Thursday 17 September 2015

Straight Outta Compton (2015)


I've never once expected that Straight Outta Compton (let's call it SOC) would be the movie that I would go out of my way to watch. I mean to be honest, I wasn't really anticipating it, I didn't even know about it until I watched the trailer on YouTube. All of a sudden I find myself getting so excited about this flick, I couldn't wait for it to be released in Bahrain...oh wait. Of course Cineco will not release the movie, what was I thinking, they just stick to releasing shitty, generic, boring, piece of shit hour and a half movies. It's not a "explicit" movie you know, in fact it's not as explicit as I thought it would be, it's certainly not as explicit as The Wolf Of Wall Street, which Cineco gladly released (even though they cut a whole HOUR from the film). But nooo, SOC is apparently two scenes away from being a porno in their eyes (sarcasm), so they're not gonna release the cut version, they're not gonna release the movie at all...get your shit together Cineco.

Alright, now that we've got that out of the way, let's shift our focus to the movie. What can I say, I'm blown away, I mean the movie was near flawless. The acting was spot on man, the chemistry that they had was so strong and so real, my monitor almost corroded (hahaha...anyone...anyone?). It was like they were born for these roles, they were just so convincing, you'd forget that they were actors. And that's the beauty of this movie, the dialogue is natural, it's free flowing, and the whole vibe of the film just seemed so real. But the man that shined, the man that took it one step above the others, the man that was like a reincarnation of his character.....JASON MITCHELL. Yep that's the guy who played Eazy-E, don't get me wrong, all the actors did a brilliant job, but this guy took it to another level. He was so into his character, just driven to make his performance as real as possible, and he hit it out of the park. Oh and O'Shea Jackson Jr. (that's Ice Cube's son) resembles his dad in his younger years so much, it would've been taboo to bring in another actor.


The movie is a thrill ride man, like I was really enjoying it, and that does not happen to me with a lot of movies. I was immersed, that's the beauty of it, that's when you know that you got a good film in your hands. Oh and the concert scenes, damn those were really good, I was just singing along with every song (oh that rhymed). There's one thing that I really appreciate about this movie, that it sort of rekindled the fire in me. I wasn't always all heavy metal, I used to listen to rap believe it or not, yeah then came heavy metal and that changed everything. But I always had respect for rap music because in a way, it's similar to heavy metal, very similar in fact. All this excitement with the movie and stuff, I went back to listening to rap (of course I didn't abandon Heavy Metal...no way in hell), and it's just been really good. Old school rap, really angry, straightforward, social commentary. Like Ice Cube said "Our art is a reflection of our reality". And just like how it rekindled the fire in me, I hope the next the generation will start listening to old school rap, and abandon this mainstream bullshit that everyone else is listening to.

The resemblance is scary 
There's so little movies nowadays that really send a message. SOC is a biopic no doubt, but it does have a relevancy to today's events. That's what I liked about it, it could've been just some biopic, but it didn't, It showed that life in some communities now is not so different from back then. It really captures the impact that N.W.A had back when they released their first album. It showcased their bravery for releasing that album, with the boldest track ever, in times when African Americans were (quite honestly) being hunted down. This was not a group motivated by money, or luxury or whatever, they just wanted to express things like they were, no sugarcoating. SOC brings a whole new perspective on N.W.A's music, which was thought to have been nothing but a bunch of tracks glorifying gang violence and what not. Also, a lot of people say that their "beef" wasn't highlighted in the movie, now I'm not gonna go around and explain the beef to you guys, look it up, its pretty interesting. But let me say this, the beef seemed personal, but at it's core it was all business, and the main reason N.W.A were planning a reunion was because they realized that. One thing though, I loved how they made Suge Knight look bad, because that man is horrible, I really believe that he was behind the murder of Eazy, Biggie, and Pac. Speaking of Pac, yeah he has a cameo and it's pretty cool as well. There are a lot of cameos in this film, I really liked Snoop's cameo, especially when he started singing the lyrics to "Nuthin But a G thang", thought that was pretty cool.

*SPOILERS*So obviously at the end, Eazy dies (technically that's not a spoiler) and oh my god towards the end the movie got really emotional. It really highlighted the beauty of the bond that these guys had, they were brothers. It was really sad to see that just when things were getting better, Eazy finds out that he's dying.*SPOILERS END HERE* I won't lie, it brought a tear to my eye (another rhyme...hmm), perfect ending to a perfect movie, what more could you ask for?

Legend
So overall, definitely worth watching, in a cinema if you could. I didn't have that privilege because....ugh don't even get me started, so I had to watched a cheap filmed version, meh it was okay I guess. Definitely my favorite movie so far this year, I say that cause we still got Star Wars, and definitely an Oscar contender. I would be really pissed off if it didn't win anything, because it deserves to win. So go ahead and watch it, you know my recommendations are good.

" Crusin' down the street in ma Six Fo' "

Ahmed J. Almatrook 

Thursday 28 May 2015

Watchmen (2009)


 With the amount of superhero movies being released these days, I'm noticing a certain dilution of the charm that the superhero genre has. And to be honest, superhero movies nowadays seem very repetitive. I've heard about Watchmen since the day it came out, but I never paid much attention to it because I wasn't really a movie nut back in those days and to be very honest, my taste in movies wasn't so refined. So when I came by it in Virgin Megastore Dubai, I finally realized that it's about time I checked it out. Plus the price was unbelievable, so that's a win-win right there. Once I got back from Dubai, I popped that sucker into the DVD and watched the hell out of it.

You know something, it's always a pleasure when you watch a movie and then it suddenly becomes one of your all time favorites, that is actually a great feeling. I think it's the shock that got to me, you have to understand that I had no interest in this movie at all, but once I watched, holy shit; it was all that I was talking about. So the story is about the "Watchmen", a group of superheroes who come out of a retirement to uncover a plot that can not only kill them, but humanity as a whole. The movie is set in an alternate 1985 at the height of the Cold War.

I think a very strong point that Watchmen has is the fact that a lot of people like it because it is not your conventional superhero film. I honestly haven't heard anyone say anything bad about it, because truth be told, people are bored of the same old "I will start strong, then have a weakness in the middle, yet i'll still finish off on a very high note" typical superhero bullshit, they wanna see something different. And that's exactly what Watchmen gives them, something different.

I have honestly never seen such brilliant character development in a superhero flick like I've seen in Watchmen. You get to know each superhero, they don't miss out on the details, and believe me it's not an easy job to develop a one character in a movie, let alone six! Let's talk about the characters now, I think that we can all agree that Jackie Earl Haley's performance as Rorschach was captivating as hell. So captivating in fact that he's now my second favorite superhero (behind Batman), I mean he stole the show, he was just born to play Rorschach. Although Rorschach was a fucking star, In my opinion, the character that I really appreciated was The Comedian. *SPOILER ALERT* Although he dies in the beginning, The Comedian made as much of an impact (if not more) to the movie as the others did.*SPOILERS END HERE* To me, The Comedian was very symbolic in a sense that he was a character that represented mankind's primal and savage nature. He was, in all honesty, one of the most sincere characters I've ever seen in any movie. He doesn't sugarcoat it, he gives it you straight.



The soundtrack of the movie was just too good, I mean you know you're in for a treat when the opening credits play "The Times They Are A' Changin'" by Bob Dylan. Let me get one thing straight, Watchmen is not a kid's movie, got that? Nope, it's not Iron man, not Thor, not the Incredible fucking Hulk; you do not wanna show this movie to children. Because the movie is very gory (no problem with me), which is also something you don't see in many hero flicks. Also, the ending of the movie made me weep, I don't wanna spoil it for you but you gotta watch it to understand why it did that, especially towards the last 20 minutes or so. And I mean any movie that fucks with your emotions tends to be a very good movie (unless you go full on rage on that shit, then that's a different case). I think the only complaint that I have is the fact that the lighting isn't very good, I found the movie to be quite dark at times, and sometimes I couldn't even see anything. and I'm a perfect 20/20!

In conclusion, Watchmen is a blast from start to finish. I highly recommend it if you're a superhero movie fan or if you just appreciate good movies. It's really unique and I haven't seen anything like it. All in all, it's just a real treat and I would pop that sucker into the DVD any day.

Legend

"Never compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon."

Ahmed J. Almatrook