While the movie itself is excellent, this is one of those DVDs that makes a great film even greater.Much has been said about the 1992 film, so I'll concentrate on the extras. First of all, the widescreen is not so wide that it makes you squint to see it. It's at a good porportion. But the edited scenes are really interesting. We see previously unseen footage of Denzel as Malcolm courting Angela Bassett as Betty Shabazz (in a rather touching way). We see Denzel/Malcolm putting an initiate through the rigors in an amusing fashion, we see him studying and feeding his hunger for books while in jail, and we see some interesting scenes of Denzel/Malcolm making anti-racist and pro-brotherhood statements near the end of his life to a young white girl and an Arab he meets in Mecca. A lot of people who miss the point about Malcolm's transformation should see those scenes (which actually appear in the original book).
(Slight complaint, the stuff about the Sphinx's black nose being shot off by Napoleon is a bunch of BS that didn't happen, even Molefi Asante admitted this on 60 minutes a few years ago. So it's just as well that that scene was not included in the original film).
Also, "Baines" was actually John Bembry, aka Bimbi, who encouraged Malcolm to read in prison. It was actually Malcolm's real life brothers who really introduced him to the Nation of Islam teachings. Not a complaint, just a clarification.
There is also an excellent documentary about the making of this film. A real Horatio Alger type story of how Spike beat the odds through dogged determination to raise the money to make the film the way he felt it needed to be made. It was sad to realize that the film was not as popular as hoped among young people upon it's intitial release and the "Malcolmania" of the early 90s turned out to be a fad, but at least this DVD will give people the opportunity to learn from Malcolm's story.
Then there is the uncut 1972 documentary "Malcolm X. The raw, uncut REAL Malcolm talking strong and taking numbers! This is a brilliantly edited collection of chronological clips of Macolm, Elijham Muhammad, the young Louis Farrakhan, and all the other major players into an excellent biography without additional narration. It lets the viewer decide in an excellet fashion.
So see the 1992 movie, then the "making of" documentary, then the deleted scenes, and THEN the 1972 documentary and you'll get the next best thing to reading all there is to know about Malcolm X thought. Enjoy it, I did. College and high school teachers will REALLY want this for their history classes.
The screenplay closely follows Alex Haley's collaboration with Malcolm X on his autobiography, from his early days as a hustler and pimp, to his transformation and his rise to prominence in the Black Muslims and beyond. In so doing, it traces much of the history of the twentieth century African American experience
As another reviewer so inelegantly (and ungrammatically) put it, Malcolm Little sold drugs and women, robbed and lived in the underworld. However, this recognizes far less than half of this compelling and incredible story. This beginning was important only to underscore how far he ultimately came, and leads the viewer to wonder what would have happened had he not been murdered.
Wonderful casting including Angela Bassett as his wife Betty, DelRoy Lindo and particularly Al Freeman Jr. as Elijah Muhammad. It was a rather predictable crime that Spike Lee, Denzel Washington and this film did not dominate the Academy Awards.
Buy Malcolm X (Blu-ray Book) (2012) Now
Malcolm, like any young african-american boy in a time of racial hatred, did not have it easy growing up. In fact he did not have it easy when he was in his teens to early twenties. Nor did he have it easy when he was an adult. Yet at least by his adult age he understood this and what his father had been fighting for. So with his Islamic conversion in prison, he set out to change the world as best as he sought, and, thanks to this film and the autobiography it was based on, we can now truly understand this struggle, inner and outer, for justice, liberty, and the pursuit of all to have happiness.Now, to narrow in on the film and not just the man, Spike Lee really outdid himself this time. With Denzel Washington, traditionally a great actor, playing Malcolm X you knew the movie would at least be spearheaded with strength. But this is more then that, because the elaborateness of it all just conveys to the viewer so much of the times, the thoughts, and the conflicts that surrounded Malcolm and those tumultuous times he lived in.
I'd be lying if I did not say this is excellent, and then highly recommend it; so, I'd like to don this hat of honesty and tell you watch it, a lot of you'd like, but make sure to see it at least once (Oh yeah, and the book's quite excellent too)
Read Best Reviews of Malcolm X (Blu-ray Book) (2012) Here
Man, I had sold my 2-disc DVD in order to add this to my BD collection and replace my DVD's with BDs (still waiting on the Shaft films and Suplerfy with surround sound!), but last year this got pushed back because their was a rights issue with Sam cooke songs in the film. They have it together now and I gather this is why this is priced higher. I would have waited until it came down, but I figured I would snatch it up in case something else came up!Let me start by saying that this comes in ones of those digibooks and this one is different from previous types. This has the two discs attached to the covers of the book while the book pages are in the center. This is strange I maybe it was done because it was two discs. The book IS of a higher quality than the others with embossed titles, so at least you think that you are getting some of your money's worth. The back has the disc specs on it and it is stuck on better than previous digibooks, but I still do not understand why they cannot just print it on the back cover so that we will never lose it!
The movies is the same, the extras are the same as the 2-disc DVD, which is a good thing! the main thing was they the Malcolm X documentary from the DVD set was included here as well. It would have been nice if it could have been HD... They made the making of in an HD-like look or they just letter-boxed it, so why not make a FILM feature in widescreen? All in all, this really just an HD replacement of the 2-disc DVD.
AUDIO: I watched this film hundreds of times since I first saw it when it came out. I can almost recite it line for line and I am very familiar with the scenes and people in this film as well as the sound. I always thought that Malcolm X had one of the better surround sound effects on DVD and for this largely dialog driven film, and the same startling soundtrack transfers over to Blu-Ray with upgraded sound. Of course the quality is better and the best example of the sound is when Malcolm X begins his first duties preaching on the Harlem streets with Al Sharpton and Bobby Seale. THAT is a perfect use of surround sound panning and it stayed precise! THIS is the type of surround sound that ALL movies should have.
4.5/5
PICTURE: If you already owned the DVD, then you are more than aware of how clean and clear the picture is. It is so nice looking that when you watch it, you find it hard to believe that twenty years have passed! The first DVD release of Malcolm X was on a single side, dual-layer disc that was perfect for what I liked seeing the DVD cover art. That disc, I knew, was stretching it to the limits because of the running time, but it made do. The second release spread the film out over two discs which I hate, but when the film is three plus hours long, I can deal with it more. The picture quality was maximized for DVD and it showed.
Now with this Blu-Ray, I was always wondering what improvements could be made on the picture quality since it was already stellar. I assume that it would appear more film-like and I was not expecting too much more in the way of details. For the most part that is what you get here, although I have not viewed the DVD in over a year so I am going by memory. You do see film grain mainly through the early part of Malcolm's life, before he was sent to prison. I believe that the grain and slightly smoother look was a style choice kind of like JFK. Once Malcolm becomes an official Nation of Islam member, the picture is as crisp and as clean as you expect it to be. This film quality always made me say that this is the reason that directors should not make the jump to straight digital FILMING just yet, as film can be scaled into the future better unlike a digital file.
The truth is, you do see more details, but it is not the difference between night and day like most DVD to BD's are. I better noticed the rubber on Denzel's fake goatee and marks on faces than in the past (I also have a larger TV now too!)and the zoot suits patterns are clear and you can make out exactly what they are and the colors do not stick.
5/5
Is it an upgrade? Of course it is, but it is not a light speed jump ONLY because the source material was so good to begin with! Now, of course this is the best quality Malcolm X you will get on ONE DISC with supreme sound. If you have the single disc DVD of X, then get this. If you have the 2-disc set and you do not like having one film over two discs, then get this. If you want it is loss-less surround sound get this!
Now Warner Brothers, PLEASE give me the Shaft movies and Superfly with remastered soundtracks in surround sound! I also want the Bruce Lee films on BD edited (why not?) and the sound all-new! It is not as if those HAVE to be as they were. Someone do it!
Want Malcolm X (Blu-ray Book) (2012) Discount?
I say this quite often about movies, but very rarely say it with as much conviction as when I'm referring to Malcolm X. This is, without a doubt the best movie I've seen in my entire lifetime, and if you haven't seen it, then it will become the best movie you will ever see. I'm actually shocked by some of the 1 star reviews, especially the one calling it a dangerous movie. For one, this movie keeps very loyal to the events and people talked about in his autobiography written by Alex Haley. To call it a dangerous film because it chronicles the life of Malcolm X, would be to call history dangerous. It accurately documents the rise and fall of Malcolm X and accurately displays the reasons for that rise and fall. If a man converted to Islam and became a militant because of this movie, then simply, he didn't get this movie, or at least he didn't watch it all the way through. This isn't anti-Islamic, nor can it be claimed that this in any way can incite militant or extremist behaviour as this exposes the consequences of such behaviours.Malcolm X was a man who possibly equally responsible for the civil rights movement of African-Americans, yet accomplished it in a completely different way. When I first read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley some 5 years ago, it changed my life. The story of the mans religious beliefs and strong heart was inspiring and a story that showed you can really achieve anything if you set your mind to it. Of course, it's cliché but life is full of clichés and that one is about the only cliché you can associate with Malcolm X. He was a man not afraid to speak the truth about the segregation of Afro-Americans, especially in the North where it was believed the black man was much more equal than in the south. Spike Lee in some ways is a lot like Malcolm X, he's a man not afraid to speak out against lifes atrocities and lies by putting them up on screen.
Denzel Washington is possibly the best casting choice for a movie I've ever witnessed and this casting. Not only does he look like Malcolm, but his personality and charisma match that of the legendary figure. The start of this film is Malcolm (Denzel) delivering one of his infamous speeches which sends the electricity down your spine. What's special is even the delivery is akin to that of Malcolm. After that speech we're reverted back to Malcolms beginnings in Harlem as a drug pusher and pimp, and he's telling the story of his early childhood which presents us with numerous flashbacks of his Fathers murder and his Mothers descension into insanity. Because of this, you sort of become aware of how he ends up being the man he is at the start of the movie by going through all these tragedies. After a robbery with his best friend Shorty goes wrong, he's sent to jail where he finds the Nation of Islam and is visited by an apparition of the Prophet Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm has his eyes opened by the atrocious treatment of the African American by the white man. The NOI even today are fighting to have a state designated solely for the Black American, where they can govern themselves and look after their own interests. Malcolm eventually becomes a minister for the Nation and opens it up to a much wider audience, much to the displeasure or the Nation of Islam.
If you're familiar with Minister Malcolm, then you're familiar with what happens next as a result of his joining the Nation. The spectacular life events of such a man are just un-imaginable and it's hard to believe that a man, although he'll disagree, when he was a member of the Nation of Islam was such a segregationist managed to be an influence on so many people. Making such high profile friends such as film star Ossie Davis and working with other, more integarationist activists like Martin Luther King, he managed to truly change the world and is probably one of the main reasons as to why America now has a black man in the White House. Depending on how you look at it, you can either determine that the Islam religion was what made Malcolm such a hero, or whether it was the original manipulation of the Nation of Islam. Either way, I think all will agree that the man was taken away from us all too early.
Looking at articles about Malcolm and his wife Betty X, I found out something truly heart wrenching. Betty X, Malcolms wife, died just over 10 years ago in a fire caused by Malcolm X's grandson. I'm not sure whether the fire was lit to deliberately kill his grandmother, but he was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in Juvenile detention for manslaughter. The reason I brought this up is in the film you will be shown a lot of Betty X and you will come to realise when a great mother and wife she was. She was just as strong an influence on the life and times of Malcolm, as the blight of the black American was. She held the Shabazz family together through the times they left the Nation of Islam and were basically being tortured by them. I applaud her and minister Malcolm for their effect on the world and equal rights.
Minister Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) May 19 1925 February 21 1965
Dr. Betty Shabazz May 28 1936 June 23 1997
May they both Rest in Peace.
Save 41% Off
No comments:
Post a Comment