The 2010 Year in Review: The Grudge 2

The 2010 Year in Review: The Grudge 2

I know it's Good Friday, but I don't have the day off and Tyler Perry just released Why Did I Get Married Too and his drones are going to flock to the theaters amidst inflated ticket prices to see a movie that they've seen 8 times already. The faces change, but the story never does, nor the quality of the film itself. But he's pretty much all Black folks have to count on in the theater consistently and that's sad.

$1 million, $2 million, $3 million more…

Let's just say that we took a step forward with the critical success Precious has enjoyed (hypothetically), the movie shows diversity within the storyline, Lee Daniels' direction shows true talent behind the camera and groundbreaking performances were evoked from the script. All of that is going to be erased as Tyler Perry unleashes another poorly written, poorly directed and horribly acted movie.

In just three days, $80 million more…

I really don't understand why this movie had to be made, he could've tied up the stories in the last film, but why not make a sequel and bleed folks again. It works for the "Madea" franchise, you've seen the same movie and play over and over again, but you keep buying it. At least two more of those marriages should've ended on that vacation and someone would've went to jail after finding out that his wife burned him. But that's the fantasy of the theater, we can act like none of that happened, move forward and repackage a new movie with the same ol' storyline for you. But you're going to see it this weekend and tell me how wrong I am, how good the movie is and that you really believed Tyler Perry being in love with a woman and he's not gay.

You are now looking at one smart Black boy…

I'm off that movie and on to something that I was disgusted he got his hands on, Ntozake Shange's classic choreopoem "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf". The cast for the film adaptation was released last week and he's trying to make a splash by putting together an all-star cast. While I'm excited that Kerry Washington, Jurnee Smollet and Kimberly Elise have signed on, even Macy Gray's inclusion adds a great dimension to me, but Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson?

I can't take anything away from Phylicia Rashad, but she'll always be Claire Huxtable to me and I guess I'm selfish for wanting to keep her in that role. Whoopi Goldberg hasn't been associated with anything Black aside from her gums. I'm on Janet and Mariah overload, let's not act like they are even good actresses, the material they'll be working from needs skilled professionals to convey it.

Mama ain't raise no fool…

Throwing together a bunch of big names doesn't always lead to a championship (2004 Lakers), but in this case will be the misdirection needed to take the focus off of Perry's ineptitude as a director, the cinematic nuances needed to portray Shange's work will be greatly missed by his heavy-handed approach to filmmaking. This is one of my favorite reads and should not be handled clumsily by this novice. Where's Kasi Lemmons and Gina Prince-Bythewood, a work so thought-provoking and powerful deserves a feminine touch behind the lens, oops, I guess it does.

Put a movie out and watch yall triple his worth!