Reviews

I love this show. It gives light to poets who have something to say and are not afraid to tell the world the truth to it's face and not give a damn about how you take it. I especially loved the poem, "First Writing Since" by Suheir Hammad. It was about an Arab woman who had to deal with being Arab, dealing with 9/11 and having two brothers in the U.S. Navy. I especially loved the lines:

"one more person ask me if i knew the hijackers.

one more m*therf*cker ask me what navy my brother is in. one more person assume no arabs or muslims were killed. one more person assume they know me, or that i represent a people. or that a people represent an evil. or that evil is as simple as a flag and words on a page.

we did not vilify all white men when mcveigh bombed oklahoma. america did not give out his family's addresses or where he went to church. or blame the bible or pat robertson.

and when the networks air footage of palestinians dancing in the street, there is no apology that hungry children are bribed with sweets that turn their teeth brown. that correspondents edit images. that archives are there to facilitate lazy and inaccurate journalism."

Powerful stuff!

It's shows like this that is the reason I love A&E Network. Paul Winfield's narration is just masterful. I believe his voice is right up there with James Earl Jones and the late Robert Stack as one of the most powerful and recognizable in all of showbiz. The show can make the sleepiest of towns sound like a place you genuinely would want to be. I also love how they do a brief history of the towns before they get into the crimes that made them famous or infamous (you be the judge). It also gets extra kudos for doing a feature on my hometown, Baton Rouge.

I found this gem of a documentary on black culture in the early '70's one night on cable in '98 and was blown away. Having been born in 1972 and growing up in that era it warmed my heart to listen to people talk about what they loved about our culture and to be reminded of how we took care of ourselves and each other back in the day. That is something that is terribly lacking in all communities today. And the musical performances were nothing short of spectacular. Watching the Emotions rendition of "Peace Be Still", I'm not ashamed to say, brought tears to this big ol' Southern boy's eyes, I also enjoyed the late great Rufus Thomas' renditions of "Breakdown" and "Do the Funky Chicken" and the singing of the black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" as they showed the audience filing into the stadium. I recorded it onto VHS the next time it came on and treasured it like the Hope Diamond, but a few months later the tape popped and I have never been able to find it anywhere else since. So I say to the producers of this great film, if you are reading this message, please do yourself and the rest of the world a favor and release this classic on VHS/DVD.

"Martin" was my favorite show in the '90s and it still is my favorite show today. I set my VCR everyday to record the episodes that are rerun on USA network. Bill Cosby once called this show a "modern day minstrel" and yet I'm still waiting to see "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" reruns on Cartoon Network, maybe Mr. Cosby won't allow them to be shown because it would eat at his own guilty conscience. Martin is a comedic genius and the other characters, Gina, Pam, Tommy and Cole contrasted well with his over-the-top style, usually ending up the butts of his jokes. Although at some times Martin would come across as crass and surly, by the end of the show his generosity and warm heart would shine through. Long before Eddie Murphy in "The Nutty Professor", Martin mastered playing multiple characters. From Sheneneh to Mama Payne, Roscoe the snot nosed kid, Otis the security guard, Dragonfly Jones, Elroy the mechanic, white boy Bob and who could forget Jerome "the playa from the Himalayas", Martin amazingly portrayed every different character with their own unique personalities. Some of the funniest moments ever in my opinion came during Martin's interaction with the old lady, Miss Jerri, or Hustle Man (Tracy Morgan at his funniest) and of course you can't forget his occasional visit from Bruh Man from the "fiff flo". If loving this show is wrong, then I don't wanna be right. So, to Bill Cosby and all the other bougie black folks that dissed this show, I'll tell you like Eddie Murphy said in "Raw", shut the f*** up and have a Coke and a smile!

This film dealt with a lot of inner conflicts that African-Americans where unwilling to deal with at the time. Class struggles, light skinned vs. dark skinned and greeks vs. non-greeks. I just purchased it on DVD, but I remember seeing this film when it first came out in February of 1988 and it is just as powerful and entertaining now as it was then. It's amazing to look at this film now and see all of the actors who went on to successful careers afterwards, like Laurence(then Larry) Fishburne, Tisha Campbell, Giancarlo Esposito, Roger Guenveur Smith, Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Darryl Bell, Rusty Cundieff(director of "Tales From The Hood"), Bill Nunn, Branford Marsalis, and of course I can't forget Samuel L. Jackson. Three years after this film came out a cousin from Seattle came to visit, I showed him this film and he was surprised to discover that there were actually historically black colleges and universities(HBCU's) in this country. He later attended Southern University here in Baton Rouge. That was the effect this film had and continues to have on young African-Americans and their views of HBCU's.

I say the Betsy Russell topless horseback riding scene alone is worth giving this movie 10 stars! And whose idea was it to show it in slo-mo? Brilliant!! I hope that guy won an Oscar! I also enjoyed the scene with Mrs. Dutchbok and Chauncey in the back seat of the limousine. However, I could have lived without the scene of Matthew and Phoebe at the hotel. Too much of an attempt at some genuine tenderness! If I wanted to see that, I would've watched "Endless Love" or something. Give me prime T&A and slapstick highjinx and I'm satisfied.

I would have to say that this is one of the better movies realisticly portraying small town high school football to ever have been made. Tom Cruise gives a wonderful performance indicative of his future superstardom and even though Craig T. Nelson seems to be typecast as a coach, he plays the role to perfection. The scene of the big game against neighboring rival Walnuts Heights was shot so masterfully, you felt like you were on the 50 yard line. You could just feel the tension in the locker room before kickoff. Even though this film came out when I was 11 years old, I remember in high school our whole football team would gather at the coach's house the night before a game and watch this movie. I don't think that there has ever been a movie since that has come along that portrays high school football, its significance to Small Town USA and the young men who portray the roles of "Friday Night Gods" with such gritty realism as this film.