The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I started noticing this a while ago, but am beginning to realize what I observed wasn't just an aberration; it was a trend. Black entertainment on IMDb.com tends to be rated much lower by members than by actual critics. I just binge-watched the docu-series Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story . On RottenTomatoes.com , the series received a perfect approval rating of 100% and averaged to score a 7.8/10 grade from critics. On IMDb.com, the show's average grade was 4.6/10. Here is a breakdown of how some critically acclaimed black shows and films have been scored on IMDb.com. Black-ish Rotten Tomatoes: 8.0/10 IMDb.com: 7.1/10 Difference: -11.3% The Black KkKlansman  Rotten Tomatoes: 8.3/10 IMDb.com: 7.5/10 Difference: -9.6% Dear White People (movie) Rotten Tomatoes: 7.5/10 IMDb.com: 6.1/10 Difference: -18.7% Dear White People (series) Rotten Tomatoes: 9.0/10 IMDb.com: 6.3/10 Difference: -30.0% Fruitvale Station Rotten Tomatoes: 8.1/10 IMDb.com: 7.5/10 ...

As first reported by MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow and later followed by most every left-leaning outlet on the web, there's a growing theory that some of President Trump's illegal immigration musings were taken from a film - 2018's Sicario: Day of the Soledado . As Maddow and others observed, Trump's unfounded claims that women were bound by duct tape; smuggled over the border; that the traffickers were driving the greatest cars in the history of the world; and something about Muslim prayer rugs in Texas were all, at least loosely, found in the plot to the Sicario sequel. Whether or not the theory rings true, I thought I'd have a little fun with it. Assuming for a second that the theory is true, expect Donald Trump to make the following movie-based claims in the future: Film: The Exorcist / The Shining Trump's claim: "I saw these Black Lives Matter protesters the other day. Very scary stuff. I'm not making this up, believe me. Their heads were spinning...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've viewed two of the best movies I think I've ever seen and felt the need to share a bit about them. In addition to these two, I also saw the Daniel Day-Lewis-led film, There Will Be Blood , and highly recommend that as well. Lewis is electrifying and deserved his Oscar for Best Actor. Since that film was released over a decade ago, though, I'll focus the brunt of my attention on the two more recently released films which caught my attention upon first watching them and haven't let go two weeks later, The Square and The Shape of Water . What these two films have in common are they're both: Unique/unusual; powerful; well produced, directed, and acted; are not what they may appear to be; and will likely stay with you long after the closing credits. The Square is a Swedish film directed by star writer/director in-the-making Ruben Ostlund. It is essentially a satire on modern society, where a well respected art museum curator present...

I had some fun with the trending hashtag #TrumpMovieSequels on Twitter over the weekend. Here are my posts, ordered from the most popular to the least popular (all my tweets can be seen here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) I Know What You Tweeted Last Summer #TrumpMovieSequels 396 Likes, 60 Retweets 2) The Three Douches #TrumpMovieSequels 340 Likes, 81 Retweets 3) The Fifty Shades of Cray #TrumpMovieSequels 117 Likes, 26 Retweets 4) 71 Going On 13 #TrumpMovieSequels 125 Likes, 13 Retweets 5) Honey, I Got the Kids Indicted #TrumpMovieSequels 98 Likes, 22 Retweets 6) Clear and Bigly Present Danger #TrumpMovieSequels 87 Likes, 22 Retweets 7) Full Mental Jacka*s #TrumpMovieSequels 87 Likes, 18 Retweets 8) Cloudy With a Chance of No Balls #TrumpMovieSequels 78 Likes, 9 Retweets 9) How to Destroy a Country in 10 Days #TrumpMovieSequels 64 Likes, 11 Retweets 10) Brain-Dead Man Walking #TrumpMovieSequels 61 Likes, 12 Retweets 11) It Coul...

Due to a #TrumpMovieSequels tweet of mine, I got mentioned on the website Twitchy , which can be seen here:  https://twitchy.com/bethb-313034/2018/01/05/lights-camera-action-americans-propose-epic-titles-for-a-trump-movie-sequel/ To stay regularly up-to-date on my Twittersphere, go to this link and then click "follow." -  https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki

I had some fun with the trending hashtag #AddTrumpRuinMovie on Twitter yesterday. Here are my posts, ordered from the most popular to the least popular (all my tweets can be read here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) Cloudy With a Chance of Horsesh*t #AddTrumpRuinMovie 203 Likes, 43 Retweets 2) One Belongs in the Cuckoo's Nest #AddTrumpRuinMovie 188 Likes, 33 Retweets 3) I Know What You Tweeted Last Summer #AddTrumpRuinMovie 181 Likes, 31 Retweets 4) The Gropes of Wrath #AddTrumpRuinMovie 163 Likes, 38 Retweets 5) The 70-Year-Old Pervert #AddTrumpRuinMovie 149 Likes, 34 Retweets 6) Fifty Shades of Pay to Play #AddTrumpRuinMovie 136 Likes, 31 Retweets 7) Little Hands of Horrors #AddTrumpRuinMovie 137 Likes, 29 Retweets 8) Coming to Destroy America #AddTrumpRuinMovie 133 Likes, 25 Retweets 9) Eternal Darkness of the Empty Mind #AddTrumpRuinMovie 112 Likes, 22 Retweets 10) Jealous Father of the Bride #AddTrumpRuinMovie 105 Likes, 25 Re...

I had a bit of fun with the trending hashtags #LessNoteworthyMovies and #FarmingPickupLines over the past couple of days. Here are my posts, ordered from the most to the least popular (no, my followers don't appear to be yuge movie buffs, and you can check out all my tweets here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki): 1) "I know what you're thinking - 'Is that his needle in a haystack or is he just happy to see me?' The answer? Both." #FarmingPickupLines 30 Likes, 5 Retweets 2) The Fashion of the Christ #LessNoteworthyMovies 24 Likes, 7 Retweets 3) The Exercisist #LessNoteworthyMovies 13 Likes, 4 Retweets 4) Honey, the Cold Water Shrunk My Dick #LessNoteworthyMovies 13 Likes, 2 Retweets 5) Hamsters On a Plane #LessNoteworthyMovies 10 Likes, 0 Retweets 6) Rambo Goes Rollerblading #LessNoteworthyMovies 7 Likes, 2 Retweets 7) The Man-Curious Candidate #LessNoteworthyMovies 6 Likes, 2 Retweets 7) Friday the 18th #LessNoteworthyMovies ...

I had some fun with the trending hashtag #TrumpExplainsMoviePlots on Twitter yesterday. Here are my posts, ordered from the most to the least popular (all my tweets can be seen here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki): 1) "The title is 'True Lies.' That's like my life story, folks. All my lies are true, believe me." #TrumpExplainsMoviePlots 67 Likes, 21 Retweets 2) "This angry lawyer, who says utes a lot, has The Karate Kid behind him, but I don't remember seeing Mr. Miyagi." #TrumpExplainsMoviePlots 36 Likes, 11 Retweets 3) "An American patriot stands up for his 2nd Amendment rights by putting a gun to a guy's head to go on kids rides." #TrumpExplainsMoviePlots 33 Likes, 12 Retweets 4) "This guy throws his fists at other guys, yells 'Adrian,' and big things happen - yugely big things, believe me." #TrumpExplainsMoviePlots 36 Likes, 8 Retweets 5) "This is like the perfect country. I wonder wher...

I had trouble sleeping last night, so I decided to have a little fun with the at-one-time trending hashtag #RNCaMovie. Here are my posts, ordered from the most to the least popular (all my tweets can be seen here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki): 1) "Factloose" #RNCaMovie 35 Likes, 11 Retweets 2) "When Harry Told Sally What She Could Do With Her Body" #RNCaMovie 23 Likes, 12 Retweets 3) "The Deported" #RNCaMovie 28 Likes, 4 Retweets 4) "The Yuge Shop of Horrors" #RNCaMovie 13 Likes, 4 Retweets 4) "Drumpf and Drumpfer" #RNCaMovie 14 Likes, 3 Retweets 6) "A Douchebag Orange" #RNCaMovie 13 Likes, 3 Retweets 7) "Donald and the Vanilla Factory" #RNCaMovie 10 Likes, 5 Retweets 7) "Trump Steaks On a Plane" #RNCaMovie 13 Likes, 2 Retweets 7) "Back to the Torture" #RNCaMovie 14 Likes, 1 Retweet 10) "To Shoot a Friend Who Looks Like a Mockingbird" #RNCaM...

In conjunction with my 35K+ followers seeming to like movies less than climate-change deniers like science, the trending hashtag #Painful80sFilms trended for about as long as it'd take Stephen Hawking to read a haiku, yet I still decided to post a few such tweets. Here they are, ordered from the most to least popular (all my tweets can be viewed at this link - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki): 1) The Break-Fist Club #Painful80sFilms 3 Likes, 1 Retweet 1) Sixteen Love Handles #Painful80sFilms 4 Likes, 0 Retweets 1) The NeverEnding Ben Carson Lecture #Painful80sFilms 4 Likes, 0 Retweets 4) Back to President Trump's Future #Painful80sFilms 1 Like, 1 Retweet 5) Lost a Foot #Painful80sFilms 1 Like, 0 Retweets 5) Ferris Bueller's Standoff #Painful80sFilms 1 Like, 0 Retweets Totals: 14 Likes, 2 Retweets (Averages of 2.3 Likes, 0.3 Retweets)

Being the movie geek that I am, when I saw the trending hashtag #DullDownAMovie yesterday, my mind started going bonkers, and I decided to post several such tweets. As you'll be able to see, either my 35,000+ followers aren't big into movies, movie-themed tweets aren't nearly as popular as political ones, I simply had bad timing, or a combination of the three, but in any case, I had fun. Here are my tweets, ordered from most to least popular (you can check out all my tweets here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki): (Note: I'll include the actual movie titles off which my tweets were based in parentheses next to my posts) 1) Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Agnostic (Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead) #DullDownAMovie 16 Likes, 4 Retweets 2) One Flew Over the Empty Nest (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next) #DullDownAMovie 8 Likes, 5 Retweets 2) Armageddon - The Final Word At A Spelling Bee (Armageddon) #DullDownAMovie 11 Likes, 2 Retweet...

I often times find that it's difficult to differentiate between "bests" and "favorites," as they can tend to get blurred and we then mistake one for the other and vice versa. Just a couple weeks ago, someone asked me to name what I thought were the five best songs of all time. This was incredibly difficult on multiple fronts. First off, how exactly would one define "best" in this situation? The five most influential songs of all time? The five most technically sound songs of all time? The five most emotionally-charged, inspirational, or affecting songs of all time? There are a number of different routes one could travel when being asked such a question. It's also difficult to discern one's own personal best to the best at large. Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" - is it one of my personal favorite songs? No. But do I feel it's probably one of the best rock songs in the genre's history? Yes. In both scenarios, a person...

For whatever reason, whenever I hear the name Liam Neeson in a movie trailer, the name Leslie Nielsen springs to mind. This got me wondering how the two actors would have played some of the other's better known roles. Here are three possibilities: Airplane! Dr. Rumack (played by Liam Neeson): "Can you fly this plane, and land it?" Ted Striker: "Surely you can't be serious." Dr. Rumack: "I'm always serious... and what the hell did you just call me?" The Naked Gun Jane Spencer: "I've heard police work is dangerous." Lieutenant Frank Drebin (played by Liam Neeson): "It is. That's why I carry a big gun." Jane: "Aren't you afraid it might go off accidentally?" Frank: "I used to have that problem." Jane: "What did you do about it?" Frank: "Kicked the crap out of people, well, and Viagra" Taken Bryan Mills (played by Leslie Nielsen): "I don't k...

Beyond Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs (on pages 96-101 in LOL at the GOP: Volume 5 - You Can't Spell "Forgot To Take Their Crazy Pills" Without "Tea Party" ) Led by the Tea Party, the further to the right the GOP travels, the more it appears they're devoid of reality. When it comes to the problems of this world, it'll help more to pray than to actually do something about them. When it comes to gun violence, films, music, and video games are more to blame than the actual device which injured or killed people. Interpretation of scripture trumps scientific evidence to the contrary. Conspiracies take precedence over fact-checking. Yes, in the modern-day Republican Party, it's felt like the story of the Easter Bunny is more widely believed than that of Gandhi, and here's a story which attempts to depict just how cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs they've become. Setting: A group of Republicans sitting around a table in a conference meeting room Ted Cruz: "O...

Regardless of age, there are some things people hate doing alone. Whether that be eating dinner, going for walks, traveling, or heading to a bar on Friday night, they can't stand the thought of going about these activities by themselves. While I can understand this to a certain degree (except for walking/exercising), since most of the before-mentioned activities carry with them a social element, I can't understand this with regard to going out and seeing a movie. That may be different when seeing a movie at home, because the setting allows for more flexibility as far as time, socializing, and intimacy go. However, if you talk much at a movie theatre, people around you will likely complain, and there's a chance of getting kicked out. The same is true if you are too intimate with another during the film. So, why is it many are reluctant on going to the theatre by themselves? Like if they saw the film with another, there would be minimal conversation and minimal physical conta...

Anymore, it has seemed as though Hollywood tough guys Jason Statham and Liam Neeson have been typecast as just that. I have trouble envisioning them in a comedy, let alone a romantic comedy. If one of them did star in such a film, however, I have to imagine it'd go by one of the following titles: Valentine's Day Massacre The Gun Shop Around the Corner Shootin' and Bangin in the Rain The Deadly Notebook How to Kill a Guy and Make a Woman Fall in Love With You in 10 Seconds (500) Days Of Making Love and Kicking As* Seven Beauties Wanting a Beast Punching Your Wedding Planner A Wedding and Four Funerals Fight Club

Led by the Tea Party, the further to the right the GOP travels, the more it appears they're devoid of reality. When it comes to the problems of this world, it'll help more to pray than to actually do something about them. When it comes to gun violence, films, music, and video games are more to blame than the actual device which injured or killed people. Interpretation of scripture trumps scientific evidence to the contrary. Conspiracies take precedence over fact-checking. Yes, in the modern day Republican Party, it's felt like the story of the Easter Bunny is more widely believed than that of Gandhi, and here's a story which attempts to depict just how cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs they've become. Setting: A group of Republicans sitting around a table in a conference meeting room Ted Cruz: "Okay, guys - here's the deal. I've set up four stations around the room. You'll each draw a slip of paper out of this top hat, in honor of Abraham Lincoln, to find ...

I'm not sure how well this is going to work, but I thought I'd give it a try. I wondered how certain movies might come across if the trailers centered around an event (or events) which wasn't (weren't) central to the film's overall story. So, I thought I'd tinker around with that idea regarding some films I've seen so many times, I pretty much have them memorized. Film:  Big Trailer: "Be careful what you wish for, as Tom Hanks now knows from the film  Big . In this movie, Hanks plays as a young boy who wishes to be 'big,' only to awaken the next morning as someone much bigger. Does he just become taller? Older? Fatter? Did he grow a large wee-wee? Or did he become a child sumo wrestler? Watch and see for yourself, but make no mistake about it, Hanks is 'big!'" Film:  Coming to America Trailer: "Ever been living the African dream, have everything handed to you as a prince, and want more out of life, so you traveled to Am...

After seeing the new movie 42 this past week, I decided to read what people had to say about it via IMDb.com, and was often disappointed with what I read. The longest threads started with a claim that the film was nothing but "liberal propaganda," that it was another "Hollywood, anti-white person" movie which was overloaded with exaggerations and short on facts. Now, while I'll be the first to admit that films based on true stories can often times be "Hollywoodized" - meaning some facts are substituted with box office-boosting material, these films also contain an element of history. It seems that many people on the far-right of the political spectrum have an almost dismissive attitude toward racism. They either feel it's no longer a problem today or that it was never as big of a problem as many on the left (you know, historians) have made it out to be. They also tend to feel that minorities in this country often times use racism as an excuse f...

I didn't really know what I was getting into last night when I sat in the recliner to watch a film I had taped on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) a couple months ago. The film was the 1962 Spanish classic El Angel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel), co-written and directed by surrealist great Luis Bunuel. After seeing this film, I have to say I'll make it a point to see many of Bunuel's other works. This is the kind of film that frustrates many viewers, while marveling others, for it leaves open to interpretation the point and message it's trying to get across, while being able to provide just as much power and marvel behind one interpretation as with another. As for me, I'm definitely in the latter of the two groups I mentioned. Some people need a very black-and-white message, void of symbolism and ambiguity, to be fully satisfied with a film-viewing experience. While I can be satisfied with such a viewing, I tend to more enjoy an experience where my mind is stim...