So awhile back my friend @thecheesefry turned me on to Flickchart, and I promised after I ranked 1000 films (a solid number I think for anyone who calls himself a film geek) that I would post what my favorites are. The question I used when ranking was this, “It’s Sunday afternoon, there is nothing on […]
Debatably the most popular black film of all time, Coming to America is the story of Prince Akeem, who, in lieu of his arranged marriage as the Prince of Zumunda, elects to go to Queens in search of true love. On to the tale of the tape… Relevance: While we live in a ‘post-racial’ America […]
Richard Pryor is universally recognized as the black comedian who set the stage for the onslaught of African-American stand ups who followed him in the 80s, 90s, and present day. An argument can be made that there are funnier stand up films by some of the comedians that came after him, but Richard Pryor Live […]
Probably the most controversial choice of the television side of the countdown, Saturday Night Live has ran for over 30 years and has more than earned its reputation as one of America’s top comedic showcases. Created by Lorne Michaels, the show itself is not African-American by definition, but there is usually one black castmember every […]
Originally written for Sylvester Stallone (who would take parts of the original idea to make Cobra), Beverly Hills Cop is universally agreed to be the film that made Eddie Murphy a movie star. Don’t need much more for the intro, on to the tale of the tape… Relevance: In terms of African-American ‘movie stars’ (which […]
With all due respect to Johnny Carson (who in my opinion has no peer), it was The Arsenio Hall Show that really brought cool back to late night. Running in the mid 90s, the late night show became the stop for many musicians and speakers who had NO chance to appear on The Tonight […]
Lady In My Life is the feature I’ve spent the first quarter of the year writing. Named after one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs, LIML tells the story of a young man (Jamal Ali), as seen through the eyes of of his mother (Tanya Washington), his wife (Gloria Ceballos), and his daughter (Aaliyah […]
Boomerang is one of the enduring black films of the 90s. On the surface it can be categorized as just ‘another Eddie Murphy movie,’ but really it’s so much more. The story revolved around a player named Marcus Graham, who gets the tables turned on him. Most of you probably know the story, so let’s […]
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