Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Special

Merry MLK Day, readers! Out of respect for Dr. King and his dream of peace, I'm review Malcolm X. Malcolm X is, retrospectivley, an intersting watch, because it was a biopic before biopics were popular. I guess it's just one more example of whitey stealing the black man's style. Malcolm X is the story of Malcolm X, the famous civil rights activist during the 50's and until his death in 1965. Unlike most biopics, which deal mainly with the subjects life during their most notable accomplishment, Malcolm X portrays the entire man's life even giving brief exposition about Mr. X's parents.

Malcolm X clearly about to tell say "Fuck"

Malcolm X is a testament to the skills of it's director Spike Lee. Spike Lee also served as a screenwriter for this film. Lee gives this story a great amount of scope. For example, it shows the life of a young Malcolm in a rural school. It shows 4Malcolm later living as criminal in the city of Boston and it shows how he traveled the world towards the end of his life. TO me this shows that Malcolm X wasn't a static figure to be remembered only for his speeches, but instead a dynamic man who evolved with the places and circumstances he encountered. The narraticve of the story also depicts this. Lee jumps back and forth through time early in the film, which shows how Malcolm X became the figure we learn about in school. This is an important thing to do with such a figure. Whereas Martin Luthor King Jr. advocated for an end to segragation, Malcolm X advocated seperate societies for different races and the depiction of his youth shows why.

Speke Lee (left) tells Micheal Jordan (right) how fabulous he looks in brown

The scene I will always remember from this movie is the scene where Malcolm is in prison. It is there that he first learns about the nation of Islam and the evils of the white man. I was awed when Malcolm was shown a dictionary and read the definaitions of white and black. This scene shows that there is an inherent rascism in a our language. Spike Lee uses light in these scenes as a symbol for knowledge. Sunlight is shown streaming in a window as he prays for the first time in prison. Even though white people, and therefore myself, are called the devil, the growth Malcolm X goes through is inspiring.

Malcolm X is a story about a man's personal growth. And as he matured as a person our nation has matured as a...nation? Four decades after Malcolm X's death, America has elected the first black president. And while Mr. X said that one black man playing in major league baseball did not make up for the greatest crime in human history (I'm paraphrasing here), I'm sure he would say a black president does. So now that racism is over, is the white man still the devil?

Roller Coaster of Love

You know when your trying to pick out a video with your girlfriend or boyfriend and the two of you can't decide on what you want to watch? That's because you both want to watch Fear. In my opinion it's the best chick flick of the mid 90's. Its got everything: heart melting love scenes, cool fight scenes, animal abuse, and a great cast rounded off by a pre-Charmed / post-Whose the Boss Alyssa Milano.

Fear, as explained by the program description on my cable box, is the story of a "naive teen (Witherspoon) [who] falls for a boy (Wahlberg) her father dislikes and finds he is a sociopath". But those of us who have seen the film know that it is so much more.

Alyssa Milano is the first thing that got me into this movie, because she's so hot. And who does this beauty choose to get down with?

This Guy!Alyssa Milano dry humping this guy

If this guy can dry hump Alyssa Milano against a cotton candy stand at the state fair, then I can dry hump Alyssa Milano against a cotton candy stand at the state fair. I can pull off the mid nineties grunge look, plus I'm a little less creepy. Milano is really good this movie; especially the way she flirts with and teases every guy with a speaking role in the movie, up to and including an 11 year old kid whom she claims, she will "ravage". On behalf of the men of the Untied States, let me just say, Fucking A.

The best and most famous scene of Fear has to be the roller coaster scene. Spoiler Alert! He finger bangs her on the roller coaster. Yeah, that's right, finger banging on a roller coaster. But when I stop to think about it where else are you going to finger bang your girlfriend at the State fair? The live stock pavilion? on a tilt a whirl? No, no, it's got to be a roller coaster. I suppose you could do it on a gravitron, if you don't mind being kicked out, because everybody could see, but hey, at least the kid that turns upside down won't think he's such hot shit. Now showing tanagers finger banging in movies is usually considered tasteless. However, Fear's roller coaster scene is pure class thanks to the Sundays playing the most romantic rendition of Wild horses ever. That's the song I want to play at my wedding.

This is the classiest shot I could get of the Roller Coaster scene

Finally, What I respect most about the movie Fear is that they killed the dog. Oh yeah, they went there. Throughout film history, dogs, being mans best friend and all, have been off limits as the victims of movie bad guys. Sure here and there a director chooses to off the pooch, most notably in Jaws. However even in Jaws the shark eating the dog is only implied by the owner calling the dogs name in vain. They could could have done something like that in Fear, but no. What do they do? They show the German Shepherd's decapitated head being hurled through a doggy door. Pure class.

So what did I learn from Fear:

I could hook up with Alyssa Milano
Always finger bang on a roller coaster
don't attempt to kill your girlfriends family