Thursday, January 22, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies with Colors in the title




The skies are the brightest blue on Thursday morning, having cast grey into yesterday. The very few clouds floating about are of the fluffy, white variety. Bare brown branches, stiff in the winter cold, hold the promise of green sprouting from their pores once more.

Oh, hi.

Just gettin' my poetic prose on, throwin' as many hues as possible into a few sentences and tryin' to be all flowery with the language.

Why?

Well, the theme for this week's Thursday Movie Picks is Movies with Colors in the title. Or, colour as our host Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves spells it. However, I'm an ugly American so I don't put a 'u' in there. Anyhoo, it's a great meme that she hosts every week. Swing by her place, see what it takes to join...just picking movies based on her theme, really...and get started. Me? I'm a regular. I'm coming at you with two hidden gems, this week, plus an extra sexy foxy busty colorful bonus section. First, I'll start with a favorite. After all, it's a movie I grew up with.


Purple Rain
(1984)
I feel like I shouldn't have to explain anything about this movie. I'll only say that it's a semi-autobiographical movie about Prince, starring Prince. And that Morris Day and Jerome Benton are hilarious. And direct you to my first post about it - Movies I Grew Up With: Purple Rain. Now sing, dammit!
I never meant 2 cause u any sorrow
I never meant 2 cause u any pain
I only wanted 1 time 2 c u laughing
I only want 2 c u laughing in the purple rain
Purple rain
Purple rain





Black Dynamite
(2009)
I have a pretty clear idea of what a good spoof should be. It should be fully aware of and make fun of as many tropes as possible while still making use of them to tell its own story. No, all of these movies that just rip scenes directly from dozens of movies and try to add something gross to them (Scary Movie, Dance Movie, etc.) are not good spoofs. Black Dynamite is a tremendous spoof. It does precisely what it should. It's chosen target: Blaxploitation. It captures everything about the genre and lampoons it perfectly. It does this all while showing a healthy amount of affection for it. In the lead, Michael Jai White delivers what is easily his career best performance. If you've seen a few Blaxploitation flicks then you might laugh as hard as I do when watching this. If not, I'm not sure how much of it you'll get and how much will go right over your afro.


Red Hook Summer
(2012)
If you've checked out my Thursday Movie Picks a few times, you've probably noticed that I sneak in a Spike Lee joint when I can. This week, I can. Red Hook Summer really flew under the radar. It's about a teenage boy from Atlanta who is sent to spend the summer with his grandfather in Brooklyn's Red Hook housing projects. Before this, the two have never met. As the grandfather, and pastor of the neighborhood church, Clarke Peters delivers a magnificent performance that truly carries the movie. The story is compelling and deals with lots of issues, most notably religion and resistance to change. It's not everyone's cup of tea and I certainly would not call it one of Spike's best, but I do think it deserves to be seen. (my full review)

And Now....

The Extra Colorful Bonus Section


Some of you may know that I've got a life long crush on the one and only Pam Grier. And I do mean life long. She'll soon be turning 65 and yeah, I still have a thing for her. It just so happens that she's starred in a number of movies that have colors in the title...


Black Mama, White Mama
(1973)


Scream Blacula, Scream
(1973)


Foxy Brown
(1974)


Jackie Brown
(1999)


You know what? I'm even going to include this one, because if you look in the pantyhose section you'll clearly see this as a color...


Coffy
(1973)


Now I'm done.


23 comments:

  1. Nice picks! I never saw Black Dynamite, but I'm glad you reminded me because I meant to check it out.

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    1. Oh, please do. Being a fan of Blaxploitation, Black Dynamite is one of my very favorite spoofs.

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  2. OMG, the explosion of Blaxploitation here is incredible, and the bonus section of pure Grier is amazing...LOVE HER!!!

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    1. Just from that genre I could've went on for days with movies that have Black in the title...

      The Black Godfather, The Black Six, Black Cobra, Black Cobra II, Black Cobra III, Black Belt Jones...

      And I saw her first.

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  3. Hehe Coffy, HA! LOVE the bonus section! Pam Grier is EVERYTHING. Love Purple Rain, too!

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  4. Ahh! Really need to see Black Dynamite! Thanks for the reminder, hehe.

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    1. No problem. Hope you get to see it soon. Thanks for stopping by.

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  5. I thought of Purple Rain too but knew it would pop up on someone's list. It is unique onto itself. I'll have to check out Black Dynamite, when I saw the picture before I read the title Cleopatra Jones immediately came to mind. Such a trippy movie, if this is half of that it will be worth checking out. Never heard of Red Hook Summer but I like most love Pam Grier!

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    1. Black Dynamite skewers Cleopatra Jones and its ilk to perfection, in my very humble opinion.

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  6. Always great picks from you, Wendell. Love it! Of course, I haven't seen any of them, even Purple Rain, if you can believe it. I have seen Jackie Brown, actually, and love it. It has become my favorite Tarantino over the years.

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    1. Thanks! Purple Rain is Prince at the absolute height of his powers. Jackie Brown is amazing.

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  7. Great post! I haven't seen most of those, but I do like Jackie Brown.

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    1. If you've only seen one, that's a great one for it to be.

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  8. Black Dynamite is so much fun -- great call there. Also love the Pam Grier picks!

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    1. Thanks for backing me up on Black Dynamite. And can't go wrong with Ms. Grier.

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  9. PURPLE RAIN! PURPLE RAIN!!!! That's one of my favorite Prince albums.

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    1. Purple Rain is one of my favorite albums by anyone.

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  10. Seriously, I haven't seen any of this... the only movie that went to my watchlist is only Jackie Brown, even so, I never quite watched it. This is interesting.

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    1. If you're only going to see one, Jackie Brown, is an excellent choice. Hope you check it out. Thanks for reading.

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  11. Liked Pam Grier in Jackie Brown, this reminded me to see more of her movies!

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  12. What a fun, eclectic selections here Dell. Great recommendations too!

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    1. Thanks! Hope you have fun watching some of these.

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