Talking Pictures: January 2005 Archives

Coach Carter

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*Typed while nursing*

Ah, why do I homeschool, let me count the ways. Or you can go see this movie and I won't have to bother. This movie is perfect example of how kids live up or down to what is expected of them and how at least this particular public school in the film expects less than more. My personal experience with public schools has been no more has been expected of minority students beyond being bipedal, but perhaps I should talk more about the movie than my bitter public school experience.

Coach Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) is a Joe Clark(a great man by the way who I think should be cloned and sent to every public school)esque type of man. He utilises strange tactics like discipline and a sense of self respect in how young men carry themselves to make a high school basketball team live up to their potential, and hopefully achieve college.

Now, I am not a very good movie reviewer because I never know exactly how much more of a plot I should reveal than what is in previews without spoiling the movie.

I will say I found the scenarios realistic. I do recommend this film and I would almost give it an 'A' except for one big problem I had with it that almost had me walk out. It made me feel so bad. One of the basketball players' girlfriends, played by Ashanti, is pregnant. She decides because the future is unsure and she really wants her boyfriend to go off to college instead of remaining in a dead end life in the ghetto to have an abortion. After that all is well in the world. There is one point in the movie where Coach Carter stresses the importance of star athletes not getting special treatment and having to obey the rules like everyone else. But then the girlfriend has an abortion.

Watching the games is fun and watching the transformation from thugs into young men is also fun. I also liked the soundtrack and perhaps will purchase it. So I give the movie a 'C'.

House call

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So, who saw it last night?

Napolean Dynamite

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I meant to blog about this movie like a month ago when I first saw this, but haven't had a free arm.

Now my children, brothers, father and husband have been reciting I guess you would call them "Napolean-isms" for a month.

This movie is silly, is not about anything, has a sort of pointless plot but is a must see. OK, maybe not a must see, but if you are fan of stupid humor it is. It is about a teenager who is pretty much a geek, who lives with his grandmother. He help his best friend runs for class president. Not deep at all.

There is an interesting story about the one of the stars, Efren Ramirez:

Efren Ramirez is an upcoming rising star. A new face to filmgoers, Efren Ramirez is a bonifide scene-stealer in the quirky comedy Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Stuck between choosing between Napoleon Dynamite and the studio film "The Alamo", Efren was quick to choose Napoleon Dynamite which has grossed over $41 million at the box office to date.

I think that's funny.

Elektra

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I don't know. I tried to like it because I am such a big Marvel fan, although I have never been a Daredevil fan. The few times the character Elektra bumped into the comics I did read, as a child I thought she had a really cool costume, but was not very nice or interesting.

So Elektra is an extraordinary martial artist with issues. Her mother was killed when she was a little girl, and on top of that she was killed in the Daredevil movie and either revived or brought back to life-I dunno. The movie is unclear. So to work through these issues, she becomes an assasin instead of taking Prozac. Um, yeah.

She is hired to assasinate a father and thirteen year old girl. The father is played by hunky Goran Visjnic who is pretty much useless and wimpy. Instead of assinasinating them, she decides to rpotect them. Without going in to more depth of this very boring storyline, let me just say, the little girl is your typical teenager-she steals, she acts up etc. The father is useless as a character and as a man. He always running as Elektra, Super Woman De jour protects them over and over again until it is revealed the teenage girl is also a prodigy martial artist and protects him. Typical modern day feminist trite. Then to top it all off, Elektra's sensei played by Terrance Stamp admits that he always knew she had a "pure heart" even though she was an assasin for awhile trying to find herself. What-ever.

I actually would not have cared at all about the slightly offensive story line if they just gave me more martial arts fighting scenes. I am a simple minded sucker for special effects and action. But action scenes were few and far between with lots of scenes of Elektra staring out a windown remembering her mother's death, which they never really explained. There are movies where the story is simply an "excuse" to show fun stuff. Drumline's story is merely an excuse to see some really neat badn scenes. Strictly Ballroom is an excuse to see some neat dancing. Any Jet Li movie is an excuse to see him do his thing. Anyway, Elektra didn't cut it.


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