Written by malikaziz

Originally posted on malikaziz.com:
  Well, since we won’t get Vetoed out of a deal this time, we in the Laker Nation have started daydreaming again about getting back into the Finals next year.  I was in the minority apparently in the group who were Andrew Bynum fans, but I won’t deny the logic…

Written by malikaziz

Red Hook Summer

  Between Sundance starting and MLK weekend, it feels like the right time to take an Oscar break and talk about Spike’s last film.  Red Hook Summer falls in line with most of Spike’s later work: there’s two interesting stories here, the main one is about a kid from Atlanta sent up to Red Hook (Brooklyn) […]

Written by malikaziz

Argo

  Frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar now?  Well, definitely not for Best Director (argument for another day).  Anyway, Ben Affleck’s latest (and best) effort has all the ingredients: ‘based on a true story’, top notch supporting cast, a little bit of Hollywood making fun of itself…all the pieces are there. The story itself is […]

Written by malikaziz

Beasts of the Southern Wild

  I doubt this will win Best Picture, but the case can be made Beasts of the Southern Wild is symbolic of what this year’s field of nominees represents: quirky, personal, ‘small’ films, with at least one great performance. Set deep in the Bayou, Beasts is a parable/fable narrated to us by ‘Hushpuppy’ (Best Actress nominee Quvenzhane Wallis), a […]

Written by malikaziz

Moonrise Kingdom

  A Wes Anderson film.  A ‘filmmaker’s film’.  A ‘geek film’.  I open with a fair warning because I know all of you won’t dig Moonrise Kingdom.  You probably know going in if it’s the type of film you would like or not. The story is another ‘misfits in love’ story (popular this year it seems). […]

Written by malikaziz

Silver Linings Playbook

  Ending the week with another potential ‘award film’.  Silver Linings Playbook is a love story, but where are two main characters are extremely effed up to say the least.  The guy (played by Bradley Cooper) is coming out of a stint in an institution after a violent end to his marriage. The girl (yet another great feather […]

Written by malikaziz

Zero Dark Thirty

Happy New Year first of all!  Who’s down to start the year with a string of reviews of (mostly) Oscar caliber movies?  Me too!  Let’s start with one of the frontrunners… Zero Dark Thirty is the dramatized version of the manhunt and eventual capture of Osama bin Laden.  Directed by Kathryn Bigelow off of a script […]

Written by malikaziz

Thanks – 2012

‘It’s happening.  It’s happening right now.’ As I’ve touched base with the people closest to me, that’s been the overall message about this year.  Everything broke right, the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place, my confidence is peaking.  I feel like Neo in the pic above: you know you’re in the Matrix, you’ve […]