Idris Elba

Thoughts On ‘A Most Violent Year’

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I can’t help but perceive a certain distance implied in the title A Most Violent Year. It’s as if the speaker is regarding the year in question with an intimate knowledge of the violence referenced without having actually been a part of it, per se. It’s reminiscent of when one hears of the untimely death of someone one doesn’t know personally and remarks something along the lines of “how tragic;” acknowledging the loss without feeling it. That sort of detachment lays at the heart of the journey of Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) in J.C. Chandor’s film. Continue reading →

Defaulting To Whiteness III: Racist Morons Lose Their Minds Over A Black Stormtrooper

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The way some racists reacted to John Boyega’s face popping up in the first teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens reminds me of the Dave Chappelle sketch where Neil Brennan’s head explodes after the blind black klansman takes off his hood. One thing confuses me though; are the racists upset that there’s a black stormtrooper or that there’s a black actor in the film at all? If it’s the latter, they’re even dumber than I thought they were, because that ship has sailed long ago. If it’s the former, I think I understand the nature of this idiocy, which I’ll explain below.  Continue reading →

‘Sherlock,’ ‘Luther,’ ‘True Detective’ & The Golden Age of Television Crime Drama

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Surely we are in the midst of a Golden Age of the episodic crime drama. Between Sherlock, True Detective, Luther, Broadchurch, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Top of the Lake, and a plethora of enormously successful CBS procedurals that I admit I have never seen but people seem to enjoy (NCIS, Elementary, post-Petersen CSI). I have seen Criminal Minds several times (its a favorite of my parents) and have usually enjoyed it, but for a variety of reasons, traditional procedurals favored by the likes of CBS in particular and networks in general don’t really fit into my main argument, which I’ll present herein.  Continue reading →