Black Dynamite

Written by Alessandro & Sonia Gambaro on Thursday, 09 July 2009 17:30

Alessandro and I sat down in our press seats at the crowded Ford Ampitheater. It was the first time during the Los Angeles Film Festival that we had seen it so full. Sadly, we all had learned just hours earlier that Michael Jackson had passed away. Appropriately, the Dj played an impromptu mix of the King of Pop's jams set to a montage of videos. Moving seamlessly into a well-prepared Dj Set of early seventies soul over clips of blaxploitation films such as Black Coffee, Cooley High, Supafly and a whole bunch featuring Jim Kelly, Dj Suckapunch set the tone for the rest of the evening.

A perfect parody of Blaxploitation, Black Dynamite is so well made that it pays homage to the genre as much as it satirizes. The film opens up with a commerical for Anaconda Malt Liquor which apparently give you the Ooooooooooh.

Originally written by Michael Jai White and Byron Minns, Black Dynamite, was adapted to a screenplay and directed by Scott Sanders. The story follows our hero, Black Dynamite, a tough as nails ex-CIA agent who leaves a trail of beat-up bad guys and heartbroken ladies wherever he goes. Dynamite is on a mission to avenge his murdered brother when he begins to unravel a long complicated conspiracy aimed to hit the black man, right where it hurts.

We were completely in awe of the amazing fight scenes, clever writing and phenomenal acting. In disbelief I kept asking, "Where did they ever find this guy?" Taking me literally as always my Italian partner kept replying, "I don't know!" As it turns out Black Dynamite was played by Michael Jai White who is also one of the writers. White is a real deal martial artist who holds seven legitimate Black Belts in Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, Kobudo, Goju Ryu, Tang Soo Do, Kyokushin and Wushu.

Ale: Besides the acting being great I thought the music was on point.

Sonia: The music was perfect. I loved how they really went the extra mile with this film and tailored every song to each scene.

Ale: Yeah, it was a work of art. The score was entirely original composed by Adrian Younge
Sonia: A lot of it sounded like it could be an old 45 but then the lyrics would go right along with the scene

Watch composer Adrian Younge speak about his process for creating the Black Dynamite Soundtrack. Original Music by Adrian Younge. http://www.makingof.com/insiders/media/adrian/younge/editor-composer-aj-younge/9/18

Ale: What did you think about the characters?
Sonia: Great names, everytime someone was introduced I was laughing; Tommy Davidson as Creamed Corn, Arsenio Hall as Tasty Freeze, Brian McKnight as Sweet Meat!

Ale: Arsenio is back!
Sonia: Serendipity, you were just asking whatever happened to him last week.

Ale: Yeah, you're right. The main character, Black Dynamite, really kicked ass.
Sonia: That was crazy, I was blown away by how good the fight scenes were. You never see that quality of work in straight-up comedys.

Ale: I wonder how long it took them to shoot the movie.
Sonia: With the amount of work put into not only the choreography and music...

Ale: Also the clothes and sets..
Sonia: Yes! It had to take a long time.There was a lot of diligent work put into this film.

Ale: You are talking about work but it seems that they had a lot of fun making it.
Sonia: I bet the costume designers had a lot of fun.

Ale: Yeah they put together some really authentic looking outfits.
Sonia: It really seemed to have been made in 1974 or something. The only thing I noticed that could have possibly been out of place was the red porsche.

Ale: Are you sure it was a Porsche?
Sonia: I'll bet you 20 bucks it was a porsche and 5 more that it was from the early 80's.

Ale: You lose so many bets with me that 20 bucks more is nothing.

Sonia: Lets go see it again when it hits the theaters and we'll see who's right.

Ale: Do I have to pay for the tickets?

Black Dynamite will be released October 16th.

The Official Black Dynamite Website:

http://www.blackdynamitemovie.com/

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