Low Key

Tyler Perry’s ‘A Fall From Grace’ is the latest film release and his first foray in the profitable Netflix original - did we enjoy it? You’ll have to listen to find out. But it’s fair to spoil that there’s a lot to like - a likable main character with relatable real-world circumstances, an impactful murder sequence, and the impeccable Phylicia Rashad like you’ve never seen her before.

Throughout this episode we also cover the legacy of Perry and the new Tyler Perry Studios lot in Atlanta that could change opportunities for minorities working to show off projects that are not receiving due attention. 

Even if you don’t love the Perry-verse, this is a great episode to understand his legacy in Hollywood and beyond. Please join us again to fill an hour and follow us on @thelowkeypod!

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Stephen King disappointed Ava DuVernay earlier this month when he tweeted about casting his Oscar ballot: "I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong."

On the latest Low Key Podcast, your hosts discuss what followed. Should we consider diversity in matters of art? Do we? We also consider Carey Mulligan's modest proposal that perhaps Oscar voters should somehow prove that they've seen all the films before they vote.

It's a far-flung discussion that gets into blind spots, comfort zones, and the general problem of underrepresentation onscreen, years after #OscarsSoWhite.

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Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-nominated thriller, challenges our sympathies throughout: Do we sympathize with the destitute Kim family? Or the wealthy Parks? 

It may seem obvious to you — but it's probably a given that not everyone sees Parasite the way you do. In the latest Low Key podcast, we talk about how our sympathies shifted, or didn't, throughout the masterful film.

Listen above or on your favorite podcasting platform:

Here are some highlights, with time stamps (Spoilers galore!):

2:05: The interesting Native American references in Parasite. 

5:05: "They do a good job, once they get the jobs."

6:10: Is Mr. Park a jerk?

7:15: How the Kims screw over other working-class people.

8:00: Are we mad at the Kims for letting insecticide get on the pizza boxes?

8:50: "The poisonous effect does trickle up."

12:00: Ki-woo, the son in the Kim family, is a creep.

17:40: Shout-out to American Psycho.

18:15: Shout-out to Kurt Vonnegut.

23:44: "How thin is the line between the rich and the poor?"

27:05: Let's discuss "the line" and "the smell."

32:00: What if the Kims do have a smell, though?

33:10: The biggest crime the Parks commit.

37:50: The deal with the rock.

42:20: Why did Parasite become so popular in the U.S.?

43:50: "Rich people's worst nightmare"

45:10: Thoughts on the Adam McKay adapatation of Parasite. 

46:30: Is Tyler Perry's Fall From Grace the "African-American Parasite"?

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2020 movies have a lot to live up to—2019's movies were some of the best in years. On the latest Low Key podcast, my fellow co-hosts and I nerd out on the 2020 movies we hope will live up to 2019's high standards, from Tenet to Birds of Prey to Chris Rock's take on Saw to, uh, Sonic the Hedgehog. 

We like all kinds of movies. But on the Low Key, we especially talk about fan-focused films, with a weakness for comic books and sci-fi. So we're very intrigued by 2020 movies including Black Widow,  No Time to Die and A Quiet Place 2.

We take some side trips to talk about Star Wars, Uncut Gems, and Parasite, too. And we talk about Memphis roller coaster the Zippin Pippin, God rest its soul.

By the way: For some of the indie 2020 movies the MovieMaker Magazine team is excited about—from Promising Young Woman to The 40-Year-Old Version to The Climb to Never Rarely Sometimes Always —check out the upcoming issue of MovieMaker magazine.

Here are some highlights of our 2020 movies episode, with timestamps:

1:15: Sonic the Hedgehog!

5:16: A quick aside about Jaleel White.

7:15: Morbius! Birds of Prey!

11:30: Black Widow!

12:00: "Look at us with all this action shit."

17:15: Coming to America!

23:40: A Star Wars aside: "At least let the threat be something different."

29:30: "Everybody knows about the Mid-South Fairgrounds outside of Memphis."

30:00: Love for Dollywood and Dolly Parton

34:20: "2019 was my favorite movie year in like 20 years."

36:30: Go watch the trailer for Christopher Nolan's Tenet.

39:57: No Time to Die and James Bond vs. Mission: Impossible's Ethan Hunt. 

46:00: Breaking news, to Aaron: Chris Rock is joining the Saw franchise.

49:30: A Quiet Place 2!

52:30: A Bloodshot disagreement.

56: "I like the John Wick franchise more than The Matrix franchise."

57:45: "I can't believe we're mentioning Keanu Reeves without mentioning Bill & Ted."

58:30: Top Gun 2!

Follow us on @thelowkeypod.

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Watchmen complicatedly combined falling squid, horrifying racism, a glowing blue man, nuclear panic, fear of sexual humiliation, piles of dead clones, questions about whether we could all be doing more, and an armchair trap door. In the new Low Key podcast, we talk about why it worked for us.

In every episode of Low Key, your co-hosts Aaron Lanton, Keith Dennie, and Tim Molloy talk about pop culture moments we think others may have missed, often through a racial lens. 

As Aaron explains near the 20-minute mark of this episode, "Watching this as a black viewer is very different, I think, from watching it as a viewer of some other ethnicity." It isn't just because of the show's heavy references to the Tulsa race riots, or secret racist societies. It's because of the show's difficult questions about how much obligation all Americans have to one another—and how those obligations relate to race.

Watchmen is undeniably, deliberately, messy and confusing. While most screenplays aspire for clarity, Watchmen makes its most searing points by trying to cloud some of our most firmly held perceptions. It asks us to explore our deepest fears, and better understand ourselves in the process.

We hope you like this episode. If you do, please subscribe and rate us.

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Now that we've had some time for the hot takes to cool, we discuss Melina Matsoukas' consciousness-raising road movie Queen and Slim, written by Lena Waithe and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie-Turner Smith.

Tim and Keith mostly embrace Queen and Slim, but Aaron says plot issues kept taking him out of the story. He also wonders—and we all discuss—whether the film overgeneralizes in its portrayal of how black people would respond to Queen and Slim's road trip for justice.

Who's right? No one's right, it's all opinion.

The film has gotten mostly positive reviews, but also a few criticisms of particular scenes and characters. In one of our longest episodes, we talk about the film's lush visuals, deliberately complicated story, and most curious moments. We also talk about our own experiences with police stops, and note that police have never asked to search the car of our white host. Hm.

1:15: Praise for Queen and Slim

2:22: Spoilers are coming, look out.

4:23: "This movie was so mixed for me. There were so many things I liked about it and so many things I didn't like about it."

6:55: "This movie is about projection"

9:15: Was Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde gay?

10:30: Aaron explains his first big plot issue with the film.

11:25: Could Queen and Slim have gotten a fair trial?

14:00: "The big issue is...the fact that a black person would be so afraid to even think that they could be represented correctly in a court of law."

24:00: Let's talk about the clothes, and Queen's uncle, played by Bokeem Woodbine.

30:20: That weird gas station scene.

34:20: "Let me tell you something about black people and horses."

36:00: "Road-movie-travel time is not real time."

38:00: The Flea and Chloë Sevigny sequence

40:00: About the mechanic's son

45:40: "Even though I don't agree with shooting police officers—I definitely don't agree with that at all—but I could understand certain people finding that as a way of fighting the power, going against the man, going against oppressors and taking it all the way to this whole other limit."

59:00: Praise for Melina Matsoukas, Lena Waithe, Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie-Turner Smith.

Please follow us on Instagram on @thelowkeypod....

...visit Keith's business, CoffeeandNamaste.com, for all your holiday-season needs...

...and check out this episode of MovieMaker Interviews with Daniel Kaluuya talking about Queen and Slim.

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The Mandalorian signaled how sweepingly it plans to embrace the entire Star Wars universe when it stocked its very first references to The Star Wars Holiday Special, a much-despised 1978 TV show that even George Lucas would like to forget. 

In our episode, we talk about how charmingly Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian has incorporated not only the things we all agree are cool (Bounty hunters! blasters! Freezing dudes in carbonite!) but also elements of the universe that some fans prefer not to talk about (cute creatures! Midichlorians! The Star Wars Holiday Special!)

Here are some highlights, with timestamps:

1:10: We talk about this storyabout the Star Wars Holiday Special, which is "kind of a janky affair."

2:45: Is Boba Fett overrated?

4:15: How The Mandaloriancalls back the Clint Eastwood-Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns

6:45: Is The Mandalorian's secret headquarters on Tatooine? 

16:10: Why you need to use the closed captions while watching The Mandalorian.

22:50: Star Wars' over-explaining problem, aka Jedisplaining.

41:45: Shoutout to Minnow, which is NOT a sponsor.

42:45: What's a better title: The Morning Showor The Mandalorian? 

48:50: Netflix is doing a good job on representation, and sometimes showing so-so movies are a positive part of that. 

50:50: In defense of Lifetime movies.

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HBO's Watchmen touches on reparations, racist vigilantism, and the destruction, 100 years ago, of the African-American business Mecca known as Black Wall Street. But what is the show actually saying about race? That's one of the main questions we try to unpack in the new Low Key podcast.

Every week on Low Key, your hosts Aaron Lanton, Keith Dennie and Tim Molloy talk about pop culture moments we think others may have missed, often through a racial lens. We like comic books and superheroes. Watchmen seems made for us.

And we do like Watchmen. The acting, cinematography, and music are top-notch. But like most people who watch the show, we have no idea where it's going. Does it have something new or unique to say about how the issues in the show parallel those in the real world? What we're hoping it isn't doing is using race as a plot device. Our continued watching of Watchmen amounts to our giving it the benefit of the doubt that there's an important payoff coming up.

We also talk this episode about lower-stakes mysteries, like what's become of Doctor Manhattan, and where Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons) is being help captive. We aren't 100 percent convinced its on Earth.

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes. And check out the MovieMaker Interviews podcast for that Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Dolemite Is My Name) interview that comes up at the end of this episode.

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Eddie Murphy's Dolemite Is My Name shows how Rudy Ray Moore became a black independent moviemaker—and became a role model for future DIY artists. In the latest "Low Key" podcast, we talk about how Rudy Ray Moore's Dolemite helped blaze a still-difficult trail for Tyler Perry, Robert Townsend, and other DIY moviemakers who continue to inspire.

On every episode of "Low Key," we discuss subtle aspects of movies, television and other pop culture that we think deserve more attention.

This week, we talk about how Rudy Ray Moore influenced not only hip-hop music, but cinema. Would hip-hop exist without Dolemite? Is Quentin Tarantino a hip-hop moviemaker? These are just a few of the questions we address.

We also talk about the difference between cultural appropriation and polishing and improving other people's routines, and where Rudy Ray Moore belongs in that conversation. And we talk about whether white director Craig Brewer and white writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski do a good job of telling Rudy Ray Moore's story.

If you haven't seen Dolemite Is My Name yet, we recommend checking it out before listening to the podcast. Besides Eddie Murphy, the film also stars Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Titus Burgess, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Wesley Snipes.

Here are some highlights of our talk, with time stamps:

2:15: What we liked about Dolemite Is My Name

3:00: How Rudy Ray Moore helped influence hip-hop 

6:35: Why Quentin Tarantino is a very hip-hop moviemaker

6:50:The connection between Dolemite and Grimm fairy tales

9:30: Connecting Dolemite Is My Name and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

12:00: Those amazing martial arts scenes

16:50: How Tyler Perry subverted traditional distribution channels in a way similar to Rudy Ray Moore

25:30: Did the white director and writers do a good job telling this story?

28:30: That great detail about D'Urville Martin and lighting.

37:50: Eddie Murphy's "Dolemite parties"

39:45: How many samurai could one woman kill?

Follow us on Instagram: @thelowkeypod

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How well does the CW’s “Batwoman” fit into the network’s other DC shows and the Batman universe? And would we rather see a new standalone heroine with no ties to either?

Every week on “Low Key,” your co-hosts Aaron Lanton, Keith Dennie and I talk about pop culture moments we think others may have missed. This week, we revisit “Batwoman,” which we previously discussed over the summer, based only on the trailer. Now we’ve seen the show and want to give “Batwoman” its due.

First, the things we like: Batwoman does a stellar job of representing people who have traditionally been underseen in comic-book adaptations, and in entertainment overall: Women, people of color, LGBTQ characters. Ruby Rose's Kate Kane, the anchor of the show, is a step forward for lesbian visibility and could be an important role model.

What we're less sure about it how well "Batwoman" distinguishes itself from Batman. We want the storylines to make a harder break from the familiar Gotham tropes, and callbacks to past Batman stories. There are many promising elements of the show, notably Rachel Skarsten's portrayal of Alice, and we're curious to see where "Batwoman" goes.

Here are some of the main subjects of our talk, with time stamps.

2:30: "A lot of things about the show do work for me."

2:53: "I've always been a fan of 'Smallville.'"

4:40: Does the "Batwoman" pilot have too much backstory?

9:50: The Alice stuff is good, and how the second episode improves on the first.

23:10: Would Luke Fox be a good Batman?

24:50: Side note: How we feel about Zoe Kravitz playing Catwoman?

26:30: Some praise for "Zombieland: Double Tap"

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