S3:E1 One Night in Miami, Spontaneous

Explicit content warning

02/10/21 • 70 min

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One Night in Miami (Prime Video)
Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, Eli Goree as Cassius Clay, Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown, and Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke, One Night in Miami is a fictionalized version of what happened between the four icons in a Miami hotel room on the night Cassius Clay beat Sonny Listen to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World.
One Night in Miami gets a ton of buzz as the theatrical directorial debut for Regina King. King is becoming a Hollywood powerhouse in both TV and movies in front of the camera.
We're old enough to remember her as Brenda, the little girl on the steps on 227
We've followed her career closely. From Boyz n the Hood, Jerry Maguire to American Crime, and of course Watchmen. As she builds her reputation as a director, she is proving to be a force to be reckoned with.
Spontaneous EPIX
Directed by Brian Duffield from the novel by Aaron Starmer, Spontaneous stars Katherine Langford who we last saw in Knives Out-recommended on a previous episode. The strong supporting cast includes Charlie Plummer. Rob Huebel, Piper Perabo play the parents, along with Chelah Horsdal, who we loved as Helen Smith in one of our favorites, The Man in the High Castle. Riverdale fans will recognize Hayley Law.
Much more than a teenage sci-fi story about an exploding senior class, Spontaneous is a black comedy, social commentary, love story, political statement, and coming of age nightmare. We can't recommend it highly enough.

Previous Episode

S2:E20 The Little Things, The Dig

See our website for many extras including updates, pix and videos.
We're spotlighting two streaming movies today: The Little Things and The Dig. But first, we want to remind you that if you live in a temperate state, first-run movies are playing at your Drive-In theaters. If you want to keep the Drive In's alive after we defeat COVID-19, make sure you support them now. We've gone to the drive-ins thrice, and we love it! Bring your own food if you like. Bring your own kids if you like! It's something we thought was gone forever. Let's make sure it's not!!
Here's an article about the great Drive-In comeback!
How the American Drive-In Staged a ComebackThe Little Things
One of the first in a series of new releases that Warner Brothers is releasing on HBO Max, The Little Things stars 3 Oscar winners, Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto, and a solid supporting cast, including Natalie Morales and Chris Bauer.
We talk about the dated vibe Elaine got from the movie and how and why it is set in the 1990s. But, Travis was distracted by Denzel's appearance and performance. He thinks Denzel looked and moved in an old guy, frumpy way. Maybe.
Or maybe Travis hasn't come to terms with the fact that his man-crush can't stay young forever! Here's a Denzel "through the years" gallery to prove it!!
Check out Travis's Shorty about Denzel, here.

The Dig
A complete change of pace, The Dig is a British period drama starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. It's based on a true story of an archeological dig on a private estate that resulted in one of the most significant discoveries in history. While the historical aspect of the film is fascinating, The Dig is really a story about relationships and how we are remembered when we're gone. The director is Simon Stone, and the supporting cast includes Lily James, who we loved as Lady Rose MacClare on Downton Abbey.
The Dig is currently available on Netflix. For more about the real-life dig that went to be known as "Sutton Hoo find." here are a few pix and videos!
We also talk about The Office and Santa Clarita Diet in this episode.
See our website for many extras including updates, pix and videos.

Next Episode

S3:E2 Judas and the Black Messiah, Your Honor, The Stand

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This week we're talking about the film Judas and the Black Messiah and the finales of The Stand and Your Honor. But first, Elaine starts talking about how she went out for a ride last week and how COVID-19 numbers are down, and before ya know it, she was in a full-blown political rant. So buckle up for that. But political outrage turned out to be a perfect segue into our first topic this week.Judas and the Black Messiah (HBO Max) is the story of the life and events leading up to Black Panther Fred Hampton's death. With knockout performances by Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield and a supporting cast including Jesse Plemons, Martin Sheen, and one of our favorite actors from The Deuce, Dominique Fishback, Judas, and the Black Messiah is a likely shoo-in at Oscar time. The real players
We learned a lot from this film, even though we thought we knew the history. And, like we always do, after seeing a "based on a true story" movie, we dug a little deeper. Here's a side-by-side featuring the real people next to the actors who portrayed them. (see our site )What the movie doesn't tell you.
In the movie, Hampton and O'Neal are played by Kaluuya and Standfield, 31 and 29 years old. Hampton was only 21 years old at the time of his death. But, what people don't know is that William O'Neal was only 17 years old when the FBI sent him in to infiltrate the Black Panthers. We think this is important and may impact how people judge O'Neal, who took his own life on MLK day after PBS aired his interview on Eyes on the Prize.
Hampton's widow and son. Deborah Johnson gave birth shortly after Fred Hampton's death. She was 19 years old. She named the baby Alfred Johnson, but at the age of 10, changed his name to Fred Hampton jr. She changed her name to Akua Njeri.Njeri is still active in the civil rights movement today. Hampton Jr is Chairman of The Black Panther Party Cubs. As we mentioned on the show, Fred Jr has a Go Fund Me to help restore his father's childhood home. Check it out here.
We promoted The Stand so hard on this podcast. And we try hard not to steer our listeners to anything that we didn't like ourselves. So now we find ourselves in the awkward position of having to say Oooops!! We're sorry!
On the flip side, we were delighted with the Showtime limited series's finale, Your Honor. Some people are calling the finale "poetic justice." We don't exactly see it that way. Shakespearean, yes. Just, Nah! For anyone who gave a couple of episodes and gave up, we say, give it another chance. It pays off!