Spenser Confidential: He gets beat up a LOT.

Has Mark(y) Mark Wahlberg successfully completed the transistion from 90s white-hop douche to accomplished leading man? Probably. I dunno. He hasn’t put out any cringeworthy quasi-rap albums lately, but has acted in lots of films. Some good ones (The Departed, Three Kings), and some turkeys (The Happening), so people must like seeing him in stuff. […]

Disney’s Stargirl: One word.

I started reading comic books in earnest around 1981 or so. Soon after, I felt like creating my own superheroes and made up my own characters. One of the characters I “invented” was a girl who could channel solar energy, whom I named Star Girl. Two words. Not very original but hey, I was 12. […]

A Fall From Grace: ………um………….

There’s been some hubbub about the fact that media mogul Tyler Perry has his own production studio but is yet to hire any black writers. Well, I know a pretty decent black writer; I shave him every morning. But if Tyler Perry came to me and said he wanted to make one of my books […]

6 Underground:A film with guts. And brains. Literally.

I’m a red-blooded American male. So, yeah, I like me a good action flick. Even bad action flicks can be an amusing waste of time. And sometimes, movies are just… there. Netflix’s latest blockbuster-wannabe outing, 6 Underground, is probably the loudest, most profane two hours of nothing I’ve ever had to sit through. By the […]

Wine Country: You might need a glass, yourself.

The new Netflix comedy Wine Country certainly won’t win any awards for most original movie title. It’s not exactly an original story idea, either. Trips to Napa Valley for wine-tastings have been the backdrop for many comedies, dramas, and dramedies (I hate dramedies, btw). You know they’re gonna drink. And talk. And fight. Rinse, repeat. […]

The Silence: It’s not golden.

Oh, Stanley Tucci. You’re a respectable actor, man. Who in Hollywood has got illicit photos of you? And if so, being seen in those can’t possibly be worse than being seen in The Silence. Netflix’s newest entry into the “if you X, then the Y’s will getcha” sub-genre of dystopian thriller movies seeks to blend […]

Commercials: Hey racists, boycott THIS. We dare ya.

Remember back in 2013 or so, when the cute li’l biracial-looking kid in the picture up above was featured in a Cheerios commercial, with a black man and white woman playing her parents? Remember too, the “backlash” from racist jerks who were appalled that Cheerios would feature an interracial husband and wife, some even going […]

Juanita: No one’s perfect, but no one wants to be alone.

When all you’ve known is Columbus, Ohio, the Rocky Mountains is enough to give anyone a panic attack. Our heroine Juanita treats the terminally ill during the day, tolerates the mentally ill at night, and pulls no punches when telling us all about it. Juanita is a new Netflix film starring the always-excellent Alfre Woodard […]

Unpopular Opinion?: Like the art, dislike the artist.

I think the problem arises when we want our celebrity idols to be more than human; to be better than human, because humans are, well, they’re not always the best. Many of them are the worst. But, liking a song, or movie, or other artistic endeavor by someone who’s done some bad things, isn’t necessarily […]

Lady Bird: Sacramento Doesn’t Suck.

Never mind what Joan Didion or “Lady Bird” thinks. I’ve been to Sacramento. I’ve grown up in some crap-ass places, and Sacramento doesn’t even come close. Lady Bird (née Christine McPherson, and remember: ya can’t spell “Christine” without “Christ!”) yearns to spread her wings and experience a whole new, presumably exciting culture, in the film […]