As a film director, David Mamet is an iffy proposition. His early movies “House of Games” and “Homicide” were exciting little mind puzzles. Later ones like “Heist” and “Spartan” were easy to forget.Now Mamet has a mixed-martial-arts movie coming out in early May.
(Yeah, I said “mixed martial arts.” Finally... David Mamet is writing about something that matters.)
The movie is called “Redbelt.” Chiwetel Ejiofor is the star, which means I will pay to see it. (Hat-tip: Invisible Woman.)
Below are two different trailers for “Redbelt.” Which is interesting because it illustrates how studios can package and market a film to appeal to different audiences.
The top trailer, released a month ago, is all about the men. All about the fighting.
The bottom one, released last week, has the female characters front and center... as if “Redbelt” were some kind of relationship movie.
Interesting.
Yeah well, Mamet is another racist fuck
ReplyDeleteRoad Dog, lol!
ReplyDeleteMamet is overrated. His dialogue is too wordy and not really that clever.
I agree House of Games was very clever. Not so with Homicide. Of course, my favorite is Glengarry Glen Ross, with the Alec Baldwin's "Coffee's for closers" as one of the all-time lines. Was a rallying cry for me for a while.
Dug Spanish Prisoner, but the rest pretty much leave me dissatisfied.
Didn't care for the racial images in Homicide. Thought the plot was a little contrived.
Dog, you have more info than I do to make the call on him being a "racist fuck."
Here's some more info, DeAngelo.
ReplyDeleteHave fun reading that eugenic dreck.
I always look forward to a new Mamet movie. I consider Spartan to be incredibly underrated; I just love every second of it (except for one incredibly shitty scene involving a female secret service agent). Heist, on the other hand, is pretty lousy except for one really good De Vito line.
ReplyDeleteRedbelt will either be great or shitty. I mean Tim Allen in a serious role? That's playing with fire. One more thing, I'd recommend that nobody watch that first trailer since it pretty much gives the whole damn movie away.
Road Dog, just checked that piece. A little full of himself, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteAs if you couldn't tell by his movies. He's really in love with his words.
The essay came off a little pompous and expressed a superiority complex that read as if he had to convince himself of the virtues of his particular tribalism.
I didn't find it offensive as much as amusing.
But once you start talking about how baad you are in one thing that means that you suck in others and others suck in comparison to you.
Which is why I can't stand when people trumpet how brilliant and baad they are unless it's done tongue-in-cheek or to psyche an opponent out. The person taking that shit seriously is actually masking some insecurity issues.
Which is the conclusion I made about Mamet after reading his essay.
Can't say that I'm shocked that Mamet is apparently a pompous asshole. In most cases that seems to be a prerequisite to being a playwright.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, anybody catch Lou Dobbs' Freudian slip from a couple days back?
^fisher, I read Mamets breakdown, ...dude is very lame.
ReplyDelete^ubm, here's my take on the movie:
Ethical-ass-kicking-hero Black dude makes it out of the ghetto, finds White wife, offers to teach others "the path, the way", but gets few grasshoppers.
White marbles good, Black marbles bad!
Black hero gets jammed, steps outside the box, peeps dirty contract, refuses to sell out.
Black hero has no options, with odds against him, he proceeds to kick much villian ass.
Bloody but intact, he then heads home to White wife, and lives happily ever after - gets many grasshoppers.
Looks like same old shit, ...another waist of mega bucks spent on cranking out insignificant eye-squaring fluff.
Pootie Tang probably beats the hell out of this, and costs less!
..when will it ever end, when will it eve -ever .....
Peace
Chiwetel was great in Serenity. Guy has some moves.
ReplyDeleteBut this movie looks lame.
drew, just watched that link.
ReplyDeleteHe almost fell into the hole, didn't he?