The Projectors

PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS (AKA DENZEL MONTH) has been a hell of a time and it’s been fun to examine the lives of such cornerstone actors in Paul Robeson and Denzel Washington. Those two men seem very different in personality but for this final edition of our theme, Denzel takes on a role that might be the closest to Robeson’s preferred type. A struggling, hardworking, family man trying to make ends meet in a medical emergency. It was a hit during a time when random dramas seemed to be seen, though not much of it gets said even in context of the Denzel oeuvre and broader film culture. A very direct critique of the U.S. medical system in Nick Cassavetes’s absolutely dripping melodrama from 2002, “JOHN Q.”. Denzel is the obvious everyman who successfully holds his own dramatic weight. It also stars Kimberly Elise, James Woods, Anne Heche (RIP), Robert Duvall and Ray Fuckin’ Liotta. We miss you Ray. The people finally get a little propaganda in this far from perfect story that occasionally brushes up against “ridiculous”. Charming family dynamic with a few good dramatic moments and maybe a little misdirected in its cleanliness through the home stretch. Nonetheless, we can all relate to dealing with our shitty medical system. So long January’s theme.

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Sadly, our five film examination of the legendary Paul Robeson for this month’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS end here. But we go out on Paul’s personal pick for his favorite looking back on his unique career. We’re talking about the struggle and heroisms of miners in Wales and the singing stranger that came along to make their choir better and soothe the struggle. We’re talking about the 1940 British film “THE PROUD VALLEY” starring Paul Robeson as “David Goliath” and co-starring Edward Chapman, Edward Rigby and Simon Lack. Them Welsh boys got it rough and shit might have to get….ORGANIZED! Well, London needs that coal to fight Hitler so can the Cymry posse and their new baritone buddy safely get these mines going? Hear us tell of it or just watch it here first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyNWpRY5lH8 RIP to the man, Paul Robeson, a man beyond his time at any time.

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It’s the last full week of our PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS theme and we end it with Edward Zwick’s dripping military melodrama “COURAGE UNDER FIRE” from 1996. Denzel Washington plays a veteran military fellow who accidentally blasted his own men during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991. The government puts a bow on it and sticks him in a desk job. Now he has to review for a posthumous Medal of Honor candidate AND OH MY GOD THE NOMINEE IS A GIIIIIIIIIRL!!!!!!!! Did they inoculate her for cooties!? Cooties are very serious! Almost as serious as this movie. Anyway, Captain Karen is played by Meg Ryan who is also southern. Captain Karen is southern, I mean. Meg Ryan is from Connecticut. She gets to be the “Tex” in this military movie and she commands this whole troop. But what in the name of Uncle Sam’s beard lice happened out there? Also starring a gaunt Matt Damon and a sad Lou Diamond Phillips. What happened to Captain Karen? Hear us tell it.

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Our theme: PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS examines two significant black leading men from both ends of film history but just go ahead and call it DENZEL MONTH. We finally get to a Tony Scott film today. This over stylized, overwrought, over cooked hard action thriller is a wild ride that feels like it gets away with some goofy shit. Deceptively slow and visually rapid. Cuts like crazy and some very memorable torture scenes. Yeah, dude, what else could we be talking about other than the 2004 Tony Scott escapade of destruction “MAN ON FIRE” starring our guy Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken and Marc Anthony? The bullet never lies. Revenge is a meal best eaten cold. You have a bomb up your ass. This and many more gems in this wild, early post 9-11, feature. Revel in the torture. SOAK IN IT!!!Denzel and Dakota’s friendship actually feels genuine. Wow, that Denzel Washington is pretty good at this gig.

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This month’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS digs us deeper into the film history of Paul Robeson. Soured greatly on the post-production outcome of his previous British film, “Sanders of the River”, Robeson asserted more creative control for his follow up feature “JERICHO” from 1937. Directed by Thornton Freeland. Robeson stars as Jericho Jackson, a U.S. soldier in WW1 who accidentally kills a commanding officer while rescuing some of his fellow soldiers. He jets off on a stolen boat with a snappy AWOL American to a North African desert scape where they help a small village prosper. “JERICHO”, like many Robeson features are deep cut in the greater film zeitgeist and yet often feature certain representative traits that just might hold several firsts for the history of cinema and African American History itself. Also, you know my man is in this picture soothing those desert hotties with his warm baritone from atop the tallest sand dunes. He’s pulling Sudanese Princesses up in this piece and his wisecracking white sidekick is off tending to the camels. That’s shit you don’t even see today. Camels are fun to look at. Here’s the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xwKPeyfuwg

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This month’s theme is called PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS but we understand if you want to call it DENZEL MONTH because that’s mostly what it is. We’re capping off this week’s selections of lead characters holding power with the most recent film in our Denzel celebration. We’re talking about Joel Coen’s 2021 adaptation of Macbeth called “THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH” and it looks pretty amazing. It stars Denzel Washington, Frances MacDormand (sorry we misspelled your name on the scroll), Kathryn Hunter & Brendan Gleeson. It was a film made on a soundstage, delayed by pandemic and had a limited theatrical release that is only streamable on Apple Plus or TV or whatever the shit it’s called. I’m gonna put all these streaming services into one bigger service and call it “cable”. That’s my modern dad joke. I’m not a father but your mom calls me “daddy” every night. Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires. Out you goddamn spot. Fley-Hive rise up.

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This month’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS has us analyzing two, distinct, black leading men but the majority of the month is dedicated to Denzel Washington. This week we watch some portrayals of powerful men and this one is based on a true story though many of the real life players involved might dismiss much of it but it makes Frank Lucas look swag so he’s the least of the refuters. Yes, Denzel portrays real life gangster Frank Lucas. The Godfather of Harlem ran a heroin empire where he smuggled the good shit directly from a Vietnamese supplier through transport coffins with the help of the U.S. Military. Uh, allegedly. Denzel’s Frank Lucas is fairly wise and quite smooth but the screen is shared with Frank Lucas’s prosecutor AND LATER defense attorney, Richie Roberts, as portrayed by Russell Crowe. Also co-starring Josh Brolin as an obscenely corrupt NYPD with a broad cast of many rappers and well regarded actors. We haven’t even named the movie so I guess I can say that we’re discussing the 2007 gangster/crime film “AMERICAN GANGSTER” directed by the prolific Ridley Scott. We got to a Ridley Scott Denzel picture before we got to a Tony Scott Denzel picture. Tony Scott is next week. In the meantime, keep with the hustle. That’s honestly not a motto of mine. I’ve never said that or typed it out before in my life.

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January’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS has us examining some of the works of two major black leading men in film and our Monday classic selections revolve around a man that would be ahead of his time at any time, Paul Robeson. We’ve seen him silent and now it’s time for the talkies as Paul Robeson plays the lead character of Brutus Jones in Dudley Murphy’s 1933 adaptation of the Eugene O’Neil play “THE EMPEROR JONES”. Jones hits some ups and downs and finds himself a crafty little despot on a small Caribbean island but getting power and keeping it are two different things. Featuring, for the first time this month, is Paul Robeson doing what he was very famous for doing. Singing. It’s pretty nice. We watched an excellent remaster from the Robeson Criterion collection (the title of that is what we named this month’s theme after) but there are other free versions online that you can find such as right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=suYeWvhFxwQ 

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We end week two of our PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS theme with a rare romance in the Denzel Washington oeuvre. Is it getting hot in here or is it just this muggy Mississippi atmosphere because I am totally chubbing out. We discussed Mira Nair’s hidden gem of ethnic culture clash from 1991, “MISSISSIPPI MASALA” starring Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth & Charles S. Dutton. Not only will this movie chub you out but it will also educated you about the history of Ugandan Indians and their migration to middle of nowhere Mississippi. Indian and black culture come together as hotel employee Mira falls for a hunky carpet cleaner named Demetrius. It doesn’t all go smoothly but after watching this one you might feel a little robbed that we so rarely get to see Denzel romancing the bone. It’s a very sharp and character rich romance and you can actually watch this hidden gem at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQrw_s28qA So click that link and hit play on that and prepare to be chubbed and charmed.

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This month’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS has us examining two distinct black leading men from across the history of film but you can also just call it DENZEL MONTH because most of what we are discussing stars Denzel Washington and we can’t do a Denzel month without a Spike Lee project so why not go with his ambitious and engrossing 1992 biopic “Malcolm X”. Denzel plays the iconic historical figure who turned into a spokesman for black nationalism and pan-africanism who was shot down by the religious and political institution he helped lift up. Denzel Washington has a classic leading man style that sets him apart from other actors but this may be his most embodied and methodical performance in his career. At least it felt that way. He is an actor after all. Love and Race is this week’s sub theme and with love also comes great tragedy. It’s easy to be lost between the truth and the performance in this film and it would seem the most notable difference would be the direct omission of Louis Farrakhan who, allegedly, made threats on Spike when he was making this movie. Baines seems to be the amalgam that holds pieces of the things that are missing. As usual, the truth may be darker. We gotta bring those zoot suits back in style.

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