Movie Reviews: Overlord

Overlord
directed by Julius Avery

By WW2 Germany had one of the most scientifically advanced military forces in Europe and therefore the world. It is a fortunate irony that the Nazi anti-Semitism caused many European physicists, Jewish and non-Jewish, to flee to the United States, thus severely retarding German nuclear weapon research and development.

However, even without Jewish scientific assistance, German military scientists, doctors and technicians produced advanced deadly weapons such as the assault rifle, a speedier machine gun, thermobaric bombs, jet aircraft, Pervitin, and the first ICBM's. There were rumors of even more outrageous weapons and plans, such as a death ray mirror that would use the Sun's energy to incinerate cities, anti-gravity and time travel devices, and stealth fighters. Some of these were discussed in the fiction book Swastika by Michael Slade.  Overlord imagines that American paratroopers, tasked to destroy a German radio tower on the eve of D-Day, discover a secret sinister Nazi military program.

Overlord, much like Tarantino's WW2 film Inglorious Basterds, is unashamedly anachronistic. The hero is a Black paratrooper serving in an integrated unit.  The company first sergeant is also a Black man. In real life, all US military branches were officially racially segregated during the war. Although some segregation broke down during combat, there weren't any units that were by design integrated. 

Lake Michigan Waves

This is what 40 MPH winds and 15 foot waves look like. The Great Lakes are more inland seas than what most people think of when someone uses the word lake. There's a lot of natural beauty in the world if you only take time to appreciate it.

Movie Reviews: The First Purge

The First Purge
directed by Gerard McMurry

In his satirical novel Breakfast of Champions the late author Kurt Vonnegut wrote that many White Americans thought of Black Americans as obsolete farm machinery which they sadly couldn't discard. There are other novels and movies which have depicted a dystopic future in which the Black American population is reduced, transferred, or eliminated.

President Abraham Lincoln proposed encouraging Blacks to go to Africa. Many people across the political spectrum have agitated for formal separation between Black and White. And there are some people who, convinced that there are simply too many Blacks breathing up the white man's air, want to get rid of Blacks permanently. This latest installment in the Purge series is a prequel, thus the title. But it is also the first film to unabashedly center Black people and make it clear that the primary purpose of the purge is to reduce the number of Black people in America. 

This movie unsubtly reminds the viewer that until the 1930s~1940s or so "race riots" usually meant that large numbers of white people would violently attack much smaller numbers of Black people for the slightest provocation, real or imagined. It was only in the 1960s that "race riots" came to mean blacks rioting, burning and looting. This movie might not exist if not for the commercial success of Get Out. The movie lacks white heroes, something unusual for American films. The First Purge shows the viewer  a possible future where, under the guise of colorblind policy, America decides to reduce the "useless eaters" population, aka Black and Brown people.

Symone Sanders tells Black Men to Shut Up

It's difficult to imagine a mainstream commentator rhetorically wondering who asked all these big mouthed Black women for their opinion, asking why they kept popping up, and then insulting a particular Black woman's intelligence and credentials simply because he happened to disagree with the point she was making.

It's almost impossible to imagine someone saying that about White Women, Jewish Americans or almost any other group and moving on like nothing took place. Usually the person would have to apologize. And if the apology was not sufficiently abject, the person who had made such comments would likely lose their job. In fact there are people who would insist that apology or no, the person should lose their job. But if you dismiss Black men as alleged political commentator Symone Sanders recently did then you can usually avoid making any retraction or apology. And losing your job isn't even on the agenda. 

This is yet another reason why I think it's beyond stupid to talk non-ironically about "black male privilege" or "black male patriarchy" in America. Those things don't exist. If they did then the sentient tugboat that is Symone Sanders would be sure to keep a more civil tongue in her head when it came to black men.

Alabama Newspaper Calls For KKK Murders

Although with Mississippi in the running it will always be a tough battle each year I think that Alabama has temporarily regained its spot as Number One Shi*hole state. 

Officials in Alabama are calling for a small-town newspaper editor to resign because of an editorial calling for the Ku Klux Klan to terrorize Washington, D.C. Goodloe Sutton, the editor and publisher of the Democrat-Reporter in Linden, Ala., wrote the editorial titled “Klan needs to ride again” that ran in the paper last week.

“Time for the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again,” read the Feb. 14 editorial. “Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama. They do not understand how to eliminate expenses when money is needed in other areas. This socialist-communist idealogy [sic] sounds good to the ignorant, and uneducated, and the simple minded-people.”

“Seems like the Klan would be welcome to raid the gated communities up there,” concluded Sutton. “They call them compounds now. Truly, they are the ruling class.”

Police Tase Man 11 Times Just For Fun

Although the most charged scenarios of police brutality which get the most community attention often involve white cops and black citizens there is a deeper problem with police across the United States that sees far too many of them ready, willing, and eager to harass, bully, brutalize, sexually assault, humiliate, and even kill anyone who is not a police officer, race not withstanding. This recent example of white-on-white police violence in Glendale came to light. The disturbing things are 

1. How the police are wrong on the law and attempt to breeze past that by resorting to the "Because I said so! " response (passengers in traffic stops are not required to give id)
2. How quickly the police move from semi-aggressive language to ultra-violence. For too many police any response that doesn't start and end with "Yassuh boss" is reason for beating, tasing and/or arrest. 
3. How sexually sadistic the police are in this incident-pulling down the man's pants and underwear to apply the taser to his behind and genitals. Think about it. A police officer who is sworn to uphold the law decided that it would be a good idea to tase someone's genitals.

This was rough to watch and even more frightening to experience I am sure. It is critically important that Americans stop hero worshipping the police. Some police are just thugs with badges. We must demilitarize the police. We must train police better on knowing the law and following the law. And we must harshly punish police when they break the law. Perhaps the fact that in this case the victim was Caucasian will convince some people to get their head out of their fundament as far police violence goes. The victim is not an angel. But he did not deserve what happened to him. Of course if Wheatcroft had been Black the police would probably have just shot him thirty times and called it a day. So there's that I guess. State sponsored brutality that is encouraged and tolerated against Black people often ends up being employed against white people.

Movie Reviews: The Heartbreak Kid

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)
directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly

This is a remake of an early seventies film. It's a dark romantic comedy. The film has some low rent humor. But that is part of the Farrelly Brothers schtick. 

Unlike most genre films this movie didn't shy away from making at least two of the people in the love triangle unpleasant, occasionally or completely. YMMV on this but it's absolutely essential to the story. This movie reverses the usual "..and then they lived happily ever after" motif  to investigate what happens after two people meet and fall in love. It's a different challenge/question. 

It's easy to fall in love with someone when they are clean, dressed to impress and shaking their tail feathers. It's more difficult to stay in love and accept someone else's occasional bad moods, unpleasant biological functions and irritating habits that over time could drive even the most patient spouse into sputtering incoherent rage. The first is infatuation. It may not last that long. The second is actual love, but usually takes more time to develop.

Eddie (Ben Stiller) is a San Francisco sports shop owner. Eddie is lonely, but afraid of settling down and getting married. His widower father Doc (Jerry Stiller-Ben Stiller's actual father) is a playboy. Doc's been in the game for years. He's not looking to get tied down again.