what i last saw

well, technically it was a 6'4" mentally ill man who was crying. and wearing headphones that were blaring anita baker. fun, no?

but actually, i just saw the following movies and have the following opinions.

hustle & flow. yeah, yeah, yeah, it wasn't a bad movie. i had resisted so badly about wanting to see it not only because i heard it was about a pimp but because it was about a pimp played by terrance howard. come on! tell me he does not have that same face in every role!? you know what face i'm talking about. anyway, it wasn't bad at all. and as all the reviews said "it's not really about being a pimp". yes, it's not. a man, D Jay, sick of pimping ("you think i like pimping your country pimpled ass?") and wants desperately to realize his dream of being a rapper. DESPERATELY. i appreciated the intelligence and generosity that was given the character. i had to close my eyes during a particularly harsh scene where throws out one of his bitches. literally. that's why i resisted seeing it. i didn't want to be caught up in the sadness and drama that comes with a story about "making it". i love that the movie didn't come with a happy ending. i think some would debate me on that but i don't think what did happen means he actually made it. WARNING: SPOILER! i think a goal was accomplished by his song making it onto the radio but i think that the movie kept it real enough that you don't presuppose that now he's now a star.

really, watching it made me think of going to visit my mother. or the south in general. the despair that just seems to hang in the air. it's like you can just choke on anger. and people are doing what they can but it never seems enough. well enough of my poorly articulated social commentary. the movie is not unwatchable but not for the faint of (liberal bleeding) heart. b+ (points deducted for his hair)

my big fat independent movie. i am so mad - i can't believe i sat through it. it was bad. really bad. i had heard it was bad but you know - i'm curious (or foolish) enough to try movies out if they've piqued me that much. now i'll rethink that.

the movie sets out to poke fun at, to be fair, what has been the sort of formula some indy films go by. and to poke fun at the movies themselves. it just didn't work for me. i mean most of the films that were parodied were themselves so outrageous that parody just doesn't make sense. for example, pulp fiction. they used this movie for most of their gags (well tarantino in general). also used were: swingers, pi, run lola run, reservoir dogs, amalie, mulholland drive, the good girl, memento, of course my big fat greek wedding and about 20 others. do you see what i mean? those movies are so unusual that there's no good way to make a caricature out of the main characters. guy pearce in memento is a caricature! making fun of that character is easy but it does not, or rather, did not imho, make the original seem ridiculous. a noble effort, especially considering it was produced by the filmthreat guy but i did not laugh once. i didn't even smile. bah! d