The Help

      Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were both on Tavis Smiley and it was quite the conversation. I enjoy when actors have really strong convictions and can be honest. So many interviews are planned ahead and there are certain questions you can and cannot ask.

I enjoyed the film and I’ll have to watch it again because I don’t see all the hype. It was a fun entertaining film. Yes, I’m happy that two black actors are nominated, but were their performances really that great?
What was different about these performances that I hadn't seen in the past?

Tavis brought up a good point that I’ve long made people aware of. If you are going to be nominated for an Oscar, the best roles to play are killers, prostitutes, someone with a mental disorder, someone going through a serious change, devious or someone dying. The best actor and actress category has always gone to the actor portraying one of these attributes. A lot of people have issues with this, but you can't have it both ways. One of my big issues with Hollywood is that the films always have to be sugar coated. There is always that happen ending. Life doesn't always have a happy ending. I think it's one of the reasons I enjoy foreign films so much. They seem more realistic.

In the supporting role it’s always been some what of a comedic role. Whoopi Goldberg won her Oscar for Ghost playing a bad medium.

The point Tavis was trying to make was the fact of the role they are receiving their nomination for playing. I don’t see anything wrong with playing certain roles as long as there is meat to the character. If the character really has something to say and isn’t just there as dressing.

I have had moments where I didn’t like that an actor was nominated for playing a certain role, but its an award voted on by the Academy and some of those members are now black actors. It’s a great honor just to be nominated, but it’s a bigger honor to win. Of course winning doesn’t guarantee any better roles. It just means you might get more bad scripts to go through.

There always seems to be this thing where whenever a black actor is nominated it becomes a race issue. If they don’t win its because they are black. If they don’t win, couldn’t it just be that the other actors were better?
We have to stop basing everything on race because that isn’t always the case even if it helps the psyche of some people. It just fuels anger and there are enough angry people in the world.

Tavis also brought up the point of George Lucas’ Red Tails. I can’t afford to go to the movies like I used too, but I do buy a lot of films. Even if I could have afforded a ticket I’m not sure I would have gone to see Red Tails. It has nothing to do with it being a story about a historical event, but the story has been told. I have a film called, The Tuskegee Airmen that stars Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance and Andre Braugher.
I’ve never been a big fan of remakes unless the right star is connected with it or if I never saw the original.

That would be the case with The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio, but I’ll save that for another entry.

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