Tuesday, 19 August 2014
Reviewing Blended
As a film viewer, I enjoyed 'Blended', I personally feel that all Adam Sandler roles are similar, so if you are fairly conversant with his movies, you oughtn't to be shocked. Also, the film is filled with young actors and as A.O Scott put it," their résumés will outgrow this embarrassment."
Most people who see the movie will probably recommend it for its lightweight comic athmosphere. However, it didpoorly terribly poorly in reviews. After reading, A.O Scott's review, (see it here) I discovered that the job of a film critic is tedious. It could lead a person to confuse the objective of a movie with the features seen in the movie. As seen in this review, he seemed to assume that the movie was aiming for a higher intellectually endowed crowd. I am of the opinion that the producers of Blended were aiming at financial gain. I also disagree with his advise to parents that the movie would make their children stupid. I believe it would make them geographically and culturally poor not stupid, probably idiotic, but definitely not stupid.
I agree with him on some points though. He notes that Blended has its retrograde gender politics; its delight in the humiliation of children; its sentimental hypocrisy about male behavior; its quasi-zoological depiction of Africans as servile, dancing, drum-playing simpletons. The last is the bane of my problem. After watching the movie, I was utterly disgusted with how they portrayed the african culture. Africa is not a 'kumbulu kumbala' region. this movie makes people come out of the cinema with the impression that African people are similar to animals, speaking in RIDICULOUS accents, and dancing to songs which they assume show african style. Not to be too sentimental and go off on a tirade, I will state that the propagation of the 'Africans live with animals in close proximity and behave like them' notion was very wrong. This was emphasized in the Lion King where that land was regarded as Africa.
The greatest insult of the movie in terms of the African disregard, is that the movie was actually shot in South Africa. A cursory look at the nominees of the concluded BET awards, show that African music is nothing as was portrayed in the movie. The likes of P-Square who are signed to Akon and are internationally recognized for hits such as Chop my money and Personally, Tuface Idibia who even just released a song with T-Pain (widely remembered for African Queen), Tiwa Savage who is signed to Sony Records, Ice Prince and M.I who are famous rappers, amongst a host of others show that African music is global and of a higher level than shown in the movie. Even Mafikhizolo, who can be considered as leading 'African cultural' artistes seeing as they sing in swahili, still use beats and tunes that are of a higher nature than seen in the movie. This is terribly disappointing.
I therefore rate Blended as a one-star movie and this is just for Terry Crew's acting. He finally played a role that I feel would have been challenging for him.
Most people who see the movie will probably recommend it for its lightweight comic athmosphere. However, it did
I agree with him on some points though. He notes that Blended has its retrograde gender politics; its delight in the humiliation of children; its sentimental hypocrisy about male behavior; its quasi-zoological depiction of Africans as servile, dancing, drum-playing simpletons. The last is the bane of my problem. After watching the movie, I was utterly disgusted with how they portrayed the african culture. Africa is not a 'kumbulu kumbala' region. this movie makes people come out of the cinema with the impression that African people are similar to animals, speaking in RIDICULOUS accents, and dancing to songs which they assume show african style. Not to be too sentimental and go off on a tirade, I will state that the propagation of the 'Africans live with animals in close proximity and behave like them' notion was very wrong. This was emphasized in the Lion King where that land was regarded as Africa.
The greatest insult of the movie in terms of the African disregard, is that the movie was actually shot in South Africa. A cursory look at the nominees of the concluded BET awards, show that African music is nothing as was portrayed in the movie. The likes of P-Square who are signed to Akon and are internationally recognized for hits such as Chop my money and Personally, Tuface Idibia who even just released a song with T-Pain (widely remembered for African Queen), Tiwa Savage who is signed to Sony Records, Ice Prince and M.I who are famous rappers, amongst a host of others show that African music is global and of a higher level than shown in the movie. Even Mafikhizolo, who can be considered as leading 'African cultural' artistes seeing as they sing in swahili, still use beats and tunes that are of a higher nature than seen in the movie. This is terribly disappointing.
I therefore rate Blended as a one-star movie and this is just for Terry Crew's acting. He finally played a role that I feel would have been challenging for him.
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Taylor Swift's take on haters.
Taylor is releasing a new album, 1989, which is the year of her birth. Her hit single, "Shake It Off" is already arousing much criticism musically and politically. All in all, I was ecstatic to learn that Taylor had released a single and video, because she plays around and there's a lot of fun involved. As expected, Taylor didn't disappoint her viewers regarding the video. There WAS a lot of play/fun in it.
I think the problem comes from the shifting of perspective. I hear complaints such as; Oh, here's this good girl, i-tell-my-life-in-songs girl moving from country to pop. An all-pop album. Not that there is anything whatsoever wrong with pop, but then that's shocking. HATERS GONNA HATE.
Also, Taylor is trying out different forms of dance in her video. Why? She should stick to one instead of releasing a dance mashup video in which she does poorly in all? HATERS GONNA HATE
I however happen to just have ONE problem, Taylor. If you really don't like what people say isn't it easier to keep quiet than shake it off. Now i'm going to be the front runner for the 'shake-it-off' campaign when it regards lies and people who want to get you down. But, when a person tells her whole life to the world via songs and social media is it really alright that she then play the victim when those people give her a piece of their mind?
Now if this song had been addressed to helping the rife problem of depression due to all causes,(may Robin Williams' soul rest in peace) I would jump on the bandwagon of love, but by the tense used in the song and the categories of haters mentioned; the heart-breakers and players, it shows that Taylor is talking about none other than herself.
Anyway, all opinions don't matter as she's just going to:
SHAKE IT OFF. Because:
Click to here watch the video.
Apologies.
The speech by J.K Rowling in the previous article is to the class of 2008. It is an error and is regretted.
"What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure."
This is a quote from J.K Rowling's speech, "The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination." She made it to Harvard's 2004 graduating class.
It struck a chord within me as I read, and I consider it quite interesting.
"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure
meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself
that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy
into finishing the only work that mattered to me."
Click here to view the full artcle.
It struck a chord within me as I read, and I consider it quite interesting.
"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure
meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself
that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy
into finishing the only work that mattered to me."
Click here to view the full artcle.
Understanding Ebola
So right now, the most important issue is Ebola. Common knowledge shows the major reasons why:
- Its a virus so is harder to control eg HIV
- Its got no vaccine and no cure
- The corpse of an infected person can still transmit the disease
- Its transmitted by direct contact
With all these information swirling around, the internet is rife with people's opinions and loads of diverse medical knowledge on the issue from very highly respected medical personnel. As such, a good start should be the thoughts of Michael Van Rooyen. As said of him on Harvard's website:
"To better understand the disease and the threat it presents, the Gazette spoke with
Michael VanRooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), which
works to improve humanitarian response to disasters around the world through
training, research, and by developing tools that put information at responders’ fingertips.
VanRooyen, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public
Health and vice chairman of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s
Department of Emergency Medicine, has extensive experience responding to
humanitarian crises, from the Rwandan genocide to the turmoil in the eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, when HHI and
physicians from Harvard-affiliated hospitals erected a field hospital to handle the
injured."
Click here to read his thoughts on this fast spreading disease.
Lamentable
I know! I know! I'm the culprit and you're the victim. So sad!
In my defense my laptop had some technical issues and had to be repaired and that took awhile. Also, my internet subscriber has been a pain for a while now. I sincerely apologize and utterly regret it.
Whatcha say?
In my defense my laptop had some technical issues and had to be repaired and that took awhile. Also, my internet subscriber has been a pain for a while now. I sincerely apologize and utterly regret it.
Whatcha say?
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