Hello, I'm Omar Moore. I was born and raised in London, where I grew up before moving to New York City with my parents. After branching out in the Big Apple on my own for a number of years, I moved west to San Francisco. I love America and its promise. We all need to do our small part to make this great country even better for all. Where a film is concerned, it is never "only a movie." Images mean something. They have unyielding power and influence, whether in "Birth of A Nation", "Un Chien Andalou", "Night Of The Hunter", "Killer Of Sheep", "Persona", "Psycho", "A Clockwork Orange", "Blazing Saddles", "Straw Dogs", "Soul Man", "Chameleon Street", "Do The Right Thing", "Bamboozled" or "Irreversible". A filmmaker generally doesn't put images in a film if they are meaningless.
in the great "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the beauty of "Eyes Wide Shut".
•
•
•
•
•
•
I am intrigued by Antonioni's "Blow-Up". I respect and admire Sidney Poitier, John Cassevetes, Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee, Ingmar Bergman, Oliver Stone, Luis Bunuel, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Meryl Streep, Danny Glover, Jodie Foster, Tilda Swinton, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Sidney Lumet, Euzhan Palzy, Melvin Van Peebles, Denzel Washington, Steven Soderbergh, Kathryn Bigelow, Pedro Almodovar, Akira Kurosawa,
Michael Douglas, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese.
I am thrilled by the strength and potency of the 1930s, '40s and '50s women of Howard Hawks' great films. I long for those women to be represented again in 21st century Hollywood films, for they are sorely lacking, especially in today's romantic comedies.
I remember that the remarkable artist and educator Ayoka Chenzira once asked me, "which language do you think in?" I don't recall my answer of years ago but today if she asked my response would probably be, "celluloid". I am a lawyer, athlete, celebrity interviewer, member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, photographer, journalist, politics junkie, sports addict (ardent Watford Football Club fan), music lover and the creator and editor of The Popcorn Reel, the movies, features and review website I own.
I also write for Examiner.com and have had three letters published in The New York Times. Twitter, YouTube and Facebook will soon become my middle names.
•
•
•
•
•
Omar Moore's website is popcornreel.com.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thank you Omar for this wonderfuul review. I agree, "The Messenger" is one of the best movies of the year. I really think Ben Foster's performance is very underrated. Then again the Academy ignored him in the past so I didn't expect a nom for him in such a crowded category this year.
I do believe "The Messenger" should've been nominated for Best Picture though. I mean it was clearly better than "The Blind Side".
Anyway, thanks for the review. I loved how you mentioned that the movie "is not about war but about emotion and protocol and how those two things intersect"....very true.
"The Messenger" has lots of raw emotional power, and I was struck by it during several scenes. By focusing on protocol, people, and emotions, the story becomes quite universal and it will not be remained in our time. Foster and Harrelson are quietly intense, and there are good supporting turns from Buscemi(his scene is heartbreaking) and luminous Morton.
After hearing about this movie, I had a chance to watch HBO movie "Taking Chance". It is made with good intention and is accompanied by good performance from Kevin Bacon. But I felt emotionally hollow. Interesting thing is, the movie also focuses on the protocol(this time, it is taking body of someone died in Iraq to his family) and values restraint. Maybe it is too reverent toward its subject, I think. Near the end of movie, I briefly saw character not so different from Harrleson's or Forster's character and I thought he might have more interesting story than Strobl(Bacon's character). My prediction was right. It is more hard job to deliver bad news nobody wants to deliver.
Hi Omar,
Welcome aboard. Nice review. Beautiful first name.
I want to see this movie now. I had been hearing about it, but I don't think it's been released at a theater near me yet.
Very nice.
Omer M
Thanks so much, Wael, for your kind words. "The Messenger" was, in my humble opinion, one of the most important American films of 2009. I think that a large majority of America has very little idea of the sacrifices and hardships that U.S. military families endure, and this film offers us glimpses of the emotional casualties of war, in a refreshingly adult way, with candor. The film is virtually manipulation-free. I'm very impressed that Oren Moverman makes his feature film directing debut here, because it's a brilliantly-directed first effort.
Oscar dreams spring eternal,
Omar
Hi Seongyong - I have yet to see "Taking Chance" despite numerous opportunities to do so! I will make a point of watching it as soon as I have a chance. Kevin Bacon has spoken very highly of the film and I look forward to seeing it. I'm really pleased that you appreciated "The Messenger". It is difficult to find many members of the general public who have seen it. I'd personally like to talk to Mr. Moverman about the film - he has tapped into some things that a lot of films of this genre (war-affiliated dramas) haven't managed to.
Cheers,
Omar
Omer, thanks so very much for the welcome! It is sincerely an honor to be one of Mr. Ebert's correspondents, and to be in the company of yourself and the other terrific film critics and commentators I share this great forum with. (Forgive me if that sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech!)
I hope you get a chance to see The Messenger". The film's website http://www.themessengermovie.com has a "theaters" section. You can click on that section and scroll down to see the list of theaters (and dates) where the film is playing. I hope it is playing near you, or if not, that a play date is in the works. It seems as if the whole planet has seen "Avatar" but if a fraction of those moviegoers see Mr. Moverman's film, I expect he'd be very happy.
Oh yes -- nice name, Omer!
Best,
Omar M.
Ebert: Hate to break in here, but..."Roger," please.
Very nice first submission Omar.
Hard to believe Woody Harrelson could get an Academy Award nomination the very same year he came up with his role in "2012", one of the very worst things about that movie. That alone has spiked my interest to see THE MESSENGER when it arrives down here.
Greetings, Omar. Wonderful to read about you and your work. The question I asked you years ago was what language to you dream in. Keep up the wonderful work.