Tag: Tyler Perry

Snubbing of ‘Middle of Nowhere’ highlights Hollywood’s failure to address diversity issues

Emayatzy Corinealdi and David Oyelowo in ‘Middle of Nowhere’

It’s a very small list with only 20 names on it. The names of ten men and ten women will be read on January 10, 2013 as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the nominees for the four acting categories for the year 2012.

If the nominees already named, by the Broadcast Film Critics, SAG and other awards are illustrative of any trends, there will be very few minorities among those nominated.

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Hollywood likes to pretend it is making great strides in diversity but the truth is that’s not the case. When a film as wonderful as Middle of Nowhere gets snubbed almost everywhere except the Spirit Awards then it becomes a situation where “Houston, we have a problem…”

Statistics from SAG for 2008 showed that minority actors cast in film and television actually declined from the prior year. Minorities represented 29.3% of total roles in 2007 and that dropped to 27.5% in 2008.

I did a quick analysis of my own. At this writing I’ve seen and reviewed over 100 films even when you subtract out documentaries (I’ve seen more than I’ve reviewed but I’m only counting those where I wrote a review). Crediting each film with two lead performances for men and for women, and three supporting performances for each gender (using the main supporting performers), by my count 10.75% of the lead performances were done by minority males, 12.6% by minority females, and for supporting performances 16.5% by minority males and 9.6% by minority females.

Denzel Washington in ‘Flight’ is the only African American actor to get recognition by Golden Globes

I admit this isn’t scientific and because there are so many small roles performed by minorities, that’s why the SAG stats are much higher. But I suspect my numbers when it comes to lead performances are pretty close to the mark.

Last year was a banner year for people of color being nominated in the acting categories. Demian Bechir, Berenice Bejo, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis were nominated. Spencer actually won. Will next year’s nomination lists contain 25% minority representation? You shouldn’t hold your breath. The Critic’s Choice Award nominations actually have six people in each of the four main acting categories. Of those 24 names, there are only three that belong to minorities. Denzel Washington, Javier Bardem and Quvenzhane Wallis will probably receive Oscar nominations as well. On the list of those 20 people who were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild awards, it was only two of 20. Ms Wallis was overlooked.

Then there were the Golden Globe nominations. Denzel’s name was among the nominees, but Ms. Wallis and Mr. Dardem were not among the nominees. Apparently Mr. Washington gave the only acting performance in 2012 worthy of recognition by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. More snubs for fine film performances by people of color. Good thing Denzel brings audiences in to see his movies or his excellent work might have been overlooked as well.

Tyler Perry likely gets award attention because of his box office success, taking attention away from other, more deserving African American performers

Even those awards that are supposed to involve recognizing the significant achievements of minorities in film aren’t getting it right. The NAACP Image awards completely ignored Middle of Nowhere in favor of Good Deeds. Why does a film that led to the first ever win for a Black woman as Best Director at Sundance get passed over? Because Tyler Perry is a big name? He’s a very talented man but that film and his acting in Alex Cross are not worthy of consideration in any award for best anything. Just to be fair let me mention that I saw and reviewed all three of those films. Perhaps those who were involved in the nomination selection process for the Image awards can’t make the same statement.

The point here is not to say that any of the 20 men and women who will ultimately receive those Oscar nominations next month didn’t do wonderful work. They did. But the process that is used is flawed. If Hollywood doesn’t want to improve minority representation in both casting and recognition then audiences should express their displeasure with their wallets.

Industry people vote for awards. Audiences vote with ticket sales. Seven of the ten films nominated for the Critic’s Choice awards haven’t been released yet. Of the remaining seven, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lincoln and Moonrise Kingdom are all commercially successful. Silver Linings Playbook will probably be profitable for its investors in the long run. The Master probably won’t be. The jury is still out on Life of Pi but I suspect even with its big budget it will make money. But commercial success shouldn’t be the benchmark by which a film is measured when it comes to “best” awards except of course as “best moneymaker”. By that measure, Marvel’s The Avengers should be best picture.

In the end, while Tyler Perry probably doesn’t deserve those two nominations for Image Awards that he received, he has the right idea. Minorities who want to make films need to not rely on Hollywood reaching out to them. They should raise their own money and make their own films. When they start generating profits, believe me, the bean-counters in Hollywood will sit up and take notice. Maybe then, the various groups that hand out awards will also finally give them the recognition they deserve.

December 14, 2012
Tyler Perry is not great as brooding ‘Alex Cross’

Tyler Perry gets into the action genre with ‘Alex Cross’

Rob Cohen is a hit and miss director. Hits that include The Fast and the Furious and xXx, and misses such as Stealth and The Skulls. His latest film, Alex Cross, falls somewhere in between.

Based on a character created by author James Patterson, “Cross” has been on the big screen before. In Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, he was portrayed by Morgan Freeman. This time, Tyler Perry takes on the title role.

The plot for Alex Cross is lifted from the 12th novel featuring Patterson’s favorite detective. In it he’s a homicide detective in Detroit (a change from the books, which are generally set in Washington, D.C.). Cross and his partner “Tommy Kane” (Edward Burns), along with another detective, “Monica Ashe” (Rachel Nichols) open the film chasing down and catching a criminal on the run. Then Alex goes home to his wife while Tommy and Monica go home with each other, violating rules.

Cross and Kane are then summoned to a crime scene that night and it’s a doozy. A woman has been tortured and killed, along with her three bodyguards. The killer left behind a charcoal drawing that contains a clue to his next target and soon Cross and team are racing to protect this target from the killer, known only as “The Butcher of Sligo” (Matthew Fox). They manage to stop him from getting to his target, but they see him and he sees them.

Cross, who is a psychologist and criminal profiler as well as a superior detective, is asked if he thinks the killer will come after his team and he says that’s not part of his profile… he turns out to be wrong.

Matthew Fox ditches nice-guy ‘Lost’ persona for hardcore villain in ‘Alex Cross’

The struggle between Cross and The Butcher becomes personal and the last half of the film is a race to prevent another murder. Cross also sets out for revenge and redemption, angry at himself for not recognizing that he and others he cares about were in jeopardy from this killer.

I haven’t read this specific Patterson novel, but his works are usually excellent and he spins a great mystery yarn. Alex Cross is a bit more action that one might anticipate from one of his mystery stories involving the titular character, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Action sequences are one of director Cohen’s strengths. Even in the horrible disaster that was Stealth, the action was very well done. And that’s the case here.

Perry is not great as the brooding, reflective detective. An actor who might have been more into the psyche and less the physicality of the character would have been better. Idris Elba was one of those mentioned as a possibility for this role and he might have been a better choice. However, to Perry’s credit, he and Edward Burns have the kind of on-screen chemistry one would expect of life-long friends and cops who are long-time partners.

Side stories about a teen girl who is taking the rap for a murder she didn’t commit provide needed plot points, but the film might have been better served by delving more into what makes the title character so interesting in the novels. This isn’t a great film, but it’s definitely better than most are describing it and worthy of at least a bargain matinee.

October 22, 2012
Tyler Perry’s ‘Good Deeds’ is too predictable

Tyler Perry in ‘Good Deeds’

Good Deeds is the 11th film from the prolific Tyler Perry who directed, wrote, produced and stars in it. This is the 10th time he’s starred in one of his films and this time he let the women wear the dresses.

Perry is “Wesley Deeds”, who is the scion of a family where he represents the fifth consecutive generation of highly educated, highly successful men. He is currently the CEO of the business his father founded, engaged to be married to the woman of his dreams, “Natalie” (Gabrielle Union), dealing with a brother who has enough problems for the entire family himself, Walter (Brian White), a mother who has had his whole life planned for him (Phylicia Rashad) and a major business headache on the horizon.

The business problem is solvable, thanks to his right hand man “John” (Eddie Cibrian), despite Walter’s best efforts to ruin the business and everything else in his life. Wesley’s life appears perfect. Almost too perfect, as it is also clearly predictable, particularly to his fiancee who knows what he’s going to do before he does it. Everything is running along smooth as silk until the morning when he arrives for work and finds Lindsay (Thandie Newton) parked in his reserved parking space.

Lindsay is a single parent with the prototypically adorable daughter Ariel, and a life that by contrast to Wesley’s existence, is rapidly coming apart at the seams. She can’t pay her rent. The IRS has just garnished most of the paycheck she was counting on to make up the balance of the rent. She’s being forced to start working nights when she had no childcare available. And when she returns to her car, it’s about to be towed away at the insistence of Walter.

Feeling sympathy for the woman, particularly since her daughter is sitting in the parked vehicle, Wesley stops the towing, but by the time Lindsay returns home to plead for more time to pay the rent, her belongings are already on the street. Now she’s homeless in addition to her other problems. She also encounters Wesley again, and suddenly realizes he’s not just some guy in a suit whose parking space she borrowed, he’s the big boss and she was none too polite to him during the towing debacle.

The rest of the tale is very predictable and for the most part, well-executed.

I won’t be overly nit-picky and will refrain from describing a few mistakes that won’t detract from the viewing experience. The highly observant and those with knowledge in some narrow areas might delight in hunting them down and listing them on websites that focus on film “goofs”. But there are only a couple and the quality of the story overcomes them with style. There is a moral question to be answered here and it’s a very simple one. Even if you have what everyone else thinks is everything, is that in and of itself enough for you to be happy.

My only real quibble is the ending. I’d have ended it a bit sooner. Just a couple of moments, but those moments would have been far more interesting to ponder, rather than being seen.

March 4, 2012