we offer,a Comprehensive Library of Arthouse.Cult, Classic, Experimental and Rare Movies from All Over the World,Regal cinemas,carmike cinemas showtimes,cinema,children in cinema,carmike cinemas,celebration cinema,cinema gropers,hoyts cinemas,regal cinema,new line cinema films,edwards cinemas,vue cinema,schedule of movies for cinema in the parks,marquee cinemas,theaters and cinemas,granny cinema,clearview cinemas,cinema groping,films online cinema,st andrews cinema,etc.
Last week I was wondering what happened to a certain film I'd written about a couple years ago. It was called "Frankie And Alice" (horrible title) and was to star Halle Berry as a woman with dual personalities, one of which was a white racist. Interesting concept, but when I saw the stills from the film, it looked like typical Halle fare; perfectly awful.
I don't want to talk about that movie really, but about other films that I wrote about and wondered what happened to....a couple I was actually looking forward to, like:
The "Martin" reunion on the big screen. Everyone would probably ask Martin why he now looks like a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloon. (wasn't looking forward to that one by the way)
The multiple Sammy Davis Jr. biopics, one starring Don Cheadle, one starring Andre 3000, and one starring Elijah Kelley. And where is Elijah Kelley? He was the "it" Black dude for exactly one minute.
Beyonce aka Beyaki playing Eartha Kitt. To which I say: bwahhahahahaha!!
The very unasked for sequel to "Four Brothers".
Jaime Foxx playing Mike Tyson in a biopic.
Beyaki playing Angela Davis in a biopic. To which I say: bwahhahahahaha!!
Wesley Snipes playing James Brown in a biopic (I'm seeing a pattern here).
Will Smith and Denzel Washington in a remake of "Uptown Saturday Night" (which I pray never sees the light of day).
Mos Def and Erykah Badu in a film that was described thustly:
Mos Def and Erykah Badu have signed on to star in the indie drama 'Bobby Zero'; a film focused upon the life of fictional struggling artist Bobby Zero as he hits rock bottom before going corporate with a job in advertising. Badu will play his girlfriend who is afflicted with agoraphobia.
Hey all. I think I'm finally over my twitter obsession and can get back to blogging. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I know I said I wanted to start blogging regularly as a tribute to David Mills, but the biggest truth is that I've been uninspired. Yes.
There hasn't been a Black film this year that I've been excited about or in anticipation to see. I think I want to see them, then when they actually come out, I'm like "meh", and go about my business. Cases in point, "The Book Of Eli", with its overdone to death premise, "American Violet", "Death At A Funeral" (fine-ass James Marsden nonwithstanding), and don't even get me started on "Why Did I Get Married Too" or "Law Abiding Citizen". The one film that I was really looking forward to--"Brooklyn's Finest" was a major disappointment of epic proportions. I just watched "New Jack City" for about the 20th time yesterday, and it was still more gripping and compelling than Brooklyn's Finest.
And what is to look forward to? "Just Wright" with King Latifah and Common in a "romantic" relationship? Gimme a freaking break! To be fair, YT cinema hasn't been all that fantastic either--just saw a screener of "Chloe" with Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore, which was like an extremely watered down "Fatal Attraction" seen through fogged up glasses.
To be honest, the only Black films that have excited me lately are actually all from the archives. I know that some follow this blog to check on the latest happenings, but around here I kinda just write about what I'm feeling at the time. What I've been feeling are some fantastic films from the 70's, which I think are a must see for everyone, Black or non. And some not so fantastic ones that I think some should just flat out view to see the sheer nerve of some producers and directors in the 70's.
Each day I will talk about one of these films; "The Spook Who Sat By The Door", "Chameleon Street", "Mandingo", "The Legend Of Nigger Charlie" and the amazing and freaking fantastic "Ganja And Hess", a jewel of a film by a country mile.
So tune in once a day, every day, for the rest of the week and I will have some films on here that you can learn about, or if you've already seen them, discuss with me (I love, love, love your comments). A huge thanks to those who have stuck with me, and to my new followers who have come on board though I've been seriously M.I.A. See you tomorrow!
Okay, regarding my last post--I thought Darktown Strutters would be interesting based on it's premise, but I must say I did not love it. At all. Any movie that randomly has The Dramatics pop up in a jail cell in full costumes doing a full performance with Temptations-like choreography gets a huge side-eye from me. Why were movies that weren't dramas in the 70's so effin weird? I know it was a time of rampant drug use, and a lot of films from that decade were hard evidence of that...from "Tommy" to "Heavy Traffic" to "Darktown Strutters" just to name a few--they were just so disjointed, so horribly edited and all over the place with zero cohesiveness. *sigh* Thank goodness for Fred Williamson...
Anyway, let's view a few trailers, yes? These films at least have a linear storyline, but let me know if you find them interesting (personally I can't wait to see "Brooklyn's Finest"). I will get around to writing about the zillions of films I've seen in the past month and a half.
First up, Chris Rock's remake of "Death At A Funeral", with Danny Glover, Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Martin Lawrence, and my next husband, fine ass James Marsden.. I've had the original on Tivo for the longest, but still can't get myself to watch it....I would like to see the original before viewing this one with a Black cast-I'd like to see if they made it any different--or better:
Then we have this one, which is not really a Black film, but Sanaa Lathan (down with the swirl once again) was tweeting about how "proud" she was of it. When I first read about this film a year ago, it also got the side-eye from me, and after viewing this trailer, it now has a bigger one; Michael K. Williams from "The Wire" nonwithstanding. I dunno...:
I will be working with the publicity team on this one, so expect to see more about this film--hope you likey, at least for the novelty of seeing Wesley Snipes with back-length cornrows..."Brooklyn's Finest" (Michael K is in this one too, as well as The Cheadle, who I always like a lot more in crime thrillers):
Btw, here is a clip from Darktown Strutters; watch at your own risk (and yes, that is Roger Mosely...the chick is actually the first Black Bond girl for you trivia buffs):
Sorry for not posting. I have a sublet in L.A. while I'm looking for a permanent place...with no freakin' air conditioning! Who lives like that here? Needless to say, with 90 and a hundred degree heat, I haven't really felt like blogging.
But the heat has broken, so here I is. I have so much to say, but I know most folks don't like to read long, involved posts (at least here they don't) and frankly, I'm not in the mood to write one. So I'll do some drive-by observations:
Big Mamma's House 3: Why?
Why all the hulabaloo over "District Nine" in regards to racism? I thoroughly enjoyed it...people are never satisfied...jeesh. If you wanna talk about some real BS, see above.
Why are serial mash-on-anything-that-moves Hill Harper and 3 times married Steve Harvey suddenly considered "relationship experts" after writing suspect books? I am seriously scratching my head over that one.
If you are complaining that there is no interesting film out there, and you still haven't seen "Life Is Hot In Cracktown", you have no valid argument right now.
What happened to Andre 3000, Elijah Kelley, and Don Cheadle all doing separate Sammy Davis, Jr. projects?
Speaking of Sammy Davis, why does Nick Cannon dress and act just like him on "America's Got Talent"...velvet jackets and boutineers? Really?
Why did I see a billboard for LL Cool J's TV show, and think "I wonder who that Black guy is?" before slowly realizing that was him? Ummm...Ell--whatever you are doing to that face of yours, now would be a very, very, very good time to stop. And oh--the lip licking thing? Bury that too.
Speaking of burying, what crypt did they finally find his co-star Chris O'Donnell in?
I can't wait to see Lee Daniel's "Precious" even though everybody is referring to it as Tyler Perry and Oprah's film...I'm not surprised, and not amused. I find it interesting, however, that Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey are getting serious Oscar buzz.
And a very special thanks to Ebony Jet for selecting me as one of their favorite blogs, AOL Black Voices for linking me on their main page, and fine, wonderful readers like yourself placing me in the top 50 film blogs in the whole, wide world on Wikio....not bad for a super-slacker, eh? :-) But I know I need to step up my game...working on it (really!)
Why, oh why is this all I can find on the flick "Brooklyn's Finest" the movie directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Tears Of The Sun) starring Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes? The plot:
"Tango is an undercover officer on a narcotics detail that forces him to choose between duty and friendship. Having been to hell and back, he wants out, but the powers that be won't let him quit. Family-man Sal is a detective tempted by greed and corruption. He can barely make ends meet, and now his wife has an illness that threatens the life of their unborn twins. Eddie is nearing retirement age and has long since lost his dedication to his job as a cop. He wakes up every morning trying to come up with a reason to go on living...and he can't think of one. Fate brings the three men to the same Brooklyn housing project as each takes the law into his own hands"
There has to be something out there....can a negress get a screener, a preview invite, a decent trailer?* Dang!
I think I ruffled a few feathers not too long ago when I stated that "age was the enemy" on the post I did on Jimmy "J.J" Walker and Boy George, alluding to their rapid deterioration and alarming visages. Some said "It's not age, it's lifestyle!" True, that is a factor, but you can be the exercisinest veganist vegan, and it all hits the end of the road somewhere. I started thinking of this subject for several reasons...the first one being this:
That these two that practically anyone, at any time, at any place, would have smashed in the 90's end up looking like Michael Jackson's unholy apprentices. I just don't get it. NOTE TOHOLLYWOOD: Make a beeline to whomever works on Halle Barry and Jennifer Lopez and call it a day! Those two should be the only working plastic surgeons in the world. Period.
Yes, age is devastating, as was witnessed on the "American Idol" disco medley the other day. Much has been made of how "ancient" the guests were, but if any of the readers of this blog look like Freda Payne (67 in Sept), or Thelma Houston (63 in a yellow dress showing a massive amount of leg) at their ages, please let me know. As for KC of KC and the Sunshine Band....well, let's just say he is dealing with a numerous amount of the white man's burdens.
Another example of the perils of aging is the disappointing film I watched the other day, "Original Gangstas". I was very happy to live with the memory of the fine-ass (and I do mean ass) Fred Williamson, aka 'The Hammer' from the 70's, and this film was an unwelcome jolt of reality. It is a vengeance movie that brings together Williamson, Jim Brown (wearing this life's most unfortunate kufi to cover an even more unfortunate bald spot), Ron O'Neal (Superfly, looking like the cashier/weed dealer at your nearest bodega), Richard Roundtree (Shaft), and Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, with hair looking like it hasn't seen the working end of a flat iron for several decades). You would think bringing together the most iconic icons of 70's Blaxploitation would be the sh*t, but sadly, I was left wishing everyone would have just rested on their laurels, and all I wanted to do was hand out Restalyne and Ab Rollers to everyone involved :-(
But there are other things that can cause it to all fall down, most prolific being stupidity. Rapper/actor Xzibit is about to lose his house to foreclosure, after 100 years of "Pimp My Ride" and it's reruns. Terrence Howard is still whining about losing his part in "Ironman". Ummm....T? Everyone involved with this film has been a professional for years. You mumble, sleepwalk, and use your "quivering voice" at dramatic pauses, then proceed to jack your price up sky high? That is exactly why you are in some fucked up movie called "Fighting" with the other weirdest Black man in Hollywood, Roger Guenveur Smith, who is probably your doppelganger, and playing second fiddle to Channing Tatum, whoever that is. Maybe you can pick up where Wesley Snipes left off.
A loooong way from wearing Ironman's suit of armor, yes?
Stupidity coupled with being low budget is definitely the way to make it fall down. Idris Elba now refuses to do press junkets and attend the premieres of his masterpiece "Obsessed". Negro, you were on "The Wire". Did you even read the script for this POS? I'm assuming not, as it surely would have ended up in "the circular file" as my grandfather used to say--aka the wastebasket. Don't act all brand new now. What did you possibly hope to accomplish starring opposite Beyonce and Ali Larter, in a film that was produced by the dude that did "3 Can Play That Game?" Falling down, dude. Hard.
But nobody has fallen as hard in my recent memory as this next one. I watched a bootleg (yes, I'm going to Heck) of "Single Black Female", which is without exception the very worst film ever made, ever. It looked like it was filmed on a 1999 Nokia phone, yet I was could not stop watching it. I was completely transfixed by it's unbelievable horribleness--I think I was hypnotized. Beyonce can make a thousand "Obsesseds" and it wouldn't even come close to the stench of this flick. It "stars" Farrah Something Or Other, who used to be in Destiny's Child, and obviously that will forever be the zenith in her life till the grave. Yes, age is no joke, but combine being stupid, low budget, AND talentless and there is nowhere to go but down. Behold:
So I stand corrected, age is not the only enemy, but it is still definitely in the top five!
Some things have come up on my radar for the past couple of weeks, some of them questionable as hayell, some of them just mild what tha?'s. Some of them are a bit late, but I just wanted to put my thoughts out there anyway:
Halle Berry as "Sexiest Woman Alive"? Yes, she is very pretty, yes she has a great body (she really knows how to show the goods), but I have always found her a bit devoid of the sexual vibe. Like I can't imagine her doing the do without worrying about her hair, if she actually does the do at all (did you follow that?). Apparently, Slausnificent agrees with me.
Terrence Howard booted from Ironman for being greedy? HaHA! (doing my best Nelson from the Simpsons). Dude! What were you thinking? Terrence practically sleepwalked his role in that film---I honestly thought they chose him cause the filmmakers were too lazy to think of another Black guy. This was clearly a case of shut the f*ck up and just get paid. Will The Cheadle be any better? I dunno, but he is like 3 feet, 18 inches, so that is not exactly an auspicious start.
OK, we've been hearing for years that Will and Jada have this wonderful stage marriage as gay and lez in wedlock. But can this story about him paying for discreet, ummm..."down-under" sexbe real? If so, wow--let the fireworks begin.
Why, why, why, oh why is Beyonce playing Eartha Kitt? Just damn!!! I agree with Clay Cane100%:
Etta James and now Eartha Kitt are roles that could make a career for an up and coming actress. Also, isn’t it a rule that once an actor plays a real life character in a movie they should be avoiding additional biopics? That would be like Jamie Foxx playing Sammy Davis, Jr. Beyonce has already portrayed Diana Ross (I don't care what ya say, Deena Jones is Diana), Etta James, and now Eartha Kitt. What's next -- Harriet Tubman?
Yes, Beyonce is a great performer, but an actress she is not. Eartha Kitt was a child conceived by rape, born on a cotton plantation in South Carolina, and rose to fame the old fashion way, hard work—while suffering awful sexism and racism. Her career was practically ruined for being an outspoken advocate against the Vietnam War and she allegedly made the First Lady at a White House luncheon in 1968 burst into tears. Nothing about Eartha's life story will Beyonce be able to pull off. Bey doesn't even know how to drop her George W. Bush Texan accent—how is she going to manage Eartha's South Carolina/pseudo-European accent?
Most importantly, there are so many black actresses who could play Eartha Kitt. The depth and history of Eartha could be an Oscar winning role, but in a Beyonce’s performance all you will get is a NAACP nomination. The reality is, no matter how hard this woman tries to be Meryl Streep, and I believe she is trying, I believe she takes acting class with some of the best teachers in the business—mama just doesn’t have "it."
beyonce "emoting" as etta james in cadillac records--the lights are on, but no one's home.....
Was watching some seriously random movies over the weekend. One of them was "Motives 2" (don't judge me!). What was up with that movie? Seriously, this was completely like a Black and English speaking version of a Mexican tele-novela on TeleMundo, from the outfits, to the makeup, to the overly extreme-to-the-max over the top melodramatic situations and acting. Boo.
I also rewatched "Sugar Hill" for the first time since the 90's. Did that movie just seem so much better because of Terrence Blanchard's moody score, or was it actually good? And how could Wesley Snipes look so damn fine in that movie and be a complete and total turn-off today? How does that happen? And what the eff happened to Theresa Randall? (I always hated her hair in every movie). All I know is Clarence Williams III played the hayell out of Wesley's junkie dad character.
I know I talk about some of the limited choices we have in Black Cinema in the states, but elsewhere, it is even more dismal. To wit, this email from reader Aulelia of "Charcoal Ink". Should we be grateful that we even have choices, good or bad?:
Hi IW,
I feel compelled to write to you and let you know that I finally saw the Great Debaters today. I had to resort to downloading it because the bloody film was not released in the UK despite all of my patient waiting.
I am not even surprised that it does not have a European Region 2 DVD release which is deeply frustrating as I had wanted to buy it.
Anyway, I know it came out ages ago for you in the US but just wanted to say that I thought it was brilliant. Loved it. Lol, no surprise as I am obsessed with Denzel but jokes aside, I found it to be quite touching. I knew what to expect plot wise and I did not feel disappointed.
What does make me sad is how black people in the UK are being starved of such rich films like GD. We keep getting absolute SHITE being advertised here (like journey to the centre of the earth) yet films like GD are ignored - why ? - because they have a black cast.
It is shameful and disgusting. Just want let to let you know that the situation for seeing black films in the UK in cinemas is barely alive.
No wonder Idris and his lovely self has found more work in the US. It is a shame but what it is is merely a reflection of reality.
I saw a bunch of films while I was on my hiatus a couple weeks ago. One of them was "Belly 2" (yikes!). This P.O.S. doesn't warrant a review, but all I want to know are 4 things: 1) how you gonna name something like it was a sequel, when it has absolutely ZERO to do with the first one? 2) who the f*ck keeps putting The Game in movies? Stop it! Right now! 3) isn't Shari Headley like 45? Why was she playing the young ingenue role opposite The Game? Is she still married to Play from Kid 'N Play? (two in one question)
4) what is that mess on The Game's face gonna look like when that fool is 60? Soooo many questions. Sheesh.
Tyler Perry continues his opening at #2 reign. Think he'll ever make it to number 1?
Why do people keep saying SNL's Kristen Wiig is funny? Whatever they're seeing, it is completely and totally missing me. Completely.
Why am I not excited to see "The Secret Life of Bees" despite all the Black power involved? If I get even a whiff of 'The Magical Negro Syndrome" all I hear and see is the white snow and white noise you see and hear when there is no TV reception.
Since I know maybe 2 of you will see it, did you know Jada Pinkett plays a Black lesbian in "The Women"? hmmmm......
Is anybody checking for the Kerry Washington/Samuel Jackson vehicle "Lakeview Terrace"? If any movie is begging to be bought from the blanket of the corner bootleg man it's that one.
Did you know that The Cheadle's "Traitor" was co-written by Steve Martin? Me neither.
On hiatus I also saw a bunch of movies I was on the late train on. When did Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman, Eric Roberts, and William Hurt (i.e. Ironman, The Hulk, The Dark Knight) turn into such grizzled old men, and had the hot only a few years ago? Thank God Black don't crack, haha!
and oh yeah--madame invisible says start following her blog on blogger!
Ya know, there are two new releases out there that are of interest and/or curiosity to more than a few, but for some reason I can't get up the gumption to deal with either of them, even for my own blog. The first one is Bygbaby's (yes, him again, lol) review of "Traitor" starring The Cheadle:
This past weekend, while on vacay, I decided to head to the movies to check out Don Cheadle’s new flick “Traitor”. Up until now, I thought everything Don touched turned into gold because he is just that good, but in the case of “Traitor” Cheadle’s touch did not produce gold, it produced brass. As a matter of fact, it produced a brass dildo that fucked me out of $10.50.
In “Traitor” Don had an OK performance in general but the movie overall was a piece of shit. Well, piece of shit is a little harsh, so let me just say that it was not worth the $10.50 that I shelled out for it. Maybe if I paid the twilight price of 5 bucks I would have better feelings about it.
The story line was focused but yet disjointed at the same time. The start of the movie had no tie to the story in a cohesive way. The characters were not developed at all & they popped out of nowhere & disappeared as quickly as they came. Looking back, I still have no clue who Don was, what team he actually worked for, or anything else.
The only thing that I walked away with from the movie was a feeling that border patrol agents are stupid (yes I know it is a movie but also in real life), Jihad is not a good name for a domestic pet, and Muslim extremists are angry & dangerous as hell. There was very little else to walk away with. And basically, this is the type of movie that you rent from Blockbuster when they are out of the really good movies.
I really don’t have much else to say about the flick except that I want a partial refund.
From IW: Damn, Byg, tell us how you really feel....the second is a review of my beloved Terrence Howard's new CD. I know I really should have written this, but damn, I don't wanna listen to that sh*t! This is from Bef of O Hell Nawl!. Very short and sweet, but I'm sure she said it all....
Man I wish y’all could have seen my face when I first listened to this CD. I was all kinds of confused.
I really don’t know what to say about this CD other than it was some hot buttery funky garbage!
Well let me clean that up a little….musically it was some really nice jazzy/folk type music but vocally and lyrically it was just NOT the business.
I need for Terrence to stick to what he calls “acting” and stop the shannigans of trying to be a singer.
UPDATE: Ms. Marvalus from "The Marvalus View" left me a comment that she reviewed Terrence's CD on her blog....cruised by and it definitely gave me a laugh:
Dear Terrence,
When I saw you playing the guitar in “Best Man,” I was so impressed. Your guitar skills are off the chain! You have magical fingers, so when I heard that you were putting together a CD, I was a little excited. You see, I’m a fan of yours. Even through your crazy ass, from the left interviews and even through the Hustle and Flow flow (I never want to hear you try that again), I was right there with you. You are an amazing actor, and you light up a screen.
Today, I listened to your new CD. Fortunately, I didn’t rush out to purchase it. No, I signed into my Rhapsody account (which I pay for monthly) and pulled up your new release to give it a preview to decide if it was worth my money. It is not. I barely made it through the first song before deciding to go and listen again to the Eric Benet CD. You see, there is a difference between singing at home, and putting it on wax. Sometimes you need to let shit go. You shoulda just let this one go, baby. I admire you for fulfilling a dream, if that is what you are doing by putting this CD out. But I beg of you, don’t make this your focus. Because the music will never be what you are about. Your rawness and passion that you exude on the screen will never come across in your music the way you imagine it to. You, honestly, cannot sing. And as hard as you try to push harmony through your vocal cords, it does not work.
I look forward to your next movie. I will gladly pay to see you on the big screen. But the music? Miss me with this…
I guess it's time to have some actual Black Cinema news, considering that was why I created this blog. Unfortunately, not much has been going on (what a surprise) but here are some tidbits (scroll down for my other new posts and answers to your comments):
Brazilian helmer Jose Padilha will direct the drama "Marching Powder," a passion project that Don Cheadle has long wanted to star in and produce. The film is based on "Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine and South America's Strangest Jail," a memoir Thomas McFadden wrote with Rusty Young.
Cheadle intends to play McFadden, a British man convicted of drugs trafficking in Bolivia and sent to La Paz's San Pedro prison for six years, where he worked as a prison tour guide in a corrupt prison that was subject to so much bribery that it had its own capitalist system. Brad Pitt's Plan B will also produce.
From IW: Is The Cheadle stuck on the accent thing? While it's admirable that Don and Brad are obviously not interested in doing trash, it would be nice if they would their invest time and energy on films that people actually want to see. Time will tell how this one works out.
In some semi-disturbing news:
Oscar nominee and Emmy and Tony Award winner Laurence Fishburne will join the cast of the CBS Paramount Network Television and Jerry Bruckheimer Television series, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, on the CBS Television Network. His character will debut in this season's ninth episode.
From IW: What tha???
The next item is old news, but I still wanted to comment on it:
Percy Miller (formerly Master P) has announced the launch of Better Black Television (BBTV) which is being touted as "a family friendly network that will provide positive content for a black and brown culture that will appeal to all races with a goal to bring people of color a choice when turning on their television." Taking his fast-paced and growing brand to Wall Street, Miller, BBTV's Chairman & CEO, makes history as the first hip-hop entrepreneur to own a television network. Five years in the making, BBTV is the brainchild and passion of some of the most diverse, powerful, celebrated entertainers, influentials and trendsetters from the television, film, professional sports, corporate America and music industries.
From IW: Okay. I have to say that Percy has the mark of a true businessman, changing like a chameleon when necessary and excelling, so maybe it will work. On the other hand, didn't they try this ish with the "Black Family Channel" (which imploded last year)? Robert Townsend, Evander Holyfield, and Randy Jackson (not the rich one) all invested in the channel with the same premise, and came up with nathan, nada. Hopefully this new venture will be better executed and nowhere near as low budget. (pic of percy from "Dancing With The Stars")
And finally, some news that made me sigh in disgust more than once:
Vin Diesel, star of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, promises two more Richard B. Riddick movies.
"David Twowy right now is writing the scripts. The only question is whether we take a page from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ guys and try to shoot the two chapters at the same time. There are two more in mind,” he said of Riddick, the Furyan warrior first introduced in the 2000 film “Pitch Black.” “‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ was presented as a three part trilogy that would answer ‘Pitch Black’ in the same way that ‘Lord of the Rings’ answered ‘The Hobbit.’”
Diesel told MTV News that in spite of the poor reception, the time between the sequels is only about getting it right, not about trying to find support.
From IW: Whatev! This coupled with the news that Vin will be in yet another "Fast and Furious" movie has me absolutely convinced that Hollywood has one thumb stuck in their mouths, and the other one stuck up their asses...in other words, completely and totally flatlined!
Sergio sent over this trailer for Don Cheadle's new one. He thinks it looks pretty promising, tho he laments the fact that the director isn't black.
*sigh* So what else is new? The storyline is this: The story centers on a CIA operative working undercover with a terrorist group who becomes a terrorist suspect. Cheadle is the undercover agent, while Guy Pearce is an FBI agent investigating terrorist activities.
Note: Please forgive spelling errors as Blogger spellcheck is not working, and I am the world's worst speller.
Hope you guys are having a good weekend...it's Super Sunday so I know I won't be seeing a lot of you until tomorrow, haha. I was a chosen blogger by Nielsen to rate the Superbowl commercials...tho I come from a football lovin' family, it's never been my thing (I like to watch the puppy bowl), but the commercials are always a big discussion in the public for the past few years, so it might be interesting....is anybody else doing this rating? Let me know....
Billary and Obama's camp were in Cali over the weekend for rallys, Hill in San Francisco and Ted Kennedy with one of the women I absolutely adore, Representative Barbara Lee across the bridge in Oakland for Obama. I noticed that when Hillary speaks now, it is so overly careful and heavily modulated...extremely unatural. It's like somebody told her "try to speak calmly the way Obama does". You can see her concentrating so hard to keep a level oration that you can't even focus on what she's saying, and the long pauses between words don't help. I wonder how many people she's fooling with that mess.
Normally I try to go to as many film festivals as I am able, both Black and non-black. While looking at the advance program for The San Francisco Independent Film Festival there was not ONE black film featured. WTF? To me that is just blatant "we don't give a f--k, and we don't care if you know it" and I cannot support an independent film festival with zero diversity. One reader, I forget who it was, said that Black film festivals are pretty much useless as far as getting your film distributed, but the white ones are where all the money is made. At this point in time, regretfully I would have to tend to agree, so it's extra f'd up that we get no love at fests like these. There was ONE six minute preview short about some rap group from Oakland. That figures. There was one film out of like 25 that featured a person of color, a Dominican kid from Brooklyn. If you would like to call the film festival on their BS (which I think is very important we start doing) click HERE, and tell director/founder Jeff Ross about himself and the policies of his festival. If you care about Black film and how we are represented, these are the things we need to do.
Anyway, over at BygBaby's blog, I found out about a film called "Touissant", which is being directed by Danny Glover about the infamous former leader of Haiti. Don Cheadle plays Touissant, and it co-stars Mos Def, Chiwetel Eljiofor, Angela Bassett, and my favorite wierdo, Roger Guenveur Smith. I see that Jonathan Rhys Myers is getting top billing, so I hope it's not another one of 'our stories' told by some YT's perspective once again....I would like those to go away for a while, imho.
Speaking of opinions, I will be giving mine (of which I have many, haha) along with Qadree from Culture Critical, The Black Actor, and Mr. Obenson on his podcast "The Obenson Report" tomorrow, Monday, at 9pm EST. We will be discussing all things Black Cinema, of course. If you want the info, click here.
And finally, some things I see I want to post here; alas they are not fitting with the content of this blog, but I could not resist this one. Someone seems to be keeping company with Jasmine Guy in the club of "aging rapidly and not well":
The party's over, Pam, please read the memo in it's entirety.
Hmmm. I dunno. But yall know I love The Cheadle. Good to know he's spreading out. From Black Talent News:
Don Cheadle is on-board to produce a TV series based on "Crash," the 2004 film which picked up three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Cheadle, who starred in the original film, has been named as an executive producer, along with original writer and director Paul Haggis. Starz will air 13 one-hour episodes to premiere in August.
Last week I was wondering what happened to a certain film I'd written about a couple years ago. It was called "Frankie And Alice" (horrible title) and was to star Halle Berry as a woman with dual personalities, one of which was a white racist. Interesting concept, but when I saw the stills from the film, it looked like typical Halle fare; perfectly awful.
.jpg)
