So recently I've been scouring the Netflix for western and documentary titles, and have been bitten by the odd and interesting bug, finding myself adding the stuff that jumps out at me due to kooky content. So my instant queue on my Xbox 360 is backed up for blocks, every time I'm browsing through them, Mari (and myself, I must confess) gets really annoyed because of the sound it makes when you shuffle through titles. It's like a combination of a bubble wrap pop and and underwater fart, and it's loud. So as I'm "pwop pwop pwopping" through the queue, I usually have an inner dialogue with myself, telling myself to "either watch some of this shit or fucking delete it, you're not suppose to collect them like Garbage Pail Kids, you're supposed to watch 'em, moron". So I've kind of started cleaning house when given the chance, and started to watch some of this shit. A couple of days ago I decided to check out two documentaries, one that I had added and the one I had in the mail(yes, I know, I gotta get a western in here soon), they were "Confessions of a Superhero" & "Man on Wire".
First up was "Confessions of a Superhero", directed by Matt Ogens which was pretty entertaining. The concept is to basically tag around with these people that dress up like superheroes and stand around outside places like Mann's Chinese Theater in LA. There's a Superman, a Wonder Woman, an Incredible Hulk and a Batman. On the surface, these folks are basically panhandlers that beg for tips after you take pictures with them. The Superman dude has been at it for a while, and it shows. He basically knows the ropes and kind of is the elder in the film, letting you into the world of Super-Begging and what you can and can't do. It's pretty heartbreaking to watch these people until the Batman dude comes on....the guy's a total douche, getting pissed off and proclaiming "you know, we work for tips!" to tourists as they walk away from him after taking a picture with him. They all ask for tips, but when he does it it's like that homeless guy that asks you for money and you can't tell if he's begging or mugging you. It's like this; buddy, nobody fucking told you to put on a fucking rubber suit and stand under the California sun, you're self employed, taking advantage of the love people have for these characters that you did not create, so fuck off. If you wanna wear a costume and get paid, go work at a theme park. You are standing in front of someone's property, wearing the identity of someone else's creation and feeding on the tourists like a fucking vampire, get a fucking job yo. The guy is rude and downright nasty, which basically kills the vibe of the flick. Everyone else is just a happy go lucky "tryin' to make it in Hollywood" type of actor that just seems to be stuck in this weird world of costumed photo ops, which makes for interesting psychological analysis and movie banter when the interviews start. I don't want to give anything away, but the Superman guy has a really really unhealthy obsession with Christopher Reeves and Superman in general. Definitely check this out, it has it's moments, but don't say I didn't warn you about Batdouche.
Next item up for bid was a documentary directed by James Marsh called "Man on Wire", a movie that for some reason I had high expectations for and I have no idea why. I was pretty happy when i received this in the mail and was pretty damn stoked to see it. This is the retelling of a pretty magnificent feat that happened in 1974; some dude illegally walked across a tightrope he and his friends set up across both of the World Trade Center Towers....did I mention this was done illegally?
Fucking wow right? It's like, "How the fuck?" Super cool I thought, this HAS to be interesting........bullshit. The problem with this doc is not the event or the editing or the blah blah blah, quite simply, the guy that actually did the tightrope thing....was fucking annoying man! His name is Phillipe Petit (even his name sucks) and the biggest mistake the people behind this film made was not waiting until this guy died to make a movie about him. I know it sounds fucked up but jeez, this guy was a fucking rash on my balls. Seriously man, it's cool and all that you snuck up to the top of the WTC and like on some fucking Mission:Impossible meets Barnum & Bailey tip gave the world a sight they'll never forget, but shut up about it a little bit, you know, fucking humbleness and shit. We are forced to swallow some of the most animated and obnoxious anecdotes about this guy...told by the same guy. Don't get me wrong, there are other people talking about it that were there, but nobody kisses this guy's ass like himself. Basically, the footage is cool and the breakdown of the planning and buildup to the actual event is highly interesting, but somebody put a muzzle on this guy. I recommend watching this with the volume turned down and some Edith Piaf blasting through your speakers, it's less annoying, believe it or not, and it's not because he's French, he's just a circus performer. Annoying Dude's face and trailer clip below.
Alright, so if you've known me for quite some time, you know that I have been known to dance, and if you know that, then you know that I get kinda goofy with my dancing, the drunker I get, the more of a marionette my flailing resembles. I guess the only explanation for that is that I'm a child of the eighties that grew up in Hialeah surrounded by Trans-Ams, checker board, Panama Jack hats, parachute pants and lots of zippers for some reason. My older sister was raised on Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, but fucking shit man, when breakdancing hit, she was a poppin' and lockin' Cuban girl that knew how to throw down like a badass. Naturally, me being the annoying little brother that she needed to take EVERYWHERE she had to go (or else my parents wouldn't let her out of the house), she made the best of it and made me her little breakdancing partner. It was the absolute shit!! I still, to this day get chills when I hear Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock", remembering those days and nights out with my sis, rockin' the cardboard and just letting loose. Back in those days (I think it was around 1985), kids would hang out at the beach......and I'm not talking South Beach homie, I'm talking Sunny Isles!! Crazy shit. Anyways, my point is that I've always loved breakdancing for as long as I can remember. Sure I moved on to Metal, Grunge, Punk, Hardcore, back to Hip Hop and everything else, but I could never turn my ear away from a good electro or breaks track.....it's in me man, what can I say?
My point? The point is that while totally going nuts on the new Netflix to Xbox 360 setup, I ran into a recent breakdancing doc called "Planet B-Boy" (directed by Benson Lee) that caught my interest. The beauty of anything catching your interest on the new Netflix/Xbox hook up is that if after 10 seconds whatever your streaming is a steaming pile of shit, you can tell it to go take a flying fuck and get rid of it and watch something else.....instantly! This was not the case with "Planet B-Boy"!!
This movie was...........(wait for it)......FRESH! Right away you get sucked into the world of modern day competitive breakdancing and are introduced (at least I was introduced) to "The Battle of the Year", a yearly event in which breakers from all over the world gather in Germany for the top spot of Champions. Sounds corny as shit right? No! The great part about this movie is that it shows how breaking has really carved out a place in the world as more than just a fad, but rather a way of life and how the early hip-hop philosophy of originality and self expression is still alive. The film takes you all around the world and focuses on a handful of crews that have qualified for the tournament and lets you get to know them before they get to the battle. It taps into the social values of each country and gives you insight on why some of these kids need to release the tension from their everyday lives while others just do it for the love. Technique-wise it's pretty typical of an "event documentary" like "Spellbound" or "Murderball", the formula of filming a couple of subjects and their journey, allowing for character development and eventually breaking somone's heart because they lost, but fuck, the crews are INSANE!! There's these crazy Korean dudes that just make Jackie Chan look like what Chriss Angel is to magic (basically the asshole of Kung-Fu is what that translates to)! It's amazing how what started as Black, Hispanic and White kids just getting down in the poorest neighborhoods of New York, has never faded but rather exploded into a way of life for kids as far as Japan, Korea, and France. And these guys get it, they aren't just fucking dancing because it looks cool, they understand where it came from and why it matters. The philosophy of unity and fun is definitely captured, and shit is crazy son!! The director really captured the energy and the global vibe going on......definitely worth a watch. Check out the clips below and tell me Jackie Chan ain't the asshole of Kung Fu!!Planet B-Boy on IMDB.com
And so it seems that after a lifetime of rambling on and obsessing over stuff that I like, it appears that now I've been sucked into the world of blogging about it. Thanks to some of my friends on here, I will now join the ranks of talking shit about shit that I like, and then sharing that shit with you guys, gals and in-betweens. So after much thought, I decided that I would try to stick to a theme but expect me to kind of stray away from that every once in a while, I kind of suck at self-discipline, but most of my friends know this. As far as what the general topic of my "blog" (I really fucking hate that word, you know?) will be, I'm gonna try to talk about Westerns and Documentaries that I really like or that I've seen recently. Please note! I'm not trying to be a film critic! I just wanna talk (and by "talking" I mean "typing", but you knew that already) about movies that I've seen, and I think that people need to talk about westerns and docs a lot more, because I like 'em damn it. So that stated, please don't play snob with me and argue stuff I mention in my posts, I'm no film student, I just watch tons of movies and I hope to discover new stuff from you guys as well as hopefully turn you on to a movie you've never heard of before or didn't care to watch before. So there it is, my mission statement. I'll try to frequently post if it turns out that I enjoy doing this and you enjoy reading it, but the clicks and clacks may be few and far between due to my constant habit of "always having something to do". Thanks for reading, stay tuned for my first movie post, which hopefully will be up sometime next week!
