Gangland Continued

So lets jump right into this shall we. I am in the process of listing my top 5 youth gang films and soundtracks and numbers 5 and 4 were The Wanderers and The Warriors and really this "list" is more of a circle of my Top with these films and soundtracks all residing within the circle comfortably. So on we go.

3. COLORS

Now this was an interesting film, made in 1988 and directed by Dennis Hopper it for sure tries to be a serious film about the dangers of street life as well as a look at the L A PD and the relationships that form between the gangs and the policemen as well as the relationships within the groups. I like it but it has not aged well at all and Sean Penns performance can be kind of odd at times I thought. But it does boast this great song by Ice T back when he used to be a rapper.

As far as rap in the mid to late 80's go, that is a great song and there are some just plain good good songs on the entire soundtrack itself.

2. Boyz N The Hood

This was another hard hitting portrayal of gang life and also set in LA. It was made in 1991 and there is for sure a substantial difference in the look of the film as well as the realness of the dialogue. I think part and maybe all of it is that John Singleton wrote it he also directed it and the message that he was trying get across was very important to him. He also put together a really nice soundtrack that he used to highlight the passing of time. I am going to give you a couple of examples.

The Five Stairsteps - Oooh Child

This is just a lovely song and shows how good some of the music was in the 70's. Then Singleton decided to contrast it with this

Ice Cube - How To Survive in South Central

As you can hear, there are some very stark differences between these two songs. Very stark.

I will see you tomorrow for film #1!

3-10-2010 (Wednesday)

So where to begin? It is Wednesday morning and I am looking forward to a pretty good day. I get to go into the big city and pick up some stuff with Travis and that is always a fun time. I am also going to see my friend Eric for lunch and that is good as well.

One of the reasons why I am seeing Eric is to let him borrow my graphic novel "Wanted" now some of you may recall a movie with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman by the same title. Well the movie was LOOSELY and I do mean LOOSELY based on the comic. I just have to say that the comic is ten to a hundred times better then the film. In fact I would go so far as to say that other then the characters having the same names and perhaps one or maybe two small plot points they are nothing alike.

I thought the movie was horrible. I will post a clip below.



That is the trailer. As far as trailers go it is a very good one. It makes you want to see the film. But...it was just so bad. There are things that make absolutely no sense in this movie. But...when I read the graphic novel after having seen the movie. They made sense. It didn't make the move any better but I understood why it sucked so badly. So if you get a chance read the graphic novel. It is an R rated one but it is good. Then if you have seen the movie or see the movie and lets talk about how much they missed the target on this one. Please do it I would love to have that discussion.

2-10-10 (Wednesday)

It is Wednesday morning and it is the middle of the work week. I hope everybody is having a good one so far. Things have been going pretty well so far. I have just been working and trying to stay busy. I mentioned on Monday that I haven't been able to work up any righteous indignation to allow me better blogging and one of my friends said she didn't realize that you needed righteous indignation to blog.

Well I thought about it and while I may not need it. It certainly makes it easier for me to get the words out when I am upset about something even if it is a silly of an issue as James Cameron and that fact that he steals ideas for his films and doesn't give credit to his victims. The funny thing is that just writing that down just now has got me a little bit fired up. See that is all it takes for me. I am going to control myself and not go off on a rant about Cameron and his actions as well as the movie business in general and how the overall stupidity of the movie going public is what allows criminals like Cameron to stay in business while younger and perhaps newer more creative voices are being left out in the cold.

See! Look at that. I said I wasn't going to and then I couldn't help myself. It is just sad. I do not know James Cameron personally. I doubt I will ever meet him and I am sure that he cries himself to sleep at night on his bed stuffed with $100 bills at the idea that I am upset with him. But I do not care. All I care about is getting out here on on stump and letting loose with a few good broadsides.

I think that is how I few myself. I am the captain of the ship of reason and sail about upon the seas of lunacy and idiocy. "Sharing" my wisdom with others. By "sharing" I mean lots of chest pounding and screaming and since it is my ship there is usually a show tune or two followed by some fancy dancing. I like my crew to be multi-talented. Ummmm, never mind about that last part lets just pretend that I never said it. "Hey, Jackson, put away those tap shoes!"

So, where were we? Oh yes, I travel around visa vie the Internets and tell everyone else what they are doing wrong and how I can fix them. For me to be able to do such a thing I have to be surly and dissatisfied otherwise I just can't work up the energy level I need to really get things fired up. That being said there maybe up days and down days where I didn't read or listen to something that really ticks me off. So please bear with me and keep checking in because I hope to continue blogging I am just not totally sure what form it is going to take on any give day.

That phrase reminded me of the movie "Any Given Sunday". As most of my friends know already I hate Oliver Stone and the only good work he ever did was writing the screenplay for "Conan the Barbarian" that is all nothing he has done ever since has any merit or well have any merit and "Any Given Sunday" was a prime example of his hackitude. That is all for now.

2-2-10 (Groundhog Day)

It is Tuesday morning February 2nd and it is Groundhog day!! Weeeeeeee! I am not sure if the Groundhog saw his shadow or not this morning. All I am interested in is seeing the bottom of my coffee cup. I can smell the coffee brewing this morning and it smells so good to me. But moving on from my unnatural relationship with coffee.

Today is also the day that the Academy announced the Oscar nominations so without further time wasting I give you the nominees. These are courtesy of the www.oscar.go.com You can for there for a full list. I will see you at the bottom of the list.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY - 82ND AWARDS -
Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
* George Clooney in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Colin Firth in "A Single Man" (The Weinstein Company)
* Morgan Freeman in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
* Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Matt Damon in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
* Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
* Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones" (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
* Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
* Helen Mirren in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Carey Mulligan in "An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
* Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Penélope Cruz in "Nine" (The Weinstein Company)
* Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
* Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)

Best animated feature film of the year

*
"Coraline" (Focus Features) Henry Selick
*
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
*
"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
*
"The Secret of Kells" (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
*
"Up" (Walt Disney) Pete Docter

Best motion picture of the year

*
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox)
A Lightstorm Entertainment Production James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
*
"The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
An Alcon Entertainment Production Nominees to be determined
*
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Block/Hanson Production Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
*
"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
*
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
A Voltage Pictures Production Nominees to be determined
*
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)
A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production Lawrence Bender, Producer
*
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
*
"A Serious Man" (Focus Features)
A Working Title Films Production Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
*
"Up" (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production Jonas Rivera, Producer
*
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
A Montecito Picture Company Production Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers


So, what did you think? I think there were some pretty interesting films this year. I was not on board with the "Inglourious Basterds" I thought it was far to talky and sequences just drug on and on and on. Particularly the opening sequence it was horrible. But much like with most films I am in the minority. In fact when I do Oscar pools I never pick what I think are the winning films. I always pick what I think the Academy will pick and I do pretty well. It is easy I just remove my brain and sit there slack jawed and drooling for awhile and then I am as smart as any celebrity. That being said I think I will post my picks in a few days and maybe we can have a little Oscar party right here on "One For The Ages" so give it some thought people and we will see what happens.