MusicMovieThoughts Quick Picks 6/29/13

Hey Music Movie family!  I’ll admit it’s been a bit since the last post, so I have a few recommendations for you this time around!  I want to start by first saying congrats to all the contest winners from this month’s giveaways.  I received great feedback from those who attended both the Fruitvale and Twenty Feet From Stardom screenings.  My personal movie pick for this weekend is “Twenty Feet From Stardom,” which I shared the synopsis and trailer for here (“Fruitvale” opens later in July and I will definitely share more about it in the near future).

In brief, Twenty Feet chronicles the stories of several background singers, some well-known, and a few not as known to the masses.  The doc gets the audience up close and personal with amazing vocalists like Lisa Fischer, Darlene Love, and Merry Clayton, among others, as they share their successes and defeats in the shadows of some of the top artists of their times.  To check release dates and theaters that will show “Twenty Feet From Stardom” in your area click here.   The film was released Friday, 6/28 at the Ritz Bourse here in the Philadelphia area.

I also have a few television picks for next week, and it so happens that each of them premieres on Tuesday, July 2.  The first is the documentary VENUS VS. directed by the superbly talented Ava Duvernay (Middle of Nowhere, I Will Follow).  “VENUS VS.”  highlights Venus Williams’ two-year battle advocating for pay equality for women in professional tennis.  The film will air next Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN (check local listings).

Next up is one of my guilty pleasures, and what I am sure will be a new guilty pleasure on the same channel!  I am talking about the mid-season return of The Game Tuesday, July 2 at 10 p.m. EST on BET, followed by the première of Being Mary Jane starring Gabrielle Union at 10:30 p.m.  I know some of my Game die-hards have given up after last season, but I kind of like the Blue and Kiera storyline, and would like to see where it leads.  I also want to see Pookie go off when he finds out what Tasha has been up to behind his back!

With this next pick I’m definitely behind, but I really enjoyed Man of Steel.  It is probably the action film I had the most fun viewing thus far this summer.  This version delved into the psyche of young Clark Kent, and really had you vested in his journey to find out who he truly was as an adult.  The one con with the film, for me, was some of the CGI and the destruction scenes.  They were a bit much, and I could have done with a few less buildings being demolished, a few less windows being shattered, and hypothetically a few less persons dying!  On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it an 8.5.

I did also see and partly enjoyed World War Z, but I must admit I felt it was a mash-up of I Am Legend and Contagion.  If you’re a Brad Pitt and/or a zombie fan (or gamer) you’ll probably get your money’s worth, otherwise I would recommend checking out one of the former picks first.  Biggest con: there was a moment where I questioned the political correctness of one of the geographic choices and religious characterizations in the film.  But since I don’t do spoilers, I’ll just say pay attention to the Jerusalem wall scene and let me know your thoughts in the comment section below! That way if anyone dares to read the comments, it will be at their own risk. 🙂

Alright family, I believe that’s it…ooh wait!  I also saw White House Down and can sum that up in six words: Die Hard With A White House!  Was I at all entertained?  Of course, Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained, Ray) and Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, The Vow) are in it; but I’m sorry our armed service and secret service branches are not nearly as dumb as this movie made them out to be, and I couldn’t suspend disbelief that much!

Okay, now that’s really it. 🙂  Until next thought family, Thomasena