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Monday, January 22, 2007
Dark Blue, Warm Heart

Dark Blue (2002)
Starring: Kurt Russell, Scott Speedman, Michael Michele, Brendan Gleeson, Ving Rhames
Cinematography: Barry Peterson
Writing credits: James Ellroy, David Ayer
Director: Ron Shelton


Yet again, I had no idea what I was getting into with this one, although I must say that I was excited to see that the DVD menu featured a shot of Scott Speedman (Ben from Felicity). Hey, he did it for me back then, so there's no reason I can't re-visit that lusty wanton feeling now as a twenty-something, is there?

This movie is set against the backdrop of the Rodney King incident in LA in 1991. Racism! Corruption! And the good guy in this movie is a Big Black Dude.

I was surprised to discover that this movie was made in 2002, because, due to the shitty music selection, I was sure that this film was a product of the nineties. Jeff- can you back me up on this one? Between the hair-dos and the bad music, they had me fooled. But that's the point, right?


(Aside) I think it's a little scary that there seems to be a never-ending free-flow of movies about crooked cops. There have also been several TV shows centering around corrupt cops. This MUST mean that there are lots of crooked cops out there, in real life, that don't have their own TV show or movie. ::Sighs::

Jeff and I discussed Eldon's "likeable-ness": Russell's character never asks the audience to like him. He doesn't get his 'happy ending.' In fact, everything about the ending sucks for Eldon: his wife is dating a hot-shot defense attorney; his son hates him 'cause he's a cold blooded killa'; his partner is dead; his partner's sexy- mistress- lady thinks he's the scum of the earth; he's losing his job; and even though he has admitted to all of the backwards acts that Ving Rhames wants to pin him with, he most certainly isn't forgiven!

Jeff and I also talked about how Crash's racial fires can be compared to the general undertone in Dark Blue. Anyone else see a connection?

Racial fires or racial fries?

Jeff and I talked about racism, stereotypes, and how everyone is guilty of one or the other, if not both. It is the way we are raised, it is the society that berthed us, it is what we see and take in. Once we have consumed a piece of information (or misinformation), we cannot un-consume it. No matter how hard we try to ignore and pretend not to be aware of certain notions, we are left with a trace of what we have heard or read. We cannot erase stereotypes. We cannot toss aside the jokes and the comments that we've all heard. We cannot help but be aware of generalizations of certain peoples once we've been exposed to the hype. The only way to erase what has come to be known... is to breed.

Ok, what a tangent!

Kurt Russell Rocks, right?
posted by K @ 1/22/2007 08:06:00 AM  
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About Us

Founded in Athens, GA in late 2006, we are a group of movie lovers who participate in a weekly, online discussion regarding the merits, qualities, themes, histories, implications, connotations, denotations, and general appeal (or lack thereof) of a variety of selected films.
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