BAMBOOZLED (2000). A BIZZEE Pick & A Commentary on the Spike Lee / Tyler Perry Beef

Hello, WORLD! First review in a long time & it's a BIZZEE pick at that! Hot on the hills of the hottest celebrity beef of the moment between directors Spike Lee & Tyler Perry, I decided to review one of Spike's best movies, the often overlooked BAMBOOZLED. In more ways than one, this review is timed perfect. I just got word that the Madea star is planning on remaking the urban classic JUICE. Really? Why? Hasn't Tyler already proved he's a talented director of stage plays BUT he hasn't translated that talent into directing great movies? Sure, his movies gross millions of dollars but none of his movies are what you would call "great". In my opinion, he is the main mass producer of what I call romantized hood flicks, the movies that almost always perpetuate African American sterotypes. Madea is so over the top sterotypical, she is as depressing as she is entertaining. I don't understand why she works so well in the stage plays of which I am admittedly a huge fan of & why I can't stand this same character in the movies which are almost line for line indentical to the plays.
Let's back up to the beef for 1 second before I go into the review. Where did this beef come from? It started with Lee last year critizing the Perry produced TV show's MEET THE BROWNS, based on the hit plays, & the recently canceled HOUSE OF PAYNE. Lee said these shows were reminiscent of Mantan Moreland & Sleep N Eat (if you don't know who they are or what they represent, you will if you get this movie!). Spike said these shows & Tyler's movies remind him of those stereotypically charicatures of African Americans. That's Spike's opinion & somewhat close to my own opinion. Here's my question: since win is it wrong to voice your opinion, especially one that Spike has had for years? Tyler isn't the only person Spike has called out on this issue & he won't be the last either. Spike, love him or hate him, is always trying to raise the awareness of the African American community & although sometimes he may go overboard, I applaude his efforts in this matter. Tyler, on the other hand, has done as much as he could since he rose to stardom to make sure that most of Black Hollywood are still working & for that, he also deserves some praise. I didn't say I hated his cast; the casting wasn't the problem with the DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN or MADEA'S FAMILY movies. The problem was the movies don't translate onto the big screen well, the reason being is characters in plays don't need as many dimensions as movie characters do. That's just my opinion, mind you, but apparently it's shared with a lot of other critics too so I don't feel I'm wrong on the subject.
Anyway, let me get to the review. This is probably Spike's most unoriginal movie. The reason I say that is it is an African American version of the 1977 (I believe) Best Picture Oscar winning movie NETWORK. In that movie, a TV newsanchor is fed up with the stuff that he has to report so he does a complete 360 &... You know, I don't have to go into details with that. But Spike's movie tackles a different subject altogether. A black television show creator named Pierre Delacroix (comedic genius Damon Wayans, playing it almost totally straight here) is pressed by his Caucasian (but Blacker than Pierre ever would be)boss (Micheal Rapport) to come up with a television series. The catch? It has to be more, er, "urban" than his most recent series ideas. Feeling sleighted, Pierre & his beautiful assisant Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith) come up with the most offensive television show to African Americans this side of AMOS & ANDY in an attempted to be fired. How offensive? Brace yourself: the show stars street performers Manray & Womack (Savion Glover & Tommy Davidson) as 2 "Alabama Porch Monkeys" and takes place in a watermelon patch for starters. Needless to say, instead of being fired for that bull, the show is a hit & Pierre embraces the success that his show brings while continually disrespecting African Americans such as a now disgusted-with-her-part-in-it Sloan & her brother Julius, who goes by the name "Big Blak Afrika"(rapper Mos Def in his acting debut), de facto leader of a militant rapper group the Mau Maus, resulting in tragic results. The acting in this movie wasn't nominated for any Oscars nor should they have been. This movie wasn't about entertaining (although I do find it entertaining in some of the worst ways; I honestly cracked up at some of the most offensive bits in this film). The film is a satire that takes aim at the things we call entertainment such as the movies & music videos that demean our woman, portray African Americans in unflattering lights and such. Before this movie, MARTIN was one of my favorite shows; nowadays, I can't stand it with a passion! I also have to applaud Dave Chappelle, whose self titled TV show was heading down the same path as MARTIN (and IN LIVING COLOR, an African American sketch comedy in the same vein as Dave's show). He turned down $55 million dollars because he was unhappy with the shows direction. I take that to mean he saw his show heading the "Stepping N Fetching" route but I could be wrong. No matter what his reasons were, he still had the integrity to walk away from that kind of money & that says a lot about his character. Anyway, the message of this movie is clear: we, as African American directors, actors, etc, have a responsibilty to truthfully depict ourselves in movies & in other media. Most foreign countries learn what they know about African Americans from our movies. Shouldn't they know we're not just porch monkeys by now? Then why do they still think we are? Maybe Madea can help answer that.

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Kyra Kyle's Scare Dare Challenge

Hello, WORLD!! This morning, reading the Chicago Red Eye, I saw one of my favorite journalist issue a challenge (See the nature of the challenge here: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/kyles-files/2010/10/kyles-files-scare-dare-2-in-3d.html). Here's my emailed response:

Hey, Kyra! Now you KNOW movies is my deparrtment and I love a great horror movie! Have you seen Mulholland Drive? While not really a horror movie, it certainly scares the hell out of me! Seriously it's pretty good. I know your time is limited so I'll make this a quick list of ten good ones from within the last 10 years:

1. Feast (2005): This movie is in the vein of Scream (makes plenty fun of the horror cliches, characters & the genre itself) but with actually monsters! Funny & scary.
2. Dead Silence (2007): While mainly just a so-so movie, the twist of this movie puts it over the top into a decent horror movie.
3. The Skeleton Key (2005): See my comments on the movie above? Copy and paste those here.
4. House of the Devil (2009): This movie is a throwback in every sense of the word! It has an 80's feel to it. The end is quiet but efficent.
5. The Mist (2007): Stephen King is my idol! He is the reason I write today. To bad his movies are never better than the books...until this one. The ending here is actually better than in the book!
6. Audition (1999) (JAPANESE): I'm cheating here; this is more than 10 years old. I still get chills everytime I think of "Ki Ki Ki Ki". No details here, just watch it. Speaking of cheating...
7. Don't Look Now (1973): I know right:1973? Trust me on this. When I was a kid it scared me for the normal reasons. Now that I really understand it, I scares me more. With Donald Sutherland.
8. Nine Dead (2010): Not really a horror movie; more like the first Saw. 9 strangers are chained in a room by a man who plans on killing them, unless they figure out how they are all connected.
9. Martyrs (2008)(FRENCH): For YEARS, we have looked to Japan for great horror movies. This French movie is about 2 tortured women. It's not how they're tortured, but why that scares!
10. Inside (2007)(FRENCH): A pregnant woman is stuck inside her house because a demented woman is trying to kill her. This movie has some of the most surprising scenes I've ever seen.

I hope I listed a few movies you haven't seen yet and if so, I hope you enjoy them. That was a great question though because it had me thinking hard of the best horror movies I've seen in recent years. Thanks Kyra!

(BTW: I turned your question and my response into one of my blog posts. I hope you don't mind.)

Smokkee Singleton

STORYTELLING (2001). A BIZZEE Pick.

Hello WORLD!!! I haven’t done a movie review in a minute but since I’ve been movie going a lot lately, I figured I better pick up the pace a little. I just seen SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, a great movie with a great cast. A few of the cast members stand out for various reasons. One of the uncredited cameos was Clifton Collins Jr, who played the drug dealer Rupert in RULES OF ATRACTION and Cuba Gooding Jr’s partner in DIRTY. His role was very short but funny in here and I’m surprised I spotted him. Another familiar face was Mark Webber, who played Steven “The Talent” in SCOTT PILGRIM. I’ll admit it took me a minute to place his face though; after doing a bit of research, I found out he starred in a little known movie called LIFE IS HOT IN CRACKTOWN (not bad but it won’t be a BIZZEE pick either) which also starred his SCOTT PILGRIM costar Brandon Routh. Doing a little more research, I found the movie which I knew and respected for: Todd Solondz 2001 masterpiece, STORYTELLING.

What can I say about this movie? Well I saw it one night not knowing anything about it or the director but I was hooked from the beginning. It is a movie of two separate tales. The first tale, simply titled FICTION is a about a college student named Vi (a young Selma Blair) with a handicap boyfriend (Larry Clark’s KIDS villain Leo Fitzpatrick, showing a little depth) who has an argument with him regarding their teacher, played wisely without any type of emotion by Robert Wisdom (no pun intended). Right after the argument, Vi runs into the same teacher and that’s where this tale turns weird. Anything else about this half of the movie is a spoiler but if you have heard anything about it, it’s the scene that this scene sets up, which may be brutal for some of the audience (I won’t say who). As a writer I can not think of a better more satisfying ending than the one that occurs here.

The first story was called FICTION but it dealt with non fiction. The second, longer story is called NON FICTION but it might as well be fiction. The always enjoyable Paul Giamatti is a film maker who has plans on releasing a documentary on a high school student named Scooby (PILGRIM’s Mark Webber). In the scenes with his parents, John Goodman is hilarious. Documentary turns out to be a hit, but not how Scooby expects it and THEN tragedy hits in the most unlikely of ways. Look, I don’t recommend any bullshit, but I guarantee that one of these stories, if not both, will have you discussing it the next day. Definitely a must see. That’s it for now, WORLD, but I’m sure it’s enough for now!