1) Who is Sisqo? I think he had a hit song once years ago.

2) WHAT THE DEAL WITH HIS HAIR?

3) Was this made by the same people who made Who Killed Captain Alex? Enjoy…

And the other surprise is that Inception is still hanging on in the top ten. Who da thunk it? The rest below…

You know what they say… there are two sides to every story:

Lee started making the film and shot a considerable amount of footage for it until he was offered the lead role in Enter The Dragon, the first martial arts films to be financed by a major Hollywood studio, Warner Bros. Of course Lee suddenly died (…or murdered) before Dragon was released, and before he could complete Death, and became the magnificent legend that he still today.

Years later, Golden Harvest, which produced Death and Lee’s other Hong Kong films, got Robert Clouse, who directed Dragon, and some pretty unconvincing doubles, standing in for Lee, and “completed” Death. In one classic scene, they actually take a cardboard cutout of Lee’s face and paste it onto mirror, to hide the stand-in’s face. (Never fails and gets a huge laugh from the audience.) Lee himself actually only appears in clumsily used brief reaction shots and close ups taken from other movies, and entirely during the last half hour of the film, during three fight sequences, the last which involves his fight with basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Jabbar was a student of Lee’s fighting style, though some sources claim he was actually a student of Lee. Admittedly, the fight isn’t Lee’s best, mainly because he had to tone it down, and simplify his amazing technique for Jabbar, who, though he was a martial arts student, clearly wasn’t a master, from his rather slower and lumbering movements, and hadn’t yet perfected his technique. And from certain shots that are repeated in the sequence, it’s obvious the fight scene had not completed shooting, and there were some shots yet to be done for the scene. But still, just watching Lee in action is always a joy, and this scene with Jabbar has a real fascination all of its own. Take a peek…

Today is Beyonce’s 29th birthday! Happy birthday Ms Knowles!

It was roughly 9 years ago that Lady B landed her first major acting role, in 2001’s made-for-tv movie, Carmen: A Hip-Hopera; the acting world hasn’t quite been the same since. Don’t believe me? Ask other actors! Especially those that are black & female

Reviews for the film, directed by Robert Townsend, and co-starring Mekhi Phifer, Mos Def and others, were mixed. If I recall correctly, it was actually quite polarizing; folks either really liked it or really hated it. I barely remember it, and haven’t seen it since that first time I watched it.

We could maybe say it was a precursor to R. Kelly’s Trapped In The Closet.

I appreciated what I felt was an ambitious attempt. Interesting concept; a fresh reworking of Georges Bizet’s classic opera, contemporized in a hip-hop setting. But it just didn’t quite work for me; not enough to be memorable anyway. But I’ll give it another look soon, and, if I need to reconsider my POV on it, I’ll write up another post.

I’m sure most, if not all of you have seen it. If so, thoughts? Also, we generally tend to mock Beyonce’s thespian dreams, but if we can be serious for a moment, since it’s her birthday … Of all her performances since Carmen: A Hip-Hopera, which would you say was her strongest and showed the most promise? Do you think she’s improved over the years?

Below is a scene from Carmen:

The trailer speaks for itself, but the names alone kill me… Denise Boutte (Now that’s a porn star name if ever I heard one), Cordell Moore, and who in the hell is NEPHEW TOMMY????

But, there’s still more work to be done here folks! The beat goes on… no breaks

So, I’m hereby announcing the NEXT challenge. An early start should help us hopefully reach (and even surpass) the $3,300 total we attracted for the first installment. The goal is to have the second winner chosen before the end of the year, and thus, the deadline for submissions this time is mid-November, the 15th – roughly 2 1/2 months from now! Plenty of time to come up with a 3 to 10 minute short script, or polish up one you already have.

I’m not going to regurgitate all that I said about my inspiration for and expectations in doing this. If you aren’t already familiar with all that, I encourage you to read my lengthy initial post announcing the program HERE.

The short version for newbies:

It’s called the Shadow And Act Filmmaker Challenge. Every 3 to 4 months, A MINIMUM of $1,200 will go towards the funding of a 3 to 10 minute short film by a filmmaker of African descent, with a story about people of African descent, based on their own original idea.

The completed film will make its debut on this site, followed by the usual film festival run, and possibly TV and DVD pickups.

The contest is only open to filmmakers across the USA. I know we have readers almost all over the world now, and we likely will expand to other regions over time. Just not yet.

The long term goal, as has been said before, is that the amount of money in the pot will grow over time, partly thanks to your eventual contributions, as well as donations from certain larger individual sponsors. The hope is that, over time, we’ll go from funding and producing short films, to financing and producing features. Baby steps first, right?

So, what do interested filmmakers have to do?

Filmmakers should email the following to me at obensont@gmail.com:

1. A completed script for your 3 to 10-minute short film idea. Any genre. Filmmakers can send as many as 2 separate scripts.
2. Some sample of any previous films you’ve made – preferably online; whether on YouTube, Vimeo, or some other video sharing portal, or on your own website. You don’t have to be a super pro with 20 years of experience as a director, but I’d like to know that you at least have some idea of what you’re doing.
3. A signed release form which you can find HERE.

Again, the submission deadline is the November 15th, so you’ve got just over 2 months.

For what happens after that CLICK HERE to read my original post on this.

As already said, I’m putting up the base $1,200, so, at the end of the competition, the film that’s chosen will have to be made for that at least that amount, assuming there aren’t any further contributions. The hope is that over the next 3 months, others will be encouraged to contribute to raise that $1,200 figure, which I’m confident will happen, given that it did the last time, raising my initial $1,200 contribution to $3,300 within a month or so.

It’s about utilizing our collective resource power to make a difference, and bring about the change in black cinema a lot of us have been crying for. So, if you’d like to add to the fund, PLEASE do so. It encourages filmmakers to participate. You don’t have to match or surpass my contribution (although, you’re welcome to do so). A few people gave $20 the last time. So, you can give as little, or as much as you can afford to part with. Whether it’s $10, $100, $1000, or…

Email me if you are interested – obensont@gmail.com, or click on the donate button on the top-right of this page, to contribute via PayPal. It’s all completely transparent. Every single penny contributed will be added to the $1,200, and will go towards the production of the selected film.

Let’s, once eagain, have some creative fun with this folks, and see where it takes us!!! Even if you’re not interested, I encourage you to pass it along…! Post on your Twitter and Facebook pages, etc.

Any questions, comments… email me at obensont@gmail.com, or post them in the comments section below.

Thanks!

I especially like the part where he scowls and says, “Give me another reason to kick your ass!” I fully expected him to punctuate his sentence with “muthaf**ker!” So… this must mean that the man has already given him at least 1 reason, right? Any guesses on how many reasons it takes to convince Bokeem Woodbine to decide to eventually kick the man’s ass? Does he kick the man’s ass before the movie ends? Or does the black-man-in-horror-movie-curse kill him off early?

Devil opens in 2 weeks – September 17th.

And by the way it’s “From The Mind Of M. Night Shyamalan,” as the trailer tells us, in case you’ve forgotten. And despite all the hate the man has been on the receiving end of lately, I’ll still see this.

Watch the clip below:

Anyone happen to catch actress Regina King’s op-ed on The Huffington Post today, titled, The Emmys: As White As Ever?

Is my hair black? Nothing new here. The same brand of polemic, lambasting the Emmys and its alleged discriminating ways. We’ve heard it all before, and, quite frankly, I’m tired of reading these statements expressing dissatisfaction with the state of things. They accomplish little to nothing. Yet successive years see repeated attempts, and I’m sure this one won’t be the last.

When do words like these eventually turn into action? As the age-old, trite aphorism goes… actions speak louder than words! No, I’m not trying to suppress Regina King, and all the other talented men and women of all colors who have voiced their frustrations with the entertainment industry, broadly. It’s their First Amendment right. And I do understand and empathize with their plight.

But the time has long come to take on a more active, and even militant stance on this. I know that particular word scares some people (militant), but eff it! This seeking-of-recognition from an establishment that has continuously proven its lack of interest in showcasing the full breadth of our experiences, gets tiresome!

The great “white hand” isn’t going to reach down and save us, nor do I want it to. To quote Clifton Powell as Jeremiah Peet in Ernest Dickerson’s thriller/chiller Bones: “Personally, I don’t need a mule. I got myself a Lexus. And nobody gave it to me.”

The math is simple IMHO; there aren’t many non-white actors nominated for Emmy awards (or Academy Awards, or another other mainstream award show) because there aren’t many non-white actors in prominent roles on television – especially when compared to the number of roles played by white actors. So what exactly do we do to change that?

Aha! Therein lies the problem my friends… a problem many layers deep, and one that’s been plaguing us for decades – for as long as TV and film have existed, as you all should know very well!

In her op-ed, Regina King states, “I try hard in my daily life not to engage in uncomfortable situations regarding race.” I say maybe she should try less. Although, she’s certainly not alone. “Situations regarding race” as she put it, tend to be uncomfortable, which is a reason why we tend to avoid them. But it is because they tend to be uncomfortable that we SHOULD take them head-on! How else do we evolve and progress?

I’m glad that Ms King decided to express her dissatisfaction today; and I hope the firebrand-ing doesn’t end there though.

A luta continua my brothers and sisters…

Here’s a segment of Regina King’s op-ed below:

Since the Emmy ceremony, I have been going back and forth about whether or not I should compose this letter. I try hard in my daily life not to engage in uncomfortable situations regarding race. But sometimes it’s very difficult to find other reasons that better explain why certain events play out the way they do. It is impossible for me to ignore the published statistics regarding the number of people of color mentioned, celebrated or honored in the history of the televised Emmys. Up to and including this year, there have been only 53 non-white actors nominated for Emmys out of nearly 1,000 possible nominations in the top four acting categories for drama and comedy.

I’ve worked in television nearly all of my professional life, and that statistic is quite sobering to me. And to add injury to my already sensitive nerve endings a picture of Rutina Wesley from True Blood, who attended this year’s Emmys, had a caption that read: “Regina King enters the 62nd Emmys.” No, I wasn’t there. Mistakes happen, right? Well after a few “mistakes” of how people of color are portrayed in the Hollywood media, I decided it was important to say something about how things go down in Hollywood.

And so on…

Bleh! Or maybe it’s just the alcohol I drank that’s talking here! It’s after midnight on Friday. And I’m tired…

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

I still really need to see Zoe Kravitz perform! Aside from a scene here and there, I can’t say that I have a good feel for her abilities, and I need to see more.

To her credit, she has 5 films already on her short resume – a career that began just 3 years ago, in 2007. Ms Kravitz has several upcoming projects at various stages of development (5 films coming up in the next year+ alone), including the one from which the below clip comes from – It’s A Funny Kind Of Story, the latest film from the Half Nelson creative duo, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck; an ensemble comedy about a clinically depressed boy who decides to have himself committed.

Joining Kravitz, are Viola Davis, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, and many others.

It’s A Funny Kind Of Story hits theaters October 8th. Watch her in action below: