Directed by Sona
Reviewed by Brian Dell

“I’m sick of that fake thug RnB rap scenario, all day on the radio
Same scenes in the video, monotonous material
Y’all don’t hear me though
These record labels sling our tapes like dope
You could be next in line to sign and still be writin’ rhymes and broke
You’d rather have a Lexus or justice?
A dream or some substance?
A Beamer or necklace or freedom?”
-Dead Prez, “Hip Hop”

“Behold Something Bigger Than Tupac.”
The title of this film alone is designed to pique the curiosities of its audience. Tupac Shakur is one of the defining figures of hip hop, a symbol and a legend to some, and the film argues the shooting not only killed Tupac but the entire genre as well. What, or in this case, who, could possibly be bigger than Tupac? Sona, the director and subject of this film, gives a simple enough answer to that question: it’s him.

This is one of the gutsiest statements I’ve ever known anyone to make with a straight face, and “Behold” spends the majority of its running time convincing you that it’s true. Immediately digging into the rapper Nas, and later baring its teeth at Sean “Puffy” Combs and others, the recurring message of the film is that hip hop used to be a meaningful, rich form of expression, but now, thanks to record labels eager to mass-produce the same indulgent stereotypes, hip hop has been diluted to watered-down immoral trash. Sona rejects all the entrenched ideas of degradation and consumerism, making a good case against the rappers who carelessly flaunt diamonds as bling in their videos, while others are fighting and dying to procure these flashy status symbols.

Easily, the highlight of the film is Sona’s relentless criticism of the low cultural standards to which we hold ourselves. He has an uncommonly forceful personality and seems fearless towards any doubt or threat which might come his way. Certain montages are skillfully edited, the voice overs sound clear and strong, and much of the original footage was shot in high-definition which is a cut above what most local filmmakers are capable or interested in achieving. These scenes look very detailed and improve the presentation considerably.

However, “Behold” is not without its flaws. While the voice overs are solid, the sound in most of the interviews is at best hard to hear, and at other times it is closer to impossible to understand. Another major issue comes from the repetition and length of the film- there are numerous times when shots from one part of the movie will be replayed exactly the same later on, or arguments will be repeated too often, making the feature-length running time seem perhaps twice as long as it needs to be. The film would also have benefited from more “natural” footage of Sona, showing him performing, in studio, or in everyday life. While viewers will come away with a clear knowledge of Sona’s views, they will have a hard time identifying his music or who he is outside of his “Voice” persona.

“Behold Something Bigger Than Tupac” is an interesting message film and a study on the cult of personality. This is the area where it achieves considerable success. Sona “The Voice” is a lot bolder than most Wisconsin filmmakers and his confidence really counts for something in that community. At the same time “Behold” leaves room for improvement with the next effort from this production team, who likely will be able to hone their efficiency and style on more polished future films. As long those projects have the sincerity and risky ideas that this one does, they’ll find an audience without any trouble at all.

On the spur of a moment we decided to catch The Golden Compass on opening weekend.

I didn’t know much about the plot or premise of the movie beyond the blip or two I had seen on commercials, however being a news junkie I was aware of some of the buzz coming from some religious voices calling for followers to boycott the movie. Needless to say this only served to further pique my curiosity so I was anxious to check it out for myself.

The Golden Compass is very much a story in the vein of Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings in the sense that the plot centers on a special child with a special destiny coupled with an epic journey. It was refreshing to see our hero cast as a girl but not a common stereotype of a girl but an actual person acting and behaving in gender neutral way.

The female actresses in this film are excellent and definitely take center stage. Both Nicole Kidman (Marisa Coulter) and Dakota Blue Richards, who plays the hero Lyra Belacqua, put completely believable performances. Again, the raw and human portrayal of Lyra was a refreshing change from the typical roles boys and girls too often play in movies.

I was skeptical of the overtures made in the news by the Catholic League and others but their concerns are certainly understandable after viewing the film. Of course as in any good versus bad epic such as Star Wars there is a group that encompasses and institutionalizes the evil. In the case of Star Wars it is the Empire and in the case of The Golden Compass it is the Magisterium where conformity and order and the spreading of doctrine are of the highest priority. It is difficult to avoid the overt similarities between The Magisterium and institutionalized religion. From their attire to their doctrine the references are too many to ignore. Modern mythologies all too many times make guarded and artistic references but it was refreshing to see this story being told unabashedly.

The final component of the film that I wish to describe are the ancillary characters that help draw the film together. The Polar Bears which you have undoubtedly seen are awesome. The characters are well placed, well conceived and useful to the plot. There are not too many names, places or people to keep track of which make the film easy to understand and follow although for some may make it a bit childish at times.

Part Epic Fantasy, part social commentary I found The Golden Compass to be a sometimes simple, easy to understand yet entertaining voyage.

Make no mistake about it - Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto is a snuff flick from beginning to end. The movie begins with the brutal hunt and slaying of a wild pig and continues the blood letting up until the very end. With that said, Mel Gibson does a great job, just as he did with Passion of the Christ, of creating realistic cinema about ancient times, ancient cultures and distant lands. No one does it better.

Mel Gibsons fixation with over-the-top expressions of brutality are no less evident in this film as they were in The Passion but just as in The Passion the entire story comes off entirely realistic and believable. Truth be told, Mel probably overplays the ‘joy’ and underplays the brutality, but I’m not sure most will appreciate his efforts to make the story palatable.

Fundamentally Apocalypto is the best “Rocky” movie you will ever see. Its the story of a small tribe of indigenous south americans who are over-run by a “modern”, organized military machine (remind you of any one?) and then sold into slavery and sacraficed at the alter.

Essentially one character (our hero/Jesus figure) after being injured, manages to make it into the forest where a hunting party chases him on his way back to help his wife and child who he has hidden. This is where the story gets interesting but unfortunately its only in the last 3rd of the movie do things go from chillingly grotesque to exciting.

I give this movie 3 out of 4 stars - mainly because Mel does such a great job of recreating a setting and his hero is truly admirable. There are lots of socio-political overtones in this movie that are valid even today but I’m sure I will have to see it one or two more times to grasp them all.

If you have a stomach for Mel Gibsons sense of reality and mythology then I think you will find this movie engaging and entertaining. If you are, however, looking for a pleasant Saturday afternoon at the movies, you may want to choose something different.

Read Slate’s Review Here:

http://www.slate.com/id/2155107/fr/rss/

The Prestige is set in the late 1800’s and tells the story of two magicians who are locked in a competition to be the best magician in London.

Robert Angier, played by Hugh Jackman (recognizable as Wolverine from the X-Men) and Alfred Borden played by Christian Bale both find success leapfrogging each other as the top magician in London but at one point the Christian Bales’ character invents an unstoppable trick that vaults him to incredible success.

Driven by jealousy, revenge and an inability to reverse engineer how Bale creates his illusion, Hugh Jackman sets out to develop an even better trick that ultimately leads the audience towards two incredible twists at the end.

Truthfully, I’m a HUGE fan of Christian Bale. I can hardly think of a film i’ve seen him in that I didnt like or where his character was unconvincing. This film is nothing less. He does a great job and seeing him act is as good a reason to see this film as any. Wolverine on the other hand is Wolverine and I had a hard time overcoming that point and found his acting in the final scenes a bit unconvincing. To my surprise David Bowie has a pretty decent part that he pulls off very well as the true to life scientist Nicolas Tesla.

The movie, the plot, the pace were all pretty average. The film started off a bit slow and never developed much beyond a trot (not that all films have to) however this one seemed to drag on a bit long and came off a bit empty.

Its a movie I think is worth seeing, but i’d Netflix this one and save the Cinema for something better.

IMDB gives it 8.1 stars out of 10. I give it closer to 6.5

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