Well, I lead by example and went to see Red Tails.
Damn, that movie sucked.
All day I've been wondering whether or not to actually write about how bad it was. At most this site gets about 20 readers a day, so it's not like I have the Oprah touch or anything. I just feel wrong knocking the movie because it's the first big budget Black movie in a long time. Every review I've seen has been flattering and I really believe it's being done for the same reason. No one wants to hurt its chances.
That brings me to today's point. Why does it have to be this way? Why do we have to put up with shitty movies just to see some kind of advancement. The whole time I'm in Red Tails I'm thinking that maybe the movie is a metaphor for the movie industry. Given second-hand dilapidated planes, bullshit missions and completely ignored by the mainstream, the Red Tails accepted whatever they could get in the name of making small strides. Is that what's going on today in Black cinema? Maybe.
As I cringed through 125 minutes of bad dialogue for a story that everyone swears had to be told, I kept wondering to myself, Where is Will Smith, Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington or basically anyone who is still working these days that can carry this movie and fill seats through star power alone? I guess it didn't need to be told that bad. Then I had another revelation: What if this does well? Are they gonna copy and paste this type of storytelling onto every future Black film? Does anyone else notice how every Black movie that involves a family or a couple has now turned into a Tyler Perry-esque knockoff?
Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavement even if it leads nowhere?
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