EXISTROSPECTIVES

A friend of mine on twitter who also likes films tweeted me as I was about to watch ‘Flight’: “@JD3NTON: @gmanZen #Flight one of the best films I’ve seen in a while.”

Is it any good? Is he right? What shoe size do I wear?
For answers to two of the questions posed, then read on and see if my experience matched his own when I went to “my favourite cinema in all the whole wide world” @DerbyQUAD.

Denzel Washington plays the very handsome and dashing William “Whip” Whitaker who in the opening scenes we see him in bed with his girlfriend. And both appear to have had quite a night (if the empty bottles strewn round the room and what appears to be copious amounts of talcum powder deposited on their table and around the room) - Kids, say no to drugs and alcohol!
Next thing we see is them both dressed and getting on a flight - Whip as the pilot and the girlfriend as an Air Stewardess. Or are they called Flight Attendants now? Discuss. But I digress…

On the flight there seems to be a problem, however, Whip is chilled enough to fly them out of issue.
On the return flight Whip is still in a chilled zone mentally based on his love affair with “The Real Thing” (if you get my drift), also Whip’s fridge in the film is filled with the familiar red and white colours of the soda drink that has that same catchy slogan.

While flying back the plane develops difficulties so Whip decides to fly the plane upside down before attempting to land it in a field.
While this is going on in the air, directly below in an apartment a woman with aspirations to be a photographer, but has succumbed to the “Brown Sugar”, is overdosing at the very time as the plane passes overhead upside down. Brilliant, like ‘Crash’.
Fast forward to the hospital and Whip wakes up there and decides to have a smoke in the stairway where he meets the aspiring photographer (Kelly Nicole).
Kelly has a strong role in this film and another is Don Cheadle who plays an Attorney who is so skilled I’m surprised Oscar Pistorius hasn’t considered hiring him (yes I went there!)

This film poses the questions that are uncomfortable. However, the ending was perfect and follows themes of redemption similar to Denzel’s roles in ‘The Book of Eli’ and ‘Man on Fire’.

Apparently this film cost $31m (less than ‘Anna Karennina’ and the ‘London Olympic’ ceremony) and has taken over $140m at the box office.

The film was also nominated for two Academy Awards in the Best Actor (Denzel) and Best Screenplay (John Gatins) categories and some are saying that Daniel Day-Lewis is a shoe in, however if the shoe don’t fit then step forward Denzel and get your (not drunken) speech ready. Though we’ve now discovered that it was Mr. Day-Lewis who took the gong for his role in ‘Lincoln’. 

Great roles, great acting, rated 15 is for mid-teens and above who like their films with a message.
‘Flight’ is currently being shown at Derby QUAD cinema and mos def deserves a butchers.

Written by Exist Media Film Reviewer: The G-Man (A Life Through the Lens according to G…) You can follow the G-Man on twitter: @gmanzen or check out www.zen411.co.uk

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to @DerbyQUAD to see two films back to back and what did I see first? ‘Hitchcock’; and what did I think?
Read on…

For those who don’t know who Alfred Hitchcock was then let me try to enlighten you.
Hitchcock was a British born film-maker that in 2007 was voted the best British director ever. And it’s hard to argue against considering the body of work he left behind including ‘The Birds’, ‘North by North West’ and ‘Vertigo’ to name but three. However, the film ‘Hitchcock’ tells the story of Hitch’s making of his 45th movie ‘Psycho’ which was his first foray into the horror film genre.

Hitchcock played by the wonderfully talented Anthony Hopkins is a great film-maker who’s married to Alma a brilliant foil of a wife, plus a brilliant editor in her own right played by the very talented Helen Mirren.
I must admit that I loved this film because it wasn’t just a biopic, rather it focused on his idea to make a film that others near and far said he shouldn’t do; or if he did do it he would be making nails that they would gladly hammer into his coffin.

Want to know how he lived and was perceived by his peers’ then watch the film.
Want to know how the famous strings sound that’s used in the shower scene that was ground-breaking in its day came to be included? Then watch this film.
Want to see a man who’s afraid but doesn’t let that stop him from doing what is harder as opposed to a non-taxing/less mentally challenging project which if it had failed would have wiped him out financially, plus irreparably damage his great reputation? Then… (all together now) watch this film.

How influential was he? Well it’s more a case of which huge director/film-maker that doesn’t give major props to him.
Watch ‘Hitchcock’ @DerbyQUAD very soon to see what all the fuss is all about and prepared to be inspired.

Written by Exist Media Film Reviewer: The G-Man (A Life Through the Lens according to G…) You can follow the G-Man on twitter: @gmanzen or check out www.zen411.co.uk

Following Her Footsteps...: To girls whose thighs touch...

followingherfootsteps:

There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t have to think about my body – how much I’ve moved it (or not), what I’ve put into it, what it looks like in whatever outfit I’ve chosen to wear. But thinking about my body isn’t something particularly new, it isn’t something that came with adolescent…

We love this post!

I’ve seen the previous award-winning film by the ex-wife of James “Avatar” Cameron called ‘Hurt Locker’, which I liked because it was gritty and used a relative unknown in the title role.
With the above in mind I wanted to know why Kathryn Bigelow would use the actress Jessica Chastain in the title role. Could it be the fact that they look very much alike? Hmmm… on with the review…

The ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ plot is simple and apparently based on true events according to the opening credits at the start of the film.
I thought the script, though well written, was penned by Mr. Aesop or Hans Christian Anderson, but I’m very cynical regarding the reasons of this film.
Anyway, here’s the plot in a nutshell…
In 2003, Maya (Jessica Chastain), a young CIA officer, has spent her entire brief career since she graduated from high school, focusing solely on intelligence related to Osama Bin Laden, the “so-called” leader of the “so-called” terrorist organisation called Al-Qaeda.

Maya believes, based on the body of evidence collected by the CIA, that OBL is the so-called mastermind of the September 11th attacks in the United States.
She has just been reassigned to the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan to work with a fellow officer, Dan. During the first months of her assignment, Maya often accompanies Dan to a location not revealed to us the paying viewer for his continuing interrogation of Ammar, a detainee with suspected links to several Saudi terrorists. Dan subjects the detainee to torture, including water-boarding, and humiliation which includes pulling down his trousers in front of the beautiful Maya.

Read More

I’ve not seen many films this year, however, there’s been a few films that I’ve wanted to watch and made the effort to watch such as, ‘The Impossible’ and ‘Lincoln’. But the film that I wanted to see above all others was ‘Django Unchained’ by Quentin Tarantino, but was it worth the wait?
Come closer and hear my take on a highly anticipated, but very controversial epic of a movie…

As stated previously, I will only be reviewing a few films this year so I’ve decided to cherry pick what I see, and this was a very sweet cherry indeed!
The plot is simple. Django (Jamie Foxx) is a newly bought slave who is set free by a native of Dusseldorf, Germany - Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) and is offered $75 and legal freedom if he will travel with him as a bounty hunter and identify three ruthless killers who happen to be brothers.

Interestingly, Spike Lee’s production company is called ‘50 Acres & A Mule’, which is what a freed slave received…
Django agrees, and thus starts an epic journey that is over 2hrs 30mins on screen, however, it does not feel like a long film, rather it takes you through all emotions.

On their journey they run into Don Johnson who runs a plantation. The dialogue between Johnson, Waltz and Foxx is superb and though the use of the N word is prolific, it is used at a time when it was invented and just goes to show that when ignorance is left unchecked it spreads and becomes the norm. People, always seek wisdom and shun ignorance, this is how we grow.

Another character the bounty hunting heroes encounter is Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) who runs the fourth biggest plantation in the South of the country nicknamed “Candy Land”. If you’re a student of my reviews you will know that in pre-Civil War times the Southern part of America’s wealth was made from the maintenance of the slave trade. With this in mind the South had no desire to end the lucrative trade, and why would they when we put currency above people.

On Calvin’s plantation is a house-slave called Stephen who is excellently played by Samuel L. Jackson. His character is so ‘lol’ funny, however a twitter follower (@USDannyDyerFan) stated “@gmanZen saw it last Wednesday. SLJ has been giving me nightmares ever since. #SleepDeprived”… Plus “@gmanZen omg yes. I can’t remember when I was last disturbed by such a movie villain”.
Now to comment on what allegedly the film-maker Spike Lee had to say about the film…

In an interview with ‘Vibe’ magazine Spike said he would not see the film, explaining, “All I’m going to say is that it’s disrespectful to my ancestors. That’s just me…I’m not speaking on behalf of anybody else.”
Spike later tweeted, “American Slavery Was Not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honour them.”

Minister Louis Farrakhan of the ‘Nation of Islam’ said he thought the movie was “preparation for race war”. My view having watched it is this…
My opinion is based on watching the film and as I have mentioned before there is a difference between a film that is “based on a true story” and “a true story” and then there is “fiction”. ‘Django Unchained’ is not true or based on a true story but is total pulp fiction (do you remember my breakdown of what pulp fiction means? No then read my review on ‘The Raven’, or was it ‘John Carter of Mars’? Which should be in our archive section I do believe.

‘Django Unchained’ is a wonderfully written masterpiece that deserves to be celebrated and garnered with the highest awards man can give.
It is not historically factual and neither does it need to be. Its strength is that it is a great story based around pre-emancipation days which does depict a period of history that wasn’t pleasant for people of African descent.
I loved it and could easily venture back into the cinema with a cheese and pickle sarnie to watch it again because it’s brilliant!

Without spoiling your viewing pleasure I will say this… do not watch this film thinking “good guys and bad guys” rather put yourself in the period of the time in history depicted and then you will understand it better and feel less guilty if you’re white and less angry if you’re black.
I feel people in this period of time did things that the climate encouraged until President Lincoln came along and changed things that resulted in Americans fighting against Americans until the road to freedom was built.

Finally if I could be so bold as to recommend three films to watch then I would say watch ‘Django Unchained’ followed by ‘Lincoln’, then watch the DVD of the conspirators to get the full picture of ‘American History X’.

Written by Exist Media Film Reviewer: The G-Man (A Life Through the Lens according to G…) You can follow the G-Man on twitter: @gmanzen or check out www.zen411.co.uk