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Streaming Notorious Online

Mercredi, août 11th, 2010

Streaming Notorious Online.

Movie Title: Notorious
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Notorious is available for streaming or downloading.

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Saw this when it was in theaters, and was pleasantly surprised it did not disappoint. What put this film over the top was the excellent casting; the characters of Biggie, Faith Evans, Lil Kim, and even Tupac and Voletta Wallace (played by Angela Bassett) made this a believable account of what happened between these intersecting lives that left such a mark on musical history, and ultimately, a tragedy. You really felt for young Christopher as he grew up in the 80’s admiring the rising hip hop stars of the day, and perfecting his rhyming skills on the street, while trying to avoid the perils of drugs and crime. What I liked most about this film was the humanity they brought to his character, making him seem like more of a real person than a musical icon. He wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he was trying to be a good person, no matter what obstacles life threw in his way. Ultimately this is a tale of a flawed individual, as we all are, who was lucky enough to raise himself out of the conditions he found himself in, and tried to make his mark on history, which ultimately, he did.

I was overjoyed when I first heard they were making a film about the life of rapper Christopher “Biggie” Wallace. I’m a huge fan of his music, and I thought a biography about the famous rapper was long overdue. However, I don’t think the film reached its full potential in essence. It could’ve been something great, but it settled for mediocrity instead.

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Director George Tillman uses lots of flashy, glossy shots and camera angles for each scene. Biggie was a man who grew up as a drug dealer and hustler. Nothing about his life growing up was glamorous or flashy. So I expected a less glossy, more raw approach to the film; especially the scenes of him as a child in Brooklyn. The movie didn’t focus on Biggie’s trials and hardships as much as they could’ve. Instead they chose to spend more time focusing on scenes with Biggie in clubs partying, on stage rapping, or in one scene…him getting pleased by 2-3 different women. The film should’ve cut back on these type of glamorous, luxury driven scenes, and focused more on the story of Christopher Wallace.

Some of the casting was flawed as well. None of the actors looked like the people they portrayed. The worst was Derek Luke’s portrayal of Sean “Puffy” Combs. It’s bad enough that the actor looked absolutely nothing like him. He was far more attractive. But it’s even worse that Puffy took his role as executive producer and made his character in the film out to be a saint. When all of the other characters in the film were smoking blunts, Puffy was in the back making beats. When Biggie felt uninspired or encountered any kind of trouble, Puffy was the voice of reason; offering inspirational advice and encouragement. Puffy wanted to look as innocent as possible in this film. And he used his power as executive producer to make that happen. We all know he wasn’t the saint he appeared to be in the movie. Who was he trying to fool?

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I was a little disappointed in Angela Bassett’s portrayal of Ms. Wallace as well. Bassett is a fantastic actress. This we all know. But she wasn’t quite right for this role. The thing that bothered me the most was the way her Jamaican accent faded in and out throughout the entire film. One minute it was present, the next it was completely gone. The real Ms. Wallace has a very strong, prominent Jamaican accent. Bassett struggled to bring that accent to life. She didn’t look or sound anything like the woman. And because of this, I didn’t find her role the slightest bit believable.

There were also countless plot holes and unexplained storylines. How about some more information on Big’s father. He left when Biggie was young. And that’s really all we know and are told in the film. Who was Biggie’s first baby’s mother and how did they meet? We didn’t see her at all until she popped up and said she was pregnant, which literally seemed to come out of the blue with zero explaination or development. Some more development into the Biggie/Faith relationship would’ve been nice too. The film wants us to believe that Lil Kim was Biggie’s whore, while Faith was the woman he truly loved and wanted to settle with. And yet, the movie features more scenes and development between Biggie and Lil Kim than Biggie and Faith. I found that strange.

For a movie that was nearly over 2 hours long–it left too many unexplained questions. Instead they spent most of the film showing Biggie on stage rapping. Which was okay every now and then, but these scenes would last up to 3-4 minutes, which was completely unecessary.

There are some good attributes to the film, however. I was pleasantly surprised by Naturi Naughton’s portrayal of Lil Kim. It was right on point; convincing and believable, especially during the scenes where she rapped Lil Kim’s lyrics. She had the walk, talk, and essence of Lil Kim down to perfection.

Jamal Woolard’s portrayal of Biggie was also a nice surprise. His voice was damn near identical to the rapper’s. He also had his movement and mannerisms completely memorized, right down to the heavy breathing. I thought it was a good debut role for an unknown actor.

Overall, Notorious had its good points and bad points. Most of the casting was poor. The guy who played 2Pac was so unbelievable in the role it was almost comical. The direction and cinematography for the film was flashy and over-glossed. It didn’t take the raw, gritty approach it should’ve. But at the same time, there were some real gems in this film. Jamal and Naturi’s character portrayals were pleasant surprises. But even they couldn’t save this movie from its numerous plot holes and unexplained storylines.

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Notorious Movie Streaming

Mercredi, avril 7th, 2010

Notorious Movie Streaming.

Movie Title: Notorious
Average customer review:

Notorious is available for streaming or downloading.

Click Here to Stream or Download Notorious

A finely crafted, sumptuously produced romantic thriller that has the distinction of featuring director Hitchcock, and stars Grant and Bergman at their collective best. Even so, Claude Rains manages to dominate almost every scene in which he appears; his Oscar-nominated portrayal of the lovesick mama’s boy engaged in espionage comes off as supremely menacing, emotionally ambiguous, and yet oddly sympathetic … all at the same time.

The film-to-DVD transfer is quite good. There are a couple of jumps and pops in the master print that are a bit jarring, but overall it’s a crisp and clean presentation with great contrast. Although the package doesn’t mention it, the DVD does offer chapter search/scene selection which is always a nice perk. There aren’t any of the bonus features that we spoiled DVD collectors are coming to expect (trailers, biographical sketches, etc.), but it’s still a more than acceptable edition of a truly classic film.

The video transfer of new Criterion DVD version of NOTORIOUS is a bit sharper, more detailed, and has better contrast than that of the Anchor Bay DVD version released in 1999. Unfortunately, it also reveals a lot more film grains. The graininess is not noticeable in most parts of the film unless a direct comparision with Anchor Bay’s transfer is made. But in a few scenes, the graininess just cannot be ignored, and could be detrimental to one’s viewing pleasure. In spite of that, in my opinion the increased detail and sharpness of Criterion’s transfer is still preferrable to Anchor Bay’s comparatively softer and darker picture.

Regarding audio, it is no contest. Criterion’s mono 1.0 sound has MUCH greater clarity, depth, details, volume than Anchor Bay’s comparatively muted and muffled soundtrack. In addition, the Criterion disc also includes optional English subtitles while Anchor Bay’s does not.

The Criterion DVD retains all of the supplementary material from their own CAV laserdisc version from 1991, and it adds some more…

There are two excellent audio commentary tracks. One is by Marian Keane, and it deals straight with the artistic aspects of the film by providing scene-by-scene, shot-by-shot dissertations. Commentaries like this are rare, and it is most beneficial to average viewers who want to learn more about the purposes and intentions behind every shot, every cut, every line. For instance, in a seemingly ordinary shot of a grandfather clock inside the Sebastian home, Keene analyzes the composition by pointing out the phallic symbol of the clock that suggests Alex’s presence, the adjacent banister that reminds us of his mother, and the flower at the window that suggests the vulnerability of Alicia. Another commentary track, by Rudy Behlmer, was recorded for the laserdisc version, and it is the more common type of commentary, in which the commentator recounts the production’s history, the logistical aspects, sypnoses of the lives and careers of the filmmakers, a few anecdotes. Behlmer mentions something omitted by Keane — Roy Webb’s music (which is given a separate audio track on the DVD). At one point, he explains how the RKO Radio Picture logo was removed from the opening credits; but he refers only to the laserdisc version. This DVD version, however, restores the RKO logo.

Other extras include an all-too-brief excerpt of the short story “The Song of the Dragon” which inspired the film. There are about 40 production stills, mostly of Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Ingrid Bergman. There is a section that explains how the many rear projection shots were done (some of the shots are quite seamless). There are a few production correspondences written by David O. Selznick, Bergman, and even FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover in response to the film’s treatment of special agents. There are 4 theatrical trailers and short teasers. There is a one-minute newsreel footage of Hitchcock and Bergman arriving in England. There are script excerpts of 5 deleted scenes, and 3 alternate endings in which one or more of the four main characters get wounded or killed on screen. In a moving segment called “The Fate of the Unica Key”, Marian Keane speaks on an audio track about how Bergman, during AFI’s Lifetime Award ceremony for Hitchcock, handed the Unica key to the director as a token of love and respect (unfortunately, no footage of the AFI telecast is included). Last, but not least, there is a one-hour radioplay version of the film, in excellent audio quality, recorded in 1948, starring Joseph Cotten as Devlin and Bergman again as Alicia (the laserdisc version only has a 15-minute excerpt of the radioplay).
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