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2019 ERNIE LADD MEMORIAL BLACK HISTORY MONTH REVIEWS


RIPPA

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17 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

It's weird that apparently Fear of a Black Hat and CB4 both came out the same year. I always thought Fear came out first because it was funnier. Yeah, I know, silly reasoning.

I also think that Fear is the funnier movie, but there will be nothing in Fear that is better than the CB4 video for Straight Outta Locash.

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9 hours ago, J.T. said:

I also think that Fear is the funnier movie, but there will be nothing in Fear that is better than the CB4 video for Straight Outta Locash.

How can you say that when Fear has "Come and Pet the P.U.S.S.Y. ?

James

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Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (Nelson, 2017)

IMDB

ROTTEN TOMATOES (100% C)

BONUS REVIEW BY: @J.T.

Two years after completing his documentary on the Black Panther party, Stanly Nelson takes on the daunting project of chronicling the history and evolution of the US's Historically Black Colleges and Universities and totally delivers.  Tell Them We Are Rising is a love letter to the generations of African-Americans that sacrificed so that we could have better and reminds society that the role of the HBCU is as important to society today as it was when the schools were first established.

The movie is full of tightly edited stills and personal interviews that makes for fascinating and heart wrenching viewing.  It also addresses the questions concerning the relevance of their continuing existence by reminding us that there was a time when these schools were the only places where African-Americans could seek higher education, and even that did not guarantee these scholars and professionals the rightful place in society that they so richly deserved.

How quick we are to forget sometimes that there was a period in history when the American Dream wasn't just elusive; It was flat out denied to people of color.

One of the most intriguing parts of the movie centers on the story behind the ideological and philosophical divide between two of the most important figures in US history: Tuskegee Institute founder (and Hampton University alumnus) Booker T. Washington and intellectual firebrand W. E. B. Du Bois.  The Civil Rights ideas of Du Bois certainly have resonated more with African-American society as time has passed as have his views on the importance of liberal arts education.  Washington's capitulation to White society continues to be a source of vilification for him to this very day, but you cannot simply dismiss his ideas on the importance of vocational training just because you find fault with his ideology. Economic prosperity in society is dependent on the skills of both the professional as well as the tradesman.

This documentary is so much more than a mere history lesson.  The way we treat the least in our country is a reflection of our character as a nation and if the Constitution cannot make good on its promise of equality, it may as well have been written on blank parchment.

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Last call for bonus reviews - if you could send me anything within the next 48 hours that would be swell.

There are still two things to come from me this week as we wrap up

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I will get the final official movie up today... at some point.

I had wanted to do the requested Good Hair review but this week has been shit and that isn't gonna happen.

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8 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I will get the final official movie up today... at some point.

I had wanted to do the requested Good Hair review but this week has been shit and that isn't gonna happen.

I have been working for a couple of weeks on this VMWare server rack and have been loading and testing software so yeah, did not have time for the Next Friday review. :(

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JACKIE BROWN (Tarantino, 1997)

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IMDB

ROTTEN TOMATOES (87% C/85% A)

 

SELECTED BY: @Brian Fowler
The best movie of the 90's, a fantastic story and a loving tribute to the classic blaxplotion movies. And Pam Grier.

REVIEWED BY RIPPA:
Usual Rippa warning that this will be all over the place

When the Black History Month “Club” concept developed, I was positive two movies would be picked – Shaft and Jackie Brown. #rippawasright. I knew the second Fowler joined he was going to select Jackie Brown. For those, unfamiliar, Fowler is by far the #1 Jackie Brown apologist on the board. He would be the second biggest apologist if Hollinger still posted around here.

OH! Before I forget. Jackie Brown finished #58 in the Greatest Movie of All Time poll. It didn’t finish higher because Fowler didn’t vote. Yeah – I am not angry. I am just disappointed. (Andrew Lacelle was the high vote in that poll). It finished #11 in the Best of the 90s redo (#31 in the original poll)

My teasing of Fowler aside, it getting picked for this project and why I realized it made sense to do this review last. Fowler sums it up with half a sentence “a loving tribute to the classic blaxplotion movies”. You can find countless stories on the interwebs about how Quentin Tarantino pretty much only had eyes on Pam Grier for the title role due to her being Foxy Brown. (Of course, we all know in hindsight this isn’t the only time QT has come across as borderline obsessive with his female leads). Also as mentioned already in the thread – Across 110th Street is featured prominently in the movie too. 

Here is the problem with Jackie Brown. Wait… let me start that sentence again.

Here is the problem with trying to write a review about Jackie Brown over 20 years later. It is one of those movies that a lot of ground has been beaten about over that time span. I certainly am not going to say anything original about it. It will come up each time QT releases a new movie as inevitably that means it is time for a new RANK THE QUENTIN TARANTINO MOVIES~! discussion. I will say this - Jackie Brown is better than any Tarantino movie that came after it.

Quick note there – I really enjoy Jackie Brown but it will never pass Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction for me that is 100% personal bias due to the circumstances of when seeing the movies and not around movie quality. (I had planned one side tracking deep into this – including the time in college we went trick or treating along Embassy Row in DC dressed as characters from Reservoir Dogs. Yes, I was Mr. Brown. Fuck you.)

Anyway – it is frustrating that a lot of the times Jackie Brown is brought up it is just to mention how many times the N-Bomb was dropped. Yes, yes, QT thinks he is black enough. Let us not waste our energy on that again.
I have a long procrastination history with Jackie Brown. I should have watched it when it came out but I had just graduated and my endless supply to free movie screenings due to working at the school paper had ended. I should have watched it as a rental but I was a poor post-grad. I should have watched it when it was picked for the DVDVRMC. I should have watched it for the Best of the 90s redo. I should have watched it for the Greatest Movie of All Time Poll. I should have watched it now.

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.

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God, I am a coward. I so wanted to not add this amendment because I just like how that last part ended however I suck. So yes, I finally watched it. It is available on Amazon Prime right now if anyone is curious. I will say that it is a tad dated but that is a product of our changing society – both rightly and wrongly. I really wish almost any other black actor had been cast as Ordell since it is impossible to not picture Samuel L. Jackson as Jules. (Yes, I know QT has his band of merrymen who show up everywhere but when we go down the shared universe rabbit – it bugs me.) Did no one have Laurence Fishburne’s number?

Pam Grier is Pam Grier which means she is awesome. So if nothing else, I am glad this happened to give Grier her due.
 

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24 minutes ago, Execproducer said:

Glad this didn't end without a Pam Grier film. I disagree that Jackie Brown is better than anything that followed it because Kill Bill, but it is great.

I would feel differently about Kill Bill if it was just one film

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The list of movie shame would totally be a fun thread but then we would just mock each other and it would be like every other thread

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BTW, this is the middle film in an absolutely fabulous run of Elmore Leonard crime novel adaptations from 95-98, bookended by Get Shorty and Out of Sight. Jackie Brown is least faithful (even the title, which was Rum Punch and name of the lead, the rather milquetoast and white Jackie Burke)

Ordell, Lewis,  and Melanie all previously appeared in the novel The Switch, which was adapted to an okay but decidedly mediocre film Life of Crime a few years back.

 

 

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1 minute ago, Curt McGirt said:

Was Get Shorty any good? I really liked Out of Sight. 

I consider Out of Sight better than Jackie Brown but a lot of that is because while Pam Grier in 1997 was awesome. She wasn't Jennifer Lopez in 1998. And she certainly wasn't George Clooney in 1998

I wasn't a huge fan of Get Shorty - I mean the Rock made me chuckle but yeah

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1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

I consider Out of Sight better than Jackie Brown but a lot of that is because while Pam Grier in 1997 was awesome. She wasn't Jennifer Lopez in 1998. And she certainly wasn't George Clooney in 1998

I wasn't a huge fan of Get Shorty - I mean the Rock made me chuckle but yeah

I love QT and Jackie Brown, but no surprise Soderbergh made the better movie of the two. 

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