Flashback 1970: My top 10 favorite movies from 50 years ago

Here I go again with another one of my best of/top ten lists looking back decades prior. I've already done 2010, 2000, 1990, and my favorite year for movies (probably) 1980 -- which leads me to a tougher nut to crack -- 1970. I've made no secret about my deep affinity for films of the 1970s. Their brooding cynicism is much more my speed than the colorful 80s or self-aware snark of the 90s.

And yet, the first year of the decade is easily my least favorite (when it comes to movies).

Chalk it up to hangover from the 1960s -- a mixed bag of a decade when it comes to exciting cinema. The end of the decade produced a hell of rally, with films like Bonnie & Clyde and Easy Rider blowing off the doors of the Hollywood establishment.

But the real new Hollywood era didn't kick in proper until the 1970s, and the there was only a little bit of the counter-culture on supply in the first year. After all, this is a year when a biopic about a maniacal WWII era general (albeit an excellent one) was the year's biggest movie.

All of this is a roundabout way of me saying that this isn't the strongest list and I actually struggled to get to a full 10 faves, but here we go...

10) The Honeymoon Killers - A deeply weird and darkly funny movie featuring an unforgettable lead performance by character actress Shirley Stoler. Apparently based on a true story, this black & white B movie follows a couple's adventures defrauding and murdering unsuspecting women. On the surface it may seem a little stilted but then the jarring violence jolts you and you recognize the film is onto something more.

9) The Ballad of Cable Hogue - A kindler, gentler entry in director Sam Peckinpah's filmography. It's another western -- but Cable Hogue is no gunslinger -- he's an amiable loser played to perfection by a very hirsute Jason Robards. A charming, episodic little movie that demonstrates Peckinpah was capable of more than just button-pushing pyrotechnics

8) Darker Than Amber - A hard to find, very entertaining gem. An old school mystery yarn with lots of authentic Florida atmosphere. Starring one of the more underrated leading men of the era -- Rod Taylor -- giving a bad ass performance in this, exemplified by a final fight scene which feels like one of the most brutal, realistic bouts of fisticuffs I've ever seen in a movie.

7) The Bird with the Crystal Plumage - The movie that made a name out of Italian horror maestro Dario Argento. It's less obtuse and features less supernaturalism than some of his later masterpieces, but many of the hallmarks of Argento's signature style are all here. The plot doesn't necessarily hold together, but visually it's a dreamy stunner.

6) The Landlord - A thoughtful and resonant look at race and gentrification from the great director Hal Ashby. Beau Bridges makes a surprisingly good leading man in this comedy-drama about an affluent white man who inserts himself into the lives of his black tenants. Scene-stealing performances from Lee Grant and Louis Gossett, Jr., and some searing insights about white fragility 50 years early.

5) Joe - Another movie that may have been ahead of its time. Think of it as a biopic of a Trump supporter on the darkest timeline. In a remarkable performance, Peter Boyle plays a bitter, bigoted psychopath whose hatred for the counter culture takes a violent turn. Like the next film on this list, this movie was championed by some for the wrong reasons.

4) Patton - This massive hit, which won George C. Scott a Best Actor Oscar (and he infamously refused to accept it) at first glance is a big, bold, flashy war film celebrating the iconic general's World War II exploits, but it also a character study of an egomaniac with an addiction to conflict. Smart viewers will pick up on the character's ambiguities and flaws, others can enjoy this for what it is, a stirring, epic war film.

3) Five Easy Pieces - A moving drama featuring one of Jack Nicholson's great leading man performances. He plays a well-to-do young man (with concert pianist abilities) who has tried to remake himself as a blue collar average joe. But when he drawn back into his old life and family conflicts, his veneer (forgive me) comes to pieces. A sensitive and quietly sensational movie.

2) Beyond the Valley of the Dolls - Director Russ Meyer's crowning achievement -- a sexy, bizarre and unrelentingly silly romp that mocks everything the 60s represented. Oddly enough it was co-written by the late film critic Roger Ebert and it has some of the most brutal tonal shifts I've ever seen in a movie, but it's wildly entertaining and in on the joke. A can't miss.

1) M*A*S*H - It's not even close. This irreverent anti-war comedy is what made Robert Altman famous and it's easy to see why. Its dated sexism aside, it's a sharply funny send up of the hypocrisy and absurdity of war, and it has darker shadings too in the form of grisly surgery scenes (the film is a about a medical unit in the Korean War). The movie made unlikely stars of Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould and kicked off one of the most remarkable runs a director has ever had.

PAST TOP 10 FAVORITE LISTS
1974 #1 movie - The Godfather Part II
1975 #1 movie - Nashville
1976 #1 movie - Taxi Driver
1977 #1 movie - Star Wars
1978 #1 movie - The Deer Hunter
1979 #1 movie - The Jerk
1980 #1 movie - The Shining
1984 #1 movie - Ghostbusters
1985 #1 movie - Fletch
1986 #1 movie - Blue Velvet
1987 #1 movie - The Untouchables
1988 #1 movie - Coming to America
1989 #1 movie - Batman
1990 #1 movie - The Grifters
1994 #1 movie - Pulp Fiction
1995 #1 movie - Heat
1996 #1 movie - Fargo
1997 #1 movie - Boogie Nights
1998 #1 movie - The Big Lebowski
1999 #1 movie - Eyes Wide Shut
2000 #1 movie - Nurse Betty
2004 #1 movie - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 #1 movie - A History of Violence
2006 #1 movie - Casino Royale
2007 #1 movie - There Will Be Blood
2008 #1 movie - The Wrestler
2009 #1 movie - Inglourious Basterds
2010 #1 movie - The Social Network

'Eurovision' is cute but not the Will Ferrell comeback I want

I used to eagerly anticipate Will Ferrell movies. He'd become, in the 2000s (following his great run on Saturday Night Live), the best and most reliable comic actor in the movies. He had a wild, improvisational, unpredictable energy that made his mainstream comedies that much more quotable, subversive and worth periodically revisiting.

And then something strange happened. He didn't stop being funny but the movies did. Other than his underrated Anchorman sequel in 2013, he's had disappointment after disappointment. Plenty of his films have made money -- the Daddy's Home franchise for instance -- but Ferrell movies stopped feeling live must see events for me.

When I saw the trailer for his new film alongside Rachel McAdams -- Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (yeah, its a mouthful) I was at least a little optimistic. I must admit I know nothing about Eurovision. I've heard the word but know nothing else about the event, so I probably could never have appreciated the film much. But I wasn't an expert in male figure skating either, and Blades of Glory was still a hoot.

Sadly, Eurovision is just ok. It's got some nice laughs here and there, and a very cute streak -- but it's far too long and far too simplistic to be anything special. Ferrell and McAdams play an earnest Icelandic duo (there's an unfunny running gag about them not knowing for sure if they're related) who are clearly talented but whose ambitious performances always turn into a disaster.

Because of an absurd twist of fate -- I won't spoil one of the better gags in the movie -- they gain entry into the highly competitive Eurovision contest, and well, you can easily predict the rest.

Ferrell and McAdams have good chemistry together -- although they don't feel entirely plausible as a romantic couple. Ferrell impressively does his own singing, whereas McAdams largely lip syncs her part. Their songs are quite good but the effect of quite so many bombastic pop tunes and performances is numbing.

Most disappointing though is Ferrell is playing yet another one of his stock man-children. He's in his 50s now -- he looks good, hasn't lost a step -- but he also hasn't seemed to find another gear in the way that say Steve Martin or Bill Murray did. I don't think he needs to take on more dramatic roles necessarily -- the more emotional scenes in Eurovision feel awkward -- but I do wish he'd make more sophisticated comedies.

So far, only director Adam McKay has been able to push him in stranger more interesting territory -- their collaborations are all Ferrell's best. They are looser, crazier affairs that aren't as generically plotted as this is.

Eurovision could have easily been turned into a drama or starred any number of actors,  although I'm told Ferrell's wife is Swedish, so perhaps that explains his connection to this watchable but ultimately forgettable flick.

I'm still holding my breath for another unforgettable one.

Michael Keaton's 'Batman' return may be a mixed blessing

Today, I got movie news I've been dreaming of. My favorite Batman in my favorite Batman movie is potentially returning to the role almost 30 years later. Michael Keaton is reportedly in talks of reprising the role of as a older man in an alternative timelines within the upcoming big screen edition of The Flash, see there's a catch.

The Flash is a great character and certainly. potentially worthy of his own big screen treatment. The problem is, as they have with many things, DC Comics has screwed up already. For some reason, preternaturally pubescent looking Ezra Miller was cast as the character who they turned into a wisecracking upstart, almost like a more obnoxious Spider-Man.

He was arguably the most annoying aspect of the tiresome Justice League movie, and if he was that off-putting in small doses, I can't imagine sitting through an entire film with him. Also, a recent incident where he allegedly choked a fan ought to preclude Miller from participating.

This is where the stunt casting of Keaton feels like a cynical ploy to me. Film fans of my generation will flock to get one more glimpse of Keaton in the cowl. His two films with Tim Burton remain beloved pop culture achievements. And when he left the franchise -- with all due respect to the late Joel Schumacher, who passed away today - something significant was lost.

And even though the Christopher Nolan films supercharged the Batman franchise, there has always been a very strong fanbase for Keaton's eccentric but still grounded version. Luckily, the comic books created a blueprint for how to establish an aging Batman within the confines of the DC universe. In fact, entire arcs have been devoted to 'old Batman'.

I've always thought it would be cool to see this version realized on film -- if for no other reason because it'll give stakes to a franchise that hasn't had them in its most recent iterations. Batman is largely an indestructible force in the recent DC offerings, whereas an older, grayer Batman would be more vulnerable and that much more compelling.

There's also the gravitas and history with the role that casting Keaton would bring. He went from being rejected to embraced by fans and his unconventional performance changed how people thought these kinds of heroes could be played and how they could look.

He deserves his OWN movie, not some walk-on or sidekick role in an Ezra Miller movie. We've all sat through disappointing revivals of actors in their iconic roles (The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull anyone). When it's done well -- think Creed or The Force Awakens -- it can be revelatory but when its mishandled it can be very depressing.

I just don't trust the team behind The Flash to get this right. That said, I'll probably have to see it.

Beyond 'Da 5 Bloods': Black history that belongs on the big screen

Frank Wills

One of the biggest takeaways I had from director Spike Lee's acclaimed new Netflix film Da 5 Bloods, and I assume other people do to, is how absurd it is that there hasn't really been (with the notable exception of the Hughes Brothers' underrated Dead Presidents) a deep cinematic exploration of the role black soldiers played in Vietnam.

The fact that there have been so many great Vietnam movies prior to this one -- all of them largely centered on white narratives -- only makes this feel even more egregious.

Meanwhile, thanks to Donald Trump's ignorance and callousness, the Tulsa racial massacre was put on the map for many people. Besides being very effectively rendered in the brilliant HBO series The Watchman, it has never been a cultural moment crystalized for people. It's barely taught in school if at all, and so like so many historic events, it could be well-served by a cinematic treatment.

When it comes to pre-video history, and even when it comes to eras where we have footage, like the '60s and '70s, there are so many subjects and real life stories about the black experience worth exploring. Here are just ten examples of people and events worth interrogating.

Frederick Douglass - Sure he's one of the most famous black American historical figures (even Trump knows his name!) but do people even understand why? His autobiography is just as riveting now as when he wrote it hundreds of years ago. An escaped slave turned activist and legendary orator -- any number of movies (hell, a TV series) could and should be made about his remarkable life.

Marcus Garvey - Talk about a colorful character. The flamboyant black leader -- who embraced and briefly succeeded in establishing a 'back to Africa' movement for African-Americans seeking a more just society is begging for a deeper drive. Dismissed in his day as an eccentric, some of his beliefs seems downright prescient today, and his heyday (the 1910s and 1920s) is one of the least explored and yet most crucial periods of black history.

Bass Reeves - You may have seen this incredible badass's story dramatized on Drunk History, and sadly that's probably the only place you've seen it, which is insane. This guy was a former slave who became the first black US marshal. He compiled an amazing record of over 3,000 arrests and is rumored to be the real inspiration for The Lone Ranger. I see a Jamie Foxx action movie here.

Matthew Henson - Outdoor adventurism is usually treated as the sole province of white men, but this black man broke boundaries as an explorer and may have been the first American to reach the North Pole. His exploits were largely overlooked during his lifetime but would make for an exciting action film now. It could be a buddy movie, after all he did some of his most incredible work alongside a white man, Robert Peary.

Ida B. Wells - This woman's story (chronicled in a terrific biography by Paula J. Giddings) has long been a very inspirational one to me, and also a harrowing one. In the early 20th century, she waged a dangerous, lengthy and largely under-appreciated crusade to expose America's brutal history of lynchings. She paid dearly in her personal life for wading into this heinous practice but also played a crucial role in the far too late crackdown on it.

Josephine Baker -What if I told you there was a woman who was not just a bisexual breakthrough crossover song and dance woman but later a spy on behalf of the United States? How is this person not being played by Beyonce like yesterday? She was once one of the most famous performers in the world and now far too few people even know her name.

Fred Hampton - One of the most heartbreaking (and truly prescient) events of the black power movement was the brutal police murder of Fred Hampton. He was gunned down by Chicago police after emerging as a gifted orator who was able to united black radicals and white working people all for the cause of liberation and equality. Who knows what he could have become, but even in his short life he shook up the world.

Ruby Bridges - When she was only 6 years old, this incredible woman faced down potentially violent racist hordes just to integrate a school in Louisiana back in 1960. She had to have armed guards get her in and out of school, where all but one teacher was too racist to even be willing to instruct her. Many people may recognize the iconic and moving Norman Rockwell painting inspired by her, but her actual experience and story should be dramatized in more detail.

John Carlos and Tommie Smith - People have probably seen the image of these two track stars raising their fists in defiance at the 1968 Olympics, but not many folks know the journey that brought them to that unforgettable moment or the devastating fallout and backlash they experienced for doing it. Why not spend money on validating their courage instead of mounting a production of Cats that nobody asked for.

Frank Wills - This one only recently came to my attention -- the man who discovered and reported the Watergate break-in was a black security guard. Woodward and Bernstein got all the credit, but if Wills hadn't been vigilant that night, Richard Nixon's corruption and crimes might never have been exposed. Wills' life was pretty much ruined by this act and he wound up living in poverty. His historic role in changing US history warrants a closer look.

'Da 5 Bloods' revisited: Spike Lee shows Trump supporter humanity

I've only watched Da 5 Bloods and I am already obsessed. It's not my favorite movie (although it is easily the best one I have seen this year) but it is my favorite kind of movie, one where even it's flaws are interesting and its surface level plotting offers so much subtext that it's worth talking about long after you've finished watching it.

For instance, must has and will be made out of the role that Trump plays literally and figuratively in this movie. Casual viewers of this movie may scoff at the Make America Great Again iconography in this movie -- especially given the fact that director Spike Lee is such a vocal detractor of the president's. I will say Lee's use of Trump and Trumpism in this film is a bold stroke that could have backfired, but I think is deployed in this film in a way that winds up being profound. Let me explain..

I have often wondered how we will ever be able to reconcile the Trump era, even if it should come to an end in less than a year. Families were torn apart by this presidency — literally  and figuratively. People have gone to great extremes in their fidelity to this president, and those sins will not easily be forgotten, especially by his opponents.

Ironically Lee, a man whose made a career out of making some white Americans uncomfortable, has given life to the most sympathetic characterization of a Trump supporter I’ve ever seen in a Hollywood film (not that there have been many). And Lindo’s character is no caricature of a black Republican like you’d see in a very funny Key and Peele sketch. He is very tough, smart, and proud of his culture. 

He is also righteously angry with what he sees as the inequities of his country and he has latched onto Trump as a vengeful vessel to “get his,” as I imagine a lot of his other supporters did too. Whether he actually has benefited from Trump’s president isn’t fully clear, he has traveled halfway across the world to retrieve hidden treasure so let’s presume not much, but that’s not the point — Lindo wants to feel like someone, anyone is fighting for him. And in his mind, Trump is doing that.

As Lee’s sprawling film unfolds it reveals more and more of the trauma that turned Lindo’s PTSD-suffering character into the haunting mess that he is. And as Lindo’s powerful performance and expressive face, brings forth the humanity and pathos of so many broken men. His pain may be tied to race, but almost anyone can relate to someone who feels helpless and scared.

Later, when the Lindo character achieves something akin to a grace note it's jarring to see the Make America Great Again logo prominently on his backwards hat in the frame. Wisely, Lee doesn't linger on it too much. He has, in the past (especially in the wildly overrated Jungle Fever) shown a tendency to state his message with far too little subtlety. I don't know if he's being tempered by the three other scriptwriters here, but here he is thoughtful and restrained.

Everyone else around Lindo mocks or is appalled by his Trump support, which, as often is the case with many Trump supporters, only makes him cling harder to someone who another character in the movie calls "the klansman in the White House."

The MAGA hat also makes an appearance on a much more loathsome character in the movie, but that worked for me too. It felt like Lee was sort of suggesting that a lot of us have a Trump supporter inside us, not literally of course but figuratively or subconsciously. After all, he represents the ultimate selfish ID: Getting yours no matter what or who you have to hurt.

That can be a very attractive, and short term satisfying philosophy to live by. Certainly for broken insecure people, a worldview that prioritizes personal gratification is comforting. And yet, taking that kind of stance as a human being can and most likely will hurt people around you.

It's like the coronavirus. Sure, in an ideal world if someone wants to choose not to wear a protective mask they should have the right not to. Only problem is that their not wearing a mask can make me or someone else sick. And that's a problem. Libertarianism only works if we all occupy our own little self sufficient universes but we don't. Which brings me to my larger point.

I am just as guilty as anyone of hating and failing to understand the hearts and minds of Trump voters. It doesn't help that so many of them hold in their hearts a comparatively irrational hatred of me. I see what their vote has wrought and I wonder how can they sign on for more. I think for them, the feeling is more personal, they look at how frustrated (or in the case of his many rich supporters) or unsatisfied they are in their own lives that they think cynically that no one cares but someone like him.

Da 5 Bloods doesn't offer up a defense or even an excuse for Trump supporters -- but I did feel like it offered something almost resembling a truce.

'Da 5 Bloods' is Spike Lee's most ambitious epic since 'Malcolm X'

The lead characters in Da 5 Bloods are frequently spouting off about history -- both their own personal ones and that of the nation they fought for in Vietnam. They are clearly not removed from their trauma, even almost 50 years later, and through a somewhat improbable quest for some buried treasure they have reinserted themselves into the war that shaped them for better or worse.

This is the center of one of Spike Lee's most fascinating and fantastic efforts to date. This proves his recent success with BlackKklansman was no fluke. Much of not all if I'm not mistaken of that film's writing team has returned here and they have only topped that return to form.

It's clear Lee is a director who can get excessive without some other forces mitigating him -- and yet this film is not without any of the director's eccentric touchstones -- and here everything works. This is a movie where both the villain and hero don a MAGA hat and it feels completely warranted and natural.

Speaking of natural -- my God I have to talk about Delroy Lindo's performance here. This was a guy who seemed suddenly ubiquitous in the 1990s. Spike Lee broke him into the mainstream with strong and memorable supporting turns in Malcolm X and Crooklyn, then Lindo got even more exposure in films like Get Shorty, Ransom and Gone in Sixty Seconds. He was always great and he never really went away, but we never got to see him fully bloom into stardom.

In this role, apparently crafted just for him, Lindo has found that part that should make him a star if not a lock Oscar contender. His Paul is one of Spike Lee's most complex creations. A bitter, PTSD-suffering veteran and a Trump supporter to boot, Lindo's characterization recalls Bogart's in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with a little bit of some of De Niro's classic antiheroes mixed in for good measure.

He is so effortlessly captivating here -- and he is frequently tasked with holding the frame with his unconventionally handsome face, which hasn't seemed to have aged a day since 1996. His character can be cruel and vindictive, but is also full of decades worth of incalculable pain and regret. I had no idea what he was going to do next and where is is headed -- I love characters/performances like that.

Delroy Lindo, Best Actor 2020

He is a tour de force in a cast full of great performers -- and they manage to all stand out as fully formed characters in the midst of gorgeous scenery (it may be Lee's best photographed film besides Do the Right Thing), kinetic battle scenes and a narrative that brilliantly weaves black historical nonfiction from the civil rights era with the narrative conflict taking place in the Vietnam of today.

This is easily Lee's most ambitious movie since Malcolm X, and that movie had Alex Haley's masterpiece of an autobiography to fall back on. In Da 5 Bloods, Lee is really out on a tightrope, taking some big swings, and thankfully, he connects.

And what a time for Lee to have a triumph like this. With coronavirus not just killing over 100,000 Americans (thanks, Trump) but also effectively the movie industry for the past four months. We've had one above average popcorn flick (The Invisible Man) and little else to latch onto in 2020, and here comes Da 5 Bloods, feeling likely a timely, provocative grenade being tossed into the marketplace.

Perhaps it was never intended to play in theaters nationwide (it was produced by Netflix after all) but it certainly would have worked -- there is a nail-biting land mine sequence that is as thrilling as anything Lee has ever shot -- but in this format it can be savored and revisited repeatedly by viewers who have been dying to see a new film worth talking about.

Da 5 Bloods has laid down a marker and a lot of other movies this year will be playing catch up. It's a deceptively sophisticated film and although it is at least partially about America's sins in the past, its not without something to say about it's present and future too. Which feels like a good way to start going back to the movies in 2020.

'You Don't Nomi' validates secret fans of 'Showgirls'

You Don't Nomi is not some smug, snarky takedown of the infamous 'bad' movie Showgirls. Instead, it seriously and soberly explores what makes the movie unforgettable. For instance, I have never taken into account the craftsmanship and its sheer guts.

Adam Nayman, the author of Showgirls: It Doesn't Suck, makes a very compelling case for the movie, in softs tones that belie his earnestness but also his intellect about movies, which is prodigious. For instance he raises the uniquely 90s-2000s phenomenon where there are movies like Forrest Gump and American Beauty, that we convinced ourselves were great and now cinephiles almost universally understand to be bad.

And of course the opposite can be and is often true. People see the value in Cruising now. Blade Runner is now considered required viewing. People forget that a movie like Jurassic Park was not beloved by film critics -- diminished as a theme park ride -- its now valued as one of the great blockbusters. I could go on and on.

Ironically enough, Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers was able to make that transition for whatever reason. People see that it was a very savagely funny satire of America. Nayman posits that Verhoeven's more violent work, rather than his more sexual stuff, was always taken more seriously as art because of the inherent bias of American audiences.

Anyway, Showgirls hasn't quite reached an Ishtar level of modern re-evaluation but its become such a big part of the cultural firmament -- that it was probably inevitable that it would start to be re-examined.

Elizabeth Berkley

Most people would probably concede that the film can be enjoyed as camp but would stop short of suggesting it's some sort of secret masterpiece. And the filmmakers do a smart thing -- in the same style as Room 237 -- instead of boring talking heads you get voiceover from various dissenters and adorers of the film, with clips from other Verhoeven movies often illustrating a narrative.

Some believe (and there is ample evidence to support this) that Verhoeven was very sincere and earnest in his efforts to make a hard-hitting backstage drama about showbiz, while others believe he had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. Some see Showgirls as a story of liberation and other see it as one of the most nakedly misogynist works in cinema history.

Some would even argue that it is and can be all those things.

My own relationship with the movie has evolved over the years. My first exposure to it was probably as an immature teen, curious about all the NC-17 salaciousness. Then one deduces that the film doesn't work as titillation (you almost become numb to the nudity) but it does have a certain brazen  excess to it that is pretty spectacular.

I've started to get to a place where I can say the movie is a mess -- but it an endlessly entertaining and inventive mess. It probably shares some DNA with some of Russ Meyer's movies, which have ideas in them but those ideas are far from profound and probably aren't always landing the way they're intended.

I do believe Verhoeven to be a smart and serious film director -- who, as the film explores in great detail -- definitely seems to have some issues with women (they are often violators or the violated in his films). I think Elle is brilliant. I think Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers are all pretty unassailable.

Showgirls isn't in their league, but it definitely has its director's over-the-top style all over it. And after all these years, I guess I can admit I am a fan. And if like me, you are, You Don't Nomi is probably the most thorough and thoughtful examination of the movie's merits and impact you'll ever see. Certainly, I don't think I'll ever look at Showgirls quite the same way again.

Let's not just reckon with blackface's past, let's end its future

Funny stuff, but let this be the end of it forever.

I'm late to this but late night host Jimmy Fallon has been getting raked over the coals recently for appearing in black make-up to perform an admittedly stellar impression of Chris Rock on Saturday Night Live twenty years ago. It was in bad taste then -- although not widely remarked upon at the time -- but it certainly wasn't meant to be racist or cruel.

The same goes for Darrell Hammond, who darkened up to play Jesse Jackson once and Billy Crystal who made regular appearances in dark makeup to play Sammy Davis Jr., on the show (and he bizarrely brought it back during a recent stint as Oscars host).

These were affectionate parodies at the time, more a reflection of the show's lack of diversity rather than its inherent racism (although the show is not with out its unforgivable moments). Fallon's apology appears to be heartfelt albeit a little awkward as it's arriving now amid heightened racial tensions. But talk of 'canceling' him because of a role he played in a sketch feels wildly overdramatic to me.

If we want to go that route, the movies are in even more trouble. You have hundreds of legacy brown-face movies like West Side Story, which are beloved but should not be given a pass for casting white actors to play people of color. It's shameful but also an important marker of what Hollywood was at that time. It's not perfect now, obviously. But we've at least reached a point where there would be appropriate outrage if a white actor tried to play a black historical figure now.

The whitewashing of fictional characters is still a work in progress though.

I myself have unapologetically enjoyed comedies that have dipped a toe into blackface. Mind you, this is not the vaudeville stuff of Al Jolson, which was particularly hateful and virulently racist. These are moments like the one in Silver Streak, where Gene Wilder buffonishly tries to pass as black to Richard Pryor's chagrin, or Trading Places, where Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy pose as international students.

I totally understand why these moments would play horribly if they came out today and they should never be recreated, but I understand how they were funny in the context and period in which they came out.

Robert Downey Jr is uproariously funny in Tropic Thunder, as a white man who has dyed his skin black in a completely insane and vain act of method performing. The joke is on his character, even if he is speaking in an exaggerated stereotypically black accent throughout. The point is he is representing the height of white prestige actor pomposity -- that he can even play a black man if he just commits hard enough. Still satire and all, it's probably the last time anyone could or should go back to this well for comedic purposes. It worked in 2008. It works as a curio now. But never again.

I think its fair to say that going forward black people should be playing black people and white people can stick to the 99.9% of roles they are already getting. I think we need to be both cognizant of the history of this 'art form' -- which as Spike Lee's underrated movie Bamboozled conveyed -- was sometimes subversively used by black performers like Bert Williams -- and aware of the fact that many times its been used (particularly in comedy) without malice but still irresponsibly. It was treated the same way having a man perform as a woman in drag was -- kind of a lark.

The pain it can cause was neutralized. But now, no more. We can accept the past, without entirely excusing it, but then the question comes will we ever tolerate this again -- and will we start holding everyone -- including governors! -- to a higher standard.

My birthday wish this year is that the movies survive

During this terrible, deeply strange period we're living through -- with the double whammy of the coronavirus and George Floyd's murder -- there has been a new normal that we've all had to get used to. Part of that means not seeing movies in theaters, which I might miss more than anything after basic human contact with my friends and family.

Going to the movies was an incredibly huge part of my routine before all this happened. Before I moved to my new apartment in January I was at the Alamo Drafthouse at least once a week because the theater was like a block away. Now, it's a couple subway stops away -- with the equally incredible Nitehawk within walking distance.

Both face an uncertain fate. Neither could function in this environment -- in addition to presenting all the obvious problems a movie theater does right now -- these places special feature is they both serve food (very good food, albeit bad for you) during screenings. Basically you're begging to spread germs or in this case a virus in a place like this.

I'm not a moron and I get there are far more important things that need to eventually open up before the movies -- although the I am sure underpaid people who work at theaters are definitely in need of financial relief -- but goddamn it I miss it so.

Going to the movies, for me, is my favorite form of escapism. I love the waves of laughter or gasps from an audience. I love the trailers. I love the sound. I love discussing what I just saw (usually, with my wife Liz) when it's over.

I usually do enough reading in advance that I rarely am too disappointed when the lights come back up. There's probably nothing that drives me more insane than people talking during the movies (ok, Trump supporters) -- and every outing is a role of the dice -- but it's a testament to how much I love the filmgoing experience that I tempt fate again and again.

Tenet

The mass shooting incidents that have happened far too many times for comfort at theaters have always made me more anxious -- I still go -- although I do find myself planning my escape route before the lights go down.

I know one day when I have kids I won't be able to go as much or at all for a long while, so I think part of the appeal is I know this is a fleeting pleasure that will become a smaller part of my life as the years pass on.

Because of on-demand and streaming, you can get caught up on almost everything -- even though some films by the nature demand to be seen on a massive screen. This is perhaps why the expensive Tenet, Christopher Nolan's new film, is the movie yet to succumb to the coronavirus. The Bond movie, No Time to Die, is still on tap for the fall, but every other big budget extravaganza has been pushed to 2021 or delayed indefinitely. People are literally asking if movie theaters are even going to exist anymore.

I'm cautiously optimistic. There's no communal experience quite like watching a movie in a theater. And with the whole world on the case, I am hopeful that a vaccine is coming, if not as quickly as Trump wants to pretend it will. When that day comes -- and to be real it still won't be available widely enough -- I think people will run back to the movies again just to enjoy the freedom of that experience and the pleasure of being in a crowd again.

I know when it's safe I will be running to my local multiplex. Even if it starts to fall out of fashion -- I want to get in as many screenings as I can while I can.

Today is my birthday, I won't tell you the number because it depresses me, but take my word or it that I am almost fully middle aged. In fact I might already be unless I live longer than the average black guy. For a myriad of reasons, I don't feel like celebrating anything.

I'll wait to celebrate, when I can sit in a room with the lights out with a bunch of strangers and be transported someplace else, hopefully much better than the world we're in right now.

'Seberg' is an unsatisfying movie about a fascinating subject

Given the unrest and outrage all around the country in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis -- you'd think Seberg, a biopic (currntly on Amazon Prime) about the white actress Jean Seberg who became a target of the FBI after she became the financial backer of black radicals.

But unfortunately, it's too lifeless and ordinary. Kristen Stewart, who plays Seberg, never stops seeming like a child playing dress up. She's a good actress but she is also so contemporary that I never bought her as a '60s radical or as a woman increasingly descending into paranoid panics.

In one of the movie's more effective scenes her character is accused of being a cultural 'tourist' a black female rival. The insult doesn't feel that wrong and the movie doesn't have a clear point of view either way on her activities, it's passive about what ought to make it powerful.

How about a Fred Hampton movie Hollywood?

The movie also presents Seberg fully formed as the ultimate woke white girl. There doesn't need to be some profound explanation, but there does need to be some context for why this white woman took tremendous risks with her money, career and personal life, all in the same of solidarity with the black power movement.

It could and should have been a really interesting look at the perils of trying to be an ally but also an expose on how the justice department has been historically been used as cudgel to ruin the life of lefty people who have committed no crime.

The film doesn't even take the time to establish how and why Seberg was a star. The film recreates moments from her most famous role -- in Jean-Luc Godard's groundbreaking film Breathless -- but if you aren't already familiar with that movie or her -- it'll be meaningless.

Also sketchily drawn are the black activists who Seberg literally and figuratively got into bed with. None of them -- including Anthony Mackie who brings nothing new or attractive to his role of a activist who seduces her. We get very little if any cultural context -- what were the Black Panthers' goals? Why were the FBI obsessed with destroying them? I know the answers to this question because I've studied it but if you're coming into this cold -- as I imagine many young Stewart fans will -- you will learn nothing.

That's especially disappointing at a time where the nation is grappling with how best to elevate black voices -- it feels awkward to be reveling in a white woman's discomfort at being monitored by the authorities, when black people were literally being killed by them.

Worst of all though, the movie is boring. The costumes are gorgeous but there is no there there.

A very good movie could be made about this subject -- maybe one more focused with a stronger point of view. If Jean Seberg really was a sincere ally and radical -- I'd like to interrogate why and how she used her clout for good. And if she was just a dilettante, I think that's interesting too.

Instead we have this half baked bio -- which ends so abruptly that I found myself wondering why it even need to exist in the first place.

How about a really good biopic about the Black Panthers? Jean Seberg could be a not insignificant character in it -- but the story of how they openly sought and recruited white allies is an interesting one that hasn't really interrogated in the movies yet. Sigh. Next time...