Brown Sugar- Movie Review

Brown Sugar- I have watched this about three years ago and I can remember it just like yesterday. I love romantic films and this movie added to my list. This movie falls in the genre of comedy and romance. It was released in the year 2002. The length of this film is about 1 hour and 50 minutes. Brown Sugar was directed by Rick Famuyiwa and produced by Earvin Johnson, Peter Heller, and Trish Huffman. The great stars were Taye Diggs (Dre), Sanaa Lathan (Sidney), Queen Latifah, Dante 'Mos Def' Smith, and Nicole Ari-Parker.
This movie is a combination of hip-hop culture, romance, and how people relate to each other. This movie could easily be called a hip hop love story! IT was filmed in Hew York and showed many scenes of days of hiphop on the corners on streets of New York. The story basically depicted some themes of the 'Wood.'
Dre (Taye) and Sidney (Sanaa) had an amazing friendship which they nurtured from childhood. They found this friendship due to their common love for hiphop and was depicted in the movie as the founders of hip hop from their very early age as children. Sidney's love for music led her to choose her career in music as she was a music critic fifteen years later. Dre, on the other hand, became a music executive. Though the music kept their childhood friendship to grow they stared falling in love with each other in the latter parts of the movie. At times they would react naive about their emotions for each other. Dre had issues with his firm and so decided to branch off on his own. He got a loan from his long time friend Sidney. In the beginning they both had no concern for romance for each other because they were both in relationships. Their respective relationships apparently did not work out so they started admitting to their long time disguised interest in each other. They eventually got together and it was so beautiful.
I enjoyed Mos Def's performance, he was so cool and hot! He depicted this poor cab driver who had talent. He turned out finding romance too while enjoying hip-hop. The ladies in this movie were all beautiful and were all dressed in great fashions. The men on a whole were fashionable too and all looked so handsome. The characters in this movie all had wonderful performances and if you are a lover of romantic films, you would readily agree.
I enjoyed this romance comedy with black people because most times they are left out of true romantic films. This movie also had some surprises and tempo. There were moments when the scenes appeared as if something was going to happen ...then nothing! Kind of built up your adrenaline in a happy way. I am sure you understood the reasons I like this film. I recommend you see this movie, if you have not yet done so. You may two links below for information about this film. This film could be described as a tribute to hip-hop and a celebration of friendship and love!

www.celebritywonder.com/movie/2002_Brown_Sugar.html

http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aabrownsugarsoundtrack.htm

Comment on Melvin's Movie Blog

I am not a movie lover per se. I really go to the movies if someone is inviting me or if I am truly bored and want to get out of the house. I do watch movies at home but mainly Lifetime movies, if I have the time. Also, if my husband purchases movies and we decide to stay in and enjoy them ...but then again, he likes action and documentary kind of serious shows, which I don't like. Anyway, I will comment on Melvin's review about the movie, The Color Purple. This review can be accessed on Melvin's blog page at http://melvindiggs.blogspot.com/ .
The Color Purple is a drama film. It is about a young African American girl named Celie Harris and showed all the problems African American women encountered during the early 1900s. Some of the problems highlighted (in the movie) faced by these women were racism, sexual discrimination and poverty. Celie is played by Whoopie Goldberg and was abused and treated like a slave . She had two kids by age fourteen which were also fathered by her father! Another character in the movie was Shug who became close friends with Celie. It appeared in the movie too as if Celie and Shug were engaging in a lesbian affair. Sofia another strong character in the film played by Oprah Winfrey also had suffered abuse from the males in her family. She was sent to jail for a rude remark she made to the mayor's wife.
I agree with Melvin about this movie. It is a movie African Americans can connect to in some ways. Also it could be painful to watch as a woman. If you know about some of the situations in history in the 1900, you would understand how this show can have strong effects on African Americans who decide to see it. It was an interesting film, which also had my eyes glued to the screen while watching it. Melvin described this film in a great way, as he wrote about the plot, setting and characters in a very descriptive manner.
Melvin really created an awesome review about this movie. He also talked about the different types of women depicted in the film and he provided some great examples of their characters. These were all true as I could remember in the film they depicted strong women, weak, and powerful women.
This was an interesting film and I would recommend you all who have not seen it yet to do so.

Who's Priority?

It is amazing the way we treat each other at times. From a moral standard you would sometimes assume that humans would be a little more sensitive in regards to certain people. For example, the aged, crippled, deformed or sick.The government do make an effort at times to create certain priorities but maybe these are not sufficient.Many private companies also create special services and facilities for people like these.
I am annoyed about this trend I have been seeing on the Marta public transport system. I am very aware that there are priority seating for these people on the buses and the trains, however, they at times do not enjoy the liberty of using these. The reason for this mainly is that other able bodied persons have deprived them the chance! Why?
I understand at times that we all can be tired while traveling these systems but at least when there a need for the use of the priority seatings for the intended purpose, please give them up. On Friday, I saw an old, shaky lady entered the Marta train with few bags and hardly walking. She looked around and all the priority seats were taken. Of course these were occupied by some strong, able-bodied folks, who sat there looking as if they had no clue they ought to offer the old lady the seat which was meant for her! I was so ashamed. I myself was standing so I could not offer her a seat.
After about ten minutes of ride, a young lady got up from one of the regular seats further away from the old lady and offered her the seat. She accepted and sat with such a deep sigh I could actually feel her pain.Sometimes I wonder if this is the way some of us treat our own family members who are ill, aged or handicapped. It is sad. We ought to really think about this and try to make a change.

Cedell Davis-Inspirational Musician

Born June 9,1927 in Helena, Arkansas, USA. I considered this artist as inspirational as he beats the odds in many ways.

Cedell Davis suffered from a series of accidents and injuries but remained dedicated to his music. He was infected by typhoid, then polio at an early age of about 9 years old. Due to polio, he lost most of the use of his right hand. In spite of all his devastating dilemmas, he still played his guitar and did his 'blues' music. He changed how he once played to incorporating a butter-knife technique. ( Done because of his illnesses suffered.)

After his previous traumas suffered (mentioned earlier), he was trampled in a bar brawl and crippled which caused him to be confined to a wheelchair. Yet, he pursued and enjoyed his 'blues' just th esame.

I listened to some of his music and enjoyed them so far. The album I found was titled: The Horror of It All. The songs I listened to were : If You Like Fat Women, Worried Life, Cold Chills, The Horror, and Mistreating Me. These titles seem suggestive to me. From these songs I depicted he was singing about pain, love, romance, stories of his situation with women, and relationships. The guitar as played by Cedell sometimes mad some unbelievable sounds which were also pleasing. I enjoyed th esounds effects he mad with his mouth. You may use this link to listen to truncated pieces of his lyrics:
http://www.emusic.com/album/10596/10596881.html

His music does not readily make sense, you have to listen to it repeatedly. In order for listeners to understand his music, they must be attentive. Davis has logic and consistency in his music. Sometimes he goes deep down in his guts to bring out his songs; this sometimes made it humourous. His music reflects the hard times he experienced as a black poor man in the deep South of Mississippi. His muci also had happiness in some of his lyrics but they depicted many emotions overall. His music also has many electrifying tunes and lyrics. They also have roots and cause you to want to listen. I nebver used to listen to these types of music but after viewing this documentary about these country bluesmen, I got really interested. I was also really scared of some of the sounds of the guitar in his music , but after listening few times, I appreciated the sounds. I would recommend his albums to my friends.

You See Me Laughin'...

I really like this film so far.' You See Me Lauhin' is a full length documentary about four great Mississippi Bluesmen and the Oxford MS based label Fat Possum Records.Some great icons in this film were R.L Burnside, David Kimbrough and Asie Payton. The setting of this documentary depicted poverty as the interviews and stories were told in some poor like looking settings.This film presented music as an art form and showed how much music has changed over the years. It was interesting how this film also depicted the exploitation of musicians by record companies.

This documentary was interesting as it captured the soul of some real African American Bluesmen musicians. The film showed how these old time musicians set a trend with their music for present day music. This is great as it helps us in a sense to understand the roots behind some of our present day music. The better part though, is that back then these musicians had more emotions in their music and did it for the true love of it. Nowadays, it appears as if musicians are getting involved with music for the monetary aspect of it.

This documentary was also very hilarious even though it had interesting interviews which at times retold some disturbing stories. For example, Burnside retold his story of his occasion of killing a man and then spending six months in prison for it. T-Model Ford spoke about his abusive punishment he received once from his father which damaged him really seriously. This film was an intense film which grabbed my attention as I was really interested in their stories. The great part about all of this is that the stories are real.

I also noticed throughout the film that most of the 'stars' as well as other characters had missing teeth and poor living conditions. In spite of these conditions, they were having fun and loving the music. Also, few of these bluesmen spoke openly about their promiscuous behaviour back then!

I would surely recommend my friends and modern day musicians to watch this film. I do not have much to say about the Fat Possum Records Label because I thought what they did to these guys was awful and inconsiderate.( As you can tell from the image presented above). Some parts of this film was a little sad but it was worth watching.

Rape!...informally

Ladies have you ever been raped informally? Yes men. It can also happen to you! Have you? I have always taken notice of how humans can stare at each other in such a way it can be called rape.
I caught a man staring at me recently and licking his lips in such manner I felt like a piece of succulent meat! Yes I agree that humans' appearances and physiques can attract us , but people please let us be more subtle with our thoughts. Some men will stare at a woman from head to toes, to rear, to breasts and she can feel declothed. Women are guilty of this too. We will watch a male if he looks awesomely thick or masculine in certain arenas. We will feast our eyes and then make whatever the next move is that will satisfy our satiety.
I believe though, that men salivate over women's bodies waaaaaay more than women do men. Right or wrong? I could be wrong (especially with all these hot men around these days, trying to keep up their six packs, or better yet their LIQUOR stores!)
Happily enough, I am already married but I feast my eyes but I do not touch! I like to go to those clubs and watch the exotic men dance... but my husband will not take me so I guess I will find some understanding girlfriend who has the same interest to take me. Well I think this kind of 'rape' is healthy for the suspect and the victim. Is it? What do you think?

"W." Movie...

Thank goodness another movie came out on top to replace the stupid Beverly Hills Chihuahua crap! Oh no, the top movie was not the "W" puke either! 'Max Payne" by Mark Wahlberg turned out to be the number one movie for this week with a high sale of $18m. Beverly Hills Chihuahua now second place with sales of $11.2m. Third place winner went to The Secret Life of Bees with sales of $11.1m and the "W" movie placed fourth with sales of $10.6m. played in 2,030 cinemas, "W" averaged a solid but unremarkable $5,197 a theater, compared with a $6,334 average for "World Trade Center." "W" was shot on a moderate budget of $25 million. Do the math. Was this a loss or a gain?
Some of the main events portrayed in this movie are: Bush's family, the war in Iraq, and Bush's presidency. It appeared as if the creator of this movie was implying that Bush is trying to clean up his dad's mess and trying not to be like his father.( Is he?) Bush's presidency was slammed as the movie highlighted his cabinet and implied that he was getting all his advice from his cabinet, (Is it that Bush has no input or he can not trust his own decisions?). You be the judge. The event which highlighted the war in Iraq made it appear as if the war was not planned and that Bush is basically saying it was his father's war.
I think these events presented concern the American people on a whole. Probably concern mainly prospective voters.With election about two weeks away , could this movie help to influence voters' decisions? Was the writer trying to imply that Bush is ignorant and not intelligent? Also, I may be misinterpreting, but did any of the events suggested that Bush was promiscuous?
With two weeks before the presidential election, this prime for Bush's biography. This "W" movie was released before election and after the presidential debates. Perfect timing because if it were after these both, then chances are people would not be interested. (Did you ask why?)
According to one movie critic, "Bolin acted Bush portrayed with buffoonish moments,...empathy shown for Bush as the man with some serious daddy issues...who has a strong relationship with his wife to fall back on." Well whatever the truth is...would we be able to tell?