The In Crowd

Where to score free flicks alfresco, from Brooklyn to the Upper West Side in New York from Metromix.com:

"It’s a summer for burgeoning tightwads—gas prices are above $4 a gallon, airlines are now chargine $25 per bag, and—more important—a single blockbuster movie ticket complete with deep-freeze air conditioning now clocks in at $11.75…plus $1.50 for service charges.

But cinema lovers can give their strained wallets a break this season by taking in one of the many free (or nearly free) outdoor films playing in parks and on rooftops all over the city almost every night of the week. Be forewarned, though: The scene is BYOPB (that’s Bring Your Own Picnic Blanket, for newbies), and many die-hards camp out in the primo spots well before sunset."

Click here for the rest of the article. 

The Italian Job meets Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels? 

Online:

The Bank Job - UK website  |  US website 

I missed the free screening in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn this past weekend but this documentary about the exploding Nigerian film industry is still worth noting. Check out the trailer here.

Online: Website

The Afro-Punk Festival just opened last night at the BAM in Brooklyn, NY and is running 'til July 7. Check the details:

"This Fourth of July, let's talk about a real revolution! Afro-Punk returns to BAM bringing film, music, and art united under the banner of black rebellion. This year includes a focus on the Black Panthers, an art exhibit display in the lobby featuring archival Black Panthers photographs and work from Pratt Institute, an Afro-Punk Block Party, more music than ever before, and a special appearance by Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale."

Click here for more information. 

I actually saw The US vs. John Lennon a couple weekends ago but I still had to write about it to say it's a must-see.

It's scary how many parallels and echoes there are between the mood in the US back when musical legend and icon John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono were protesting the Vietnam war and our current state of the nation as the Iraq war continues to destroy not only that country but this one too. Read more about it at excellent news, politics and culture site Crooks & Liars here.

Let's hope Lennon's words near the end of the film turn out to be prophetic with respect to the current war and the administration that got us into that mess: "Time wounds all heels...."

Click n learn:

More than just a concert movie, Wattstax encapsulates virtually everything I care about: music, culture, style, the soul of black folks, politics, love and life.

Wattstax captures an incredible concert sponsored by the lengendary southern soul label Stax Records that was essentially a counterpoint toWoodstock, the seminal rock-hippie music happening of the sixties and an emphatic endorsement and vote of confidence for the LA neighborhood of Watts seven years after it went through its historic but wrenching and devastating civil rights era riots.

It sounds hokey to say it but the movie's like a visual version of everything I talk about between The In Crowd and my other site, Different Kitchen. Sharp ears will pick out lines and samples that have ended up on classic hip hop albums by Public Enemy and produced by N.W.A-era Dr. Dre but have also been enjoyed by mods, acid jazz & rare groove fans from songs performed by the Bar-Kays, Little Milton, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Luhter Ingram and the immortal Isaac Hayes amongst others on the bill.

Beside that though, the film intersperses amazing documentary footage of regular folks ruminating on a variety of topics mixed with clips of Richard Pryor half-performing, half just talking doing what he does best: turning the pain of the black hood life into comedy everyone could identify with. It was enlightening but also sad to see how far black folks have come and yet in many ways still be in the same place tackling the same old social and economic issues. And is it more than irony that Jesse Jackson all the way back then was not only the host but the political conscious for the concert and that, looking at much of period interstitial footage of folks coming to and dancing during the show, realizing that it could have been shot today as the 70's styles they sport have come back into style as retro throwbacks.

I could go on but you get the point: incredible music, footage of Richard Pryor, commentaries from the filmmakers and PE's Chuck D and an overall package that serves as an essential social document of its time, Wattstax is a must-view or own which is precisely what I plan on doing despite being a dedicated Netflix DVD renter.

Click for more:

www.wattstax.com

Buy Wattstax at Amazon.com

Starring in Hotel Rwanda was more than just another gig for actor Don Cheadle. Spotted via Boing Boing here's info on his new documenatary Journey Into Sunset:

In May of last year, Academy Award nominated actor Don Cheadle and his family were invited to Kampala, Uganda to attend a charity screening of the film Hotel Rwanda to raise money for the children-the "night commuters" of Northern Uganda. They are called "night commuters" because every night they must flee their homes seeking refuge in large camps in the cities to keep from being kidnapped, dragged into the bush and ultimately forced to fight against the Ugandan government for the rebel Lords Resistance Army.

Don and family left the Ugandan capital and traveled 5 hours up-country to the town of Gulu to see for themselves how these kids and their families, are forced to live. The "night commuter" story is one that remains like so many other tragedies in Africa, largely unreported to the outside world.

"Journey Into Sunset" examines the lives and experiences of several of these boys and girls. Some of them have been able to avoid being kidnapped. Others who weren't so lucky. They lived or died at the will and whim of their captors. They were forced to fight. And some commited horrible atrocities. We meet some of the kids managed to escape the clutches of the LRA. They're free now, but the scars on their souls will never heal." (Click here to read more)

Just veiwed via Netflix:

George Clooney's excellent film Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of legendary CBS news man (played by the very underrated David Straithairn) Edward R. Murrow's fight against the nut-job, megalomaniac, anti-commie Senator Joseph McCarthy and the travesty of his Un-American Activities Committee.

Like many movies that have been released recently, Good Night, and Good Luck purports to deal with period or historical material but actually ends up holding a mirror up to our world today. Rent it and see for yourself how. At the very least you'll see convincing proof that it's not just not just recent events: as far back as the 1950's CBS has always been a bitch-ass TV network.

The movie also incorporates several great performances by jazz singer Diane Reeves whose smokey torch singing fits perfectly with the stylish, 50's noir feel of this black and white movie.

Click here to learn more about Good Night, and Good Luck.

I generally don't give a f-ck about the Oscars even when they're honoring some of hip hop's most known unknowns but after seeing Best Foreign Language Film winner Tsotsi last weekend, I have to agree with their choice in this category. I'm not gonna get into a whole detailed review of the film here, but let me put it this way: this is easily one of the top 10 films in the modern era of gangster movies.

Set in South Africa, Tsoti brings an entirely fresh outlook to this genre in much the same way the Brazilian favela, coming-of-age tale City of God did a few years back. With uniformly stellar acting by a lead cast of (apparently) first-time actors and a well-written and directed story that combines visceral moments of wrenching violence and quiet moments of human poetry, Tsoti deserves a bigger audience than it's pitiful $200,000 box office draw (according to what I heard on "TV One Access" show last night) has pulled in to date.

In case I'm not being clear enough: GO OUT AND SUPPORT THIS MOVIE and I say that as a Netflix junkie who almost never goes out and pays to see movies in the theater any more.

More:

Click here for the official English language website for Tsotsi.