Can you imagine living in a world where NO ONE told a lie? 

Well that is the world that screenwriter Mark Bellison lived in played by Ricky Gervais.  This movie starts out with the main character Mark Bellison being excited about going out on a date with Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner), a beautiful woman who he's had a crush on for a long time.  They are not too far along in the date when Anna lets Mark know he doesn't stand a chance of being with her.  She lets him know he's fat, doesn't have enough money, is not successful enough, and with no doubt she's out of his league.  As harsh as that sounds, Mark's situation gets worse.  He wakes up the very next morning going into a job he's worked for years knowing along with his co-workers that he will be getting fired.  To top it all off Mark's rent is due and he could get evicted from his apartment while at the same time dealing with his sick, elderly mother.

My Side of The Blind Side

I took a look at the Oscar-winning film, The Blind Side, yesterday.  And I see why so many people love it.  It was one of those family-oriented, heartfelt films that anyone of all ages can enjoy.  It had that basic formula that all the sports films have about down-and-out athletes who want to make it.  You know that formula...

• People around them don’t think they have the talent to make it
• They have the talent but no one has given them a chance
•  In the end they beat the odds and surprise everyone
  

Pretty standard.

The movie is the story of the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive left tackle, Micheal Oher.  As a child in Memphis, Tennessee he grew up in the projects as the son of a drug-addicted mother and had little to no care being shuffled around from one foster home to another while also spending some time homeless on the streets.  This would all change for him one day due to an older guy in Oher’s neighborhood, ‘Big Tony’ Hamilton, who let him sleep on the couch occasionally.  In the movie 'Big Tony' convinces the football coach of a private school to admit Michael Oher in along with his own son.  And so the story began...

Am I watching Crash? Donnie Brasco?  Or maybe The Departed?  No.  It's Brooklyn's Finest which is the new movie directed by Antione Fuqua and written by Michael C. Martin.  Brooklyn's Finest opens the door into the lives of three separate cops in Brooklyn, New York with very different agendas. 

Eddie:  Veteran actor, Richard Gere, plays what most believe to be an old washed-up cop who is no stranger to the bottle.  With seven days until his retirement from the force, Eddie is asked to mentor some young rookie cop for a new police initiative.  After spending a lifetime on the police force day-in and day-out, he has lost the desire 'To Protect and Serve'.  Or at least he did until he meets the rookie cop that makes him grow his conscience back.

Synopsis:  So who knows a playboy?  Come on now, everybody knows at least one.  You know, one of those guys who is with a different woman every week or maybe even every day.  The movie Best Supporting Daddy is about one of those guys.  It stars Mark A. Cummings as the charming and smooth-talking romance novelist, Cameron Rush. With all the women, money, and fame Rush's life can't seem to get any better until he finds out his lucrative book publishing deal might be in danger if his next novel isn't a best-seller.  One day Rush is watching TV and discovers that the arrogant, beautiful, actress Callie Deveaux played by Quiana Wiley has given up on falling in love BUT she still wants to have a baby.   And now Rush has a new idea for his novel.  So what does he do?  What any playboy would do, of course.  He sets his targets on Ms. Deveaux.  Rush predictably goes through the pages of a player's manual.  But with all the flowers, cards, and sweet talking to Callie Deveaux he couldn't anticipate what would happen.

Our Song is a wonderful independent film directed by Jim McKay.  It takes place in Brooklyn, New York and follows three young girls who are members of the Brooklyn Jackie Robinson Steppers Marching Band.  They find out that their high school is closing down soon due to asbestos and are making plans to figure out what other schools they can go to in New York.  But those aren't the only plans on of the teenage girls is making.  Maria, played by Melissa Martinez, finds out that she is pregnant and wants very much to keep the child but has to figure out how she will take care of it.  Lanisha, played by Kerry Washington, doesn't think Maria is ready to be a mother.  But as any good friend would do, she continues to love and support her friend no matter what decision she decides.

Just me:  I really enjoyed this film.  It reminded me what it was like to be a young teenage girl.  I could easily relate to the story.  I too was in the exact same position as Kerry Washington's character when my best friend told me she was pregnant.  We were freshman in high school.  I too had to make the decision to put my opinions aside and give my friend love and support.  Because that's what true friends do.

Even though I didn’t catch this movie right out of the gate,  I just had to go see it because of all the controversy surrounding this  documentary.  So I persuaded my friend to  come with me to check out the film despite the fact she’s not the biggest Chris Rock fan.

If you need a little background on the film, you can refer  to my earlier post.  I’m going to go  right in to my review.

I will start off with  what immediately happened following the film.   I noticed a couple sitting behind us who were leaving the theater.  And me being me, I’m always interested in  other people’s thoughts and opinions.  So  I decided to ask them what they thought of the film.   The guy stated that he thought it was well  “balanced”.  Hmmm….well balanced I  thought.  Now I didn’t ask him to  elaborate but based on what I thought he meant I would have to agree.  The movie provided the audience with a great mixture of the forces behind a woman’s hair in the black community. 

Babelgum.com is a free, Internet and Mobile television platform that began in 2005 by Italian media and telecommunications entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia. This site offers professional and semi-professional produced programming on-demand to a global audience. In doing this, Babelgum.com wants to essentially act as the international ‘glue’ or as they put it “like a modern-day Tower of Babel” for a global online audience. Babelgum.com currently has five dedicated channels: Film, Music, Comedy, Our Earth, and Metropolis.

What’s cool about Babelgum:

Technology
They have their own free application that delivers video via the 3G and Wi-Fi networks available on the iPhone, iPod touch, and some models of Nokia phones.

Talent Scouting
Babelgum has two online contests for promising filmmakers and music artists. There is the Babelgum Online Film Festival, chaired by award-winning director and producer Spike Lee and the Babelgum Music Video Awards, judged by acclaimed film and music video director Michael Gondry.

Independent Filmmakers
They welcome independent filmmakers to upload an unlimited amount of quality content. They also will partner with you to monetize your content…cha-ching…$$$$.

So......

I was flipping through channels two days ago and came across Centric.  It's a new television station targeting Black people (excuse me, African Americans) between the ages of 25-54.  I can't remember exactly what show was playing that made me stop on this channel.  But I got so excited when I realized their was a new channel for Black people on television as opposed to BET.  So I performed my usual web surfing and came across an article on Multichannel News that pretty much crushed me.  Apparently, Centric is owned by Viacom. 

I attended the Manhattan Short Film Festival last night at the Grandview Theatre.   The films that were showcased were amazing.  I had only attended one other short film festival in Columbus and this festival definitely exceeded my expectations.  How this film festival works is short filmmakers from all over the world submit their film entries to be judged.  Each film is no longer than 18 minutes.  It doesn’t state on the website how these initial film entries are judged but I would assume by some panel put together by the Manhattan Short Film Festival organization.  Following this, 10 finalists are chosen.  Now it’s the public’s turn to place their votes. 

This year’s 2009 festival originally had 428 film entries from over 35 different countries.  Here are the 10 finalists that were chosen.

ATTENTION:   FOR REAL HIP-HOP HEADS ONLY!!!