Archive for August, 2010


Honorable Mention

Filed under: 25 MIF & TV, Movie Reviews — Leave a comment
August 24, 2010

One of the side effects of being in the house so much lately is catching up on movies on TV/DVD.  One of the films I caught maybe should have been on my 25 Most Important Black Film list from a couple years ago.  Maybe.

Regardless, I’m not changing the past, but will give this a film (and maybe others down the line) an honorable mention.

Men of Honor is based on the true story of the first African-American diver in the Navy.  Starring Robert Deniro and Cuba Gooding Jr, Men of Honor is a formula film that shows you why there is a formula.

On to the tale of the tape…

Relevance: The previously mentioned storyline makes it more than relevant.  You toss in the black director (George Tillman Jr. of Notorious and Soul Food), and you have yourself a black film boys and girls.

Legacy: It’s definitely a family friendly film and very rewatchable.  As I talked about the film with one of my fellow film geeks, the question was raised, “Was this Cuba Gooding Jr’s last good lead performance?”  Discuss.

Craft: You have two Academy Award winning actors.  One of the beauties of Men of Honor is how DeNiro and Cuba Gooding Jr. (both of whom know how to show out) let the story be the star of the film.  Score one for Tillman here.

Crossover: Even now, Men of Honor isn’t what people think of when they say ‘urban film’.  It was distributed by a major studio and top billed by one of the greatest actors of our lifetimes.  In many ways, it’s the type of ‘urban film’ Hollywood would love to recreate.

Apollo: While the climax of the film (Breashear earning his way back into active duty) would be the obvious choice, I’d say the scene where he earns the crew’s (and audience’s) respect by taking his diving school final (and passing even though he gets sabotaged) is great melodrama.  It seems somewhat implausible but hey, that’s why they’re called movies.

On that note, more later…

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Reel Black Recap

Filed under: I Love L.A., Inspirations, Lady In My Life — Leave a comment
August 22, 2010

 

Saturday night I participated in the Reel Black Men Film Festival organized by the Black Hollywood Resource and Education Center.  “Lady In My Life” screened along with several other films made by black filmmakers.  All shorts (the longest was 30 minutes), the films covered the spectrum of storytelling: there were romances, dramas, comedies, satires, political commentaries.  Nights like the other night are good reminders (especially for black audiences) that there is no shortage of talent out there, in front of and behind the camera.  It just needs to be supported.

I had the natural jitters that come with watching ‘your baby’ in front of a live audience.  While the reaction has always been positive, to sit with the crowd and hear it kill was very gratifying.  I won’t repeat it word for word here, but in the mingling after the screenings, I received some of the greatest praise I’ve ever received from someone who’s already ‘been down that road’ so to speak.  Like I said, sometimes you just need to be encouraged.

It’s been a good year for your boy.

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Reel Black Men Film Festival

Filed under: I Love L.A., Inspirations, Lady In My Life, What I'm Working On — Leave a comment
August 17, 2010

 

I made reference to this a little while ago and now can officially announce it: I received an invitation to be part of a Q&A for my film this upcoming weekend, and here are the details.

It’s known as the Reel Black Men Film Festival and its run by my friends at the Black Hollywood Education & Resource Center.  “Lady in My Life” will be screening with 11 other short films made by black men in the past year.  If you’re a regular reader of this site, I’ll presume you’ve seen the film at this point, but if you’re in the L.A. area and would like to ask any questions of me directly (or just see other brothas who have done good work) this is a great opportunity to do so.  Normally I would promise to turn my personality up to 11, but since I’m still in the midst of my religious fast I imagine I’ll be stuck in my ‘speak when I’m spoken to’ mode Saturday night. 

Full details about the event can be found here:

http://www.bherc.org/Film_Festivals/Reel_BlackMen/history.html

As far as ‘Lady’ goes, I’d like to tell you this will be the last public screening, but the film has gotten another invitation in the past couple weeks so I can’t say that just yet.  I can’t really put into words what it means to me that this short still has ‘legs’ (i.e. it’s still drawing interest).  I can say that for me and everyone who worked on the film, it means a lot, so thanks again to everyone who either worked on it, told friends about it, or in some other way have kept demand up for the film to be seen.

And on that note, I may see you Saturday night.

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Public Service Announcement

Filed under: Inspirations — Leave a comment
August 5, 2010

 

While I continue to be annoyed with Islam’s status as the modern day ‘boogeyman’, I also recognized long ago that the definition of the word ignorance comes out of people just not knowing what something is.  And human nature is to fear what you don’t know or understand or control.

So with that in mind, I decided to do a quick post to either teach or clarify some basic things people either don’t know or don’t have their facts straight about.  Any further research I leave in your hands, I’m not an imam or a minister, just a ‘concerned citizen.’

1. Muhammad is not ‘the Muslim Jesus’.

On the outside looking in though I get where this one comes from at least.  But Islam doesn’t teach Muhammad as ‘the son of God’, but the prophet who corrects and clarifies ‘the word of God’ when Man started to twist the teachings around for his own purpose.

(As a side note, let me add that I’ll try to keep all my explanations to a couple sentences.  That last sentence alone leads directly to two Pandora’s Boxes: ‘religion vs. spirituality’ and ‘church vs. state’.  And you can find whole blogs devoted to both of those debates).

Back on topic.  Speaking of the Son of Mary…

2. Muslims believe in Jesus…

Specifically as the prophet who came before Muhammad.  ‘The Prophet of Love.’  Yes, Jesus is not only in the Qu’ran, but referred to in the highest regard given to Man.  Shocking isn’t it?  Where the religions differ is Islam teaches that, like Muhammad, Jesus is a man who taught the word, lived and died.  A prophet but still a man.  The concept of the ‘Holy Trinity’ goes against the concept of the ‘One God’ that Islam teaches.  Along those lines…

3. 90 percent of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is the same.

Islam doesn’t just refer to Jesus, but to Adam, Abraham, Moses (i.e. the Old Testament).  According to the letter of the law, Judaism and Islam are actually probably more like 95 percent similar.  I won’t completely ignore the elephant in the room (coughIsraelcough), because it leads me to my next point…

4. Muslims come from every background imaginable.

I know that seems like a ‘Duh’ statement, but as an American it’s really noticeable.  There’s a noticeable Middle Eastern influence of course, but I’ve met Asians, Indians, Europeans, the ‘world’ as it were.  I’ve been mistaken for an African numerous times myself because of my name.  As it relates to points 1 and 3, because there are so many different cultures involved, you can meet two Muslims and get completely opposite opinions on any topic (just like anybody else, which is my point).    What brings the cultures together goes back to the meaning of the word…

5. Islam, translated, means ‘submission to God’.  So a ‘Muslim’ is ‘one who submits to God’.

So technically if you believe in a higher power at all that makes you a Muslim!  That’s right!!!  Suck it!!!

And on that note, have a good weekend!

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