"Detroit"...I'm gonna rant a bit

You dropped deep science on those sisters. You hit it on the head on them never judging their own when they date White or men of other colors.

 

I read the flick will be relased on October. It could be a tease or a deleted scene.

 

You clearly got that info from some black liberal media outlet (that is probably not even owned by black folks; i.e. The Root, Ebony Magazine, Essence Magazine, Huffpost black voices, or etc.)

Here is FAQ from the Twitter Hoteps (Who are really lowkey black conservatives & not necessarily the classic conscious community hoteps) instead: http://hotepnation.com/hotep-faq-frequently-asked-questions/

 

Do you get all your info from the internet or do you actually interact with other people, especially other black people?

"Twitter Hoteps?" "Shea Butter Twitter?" What about real life folks in the flesh? What are they actually saying about various things outside of the limited bubble of the internet.

 

Yes!!

Love the way John Boyega handled criticism of him playing the role of an African American in this film, with maturity and intelligence and grace. The guy criticizing handled his response the same way.

https://twitter.com/JohnBoyega/status/890592125804584965

 

One of the very few film critics that gave DETROIT a rotten tomato is Angelica Jade Bastien a black female who you guessed it brought up and tried to make a big deal out of people outraged that black women weren't represented in this film

"...Before the film’s release, a lot of fury was unleashed when it became clear that black women wouldn’t be important to this story. Films about black history seldom grant black women the importance they deserve. In “Detroit,” they are in the margins. They’re dutiful wives placing a gentle hand on the shoulder of their husbands; they’re silent spectators in courtrooms; they’re sweet motel clerks with no real weight in the story. An elder black female character voices dialogue that is the closest the film gets to any commentary: “No way would they do this to white men,” she says angrily to a news reporter hungry for a good pull quote. "

Her full review: http://movies.clickysound.com/author/angelica-jade-bastien/
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/detroit-2017

She is a top critic too, so there is the first bit of mainstream attention to it, but still small since the film is at
Fresh: 53
Rotten: 3 on https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/detroit_2017/ currently.

But she most definitely gave a platform to these sistas complaining about that. We'll see moving forward.

 

My girlfriend brought up a good point to me this morning when we seen a new commercial for DETROIT that featured black women. She told there were no black women essential to this part of the story that DETROIT is focused on at the Algiers Motel where the incident where black people were killed and others along with two white women were assaulted. That is the main cast, they are going to get most of the character depth and screen time as the main characters should. They along with Angelica want characters that aren't apart of the main cast and essential to the incident that took place in this story to have main character depth and be essential to the story simply because they are black women.

"they're sweet motel clerks with no real weight in the story."

The Motel Clerk?!


Was that motel clerk(payed by Samira Wiley) essential to this story? I noticed these women also didn't acknowledge Samira Wiley, since they care so much.

It's just more proof they are upset because the main cast is of black men and white women, those two white women including the one sitting on dude's lap in the tv spots and trailer triggered them. A movie about racism that features black men and white women that's getting a lot of attention expected to do big numbers at the Box Office and garnering a lot of Oscar buzz. They don't like that. Because it doesn't make sense for them to want people no matter what race and gender they are that aren't apart of the main cast to have main cast character depth. Want the motel clerk to have weight in this story, want the black wives to do what exactly? What she described is how I have seen spouse's to main characters always be, but I'm pretty sure she downplayed that in this movie due to all this pettiness.

On the bright side this movie is moving along strongly and still has it's wheels so it doesn't look like they are able to do to affect it, but the week is still young, but I believe the positives are too strong. The Dark Tower opens this weekend too and expected to do well, there are no black female main characters in that. lol. But Idris isn't showing any involvement with white women in the tv spots and commercials so that could be why they are silent.

 

And these same women support the hell out of shit like Scandal. So if it ain't about them the story should never be told. Actually more accurately when the story is about bm without them they have an issue. They supported the hell out of Wonder Woman even though the black women had no speaking roles. So the consensus like always is control black male bodies hate on ww.

 

LOL, these same BW were whining & ranting on Twitter about Wonder Woman being white last month. It was even trending. I think I mentioned it in the fake outrage thread.

 

When it dropped "this is great for women"
They have yet to get the memo that feminism is for white women only

 

LOL, they now resort to claiming BW created Feminism & WW stole it from them. Black Feminists are delusional.

 

Fortunate enough to be living in one of the few parts of the country in which Detroit had opened a week early in advance (only 20 total theaters in the nation), I caught a 10 AM matinee showing of “Detroit” on Sunday. It was an….unforgettable experience. The film packs quite a punch, completely mesmerizing. By no means is it perfect. It wasn’t even the best film I saw that day, that honor goes to “Dunkirk”. In fact for the first time ever I saw three films in one day, all at different movie theaters. All were excellent. Detroit. Dunkirk. Landline (which I’ll get to later). “Detroit” rates somewhere between an 8.5 or 9 out of 10. Probably the second best film I’ve seen all year (with Dunkirk being #1).


There’s only a few negatives I hold against it that keeps it from being a surefire 9 or even a 10. Let me get those out of the way. First of all there is the issue that for a stretch you can argue that it loses focus on the black characters and the all the victims in general as it hones in on the brutality of the white cops. During that span of ten to fifteen minutes I can imagine some people being fed up watching it and wanting some of the characters to start fighting back. Around this time Boyega’s intriguing/conflicted character starts becoming less of a factor. Of course this is probably justified considering it mirrors the increasing sense of powerlessness the real person he played had to deal with during that fateful night. Because of this I think Will Poulter (a white actor) has the best chance of any to be nominated for an Academy Awards. A superficial thing to consider of course but I’m just throwing it out there. Another problem with the film is that it’s last act tried to accomplish too much, tried to cover way too much territory and couldn’t completely pull it off. Last of all some of the dialogue is too on-the-nose and lacks subtlety. But that’s a nitpick.

Nonetheless this is an outstanding motion picture, one I will be thinking about for quite awhile. Kathryn Bigelow is a master at this film-as-journalism-approach. The opening is perfect as we are given a quick breakdown of the mass migration of blacks from the South to northern cities like Detroit and the white flight (along with jobs) that result from it. We get the reasons why Detroit was such a pressure cooker and we get the moment that lit the fuse that led to the rebellion/riot. How Bigelow handles this part is fantastic but that whole broad conflict only serves as a backdrop for the main storyline.


As noted before this movie is NOT about the Detroit riots or rebellion. It is about the incident that occurred in a place called the Algiers Motel on the third day of the turmoil. I won’t give much away but let me say that Bigelow expertly sets up the line of events that would lead to tragedy. Her goal here was to not focus so much on character. Don’t take that the wrong way. The victims all are realized as distinct individuals with recognizable human traits. They garner your sympathy quite easily, even before the brutalization by the cops. And speaking of the police they are painted as two-dimensional beings who overstep their authority. They aren’t sympathetic in the least but they aren’t mustache-twirling either because they never feel as if they are doing wrong. But Bigelow isn’t all that interested on dwelling on any deep analysis of any of the characters. Apparently her goal was to create an immersive experience for the audience by playing out the nightmare in real time, allowing the viewers to step in the shoes of those caught up in that mess. Yes, there is a bit of a horror-movie element in those scenes, but it works perfectly. What occurred in that motel was horrifying and sick and beyond dark. And Bigelow doesn’t allow people an easy out by jumping ahead in time, nor does she give viewers a release by cutting to scenes that occur away from the Algiers Motel. Nope. We the audience are as trapped in that sweaty hallway as the characters are.


Besides her direction what makes the movie stand out is the great acting all across the board. I mean everyone is great, even if given limited time. Three of the four main white actors/actresses are British which makes me think of a debate on this board a month ago about Brits “taking” jobs. My point then was that white Brits have been and still are getting countless jobs in America so why are some being wedded to conspiracy theories that opportunities for African American actors alone are being affected? Anyway the Brits are damn good and Boyega is one of them. But the vast majority of the roles were played by Americans. Boyega may be the lone black actor who wasn’t American. Perhaps the closest thing the movie has to a lead character is the one played by Algee Smith. Wasn’t interested in the New Edition movie so “Detroit” is the first time I’ve seen him perform. He was incredible. With his acting ability, looks and voice I would say he has a chance to be a major star. If he was taller though I would guarantee he was destined to be one of the next leading men in the black acting community. Jacob Latimore also shines and looks as if he has a very good career ahead of him too.


Sorry this post ran so long. Let me add that his movie happened to cover a whole lot more territory and story than I was expecting in the first and third acts. It also dealt head-on with some harsh truths in the second act that Hollywood movies never touch upon (more on that in another post). Plus there are actually more black female characters in this film than was let on but they are limited to bit parts, albeit in a couple of cases ones which leave a dent. Hopefully tomorrow I will write a post about why some black women will find reasons to despise this film. Nonetheless Bigelow and her screenwriter Mark Boal (who came up with the idea to do this movie) have my deepest respects and gratitude. Bigelow in particular has cemented her place as one of my all-time faves. It’s really a fantastic film, one I may see in the theaters again, one I will definitely buy when it comes out on Blu Ray. But I have to warn that the film may not be for everybody here, especially if those easily angered/triggered by seeing such brutality portrayed.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I knew the outcome of the events and the names of those who died before I saw the movie. I can only imagine how much more of an impact the film will have on people who know next to nothing going in.


Some side notes:


The “Landline” movie is one of those upcoming films involving a black man in an IR I’ve been meaning to get around to listing (still need to do that list). In this case the youngest daughter, Ali, who is white, is in a relationship with a black male. They get a love scene too and Ali looks to be enjoying sex with her black lover than her older sister is in her love scenes with her fiancé. The relationship Ali has with this guy is only the third most important relationship in the film. He is in fact the definition f a supporting character, but he does good with the limited screentime he gets. I will leave a link to the trailer at the bottom.


Also considering all the years of discussion on this site I found it interesting that two trailers that ran back-to-back before the showing of “Detroit” were “Mountains Between Us” and “Ingrid Goes West”, both of which involves BM involved with women of another race.

 

You should be a movie reviewer.

Landlines looks boring as hell. Sorry

 

Fuck her. I know of this lady. She is sometimes a guest host on one of my favorite film podcasts and I hate it whenever she makes an appearance. She somehow has credentials as being a "top critic" when in reality she is a bit too young to have an established rep and she doesn't work as the main critic for any of the major newspapers or websites. The most high profile site she works for is Vulture but she only does TV show critiques for that site. For the most part she is a free agent, showing up on the Roger Ebert site more than anywhere else. On twitter she cried her internet tears and talked about how she is so happy she had become a critic in order to add a different voice/perspective to the field. That's all good and everything but she is saying this because she is pissed that so many reviewers are giving overall positive view for "Detroit". Earlier in the year she made it known that she HATED "Get Out" too but she never wrote a review explaining in detail what she had against that film. On twitter she is the go-to critic for those who are against "Detroit" and looking for others to back up their viewpoint or justify their stance. Oh and its funny how she comments that the lack of black women may be the least of the film's problems even though she makes that the first thing to complain about.

 

LOL. It is because of comments like this that I stopped listing the movies I just saw in the recent movie threads. I would get no feedback for talking about these arthouse motion pictures all the while seeing others getting far more feedback by discussing the latest version of "Sharknado".

I found "Landline" to be as funny and engaging as "The Big Sick" but you'd would probably find the trailer for that film boring too.

 

Man, you should become a film critic. That was excellent critique of both films. Landline is another film with IR relationship involving a black man I guess we can add to the list of films that USAToday "missed" in their article about IR in films coming out this year, while naming all of those bw/wm IR couples in film this year.

BTW is the actress playing Ali of age? I know hollywood has the tendency to involve under age girls in sex scenes or a girl playing an under age teenager. Remember that Kissing scene Jennifer Lawrence had with Bokeem Woodbine? That makes me uncomfortable to watch those.

 

I'm not knocking your enthused response to it, l'm just not a fan of conversation movies. I find such characters self-absorbed and long-winded. It's why l can't sit through relationship movies aka Woody Allen types.
I need a mystery or thriller tied in, or if it's fact based l can tolerate it.

The only conversation movie l ADORE is The Goodbye Girl. Could watch it on loop.

Landline looks slow and tries too hard to be artsy. Made for cable. Not movie theatres, IMO.

 

To be fair in such articles you are never going to list all of the examples. I mean the article missed some upcoming films involving IR between WM/BW too. I learned abut these films over the course of time, one by one. The person writing the article was not keeping up with the latest news like I had been and had to come up with examples for his/her piece on the fly. He/she still managed to lsit some examples I was unaware of.

She's a newcomer whom I think is in her early 20s.

 

Okay, I couldn't find the actress' (Abby Quinn) birthdate anywhere.

 

Well, it is a movie shown in arthouse theaters so I guess one can excuse it for being artsy. It does have a lot of conversations but none that last too long. But the main takeaway is how people ate it up and laughed and enjoyed themselves while watching it. Its jokes landed far more than those from Hollywood comedies that flood the market. I respect Woody Allen as a filmmaker but I'm not one to see most of his work and Landline is not anything like a Woody Allen film. The people in the film are not that self-absorbed nor do they talk on endlessly. You get in and out of scenes quickly. There aren't any neurotic characters and there are people of color everywhere in the film. That's as far away from Woody as you can get. The similarities are that it takes place in NYC and that the characters are of (partly) Jewish heritage. I see a lot of these independent films and trust me I don't recommend all of them to people to see at the movie theaters. Recent ones I caught in theaters like "Bandaid" and "Beatrice at Dinner" were so-so artsy movies not worth the hype that you can definitely catch on cable on days you got nothing better to do. Nothing wrong with catching "Landline" on cable or streaming either. But, just like 'The Big SicK', I feel its actually worth seeing in the theaters if its playing nearby. And I support stuff like that because I hate that movie theaters are increasingly becoming venues only for superhero films, expensive YA adaptations and bloated thrillers/mysteries. But to each his/her own. "Landline" is being distributed by Amazon anyway so once its short window in theaters is over it will be something people can stream pretty soon.

BTw I take no offense at your remarks. I didn't see you as trying to knock my enthusiasm or anything. Its all good.