Movie [MOVIE] 2017 UPCOMING MOVIE DISCUSSION

[Elsalvajeloco]

2 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

 

And I had no idea this existed and want to watch it now

 

Drop Squad is very good film w/ damn casting (Iris Little Thomas who I always thought was an underrated makes a brief cameo). I'm not sure if I would compare it to Get Out in fairness because I thought the best parts of Get Out were the unstated things (Get Out and Dear White People had the best takes on black feminism I've seen). I think it works best as a supplement for viewing Bamboozled. Eriq Lasalle's character feels more like an attack on everyday office black person who puts on a show to make it through the day but it doesn't feel like a lecture. His character is way more complex than one would believe watching trailer.

The Delacroix/Peerless Dothan character in Bamboozled feels more like a critique of black show runners like Lee Daniels and all the showrunners that predated him in the UPN era of black actors and actresses slumming to new levels for a paycheck in a modern minstrel show. His character isn't as fascinating as the pieces around him. You have MC Serch (who in real life is/was an entitled white Jewish from CT who profited off black culture) playing the character "1/16th Black" and basically the model for white people who don't get punished even if they're culture vultures and look for legitimacy amongst African Americans. You have Mos Def playing the fake Hotep/RBG ("revolutionary but gangsta" for those not in the know) movement person who sprung up in the wake of Black Lives Matter and all the low key suspect shit that arose from Deray and Netta showing up in Ferguson a few years back. You got Michael Rapaport's character who is basically a surrogate for white people who believe they are "more black" than actual black people and uses the fact that he married a black woman to justify that rationale. You have to the media consultant woman (that I mentioned in last month's movie thread) who uses the effeminate, non-threatening (in the eyes and own words of the media consultant) black male showrunner Delacroix as an agent to promote buffoonery and says verbatim that if the black showrunner does something that should offend every black person than it can't be racist. You have the character Honeycut who is basically every black entertainer who doesn't care how degrading something is as long there is cash changing hands. I would say Paul Mooney's character and obviously Jada's character are suppose to be what Lil Rel's character is in Get Out as the voice and opinion of the black people watching. Both are comedy relief as well.

Drop Squad doesn't really have those characters, but it's for a reason. A big part of that is to show you how fatally flawed (if that's the right phrase) the characters played by Ving Rhames and Vondie Curtis-Hall are. Ving is suppose to represent the new generation (BLM/RBG/the so called Woke movement/etc) and Vondie is suppose to represent the early era Black Panthers/pre Chicago gang wars Larry Hoover led Gangsta Disciples, 60s-70s Vice Lords, & Jeff Fort's Black P Stone Rangers/El Rukns who believed in a legitimate street code, building a stable community, and being way more diplomatic in handling folks. They try to continue to work together, but there is a clear generational gap. Coming into the film as an average black person, you're suppose to loathe La Salle's character and love the people doing the reprogramming. However, as the film goes on, you're suppose to identify more and more with the former character because there is a clear moral conflict everyone who is black and works a stable job that allows them to sustain everyday should identify with. The chicken/malt liquor/Tommy Hilfiger/cigarettes spoofs and parodies are more or less interchangeable red herrings in both films so it being a little outdated doesn't hurt. However, even considering their roles as mere minor plot devices and lack of certain relevance, there are still morsels of truth in each. Matter of fact, the story Nas tells about hanging with Hilfiger on a yacht at the Cannes Film Festival makes the Bamboozled spoof all the more hilarious and relevant.

What I took away from the film Drop Squad as a black person basically is when you're dealing with family, a career, relationships, financial matters, and everything in between in the prime of your life, there is no set, easy answer on how to deal with difficult matters in terms of race and culture. The people who bullshit through life and use their blackness as a lever to make it up the corporate ladder are going to do that regardless of how much you beat them over the head. In truth, your average black person probably represents a mix of every major character in the film (especially those helping put the TV ads together). They're probably more one character than another, but it still rings true. Hence,why I believe the whole crux of the film is that no matter how much you stand firmly for one side (either the TV ad folks or the people who do the reprogramming) you're going to get your moral compass and tolerance for utter bullshit tested damn near everyday. That's what comes with being a black person in America. Some people handle it a little bit more rationally and thought out and some automatically cave in. It's the fight or flight response in human nature.

I would also recommend The Spook Who Sat By the Door. That's another film Hollywood tried desperately to bury away but it gained serious cult traction in the 80s and 90s during the era of Public Enemy, the works of Neely Fuller Jr. and the late Dr. Francis Cress Welsing's, Farrakhan reorganizing the Nation of Islam after Elijah Muhammad's son tried to stage a coup, and Shahrazad Ali pissing off every black housewife who watched Geraldo and Donahue (and earning a spoof on In Living Color in the process). The black feminists and intersectional movement people definitely wouldn't like the film if they ever saw it, but fuck 'em. It's probably best example of black masculinity not being under some type of attack in film you'll ever see. It's basically a proto superhero film and not in the typical blaxploitation sense that got copied over and over again.

[J.T.]

10 hours ago, Kuetsar said:

With Ghost in the Shell flopping (so far anyway) as bad as it did, I imagine Akira may not be such a hot project soon.

One can hope.

[Elsalvajeloco]

You guys do know we got countless zombie films from major studios in the last couple years and it didn't stop the other studios from releasing them after the others bombed hardcore?

Peter Berg's 2013 Boston Marathon film bombed, but that's not stopping Lionsgate from releasing their tragedy porn film on the same subject. Shit, Peter Berg had two tragedy porn films bomb back-to-back (granted Deepwater Horizon's losses were taken care of IIRC).

If you combined the total domestic BO for Bleed for This and Hands of Stone, you still wouldn't have a half decent showing for opening weekend.

The studios aren't working in tandem. The "that shit ain't happening to us" vibe is in full effect right now.

[RIPPA]

Speaking of Hollywood never learning

The Mummy

Oh yeah - the whole movie is in that fucking trailer

[Kuetsar]

Fair enough. Plus if the foreign take is high enough that will erase any egg on the face from the low domestic.  . . .

[Elsalvajeloco]

9 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Speaking of Hollywood never learning

The Mummy

Oh yeah - the whole movie is in that fucking trailer

I believe this might be the film that kills a lot of people in the Summer Blockbuster contest. 

[MonteCarl]

Looking at that Disney movie release schedule image, I was unaware that the Black Panther movie is coming out at the end of this year. So three Marvel films in one year? Interesting. I've also not seen anything about the movie, like set photos or things like that. Is it still shooting?

[Brian Fowler]

Unless they've moved it, it's not until mid-February.

[RIPPA]

Full All Eyez On Me Trailer

I would feel better about this if they constantly being all THIS IS THE TRUTH~!

[J.T.]

7 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Full All Eyez On Me Trailer

I would feel better about this if they constantly being all THIS IS THE TRUTH~!

They're doing this to counter the whole Suge Knight THE BULLETS WERE MEANT FOR ME bullshit currently going down on Black Twitter.

[Elsalvajeloco]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

They're doing this to counter the whole Suge Knight THE BULLETS WERE MEANT FOR ME bullshit currently going down on Black Twitter.

I just figured out a few months ago that the dude Suge ran over was the same dude (Cle Sloan aka Bone, the name I'm more familiar w/ him by) who was responsible for Bastards of the Party. 

Anyway, it's just something to sell the documentary that supposedly covers the whole thing (in this case, so Suge can get something on his books). This happens every few years where people jump on whatever sliver of pure fiction surrounding Tupac being killed. There are people that know Reggie (Suge's longtime security guy) and say that's wild shit that can't be true. Suge's son and attorney say it's not true. People just want to feed and validate their long brewing, nonsensical tinfoil hat conspiracy theories they saw on some Who Killed Biggie and Tupac DVD years ago.

[Brian Fowler]

So they didn't cast the Tupac clone from Straight Outta Compton?

[J.T.]

Come on, man.  We all know how this all went down.

[conspiracy mode] Everyone knows that Tupac and Biggie were actually really good homies and invented that beef shit secretly to sell records. 

The rivalry was bullshit but who cared because it was good for business. Neither one told Puffy or Suge what was up because the more real it felt, the better.

Shit was going great until Suge decided that competition was evil and had Biggie clipped. 

When Suge saw that Biggie was worth more to Bad Boy Records dead than alive, he decided to go the same route and had Tupac clipped. [/conspiracy mode]

Seriously though, no one believes that Tupac's murder had anything to do with Suge's ex and Reggie putting a hit out on him.  The best evidence of that is that Reggie and Sharintha are innocent of Suge's attempted murder is that both are still breathing pure oxygen are not in wheelchairs..

[Brian Fowler]

Pssst... Pac died first.

Otherwise A+

[J.T.]

26 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Pssst... Pac died first.

Otherwise A+

Part of the joke is that it is a conspiracy theory, man.  You don't have to fact check those.  They're supposed to be wacky and wildly inaccurate.

Also, Suge being the ultimo culprit makes no sense if Pac dies first because Suge is not the sort of cat to kill off his top earner.  Threaten maybe, but not kill.

You have to fuck up the order of the murders for that shit to make sense.

Suge also risked being killed himself by the same gunmen he would've ordered to murder Pac.  Not a good plan.

On the reals, I do believe that the EC vs. WC shit was mostly marketing and that the bullets that were meant for Suge killed Pac because Suge had a shit ton of enemies. 

I also believe that Suge had Biggie popped in retaliation because he assume the hit came from Puffy.

Whether or not Puffy ordered the hit is debatable, but I am inclined not to think so.  Puffy wanted to be a media mogul, not a gangsta and you can't make money doing a lifetime bid in Rykers.

[Elsalvajeloco]

5 hours ago, J.T. said:

Part of the joke is that it is a conspiracy theory, man.  You don't have to fact check those.  They're supposed to be wacky and wildly inaccurate.

Also, Suge being the ultimo culprit makes no sense if Pac dies first because Suge is not the sort of cat to kill off his top earner.  Threaten maybe, but not kill.

You have to fuck up the order of the murders for that shit to make sense.

Suge also risked being killed himself by the same gunmen he would've ordered to murder Pac.  Not a good plan.

On the reals, I do believe that the EC vs. WC shit was mostly marketing and that the bullets that were meant for Suge killed Pac because Suge had a shit ton of enemies. 

I also believe that Suge had Biggie popped in retaliation because he assume the hit came from Puffy.

Whether or not Puffy ordered the hit is debatable, but I am inclined not to think so.  Puffy wanted to be a media mogul, not a gangsta and you can't make money doing a lifetime bid in Rykers.

The thing is whoever wanted Suge dead....he would be dead now. If there is a contract out on you, they don't stopped because they fucked it up the first time.  Even if it was some street dudes, they're coming back to finish the job.

[S.K.o.S.]

Chokeslam

I haven't watched the trailer and have no idea if this will be any good, but it's about wrestling and seems to have a guy in a Santo mask robbing someone.

[RIPPA]

Mick Foley never turns down a paycheck

[Craig H]

I like the woman a lot from Silicon Valley. Not sure about the rest.

[Craig H]

1 minute ago, RIPPA said:

Mick Foley never turns down a paycheck

I think the moment you act in an Insane Clown Posey movie is the moment you earn that reputation for life.

[John Austin]

19 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Unless they've moved it, it's not until mid-February.

yeah they're still shooting, they were casting extras for a shoot that was supposed to happen last night

[Curt McGirt]

What, the cheapest man in wrestling not squeeze a buck out of literally anything? 

[J.T.]

15 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

The thing is whoever wanted Suge dead....he would be dead now.

Not if Suge figured out who it was and popped them first.

[Elsalvajeloco]

16 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Not if Suge figured out who it was and popped them first.

But that's not how Suge rolls. Suge is an industry gangster, not your run-of-the-mill street gangster.  I mean he's basically what J. Prince is to Houston rap and by extension his presence in the boxing world. Need I remind everyone that J. Prince locked Floyd Mayweather in a gym and had him beaten to a bloody pulp. Yeah, Suge has people's respect (especially the square folks around LA who don't want it with him) but the Tupac shooting proved he could be touched. Moreover, if those dudes got popped, it would have set off some shit no one would come back from. You can run that bullying shit on athletes, rappers, and entertainers, but real street dudes? Naw. 

The whole Omar "If you come at the King, you best not miss" is some mythical TV bullshit that no way fits Suge. Dudes like that don't do the whole "I'm blind, yall" routine in court and/or go to jail. Suge is basically a comedy act now, especially dry snitching about some shit that never happened.

[J.T.]

13 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

But that's not how Suge rolls. Suge is an industry gangster, not your run-of-the-mill street gangster.

They said that about Hammer, too.

Okay, that's a bit disingenuous since it was Hammer's brother that was the Crip shot caller.

Anywho, don't fuck with anyone that shouldn't be fucked with is the moral of the story.