Movies I watched this weekend: Inception, Black Dynamite, The Narrow Margin

Inception: You know, there's quite a bit of good I can say about this one. But I'm not going to. I'm just going to suggest you set aside some money and some time, and go check this one out.

Black Dynamite: Do kids today even know about the Blaxpoitation genre of the 1970's? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess most of them think the world started with the NES, and the answer is no. And maybe that's why Black Dynamite didn't get better promotion and a wider release.

Blaxploitation is a genre I've only skimmed, and I do not claim any expertise. But I went to college in the 1990's, so, yeah, I'm familiar with the concept and how the movies tended to look and feel.

The genre died out, but every once in a while a spoof has come along, with varying degrees of commercial success, and varying degrees of actually being funny. But Black Dynamite was, in fact, pretty damn hilarious, especially if you also spent evenings in college watching Shaft or Black Belt Jones.

And this movie has the advantage of being the most quotable comedy in a long while. Michael Jai White is simply spot on, and even when the movie takes some bizarre turns in the name of comedy, you can still see where they were going, based on the tropes of the genre.

Unlike the other spoofs, such as Undercover Brother, Black Dynamite LOOKS like a Blaxploitation film, and sounds like one throughout. The color is off, the editing is intentionally choppy, and all without really drawing attention to itself.

Anyhow, recommended.



Dude, I have been walking around the house all day, randomly singing "Di-no-mite! Di-no-mite!".

Narrow Margin: A film noir from 1952, Narrow Margin is a fairly straight thriller taking place mostly during a train ride between Chicago and LA as a tough-as-nails cop escorts an undeserving, quick talking mobster's wife across the country to witness to the DA. Of course, a few folks don't want her to make it there alive.

I'll likely watch this one again just to watch Marie Windsor, who plays the mobster's wife, is totally on in the movie, and is given some awesome dialog. I'd seen Windsor in The Killing, and she's pretty darn good there, too.

There's also a really great fight scene in the movie, just really well handled.

It turns out, someone decided to remake Narrow Margin in 1990, but from everything I can tell, they mostly started from scratch. The movie does star Hackman and Anne Archer, so maybe its worth seeing?