Episode Transcript
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Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (00:00):
Hey, I'm Reggie.
Ponder the Real Critic and thisis the Real Critics Network.
I have Katya Woods in the houseas usual, and we are getting a
double treat because KB isjoining us.
Again, I will tell you is that Ihave the best friends in the
world because one of the thingsthat they do is they say, are we
(00:20):
doing something?
And then when we not doingsomething, they like, Hey, did
you know about this?
And.
If I need to ask about someother things, they'd be like,
yeah, I can help you out.
So I appreciate both of you guysfor being here as usual and
always.
And so I'll start with you,Katia.
How are you?
How are you?
Kathia Woods (00:39):
I'm good.
Still fighting this, the lastbit of this cold.
Still sound a little bit likeKermit the Frog, we gonna push
through.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (00:46):
Kevin was sick and so Kevin got you
sick.
Now Jasper's sick, soeverybody's sick over there.
Kathia Woods (00:54):
I think Jasper's the only one that, that is
living his, still his best life.
He got a little groomingappointment this afternoon to
get his pedicure.
'cause he's tap dancing all overmy floor.
But he is.
He don't know it yet, but he'sabout to get himself together,
or at least I'm about to get himtogether.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Criti (01:10):
I hear that for sure.
Kb I'm glad you could join us asusual.
I know you a little busy, butwhat's going on?
What's going on in general?
Kay-B (01:18):
Thank you for having me.
Yeah.
I too was not feeling well thisweek.
So I am on the up and up now.
Feeling better today.
Much better than the past fewdays, that's for sure.
Looking forward to chattingabout some things that we were
able to see.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (01:35):
All righty.
Well, let's get into it.
I wanna get into our firstsegment and our first segment is
what's on my mind.
And it, Katia actually called meand asked me did I know that
Terrance TT Stern Enzy hadpassed away and I did not.
He was a CCA member.
I can't remember the last timethat I spoke with him, but I
(01:58):
actually, we were talking abouthim coming to Chicago and coming
to the Chicago InternationalFilm Festival.
So it actually really shocked mewhen Kasia came, gave me a call
to, to talk about that.
And I, and I think I, I'm tryingto pull up my what I read outta
Cincinnati.
To give our guy somewhat of agood tribute here.
(02:21):
And what I read at the, theCincinnati Enquirer was the film
critic for Fox 19, artisticdirector of the over the Rhine
International Film Festival,husband, dad, friend, and son.
Terrence TT Stern Enzy diedSeptember 29 and he was 56.
Years of as a lead programmerand curator of the OTR Film
(02:44):
Festival, he began serving asthe artistic director of the
festival in 2021.
And according to a GoFundMe pagefor him, he was diagnosed with
stage four.
Sarah.
Moid renal cancer.
And so his illness was believedto be a bad case of pneumonia.
But after being admitted toChrist Hospital August 3rd, it
was discovered that he had thisrare, aggressive cancer that had
(03:08):
metastasized to both his lungs.
And it's a really sad thing tohear as especially for people
that, I definitely remembertalking to him our last
conversation and just thought Imentioned it.
If you guys like to make anystatements there, feel free.
Kay-B (03:24):
I didn't realize he passed until right now, so
that's very, very sad.
My condolences to him and hisfamily for sure.
Kathia Woods (03:33):
He was really, really kind.
He's a, he was a really gooddude, you know what I mean?
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (03:39):
Yeah.
Kathia Woods (03:39):
And I like when Tim posted a little bit and he
tagged me in some of our grouppictures and I was like, damn.
Normally we see him at Tiffnormally he's there to look at
movies and stuff for hisfestival, and he wasn't there
this year.
Normally we do a little grouppicture too at Tiff, and we see
him at events.
And I was like, oh, snap.
(04:02):
We're all caught up in like ourlittle bubble when we're at
festivals and stuff.
And then to hear that he had acough.
Here's my thing.
And it, and I'm not sure we canprevent anything, but it's so
important for us to go to thedoctor for us to get screenings.
And again, I'm not saying thatwould prevented him from
passing, but.
(04:23):
I do think there needs to be anawareness, and again, we're
losing way too many people inour age bracket.
And my thoughts definitely withhis wife and his children, and
he was a solid dude.
You know what I mean?
Like somebody, it's very hard tofind anybody.
He didn't have a kind word tosay about him, but he was a real
one, as they say, and again,really.
(04:44):
Broke my heart and our CCAcolleagues, you know?
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (04:48):
Yeah.
Kay-B (04:48):
And also just, it's just such a small space, being black
in this space
Kathia Woods (04:53):
and on TV for as long as he was on TV too, to
doing what he did and yeah hewas quite kind.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (05:00):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Gentleman.
I think all those words arereally appropriate.
So no, thanks.
Thanks you guys for for bearingwith me on that one.
I thought it was important to,to mention.
Kathia Woods (05:11):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Like KB says, our littlecommunity of film critics is
very small and it's gettingsmaller.
So when you lose someone whoreally was in that space for so
long and doing so much for thecommunity.
It's a heartbreaker, you know,but again, my heart goes out to
his wife and his children,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (05:30):
For sure.
For sure.
All right, we're gonna, we'regonna move on to our next
segment called What YouWatching?
And this is really tv.
I don't do as much TV as myfriends because they get paid
for doing tv.
I just be watching tv.
But K kb I'm gonna start withyou on what you watching and I
hope it's just not another oneof them.
(05:51):
Love shows.
That's the only thing I hope,that's just, I just hope it's
not.
Kay-B (05:56):
It is.
So first before I talk about thenew season of Love Is Blind
because the first six episodesdropped this week on October
1st.
Before I talk about that, I dowanna shout out a little,
because it is spooky season.
You know, it's October, so it isthe Halloween season.
Apple tv.
Plus has this cute little showcalled The Sisters Grim, and
(06:19):
it's based on the book series.
And so it's very familyfriendly.
It's animated, it's for kids,but basically it's about two
young sisters.
The sister's Grim, their parentsgo missing.
And so they end up, previouslyin, in the foster care system.
And so they had kind of a badrun with one of their foster
care families.
And their grandmother ends upfinding them and so they go to
(06:40):
live with her.
And so she ends up revealingthat they're actually grims and
so that the town that they livein is magical, that their house
is magical and it's just such anadorable little series.
So I just wanted to shout thatout.
First because the episodes areout now on Apple TV plus.
And then I did some interviewswith some of the cast and
they're gonna those are gonnacome out, shortly.
But it's a cute little show.
(07:02):
I watched it so quickly, I saidI know that's right.
Come on.
Spooky season.
And
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (07:06):
Before you get off of that.
I hate when you and Kathia willbe like, oh, I did some
interviews.
'cause you guys do so manyinterviews and talk to so many
people.
Where can we find find theseinterviews?
Kay-B (07:16):
So when this interview drops, it will be on nerd files,
so nerd files.com, and then alsoon our YouTube page.
But yeah, so those will drop atsome point over the weekend to
celebrate the launch of theseries coming
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (07:28):
out.
Oh, ex.
Excellent.
Excellent.
All right.
You know, I'm not gonna watchit.
I know you said it's it's cuteand it's a little spooky.
It's cute.
Kay-B (07:34):
It's cute.
Spooky.
Not real scary.
Reggie, you know, I know youdon't really do true horror
'cause I don't do true horror,but it's adorable.
Spooky.
Okay.
Alright.
Alright.
Like Disney spooky, like you canget into it.
Reggie Ponder, The Ree (07:45):
Alright.
Alright, go ahead.
Go ahead now
Kay-B (07:47):
for what I also watched and you can check out my
interviews on nerd files.com andalso Nerd Files our YouTube
channel.
I got to chat with five of thenew singles.
For Love is Blind.
So we are on season nine, whichseems crazy.
I'm not even gonna lie to y'all.
Like it seems like, I can't evenbelieve we've had nine seasons,
but this is the ninth seasonwe're in Denver.
(08:08):
The premise is still the same.
Get into those pods.
You can't see anything.
And then propose.
And once you propose, see if youhave that physical attraction.
See if you can survive, this oneweek vacation in an exotic
place.
See if you can survive moving intogether just to make it to the
altar.
(08:28):
So it's still that full, sixweek, I think it's six week
total.
Six week total process, frommeeting to marriage.
Okay.
And this season I will say kindof shocked me in a lot of ways.
So we are.
Only the first six episodes havedropped.
More episodes will be droppingnext Wednesday.
But these singles, honey, Imean, when I tell you I was
actually shocked by a lot ofthings this season, I will say
(08:50):
because it is revealed in thefirst six episodes.
We have a single parent, and soI believe this is the first
season that we've had a singleparent before and he has a son
and you know, I meant
Kathia Woods (09:02):
we, we had a parent before, but this one at
least admitted he's a parent.
Kay-B (09:06):
Well, right.
I think, this is the first timelike he is a true, like he's in
a true co-parenting situationwhere he has half the time he
has his son.
And the other half, the son iswith his mother, but this kid is
like the most important thing inhis life.
So I think it's the first timemaybe we've seen we've seen,
'cause you're right, I feel likewithin the last couple of
seasons there was a woman whohad a daughter and she was very,
(09:28):
a great, great great parents.
She was so, so sad to leave her.
But this season, yeah.
So, okay.
I'm sorry.
I misspoke.
We've had single parents before,but this time I think maybe this
is the first time we had asingle father.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong.
Kathia Woods (09:40):
Yeah.
I'm just saying we've, we donehad some people that had kids
in, but he was upfront with it.
He was honest.
He said, I'm a single parent.
Yeah.
From the door.
And that's why he works a jobthat he does.
Because he needs theavailability and stuff.
Right.
Right.
But can we talk about twopeople?
Kay-B (10:01):
Okay.
Kathia Woods (10:02):
Who, brother man, with the, with first of all.
I want my man to go to a realbarber, like his hair was
bothering me.
You mean Edmond?
Is that Edmond?
I don't know.
Kay-B (10:12):
Like what?
Tell
Kathia Woods (10:13):
me what any he tall guy with glasses.
Yes.
Edmond.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, he was giving Urkel vibes,but I'm just like, sir what?
What's going on?
I need her to help him get himtogether in that aspect.
Because he definitely, I waslike he was like, he's single.
'cause he's not the cutestcertain, it's not your looks,
it's your presentation that'sall.
(10:34):
It is given I need a woman'stouch.
I need somebody to come in here.
That's why he's on the show.
But I need a woman to take liketo the barber and get me cool.
But he's not unattractive.
He just look cool.
Not.
He do a little corny.
Kay-B (10:49):
He
Kathia Woods (10:49):
just a little, what did he say,
Kay-B (10:51):
Kaia?
He said, but I got a bodythough.
He, and I said, you know what,no lies told.
He said, but I do work out andI,
Kathia Woods (10:56):
yeah, he weighs a buckle five.
Kay-B (10:58):
So
Kathia Woods (10:59):
he do, he weigh a buckle five, but I'm gonna give
him that.
The Asian dude.
I, okay.
Then the one guy quit the show.
You're further along than me.
The one guy quit the show.
The other girl, well,
Kay-B (11:10):
this happened.
This happened in the first six.
Kathia Woods (11:12):
Yeah.
This one girl quit the show.
Now the one guy quit the show,the other girl was like
ghosting.
And I feel like the Asian guy,she was not his first choice,
which I don't like when they dothat.
And it comes out like later.
Like you just kind of like,because you wanna like, what
were we doing?
Kay-B (11:31):
Are
Kathia Woods (11:32):
you only show famous?
Kay-B (11:33):
So I think you're saying it in reverse.
She was not his first choice.
Okay.
Because his first choice is theone that left.
So like his first choice is theone that left.
And then he ended up saying,okay, let me see if I can work
with, my number two.
But no, his first choice wasdefinitely the one that left.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
I think you said, yeah.
Kathia Woods (11:52):
And also like why do you all keep having these
people?
Like you all need to vet thesepeople.
I think some people just wannabe on the show to be famous at
this particular point thataren't serious about being in a
relationship right now.
Ms.
MAMs, I don't know what her nameis.
Patrick.
Okay, well hold
Kay-B (12:08):
on because that was Patrick.
So Patrick is the guy who endsup choosing Casey.
Yeah, because his first choiceleft.
So who's Ms.
MAMs
Kathia Woods (12:15):
now?
Ms.
MAMs with the career and she haseverything and she has her
business.
Ma'am.
Okay.
We get it.
You're successful.
But clearly you are on the show.
'cause even though yoursuccessful,'cause we know that.
The demographic stated, if youare a successful man with money,
you don't necessarily, most ofthose guys don't want a woman
that's equally yolked.
(12:36):
They want somebody who's prettyand basically wants to cater to
them and wants to stay at homeand have these 4.8 kids.
But in this particular case,like she wants somebody to
match.
What's real estate boy's name Ifeel like on paper they matched
because.
He has, he's ambitious.
(12:57):
And she's ambitious and he hashis own money, but the guy that
she meshed with was the singledad.
But I'm like,
Kay-B (13:06):
yeah, that's Jordan.
And this is Megan.
Yeah.
So
Kathia Woods (13:09):
I'm like so I'm like, he really kind, but you
are gonna have an issue.
The fact that he's not, hedoesn't have money.
And on top of that, I'm like.
Are you ready?
They're a package.
Are you ready to package?
Deal.
So you have to be ready to be aparent.
Yeah.
So like she was really irkingme.
I'm like, okay, on the one handyou have a good man, but you
(13:31):
have a problem with the money.
Got it.
And then on the other hand, yougot a guy who's got the money
and he's a little cocky, and youguys might be competing here
because he's not gonna bend theknee and you don't wanna bend
the knee.
Well see,
Kay-B (13:44):
I actually don't think that's the case with Mike.
So when watching Mike, I meanMike definitely has the money
and like Megan is like, okay,money.
But I think with Mike, he's justtoo similar personality wise.
There we go.
That's what I'm saying.
In the past.
And so I think what she'slooking for is something
different, which is why shelikes Jordan.
But Jordan has, a child andJordan doesn't make as much, so
(14:06):
she really has to have this kindof conversation with herself,
like, Hey, are you willing to bethe breadwinner for the rest?
Of this relationship and also bean instant stepmom because that
does mean things will changewith your schedule dramatically.
Like she works for herself andshe does really well, but it
still is like there's stillday-to-day things that happen
and you'll have to do it.
So yeah,
Kathia Woods (14:27):
TikTok, and you know what?
Go make the money.
And there's nothing wrong withhaving a stay at home dad.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (14:32):
All right.
So we do need to wrap this oneup, but before we do my,
obviously this must be somethingworth watching because Katya,
this wasn't even on your list totalk about.
And you all in it.
You all in.
'cause
Kathia Woods (14:45):
maybe get back in.
I was outta it.
I was outta love's blinds andSharonda was like, oh no, no.
And then as soon as it started,I CC Sharonda.
This is why I didn't wanna beback in it, because we're in
that, we're 15 minutes into thisfirst episode and these people
are irritating me already.
Already.
Well, it
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (15:00):
must be good enough that it got you
hooked.
KB is this one that to staywith.
Kay-B (15:04):
Listen, I think people should watch it.
One, so you know who we'retalking about, who the key
players are, but also that wayyou can kind of dive into
whether or not,'cause you know,I become invested.
I just finished.
Love is Blind uk Okay.
So I'm invested, like, who'sgonna make it to the altar?
Who's gonna make it to thealtar?
And I don't know who's gonnamake it to the altar.
I don't even have my predictionsready right now.
(15:24):
So that's why I'm like, okay.
Okay.
Let's see.
All
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (15:27):
right.
All right.
I I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
Okay.
Katia, what you, what youwatching?
Kathia Woods (15:33):
I'm watching some foolery too.
It's House of Guinness now.
My foolery at least it's makebelieve these people are on a
reality TV show.
My fury is rich, fun,backstabbing all that good
business.
House of Guinness is the, likethe fictionalized story of how
the House of Guinness roastedprominence and infiltrated the
(15:55):
American market.
When I tell you baby, it opensup with the father dying Ms.
Benjamin Sr.
But the man is stillmanipulating everything from the
grave.
Like the way he broke up thiswill, Edward, an author, had the
second oldest kids and theyinherited the brewery, but
(16:16):
author thought he was gonna cometo the funeral, go back and live
his good life in London, and hesaid, hold my beer.
You inherited the brewerytogether.
However, you can't sell out.
If you sell your share to theone brother or the other way
around, you guys don't getanything, so they're stuck at
the hip and author.
You gotta run for office andside note, Arthur's gay, but
(16:40):
everybody knows, but everybodyknows they're not talking about
it.
But he's still gotta get marriedand at some point he gotta
produce a heir, right?
So the sister Ann is the onlybaby.
Is the only girl.
She gets nothing because herhusband has to provide for her.
Who by the way, is a vicarpriest.
Reverend fill in the blanks.
He ain't got no money, but thepoint still is, but she's still
(17:03):
responsible for helping herbrothers find a wife.
Then you have Ben.
Senior Ben Junior who has anamesake, but he's an alcoholic.
So the father said, you notgetting anything, right?
So he goes into the military,but he still has the prestige
and the connection to theGuinness family.
So he also marries for money andthe girl gets, into the family,
(17:27):
right?
So everybody, nobody's marryingfor love.
We're all marrying for prestige.
Now, here's how this thing getsreally interesting.
'cause when they.
Brought in the woman to marryauthor.
She comes from a good family,but her family ain't got no
money and this is their way toget money back.
And they tell her, and this ishow they describe Arthur being
gay.
Are you familiar with author'sinfl flick Infliction?
(17:48):
And she's like, yes.
So in other words, they have tobe a united front because he is
gonna be running for office andshe, he can, of course, being a
man, he can have his fun as longas he's discreet about it, she
can dili and have fun.
But here's a problem.
She had her fun with somebodythat works for the family that
(18:09):
also had a thing with thesister.
And they told her she gotta cutit out because it's too much,
too close.
It's not a good look.
Mind you again, did we mentionthe man is gay?
Anyhow, but then she pretends tohave broken up with the guy, but
really is like, I'm still gonnado me.
So how do you think that's gonnaend?
But the point is it's a lot ofinfighting.
(18:30):
It's really scandalous.
It's fun and the whole family'sa mess.
And every, everybody's scheming.
And there's definitely gonna bea season two because
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Criti (18:40):
A and you like this, you like it?
Kathia Woods (18:42):
I do because it's escape me.
We know what it's, we know it'sa mess that but's other people's
mess.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (18:47):
That's the only thing I wanna know
about that.
And kb, you know, about thisthing.
Kay-B (18:54):
So I know about it, but I haven't watched it yet.
It's something that's on mylist, but I had quite a few
things to watch for interviews,so I had to kind of push it down
a little bit until after I wasdone with that.
But the way Katia is describingit is really sending me like, no
way.
No way.
The Oh, okay, well, you get nomoney.
You get no money, you get no.
Basically,
Kathia Woods (19:12):
daddy was like, I'm gonna die, but before I die
I'm gonna throw this grenade.
Right.
And literally like the daughtersat there and he was like, oh,
you don't need money'cause youhave a husband, even though your
husband ain't got no money.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (19:25):
He said,
Kathia Woods (19:26):
and not only are you not getting any money, but
you still gotta help yourbrothers find women.
Kay-B (19:32):
Yeah.
The dad said, I've been like,I'm going home a husband with no
money, therefore you need tolive poorly.
That's what the dad said.
While your husband,
Kathia Woods (19:39):
while your brothers get to live lavishly.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (19:41):
All right so that's what you are
watching Kaia.
I am watching two shows.
One is called Johnson, and it'sabout four Brother.
I
Kay-B (19:48):
love Johnson.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (19:49):
I, Donna was watching this and I'm
like, what are you watching?
And it's really about these fourbrothers.
I'm not, they're not evenbrothers, they're four guys with
the last name Johnson.
But they act like brothers.
They're from different familiesand it really is about love,
life, tribulations andbrotherhood.
And I like it a lot.
I like the way in which the menare portrayed in the film.
(20:11):
I like the relationships thatthey have in which I don't like,
because some of them are toxic,but I just like how this was
written.
I like how it, shows blackpeople, and I think I, I think
there are 40 episodes I might be10 episodes in.
And Donna has finished theseries.
So that's one of the things I'mwatching, but you saw this kb
Kay-B (20:31):
Yeah, I've seen Johnson.
I loved it.
I've spoken about it often.
It's a really, really goodseries.
I'm not entirely sure.
What, because the creator of theshow actually just dropped the
trailer for the new show that hecreated called Grits, which will
be coming out on all Black.
But yeah, Johnson is a it's areally good show and I'm not
entirely sure.
(20:53):
If season five is gonna happen,I hope it does.
I think I, I think it may havegotten renewed because it comes
on bounce normally, okay.
But yeah I hope.
I hope I'm not wrong, but Ithink it may have been.
I saw it.
I
Kathia Woods (21:08):
cannot, I know what you're talking about.
Kay-B (21:09):
Or season.
I hope we get a season five, butI know that people can watch the
previous Four Seasons on Hulunow
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (21:15):
on Hulu.
That's where I'm watching.
And so that's it.
And then the other thing thatI'm watching is Next Gen Chef.
I love these chef shows.
That's all I want to tell you.
I love these chef shows, and Ilove it when there's a African
American in the mix.
Maybe possibly kind of hopefullymight be able to win the$500,000
(21:40):
that's at the end because that'sa nice little he hefty amount.
And what I like about theseshows is that I do think that
they really do test you as aleader and as a chef that.
Sometimes it might seem like thestuff is just o overblown, but
if you've ever worked in thekitchen, if you know people who
(22:02):
work in these places, it is ahigh pressure environment.
And next gen chef really workedfor me.
I'm through with the series.
I just finished it.
So I will not say much more thanthat, but those are the things
I'm watching.
I like to get into our nextepisode if our next, our next
segment if we can, because wedon't have a lot of time today,
and that is our movie segmentand for our movie segment, I'm
(22:26):
gonna ask you, kb.
To kick it off.
We all saw this film and it'scalled The Smashing Machine.
If you could tell us what it'sabout and tell us your initial
thoughts.
Kay-B (22:36):
Yeah the Smashing Machine is the story of.
Mark Kerr.
So actually I just dropped aninterview.
I spoke to Mark Kerr the actualhuman that this film is based
off of.
And you can find that on nerdfiles.com as well.
But I spoke to him just about,his involvement in this film,
but more so about the.
(22:59):
Nuances of the things thathappened in this film.
So it's the story of Mark Kerr.
In this film he is portrayed byDwayne Johnson.
He has at that time because theydo end up getting married later
on.
But at that time hisrelationship, it, it is a very.
Very tumultuous relationship.
Like I actually that, that isone of the parts of the film
(23:21):
that is very hard to watch, justhow challenging their
relationship is.
But at the time, he is datingDon Staples, who is portrayed by
Emily Blunt in the film.
And he.
Is someone who has never lost afight.
Like when we see the beginningof the film, that's really what
draws you in, is the fact thathe has a hundred percent success
rate.
He is truly a champion.
(23:41):
And so when he does end uplosing his first fight, it ends
up almost sending him into adeep depression.
He starts to struggle withsubstance abuse kind of a bit
more.
And it sends him down a path ofhim really trying to, what I
like to describe the film is.
Finding grace almost, I think islike how the film would end up
being portrayed.
Now, I will say the first act ofthis film.
(24:05):
It's so chaotic.
Like I truly was like, what ishappening?
Why is everyone yelling all thetime?
Also, why is there no continuityin the script?
Like it just is jarring.
I think eventually the filmfinds its footing, but it takes
a long time to get there.
It really doesn't happen untilthe third act like there's so
(24:27):
many things happening, butalmost it's like there's a lot
happening, but nothing'shappening, if that makes sense.
There's so much happening, butalso nothing is occurring.
And so it's mostly just him anddon constantly fighting.
And you're really saying toyourself in these moments I'm
not entirely sure that theyshould be in a relationship
particularly once he gets.
Back from rehab and he is reallytrying to maintain a sober life.
(24:47):
It just kind of becomes glaringthat they are not.
Really the right people at thattime to be together.
I don't know what happens afterthat, obviously, because this
film only spans three years.
We do know at the end of thefilm that he does eventually end
up marrying Don.
They have a son.
And like something positive ofthat.
I don't, they, I do not believehe and Don are still married.
They are now divorced, but justduring that time, during the
(25:10):
film, there's just a lot ofgrowth that I think he as a
person and she as a person needto go through.
Now also, the film is aboutbrotherhood because it shows his
relationship with Mark Coleman,who is another prominent fighter
during that time, who is therefor him for a lot of highs and
lows.
And so through my conversationwith Mark, actually, it wasn't.
Inherently clear to me, and youguys can correct me if I'm wrong
(25:33):
in this film, it really made itseem like the only person
struggling with substance abusewas Mark Kerr.
Based on my conversation withMark Kerr apparently at that
time, Mark Coleman alsostruggled with substance abuse,
and so now, they have foundtheir way back to kind of that
really, really greatrelationship that we see in the
film.
(25:53):
He did say for a period of timewhen he was sober and Coleman
was not, they didn'tcommunicate.
And so I found that interestingbecause the film, I know it's
supposed to be about Mark Ker,so it's really his story, but it
really made it seem like Colemanwas clean and really helping him
with his sobriety.
And maybe that was the case.
And then Coleman later on, hadhis own, struggles with
substance abuse.
But yeah, that was reallyinteresting to me.
(26:15):
I was like, oh, wait, I didn'trealize Coleman also, was on the
same path and they both neededto work out their work to
sobriety.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (26:21):
Two, two things here.
Kb firstly you talk about howit's chaotic and you think that
it finds its footing.
Kay-B (26:28):
At the end though, like the last act,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (26:30):
How do you rate this film?
Kay-B (26:32):
I mean, for me, whew.
That the first two acts of notreally understand what's going
on and not having a reallyclean, tight script that I
think.
Showcase the totality of hislife and the direction that he
was going in makes it hardbecause you can only perform so
much, right?
Like you can only do what you'regiven with the script.
(26:52):
And I think the script was justso up and down that it made the
performances up and down, right?
Because you can only do what'son the page essentially.
So
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (27:02):
what's your verdict?
Kay-B (27:03):
In terms of should people watch it, I feel like.
Watch it at home.
Maybe, when it comes out on VOD,maybe, I'm not sure it's
something that people wouldwant.
And I feel bad about thisbecause I've been waiting for
Dwayne Johnson to have a rolelike this actually, like a role
that really challenges him as anactor in this capacity.
(27:24):
I've been waiting.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (27:26):
Okay.
Well, I love, I'm so glad yougave us a lot there to talk
about and I saw my friend's headshaking left and right and up
and down.
Katia, go ahead and jump inhere.
Kathia Woods (27:41):
I always say sometimes I feel like I'm in the
movie theater in another realmbecause I'm trying to understand
where these folks are gettingOscar talk from.
I'm really like, maybe, maybeI'm, maybe it's me.
You know what I mean?
Maybe my standards arerealistic.
First one, I interviewed Marktoo.
Mark is such a dynamic personwhen you talk to him.
And none of that was captured.
(28:02):
That made me even more, thatmade me even more mad because
I'm like, he's fantastic, right?
And he's fantastic and he's sowarm and he's so honest about
himself.
None of that was captured in thescript.
I also have a little bit, I getwhy they cast the rock because
of name recognition, but theRock is 50 something years old,
(28:23):
and Mark was doing this when hewas in his thirties.
So did we not do the math?
That this 50-year-old man isplaying 20 years younger.
Physically, he's way taller thanMark.
Also, I'm like, what is Mark'sethnicity?
Because Dwayne right, he'sSamoan and black, so
Kay-B (28:42):
Mark is Puerto Rican.
Is he Puerto Rican and
Kathia Woods (28:46):
black,
Kay-B (28:46):
or He's Puerto Rican and white, but I think, and I'm not
entirely sure, but I think hemight be Afro Puerto Rican.
I, but I think I'm just saying,
Kathia Woods (28:53):
I'm like, I'm not
Reggie Ponder, The Ree (28:55):
Alright, so don't go deep.
Don't go too deep.
Don't go too deep there, KAbecause our time is a little
limited and I wanna make sure Iget all your other I'm ill.
Kathia Woods (29:07):
I mean, I'm not, but I was sitting there going.
White doing.
I sitting there thinking aboutit, let not act like I'm the
only one, but my number oneissue is.
Mark is so dynamic and so fun totalk to.
I felt like the relationship we,I feel like we came in at
(29:27):
chapter 15 instead of a chapterone.
That wasn't my number one thing.
Number two, he went to rehab.
It literally felt like he gotdropped off and he did a whole
circle in the cul-de-sac, andthen she picked him up.
He had a different outfit.
Okay, we're not treating.
Addiction seriously enough.
And what drove him to youraddiction.
We are also not explaining thatMMA.
(29:48):
Was a free fall because when youthink about it is these people
are fighting each other not inthe same weight class.
We have no explanation.
There is so much thrown againstthe wall that we gotta figure
out ourselves that it distractsfrom the fantastic story of
Mark's life.
I just wanna say, I think, andalso I love Emily Bump, but I
(30:09):
thought she was useless in thismovie.
It was a lot of hysteria, but Icould I just got annoyed with
her.
And I'm like, I got nobackstory.
Why they were together.
I just got the story that it wasa mess.
My number one movie issue.
My issue with this movie is itasked us to take so many leaps
and bounds I felt in order tohonestly.
(30:30):
Give this a review.
I had to go watch YouTubevideos.
I had to do my own education onwho Mark is in order to fully
understand if they got anythingtogether.
And what really made me realizeis you had a great opportunity
to tell a really good story andto help people understand how
(30:50):
MMA got from.
Being over there in Japan andhow it got to here.
And then Mark was one of thepioneers.
And also how he helped, makesure that there's some rules and
regulations in there.
We never got any of that.
And then what really sent memore than anything is once I
kind of did get into the Danthing, also, mark is walking
(31:12):
around in a supermarket.
So altogether I.
I think the script failed him.
I think the director failed him.
I think the editing failed him.
It's not the subject, and Ithink you can't say that you the
rock gives an academy of warmingperformance because we didn't,
we never are given a chance tofeel anything.
(31:34):
Although I do give him kudos fordoing the best that he could
with such a weak script, andthat's where it's,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (31:42):
and so are you recommending to watch
this?
What's your point?
I don't,
Kathia Woods (31:45):
I'm like, I wish there was a documentary on Mark.
If there's a documentary, Iwould point you towards that.
There is, there's a document.
Okay.
I would say watch this.
If you wanna learn about Markand also watch some of the
interviews.
I'm with kb.
I wait for this to come homebecause I am not sure.
That you are going to walk awayhaving learned anything about
(32:05):
Mark other than the fact that hewas in a very toxic relationship
with his ex-wife and the motherof his child.
But we learned nothing aboutMark, the man who is extremely,
there's so much growth that hashappened with him, and I have
the same issue with this moviethat I have with Christie.
Is that the real life people areso dynamic and the movies don't
(32:26):
live up to the subject.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (32:28):
All right.
I'm gonna jump in.
I think for the most part, youguys have said most of the
things that I wanna say.
I think this is an origin storythat is an important one.
I think that it does allow us tolearn something about these two
pioneers, mark and Mark.
I also think it's a love story,and I think it's a love story
between these two, two guys andhow the two of them really care
(32:49):
for the, for each other.
And I love seeing thatbrotherhood.
I think that that love letteralso extends to mark and Dawn,
but the.
But they were so explosive thatit was so jarring and so
off-putting, so I totally agreewith that.
I think that Blunt did her job.
(33:10):
Because if her job was to makeus all irritated about that
character, then she did her job.
'cause I was irritated.
I didn't like that character.
But here's where I, most of thethings that you guys said is
where it fell short, but I'lljust throw a couple of specifics
is that I think that thefilmmakers did a really good job
(33:31):
of.
Showcasing the toxic narelationship.
But I think that they focused somuch on that, that they got away
from what this film was reallyabout, which is about these guys
being pioneers, that they leanedso much into the turmoil of that
relationship that it just didn'tprovide us with what we needed.
(33:51):
I think that the fight scenesthey're serviceable.
But I think that you make areally interesting point Katya,
about the age of of the rock.
I think that the fight scenesare serviceable, but if you're
going to see some dynamicaction, you'd be better off just
going to watch like theProfessional Fighters League,
which is like four steps downfrom the UFC that tells you how
(34:13):
good the fighting was in thisfilm.
Or maybe you might want to go toBellator or something like that.
I think that the smashing thescene is a tribute to these
pioneers, but it really doesn'tdo much more than introduce
them.
And at the end of the day, Idon't think I'll remember their
names because I didn't interviewthem like you guys.
And I know I will not rememberthis movie.
(34:34):
This film has a lot ofwrestling.
And but it's wrestling in somany different ways is what I'm
saying.
Wrestling with the script,wrestling with the people,
wrestling on, on, on the mat.
But I think that the techniquesthey used to grapple eventually
made me want to tap out.
I wrote that, I checked this ifyou want to check it out, I'd
wait for you to check this oneout at home.
(34:56):
And yeah, so I guess we allagree that if you're gonna check
it out, check it out at home.
But I'm not really sure that Iwould even do that because I
don't think they did a good jobwith this movie.
The last point that I guess I'llmake Katya to one of yours about
the Rock.
I didn't think it was a Oscarworthy performance, but.
If a woman who plays in a moviecalled a Nora can get an Oscar,
(35:22):
he can get Oscar for this one.
That's all I got to say.
But that's, you were
Kathia Woods (35:28):
doing so good.
I was with you.
The idea is not to repeatfoolishness, Reggie,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (35:35):
if this woman can get an Oscar, an
Oscar for a Nora, which I feltwas like the worst movie ever.
Then the Rock did his thing.
And so we might as well just goahead and we might as well just
start giving him one too.
But anyway I did, I do digress.
You're tired.
I do digress.
(35:55):
So it seems like all three of usare saying, don't go to the
theater to see this.
Wait and see it at home if youdo that at all.
Kay-B (36:03):
Yep.
Agreed.
I think we're aligned.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (36:05):
With that's it for the movies that we
saw.
We did see some other films, andAfter the Hunt is one that we
need to talk about, but we'llhave to talk about that next
week because they're saying,Hey, could you please wait till
the release time, which is the10th?
And so we'll,
Kathia Woods (36:20):
We thought we had stuff to say about this.
Come grab your tea, your coffee,your beverage of choice.
We really got some, we're gonnahave some stuff to say, but
after the hunt,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (36:36):
what I'll say preliminarily is that
there's some stuff to talk aboutand I think that they make it
where there should be some stuffto talk about.
So this is one of those moviesthat hopefully that when you
will leave the theater, you dotalk about it.
Let's move on to our last, ourlast segment and that last
segment really is ran and raveand I was going to ran and rave
(36:57):
about the Chicago InternationalFilm Festival, but I'll make a
couple of quick statements so Ican make sure that you two can
have The last the last words isthat the Chicago International
Film Festival is starting on the15th and the opening night film
is a film called.
The Golden Summer, and it'sabout the 2014 Jackie Robinson
(37:19):
West Little League baseballteam.
That and all black baseball teamthat won the Little League World
Series.
Oh, it was, it caused a furor.
Around the nation.
Everybody was hyped.
These kids went to the WhiteHouse.
They're from Chicago and it is,it was a really great story
(37:42):
until they got this, their titlestripped and they got their
title stripped becauseapparently one of the 13
players, two of the players wereout of the district.
They provided their paperworkand all of that, but somehow
they ended up getting to theWorld Series and winning.
And then after the fact somebodyfinds out.
(38:04):
So it's about some racialissues.
It's about some stereotypes.
It's about the growth.
Of these young men and wherethey are today.
10 10, almost 11 years later.
And I got an opportunity tospeak with the director Kevin
Shaw, about this film, and I'mvery, very excited that the
(38:25):
Chicago International FilmFestivals decided that they
would.
Feature a Chicago film aboutthese very, very important young
men where the history isbasically erased, where you
don't know about them and whatthey accomplished as an all
black team at the a LittleLeague World Series.
So I'm real, real excited aboutthat.
(38:45):
That's my rant and rave on that.
And then I just wanna mention Iam not by any stretch of
imagination a swifty, but I haveto say that.
I haven't heard one of the songsyet, but these people are going
crazy.
They're going crazy.
This woman released this album,and these people are going
(39:09):
absolutely bonkers.
They're crying, and I just don'tremember.
I loved it, it prince so much,but I don't think that I was
crying.
I just, wow.
Taylor Swift.
She's a beast.
That's all I gotta say on that.
All right, so let's go to yourrent and rave kb.
Kay-B (39:30):
Well, I too have not heard the Taylor Swift album.
But I have seen a little bit ofa discourse online already with
people doing a lot of differentthings.
I don't know, but I will belistening to the new Bryson
Tiller album that just came out.
So that is what I will belistening to.
I haven't listened to it yet.
But it is on my radar, so I'mlistening to that.
(39:51):
And then I haven't had a chanceto listen to the new Mariah
Carey yet.
So that is also another albumthat I will be probably
listening to at some point.
This weekend I like to try outnew albums as I clean.
So maybe that is, an opportunityto do so.
But that's really my rant andrave.
There's nothing else I canactually talk about right now
that I'm dying.
I am dying to talk about somethings, but these embargoes are
(40:12):
killing me that TV wise.
That I would love to share, butI do wanna give a shout out to.
High potential, which is backand has seen significant growth
in its season Two numbers as itshould.
It's a procedural.
It's very, very good.
It is a lovely show and they'reback.
I think we have had threeepisodes this season already.
(40:36):
And it's great.
So if you are not watching highpotential, it comes on A, B, C.
And I do wanna recommend thatfor people.
And then also shout out AbbottElementary is back as well as of
this week.
So they had their first episodeof the new season this week.
So, yeah.
You're muted.
You're muted.
Reggie, I'm
Kathia Woods (40:55):
sorry, I'm muted.
I was
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (40:56):
saying Katya, we on time.
We are on time, girl.
So what?
You gotta, what?
What's what?
You gotta rent and rave about.
Kathia Woods (41:03):
As you know, we're on, did sentencing watch.
May we be done with this byMonday.
Let's make, let's be done withit and put it behind us where it
needs to be and stay there.
Let us learn from this.
Number one, stop getting yourinformation from people that
just doing stuff for clicks.
Number two, let's pick ourheroes better.
And number three.
(41:25):
I don't care how many bops youmade, but if you mess up, you
mess up.
You got, you do the crime, yougotta do the time.
And I don't care how good thebops were, I don't care how many
memories we have, we gotta startkeeping it 1000.
And I don't, definitely don'twanna hear, but so and so got
away with it.
The idea is not to, repeat rinseof what other people are doing,
especially when the harm isbeing done against black women.
(41:47):
So after Monday.
Let's put it behind us.
And we are not marching in thestreets for this.
We got real issues, we got worryabout.
And my other one is, I do wannagive a positive one.
The root is black owned again,and let's pray that she gets the
resources that she needs to putthe journalism back in the root.
(42:10):
Because here's the thing is weall were very excited when by
now bought the Grio and then itwent down from a full staff to
four people, whatever you gothere, and then a whole bunch of
freelancers.
The idea is not just for us toown.
These outlets, whether it isdigital, whatever the thing is.
But for us to really invest inthe infrastructure and most
(42:32):
importantly, get the fundingthat we need in order to have a
viable outlet, with editors andthings that you need to be
respectable because we reallyneed it now more than ever.
But congratulations on theroute.
And we all know some people thatwork were there that are like,
thank the Lord, because it wasgetting a little crazy over
(42:52):
there.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (42:54):
You and I have talked about this on
numerous occasions having workedon the advertising end where
advertising really helps to keepthese organizations Solvent.
I do know that someone like a bByron Allen could just pay for
the, you know, he could makesure and keep his thing afloat
(43:15):
and actually pay for staff andall that.
'cause as much, as much as he'sdone, I don't know where her
funding is coming from.
So when you look at a ByronAllen, you say, man, come on
man.
You could, you, you personallycould do better even though you
are not gonna get the kind ofadvertising dollars that you
need.
What she does is gonna beinteresting because I don't
know, again, where her money is.
(43:36):
The advertising dollars is justnot there these days, and we're
all learning that and knowingthat is that people are running
away from things that are black.
And I'm glad that it's owned bya black woman.
I really hope that she has somebackers behind her because that
climate right now from anadvertising perspective is
(43:56):
really, really tough for blackentities.
Kathia Woods (43:58):
And her name is, I'm sorry, Ashley Allison, you
might remember her.
She, she does a lot ofappearance who's a political
pundit on CNN, but on the AbbeyPhillips Show, Lord God bless
her.
'cause Scott be workingeverybody's nerve.
But I do, I think I think wehave to be cautionary and we
also gotta give her time let'snot, she just purchased it.
(44:20):
Let's not go around and be,expect things to turn around in
a week or a month.
I always say that when thesethings happen, you gotta give it
at least a good five years.
'cause you gotta look at thefinancials, you gotta do
auditing, you gotta see, yougotta look at money, and then
you gotta look at how much moremoney.
And you've just mentioned theadvertising, so give her some
room.
(44:40):
To really restructure and get itto where it needs to be.
Don't be mad.
And I think that was a mistake alittle bit from us'cause we're
like, oh by and Aaron bought it,everything's gonna be
everything.
That understanding that he mightnot have.
And I wish that he was also alittle bit more front that he
didn't have a full financialpicture because a lot of
promises were made and thenthings didn't pan out.
(45:02):
So I do want us to give her.
The grace and understanding.
That's why I say five years,same thing.
Whoever's gonna head essencenext, right?
Don't just expect them to fixeverything overnight.
You gotta give people at leastfive years to take the thing and
reconstruction it, and thenimplement the ideas and allow
(45:22):
those ideas to grow.
So I think that's the part wherewe have to give.
Our community a little bit moregray.
And as you stated, that ha don'thave the advertising dollars,
that don't have the funds thatare counterparts do.
But I'm really like, listen,black women, we always leave
from the front.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (45:39):
Well, that, that's exciting.
Any thoughts on that kb, beforewe move on?
Kay-B (45:43):
No, I think Katya is right.
It doesn't happen overnight, soit's not gonna be within the
next six months that you'regonna see such a drastic change.
But it will take years for us tobe able to see it.
And I hope it goes well.
'cause I mean, you know, there'sa lot of things happening truly.
But I think that one of thenumber one biggest issues in
journalism is just the fact thatblack people are not staffed.
That's the reality, so we areforced to create our own, live
(46:07):
in this.
Perpetual freelancer state.
And so while our othercounterparts are being staffed
at, kind of these legacy.
Publications and outlets.
We don't have that same liberty.
We're just not getting hired atthose publications or our own
oftentimes.
And so I do hope that this opensup opportunities for staffed
(46:27):
roles, staffed positions thatpay livable wages, and that
really put black journalism backat the forefront.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (46:35):
All right.
I want to thank both of you guysand I'm gonna add on A-A-A-A-A
segment.
And this segment is this isreally our closing segment, but
in our closing segment, pleasetell us where they can find you.
I'm gonna start with you kb,where they can find your stuff,
what you have out currently.
And also when you do that,please tell us something that
(46:57):
fantastically happened to you inthe last month.
Give let's end on a realpositive note.
Kay-B (47:04):
Yeah.
As you can see on the screen,my.
Content is on socials at theLady kb, that's at
T-H-E-L-A-D-Y-K-A-Y-B.
So you can follow me and seeupdates there.
Like I mentioned throughout thissegment and I know Kaia
mentioned she had a conversationwith Mark Kerr as well.
(47:24):
My conversation with Mark Kerris on nerd files.com and
honestly, we talked about a lotof things in that conversation.
We talked about what Grace lookslike.
You know how lost.
Teaches resilience.
We talked about brotherhood inthis current state.
And so I think it's a verywell-rounded conversation.
Just obviously helping topromote this film, the Smashing
Machine.
(47:45):
And like I said, stay tunedbecause my sister's Grims
interviews will come out and, Ilove a little animated scenario
and like I said, I think it'sadorable.
Stay tuned for that as well.
And then for those of you whoare watching, love Is Blind.
Those interviews dropped onWednesday with, again, five of
those singles.
So you can look for everythingon nerd files.com.
And yeah, the great things thatare happening are these
(48:07):
interviews.
So I think support those, Ithink it takes a lot of time and
work from each of us to be ableto put out this content and put
out these conversations thatwe're doing.
And we do a lot behind thescenes.
It's a bit of a heavy lift it's.
Is something to be proud of andsomething to be grateful for,
and something that is positive.
So, you know, support our workthat is what's positive.
(48:29):
All right
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (48:30):
Kaia,
Kathia Woods (48:31):
You can read my work at the Philadelphia
Tribune, my review including theSmashing Machine.
You can also read a lot of myTIFF coverage on Couple Soul
show.com, and you could readalso some of my work at the
Sacramento Observer.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (48:48):
Tell us something.
That's, that was good though.
Oh.
Kathia Woods (48:50):
Oh.
I'm gonna be for the celebrationof Latin cinema and television.
I'm going to be the CCA oncorporate host.
You'll be seeing me talk to allour honorees.
We'll do it in English,Portuguese, and Espanol if need
be.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (49:06):
Oh, excellent.
All right.
You can fi, you can findme@indigo.com.
I currently have my review ofthe Smashing Machine up on, on
Monday, I'll have a interviewwith Rachel Holder for Love
Brooklyn.
That'll come up and you couldcheck that out.
Yesterday I interviewed KevinShaw.
(49:28):
For the one golden summer, andthat'll come out of the
following week around theopening of the festival.
And then the good thing thathappened to me, I can't say
where it is, but I think I gotan assignment from somebody that
I haven't worked for a while.
I, it, they haven't confirmedit, but they said, Hey, we are
offering you, so Reggie might belike flapping his wings a little
(49:53):
bit, you know.
So I'm excited about that.
And the best thing I'm excitedabout is I'm excited about you
two.
Thank you so much.
We are at the end.
This is our show.
This is the Real CriticsNetwork, and we will see you
next time.
Kathia Woods (50:08):
See you next week.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
Oh my God, my throat is still sodry.
Hate it.
Hate it, Reggie.
Hey, I'm Reggie.
Ponder the Real Critic and thisis the Real Critics Network.
I have Katya Woods in the houseas usual, and we are getting a
double treat because KB isjoining us.
Again, I will tell you is that Ihave the best friends in the
world because one of the thingsthat they do is they say, are we
(00:20):
doing something?
And then when we not doingsomething, they like, Hey, did
you know about this?
And.
If I need to ask about someother things, they'd be like,
yeah, I can help you out.
So I appreciate both of you guysfor being here as usual and
always.
And so I'll start with you,Katia.
How are you?
How are you?
Kathia Woods (00:39):
I'm good.
Still fighting this, the lastbit of this cold.
Still sound a little bit likeKermit the Frog, we gonna push
through.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (00:46):
Kevin was sick and so Kevin got you
sick.
Now Jasper's sick, soeverybody's sick over there.
Kathia Woods (00:54):
I think Jasper's the only one that, that is
living his, still his best life.
He got a little groomingappointment this afternoon to
get his pedicure.
'cause he's tap dancing all overmy floor.
But he is.
He don't know it yet, but he'sabout to get himself together,
or at least I'm about to get himtogether.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Criti (01:10):
I hear that for sure.
Kb I'm glad you could join us asusual.
I know you a little busy, butwhat's going on?
What's going on in general?
Kay-B (01:18):
Thank you for having me.
Yeah.
I too was not feeling well thisweek.
So I am on the up and up now.
Feeling better today.
Much better than the past fewdays, that's for sure.
Looking forward to chattingabout some things that we were
able to see.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (01:35):
All righty.
Well, let's get into it.
I wanna get into our firstsegment and our first segment is
what's on my mind.
And it, Katia actually called meand asked me did I know that
Terrance TT Stern Enzy hadpassed away and I did not.
He was a CCA member.
I can't remember the last timethat I spoke with him, but I
(01:58):
actually, we were talking abouthim coming to Chicago and coming
to the Chicago InternationalFilm Festival.
So it actually really shocked mewhen Kasia came, gave me a call
to, to talk about that.
And I, and I think I, I'm tryingto pull up my what I read outta
Cincinnati.
To give our guy somewhat of agood tribute here.
(02:21):
And what I read at the, theCincinnati Enquirer was the film
critic for Fox 19, artisticdirector of the over the Rhine
International Film Festival,husband, dad, friend, and son.
Terrence TT Stern Enzy diedSeptember 29 and he was 56.
Years of as a lead programmerand curator of the OTR Film
(02:44):
Festival, he began serving asthe artistic director of the
festival in 2021.
And according to a GoFundMe pagefor him, he was diagnosed with
stage four.
Sarah.
Moid renal cancer.
And so his illness was believedto be a bad case of pneumonia.
But after being admitted toChrist Hospital August 3rd, it
was discovered that he had thisrare, aggressive cancer that had
(03:08):
metastasized to both his lungs.
And it's a really sad thing tohear as especially for people
that, I definitely remembertalking to him our last
conversation and just thought Imentioned it.
If you guys like to make anystatements there, feel free.
Kay-B (03:24):
I didn't realize he passed until right now, so
that's very, very sad.
My condolences to him and hisfamily for sure.
Kathia Woods (03:33):
He was really, really kind.
He's a, he was a really gooddude, you know what I mean?
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (03:39):
Yeah.
Kathia Woods (03:39):
And I like when Tim posted a little bit and he
tagged me in some of our grouppictures and I was like, damn.
Normally we see him at Tiffnormally he's there to look at
movies and stuff for hisfestival, and he wasn't there
this year.
Normally we do a little grouppicture too at Tiff, and we see
him at events.
And I was like, oh, snap.
(04:02):
We're all caught up in like ourlittle bubble when we're at
festivals and stuff.
And then to hear that he had acough.
Here's my thing.
And it, and I'm not sure we canprevent anything, but it's so
important for us to go to thedoctor for us to get screenings.
And again, I'm not saying thatwould prevented him from
passing, but.
(04:23):
I do think there needs to be anawareness, and again, we're
losing way too many people inour age bracket.
And my thoughts definitely withhis wife and his children, and
he was a solid dude.
You know what I mean?
Like somebody, it's very hard tofind anybody.
He didn't have a kind word tosay about him, but he was a real
one, as they say, and again,really.
(04:44):
Broke my heart and our CCAcolleagues, you know?
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (04:48):
Yeah.
Kay-B (04:48):
And also just, it's just such a small space, being black
in this space
Kathia Woods (04:53):
and on TV for as long as he was on TV too, to
doing what he did and yeah hewas quite kind.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (05:00):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Gentleman.
I think all those words arereally appropriate.
So no, thanks.
Thanks you guys for for bearingwith me on that one.
I thought it was important to,to mention.
Kathia Woods (05:11):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Like KB says, our littlecommunity of film critics is
very small and it's gettingsmaller.
So when you lose someone whoreally was in that space for so
long and doing so much for thecommunity.
It's a heartbreaker, you know,but again, my heart goes out to
his wife and his children,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (05:30):
For sure.
For sure.
All right, we're gonna, we'regonna move on to our next
segment called What YouWatching?
And this is really tv.
I don't do as much TV as myfriends because they get paid
for doing tv.
I just be watching tv.
But K kb I'm gonna start withyou on what you watching and I
hope it's just not another oneof them.
(05:51):
Love shows.
That's the only thing I hope,that's just, I just hope it's
not.
Kay-B (05:56):
It is.
So first before I talk about thenew season of Love Is Blind
because the first six episodesdropped this week on October
1st.
Before I talk about that, I dowanna shout out a little,
because it is spooky season.
You know, it's October, so it isthe Halloween season.
Apple tv.
Plus has this cute little showcalled The Sisters Grim, and
(06:19):
it's based on the book series.
And so it's very familyfriendly.
It's animated, it's for kids,but basically it's about two
young sisters.
The sister's Grim, their parentsgo missing.
And so they end up, previouslyin, in the foster care system.
And so they had kind of a badrun with one of their foster
care families.
And their grandmother ends upfinding them and so they go to
(06:40):
live with her.
And so she ends up revealingthat they're actually grims and
so that the town that they livein is magical, that their house
is magical and it's just such anadorable little series.
So I just wanted to shout thatout.
First because the episodes areout now on Apple TV plus.
And then I did some interviewswith some of the cast and
they're gonna those are gonnacome out, shortly.
But it's a cute little show.
(07:02):
I watched it so quickly, I saidI know that's right.
Come on.
Spooky season.
And
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (07:06):
Before you get off of that.
I hate when you and Kathia willbe like, oh, I did some
interviews.
'cause you guys do so manyinterviews and talk to so many
people.
Where can we find find theseinterviews?
Kay-B (07:16):
So when this interview drops, it will be on nerd files,
so nerd files.com, and then alsoon our YouTube page.
But yeah, so those will drop atsome point over the weekend to
celebrate the launch of theseries coming
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (07:28):
out.
Oh, ex.
Excellent.
Excellent.
All right.
You know, I'm not gonna watchit.
I know you said it's it's cuteand it's a little spooky.
It's cute.
Kay-B (07:34):
It's cute.
Spooky.
Not real scary.
Reggie, you know, I know youdon't really do true horror
'cause I don't do true horror,but it's adorable.
Spooky.
Okay.
Alright.
Alright.
Like Disney spooky, like you canget into it.
Reggie Ponder, The Ree (07:45):
Alright.
Alright, go ahead.
Go ahead now
Kay-B (07:47):
for what I also watched and you can check out my
interviews on nerd files.com andalso Nerd Files our YouTube
channel.
I got to chat with five of thenew singles.
For Love is Blind.
So we are on season nine, whichseems crazy.
I'm not even gonna lie to y'all.
Like it seems like, I can't evenbelieve we've had nine seasons,
but this is the ninth seasonwe're in Denver.
(08:08):
The premise is still the same.
Get into those pods.
You can't see anything.
And then propose.
And once you propose, see if youhave that physical attraction.
See if you can survive, this oneweek vacation in an exotic
place.
See if you can survive moving intogether just to make it to the
altar.
(08:28):
So it's still that full, sixweek, I think it's six week
total.
Six week total process, frommeeting to marriage.
Okay.
And this season I will say kindof shocked me in a lot of ways.
So we are.
Only the first six episodes havedropped.
More episodes will be droppingnext Wednesday.
But these singles, honey, Imean, when I tell you I was
actually shocked by a lot ofthings this season, I will say
(08:50):
because it is revealed in thefirst six episodes.
We have a single parent, and soI believe this is the first
season that we've had a singleparent before and he has a son
and you know, I meant
Kathia Woods (09:02):
we, we had a parent before, but this one at
least admitted he's a parent.
Kay-B (09:06):
Well, right.
I think, this is the first timelike he is a true, like he's in
a true co-parenting situationwhere he has half the time he
has his son.
And the other half, the son iswith his mother, but this kid is
like the most important thing inhis life.
So I think it's the first timemaybe we've seen we've seen,
'cause you're right, I feel likewithin the last couple of
seasons there was a woman whohad a daughter and she was very,
(09:28):
a great, great great parents.
She was so, so sad to leave her.
But this season, yeah.
So, okay.
I'm sorry.
I misspoke.
We've had single parents before,but this time I think maybe this
is the first time we had asingle father.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong.
Kathia Woods (09:40):
Yeah.
I'm just saying we've, we donehad some people that had kids
in, but he was upfront with it.
He was honest.
He said, I'm a single parent.
Yeah.
From the door.
And that's why he works a jobthat he does.
Because he needs theavailability and stuff.
Right.
Right.
But can we talk about twopeople?
Kay-B (10:01):
Okay.
Kathia Woods (10:02):
Who, brother man, with the, with first of all.
I want my man to go to a realbarber, like his hair was
bothering me.
You mean Edmond?
Is that Edmond?
I don't know.
Kay-B (10:12):
Like what?
Tell
Kathia Woods (10:13):
me what any he tall guy with glasses.
Yes.
Edmond.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, he was giving Urkel vibes,but I'm just like, sir what?
What's going on?
I need her to help him get himtogether in that aspect.
Because he definitely, I waslike he was like, he's single.
'cause he's not the cutestcertain, it's not your looks,
it's your presentation that'sall.
(10:34):
It is given I need a woman'stouch.
I need somebody to come in here.
That's why he's on the show.
But I need a woman to take liketo the barber and get me cool.
But he's not unattractive.
He just look cool.
Not.
He do a little corny.
Kay-B (10:49):
He
Kathia Woods (10:49):
just a little, what did he say,
Kay-B (10:51):
Kaia?
He said, but I got a bodythough.
He, and I said, you know what,no lies told.
He said, but I do work out andI,
Kathia Woods (10:56):
yeah, he weighs a buckle five.
Kay-B (10:58):
So
Kathia Woods (10:59):
he do, he weigh a buckle five, but I'm gonna give
him that.
The Asian dude.
I, okay.
Then the one guy quit the show.
You're further along than me.
The one guy quit the show.
The other girl, well,
Kay-B (11:10):
this happened.
This happened in the first six.
Kathia Woods (11:12):
Yeah.
This one girl quit the show.
Now the one guy quit the show,the other girl was like
ghosting.
And I feel like the Asian guy,she was not his first choice,
which I don't like when they dothat.
And it comes out like later.
Like you just kind of like,because you wanna like, what
were we doing?
Kay-B (11:31):
Are
Kathia Woods (11:32):
you only show famous?
Kay-B (11:33):
So I think you're saying it in reverse.
She was not his first choice.
Okay.
Because his first choice is theone that left.
So like his first choice is theone that left.
And then he ended up saying,okay, let me see if I can work
with, my number two.
But no, his first choice wasdefinitely the one that left.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
I think you said, yeah.
Kathia Woods (11:52):
And also like why do you all keep having these
people?
Like you all need to vet thesepeople.
I think some people just wannabe on the show to be famous at
this particular point thataren't serious about being in a
relationship right now.
Ms.
MAMs, I don't know what her nameis.
Patrick.
Okay, well hold
Kay-B (12:08):
on because that was Patrick.
So Patrick is the guy who endsup choosing Casey.
Yeah, because his first choiceleft.
So who's Ms.
MAMs
Kathia Woods (12:15):
now?
Ms.
MAMs with the career and she haseverything and she has her
business.
Ma'am.
Okay.
We get it.
You're successful.
But clearly you are on the show.
'cause even though yoursuccessful,'cause we know that.
The demographic stated, if youare a successful man with money,
you don't necessarily, most ofthose guys don't want a woman
that's equally yolked.
(12:36):
They want somebody who's prettyand basically wants to cater to
them and wants to stay at homeand have these 4.8 kids.
But in this particular case,like she wants somebody to
match.
What's real estate boy's name Ifeel like on paper they matched
because.
He has, he's ambitious.
(12:57):
And she's ambitious and he hashis own money, but the guy that
she meshed with was the singledad.
But I'm like,
Kay-B (13:06):
yeah, that's Jordan.
And this is Megan.
Yeah.
So
Kathia Woods (13:09):
I'm like so I'm like, he really kind, but you
are gonna have an issue.
The fact that he's not, hedoesn't have money.
And on top of that, I'm like.
Are you ready?
They're a package.
Are you ready to package?
Deal.
So you have to be ready to be aparent.
Yeah.
So like she was really irkingme.
I'm like, okay, on the one handyou have a good man, but you
(13:31):
have a problem with the money.
Got it.
And then on the other hand, yougot a guy who's got the money
and he's a little cocky, and youguys might be competing here
because he's not gonna bend theknee and you don't wanna bend
the knee.
Well see,
Kay-B (13:44):
I actually don't think that's the case with Mike.
So when watching Mike, I meanMike definitely has the money
and like Megan is like, okay,money.
But I think with Mike, he's justtoo similar personality wise.
There we go.
That's what I'm saying.
In the past.
And so I think what she'slooking for is something
different, which is why shelikes Jordan.
But Jordan has, a child andJordan doesn't make as much, so
(14:06):
she really has to have this kindof conversation with herself,
like, Hey, are you willing to bethe breadwinner for the rest?
Of this relationship and also bean instant stepmom because that
does mean things will changewith your schedule dramatically.
Like she works for herself andshe does really well, but it
still is like there's stillday-to-day things that happen
and you'll have to do it.
So yeah,
Kathia Woods (14:27):
TikTok, and you know what?
Go make the money.
And there's nothing wrong withhaving a stay at home dad.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (14:32):
All right.
So we do need to wrap this oneup, but before we do my,
obviously this must be somethingworth watching because Katya,
this wasn't even on your list totalk about.
And you all in it.
You all in.
'cause
Kathia Woods (14:45):
maybe get back in.
I was outta it.
I was outta love's blinds andSharonda was like, oh no, no.
And then as soon as it started,I CC Sharonda.
This is why I didn't wanna beback in it, because we're in
that, we're 15 minutes into thisfirst episode and these people
are irritating me already.
Already.
Well, it
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (15:00):
must be good enough that it got you
hooked.
KB is this one that to staywith.
Kay-B (15:04):
Listen, I think people should watch it.
One, so you know who we'retalking about, who the key
players are, but also that wayyou can kind of dive into
whether or not,'cause you know,I become invested.
I just finished.
Love is Blind uk Okay.
So I'm invested, like, who'sgonna make it to the altar?
Who's gonna make it to thealtar?
And I don't know who's gonnamake it to the altar.
I don't even have my predictionsready right now.
(15:24):
So that's why I'm like, okay.
Okay.
Let's see.
All
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (15:27):
right.
All right.
I I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
Okay.
Katia, what you, what youwatching?
Kathia Woods (15:33):
I'm watching some foolery too.
It's House of Guinness now.
My foolery at least it's makebelieve these people are on a
reality TV show.
My fury is rich, fun,backstabbing all that good
business.
House of Guinness is the, likethe fictionalized story of how
the House of Guinness roastedprominence and infiltrated the
(15:55):
American market.
When I tell you baby, it opensup with the father dying Ms.
Benjamin Sr.
But the man is stillmanipulating everything from the
grave.
Like the way he broke up thiswill, Edward, an author, had the
second oldest kids and theyinherited the brewery, but
(16:16):
author thought he was gonna cometo the funeral, go back and live
his good life in London, and hesaid, hold my beer.
You inherited the brewerytogether.
However, you can't sell out.
If you sell your share to theone brother or the other way
around, you guys don't getanything, so they're stuck at
the hip and author.
You gotta run for office andside note, Arthur's gay, but
(16:40):
everybody knows, but everybodyknows they're not talking about
it.
But he's still gotta get marriedand at some point he gotta
produce a heir, right?
So the sister Ann is the onlybaby.
Is the only girl.
She gets nothing because herhusband has to provide for her.
Who by the way, is a vicarpriest.
Reverend fill in the blanks.
He ain't got no money, but thepoint still is, but she's still
(17:03):
responsible for helping herbrothers find a wife.
Then you have Ben.
Senior Ben Junior who has anamesake, but he's an alcoholic.
So the father said, you notgetting anything, right?
So he goes into the military,but he still has the prestige
and the connection to theGuinness family.
So he also marries for money andthe girl gets, into the family,
(17:27):
right?
So everybody, nobody's marryingfor love.
We're all marrying for prestige.
Now, here's how this thing getsreally interesting.
'cause when they.
Brought in the woman to marryauthor.
She comes from a good family,but her family ain't got no
money and this is their way toget money back.
And they tell her, and this ishow they describe Arthur being
gay.
Are you familiar with author'sinfl flick Infliction?
(17:48):
And she's like, yes.
So in other words, they have tobe a united front because he is
gonna be running for office andshe, he can, of course, being a
man, he can have his fun as longas he's discreet about it, she
can dili and have fun.
But here's a problem.
She had her fun with somebodythat works for the family that
(18:09):
also had a thing with thesister.
And they told her she gotta cutit out because it's too much,
too close.
It's not a good look.
Mind you again, did we mentionthe man is gay?
Anyhow, but then she pretends tohave broken up with the guy, but
really is like, I'm still gonnado me.
So how do you think that's gonnaend?
But the point is it's a lot ofinfighting.
(18:30):
It's really scandalous.
It's fun and the whole family'sa mess.
And every, everybody's scheming.
And there's definitely gonna bea season two because
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Criti (18:40):
A and you like this, you like it?
Kathia Woods (18:42):
I do because it's escape me.
We know what it's, we know it'sa mess that but's other people's
mess.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (18:47):
That's the only thing I wanna know
about that.
And kb, you know, about thisthing.
Kay-B (18:54):
So I know about it, but I haven't watched it yet.
It's something that's on mylist, but I had quite a few
things to watch for interviews,so I had to kind of push it down
a little bit until after I wasdone with that.
But the way Katia is describingit is really sending me like, no
way.
No way.
The Oh, okay, well, you get nomoney.
You get no money, you get no.
Basically,
Kathia Woods (19:12):
daddy was like, I'm gonna die, but before I die
I'm gonna throw this grenade.
Right.
And literally like the daughtersat there and he was like, oh,
you don't need money'cause youhave a husband, even though your
husband ain't got no money.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (19:25):
He said,
Kathia Woods (19:26):
and not only are you not getting any money, but
you still gotta help yourbrothers find women.
Kay-B (19:32):
Yeah.
The dad said, I've been like,I'm going home a husband with no
money, therefore you need tolive poorly.
That's what the dad said.
While your husband,
Kathia Woods (19:39):
while your brothers get to live lavishly.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (19:41):
All right so that's what you are
watching Kaia.
I am watching two shows.
One is called Johnson, and it'sabout four Brother.
I
Kay-B (19:48):
love Johnson.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (19:49):
I, Donna was watching this and I'm
like, what are you watching?
And it's really about these fourbrothers.
I'm not, they're not evenbrothers, they're four guys with
the last name Johnson.
But they act like brothers.
They're from different familiesand it really is about love,
life, tribulations andbrotherhood.
And I like it a lot.
I like the way in which the menare portrayed in the film.
(20:11):
I like the relationships thatthey have in which I don't like,
because some of them are toxic,but I just like how this was
written.
I like how it, shows blackpeople, and I think I, I think
there are 40 episodes I might be10 episodes in.
And Donna has finished theseries.
So that's one of the things I'mwatching, but you saw this kb
Kay-B (20:31):
Yeah, I've seen Johnson.
I loved it.
I've spoken about it often.
It's a really, really goodseries.
I'm not entirely sure.
What, because the creator of theshow actually just dropped the
trailer for the new show that hecreated called Grits, which will
be coming out on all Black.
But yeah, Johnson is a it's areally good show and I'm not
entirely sure.
(20:53):
If season five is gonna happen,I hope it does.
I think I, I think it may havegotten renewed because it comes
on bounce normally, okay.
But yeah I hope.
I hope I'm not wrong, but Ithink it may have been.
I saw it.
I
Kathia Woods (21:08):
cannot, I know what you're talking about.
Kay-B (21:09):
Or season.
I hope we get a season five, butI know that people can watch the
previous Four Seasons on Hulunow
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (21:15):
on Hulu.
That's where I'm watching.
And so that's it.
And then the other thing thatI'm watching is Next Gen Chef.
I love these chef shows.
That's all I want to tell you.
I love these chef shows, and Ilove it when there's a African
American in the mix.
Maybe possibly kind of hopefullymight be able to win the$500,000
(21:40):
that's at the end because that'sa nice little he hefty amount.
And what I like about theseshows is that I do think that
they really do test you as aleader and as a chef that.
Sometimes it might seem like thestuff is just o overblown, but
if you've ever worked in thekitchen, if you know people who
(22:02):
work in these places, it is ahigh pressure environment.
And next gen chef really workedfor me.
I'm through with the series.
I just finished it.
So I will not say much more thanthat, but those are the things
I'm watching.
I like to get into our nextepisode if our next, our next
segment if we can, because wedon't have a lot of time today,
and that is our movie segmentand for our movie segment, I'm
(22:26):
gonna ask you, kb.
To kick it off.
We all saw this film and it'scalled The Smashing Machine.
If you could tell us what it'sabout and tell us your initial
thoughts.
Kay-B (22:36):
Yeah the Smashing Machine is the story of.
Mark Kerr.
So actually I just dropped aninterview.
I spoke to Mark Kerr the actualhuman that this film is based
off of.
And you can find that on nerdfiles.com as well.
But I spoke to him just about,his involvement in this film,
but more so about the.
(22:59):
Nuances of the things thathappened in this film.
So it's the story of Mark Kerr.
In this film he is portrayed byDwayne Johnson.
He has at that time because theydo end up getting married later
on.
But at that time hisrelationship, it, it is a very.
Very tumultuous relationship.
Like I actually that, that isone of the parts of the film
(23:21):
that is very hard to watch, justhow challenging their
relationship is.
But at the time, he is datingDon Staples, who is portrayed by
Emily Blunt in the film.
And he.
Is someone who has never lost afight.
Like when we see the beginningof the film, that's really what
draws you in, is the fact thathe has a hundred percent success
rate.
He is truly a champion.
(23:41):
And so when he does end uplosing his first fight, it ends
up almost sending him into adeep depression.
He starts to struggle withsubstance abuse kind of a bit
more.
And it sends him down a path ofhim really trying to, what I
like to describe the film is.
Finding grace almost, I think islike how the film would end up
being portrayed.
Now, I will say the first act ofthis film.
(24:05):
It's so chaotic.
Like I truly was like, what ishappening?
Why is everyone yelling all thetime?
Also, why is there no continuityin the script?
Like it just is jarring.
I think eventually the filmfinds its footing, but it takes
a long time to get there.
It really doesn't happen untilthe third act like there's so
(24:27):
many things happening, butalmost it's like there's a lot
happening, but nothing'shappening, if that makes sense.
There's so much happening, butalso nothing is occurring.
And so it's mostly just him anddon constantly fighting.
And you're really saying toyourself in these moments I'm
not entirely sure that theyshould be in a relationship
particularly once he gets.
Back from rehab and he is reallytrying to maintain a sober life.
(24:47):
It just kind of becomes glaringthat they are not.
Really the right people at thattime to be together.
I don't know what happens afterthat, obviously, because this
film only spans three years.
We do know at the end of thefilm that he does eventually end
up marrying Don.
They have a son.
And like something positive ofthat.
I don't, they, I do not believehe and Don are still married.
They are now divorced, but justduring that time, during the
(25:10):
film, there's just a lot ofgrowth that I think he as a
person and she as a person needto go through.
Now also, the film is aboutbrotherhood because it shows his
relationship with Mark Coleman,who is another prominent fighter
during that time, who is therefor him for a lot of highs and
lows.
And so through my conversationwith Mark, actually, it wasn't.
Inherently clear to me, and youguys can correct me if I'm wrong
(25:33):
in this film, it really made itseem like the only person
struggling with substance abusewas Mark Kerr.
Based on my conversation withMark Kerr apparently at that
time, Mark Coleman alsostruggled with substance abuse,
and so now, they have foundtheir way back to kind of that
really, really greatrelationship that we see in the
film.
(25:53):
He did say for a period of timewhen he was sober and Coleman
was not, they didn'tcommunicate.
And so I found that interestingbecause the film, I know it's
supposed to be about Mark Ker,so it's really his story, but it
really made it seem like Colemanwas clean and really helping him
with his sobriety.
And maybe that was the case.
And then Coleman later on, hadhis own, struggles with
substance abuse.
But yeah, that was reallyinteresting to me.
(26:15):
I was like, oh, wait, I didn'trealize Coleman also, was on the
same path and they both neededto work out their work to
sobriety.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (26:21):
Two, two things here.
Kb firstly you talk about howit's chaotic and you think that
it finds its footing.
Kay-B (26:28):
At the end though, like the last act,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (26:30):
How do you rate this film?
Kay-B (26:32):
I mean, for me, whew.
That the first two acts of notreally understand what's going
on and not having a reallyclean, tight script that I
think.
Showcase the totality of hislife and the direction that he
was going in makes it hardbecause you can only perform so
much, right?
Like you can only do what you'regiven with the script.
(26:52):
And I think the script was justso up and down that it made the
performances up and down, right?
Because you can only do what'son the page essentially.
So
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (27:02):
what's your verdict?
Kay-B (27:03):
In terms of should people watch it, I feel like.
Watch it at home.
Maybe, when it comes out on VOD,maybe, I'm not sure it's
something that people wouldwant.
And I feel bad about thisbecause I've been waiting for
Dwayne Johnson to have a rolelike this actually, like a role
that really challenges him as anactor in this capacity.
(27:24):
I've been waiting.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (27:26):
Okay.
Well, I love, I'm so glad yougave us a lot there to talk
about and I saw my friend's headshaking left and right and up
and down.
Katia, go ahead and jump inhere.
Kathia Woods (27:41):
I always say sometimes I feel like I'm in the
movie theater in another realmbecause I'm trying to understand
where these folks are gettingOscar talk from.
I'm really like, maybe, maybeI'm, maybe it's me.
You know what I mean?
Maybe my standards arerealistic.
First one, I interviewed Marktoo.
Mark is such a dynamic personwhen you talk to him.
And none of that was captured.
(28:02):
That made me even more, thatmade me even more mad because
I'm like, he's fantastic, right?
And he's fantastic and he's sowarm and he's so honest about
himself.
None of that was captured in thescript.
I also have a little bit, I getwhy they cast the rock because
of name recognition, but theRock is 50 something years old,
(28:23):
and Mark was doing this when hewas in his thirties.
So did we not do the math?
That this 50-year-old man isplaying 20 years younger.
Physically, he's way taller thanMark.
Also, I'm like, what is Mark'sethnicity?
Because Dwayne right, he'sSamoan and black, so
Kay-B (28:42):
Mark is Puerto Rican.
Is he Puerto Rican and
Kathia Woods (28:46):
black,
Kay-B (28:46):
or He's Puerto Rican and white, but I think, and I'm not
entirely sure, but I think hemight be Afro Puerto Rican.
I, but I think I'm just saying,
Kathia Woods (28:53):
I'm like, I'm not
Reggie Ponder, The Ree (28:55):
Alright, so don't go deep.
Don't go too deep.
Don't go too deep there, KAbecause our time is a little
limited and I wanna make sure Iget all your other I'm ill.
Kathia Woods (29:07):
I mean, I'm not, but I was sitting there going.
White doing.
I sitting there thinking aboutit, let not act like I'm the
only one, but my number oneissue is.
Mark is so dynamic and so fun totalk to.
I felt like the relationship we,I feel like we came in at
(29:27):
chapter 15 instead of a chapterone.
That wasn't my number one thing.
Number two, he went to rehab.
It literally felt like he gotdropped off and he did a whole
circle in the cul-de-sac, andthen she picked him up.
He had a different outfit.
Okay, we're not treating.
Addiction seriously enough.
And what drove him to youraddiction.
We are also not explaining thatMMA.
(29:48):
Was a free fall because when youthink about it is these people
are fighting each other not inthe same weight class.
We have no explanation.
There is so much thrown againstthe wall that we gotta figure
out ourselves that it distractsfrom the fantastic story of
Mark's life.
I just wanna say, I think, andalso I love Emily Bump, but I
(30:09):
thought she was useless in thismovie.
It was a lot of hysteria, but Icould I just got annoyed with
her.
And I'm like, I got nobackstory.
Why they were together.
I just got the story that it wasa mess.
My number one movie issue.
My issue with this movie is itasked us to take so many leaps
and bounds I felt in order tohonestly.
(30:30):
Give this a review.
I had to go watch YouTubevideos.
I had to do my own education onwho Mark is in order to fully
understand if they got anythingtogether.
And what really made me realizeis you had a great opportunity
to tell a really good story andto help people understand how
(30:50):
MMA got from.
Being over there in Japan andhow it got to here.
And then Mark was one of thepioneers.
And also how he helped, makesure that there's some rules and
regulations in there.
We never got any of that.
And then what really sent memore than anything is once I
kind of did get into the Danthing, also, mark is walking
(31:12):
around in a supermarket.
So altogether I.
I think the script failed him.
I think the director failed him.
I think the editing failed him.
It's not the subject, and Ithink you can't say that you the
rock gives an academy of warmingperformance because we didn't,
we never are given a chance tofeel anything.
(31:34):
Although I do give him kudos fordoing the best that he could
with such a weak script, andthat's where it's,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (31:42):
and so are you recommending to watch
this?
What's your point?
I don't,
Kathia Woods (31:45):
I'm like, I wish there was a documentary on Mark.
If there's a documentary, Iwould point you towards that.
There is, there's a document.
Okay.
I would say watch this.
If you wanna learn about Markand also watch some of the
interviews.
I'm with kb.
I wait for this to come homebecause I am not sure.
That you are going to walk awayhaving learned anything about
(32:05):
Mark other than the fact that hewas in a very toxic relationship
with his ex-wife and the motherof his child.
But we learned nothing aboutMark, the man who is extremely,
there's so much growth that hashappened with him, and I have
the same issue with this moviethat I have with Christie.
Is that the real life people areso dynamic and the movies don't
(32:26):
live up to the subject.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (32:28):
All right.
I'm gonna jump in.
I think for the most part, youguys have said most of the
things that I wanna say.
I think this is an origin storythat is an important one.
I think that it does allow us tolearn something about these two
pioneers, mark and Mark.
I also think it's a love story,and I think it's a love story
between these two, two guys andhow the two of them really care
(32:49):
for the, for each other.
And I love seeing thatbrotherhood.
I think that that love letteralso extends to mark and Dawn,
but the.
But they were so explosive thatit was so jarring and so
off-putting, so I totally agreewith that.
I think that Blunt did her job.
(33:10):
Because if her job was to makeus all irritated about that
character, then she did her job.
'cause I was irritated.
I didn't like that character.
But here's where I, most of thethings that you guys said is
where it fell short, but I'lljust throw a couple of specifics
is that I think that thefilmmakers did a really good job
(33:31):
of.
Showcasing the toxic narelationship.
But I think that they focused somuch on that, that they got away
from what this film was reallyabout, which is about these guys
being pioneers, that they leanedso much into the turmoil of that
relationship that it just didn'tprovide us with what we needed.
(33:51):
I think that the fight scenesthey're serviceable.
But I think that you make areally interesting point Katya,
about the age of of the rock.
I think that the fight scenesare serviceable, but if you're
going to see some dynamicaction, you'd be better off just
going to watch like theProfessional Fighters League,
which is like four steps downfrom the UFC that tells you how
(34:13):
good the fighting was in thisfilm.
Or maybe you might want to go toBellator or something like that.
I think that the smashing thescene is a tribute to these
pioneers, but it really doesn'tdo much more than introduce
them.
And at the end of the day, Idon't think I'll remember their
names because I didn't interviewthem like you guys.
And I know I will not rememberthis movie.
(34:34):
This film has a lot ofwrestling.
And but it's wrestling in somany different ways is what I'm
saying.
Wrestling with the script,wrestling with the people,
wrestling on, on, on the mat.
But I think that the techniquesthey used to grapple eventually
made me want to tap out.
I wrote that, I checked this ifyou want to check it out, I'd
wait for you to check this oneout at home.
(34:56):
And yeah, so I guess we allagree that if you're gonna check
it out, check it out at home.
But I'm not really sure that Iwould even do that because I
don't think they did a good jobwith this movie.
The last point that I guess I'llmake Katya to one of yours about
the Rock.
I didn't think it was a Oscarworthy performance, but.
If a woman who plays in a moviecalled a Nora can get an Oscar,
(35:22):
he can get Oscar for this one.
That's all I got to say.
But that's, you were
Kathia Woods (35:28):
doing so good.
I was with you.
The idea is not to repeatfoolishness, Reggie,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Crit (35:35):
if this woman can get an Oscar, an
Oscar for a Nora, which I feltwas like the worst movie ever.
Then the Rock did his thing.
And so we might as well just goahead and we might as well just
start giving him one too.
But anyway I did, I do digress.
You're tired.
I do digress.
(35:55):
So it seems like all three of usare saying, don't go to the
theater to see this.
Wait and see it at home if youdo that at all.
Kay-B (36:03):
Yep.
Agreed.
I think we're aligned.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (36:05):
With that's it for the movies that we
saw.
We did see some other films, andAfter the Hunt is one that we
need to talk about, but we'llhave to talk about that next
week because they're saying,Hey, could you please wait till
the release time, which is the10th?
And so we'll,
Kathia Woods (36:20):
We thought we had stuff to say about this.
Come grab your tea, your coffee,your beverage of choice.
We really got some, we're gonnahave some stuff to say, but
after the hunt,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (36:36):
what I'll say preliminarily is that
there's some stuff to talk aboutand I think that they make it
where there should be some stuffto talk about.
So this is one of those moviesthat hopefully that when you
will leave the theater, you dotalk about it.
Let's move on to our last, ourlast segment and that last
segment really is ran and raveand I was going to ran and rave
(36:57):
about the Chicago InternationalFilm Festival, but I'll make a
couple of quick statements so Ican make sure that you two can
have The last the last words isthat the Chicago International
Film Festival is starting on the15th and the opening night film
is a film called.
The Golden Summer, and it'sabout the 2014 Jackie Robinson
(37:19):
West Little League baseballteam.
That and all black baseball teamthat won the Little League World
Series.
Oh, it was, it caused a furor.
Around the nation.
Everybody was hyped.
These kids went to the WhiteHouse.
They're from Chicago and it is,it was a really great story
(37:42):
until they got this, their titlestripped and they got their
title stripped becauseapparently one of the 13
players, two of the players wereout of the district.
They provided their paperworkand all of that, but somehow
they ended up getting to theWorld Series and winning.
And then after the fact somebodyfinds out.
(38:04):
So it's about some racialissues.
It's about some stereotypes.
It's about the growth.
Of these young men and wherethey are today.
10 10, almost 11 years later.
And I got an opportunity tospeak with the director Kevin
Shaw, about this film, and I'mvery, very excited that the
(38:25):
Chicago International FilmFestivals decided that they
would.
Feature a Chicago film aboutthese very, very important young
men where the history isbasically erased, where you
don't know about them and whatthey accomplished as an all
black team at the a LittleLeague World Series.
So I'm real, real excited aboutthat.
(38:45):
That's my rant and rave on that.
And then I just wanna mention Iam not by any stretch of
imagination a swifty, but I haveto say that.
I haven't heard one of the songsyet, but these people are going
crazy.
They're going crazy.
This woman released this album,and these people are going
(39:09):
absolutely bonkers.
They're crying, and I just don'tremember.
I loved it, it prince so much,but I don't think that I was
crying.
I just, wow.
Taylor Swift.
She's a beast.
That's all I gotta say on that.
All right, so let's go to yourrent and rave kb.
Kay-B (39:30):
Well, I too have not heard the Taylor Swift album.
But I have seen a little bit ofa discourse online already with
people doing a lot of differentthings.
I don't know, but I will belistening to the new Bryson
Tiller album that just came out.
So that is what I will belistening to.
I haven't listened to it yet.
But it is on my radar, so I'mlistening to that.
(39:51):
And then I haven't had a chanceto listen to the new Mariah
Carey yet.
So that is also another albumthat I will be probably
listening to at some point.
This weekend I like to try outnew albums as I clean.
So maybe that is, an opportunityto do so.
But that's really my rant andrave.
There's nothing else I canactually talk about right now
that I'm dying.
I am dying to talk about somethings, but these embargoes are
(40:12):
killing me that TV wise.
That I would love to share, butI do wanna give a shout out to.
High potential, which is backand has seen significant growth
in its season Two numbers as itshould.
It's a procedural.
It's very, very good.
It is a lovely show and they'reback.
I think we have had threeepisodes this season already.
(40:36):
And it's great.
So if you are not watching highpotential, it comes on A, B, C.
And I do wanna recommend thatfor people.
And then also shout out AbbottElementary is back as well as of
this week.
So they had their first episodeof the new season this week.
So, yeah.
You're muted.
You're muted.
Reggie, I'm
Kathia Woods (40:55):
sorry, I'm muted.
I was
Reggie Ponder, The Reel (40:56):
saying Katya, we on time.
We are on time, girl.
So what?
You gotta, what?
What's what?
You gotta rent and rave about.
Kathia Woods (41:03):
As you know, we're on, did sentencing watch.
May we be done with this byMonday.
Let's make, let's be done withit and put it behind us where it
needs to be and stay there.
Let us learn from this.
Number one, stop getting yourinformation from people that
just doing stuff for clicks.
Number two, let's pick ourheroes better.
And number three.
(41:25):
I don't care how many bops youmade, but if you mess up, you
mess up.
You got, you do the crime, yougotta do the time.
And I don't care how good thebops were, I don't care how many
memories we have, we gotta startkeeping it 1000.
And I don't, definitely don'twanna hear, but so and so got
away with it.
The idea is not to, repeat rinseof what other people are doing,
especially when the harm isbeing done against black women.
(41:47):
So after Monday.
Let's put it behind us.
And we are not marching in thestreets for this.
We got real issues, we got worryabout.
And my other one is, I do wannagive a positive one.
The root is black owned again,and let's pray that she gets the
resources that she needs to putthe journalism back in the root.
(42:10):
Because here's the thing is weall were very excited when by
now bought the Grio and then itwent down from a full staff to
four people, whatever you gothere, and then a whole bunch of
freelancers.
The idea is not just for us toown.
These outlets, whether it isdigital, whatever the thing is.
But for us to really invest inthe infrastructure and most
(42:32):
importantly, get the fundingthat we need in order to have a
viable outlet, with editors andthings that you need to be
respectable because we reallyneed it now more than ever.
But congratulations on theroute.
And we all know some people thatwork were there that are like,
thank the Lord, because it wasgetting a little crazy over
(42:52):
there.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (42:54):
You and I have talked about this on
numerous occasions having workedon the advertising end where
advertising really helps to keepthese organizations Solvent.
I do know that someone like a bByron Allen could just pay for
the, you know, he could makesure and keep his thing afloat
(43:15):
and actually pay for staff andall that.
'cause as much, as much as he'sdone, I don't know where her
funding is coming from.
So when you look at a ByronAllen, you say, man, come on
man.
You could, you, you personallycould do better even though you
are not gonna get the kind ofadvertising dollars that you
need.
What she does is gonna beinteresting because I don't
know, again, where her money is.
(43:36):
The advertising dollars is justnot there these days, and we're
all learning that and knowingthat is that people are running
away from things that are black.
And I'm glad that it's owned bya black woman.
I really hope that she has somebackers behind her because that
climate right now from anadvertising perspective is
(43:56):
really, really tough for blackentities.
Kathia Woods (43:58):
And her name is, I'm sorry, Ashley Allison, you
might remember her.
She, she does a lot ofappearance who's a political
pundit on CNN, but on the AbbeyPhillips Show, Lord God bless
her.
'cause Scott be workingeverybody's nerve.
But I do, I think I think wehave to be cautionary and we
also gotta give her time let'snot, she just purchased it.
(44:20):
Let's not go around and be,expect things to turn around in
a week or a month.
I always say that when thesethings happen, you gotta give it
at least a good five years.
'cause you gotta look at thefinancials, you gotta do
auditing, you gotta see, yougotta look at money, and then
you gotta look at how much moremoney.
And you've just mentioned theadvertising, so give her some
room.
(44:40):
To really restructure and get itto where it needs to be.
Don't be mad.
And I think that was a mistake alittle bit from us'cause we're
like, oh by and Aaron bought it,everything's gonna be
everything.
That understanding that he mightnot have.
And I wish that he was also alittle bit more front that he
didn't have a full financialpicture because a lot of
promises were made and thenthings didn't pan out.
(45:02):
So I do want us to give her.
The grace and understanding.
That's why I say five years,same thing.
Whoever's gonna head essencenext, right?
Don't just expect them to fixeverything overnight.
You gotta give people at leastfive years to take the thing and
reconstruction it, and thenimplement the ideas and allow
(45:22):
those ideas to grow.
So I think that's the part wherewe have to give.
Our community a little bit moregray.
And as you stated, that ha don'thave the advertising dollars,
that don't have the funds thatare counterparts do.
But I'm really like, listen,black women, we always leave
from the front.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (45:39):
Well, that, that's exciting.
Any thoughts on that kb, beforewe move on?
Kay-B (45:43):
No, I think Katya is right.
It doesn't happen overnight, soit's not gonna be within the
next six months that you'regonna see such a drastic change.
But it will take years for us tobe able to see it.
And I hope it goes well.
'cause I mean, you know, there'sa lot of things happening truly.
But I think that one of thenumber one biggest issues in
journalism is just the fact thatblack people are not staffed.
That's the reality, so we areforced to create our own, live
(46:07):
in this.
Perpetual freelancer state.
And so while our othercounterparts are being staffed
at, kind of these legacy.
Publications and outlets.
We don't have that same liberty.
We're just not getting hired atthose publications or our own
oftentimes.
And so I do hope that this opensup opportunities for staffed
(46:27):
roles, staffed positions thatpay livable wages, and that
really put black journalism backat the forefront.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (46:35):
All right.
I want to thank both of you guysand I'm gonna add on A-A-A-A-A
segment.
And this segment is this isreally our closing segment, but
in our closing segment, pleasetell us where they can find you.
I'm gonna start with you kb,where they can find your stuff,
what you have out currently.
And also when you do that,please tell us something that
(46:57):
fantastically happened to you inthe last month.
Give let's end on a realpositive note.
Kay-B (47:04):
Yeah.
As you can see on the screen,my.
Content is on socials at theLady kb, that's at
T-H-E-L-A-D-Y-K-A-Y-B.
So you can follow me and seeupdates there.
Like I mentioned throughout thissegment and I know Kaia
mentioned she had a conversationwith Mark Kerr as well.
(47:24):
My conversation with Mark Kerris on nerd files.com and
honestly, we talked about a lotof things in that conversation.
We talked about what Grace lookslike.
You know how lost.
Teaches resilience.
We talked about brotherhood inthis current state.
And so I think it's a verywell-rounded conversation.
Just obviously helping topromote this film, the Smashing
Machine.
(47:45):
And like I said, stay tunedbecause my sister's Grims
interviews will come out and, Ilove a little animated scenario
and like I said, I think it'sadorable.
Stay tuned for that as well.
And then for those of you whoare watching, love Is Blind.
Those interviews dropped onWednesday with, again, five of
those singles.
So you can look for everythingon nerd files.com.
And yeah, the great things thatare happening are these
(48:07):
interviews.
So I think support those, Ithink it takes a lot of time and
work from each of us to be ableto put out this content and put
out these conversations thatwe're doing.
And we do a lot behind thescenes.
It's a bit of a heavy lift it's.
Is something to be proud of andsomething to be grateful for,
and something that is positive.
So, you know, support our workthat is what's positive.
(48:29):
All right
Reggie Ponder, The Reel C (48:30):
Kaia,
Kathia Woods (48:31):
You can read my work at the Philadelphia
Tribune, my review including theSmashing Machine.
You can also read a lot of myTIFF coverage on Couple Soul
show.com, and you could readalso some of my work at the
Sacramento Observer.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cr (48:48):
Tell us something.
That's, that was good though.
Oh.
Kathia Woods (48:50):
Oh.
I'm gonna be for the celebrationof Latin cinema and television.
I'm going to be the CCA oncorporate host.
You'll be seeing me talk to allour honorees.
We'll do it in English,Portuguese, and Espanol if need
be.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Cri (49:06):
Oh, excellent.
All right.
You can fi, you can findme@indigo.com.
I currently have my review ofthe Smashing Machine up on, on
Monday, I'll have a interviewwith Rachel Holder for Love
Brooklyn.
That'll come up and you couldcheck that out.
Yesterday I interviewed KevinShaw.
(49:28):
For the one golden summer, andthat'll come out of the
following week around theopening of the festival.
And then the good thing thathappened to me, I can't say
where it is, but I think I gotan assignment from somebody that
I haven't worked for a while.
I, it, they haven't confirmedit, but they said, Hey, we are
offering you, so Reggie might belike flapping his wings a little
(49:53):
bit, you know.
So I'm excited about that.
And the best thing I'm excitedabout is I'm excited about you
two.
Thank you so much.
We are at the end.
This is our show.
This is the Real CriticsNetwork, and we will see you
next time.
Kathia Woods (50:08):
See you next week.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
Oh my God, my throat is still sodry.
Hate it.
Hate it, Reggie.
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