ATL

Growing up in a suburban area, I was never really exposed to urban life. The neighborhood and city I grew up in was predominantly white. Although, there was a city ten minutes away from mine that carried the characteristics of an urban city, but I rarely went there. From viewing the movie ATL, I was able to get a look at what exactly what urban life is like. I did not particularly like the plot of the movie, but I did enjoy getting a look the way these people lived their lives. One of my favorite characters of the movie was not one of the main characters, but he did have an active role. He was Rashad’s friend that went to a private school. He was the only character who was trying their best to make it out. The fact that he used a different address in order to be able to go to a better school shows how determined at a young age he was to get out of the hood. He understood that he needed to get into a good college in order to be successful enough and in order to do so he had to go to the best school available to him. One character that I did not particularly like was Rashad’s girlfriend Erin, aka New New. While other people strived to get out of the ghetto, she longed to be a part of it. I personally do not like people who try to be someone they are not in order to be accepted. I think it was pathetic how she wanted to be ghetto and have people in the hood to like and accept her. Another character that I did like though was Ant. At first he was living his life the wrong way, but in the end he learned his lesson and decided to change.

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

One movie that I found to be very thought provoking and mind boggling was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Although confusing at first I really enjoyed viewing this movie. I had to watch it several times in order to piece things together. My first time viewing it was not by choice. I had only heard of the movie once before seeing it, but I did not know what it was about. My sister and I decided to spend some quality time together, so she rented the movie. I found the movie to be very boring when it first started. It was not until he was going thru the process of losing his memory did I find the movie interesting. The music played in the movie had a large impact on the mood the movie put me it. The music was very slow. Most of the music was being played by a piano and some type of string instrument. It put me in a very calm and relaxing mood which was how the characters in the movie where. The main thing that I liked about this movie was that they relived all their memories threw their dreams. In turn, the main character fell back in love with is ex-girlfriend. There is no way possible that this could ever happen. I have heard of pills one can take to make them forget about past memories, but the people that do not take the pill will always remember what happen and may one day tell the person either on accident or on purpose. This is exactly what happened in the movie. Before the neighbor of the main character received the letter about the guy getting rid of the memory he asked him how he and his girlfriend were doing. Although this movie was not realistic, I felt it was a good movie.

Waiting to Exhale

I do not exactly remember when “Waiting to Exhale” was released, but I remember that it came on TV a lot when I was a child. Whenever it came on I never watched the movie from the beginning to the end. I would always watch pieces. Last summer me and my friends were having a girl’s night and decide to watch the movie. I found it very interesting the different roles that the characters were portraying. The role in which Angela Basket played was a role that portrayed the black women in America who dedicate their whole lives to their children and husband. They put everything aside in their lives and put their loved ones before theirs. In this case, as well as many others, the wife was a stay at home mother while the husband made a lot of money. When the woman’s husband left her, she became very upset when she found it that he left her for a white woman. This is something that many African-American women become upset about today. They get mad when a white woman “steals” their husband. The character that Lela Devine played, Robin, was also an interesting character to me. She was in love with a married man who seemed to not even care that much about her. Like many cases, the man says he will leave his husband and never will. She portrayed herself as a woman who sleeps around. After she finally decided to leave the married man she decided to date a man at work. After getting mad with him she called up a random guy. When she came to her senses she went back to the married man and became pregnant. This is something that many women do today. After being dumped by one guy they go to another.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I had seen only one trailer for the movie the Curious Case of Benjamin Button before going to the movies to see it. My friend begged me to go with her to see it so I did because I had nothing else to do. I did not know what to expect the movie to be like before seeing it. The beginning started out kind of slow and a little bit confusing. As the movie progressed and started talking about how he was born I began to catch on as to what was going on. I never thought of something like this ever happening. It was a very thought provoking movie. One of the most intriguing things about the movie to me was that he fell in love. When they first introduced the little girl in the movie I did not think she would have an important role. When they started to become closer to each other’s age I did not think that they would end up together, but she decided to give it a chance. It was so romantic to me when they first moved in together. They seemed so in love. When she became pregnant I was trying to figure out how he would be able to raise her and was saddened when I realized he was not going to be able to. I must admit that I cried when Benjamin left her and the baby. Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that he was able to have a job on a ship and no one noticed that he was getting younger instead of older. The men on the boat should have noticed that as they got older and weaker, Benjamin was getting younger and stronger. In my opinion this was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.

Love and Basketball

My first time seeing the movie “Love and Basketball” was when it first came out in the movie theatres. At a young age I did not know what to expect after viewing the movie. I did not think much of it but I all I knew was that it was a long movie. Years later I viewed the movie again and fell in love with it. To me, it is one of those classic black movies that everyone has seen and love. The way that it was set up with the different quarters was a very smart idea to me. During the first quarter they started off as young kids having a crush on one another. The second quarter they no longer had a crush on one another but were still friends. I like the fact that the girl received more respect than the girls that Q was dating. It was as if she was better than them in a way. I think that it was very romantic how at the end of the prom they finally came together and after that became a couple. I was surprised to see that during the third quarter they fell apart. I feel as though he broke up with her for no reason. The fact that she would not stay out with him late at night because she had curfew was a dumb reason. It seems to me as though he was just jealous that she was doing well with her basketball “career”. The fourth quarter ended perfectly. After being separated for years he found a new love but when they saw each other after all that time their feelings for one another started to come back. My favorite part of the movie was when she was able to win his heart over a basketball game. This will forever be one of my favorite movies.

Slumdog Millionaire

One of the most recent films that I have seen is “Slumdog Millionaire”. I was visiting at my friend’s house bored and he turned the movie on. At first I was not paying attention to it because I found it to be boring and confusing but as the movie progressed, I finally understood what was going on. It was probably one of the best movies that I have seen in a while. I never really thought of how little kids in India were living, but watching this movie gave me an insight on their lives. I found it to be very sad. When the two boy’s mother died it was hard for me to see how they were going to be able to survive. I did not know that people took little children in in order to exploit them in such a way as the man in the movie did. The fact that he was using the children to get money was horrible. When the two boys ran away and left the little girl behind I was afraid to see what was going to happen to her. As the movie continued, I was not quite sure if the guy had made her become a prostitute or a dancer. The name he gave her, Cherry, made it seem as though he had her working the streets. I like the fact that the flashbacks were occurring because he was explaining to the men in charge of Who Wants to Become a Millionaire how he knew all the answers. It was one of the best plots that I have seen in a while. I was not quite sure what the host of the show was trying to do when he gave him the answer. I love the fact that at the end of the movie he wins the girl and the money.

“School Daze” was the first Spike Lee movie that I ever saw. I had to watch it for an African American history class that I took in the 10th grade. During this time I did not know that much about fraternizes and sororities. I understood that these were groups per say that individuals could join. Men and women join these groups to be a part of a brotherhood and sisterhood. Watching this movie I received a better understanding as to what exactly portals to become a part of these Greeks. In this movie, Spike Lee showed a sort of war in which light skinned girls with long hair have with dark skinned girls with short and nappy hair. For many decades light skinned women have always been perceived as more beautiful than dark skinned girls. In my opinion this is not true. To me, this mind set all started during slavery when Willie Lynch told slave owners to turn their slaves against each other. The women that worked outside in the fields began to turn against the women that worked inside. The women working inside are often times the children of the slave owners making them light skinned. The women in the fields felt as though these women thought highly of themselves. As if they were better than the women working outside. I also found it very interesting in the movie that you are not a man unless you have had sex. The character that Spike Lee played was not able to join the fraternity unless he lost his virginity. This is not something that should determine whether a man is a man. Whether or not he steps up and takes care of his responsibility should determine that. It is also a man’s character that can determine whether he is a man or not.

One of the best movies I have seen over the past year is “The Secret Lives of Bees”. When I first saw the trailer for the movie I was not quite sure what the movie was about. I realized what a phenomenal cast there was so I figured it must be a movie worth seeing. As the movie began to start I really did not think it would be all that great. They started out talking about this white little girl’s sad story but I was not sure as to how that would tie into the black women in the movie. As the movie progressed and the little girl and her maid went to South Carolina I found the movie to be very intriguing. At many parts the movie even touched my heart. It was interesting to see the role that Jennifer Hudson played opposed to the other black women in the movie. Hudson was to be the maid of the little white girl and her father. This is a common role for black women when filming a movie in the mid 1900s. On the other hand it was very refreshing to see a house full of black, strong and independent women during this time. I have never seen a movie that takes place during such a time that portrayed black women in this way before. The fact that these women actually had money made the movie even more intriguing. They were able to create their own business and make a very big profit from it even though there was still a lot of racism taking place. I found it very interesting that none of these women were married. Only one of them was dating a man and ended up being engaged in the end. This movie is very inspirational to woman all across America.

"Boyz in the Hood"

As a young child, I had no idea about what Compton was like. After viewing “Boyz in the Hood” I was able to receive a little insight as to what people living in the ghetto lives were like. It was a real eye opener for me. Living ten minutes away from Detroit, but rarely ever visiting the city, I never really knew what it was like for people living less fortunate areas than me. This movie gave me the ability to see how hard life is for some people. The struggle and challenges they must face day to day. In order for the young men of this city to fit in, they must join gangs and find their own “family” amongst these people. They must participate in violence, robbing stores and houses, and even worse… murder. It is very hard for these people to leave these cities because of the main fact of lack of money. They are unable to get a college education because of the costs. One of the main characters was able to receive a full ride off of a football scholarship but was tragically killed in the end. He represented the struggle that young African American men must face to make it out the hood. His older brother represents the young men that are trapped and see no way out. At a young age he had to find a way to adapt to his community. There are very few children in these kinds of areas receiving a good education making it harder for them to even get accepted into colleges. Very few of them receive the proper care that they need to grow healthily. In one scene, a crack head mother left her little baby unattended. The baby ran off into the street. When one of the main characters picked the baby up, he told the woman that she must stop doing this. This goes to show that she has left the child, and maybe more, unattended before. It is the lack of care that some of these mothers are missing. This movie in all was a great representation of many ghettos in America.