KALE808

(2013-05-16 01:18:01)

"Video Girl" - Meagan Good Gets Her Video Vixen On...

"Video Girl" got a lot of things right - acting, cinematography, anddirection are all notable. I always say we need to see more moviesabout African Americans just living life and doing things everydaypeople do. This is one of those movies. It tells the story of LoriWalker, strongly played by Megan Good, who moves from her small town toLos Angeles to pursue music video modeling. You can tell that thepeople involved with making this movie knew the business, because theygot the nuances right, like the atmosphere of a music video set.Lorie's submergence into the world of music videos also felt true toreal life, as did the interaction between the key players. Good broughther considerable acting experience to bear in this movie, taking it upseveral notches. There needs to be a separate mention for cinematographer John Barr, whowas camera operator on Capote and Frost/Nixon. This guy knows what he'sdoing, and he gave the movie a professional, self assured look that israrely seen in independent African American films. People may notnotice small things like the lighting on the golf course music videoscene, but as a photographer I certainly did. Bravo John. Melyssa Ford has a nice part as a bad influence on Lorie. Esther Baxteralso has a small part in the movie, as do Suelyn and Angel Lola Luv.All of the supporting cast is fairly good, and particularly La'MyiaGood as Lorie's sister (La'Myia is Meagan's real life sis) and HaylieDuff (Hilary's older sister) as Lorie's "friend." (Haylie is uncreditedin the movie for reasons unknown to me.) The first half of the movie is enjoyable in a low key way. If you don'talready like Meagan Good, you probably will after this movie: sheapparently has no bad camera angles. The problem comes with the thirdact of the film, as Lorie succumbs to the fast life in Los Angeles.This part of the movie feels overwrought and drawn out. Additionally,Lorie's sudden cocaine abuse problem feels clichГѓВ© and dated. (Itprobably should have been an oxy or vicodin addiction.) But the mainissue is that we aren't shown any of the real problems an aspiringvideo vixen might encounter (e.g., being a single parent, homelessness,rape) in a meaningful way. Success actually comes pretty easily forLorie, except that "Shark," the music video director who takes herunder his wing, becomes overly possessive. There's some back storyabout issues at home leading to Lorie's unraveling, but it also seemscut and paste. Despite this, "Video Girl" is still a pretty likable movie. It's noteveryday you see a quality black, indie like this, and I suspect thatas word gets around, this will become a favorite in the community.Kudos to all involved.

ryanmkincaid

(2013-05-14 08:06:48)

Too many clichГѓВ©s, not enough substance

There are some great things about this movie; Megan Good works hard tohumanize her character, Mylessa Ford has fun as a bad girl and we likeit, and this projects looks well put together more so than most filmswith a similar target audience. You can actually see the budget beingput on screen here.Unfortunately it stops there. The problems lie in the story telling andat the end, the audience doesn't really... care.Problem 1: the 'Shark' character. He's build up to be the bad guy, apossessive boyfriend that hinders our heroine's progress to become thenext great talent in Hollywood. We see glimpses of these actions withvague hints of mental and physical abuse. But the clichГѓВ©s thatultimately make our heroine (Megan Goode) spiral out of control intoher ultimate tragedy are exactly what he was trying to protect her fromso is he 'really' the bad guy? A simpler way to explain it: pictureyour mom telling you not to see a certain friend, he's a bad influence;he's going to get you into trouble. You disobey and do so any way.Later you end up an accomplice to a murder he committed? Is your mother'really' the bad guy? Problem 2: Real life video girls Mylessa Ford,Suelyn Medeiros and Esther Baxter are underused. While Mylessa isclearly a negative influence there is not enough screen time so you canaccompany Goode as she spirals down her slope. We as the audienceshould first be enamored by Ford to follow her down the path, and thenbe tempted by the apple once we get there. Ultimately we are not. We'rejust given these very obvious 'movie-moments,' that while high lightFord, are so very contrived and again, clichГѓВ© and ultimately steal awaythe connection with Goode. The brief scenes of Ford are clearly herbest as she actually looks like she's having fun with the role, muchmore than her past ones. Suelyn (whom I saw in Still A Teen, which wasGod awful) and Esther (Just Another Day, much better film) are mereglimpses on the screen. Do not blink or you'll miss them. It would havebeen far more interesting to see them used as character definingpersonalities then the set dressing which they're reduced to. A blownopportunity as their public life already adds a layer to them whilethey're on screen.Problem 3: The trite ending. All of the bad things that happen when youpossibly get in the industry happen to her. Each of which takes anentire film to tell the story and effectively explain the subjectmatter. Here, it's all thrown into a pot and mixed like some kind ofmovie gumbo. And it all gets resolved in a counseling session? One veryannoying technique the clearly shows that a writer is very BAD at thejob of story telling is the ending the film with a monologue thatexplains the conclusion. The prose here is even made worse when theheroine is NOT the one that comes to the resolution but has hercounselor tell her how she should be.There are essentially 3 other problems I have with this film, none ofwhich I'll explain if only to save you repetitive points on why thisisn't a good movie. There issues with the shot selection, the directionto go hand held instead of staying on sticks, and the indecision by thedirector/cinematographer: 'does he want glamorous or gritty?' I can'trecommend this. The popularity of Karrine Steffans book helpedtorpedoed this film once the writer typed the opening words of thisscript on his laptop. He was fighting a loosing battle. It didn't eventry to reach the level shock value 'Video Vixen' did, a book whicheveryone knows the contents of. And ultimately because of that, thisfilm falls short on every level.

Mystikal104

(2013-05-13 22:09:23)

Interesting, Yet....

I have seen many instances of this movie played on BET countless times,yet each time I always seem to catch it when it is right in the middle,or close to the end. Luckily, I happened to catch a full showing of themovie in one instance, and after watching it, definitely warranted areview that I do not see much of on this page.Meagan Good, as always, is a pleasure to watch, though my qualms aremore about the writing than the acting. While it may have been aninteresting concept to make a movie about, the overall theme seemedvery clichГѓВ© and overused. Young girl who comes from a decent lovingfamily decides to embark on a mouth-watering career that promiseswealth and fame. Along the way, girl meets unscrupulous characters thatsteer her good natured ways to that of a darker nature. A couple of baddecisions later, usually drug-related and/or abusive partner, girlrealizes this is not the life for her. Girl learns life lesson aboutherself and goes back to decent loving family. Again, clichГѓВ© andoverused. Then again, it is always interesting to see how differentversions of the same concept are tackled by differentwriters/directors/actors.When it comes to actual production, I am usually most critical, as thisis an aspect of film making I enjoy the most. Camera work can only bedescribed as moderately decent. I agree with another reviewer on thispart...why they chose hand-held instead of staying on sticks is alsosomething i am dumbfounded by. It worked for some scenes...some beingthe key word. Also, as an audience member, when a scene is supposed toimply flashy and glamorous, I don't usually expect it to look so dulland monotone. That's where the lighting for me failed to meet myexpectations of certain scenes. Probably depends on what camera theywere using. Audio wise, meh. For a budget of 5 million dollars, I'msure they could have afforded some ADR work. The editing was a pass orplay here. The music was sometimes not necessary in some scenes.Overall, the movie was interesting to watch. It made it's point thatbeing a Video Girl sometimes is not what it's cut out to be. Actually,I shouldn't just say Video Girl, as in , breaking out in the industryas a beautiful young naive girl can be very dangerous if you have notmentally and physically prepared yourself for the demands of being inthe spotlight. That's why this movie gets a 5.0 in my books.On another note, I had a friend of mine tell me, "Geez, so that's theatmosphere on a music video set, is it? Glad I don't work in the musicvideo industry". I just want to point out that everything that happenedin this movie was meant to serve the plot, and doesn't necessarilyhappen in reality. I have produced and directed music videos for bigname stars for quite a while now, and never have I had an instance onmy set where anybody was disrespectful of anybody. In fact, not that Ilike to brag, but my sets are always described as a fun place to be.Everybody treats each other like family, and the talent is always quickto notice this. So for any aspiring people wanting to work in the musicvideo business, it's quite fun actually. So, Next up to see is Dysfunctional Friends...another movie that thegorgeous Meagan Good is in. Let's see how she fares in that one.