Boyz n the Hood, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Hollywood Dads
Last week’s film classes were devoted to the subject of race. My students and I considered how African Americans are depicted in early and classical Hollywood cinema. To do this, we sifted through clips from The Birth of a Nation, The Pirate, and Bamboozled, the latter of which features a devastating montage of Civil War stereotypes (mammies, toms, and coons). My classes also explored the history of minstrelsy and blackface as well as the star power of Sidney Poitier and the problematic blaxploitation genre of the 1970s. Finally, we screened John Singleton’s layered,...
Read MoreJust Not Doing It For Me: Trailers for 2012 and PRECIOUS
Almost every theatrical release I’ve seen in the past month has been prefaced with the same two movie trailers: the apocalyptic, CGI-riddled 2012; and the grim, melodramatic Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Unlike the previews for Shutter Island and Pirate Radio, which have also been circulating widely, neither of these two trailers draw me in. The trailer for 2012 uses practically all of its allotted three minutes of screen time to showcase its visual effects, not to introduce its narrative. Flashes of Brazil’s “Christ the Redeemer” crumbling to pieces,...
Read MoreGood Hair, But with a Price
This entry is part 21 of 22 in the series Reviews.As one would expect with Chris Rock at the helm, much of Good Hair (2009), the comedian’s documentary on the ins and outs of African American hair, is funny, lighthearted, and entertaining. However, several sequences of the film are troubling and, dare I say, heartbreaking. Case in point: one scene reveals three soda cans submerged in a diluted form of sodium hydroxide, the product that African American women and some men (e.g., Al Sharpton) use to straighten their hair. The first can, which has been floating in the solution for an hour,...
Read MoreFilm Students, Do the Right Thing, and Developing a Critical Sense of Race
This entry is part 2 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses. For almost six years now, my students have learned about the elements of mise-en-scene from screening Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1988). And for nearly six years now, they have reacted to Mookie’s trashcan-tossing in much the same way: most students of color feel that Lee’s character “did the right thing” while the majority of the white students cannot understand why Mookie “would do such a thing to Sal.” Since my mind is generally focused on relaying the significance of the film’s...
Read MoreNarrative, Framing, and Props in the Opening of Inglourious Basterds
This entry is part 8 of 22 in the series Reviews.Let me just get right to it: the opening sequence of Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is virtually flawless. First, the narrative unfolds methodically. An extreme long shot of a grassy field. A lone man chops wood before a modest cabin, his adult daughter stands nearby. Motorcycle engines sputter in the distance. Germans arrive. Everyone goes inside. Pleasantries are exchanged, and milk is offered. The Frenchman is questioned, first in his native tongue, then in English. Rats are discussed. Names are given. Jews are murdered. As though...
Read MoreMamma Mia: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Good Beautiful scenery. Some nicely shot scenes (e.g., “The Winner Takes It All”). A wet, bare-chested Colin Firth (OMG!). And at least two numbers that did precisely what they were supposed to–inspire in the spectator a feeling of utopia (“Dancing Queen, “The Winner Takes It All”). NOTE: I claim this not only because I felt it, but also because the audience with whom I watched the movie actually clapped after one of these numbers. The bad Way too much scenery-chewing (such exaggerated facial expressions are for the stage, and of all people Meryl...
Read MoreBeating Up Brosnan
This entry is part 4 of 22 in the series Reviews. I just found myself laughing aloud as I read some of the reviews of this weekend’s second biggest opener, Mamma Mia! Here’s one on Streep: “I don’t normally think of Meryl Streep as the dominatrix type, but watching her I felt I was being thoroughly, and unenjoyably, punished.” (Salon.com) Yikes! Wheel in the whips and chains! Another remark is from Entertainment Weekly and concerns the film’s choreography (or lack thereof): “It’s tempting to say that Mamma Mia! has the worst choreography of any...
Read MoreWorkin’ It Like Clinton
This entry is part 2 of 22 in the series Reviews.The documentary Wordplay (2006) taught me several things: 1.) If I turn a crossword puzzle upside down it will look the same. In other words the boxes, both black and white, will appear in the same places in either direction. 2.) An annual crossword puzzle conference is held every year at a Marriott in New York. It is called the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and roughly 500 players show up. Yes, many of them look like (what society considers) nerds. 3.) Will Shortz, the editor of the popular and gradually-harder-as-the-week-goes-on NY...
Read MoreIron Man
This entry is part 1 of 22 in the series Reviews.Ever since I saw Robert Downey, Jr.’s flawless performance in the film Chaplin (1992), I’ve had a significant amount of respect for the man. As such, I was sad to hear that the actor found himself in a drug- and alcohol-induced stupor for much of his 30s–which is really, really sad considering that the 30s is the prime filmmaking decade for good-looking, talented Hollywood actors. Over the past few years, however, Downey has seemingly gotten his act together, appearing in critically acclaimed films such as Good Night and Good Luck (2005)...
Read MoreLive Free or Die Hard
This entry is part 19 of 22 in the series Reviews.With its crashing cars, rattling machine guns, and trash-talking lead character, the trailer for Live Free or Die Hard (Len Wiseman, 2007) positions the movie as just another loud, action-driven summer blockbuster that was created strictly for male-viewing pleasure. As such, I figured that the movie would probably be just as ridiculous and unappealing as this summer’s other fare (see Transformers, Spiderman 3, and Ocean’s Thirteen, for example). On the contrary, Live Free or Die Hard is much more fun than is expected–mainly because of...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,