Reviews

There's no doubt in my mind that Paul Mooney is a comedic genius, but it's also very clear that he's a left over from a much more racist time in America. Watching this material tinges between semi-hilarity, disgust, and sheer disbelief at some of the things he tries to pass off to his audience as fact. I'm not referring to certain details of a story being exaggerated for the sake of artistic license or the humor of a joke. What I'm talking about are blatant lies. Perhaps his audience is uneducated and he is telling them what they want to hear. I do know one thing, Paul Mooney is educated enough to know that he isn't telling the truth, but I suppose everyone has an agenda to feed and that only makes him human. Watch and enjoy this special if you like Paul Mooney. Just remember that nearly all of the facts he's using to wrap his jokes around are quite the opposite. I watched most of it, but between that and the racist banter I decided enough was enough. It seems to me as though in this day and age that as long as someone says something on TV, everyone else instantly entertains it as fact and that is sad. 1) Sad that people would believe something just because they saw it on TV and 2) Sad that they weren't educated enough to pick out that it was false in the first place.

Aronofsky is a brilliant director but this was by no means a brilliant film. Call it a failed experiment at best but the entire film was muddled and strewn together like a series of incomplete sentences. The acting was good, the cinematography was great, but the film didn't have enough of a story to stand on its own two legs. I didn't care for it, but I may watch it again to see if I draw anything from a second viewing. I've seen plenty of intelligent art house flicks that did make me think and that I still love to this day but this is definitely not one of them. Hopefully Aronofsky's future stabs into the world of cinema are more entertaining, enlightening, and coherent. Go watch Pi or Requiem for a Dream if you want to see a good Aronofsky flick.

As some have already mentioned, Guy Ritchie's name is synonymous with "Snatch" as well as "Lock, Stock, and two smoking barrels" so there is some amount of expectation that goes along with this film. While I admit that I had some expectations of my own, they weren't that it necessarily fit the confines of what Guy Ritchie has typically put out in the past. I simply look for good film making. I had this film figured from the get go and the ending was no surprise. This film was quite ambitious and for that I commend Ritchie because without experimentation in the film world we would be left with the same thing over and over again. However, I don't think he quite achieved whatever it was he was looking for in the creation of this film. It was muddled with complex / poetic imagery and quotes which seem lost on a screen of confusion and bewilderment. I understand what the movie was trying to say, I just don't think its method was at all effective. Over all, it was a huge disappointment and I hope Ritchie's future works reflect that he's learned from this catastrophe. Upon viewing, it's quite clear why this film was no success. My hat still goes off to Ritchie as he is a phenomenal writer / director. This just so happens to be one of his worst films.