ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Chris Utley

THE FISHING HOLE: Oscars 2019

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Welp, the name of the game here at ScreenFish is MOVIES.  So the team embarked on their annual pre-Oscar chat where they discussed who WILL win and who SHOULD win on Hollywood’s biggest night!

Chris U: Alrighty! Pre-Oscar Fishing Hole Time! Who WILL win? Who SHOULD win?

Arnaldo R: Lol, I know nothing so will contribute nothing…Wakanda Forever!

Chris: I thought you saw Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Arnaldo: Nope, no interest in them. 2018 I saw probably 3 movies. And all 3 were with my daughter. Poppins, Spiderverse and Incredibles 2.

Chris: Let me call the easiest win first…Shallow will win Best Song. That race was over when the first trailer dropped.

Jacob S: I need to see Vice and Green Book.

Chris: Won’t get to see Vice. Didn’t play well out here in GOP-heavy Texas.  Wait, Arnaldo!  Didn’t you see Black Panther?

Arnaldo: Oh yeah, that one also. And Avengers. So five. LOL

Chris: So you saw 2 Best Animated Feature nominees. That qualifies!

Arnaldo: Spiderverse wins.

Chris: Agree 1000% percent, Incredibles 2 was very mediocre; hated the ending.

Jacob: Agree on Spiderverse. Disagree that Incredibles 2 was mediocre.

Chris: I felt no sense of real danger with the villain. Also didn’t buy her criminal machinations. Jack Jack and the raccoon was cute.  The Elastigirl/Mr. Incredible role switch was good. (Same thing has been going on in my house for the last 12 years).

Arnaldo: Incredibles 2 wasn’t better than the first.

Chris: Agreed.  15 year wait for a sequel have packed a much bigger punch.

Arnaldo: What were the other animation films nominated?

Chris: Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks The Internet, Mirai

Arnaldo: Oh yeah, I saw Ralph lol.  Spidey wins.

Chris: So, allegedly, Roma stands to win 4 Oscars for 1 person: Picture/Director/Cinematography/Producer.  Who HAS seen Roma?

Jacob: Saw some of Roma. I don’t read subtitles.

Chris: I liked The Favourite. Three women with varying degrees of wickedness and depravity…in corsets!

Steve N: Sooooo, you liked the wickedness and depravity? Or the corsets?

Chris: LOL!  Definitely not the corsets!  Although you do get an eyeful of Emma Stone! Very glad BlacKkKlansman didn’t get lost in the awards shuffle. It was on shaky ground after Thanksgiving but rebounded in the race after Christmas. Probably the pre-Christmas awards rush turned out to be wack. There are 3 $200 million + grossers on the list.

Darrel M: My expectation for best pic is Black Panther. It or Roma would get my #1 vote. I think best doc will go to RBG, should go to Free Solo, although Of Fathers and Sons is perhaps the most important. Cinematography to Cold War. Animated feature to Spidey. I hope Spike Lee gets director, but it will probably go to Cuaron. Actor Rami Malek (I’d prefer Christian Bale). Actress Glenn Close. Sup actor: Mahershala Ali.  Sup Actress: Regina King. Foreign Language: Roma, but I’d prefer Shoplifters.

Chris: They predict Spike will get Adapted Screenplay They’re also predicting Amy Adams over Regina King, which will INFURIATE me to no end.

Darrel: My choices for screenplays: First Reformed and Beale Street.

Chris: Hopefully Beale Street wins Score too.  That score was FANTASTIC.

Darrel: Yeah, I may throw things at the TV if it doesn’t get score.

LATER THAT EVENING, CHRIS U watches Roma on Netflix…

Chris: Well…the mainstream cinema has stepped up its game. The snobby, pretentious, talk AT YOU stuff that the elitists adore had to answer with vigor. Roma is the answer.

Chris: Cannot believe Black Panther is gonna lose to THIS!

Jacob: We agree on that.

Chris: Sound on this is probably insane in an Atmos equipped movie theatre.  I’ll give it that. My soundbar is capturing the ambiance.  I DO see why it will win.  Movie closed out with 4 of the saddest movie scenes of the year.  Can’t share without spoiling. But…yeah.  Legit gut punches.  But is that fair for it to win just off of 3 gut punching scenes when the rest is just an exercise in Ego Filmmaking? Best Foreign Film? I’d buy it. But Best Picture?  Green Book, Star, KkKlansman, Favourite, Bohemian AND Black Panther –  ALL better than this! But…I get it.  Awards Season -is for the elite. Roma is the type of film they eat up. It’s almost…WEINSTEINIAN!

Shelley M: Anybody seen Cold War? I’m seeing it tomorrow on recommendation of a friend – says it’s the best she’s seen all year.

Darrel: Cold War is very good. Outstanding cinematography. Great music. The story may keep the characters at arm’s length a bit..

Chris: As far as Best Picture, Roma will win.  Black Panther ABSOLUTELY SHOULD win.

Arnaldo: I want BP to win because I’m a comic guy and of course I LOVE the movie.

Chris:That movie transcended the movie screen and left an unprecedented and immovable footprint in the culture of the world. Chadwick’s acceptance speech at SAG said it all.  I don’t think I put this in my review. But halfway through the first viewing, I turned to my wife  and said “THIS IS A DAGGONE SHAKESPEARIAN TRAGEDY, not a comic book movie!”

Arnaldo: I also want it to win because I want the bath in the tears and whining of those who will say “it’s a PC SJW win and the only reason it won”

Chris: The thing about those folks. Those tears are because we live in a world that is leaving them behind. And it’s their fault for not getting on the train.

Arnaldo: Oh yeah I know their problem. Also their loss. BP was more than a comic book film! And no amount of tears will change that.

Join the conversation! Agree or disagree with our band of ScreenFishers? Ready to challenge their POV? Feel free to share in the comments!

BlacKkKlansman: America’s Original Sin

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“Oh goody!  Here’s comes that Black racist troublemaker Spike Lee with yet another movie about how White people are EVIL, Black people are victims and all that jazz.  We, as Americans, are so sick and tired of Black folks constantly tossing these issues in our faces and rubbing our noses in the dung of a long buried and shameful past.  YES, there are some racist White people!  YES, their actions are deplorable!  But, YES, Black people are guilty of the same thing!  The constant bitching and moaning is annoying!  They’re not the only race to have been oppressed!  There are others who have risen past their abuse to become good upstanding members of society!  I don’t believe the rhetoric!  We proved through the election of Barack Obama that we are indeed a post-racial society united and joined together as one.  Black folks just continue to fan these flames and make it hard for our country to evolve past this narrative.  Why, oh why, won’t this issue JUST! GO! AWAY?!?!”

Here’s why:

“There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, Yet is not washed from its filthiness.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭30:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

“There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, And whose fangs are like knives, To devour the poor from off the earth, And the needy from among men.” (Proverbs‬ ‭30:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

“‘The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. ’”
‭‭(Numbers‬ ‭14:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

ScreenFish is a Christian based film/entertainment analysis website.  We view pop culture through the lens of Christ.  We endeavor to see how He sees, to analyze a film how He would analyze it.  Having seen and analyzed Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” for myself, here is my Christ influenced opinion on the matter:

Racism is America’s Original Sin.

The issue has not gone away because America has neither repented nor turned away from it.  There is STILL a generation in America who deem themselves to be pure in their own eyes. There is STILL a generation who is bitterly against the notion of judging men and women by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.  There is STILL a generation who, although they accept the fact that other races shop in their neighborhood stores, go to school with their children, and work in the same offices as they do, when they get behind closed doors they harbor a mindset about non-Whites that is straight outta the Jim Crow/Confederate/Old South playbook.

And you can’t be mad at Spike Lee…or the guy or girl who filmed BBQ Becky, Poolside Patty, or anyone else who captured footage of Black folks committing heinous crimes like swimming in swimming pools or BBQ’ing in the park or selling water on the street to raise money for a school trip.  All they did is turn the camera on and expose the sin buried deep in the hearts of (some) White people for  generations.

That’s all Ron Stallworth and the members of the Colorado Springs Police Department did: Expose the “organization.”  Mr. Stallworth and team shined a light on the darkness.  SPOILER: They ultimately exposed a plot to kill a Black Student Union group.  Upon the thwarting of this plot, KKK Grand Wizard-turned-early 90’s Republican candidate for Governor of Louisiana David Duke (I was a student at Grambling State University when he ran) discovered that the Colorado man he befriended and wanted to MENTOR due to his similar views of White Supremacy was actual a Black undercover cop.  Light shined.  But did the darkness hide?  Nope.

The final scenes of the film show that darkness vibrant, alive and in full force – making a generational leap from 1970’s Colorado to 2017 Charlottesville, VA.   No turning.  No repentance.  Ultimately leading to death…just like it did in 18th/19th/20th century America.

So, yeah, until there is true repentance and a collective turning away of a four-hundred-year belief that one group is superior over another, this issue ain’t going away.  Their mindset has put them at war against God Himself.  The iniquity of the Confederacy has been revisited upon their children all across this nation to the 3rd and 4th generation and beyond.

But I see hope.  I see the chains falling.  I see hints of the curse about to break. For while I was traversing through the North Dallas, TX mall where I saw BlacKkKlansman, I saw an ocean of Black and White couples – from teenagers to fully grown adults – arm in arm, holding hands, boldly and unashamedly displaying their love for one another. I smiled.  Because that’s the future.  THIS generation may be the one to break the curse once and for all.

One can only hope…and pray.

Black Panther: I STAY WOKE!

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SPOILERS FROM THE FILM WILL BE DISCUSSED AND DISSECTED.  DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM

My former Grambling State University Theatre Department classmate turned prolific R&B artist Erykah Badu has a song on one of her albums called “Master Teacher.”  The hook goes, “What if there were no N*****s, only Master Teachers?  I STAY WOKE.”   If you substitute the phrase Master Teachers for the word WAKANDANS, then you’ll get the vibe of where I’m going in light of this cinematic event that has been given to us this Presidents Day Weekend 2018.

I will leave the MCU fanboying to the experts here at THE FISH to ponder BLACK PANTHER’s place in the pantheon of Marvel films, analyze its connection towards the road leading to Avengers: Infinity War, etc.  I’ve got bigger fish to fry.  As does this movie.

Instead, I will build off of my thesis statement from my classmate – paraphrased and reappropriated for this movie.  Of course I know that Wakanda is not an actual place.  It’s birthed from the imagination of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  But, in my own mind, I see Wakanda as what might have been for my ancestors and I.  What would my motherland of Africa and my kinsmen be if the natural minerals and resources had not been fleeced and its people oppressed by apartheid and their ancestral offspring not led away in slaveships to the Carribean, South and North America to endure 400 years of violent, dignity robbing, identity snatching hardship by real life “colonizers?”  I look at those 5 tribes which form the fictional Wakanda and I see the true essence and spirit of who God has graced the African man and woman to be – regardless of whether the designation American appears afterwards.

I see honor and dignity. I see fierce devotion to ideals.  I see great technological and scientific advances.

I see PRIDE.

I desperately wanted my 12-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter to see and feel the same thing as I did when I watched the movie.  Their response was definitely more muted than mine.  I get it.  Because in our home – with God’s help – we have continually taught them to see honor and dignity in themselves; to have a fierce devotion to the biggest ideal of all: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD; and that technology, science, and all areas of greatness are available to them via education.

As I thank God for my kids, I also have to think about the other kids out there; the real life Erik Killmongers of the world.  The ones whose hearts have grown numb to the images of Strange Fruits in trees hung, maimed and slaughtered by more evil “colonizers.”  The ones who have attempted to take the derogatory ‘N-word’ label and soften it up by slicing 2 letters and adding an A on the end.  The ones who wish to continue the work of the real life Black Panthers.  I don’t think director Ryan Coogler set this film in Oakland by accident…especially when you consider that:

  1. The Panthers were born in Oakland
  2. Erik Killmonger’s plan of action – inherited to him by his father Wakandan Prince N’Jobu – is straight out of their playbook.

Call the real life Black Panthers a hate group if you want.  You’re missing the point.  These were a group of men and women who got tired of seeing the unjust oppression of their kinsmen by the ruling class and were ready to defend them even if it meant overthrowing the current systems of power.  Disagree with them and Killmonger all you wish. But before you judge, look at their point of view in the light of those dead Black men and women of the past…and present.

Killmonger, rightful heir to the Wakandan throne, wants to take the resources from his homeland and equip warlords across the world to free his kinsmen.  But T’Challa – our hero – knows there is a better way.  A way, as spoken in Post Credits Sequence #1, that does not involve creating division and using his homeland’s resource to foster oppression. T’Challa wants to use his kingdom to be a LIGHT to the world.  There was a time when Wakanda hid itself in fear of what MIGHT happen should their greatness got into the wrong hands.  But T’Challa recognizes that it’s time to come out of the darkness and into the light.

But that light only shines when we, as humanity, come TOGETHER.

That’s the one area in the real world where all of mankind needs to stay woke.  It’s not about White Supremacy or Black Pride reigning on the throne of society.  There is only one Throne and only one Kingdom in which every knee will bow to. And that King will be glorified when He sees all of His creation – all races, creeds and colors – united together to shine His light on our broken world.

Black Panther gets 2 fists up from me! ✊🏿✊🏿 May its record breaking success cause studio execs to GET WOKE about the abilities of Black filmmakers handling big budget blockbuster material.  I’ll say it loud!  BLACK PANTHER MADE ME PROUD!

 

 

 

Scenes From A Thursday Night In A Galaxy Far Far Away

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SPOILERS FROM STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI ALL OVER THIS ARTICLE.  DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!


  • Dear Disney: You’ve got money up the wazoo! How hard can it be for y’all to give Lucasfilm a proper movie studio logo with bells and whistles and such?  Marvel’s all spiffed out.  Pixar and the animation wings are spiffy.  Lucasfilm’s got that same placeholder madness from the 90’s.  Update that thing!   PLEASE!!!
  • So…Luke’s journey with the Force started with a binary sunset and ended with a binary sunset?  Coincidence?  Doubt it. Poetic?  MOST DEFINITELY!
  • How many of y’all besides me reduced the Force to moving rocks and other inanimate objects?  That mind-melding between Rey and Kylo to get in each other’s head/physical space? Mind. BLOWN!
  • And till now, we thought that Leia’s Force gift was just sensing thoughts and feelings.  Teleporting herself in a semi conscious state?   Mind. Blown. Again! Although my heart sank when it appeared that was how she was gonna die.
  • YODA!!!!
  • I’m not so sure Finn earned that “kiss from a Rose.”  There’s gotta be some cutting room floor material from that casino planet scene to justify her falling in love with him.
  • My SF colleague Arnaldo Reyes summed it up for us all in his review.  LET THE PAST DIE…but hold on to HOPE!  And that’s why fanboys are up in arms.  We will go into Episode 9 with a dead Vader, dead Han Solo, potentially Force ghosted Luke (and Yoda) and, ever so sadly, dead Leia.  The past has died.  All we have ever know about Star Wars is gone.  And that’s a good thing.  It’s what the last scene – along with the revelation of Rey’s parentage – leads us into: A TRUE NEW HOPE – the promise of something new.  Newness can be horrifying. So many times we cling to familiarity at our own expense.  We hold onto old memories, old lives, old sins that God clearly states that we are to put away.  Paul in Romans gives us one of the hallmark statements of faith when he declares that his mission in his journey with Christ is to forget those things which are behind and press forward toward that which is in front of him.  Rian Johnson has done that for us, the audience.  The past must die in order for us to move forward.  Just like our position in Christ:  Old things passed away.  Behold, ALL THINGS ARE NEW.
  • One final point about Luke. Addressing the fanboys again who were searching for their hero who they loved back in 77-83:  Heroism has a cost.  We see our heroes in real life and admire their greatness.  But we have no idea what that heroism cost them emotionally, mentally and spiritually.  Luke was supposed to be the manifested Jedi prophecy bringing balance to the Force and restoring the Jedi order.  But he failed in the process.  That failure cost him his nephew and the students he was training and also unleashed the power of the Dark Side to a new level.  Now mind you: THIS is on top of being a presumed orphan for the early part of your life, watching your aunt and uncle who were your caretakers die, finding out your sworn enemy is YOUR DADDY, losing your hand while confronting said enemy, the utter mind-blowing discovery that the most beautiful princess you’ve ever seen (and stole a couple of kisses from) is your friggin sister AND taking eleventy gazillion bolts of Force lightning from the Emperor as your enemy/Daddy saves your life and loses his in the process.  Talk about your burdens being carried!  But no one sees that.  They just see the blowing up of the Death Star, using the gift of the Force and Vader’s redemption. Heroism to the masses…failure behind the scenes.  Much like our own lives.  But as Yoda said, FAILURE is just as crucial to the journey as the successes. The American wing of the Christian Church is infected by this anti-failure mindset.  It has seeped into the fabric of the entire country. We celebrate success. We denigrate failure.  I have seen failure get people who genuinely love God removed from churches because of it. I have seen friends lost because of it.  I have seen the outright dismissal of people’s walks with Christ because of it. But, in my life, I have seen FAILURE be the launchpad into the revelation of the grace and mercy of God.  I never would know God’s genuine love if I hadn’t failed.  And I have failed epically. Just like Luke. But out of the ashes of my failures have come my greatest victories.  Just like Luke.  Luke’s final act in this film was paid for through the cost of his failures.  He became greater and more powerful than at any point in the Star Wars saga!  Can’t wait to see the lessons his Force ghosted self will teach Rey – and hopefully that little boy in the final scene.
  • JJ: Pressure’s on you, bruh.  You alienated a legion of Trekkers through your remake of The Wrath of Khan in which you made Khan an English dude and flip flopped Spock’s death into Kirk’s death.  We cannot have those shenanigans for Episode 9! No digging into your crates to find another movie to remix. The gauntlet has been thrown. Rian Johnson has set the table. It’s on you to bring the feast that will end this trilogy. DON’T SCREW THIS UP!!!

Scenes From A Cinematic Weekend – 11/13/2017

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Quiet weekend on the multiplex front (at least for me).  So let’s get to it.

  • Meh On The Orient Express.  All star cast, 65MM photography and the lady next to me in the theatre fell asleep.  Can’t say that I blame her.  The joint didn’t really come together till the end when the mechanism behind the dastardly deed was revealed.  Bold statement about what happens when we take vengeance into our own hands.  Couldn’t help but to think that the creators of the classic 70’s cop show Columbo borrowed a few thangs from Agatha Christie and her epically mustached detective!
  • Didn’t see the first Daddy’s Home.  Doubtful I’ll see this one.  IMO – Will Ferrell is the most OVERRATED comic actor out there.  Disagree if you will, but the dude is ANNOYING to me.  Just not funny at all.
  • LOUIS CK!  COME ON DOWN!  YOU’RE THE NEXT CONTESTANT ON “WHO WANTS TO LOSE THEIR CAREER!”  I’m not gonna rehash the story. It doesn’t need rehashing.  Instead, Imma give y’all a peek inside the ScreenFish editorial discussion room to address something just as serious than the acts themselves.  The prayer model famously known as The Lord’s Prayer features a specific and deliberate line about forgiveness.  “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespasses against us.”  The deep part is that the ONE piece of the prayer model that Jesus goes back to re-address:  “For if you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you.”  In these bloodthirsty times of folks calling out the sins of Hollywood people and demanding that they be held accountable for their actions, we’re seeing a disturbing trend; one that I had to point out to my SF colleagues.  While some remain hopeful that this rampant confession of rampant sin would lead to grace, mercy, healing, and repentance within the industry, I beg to differ.  While there are indeed Christians working within Hollywood, Hollywood is not a Christian ideal-embracing industry.  At all. (I just heard thousands of SF readers say “DUH!”)  In God’s eyes, confession of sin is supposed to lead us into those four destinations I mentioned above.  In Hollywood’s eyes – especially the flaming hot red eyes of those who have been sinned against – these rampant confessions MUST lead to a path of blood, vengeance, recompense and destruction.  It’s open season right now.  Everyone who has ever done anything suspect is going to get called out and dragged into the fire – a fire that will never ever be satisfied.  Why?  Because the kindle of accusation must be tended to at all times.  That’s one of Satan’s job descriptions: THE ACCUSER!  Don’t get me wrong.  Actions do have consequences and those who have done wrong are to be held accountable.   But when does it stop?  Is Hollywood now gonna peer through EVERY! SINGLE! INTERVIEW ARCHIVE looking for dirt (Hello, George Takei)? Who shall be able to stand when all is said and done?  I know the answer:  NO ONE.  We live in a world who just won’t accept the truth than man is inherently wicked and sinful by nature and needs a SAVIOR to save us from ourselves.  Instead, we keep running from star to star, from idol to idol searching for a “good one.” And even with the “good ones,” there’s some secret sin involving money, power, how they treat their spouses and kids, whatever that will disqualify them too. So the fire will burn, like it or not.  Those who have suffered don’t want healing.  They want blood.  If only they’d believe that the debt has already been paid by the Blood shed on a cross at Calvary.

Alrighty!  Back at y’all next week as we see if Justice League is another DCEU stinker!

Are y’all enjoying this?  Leave a comment to let me know if you are.  Argumen…I mean SPIRITED DEBATES always welcome!  😁

SCENES FROM A CINEMATIC WEEKEND – 11/6/17

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Spacey falls.  Thor takes bank.  And another shooting in the house of The Lord.  Sigh.  Sad times  😢

  • If the powers that be ever got the guts to give y’all a peek inside our private Screen Fish Messenger feed, OH BOY!  It’s a hotbed of debates, arguments, random thoughts and, most of all, love. I personally think that some of my BEST writing is done in THAT forum…which is how THIS series started!  I shared random thoughts about my weekend at the movies.  The bosses coerced…I mean ENCOURAGED me to write em. Heh!  😱
  • Speaking of The Fish, I’m sorta kinda guiding SF’er Heather Johnson along her Throwback Thursday journey to catch those classics she missed in the theatre a long time ago.  It’s been a lot of fun helping her out.  Can’t wait to see her next review!
  • THOR RAGNAROK:  Some folk around these parts lament the loss of the faux Shakespearean element of the series.  I SAY: That’s EXACTLY WHY it took $121 million this weekend.  In the previous two, Loki was the only one having fun.  This time, Thor, Hulk and the entire audience joined in on the fun.   This is a looser, leaner Thor – one who knows he has nothing to prove and that his place among the titans of the MCU is secure.  So he chopped that hair right on off and had fun!  And so did we!
  • Saturday was my seventeenth wedding anniversary.  My wife Ilayna and I kicked off the festivities by watching one of our favorite movies as a couple: TOMBSTONE!  And we don’t simply WATCH it…we flip the subtitles on and quote our favorite lines – mostly Doc Holliday’s, of course.  Seventeen years ago, before I wrote about movies and arranged movie outings for the folks in my city, Ilayna was my movie sidekick.  80% of the movies I saw, she was right by my side.  How romantic, huh?  NOT!  Those drives home from the theatre have led to the most knock down drag out arguments EVER!  From the cliffhanger in LOTR: The Two Towers to Star Wars Episode 2 where she predicted Lucas would claim Anakin was a “virgin birth”  and I called her crazy (she was right 😡) to the ending of Inception – where she STILL thinks Leo’s in the dream (He’s NOT! 😡😡) to the awaited revelation coming this December 15 of who Rey’s parents are in Star Wars Episode 8 (she thinks Rey and Ben are brother and sister.  I think she’s cuckoo!!!), our epic movie conquests can be summed up in one name: NERDLOVE!  It’s our unique bond that only she and I share.  A bond forged in God and movies!  Our first date in May 1999 was Star Wars Episode 1.  And that was HER idea!  I argue down the SF tribe as I mentioned before.  But I can’t argue down my wife.  She’s my match.  Superior to me in many ways.  Movie IQ off the chain.  The only woman on the planet where I can sit at a drive-in movie and we both spend four hours WATCHING THE MOVIE instead of fogging up the windows.  That’s NERDLOVE.  Happy anniversary, Ilayna.  I love you. ❤️

See yall next week as we discuss whether a remake of Murder On The Orient Express was necessary.  Happy moviegoing!  And may God protect us all.  Especially from ourselves!

SCENES FROM A CINEMATIC WEEKEND 10/30/2017

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So…um…wow!  The World Series is packing more compelling action than the entire 2017 Movie Season!  My Dodgers may be on the brink of losing, but that storyline is better than 90% of the crap Hollywood has force fed onto our eyeballs this year! Anyhoo…let’s get to it (SPOILER WARNING):

  • Suburbicon is a metaphor about White Flight – the practice where White families fled the big cities and headed for the suburbs to escape the *monsters* who took over the cities.  Colored Folk were the monsters.  The residents of Suburbicon raised holy hell to run these *monsters* out of their happy utopia.  But, as the actions of Matt and Julianne proved, the real monsters are the ones staring back at us in the mirror.  Reminds me of the tag line of my first professionally produced play performed over 5 years ago: “We put it all on Satan, but the truth must be told.  The REAL enemy…is “IN-A-ME.”

  • Thank You For Your Service:  What a perfectly (and intentionally sarcastic) title and what a perfect time to release the film!  As the current occupant of the White House is rooting for kneeling ‘sons of bitches’ to be removed from the NFL field for disrespecting the flag and the soldiers to defend it, this flick  shows a whole ‘nother level of disrespect shown to those very soldiers after they come home from the battlefield. Wrecked with guilt, shame and PTSD, haunted by the blood shed by their enemies and their fallen soldiers and seemingly abandoned by loved ones who can’t handle the weight of their struggles – and their very government who rewards their efforts to defend our freedom with 500 miles of red tape and  12 week to 9 month waiting lists before their PTSD can even be diagonosed and treated – 3 soldiers take 3 different paths to deal with life after the war.  Incredibly compelling stuff to watch.

  • DING DONG, THE CASTING COUCH IS DEAD: No, that’s not a movie title.  That’s a real life drama playing out in the entertainment world as we speak.  Weinstein fell.  Harry Knowles – king of the online movie discussion platform – fell.  Agents, talk show hosts and CEO’s falling.  And, as of this writing, Kevin Spacey is headed for a fall as well.  The alarm has been sounded.  Folks are being held accountable for their actions.  For me, it’s a simple concept: DONT TOUCH THE TALENT.   As a writer/director in my own right, we get to work with the most beautiful people on the planet.  All shapes.  All sizes.  All colors.  All BEAUTIFUL. But I can’t allow their beauty to make me lose my own self-control.  The echoing words of James 1 come into play, here: their sin is clearly born out of their desires.  Just like the rest of us.  But I don’t think that desire is just sexual.  For Weinstein, O’Reilly and others, it’s all about the power.  Somewhere in their lives, their weaknesses were not handled with grace and mercy.  So they turned their shame into power and abandoned self-control in the process.   Them falling from their lofty perches is stripping them of that power and forcing them to face the shame they’re ignoring.  May our merciful God be with them – not to shame, but to heal.

Next week, we’ll see if Thor delivers the goods and – in honor of my 17th wedding anniversary – I’ll give y’all a peek inside a world I call NERDLOVE: A world my wife and I have created.  Do we rejoice in our quirkiness?  Do we spazz on our love and commitment?  Naaah…we have knockdown drag out fights about movies!

NERDLOVE: Coming soon to ScreenFish!

Scenes From A Cinematic Weekend 10/23/17

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Hey SF’ers!  Trying something new so here goes:

  • Marshall w/Chadwick Boseman & Josh Gad:  They say that the opposite of the White Savior trope in film is the Magical Negro trope. Marshall clearly went full Magical Negro with Josh Gad’s character being the only lawyer allowed to try the case the film centers on.  A more compelling movie would have been watching Marshall defy the sea of racist White venom and beat a case against the odds. Way too much focus on the Josh Gad subplot to me.

  • BOO 2 was BAD, even by Madea/Tyler Perry standards. 20 minutes into it, I was half watching and half looking at my phone.  (Calm down movie theatre police – I was at a drive-in!)  No faith-filled or redeeming messages.  Honestly…the thing felt like a lame live action episode of Scooby Doo.   By the way, the audio overdubs that were supposed to drown out the cursing in this flick were HORRIBLE!  All those hecks, darns and friggins tells me that the uncut unedited version would have gotten a hard R.  I say to TP, don’t screw around with it next time. Let those F-bombs fly and let the church folks go up in arms!  Most of the ones who’d protest are avid Scandal watchers anyway where Cursing: Bad and Adultery: Good.

  • Shame Only The Brave didn’t find an audience.  Very good telling of the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots with themes of brotherhood, sacrifice – both at home and in the fire path – and redemption.  No Oscar prospects but this’ll find it’s proper audience in Redbox and streaming platforms.

  • Glad to have celebrated my 45th bday on Saturday.  I look and feel 35!  But I’m thankful to God for my wife and kids, my ScreenFish family for enduring me & my love for movies!

Well, that’s it.  Hopefully y’all will enjoy this.  If so, there will be more to come! ✌🏿

Detroit: Good Intentions. HORRIBLE Timing.

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So, Detroit flopped at the box office.  Rightfully so.  Oscars?  Won’t happen.  I’m not particularly mad at Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal for retelling the story.  They’re filmmakers.  They have every right to tell the story they want to tell.  Their intentions were good.  Fifty years after the horrifying incident at the Algiers Motel, they wanted to tell the so-called untold story of what really happened that horrible fateful night. Technically and artistically, they did a great job.  Acting on point.  Shots on point.  Audience gripped.  All the makings of a great film.

Good intentions.  Horrible timing.

In a world where the “alt-right,” Charlottesville, VA, Black Lives Matter, and the forty-fifth president have the country divided, this was NOT the right time to release this film. At all.  Furthermore, extra care should have been taken to insure that the audiences who share the same color as the young men who suffered that night would be able to receive the film with open arms. Case in point: at my screening, a fellow Black man yelled at the screen in anger and promptly marched his family out of the theater.Should he have given the film a chance?

My honest answer: Nope.   Why should he?  He could walk out of that theatre and with one traffic stop find himself in the same boat as the young men in the movie.

And so could I.  Or my eleven-year-old son.

If I were Bigelow/Boal/a high ranking executive at Annapurna Pictures, I probably would have focus grouped this release with as many African-American audiences as I could.  I would have studied their reactions. I would take the bristling of every curse word and anguished plea of “Why did y’all make this movie and why are y’all releasing it NOW?”  And the filmmakers would rightfully respond about their call as filmmakers to tell the uncomfortable stories; the ones that make us shift in our seats in horror.  And they’d talk about how a survivor of the incident was one of the technical advisors, and about their careful, accurate research, and on and on.

Again…good intentions.  Bad timing.

To the filmmakers, Detroit the film is history.  Fifty years ago. Happened in the past.  That’s the way things were back then.  It’s a new day!

To myself and other African-American audiences, this is not history.  It happened in the past.  And it’s still happening in the present.  And if God doesn’t change the hearts of many from the President of the United States right on down the line, we are terrified that these events will happen in the future.

New day.   Same stories.   Same outcomes.  The Detroit cops beat their cases in 1967.  Cops are still beating cases – despite video evidence that their victims are unarmed and/or posed no life or death-laden threat to them.

It simply wasn’t the right time to release this movie. Let alone, a WIDE RELEASE – presumably done to get a jump on Awards Season like African American centric contenders The Help and Lee Daniels’ The Butler did with late summer release plans that floated through the bulk of the season.  I respect the intentions of the filmmakers.  But the wounds have not healed.   The pain is too raw.  The scars are infected in all of us.  Only God can heal us now…not this movie.

LA 92 – 25 Years & The Wounds Are Still Fresh

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(Photo by David Butow/Corbis via Getty Images)

Once upon a time before I became your friendly neighborhood ScreenFish Film Analyst, I was a college student studying theater at Grambling State University.  At the close of my freshman year on campus, “the yard” – our pet name for the campus – was all abuzz with thoughts of SpringFest, our annual celebration marking the close of the semester full of concerts featuring top R&B & hip hop artists, parties on and off campus, and nonstop debauchery. Unfortunately for me, who like many other students hailed from Los Angeles, our plans for big fun took a sharp detour.

For on this day, April 29, 1992, a Simi Valley jury acquitted four police officers who were videotaped while beating unarmed motorist Rodney King. The tape told the story. The batons lashed at the man’s body with full force. As comedian Eddie Griffin stated on an episode of “Def Comedy Jam,” even “Stevie Wonder could see these [men] were guilty!” Yet they beat the rap.

And then a few angry citizens of South Central LA beat down buildings, police cars, store owners and truck drivers who happened to be at the absolute wrong place at the most unfortunate of times.

Twenty-five years later, the pain of that day was revived in my memories thanks to the National Geographic documentary LA 92. Premiering Sunday April 30 at 9/8c, the film, directed by Dan Lindsay & TJ Martin merges archival footage from the 1965 Watts riots with the events leading up to the 1992 riots.  Both incidents were sparked by police brutality. Both had LAPD brass defending the actions of their officers accused of their crimes. Both bore the fury of outraged citizens who were tired of the seemingly never-ending cycle of violence and suffering at the hands of those mandated to protect and serve.

The film doesn’t merely focus on the Rodney King beating.  It also depicts the killing of Latasha Harlins, who was killed by a Korean store owner for allegedly stealing orange juice. The store owner was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter – but served no jail time for shooting this unarmed teenager in the back of her head while leaving the store.  This incident, along with the acquittal of those four officers, made those early 90’s Black citizens of LA conclude that their lives did not matter.  So after the infamous NOT GUILTY verdict was announced – and despite the pleas for peace coming from LA’s First AME Church – the city burned.

And, to be clear, it was THE ENTIRE CITY that burned, not just South Central LA.  The riots touched down in Koreatown and the outskirts of Hollywood as well.  But, of course, South Central was the epicenter as witnessed by the horrific assaults that took place at the intersection of Florence & Normandie…which was five minutes away from my house.

(Photo by Steve Grayson/WireImage)

As stated earlier, the film features one hundred percent archival footage.  All images are captured from VHS/Beta/Videotape footage from back in the days.  The anger of the citizens was captured. The filmmakers, in my opinion, made a huge omission in telling this story.  If EVER there was a golden opportunity to merge in NWA’s controversial classic “F The Police,” this was it.   That song was the battle cry of those LA residents who were fed up by the boys in blue who felt that their badge gave them “the authority to kill a minority.”  LA hip hop artists did not hesitate to put on wax their tales of police brutality and harassment.  Ice Cube’s “Black Korea” even gave a bold prophecy of what would happen if other Asian store owners continued to harass their Black clientele and take matters into their own hands.  Those musical examples are missing from the film; with orchestral music in their place.  Those glaring oversights make the film ever so incomplete in telling this story.

Twenty-five years later, I’m out of college, raising a family in the LA suburbs, about to make a MAJOR relocation to Dallas, TX.  But watching this documentary was like ripping a Band-aid off of a wound that was not quite healed.  Because as I watched those events from yesteryear, I couldn’t stop thinking about Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Saundra Bland, Philando Castile, all the other victims of police brutality, and all the subsequent riots across the country because of the blind eye of justice – DESPITE the videographed evidence. The documentary closes out with Rodney King’s forlorn cry asking “Can’t we all just get along?”

Twenty-five years later, it doesn’t look that way.  The anger still burns in the nation. The wounds are still fresh. The pain has not gone away.