Archive for June, 2010
KNOWING 2009
Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Nicholas Cage
I just watched this. It’s brilliant! I will admit that I have had issues with Nicholas Cage’s recent choices for lead roles; National Treasure, Ghost Rider, Next. But the movie that really threw him off my taste buds was Bangkok Dangerous. I mean, really Nic? So when I saw ads for Knowing, I was so not feeling it especially because it felt a lot like Next. Have you watch it? Don’t. The title pretty much tells you what you need to do – watch the next one please! The only reason I decided to give Knowing a peek was a preview I saw on trailers.apple.com. All said, even after watching the first five minutes, I still had no expectations of being thrilled. I definitely did not think that I would watch the last 20 minutes on the edge of my seat. This flick has the best ending sequence I have watched in a long time. And Nic really brought it man! He was the Nic of Lord of War and Matchstick Men. Well, let me back up. Matchstick Men is on a whole other level – Genius Platinum. I highly recommend Knowing. I will definitely be hunting down other Alex Proyas movies. The CGI work was nowhere near great but the progression of the plot and the edge of the seat ending definitely earn this flick 4 stars. Good work.
Let me know what you think about the review and if you watch it, let me know what you think of the movie.
Disgrace (2009)
Director: Steve Jacobs
Starring: John Malkovich, Jessica Haines, Eriq Ebouaney.
I am speechless. You know those movies you hate to love? This is definitely one of those. Get this, you have a twice divorced English professor who abuses his position and sleeps with a student, is exposed and fired by the school and then heads off to live with his lesbian daughter in a rural part of post-apartheid South Africa! Right there, you know it’s going to either get really creepy or boring as hell. If anyone else but John had played the lead role, this movie wouldn’t have made it. I find Malkovich to be a creepy and fascinating craftsman, and I enjoyed how he represented his character. I have read other reviews of this movie that it had been a mistake to cast him for this role and I think nothing could be further from the truth. Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie because, if for nothing else, it doesn’t have a resolution. Ain’t that how real life feels sometimes? Terrible stuff happens and sometimes there’s no lesson, God doesn’t come through, nobody pays for the damage and you feel like a tree that fell in a deserted forest and made no sound? The title Disgrace confused me at first but it could not have been more appropriate. Man, on that last scene, if he had thrown himself off what I thought was a steep cliff, I would have been like, ” Yah, I feel you bro.” But that’s the genius of the movie (and the book). Sometimes shit happens and being a hero may mean finding a way to look it in the eye and say, “Hey, I am still here, Fool!”
I once read a book by John Maxwell titled Failing Forward. Or was it Falling Forward? I don’t remember exactly what I was going through but it must have been one of those seasons that beg for a thoughtful book. It’s a wonderful read nonetheless. I’m struggling with some recent failures in my career pursuits, not the kind of failure that floors you but the kind that takes the wind out of you, you know? I am also angry – not sure who or what with. I am a little angry at God. Actually, a lot. See, I am a big believer that the moment God sees you in the fight, He brings in the big guns to help you triumph. This past week, it felt like being in those wrestling matches where you tag you partner they rush in with fresh energy and knock the living daylights out of the opponent. That’s how I see it and the thing is, it felt like I kept hinting at Him that I was struggling and He just watched. Said nothing. Ok, I know I am not unique with this. We all struggle. Still it does not take away the right to vent, maybe even whine. I am also quite angry at myself. I am also a big believer in preparation and I wasn’t prepared when the task to advance came before me. So now I am licking my wounds wondering what to do next, wondering whether I have the strength to go back into the ring. In all this though, I still feel like I can confidently say that “I know whom I have believed and I’m still persuaded…” So here’s to failing forward.
So what do you do when you turn 30 and realize you’ve had it wrong planning out your life? Well, I started asking around and listening a little more and realized I was not alone. In fact, a whole bunch of us are cluless as to what happened to “the plan”. So what’s this blog going to be about? Everything. Well, almost. There are things that I have been talking about wanting to do for years and I want this to be, in a small way, less about the talking and more about doing it. A lot of you reading this have given me a lot of “no joy” for stuff I should have done many moons ago. So what’s going to be the main theme, the gist of it? Well, it may help if you have a little perspective. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s Kenya and back then, the individual and his opinion were not highly regarded. That was my experience. I felt like we all followed a set of rules; formulas with relatively certain outcomes. In some ways, that structure was good because it instilled some discipline in me but it also left me feeling a tad lost especially after I moved to America – the land of the individual. It has taken me a while to see value in the individual “me”. I am yet to fully appreciate how… perfectly uncommon I am. I have a personal filter through which I see life, a personal view point. I know this because there’s only one of me. There has never been and never will there be another me. Ever! If I don’t let me live fully, what a waste of God’s creativity. Even before He formed me, He knew me. That’s Radical man! So on with it.
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