Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Just Felt This Flick: Red Tails

Let me get my one real criticism of this film out of the way. Ok. The romance. I didn't need any romance in this film. I would have been happy if the romance had been left out altogether and left for Spike Lee to handle in the prequel or Lee Daniels in the sequel. George Lucas was quoted in a NYT article saying the film's target audience was black teenagers--boys I'm sure. So for the one depiction of love in the movie being one airman's head-over-heels love for an unattractive Italian woman he could barely communicate with was awkward and out of place in the film, and off-putting to me. I just needed to see at least one of the airmen writing home to his sweet Odessa, or going on about how his Caroline smells just like sweet honeysuckle off the vine, or getting letters from Bessie and the kids back home, or tucking a picture of his mother into his vest pocket before leaving on a mission. SOMEthing.  If I was gonna see some love, particularly in a film like this one, I needed a black woman to be the recipient and/or giver of it. The closest thing we got to seeing black love was the one airman who took his picture of Black Jesus on every mission. I actually quite liked that relationship. 

Other than that, I enjoyed Red Tails. It was cheesy and corny and whatever other food-word that connotes being uncool. It was kind of awesome in that way. I totally agree with George Lucas' NYT interview when he says, "They have a right to have their history just like anybody else does. And they have a right to have it kind of Hollywood-ized and aggrandized and made corny and wonderful just like anybody else does. Even if that's not the fashion right now."  Among black films that have made it to the big screen with content quality ranging from the lows of Soul Plane to the heights of The Color Purple, there has to be room for black films with decent-quality content sprinkled with a little cornball. 

Red Tails has made about $48 million since the film opened last month. That's still $10 million shy of the film's budget, but not a bad showing for an all black, non-comedy. Plus, if I know George Lucas like I think I do, aside from a prequel and sequel, I'm sure there are action figures and video games in there somewhere. There is money to be made off this film yet.

No film starring mostly black people would have gotten a $58mil budget without having some historical significance. Hollywood and the mass consumers love a good black-struggle nostalgia film (see "The Color Purple" and "The Help"), but you'll never see a black "Garden State" (one of my favorite movies) because the masses don't care to see depictions of our ever day unless we're on "The Wire" or in a Tyler Perry film (but big ups to Tyler Perry's newest film Good Deeds in theaters Friday, which promises to have me eating my words here--we'll see). I'd love to see dark comedies and mellow dramas like "Young Adult" featuring all black actors on big screens, but as long as good black non-comedies trickle into theaters at barely a film-a-year pace, I rely on straight to DVD films for that. Unfortunately, people say "straight to DVD" like that's a bad thing, but there are many, very well-done low-budget black films that go straight to DVD. Perhaps, just as unfortunate, is the fact that in a post Tyler Perry America, where Hollywood likes a bankable formula, I'm afraid that "Red Tails", which was a good, but not great, movie won't open any floodgates of financial backers for good quality black stories. I hope I'm wrong. At any rate, hoorah and amen for a story about young black men who found pride in working towards and acheiving excellence. 

Oh, and y'all know I can't get through a review of a film featuring an all black male cast without objectifying those men by talking about the eye candy. Too much for a married lady like me to go into, but let me just say this...Ne-Yo has the most beautiful smile in Hollywood and the rainbow of young and older chocolatey goodness presented in Red Tails thoroughly satisfied my sweet tooth. David Oyelowo, oh my. 

Here are most of them in a really funny interview. I HEART Cuba Gooding, Jr. he's so funny. Enjoy!

Did I say David Oyelowo? Ok. Just checking.

Girl, did you see this new Vlog!

So. My best friend, EssBreezy, and I were on the phone one day talking about Julia Roberts' film, Eat Pray Love. I had seen it months ago and she FINALLY saw it and we had a blast sharing our reactions to the film. We both love Julia Roberts, so there was the gushing about that. We both love food (one of us-->EssBreezy<-- more than the other), so there was the gushing about the 'Eat' part of the film in Italy. We share similar, some would say feminist, views and so we went on about our issues with how Julia Roberts' character made some of the decisions she made. We rehashed this film just like we do most shows and films we watch, going from shallow to deep and laughing from the gut along the way. After we got off the phone, I was still laughing. My husband asked me what was so funny when the phone rang again. It was Summer. She was like, "That was fun! I really enjoy our rehash convo's. We should record them." And so Girl, Did You See...? was birthed. 

In our first video, we rehashed the Season 3 Finale of Basketball Wives. The ones that followed were a 3-Part video on our opposing reactions to the film, The Help. See? Shallow...Deep. All the videos mentioned here as well as the ones to come can be found at http://www.girldidyousee.blogspot.com.

Please check us out! And Follow us on Twitter @GirlDidYouSee so you won't miss what we see next time.  We would love to hear your thoughts about what we saw.  Tweet us and let us know you watched it too! 

Here is our first video...

My son is featured on a major motion picture DVD!

Just Felt This Flick: Sex And The City 2

Actually, I didn't feel this flick. The costumes and set designs are insanely pretty. Other than that, the film is just a hodgepodge of awkward dialogue and underdeveloped storyline. It's as if the creators had all these awesome (and they are awesome) fashion ensembles and needed an excuse to show them on film.  I went to see it with some girlfriends and was more entertained with our what-the-eff-moments chatter than I was by the actual film.

My rant review (and spoilers) begin now ...

A Christmas Movie List!

There are a handful of Christmas films that I look forward to watching every year. There are some movies that I wanted to add to this list like Soul Food and Bridgette Jones' Diary and The Wiz and Why Did I Get Married and Serendipity, but they only had snow in them or scenes that occurred during Christmas, so they really aren't Christmas movies per se, and thus did not make the official list.

Here's the quick and dirty in no particular order...

Just Felt This Flick: New York I Love You

Friday night I went to see New York I Love You. I hadn't heard about the film until I checked our local art house theater to see what was playing. Whenever I have free moments to get out without my son, I like to take in films there. If you are not familiar with my film reviews, I really enjoy films about love and random glimpses into everyday lives, especially ones with multiple stories that are not connected, where characters overlap, you know? Like,one story might be about a couple breaking up over dinner, then the next story would be about their waiter who goes home to an alcoholic wife. The stories are sometimes sad and depressing, but sometimes love is too-- teenage hearts break, spouses cheat, relationships dissolve or carry on in unhappily. Then there are the uplifting ones where relationships start and last forever in spite of seemingly impossible circumstances. I've written about some of my favorite films and HBO shows from writer/director Rodrigo García, Nine Lives, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, Tell Me You Love Me and In Treatment. These kinds of films are always PACKED with some of the most amazing actors and are like reminders that everybody has a story.

New York I Love You features more than 20 awesome actors including Andy Garcia and Ethan Hawk (yow.za!). This film is reminder that everybody has a love story--whether it's new love, love lost, familial love, everlasting love, unrequited love, forbidden love,or love only hoped for. The one story this film was missing was black love. I know there's some black lovin' goin' on in NYC--just sayin'. Still, it was an awesome theater experience. I highly recommend this film. Watch the trailer:

Just Felt This Flick (but not in the good way): Good Hair

If I had seen the actual preview for the film before going to see it, I might have been prepared for what I was about to see. But I didn't see the preview, which has a very lighthearted, comedic edge. Going into the film, I had only read bloggers' reviews and overheard conversations about the Oprah episode and the backlash from women who where not pleased with the film. So I went in expecting too much, I think. 

The documentary, Good Hair, was supposed to be a look into the black woman's quest for "good hair", but it should have been promoted as a look into everything you never thought you ever wanted to know about The Annual Bronner Brothers Hair Show, with a few segments about chemical relaxers and the hair weave industry in India. It's a good documentary for what it is--a Chris Rock comedy. Not sure I agree with the rave reviews. After watching it, I'm just annoyed. I guess you can visit a couple of hair salons in a couple of cities and interview a few Hollywood actresses and claim to have lifted the veil of mystery behind back women and their hair issues. Whatever, if that's what you want to claim--free country and all that, but it's just annoying.

So I saw a celebrity in the Miami airport

Well...not a celebrity-celebrity. Maybe I should just call him an actor. So I saw an actor in the Miami airport. You see neither Billy nor I could remember his name or exactly where we knew him from. If it hadn't been for his (super skinny, too-glammed up for airport travel, extensions down to there, toting a pocket sized-pooch in a LV bag) travel companion, we prob'ly wouldn't have even noticed him. He was also really tall and super skinny and carrying a garment bag that I recognized from paparazzi celeb-shopping photos. It was fabric, maybe carrying one suit, and was solid brown with one word, Gucci, printed on it in gold letters. 

Just Felt This Flick: Rachel Getting Married

I saw this film last week on my "day off" from SAHMing (stay-at-home-momming) while Billy was home for vacation. I was prepared to see a film that was a bit light, but heavy and a bit dark (which I gathered from the previews), but I had no idea how emotionally draining and wonderful this film would be.  I heart films about family dysfunction and screwed up individuals and this one is sufficiently depressing. There is so much love between the members of Rachel's family. There is a beautiful wedding, quite possibly the most beautiful wedding I've seen in terms of the focus on the love between the bride and groom and their soon-to-be blended families, still there's a cloud so thick over the events leading up to the wedding. The resentment and anger and bitterness and baggage all stemming from a past tragedy is palpable. It's all there and there is no redemption, no forgiveness (of self or others), and no sign that there ever would be any. There is only the gut punch from reality that at the end of the day, some things are just going to suck. Period. Deal with it. And that's real, you know? Sometimes, in life, there is no bright side--some things will just always suck, you know?

I cried mixed tears of happiness and of sadness pretty much throughout the last two-thirds of the film. I watched it during the day too, so I couldn't hide it from people as I exited out into the daylight.  And the music! Y'all the music! There's rock, folk, reggae, samba, jazz, a little soul, some R&B. The cast is an eclectic mix of folks of different races and cultures--it's delightful. And if Anne Hathaway doesn't win an Oscar for this role, somebody needs to reevaluate whose voting, because she took it there in this film.

Here's the preview in case you haven't seen it already. Watch it.

Tagged Again! What's Your Trifecta?

What’s your trifecta? What is your favorite movie, book and cd/album? You can only name one for each and share a little about your choices.

So Browngirl Speaks tagged me.  It was SO hard to pick just one favorite, but I managed. I had bonus picks, but exercised restraint and deleted them from the post--playin' by the rules..

Movie: Love Jones
Everything about this film makes it my all time favorite--the cast, the characters, the relationships, the city, the soundtrack...everything. Best thing about it was that for once, a major film featuring all brown people told a story of  us outside the hood. No stereotypes, just black folks being, working, socializing, livin' life. Every time I watch it (I own the DVD), it takes me right back to 1997 (when the film came out) , to my college days when I met my man and my dearest friends. So many one-liners from the film are still part of our regular conversations like, "well damn" and "there it is".  No film has become a part of me like this one. There hasn't been a black love story told like it since--on film (somebody please buy the rights to The Accidental Diva, and feel free to cast Nia Long and Larenze Tate as the leads-Thanks).  One highlight of this film is when Darius Lovehall (Larenze Tate)  performs a poem for Nina Mosely (Nia Long) called A Blues for Nina. Check it...

Warning. This clip is rated R so kids ask your mom before you click 'play'.

CD/ Album: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Oh, Lauryn. I listen to this album all the time  remembering when. She gave us her best on this album, then life did something to her and she hasn't been the same. It's a shame, because she's an amazing singer and her lyrical skills when she raps are unmatched by any other female artist I've heard. This album is that fire, y'all. I can't say I have a fave track; the whole album is hot. But I do love this one in particular called "Nothing Even Matters" ft. D'Angelo. It's a love song. If you've ever been in love or just mad infatuated, you will feel this song. Check it...

Book: Their Eyes Were Watching God
I've written about this one before. Here's what I said:

After last time read back in 2005...

" This was my third of fourth time reading this book. When I heard O was doing a movie version of it, I had to read it again to refresh. I was kind of surprised they left out the skin-tone issues...maybe 'cause Tea Cake's character in the movie wasn't dark-skinned like he was in the book. I don't think you can read this one too many times. Each time the experience is different, especially if you read it at different stages in your life like I have...young teen, older teen, newly married woman, etc. It's such a rich work of fiction."

I think it might be time for another read since I'm good and married now. :)

Browngirl's trifecta theme was relationships, and based on my picks, looks like relationships is my theme too. 

Nigerian Films

I was introduced to Nigerian films during my college days in Memphis. My then boyfriend, now husband, who is from the West Indies, as well as some other friends of ours from African countries  loved to watch videos of Nigerian comedies and dramas. I'd watch the comedies along with everybody else but at the time, as an American with little experience communicating with people from other countries, I had trouble understanding the accents--those of my husband, his friends, and the Nigerian actors.  That didn't stop me from laughing on cue with everybody else though. I got use to them after a while and eventually stopped faking amusement and came to actually enjoy the comedies.

Little-known fact: Nigeria's film industry, also known as Nollywood, is the third largest film industry in the world. We all know how hard Hollywood struggles to sell African-American films to wide audiences. While there are plenty of quality independent films featuring black actors out there, they're not widely viewed and aren't raking in the big bucks. Nollywood produces films across all movie genres that employ thousands of African actors in a $250 million industry with audiences largely throughout Africa, Canada and the UK...and maybe soon in the U.S.

I got an email last week about a new photobook by award-winning filmmaker Cybel Martin that documents her trip along with other filmmakers and NYU alumni to Lagos, Nigeria to conduct workshops at the African Film Academy. You can read about the trip and others involved <<here>>. The photobook is only currently  available through blurb.com. There's a cool preview of the first 15 pages over there--check it out <<here>>.

This story is also posted on my other blog at  HoneyMag.com.

Just Felt This Flick: Once

Ok. So Once is film that you could totally watch with your eyes closed. I netflixed it last week and watched it once (pun, however weak, still intended) and then immediately played it again just so the music could float through my house as I hung out with my kid. If you like acoustic guitar music and awesome lyrics, you might like this film. I say might because it's a musical that's just short of being an opera...there's probably more singing than speaking lines...which is awesome! The film made the secret acoustic guitar playing, free living artist inside of me want to hang out with my imaginary musician and artist and dancer friends in an apartment that's way to small to hold all of us and sing and play our instruments and smoke and drink wine and obscure beers and be artsy and talk about how much pocket money we made in tips during our street performances and waiter jobs that day. There is something exciting about people who live their passions. That's what this film is.

It's a love story. It's a musical. It's Irish. It's Indie. It's awesome.

I can't help it...

It's very difficult for me to watch a film with any amount of suspense without going online to moviespoiler.com to check out the ending. It's a sickness. I tell myself I'm not going to check, but the moment there's even a hint of suspense about what might happen to somebody, I have to get online before I can watch any further.

I was watching Tristan and Isolde late Sunday morning. It's a beautiful and painful love story. The second it was apparent that there might be a traitor and that someone would get caught and possibly killed, I paused the film, turned on the laptop, read the spoiler online and then watched the rest of the film with peace of mind. It didn't spoil it for me either. I was still emotional at the end and everything.

Even when we record boxing matches or football or soccer games (I don't love sports, but if it's a close competition, I'm always drawn in) I have to go online to find out who won so I can watch the rest of the competition without getting my nerves worked.

It's all about keeping my nerves cool.

Just Felt These Flicks: Why Did I Get Married? & We Own The Night

We saw Why Did I Get Married? on opening night. I have high hopes that Tyler Perry will add at least one seasoned screenwriter to his staff. His movie could have been SO good if it weren't for [fill in the blank here with the parts of the film that a good screenwriter would have re-written or edited out completely]. I've seen all his movies so far, and am sure I'll watch future flicks of his. Not so much because I think he's a great filmmaker, he's SO just OK, but how am I supposed to not watch a film with Gabrielle Union, or Idris Elba, or Janet other good black actors in the cast? Really. This latest installment was his best yet, so it has to get better from here.

We Own The Night was awesome. Joaquin Phoenix is such a great actor. Mark Wahlberg is Mark Wahlberg--hot and awesome. The only downside to the experience was that we went to see it at our new neighborhood theater and they didn't have the film set right for the screen. We saw mics almost touch the actors' foreheads all through the film and couldn't read any of the Russian-to-English subtitles. The manager was waiting outside the exit to give us all vouchers for a free show. We'll probably use them to go see Dan In Real Life or The Kingdom this weekend.

strangely interesting and random Hollywood trivia...

The Wilhelm Scream is a sound effect that has been used in more than 200 films since 1951. Apparently this scream was recorded by a real actor for a movie and then it became a stock sound-file, which sound editors have chosen to use over and over again in lieu of having the actors actually scream. It sounds so funny to hear it over and over again in such a diverse group of films. Before listening to it, I imagined it would be some blood curdling female voice, but it's just a guy belting out a very strange sound. Funny.

Here's a compilation of some different films with the scream including Toy Story, Indiana Jones, Beauty and The Beast, Star Wars and Howard the Duck among others. How random?

It's Friday! Is it me?

Or are there a bunch of who-could-care-less movies in theaters right now? I'm thinking about checking out 3:10 to Yuma. Russel Crowe is supposedly really good in it. I still have The Last King of Scotland on Netflix too. Maybe we'll finally dust that one off and give it a look-see.

It's Friday! I want a Spanglish Sandwich!

Couldn't get this sandwich off my mind for nothin' yesterday. I'm picking up the ingredients tonight and will be counting down the hours to brunch Saturday morning. I have to eat it at brunch (breakfast and lunch) for two reasons:

1. I get up on Saturday's around 10 a.m. so the meal has to last me half a day.
2. This sandwich is too dayum rich and high in everything to count as one meal anyway.

If you've seen Spanglish, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know about the Spanglish Sandwich, you better ask somebody.

Saturday Post-sandwich Update:
I had it today around 12:30 p.m. It was everything I thought  it would be. I used romaine lettuce instead of butter lettuce, 'cause I will never in this lifetime pay $4 for fancy lettuce. On a somewhat related note, after I saw Spanglish the first time, I went straight to  Crate and Barrel and bought a party-sized set of these beautiful stemless wineglasses like the one Adam Sandler filled with vodka in the "Conversation of Her Life" scene.

Just Felt This Flick: Eagle vs Shark

A friend of mine invited me to a pre-release screening last night. Eagle vs Shark is a bit of a screwball love story and we loved it. It's full of laugh-out-loud moments. It's like Napoleon Dynamite 10 years after high school. I didn't know anything about the film before seeing it, but the moment I saw Jemaine Clement from HBO's Flight of The Conchords on screen, I said "Oh shit" out loud because I knew we were in for some serious laughs. I think it's in theaters in August. This film is going to be huge.

Just Felt This Flick: Shopgirl

I'm glad I finally saw this film. It's been on my list forever and I got it from netflix a few days ago. I was in the mood for a slow Sunday morning, so when I woke up, I popped it in. I thought this was a romantic comedy, but it's actually more drama. Steve Martin was very impressive, and I was surprised that I actually took him seriously...he's such a goofball usually. I didn't know he was a writer. I bet his novella is a great read. I'm guessing since he wrote the book and the screenplay that there's probably not much difference between them, but this story must be just as enjoyable in black and white. The characters are sad and lonely and interesting. For whatever reason Steve Martin's character was closed off, crippled in a way, and lonely, not knowing how to have relationships outside of sexual ones. And nobody plays a sad, melancholy, lonely girl better than Claire Danes. I think she's really beautiful. This is definitely my kind of film. I'd watch it again, I'm sure.

Just Felt This Flick: Transformers

I remember the cartoons. I wasn't crazy about the cartoon, but my brother, sister and I watched it growing up. I'm not one of those thirtysomethings (like Billy and my sister) who remember the theme song to the cartoon and the characters. When I went in to see the movie, I expected to be entertained...it's a theatrical comic book throwback, of course it was going to be good. My expectations were FAR surpassed. Transformers is AWEsome! I started to feel nostalgic as I was reintroduced to The Autobots and The Decepticons and Optimus Prime (the Mac truck) and Megatron. Although the old theme song didn't make it into the film, the line "more than meets the eye" was cleverly written into the script. And Bumble Bee got a sexy upgrade from the old yellow VW bug ...which was also cleverly revealed in the film. Great throwback.

Every once in a while I would squeeze Billy's hand (we always hold hands during movies) and say, "Man, this movie is good!" I haven't been as entertained in a long time. There was good drama and just the right amount of cheese. It was funny (a couple of awesome black comic actors showed up in this film unexpectedly) and even the robots had jokes. The action was great and none of it looked fake. The two females in the film are ridiculously gorgeous and smart and cool and Shia LaBeouf (the little Disney kid from Even Stevens and Holes?) ain't a baby no more, y'all. He's well on his way to beefcakedom. Oh, and consider GMC vehicles officially plugged.

This film is 144 minutes of PURE EN.TER.TAIN.MENT. Please, let this be a trilogy! *fingers crossed*