The monitor of the film(s) listed above is farther down in this eNewsletter.  Good news again!   No N-word usage.   And we’re SO HAPPY to report that there’s finally a film out there – “Why Did I Get Married?” – that’s not only worth supporting at the box office but it’s also worth purchasing the original DVD when it comes out.   This is the third Tyler Perry film to come in at #1 (approximately $21.4 million) with no screenings for critics and with no positive “anticipation” support from the mainstream entertainment outlets.   In fact, most entertainment critics/reviewers, trades, and related sources were pushing and hyping George Clooney’s Michael Clayton and Mark Wahlburg’s We Own the Night films.   With Perry’s movie coming in at #1 with its closest competitor, “The Game Plan,” at nearly $10.5 million behind, they surely got dually clobbered – the #1 film and an excellent film – with downplaying and straight disrespecting what they clearly considered to be “just” a Black film that they had nothing but low expectations for.

Perry writes about some of his experiences with the media and critics on his web site in his “10/14/07 – No Weapon” email message.   In it, he describes a few of the negative interactions he’s had in promoting this film, including having to fight to get more than the approximately 2000 screens he initially received for this film (regardless of his proven track record of two #1 opening weekend films), being told the movie won’t work since he’s not in a dress, the treatment of Janet Jackson in inappropriately referencing the Super Bowl incident (do they ever ask Justin Timberlake why he acted like what some may consider a low-life chump instead of a man), and being called a racist because the main characters in this film are Black.   We’ve been doing these BN-W film monitors for more than three years now – and we can factually, unequivocally, and confidently state that we don’t review most film releases because very often there are NO Blacks in lead or co-lead roles, which is one of the main criteria for our film selection process.   In fact, some of these big film releases don’t even have Blacks in speaking roles.   So, calling Perry a “racist” because his films have mostly Black actors only proves the continued entitlement and supremacist mindset of those in this business.   And if Perry’s a racist, then what are the overwhelmingly White writers, directors, producers, executive producers, distributors, etc. who are involved in the front/backend of the majority of the films that come out yearly with no Blacks to be found anywhere?   Box Office Mojo provides a weekly weekend summary, which gives more details on Married and its competition this weekend:   BOM – 10/15/07 Weekend Summary

We’re past the numbers data and the inevitable American media-created “issues” when it comes to promoting anything positive about Black lives, people, and films, so we’ll talk briefly about some of the positive aspects of “Why Did I Get Married?”   This film is about love, marriage, family, friendship, honesty, careers, and the importance of communication in balancing all of these important parts of life to develop spiritually healthy and satisfied individuals, relationships, and friendships.   The fact that the couples in this film are all of African descent is important because you rarely see any films about Black relationships – unless it’s overwhelmingly and ultimately negative.   It was also nice to see beautiful Black women and handsome Black men on the screen with the full range of African-produced melanin hues and the diversity of our physical appearances.

Another positive is that there is at least some variety with hairstyles.   While most of the lead female characters (as grownup “ professionals ”) have weave and/or some kind of straightening, there’s a scene with college students that include females with locs, braids, and other natural hairstyles.   This is important because practically everything in the media presents “straight” as the preferred look, which we know is not the truth, but it does affect the thinking of some of our young girls (and unfortunately many adults as well) who are influenced by images promoted through the media that can result in an inferiority complex without the right people around you who push self-love through knowledge of self.   As writer Yoji Cole indicates in this follow-up article to the Glamour magazine debacle described in the link above:   “It’s that subtle racism that forces Black-female executives to straighten their hair – hoping that straight hair will soften objections to their racial heritage.”   Shameful and sad, but many women succumb to the pressure in order to stay on a certain career path and to fit into the work environment.  

And, like it or not, the media does have a lot of power and influence, which is why it’s so important to learn how to view/read any media as a critical thinker because understanding its manipulation process will substantially decrease its effects.   Also, Essence and Jet/Ebony magazines still primarily promote advertisements that push the mainstream look of “straight,” which is not the look of most of those who are of African descent.   Everyday, however, more and more Black women stay natural and there are many others who are choosing to go back to their God-given naturally beautiful hair after years of weaves/extensions as well as dealing with split ends, uncomfortable, painful, itchy, sore, and dry/bleeding/scabby/pus-filled scalps which very often result from the poisonous and acidic chemicals found in the solutions of perms/relaxers.   Anyone who reads the ingredients on those jars will certainly know the source of the problem.

And a special note to BET partners Tracey Edmonds, Robert Johnson, Debra Lee, Reginald Hudlin, and other Blacks with a modicum of media influence, the N-word, gangsterism, thuggerism, and all the negative “isms” – that you have somehow been co-opted by White supremacist educations, ideologies, and mentalities into promoting as “our stories” – are NOT main themes in this film.   Checkmate!   Boom!   Now where’s the wine bottle?   (For those who saw the film, we’re just having a little fun here.)

INTERESTING WEB SITES/LINKS/ARTICLES OF THE DAY :

The African Burial Ground National Monument is completed and open to the public.   We attended this wonderful memorial dedication ceremony which took place over two days, October 5^th and 6^th, and it included a torch greeting, candlelight procession, a concert, and more.  This monument is New York City’s latest national monument and it joins the Statue of Liberty, Governors Island, and Castle Clinton.   This “seven-acre African Burial Ground historic district in Lower Manhattan – the final resting place of an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 African men, women, and children who lived during the 17^th and 18^th centuries – is widely acknowledged as one of America’s most significant archaeological finds of the 20^th century.   The memorial on Duane Street between Broadway and African Burial Ground Way is the only U.S. National Monument that memorializes the struggles of Africans forcefully brought here and so many others of African descent who have endured the injustices of slavery, segregation, and discrimination.”    For more information on this monument, upcoming events, its history, and photos (from the earliest stages of discovering the human skeletal remains on the site to the completed monument), visit these three sites:   African Burial Ground Monument Foundation; U.S. National Park Service:   African Burial Ground National Monument; and Schomburg Center:   The African Burial Ground.

Dr. David Pilgrim, founder/curator of the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University in Michigan and co-author of the Nigger and Caricatures essay, will speak at New York City’s Schomburg Center for Reseach in Black Culture ( 515 Malcolm X Blvd at 135^th Street in Harlem) on October 27^th at 4:00pm.   Pilgrim will discuss the racist artifacts he collects and how he educates people on racism.   For more information on this exhibit, visit Curator Talk.   One of Schomburg’s current exhibits – Stereotypes vs. Humantypes: Images of Blacks in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries – includes artifacts from Pilgrim’s museum.   This exhibits runs through October 28^th.

We highly recommend a very entertaining Off Broadway show – Three Mo’ Tenors.   These tenors are very talented and definitely utilize the vast range of their artistic abilities very well.   It runs through January 27, 2008 and it’s playing at New York City’s Little Shubert Theatre ( 422 West 42^nd Street, between 9^th and 10^th Avenues).   Discount tickets can be purchased for about $45.00 if you have a flexible schedule.   Go to BroadwayBox or see if there are additional discount offerings at Playbill and TheaterMania here.

In continuing follow-up on the Jena Six case, the latest is that Mychal Bell was released on $45,000 bail and about one week later, he was put back in jail for 18 months (after already doing 10 months on the illegal adult charges) for supposedly violating his probation by getting into a fight for the adult case that was dismissed.   Did his attorneys not see this coming?   Do they not understand the pure evil and racist mentality they’re dealing with?   Do they really believe that the law will be adhered to and followed in Jena with all the double standards already enforced?   Alton Maddox called this case so legally correct in his October 4^th Amsterdam News editorial:   “Before Blacks can challenge this system, they must find attorneys who know the law and are fearless….Bell’s constitutional rights were unintelligently waived…he will be sideswiped…tried in a kangaroo proceeding….This is a legal trap.”   And, where is Bell now?   Back in jail!   Brother Maddox wasn’t even in the courtroom and he called another one, here’s the complete editorial:   If I Could Defend My People.

Not surprisingly, the West Virginia rape, torture, and kidnapping of Megan Williams, a Black female, by six White male and female suspects continues to get no attention from the mainstream media.   If it were reversed – a White female raped, tortured, and kidnapped by six Black males and females – you know these anchors, pundits, reporters, commentators, editors, writers, and even Donald Trump would be drooling and foaming at the mouth at the anticipation of getting the “wilding wolfpack.”   A national march for Megan Williams, hate crimes, and racism will take place on November 3^rd at 12:00pm in Charleston, West Virginia, at First Baptist Church ( 423 Shrewsbury Street) and from there it will proceed to the West Virginia State Capitol Building.   Visit the Black Lawyers for Justice site for more information, call 202-397-4577 or 304-657-1493 or email shabazzlaw@aol.com.  

Megan Williams is still in bad shape emotionally and physically but she is slowly healing.   She and her adopted mother, Carmen Williams, gave an interview to the Final Call Newspaper.   In it she clarifies that she was not in a relationship with one of the abusers and she gives more details on the horrendous acts done to her, including excessively and regularly being called the N-word, a reference to the runaway attempt by Kunta Kinte as an example when they tried to cut off her foot, forcing her to eat animal and human feces, taking turns stabbing her in the thigh, threatening her with a noose, forcing her to perform oral sex on and suck the toes of one of the females (who also happens to be the mother of another suspect), and much more.   In addition to the suspects’ signed confessions confirming the victim’s story, there was also lots of physical evidence at the scene (such as a “wooden handle stick with ‘brownish and reddish stains on the stick’ was found, which corroborates anal sodomy”).   Here are two stories on her, including the complete interview:   One-on-One Interview with Megan Williams and Race Torture in West Virginia.   If this can be done with laws and law enforcement supposedly in place, can you imagine what was done to Black women (and children, and, yes, men) during those nearly three centuries of legally enforced U.S. enslavement?

In a totally different aspect of abuse that doesn’t involve the same kind of brutality described above, here’s a case of racism that involves imagery and stereotyping in entertainment.   Fourteen-year-old actress/singer Keke Palmer, who starred in the superb Akeelah and the Bee, is being pushed by Atlantic Records and Mike Caren, Executive VP of A&R, to be more raunchy (physically and lyrically).   They consider her songs to be too clean, feminine, and girly – and are determined not to promote her as pop/R&B, but want to give her “dirtier” songs and promote her as urban/hip-hop.   Instead of a 14-year-old who appropriately represents youth and innocence and who already has a following with kids from the ages of 8-15, they want her to be a teenaged Lil Kim talking about sex and hinting at getting her groove on.   They also refuse to adequately promote her newly released CD (dropped in September) and have even threatened to remove it from record stores since it’s not doing well (because it’s not being promoted!).   Here is a link to her web site:   Keke Palmer.   It includes four videos that are perfect for young people:   Keep It Movin', All My Girlz, It's My Turn Now, Jumpin'.   Some of which you can also find on YouTube.   For more details, including photos of Caren, go to Playahata:   Keke Palmer or Davey D:   Keke Palmer.

In Fort Pierce, Florida, Shelwanda Riley, 15 years old, was punched and pepper sprayed by Officer Dan Gilroy after he tried to arrest her for being out past curfew (the police camera shows a time of 7:20:44).   The girl’s now facing two charges:   a felony charge of battery on a law-enforcement officer (he claims that while he was attempting to handcuff her she tried to bite him) and a misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer or obstructing justice without violence.   Here are additional links with details on this story:   GNN:   Riley or TCPalm:   Riley.

The officers and nurse involved in the January 2006 boot camp death in Florida of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, who was beaten, kicked, punched, dragged, and forced to inhale ammonia capsules, were recently acquitted by an all-White jury, who deliberated for about 90 minutes.   The defense called a medical witness who testified the teenager died because he had the sickle cell trait, which was proven to be wrong in a second autopsy last year.   Dr. Michael Baden, the well known pathologist from the OJ Simpson trial, was hired by the family to do an autopsy and he confirmed that Anderson did not die from the sickle cell trait or any other natural causes – but the prosecution elected not to call him as a witness.   Here’s a very short news story on the acquittal.

We’ve just presented five different publicized cases – most get no media attention – about children of African descent that involves jailing, raping, torturing, kidnapping, stereotyping through sexualized imagery, punching, pepper spraying, beating, kicking, dragging, forced inhalation, and even murdering them.   In an odd kind of way, this situation makes an interesting parallel to the new book, Getting Off:   Pornography and the End of Masculinity, by professor Robert Jensen, who writes often (and out of the mainstream box) about racism, sexism, White privilege, and other hot-button topics.   He describes how the U.S. is a nation that is basically very accepting of cruelty, degradation, brutality, and inequality, which is why pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and has been for years.   Jensen points out how pornography represents mainstream values in the U.S. because it’s part of the “logic of domination and subordination that is central to patriarchy, hyper-patriotic nationalism, White supremacy, and a predatory corporate capitalism.”   He also writes about the portrayals of “minorities” in porn, such as the “sexually primitive Black male stud, the animalistic Black woman, the hot Latina, the Asian geisha.”   As cultural critic Kam Williams writes in his book review, “apparently, many White males enjoy watching their women copulating with big Black bucks, especially when in a degrading fashion” and that “these demeaning images of women and minorities employed for the enhancement of sexual pleasure only reinforce the racist and sexist attitudes leveraged by White men to rationalize women’s subordinate status and the repression of the threatening Black male.”   Read Williams’ entire review at:   Getting Off:   Dallas Black or Getting Off:   News Blaze.   Another review by Don Hazen, which includes more details about the violence and degradation of women depicted in porn as well as an excerpt from the book can be found at Getting Off:   AlterNet.

Since America’s history as well as mainstream/alternative media easily confirms these attitudes, how long will this fear and discomfort of anything “black” make people of African descent (regardless of age) regular targets of the five cases of brutality, sexual/physical stereotyping, and murder referenced above?   Why does mainstream America (from law enforcement to the educational system to those West Virginians that brutalized Megan Williams) fear Black people so much?   What is it that we have?   Is it something in our DNA?   Is it that “something” that’s never taught in the educational system about ancient Africa?   What is it that we have?   What makes these people who are supposed to be so “powerful” so afraid and fearful of us, who they regularly malign educationally, economically, and socially through all forms of the media?  What is it that we have?   What is it?

In conclusion, with all of that being said and with two BN-W monitored movies (“Why Did I Get Married?” and “Feast of Love”) that attempt to give outlooks on marriage and relationships, we wondered about this 8/5/07 USA Today article:   More Black Women Consider ‘Dating Out’.   This article is really sad because it focuses on seemingly pitiful, self-hating Black women who have no faith in the ability to strengthen and build their own because they feel rejected by a Tiger Woods type of Black man (a self-described “Cablinasian”) who primarily dates/marries White women.  Woods, along with Clarence Thomas, OJ Simpson, and Michael Jackson (the plastic surgery King) are not the kind of men who positively represent confident, self-loving Black men, so they cannot be used as a basis for any women – nevertheless Black women – to feel rejected.   And, no, it’s not because they seem to date/marry mostly White women, it’s their actions regarding self and others who look like them that tells a lot about who they are and what they feel about themselves as Black men.   The best thing about this article is this comment by TorranceMC, in which he offers solutions and states among many powerful things, “you have allowed the victimizers who are the architects of our disunity to destroy our relationships and families.”

Of course this article touches on the usual, including the incarceration rate and lack of college educated Black males, which some will fall for hook, line, and sinker to justify the article’s “dating out” modus operandi.   What it doesn’t touch on, however, is what Robert Jensen (see the Getting Off piece above) describes as the “Black male stud” fantasy.   White women are known to have that fantasy – you know to get with a Black man at least once just to see if the “myth” is true.   But, based on what we know, Black women are not known for having a fantasy to get with a “White male stud” to confirm any “myth.”   Perhaps the centuries of rapes (you know, Megan Williams style) and birthing the children of those rapes/rapists prevented that from ever being a Black woman’s “fantasy.”   Every now and then we touch on this topic because the media is simply relentless in trying to force Black men and Black women apart, but we stand by our piece from the Something New monitor in February 2006.   Discourage the unity of Black men and women all you want, but know that on any massive scale, it simply ain’t gonna happen.   It will NEVER happen.   So forget about it!   Besides, as we’ve already asked, what is it that we have?   Whatever it is, it’s in the Black man and the Black woman, right?

As we mentioned in BN-W #54 the conclusion of Part II:   Black-Jewish Relations will be included with our new bi-monthly Music Monitor.   As we also stated, we’ve got a lot of information, and, for that reason, until Part II comes out, we’ll be filtering stuff to you so it won’t be too overwhelming in the buildup to Part II’s conclusions.   Refer to BN-W #53/54 if you need a repeat of our feelings on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  

Archbishop Desmond Tutu got a taste of that “onslaught” described by Tony Martin and recently experienced by Norman Finkelstein, Jimmy Carter, Stephen Walt, and John Mearsheimer.   Tutu was invited, then disinvited, and then reinvited to give a speech in April 2008 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.   The reason for the disinvite was that, according to a handful of people, he said some “hurtful” words about Jews, Israel, and Hitler in an April 2002 speech called Occupation is Oppression.   There’s nothing inappropriate in that speech.   In fact, much of what he said in this 2002 speech was true then and continues to be true today – nearly six years later.   He asked these questions during the speech about the Israeli occupation in Palestine, which includes many settlers being brought in from all over the world to illegally occupy land:   “Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation?   Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon?   Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions?   Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?”

Archbishop Tutu accepted an invitation to speak at another school after the disinvite from St. Thomas, so whether he’ll accept the reinvite is unknown at this point.   He will, however, be the keynote speaker at the Sabeel-New England Conference – “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel:   Issues of Justice and Equality” – which is scheduled for October 26-27 at Old South Church ( 645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA).   For more information, visit Sabeel Boston Conference.   Noam Chomsky is one of the scheduled panelists for this conference.

The book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt is out and can be purchased.   In April 2006, we provided a link for their “working paper” in BN-W #60.   An excerpt of the book’s introduction is in this essay, Why Dems and Republicans Bow to the Israel Lobby, and in it the authors write that none of the 2008 presidential candidates “is likely to criticize Israel in any significant way or suggest that the United States ought to pursue a more evenhanded policy in the region.   Any who do will probably fall by the wayside.”

If you missed any other BN-W monitors, just send an e-mail to bannword2@yahoo.com and request that it be sent to you.   As always, we highly encourage you to see these films for yourself and, if applicable, make your own judgment call on the N-word usage – appropriate/inappropriate? necessary/unnecessary? sensible/nonsensical? does it add to or take away from the film’s concept? does the N-word have to be used at all? is there a valid reason for doing so? is it mandatory for the scene(s) to be effective? what are the circumstances/situation that necessitate any use of the word? is it just thrown in for humor, fear, crime, insult? are other culturally insulting slang terms used as much as the N-word in the film?   Lots of questions and a whole lot of reasons to wonder what’s the real purpose and thought process behind why these entertainers, writers, directors, producers, executive producers, distributors, and studios/studio heads and executives give the “greenlight” for these crews to liberally use (or allow to be used) the N-word.

FEATURE FILM(S) :

T H E   K I N G D O M

[Release Date:   9/28/07]

Starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper; screenplay written by Matthew Michael Carnahan; directed by Peter Berg; produced by Michael Mann, Scott Stuber; executive produced by Mary Parent, Steven Saeta, Sarah Aubrey, John Cameron; studio – Universal Pictures

NOTE :   Another film that glorifies gun use, murder, mayhem, and violence.   It tries to show some of what happens to people who are unwanted in other people’s land and try to occupy and settle where they are uninvited (similar to what Israel is doing in Palestine and the United States in Iraq today).   It also tries to show what should be obvious, which is that Arabs are humans who indeed have families, friends, and people that they love and care about – and, guess what? – they don’t want them to die or be murdered.   It also unwittingly shows how powerful religion can be in controlling people; Islam is primarily reflected in this film, but you can see the effects of that same type of dominance with Christianity and Judaism.   It also tries to manipulate and mold popular opinion through film by calling basketball player Kobe Bryant “a hater” and associating Arabs who have missing fingers as representing people who were or are bombmakers.   The operative word with this film is “tries.”   If you really want something more substantive on the 9/11 aftereffects, terrorism, and invasions, check out documentaries such as The Ground Truth, Loose Change, and 9/11 Mysteries: Demolitions.   You can see these and more at BN-W 9/11 Documentaries.   Of course, Occupation 101 and Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land are must-sees as well.   All of these films give you a much better reality and something more concrete to work with other than a big budget film with “corporate owned, controlled, and distributed” written all over it.

T H E   G A M E   P L A N

[Release Date:   9/28/07]

Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Madison Pettis, Morris Chestnut, Brian J. White, Tubbs, Kyra Sedgwick; screenplay written by Kathryn Price, Nichole Millard; directed by Andy Fickman; produced by Gordon Gray, Mark Ciardi; executive produced by Richard Luke Rothschild; studio – Buena Vista

NOTE :   While this film ultimately appears to come off as a feel-good movie, it’s very dangerous!   It’s dangerous because parents will take their kids (or allow their kids to go alone) to see a movie that shows a little girl with a Black/Samoan father and a White mother, yet throughout the entire film she’s walking around with a White doll that has blond, straight hair.   Meanwhile, the little girl in the film has dark, curly hair.   There’s also not much diversity in the ballet class or other kid activities she participates in.   People might take this lightly, but kids will notice and many who don’t have parents who enforce self-love will absorb the subliminal message being sent.   The movie will forever stand as the #1 film for the weekends ending 10/3/07 and 10/10/07 – grossing about $23 million and $16.6 million, respectively; to date it’s grossed about $59.5 million; and it’s certain to do well when it comes out on DVD.   Regarding the imagery just described, do all kids win equally with what’s represented in this film or do some win much more than others?   If we can gain nothing else from this film, we realize the importance and necessity of parents sharing both sides of the child’s history when the child is of “mixed” parentage because the child portrayed in this film was definitely indoctrinated with only one side of her heritage.   As a side note, the concept of how this little 8-year-old was able to scheme up a story and get away with it without an adult checking on her whereabouts with another adult is a little too farfetched also, but that’s Hollywood for you.

F E A S T   O F   L O V E

[Release Date:   9/28/07]

Starring Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear; screenplay written by Allison Burnett; directed by Robert Benton; produced by Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard S. Wright; executive produced by David Scott Rubin, Eric Reid, Harley Tannebaum, Lori McCreary, Fisher Stevens, John Penotti; studio – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

NOTE :   Morgan Freeman in the usual fatherly and advisory role, but he does have a love interest this time around.   It may still be taboo, off limits, and/or just too much to handle in promoting strong Black couples in any film, particularly one like this where the characters are based in Portland, Oregon, so his wife is non-Black.   Big shocker, right?   Other than a few Black extras (with no speaking parts) at a social event, Freeman is the lone Black person in a sea of White people.   Quite surprisingly, especially for a national release, this film has an unusual amount of nude and sex/lovemaking scenes, including a full frontal for a female – but none for the male.   Gasp!   So much nudity in the film and no full frontal for the male?   Why do you think the greenlighters would make that a no-go?   Who are these mystery “studs”?   Another oddity about this film is the advertising for it.   All of the newspapers/magazines we saw it promoted in had the coupling for all of the characters – EXCEPT for Freeman.   He was at the top of the ads without his spouse.   He was solo, while the other three couples were shown cooing to each other lovingly.   Why does the lone guy of African descent – who is the movie’s Oscar-winning lead actor and portraying a character in the film who’s in a long-term, solid relationship – get no visual love in the print advertisements for this film?

W H Y   D I D   I   G E T   M A R R I E D?

[Release Date:   10/12/07]

Starring Tyler Perry, Janet Jackson, Jill Scott, Malik Yoba, Richard T. Jones, Michael Jai White, Tasha Smith, Sharon Leal, Lamman Rucker, Denise Boutte; screenplay written by Tyler Perry; directed by Tyler Perry; produced by Reuben Cannon, Tyler Perry; executive produced by Michael Paseornek; studio – Lionsgate

NOTE :   Excellent movie.   One that just makes sense without overdone and unnecessary drama.   Individuals and couples who have their similarities and differences but who ultimately realize what’s really important and what really matters.   The Madea character is not in this film.   Perry also avoids a lot of the religious preaching, which is a big plus.   This really is his best film yet and it’s one of the best films we’ve officially monitored this year.

BN-W Monitor Coming Soon :  “Run, Fatboy, Run” [Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria]; “Things We Lost in the Fire” [Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchovny]; “Gone Baby Gone” [Morgan Freeman, Casey Affleck]; “American Gangster” [Denzel Washington, Cuba Gooding Jr., Chiwetel Ejiofor, Russell Crowe]; “This Christmas” [Idris Elba, Delroy Lindo, Loretta Devine]; “Lions for Lambs” [Tom Cruise, Derek Luke, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep]; “Fred Claus” [Vince Vaughn, Ludacris]; “I Am Legend” [Will Smith, Alice Braga]; “The Bucket List” [Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson]; “The Great Debaters” [Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jurnee Smollett]; “The Comebacks” [Carl Weathers]

Also Coming :   Part II:   Black-Jewish Relations; Bi-Monthly Music Monitors