Mr. Brown Versus

The last time I talked about a film critics and audiences loved over but I couldn't get behind was George Miller's apocalyptic action-thriller Mad Max: Fury Road . In a nutshell, I referred to the film as one overlong, extended chase through the desert which got very repetitive, very quickly, in addition to me dubbing it as the most overrated movie of 2015. Now, in the year of our lord 2016, I must put my foot down on another movie critics are fawning over, but I couldn't fully get into: Disney's Moana . Before, I go any further, let me state for the record my views on calling something "overrated" and what it means to me: When I call a film "overrated", I'm not saying it to stir the pot or to deliberately hold a contrarian point of view (that's Armond White's job!); I'm saying that there are aspects about it I feel other critics have glossed over which have stuck out like a blister from my perspective. When I write reviews like t...

I don't have the heart to write up what just happened three weeks ago. I don't have the stomach to hear from the far left about how Bernie Sanders would have clobbered the newly-elected President. I don't have the strength to voice all of my disgust about how a campaign built on exploiting the fears of white America and a rapidly-changing landscape and culture. The ugly reality that's staring us in the face is that come January 20th of next year, Barack Obama will exit the White House and Donald Trump, an unapologetic misogynist, xenophobic and racist man will become the nation's 45th Commander-in-Chief. And honestly? I don't want to write that sort of piece. I'll leave that to better, more intelligent writers than myself. What's done is done, and the toothpaste can't be put back in its tube. Instead, I'd like to quote two characters who are speaking to us now in the coming storm that is Trump. "Dark and difficult times lie ahead...A...

I'd like to contrast two videos which talk about how John Oliver criticized Green Party candidate Jill Stein's platform on last week's Last Week Tonight  segment on 3rd party candidates, and if you haven't watched the segment, I highly suggest that you do in order to understand the arguments both folks are saying. ( watch here ). The main arguments that Mike from The Humanist Report and current whipping boy for this site Jimmy Dore are making is that Oliver's piece was shameless propaganda to make the audience vote for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election. Now while I disagree with both gentlemen about how to take Oliver's skit, I'm highlighting how both guys go about deconstructing the British comedian's claims. The first video from the host of THR breaks it down point by point and explains why he has this opinion. Again, I may not agree with the overall viewpoint, but I enjoyed watching his take because the host didn't resort to acting like...

WARNING!!!! This review will contain spoilers regarding the show's twist ending, as well as most of the plot. You have been warned. I'm exhausted with the last few posts where I went political, so here's me taking a break from all that shit and making another venture into the land of the small screen. Unfortunately, I'm not recommending about a good show - no, this is me ranting about one of the worst Anime programs I've ever encountered in the form of School Days , a romantic drama/teen soap opera in cartoon form. Yes: in addition to film and TV, I like the realm of Japanese Animation, primary because of the various sub-genres and avenues it covers, from science fiction/dystopian settings like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Outlaw Star , to slice-of-life comedies/harems such as Tenchi Muyo!  and Love Hina . There's a genre for every sort of taste, and it's interesting to dive in and see what's there. However, in the case of School Days ,...

For the past year, Donald Trump has gone out of his way to offend anyone and everyone in his path in his quest to obtain the White House. Donald Trump has insulted and dismissed John McCain, a celebrated and decorated Vietnam War veteran, claiming that being captured didn't make him a hero. Donald Trump made fun of a disabled journalist while the cameras were rolling. Donald Trump openly accused a judge of Hispanic decent of bias due to his heritage. That judge was hearing a lawsuit against Trump's latest scam, Trump University. Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz's father of conspiring to kill JFK during a primary debate. There is no evidence of this claim being true. Donald Trump attacked Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, two Gold Star parents who lost their son, Humayan, an Army Captain, serving his country. The patriarch spoke at the Democratic National Convention and attacked Trump for his his hateful attitude towards Muslim-Americans. Donald Trump attacked...

Save for the third installment of the Resident Evil  series, Extinction , I've never been a fan of these movies about zombie mayhem, bullets, blades and bad acting (and yes, I've seen all of them, from first to recent.). Sure, the series has its moments where I can watch 'em, ignore the inconsistent storyline and have some fun with it, but I could never fully appreciate it as a guilty pleasure.. However, I am a fan of Milla Jovovitch because she's an action star that can hold her weight with the Stallone's, the Schwartzenegger's, the Statham's of bad-ass action heroes and be totally nonchalant about it. So, of course, there's a new trailer for the latest RE movie, dubbed The Final Chapter , where Alice, now re-bonded with the T-virus that gives her superhuman powers (it's best not to ask why the Umberalla Corp. does this after taking them from her in the fourth installment of the series,  Afterlife ), goes back to Raccoon City, the epicenter of where...

If I have one plea to ask of my fellow liberals, it's this: please, please -- regardless of what happens with the election, don't make comedian Jimmy Dore the spokesperson for the blue cause. In case you don't know who he is, here's a brief recap : Dore is what you get when you combine Glenn Beck's wing-nutty bullshit ideas and theories, mixed with Bill Maher's smug, sometimes condescending demeanor, if you removed his ability to make an audience laugh. Lately he's been the voice for disgruntled and disillusioned Bernie Sanders supporters who believe the choice between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is a vote for the same-old establishment politics that have screwed over the middle class and enriched the top 1% and that Bernie Sanders was the only candidate that could break the spell of business as usual with a political revolution. Dore's argument boils down to the following: the Democratic establishment needs...

Pure Flix -- the same production company that gave us God's Not Dead , the previously reviewed   Revelation Road  and Old Fashioned , are now making a film on the Columbine High School massacre. Really. This is a thing. Look: a film about Columbine, or Rachel Lee Scott and the two killers would be an engrossing character study on how their lives intersected and collided on that fateful day, kind of like the multiple points-of-view of random teenagers in Gus Van Sant's haunting Elephant , but again -- this is Pure Flix. I wouldn't trust these guys to make a miniseries on 9/11 without being heavy-handed on the religious angle, let alone make this  movie.

I owe Mad Max: Fury Road  and apology. I'm sorry, Mad Max: Fury Road  -- I was too harsh on you. I said that you were overrated; I called your action scenes a one-note car chase/gunfight through an apocalyptic wasteland & thought they got repetitive very fast; I thought some of the characters like Immortal Joe's prized Breeders and the title character didn't get enough characterization; etc. Sometimes, you have to own up when you're wrong, and I was in this instance, especially when you come across watching something so laughably bad that it makes you pine for a better, more competently made picture. Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End  is just that sort of movie that made me pine for George Miller's expertly made, but flawed action-thriller, warts and all. In fact, this is a low-budget action movie that will take its cues from other better movies, but more on that later. Revelation Road  was made by Pure Flix Entertainment. Who are they, you a...

*  Bad people can still make fine art. I love Michael Jackson's music while acknowledging that he was a man who had serious demons that were never exercised over the course of his life. I'm just getting into the works of writer-director Woody Allen and I think his movies are just incredible from what little I've seen, yet I do think he's definitely a pervert at best and a messed up child-fucker at worst with the allegations that he molested his own daughter, Dylan, during his widespread split with actress Mia Farrow in '92. Johnny Depp, in spite of taking paycheck roles since he rose to superstar status with the  Pirates of the Caribbean  movies as Capt. Jack Sparrow, I still think he's one of our generation's finest actors, and he's a woman-beating piece of shit (allegedly). People who make exemplary art shouldn't be punished just because they're a shitty human being, nor should they be driven out of the Oscar race, which is what is happening t...

It was 15 years ago today that I went on a camping trip with my 6th grade class, along with the others from across the San Diego Unified School District up in Palomar. The whole idea is to to get the students to learn about nature, the environment and to enjoy meeting new people from another school; it's a tradition that's been going on for decades in the school system in SD.  That was also the day everything changed, as the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington D.C. & a fourth plane taken over by ordinary passengers on United Flight 93 crashed into a meadow in Pennsylvania, put us on a different path, one that led us into a fearful place, driven by our need to feel secure, whatever the cost. It also shined a light on the people we might take for granted - police officers, firefighters, first responders - men and women who went into harms way to save as many lives as possible, and lost their own in doing so. It signaled that even in ...

Ok, let's be honest -- the calendar year for 2016 has been kinda shit, hasn't it? Sequels to cult hits that gave us secondary slop....superhero movies that failed to deliver on the super....studios still trying to cram the awfulness of Kevin Hart down our throats....and this season's offering of summer popcorn flicks did nothing to buck the trend. Does it get better as we turn to fall and the Awards race? Maybe, but for now, here's my compiled list of the worst this calendar year had to offer us thus far. London Has Fallen  - Baltimore movie critic Max Weiss warned me about this abhorrent, xenophobic, racist and profoundly idiotic picture and gave it one star in her review. I felt that was waaaaaaay too kind after sitting through one of the worst action films I've seen in the last 15 years. Gerard Butler is doing his second rate John McClain thing, Aaron Eckhart is still the President with a target on his back, and fine performers like Angela Basset, Melissa ...

Editor's note: the point of this post is not to target Bernie Sanders supporters. My intention is to talk about an experience I had with one person in particular and convey that I'm not a fan of his "agree with me or you're not a real liberal!" style of radio/podcasting. From the website Dictionary.com: obnoxious: adjective 1. highly   objectionable   or   offensive;   odious: obnoxious   behavior . 2. annoying   or   objectionable   due   to   being   a   showoff   or   attracting   undue at tention   to   oneself: an   obnoxious   little   brat . 3. Archaic.   exposed   or   liable   to   harm,   evil,   or   anything   objectionable. 4. Obsolete.   liable   to   punishment   or   censure;   reprehensible. I love watching The Young Turks on You Tube. I try to catch ...

This will be a new segment where I muse about anything and everything: current events, movies, personal issues, etc. It gets me writing more, which (I hope) will get me back into the creative mood, and perhaps gets you, dear reader, thinking as well. So, without further ado..... I want to say the Colin Kapernick should be is a non-issue because it is is right as an American to not stand for the National Anthem (even though I find it disrespectful, IMO), but I understand his reluctance and the reason why he has chosen to protest. In my lifetime, I have never been pulled over by the police. I haven't been stopped and frisked by police officers, and I haven't been harassed by local law enforcement. But I cannot deny this is a common occurrence in the black community; that I am more likely to be stopped by police officers than a white male; that I am more likely to be placed under arrest because of my skin color; that we've seen an alarming increase of young black, un...