In Appreciation of Eddie Murphy in 'Dolemite'

by Murtada Elfadl

“Make That Shit Swing, Put Your Weight On It”

Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore says that to his musical accompanist the first time he takes the stage as Dolemite. He wanted more oomph, more swagger, just more to complement his stage appearance. And that’s also what Murphy does is his riotously funny and mesmerising performance in Dolemite is My Name.

He’s fully committed to the character. A comedian playing a comedian so of course he’s funny. He lands every joke from the stand up bits which are of course laugh out funny, to the silly aside jokes. For example watch him as plays off Luenell who plays his aunt in one scene, as he tries to cajole her out of money. It’s a full body performance with many physical jokes, karate chops, singing and dancing. Every minute he’s on screen you can’t take your eyes off him...

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Interview: Karim Aïnouz on 'Invisible Life' and why he chose to make a melodrama

by Murtada Elfadl

With a depth of feeling and lush gorgeous colors that knock the wind out of you, Invisible Life is melodrama done right. Set in Rio de Janeiro in 1950 as two inseparable sisters have different dreams. One, Euridice played by Carol Duarte, wants to become a renowned pianist. The romantic Guida (Julia Stockler) yearns for true love. They are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other. We follow their story with ache in our hearts but with our eyes feasting on the beauty that fills the frame.

We got a chance to speak with director Karim Aïnouz recently in New York. [This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.]

Murtada Elfadl: Congratulations. The film is amazing.

Karim Aïnouz: Thank you. Thank you. That's good to hear

One of the things that I really love about it I grew up on Egyptian movies, which are very melodramatic.

Are you Egyptian?

I'm Sudanese.

Okay, let's go. Yeah. Okay.

So this reminded me of all the movies that I loved growing up. It's very lush.The emotions are very big. It's about family, it's about women. So I wanted to ask you about that first. Melodrama is not that respected these days. Were you afraid or concerned to make a melodrama?

It's like that for me too, I was raised on melodrama. I was raised bathing in melodrama because that's the genre root of Brazilian soap operas, radio soap operas and novellas in the 50s and then that sort of led onto the soap operas of the 70s when I was growing up...

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Review: "Cats"

by Cláudio Alves

Somewhere along the journey of popular cinema, an unholy change of standards occurred. Once upon a time, the artifice of movies was seen as a delightful feature, but it slowly started to be seen as an enemy of quality. The pursuit of "reality" began to preoccupy serious artists and Hollywood hacks alike. The audience’s taste was thus guided in the direction of pseudo-realism. The look of natural reality isn't the point, but the feel of it is. For instance, Lord of the Rings' fantasy isn't close to our reality in any significant way, but there's a sense of material credulity that satisfies modern audience's limited suspension of disbelief.

To speak of such matters in the context of a flimsily plotted musical populated by cat-human hybrids probably sounds preposterous. That said, I firmly believe the movie of the Broadway smash Cats would be altogether less horrifying if it had embraced the artifice and theatricality of its premise...

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Star Wars and the Oscars, a History.

Get away from Natalie Wood, Darth Vader, we're warning you!

Over at Vulture this weekend, yours truly has a piece up about the history of Oscar's affection (and lack thereof) for the Star Wars saga. I'm glad they liked my Diane Keaton / Annie Hall intro (though they added the Woody Allen bits -- I left him out as I didn't want to distract people) because I couldn't get the image of Diane callously "la-di-da"ing while wielding the Death Star out of my head. Anyway, it was great fun to write so I hope you enjoy. It was also a trip to source the FYC ads -- if only more of them were available online. I couldn't find a single FYC ad for The Empire Strikes Back or The Phantom Menace (among other films).

One thing I didn't have space for  that I could have written much more on was the individual categories over the years -- isn't it strange that Star Wars (1977) is the only time the series has ever been up for Costume Design?!? -- and the individual presentations. Look how excited Farrah Fawcett was to find out who won Best Editing!

And why did Oscar producers pair her with Marcello Mastroianni for a prize that was clearly going to Star Wars? The mysteries that emerge from history... even history as well documented as pop culture.  

Review: "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker"

by Cláudio Alves

"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to." were the desperate words of an angry man. "The greatest teacher, failure is." was the philosophy of a wise master. Somewhere in between the two sentiments, those of Kylo Ren and Yoda, lies the ethos of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. There's no place for toxic nostalgia in that director's vision of the Star Wars universe, though a critical look at what came before is necessary or else we're bound to never grow. Independently of Episode VIII's other faults, one would think such a theme would be unanimously celebrated and generate little to no controversy. One would be mistaken. 

Johnson's Star Wars feature sparked a wave of antagonistic discourse that's still active two years after its release. While the perpetual litigation of that production's merits is no one's idea of a good time, it's crucial to consider its themes when analyzing the latest episode in the saga. If every film in a franchise is having a conversation with its brethren, The Rise of Skywalker represents a repudiation of The Last Jedi's core ideals. JJ Abrams' return to the saga is an open celebration of uncritical nostalgia. Indeed, it appears to have been conceived more as a cowed response to fans' complaints than as a satisfying narrative…

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