Lumumba

Lumamba" is the true story of Patrice Lumumba, who at just 36 became the first prime minister of the newly independent Congo. He would be in office only a few months until brutally assassinated due to his refusal to bow down to the colonial power structure of Belgium. He was dedicated to building a prosperous nation.The story of Lumumba needs to be heard, and it a testament to the struggles of African liberation.
Lumumba was brutally murdered by his own countrymen with America and Belgium cheering from the sidelines.
Cinematically, I wish it was told a little better. The story was confusing and hard to keep up with at times. How did he get so socially conscious? Where's his back story? The acting could have been better. It seemed as if they used real people, which I can appreciate but it was too amateur sometimes. Nevertheless, the director didn't hold back punches when showing the graphic and gory details while not going over the top. Disturbing but real. Y

Favorite Scenes : when he makes the famous speech (read the real speech - http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2005/10/tears-fire-and-blood-speech.html
When his former military officer makes 'a deal with the devil' and is offered "everything" in return

What sucked? : acting; story had a lot of holes.

Special Features : not one, not even director's commentary. It would have been great if they had a bio or documentary on the man. Well, I found something on YouTube(what can't you find on that thing)that I'll share with yall.

Snatch DVD Review

Snatch was crazy. I saw this before but copped it again recently. Guy Ritchie really did his thing. If your a young filmmaker you should have seen this already. An MTV Style, fast paced, cool indie style English feature follow up to the also hip, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells" ( another favorite of mine, infact, I almost like it better..storywise anyway.) It's a heist/ fixed boxing match story revolving around diamonds and criminal characters in England. Brad Pitt makes costars along with Benecio Del Toro and some repeats from ' Smoking Barrells'.(Unfortunately the 'Guvnor' passed away prior to Snatch. I'm sure he would have beeen included.
Anyway, the shots are great, its always interesting and exciting, good dialogue,unique, great characters. The accents and slang definitely lend it something too. There's no solid stories but its interesting none the less. The Crime Boss, Brick Top(Alan Ford ) is believably evil and twisted. Brad Pitt seems totally comfortable in his character's skin. The leads do a cool job, particularly Jason Statham(Transpoter fame). I particularly enjoyed Vinnie Jones's performance (as in the prequel) as Bullet tooth Tony. Good actor...why wasn't he anything else? Can't front...liked it a lot and the style was bananas.

Favorite Scenes : the intro style of the jews entering at the beginning cutting from monitor to monitor; All the boxing matches (the extremeness of Brad Pitt's character's boxing strength), the underwater scene during the last fight seemed ingenious to me;

What sucked? - The storyline was all over the place; The negative portrayal of the blacks in the movie. The black guys were the buffoons of the movie. What's up with that? It was kind of Stepin Fetchit/Wayans Brothers ish. Not feelin that Guy. . However, they were funny at times and did an okay job, especially the skinny fellow.( I recognize him also from the old British Jamaican TV Show - "Desmond. Funny show).

Special Features - It came with another disc filled with special features including 'the making of..' which was cool. Some of the deleted scenes were surprisingly goo The commentary was disappointing though. They didn't sound very interested and rarely touched on much film technique.

Rating - **** 4 bloody stars

State of Grace DVD Review

An Irish gangsta flick (1990) that I’ve never seen until today. It’s about an undercover cop(Sean Penn) who comes back to his old Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood to spy on his old gang, which includes his best friend ( Gary Oldman) and the boss (Ed Harris) but gets in too deep and questions his job.
Now, at the beginning I thought Gary Oldman and Sean Penn were overacting but by the middle of the movie they are really good, especially the crazy character of Oldman; and I do mean crazy (doesn’t he look like a gangsta version of the kid from Ferris Bueller). He’s a livewire nut. Turturro also makes an appearance as the cop above Sean Penn’s character. He does a good job also and seems completely comfortable in his character. Ed Harris is great as always. Robin Wright plays Pen’s love interest. To me, her character was weird and annoying but I think the ladies will appreciate her involvement. Anyway, Its a cool movie overall and you’ll get caught in the intensity at times.

Favorite Scenes : Gary Oldman spinning around “See!See!”;
When they’re about to do the big hit on the Mob boss; the shootout at the end was put together pretty well; Gary Oldman crosses the line with the mob’s crew when they invite him to sit with them; when they find out Penn’s character is a cop; “Don't be asking him he's fuckin' retarded! Sorry, no offence... but you are, okay? “

What Sucked? : Even though Oldman did his thing, his overacting at times was annoying to me. Robin Wright’s character annoyed me sometimes with her fits.

Bonus Features : Crap. They were none, just a lame ass trailer

Rating : 3 1/2 Clovers