Saturday, December 1, 2012

Not all Black leading men are created equal


In the past month, black folks were excited to have two black men star in big budget movies. I had to check them both out and my initial reaction has been confirmed by the box office comparison.

Tyler Perry as Alex Cross didn’t work out. His hard core fans didn't even come out to see this one. The movie has only grossed $25 million with a $35 million budget.

But, it was a great movie. The story was interesting and the villain was exceptional. Tyler Perry seemed way out of his element and never looked comfortable side by side with the bad guys, but he was great during the family scenes (as you'd expect)  I think Laurence Fishburne would have been the perfect Alex Cross.

Denzel Washington saved a train in Unstoppable two years ago and he’s saving a plane this year. What’s next, saving a Carnival Cruise line?

Denzel not only saved the train in Unstoppable, his acting saved that horrible movie from being a total disaster.  But Flight is an incredible movie that Denzel only makes better. It’s made $74 million ($35 million budget).

I like Flight because it subtly suggests that in a time of crisis, everyone has their own agenda. Denzel, the lawyers, pilot union, airline owners, investigators, and survivors all had a stake in the outcome, and they all were shown doing what they thought they had to do to come out shining.

As an actor, Denzel kept me on edge. It wasn’t just his role and lines, but his mastery of presenting emotion, swag, joy, disgust, and so on. And he plays a great drunk.

I think Alex Cross is already back in the can headed for the bargain DVD bin. But, if you haven’t seen Flight, it’s worth the $10.

Tyler Perry needs to get back to what he does best, the plays and the Tyler Perry branded movies and TV shows.

Denzel, we can’t wait to see you do your thing again, whatever it is.

My next movies are Lincoln and Rise of the Guardians in 3D (directed by Peter Ramsey, the first black to do a big budget CGI movie).


8 comments:

  1. I can't wait to see Rise of the Gaurdians, but why pay $10 for a movie you can see for $5-6bucks, if you are willing to get up and go to the movies by 10am on any given day, I go on Saturday or Sunday morning...ijs

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    1. I usually go to the earliest show they have because if I go at night, you can almost bet that I'll fall asleep. It becomes an expensive nap.

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  2. This is pretty much a rehash of my rant on Twitter but here goes...

    I sure there are only a hand full of us but I'm in the not a Perry fan camp. Mainly because I'm just not a fan of men cross dressing in roles without a purpose. It's a cheap form of comedy meant only for laughs.

    To me, it tarnishes his career along with Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Jamie Foxx, Adam Sandler, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, Marlon and Shawn Wayans. Ving Rhames did it tastefully in Holiday Heart. Rupaul does it as his normal thing and I'll even give Hillary Swank a pass for Boys Don't Cry.

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    1. I'm a Tyler Perry fan, but I hate the Madea character. He's become typecast by that character. In Alex Cross, I couldn't help but to think that he would have played a better mother character than Cicely Tyson (sad but true).

      And how could you miss listing Martin Lawrence and Flip Wilson?

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    2. I think I try to block Martin out of my memory. And let's not forget Dustin Hoffman.

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    3. Did you see Martin's head on the Eddie Murphy special? He must be on them Barry Bonds drugs.

      Until he did Big Momma, I loved him playing his mom on The Martin Show. Sort of like how I liked the women in Eddie's Nutty Professor, but Rasputia was a hot mess.

      Tootsie. You gotta love her. And Geraldine was the classiest of them all.

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  3. I think you guys named them ALL. I truly believe that Tyler Perry has type-cast himself... The WORLD wasn't ready for that serious character in ALEX CROSS. Denzel, is just going to be Denzel...

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