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Freedom Road (1979)
A Great Black Historical Film!
This film is an absolute classic for the Black historical representation of the post-Civil War South after Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation as this government declaration of racial equality and freedom of the slaves wasn't enough to convince White settlers to comply amicably. Sadly, this new DVD that was released this year cuts out an entire movie - 90 minutes - down to a 96 minute runtime from the VHS version which was 186 minutes! It's an absolute tragedy to this Black History classic as the main import of the film's message is carried in those missing 90 minutes!
Muhammad Ali is cast in the role of Gideon Jackson, an ex-slave who returns to the estate of his once slave-owner, now absent, and rallies several Black ex-slaves as well as many White settlers to combine their revenue and purchase the property and land through official channels. Jackson rises in esteem and societal importance and is eventually elected as a U. S. senator during the Reconstruction Era.
Many interesting tidbits of history are imbedded in this film gem narrated by Ossie Davis as we're reminded the first free Blacks were members of the Republican party whilst the Klu Klux Klan was primarily affiliated with the Democratic party. Somehow this information has been forgotten throughout the years as today's climate shows more of a reversal of African American party preference being predominately Democratic in modern times.
The crux of the film shows the fortitude and bravery of not only Black people, but the Whites who joined forces with them in equality, organization and amity, showing the narrowminded early American people the possibilities of this great nation, originally intended by its founding fathers. Though the conclusion of the film seems to be sad and dismal, I see it more as a testament to the strength of solidarity between Blacks and Whites who take a stand against injustice and wickedness, even at the expense of their own lives. Justice and human rights are worth this struggle and fight as they echo the heart and essence of the bedrock of creation from the smallest nooks of the earth to the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
I highly recommend this film but only in its VHS form as the DVD is shorn of any real value and worth by the exclusion of an entire movie, the 90 minutes that was suspiciously excised from this classic. This movie will go down in history as Ali's best, most meaningful work on film!
Ten Billion (2015)
They Should Be Talking To The Corporations, Not The Consumers!
All throughout this documentary and films like it, I wonder what they think the average person can do about these issues? "Stop getting those plastic bags at the grocery store!! Recycle!! Stop buying plastic products!!" Why are you yelling at me when the grocery stores are the one's who hand them out!? And just because I "stop accepting plastic," what is that doing to curtail the manufacturing of plastic bags and other plastic products throughout the world? Zilch! Nada!!
This is why documentaries like this are useless as they're aimed at consumers instead of the corporations responsible for polluting the earth and the ecosphere. Consumers have enough worries to manage in their day to day lives without needing to be burdened about these kind of environmental issues they can do NOTHING about!
So until these scientists and soap-box orators come off their high horses and actually do something to change the minds of the people running these corporations, it's really no more than grandstanding and virtue signaling!
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
I Wanted To Love It... But I Didn't Even Really Like It!
I read a review by Kaila Hale-Stern that summed up my initial reactions after watching the film...
"The movie is performing the sequences of the first, but even the best tribute band is no substitute for the real thing. At the same time, the constant references and homages will make little sense to a new generation of young viewers who may not have seen the first film.
I kept telling myself throughout the movie that it wasn't made for people my age, and I kept thinking that surely kids will view the antics on screen as magical. Maybe I'm just too old and jaded for the movie to play properly to me. I have no doubt that kids will have much more fun. But that doesn't stop me from wishing Mary Poppins Returns - made with so much time, energy, money, and high production value - also trusted its audience more to distance itself from the original and create something fresh."
Copy and paste the same musical sequences, hit us over the head with the technology of today and say, "Hey... we can do it better, now!" and still come up embarrassingly short with a movie that will be forgettable in 10 years... so unlike the original Mary Poppins! I'm so glad Julie Andrews wasn't a part of this debacle, this travesty! No slight to Emily Blunt, as her talents could've been better served elsewhere, but I guess she did what she could to make this one work. However, sadly it didn't work for me.
I sort of wished they did a return relevant to our time (since she is immortal/ageless) and made it a unique, ORIGINAL sequel somewhat along the lines of The Greatest Showman, but it is what it is. I mean, it was okay, but at the same time I felt exactly as the quote above from that article, which I found right after I finished watching the film.
It's okay, we don't all have to love these films nor feel obligated to like them. I just hope kids today felt that magic I felt when I first watched the original as a child (who am I kidding... I re-watched it a couple of months ago and felt that same magic)!