Dreamgirls, Working Girl & Boomerang
Those are the movies that kept me company over the last few days.
Back in college there was a class that had everyone refrain from most forms of media, including television, radio, internet, newspapers etc. They had to do it for a week. I say they, because I never took that class, even though I always wondered what that would be like.
These last few days, I got a tiny hint, and it ain’t pretty. It took a minute for the cable guy to come out and install everything, and with everything gone digital now, and me without a converter box, I couldn’t even watch free tv. So I read a book in two days. That’s fast for me. I’m not much of a reader. I watch TV.
Luckly, the electricity was working, so I watched DVDs. Trying to save money, I didn’t rent any from Blockbuster, don’t have Netflix, and I owe the library almost $13 in late fees. So I pulled from my own arsenal, which is very small indeed. The main three that captured my attention were Dreamgirls, Working Girl, and Boomerang.
Dreamgirls
I saw this movie the day it came out, I believe on the first showing. I lived in NYC at the time, was broke, and AMC Theatres were playing movies for $6 if you got there before 12pm. I got there before 12. Watching that movie, it was as if someone had sprinkled fairy dust on me. I loved it. I felt it. I cried after the big And I Am Telling You number. I cried at the end. So much for saving bucks, I went and saw the movie two other times in the theatre, both times not making it before 12pm and paying about twice that early-bird charge. Immediately, I also ran out and bought the CD, and when the DVD came out, well, by now, you already know how that went.
Working Girl
I was a young kid when I first saw this movie, and I didn’t see it from the beginning. I caught it at the end, when homegirl was in her office, using her phone, and then shortly thereafter, the credits roll with the glorious sounds of Carly Simon’s Let the River Run. That song has overtones of gospel, and African beats–I love it. Sometimes I go to scene selections, and just play the end. The opening lyrics are killer–”let the river run, let all the dreams wake the nation,” powerful stuff, man.
I was a temp in New York before. I know the feeling of dipping into a ruthless business. It is the epitome of being dispensable. People literally don’t give a shit about you. And when you don’t give a shit about them either, it makes for a bad combination, but I digress.
I just love the character in the moive, Tess. I know exactly how she feels, I’m just not clever enough or slick enough to pull off what she did.
Boomerang
Above any other type of movie, I love a good romantic comedy. To me, Boomerang does it so well, and probably the best amongst the black samples of the genre. Of all the movies I watched over my tv-less few days, this is the one I watched the most.
It came out when I was like preteen or early teenaged, and back then, I didn’t notice several things that I did now as an adult. For example, I didn’t even pick up on the fact that everyone in the office was black. I didn’t realize back then that that was a rarity. And Robin Givens character, when I was a kid, I hated her, I hated how she treated Eddie Murphy. Now as an adult, and I’m ashamed to not be ashamed to admit that I want to be just like her. I want to do that to a man.
And now, I have TV again.