Jun 26 2009There's More Than Transformering to See This Weekend
Looking for an incomplete list of new releases? Hey, here's one!:
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Yes, it already opened Wednesday. You got me.)
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, CGI
Good if you want to see: giant robots; explosions; mild racism and sexism; absolutely nothing but the previously mentioned items.
My Sister's Keeper
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Abigail Breslin, Speed 2
Good if you want to see: a child harvested for her organs; melodrama; Cameron Diaz shave her head--so daring! Give her a Golden Globe!
Cheri (limited)
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend
Good if you want to see: period romance; an audience of weeping/applauding middle-aged women; your testicles wither and magically transform into a set of beautiful opalescent earrings (males only).
Hurt Locker (limited)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes
Good if you want to see: how the military's bomb squad technicians deal with their dangerous job in some of the world's most hostile territories; possibly tips for how to diffuse your own bombs at home, giving you an impressive party trick; one of the best-reviewed movies of the year, if you care about that kind of thing.
Reader Comments
1. Nick - June 26, 2009 3:53 PM
I really wanna see Hurt Locker, but I doubt it'll come here.
2. Tukson - June 26, 2009 4:33 PM
Hurt Locker seems like the best pick for this weekend... though.. a bit formulaic. Dangerous job, charismatic people with a pinache for eccentricity, you got the rookie, the father figure, the two best friends (one which always dies by sacrifice), the really brave yet crazy dude who's good at his job, etc.
3. Dobbs - June 26, 2009 4:37 PM
Hurt Locker is fantastic. I saw it last year at the Toronto Film Festival. The performances, script, and direction are exceptional. Hopefully it means Bigelow will be getting more gigs. She did a fantastic job and has paid enough for the K-19 mistake.
4. Greatsayain - June 26, 2009 4:54 PM
how is there racism in transformers?
I assume the sexism is from Megan Fox beign entirely used for eye candy, but if anyone knows more feel free to say so.
5. YMCA - June 26, 2009 7:09 PM
The racism has something to do withe the representation of the new bots Skids and Mudflap who are illiterate, gold tooth and speak with some sort of accent. They think it's a portrayal of black men (a man strongly resembled there features in the film and he was afro american)
People see something in everything.
What about Bruno????
6. matt - June 27, 2009 12:42 AM
awesome movie kinda like black hawk down but with bombs
7. Anon - June 27, 2009 1:25 PM
What sexism in transformers?
Megan Fox looks to be used more than just eye candy but even so how is eye candy sexist?
I'm seeing this on tues so I'll know then.
8. DG - June 27, 2009 5:34 PM
Skids and Mudflap sound more redneck than black actually. By the way, if I'm reading you right, the man that you say resembled them wasn't black, he's Indian.
There is nothing wrong with a little play on stereotypes. Stereotypes wouldn't even be there if it wasn't remotely true. Different racial profiles are what makes life colourful, which the writers tried to do with this movie. People who think this movie is too racist need to lighten up ALOT.
9. YMCA - June 27, 2009 11:17 PM
Quote
" Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They’re forced to acknowledge that they can’t read. One has a gold tooth…
Todd Herrold, who watched the movie in New York City, called the characters “outrageous.”
“It’s one thing when robot cars are racial stereotypes,” he said, “but the movie also had a bucktoothed black guy who is briefly in one scene who’s also a stereotype.”
“They’re like the fools,” said 18-year-old Nicholas Govede, also of New York City. “The comic relief in a degrading way.”
That is the supposed racism in the movie.
10. Wilykit13 - June 29, 2009 1:44 AM
The Hurt Locker is a true story about a team of Army EOD Techs during their deployment to Iraq. I am a tech in the army and this movie is AWESOME!!!
11. Pat - June 30, 2009 11:22 AM
The racism and sexism in Transformers 2 was anything BUT mild.
12. Pat - June 30, 2009 11:32 AM
DG,
Stereotypes are WORSE precisely because they contain a grain of truth. Because the stereotypes tend to slightly resemble real-life people, viewers tend to assume that they're an accurate representation of that culture/group of people. This isn't the first time that "black" characteristics have been used in a cartoon and played for comedy. Look up WB's Bosko, a blackface semi-human who was their most successful cartoon throughout the 30s but who is never mentioned now because he was racist as hell.
Telling people to "lighten up" is not how to deal with such things. The pervasiveness of minstrelsy, the mocking of black culture in the open in the United States, is part of what the Civil Rights movement was meant to fight against. These robots aren't isolated characters, but draw from a long history of how black culture is represented by white culture in demeaning ways.
Obviously, it is no more ridiculous for a robot to have an African-American accent than it is for it to have a European-American accent, but the problem with Skids and Mudflap is how that accent--first of all--is inaccurate, exaggerated for comedy, and imitated by at least one white actor, and--second of all--becomes part of an overall devaluation of this way of speaking, and associated with elements of black and hip-hop culture which are devalued and mocked by the film.