Recaps & Reviews

31 posts

Recaps and reviews of arts and pop culture — books, tv, movies, etc.

Alternative Views: The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013)

MV5BMTUwMjgyNTE2OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzU1MzgwMDE@__V1_SY317_CR0,0,214,317_AL_Today’s Alternative Views recommendation comes way of Sundance and a few other festivals. Apparently, it failed to get wide distribution. The reasons for that oversight will remain mysteries to me. This film is hella powerful.

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013), Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon, Jennifer Hudson

Director: George Tillman

Writer: Michael Starrbury

One review of this film opined that it bordered on “poverty porn”. I can’t agree. Director George Tillman pointed his camera matter-of-factly at life in a Brooklyn housing project. It’s not prurient. It’s not judgmental. It just is the life lived by 13-year-old Mister (Skylan Brooks), his addicted mother, Gloria (Jennifer Hudson) and their semi-permanent house guest, 9-year-old Pete (Ethan Dizon), himself the child of an addict even worse off than Gloria. Continue reading →

Dear Hollywood, It’s Not Me. It’s You

Let’s face it, it’s been bad between us for a long time. I’m a bit long in the tooth now, and I know how you feel about that. I’m no longer snowed by your tales of MPDGs; with you smitten and me wondering how I could eliminate my need for gainful employment just so I could be worthy of your adoration. I cringed through your seemingly endless stream of Blow-‘Em-Up violent fantasies; fantasies that you’re still cranking out despite the fact that these same action stars are in their mid-60s. I was always amused by the suspension of disbelief required to watch downtown Los Angeles transformed into a war zone by a single rogue cop, while you were still opining that a female buddy comedy “wouldn’t be realistic”.

Continue reading →

Alternative Views: If I Were You (2012)

Welcome to Alternative Views. In keeping with my semi-resolution to watch scripted content only if the story was about women, LBGT persons and/or persons of color, I began with this little critically-savaged gem.

If I were you

How savaged was it? Rex Reed called this “a hapless load of bunk” whose creators could “only be described as delusional.”  Since “they think they have made an actual movie, when nothing in it qualifies.” Reed sounds bitchier than usual, but that tone was actually matched by several other critics.

Don’t believe them. This film is FUN as hell. Continue reading →

Matt Taibbi’s “The Divide” Might Be the Most Important Book You’ll Read this Year

On February 20th, 2014, Matt Taibbi sent shockwaves through the media landscape, announcing that he was leaving his long-time position at Rolling Stone for a new venture working alongside Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Laura Poitras. Although Taibbi’s site has yet to launch, he has had time to finish and release his newest book “The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap“. Having recently finished it, I believe that it may be one of the most important books of the year. Continue reading →