These were the movies I watched on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010.
These were 3 movies recommended through all of the fellow pop culture nerds here at Pop Bunker. Let’s see how it all worked out.
Director: Scott Sanders
Elwood Says: 5 Plates of Roscoe’s Chili and Donuts out of 5
“Black Dynamite” is equal parts satire of, and love letter to, the blacksploitation films of the 70s. It’s also funny as hell, you dig? This is not a “Naked Gun” satire, though.
“Black Dynamite” will fricassee y’alls honkey asses. Ka-CHOW!
This film has been covered here at Pop Bunker. A lot. I don’t have much new to add to what’s been said.
Just see this movie. Not only will you be in danger of peeing yourself laughing, but you will witness one of the most heartfelt, authentic, and genuinely made movies I’ve seen in a long time. Watch the extras on the DVD or Blu-Ray, and you’ll see why I say that.
Director: Neil Blomkamp
Elwood Says: 3 cans of cat food out of 5
I didn’t get it.
I mean, I got what “District 9″ was trying to tell me, and I understood the framing device. I thought the SFX were outstanding, and the acting was top notch.
Still…the movie is bored the snot out of me.
What social commentary was “District 9″ offering? What first seemed like a treatise on immigration became a very slanted AIDS allegory, wrapped in a terrorism parallel.
If “District 9″ was about apartheid, then what/who does Wikus represent? All respect to Jackson and Blomkamp, but their vision is blurry here. It doesn’t have to be a direct correlation, and it may simply be that I don’t know enough about the origins and history of apartheid, but I just wasn’t in the groove with the film.
Muddy & unsure of its own message, I find “District 9″ lacking for substance. Still, it was well shot and technically superb, which helped boost the final verdict.
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Elwood Says: 4 shots of 33-year-old scotch out of 5
I’m not sure I can say it better than Johnny Slick did.
Brad Pitt was having the time of his life making this movie, and the praise I have for Christoph Waltz could be an essay of its own. That man was ruthless, smarmy, evil, and incredibly charming all in one twitch of his eyebrow. I would not want to be on the receiving end of a Colonel Landa interrogation. No, Sir.
The film within the film (“Nation’s Pride”) added a layer of meta to “Basterds” that made it even better.
While obviously scoring no points for historical accuracy, that was probably Tarantino’s funnest film since “Pulp Fiction.”
“Inglourious Basterds” was an excellent ride. Fantastic, bloody, and greatly absurd.
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I agree across the board here! Back Dynamite is one of my favorite comedies ever.
I loved Inglourious Basterds. I felt like this was Tarantino finally proving that he knew how to do a Tarantino film. My friend and I were on the edge of our seats as we watched. I mean, that is the most stressful strudel I’ve ever seen!
It was all so well cast, too. Even Samm Levine and BJ Novak – well known comedy actors with little to nothing to do in “Basterds” were perfect.
Enjoyed the vocal cameos too – Sam Jackson, Harvey Keitel, Cloris Leachman…
Quentin did us good this time around.
Elwood´s last blog ..Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude
I looked for “Black Dynamite” at Best Buy tonight, which might be the stupidest thing I have ever done at a Best Buy. No, number 2.
Hey Elwood! Seeing how no one else is stepping in to defend District 9, I’ll offer up a counter-argument. I feel like D9 is one of the more significant contributions to the sci-fi genre in the last decade. A great social commentary on apartheid and racism in general wrapped in sci-fi action goodness.
I don’t think the AIDS allegory was necessarily the aim, although it is an interesting take. What this film does is push the apartheid (really just racism) debate in a direction a non-sci-fi film couldn’t go. It thrusts the oppressor into the world of the oppressed.
Wikus is not so much a representation as he is a point of view. One that shifts, beautifully, from one end of the spectrum to the other. Just my 2 cents.
District 9 is a movie I intend to watch again, with all of these new POVs to bounce off of it.
Elwood Blues´s last blog ..Look! Over There!