About A FALL FROM GRACE

The new movie mentioned is on Netflix. A dear friend of mine, one of the most courteous dudes I know, wrote on social media recently: "This Tyler Perry Fall From Grace might be one of the worst movies I've ever seen." I have known this gentleman for about 10 years and he always, always has a kind word to say. To read a strict comment like that from him was like...well, it was like getting mooned by a Quaker. It was so memorably unexpected.

Of course, it made me want to go to Netflix and check out the production for myself. The courtroom drama/murder mystery, A FALL FROM GRACE, was produced, written and directed by Tyler Perry. It has three things you can always count on seeing in a Tyler Perry original movie -- suffering black women, a handsome but triflin' black man, and wigs. Grace Waters has been charged with murder. The murder of her handsome but triflin' younger husband. She confessed to the crime. However, no one has found the dead body. Even Grace is baffled by this because she pushed the body downstairs to the basement herself. Grace is in lock-up. Her hairdo looks as if she has just been struck by lightning. Her young lawyer-in-training doesn't feel that Grace should sign the plea deal. She senses there's more to the story. The badly-written story. She gets Grace, still a very Christian woman, to talk. In flashbacks, we see how she met the young man who claimed to be a globe-trotting photographer. In voiceovers, we see how he flirted with her, courted her and took her on a first date to dinner -- in a diner. IN...A...DINER. They are drinking white wine in a place that's on the same level with a Denny's. Behind them are white couples in booths eating diner food. The wine probably came from a bottle with a screw-off top. That should've been Grace's first clue to run away. The second was his hair. BrotherMan looked like an extra from Kid & Play's HOUSE PARTY in 1990.

As to what happens later on, I won't go into detail. I will tell you that Tyler Perry, solo writer, has written for his specific audience. That audience will be happy to know A FALL FROM GRACE gives viewers that "Oh, no, she did not just go upside his head with a skillet" moment.

I know this is an unusual move, but I am going to use a clip from a classic Monty Python comedy film to describe one standout element of this Tyler Perry crime thriller. Here's a clip from MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL.

Only in a Tyler Perry script can a character be bashed in the head several times with a baseball bat and it's just a flesh wound.

Tyler Perry is in the movie as a verbally abusive boss who screams in his office for a female employee to bring him coffee. Phylicia Rashad stars as the best friend to Grace. The legendary Cicely Tyson is in it for about ten minutes. She's sort of a Boo Radley character who lives in the best friend's big house. Here's a trailer for A FALL FROM GRACE. There are moments when you know that Mr. Perry is trying to give you a Hitchcock VERTIGO feeling (there's business with a necklace) but the movie ultimately winds up being like a sketch from the comedy series Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele had on Comedy Central.

Tyler Perry's A FALL FROM GRACE. It's all about the wigs.

Starring Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis

To me, Hollywood never celebrated Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis as enthusiastically as it should have. That married couple truly was a dynamic duo of Broadway, film and television. Ruby Dee was one of those  extremely talented Black actresses who got one Oscar nomination yet should've received more -- and more quality scripts from Hollywood. Included in that list of actresses are Cicely Tyson, Alfre Woodard, Angela Bassett, Taraji P. Henson and the late Diahann Carroll and the late Beah Richards. All those women turned to TV for steady employment after their Oscar nominations. Ruby Dee starred in the original Broadway cast of the groundbreaking play, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, from playwright Lorraine Hansberry. She and the other members of the original cast recreated their roles in the 1961 film adaptation from Columbia Pictures. Another giant step forward in the area of Black Hollywood History is seen in the opening credits: "Screen Play By Lorraine Hansberry." The playwright wrote the screenplay. How many times had we seen a film released by a top Hollywood studio and the opening credits had the name of a Black woman underneath the words "Screen Play By"? THAT was major and it's a fact I rarely hear mentioned on TV when it's shown. Ruby Dee had been doing films roles since 1950. She repeated her Broadway success with co-star Sidney Poitier in the 1961 movie adaptation. She followed the film version of A RAISIN IN THE SUN with a lot of TV work and other film roles. She and husband Ossie Davis shine in two Spike Lee films -- DO THE RIGHT THING (1989) and JUNGLE FEVER (1991). Look at A RAISIN IN THE SUN today.

Ruby Dee gave an Oscar nomination-worthy performance as the Chicago-area wife dealing with racial discrimination and her husband's irresponsibility due to racial frustration. Her one Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, came late in her career thanks to AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007). Hollywood never fully utilized the talents of Ruby Dee. That was solely because of race and Hollywood's lack of equal opportunities. Here's an example: The 1963 classic, HUD, starring Paul Newman and Patricia Neal. My parents loved that movie. Patricia Neal deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actress. In the novel, the earthy housekeeper played by Neal was a Black woman. If Hollywood had not been so racially restricted in those days, can you imagine Ruby Dee in the role opposite Paul Newman? Wow. They would've been sensational together in HUD.

On TV shows and in films, we could always count on Ruby Dee to deliver a top quality dramatic performance. Did you know that she could be a knock-out in a comedy role just like a Judy Holliday? She and Ossie Davis starred on Broadway in a civil rights comedy written by Ossie Davis. PURLIE VICTORIOUS premiered in 1961. Purlie is a clever, young, self-ordained preacher down South who wants to "make civil rights out of civil wrongs." He proclaims, "...freedom is my business!" While on his subversive mission in the Jim Crow south, he meets the sweet, unassuming, slightly ditzy and very luscious Lutiebelle Jenkins. He declares she is "absolute Ethiopian perfection." Lutiebelle may be able to help him in his plans to shake up life on the cotton plantation owned by Colonel Cotchipee. The colonel hates all this talk about integration -- especially when the talk comes from his college-educated son, Charlie.

PURLIE VICTORIOUS was made into a 1963 indie film. On the screen, in the opening credits, we saw "Screen Play by Ossie Davis," based on his play. Original Broadway cast members recreated their roles in the movie. Ossie Davis was Purlie, Ruby Dee was Lutiebell. The cast also included Godfrey Cambridge, Beah Richards and -- in his film debut -- Alan Alda as Charlie Cotchipee. The movie opened in September 1963, a month after Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee participated onstage in Dr. Martin Luther King's March on Washington and stood on the podium during his "I Have a Dream" speech.  Here's a photo of the Broadway cast backstage -- with Dr. Martin Luther King.

In December 1963, Ossie Davis made another giant step for in Black Hollywood History. The epic Otto Preminger drama, THE CARDINAL, opened. It's the story of a priest who is elevated to cardinal. As we flashback to his early years as a priest, we see that he had to deal with abortion, fascism and racial bigotry. Ossie Davis played a fellow priest. Many American moviegoers were probably unaware that we Black Catholics do exist in America. The movie got 6 Oscar nominations.

The Ossie Davis play, PURLIE VICTORIOUS, was adapted in a 1970 Broadway musical comedy. He co-wrote the book for the play. Cleavon Little and Melba Moore won Tony Awards for taking on the roles originated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Melba wowed audiences singing "I Got Love" and the play, titled PURLIE!, was a Tony nominee for Best Musical.

Did Hollywood turn this hit Broadway musical comedy into a big screen movie? No.

Remember how Viola Davis played the lead female role in the film version of FENCES but won the Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category? (Being in that category was a shrewd strategic move that surely clinched her Oscar victory.)  Well, there should've been a campaign to get Ruby Dee a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her 1963 comedy performance. In my opinion. Here are the women who were nominated:  Margaret Rutherford for THE V.I.P.s, Lila Skala for LILIES OF THE FIELD, Diane Cilento for TOM JONES, Dame Edith Evans for TOM JONES and JOYCE REDMAN for TOM JONES. All comedy performances. Rutherford won for getting laughs as a bumbling broke Duchess in the airport love drama starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Hollywood should've offered Ruby Dee other good comedy roles.

Judge for yourself. If you have 95 minutes free, watch the 1963 comedy, PURLIE VICTORIOUS (later retitled GONE ARE THE DAYS), from actor, playwright and screenwriter Ossie Davis. Just click onto the link. I was introduced to this comedy during my grade school years in South Central L.A. It played one Friday night on Channel 9, then an independent station on Southern California TV. My parents belly-laughed with such animation at Godfrey Cambridge that watching them made me laugh. It's one reason why PURLIE VICTORIOUS holds a special place in my heart. Now click onto the link:

https://youtu.be/wj6dH82LXQE.

Have a great Martin Luther King Day weekend.

About THE IRISHMAN

The hit man Robert De Niro plays in Martin Scorsese's THE IRISHMAN says, "You don't know how fast time goes by until you get there." That is so painfully true. Think about it. We're in the first month of 2020. Twenty years ago, we didn't have cell phones and social media. We used rotary phones. We left messages on answering machines. We mailed letters and Christmas cards. We didn't have gay marriage equality. We'd never had a black president of the United States. We purchased newspapers just about every day. Men didn't use their phones to take photos of their own genitalia. That all came into our lives in the last 20 years. Didn't those years pass quickly? I watched THE IRISHMAN last night. The movie runs 3 hours and 30 minutes. Wow. What a movie. Those hours whizzed by like the bullets shot out of the hitman's gun.

It's a crime story. We go back to the 1950s. There are mob hits a plenty. De Niro plays a killer. I know that a few folks on social media remarked, "Gee...gangsters in another crime story. What a stretch for Martin Scorsese." Yes, he has given us crime, murder and men beating the crap out of somebody in TAXI DRIVER, GOODFELLAS, CASINO, GANGS OF NEW YORK and THE DEPARTED. But the crime scene for Scorsese is what the western was for John Ford. It's the genre where his vision and message have taken root and grown more than any other. A few months ago, a buddy of mine commented that actor Joe Pesci, coaxed out of retirement by Scorsese, was terrific in the movie. I second that emotion. Pesci gives his performance sort a cool jazz beat. He plays Russell Bufalino, the crime figure who mentors Frank Sheeran (De Niro) in the world of organized crime. As time and crime go by, Sheeran will become friends with labor leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).

Pesci's performance is master class quality. That's work new actors should watch and study for inspiration.

I wrote that Joe Pesci gives his understated performance sort of a cool jazz beat. If THE IRISHMAN was a record, it would be a jazz blues album. The film takes on a melancholy, a tone of the blues. Aging is not kind. Sometimes the thing that betrays you the most is your own body has it gets older. As you get older, you are forced to consider what your words and deeds have brought into your life -- and what they've taken away.

Director Martin Scorsese's THE IRISHMAN has De Niro, Pesci, Pacino and Harvey Keitel. They are all in top form. There were times when Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa reminded me of Al Pacino as Big Boy Caprice in 1990's comic strip-inspired DICK TRACY.

THE IRISHMAN is on Netflix. It's in the Oscar race for Best Picture and Best Director. Joe Pesci and Al Pacino are both the Best Supporting Actor Oscar category. Yes, it's a long movie -- a long movie that I will definitely be watching again. THE IRISHMAN is already a Scorsese classic.

About FRUITVALE STATION (2013)

I remember the news stories that covered Bay Area protests over the death of 22-year old Oscar Grant. Grant's story, up to and including his death when he and his girlfriend were on their way to New Year's Eve festivities in San Francisco, is covered in the 2013 independent film, FRUITVALE STATION. I also remember the large movie posters full of rave reviews from top film critics. The movie starred a big screen newcomer named Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant and recent Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Octavia Spencer as his mother. Jordan today is a popular new star who'd be sought for comments on a red carpet by entertainment press. He deserves the spotlight. The young man is a very good actor. He's serious about his craft.

Fortunately, the blockbuster domestic and overseas box office success of the 2018 action adventure/fantasy BLACK PANTHER widened awareness of his talents.

For me, experiencing the impact of a film with fellow members of a paid audience have often been as thrilling, as memorable as the film itself. This goes from my nights of sitting in the back seat of the family car when the Rivers Family attended a double-feature at the drive-in during my Los Angeles youth to sitting in a movie theater audience in Hollywood or New York City. I had an experience like that in San Francisco in 2013. I was in San Francisco, apartment-sitting for a friend. I went to see FRUITVALE STATION one afternoon. As I wrote, I was familiar with the news story. I was unfamiliar with Michael B. Jordan. I was drawn to the movie by the excellent reviews.

I was seated in the cineplex theater. In walked a group of five giggling white girls of about college age. In the middle of my quiet prayer that they not sit near me, the sat in the row right in front of me. My revised prayer was that they would not be giggling and chatty during the movie.  At the end of the movie, they were sniffling and crying. I was sniffling and crying. We all looked at each other as we left the theater, moved deeply by the film that held our attention for 90 minutes. There we were, strangers bonded together by the power of good film and bonded by seeing a story that really happened where we were -- in the modern-day Bay Area. Now that Michael B. Jordan is one of our new stars, folks should revisit FRUITVALE STATION. Here's a trailer. Click onto the link:

https://youtu.be/tkDr6RmQnOU.

I left the theater feeling that Octavia Spencer deserved a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. To me, she was even better as the mother in FRUITVALE STATION than she was as a maid in THE HELP. In the opening scene of the film, there's visual information that tells you the basic thing you need to know about Oscar Grant's character. Look at the way he treats a needy animal. Grant has done time. He's now determined to turn his life towards the light, be a better son, a better dad and a better partner to his girlfriend, Sophina. Click onto the link to see a clip. There's strong language in it:

https://youtu.be/A6ZOCb2gaqs.

In a flashback scene, we see incarcerated Oscar Grant get a visit from his mother.  Click onto the link to see the clip featuring Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer:

https://youtu.be/QRACf_ehgis.

FRUITVALE STATION and BLACK PANTHER were both directed by Ryan Coogler. FRUITVALE STATION was hailed at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and highly praised by American film critics. However, come Oscar nomination time, it was totally -- and surprisingly -- overlooked. I believe the Academy's lack of attention to FRUITVALE STATION was an element that sparked the discussion of diversity in Oscars consideration. The movie is worth a look.

African American filmmaker Ryan Coogler (left) directed and wrote FRUITVALE STATION. His 2018 movie, BLACK PANTHER, was a multi-million dollar box office powerhouse that made Hollywood history. 2013's FRUITVALE STATION was his directorial debut. Dig it.

Zellweger & Davis as JUDY

As expected, Renée Zellweger is in the Best Actress Oscar race for portraying the latter-day Judy Garland in JUDY. She does her own singing as Judy Garland. She plays the performer during what were the last six months of her life. She was 46, newly married again, and had been booked to perform dates at a posh nightclub in London. She needed the money. The year was 1969. I know that critics raved about Zellweger's performance. Recently, she won a Golden Globe in the Best Actress category for her biopic work. However, to me -- and I don't mean this harshly -- she looked more like a 1950s Polly Bergen in CAPE FEAR: THE MUSICAL.

 Zellweger did give it her all. She worked her trademark squint for all its worth.

Now, I just want you to see something else. Back in the 1990s, I interviewed Judy Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft, on live TV. Lorna had written a good biography about her youth with her famous mother and famous father, Sid Luft. Luft was the executive producer of Garland's sensational Hollywood comeback film, the 1954 musical remake of A STAR IS BORN. She was the favorite to win the Best Actress Oscar for it. She lost to Grace Kelly for THE COUNTRY GIRL, a now legendary Oscar upset. Sid Luft managed her through some of her best major concert dates here and abroad. He was the third of her five husbands. At the time I interviewed Lorna, it was announced that she'd produce a miniseries biopic based on her book for ABC TV.

The big question was -- who would play her mom? She found the right person -- actress Judy Davis. Davis played Garland from her meeting with director Vincente Minnelli (future 2nd husband and father of Liza) to discuss MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS through to her 4th marriage in the 1960s. The reviews were more like love letters. I was a guest on a local morning radio show the day after it aired. Davis was so phenomenal that the straight guys who hosted the show were talking about her. They'd watched it too.

After a now-historic concert success at Carnegie Hall and an Oscar nomination for her dramatic role in JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, Garland signed a big money contract with CBS in Hollywood for her own Sunday night weekly variety show. Among her many fans was President John F. "Jack" Kennedy. She'd visited him at the White House. Norman Jewison was on the production team. Years later, the director highly praised her talent, saying that she was whip-smart and took a keen interest in every aspect of the production. However, the network guys never treated her with the respect she deserved. Plus, the two men who were her managers embezzled millions from her contract and paid her what should have been their commission. One of them, David Begelman, would go on to make entertainment news headlines with an embezzlement and check forging scandal in the 1970s. Judy Garland was an international show biz legend dealing with the male executive branch at CBS. Here's an example of why I feel that Judy Davis' Emmy-winning 2001 performance is still the topper:

That's from one of the best TV biopics I've ever seen. Garland was played by two actresses. Tammy Blanchard played teen Judy, a new contract player at MGM. (Blanchard's resemblance was uncanny). Then Davis entered as young adult Judy, now a top star on the MGM lot. If you've never seen LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND: ME AND MY SHADOWS, find it and give it a look. Here's a color photo of Garland at a gala event with President Kennedy and a black and white photo of her next to President Kennedy at the White House with Carol Burnett and Danny Kaye.

Trivia: Alison Pill played young Lorna Luft in the biopic. She and Judy Davis would play daughter and mother again in the 2012 Woody Allen comedy, TO ROME WITH LOVE.  Here's Judy Garland singing "The Man That Got Away" in 1954's A STAR IS BORN. She and the song brought Oscar nominations to the film.

GMA Needs Oscar Talk Color

I have watched GOOD MORNING AMERICA for a long, long time. I watched when the Oscar nominations were announced and GMA's weekly film critic, Joel Siegel, was in studio live to do post-nomination analysis. In those days, each network -- ABC, NBC and CBS -- had a weekly film critic on its weekday morning news program. We also had syndicated weekend film review shows with two critics doing reviews. This goes back to the 80s/90s and there was no racial diversity in the line-up of critics. They were all white dudes. Society and times have changed. Now, diversity is an issue that deserves attention. So here's the thing -- and I write this as someone who has rarely seen a reflection of himself on national TV in the area of film critics: Again, I watched a white entertainment news journalist on GOOD MORNING AMERICA bring up the lack of racial diversity in the list of Oscar nominated actors. yet there was no Black/Latinx entertainment news contributor as a guest in that segment. And I do not mean to slam today's guests, ABC Entertainment News anchor Chris Connelly and VARIETY's Elizabeth Wagmeister. She's the journalist who said "...not a ton of diversity" referring to our Oscar-nominated actors. But can't GOOD MORNING AMERICA book a Black/Latinx entertainment news veteran to be in place for the Oscar nominations discussion and add a different outlook with some history? Can't GMA have a person of color as a guest when Chris Connelly brings up the Hollywood diversity issue?

The morning Viola Davis was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in FENCES, Chris Connelly and fellow Caucasian entertainment news journalist, Jess Cagle, were live on GMA for the Oscar nominations. "Oscars So White" was mentioned. Both gentlemen gushed over the umpteenth Oscar nomination Meryl Streep received. NO ONE mentioned that Viola Davis had just become the most Oscar-nominated Black actress in Hollywood history by receiving her 3rd nomination which came for her performance in 2016's FENCES. I cheered in my living room when I heard Viola's name announced that morning. For 20 years, the most Oscar-nominated Black actress had been Whoopi Goldberg with her Best Actress Oscar nomination for THE COLOR PURPLE and her Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for 1990's GHOST. Both Whoopi Goldberg and Viola Davis are stars -- on ABC programs (THE VIEW and HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER).

Today's actor nominations show that Oscar Loves Biopics. Check out the Best Actress category. Cynthia Erivo, Charlize Theron and Renee Zellweger got nominated for playing real-life characters. Jonathan Pryce, Best Actor nominee, and Best Supporting Actor nominees Tom Hanks and Anthony Hopkins also played real-life characters.

Think of actors who've won an Oscar for playing a real life character. There's Nicole Kidman for THE HOURS, Philip Seymour Hoffman in CAPOTE, Sean Penn in MILK, Julia Roberts in ERIN BROCKOVICH, Jamie Foxx in RAY, Forest Whitaker in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, Cate Blanchett in THE AVIATOR, Marion Cotillard in LA VIE EN ROSE, Christian Bale in THE FIGHTER, Mahershala Ali in GREEN BOOK , Meryl Streel in THE IRON LADY and Rami Malek in BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. (There are others.)

For HARRIET, Cythia Erivo becomes the 3rd actor directed by a Black woman to an Oscar nomination. Euzhan Palcy directed Marlon Brando to a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for 1989's A DRY WHITE SEASON, Dee Rees directed Mary J. Blige to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for 2017's MUDBOUND. Female African American director Kasi Lemmons directed HARRIET. Previously an actress, Lemmons played the FBI cadet training best friend to Jodie Foster's character in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

5 males who directed a Best Picture nominee were nominated for Best Director today. Greta Gerwig, who directed a Best Picture nominee, was not nominated for Best Director. This puts her in a category with trailblazing director Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow was a Best Director nominee (and won) for THE HURT LOCKER, which was also nominated for Best Picture (and won). Her following film, ZERO DARK THIRTY, was nominated for Best Picture. But it did not bring her a second Oscar nomination for Best Director.

Greta Gerwig's LADY BIRD was a nominee for Best Picture and she was nominated for Best Director of 2017. Today, her LITTLE WOMEN was nominated for Best Picture. She, however, did not get a second Oscar nomination for Best Director.

Mel Gibson directed two Best Picture Oscar nominees -- BRAVEHEART and HACKSAW RIDGE. Each brought him an Oscar nomination for Best Director.

2019 was a landmark year of solid work from female directors: Lorene Scafaria: HUSTLERS, Lulu Wang: THE FAREWELL, Greta Gerwig: LITTLE WOMEN, Olivia Wilde: BOOKSMART, Kasi Lemmons: HARRIET, Melina Matsoukas: QUEEN & SLIM, and Marielle Heller: A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

But the Academy didn't seen to notice.

Those are some points that I, a person of color, would've mentioned had I been a guest on GMA for the Oscars talk. Full disclosure: I was hired by ABC News to be the weekly entertainment editor on an ABC News weekday live hour-long show called LIFETIME LIVE. The ABC production aired on Lifetime in 2000. I did film reviews and gave film history with an accent on accomplishments of women in film. The show lasted only one year. I was very interested in doing entertainment news contributor work on GOOD MORNING AMERICA. I made a pitch -- but the interest was not mutual.

Thank You, Brad Pitt

This is something that has caught my eye for about five years now. It always makes me smile when I'm sitting in a movie theater and reading a film's credits. I never hear entertainment news reporters address this, but I certainly would if I had the opportunity to interview the actor. Are you aware of how many times Brad Pitt has been a top producer on a project that puts a light on marginalized people -- especially people of color? Thank you, thank you, thank you, Brad Pitt. Before I get to listing some of those projects, let me tell that I recently saw Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. I resisted seeing it when it first opened. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I was a child of the 60s whose favorite pastime was going to the movies. A big thrill for me was when I could get on the bus, use my RTD transfers and see movies on Hollywood Boulevard during summer vacation. I vividly recall listening to the radio the day the news bulletin broke about a celebrity death. The DJ said there'd been a Hollywood death and I listened, assuming an elder entertainer, a star from the 1930s or 40s, had passed away. Then the radio show cut to a reporter. You could hear in the timbre of the radio reporter's voice that he'd been horrified. He broke in with the news bulletin that there had been a gruesome Hollywood murder. It was the Manson Clan evil and one murder victim was rising star, the very pregnant Sharon Tate. I remember the shock wave that sent an immediate, cold jolt through the Pacific Coast, open door policy in some Southern California life. I did not want to see those Hollywood murders revisited and recreated in a big new movie. Well, they weren't. For me, personally, that was a relief. About Brad Pitt's performance in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, if he gets an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, he absolutely deserves it. He slams across a solid character performance as a Hollywood stuntman/caretaker of the 1950s/60s era. I've been watching his movies since his man-candy cowboy role in 1991's THELMA & LOUISE. Pitt is in peak performance in this 1960s Hollywood tale.

He captures the character. He captures the tone of the era. Every guy should have a buddy like Cliff Booth in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. Click on the link to see a trailer:

https://youtu.be/ELeMaP8EPAA.

In the Spike Lee film, BLACKkKLANSMAN, based on a true story, black undercover police officer Ron Stallworth says "With the right white man, we can do anything." That line broke me up laughing because it's often so damn true. In a very good way for some filmmakers, Brad Pitt has been the right white man.

On Netflix, there's a Chelsea Handler special called HELLO PRIVILEGE. IT'S ME, CHELSEA. In this documentary special, the comedian travels to various locations to see if white privilege does indeed keep black folks from moving quickly up the social and economic ladder. If you watch just the first 10 minutes, you will see her interview two fellow comedians -- Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish. Those two tell Chelsea something that has been a constant through most of my TV career. When they were watching their white show biz buddies get agents and great audition opportunities, they were not getting the same representation attention and audition opportunities. They asked their white friends for recommendations on agents. In my broadcast TV and radio career, I did the same thing from when I had my own primetime celebrity talk show on VH1 in the late 80s to 2002 when I booked myself a job hosting a Food Network show that was so popular it aired weekly for six years.

In other words, the playing field has never been level and any help received from a white buddy with some pull is greatly appreciated.

Brad Pitt was a top producer on these films:

12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013)

SELMA (2014)

  
MOONLIGHT (2016)

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (2018)

THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (2019).

If you saw and loved PARASITE, I recommend you see THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO. That Bay Area independent film shows something that I've experienced. It shows that gentrification is like a cultural and emotional rape that displaces working class people of color. THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO is one of the truly golden, unsung indie films of last year that boasts wonderful new Black talent (Jonathan Majors and Jimmie Falls) and has beloved, veteran Black talent (Danny Glover). Here's a trailer.

Yeah. One more time, I just want to say "Thank you, Brad Pitt. Thanks for the attention and thanks for the help."