The Only Woman I've Ever Loved (Boss Level Movie Review)

 

NO SPOILERS!

Everything within this post comes from the trailers on YouTube. And yes I did actually see the entire film.

I had nearly three weeks of vacation over the recent Christmas period, and like any good movie junkie I used the opportunity to watch a movie every other night. 

Soooooo much popcorn... YAY!

Does anyone remember the cute Fantasy, Romance, Comedy film from 1993 starring Bill Murray called Groundhog Day? 

That's the best thing I can say without spoiling the film - just add a whole lot of cursing and violence.  Undoubtedly a lot of people might be turned off with the action and violence, but impressively, the movie combined a lot of heart and tender and touching moments. 

The movie is starring Frank Grillo as a retired special forces officer trapped in a never ending time loop on the day of his death. You might remember Frank Grillo from the Captain America movies as Brock Rumlow/ Crossbones. i.e. if you're a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan.

Frank gives an amazing all round performance and captures the entire range of emotions throughout the entire movie. The couple of slow bits in the movie which I didn't like at the time  I was watching the movie but are like soooo totally necessary for the movie, Frank really shows his range as an actor.

Frank Grillo as an action star especially in this movie, you could see the fun he was having in kicking the *ss of everyone.

Mel Gibson is the eponymous boss and who doesn't know Mel Gibson from Braveheart, Lethal Weapon and Mad Max? 

Mel Gibson gives a totally impressive Mel Gibson performance, as if he was the only person born for the role and the role was written only for him. 

Naomi Watts stars as the only woman Frank Grillo's character has ever loved and the less I say about her the better? You'll see when you watch the movie. 

She is better known from her performances from King Kong and The Impossible. Hasn't starred in many timeless movies, but gives really great performances in what she does.

Michelle Yeoh has a critical supporting role in the film and is critical to the overall plot of the movie. Michelle is best known internationally for her role in Tomorrow Never Dies (James Bond) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 

No matter, if you memorise the entire YouTube trailer, the trailer and marketing for the movie was well done, think Avengers Endgame Marketing well done. The trailer hides a lot of the great twists in the movie. 

You know how sometimes movies have a lot of extraordinary reviews from critics? And then when you see it, it's the worst load of poop sh*t show you've ever seen and you regret wasting your life?

THIS MOVIE LIVED UP TO EVERYTHING.

Directed, written and produced by Joe Carnahan, better known for Narc, Smokin' Aces, The A-Team and The Grey (which coincidentally I have not seen any of his movies - have to take in some of his movies now after Boss Level)

Joe Carnahan made a truly unbelievable movie and due to COVID-19, is not going to be released worldwide in cinemas and unfortunately only on Hulu in the USA and Japan on 5 March 2021.

Imagine this film was completed with filming in May 2018 and it took this long to surface.   

Before I forget - this movie is hilarious and can also be billed as a comedy. 

I Am Guan Yin and Guan Yin Has Done This! 

It'll make sense when you see the movie.

I also liked how the film didn't try to explain any of the science fiction stuff in too much detail - it was just like here - deal with it. The special effects were just enough without becoming too cheesy, DC live action movies anyone?

With an impressive number of supporting characters rounding out a true popcorn flick, it was just one bad guy after the next after the next. 

As Thanos says "This does put a smile on my face". It will probably be one of those hidden gems of a movie that people would constantly stumble on over the years and it's a crying shame that has to happen. 

Here's to hoping it lands up soon on the Disney Plus (+) expansion worldwide using the Star branded tile on Disney Plus later this year/ next year. 

Overall rating - 9.0/10

One of the best pure action movies I've seen in a long time, very bad *ss, plenty violence, lots of cursing. I would say I didn't love every second of it, there were a couple slow bits where the story drifted slightly, so I took off 0.5 for that, as well as the last 30 seconds of the movie disappointed me greatly so another 0.5 for that. 

However, this movie comes with an extremely high recommendation from me for all action addicts and fans of Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts and Michelle Yeoh.

This would've been f**king awesome to see in a Cinema on a big screen. F**k you COVID-19.

A huge round of applause for Boss Level.  

Start the movie, turn up the sound as loud as you can and enjoy yourself for 100 minutes of screen-time. 

The Art Of Music Video Creation (Click-bait) (Music)

A small disclaimer - I have not been involved in the creation of any music video thus far in my life (as much as I wanted to be) and any resemblance to any other music video/ imagery is more than likely coincidental and is not meant to be representative of anything.

I also, however, do not know if these ideas can work in a music video, but I believe it has potential? Who knows. 

Onto the good stuff!

These were created nearly ten years ago - when I thought it was a good idea to be a manager of a band. This blog post will however not go into any details of the band and just the parts that I created for potential music videos.

As prerequisites for the music videos, I'm going under the assumption that the band has five members, a lead singer, a drummer, a lead guitar, a rhythm guitar and a bass guitar player, as well as one of these should be a decent backing vocalist.

First Music Video Idea (Volcano/lava field)

Opening scene to a bleak dusty filled chamber/ cavern with dust devils. 

The starting of the song with drum beats (only) is shown by an overhead camera, which then starts to cause the roof of the cavern to fall. 

The pieces of the cavern roof conveniently misses the band members that are playing their various instruments. 

The sky is revealed to be a dark lightning filled sky. 

As the pieces of the roof strike the ground, they break the ground away revealing the boiling molten lava field.

The opening instrumentals begin and the destruction of the cavern is completed, this should show the five members each on a separate pillar of rock.

As the song continues, the lava goes through (as random as possible), increasingly larger bursts/ waves of lava, which steadily consumes each of the pillars that the band members are standing on.

During an instrument break of the song, the lead singer slips on her platform and falls off catching herself on the ledge. 

The lead singer pulls herself back up on the ledge and she sings the last verse of the song. 

As the last verse of the song is finished, the lead singer falls into a kneeling position and watches as the drummer finishes the song and then leans back, crosses her arms and falls into the lava. 

During the fall, she lets go of one of her drum sticks, which lands and stays stuck in a piece of rock that is just jutting out of the lava. 

As the final frames of the music video closes, the drum stick is shown with the words "to be continued" written on it in fiery cursive script/letters. 

The final shot of the music video will be of the lead singer giving an evil grin.

Second Music Video Idea (Waterfall - cavern in waterfall)

The opening shot is of a waterfall and in the background, snow covered mountains. 

Next up would be a shot of the lead singer jumping down the waterfall and landing on a protruding rock halfway down the waterfall. 

The next shot shows the full extent of the mountains and the convergence of the five waterfalls (conveniently for the five band members) into a huge/vast bottomless pool. 

The five waterfalls are in a circle. 

The opening seconds of the video should show one after the next, the other band members (the lead guitarist, the rhythm guitarist and the bass guitarist) dropping onto their respective ledges on each waterfall.

The opening instrumentals of the song would show behind a curtain of water (of the fifth waterfall) the drummer (minus the drummer actually being seen).

Throughout the music video - there should be continuous different camera views of each band member as they are playing. 

One camera to the left, one to the right, one directly in front and one just above. 

At some point during the music video a lightning storm starts turning what was once a beautiful sun kissed scene dark and dangerous. 

During the lightning strikes, this should reduce the platforms of rock that the band members are standing on, reducing it to a dangerously small area by the end of the music video.

As the song continues and builds to a finish, an avalanche starts on the mountain that has the drummer's waterfall. 

The resulting debris cuts off the flow of the water completely. This reveals the drummer to be safe and sound (who died in the first music video). 

The lead singer sees her and a shocked look crosses her face. 

The shocked look stays on her face as one of the drummer's sticks (thrown by the drummer) appears in her throat killing her. 

In the last chords of the song, and in a last act of desperation, the lead singer clutches at the rock, but it is much too slippery for her to hold onto. 

She falls (the 50 or so feet) into the water and blood (something red) is seen after she enters it. 

A split screen is used showing the four remaining members of the band looking over the edge of their platforms of rock at the water as the lead singer hits it. 

The final shot of the music video closes with a silent clock (reminiscent of the TV series 24 when someone significant dies).

This then disappears and the words to be continued is shown in cursive writing on the screen. (with water effects)

Third Music Video Idea (Ice-field/ Iceberg)

The music video starts with a close up shot of the lead singer frozen in an iceberg, arms spread wide, hair all askew. 

Interestingly this shot works better in my mind with a female lead singer. 

Next show shows the ling-up in front of the ice-berg, the bass guitarist, the drummer, the rhythm guitarist and the lead guitarist. 

As the song starts, cracks start to appear in the iceberg that the lead singer is frozen in. 

Before the first verse of the song is about to start, the song stops and the iceberg shatters into a million pieces and the lead singer is freed. 

The song now starts and the next few shots are with the different band members playing interspersed with beautiful shots of the vast/ limitless icebergs field. 

In the backdrop/background of these shots, the same snow covered mountains from the second music video are seen. 

Midway through the music video, an earthquake/iceberg quake? This causes the iceberg to break/split up into three pieces leaving the bassist, and the rhythm guitarist stranded on separate icebergs which start to drift away from each other. 

Three-quarters of the way through the song a meteor shower starts, striking at the separate icebergs reducing them to dangerously small levels/areas for the band members to stand on.

As the last chords of the song are finished, a tiny meteorite is shown to be striking the lead singer severely disorienting her. 

She slips and falls against the lead guitarist  and drags him off the iceberg with one arm around his neck in a choking grip. 

As they fall in the most dramatic fashion possible, the music video is finished when they hit the water with the words written to be continued is shown in cursive writing. (With ice effects)

As you can imagine - there are a million ways that I can continue the sequence of each band member consecutively offing each other, 

This was as far as I had reached in coming up with different music video ideas (having listened to the theme of the album that the band's music was). 

Love to hear some feedback and ideas - maybe I can have a part two at a later date. 

The Art Of Discrimination (clickbait)

Hi everyone!

Hope my post can shed some light of the different ways discrimination can occur.

It's been three years, and two weeks since I've published a blog post, and what a time it has been since.

I'm older, maybe wiser? Maybe a little more sane? Only time will tell I guess.

Thank you to Fairytalekindagirl for the inspiration to start back writing and clearing my writers block! Check out her blog (linked) for that taste of magic that everyone needs! You're awesome 🤗

The recent events of the US Capitol Hill siege/ insurrection yesterday (Wednesday 6th January 2021) has reminded me of the time I was discriminated against (consciously) three times within the space of a just over an hour and a half at Miami International Airport. 

A combination of my name (Muslim), religion (Islam) and skin colour (Indian)

Caveat - I am sure I was discriminated against many times in the past, and probably I put it down to bad service or that person having a bad day.

Why was I in Miami?

An all expense paid trip for training, courtesy of my work.

Typically, my entire life, I've really had no desire to go to the United States of America, as nothing really appealed to me. Maybe I've had my fill from looking at the dozens of movies and TV series coming out of USA.

Another thing I need to say, is that discrimination comes in many forms and this was the first time in my life I got discriminated against and combined with me being tired from the flight, made me scared that I was going to get thrown into jail etc (probably the fear mainly comes from my love of the TV series 24 for those of you who don't know what this series comprises there's a handy link for you)

Anyway - in October 2019 - arrived at just past 7:30 and it took me until nearly 9:30 to meet back up with my three colleagues. 

I was quite excited to experience a new airport and new experiences. If it's one thing I love (out of many many other things) is the flying experience (departure and arrivals and everything in between). Navigating customs can be a tricky experience at best and I managed to take an hour and a half as compared to the relatively light experience of half hour for my colleagues.

First Act

Because of my name being wholesomely Islamic - Usayd Abdul Samad Hamid, I got automatically flagged to go in the line for additionally screening with all the other "potential" suspects in the eyes of the USA. So my three colleagues breezed through one line, and my customs ticket and an X over the face of it - so the customs agents would know where to send me.

Second Act

I was tired no end from the flight, and the extremely slow moving of the line because typically in situations like these, there was two customs agents (I think, can't remember for sure) screening hundreds of passengers. I spotted another customs agent making his way down the line talking to each passenger and asking for their ticket and passport and asking them some questions. 

When he reached to me and started to read my passport and details, I could actually see his demeanour changing as in his mind he found someone who meets their criteria as a troublemaker. He pulls me out of the line and takes me to the front of the line (this is the only good thing that happened in the whole experience, he made my wait time cut by an hour). He had me scan my fingerprints with the other customs desk agent and he was talking excitedly in Spanish with him (I don't understand Spanish, so it sounded excited to me). At this stage I got panicked as my fingerprints weren't scanning initially after the first couple of tries.

He then took me in a room behind the waiting area with the lines and questioned for around ten minutes (he had a whole questionnaire to fill out). He asked me such questions as to my purpose in Miami, what mosque I go to in Trinidad, and if I noticed any potential dangerous situations when I go. 

As a result of my job, I am all over Trinidad and I don't typically have the opportunity to either go to mosque regularly or go to the same mosque on a Friday for Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿah. Unfortunately I probably miss a lot during the year. 

It was only after I showed him the printed out emails from my work which indicated why I am there and where I would be staying, he realised that I am the least of his worries and wrapped up with me very quickly after that. Thank goodness I had the foresight to print out those emails - cause I don't know if I would've been allowed to start up my laptop there to show him the emails. 

He also took the opportunity to have me show him the contents of my carry-on and suitcase (which I considered to be normal inspection, he didn't touch anything).

Third Act

Leaving the customs area and meeting up with my colleagues in the luggage collection area, who were wondering what on earth happened to me, I felt that sense of relief as I probably was on adrenaline for the period of my experience. 

Now - leaving the luggage pick-up section and walking to the exit of the airport - I was stopped by an all white security guard who demanded my passport and ticket and reason for being there. (I should note at this point that all the colleagues I was with were black and I was the Indian - so this time it was a skin colour discrimination). All my colleagues were allowed to exit and I was questioned for a couple of minutes.

All in all - an experience I still remember clearly 15 months after and has it turned me off from going to the USA? Quite possibly for the rest of my life - but, who knows where life will take me - here's to hoping a second experience (if it happens) is not as bad as this.

And I know - people have a lot of worse experiences.

Here I am - looking all tired as **** in the hotel lobby after my experience.