Sunday, January 18, 2009

Last night around 8:45pm, my ladyfriend got it in her mind that she wanted to see the movie Notorious, and I had mixed feelings. Its not that I did not think the movie would be entertaining, its just that movies attack a certain element that I don't feel like dealing with on a Saturday night: Black youth.

Now I know that sounds racist and maybe even it makes me sound like a cranky old man, but there are a few realities here. First off, it was cold, so my lady and I weren't going too far to see this movie, so theater options were already limited. Second, because this a predominantly black movie with a popular subject matter, it wasn't going to show in the quait, quiet movie theaters I usually see my movies in around DC. Third, this is inauguration weekend, so the city is much more electric than it would be on a regular Saturday. And lastly, the kids have a four day weekend, which means going to bed before midnight is out of the realm of possibility. So what does it all add up to? My lady and I had to hit a major movie theater in the heart of DC with a theater mostly full of loud obnoxious kids, although some of the adults weren't better.

There were kids as young as 2 years old in the that movie theater, and given there was cursing, sex and violence in the movie, and it was oh-by-the-way after 11pm, there's just no way a kid that young, should be out, let alone in the movie. At one point during the movie, there were two strollers in the aisle next to me, one pushed by a man, one pushed by a woman, and they could not find seats, so they just were sitting in the aisle. There were kids sniggling and giggling throughout the entire movie, and at one point, this woman yelled at her kids at the top of her lungs right in the middle of the damn movie. Those are the negative aspects..but because today is Sunday, let me focus on the positive.

The movie was entertaining. Angela Bassett took a limited role and ran with it, the way you'd expect Ms. Bassett to do. The rest of the actors, including the one who played Biggie, did a believable job, and of course the music was excellent. Yes the story was extremely biased and one-sided with their portrayals of certain characters (like 2pac), but given that the movie was executive produced by Mr. Sean Combs, I can't be too shocked.

It hit me during the movie, that Biggie's career basically spanned my college years. During my first year of college, 1992-1995, he apppeared on soundtracks and B-sides. During my junior and senior years 1994-1996, his cd came out, he blew up, and did more remixes than I could shake a stick at. And then shortly after I finished my student teaching and graduated in Dec of 1996, he died. That is just sad. Not even five years, yet his music lives, his name is still talked about, and he has a movie out that I sat through and enjoyed despite my surroundings. Go figure.

Anyway, the movie is entertaining, so I recommend it. Just go see it at noon or something before the kids ruin your experience.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

cool-im going to see notorious today then sneak and see the tyler perry movie afterwards. lol

Miss. Lady said...

This is the very reason why I have not been to pressed to see the movie. I cannot stand when parents bring their kids in the movie and this is coming from a parent... leave their butts at home, get the bootleg copy from hustle man, download it on the internet, or wait for the movie to come out on DVD.

Oh and I hate when people are up in the theater having full fledge conversations on their cell phones. Movies are entirely to expensive to have to watch it in an disruptive enviornment.

Sorry for the vent Rashad but stuff like this just grates my nerves.

Jazzbrew said...

You are good man bruh. I would have come up with an excuse not go. I don't do movies after 12PM because of crowds and I avoid certain theaters because of the element that you experienced.