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Reviews, previews and chuckling and snorting...

20/20 Filmsight - April 2006

The Blockbusters of the Summer of 2006

April 30th 2006 22:10
Gah!

Bah!

The Guardian published an article today, predicting what the big blockbusters are going to be this summer.

Bah!, again.

If this list is at all indicative of what's going to be showing in the big theatres this summer, it's going to be four months of shitty movies, yawns and snores.

Mission Impossible 3?

The Da Vinci Code?

Superman Returns?

Ack, you're better off watching SBS at home... sometimes, they show racy programs, like Sin Cities, a documentary that explores Paris, Berlin and Shanghai in the 20s and 30s.

A time when people flooded those cities, looking for freedom and sexual expression... Berlin was called the 'Babylon of the 20s' a city with 160 gay and lesbian clubs, where the streets reeked of embarassment and semen.

In fact, don't miss this Wednesday. This Wednesday, SBS is showing one of my all-time favourite movies. Hell, it deserves it's own post!
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Americanas
   


Dave Chappelle's Block Party - Film Review

April 27th 2006 22:46
Block Party Poster
Dave Chappelle is a manically raving lunatic who, if he was wearing a dirty trenchcoat and drinking a 40oz bottle of malt, you'd assume to be some sort of dangerous hobo.

Give him a ravenous all-star hiphop lineup, though, et il est le roi. He is The King.

Back in 2004, Dave Chappelle was holding the reins on The Chappelle's Show, an HBO sketch comedy program that received huge ratings and big shout-outs. That same year, he held an old skool block party in Brooklyn, inviting some of the most intelligent and classiest hip hop acts to perform for this stellar show.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party is a film chronicling the party and the events prior to the party.

Unlike most other concert documentaries, it's a non-stop train ride of exhuberance, hilarity and sheer violent energy. And the train kept a-rollin', all night long.

Mr. Chappelle, in addition to being a raving lunatic, is also a diabolical genius. Yes, if he had a nuclear missile, or a vial of deadly virus, the world would have to fork over a lot of cold cash. With a block party in his hands, though, all he can do is make some noise.

He went to his old hometown in Ohio and gave free tickets, accomodation and travel to people in his 'hood; some of them refused him gently ('Oh no, sorry, I've got something to do on Saturday') and some of them went wild. He even found the Central State University marching band, and convinced the university to let them all come to Brooklyn to attend the show - the marching band members were ecstatic with joy, and some of them even burst into tears on film.

One of the reasons that Dave Chappelle is a genius (evil) is that he convinced notable director Michael Gondry to take over the film project. Gondry has directed various music videos for top-selling artists and directed the excellent Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, two films written by the esteemed Charlie Kaufman.

Gondry has a slick sense of control and timing, and much of the energy in the film comes from the precise editing and camera control. It's too good. It's so good, you'll have to chew on razor blades to distract you from that infectious rhythm.

Mos Def
Mos Def
Parts of the film are the electrifying musical performances by knockout performers such as:

Mos Def
Talib Kweli
Common
The Roots
Jill Scott
Erykah Badu
Kanye West
Dead Prez

and the muthafucking reunion of the muthafucking Fugees...

...and it was good.

Not just good. But so damn good that I had trouble sitting down. I was bopping my head to the beat, tapping my foot to the bass, and fighting the overwhelming urge to stand up and throw my fists in the air. I could sense that the people around me were getting restless, too... many of them looked like coffee-drinking, poetry-reading intellectuals that twist ironic smiles at Goddard films, but for a split-second, I believed they would have stood up with me and screamed along with the film:

'Fuck the radio, don't play that bullshit!'

In one of the interviews, the Roots describe how, before any of them had record deals, they and many of the other artists on the bill used to jam at a hip hop club in Brooklyn. It shows on stage... these are seasoned performers and they like each other, and they're not trying to outsell each other. Shit, this is like watching some of your best and most talented friends, fool around on the microphones in front of '5000 black people and 16 white people'.

The rest of the film is footage of Dave Chappelle joking around, Dave Chappelle pretending to sing, Dave Chappelle making an ass of himself, Dave Chappelle talking to crazy people, ad infinitum...

...and it was funny.

Not just funny, but so hilarious, in fact, that I experienced a cramp in my uterus.

And I don't even have a uterus! You want to talk about The Divine Comedy? To err is human, but this shit is divine!

Dave Chappelle's Block Party is an exhilirating ride, to say the least, and, in my humble opinion, it's one of the best films to come out this year. It's about time someone threw a block party, and Dave Chappelle is just the cat to do it. Watching this film was, for me, like having sex for the first time, after abstaining for a year... like discovering that part of you that has been disused and abused, and you've just re-opened your eyes to a dazzling array of lights and explosions. This is an orgasm, etched in film.

Thanks to Vice Magazine, which provided the screening and gave me two free tickets. I love this magazine, ever since it was a vile, vulgar piece of detritus in Canada. Now, it's international and it's poised to headbutt other, shittier magazines.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party will open in Australia on May 4th!

Show Highlights:
Edmonton Oilers classic jersey
Edmonton Oilers classic jersey
Kanye West cracking a smile as he sees the Central State University marching band performing in the street.

- Lauryn Hill's incredibly rich and soulful voice belting out 'Killing me softly' - she almost shed tears!

- A little kid asking Dave Chappelle if he could drive the limousine to Alabama (it's far).

- Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Common doing their best to pump up the crowd. These fools are hot, boy.

- The old hippie telling the camera that people should swear so much, aand rap music is bad for children.

- The chubby bassist wearing the Edmonton Oilers old-skool hockey jersey (pictured).

- Erykah Badu throwing away her huge-ass afro wig and body surfing into the crowd.

- Praz grabbing his crotch so you can see the outline of his big ol' penis.

- The Dead Prez singing a violently anti-white song, and seeing all the white people in the movie theatre smiling and nodding their heads. Oh boy...
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Americanas
   


One Coffee and I've got Jittery Jams

April 26th 2006 01:11
Amy from SecretSydney dropped by for a visit, and she brought with her - yessah - two cups of coffee.

She gave one to me, which I drank really quickly.
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: C'est la vie!
   


Playing Video Games in Pubs can be Horrific

April 25th 2006 10:40
Resident Evil
Screencap from Resident Evil
Video Clip Link

Aw, this has got to be fake.
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Bizarre
   


The Road Home - Film Review

April 24th 2006 02:03
The Road Home
The Road Home
Last night, I had planned to follow Lias timely advice and watch Main Hoon Na on SBS, a hit Bollywood film with a cast of notable Indian actors.

I couldn't sit through the first 10 minutes. I'm pretty easily irritated, and the main actor, Shakruhk Khan, irritates me like a grain of sand embedded in the cornea of my movie-watching eye.
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Asian
   


Frank Zappa Belushi - SNL Musical Performance

April 21st 2006 04:39

This is a wild clip of Frank Zappa's band playing with John Belushi on Saturday Night Live.

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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Short Films
   


WTF? Japanese Music Video

April 21st 2006 03:53
My good friend, Blight, is always posting interesting and bizarre links on his blog, and he's got a keen eye for things of the Asian persuasion.

Yatta!
That's why when he posted this video on Google Videos of this Japanese boy band, I had to link that mutha.
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Asian
   


The Guardian's Top 50 Book Adaptations

April 19th 2006 23:16
Today in the Guardian is a small piece about the best film adaptations of books. Turning a book into a movie is not an easy task, and many great books have become hideously dull pieces of rotting detritus.

For example, War of the Worlds. Or Dave Barry'sBig Trouble. Or Irvine Welsh's Acid House.
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Preview
   


Dave Chappelle's Block Party - Preview

April 18th 2006 23:08
Booyashaka! I received tickets to the preview screener of Dave Chappelle's Block Party, premiering at Newtown Dendy's on April 27th!

Dave Chappelle is the current comic sensation in America, after his hit comedy show, The Chappelle Show, broke a tear in the communal rectum of the American public. His sketch comedy is fresh and refreshing - even re-refreshing - and infinitely quotable.
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Preview
   


George Lucas in Love

April 18th 2006 02:08
George Lucas in Love poster
George Lucas in Love is a rock 'em, sock 'em mashup of Shakespeare in Love and the life of George Lucas.

It's a short film about George Lucas' life as a film student in California. This pre-wealth George is rake-thin and nervous, still sporting the glasses and facial hair, and trying to finish a script for his final year.
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Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Short Films
   


Lame 80s Fight Scenes

April 14th 2006 02:18
The 80s were a period of delight for some. The music, the hair, the enormous computers, the fear of homosexuality and AIDS...

Fromage
Movies from the 80s, however, have a certain visual stink to them that will never fade. Some of them can be so utterly cheesy that it's painful to watch.
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The Hills Have Eyes - Film Preview

April 12th 2006 22:03
I managed to score two free tickets to see the advance screener preview of The Hills Have Eyes through Vice Magazine. It's pretty exciting getting free movie tickets, and even more exciting if it's for a sneak preview.

The Hills Have Eyes - poster
That was the extent of the excitement, though, as The Hills Have Eyes was a tepid pool of watery grease/greasy water.
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The Secret Rage

April 11th 2006 22:49
Over on SecretSydney, Amy is dropping hooks on terrible cafes in the Rocks.

Emotion Eric shows his rage!
Why stop there?
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Poodle Exercise Video

April 11th 2006 01:25
Huh?
It's not easy staying fit. You try and go to the gym, you jog in the mornings, but soon enough, you're drinking duck-fat milkshakes and seeing how many Toblerones you can fit in your cheeks.

Yep. If only there was another way.
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Lagaan - Film Review

April 10th 2006 02:08
Last night at 9:30, SBS showed Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, a fascinating film that brings out the 'cheer for the underdog' sentiments in all of us.

Lagaan Movie Poster
Lagaan was nominated for Best Foriegn Film in the 2002 Academy Awards, and has been celebrated as "an enormously entertaining film" by Roger Ebert. The director, Ashutosh Gowariker, did a marvelous job of bringing 19th century India to us in full, spectacular colour, and his stunning landscapes are nearly enough to cause mass migration to the drought-plaugued Indian provinces.
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The Hills Have Eyes - Preview Screener

April 10th 2006 01:14
*shudder*

I'm going to see a preview screener of The Hills Have Eyes on Wednesday night. Night.
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Gatorade and the Truth

April 6th 2006 23:48
Sprint! (from Wikipedia)
I've been drinking Gatorade for a long time, and it's always been there for me, like a third parent.

Gatorade is pretty easy to buy into - after all, it rejuvenates you body... 30% faster than water! And water is 100% water, making Gatorade some kind of dark matter containing 130% water.
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Snakes on a Plane - Film Preview

April 5th 2006 22:14
What seemed like the most retarded movie of all time has become an unexpected favourite with the blogging community. Bloggers are hyping the movie to stratospheric levels, giving the Samuel L. Jackson film unprecedented visibility.

Wired News has a collection of some of the Internet's best Snakes on a Plane spoofs. My favourite is this one:
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Jamaican Films and the RSS

April 5th 2006 12:55
Great! We've got an RSS feed on MovieCritic, putting us on the forward edge of Blogual Motion.

I made that up.
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Upcoming - The Simpsons Movie

April 5th 2006 02:04
Teaser Trailer Still (from Wikipedia)
Man, the Simpsons have been on the air forever. For me, the laughs stopped a long time ago, when the show stopped being witty and referential, and made its descent into absurdist freak-gags.

Homer Simpson used to be a kind of sub-human Renaissance man; as my friend Devendra once said, he's both wickedly smart and amazingly stupid.
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Upcoming - Voltron: The Movie

April 4th 2006 01:51
Voltron! (from voltron.com)
What is Voltron?

Voltron was an 80s cartoon that featured 5 robot tigers/ lions/ panthers that could combine to form an Ultra-Robot. It was imported from Japan, with much of the violence removed, but that didn't stop the runaway appeal of the show.
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Yang Li Ping - Dance Video

April 3rd 2006 10:09
Yang Li Ping
I'll say it. I'm a guy and I like dance of most types. Ballet, hip hop, traditional Cuban - whatever. If I can feel the rhythm, I'm down with it.

Sometimes, it gets a little too much. When I was a culture writer for the McGill Daily, I had to cover some unusual performances that made me want to commit arson.
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Film Review - My Beautiful Laundrette

April 3rd 2006 02:18
This is a little gem of a movie, buried in the back of the drama section at the video store and forgotten.

My Beautiful Laundrette is the perplexing story of a young English-Pakistani man trying to scratch out a living in Thatcher-era England. His name is Omar, and it's never really evident what he wants, other than money and love - although he seems to foolishly throw away both.
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Buy Choco!

April 3rd 2006 00:11


The whole 'Japan is weird' thing is really overdone... there are hundreds of blogs and websites commenting on the 'wacky' Japanese culture, from panty vending machines to Hard Gay.
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Super Mario Bass

April 2nd 2006 23:07
Mario!
It's not easy being a bass player... most people just think that you're playing the 'guitar missing two strings', and if the band has a fight, you're the first one to get fired.

Either that, or you become one of those eccentric bass superstars, wearing red leather pants and growing facial hair... during the bridge in one of the band's funk songs, you play a 10-minute bass solo, and people clap politely and shout the occasional 'Woo!'.
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I didn't see Purple Rain

April 1st 2006 22:58
Purple Rain (from Wikipedia)
I had it in my house, and I just never got around to seeing it.

It's a shame because I've got the damn record.
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