Mooi opZuid

Just one of those new car brand stores. A nice example of the superficial use of architecture to dazzle us and sell products.

What I liked is that I heard someone call it the ‘Deathstar’ of car dealerships. So true and accurate.

This movie deals with the US covert deportation of terrorist suspects to other countries in order to bypass proper legal procedures. Rendition shows us the impact of this practice on a personal level and asks questions about the consequences for US / ‘Islam’ relations. The movie addresses the subject skillfully but chooses the Hollywood ending and in a story so close to real life that is hard to believe. Or am I too pessimistic?

So Wes Anderson fans had to wait for three years for a new fix. The spiritual trip through India by three brothers has all the Anderson ingredients I like. The strange and surreal events are not as outrageous as in earlier movies, but surprising none the less. This movie feels smaller, more subdued. It’s not a gesamtkunstwerk like Rushmore or Tenenbaums but for all the little gems inside it’s worth checking out. Ps. Luftwaffe Automotive!!

Black Gold is a documentary about the global coffee trade as seen from the perspective of in this case Ethiopian coffee farmers and their co-operation representative. The numbers are terrible; between the farmers and retail in the west the price increases 20 fold. It would have been acceptable if some of the 4 euros you pay at Starbucks end up with the actual farmers, but it becomes clear that this is not the case. A few multi-nationals control the world market and as a result a large proportion of the Ethiopian farmers is depending on aid to survive and often switches to growing qat, which is far more profitable. One question remained unanswered for me in the movie: why did the governing body controlling the coffee price stop working in 1998? I would have liked to see more of the inner workings of the coffee trade, but as the major manufacturers didn’t want to cooperate with the filmmakers, that remained sketchy. The movie leaves you with a bit of a dejected feeling (and in a bit of a panic: what kind of coffee do I have in my kitchen?!).
blackgoldmovie

Picked up Eddie Who? by Eddie Harris. Good, solid, little soft in the middle, but that’s OK. I like his sound and his sometimes erratic singing; out of the box.

It’s bob all the way, don’t expect screaming plastic saxophones on this one; it’s from the mid 80’s. Also, Eddie Harris plays the piano here as well.

OK, this movie is big…it’s the über-dopemovie. It very effectively brings you (back) to early 70’s New York to follow the story of the black Tony Montana, Frank Lucas. With this difference; Frank Lucas is real, not a written character. This gives the movie an unnerving edge; it shows the dirt of that time, the drugs, the corruption, the money and power and by the end of the movie, although this chapter has ended, you feel (and know) that nothing really has changed and nothing ever will.

As a movie, American Gangster shoots for Scarface-greatness. However, it doesn’t quite get there, because we all saw Scarface (and Serpico, for that matter) and there is not much new here. The interwoven stories of the gangster and the cop chasing him also bring Heat to mind. So, no top 5 in the genre, but still there is a lot to like here and it is not to be missed.

Check the original story of Frank Lucas here: The Return of Superfly by Mark Jacobson

Oh yes, steaming hot live jazz set by Grant Green. Ronnie Foster drives the B3, Idris Muhammad on drums, nice! In general I have some minor reservations towards jazz guitar, but here I’m definitely onboard.

I like the BlueNote cover also; worth a search for the type used. It has that fine 60’s feel.

Private house in Tokyo. Strong, effective idea and result, I like it.
Klein Dytham architecture

This movies has me thinking; I have the suspicion that I’m being tricked into thinking that it’s a good movie, but that it’s actually so-so. It’s said that Michael Clayton is contrived as George Clooneys Oscar ticket and somehow you feel that throughout the movie. If Clooney deserved an Oscar, it was for Syriana, but that had the wrong subject. This is corrected here; now it’s the environment, something we all can safely agree about. So the movie goes the Erin Brockovich-route and Clooney does his troubled-guy-with-faults-does-good-in-the-end-bit. This sounds harsh and it probably is. In the end Michael Clayton is a good legal thriller desperately trying to be more than that.

Watched 3:10 to Yuma. Nice to see the genre back, straightforward and honest story, solid performances, but we all knew how it was going to end. Nothing wrong with that.