Plot:
In 1972, Black Dynamite, a former CIA agent, is called back into the business when the Italian mob kills his brother, fills black orphanages with heroin, and floods the street with bad malt liquor. He soon discovers a vast conspiracy, reaching all the way to the White House.
SourceStarring:
Miguel Núñez, Obba Babatunde, Kevin Chapman, Tommy Davidson, Richard Edson, Arsenio Hall, Darrel Heath, Buddy Lewis, Brian McKnight, Byron Minns, James McManus, Phil Morris, Miguel Nunez, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Tucker Smallwood, John Salley, Chris Spencer, Mike Starr, Nicole Sullivan, Kym Whitley, Mykelti Williamson, Bokeem Woodbine, Cedric Yarbrough, Roger Yuan
SourceRumors:
1. BLACK DYNAMITE Review[Well, this is timely ... it has just been announced that Sony has bought global rights to Black Dynamite for two million dollars and plan a 2009 release for the film. Details here.]
With Black Dynamite director Scott Sanders and writer-producer-star Michael Jai White have succeeded in doing precisely what Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez promised but failed to deliver with Grindhouse. They have captured the spirit of a long gone era and done so in hugely entertaining fashion. Far too loving to ever descend into spoof or parody territory, Black Dynamite also rises above tribute territory thanks to White’s portrayal of the title character. No mere regurgitation or mimicry here, Black Dynamite is strong enough and accurate enough that it could be a lost nugget from the blaxploitation era itself.
Michael Jai White is Black Dynamite: former CIA operative, war veteran and baddest brother on the block. His skills in kung fu are prodigious, his skills with the ladies even moreso. He goes where he pleases, does what and who he wants, and keeps a watchful eye on the weak and powerless, dispensing his brand of strong-arm justice to keep the neighborhood in line. Black Dynamite is the prototypical lone wolf, answering to no one, until his reformed-junkie brother is gunned down by local mafia and he is called back into action by his former CIA partners to bring down those responsible, a mission that leads him to a massive conspiracy to subdue the black population using drugged malt liquor - a conspiracy that reaches all the way up into the White House itself.
No doubt about it, Black Dynamite falls very much at the comedy end of the spectrum, poking very knowledgable fun at the foibles and quirks of the blaxploitation genre. Dialogue is deliberately stilted, boom mikes creep into shots, the musical accompaniment frequently - and hysterically - doubles as narration, and every sort of character stereotype possible is thrown up on screen. In lesser hands this would have come across as ham-fisted parody or - worse - smug superiority but everyone involved here is so knowledgable and respectful of the source material that it’s impossible not to get swept up in the spirit of the thing. Do they get the look accurate? Put it this way: several scenes of actual 1970s stock footage are integrated into the film so seamlessly that it’s impossible to tell where the original footage ends and the stock footage begins.
Brash, energetic, funky and loaded both with kung fu treachery and guns that never run out of bullets, Black Dynamite is pure entertainment. White is already on record saying that he wants to bring Black Dynamite back for a sequel and in these books that can’t happen soon enough.
Source2. Sundance Review: Black DynamiteThe spoof (aka broad parody) sub-genre is a schizophrenic beast. At its best, the spoof can treat you to something as sublime as Airplane!, as mindlessly amusing as the Scary Movie series, or as stunningly worthless as Epic Movie. But the spoof remains the comedy sub-genre for filmmakers who are also movie geeks. Basically, you need to have seen a lot of Airport movies to write Airplane!, and you need to have some solid experience with blaxploitation movies to produce something like Hollywood Shuffle, I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, or this newest arrival: The slightly overlong but consistently giggle-worthy Black Dynamite, which aims to do to Shaft and Superfly what The Naked Gun did to police procedurals.
And for the most part, the experiment works like a charm. What I found most appealing about Black Dynamite is that, while it will certainly strike a chord with the old-school blaxploitation fans, the flick also works on its own as a very broad, very goofy, and (yep) very clever little satire. Even if you wouldn't know Hammer from Blacula, there's a good deal of straightforward silliness to be found in Black Dynamite -- and it also feels like one of those eminently quotable comedies that frat guys and movie geeks will come back to time and again. Black Dynamite is to blaxploitation what Austin Powers is to '60s spy flicks -- and really, how many young comedy fans know anything about In Like Flint, Sweet Charity, or Modesty Blaise? Very few, I'd wager, but that didn't prevent Austin Powers from becoming a mega-popular franchise.
Director Scott Sanders and a team of screenwriters have concocted a '70s-era comedy that, to its credit, actually manages to evoke several of the sub-genres staples: Our hero is a noble ass-kicker who uses odd slang; women hang on his every gesture; villains quake at the sight of Black Dynamite's fighting stance; and of course the proceedings are coated with a colorful sheen of tacky clothes, crazy cars, and hilariously over-the-top fight scenes.
But the one fear that arose between the time I saw the (hilarious) Black Dynamite trailer and the entire film -- that the flick would have a hard time sustaining its tone for 90-some minutes -- was quickly squashed by the pitch-perfect lead performance of a stunningly funny Michael Jai White. He's got the body of Jim Kelly, the attitude of Richard Roundtree, the bad-ass street skills of Fred Williamson, and (best of all) the comic timing of an Eddie Murphy. Even through the handful of slow spots found in Black Dynamite, Mr. White is quite excellent in a 'make or break' role. Just like the wonderfully obtuse Leslie Nielsen is the key component in the Naked Gun series, Michael Jai White throws the whole movie on his back and wins you over by sheer force of straight-faced silliness.
And that's the key to a good spoof, when all is said and done: The characters can NOT be in on the joke, and this is a perspective that Sanders and White nail with a satisfying consistency. Best of all, when it's not doling out slapsticky fight scenes or skewering genre-specific conventions, Black Dynamite is happy to trade in bizarre non-sequiters, unexpected weirdness, and cleverly profane banter that will yank a few chuckles from even the newbiest blaxploitation fan.
I grew up in the golden days of the spoof flick, and I've always had a soft spot for the oft-maligned sub-genre. So while it's true that a lot of lazy and generally talentless filmmakers rely on the spoof approach (probably because broad jokes seem easier to pull off?), there will always be room for new entries that poke fun at genre-specific trappings while maintaining a healthy respect for the films they're lampooning. Black Dynamite seems to really love the blaxploitation action flicks, but not enough to avoid mocking it within an inch of its life. So while it's certainly not the second coming of Airplane!, Black Dynamite is more than fast, funny, and likable enough to warrant a visit. Triply so if you happen to be a blaxploitation fan.
Source3. 24 - Mykelti Williamson to join castActor Mykelti Williamson is joining Fox's "24" as a regular.
On the series' upcoming eighth season, set in New York, he will play Brian Hastings, the head of CTU New York and a man of razor-sharp intellect.
Williamson recently co-starred in the Sundance hit "Black Dynamite." His series credits include "Boomtown" and "CSI: NY."
Source
![You Will Be Forever [ web magazine ]](http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/3364/379/1600/z/664092/gse_multipart4006.jpg){kind=small}
Posts
