Death and A Funeral

Comedian Chris Rock has returned to the big screen in the spring comedy release Death at a Funeral, a remake of the 2007 movie of the same name, and he brought an all star cast with him.

Death at a Funeral centers on a dysfunctional family that has lost its patriarch, and in keeping with his dying wishes the funeral is to be held at the family’s estate. And as the family begins to trickle in the problems seem to get bigger and bigger by the second.

Aaron (played by Chris Rock) and Ryan (played by Martin Lawrence) are two brothers who must overcome their personal issues long enough to bury their father. Not to mention that on top of everything else that’s going on Aaron, who is the oldest, has to deal with a wife who’s biological clock is ticking a mile a minute, a mother who is an emotional wreck, a wanna-be drug dealer cousin who can’t keep up with his supply, a grumpy uncle and an uninvited guest with a hidden agenda.

It would seem that an all star cast that includes the likes of Loretta Devine, Danny Glover, Tracy Morgan, Columbus Short, Luke Wilson, James Mardsen, Regina Hall and Zoe Saldana on top of Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence would be a surefire recipe for a blockbuster comedy hit, but this one fell a little short.

While at the end of the day the movie was enjoyable and had some laugh out loud moments, some of the comedic relief seemed a little forced and the chemistry between some of the characters could have been a little better.

Overall, I would have to give this one a solid C+. If you can catch a matinee or get the student or senior discount go ahead and knock yourself out, but I would pass on the evening full price ticket. If you want the most bang for your buck, pass on the theater and wait until it comes out on DVD.

P.S. It really seemed like Anthony Anderson should’ve been somewhere up in this joint, but oh well. Maybe next time.

www.black-smithenterprises.com
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Why Did I Get Married Too?

Tyler Perry has done is again! Why Did I Get Married Too came out in theaters this past Friday, and as usual Perry showed that he definitely has the patented formula for getting people out to the theater.

In this installment of the series, we revisit the same characters from Why Did I Get Married with a whole new batch of problems to sort out on top of most of the old ones.

Terry (played by Tyler Perry) and Diane (Sharon Leal) still struggle to find common ground and honesty in their relationship; Marcus (Michael Jai White) and Angela (Tasha Smith) still fight like cats and dogs; Troy (Lamman Tucker) and Sheila (Jill Scott) try to adjust to their new life together as husband and wife; while Gavin (Malik Yoba) and Patricia (Janet Jackson) still try to portray their union as the epitome of perfection.

While Janet Jackson has always been one of my all-time favorite performers, her voice made my ears bleed in Why Did I Get Married. Literally, every time she said more than four words I wanted to take my ears off and put them in my pocket. Needless to say that this time around her performance far outweighed her voice. Miss Jackson did her thang!

The supporting cast was enjoyable to watch as well. Tasha Smith was just as loud as ever and Jill Scott was very compelling in her role as a woman who has finally adjusted to understanding her true worth.

Overall, the movie stayed true to its original theme, but the storyline in part two was a lot stronger and even offered some unforeseen twists as an added bonus. Tyler Perry is definitely going the distance to solidify himself as a credible all-around writer and not just a chitlin circuit playwright who's trying his hand at movies. Not to mention the fact that he got his sexy on a little bit in the movie too.

Why Did I Get Married Too is a definite must see for the spring. It has something for both the guys and the girls, and its sure to tug on those heart strings too.

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www.black-smithenterprises.com

Cast Your Vote for Education

As you all probably know by now, I have been working diligently to secure votes for the Project NEXT Bash to win Pepsi's $250k Refresh Everything Grant for education.

Starting out, I really thought that it would be easy because, hey, who doesn't support education and who doesn't want their child to be motivated to do better in school? But as simple as that thought may have been when I first started out, it has proven to be much more of a difficult task than I anticipated.

So now I am begging, please, please, please take a moment each day to click on the link to vote for the Project NEXT Bash. Every single week, we are in these schools communicating to these kids through music about the importance of education and by the time we leave they are excited about having something to look forward to at the end of the year. They feel like they have something tangible to work towards.

It's hard being a teenager now days. With the adult hardships that some of them have to deal with at home on top of the normal peer pressure it's not enough to just tell them to do good just because it's the right thing to do. Those words often go in one ear and out the other.

So now it's time to start thinking outside the box and use the tools that they will respond to. I choose to use music and so far it's working. But I need your help to continue.

So please vote daily...it doesn't cost you anything. In the meantime we'll keep pushing.

Thank you.

Reverse Racism?

In Coca-Cola's recent 2010 Sprite Step-Off Challenge, the Zeta Tau Alpha Epsilon Chapter beat out six Black sororities in a stepping competition. And after receiving a lot of heat for their decision, Coca-Cola suddenly determined that there was a "scoring discrepancy" and declared the competition a tie forcing them to split the $100,000 award with the Alpha Kapa Alpha team.



I'm sorry, Coca-Cola, but that was just WEAK! After watching the video, I have to honestly say that those girls earned that prize.

To be fair, I went and found the AKA's performance and while they too did a great job, their performance lacked the originality and wow factor that the Zeta's performance had.



It's really sad that as much as Black people have had to fight to be given fair treatment and opportunity in all areas of life that we would stoop so low as to do it to someone else. If the Zeta's were good enough to get into the competition they should be given the same rights and privileges as everyone else. And for someone to play the race card in the face of defeat is beyond ridiculous.

Blacks have excelled in numerous White dominated arenas, and it had everything to do with us being talented and capable enough to do so. So how dare we look cross-eyed at someone else of another race for being talented enough to do the same.

People it is 2010...we have way more pressing issues to be worried about. Racism is not pretty on anyone; black or white. And shame on Coca-Cola for allowing selfish and small-mind people cloud their judgment.

To the Zeta Tau Alpha Epsilon Chapter, kudos on a job well done. Don't sweat the haters, just chalk this one up to being the learning experience of being given a moment to walk in a Black person's shoes.

Employer/Employee Rules of Engagement

Ok, it's very apparent that a lot of people are just not that well versed in the art of dealing with other people; especially the ones they work with. This has been especially apparent as it relates to employer/employee or management/employee interaction.

Being that I have been on both sides of the fence, I feel compelled to enlighten some of the unwitting employers who are clueless about how their negative interaction with their employees is killing the productivity of their business.

Now before I begin, I will start by saying that we all know that some employees aren't worth their weight in toothpicks, so needless to say this commentary does not apply to those situations.

So here we go...

1. When you have employees who work hard (i.e. show up on time, go above and beyond the call of duty to execute tasks they are given, don't steal from the company, show initiative, etc...) acknowledge that from time to time. Everyone likes to know that their work is appreciated. You'd be surprised at how far that one small compliment or gesture will get you.

2. A happy employees is a productive employee. This is not rocket science. As an employer if you go the extra mile to make sure that your employees feel appreciated, they don't mind being more productive.

3. If you tell an employee that you will pay them a certain amount of money for doing a specific job, then that is what you need to pay them at the designated time. Don't wait until after they have done what you've asked them to do and then offer them a sloppy alternative to what was originally promised.

4. Do NOT play with people's money! If you, as a employer, feel compelled to make changes to someone pay, let them know that before they receive their paycheck. Failure to do so can result in very unfavorable circumstances.

5. Please be sure to have toilet paper readily available in CLEAN bathroom facilities. Having to work in a place with a nasty bathroom just makes for bad attitudes all around.

6. Do not tell your staff that the company is doing bad financially and as a result there will be no raises and then turn around and give bonus checks to upper management. Don't get it twisted, that stuff will get found out.

7. Don't be inflexible with respect to employees' time as it relates to family emergencies. While this should not be something that happens on a regular basis, employees should not be made to feel that they will loose their jobs if they have to call off for a sick child or the like.

8. If you can not afford to give raises, find other ways to compensate for good work. Things like concert tickets, extra days off, or gift certificates are always appreciated as a thank you.

9. Do NOT play with people's money. I felt the need to reiterate that point.

10. And finally, always remember to treat people the way that you would like to be treated. This is the golden rule for a reason. If you put yourself in someone else's shoes that enables you to be more compassionate in your dealings with them.  

None of us are perfect, but when you employ or manage people you are held to a higher standard, so it is in your best interest, and that of your company, for you to learn how to get the best out of the people you work with. If you can do that, then the sky's the limit.  But if you don't,  be prepared to be surrounded by a multitude of disgruntled people, who hate your guts, do just enough to get by,  and will secretly do everything they can to drag your name, and your company, through the dirt. And quite frankly, you will only have yourself to blame.

That's real talk, folks. Feel free to pass it along. That is all.

www.black-smithenterprises.com
Follow me on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/janayablack

The Lovely Bones

The new movie The Lovely Bones is a disturbingly real reminder that there are some truly sick individuals in this world. 

The film centers on the Salmon family, who appears to be your everyday average working class suburban family with a handsome couple, their three kids and a dog. But their world is shattered when their 14-year-old daughter, Susie (played by Saoirse Ronan), turns up missing. After an extended search, only the girl's knitted cap is found with traces of her blood, so naturally she is presumed to be dead.

After the police fail to come up with any leads, Susie's father (played by Mark Wahlberg) refuses to give up hope of finding his daughter's killer and begins his own investigation which ultimately leads to the crumbling of his marriage, while the killer (who just happens to live in the neighborhood) is slowly coming unraveled in the midst of his desperate attempt to keep his sick desires and cravings hidden from the world. 

In the mean time, Susie’s spirit is unable to move on because she is not willing to let go of the life that was so brutally stripped from her. As she lingers in what they referred to as the “in between” she is able to see how the lives of her family members are falling apart while gaining first hand insight into the troubled mind of her killer.

This movie was by far one of the most creatively produced films I have seen in a long time. While the storyline in and of itself has been explored in previous films such as Ghost and The Sixth Sense, this one was presented against the colorful backdrop of what could only be described as a child’s imagination.

While the blaring message of the film was that life goes on in the wake tragedy, the underlying theme for me was that we can never afford to become complacent in our surroundings. We must always be aware of the things around us because the people that we encounter in life are not always what, or whom, they appear to be.

The killer was super creepy. This movie made me want to run home and hug my children and tell them that I loved them over and over again.  It also made me want to put 20 ft shackles on their feet so that they can never get too far away from home.  But at the end of the day, it is understood that you can’t watch your kids every second of the day, so you just have to do what you can and pray about the rest.

Overall, The Lovely Bones was a pretty good movie. I wasn’t mad that I spent the money to go see it at the theater, but I think I would have enjoyed it just as much from the comfort of my own home. This one gets a solid B+.

Legion- A Hot Blasphemous Mess (Spoiler Alert)

Ok, so after hearing all of the back and forth about the movie Legion, I  decided to go check it out for myself over the weekend.  Needless to say I should have stayed home.

First of all, this movie was so blatantly bass-akwards that it wasn't even funny. The premise of the movie is that God gets so fed up with mankind that He sends the archangel Michael, the general of his angelic army, to lead the apocalypse and kill the unborn child of an unwed mother; a child who is supposed to be the last hope for mankind.

Michael decides that he loves mankind way too much to allow God to destroy it, so he decides to defy God and come to Earth in effort to stop the destruction that God has already set into motion. So he denounces his place in Heave by cutting off his wings and taking on the form of a man.

That brief summary in and of itself is laughable- as if anyone, angels included, could stop anything that God set in his mind to do!

The movie then goes on to depict angels, not fallen-angels but God's angel, possessing the bodies of humans in effort to try to murder this unborn child and the people protecting it. Since when do God's angel possess humans? That is a trait of demons!

Then when all of that fails, Gabriel then comes forth to carry out God's orders because Michael refused to do so. They argue for a minute, and the long and short of the argument is that Michael accuses Gabriel of blindly following God's orders without question, while he (Michael) is giving Him what He needs instead of what He wants. Are you kidding? Straight up? An angel knows what God NEEDS?!!!

Then they proceed to battle it out, and Gabriel defeats Michael and then continues on to finish God's mission. After a drawn out chase and battle, right when you think Gabriel is about to complete his mission, Michael comes back, from Heaven no less, with his wings in tact because basically God realized that Michael was right and He was wrong. Gabriel then flies off in defeat because he feels slighted about being made to look like a fool for following God's orders. WHAT THE HELL! That's just what it is, a lie from the pit of Hell!

Where do I begin? I was so utterly angry at this movie when I left the theater that I wanted to call the director personally and tell him to slap himself repeatedly for having the audacity to twist and blatantly disrespect the Word of God that way!

It is my opinion that the church should be in an uproar about this movie. Seriously. Do you think for one second that if the Qu'ran was as grossly misrepresented in this manner that the Muslims would stand idly by and allow it? I honestly don't think so.

To even insinuate that God, Jehovah the Creator of the Universe, would need to be shown the error of His ways by anyone is utterly disgusting. How dare they. And everyone who calls themselves a Christian that had anything to do with the production should fall on their knees and ask for forgiveness. Not even the occult movies that are out have disrespected God or the Bible in that manner.

And the worst thing about it is that many people who do not know the Word will be misled by this this film! Don't get it twisted brothers and sisters, God is NOT mocked! Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to salvation. No if's, and's or but's about it. So if you don't got Him you'd better get Him! John 3:16.

I'm sure you can tell, I'm a little upset but I don't like it when people disrespect my God. And if you know like I know, then you shouldn't like it either.

Be blessed and keep praying for me and each other. I'll be praying for you.

www.black-smithenterprises.com
www.twitter.com/janayablack