The Urbane Urbanite

On paper, Red Hook Summer reads like an easy coming-of-age tale. Flik (newcomer Jules Brown), a precocious, spoiled middle-class tween from Atlanta, is dropped off in Red Hook, Brooklyn by his mother (without explanation) to spend the summer with his Baptist preacher grandfather, Enoch (played with gravitas by Clarke Peters), whom he's never met. But the latest joint in Spike Lee's Brooklyn-based oeuvre is anything but simple.

As a lifestyle and entertainment writer, I interview a lot of people. Almost every story needs quotes. You get quotes by interviewing people. That’s just the way it goes.  I’ve only been writing professionally for three years and in that short time span, I’ve had the opportunity to interview some pretty famous people. I’ve talked men’s style and fashion with John Legend; waxed poetic with Common about performing on stage versus on camera; listened to Ledisi (who is a super-duper sweetheart, by the way) reflect on how friends and family lifted her up during rough times. Two years ago, I sat across from Faith Evans in a hotel room in Boston where she raved about how Aliya S. King’s smokin’ hot debut novel, Platinum , was a spot-on depiction of what it means to be the wife of a hip-hop superstar. And then there was the time Angie Stone threw some very mild shade in the direction of her baby daddy, D’Angelo, during a quick backstage interview I conducted with her a...

After a six-year hiatus, I've made a triumphant return to the big screen ! The small screen ! Okay, your computer screen! Yep, I've got a lead role , a supporting role, a small role as a therapist in one scene of the fifth episode of the upcoming comedic web series, Jackson & Lewis (think Bad Boys meets The Odd Couple ).

Tyler Perry's latest film, Good Deeds , debuted last weekend to an underwhelming $15 million . But don't cry for him, Argentina. He's got three more times to get it right this year. With The Marriage Counselor , Madea's Witness Protection and Alex Cross all slated for release before Christmas, he'll more than recoup any losses at the box office. But does the top-paid man in entertainment risk overexposing himself? The Grio asked that very question in an article that ran on their site last week . Jarrod Harden and I, along with a few other folks, received the link to the story via email. Here's Jarrod's response.

One of the most fascinating conflicts to watch on screen is the internal struggle of sexual expression. Only after watching important films like Pariah , does it become glaringly clear just how difficult it is to be your authentic self in a world where you feel there's no place to be the person that you know you are. Adepero Oduye brings that battle to life with her fearless portrayal of Alike (pronounced: Ah-Lee-Kay), a Brooklyn teenager who isn't really coming to terms with her sexuality per se, but more so struggling to figure out how, where and with whom she can be herself.

What better way to celebrate the the second most scariest day of the year (the first being tax day, of course) than by paying tribute to my favorite scary movie? In 1960, the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, did with showers what Spielberg would do with oceans a decade later: Use them to scare people out of the water! Psycho tells the story of Marion Crane, a woman who skips town with $40,000 of her employer's money to start a new life with her lover, Sam. During her journey, a torrential rain storm causes her to pull over to the side of the road and seek refuge at a creepy, vacant motel. There, she meets meek mama's boy Norman Bates - and her untimely demise. More mystery and suspense than horror,  Psycho  is a tightly wound thriller directed by Hitchcock with such precision and exactness, you'd have to be blind to miss the trademark nuances - his blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo, countless bird references and innuendos - that make up this cinematic classic....

I absolutely adore Viola Davis. Truly. Not just because she's a phenomenal scene stealing actress. (See her powerful turn in the 2008 drama Doubt . You almost forget Meryl Streep is even on camera with her!) But because she's the real deal. All around. Period.

Homer, ancient Greek poet & scholar Scholarly is the last word I would used to describe myself. In fact, the adjective is on my list of words people overuse when describing themselves and others. (Other words include: epic. icon. amazing. etc.) But, today, I am quite proud to announce that I've got a clip in a scholarly journal. Woot! Woot! Wait. Are written pieces in journals even called "clips?" The word "clips" sounds too light and general - not serious enough. I think the proper phrasing is: I've got an article published in a scholarly journal. Ah, yes. That sounds much better. Yes, yours truly has a piece in JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies. *Takes Bow*  Here's how it all came to be.

My love for the geriatric set does not start and end with The Golden Girls . In this youth driven culture of Jersey Shores and Kim Kardashians, I always welcome a seasoned diversion from the mainstream. Such was the case for Lovely, Still , a delightful, romantic film about Robert (Martin Landau) and Mary's (Ellen Burstyn) whimsical December-December love affair. A lonely Robert gets a new lease on life when Mary moves in across the street and asks him out on a date. What ensues is a heartwarming exploration of late-in-life romance with a sentimental twist that will leave you heartbroken. First time director Nicholas Fackler does a fine job of layering this fable with its snow globe setting and Christmas-themed backdrop. Lovely also boasts spectacular performances from its two leads, Oscar winners Burstyn and Landau, respectively.  Through SAG screenings and my addiction to Entertainment Weekly , I usually have my finger on the pulse of good independent films. Somehow, t...

The day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Kathryn Stockett found herself sitting in her downtown New York City apartment, reflective, lonely and terribly homesick. "I was thinking about my family and thinking about this woman named Demetrie," said Stockett. "She was the African-American woman that worked for our family for 32 years and for the first time in my life, I started to ask myself 'what was she thinking all of those years?' I had totally taken it for granted. I was so naive as a child. She knew everything about us and I didn't know anything about her. So I started writing in what to me was her voice." Ten years and over 60 rejection letters later, Demetrie's voice has become the bona fide literary phenomenon that is The Help . Stockett's debut novel about the complex relationship between black maids and their white female employers during the dawn of the civil rights movement in Jackson, Mi...

With Memorial Day behind us, the summer movie season has officially kicked into high gear. Whether you like teenage mutants ( X-Men: First Class  ), violent robots ( Transformers: Dark of the Moon ) or magical wizards ( Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II ), there's something for everyone in theatres this season. This summer, AMC offers a great way for you to enhance your moviegoing experience.

Pierre M. Coleman is riding high - and with good reason. The 27-year-old writer-director and Howard University graduate will get to see his 20-minute dramatic short film on the big screen in New York City next week. Hello, My Name is Trouble is a potent, urban drama about a teenager who succumbs to the perils of his surroundings and very bad decision making.  Trouble is packed with solid performances, especially from David A. Bynoe who plays the doomed lead character, Jeremiah and Kevin Craig West as the reverend who tries to keep Jeremiah on the right path. I got the chance to sit down for a chat with Coleman, who's been busy working the festival circuit to promote his critically acclaimed film. The Newark, NJ native talks about how his father inspired the script, his future projects - and what he'll do to tame my ego if I'm lucky enough to star in one of his flicks.

Fresh popcorn and wine were on deck last week at the film screening of Desert Flower, presented by The African Heritage Network and The New York Times Company. Flower chronicles the tumultuous childhood of Waris Dirie, who also penned the international best-selling novel the film is based on.  The stunning Liya Kebede is a force as Dirie, a woman who survives female genital mutilation at age three, being sold into marriage as a teenager and transforms herself from a Somalian nomad into an internationally recognized top supermodel and human rights activist. Kebede delivers a powerful performance laced with humor and humanity.  Watch out for a special appearance by the suave Anthony Mackie as Dirie's romantic missed connection and countless laugh-out-loud moments from Golden Globe Award winning actress Sally Hawkins, as Dirie's new found friend. Die hard fashionistas and anyone with a heart will enjoy this modern day Cinderella ....

I must admit, 2010 was a banner year for film.  I highlighted a few of the standouts in my 2011 Oscar Watch Series:  Black Swan , The Kids Are All Right , 127 Hours .  And as predicted, all three went on to be nominated in multiple categories.  While millions of people are expected to tune in this Sunday to watch Hollywood's most famous self-celebrating gabfest, a chorus of grumblings will continue to reverberate on the Internet about how there are no Black films or actors nominated for an Oscar this year.  In fact, this is the first time in over ten years that there isn't one single Black Oscar nominee.  Sadly, this isn't the first time that this has happened and certainly won't be the last.  But while folks are harping on this year's white wash at the Oscars, I can't help but to remember the year Black folks dominated the podium.

In 1992, John Singleton not only became the first African-American ever nominated for an Oscar for best director, but at the tender age of 23, he was also the youngest person ever to be nominated in that category. The film was Boyz N the Hood , a gritty, urban tale about friends growing up in the inner-city of South Central Los Angeles. Singleton, who penned the script and also scored an Oscar nod for best original screenplay, unabashedly put a lens on a particular Black experience that was often talked about in the news but rarely novelized on film for a mainstream audience to see. More than just a shoot 'em up bang bang hood flick, Boyz is a study on the power of confinement and what it takes to rise above the limitations of your environment. Singleton's audacious, groundbreaking debut boasts a cast of some of the most successful actors in Hollywood today - Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Regina King - and paved the way for similar flicks like Ju...

"I'd rather play a maid and make $700 a week than be one for $7."  - Hattie McDaniel The year was 1940. And Hollywood was all abuzz about Gone with The Wind , the 1939 epic film adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name that would go on to become a record breaking box office masterpiece. In it was Hollywood royalty - Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh - but the breakout performance came from Hattie McDaniel in the role of Mammy, a brass, no-nonsense tell-it-like-it-is maid and servant to Scarlett O'Hara, played by Leigh. Although McDaniel caught flack for perpetuating a stereotype by playing a maid in Wind (she carved both a lucrative and successful acting career for herself by playing servants and housekeepers in mainstream films) no one could deny the gravitas of her groundbreaking Academy Award win; the first African American to be nominated and win an Oscar.

James Franco is stuck between a rock and a hard place in 127 Hours , a gripping film adaptation of Aron Ralston's real-life harrowing five-day experience trapped by a boulder in a canyon at a national park in Utah. Danny Boyle, the director of the Oscar winning smash hit Slumdog Millionaire , delivers a modern Castaway , using split screens, sharp editing, exaggerated sound effects and a rocking soundtrack to delve into the effect the tragedy has on Franco's psyche and his incessant will to live. Franco gives an Oscar worthy gut-wrenching visceral performance that awakens the senses and leaves you celebrating the human spirit. 127 Hours is currently playing nationwide.

SPOILER ALERT! There's a moment in The Kids Are All Right , a moment when Nic (played by Annette Bening) discovers that her long time partner Jules (played by Julianne Moore) is cheating on her with their children's sperm donor Paul (played by Mark Ruffalo).  Bening's face is frozen in fear, confusion, anger and hurt as she stoically processes her discovery while sitting at the table where they all have converged for dinner in an attempt to welcome Paul into the family.  It's tragic. It's heartbreaking. It's brilliant. As is The Kids Are All Right. The film has so much going for it - stellar performances, subtle writing, simplicity - but what it does best is not use the whole "lesbian thing" as a crutch to tell its story.  Twenty minutes in, and you'll forget that this modern family has two moms and two children that were conceived through artificial insemination.  But what you will remember are the missed connections that each of these peopl...

James Franco I met James Franco, 32, two years ago at a Screen Actors Guild nominating screening of Milk .  After the screening, he did a Q&A where he talked about what attracted him to Milk and what it was like to work with (and kiss) Sean Penn.  He's a great guy who's smart, talented - and really comes off as stoned when he talks. Flash-forward to the long holiday weekend where I'm curled up with the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (my favorite entertainment and pop culture glossy) and inside was an interview with Franco. He's receiving a lot of press these days for his astounding performance in 127 Hours .  But he also is: an author ( Palo Alto , his collection of short stories was published in October 2010) an Ivy-league graduate currently enrolled in graduate programs in film, English and digital media hosting the Oscars this year directing his ninth film And currently filming another Franco is doing all of that and I can barely write th...

When Nina, played to perfection by Natalie Portman, is cast as the swan queen in her ballet company's rendition of Swan Lake , she literally loses herself in the role.  Helmed by Darren Aronofsky, widely known for his stylized directing - most notably the harrowing drug addiction cult classic Requiem for a Dream and the gritty tearjerker The Wrestler , which single-handedly rejuvenated Mickey Rourke's career -  Black Swan is a bold, haunting, psychological thriller juxtaposed against the graceful, highly formalized dance form of ballet. Portman's performance is jaw dropping.  While watching her dance, you're more likely to think Portman was born a ballerina turned actress than the other way around. And her inevitable plunge into the pitfalls of perfectionism as she attempts to embody the role of a lifetime is captivating. Swan has appeared on practically every film critic's top ten list, has racked up four Golden Globe nominations including best picture and be...