Archive for December, 2009


Invictus

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December 31, 2009

 

Invictus tells the story of the 1995 South African rugby team.  Hyped up by the newly elected president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, the rugby team goes on a great run in the 1995 World Cup.  (I won’t ruin it for you if they won or loss; rugby is not my forte so the outcome didn’t automatically register with me).  I have no idea how Clint Eastwood is still directing quality films at his age, but he is.  The first half of the film is about Mandela using the rugby team as a metaphor for bringing the two races of his country together; in the last act a sports film breaks out.  If you know Eastwood’s directing style (slow burn, working the plot to its breaking point) you probably know what you’re getting into here.  His style is what it is, so if you don’t care for his other movies too much, this isn’t the one that’s going to ‘win you over.’  A few other quick points from me:

I’ve raved before about my respect for Matt Damon as an actor.  And the cat is still so young!  Hollywood is a different animal than sports obviously, but when Damon’s career is done, it will be interesting to see where his name is mentioned with the all time greats (keep in mind, he’s already won an Oscar, headlined an action franchise, established his comedy chops and I believe he won People’s Sexiest Man Alive a couple years back (don’t quote me on that last one)).  And like I said, he’s still a pretty young guy.

Morgan Freeman was Mandela’s hand picked choice to play him in a movie.  No surprise he pulled it off: the gait, the accent, the dignity and the quiet charisma.  Others have said this before me, but I don’t feel like this was Morgan’s best work.  He did great, but Mandela (the character in this movie) didn’t have much of an arc.  We get all the references to what he was before, but all that happened before the film’s story started.

I doubt I was the only one (and if I was, leave me alone), but I’ve known the poem Invictus for a long time; I learned it as a teenager.  I know it wasn’t intentional, but for someone like myself who memorized the poem in a different way; hearing Morgan’s slow, Hollywood, melodramatic recitation left me chuckling a little bit.  I could never get away with saying it that slow in my day….(but it really is a tremendous poem for those of you unfamiliar with it).

All things considered, I wouldn’t be surprised if this film is one of the TEN Best Picture nominees (yeah, it’s time to start thinking about that) off of name recognition alone.

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Traveling Through the Past…

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December 30, 2009

Tonight I was able to start my tour of catching up with old friends in the hometown, which translated into my first real drive through Kansas City.  Outside of my non-stop bitching and moaning about the snow and freezing weather (and that will continue),  a lot has changed since my time growing up here.  Like every metropolis there’s a ‘new’ downtown (the Power and Light District I still have only passed by at the moment), there’s new restaurants that have sprung up (I’m being told about burger joints I may or may not get to hit up), there’s a new arena I’ll try to get to if time allows.  Watching the first season of Mad Men has served as a good reminder though of how your memories good and bad will always shape who you are.

Driving down 71 South reminded me of an apartment I had when I was on my own.  It was an apartment I was quite, um, ‘active’ in, and I’ll never forget one morning my next door neighbor (who I had never seen) come out of her apartment as my lady was leaving, and instantly recognized me from my party-walking days in the Burge at KU.  It was one of those ‘Kansas is WAY too small for me’ moments :) …

Driving past Wornall and Holmes, I remember spending many a Monday night stopping off by the corner store, picking up some Southern Comfort or St. Ides, and commiserating about our women troubles with my brother from the fraternity days.  I don’t miss my ‘Ike and Tina’ relationship as it was known, but I’ll never forget it…

Taking my father to the Dollar General took me past the grocery store where I had my first job.  My first manager had one of the worst toupees I had ever seen.  And I remember having a mad crush on every teenage clerk I bagged groceries for, although in retrospect I think that was clearly the raging hormones of a teenage boy talking….

Down the street from there was the Wendy’s where my best friend worked growing up.  He was off one night so we rolled through the drive through trying to get the hook up.  I wasn’t being a fanboy, I was being an ass when I had Thriller in the cassette player and started bumping it (loud enough for his co-workers to hear it).  Those were the peak of the Beavis and Butthead days…

If I don’t get snowed in, we’ll be back with more of the ‘Black Wonder Years’ after this…

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Avatar (in 3D!)

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December 29, 2009

 

A couple hours now after coming out of Avatar, I have to say I feel like the ‘masses’ on this one:  it was undeniably impressive, but didn’t completely grab me as a filmgoer.  The look of the film and the CGI aspects, I mean, WOW.   The legend is James Cameron waited for the technology to catch up to the story he wanted to tell, and I don’t think you need to see it in 3D to feel like it was worth the wait.  Depicting a ‘natural’ planet, everything (to my eyes at least) looked and felt ‘alive.’  The 3D aspect wasn’t blowing me out of my seat every five minutes, which from what I understand was also Cameron’s intention. 

‘Complaint’ is not the right word, but if I didn’t go all in with Avatar it’s because the story felt familiar.  Colonial power goes into the ‘jungle’, one of the colonialists falls for the ‘native girl’, fights against his own kind.  Cameron seems to acknowledge this when the main villain says at one point “You’re turning your back on your own race.”  At this stage of the game of course, every story and mythology has been told; the creative storytellers just find new ways to tweak it to get us (the audience) engaged.  I can’t even fault this movie for lack of character development if you think that’s where I’m going; there were defined arcs and I understood who everyone was and what everyone wanted, which I can tell you from first hand experience is HARD to do when you’re trying to tell an ‘epic’ story (and this fact may be Cameron’s greatest strength as a filmmaker).  I guess my one sentence synopsis is that the technology of the film was even ahead of the story itself, if that makes sense.  The best parallel I can make is a debate I have with a friend of mine of getting a great Superman movie with the technology we have now.  I think something along those lines is the next benchmark for cinematic storytellers.

Anyway to sum up, Avatar is not a bad film by any measure, but it’s not quite Titantic either.  How’s that?

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Sherlock Holmes

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December 27, 2009

 

Sherlock Holmes is the latest character to get a ‘reboot’ for today’s generation in an attempt to start a new Hollywood franchise.  And in this case…I think they got it right (as a film, the box office will decide if it becomes a franchise of course).  Robert Downey Jr. continues to make all of us who are fans of his immense talent look good for hoping he would conquer his demons (personally I’ve been a big fan of his since Chaplin).  As the title character, Downey plays into the best parts of his own persona (a possible genius internally who looks like a simpleton on the outside) to headline a fun, ‘could/should this have been a summer release?’ movie.  And in my opinion, the action may be a wee bit too slow for the summer, but it’s perfect counterprogamming right now (even though that didn’t stop Downey from getting a Golden Globe nod here).  Jude Law is pitch perfect as Watson, used here as the sensible more down to earth member of this Dynamic Duo, and Rachel McAdams still has one of the prettiest smiles in Hollywood and is perfectly charming as the love interest.

Even the story of the film feels right, a ‘supernatural’ villain who comes back from the dead to terrorize London.  But that’s not possible right?  I don’t know how ‘rewatchable’ this film is,but it’s fun for the audience to play along with Holmes and try to figure out how certain things happen in the story.

So a fun film for the holiday season in the middle of the more serious stuff that’s popping up with awards season also in full bloom.  Nice if you just want some good old fashioned Hollywood ‘junk food’.

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Up in the Air

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December 24, 2009

 

Written and Directed by Jason Reitman

Starring George Clooney

Jeremy Osbern – Rigging Lighting Techinician

Michael Stoecker – Rigging Grip

(and yes, Jeremy and Michael drove straight to St. Louis to work on this film from the set of my film so I’m shouting them out here)

I’ll try to keep this one short and sweet, since this film is a big front runner for the Globes and most likely the Oscars.  The hype is deserved in my opinion.  For all the various gripes everyone inside and outside of it has about Hollywood movies, when a Hollywood movie is done right like this one is, it’s well worth the price of admission.  The story about a ‘corporate hitman’ literally could not be more timely, and Clooney knows how to pick a role (a big reason why I admire him).  I won’t spoil it for you, but things happen along the way that go outside of the audience’s expectations, and the movie is better than average because of it.  As someone who has played the ‘my career is all I need’ AND the ‘disconnect from the Midwest and the wife and kids’ cards, this character and this story arc hit a little close to home at certain points (no comments from the Peanut Gallery).  Last comment: the casting in this movie was phenomenal.  Can never say enough about how much easier it is to get caught up in the story when you believe in the characters.

As promised, kept that one short and sweet, but I imagine it will come up again as awards season kicks into full gear…

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My 2009: Part 3 of 3

Filed under: Inspirations, Lady In My Life, Movie Reviews, the Batman — Leave a comment
December 21, 2009

Not long ago, I went to the movies with a friend I don’t see very often.  I told her I was going back to my hometown for the holidays, so she asked me about growing up in Kansas, and what I was like before I was ‘Malik Aziz’ (literally and figuratively).  I’m only being slightly sarcastic to say I started to have a flashback like Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) when Charlie asked him about his childhood…

The most dominant memory for me is of the place I spent most of my time: the basement of my parents’ home.  It is an unfinished basement: the floor is cold concrete, as are the cement walls.  The lights are old school: a lightbulb attached to a string you pull on.  There is a small one foot wide window that provided a little natural light when the sun was shining, but at night it was pitch black.  I had a weight bench in one corner that I used every night to take out my frustrations (and thus began my lifelong appreciation for fitness).  My other outlet was DeNiece, who I would call once a week, usually on Saturdays, when I had to express my frustrations to another person.  I could usually hear what was going on in other parts of the house, but overall it was very quiet.  It was the perfect place for me to study the Qu’ran initially.  And no, I’m not trying to deliberately make it sound like I was in Shawshank.  (Okay, maybe just a little).

Jokes aside, all of us are forever marked by how we view our childhood.  In my case, I will always have that memory of being spiritually miserable, geographically/professionally miserable, and socially miserable all at the same time.  And I vowed then that I would not live my life like that forever.

The point I was trying to make to my homegirl was to go from that vivid memory of complete frustration, to being where we were; sitting in a private screening room in Beverly Hills, watching a probable Oscar contender before it hits theatres; I feel as I’ve gone from 5 percent of what I wanted to somewhere around 80 (and on nights like that it hits the high 90s).  I work to have the life I want and it’s a never ending process.

But getting from point A to point B is not something I’ve ever really done alone, and this year as much as any other I had a quite a bit of help, support, and favors done on my behalf.  I’ve spent a good few days thinking of everyone who’s done something for me in the past 12 months, so if I’ve left you out feel free to yell at me, but know it wasn’t on purpose.  Like I said, I work very hard to get what I want, but I’m also aware I’m very, very blessed to have folks like these in my life.

So, in no particular order, thank you to Sev, Nate, Kareem, Jamaal and the Ummah around the world, Vahagn for hooking me with the comics, Booker for hooking me up with the games, Rosanna, Ekpo, and Q for the great memories from NYC, Chris, Jeremy, Steve and everybody associated with Through A Glass who helped me bring ‘Lady’ to life, Brad, Tina, and Sophie, Adrian and Aida, Al, Amber, Ava, and Cole, the Kernel, Henry, Barb, Kam and everybody associated with USC First Team, Molyneaux and the guy who sat to the left of us all season for the unsolicited running commentary through the roughest Trojan season so far, Shane for looking at my script, Lisa for the screening invites, the folks at Markee Magazine, the folks at GQ Magazine, Ralph and my friends at Black Entertainment Television, the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, and the Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival, Randy, Jason, and my Stark Family (I owe you guys lunch dates in 2010 if you call me out on it), Doug, Christine, James, David and the entire Pigskin League for letting me back in (Compton is back and he’s here to stay you suckas!!!!), Aaron, Ama, and De’sha of course (you didn’t think I’d forget?), my Facebook Fam, my Twitter Fam, Monica (saving the best for almost last, how you like that?), Pops, Mom, and Sheena, B and Tracee, and last but definitely not least, everyone who comes here to check out what’s on my mind, whether you stop by daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever, it’s much appreciated, and it keeps me writing.

Happy Holidays to all and stay blessed.  2010 is already looking like it’s going to be something else!

M

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My 2009: Part 2 of 3

Filed under: 25 MIF & TV, Inspirations, Lady In My Life, Limitless, the Batman, What I'm Working On — Leave a comment
December 21, 2009

 

5. Changing Gears

While I certainly doubt I’ve hung up my director’s hat forever, my time as an ‘indie film director’ has come to an end (on a high note at that – #7).  My feel for the craft is on point, but now that putting money away for my future is my number one priority, I can’t take on the same risks I could take earlier (#6).  Writing it out makes it seem obvious, but I’m putting all my energy into the talents that don’t cost me money to show off.  And truth be told, I miss being the ‘Prince of Gotham.’  Along those lines, my high class move in 2009 was…

4. Cavalleria Rusticana at the Met

As someone who has watched Raging Bull and the Godfather Part III at least a hundred times each, I’ve grown very fond of the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana.  So first I heard the Met in NYC was going to put on the show around Easter…and one of my college roommates just happens to be a lawyer in NYC…and my musically inclined ace just happened to be right down the road in Boston…and at the time the economy hadn’t caught up to me just yet…

That four day weekend in NYC was my first ‘adult’ vacation, but man, that didn’t stop us from having a great time.  A little opera, a little jazz, a little Junior’s: perfect getaway.  Ten years ago, I would have made a little indie movie about that weekend, but then again, ten years ago I would have been too ‘cool’ to go to the opera, so it is what it is.

3. Twitter

and really, the overall growth/importance of social media/networking.  The global village is here folks, today, right now.  This is a definite ‘did the chicken come before the egg’ argument, but with me simultaneously promoting/pushing ‘Lady’ (#7), and building the blog with content like ‘Limitless’ and the Most Important TV/Film Lists, I’ve managed to build a nice little audience.  Either through direct contact or looking out the stats the system generated, I know I have regular readers in Europe, Asia, Africa, and of course my home continent.  Even five years ago, how hard would it be to promote yourself without at least one studio film or TV show under your belt?  It’s been a great tool professionally, and it’s been just as much fun interacting with friends old and new.

2. Very Smart Brothas

For being the most consistently funny brothas blogging at the moment.  I spent many nights winding down, just to get caught up in a ‘wake the neighbors up chuckle’ from whatever silliness Champ and Panama brought to the table.  Sometimes it was a long column about relationships, sometimes it was proving that, sometimes, the picture really is worth a thousand words…

And honorable mention in the ‘Things That Routinely Made Me Laugh’ category for 2009 goes to: The Most Interesting Man in the World campaign (Dos Equis), the Kobe/LeBron puppets (Nike), and as usual, the Jack in the Box commercials.

Champ and Panama of course did a column about what I (and a lot of you) will probably remember the most about this year…

Number One

Looking out, across the nighttime

The city winks a sleepless eye…

Hear her voice, shake my window

Sweet seducing sighs…

Get me out, into the nightime

Four walls won’t hold me tonight…

If this town, is just an apple

Then let me take a bite

If they say, why? why?  Tell ‘em that it’s human nature

Why? Why? Does he do me that way?

If they say, why? why? Tell ‘em that it’s human nature

Why? Why? Does he me do that way?

Reaching out, to touch a stranger

Electric eyes are everywhere

See that girl?  She knows I’m watching…

She likes the way I stare

[Chorus]

Looking out, across the morning

Where the city’s heart begins to beat…

Reaching out, I touch her shoulder

I’m dreaming of the Street…

[Chorus]

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My 2009: Part 1 of 3

Filed under: Inspirations, Lady In My Life, Movie Reviews, the Batman, What I'm Working On — Leave a comment
December 20, 2009

Looking back on it, the past 12 months have been a benchmark year for me, personally and professionally.  We’ll see how this new decade plays out, but at the moment this feels like the year where all the various ‘instruments’ that are playing the soundtrack of my life are starting to all play the same song.  Here are 10 examples to explain what I’m talking about…

10. Beatles Rock Band

Yeah I’ve been hip to the Beatles for years as a music lover, but a video game of all things introduces me to another 7 or 8 songs that I somehow missed, including this little ditty that’s instantly moved to the top of my playlist:

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun, if the sun don’t come

You get a tan from standing in the English rain.

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen – I am the walrus, GOO GOO GOO JOOB

Expert texpert choking smokers don’t you think the joker laughs at you?  Ha ha ha!

See how they smile, like pigs in a sty, see how they snied.  I’m crying…

Semolina pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower.

Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna, man you should have seen them kicking

Edgar Allen Poe.

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus GOO GOO GOO JOOB…

And if you don’t understand why I love that, you’ve COMPLETELY missed the boat on the nonconformist aspect to my personality.  Other video games I really enjoyed this year were Fight Night Round 4, and of course Batman: Arkham Asylum.

9. Love

So it was a little more than four years ago that I made this proclamation to my Circle (this is the Short Version): I’ve done Vegas/L.A./NYC/Texas/New Orleans/Miami.  I’ve done everything I feel I HAD to do as a bachelor, I’m ready to start working toward the big One.”  And as you would expect, the mental transition from “I’m just looking to have fun’ to “I’m looking for substance” has not always been a smooth one.  And that’s just the internal monologue; then there’s the whole ‘what type of woman really gets me?’ aspect.  As I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way), long term relationships are built on ‘clicking’ on several levels, not just one or two.

Four years into dating with serious intentions, this was the year where I finally identified my ‘type’.  With little exception, every woman who gets me (platonically, professionally, sexually, romantically) shares certain traits.  So that’s made it much easier on who to focus my attention on, and as a result, dating is actually fun again.  Not by coincidence I think, I was smitten twice in 2009.  As one of my buddies will testify, one young lady had me so smote I think I shattered the record for the number of times someone has listened to “I Saw Her Standing There” (#10) in one day.  Before anyone blows up my phone, nothing is imminent.  I’m just saying I’m on the right track (finally!)

8. The Ummah

#9 is moving in the right direction in part I imagine because I’ve steadily invested more of my time within my community.  One of my friends asked me how it compares.  The answer is simple: there are Muslims who drink and smoke, there are extreme fundamentalists (you’ve probably heard about them), and there are blue eyed, blonde white girls who are Muslim. In other words, Muslims come in every shape, size, color, and philosophical background, just like everybody else.

Other than missing a friend’s wedding, my first summer Ramadan wasn’t too bad.  I celebrated both Eids this year; I’ve taken the next step in learning Arabic beyond my prayers.  As it seems the attacks on Islam are getting more bold and out of pocket, I’m doing what I can to better myself as a Muslim, especially one with a certain level of visibility.  That visiblity this year was most related to…

7. Lady In My Life

Last night was definitely the most surreal night I had in 2009.  I show up a few minutes late to my own screening.  The usher leads me into the darkened theater, where I hear my voice booming out in Dolby Surround Sound.  I look up at the screen to see a giant closeup of my own face.  The audience laughs at jokes I wrote; the women ‘aww’ during the sweet romantic moment.  And the crowd applauds when my name appears on screen.

I walk out and people recognize me and smile at me.  And as I leave South Central, Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day” comes on the radio.  And at that moment I realize, ‘I didn’t have to use my AK today either…”

(Oh come on, that last line was a little funny…)

6. Money, Money, Money, Money…Mo-Nay!

So here are a few of the financial decisions I made this year: I pulled from my 401k to pay off my film.  I turned down (hopefully) my first six figure offer because it was overseas and we couldn’t get the paperwork sorted.  I had to rob Peter to pay Paul in a few instances.  Or as I like to call them collectively, “Things You Absolutely Can’t Do Once You Have Others Dependent on You for Financial Stability.”  I’ve lost 20 pounds due to changing my diet (I’m more or less a vegan now), Aziz Manor will be rebuilt ‘just the way it was, brick for brick’ (if you can’t guess where that line is from, you need to leave now), and while I’ve gotten away with taking that risk once again, it was the last time, which leads to #5…

Which is where Part 2 will pick up!

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If You’re in the Neighborhood…

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December 19, 2009

 

Here are the details for the Lady In My Life screening tomorrow night (Saturday):  the entire festival is free to the public, so if you have interest, you can hang out all day and meet a lot of interesting people who share a love for black cinema:

 

S.E. Manly Film Showcase presented by the Black Hollywood & Education Resource Center

4:30 – 6:00 P.M.

4718 W Washington Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90016

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The Young Victoria

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December 16, 2009

 

Emily Blunt has been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama for her turn as Victoria in The Young Victoria.   Let me start by saying this, if you have no interest in the ‘English period piece’ genre, this film won’t win you over.  If you love things in the Jane Austen vein, you’ll probably like this movie regardless.  Me?  If you didn’t know by now, I live, breathe and sleep movies, and while this certainly isn’t within my wheelhouse as far as genre films go, the Globe nomination meant I had to check it out to what kind of craftmanship we’re talking about.

The highest compliment I can play a movie like this that I normally wouldn’t see is this: when we reached the 100 minute mark (the end), I said to myself “It’s over?”  (in a good way).  The ending was a little on the anticlimatic side, but I get pulled into the world and the characters enough to be invested in the story.  In a story about a real life queen, the actor playing that role has to completely own the ‘center of attention’ factor, or the movie as a whole doesn’t work.  Emily Blunt pulled it off.  At turns vulnerable, sexual, childish, and regal, she was the centerpiece of what I thought was an extremely well cast film.

Haven’t seen any of the other nominees in this category yet, but don’t worry; the nominations just came out this morning.  I’m using the tag ‘globes 2010′ to cover this year’s nominees.  A few of the films I saw when they originally came out; you can check out my initial thoughts on those films/performances by using that tag.

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