Why Do I Keep Reading Movie Reviews?

It's only going to piss me off. So, for whatever reason today, I opted to find a few "mainstream" reviews of Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?" And of course, it pissed me completely off.
First and foremost, let me clear up the comment made yesterday that this wouldn't be an Academy Award contender. I said that because this movie was written, produced and directed by black folks and did not have any of our brothers and sisters degrading themselves or portraying a criminal lifestyle.

It seems that the only time our folks get recognized for cinematic achievements is when they play ex-slaves, bums, rogue cops, maids and a step down from crack whores.

Granted Jaime Foxx and Jennifer Hudson won, but he won for his outstanding portrayal in a biopic and she won playing a character, Effie, who was the classic stereotypical Sapphire personality.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sapphire, according to the Arte Sana Web site, Sapphire is described as an African American woman portrayed as evil, bitchy, stubborn and hateful. In other words, what we call ghetto or 'hood, that is Sapphire. Think those chicken headed girls on VH1's "The Flavor of Love" and you'll have the perfect example.

Now, because the characters in Perry's film were educated and had very high skilled and high paying professions, he won't be receiving many accolades outside of the African American community.

I read on my classmate Eb the Celeb's Renaissance Black Woman blog, http://renaissanceblackwoman.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post.html, that VH1 was considering a reality TV show about interracial couples but they were looking for a black woman with, for the lack of a better term, some sense and they couldn't get the show green lighted.

With that said, she posed the question of whether or not America was ready for an educated black woman. I think the downplaying and the outright disrespect for Perry's film goes above and beyond to prove that America is not ready because it doesn't want to be ready.

America has grown comfortable with seeing minorities as one-dimensional. How often do you see black folks in movies where their characters remain true to themselves and life in the suburbs at the same time? How ofter do you see movies with Hispanics where their characters don't have on tropical print shirts wearing their hair slicked down or wearing long sleeve flannel shirts with one button done and tattoos? How often do you see Arabs or Asians in movies where they don't own the convenience stores?

Having a hard time aren't you? You know why? The people green lighting these films have absolutely NO idea of what goes on in the world outside of their own. Their only contact with minorities is through the eyes of the screenwriters who have been known to change their stories so that producers will make the movies.

I'm not saying they are wrong for making some money, I am saying that the gatekeepers are wrong for putting only one dimensional characters out there. Can the Hollywood Higher Ups get a clue?!

In the past 10 years, we have seen feature films like, "Love Jones," "Two Can Play That Game," "Hav Plenty," "The Wood," "The Best Man," "Love & Basketball" and "Brown Sugar." All decent films in their own right, but I guarantee you I can link them all with no more than two degrees of separation. If you think about it for a minute, you can too. I won't waste your time doing it, but if you care to challenge me, I'd be more than happy to oblige you in the comment section.

What I'm trying to say is Hollywood sees our movies and characters so one-dimensionally (is that a word) that they can't even give us more actors and actresses to play the parts. One of the main reasons Perry's films take beatings is because he goes against a lot of the cliches of "urban" films and uses a plethora of talented actors. He brings out a story the entire family can enjoy and he touches on subjects that need to have families and friends talking.

So bottom line, leave the man alone. He's anointed and he's been appointed. You can't mess with God's children and get away with it.

Besides, the only time we're going to get the recognition we deserve is if we come up with some sort of Academy of our own that recognizes achievement in minority cinema anyway. Don't believe me, look at the folks who make up the academy and then look at the folks to get nominated and then tell me that it's all equal.

Humph ...

It's been a few days ...

I've been busy, but please believe there's not been a shortage of things I must tell you guys about.
First and foremost, go see Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married." This movie is truly his best work and I just don't see how he's going to top himself.
While I know that this movie will certainly not be an Academy Award contender, I will say that it was still an outstanding movie. The story line was great and a very talented ensemble of actors was assembled to pull this movie off.
As you probably can tell, I will more than likely be going to see this movie in the theater again. I don't think I've seen a movie in the theater more than once since, "Set It Off," and how long ago was that?
Someone you guys should be on the lookout for is Tasha Smith. She and Tyler Perry were definitely the comic relief in that movie. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her work, she played the mom in "Daddy's Little Girls" and she also used to be a stand-up comic.
All I'm going to say is, the girl is funny and you need to see this movie.
Speaking of things that are making me laugh as of late, a Vatican official (that means he works with the Pope), Monsignor Tommaso Stenico has been suspended after he was caught on a hidden camera making "advances" to a young man.
It's not funny that he was caught, it's funny that he says he was "pretending to be gay" because he was doing psychoanalytical research. ***chuckling to myself *** That's a new one. I didn't know that people pretended to be gay. I know a lot of people who pretended not to be gay, but that's a whole 'nother story.
It is no secret that Catholics view homosexuality as a sin. It also is no secret that Catholic priests and nuns take vows of celibacy and that in recent years, a lot of priests have been busted for molesting little boys.
I am in no way, shape form or fashion implying that all gay men are pedophiles, nor am I suggesting that all pedophiles are gay. I'm simply saying that sexual repression can lead to some very unhealthy activities.
Now, Tommaso said that "he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work." He's claiming that he's been set up and that he was working on "cleaning up the church."
OK, I'll wait while you stop laughing ...

I think he's been listening to Larry Craig or he pulled out some old Shaggy, "It Wasn't Me." Maybe it's just me, but I don't believe the dude was "pretending." I mean, I stopped playing dress-up when I was seven and I think it would be easier to repress sexual desires if you were convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that those desires are sinful.

But hey, maybe it's just me. If this is true, more information is going to come out eventually anyway.

Speaking of the truth coming out, in case you guys haven't been following Mychal Bell's case, he's been locked up again. Not for anything new though, he went back to a juvenile facility on a probation violation for the assault.

And I can honestly say that I'm not mad about that. The boy was on probation for a previous charge and he was involved in something he had no business being in. For that, I do agree that he needs to be punished for the violation. The only thing I will say about that is I hope that the court credits him with time served. He was locked up from December to September and he was sentenced to 18 months for the violation. If he is credited with time served that will cut his sentence in half.
The thing about this whole situation is the truth still hasn't come out in this and I am worried that the movement toward equal justice is losing momentum. What do you guys think? Do you think that now that there's been a march and the media has moved on to the news of late that the movement is loosing momentum?