Please, Please, PleaseTell Me We're All Extras In "Inception"

Laurence Fishburne's daughter and some complete and total loser ...ummm..."speaking" about her "introduction" into the porn world. I know Larry is (allegedly) holed up with much weed, cigarettes, and the best case of vodka money can buy. I know I would be. Are they filming in a La Bon Pain chain restaurant in this youtube video? *le sigh*

I'm sorry, but this chick makes Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, and Paris Hilton look like Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Obama.

This N' That....

Yes, I am a bad girl. I admit it. But really and truly, when I am away, I really miss you guys. I wish there was some kind of device that would write all of the Black Cinema thoughts in my head automatically....but alas, there isn't, so you are stuck with Number One Supreme Slacker, aka Ms. Invisible. But please know that I love you, and your comments make life worth living! haha

OK, had to come back about this "Uptown Saturday Night" thing. For those of you that have been paying attention, that is one of my favorite films of all time, Black or non. I wrote maybe about a year ago that Will Smith would be in the remake. 15 years ago, that wouldn't have been such a major disappointment as it is now. But then this added tidbit--Denzel Washington is rumored to be in talks to be in it as well. Of course, Denzel is probably playing the Poitier role, and Will the Bill Cosby one, but wouldn't it be so much more interesting if it were the other way around?

Okay, my seventh husband The RZA aka Bobby Digital seems to be adding to our future family fortune by getting into filmmaking. I laughed my ass off when I saw this uber-serious profile on him from The New York Times, I guess to give someone even a small clue who doesn't know anything about him (aka YT):

As founding father of the hard-core Staten Island rap collective Wu-Tang Clan, RZA (pronounced "rizza," given name: Robert Diggs) conflated the spiritual enlightenment found in '70s kung fu movies with racially incendiary teachings from the Five-Percent Nation of Islam, adding to the mix references to Taoism and comic books, numerology and snippets of mafia don movie dialogue, articulating a plaintive yet hard-bitten ghetto cri de coeur.

Huh? Anyway, I never really considered Wu-Tang "hard-core", but thanks for the name pronunciation clarification.

I know Sergio wrote a snippet on this already, and I tweeted about this the other day (the picture above came up when I image Googled NAACP--it seemed apropos). How the holy f*ck can the NAACP Image Awards nominate Michael Jackson's Funeral as "Best Variety Show"? If I wasn't already done and buried with them for almost a decade, this f*cktastic f*ckery would have definitely sealed the deal anyway. The founders of the NAACP must be spinning in their graves at 100 mph. Oh, and by the way, they also nominated Sandra Bullock as "Best Actress". And here I was thinking she wasn't Black the whole time...silly me.

How many of you saw the film "Four Brothers"? I did, just to see Andre 3000, who, by the way, was a complete and total dud in it. I do not believe acting is among his many talents. But Tyrese, whom I normally don't pay much attention to, looked eyeball-breakingly foin in it. Good try, but really, do we honestly need a sequel? That is what I have been reading. I vote no.

Speaking of stupid sequels, Laurence Fishburne is doing one for "Predator" 23 years after the first. Really, Larry? Mortgage payments are a bitch, I tells ya....more sigh inducing tidbits; Rashida Jones signed on to do the film based on Facebook (yes, you read right), and someone had the nerve to approach the Hughes Brothers to do a fourth installment of "Pirates Of The Caribbean". Thank the Lord they did not jump at that, but is anyone looking forward to "The Book Of Eli"? I am curious, strictly because of the Hughes Brothers, cause as far as Denzel goes, it looks like the same ol' same ol'. I hope I'm wrong.

Random Movie News....

I guess it's time to have some actual Black Cinema news, considering that was why I created this blog. Unfortunately, not much has been going on (what a surprise) but here are some tidbits (scroll down for my other new posts and answers to your comments):

Brazilian helmer Jose Padilha will direct the drama "Marching Powder," a passion project that Don Cheadle has long wanted to star in and produce. The film is based on "Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine and South America's Strangest Jail," a memoir Thomas McFadden wrote with Rusty Young.

Cheadle intends to play McFadden, a British man convicted of drugs trafficking in Bolivia and sent to La Paz's San Pedro prison for six years, where he worked as a prison tour guide in a corrupt prison that was subject to so much bribery that it had its own capitalist system. Brad Pitt's Plan B will also produce.

From IW: Is The Cheadle stuck on the accent thing? While it's admirable that Don and Brad are obviously not interested in doing trash, it would be nice if they would their invest time and energy on films that people actually want to see. Time will tell how this one works out.

In some semi-disturbing news:

Oscar nominee and Emmy and Tony Award winner Laurence Fishburne will join the cast of the CBS Paramount Network Television and Jerry Bruckheimer Television series, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, on the CBS Television Network. His character will debut in this season's ninth episode.

From IW: What tha???

The next item is old news, but I still wanted to comment on it:

Percy Miller (formerly Master P) has announced the launch of Better Black Television (BBTV) which is being touted as "a family friendly network that will provide positive content for a black and brown culture that will appeal to all races with a goal to bring people of color a choice when turning on their television." Taking his fast-paced and growing brand to Wall Street, Miller, BBTV's Chairman & CEO, makes history as the first hip-hop entrepreneur to own a television network. Five years in the making, BBTV is the brainchild and passion of some of the most diverse, powerful, celebrated entertainers, influentials and trendsetters from the television, film, professional sports, corporate America and music industries.

From IW: Okay. I have to say that Percy has the mark of a true businessman, changing like a chameleon when necessary and excelling, so maybe it will work. On the other hand, didn't they try this ish with the "Black Family Channel" (which imploded last year)? Robert Townsend, Evander Holyfield, and Randy Jackson (not the rich one) all invested in the channel with the same premise, and came up with nathan, nada. Hopefully this new venture will be better executed and nowhere near as low budget. (pic of percy from "Dancing With The Stars")

And finally, some news that made me sigh in disgust more than once:

Vin Diesel, star of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, promises two more Richard B. Riddick movies.

"David Twowy right now is writing the scripts. The only question is whether we take a page from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ guys and try to shoot the two chapters at the same time. There are two more in mind,” he said of Riddick, the Furyan warrior first introduced in the 2000 film “Pitch Black.” “‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ was presented as a three part trilogy that would answer ‘Pitch Black’ in the same way that ‘Lord of the Rings’ answered ‘The Hobbit.’”

Diesel told MTV News that in spite of the poor reception, the time between the sequels is only about getting it right, not about trying to find support.

From IW: Whatev! This coupled with the news that Vin will be in yet another "Fast and Furious" movie has me absolutely convinced that Hollywood has one thumb stuck in their mouths, and the other one stuck up their asses...in other words, completely and totally flatlined!

Today In B'Days....

Laurence Fishburne is 47.

Vivica Fox is 44 (cough). Her hairline is 82.*

*you saw that one coming didn't you?

Four Rappers and A Nerd....

There is a new movie coming out with an eclectic cast called "Days Of Wrath". Here are some of the names:

Laurence Fishburne, David Banner, Wilmer Valderrama, Melyssa Ford, Faizon Love, Kurupt, Rick Ross, Slim Thug, Amber Valletta, and Taye Diggs.

Here is the trailer:



IW: All I wanna know is A) how does Wilmer look so crushable when he is not playing Fez? and B) what is cornballio Taye Diggs doing in the middle of this?

A Little Newsy News...

From Filmwad:

Sony Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights for Tortured, a thriller starring Laurence Fishburne and Cole Hauser (K-Ville). James Cromwell, James Denton, Jon Cryer and Emmanuelle Chriqui co-star. Nolan Lebovitz wrote and directed the organized crime drama. No release date has been announced yet, but The Hollywood Reporter claims that the film will likely be released in North America, the U.K., Benelux, French-speaking Europe, Portugal, Spain, Scandinavia, Russia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

From IW: I'm glad Laurence Fishburne keeps working. He will also play Thurgood Marshall on Broadway:

Tony Award-winner Laurence Fishburne will return to Broadway to play Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, in "Thurgood," a one-man show written by George Stevens Jr. and directed by Leonard Foglia. "Thurgood" will begin previews at the Booth Theatre on March 30, 2008, open on April 20, and run through July 20. btn

By now probably most of you have heard that one of the finest directors out there, Martin Scorsese, is directing a film about Bob Marley with the blessing of his family and estate.

I ain't mad. At the very least you know it'll be interesting.

Marty circa who knows when

For you Jada Pinkett lovers (which I am not) and you Idris Elba lovers (which I am), good news for you:

Jada Pinkett Smith's directorial debut, "The Human Contract," has been picked up for distribution by Lightning Entertainment. The film is the first investment for the Santa Monica-based sales and distribution company using the company's $20 million acquisitions and production fund announced in November.

"The Human Contract" follows a successful corporate man who is harboring a secret and befriends a free-spirited stranger who encourages him to ditch his stuffy lifestyle and live life freely.

The film, which stars Pinkett Smith alongside Idris Elba, Jason Clarke, Paz Vega, Ted Danson and Joanna Cassidy, recently wrapped production.

From IW: Ted Danson? I saw this on another blog...Jada seems to be stuck in a theme...wasn't "Woo" about the same thing? I'm just sayin.

And finally, I've been getting emails and have been reading about a series on NPR's "News and Notes" last week, of which all week they were discussing black film. One example come from Slaus (who btw did a funny wrap up of the phoney-ass Grammys):

"Invisible , do you listen to the NPR Blog News and Notes? They have been doing an awesome retrospective on Black images in film and Blacks behind the camera all month. Yesterday they had on Bill Duke and another woman ( can’t remember her name) speaking on stereotypes in Black film.

Bill Duke brought up a great point of how Blacks bemoan and deride Blacks for being in such roles as halle in monsters ball and such, but then they dont go SEE actual good black films like: The Great Debaters” I thought of you instantly since you’re my go to on all things black film related. "

From IW: I'm ashamed to say that I did not hear the series, but I will be listening later today. If you would like to check out the shows, you can listen to last week's podcasts HERE.

More Hollywood Shenanigans....

I'm only gonna do a couple of short posts today...it was my berffday weekend (me and the King!) and I have been practically bathing in lemondrop martinis, topped off with a Jim Beam-sponsered party last night. I don't know how those hillbillys drink that stuff. Needless to say today I am feeling the full effects of it.

I just wanted to mention this, tho, and was wondering if anyone else has noticed a trend. I saw the movie "Cloverfield" (which by the way, was a very fine piece of filmmaking.....if anyone tells you it wasn't off the hinges, they are too jaded to be going to the movies).

The previews were extremely interesting to me....there were four, and they all seemed to star the same white, bland, faceless, 23 year old girly-man as the main character. I'm serious. I could not tell if the dudes were different or the same. But what was more interesting/disappointing was that there seems to be a new type of "magical negro" sprouting.

For those of you who don't know, the "magical negro" in a film is a black character that exists solely to give the central or main white characters advice, life lessons, help, or come-uppance in a film. They seem to have no other existence or pleasure in life other than helping said YT in their journey. Examples of this are Will Smith in Bagger Vance, MCD in The Green Mile, and Scatman Crothers in "The Shining".

Anyhoo--there seems to be a new league of these coming up, but they are the "heavy"-- intimidating rather than subservient. They give the white character their come-uppance, albeit in a violent way, and they are:

-dark (which I'm fine with)

-super violent and/or menacing in every way

-completely second banana to this bland, faceless white dude

-actors that should have their own films with top billing.

The ones seen in the previews were Laurence Fishburne, Djimon Hounsou, and Samuel Jackson.

I must say that I don't believe I was making too much of viewing these previews, and what really gets me is the trailers probably contain about 10 to 15 seconds of each of them, regardless that you can tell they are very central to the story and probably get tons of screentime in the actual films themselves. What value are they placing on some of our communities most loved male actors? What kind of message are they sending out by making these films? Why are these major actors playing second fiddle to some kid I've never seen before and don't care about? WTF is up with this type of marketing in the trailers? Who are they marketing to, cause it most certainly doesn't seem to be us.

We are invisible even in the movie trailer realm. What do you guys make of this? What action should we be taking besides "witholding our dollars" which is a start, but imho not that effective of a message?


On a lighter note, for a funny caption on Digimon aka Djimon, click here.

Speaking Of Frank Lucas....

Is the new movie "American Gangster" taking even more than the normal Hollywood liberties? Reader Cassandra sent over an article of interest involving Frank Lucas and Bumpy Johnson's widow. For those who don't know, Bumpy was Frank Lucas' mentor and was the subject of the Bill Duke directed "Hoodlum", played by Laurence Fishburne. She contends that Frank is a big fat phony, for lack of a better phrase:

Frank Lucas, the dope-dealer portrayed by Denzel Washington in the upcoming movie, American Gangster, is a low-down good-for-nothing liar. This according to someone whom would know -- Mayme Johnson.

Johnson is the 93-year-old widow of the infamous Harlem gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson -- the man whom Lucas says was his mentor and who taught him everything he knows. Lucas goes on to say that he was Bumpy's second-in-command, and that Bumpy died in his arms in 1968.

"Frank wasn't nothing but a flunky, and one that Bumpy never did really trust," says Johnson, author of the upcoming book, Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. "Bumpy would let Frank drive him around, but you'd better believe that he was never in any important meetings or anything. Bumpy figured Frank as a liar, and he would say you can trust a thief quicker than a liar, because a thief steals because he needs money, while a liar lies for the hell of it."

Johnson says she was furious when she first found out that Lucas told a magazine writer that Bumpy died in his arms. Lucas, she says, was nowhere around the night that Bumpy died from a heart attack while dining at the famous Wells Restaurant on Seventh Avenue in Harlem. She says Lucas probably thought he could get away with the lie because he figured everyone who was around Bumpy at the time is now dead.

"Junie Byrd's gone, Nat Pettigrew's gone, Sonny Chance is gone, and Finley Hoskin's gone. Frank would never have said any garbage like that if one of them were alive because he'd know they'd come after him," Johnson says. "I bet he thought I was gone, too, but I'm not. I'm 93, and I don't have Alzheimer's or dementia, and I'm not senile. Frank Lucas is a damn liar and I want the world to know it."

Johnson says she thinks it's a shame that Lucas was able to fool Hollywood into believing that he's a bigger shot than he really is, and points out that if he lied about his relationship with Bumpy there's no telling what else he may have lied about in the movie. As far as she's concerned, Johnson states, everything in the movie is now suspect.

"That's why I'm writing this book after all this time," Johnson explains. "There have been legends, myths, and rumors flying around about Bumpy for decades, and I've never spoken to confirm or deny anything -- even when the movie Hoodlum was released in 1997 and contained all kinds of factual errors about the man I loved. You see I never thought the errors were malicious, they just didn't know better. But this . . . well, Frank does know better.

"So now I've finally decided to speak out. To set the record straight. To tell the truth and damn the devil. To let the world know about the real Bumpy Johnson."

From IW: In Frank's defense, even by her own admission Mayme was not the angel she was portrayed as in "Hoodlum" by Vanessa Williams. And whose to say she doesn't have an agenda of her own since, as she says, she and Frank are the only ones who are still around to know? Interesting just the same. If you would like to see the rest of her story, click here.

OK, I'm A Sap...

I know I'm on the late train...I avoided seeing "Akeelah and the Bee" forever, cause if you've been paying attention to this blog at all, you know I have a high aversion toward stand and deliver/against all odds type films. I find them very formulaic, and ultimately very, very, boring.

I also kinda avoid Angela Bassett; one more film of her being strong jawed and strong willed and I think I'm gonna scream. A friend's kids were watching it, so I started watching it too...

Oh my God. I must have cried 10 times, trying to hide it all the while cause I felt like an idiot. The relationship between Laurence Fishburne and Akeelah was soooo sweet, and I loved Laurence being quiet and gentle-it didn't seem affected at all. That little girl didn't get on my nerves even once (as some kids in movies do), and she kinda reminded me of myself at that age-I was a nerd who hung out with the cool folks-don't ask me how that happened.

And guess what? Angela came across as a real mom with real life child rearing issues, and only got strong jawed once or twice...I loved everything about this movie; how the community was proud of her and what she represented, how the mom and daughter got to really see each other as people for the first time, how Akeelah and her coach healed each other just by being able to talk about their hurts, and how in life it's not always about the win, but the journey to get there.

Today in B'Days

Laurence Fishburne is 46 (a very nice guy btw)

Vivica Fox aka "Aunt Viv" is 43 (so she says)

Terry Crews is 39