Jake may very well be the most interesting person that I know. Jake is Stephanie�s brother. They�re both really cool people, but I�m almost certain that it was Jake�s idea to invite me to a movie yesterday. I got a call from Stephanie and ended up talking to Jake for about fifteen minutes about new movies. First of all, I could talk forever about film and movies, but we were mostly contemplating about which movie we�d see that night. And again, I am awful on the phone, and there was a moment that turned awkward when I ended a conversation about Episode III saying �Yeah, I think George Lucas was very successful in releasing the last three episodes.�
What I meant to say was that I thought they were good. I like them all. Except the second one which had one memorable scene for me, and that was Yoda moving so fast with his green lightsaber.
Anyways, I really wanted to see Unleashed, with Jet Li, but that had gone out of theaters last week. So I�ll have to wait for the DVD to come out. My second choice which turned into my number one was �Crash.� I have no idea how a movie like that ended up on my must-see list, but an hour later, Jake and Stephanie picked me up for dinner.
Before stopping at Pancheros, a Mexican-style place with anything but Hispanic music, Jake was a backseat driver. He talked for a good five minutes about how our tax payers money goes into construction. �And you thought it went into the military. Nope. There is no military. These construction workers are our military.�
Basically saying that construction workers are not there by choice. Nobody would do that. Except the ones not working. Ever wonder what women think of those signs: �Men Working?� They have husbands. They think an oxymoron wrote those signs.
Then we saw a guy on a motorcycle carrying a slightly bigger woman behind him. �That there was a rolling stop.�
�Haha, that�s illegal.�
�Yes it is, Chris�I almost killed a lady for doing a rolling stop�not with my bare hands, of course.�
When we got to the movie, we watched a few lame previews of movies that I will never see, and then the movie got started with the main credits and began with a monologue from Don Cheadle. The film was about racism and stereotypes. It even had a guy talking to a black woman, frustrated that she wasn�t being very nice to him. �My name is Shaniqua.�
�Yeah, there�s a big surprise.�
The movie was actually really funny. For Jake, his favorite part (or at least the part he found most funny) was when Ludacris and another actor who I believe was the guy who shaved his head in �Clueless,� were talking about Sandra Bullock�s character. She had just looked at the both of them and then looked really worried.
�Now why is that white woman looking at us like that? She all worried. Is it because we�re black? No. Is it because we look like gang bangers? No. Is it because we carryin guns?�
�Yup.�
And then they car jack Sandra Bullock and her husband played very well by Brendan Frasier.
This film, I�d say, was along the lines of the movie �Traffic,� and Jake said it was related to �21 Grams� and �Magnolia� with how it was edited and directed. Now, firstly, I gotta say that it was a million times better than �Traffic.� I�d even go as far to say that it was along the lines of �Pulp Fiction.� Maybe better, but �Pulp Fiction� had the comic strength to it. This movie was funny, really funny, but had a super dramatic feel to it.
�Unexpectedly funny,� Entertainment Weekly says. They gave it an A.
There were many characters. Big name actors playing them.
~~
Don Cheadle plays a cop whose mother doesn�t like very much. She likes her other son, who Don Cheadle is having to look for. That�s his part. His partner, Jennifer Esposito plays someone he calls Mexican, which she corrects him on.
Thandie Newton plays a television producer�s wife. They are pulled over by a cop played by Matt Dillon and his partner, Ryan Phillippe. Matt Dillon pulls them over for the husband, the driver, who is receiving fellatio from the wife. Matt Dillon pushes them against their car and frisks them for weapons. He does this to Thandie Newton and practically molests her, feeling her up. Her acting was really good, even though I don�t like her crying face.
Ryan Phillippe starts out as this innocent kid. Turns into bold cop. Ends�not so innocent. He asks to be reassigned from a cop who gives interesting opinions on why he thinks Ryan wants to be reassigned. Matt Dillon is a racist cop with a father who has a urinary infection.
Sandra Bullock is a mean lady who doesn�t know why she�s mean. She sees some guy who looks like a gang banger changing the locks on her home. She asks for the locks to be changed again in the morning. This, of course, is after her car is stolen by Ludacris. That�s Ludacris� part in the movie, and he tries stealing the television producer�s car later in the film. Sandra Bullock, although we don�t like her, ends up having one of the emotional scenes with her maid later in the movie.
My favorite story and character was about the guy who was changing the locks. He goes home and walks in his daughter�s room, looking around. She�s under the bed. They talk about how they moved out of a dangerous neighborhood and then the daughter admits to being afraid of the bullet that came through her window once. The father is such an awesome and nice guy. His conversation with his daughter made me want to cry throughout the whole scene. It was amazingly awesome and that scene alone made me love this movie. The father tells her a story about a fairy. Of course, the daughter doesn�t believe in fairies. �See, I told you you wouldn�t believe me.� She tells him to go on with the story. The fairy brought him an invisible cloak that was impenetrable to bullets. Then, he passes the cloak onto her.
I think the last story in the movie was about a store owner who isn�t very fluent in the English language. The character is introduced in a gun shop and he needs to buy a gun in case his store is broken into again. His daughter buys the bullets for him and chooses a red box. His locks (to his store) are changed by my favorite character, but his door is still too old. When told this, he doesn�t believe it. That night, his store is broken into. He blames the guy who changed his locks. And he takes his gun and his bullets over to the lock guy�s house.
~~
My favorite scene: SPOILERS: Do NOT READ: (This is a must-see film): The lock dude comes home and then has a gun pointed in his face. �I want my money back [from the locks I paid for].�
SKIP: �I have $50, I don�t have all of what you paid for�take my wallet.�
SKIP: Inside his house, the daughter says to the mommy, �He doesn�t have it!� The mom asks �He doesn�t have what?� And the daughter runs out. Of course, it took Jake and me a while to realize that she was talking about the invisible cloak. She jumps to her daddy, and the store owner fires a shot. Such an emotional scene, seeing this nice guy hold his daughter and hearing the BANG! I wanted to cry so badly. Then the daughter says �You�re okay, daddy.� He checks her�and she�s fine. No bullet holes.
~~
�Crash� is, by far, the best film of the year. It�s about racism and stereotypes. It is extremely entertaining and even thrilling. There are plenty of moments that get your heart rate going. And it�s emotional. You care about each one of the characters, and they all play their characters very well. Tony Danza appears in a cameo, and he�s good!
Grade: A. Re-watch value: B (some may think it is too dramatic). This is currently my favorite movie ever. Currently. The music, though similar to �Traffic,� grew on me, and I decided that it was good and went with the movie perfectly.
~~This is my last entry for just over a week so all I wanna say is have a good week, have fun without me (it's been proved possible), and I hope to see you when I get back. Scroll down for a picture of my boat. (Not actual size)
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