As far as I know, this film may never see the light of day in North America. That could be a blessing.

Guy Ritchie burst on the scene as the director of “Snatch” which was such a great little film that practically redefined the whole “Euro-gangster” film genre. Since then Ritchie married Madonna, wrote and directed his wife in the 2002 utter disaster “Swept Away”.

“Revolver” was supposed to be his return to greatness. It has a dynamic cast led by Jason Statham and Ray Liotta. So what happened?

The story opens as gambler Jake Green (Jason Statham) is released from prison. Green has a troubled past that is linked to a dark underworld headed by casino mogul Dorothy Macha (Ray Liotta). Green’s claim to fame is that he is very lucky that is until he is diagnosed with only 3 days to live.

As a sort of redemption for his troubled life, Green teams up with some two lone sharks to start giving away the fortune he has accumulated during his career. Green doesn’t exactly understand how that will help him but his luck seems to point him that way.

The film gets more convoluted and complicated from there as Macha and Green continue to butt heads. The film seems to explore redemption, darkness in our spirit, mortality and luck. What it doesn’t do is hold our interest.

The film is so confusing and dialogue heavy that I had a hard time deciphering the significance of each character and the message the film was trying to convey.

There were some scenes and isolated characters that I liked but for the most part I wanted to cry in my hands. Ritchie has always been good at developing smaller characters with extremely interesting names. In every one of his films there were always smaller supporting characters I adored even if the film wasn’t that great. “Revolver” definitely follows in that tradition.

“Revolver” never had a chance to be grand or great because it lacked a distinct vision. There are so many elements of millions of ideas but no direct way to convey the any of the ideas even if they were brilliant or ill-conceived. In other words, it’s an utter mess.

1.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

Revolver

Ray Liotta runs around in his pants and it makes about as much sense as pissing on an angry Dog.

A outra metade do Outkast, Big Boi, já passou por aqui. Agora é a vez de André Benjamin, mais conhecido como André 3000.

André é um dos poucos integrantes da cultura Hip Hop que pode ser considerado fashionista, ao pé da letra. Se você achou que o Kanye estava “extrapolando” em 2008 (Na fase do lançamento do 808’s), deixando o cabelo crescer e indo a Paris com aquelas roupas coloridas de alfaiataria, você não deve conhecer o André. Ele segue um estilo bem vintage, usa calças de cintura alta (Geralmente, com o “culote” enorme), chapéus grandes e variados (De palha, inclusive), botas enormes, blazeres xadrez, gravatas borboleta e uma incrível obsessão por barras de calça dobradas.

Em 2008, André resolveu ir um pouco além e lançou sua própria linha de roupas, a “Benjamin Bixby“.

Além de rapper, André 3000 também é ator, fazendo papéis em vários filmes e seriados de TV. Em 2006, criou o desenho animado “Class of 3000“  que foi exibido até 2008, pelo canal Cartoon Network. Além de tudo, namorou e teve um filho com Erykah Badu, chamado Seven Sirius Benjamin.

Click here to view what 3 stacks had to say

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this film as I hadn’t heard anything about it.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Four ‘brothers’ come home to bury their adoptive mother after she is killed during the robbery of a convenience store late one night.

Unfortunately for her killers the brothers have a bit of history of bad behaviour and, because they don’t trust the police to get results, set out to bring the killers to justice.

Mark Wahlberg plays Bobby as just the right side of pyschopathic and Andre Benjamin (yes Andre 3000 from OutKast) plays the counter role to perfection as Jeremiah.

Eventually a plot twist sees a much bigger picture come into play and a sinister story begins to unravel.

Director John Singleton has done a great job of getting you to sympathise with the brothers, despite the fact (or maybe because of the fact) that they are deeply flawed individuals.

You find yourself cheering these guys on as they hunt and kill anything that gets in the way of them finding out who killed their mother.

The soundtrack was absolutely spot on with some fantastic songs like ‘Trouble Man’ by Marvin Gaye, ‘I Wish It Would Rain’ by The Temptations and the score by David Arnold was great as well.

This was a good film that kept you interested until the end and the twists were handled well. You never felt like there was too much to keep up with but I certainly didn’t see every curveball coming, which was great.

I guess you could say Four Brothers glorifies vigilante justice but if you can’t go on a murderous rampage to avenge your mother’s death, when can you?

Rating: 7/10

Variety
With the Woodstock 40th anniversary in the spotlight this year, Legendary Pictures is mounting a feature film about Jimi Hendrix, whose performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was a seminal moment of the original 1969 fest. Legendary hopes to crack the rights issues that have prevented previous Hendrix projects from getting out of the gate. The company’s plan is to develop the project first, then try to win the cooperation of the estate. There have been numerous attempts to develop a Hendrix film in recent years, with such musician-actors as Lenny Kravitz and Outkast’s Andre Benjamin floated as possible stars. But no one has locked down rights with Experience Hendrix, the gatekeeper to the musician’s estate, which is run by his stepsister, Janie Hendrix

Living in LA I’ve seen countless celebrities walking down the street, in coffee shops, restaurants, markets, at LAX, even where i used to dance burlesque… (i’m saving those stories for the autobiography)…working at the agency also opened me up to meeting a good deal of celebs. people (especially back home in NC) always ask me “have you met anyone famous?!” and so i thought i’d share a few positive encounters because i’m sure you see enough of the negative encounters on TMZ….and also because i feel like what good is fame unless 1. you earned your fame because of immense talent or that you are some how making the world a better place and 2. you use your fame as a platform to do great things for others…  one encounter was while i was working at the agency and i saw andre benjamin (aka andre 3000) talking on his cell phone while i was walking back from the bathroom… i walked up to him and was going to wait to introduce myself.. but he put the person he was speaking with on hold (and he was talking serious business!) and introduced himself to me….i complimented him on his uniqueness as an artist and he asked my name… when i told him “andree” he looked a bit surprised and then with his slow sexy southern drawl he said “that’s a cool name for a girl,” and smiled sweetly… a very nice encounter… another encounter that was incredible was meeting one of the most talented men in music that’s ever lived: quincy jones! at the south by southwest music festival, dre and i went to see this virtuosic pianist that quincy was presenting in this little jazz club… as quincy was walking back from the bathroom (why is it always near the bathroom!? lol)… i stopped him saying “mr. jones! …” and proceeded to tell him how much i admired him, how dre and i had read his autobiography (i was a total nerd), and i introduced dre (who was struck silent meeting one of his idols!)… mr. jones then said “where are you from” and i told him i’m of puerto rican descent and he said “oh, i love puerto rico, i wrote a little song with a man name tito puente called ‘oye como va’ for carlos santana… (yeah! i’ve heard of them! and the song…lol!)… he kept my hand in his hand and looked me in the eyes the whole time and spoke with such kindness and humbleness… then i fumbled around in my purse (making him wait!- what a dork!) to find our demo to give him… what an absolute sweetheart then dre and i saw the most incredible pianist i’ve ever seen in my life become one with the piano! check him out: Alfredo Rodriguez http://www.alfredomusic.com/?page_id=36 he is genius!!!!! another positive celebrity encounter was meeting the beautiful, lovely, super gifted, and humble jennifer hudson! i was a the grey goose rolls-royce party with my old boss where she was performing 3 songs… and i was just a few feet away from this powerful goddess of song! i mean she brought it to church with her vocals! y’all know what i’m talking about!!! my boss being the awesome woman that she is made sure i met her cause she knew i really wanted to sing… and jennifer was happy to talk with me. i asked her what advice she would give up and coming singers and she said “don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do.” good advice! what a powerful woman! this was before the travesty with her family and she was so strong even then… and one of the most down to earth and kind super famous people i’ve met to date. the last encounter was a semi-encounter lol! but it was such a magical and random night! a few years ago we were celebrating my pnc’s birthday at the roosevelt hotel and as we were leaving in a drunken haze, i see my friend renato neto (who plays keys for prince) standing on hollywood blvd. smoking a cigarette… renato is welcoming and kind enough to get my pnc, me, and 3 of our other friends into prince’s very exclusive show! (where tickets were going for thousands of dollars!) it was unreal! and then prince was performing 3 feet away from me! he was electric! i was high from the music! and though i didn’t get to meet this god of music, we did make eye contact – so i call it a semi-encounter. also, i want to put it in print officially: if i do achieve a massive level of stardom i promise to use it as a platform to enrich the lives of others- to spread love and inspiration in a HUGE way! 

Four Brothers (2005) WATCH MOVIE ONLINE

Four Brothers (2005) WATCH MOVIE ONLINE Four Brothers (2005) WATCH MOVIE ONLINE Four brothers look to avenge their mother&s death. Four Brothers (2005) WATCH.

Four Brothers (2005) WATCH MOVIE ONLINE Four Brothers (2005) WATCH MOVIE ONLINE Four brothers look to avenge their mother&s death. Four Brothers (2005) WATCH.

It includes a digital copy of the film for your portable media devices, a DVD of the entire movie in the normal two dimensions, a Blu-ray Disc of the concert in three dimensions and four pairs of 3-D glasses, several songs not played in …

Four Brothers: The rough and rugged Mercer brothers have just found out that there adoptive mother has been murder. The four men gather back at home to decide what to do. They soon start coming to the streets of their youth to track …

Four Brothers (2005) WATCH MOVIE ONLINE Four Brothers (2005) WATCH MOVIE ONLINE Four brothers look to avenge their mother&s death. Four Brothers (2005) WATCH.

Nesta semana a seleção de filmes está muito boa.  Dois filmes nota 5, um nota 4, um 3 e um lamentável 2.  Só para lembrar, a escala é a seguinte: de 0 a 2, não assista – não vale nem R$1,99! 3 é por sua conta, assista e tire sua conclusão. 4 e 5 eu “agarantio”: pode assistir sossegado, vale R$1,99!  Detalhes técnicos do Cine Player. Vamos aos filmes:

Nota 5. Filmaço! Muito bom, cheio de ação e muitas cenas engraçadas. Merece nota cinco. Recomendo para quem gosta de filmes do gênero.  

As crônicas de Spiderwick:

Lembrou Jumanji

Após a separação dos pais, dois garotos gêmeos, Jared e Simon e sua irmã Mallory se mudam com a mãe para uma casa em ruínas. Por meio de um livro mágico, eles se vêem transportados para um mundo de fantásticas criaturas.

Nota 5. Fantasia e muita aventura. Um verdadeiro show no filme que se assemelha bastante de O Labirinto do Fauno e lembra um pouco o ótimo Jumanji, que marcou a minha juventude (ou infância?). Filmaço que merece nota máxima e com louvor

O casamento da minha namorada: Ele tinha a fórmula mas nem imaginava.Ethan acha que existe uma breve janela de tempo pra um homem conhecer a mulher certa: quando ela é muito jovem, é muito idealista; quando é muito velha, é muito cínica. Com 25 anos, a maior conquista de Ethan é poder ir a qualquer festa ou boate de Los Angeles. Não é grande coisa, mas ele não podia ser mais feliz; sustentando pelos pais, malha todos os dias e leva pra casa uma garota diferente a cada noite. Até descobrir, meio por acaso, que um amigo de escola vai casar. Ethan resolve ir para casa participar da cerimônia e acaba descobrindo que a noiva é Stephanie, sua namorada de adolescência. Tentando reviver os dias de glória de high school, Ethan decide reconquistar Stephanie antes que seja tarde. A grande questão é: ele está realmente apaixonado por ela ou só está preso ao passado?

Nota 2. Mais um daquelas comédias sem muita graça. Não é dos piores, mas está longe de receber uma indicação ao Oscar.

Separados pelo casamento:

Primeiro encontro do casal do filme.

Brooke e Gary terminam o relacionamento que mantinham, mas nenhum dos dois quer sair do apartamento onde vivem. Decidem manter uma convivência pacífica sob o mesmo teto, mas acabam descobrindo que o melhor a fazer é tornar a vida do outro insuportável.

Nota 4. Muito hilário e cheio de cenas interessantes. Só não levou nota máxima porque não encantou tanto assim.

A loja mágica de brinquedos: O que você faria dentro da loja de brinquedos mais fantástica do mundo? Sim, ela existe. É a loja mágica de brinquedos do Sr. Magorium, um incrível senhor de 243 anos de idade. Tudo lá parece ter vida e a única condição que se pede é muito simples: você precisa acreditar para ver. Quando o Sr. Magorium decide se aposentar e deixar a loja para a encantadora Molly, coisas estranhas passam a acontecer. Prepare-se para uma história incrível, onde todos são convidados para um mundo de magia e fantasia.

Nota 3. Um projeto semelhante a Fantástica Fábrica de Chocolate, mas não obteve tanto sucesso assim. Não agradou tanto e não tinha aquela mágica história. Por isso apenas a nota 3. Não é dos piores, mas está longe de passar pelos melhores filmes.  

Bom, é isso! Se for ver algum, bom filme!

Remind Me In 3 Days – 2008

The Knux are a fairly new rap duo comprised of two siblings, Krispy Kream (one of the best rap names ever) and Rah Al Millio. Remind Me In 3 Days is their freshman album, one that blatantly touts the pure oddness of The Knux.  There are many throwback musical elements, as if one of the brothers found a bunch of old Casio keyboards from the ’90s and tried out every random function, plus a truly eclectic rapping style that recalls Outkast, only not quite as dynamic, but with the same refreshing qualities.

Remind Me… is a completely mixed bag and the album is definitely weighted toward the front.  The Outkast influence is most apparent on the first two tracks, “The List” and “F!re (Put It In The Air)”.  Krispy and Rah don’t have the smooth, sharply worded flow of Andre Benjamin or the heavy power of Big Boi, but the music in both songs is uniquely produced; electric guitars, pronounced drum beats, and electronic noises atypical of most rap.

The best songs on the album are “Cappuccino”, a fresh and funny, refrain heavy track that found its way onto an episode of Entourage, and “Bang! Bang!” which is propelled by duet vocals and features hands-down the best rapping on the album and some of the best lyrics.  “The Train” is fast-paced and keyboard driven, “Shine Again” is a moody, more serious turn, and “Life In A Cage” is great mostly because of the fun musical sample and freewheeling rapping style.

There are a couple of tracks which are worth listening to even if they fall a little flat.  “The True” is funky while the lyrics don’t exactly shine, and the closing track “Lights Camera Action” is probably too chorus heavy, but the production is excellent.  Despite all of these positive elements, there are a few borderline offensive songs on Remind Me In 3 Days as well which detract from the album as a whole.  “Parking Lot”, “Hush”, and “Playboys” are skippable in my opinion because of the totally unnecessary gross treatment of women.

Remind Me In 3 Days is a nice addition to the alternative rap scene.  The Knux show enormous potential on this album.  Their biggest challenge remains achieving balance between their already impressive musical elements and strengthening the capacity of their rapping and songwriting.  Considering how fast The Knux came out of the gate, that is not likely to be an issue on future albums.

]]> http://thisblksistaspage.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/saturday-night-music-june-20-outkast-i-like-the-way-you-move/ Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:11:40 +0000 blksista http://thisblksistaspage.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/saturday-night-music-june-20-outkast-i-like-the-way-you-move/

Yeah, Old School is not supposed to like New School.

Well, Old School can like some of New School.

This song was blasting on almost every car radio, on every hip-hop station, on almost every iPod, along with “Hey Ya,” in the fall/winter and spring/summer of 2003-2004 while I was in New York. One couldn’t get away from it; that signature chorus was infectious and exuberant. As they used to say on American Bandstand, you could dance off it, even cha-cha.

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was an ambitious album, trying to combine two styles representative of the two rappers. It’s been called the hip-hop generation’s “White Album.” Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx was in the usual OutKast hip-hop vein, with Andre (3000) Benjamin’s The Love Below being more in tune with classical, soul, jazz, and funk–Old School influences that may or may not have helped spawn hip-hop. Plus Andre 3000 sings rather than raps in this supposedly “last” album before the pair “broke up.” The result–to critics–was a masterpiece, and a Grammy to OutKast for 2004 Album of the Year.

Wiki sez:

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below has been certified diamond and 11 times platinum by the RIAA for shipping more than 11 million units (in this case, 5.5 million double album sets), becoming the best selling rap album of all time.

There are indeed some things worth listening to.

Outkast’s Andre 3000 (real name: Andre Benjamin) was arrested near Atlanta Saturday for driving his 2007 Porsche Carrera at such a high speed that police called him “an accident waiting to happen,” according to Atlanta’s WSB-TV, TMZ and AllHipHop.com. A police officer told the station that the MC was clocked at 109 MPH on Saturday morning, significantly over the 65-mph speed limit, on Interstate 75, and was arrested for the danger he posed. “Traveling that fast along 75, you’re passing people as if they’re standing still,” Henry County Police Captain Jason Bolton told the station. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.” The MC was released after posting $1,200 bail, according to TMZ. He is scheduled to appear in court on April 29.

Via: MTV

What's Cooler Than Cool? Andre's Hair Due

TMZ is reporting that this weekend Andre 3000 government name Andre Benjamin was arrested in Georgia for going 109 in a 65.  He was later released after paying $1,200 bail.  

Aside:  I like Andre and I am not even making fun of his hair in the caption for the picture his hair is COOL FOR REAL. Andre is fresh, original, and innovative.  I cannot wait till his next solo album comes out.