Re: [scifinoir2] A black hole
Keith, I think Rhodey was in on the Mk II design.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I do see why Rhodes was
left out of the building process, though. did he help Tony design Mark I or II
in the comics?
Did anyone else think Terrence Howard wasn't quite right for the role,
screentime (or lack thereof) notwithstanding? I just didn't see him as a tough
military guy...
-- Original message --
From: Daryle Lockhart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Jim Rhodes" is a pretty important character in the Iron Man books.
What's been twisted in he movie is that Rhodie actually helped build
the suits, and gets one fo his own.
On May 20, 2008, at 10:33 PM, ravenadal wrote:
> How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
> New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
> Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
>
> http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/05/17/a_black_hole/
>
> A black hole
>
> African-Americans are blazing creative trails in music, TV, and stage.
> In film, the choice is either bawdy and preachy or earnest but safe -
> with a void in between.
>
> By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff | May 18, 2008
>
> few weeks ago I got to see Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose play
> Brick and Maggie "the Cat" in Debbie Allen's Broadway production of
> "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I went home depressed. Not because the show
> was bad, although, in its clanging way, it is. I was depressed because
> for all its shortcomings, the show was a big entertainment event that
> doesn't happen much in the movies: It had premium melodrama and black
> stars being starry. As a moviegoer, I hurt for that kind of glamour.
>
> I felt the same hangover leaving an exhilarating concert by Erykah
> Badu and the Roots earlier this month, and watching both "The Wire,"
> which just said goodbye to us and HBO, and the staggering acting in
> that production of "A Raisin in the Sun" ABC aired in February: Why
> isn't black life this interesting, vibrant, or complex at the movies?
> How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
> New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
> Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
>
> When it comes to black America, the movies are stagnating. Well, when
> it comes to any nonwhite male subject matter at the movies, the
> pickings are slim. But there's such a wealth of black stars,
> producers, and directors that the scarcity of movies - big-ticket or
> small, serious or light - focused on the lives of black people, is
> surreal. There's a gaping entertainment void. It's not just the lack
> of quantity. It's the lack of variety. Despite the usual death notices
> posted for hip-hop, black popular music is alive and well.
>
> At the moment, black movies come in two flavors: uplift dramas and
> Tyler Perry. The first is represented by all those feel-good movies -
> "Akeelah and the Bee," "Stomp the Yard," "Pride," "The Great Debaters"
> - that, bless their hearts, wanted to empower us, but that nobody
> flocked to see. Message movies are a great notion but tricky as
> entertainment. The makers of these films have this noble but somewhat
> misguided idea that the average black moviegoer wants to feel like
> she's in school.
>
> Perry's megaplex successes suggest that the average black moviegoer
> wants to feel like she's in church. His movies have sermons. His
> movies have soap opera. And, increasingly, his movies have stars. In
> the past, I've said only somewhat jestingly that a Tyler Perry movie
> is where black actors go to get back in touch with their roots. (The
> prim, post-Nipplegate Janet Jackson who showed up in "Why Did I Get
> Married?" wasn't just making a movie, she was asking for forgiveness.)
> But now a Tyler Perry movie is where a black actor goes to act. Angela
> Bassett is the star of "Meet the Browns." "Daddy's Little Girls" had
> Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba. And the movie that Perry, who
> essentially works without Hollywood's help, is currently filming has
> Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, and the loveable Taraji P. Henson, that
> pregnant, hook-belting hooker from "Hustle & Flow."
>
> It doesn't do any good to discount the value of Tyler Perry, and he
> certainly can't be - should not be - ignored. Perry knows what an
> audience wants, and he delivers - with Woody Allen's regularity, too.
> These things tend to come in waves (remember the Wayans brothers'
> racial funhouses from a few years ago?). But Perry is more than a
> ripple. He is black movies right now. His style has inspired studio
> executives to look, wittingly or not, for movies with either Perry's
> clumsy farce (see last winter's "The Perfect Holiday" or "First
> Sunday" - on second thought: don't) or his ensemble comic-melodrama
> ("This Christmas").
>
> That's a problem. There's no art in these movies. There's no style.
> A
Re: [scifinoir2] A black hole
To give them a bit of the benefit of a doubt for "Iron Man", I will saythat Happy Hogan, who's a big part of Tony's life (perhaps not as big as Rhodes) was also given short shrift. I think that Favreau had his hands full trying to craft a superhero movie that of necessity had to had FX, flying, an origin story, good acting, all that. I think that he also wanted to tell a good story, and have "real" acting in it. So, it appears he leaned the storyline down a bit to juggle the elements he wanted. Note that, as I said, Happy Hogan doesn't even really speak in the movie, and he shuld have been there with Tony all the time (not to mention starting to flirt with Pepp). Even Obadiah Stane really doesn't have a whole lot of lines, if you think about it. No, this is really more a character study of one man--Stark, with the focus on Downey. Even Pepp, who got more lines than any other character outside of Stark, is used to enhance the focus on Stark.When I think back on the movie, I think mo stly of Downey, with Pepp, Rhodes, adn the others as almost peripheral characters. In a very real way, the armour creation is a journey inside Stark's mind and soul, as he struggles to rebuild *himself*. And that was often a solo journey. Warning!!! Minor spoiler ahead.. In so many ways the film was about Stark's isolation: isolated by the loss of his dad, then by his own genius and success. Isolated by all the *trappings* of that success, the money, fame, and women that actually makes him lonelier than would would think. Note that whenever Tony needed a break, had a crisis, or doubts, was done with his latest fling for the night, whatever, he'd retreat to the sanctity of his lab, with only his AI inventions for company, and Pepp to pop in occassionally. After he decides to build the armour, he's seen as crazy by everyone: his stockholders, Stane, the press. Even Pepp thinks he's lost it at first. And note that he *did* ask Rhodes to come see what he was doing, but Rhodey was still pissed and turned him down. Remember the look of hurt on Stark's face at that time? That served to isolate him further: even his best friend was done with him. Pepp is there, but he's isolated from her by both their knowledge that he ain't ready to get serious with a woman like that. End of Minor Spoilers... I feel Favreau had to sacrifice a deeper, more complex storyline of some of the characters, in order to tell a good storyline that allows him to include the creation of the armour, Stark's captivity, and lay the groundwork for Stark's personality.. Note that even the armour creation itself --the Mark II in his lab--takes up a bit of time, but even it could have been drawn out more. I thiin In this case, in this movie, I don't think it was a slight to the Black character, just Favreau paring down the comic mythos to a more streamlined, maneagable origin story. Even then, the movie still clocks in at over 2 hours. -- Original message -- From: Daryle Lockhart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Jim Rhodes" is a pretty important character in the Iron Man books. What's been twisted in he movie is that Rhodie actually helped build the suits, and gets one fo his own. On May 20, 2008, at 10:33 PM, ravenadal wrote: > How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the > New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert > Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"? > > http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/05/17/a_black_hole/ > > A black hole > > African-Americans are blazing creative trails in music, TV, and stage. > In film, the choice is either bawdy and preachy or earnest but safe - > with a void in between. > > By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff | May 18, 2008 > > few weeks ago I got to see Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose play > Brick and Maggie "the Cat" in Debbie Allen's Broadway production of > "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I went home depressed. Not because the show > was bad, although, in its clanging way, it is. I was depressed because > for all its shortcomings, the show was a big entertainment event that > doesn't happen much in the movies: It had premium melodrama and black > stars being starry. As a moviegoer, I hurt for that kind of glamour. > > I felt the same hangover leaving an exhilarating concert by Erykah > Badu and the Roots earlier this month, and watching both "The Wire," > which just said goodbye to us and HBO, and the staggering acting in > that production of "A Raisin in the Sun" ABC aired in February: Why > isn't black life this interesting, vibrant, or complex at the movies? > How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the > New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert > Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"? > > When it comes to black America, the movies are stagnating. Well, when > it comes to any nonwhite male subject matter at the movies, the > pickings are slim. But there's such a wea
Re: [scifinoir2] A black hole
I do see why Rhodes was left out of the building process, though. did he help
Tony design Mark I or II in the comics?
Did anyone else think Terrence Howard wasn't quite right for the role,
screentime (or lack thereof) notwithstanding? I just didn't see him as a tough
military guy...
-- Original message --
From: Daryle Lockhart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Jim Rhodes" is a pretty important character in the Iron Man books.
What's been twisted in he movie is that Rhodie actually helped build
the suits, and gets one fo his own.
On May 20, 2008, at 10:33 PM, ravenadal wrote:
> How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
> New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
> Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
>
> http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/05/17/a_black_hole/
>
> A black hole
>
> African-Americans are blazing creative trails in music, TV, and stage.
> In film, the choice is either bawdy and preachy or earnest but safe -
> with a void in between.
>
> By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff | May 18, 2008
>
> few weeks ago I got to see Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose play
> Brick and Maggie "the Cat" in Debbie Allen's Broadway production of
> "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I went home depressed. Not because the show
> was bad, although, in its clanging way, it is. I was depressed because
> for all its shortcomings, the show was a big entertainment event that
> doesn't happen much in the movies: It had premium melodrama and black
> stars being starry. As a moviegoer, I hurt for that kind of glamour.
>
> I felt the same hangover leaving an exhilarating concert by Erykah
> Badu and the Roots earlier this month, and watching both "The Wire,"
> which just said goodbye to us and HBO, and the staggering acting in
> that production of "A Raisin in the Sun" ABC aired in February: Why
> isn't black life this interesting, vibrant, or complex at the movies?
> How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
> New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
> Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
>
> When it comes to black America, the movies are stagnating. Well, when
> it comes to any nonwhite male subject matter at the movies, the
> pickings are slim. But there's such a wealth of black stars,
> producers, and directors that the scarcity of movies - big-ticket or
> small, serious or light - focused on the lives of black people, is
> surreal. There's a gaping entertainment void. It's not just the lack
> of quantity. It's the lack of variety. Despite the usual death notices
> posted for hip-hop, black popular music is alive and well.
>
> At the moment, black movies come in two flavors: uplift dramas and
> Tyler Perry. The first is represented by all those feel-good movies -
> "Akeelah and the Bee," "Stomp the Yard," "Pride," "The Great Debaters"
> - that, bless their hearts, wanted to empower us, but that nobody
> flocked to see. Message movies are a great notion but tricky as
> entertainment. The makers of these films have this noble but somewhat
> misguided idea that the average black moviegoer wants to feel like
> she's in school.
>
> Perry's megaplex successes suggest that the average black moviegoer
> wants to feel like she's in church. His movies have sermons. His
> movies have soap opera. And, increasingly, his movies have stars. In
> the past, I've said only somewhat jestingly that a Tyler Perry movie
> is where black actors go to get back in touch with their roots. (The
> prim, post-Nipplegate Janet Jackson who showed up in "Why Did I Get
> Married?" wasn't just making a movie, she was asking for forgiveness.)
> But now a Tyler Perry movie is where a black actor goes to act. Angela
> Bassett is the star of "Meet the Browns." "Daddy's Little Girls" had
> Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba. And the movie that Perry, who
> essentially works without Hollywood's help, is currently filming has
> Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, and the loveable Taraji P. Henson, that
> pregnant, hook-belting hooker from "Hustle & Flow."
>
> It doesn't do any good to discount the value of Tyler Perry, and he
> certainly can't be - should not be - ignored. Perry knows what an
> audience wants, and he delivers - with Woody Allen's regularity, too.
> These things tend to come in waves (remember the Wayans brothers'
> racial funhouses from a few years ago?). But Perry is more than a
> ripple. He is black movies right now. His style has inspired studio
> executives to look, wittingly or not, for movies with either Perry's
> clumsy farce (see last winter's "The Perfect Holiday" or "First
> Sunday" - on second thought: don't) or his ensemble comic-melodrama
> ("This Christmas").
>
> That's a problem. There's no art in these movies. There's no style.
> And Perry's success, through no fault of his own, limits what chances
> the studios are willing to take on black movies. Rickety ghetto
> comedies, prefab movie biographies, and feel-good histo
Re: [scifinoir2] A black hole
This is really good. I think Hollywood still has a long way to go to showcase Black actors. There's still a fear of making us much past best friends, drug dealers, action heroes, or (for the ladies) love interests of white dudes. That being said, however, I do think we Black people need to spend more time seeking out original fare that does get made. I can remember over the years trying to get my friends to see movies that had limited releases in the theatre. Films like the wonderful "Sankofu", the little gem "Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored", the engaging "Down on the Delta", or the powerful "To Sleep with Anger". Usually the response was "Huh? Whatzit? Who dat?" If the films didn't star the top two or three black A-listers--Will Smith, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, maybe Angela Bassett--I couldn't get them interested. No matter that I'd tell them how special these films were, how powerful, uplifting, sobering. How tim and Daphe Reid used their own funds to make "Once Upon a Time..." and got good actors to sacrifice time and money to make it. How "Sankofu" took a decade to make, and is a work of art that hollywood didn't know how to distribute, but that we should support. Usually I get vague looks or comments like "you like that strange stuff. I'll wait for the DVD". Yet, sure as the sun comes up in the morning, soon i'll get a comment like "Did you see 'Bad boys 2' It was great!" or, "Will Smith shows he can *act* in 'I Am Legend'". I often get frustrated that they pass up good stuff for recycled junk. And when they would say (rightfully), "I never heard of that movie", well, i get it: these are low budget or indie affairs that don't get mainstream adverstising. But, they're still listed in the movie section in the paper, still have info about them on the Web, still have people like me functioning as twon criers saying "You got to see this". Even a fantastic film like "Talk to Me" went largely unheralded by most Blacks. Sometimes it seem to me that we Blacks get stuck in a rut, allowing Hollywood to stick us in rut. If it's Smith, Washington, Howard, Latifah, or Berry, we'll see it. If it's directed by Singleton, we're there. But if we took a little more time to look past the latest "blockbuster" starring Smith, and look two spaces down in the paper, we'd see the Sankofa's of the world at the smaller theatre down the street. We'd find out we could support the Reids this Saturday, and then pay our ducats to Denzel next weekend. Somehow we have to get into the habit of looking below the surface stuff that demands all our attention. If we did that, perhaps Julie Dash would be a household name up there with Perry, or more complex, mult-faceted movies like those Burnett makes would be the ones Hollywood was scrambling to copycat. Hollywood is racist and narrow-minded and stupide, but we are sometimes complacement and accepting and myopic. Not a good combination. -- Original message -- From: "ravenadal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"? http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/05/17/a_black_hole/ A black hole African-Americans are blazing creative trails in music, TV, and stage. In film, the choice is either bawdy and preachy or earnest but safe - with a void in between. By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff | May 18, 2008 few weeks ago I got to see Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose play Brick and Maggie "the Cat" in Debbie Allen's Broadway production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I went home depressed. Not because the show was bad, although, in its clanging way, it is. I was depressed because for all its shortcomings, the show was a big entertainment event that doesn't happen much in the movies: It had premium melodrama and black stars being starry. As a moviegoer, I hurt for that kind of glamour. I felt the same hangover leaving an exhilarating concert by Erykah Badu and the Roots earlier this month, and watching both "The Wire," which just said goodbye to us and HBO, and the staggering acting in that production of "A Raisin in the Sun" ABC aired in February: Why isn't black life this interesting, vibrant, or complex at the movies? How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"? When it comes to black America, the movies are stagnating. Well, when it comes to any nonwhite male subject matter at the movies, the pickings are slim. But there's such a wealth of black stars, producers, and directors that the scarcity of movies - big-ticket or small, serious or light - focused on the lives of black people, is surreal. There's a gaping entertainment void. It's not just the lack of quantity. It's the lack of variety. Despite the usual death notices pos
Re: [scifinoir2] A black hole
He did? Is this a recent RetCon? I know that they heavily foreshadowed him getting the War Machine suit in the film. JJ Mohareb On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 2:22 AM, Daryle Lockhart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > "Jim Rhodes" is a pretty important character in the Iron Man books. > What's been twisted in he movie is that Rhodie actually helped build > the suits, and gets one fo his own. -- Read the Bitter Guide to the Bitter Guy. http://thebitterguy.livejournal.com
Re: [scifinoir2] A black hole
Yeah...Funny how that happened...
Daryle Lockhart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
"Jim Rhodes" is a pretty important character in the Iron Man books.
What's been twisted in he movie is that Rhodie actually helped build
the suits, and gets one fo his own.
On May 20, 2008, at 10:33 PM, ravenadal wrote:
> How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
> New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
> Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
>
> http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/05/17/a_black_hole/
>
> A black hole
>
> African-Americans are blazing creative trails in music, TV, and stage.
> In film, the choice is either bawdy and preachy or earnest but safe -
> with a void in between.
>
> By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff | May 18, 2008
>
> few weeks ago I got to see Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose play
> Brick and Maggie "the Cat" in Debbie Allen's Broadway production of
> "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I went home depressed. Not because the show
> was bad, although, in its clanging way, it is. I was depressed because
> for all its shortcomings, the show was a big entertainment event that
> doesn't happen much in the movies: It had premium melodrama and black
> stars being starry. As a moviegoer, I hurt for that kind of glamour.
>
> I felt the same hangover leaving an exhilarating concert by Erykah
> Badu and the Roots earlier this month, and watching both "The Wire,"
> which just said goodbye to us and HBO, and the staggering acting in
> that production of "A Raisin in the Sun" ABC aired in February: Why
> isn't black life this interesting, vibrant, or complex at the movies?
> How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
> New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
> Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
>
> When it comes to black America, the movies are stagnating. Well, when
> it comes to any nonwhite male subject matter at the movies, the
> pickings are slim. But there's such a wealth of black stars,
> producers, and directors that the scarcity of movies - big-ticket or
> small, serious or light - focused on the lives of black people, is
> surreal. There's a gaping entertainment void. It's not just the lack
> of quantity. It's the lack of variety. Despite the usual death notices
> posted for hip-hop, black popular music is alive and well.
>
> At the moment, black movies come in two flavors: uplift dramas and
> Tyler Perry. The first is represented by all those feel-good movies -
> "Akeelah and the Bee," "Stomp the Yard," "Pride," "The Great Debaters"
> - that, bless their hearts, wanted to empower us, but that nobody
> flocked to see. Message movies are a great notion but tricky as
> entertainment. The makers of these films have this noble but somewhat
> misguided idea that the average black moviegoer wants to feel like
> she's in school.
>
> Perry's megaplex successes suggest that the average black moviegoer
> wants to feel like she's in church. His movies have sermons. His
> movies have soap opera. And, increasingly, his movies have stars. In
> the past, I've said only somewhat jestingly that a Tyler Perry movie
> is where black actors go to get back in touch with their roots. (The
> prim, post-Nipplegate Janet Jackson who showed up in "Why Did I Get
> Married?" wasn't just making a movie, she was asking for forgiveness.)
> But now a Tyler Perry movie is where a black actor goes to act. Angela
> Bassett is the star of "Meet the Browns." "Daddy's Little Girls" had
> Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba. And the movie that Perry, who
> essentially works without Hollywood's help, is currently filming has
> Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, and the loveable Taraji P. Henson, that
> pregnant, hook-belting hooker from "Hustle & Flow."
>
> It doesn't do any good to discount the value of Tyler Perry, and he
> certainly can't be - should not be - ignored. Perry knows what an
> audience wants, and he delivers - with Woody Allen's regularity, too.
> These things tend to come in waves (remember the Wayans brothers'
> racial funhouses from a few years ago?). But Perry is more than a
> ripple. He is black movies right now. His style has inspired studio
> executives to look, wittingly or not, for movies with either Perry's
> clumsy farce (see last winter's "The Perfect Holiday" or "First
> Sunday" - on second thought: don't) or his ensemble comic-melodrama
> ("This Christmas").
>
> That's a problem. There's no art in these movies. There's no style.
> And Perry's success, through no fault of his own, limits what chances
> the studios are willing to take on black movies. Rickety ghetto
> comedies, prefab movie biographies, and feel-good historical dramas
> tailor-made for NAACP Image Award contention are one thing. But a
> serious, thoughtful act of filmmaking or some real Hollywood glamour
> is rare.
>
> Last year, Denzel Washington found himself at two extremes. He
> directed and starred in "The Great Debaters," a historical d
[scifinoir2] A black hole
How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/05/17/a_black_hole/
A black hole
African-Americans are blazing creative trails in music, TV, and stage.
In film, the choice is either bawdy and preachy or earnest but safe -
with a void in between.
By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff | May 18, 2008
few weeks ago I got to see Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose play
Brick and Maggie "the Cat" in Debbie Allen's Broadway production of
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I went home depressed. Not because the show
was bad, although, in its clanging way, it is. I was depressed because
for all its shortcomings, the show was a big entertainment event that
doesn't happen much in the movies: It had premium melodrama and black
stars being starry. As a moviegoer, I hurt for that kind of glamour.
I felt the same hangover leaving an exhilarating concert by Erykah
Badu and the Roots earlier this month, and watching both "The Wire,"
which just said goodbye to us and HBO, and the staggering acting in
that production of "A Raisin in the Sun" ABC aired in February: Why
isn't black life this interesting, vibrant, or complex at the movies?
How is it that Terrence Howard can play a legendary character on the
New York stage but is stuck as the sidekick who's jealous of Robert
Downey Jr.'s hardware in "Iron Man"?
When it comes to black America, the movies are stagnating. Well, when
it comes to any nonwhite male subject matter at the movies, the
pickings are slim. But there's such a wealth of black stars,
producers, and directors that the scarcity of movies - big-ticket or
small, serious or light - focused on the lives of black people, is
surreal. There's a gaping entertainment void. It's not just the lack
of quantity. It's the lack of variety. Despite the usual death notices
posted for hip-hop, black popular music is alive and well.
At the moment, black movies come in two flavors: uplift dramas and
Tyler Perry. The first is represented by all those feel-good movies -
"Akeelah and the Bee," "Stomp the Yard," "Pride," "The Great Debaters"
- that, bless their hearts, wanted to empower us, but that nobody
flocked to see. Message movies are a great notion but tricky as
entertainment. The makers of these films have this noble but somewhat
misguided idea that the average black moviegoer wants to feel like
she's in school.
Perry's megaplex successes suggest that the average black moviegoer
wants to feel like she's in church. His movies have sermons. His
movies have soap opera. And, increasingly, his movies have stars. In
the past, I've said only somewhat jestingly that a Tyler Perry movie
is where black actors go to get back in touch with their roots. (The
prim, post-Nipplegate Janet Jackson who showed up in "Why Did I Get
Married?" wasn't just making a movie, she was asking for forgiveness.)
But now a Tyler Perry movie is where a black actor goes to act. Angela
Bassett is the star of "Meet the Browns." "Daddy's Little Girls" had
Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba. And the movie that Perry, who
essentially works without Hollywood's help, is currently filming has
Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, and the loveable Taraji P. Henson, that
pregnant, hook-belting hooker from "Hustle & Flow."
It doesn't do any good to discount the value of Tyler Perry, and he
certainly can't be - should not be - ignored. Perry knows what an
audience wants, and he delivers - with Woody Allen's regularity, too.
These things tend to come in waves (remember the Wayans brothers'
racial funhouses from a few years ago?). But Perry is more than a
ripple. He is black movies right now. His style has inspired studio
executives to look, wittingly or not, for movies with either Perry's
clumsy farce (see last winter's "The Perfect Holiday" or "First
Sunday" - on second thought: don't) or his ensemble comic-melodrama
("This Christmas").
That's a problem. There's no art in these movies. There's no style.
And Perry's success, through no fault of his own, limits what chances
the studios are willing to take on black movies. Rickety ghetto
comedies, prefab movie biographies, and feel-good historical dramas
tailor-made for NAACP Image Award contention are one thing. But a
serious, thoughtful act of filmmaking or some real Hollywood glamour
is rare.
Last year, Denzel Washington found himself at two extremes. He
directed and starred in "The Great Debaters," a historical drama that
used a feel-good formula to tell the somewhat-true story of a Texas
debate team in the 1930s. It was meant to enlighten and inspire the
young men and women in the audience. But it was his
borderline-flamboyant performance as Harlem heroin lord Frank Lucas in
Ridley Scott's "American Gangster" that they turned out for. The
greasy fat content of the gangster movie was a lot more appealing to
moviegoers than the nutritional value of the period drama. Scot
