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Reviews
Ghetto Physics (2010)
Critic Mashup
"GhettoPhysics is one of the most entertaining movie watching experiences one is likely to have. All corporations are pimps, to which we are all "bottom rung" hos. Never has a truer notion been expounded upon in any film of any genre in the history of filmmaking -- ever." -Tim Cogshell, Box Office Magazine
"3.5 stars out of 4
a radically ingenious, in-your-face documentary hybrid. Wild, illuminating, provocative, and fun." -Steven Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer
"4 stars out of 5
If you are demanding, want or crave real change or empowerment, go get yo' ass to the theater. It is a wake up call to this MTV generation and to those who let others think for them." -Lisa Minzey, The Reel Critic.com
Men Without Jobs (2004)
Planet
Planet Brooklyn focuses on Ish and Oz, a couple of slackers laying about their apartment, playing Atari 2600 and watching cooking shows, in fear of giving their artistic talents a shot, but in total denial of that fear.
They talk some big game about starting up a band together, but when it actually comes down to doing it, well, they're just waiting for their piggy bank to fill up so they can go buy all the equipment and records they will need. Being that their mouths are bigger than their actions, nobody actually knows if the guys have musical talent, but they definitely have talents in other areas. Ish is a graffiti artist and Oz is a natural gourmet chef, but both of them take their skills for granted and so the slacking continues, until Ish's new girlfriend tries to spark a change in their laziness, at the same time afraid of testing her own talents at a local art school.
There's an important message here, even if it's laid on a little thick at times, and it's that you never know what you're capable of unless you stop talking and start doing. A life can easily be wasted by fear of one's own failure or success, paralyzing that person to the point of walking coma, resulting in the ultimate failure. Accenting this message are lovable performances from Bonz Malone as Oz and Ishmael Butler, formerly of hip-hop group Digable Planets, as Ish. They alone make this movie work. You really get to like these characters and you wind up pulling for them to get their act together instead of just getting annoyed at their laziness. The supporting characters are just as equally pleasant to spend time with.
In a q&a I conducted with filmmaker Mad Matthewz, the director revealed that film is based on his own previous fear of dedicating his life to his art. Well, I'm glad he overcame that fear because the result has given us the highly infectious "Men Without Jobs." Film Threat by Eric Campos
Mutual Appreciation (2005)
Mutual Appreciation
At times, this picture feels like a slimmed down Jean Eustache film or an extremely modest variation of Francois Truffaut's ''Jules et Jim." You're forced to wonder what more money or a bigger vision might have produced. While it's true that the characters here have slim ambitions, you consequently have to wonder -- even while remaining devoted to his uncannily subtle skill with character -- what else Bujalski has up his sleeve. A panning shot, perhaps? ''Mutual Appreciation" is his first New York film (''Funny Ha Ha" was set in Allston), and the world he's captured is true to Alan's hipster dreams and indie-rock goals. The character's emotional dial is set on ''emo," which means he lacks the social constitution to articulate himself. He's passive, aimless, and occasionally narcissistic. See Alan unhook himself from Sara (Seung-Min Lee), a cute radio DJ, without it costing him her brother, who's his temporary drummer. And watch as he carries on a flirtation with Ellie, who's also attracted to him. Her emotional intelligence, however, is superior. The women in ''Mutual Appreciation" are confident and direct. The men can be exasperatingly meek.
''Funny Ha Ha" was about a stalled 20-something and her romantic entanglements. (The woman who played her, Kate Dollenmayer, has a too-small part here.) ''Mutual Appreciation" is the second chapter in what seems like Bujalski's statement about people trying to find the right words as they move toward adulthood and negotiating their fears of commitment of any kind -- to a job, a person, or a complete thought. He could have called this movie ''A Tentative Yes." Of course, that title should do nothing to stop you from making an absolute commitment to see this film.
Wesley Morris
The Puffy Chair (2005)
Sit yo'self down in a puffy chair
Authentic, hilarious, smart and touching. What else do you need in a movie? The filmmakers show a real voice that surprises you with its combination of honesty within some broad situations. Say you saw the first Duplass movie in a theater. Take a seat at The Puffy Chair.
The delicate art of reupholstery, as it applies to furniture and human relationships, gives weight to the comic machinations of "The Puffy Chair," the smart and painfully funny debut feature by filmmaker brothers Jay and Mark Duplass.
A near-perfect relationship-trauma comedy. It's ragged in all the right ways, just like the way we love and wake up to the realization that that love has gone sour.
Hip-Hop Task Force (2005)
Intelligent script, fun movie
This one of very few films that are within this genre that actually had an intelligent script and good direction. Although this genre has been worn out and over saturated with terrible films, This film was surprisingly good with an intricate plot and great characters. The film obviously was made on a small budget, but it's easily overlooked by having a remarkable script. This film explores the Hip Hop Unit that investigates the hip hop industry and its rumored links to organized crime. The film follows a detective and his quest to bring down a certain hip hop mogul. Good direction, great story, do recommend it. I'd like to see what this kid can do with a large budget. Check it out.
The Girls' Room (2000)
The Girls' Room
I just bought the DVD from amazon and had to write about it. It was the most realistic and inspiring portrayal of being a woman at college that I have seen. Being a southern woman who attended Brown before transferring to NH Community College, it was a hard adjustment for me. Cat the protagonist in the film, was a role that I could relate to.
I think anyone who went to college, man or woman would like the film. Highly recommended. Although it sounds like a straight-ahead chick pic, ~ "The Girls' Room" instead turns out to be a humorous tale of difference and tolerance that, in the hands of frosh helmer Irene Turner, is less gender specific than the title would suggest. Winning, intimate performances by former sitcom star Soleil Moon Frye ("Punky Brewster") and newcomer Cat Taber anchor the film and help smooth over its occasional lapses in logic. The generally appealing picture has an outside shot at finding a distributor and will deservedly open doors for Turner, a co-producer on "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss."
College roomies Casey (Frye) and Grace (Taber) are a contempo odd couple. Casey, a bohemian performance artist with a penchant for bad boys, profanity and pot, garbs herself in black and heavy mascara. Preppy good girl Grace just wants to ace her classes and wed her frat boy Romeo (Wil Wheaton). When Casey's obnoxious taunts and schemes put Grace's plans in jeopardy, she resolves to get even.
And so Grace begins to spend time with Casey's pal Joey (Gary Wolf), a guitar-strumming loner and the only guy her roommate hasn't nailed. That seemingly platonic friendship begets a cycle of jealousy, suspicion and innuendo that further imperils Grace's nuptial plans.
Far from being an update of "Single White Female"-the film that gave female roommates a bad name- "The Girls' Room" nicely develops its characters, resisting the urge to limit them as easy stereotypes. Casey, it turns out, knows she was dealt a bad hand from the start, whereas Grace subtly begins to question her sheltered Southern upbringing.
Nor does Amanda Beall's script demonize either character. Both women are flawed, to be sure, but despite their surface antagonism, each harbors a real desire to explore the other's life. Their mutual attraction-repulsion keeps the tension percolating and thankfully leaves some surprises for the final reel. The characters ultimately emerge in the script as wholly rounded and,as realized in Taber and Frye's empathetic performances, neither easy to like nor completely despicable.
Others in the cast, especially Wolf and Julianna McCarthy as Casey's grandmother, provide ample support. Production values are sharp, and the location photography (at North Carolina's Wake Forest University) adds a sun dappled collegiate feel to the proceedings.
Funny Ha Ha (2002)
Andrew Bujalski's FUNNY HA HA
"A gem of smart writing, seamless acting and unvarnished beauty. Twenty-four-year old Marnie loves a guy who doesn't love her, and works a temp job she hates. From such fragile and familiar threads, writer-director Andrew Bujalski weaves a droll, melancholy film that achieves a deceptively simple goal--to capture the ebb and flow of an ordinary girl's ordinary life. Kate Dollenmayer gives one of the year's best performances as Marnie, while the dialogue--a symphony of pauses, stutters, and nervous laughter--is so natural you'll think you're watching a documentary." --Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly
"Defiantly produced in 16mm, thus referencing a DIY indie tradition currently out of fashion with distributors and big festivals alike, Andrew Bujalski's romantic comedy about post-college identity crisis suggests Cassavetes' Shadows transposed to post-millennium, middle-class, slacker Boston...Like Cassavetes, Bujalski is making a film not only about 'what he knows' but also about a sociopolitical-cultural-psycho-sexual experience he shares with everyone on the screen. It makes you realize how sense of communityas subject matter and practicehas been replaced by an all-purpose high-gloss finish as the common language of 'indie' today."
--Amy Taubin, Film Comment
Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2002)
Exceptional Use of Song and how it Reflected The Struggle in South Africa
Amandla! is one of the first documentaries about the fight against apartheid in South Africa. More importantly, it tells the story in a way that is inspirational, funny, factual and humanizes the struggle.
The film was the most decorated film at Sundance 2002, where it won the Audience Award for Documentaries and the Freedom of Expression Award.
I have seen it many times. Each time I try to hide the tears that well up in my eyes and control the pride I feel for knowing the people of South Africa. It is difficult to capture the warmth and dignity of the African people in the face of poverty and oppression but Amandla! succeeds.
Don't let your preconceptions of Africa last a day longer - go see this film and see the world is a little larger than you thought.