Archive for the ‘mos def’ tag
Be Kind, Rewind.
Not The Ghostbusters You Remember
Watching a Michel Gondry movie is always an experience. A weird experience. You start the movie grounded in reality, but then you start noticing little twists that don’t seem quite…right. These little twists start growing, until near the middle you begin to feel like you’re half-awake, and half in some other weird, crazy world. Be Kind, Rewind continues this Gondry tradition, and while not his best work, is still a fun movie.
I had high hopes for this film based on its credentials alone, and I wasn’t disappointed. Mos Def, Danny Glover, Jack Black all turn in excellent performances. Mia Farrow and the unknown Melonie Diaz are also funny in their minor roles. Jack Black plays the eccentric idiot Jerry he plays in every other movie, but Mos Def and Danny Glover both take on roles that are unlike their usual fare. Danny Glover takes a break from his usual Lethal Weapon/Predator roles to play embittered small-time shop owner Elroy Fletcher, who has a limited amount of time to make a whole lot of money in order to save his building from demolition. Mos Def plays his adopted son Mike, who is well meaning, if a little dense.
The main plot of the movie revolves around Mike and Jerry creating home made movies based on mainstream film productions in order to restock Elroy’s store of VHS tapes, which Jerry destroyed. He does this by walking
Robocop..is that you?
through them while magnetized. And he’s magnetized because he received about 10,00000 volts of electricity while trying to sabotage a power plant. Yeah, I told you it gets weird. Eventually the duo’s home movies start pulling in enough revenue to help prevent the demolition of their store and home by a not so evil construction company. But even then, complications arise.
It’s really the details that make this movie stand out. There are so many subplots and side-stories happening, that in the hands of a less skilled director the movie would descend into a horrible mess. But Gondry weaves together the tale of Jerry, Elroy, Mike, dead jazz musician Fats Waller, The City v. The People, movie piracy and everything else so well, you never have to stop watching the movie to try and understand the movie.
The main thing that brings this movie down for me is the pure hatred I have for Jack Black as an actor (barely), and a comedian (not even close). And even then, his character is really meant to be annoying. This movie’s a definite watch, especially if you want to see Mos Def play Chris Tucker.