The new Ricky Gervais stand up on Netflix is interesting to me because, it’s really three shorter sets edited together… In the first set, he’s basically doing his David Brent, ‘oblivious asshole’ character to poke fun at the Kardashians (well just one really) and how his own celebrity and wealth have left him ‘out […]
‘Strong Island’ is another film that’s compelling both for what’s on screen, and also for how perfectly timely it is with larger discussions happening in 2018 America. Nominated this year in the Best Documentary – Feature category, the skeleton of the story is way too familiar to everyone now: a young black man is […]
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, ‘Icarus’ is one of those films where the larger implications stick with you a little more than what you see on the screen. Especially right now… Doing well but never really excelling as a cyclist, Bryan Fogel (also our narrator) hooks up with Girgory Rodchenkov, a leading Russian scientist […]
I had no expectations for the Netflix version of ‘She’s Gotta Have It.’ We have ‘Insecure’ now. We have ‘Dear White People’. We have ‘Master of None.’ We have ‘Atlanta’. All good to great in different ways, all cover being young and/or black, and/or single, and/or living in New York City. That’s one. Two: […]
Dee Rees’ latest feature might be the first great film of this era that ‘doesn’t take place right now’, but speaks directly to ‘right now.’ ‘Mudbound’ tells the story of two families, one white, one black, both struggling to make ends meet while working the land in Mississippi, circa World War II. The film/story […]
Part high school reunion, part interview show, ‘Def Comedy Jam 25’ is a fun 90 minute journey on Netflix. As more than one comedian noted, there was a time when black comedians could be killing it for years and never even dream of being on the Tonight Show. Russell Simmons recognized the void and […]
I was sitting at my desk when an L.A. number I didn’t recognize came up on the phone. It was the Casting Director for ‘Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later.’ He tracked me down through my IMdB page. The producers, Michael Showalter and David Wain, had a small part they wanted to fill, […]
Alright, I’ve talked to people who know things… So it sounds like my scene was cut down but not out, so…the next time you can see me in front of the camera is here. I’ll have deeper anecdotes in a couple of weeks. A quick one for now: When I was in the makeup […]
What’s up? So I don’t have a lot of deep thoughts this Eid. The train is rolling so this will be assorted quick hits… ‘Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King.’ Uploaded to Netflix right around when Ramadan started, so I didn’t say anything that weekend. But if you haven’t seen it yet, give yourself an hour […]
While not graphic, ‘Extremis’ is by design, hard to watch. This Oscar nominated short documentary covers a subject everyone needs to prepare for but no one wants to: what’s the protocol if you (or a member of your family) due to health or accident, needs to be hooked up to a machine to continue […]
malikaziz.com 