Monday Movie Meme - And the Award Goes To... #UWFF Edition

The 17^th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, presented by BET Networks, recently announced its 2013 Award Winners. Among them are Best Narrative Short winner “CRESCENDO,” directed by Alonso Alvarez. The period piece set in 18^th century Holy Roman Empire, about one woman’s life-changing experience, took home a $5,000 prize, presented by HBO.

The narrative feature "FULL CIRCLE," directed by Solvan "Slick" Naim, won an Audience Award. Having just returned from this festival after celebrating new independent films with veteran and budding talent, it’s only fitting that the theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme honors all of the narrative, screenplay and documentary works that were in competition at Urbanworld: And the Award goes to….

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring scenes that involve some type of award ceremony.

The ritual does not have to be fancy but it does have to involve a group of people who gathered to give recognition to at least one or more individuals.

It doesn’t matter if anyone actually receives said awards, so long as the intent to give them is present in the scene.

This is unlike our previous Sisterhood of the Award Recipients meme, in that it focuses more on events in movie scenes, rather than specific awards given to a character in a scene. Here are my selections for this week’s And the Award goes to… theme.

Troop 491: the Adventures of the Muddy Lions

Badges of honor are distributed to a group of boy scouts in this Family film about a boy named Triston who struggles with following the “no-snitching” policy of the streets and living up to the code set by his new circle of friends, after witnessing a homicide. Directed by Praheme, “Troop 491: the Adventures of the Muddy Lions” opens on October 4^th at Criterion Cinemas at the Movieland; 331 North Boulevard, in Virginia.

Beverly Hills Cop 3

A police detective creates an embarrassing scene during an awards dinner by the local law enforcement, honoring community service work, in this action comedy starring Eddie Murphy.

The Bodyguard

Tension flares during an Oscars broadcast in this romantic drama starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. The main character – a famous singer is nominated for Best Actress for her performance in “Queen of the Night” but that doesn’t stop her security agent/lover from remaining on the job during one of the craziest events ever experienced by the characters involved in this movie's awards show scene.

Think like a Man

Lauren (described as “The Woman Who is her own Man”) gets a rude awakening from her new boy toy during a company event where she is honored for her strides at work, in this romantic comedy starring Taraji P. Henson and Michael Ealy.

Also, Some Honorable Mentions from my Family:

Here are movies that I either didn’t watch or did see but don’t have much interest in trying to remember what type of awards ceremonies took place during these films, but they make the list nonetheless...

Dreamgirls - a musical drama, set in the 60s about female soul singers who cross over into the pop genre, topping the charts, starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Hudson.

Blankman – an action comedy about a low-budget superhero, starring Damon Wayans, David Alan Grier and Robin Givens.

The Five Heartbeats – another musical drama about the trials and tribulations of a black all-male singing group…also set in the 60s, starring Robert Townsend, Michael Wright and Leon.

What movies have YOU watched that feature award ceremonies of one type or another?

*Solvan Naim photo by Terrence Jennings

Monday Movie Meme - Something in the Air

The comedy “Baggage Claim” starring Paula Patton, Taye Diggs, Derek Luke and Adam Brody is the Opening Night Selection for the 17^th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival that starts soon (and no, my movie is not playing there). It is about a flight attendant who uses her airline connections to go on a 30-day expedition, in search for Mr. Right before her younger sister’s wedding.

So, I thought it would be fun to center the theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme on airline personnel – Something in the Air.

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring airline employees who are caught up in a whole bunch of shenanigans. They could be involved in funny business of their own doing or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and find themselves in the middle of somebody else’s drama. This week’s theme is NOT about airplanes – it’s about the people who work for the companies that operate private and/or commercial aircraft carriers. They don't even have to be in-flight....they can be in the airport about to board or on the tarmac or runway or whatever.

Here are my selections for this week’s Something in the Air theme.

Passenger 57

The flight attendant who is taken hostage during a hijack attempt still managed to hold her ground as much as she could, being a useful sidekick to the hero of this action thriller, starring Wesley Snipes.

Catch Me If You Can

Having trouble finding employment? No problem, just weasel your way into a high-ranking position at an airline, like Frank Abagnale did in the bio-drama starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Who needs flight training when you can just play “pilot” for a day and receive paychecks for a job that you were never even hired to do?! *You DO know I’m kidding, right?

Flight

I still have yet to see this drama starring Denzel Washington; a family member, however, suggested it because Washington plays an airline pilot in the movie.

From what I’ve gathered from the trailer, so far, it appears that he loses control of the airplane but manages to land it safely and then all hell breaks loose -- an investigation about the events leading up to the landing could possibly get him time in prison. I don’t know about you, but that’s enough shenanigans for me! I’m going to have to move “Flight” up near the top of my DVD rental queue!

What movies have YOU seen featuring airline employees caught up in a whole bunch of shenanigans?

Monday Movie Meme – Roll Credits, Already!

Last week, I rented “Adaptation” starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep, from Blockbuster but did not watch this movie in its entirety. The film didn't keep my attention enough to warrant spending any more time than necessary on its story or characters – which got me wondering how many times any of us have watched a movie that caused us to re-direct our energy towards other, more enjoyable, activities. Thus, need I say more about this week’s Monday Movie Meme? I think not: Roll Credits, Already!

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies that you purposely stopped watching mid-way through. Maybe the flick offended you. Maybe there was too much (or too little) going on in the story. Maybe the genre of the film is just not your cup of tea, no matter how hard you try to give it a shot. Or maybe the movie just sucks, for whatever reason. Actually, you didn’t even have to make it that far – films that lost your vote after only a few scenes in are also included, making my list for this week’s “Roll Credits, Already!” theme longer than usual.

I do plan on trying to watch a few of these movies again, just to give them another looksee in case they really are worth at least one full viewing. I mean, why give up on a film so easily when it has the potential to become one of your favorites?! Just sayin…

Salt – I had high hopes for this action film about a CIA agent accused of being a Russian Spy. After all, it stars Angelina Jolie and I like a lot of her films. Unfortunately, I turned it on, watched a few scenes – it started to feel like a long ass dry story about people doing nothing and talking about nothing, so I turned it off. No deal!

Nights and Weekends – I really wanted to like this movie, especially because I enjoyed viewing a handful of other films starring and/or made by Greta Gerwig and Joe Swanberg. This particular one, about a couple and the decline of their long-distance relationship, just didn’t do it for me, so I clicked the “STOP” button to save enough remaining minutes on my (then) limited Netflix streaming plan, for me to watch something else.

1408 – I like some of John Cusak’s work. I like some of Samuel L. Jackson’s work. So you’d think I have a winner here, right? Yeah, I did too. I watched the beginning of this mystery horror flick about an author (or journalist or whatever) who stays in a hotel room said to be haunted, so he can investigate the validity of its infamous reputation.

The movie seemed promising but it didn’t take long for me to tune out of the story. I did watch the end of the film, just to see if things got more interesting. They did per se but not the way I had hoped – instead, things got kinda weird. To this day, I’m not sure if that’s a plus or a minus for the flick.

The Real Cancun – Yes, I get it -- I should’ve known better; still, I think this was the first movie (or one of the firsts) that I ever rented from Netflix. Big mistake! It doesn’t have a story – like, not even in its Spring break infused reality world. There’s no real drama, comedy or action anywhere in this movie, worth latching onto. My family’s home videos from Thanksgiving holidays past feature more interesting characters than those starring in “The Real Cancun.”

Psycho – Yeah I know, I know….some of you are probably like “What???!!! – she doesn’t have a clue” but bear with me for a minute. I did turn it on and I did watch this legendary horror flick – just not for long. So, I turned it off not long after the beginning of the movie. It’s a simple as that.

Amistad – Looking back on when I first checked out this historical drama about a free man involved in a mutiny on a slave ship in the 1830s, my mood was probably leaning towards lighter fare. Anyway, I remember feeling like it takes too long for the story to evolve. Anytime I’m thinking “when are we going to get to the good parts?” that is not a good sign. So, I stopped watching it. Perhaps, the length of the entire film – being damn near three hours, didn’t help the situation.

(500) Days of Summer – I love me some Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which is one of the reasons why I might give this romantic comedy about a brokenhearted guy who reflects on the highs and lows of his previous relationship, another viewing. Despite being a quite popular independent film, I found it to be so annoying the first time I tried to watch it that I turned it off without hesitation.

The Box – This movie is so beyond retarded that even the few scenes I did manage to watch were still a waste of my time.

Breathless – Maybe being an old, black and white flick did not help this movie’s case, but, that’s not why I lacked the patience to watch Jean Luc Goddard’s classic piece about a newspaper saleslady who unknowingly gets involved in a crime spree after meeting a thief. Although I turned this movie off during my first attempt at watching it, I’m giving it a second try, given that it is praised among the standout titles in the history of cinema, and all.

Sherlock Holmes – I didn’t spend more than 10-15 minutes watching this action crime movie. Being set in the 1800s didn’t help, but, the delivery of the story was just not done in a way that kept my attention – even with Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. I like him; it’s not him that’s the problem, it’s the overall movie that I was not digging. So, something MUST be wrong when I won’t even give a Robert Downey flick some play!

What movies have YOU pressed the “STOP” button on, walked out on, made you change the channel or caused you to ignore it altogether and do other activities while it continued to play in the background?

Would YOU consider giving any of the movies you stopped watching some play a second time around?