MMM (Mini Movie Marathon)....

Yeah, I know. I'm the ultimate slacker when it comes to posting. But you know one thing I never, ever slack on is watching movies. I think I set a record for myself over the past two weeks, watching everything from Bruno to Bye, Bye, Birdie (yeah, I watched it--don't judge me!). I'll give on overview of my experiences, and since not much is happening with Black Cinema, most of it is of the other kind....and lest you think I have absolutely nothing to do with my time, bear in mind that I watched most of these when folks are asleep, between the hours of 12am and 6am.

I definitely went on DiNiro overload, for real. I watched not one, not two, but three 3 hour Robert DiNiro odysseys; "Casino" (fabulous!), "Heat" (overrated, yeah I said it!), and "The Deer Hunter" (strange). I love Bobby D., he is always sooo cool and low key, even in Vietnam, as he was in The Deer Hunter. It was weird to see Christopher Walken looking young in it though, almost surreal.

Speaking of Christopher Walken, I also saw a film he was in called "The Dogs Of War" which I'm told is a classic. I tried to stay focused on the story at hand, but I wasn't too thrilled that the plot entailed just 4 white dudes taking out a whole African nation of brothers that were armed with guns.

Anyway, also saw the "hip-hopera" "A Day In The Life" which was written and directed by Sticky Fingaz, and I reviewed on Soul Sis-Star Reviews. The whole film, every single line of dialogue, is rapped. Yes. And that includes Michael Rapaport. I also revisited "Panther", which I will review as well...does anybody remember that Bokeem Woodbine used to be almost a real actor?

"Other" films I revisited were a Nicholas Cage flick called "Red Rock West", which is a cautionary crime-thriller about Karma kicking you in the back of your neck (very dark and trippy, like David Lynch), and a dark mystery called "Frailty" which was surprisingly good. It was directed by and stars Bill Paxton, along with Matthew McConaughey, who, to my huge shock, didn't get on my nerves even once. It is the story of a widowed father and his two young sons, the father one day saying he has been commissioned by an angel to slay "demons", the "demons" being folks in neighboring cities and towns, and also says his sons must assist him in slaying them...very absorbing--I recommend it.

Let's see...also saw "Isn't She Great" starring Bette Midler, in the supposedly autobiographical movie of Jacqueline Susann, who wrote "Valley Of The Dolls", and it seemed to take great liberties with her life. Also saw "Orphan" (don't ask).

I guess the ones the stuck out the most from the pack (yes there are more) were two pretty dark and twisted films--"Cruising" and "The Bad Lieutenant".

I remember my father taking me to see "Cruising", and only remembered it as a movie where Al Pacino went undercover as a cop going in the deep underworld of the gay leather club life. On reflection, I'm sure my father just went because it was Pacino, and had no idea what he was bringing me into. Pacino has to play a sort of gay hustler to find out who is murdering those that are part of the leather lifestyle. I did some research on the film, and at the time it created quite a stir, narrowly missing an "X" rating. The gay community was supposedly furious at the time, saying that it perpetuated fear and stereotypes about the gay lifestyle. These days, however, they show the film proudly at festivals...so there you go.

"Bad Lieutenant" is about a cop that has gone miles beyond corruption, much less anything that resembles human, played by Harvey Keitel (full frontal nudity alert!). It is filmed in a very late sixties, early 70's style of filmmaking, though it is from 1992. Keitel to me is part of that 70's, 80's cool that included the others I watched in this post, DiNiro, Pacino, Walken and more recently, Joe Pesci. He goes through his day, sexing and drugging it up to feel anything at all; being a cop is a very minor part of his day...he even steals from the people who steal. He is called in to investigate the rape of a nun, and the film just gets progressively darker, and disturbing, and hopeless. There was only one way for it to end, and it does end that way...check it out if you don't have an aversion to sex, drugs, and violence set in a backdrop of religion.

After the darkness comes light, that light being "Bruno". I absolutely loved Borat, so I was expecting great things...don't you make the same mistake (sorry Sergio).

When I look over these films, there does seem to be a commonality...most of them were directed by those who at one time or another considered the "bad boy" directors; William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist, Cruising), Abel Ferrara (Bad Leiutenant, King Of New York), Martin Scorsese (The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino), Michael Mann (Heat, Hancock, Miami Vice), Larry Charles (Borat, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bruno) and the big bad boy, Michael Camino (The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, The Sicilian). Get a film by any of these directors, and trust--there may be a miss or two, but it will never, ever, be boring.

Feast your eyes on a few trailers: