interracial sandwich, you can say you smashed about five different backgrounds in one setting with those two.
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I don't understand how people can think bad santa missed the mark. That movie was F!ing funny. My only guess is you hate dark comedies that are offensive and wrong and can't see how that subject matter can be funny. If I am wrong, please e mail me and tell me what you hated, I'd love to hear.
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Hi: I went to the Hawaii sneak preview of the last samurai tonight and the audience clapped at the end of the movie. i was sitting next to an old japanese man and he seemed to have really appreciated this film. i was stunned to see one of my colleagues who's an extra in the film make it in the movie. he was the one shooting the primitive machine gun. i remember him telling me about his on-the-set in New Zealand experience and about his scene. he didn't know at that time if it was going to make it in. I'm stoked that it did. i loved this movie, though don't think it's going to top lord of the rings in the oscar race now that word is out lord is the frontrunner for the oscars. so what that an asian story was told thru a white protagonist. tom cruise could definitely handle his sword. watanabe couldn't have been better cast as the last samurai leader. that's cool he can speak english; makes the crossover easier.
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I also was privilaged to see an advance showing of Last Samurai last night. By the time the credits rolled, I was ready to sit through it again. This is a beautiful film. The cinematography is rich, the historical details superb and the story well-constructed. There was a nice balance between action and drama. Comparisons to Dances With Wolves may be easy to make, but is not entirely correct as the themes are very different.
I have not been a fan of Tom Cruise for years, but this is his best performance by far. All that blustery immature energy of yesterday has been harnessed into a mature, calm intensity for this film. You feel so much of what goes unspoken within the character through his face and his eyes. Even his personal changes were believable because he makes you feel it. A bravura performance worthy of Oscar. -
The only people who don't like this movie have sticks shoved too far up their asses to appreciate the vulgarity. It's about an abusive, alcoholic, thief dressed up in a Santa costume -- what the f--k do you f--king expect? The thing I appreciated most is how every time you think they're going to turn on the schmaltz, they do ... but in the most f--ked up, depraved way imaginable. Bad Santa is consistently funny from beginning to end, and it's only vaguely redemptive (is that a word?) ending actually works, because it doesn't undermine the entire rest of the movie. Pure brilliance.
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as AICN reported a month or two ago, the Warner Bro's execs approved of the making of the Last Samurai specifically to make money off of the white market, using a non-white setting to boost the "foreign exotic" quotient. They admitted that it would've never been made if there wasn't a white guy as the lead, and that "important history is the history with the white faces in it, everything else is bad history".
So bottom line here, WB is exploiting the Samurai of the past so as to get white seats into theaters. Probably one of the most disgusting large scale things I've heard happen in Hollywood.... the tragic irony: a movie about honoring the Samurai that purposely uses them for horribly dishonorable reasons.
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Dec 02, 2003 5:48:37 PM CST
Skip "Last Samurai" and see the only Hollywood film ever produce
by kenshiro_kane
SGT. KABUKIMAN N.Y.P.D.! ========= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117609/
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Dec 04, 2003 12:39:12 PM CST
"When I'm through with you, you won't be able to shit right for
by mortsleam
That is classic holiday comedy. I love Zwigoff, the mysanthropic little sociopath. And I'd floss my teeth with Lauren Graham's thong any day. And in the end, despite years of hatred, bloodshed and recrimination, isn't that what it's all about? Can I get an Amen?
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