September 30, 2002

Is BARBERSHOP right about Rosa Parks?
Simply reinforcing Eddie's point - there are some things we, as Black people, need to get real about. What's interesting to me is that the mindset that unfairly criticized this movie is similar to that which led to certain Rosa Parks progenitors being denied their place in history, i.e. we need perfect symbols, not flawed human beings, to rally around.
Eyes Half Closed
A few weeks ago, LA Weekly published a teaser from a new book called "The Conversations", in which Michael Ontdajee, author of "The English Patient", interviews Walter Murch, long-time editor for Francis Ford Coppola on films like The Godfather Trilogy, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, and others. The coolest comment Murch makes: he believes that story telling in film is in the same stage today as music was before they figured out how to articulate sounds in the form of sheet music, and that he looks forward to the day when someone develops a similar kind of notation for motion pictures. Of course, this gives the engineer in me a warm-fuzzy. Years ago, I saw Delroy Lindo interview Spike Lee, where he said something similar - i.e. we haven't seen a Duke Ellington or Miles Davis of filmmaking yet, but it's coming.
Gleefully Pagan Quote of the Day
"But they are... are naked!"
"Naturally! It's much too dangerous to jump through the fire with your clothes on!"

- Sargeant Howie (Edward "The Equalizer" Woodward) & Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), discussing a bunch of nymphs in THE WICKER MAN (1973)
Christopher Lee considers this the best performance of his career. I think it's wholly incorrect to catagorize this movie as a horror film, but it definitely has it's moments. As always, the less you know going in, the better. But I give it a pretty affirmative thumbs up. Neophyte filmmakers take note: the making of featurette on the DVD is worth the price of admission alone. Check it out.