THEM

 

THEM

 A musician friend that invited me over for a jam session.

When I finally got the Internet at the house, I was able to get Amazon Prime, someone had given me a gift card that I hadn't used. 

So about two weeks ago I had been seeing THEM pop up as a free series that I could watch. I had added it to my watch list. I wasn't so sure about it and I have to be in a certain mood to watch certain progams. So before I began watching THEM I decided to watch Tom Clancy's Without Remorse starring Michael B. Jordan. I have seen many of Michael B. Jordan's performances and I have made interesting observations. I really enjoyed Fruitvale Station. I had reservations about Creed, and Fahrenheit 451, but his performances opposite male actors have a better delivery than those with female actresses. Maybe it's the maturity of the stars he is on screen with such as Chadwick Boseman, Sylvester Stallone or Michael Shannon. He's working his way more into action movies. Without Remorse has moments and if you are a fan of Michael B. Jordan I don't think you will be disappointed.

Now on to THEM. I decided to just watch an episode one night. I wasn't sleepy and there wasn't anything else I needed to do. I had my assumptions, but I wanted to get that idea out of my head and watch it with fresh eyes with no expectations. The opening reminded me of a Tim Burton film, all of the bright colors of the suburb. The series is set in 1950, but the opening song was Patti Labelle's version of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'. So, hearing this I already had a bad feeling about the first episode. I know artist take creative license, but sometimes you have to be careful in doing that. There was a song by Judy Garland that played next, 'Get Happy'. The series was created by Little Marvin. THEM is about a black family that moves into a white neighborhood where they discover they are not wanted and that they will literally have to fight to stay alive. THEM is part social commentary, part supernatural and part suspense and thriller.

I didn't recognize any of the actors in the first episode, but after I made the decision to see what was going to happen I saw a few familiar faces. The names are not well known, but I recognized the faces. Type casting is real for many actors. I noticed that these actors had played characters that were racists or sought revenge on other programs. 

I didn't recall with the first episode of any type of disclaimer about the contact of the episode, but later I began to see that flash on the screen. The "N" word was used once and then started to progress. There is also a character in black face that appears in several episodes.

There are some very intense and cringe worthy moments that show up as the series progresses. As I mentioned at the beginning, I have to be in a certain mood to watch certain things and THEM was no exception. Because of all that is happening in our world now there are many similarities that some people of color may be feeling. There are some people of color that may want to avoid watching the series. When I see things like this I think of people that it may anger and the ideas it could put in the minds of people that are somewhat unstable. As an artist/writer myself I don't want to be one of those people that feels art is to blame. I do worry about that because of some of the things that I write about. The conclusion I have come to is that people already have ideas. Sometimes a film, movie or series can help them lay out the plan. The artist has no way of knowing what the audience will take away from what they see or read. This will be one of those conundrums like what came first...

As an artist there are some great performances in THEM. The experiences are real to some, but this is not a series for everyone.

Use caution if you decide to watch it. The ending series song is Young, Gifted and Black. I don't know if I had ever head this song before, but I have had a title in my head for a poem Black, Gifted and Young for over 10 years. I know I have heard the phrase, I'm just not sure where I heard it that it would stay with me. I keep working on the poem until I get it just right

When it comes to differences we can all see the other as THEM.

Thanks for stopping by and do come back to see how things play out. Keep an open mind.

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Thanks for stopping by; keep and open mind and do stop by again.

Movies, movies and more movies 2020

 I spend emost of my time watching movies and the pandemic has put it in hyper drive. A few weeks ago I had to get internet so I could do my job searches and that opened up a new world. I had gotten Amazon and there is a catalog of movies I had never heard of and some from the 80's that I enjoyed, but not enough to add to my collection.

I believed the first thing I watched was the series American Playboy- the story of Hugh Heffner, playboy, activist and entrepreneur. I enjoyed the story, but I think it would have been better if it were just a documentary or just a series instead of incorporating both.

Low Winter Sun is another series I just finished watching that was very interesting. It stars Mark Strong and Lennie James from The Walking Dead series. They play detectives trying to cover up several secrets that just seem to snowball one after the other. I really enjoyed watching this.

There were a few quirky movies that I watched, Slice which featured Chance the Rapper as a pizza delivery guy. I guess it was somewhat entertaining. I can't remember if I laughed or not as it is part horror, part comedy.

One Eyed Monster was another silly part horror, part comedy, part porn movie that starred the iconic porn stars Ron Jeremy and Veronica Hart. It's a funny look at the porn industry with a sci fi twist.

I was still watching movies and films from my own collection, Dirty Pictures with James Woods and Diana Scarwid about the Cincinnati case involving the controversial Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit of his photographs. I've seen is several times before, but its always good to take a look at things that changed the way we look at certain types of art. Sometimes we move forward and sometimes we take steps back.

I have a double Blu ray called The Wave/The Quake set in Oslo. I really like these films and I have seen them a few times since I purchased them. Last week I started watching The Wave and then when I went to watch The Quake it wouldn't play. I wiped down the disc, but the movie won't play. All of the special features and previews will play and I can't figure out why I can't get it to play. It's weird. I will keep trying.

A few years ago I had a conversation with a couple of people about the possible remake of Lord of the Flies with a female cast. I couldn't believe it. First of all it would be a very different movie. I remember when I read the book how much of an impact it had on me. Then I saw the 1950's film. It was in black and white and it captured the characters as I have envisioned them. In the 90's there was another remake and I didn't have a real issue with it. It starred Balthazar Getty. I remembered seeing him in Versace ads and because I was familiar with the book I decided to check it out. It had a more modern take and the students were American.

So, I was checking out Amazon and I saw an ad for something called The Wilds. I wondered if this is what became of the project. Hollywood has a way of changing things up. It's a series about a group of girls. They are much older than the boys in the book and there aren't as many. They do go down in the plane and now they are having to survive. Each girl is from a different background, but the story is told from the perspective of each girl in flashback which I am not a big fan of this type of story telling. First of all, when the girls aren't together 24/7 how do they know what someone else is doing on the other side of the island. I'm still watching it so I'll see how it pulls itself together. It does have some good moments.

There are many other movies I've watched and I have created a playlist of others. I'll try to cover some of them next time.

Thanks for stopping by and do keep an open mind. Come back again.