A Mockery or A Tribute? Tyler Perry's Take On a Gem

Let me start off by saying that I apologize for not coming up with a better, or humorous, title for tonight's blog post. I need to hire a writer when it comes to stuff like this.

*sigh* Lately I haven't written anything new since everyone has gotten every moment in Hollywood covered from Charlie Sheen going to rehab to The King's Speech being the big winner at last night's Screen Actor's Guild Awards but now, I think that if no one covers this, well, besides the people who found this poster first in this link, no one will.

For those who are interested, we're getting another Tyler Perry film.

*audience groans*

I know, I know. It seems that we're not out of the woods yet for Mr. Perry continues to bring us deeper into Madea's world that has spanned across four films in recent memory, one episode of his first TBS comedy/drama series House of Payne and six stage plays. Out of the six stage plays, two were never developed into big-screen moneymakers. Don't deny that Perry's films haven't received alot of money especially when you count the many African-Americans that will run to see this film whether they've seen the original plays or not. If the films have a lot of recognizable names such as the poorly received, R-rated For Colored Girls from last year or big-screen legend Cicely Tyson as a God-fearing and worshipping elder passing advice that will help anyone get out from dealing with pain, they're going to see it.

As an African-American myself, I began falling out from caring about the last few Tyler Perry films. I blame it from reading up on the negativity that I've found on a lot of various web sites (Don't ask which ones. I've forgotten about them). I've come to learn that he lgets a thrill with writing stories about women going through abusive husbands, ignorant children, and throwing in drug dealers, broken dreams, rape, or family deaths to create a plot where there are utterances of God's name and by the film's end, everyone's at peace with themselves. I can't go into too much detail because it would mean that I'll have to watch every. single. film Mr. Perry has created including his last one as previously state which will be on DVD and Blu-Ray next week. I will, however, post the news that I mentioned before going through the long "rant" about not caring about another Madea film crossing our cineplexes.

This is one of the theatrical posters of Fox Searchlight's Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winning Black Swan (possible review will be uploaded at a later date) starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.

The link below represents Tyler Perry's take on the same poster to promote his next flick Madea's Big Happy Family.

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/55698683.html (Sorry. I couldn't find the .jpg of the poster)

I didn't know that there was also a parody poster for this film imitating The Godfather. It's funny how Tyler Perry's trying to make Madea come off as being a serious character when she's anything but. She's the comical, gun-toting grandmother who also gives the main characters a word from the man upstairs.

There are also mentions that there will be parodies of other movie posters coming soon for this film. Whether the rumors are true or not, I wonder a) what they'll look like and b) why he can't just come out with the final poster showcasing all of the big name celebrities and bright new faces we'll see in April? I think the film should have been released this month. After all, it Black History Month whether or not you believe that every month should be BHM.

All I know is if the film gets any reviews at all, it'll be low-scored on Rotten Tomatoes just like all of the other films he's made, hated by a mass consensus who think that he can do better even though he's still printing money, and will be the one thing on my parents' minds besides me turning 22. At least this film will get their attention more than the forgotten, poorly-advertised (Was it even advertised at all?) Mama, I Wanna Sing that debuted in one theater here in MD three/four weeks ago.

-D.C.

Willow's Has A 'Hard Knock Life' In Her Future

Another remake of a world-renowned musical? Jay-Z in talks of creating the music? Willow Smith's the female lead? In between these questions lies the problem that we must deal with immediately: Willow Smith in a musical. It's not just a musical. Oh no. It's much, MUCH worse. I might be exaggerating but if you had to deal with her belting out the songs that will be both horrendous and memorable, at least with the kids of today are concerned, perhaps we're never going to have any improvement over her big hit last year which is one of the worst songs to have come out of someone who hasn't even lost all of her baby teeth.

From Screenrant.com comes the story that Little Orphan Annie could be retooled again to fit into our world with Ms. Smith starring in the role that has been made popular by such actresses such as Aileen Quinn in the 1982 film version), Ashley Johnson in the 1995 TV sequel who is also known for her voice work in the TV shows Recess and Teen Titans, and Alicia Morton (1999 Disney version). When reading that Jay-Z would develop the music, that didn't sound too bad. After all, this is the guy who sampled a bit of the music from the film that shared the same title as his 1998 hit single. When further reading the article and saw that Jaden Smith, who helped Sony make a ton of dough with last year's Karate Kid remake, being in another film with M. Night Shymalan behind the wheel, the thoughts of the hate that he received from his his 2010 stinkers The Last Airbender and Devil came to mind.

Getting back to topic, I can see why a new version of Annie would be thought about in 2011 with plans for kids to learn more about a show that we have loved while it was on Broadway and will make its return over at the Toby Dinner Theater of Baltimore later this year. Before reading about the daily comic strip coming to an end, I had no idea that Annie was in our time, referring to the photo above. The strip was never published in The Baltimore Sun so I was out of the loop about the many adventures she had until the cliffhanger where there's the possibility that she could return home to Daddy Warbucks after being kidnapped. More about the kidnapping and Annie's future here and here. I think that someone should take over the reins of the supposed theatrical remake. After much controversy about Big Will being the new Capt. America to being Capt. Nemo in Disney's planned remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, he doesn't need this news to give him and his daughter bad names. For that, I leave that to Todd. Plus he already led the production of one remake featuring one of his kids. He doesn't need another.

Another Complainer in the News? Just Another Thursday

Another complainer, another cry for attention. Why do people continue to make news when it comes to situations like this one. From the site Politics Daily comes another cry-baby whose reason to be mentioned on the site is because of God not being mentioned at the Tuscon Memorial. Now this doesn't mean that He wasn't with the friends and family who lost their loved ones during the shooting. He's around no matter if anyone calls His name or not in my opinion. I can't really say much since I didn't watch the televised memorial but God has been and will be mentioned in several award shows and as many times we continue to use the phrase 'Oh my God'. What really took me by surprise while reading the news was the fact that he stated that we can pray to the big man upstairs or to any other higher power yet we can't call on the name of Jesus. Can someone tell one of the sons of THE Rev. Billy Graham that God and Jesus are one in the same? At least that was what I've been taught anyway.

Also, as a friend of someone who's into the Cherokee traditions, who cares if there was a Native American praying to the spirits at the memorial that will deal with the violence from weeks ago along with protecting us from any future devastating events? Who is he to judge who we worship and who we should all believe? Didn't God give us free choice? Perhaps, he should study up on what was said in the Word with the fact that we have to respect other people's beliefs no matter how heinous some of us think they are.

Late Golden Globes 2011 Wrap-Up

Originally Planned to be Posted on January 17, 2011:

         If you were to ask me what film should have won most of the Golden Globes, I would have selected Black Swan. (Note: Natalie Portman, as of 10:35PM Sunday, received her Best Actress-Drama award for her performance in the film.) It’s also a shame that True Grit wasn’t nominated. I guess that will be saved for the Oscars. Sorry, The Social Network, Facebook won’t get any more love from me. I already joined the site three times and gave them my $8. Actually, the money went to Sony, the distributor of the film. Facebook owns me. Then again, I could always separate myself from the site such as never logging on to check my messages until this coming semester ends. The film didn’t deserve the Best Original Score award since me and a couple of people agree that films such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Tron: Legacy deserved to be nominated for the award. It would have led me to make the difficult choice between those films.

             

            People, here we are again at the Golden Globes. Well, this is the aftermath of the second precursor of the Oscars. While watching this sham of an award show, I saw a lot of the female celebs wow me because of their beautiful dresses even if I cared less about hearing what they wore on the Red Carpet during the Pre-Show. To back up my mentioning of the show being a sham, why was Justin Bieber invited to present the Best Animated Feature award with rising star Hailee Steinfeld? First off: I like Steinfeld after seeing True Grit, but jumped on the bandwagon last year to hate the little kid. Haha, now when I think about it, he did look like he was her kid brother. We all know that by the time his film hits theaters next month, the critics will tear it apart. Don’t worry. John Cho will be back with his follow-up film: Step Up IV. Along with kid stars that shouldn’t have been at the Golden Globes, how the heck did Selena Gomez get an invite? I know that once you become a star, you’re invited to go to a lot of Hollywood galas. In my opinion, since last year’s Ramona and Beezus isn’t Oscar-worthy, she should have been getting ready for the Kids’ Choice Awards than being interviewed on E! during the after-party.

What was with the sound going in and out? It occurred during Christian Bale and Paul Giamatti’s acceptance speeches if no one remembers. I don’t think they said anything that was profane but apparently, someone had fun cutting them off rather than letting the band do the job and drown them out with their music. (Note: the band did this with Mr. Bale).

We had a few unfunny moments (a few moments from Ricky Gervais’ opening jokes) and a few uncontroversial wardrobe malfunctions when I thought to myself, “After all of this talk about who’s wearing what from a big name designer, seeing Eva Longoria almost tripping over her dress is code for ‘Get better tailors’.

I’m glad that Alice in Wonderland and The Tourist won nothing because both films received a lot of hate from the critics. I’ve seen Alice and it was just okay. The Tourist never caught my interest yet talking about these films made me think about the unneeded advertising of Johnny Depp’s newest animated film Rango. It has never caught my attention back when I watched the first trailer and is a film I’m going to skip come March. The reason: I’m not into realistic animated feature films featuring animals. Another animated film that was advertised during the commercial breaks was Gnomeo and Juliet. I still wished that it was in development hell like it was months ago. Even as a film directed towards kids, some critics might call it The Nutcracker 3D of 201: a film that’s only the story in name. The film might have bits and pieces of the original story but the plot becomes nothing like the original source material. Speaking of which, I should make a list of what films I might, might, MIGHT review in the coming months. If I do, keep in mind that the list of films can change at any time because of how many I can fit in my schedule. Plus, I’m not wasting my cash on every single film that I might end up forgetting a few days after seeing it in theaters.

Baltimore's Police Commisioner Hates 'The Wire'

"Waaah! Me hate 'The Wire'. Me think that Baltimore's a great city despite all of the murder and drug busts."

 

To me, hearing the police commissioner talk smack about HBO's critically acclaimed drama just leads me to think that he hasn't been doing a very good job with keeping this city safe. Look, almost everyday, we hear about someone being kidnapped, shot and murdered, or hearing about someone dealing with drugs. Among other crimes that occur in other dates, people have different takes on what goes on around them. I know nothing about the show. In fact, blame it on the fact that I had HBO but never cared about the show. I can look up some of the many events that occurred in my home town in the newspaper and say that the majority of what I've read is the same as it was in the show. What I'm trying to say that despite my lack of knowledge about this series, it has more fans than he does. There are plenty of people, in my opinion, who want the city to be better but aren't taking the time to make it better when their own police force and government have failed them.

Also, a class about Family Guy? Looks like we're going to get more drunken idiots in the near future. Maybe some bisexual babies might be a result of these classes. Perhaps we'll have random fights with giant chickens? If what the guy says comes to be truth in the near future, that's what we can all expect.

Thanks 4Chan.org for leading me to this video and rebuttal to the Commissioner's comments:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2011/01/simon_responds_to_bealefelds_c.html

Moooom! Phineas and Ferb Are Going to Have Another Movie!

Talk about being behind. With that, I mean that not only that I haven't uploaded most, if not, all of my other movie reviews from the past year on here but also with writing my opinions on some of the announcements about what we can expect to see on TV and on the big screen. First up: Phineas and Ferb.

What can I say about this series? It's great at time even if the stories are formulaic. Yeah we have a new film in the works being prepared for the summer on TV, but Disney decided to be too greedy. Apparently, they want more money from the franchise (I didn't know the series became a franchise). What's the plan? How about a live-action/animated hybrid on the big screen? Sure the show's popular but think about the other TV series that were created because of the popularity. DuckTales: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Recess: School's Out, Hey Arnold! The Movie, and Teacher's Pet: The Movie all are examples of films based on TV shows that either bombed in the box office and should have been released on VHS and DVD or shouldn't have been made. None of them are bad movies. It's just that they all have audiences but they were risky moves from their respective studios. Some played to be series finales only to be retconned by being prequels or having another season attached that make the fans think that they've ran their courses and are being beaten to a pulp to get that extra dollar. Other animated shows were given live-action projects such as Alvin and the Chipmunks and most recently Yogi Bear and the upcoming The Smurfs that have, and will continue to receive a lot of spite from critics and the fans alike. Where will this project stand? Will it be loved? Hated? Ignored? Disney reeally need to think about this. Otherwise, going across the 3rd dimension will be a HUGE mistake.

I can't really say much other than show you these images of the toys of Phineas and Ferb to give you a reason why the title characters will be weird to see in the live-action world, IF they're going to be played by real actors. The one reasons I can think of is the shapes of their heads.