The Current Online

by BRAD SHELTON

Like fine wine, Nicholas Cage improves every year. Last year he starred in Adaptation, the year’s best film. This year he returns with a more difficult role and nails it with perfection.

Matchstick Men is a wise drama that never loses sight of what it sets out to do, which is captivate its audience by fully developing its characters and giving what could have been an ordinary movie a complex story.

As Matchstick Men begins, we learn from the first few minutes that Roy(Cage), is not your average character. Every time he opens a door, he must open it and close it three times before proceeding to where he is going. We also find out that he is a con man, who with partner Frank (played brilliantly by Sam Rockwell), pull elaborate schemes on innocent unknowing people.

The cons could all work with ease, but tension arises due to Roy’s obsessive-compulsive disorder. His problems “on the job” convince Frank that Roy needs to see a shrink.

This is where the story helps us to know the characters better, and find out what their true nature is. Roy’s shrink convinces Roy to get in touch with his daughter Angela (Alison Lohman), who he has never met. She is 14 and excited to get to know the man her mother once told her was in prison and then dead.

At first Roy is indecisive about her, but he soon learns that she is what his outrageous life has been needing. We see Roy come into his own with the new relationship between him and his daughter. At one point in the film he teaches her to do a con, tells her it was wrong afterwards and then reveals to his shrink that he actually enjoyed teaching it to her.

The relationship between Roy and his daughter, Roy and Frank and Roy and his job all blossom throughout the film. Roy goes for one last scam, so that he can focus on his relationship with his daughter. In the next series

by BRAD SHELTON

Who would’ve thought that Kansas City was capable of producing more than one talented rapper? After listening to local garbage for years, another rapper has emerged from the shadows, dropping a hit-loaded album. Below Zero, a KC native, releases his sophmore album, Beginning of Forever, a 20-track record sure to be an underground hit.
Beginning of Forever is one of the more versatile albums to drop in KC. It contains songs about relationships, life, loss and definitions of hip-hop skills. The first song to blow your mind is “Won’t Be Denied,” a blazing track produced by Ozone Beats. The beat on this song is one of the finest to ever come out of KC. “Driven,” featuring J Scrill is another track laced with a nice beat, which allows both J and Below’s lyrics to flow melodically. The creativity of Below really kicks in with “All 4 You,” featuring Trajik. “All 4 You,” is a song dedicated to God for everything given to the two rappers. In today’s rap game, its refreshing to hear a song with such a positive message. “Real Talk,” a sure-fire hit produced by West Coast beat guru Sean-T, is a song that allows Below to say things that he’s had on his mind and discuss a friend who recently died.
Only a few songs didn’t sit well. “Revenge,” a track in which Below raps about people who betrayed him, has a good beat and a nice concept, but with Below’s ability to rock rhymes, I felt he didn’t give the other rappers he was criticizing enough punishment.
Overall, Beginning of Forever should be a Midwest favorite. Below created an album that blends all types of music, from hip-hop to jazz, and R&B to rock, the diversity incorp-orporated into the album is something that should be appreciated by fans. The opportunity to hear an album with a message is uncommon with other area artists. The album doesn’t have any tales of drug dealing, gang violence or sexual exploits. It’s just straight up hip-hop. If you’re a fan of that, then this is your album. For more information on Below Zero visit www.70Mile.com.

by BRAD SHELTON

by BRAD SHELTON

As I finished watching Bringing Down the House, the only thing that wandered through my mind was how this movie had managed to bring in so much money at the box office and find itself being labeled as a funny movie.
The crowd at the theatre was pretty diverse. Its blend of different races, would have led me to believe that the movie’s content could have been equally dispensed. As the film rolled on, I realized that I was wrong.
Through out the movie, there was a fair share of racial jokes aimed at African-Americans. At one point, Steve Martins character tries to blend in with young African-American people at a party by dressing up in overly-baggy clothes, and talking like his education never surpassed the 5th grade. This, I’m assuming, was writer Jason Filardi’s idea of how young black American’s are represented. The timing of the jokes was supposed to be in correlation with the scenes, which would have made it somewhat appropriate, but towards the end of the movie, the jokes got out of hand.
In a late scene, Steve Martin and Queen Latifah were hosting a dinner party for an important client. The scene went alright until the client, an older lady, began singing “slave songs” in which she belted, “Is master going to sell us in the morning, mama. At this point every white person in the crowd was laughing hysterically, while black people either shifting uncomfortably in their seats or even commented out loud that the movie had gone too far.
So, after having time to think about the film, I realized why the film had been so successful. It’s very sad to imagine it, especially in today’s time and age, but it appears that white America still finds racial humor, a funny concept.