Cadillac Records

  Nowadays I've noticed that people listen to all genres of music, from dub-step and heavy metal to classical and jazz. Yes we do have our individual preferences but good music is always appreciated, no matter what genre it belongs to. Cadillac Records is a movie which has really good and soulful music. It's the ideal movie for all the people who enjoy listening to the rhythm and blues, rock and roll and especially for those hoochie coochie men! That is a Muddy Waters reference by the way. For those of you who haven't heard of him I have just one thing to say to them, "Widen your horizons little ones! Watch the movie!" Please do not get put off by my candid comments. I don't mean to sound elitist it's just that when I read the "Blogging for Dummies" article online I inferred that I can make my readers laugh, cry, happy, sad, angry and even offend them at times but I must not bore them! 
    Coming back to the movie now, Cadillac Records was directed by Darnell Martin. It stars Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Columbus Short, Mos Def, Beyonce Knowles, Cedric the Entertainer and Eamonn Walker.  Boys and girls, you have Adrien Brody and Beyonce Knowles in the same movie, need I give you any more reasons to watch it?! This is an amazing cast. I personally loved Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright and Columbus Short. 
Basically the movie is based on a true story about how Leonard Chess, an immigrant from Poland started his own record company in Chicago in the 1940's called "Chess Records". It chronicles the lives of the musicians who recorded for Chess Records from the 1940s to the 1960s. Most of the musicians who recorded with Chess Records were African Americans who got their lucky break thanks to Leonard Chess. In that day and age there weren't that many opportunities for the Afro-Americans and racial segregation was on the rise. Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), formerly known as McKinley Morgan was a sharecropper from Mississippi who came to Chicago to try and make it to the big time. The way he played the guitar was just magical! It was like an extension of his personality. He met Little Walter (Columbus Short) playing his harmonica on the streets. I really liked Little Walter's music because I think the harmonica is a forgotten instrument and that's a real shame. The two of them recorded amazing songs that were chart toppers. Muddy Waters' first record was "I can't be satisfied" but his most famous record was "Hoochie Coochie Man". He recorded one with Little Walter that was called "40 Days and 40 Nights" which was really great too! Little Walter's first record was called "Juke" which is basically just an instrumental piece with the harmonica and guitar. It is fantastic. My favorite though would be Little Walter's "My Babe". It was later covered by Elvis Presley too but I like Little Walter's version much more. Call me biased but that's just how it is. And then came the Howlin' Wolf ( Eamonn Walker). He doesn't play a major role in the movie but his character can't be ignored either. After him came Chuck Berry (Mos Def) whom I personally deem as an important character for this movie! He introduced rock and roll in a day and age where the blues was all the rage. "No particular place to go" and "Maybelline" are my favourite but there are a whole lot more like "Johnny B. Goode" and a few others that haven't been included in the movie. Another reason why I really like Chuck Berry is because it was because of his music that racial integration started to take place. In the words of Willie Dixon, "It took just one man duck-walking across a stage to get the people together". It started at one of his concerts, when the people removed the barriers and started dancing together. And finally there was Etta James (Beyonce Knowles). That woman has a really powerful voice! Her records "At last" and "I'd rather be blind" are proof of that. Now the story itself may not be that great but the music makes up for it. It captures the good, bad and ugly side of fame. Kind of cliched but that's what it is. It tells you about the ups and downs in all their lives. These were people who were really passionate about their music. Passion creates and passion destroys. 
  I'm sorry if this was a little too lengthy. I'll be putting up the songs so if you don't feel like watching the movie you could just as well listen to the songs, that's fine too. Like I said, it's more about the music then the movie. For those of you who have already or are going to watch the movie then please comment. 

Why is it not just about chick-flicks?

Greetings earthlings! I am currently in a transition phase i.e I am shifting my blog from Tumblr to Blogspot. I wasn't getting any views and also a lot of it depends on the kind of pictures or videos that you reblog. Sadly I am a very unproductive blogger. Hoping to change that once I start getting more views and maybe even comments. Before you proceed further there are a few things you need to know. I am a little dense at times. Honestly. Why else would someone write about why they started writing about films six months after beginning to write the blog?! Ponder it over.

 Anyway I had a very rare moment of illuminating realization where it dawned on me that I haven’t revealed why I started this blog in the first place and why it has such a bizarre (also lame) URL. That is probably because I am used to doing these things ass-backwards. Pardon my language but alas, tis very true.

Coming back to me now, my interest in films and I mean good, pure, cinema started at a very early age since my dad is writer/director and my  mother has had a love affair with films since she was a teenager.  One of my earliest, favourite films was “The story of Adele H.” by Francois Truffaut. I was completely enraptured by the language and the cinematography. I’ve always loved regional films especially Iranian films like “Children of Heaven”, “The girl with the white balloon”, “Song of the Sparrows” and a few more. My interest in French films grew because of my mother who can speak the language quite fluently. I thought “Amelie” was a very good film and since then I’ve been a huge Audrey Tatou fan! I thought she was absolutely stunning in the movie “Priceless” opposite Gad Elmaleh who is also an incredible actor. I plan on blogging about almost all of the aforementioned films by the end of the year. Very ambitious on my part given my tendency to not blog for months at a time. 

I am and will always be a movie-buff but I do enjoy the occasional chick-flick with my friends. Although there’s a lot more to cinema then just those sort of films. I understand not being able to sit through “artsy” films but then again it’s those films that give you food for thought and are evidence to the fact that films have come a long way. Sure, there has been a lot of evolution in script-writing and cinematography, sound effects etc. but we have also lost quite a few things on the way. My personal opinion is that we have lost the charm of black and white cinema after stepping into the world of color. When I watched Anna Karenina made in 1935 (the Greta Garbo version) and after that I watched the 2012 version, I was left feeling wistful. The characters in the 1935 version seemed a lot more luscious and maybe it’s just me but I think that actors look a lot more beautiful in black and white. Although the 2012 version is a much more interesting remake. I’m comparing the cinematography here. Furthermore, I think that people had to apply more technical skill when there was no color and hence the cinematography was better. Don’t believe me? Watch a Hitchcock film. You don’t see double-exposure shots like those anymore. 

I’m sorry about going a little off-track back there. Anyway films have the capability to impact you, they can be intellectually stimulating, mentally taxing and at times utterly heart-rending. You can’t really have a cogent opinion about”Bride Wars” can you? I don’t mean to sound snobbish and nor am I prejudiced towards chick-flicks. I just feel that everyone should have their own take on things, something to say and films of substance can be instrumental in shaping your own opinion.

Oscar Wilde once wrote, “The purpose of creating something useless is that you admire it immensely. All art is quite useless”. Even though these lines may be true it is very important to know that art matters. As cliched as that sounds it is obstinately relevant to this day.

Frost/Nixon

One of a variety of anti-Ford buttons generated during the 1976 presidential election: it reads “Pardon me! Gerald…” and depicts a thief cracking a safe labeled "Watergate"