The Reel Critics Network S1 E19. The Bad guys 2 & The Naked Gun

Episode Transcript
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Reggie Ponder, The reel Cr (00:02):
Hey, Im Reggie Ponder, the real
critic and this is the ReelCritics Network.
I am with my co-host KathiaWoods.
Kathia, how are you?
How are you?

Kathia Woods (00:13):
Good, good, good.
It's still 10,000 degreesoutside.
It's still 10,000 degrees.
Okay.
I need it to be, I need, can weget a 85?
That would be amazing.
Not, it's, it really is 1000 or1010.

That is a really good lead into our
first segment with, which iswhat's on my mind and what's on
my mind is it is hot in Chicagofor the most part, and I just
want you to know that you stepoutside.
It's, it's hot.

(00:53):
Hot.
And I know for a fact that youdo not want to be here in
Chicago because while we do havesome good Italian ice, which I
did take you to half by the way,which I did take you to half,
while we do have refreshingItalian ice here in Chicago, I

(01:14):
don't think you want to be here.
I think you, oh, you're not inPhilly no more.
That's right.
You are in a hot city.
Hot Atlanta.
Yes.
I forgot all about that.

It's hot in Philadelphia too.
'cause I asked my daughter.
Now if we were in Chicago andwe'd get waterized, my sec, my
follow up question would belike, can we stand in the fri in
the freezer where it's housed?
Because from the moment wewould've, and Reggie is a
wonderful host, but we wereliterally three steps from that.

(01:47):
The spot to the car, itwould've melted.

Reggie Ponder, The reel Crit (01:51):
It wa it, it was hot.
But you know what

It wa it was listen, because it's about to be
NABJ convention time.
It was lovely in Chicago, wehad a breeze.
I would walk from my hotel andjust out a little bit,
Lollapalooza was across the way.
That didn't even bother me.
I had a nice little stroll, butif convention was right now, I

(02:14):
would be absolutely not.

Reggie Ponder, The reel Criti (02:17):
I

feel like you are on

your own.
Well, talking about what's hot,one of the things that is hot
is the NABJ convention.
Every year you go and you'reinvolved in some panels, and I
wanna ask you a few questionsabout NABJ as a overall
organization and not really asan organization, more so about

(02:39):
the platform the showcaseplatform that we have every
year.
You are one of those people whotries very hard to make sure
that the panels are on point.
So let's talk about whatpanels, if at all you're doing
and what you're involved inregarding the panels at NABJ

(02:59):
this year.

I'm involved in this panel.
I'm not moderating anythingthat I know of as of right now.
I could change as of right now,I think.
There, there's more panels onfreelancing.
We are in the middle of anelection.
We are voting for a new NABJpresident.
And some other positions thatare in Pivotal.

(03:21):
I think, last year's conventionwas a little lively 'cause you
know, who came to the conventionand I think it's like any, it's
like anything else where we'reyelling at membership.
Like you can't be mad fromoutside the club and constantly
have these social mediaconversations.
But when it comes time toexercise your vote, right?
You are not, you're not doingthat.

(03:42):
You're not exercising yourvote.
And I feel like we need to dobetter.
We're paying money, we'repaying for this membership, and
we're not active participants.
And the question then becomes,how do we.
Move forward, this organizationthat we love, that we need so

(04:07):
much.
So for me this year, conventionis also about having those hard
conversations, and going topanels and also pushing
leadership.
It's always nice to seeeverybody and for us to have a
drink and then have cocktails,but it's bigger than that.
It's bigger than that.
And we have to ask ourselves,where is an NA BJ's gotta do

(04:28):
more?
And I'm vocal on it just asmuch.
NA BJ's gotta do more thanissue a statement.
NA BJ's gotta start going,demanding to have these meetings
and demanding to have thingsput in writing.
That, that, and also, here'sthe other question, right?
Just to end on this, and I'lllet you jump in.

(04:49):
Of course, right now.
Between, there's like this athree peer part and I want your
opinion on this because you aresomeone that is a little bit
older.
So you can speak from a, thisperspective, we have three major
issues.
We have black media, right?

(05:09):
That is not pivoting and notmeeting the moment and not
understanding that we, the waythe business model is set up is
not a productive business modelto meet the needs of our
community.
'cause you can't get goodreporting paying people $2 an
hour and you can't get goodreporting if you are not more

(05:31):
present on the internet.
That's just the fact, I don'tcare if you hate it, that parts
of it that I hate.
But it's just the fact you haveto, if you wanna get this next
generation to support your setoutlet, you have to be on the
net social media, whatever youhave there.
Then we have the fact that, agood portion of our newsrooms
are being gutted and the peoplethat are getting laid off are a

(05:54):
lot of people that look like us.
We have a lot of regional mediathat, people are station
swapping and before you were aconsumer reporter, now you're a
multimedia journalist, meaningthat you cover whatever they
want you to cover and you are onthe desk, you're doing the
weather, you're doing sports,whatever.
Like it's crazy, but you aregetting paid and you have a lot

(06:14):
of burnout.
So you have good people leavingthe industry.
And then also, so how are wepreparing the next generation
that is right now in collegestudying journalism?
Other than telling them to takeyour journalism skills and
become a copywriter.
Like what's the plan here andhow are we.
Meeting or holding, theemployers what's the percentage

(06:38):
looking like?
I see a lot of people online atNABJ for job interviews, but
how many of them are gettinghired?
How many of them are stillworking in the industry?
So we need that data.
So to me, those are the three,three things.
And the last one is we'relooking for new executive
director, the person in chargeof helping us get the money.
And that's a super, superimportant job.
But I really wanna hear yourinput.

(06:59):
Do you feel, I think you feellike I do, the organizations
need it, but what does NABJ needto do to meet the moment in
this time versus the old days?
And we listen, you're not gonnahurt my feelings because No,
no.
I'll not hurt your feelings, mymembership fee, like everybody
else, I ain't got no type ofperks.

Reggie Ponder, The reel Cri (07:18):
The first thing I'm gonna say is
that when you start talkingabout people, membership, being
involved and voting, and evendoing more than voting, just
being involved.
I'm one of the people you'retalking to is that I am not as
active as I could be in NABJ.
And in fact, if it weren't foryou, I probably wouldn't be.

(07:41):
I had felt for some time thatNABJ didn't meet my needs as a
film critic.
It generally worked withbroadcast media folks and not
film critic folks.
So I was a part of theorganization, but I didn't
participate, participate.
I just felt that it's a neededorganization and I would be a

(08:03):
part of it and support it asbest as I could.
And I will say that I think oneof the things we need is that
we need exactly what you justsaid, more people being involved
and how do we get those morepeople being involved.
I think people like you.
I know for a fact that youpulled a few folks in and said,
come on now.
Don't sit on the sideline.
We gonna need you.
We need you to be a part of it.

(08:24):
And so I'm just gonna do one ofthese.
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
We're on radio, but so peoplecan't see me clapping.
I'm gonna do one of thesebecause you were talking about
me.
You're still talking about mebecause you are right.
We need to do a better job.
And I don't have a problem withpointing at myself.
See, I think a lot of timeswhat we do is we point at other

(08:44):
people and wanna say they theproblem.
No, no, no, no.
We could do a better job.
I could do a better job.
So I'm part of that problem.
So I'm gonna start there first.
Okay.
But thank you for all that youdo.
I really I remember manyconversations where you are
like, okay, okay buddy, we needto do this.
We in your city, I'm gonna needyou to do that.

And, but you also, in your defense, when I made
the call.
You answered.
That's the other thing is whenI do try to pull people in and I
will say, Hey I rang a batsignal.
I didn't hear from you, and Imade sure that when you came,
that you felt welcomed and thatyou had the things you needed to

(09:28):
make it worthwhile.
Like, you know what I mean?
Absolutely.
Like what are we doing?
Are we, other than you justbeing in the photo album, right?
So you can you go to otherthings in the convention?
Can you get something out of itother than just, us using,
tapping your knowledge.
So I think that is, you know,you have to give value for

(09:49):
value.

Oh, absolutely.
And so much so that I didcontemplate going this year.
It's just a money of dollarsand cents.
Because then you startedtalking about the, our news
organizations pivoting.
Be it that they need to be onsocial media, be it that they
need to be on the internet.

(10:10):
It's a two part issue here.
One is that you need to bethere, but the other one is, can
you afford to be there?
And that is just the fact ofthe matter, when I worked in
advertising, we kept a lot ofblack media afloat in Chicago or
not in just Chicago, across thenation.

(10:31):
And the reason I know that isbecause that's where we spent
our money.
We spent our money with blackpublications and a lot of those
publications actually went outof business after we stopped
spending money for thosepublications.
And I would suspect given theonslaught on DEI and talking

(10:52):
about things that are diversityrelated, that the papers are
struggling more than ever today,I would suspect.
Because I know what they pay meto write my articles.
So for five years I wrote for apublication at a subpar rate.

(11:14):
And I knew that, but I offeredthem that rate because I knew
they couldn't afford me anyother way.
But I felt that ourpublications still need to hear
voices of black folks talkingabout movies versus not doing

(11:34):
so.
So I took a very, I, again, Ioffered the rate.
I said, look, I'll do it forthis amount of money.
Not because I wanted them to Ijust wanted to write for them.
But because I felt that ourreaders, our audiences needed
that type of thing, when I triedto get more money, like five

(11:56):
years later.
They were like, I can't do it.
I just can't do it.
And I understand if you have togo someplace else, but I can't.
And you've been with us forfive years, we love you, thank
you so much.
Appreciate you.
But I just can't do it.
And I've been to their newsroomwith two people printing the

(12:20):
paper, writing the paper, notchecking my typos by the way,
'cause I had typos in my stuff.
But that, that's a whole notheranother issue.
But when you are just hangingon by shoes string, that's what
you get.
So to try to pivot to socialmedia and not even have the
skills to do so means that youhave to have somebody who knows

(12:43):
how to do that.
And young people withrightfully so are not gonna be
like, look, I'm just gonna bevolunteering my skills for
nothing.
I need to get paid.
So there's this, there's the atough thing that's going on here
is that young people arerecognizing their value,

(13:03):
particularly as it relates tothe internet and social media.
And these older publicationsare saying, I recognize it, but
I just don't have the resourcesto have somebody on full staff.
So that's a tough one.
That's a really tough one tohave.
And I can see it full.
I can see it for sure.

I think we also have to be willing to apply for
these grants, right?
And we, and I think that, andthen, you know.
That you and I have had theseextensive conversations that
black publications pulling fromthe wire and they don't even
pull from other blackjournalists, which is, I think,
the biggest sin, if you're gonnado it, at least pull from Black

(13:44):
Voices.
And understanding also that wehave, when we apply that money
from the grants, we don't sharethe wealth.
And I also said this, if youhad a fully developed arts and
entertainment section of yourvarious outlets, you could go
after that awards money, whichis way bigger pocket than what

(14:06):
the Ford Local dealership isoffering you.
But we don't have thisconversation because there is
ignorance around what we do.
And I also feel like we, are wetoo many, not all underscore
bold, still do fundraising or.
Chase the money the traditionalway.
Like we, that's take an ad.

(14:26):
Instead of saying, no, I needa, you can get a banner.
This goes on the website.
This is what are the numbersfor the website?
Not understanding the websiteis really the money maker.
That the print is the secondaryRight.
And like for instance Yeah,it's true.
Lucky they still get, okay, sothey have from what the number

(14:47):
say 53,000 hardcore subscribers.
It doesn't include what thepeople buy at the airport and
the different kiosks.
So let's say for thisconversation, 'cause we like to
work with round numbers, it's 60K, right?
Let's just say that 60 K, butthe website is 425,000.
That's the one that you reallyshould be talking to about the

(15:09):
advertisers.
That's the tie in.
And.
I just learned that the websiteis not available to, for people
to view it in certain partsoutside of the United States.
So you are missing aninternational voice, right?
So you are also not getting, soyou have, let's say 425 unique
visitors per month.
So I'm not gonna use jargon.

(15:31):
So put it in info and that'syour driving number.
Then you gotta know what's yourdemographic.
Obviously it's predominantlyblack, but is it more women?
Okay.
Which it is.
It's more women than men.
So then there is advertisingthat you can go out to that is
products geared to women.
Who cares if it's Playtex?
What?
There's nothing wrong.

(15:51):
It's not like you're askingfor, a porn side to be
advertised.
It is money.
So I think we're also have toopen up our minds and go after
these money, these companies,these pharmaceutical companies
that have the money toadvertise.
So that you can have, continueto have a strong editorial
staff, right?

(16:11):
I think that's a conversationwe were having with Essence.
What's the point of having agreat editor in chief if you are
not going to let that editor inchief do what needs to be done
to solidify the magazine, right?
Whether that's online or heart,body.
And I think that is if you getthe money and you put together a

(16:34):
real plan and you won't be ableto pay like what Vogue is
paying, but you can pay morelike asking a starting
journalist, which is what someof our outlets are paying that
lives in Chicago, that lives inPhiladelphia, that lives in New
York.
God forbid you live in LA towork for $30,000 and 2025 is

(16:57):
insane.

Reggie Ponder, The reel Crit (16:58):
It is the only, the not, the only
thing, the thing, the biggestpushback though is that because
my biggest clients were theWalmarts of the world.
I know that those companieskept papers in business.
I know that.

(17:18):
I know that today thosecompanies are not trying to keep
those papers in business.
And I mean those, even thosewith an internet following,
because I, the way in which welook at black media and I'm
talking about the world, the wayin the, in which the, the

(17:39):
United States particularly looksat black media is like, yeah,
that thing over there maybethere's somebody over there
who's doing something, but forthe most part.
I don't need to be there.
And you can tell that becausethere are black media
organizations, I'm forgettingthe one for for there are at
least two black newspaperorganizations.

(18:00):
And I know, and

then PA is one.
I don't know the other one.
Yeah,

It, I couldn't remember the name of
it.
N-A-P-A-P-A, they have cometogether as a group and they go
out and solicit advertisers.
I know that that's for real.
That's what they do.
They say, okay, well since Ican't get it as a independent
newspaper, let's put all ourstuff together and say, do you

(18:25):
want our 6 million peoplecollectively?
And many advertisers are justnot doing that.
And because I was on the otherside, I know that they came,
they were coming to us, askingus for the money.
I know that they weren'tsitting there saying, ah, you
know, oh, poor little me, I wecan't get any money.

(18:47):
They're like, well, wait aminute.
We got whatever million people,and if you advertise in all of
our papers, this is what you'llget.
And we would always just dolike a little, little bit.
And I know that it just wasn'tenough to keep those
publications afloat.
And you know as well, becausewhen we do go to NABJ, fewer and

(19:09):
fewer of our black publicationsthere.
They can't even afford to go toNABJ.
So I think you're, I thinkwe're saying two things.
I think one is that they haveto try to figure out how do you
get the revenue?
'cause you can't sit aroundsaying, oh, poor old me.
So you definitely need to dothat.
You also need to recognizethough that there's other people

(19:32):
saying, I don't want to dobusiness with them.
I don't see them as important.
I don't see them as that kindof entity.
And because.
It was my job to give out thatmoney.
I know that those organizationsare out there looking, so they
got two things going on.
You do have to try to pivot,work harder.
We do have to recognize thatworking harder is not always the

(19:53):
solution.
I'm always, I always laugh whenpeople say, working hard is the
antidote to failure.
When you work hard, you aregonna, you're gonna make it.
I don't buy it.
I don't, I don't buy it.

(20:14):
I am going to, I've been in theprocess of trying to write an
article about that, but I'mtrying to, I wanna make sure
that I couch it because I'm nottrying to say that you should
not work hard.
I'm just saying don't tell methat working hard is gonna get
you where you're gonna go.
Now, not working hard probablyis not gonna get you where you

(20:34):
need to go.
Don't tell me.
Working hard is gonna get youwhere you need to go.
I know the publisher of theeditor of the paper that I used
to work for, and I say used tobecause he, the, that editor, I
think I told you this, is thathe perished in a fire.
Yeah, I know he worked hard.
I could find him at his desk atany point in the night.

(20:58):
I could find him at two, threein the morning if I wanted to
and say, Hey I'm sending thislate.
Will you be there?
Like it be, he would be like,duh, duh.
Yeah I'm here.
What do you think I'm doing?
We put out a paper, come rainand shine.
I'm always here, so I know thathe works.
I'll leave that part.
But you mentioned a coupleother things.
Is that how our newsrooms aregutted in many by many our black

(21:23):
folks?
You were talking about generalmarket.
Newsrooms and how many of ourpeople of color will either be
let go or just can't survive onthe current salaries that
they're, that they have.
And so they have to make a moveand they have to pivot
themselves because we areindependent organizations and

(21:43):
operations by ourselves.
Just call it Reggie Ponder,LLC.
We gotta make our own money.
So at certain points you say,look, I can't take on five jobs
just to get that 30,000.
I just can't do that.
You're asking me to be the newsper, it's funny, my daughter,
my niece worked for CVS and shedid everything when she works

(22:05):
for C-V-S-I-C-B-S and you knowthe position that they call it
because you helped a young manget one at the last NABJ and I
forgot what they call thatposition, but she would go out
and get community stories.
She would write it, shoot it,be on camera, get the B roll,
edit it.
She would do it all.
And the amount of money she gotpaid for that was a penance,

(22:28):
but she did it because you getto get the experience and all
that other type of stuff.
So I do know that people areyou, you're right in terms of
people leaving or being gutted,you look at my, the radio
station I've worked for 16years, a number of US black
folks have been put to thesideline, not necessarily out to

(22:48):
pasture, but are not as majoras we used to be because of cuts
to the radio station andthere's a number of people of
color.
And then the last one is thathow are we preparing the next
generation again?
This is where you come in andyou get a clap, clap, clap.
When we were at the last NABJ,what were you doing?

(23:09):
Come over here, kid, come overhere.
Did you talk to these people?
Have you discussed with this?
Let me see what you, let melook at your resume because let
me see.
And we just need to have morepeople doing that.
That is such a beautiful thing.
So again, clap, clap, clap,clap, clap.
I look and you serious aboutit?

(23:30):
You not playing.
You were like, oh, you need ayou need a writer.
Where?
In what city?
Oh, you need it in Baltimore?
Hold on, wait a minute.
I think I know somebody.

I think it is we have a lot of work to do, but I
do think, I think about we haveB and C go, right?
That failed.
And it's all these people.
Then we had everybody was allexcited when I was looking at
when Byron Allen bought Dereo,right?
And he bought the s and b and Zgo.

(24:00):
Within a matter of months.
It, before the ink was evendry, he got at that whole
newsroom and I think it's ITGrill.
April Ryan was the White Housecorrespondent.
She's not there.
She's working for someone else.
And it's like, what's thepoint?
And people are mad and at theowners of Essence, but I'm like,

(24:20):
it was already starting to getgut it when it was under Time
Warner.
So you're like, is the answeralso, if we're gonna buy it,
what's the point of us buying itif we're not, if we don't have
the means to keep it inoperation?
Because we are just as guilty,I feel like, and I'm like did.

(24:41):
So the question I always haveas I talk about this, I'm like,
did Byron Allen.
What was happening here?
Did, would the numbers off ordid he not think that the Grio
was in, in problems as much asis as it is and trying to run an
effective news thing with fourpeople, right?

(25:04):
It might be a little bit more,but four quote unquote is
insane.
And freelancers, you know,constantly having interchanging
freelancers.
So then you don't have aconsistent voice for set thing
or a consistent right, whereyou're like,

the income or consistent income is
that if if you are using me.
You're using somebody else andwe're switching off.
I currently write forindigo.com and I am the film
critic.
I am the film critic.
There's not 10 film critics.
Now I, you know, this already.
I wish there were 10 filmcritics, particularly because we

(25:43):
don't have a female voice, butfrom a money perspective, if
there were 10 film critics, Icould not survive.
So Reggie gets to talk aboutthe movies, but we don't get to
hear from our sisters about,okay, Reggie, you know, that was
sexist.
Okay.
Reggie, you know, thatmassaging this?
I was like, no, that was good.
I, when they was making love, Iliked that you was like, Uhuh,

(26:06):
nah, that don't work and we doneed that voice because.
You know, you know us, you knowthe brothers be trying to tell
people what to do.
We need that other voice.
So I, I wish my organizationcould have more.

We're all doing that.
Like I write TV and film andmusic because, you know, we're
all, that's why I said this,some of us also have to learn
how to pivot.
That's why in CCA we're both incritic choice.
I said You have to reopen thisconversation about having people
being dual members in thismarket.
You can know it's very niche toafford to just be like, or even

(26:46):
more so, right, to be like, I'monly going to speak about Art
House.
Excuse me, art house films andnot talk about summer movies.
Like we all have ourpreference, right?
Of what we enjoy covering more.
But do you want to eat?
Do you want to work?
There are people I rememberduring a pandemic, I'm not gonna
name names 'cause we're keepingit cute.

(27:06):
But there were people duringthe pandemic when theaters were
closed that swore prior to that.
I'm not doing tv, I'm nottalking about reality tv.
Love is blind.
And don't get me wrong, I pickand choose why it covers as far
as reality tv, I'm not doinglove and hip hop.
Like I can't do it like I needmy brain.

(27:28):
Bob

Reggie Ponder, The reel (27:28):
Bobby's gonna be upset with you if
you're not doing love Allenthough, because,

but I feel like, you pick what you can out of
that, but these same people thatswore up and down these quote
unquote elitist, the people thatwe talk about that don't want
to open up the conversation foreveryday people, guess what?
They had to start coveringthese 10.
You know what's the guy, thetiger sharks and all of that,

(27:53):
because that's all Tiger King.
He had Tiger,

Reggie Ponder, The reel C (27:54):
tiger

King, so it was Tiger King.
So it was either you coveredthe streaming and streaming
saved our assets.
Because if it wasn't forstreaming with theaters being
dark and no excuse me.
No new productions ontraditional tv.
There's only so many lists wecan make of things.
You are not things you mighthave missed.

(28:15):
10 TV shows you're not watching10 movies, classic movies.
There's only so many times wecan roll that out.
It really saved our butts.
But these people all of asudden, 'cause I really looked
at some people with a verystrong side eye as I see them on
Twitter, whatever the heckyou're calling it these days,
all of a sudden I'm like, wait aminute, you are writing about
tv 'cause you have no choice.

(28:37):
So I think I do agree, I dothink that we also have to
understand that you don't, youcan't afford, if you wanna make
a living, if you wanna get paidto say, I'm not covering this.
Just like people didn't wannacover foreign films.
And then foreign films arebecoming more mainstream.
So I think it's a very threefear, four or five, six tiered.

(28:58):
Conversation.

It's, and I'm

looking forward to going to convention and having
those, and sometimes you, at thefamily reunion, we got pulled
some of our cousins to the frontof the congregation and say,
boo, it's time for you to have aseat and give someone else a
chance.
We try it your way and we're ata stalwart.
That doesn't mean you can'tcome to the cookout anymore.
You just can't be in charge ofhospitality.

I totally agree.
I think this is a greatconversation and I know you are
pushing to have these types ofconversations at NABJ.
I already know that.
I really applaud you and thankyou for doing a lot of this hard
work because when you get tothe family reunion, people are,
some of the people in the familyare already saying, Uhuh, I
ain't talking to her.

(29:44):
'cause I know.
It's,

it's, it's, it's everything.
We as a people, we gotta, weought to move forward together.
We die together.
It ain't like, ooh, it ain'tgonna affect me.
There's so many people thathave worked, like Gie you know
this, we have colleagues thatworked at places for 10, 15, 20
years that got let go.

I do, I do.

And oh, they didn't even get, at least back
in the day, they gave you alittle party and a good partying
gift.
They didn't even get a partyinggift.
They weren't even allowed tocome back to the office and get
their name plate.

Yeah, I got, I have a few here and
yeah, for sure.
Thank you so much for thatconversation.
I really appreciate it.
We're gonna move on and talkabout some movies.
So we're gonna move into ourmovie segment and you saw
something that I didn't see nowbefore you talk about this.
'cause you are one of the badguys.
Oops.

(30:36):
Did I say the movie?
Oops.
I didn't mean to do that Isyou.
Get to see everything.
And I am not happy.
I am upset.
I know I'm not supposed to beenvious or jealous or whatever,
but this movie I actually couldhave seen.
It was on Saturday and mychoice was go play basketball or

(31:00):
go to the movie.
Hi, your boy decided to go playbasketball.
So I did not see this movie.
And tell us a little bit aboutit and what you think.

I think it's fun.
We need, we keep forgettingthat.
What's the name of it?
What's the name of it?
Bad guys.
The Bad Guys too.
And I think we forget thatsummertime means we need to have
some movie for our smallestmovie going population, right?
Family movies are still a bulkof what makes money at the box
office and we have to understandacross the board, right?

(31:36):
So you have, excuse me, youhave, your little people, when I
say I'm gonna say kindergarten,'cause below it's a little
hard.
You gotta be like, touch andgo, right?
Your grade school kids and thenyou know, your middle
schoolers.
And I think this is somethingthat even you as an adult will
enjoy.
The gang is back.

(31:56):
San Rockwell is the wolf.
Craig Robinson is the shark.
Craig Robinson had me crackingup like nobody's business.
And then you have Aquafina isthe spider and Anthony Ramas is
the snake.
So they are now trying to gogood.
The bad guys are trying to gogood.

(32:16):
The Wve is trying to get aregular job.
Everybody's trying to be justregular people, right?
But then you have the badgirls.
The bad girls played by NatashaLeone and Daniel Brooks.
And they.
They tempt the bad guys backinto doing bad work, but for the

(32:38):
greater good, right?
So half of the humor in this ishow the bad guys are trying to
adjust to being regular people,right?
They're trying to be goodpeople.
The wolf is trying to get ajob.
As I said in the interview, itmay help to not go somewhere for
a job interview that you did anunauthorized withdrawal from

(32:58):
several times.
They're not gonna hire youfriend.
The standard of living has gonedown a little bit.
The car goes, it's touch andgo, and it's been humbling for
our bad guys, but the bad girls.
Tr, try to blame something onthem.
And they lure them into helpingthem do bad things, but in the
end, the bad guys do turn out tobe good.

(33:18):
And what I love about this isthese things only work as good
as the the voice characters.
And Sam Rockwell has a verydistinguished voice, of course.
Robinson is hilarious on hisown that chemistry is real.
You could tell in an interviewthat they all really like each
other.
Aquafina is great, and AnthonyRamas and the snake has a little

(33:41):
bit of a romance.
It's just a really good fun.
And I think also the lesson inthis is for kids is that you can
turn your life around.
You can make the most of yoursecond chance.
You are not the fine.
By your mistakes, you can bethe good guy.
And again, this is a fun movie.
It's less than two hours.

(34:01):
Hallelujah.
And it has enough visualizationin terms of the animation and
everything for your youngestpeople.
I think there's some funthings.
The shark, gets a little gassy.
When he has anxiety.
So that in itself and seeingthem use their criminal skills
for good.
But it's a really, I think, afun movie.

(34:24):
And definitely take your smallpeople, your crew, as hot as it
is, you can't, if you can't, ifthe pool you done wore out, put
everybody in the car and say,let's go for what age, what age,
and have a good time.

What, what age group is this for?

I think kindergarten.
I think if there's no foullanguage, there's anybody dying.
It's just really, really good.
Fonders enough in there and, dothe family package.
If you are, if you're fortunateenough, like I was for a while
to be home with your children,you can go on a Tuesday.
The movies aren't just for theweekend.
You can go on a Tuesday in theafternoon, get every, get the

(35:02):
whole game together.
If you got the A MC package,your little discount.
Of your condiments and allthat, but just, it's just a
cute, I think the movies we'retalking about today are just fun
movies.

I love that, that you say that.
And there's somebody that Ilike who's in it who plays Diane
Foxton.
And you didn't mention thatperson.
So, help me out.
Who is that?

Oh my God.
Is it, hold on.
I got another

Azzy.

Oh, Azzy Azzy didn't do.
Yes.
My husband loves Azzy Beatstoo.
But Azzy, maybe she had somepersonal things going on.
She might be shooting, but shedid not do the press run for
this.
Oh.
But the rest of the gang showedup.
The rest of the gang showed up,

And where can we check out your
interview.

Oh, you can go to the Cuppa Soul show YouTube
channel, and you can go to theSacramento Observer and see it
on their YouTube channel.
And, we just had ourselves,like I said, it is, I, it's been
a minute since I laughed thismuch in the junket and we laugh
from the moment.
Go.

That is absolutely great.
So the, you're recommendingthis?

Absolutely.
Because again, we gottaremember the movies are for
everybody.
And this is, you mean, I thinkSuperman and Fantastic Four is a
little bit long and it's alittle bit tough for the
youngest members of your family,but this, this, they're gonna
have a good time.
They're gonna talk about, someof the silly things.
And again, shout out to SamRockwell, who's having a really

(36:31):
amazing year from his work onthe White Lotus to this.
I just feel like he's one ofour most underrated actors and
he is extremely versatile andjust a really, really good soul.
And I love when he did win anAcademy Award, his tribute to
Philip Hoffman.

The question that I would ask you
is about this movie before wemove on to the next one, is this
a movie that the kid at heart,like myself, would sneak in and
go see by myself?

Yeah, because like I said, is, there's certain
scenes that I really chuckled uploud and just, I love the
camaraderie between, I was fullyentertained.
I was engulfed.
Like sometimes I will say tocertain critics, they're like,
oh, this is this.
I'm like, no 6-year-old caresabout the, an analytical.

(37:24):
Play that you are talking aboutas a parent, nobody cares.
Is this something a that'sappropriate for kids?
If so, watch age group, right?
How long is the run time?
I think when we, at least I'mgonna speak for myself.
When I review children'smovies, I try to do it from that

(37:44):
lens.
I try not to.
Now, once in a while you'llhave certain animated movies
like The Lion King when it comesout.
That just is wonderful andappropriate for kids.
But it also exceeds everything,all the limitations, everything
that animated movies do.
It's a moment, right?
We have that.
I think Coco is another one ofthose movies, but for the most

(38:06):
part, when people talk about,oh, this is not cynical, I'm
like, no kid.
Go spend some time with somesmall people.
They'll tell you why they lovea movie.
Is this the music work theywill do they like the
characters?
Is this colorful?
Do they like the fact, that,kids love things like armpit
noise.
Like you and I don't go see amovie for that, right?

(38:26):
The shark, passing gas.
That's the type of stuff thatkids like.
So that's the mindset that Itry to look at it.
And most important, like yousaid, is when you ask, is it
what age group?
If it's two hours, we all knowsome kids can sit full for an
hour and 10.
Some kids are only good for anhour.
So these are the importantfactors.

(38:47):
All that other jazz, don'tnobody care.

Last question about this,
particularly about the cast.
Is there something that youlearned about any member of the
cast?
Just one.
'cause we could be talkingabout this forever and I want
people to go and see yourreview.
Is this something that youlearned about any member of the
cast that you would like toshare?

Yeah.
When Craig Robinson said thathe tried out for the sketch
comedy show and he had a he saidhe had a black comodo.
I don't know why I justimmediately started laughing and
this is a guy who comes up withthese different characters and
he said he tried out with thesketch comedy show and he went
in there up prepared.
So he went on the fly and thisis what he came out with.

(39:30):
And I'm just trying to think ofthe people that were
auditioning him and were like,he said, yeah, it, it just was,
it, it's a bad, it just was allthe type of bad.
And the funny thing is becauseeven Sam Rockwell was like,
really?
Like, what, what, what, what,what was it?
Did you have a voice?
He goes, yeah.
And he did the voice.
And it also goes to show youthat people who are super

(39:51):
talented and are known forthings have their off days.
And he was like, that day hejust didn't have it.

All right.
Well, that's it.
That is a recommendation.
To go check out the bad guystoo.
Moving to our second movie, andthat is The Naked Gun, and I'll
start that one off.
I always am hesitant when wecontinue to go back to the same

(40:22):
stuff when you know that aLeslie Nielsen was just a
absolutely iconic.
The question would be, why?
Why?
Why would you do this?
This is a big, big risk for acouple of reasons.
In my mind, one, Liam Neesonneeds to live up to Leslie

(40:47):
Nielsen because the people whoare older like myself, who watch
that series are like, okay, isit gonna be good?
Two.
He needs to bring in the newpeople into the franchise who
never saw any of the movies andmake it where it is relevant and
fresh enough today.
And those were my questionswhen I saw the trailer, I said,

(41:11):
okay, okay.
The acting seemed like he couldat least give Leslie, give
homage to Leslie.
And that's what I saw from thetrailer.
So let's talk about the whatthe movie is about, and then the
things that I liked that NeesonLiam Neeson plays a Lieutenant

(41:32):
Frank, Dr.
D Drin din Junior.
And he tr he tries to thwart abank robbery in the process.
He messes everything up and hisChief Davis played by CCH
Pounder.
Decides to take him off of thatcase and put him on traffic

(41:54):
duty.
He has a traffic case and hisfirst traffic case is a guy who
dies in a self-driving car.
It so happens that case isconnected to the bank robbery
and everything else that he isnot supposed to get involved in.

(42:16):
And so now he's back involvedin the bank robbery, which
points them to this tech, CEO,who is a very powerful player in
the, in, in the city.
So the issue is that Frank isdetermined to find out what's
really going on, and he puts alot of people in danger and
possibly he could possibly savethe world.

(42:39):
It's execute.
Really, it's actually cute justfrom what was happening there.
But let me say this, first andforemost, the plot doesn't
matter.
It doesn't that it doesn'tmatter.
So if you are there trying tolook at the plot and say it
doesn't make any sense, that'snot what matters.
This film is clearly a spoof ofdetective movies and it is an

(43:04):
homage to the Naked Gunfranchise with jokes and jabs at
the series, as well as thegenre.
It's partially about recreatingthe goofiness that you see in
the past, but it's alsopartially about extending.
The franchise to appeal to anew generation.
And they're trying to balanceboth of those.

(43:25):
And I think from a jokeperspective, they actually do a
decent job.
The film has all theingredients of a spoof.
The first thing it referencesthe prior movies.
And there's a joke about acertain former NFL running back
that will absolutely have youlaughing.
At least it did me.
You'll see that one actually inthe, a little bit of that one
in the trailer to it.

(43:45):
It exaggerates the stereotypes.
So a as an example, there'sthis bit about coffee, and let's
just say that the coffee issupersized and there's plenty of
it.
And I, the, those exaggerationsare the things that kind of
make you laugh and stay with,they stay with the gag, by the

(44:06):
way.
They never leave it, they neverleave this coffee issue.
And you're just gonna see itover and over and over again.
And also mimics history butwith its own twist.
You have this.
Obligatory police chief whohollers and screams at people
lets you know that you're in theright precinct.
That's what happens on allthese kind of detective movies.

(44:27):
There's this black police chiefwho's like, why did you do
this?
And how, and CCH pounder, Ithink she's perfect for this
role and does a really greatjob.
And then there's the fourthwall.
When you break that fourthwall, it has to be funny and it
is it they start talking to youdirectly and you're like, wait a

(44:51):
minute.
I am I in the movie?
I didn't know that.
And like I said, the plotdoesn't matter because this is
really a winding, convolutedroad that's constructed for
those looking to chuckle andBelly lab.
That's what it's all about forthose people who looking to
chuckle and Belly lab.
Belly lab.
So what did I not like about itIs that the naked gun is silly.

(45:12):
It is a silly movie.
And because of that, it's notfor everyone.
Many of the jokes, you actuallywill see them coming, like the
stuff that I just talked aboutwith the coffee.
Some of 'em you won't, but someof 'em you will, you'll, you
know that they're about to givehim another cup of coffee, but
in a sense they feel familiarand maybe not as original as you

(45:33):
like them to be.
And that might be a downfallfor people who might be new to
the, to this franchise becausethey might not get it.
I think it's clever.
And that leads into my otherpoint because I think it's
clever, but it actually in someways might be too clever for
itself because it, the jokesare, to me, the jokes remind me
of of the movie Inception wherethey fold on each other so much

(45:53):
so that it creates this likecomplex tired land tiered
landscape that could impact yourlaugh factor.
You'd be like, okay, he saidthis, they said this, so you do
have to piece some of this stufftogether.
And then finally, just becauseit is about the franchise.
There will be jokes that justwill go over your head and if

(46:14):
you haven't seen the othermovies, you won't know what
people are laughing about.
Or even if you've seen theother movies, you might not
remember that.
Oh, that joke was about this.
There were a couple of jokeswhere I had to go.
I came back home and I watchedone of the older films because I
was like, I missed something.
And I was like, oh, that's whatthey were talking about.
So my rating for this is that Ithink this is a matinee movie,

(46:38):
one of those that you go see inthe theater, get your, using
your terminology, get your Kikion and laugh and have a good
time.
Is this a run to the theaterright away?
You bet not Miss Movie.
Not to me.
But I think that they did agood job.
I think they did a good joboverall, but I don't think that
Frank Junior eclipsed FrankSenior.

(47:02):
That's my thought.

I didn't, first of all, I love that Liam Neeson
decided to do this because hispersona has been so tied to the
taking the bat.
Like he's this tough, ruggedguy, and for him to lean all the
way in with the silliness, withthe miniskirt and all the stuff
that, that the originalistchose the fact that he knows

(47:24):
that he's wrestling with thissuper macho persona.
So I, I love that for him and Ilove the fact that he got it.
Let's circle back.
I think the other one is thefact that he, that this is just,
like I said, like you said,it's just a fun getaway, right?

(47:44):
You know that this movie doesnot want to be deep.
It doesn't strive to be deep,it is ultra silly the
stereotypes of what a policesquad looked like with the
coffee mug.
Even the, that, that little,that joke on OJ I think was spot
on.
'cause he was such a part ofthe original franchise.

(48:05):
I love the fact that he was howcan I say this?
That's how they addressed itand moved on.
First of all, can we did nottalk about Pamela Anderson.
Okay.
I love this resurgence for her.
I love this for her so, somuch.
And I love the fact that shealso understands what people,

(48:28):
that she's probably making funof herself too, but pe they
probably think that she's likethis in real life.
And kudos for having a womanover 50 play this part because
normally they will get some20-year-old to do it, but I
think, I love the casting.
They're both two mature peopleand again, I love her timing and

(48:48):
this is really, really goodthat chemistry is authentic.
And I love talk about a pivotthis second half of her career
between the last showgirl in LasVegas.
This absolutely love this forher.

Let me say something to that.
I'm really glad that youmentioned that because I
mentioned Pamela Anderson in myreview as well.
And I think to exactly what youjust said, the chemistry is
really good in this one betweenher and Liam and the thing that
I like the most.
Was that they stayed incharacter and played it deadpan.

(49:28):
Like they were serious.
They stayed in character.
And that's what makes it workbecause the way in which the two
of them worked together to notbreak, if you will,

I mean from the last showgirl right.
This has opened upopportunities for her.
And if you've not seen the lastshowgirl in Las Vegas the last
show girl, so the last showgirlgo see it.
It's on HBO Max.
She's really good in it.
And so is Dave Batista.
He like, it takes you a minuteto realize who he's playing

(50:03):
'cause he is wearing long hair.
And I think a lot of men didn'tget that.
Her character, the women got itright.
And so is Jamie Le Curtis,she's good in this too.
But moving back on to this, Ifeel like.
It just it is a movie thatunderstands the whole shtick of

(50:24):
the movie is to make fun ofevery possible stereotype.
Like to the point, even thecrime scene, right?
Pick up the knife, stand inthis, all the things you're not
supposed to do,

Have a chair.

Yeah.
You know what I mean?
So you see it coming, but it'sstill funny and it's still
great.
And I think what they, I agreewith you.
It's like, Ooh, this is such alove thing.
How can they do it where itdoesn't seem like a poor
copycat?

(50:59):
And I think they accomplishedthat goal.
They understood.
They paid homage to the old onewhere it needs to be, they have
this crime, which is a littlekink, weird.
But everybody, all the actorsunderstand if you can't make
laugh at yourself, if you takeyourself too serious, you

(51:20):
shouldn't be in this movie.
And that's what the assignmentis like.
You have to be willing to belike, what?
And another film that is lessthan two hours.
So bless their heart.

Yeah.
I, again, I recommend it.
Go check it out at the matinee.
If you're not gonna check itout at the matinee, I would then
wait for it to come on tv.
But I would watch it.
It's just not a movie I wouldrun, run to go see.
No, I think they do a good jobthough.

If you don't want to see, and there are people out
there, the somebody talked tome when the superheroes.
You have superhero fatigue.
You don't wanna see theiteration of Jurassic Park.
This is for you.
You said, gimme two tickets fornone of the above.
And they go, I got one for you.
Naked Gone.
And that's, it's going to havea nostalgia for people that are

(52:17):
like, I wanna go to the movies,get outta the heat and see this.
And that's what it is.
Again, not everything needs tobe deep.
Be deep.
If you just wanna come, you hada bad week and you just wanna
laugh.
This is a movie for you.
Good.
I gave it like a strong six.

I gave it So I'll have to do my
conversion.
I gave it two and a half out offour.
Thought it was, again, wereworth checking out.
And I know that some peopleenjoyed it even more than I did
because they were laughing soloud and so hard.
I was

laughing.
It's just.
It's just silly.
There's some moments you'relike, what I love when, when she
was like, no, thank you.
I'll stand.
And then she was like, onsecond thought, I'll take the
chair and walked out with it.
And again, it only works 'causeshe was committed to the bid.
True.
Because had she like, oh, andthen put the chair down?

(53:15):
No, no, no.
She needed to walk out withthat chair.

We're gonna walk out and talk a
little bit about I got a littlerant and rave here.
And go for it,

friend.

And, and that rant and rave is not
really a rant or a rave.
It's really just talking alittle bit about the box office,
because I love looking at whatis doing well in the theaters.
And last week, rightfully so,the number one movie was the
Fantastic four First Steps.

(53:47):
It did.
Hundred and $18 million.
It's gonna be very interestingto see what the drop off is for
that movie.
When you look at

fantastic for

Yeah what it will be this weekend
when you look at the the sec,when you look at Superman is
what I wanted to say.
When you look at Superman andit opened with 125 million and
what I found to be interestingis that it fell off 53%.

(54:26):
And I, that, that made sense tome because I thought it was a
solid movie, but not a moviethat like centers, I think
centers did, centers fall offonly like 25% or something like
that.

You said strong word of mouth.
Super strong word of mouth.
And a lot of people.
The other part too is, and I'llask you this question since
we're doing box office talk, isSuperman, the type of movie
you're gonna see again, whileit's still at the theater where
sinners was the type of moviethat people were like, I wanna
see it again.
I wanna see it in imax, I wannasee it.

(55:01):
They were willing to pay forIMAX ticket.
So to, to ask you thatquestion, is Superman the type
of movie that people are saying,Hey, I gotta see it again.

And this was my exact question to
people, is this a movie thatafter I see it, I would run home
and I would say to Donna,Donna, you need to see this and
I will go with you again to gosee it.
And Superman just wasn't thatmovie for me.

Also, worldwide, Superman is a global brand.
Batman held up better andBatman was almost three hours.
Than Superman did worldwide.
And I think, this is myopinion, I think it's because
they tinkered with his, theymade him so relatable that a lot

(55:56):
of people were like, I don'twant that in my Superman.
I want my Superman to be justthat super.

I wanna see more.
I think many of them want tosee more action.
So yeah, it was,

and I thought for it to get to the action, there
was so much of his personaltrauma, so much this, by the
time we got to the action, youwere like, it was almost like
you were ready to go already, atleast for me.
And I felt like if you werenot, if you didn't grow up or
you never saw Superman movie, itdidn't know anything about

(56:32):
Superman.
Like for the people that werenot part of this DC comic book
world.
This is a rough entry intothey, somebody literally walked
out and said, why are theybeefing him and Lex Luther?
I go, that's a legitimatequestion.

When you look at Superman, Superman
fell off that first week 53%,and then the second week it fell
off 57%.
So there were people basicallysaying, you know what I am not
gonna go see this again.
This is not a movie that Iwould just run off and go see
again.
And I think they did a goodjob.

(57:09):
But is it the movie that youwould really go and check out?
Again, so it's gonna be veryinteresting when we look at this
movie and see if people aregonna go and run out and go see
it again.

Also we didn't have that right when we were
younger.
We just went, we just go and wesee we just go see a freaking
movie.
I think that the thing is,these days there's been such
push to, if you don't see,because opening weekend is like

(57:47):
the end of end all, notunderstanding that if you go see
it on Monday, you go see it onTuesday.
That's all part of the boxoffice.
Especially in the summertimewhere more people have time off
people are home with their kidsa little bit more.
The weekend is not alwaysconducive for you to go to the
movies.
But I also think it's, it isalso more affordable to go
during the week.

(58:07):
We have put so much pressure,whereas before the movie was out
and it got more lag time.
And now it's like, if you don'trun out and see this movie on
from Thur, it's, let's behonest, from Thursday through
Sunday.
That it's the end all of endall

It's true.
I think that the theaters don'thave the roadway to have movies
that might do good.
It really impacts themtremendously.
Like, okay, we'll keep it,we'll keep it a little bit,
we'll keep it for two weeks whenwe're hoping that maybe it'll

(58:47):
catch on.
When you look at a movie likeSinners and I couldn't remember
what the drop off was, but itwas 4.8%.
Then the next week it was 27.6and the next week it was 33.
So it, it did not have a 50%drop off until the 10th week,

(59:07):
no, the 11th week.
The staying power of that moviewas unbelievable.
I am very curious as to whatwill happen with the Fantastic
four and see what kind of dropoff that it might have.
117 million is really not a lotof money for a movie of that

(59:32):
size.

It's also it's this, because we have these
blockbusters coming out back toback.
So you go from being on thesesuper big screens and then you
immediately ushered out to makeroom for the next thing.
We don't curate things anymore.
And it, and I also wanna knowis do we even still have, near
where my parents lived when Iwas growing up, there was the $5

(59:56):
movie and they would get thebig blockbuster movies a week
later, right?
And hey listen.
Young men, when you are datingand you know, your money's a
little tight.
You are in high school, thatthat place was a bop 'cause you
could still get your snacks andeverything.
You were in there like aColombian drug king pin.
Oh wow.
You could take somebody forfive, for two people.

(01:00:19):
You were in there big balling.
You pull up, you got freeparking, you treat your date.
That was flourishing.
But do we, do these even stillexist?
These types of theaters?
I listen, I know some peoplethat would absolutely love that,
but I'm going to piggyback offof you.
I saw a TikTok social mediapost about this man that went to

(01:00:45):
Regal, not a MC.
Same difference though.
And he went to see F1.
He was excited.
I think he went to see twomovies, F1 and there was another
movie and he talked about theetiquette at the theater, how
you have somebody was trying tolive tweet during F1, which is

(01:01:06):
crazy.
That's crazy work.
And we've seen that when we'vegone to screenings and public
screen, you know, how I feelabout public screenings.
We've seen you know, oh God,that was the best part about the
pandemic.
It was just us.
You know how you can pick yourseats, you know, like you don
may be like, okay, we gonna sitin the middle, but right in the

(01:01:27):
center, or you may wanna have aILC, whatever the thing is.
But you strategically go, and Iknow some people to make sure
that nobody sits in, also payfor the seat next to them so
they can have peaks, like if yougo by the movies, by yourself.
But this gentleman said.
He went to the movies, hepicked at his seat and there

(01:01:47):
were these groups of friends.
First movie, one person was onhis left and one person was on
his right and they were tryingto have a conversation over him
and he, for the life of him, waslike, what?
What?
Like, why wouldn't you pick twoseats next to one another if
you're together?
Then he said it got worse'cause the third friend came

(01:02:10):
over and they were having athree-way conversation.
This is before the moviestarted.
So he's okay, I'm not gonna sayanything 'cause it's gonna wind
down.
Then the third friend came overand had the audacity to ask him
if he would move so they couldsit together.
It's given that airplane talk.
And he was like, absolutelynot.
And he also was like I justsaid, he said, I asked nicely

(01:02:33):
once the movie start, could theyrefrain from talking?
'cause we're here to see theentertainment's on the screen.
So they were like texting anddoing the stuff that they do.
Also, he was complaining aboutthe previous I, 'cause again, we
go to screenings and just popright in.
We go right to the money shot.
I too was like, oh my God.

(01:02:55):
Like it's, we are stillwatching previews while we're
30, 40 minutes in.
But I get it 'cause we gottapay the bills and that what
pays, keeps the lights on.
We revert to the other thing iswhere he saw the other movie,
forgot what the other movie was.
Another, the big movie wherethese guys were sitting in seats

(01:03:18):
that they hadn't selected andthen the family that selected
those seats and they had to tellthem to move.
Basically what he's saying ispart of the movie going
experience and some of thesetheaters have to do a better
job.
And I've been saying that fordecades.
Happy to see other peoplesaying it.
We gotta curate a betterexperience.

(01:03:40):
If you're gonna charge what youcharge, A, you gotta, these
theaters, these bathrooms notbeing clean.
And I get it when your averageemployee is 16, okay?
But you still, there's noreason why you are paying to go
to this theater.
You're paying to be an IMAX orwhatever big screen is, and your
feet are sticking to the floor.

(01:04:00):
Or you're still seeing theremnants for the last crew that
saw it, or the bathroom lookslike, where you're like, you
know what, I'll take my chances.
I'll hold my pe.
I'm only 40 minutes from home.
Like it ain't, this is not it.
Or the fact that we, theseconcessions are not looking
better every year at Cinema Con,I walk through the concession
floor and I'm like, where is thedisplay to have better things?

(01:04:25):
Other than the stuff that'sgonna clog your arteries.
The experience of going to themovie theater, even those of us
that go for a living, is anightmare at time because we
have a generation that thinkthey have to be a part of the
action instead of understandingthat, that the entertainment is

(01:04:46):
on the screen.
It's really getting to thepoint where I think we need to
have a thing where you are notallowed to have your phone on,
and if you are seen on yourphone, you are escorted out, no
money back.
It needs to be the type offinancial thing.
Well that to make gun, and I'mgonna let you jump in.
Security said, are you readyfor this?

Reggie Ponder, The reel Cri (01:05:09):
All right.
That

Kathia Woods (01:05:10):
type of behavior at the screening of Superman,
and I saw it for, 'cause we didsome interviews, so I saw it in
a different environment.
There were about 10 criticsthat saw it.
We were spread out all over thetheater, so I did not see it
with the public.
But that public screening, thefirst one here in Atlanta, wanna

(01:05:31):
guess how many people gotkicked out Because they were on
their phone, they were trying totake screenshots, they were
tweeting or whatever the hellthey were doing.
Do you wanna know how manypeople got kicked out?

How many?

15 Escorted out.
What are we do?
First of all, it's a privilegeto go to movies for free to be
invited to the screenings by thestudio, right?
Whether you're a critic orinfluencer, that is part of the
problem.
We are no longer understandingthat the entertainment is on the

(01:06:03):
screen.
And it's the same way withBroadway plays where people are
on the phone and think they cananswer a phone.
And doing all we have lost theetiquette.
So you are paying a lot ofmoney.
And on top of that.
You gotta sit next to peoplethat talk Alamo theaters and
they have a no talking.
I'm not talking about like,ooh, you know, you're shocked.

(01:06:27):
I'm talking about chitchat.
They have a no hard no phonespolicy.
And maybe we need to have thatacross the board for people to
understand that you are incommunity with other people and
you don't have the right to, toruin other people's things.
Thoughts, Reggie,

Reggie Ponder, The reel Criti (01:06:46):
A couple of thoughts and that is
really a rant and rave.
So thank you so much becauseyou saved my, the segment.
I said I didn't really have arant in Rave and you had a rant
in Rave.
You made me think of theMinecraft movie that people
were, I think, mimicking all thethings in the movie and it got

(01:07:10):
pretty darn crazy.
I read so many articles aboutsome of the things that people
were doing in the movie, achicken, popcorn, all types of
things that they were doing to,as part of the entertainment.

(01:07:31):
They felt that they was part ofthe entertainment and what's
the film that everybody goes tosee every year and they sing
with the movie?
It's a cult favorite.
It's a Rocky Horror moviepicture show that if you've ever
been to one of those that'sbasically what's happening at

(01:07:53):
every movie.
Ha.
Have you been to see thatmovie?

A Minecraft?
Yes.

No, no, no, no.
Rocky Horror Picture Movie.

Yes, yes.
But that is an interactiveexperience.

I understand.
But it wasn't initially.
No, it was not Initially.
It grew into that and peopleare okay with it.
So this is what I'm thinking.
Two things.
The reason comedians these daysdecide that you cannot have
your phone during the show isfor a couple of reasons.

(01:08:27):
One, you are not watching me,you are not participating with
what I'm saying.
Two is that I am testing out mymaterial.
I don't need you running outthere, putting it out there, and
then all of a sudden I amcanceled because I'm trying to
be funny and part of being funnyis being funny with the crowd

(01:08:49):
and so on and so forth.
I love that, that when I wouldgo to see, when I went to see
Trevor Noah, they took thephones.
I'm like, that works.
I'm good.
Because I'm, I don't need torecord him while I'm trying to

(01:09:09):
watch him, but I'm older.
So I have to understand thattoo, is that I say to people who
take out their phones, whydon't you experience the
experience?
But what they say back to me isthat that's how they are
experiencing it, is they aretaking video of it and that's
what makes them happy and that'show they enjoy it.

(01:09:30):
So here's my solution.
What about a showing for peoplewho just want to go and do what
they do?
Pull out your phones, talk allthrough the movie, but just a
showing just for those people.
Because I think there's a lotof those people these days, I

(01:09:54):
don't want it.
So I agree with you for what Iwant.
I definitely don't want to seeall of that while I'm trying to
watch a film.
So that would be my thought.
I like what Alamo is doingbecause I want to see the movie.
I wanna enjoy the movie.
As long as somebody could stilltalk to the screen in a scary

(01:10:17):
movie, if you can't talk to thescreen and say, no, no, no, no,
no.
Don't

go that way.
No, no, we're not talking.
That is like a naturalreaction.
You are not like, oh my God.
Or you're not trying to narratethe movie.
Do you understand what I mean?
Like we can't hear the plot orwe missed a moment because.
Or you decide you wanna belike, girl, I'm at the movies.
Where you're like we've allbeen to screenings where people

(01:10:44):
literally screen is so bright.
It's like a dome light, right?
Absolutely.
And you're, and now you can'tbecause it's right here in your
face.
You don't wanna acknowledge it,but you can't.
Or the person sitting rightnext to you or it's this, this
the part I really hate.
You get the phone.
It's not even like, why are youtalking?
If you are talking to somebodyin the lobby and they're getting

(01:11:07):
a sack when we all can text,why are you girl?
Get the wild hot dog.
No.
And what do you want?
Oh, you want the Slurpee too?
Why is that going on?
When a, if you're gonna do it,I agree.
I agree.
We don't need to, I don't needto know the entire order.
What, who likes what?
I'm getting to know way moreabout you than I am for the

(01:11:27):
movie I paid for.
So I do think I know people whostrategically, Reggie.
Strategically drive to certaintheaters.

I'm one of go to the movies on I'm
of those certain

days.

I'm one of

those.
So they avoid certain people.
And I'm not talking about hoodpeople, I'm just talking about
the people that don'tunderstand.
We are here to see a thing onthe screen, not your
shenanigans.
And I really, and some peopleget upset with him, but I'm
like, get outta your feelings.
The theater owners have to do abetter job and maybe sit an

(01:12:01):
employee in the screening andinstead of us having to leave,
get somebody and be like, ma'am,you either get off your phone
or we're gonna have to escortyou out.
The reason Alamo, and and Ithink that's another reason why
people go to Alamo and you canget yourself a little cocktail,
you can get yourself from themFood.
Food is because of that role.

The reason Alamo is doing it.
And if people don't understandit, it is all about the money.
Because Alamo knows that Reggieponder is not coming, and the
fewer people who come, thefewer, the less money you make.
So from a dollars and centsperspective, it really does turn
off a lot of people who can goto the movie to enjoy

(01:12:48):
themselves.
Now, I will tell you, I went tosee centers in a theater that I
knew I would be quiet because Ididn't wanna miss anything.
The second time I went to seecenters, I went to theater where
I knew people were going to bea little, little talkative
because I wanted to experience,I did wanna experience that with

(01:13:12):
folks.
Alamo is very, very smart.
They know what they're doingand they're going.
I think they're gonna reap thebenefits from it.
Because,

I think it has to be though, like we're getting
into the point, like we listen,some of these movies, we're
getting into the season wherethese movies are a little rough
as it is, right?
You're sitting through queer,it's three hours, you are
already on your last caffeineball.
Ooh, you're holding onto yourlast cell.
Think about conclave a movielike that.

(01:13:45):
Think about if somebody decidedto talk as, and that last vital
part where we all go andlisten, everybody was leaned in.
We really enjoying the movie Atip.
And somebody goes, we all wentyou know how the end is?
I'm not gonna say it 'cause Idon't wanna ruin it for people.
You go, oh, that is a normalreaction.

(01:14:08):
'cause it's such a plot twist,right?
Yeah.
But the point is.
Imagine I didn't go well,Reggie what do you wanna have
for to eat after we leave here?
And now you miss it.
Now you don't know.
You missed that reactionbecause I decided I wanted to
ask you what we doing after thescreening during that moment.

(01:14:28):
You would've been like, really?

And or even if a movie, like a
movie like Conclave You, it is adialogue driven film.
So the more people talk, Donnahates when I do this, by the
way.
I say what did they say?
What she hates it when I dothat.
So of course I need people tobe quiet.
'cause I miss, I'm missingstuff when they're not quiet.
I telling them myself,

I, but it's, but you are not, I've been to the
movies and I've been screeningswith you and you are not that
person.
No, but lemme tell yousomething else.
It's not just at the Supermans,the F ones.
It's also when we're at filmfestivals where people have been
on their phones and I'm like,what are you doing?
Or.
I am gonna tell, this is mylast little story, and I can't
believe I never shared this withyou.

(01:15:13):
So you know how we have, Igotta paint this picture for
people that can't, that havenever been.
So when you go to filmfestivals, there are obviously
some films are gonna be shown intraditional movie theaters, but
you have to get creative, thesegalas and Tiff like Toronto has
these beautiful theaters thatnormally our plays are shown in

(01:15:36):
Broadway shows and that, andthey get, they bring in the
screen, same Sundance, they takesome of these school
auditoriums and they convertthem into movie theaters by
bringing in these big screens.
Well, let me hold your handhere.
So we're not at the Prince ofWales Theater, which is.
The one that's further up, it'sthe one before that.

(01:15:57):
Something, something, right?
Whatever it's called.
That is a really old theater.
And I can tell you how old itis because when you sit
upstairs, oh, your knees and I'mnot a tall person.
I'm five six, right?
I'm like, average belt.
You have to twi twirl your bodya little bit so you don't feel

(01:16:17):
like your knees are about tofall asleep and you start aching
a little bit.
It's a hard seat.
It's not comfortable at all.
Now the whale is a little bitof a longer film and it's Mecho,
it's not a good time.
So we're sitting in thistheater and it is already a very
somber movie about this manwho's extremely overweight and

(01:16:41):
he no longer is a part ofsociety and he's slowly dying
'cause he's eating himself to.
So that is the movie we'reseeing.
We're in there like tightquarters and we've got our
little water and our snacks andI'm like in the middle.
So it's not even like I can getout early, right?
The person next to me oneverything that I love, if I'm

(01:17:03):
dying, I'm done.
If I'm lying, I'm dying.
Falls asleep.
And when I tell you, fallsasleep, it's not like, ooh, you
know, like where you get alittle big where you do, I'm
talking full on snoring.
Everybody in the front row, inthe side row turns around and of

(01:17:24):
course, this person next to meand looking at me and they're
looking at me like so absolutelyfreaking out.
I don't put my hands on peoplethat I don't know and we, you're
not about to have me have aninternational incident in this
man.
Then get up and then he decidesto hit me and then the whole
damn thing is done.
Because I definitely do puthands back, but it's just, he's
snoring so loud and they'relike, they're doing this, trying

(01:17:48):
to get him to wake up.
And I'm like, no, no, no.
Slept through the first half ofthe movie.
So finally, 'cause somebody gotup and went and got him,
volunteers, like this guy, it'slike disturbing.
And then you could tell thepeople from down there were
looking up, this was thepremier, Brandon Frazier, the
director, all these people arein the theater.

(01:18:08):
People looking up like, who thehell?
What is happening?
So they get the us, thevolunteer poor person.
I was like, go with God.
And they nudge him to wake upand they were like, sir,
whispered quietly, sir, we needyou to either, you need to be
awake or you need to excuseyourself 'cause you're

(01:18:29):
disturbing.
You know the thing.
And he's like, oh.
First of all, I'm like the factyou had an attitude, audacity,
right?
But man, just to stay away, I'mlike the fact that he got mad
that we woke him up out of hisslumber.
So the movie ends, there's qand a afterwards, right?
And he raises his hand when Itell you we were in this

(01:18:55):
together all section, whateverrow we were in and looked at
that.
Man, if you don't put your handdown, the audacity of you to
think that you can ask, that'squestions.
After you slapped through thefirst half of this freaking
movie, disturbed all of us.
'cause we are now all fixated,especially me, it's like right
here in my ear.
I'm trying to hear what he'styping and there's no subtitle.

(01:19:19):
I was struggling with trying toenjoy this movie, right?
And understand why thisperformance was so good.
When I tell you.
That man lowered his hand.
'cause we were about to have acoup that day.
We would've been like,absolutely not.
Do not give him the mic.
No ma'am.
He's not.
He does not get to ask aquestion.
This is what I'm talking about,where people who lack

(01:19:40):
self-awareness because we get togo for free.
Reggie, you know what thesepasses cost.
You know what these ticketscost And you in there going for
free, taking a nap, disturbingeverything.
This is the stuff that we arealluding to bring back
etiquette.

(01:20:00):
We are all tired.
It's a ruling schedule, but I'drather you skip the movie.
Give the ticket back, come backand fight in another day.
I've done it.
I've done it where I've beenlike, you know what?
I tried to do two midnightmovies.
I only lasted for one.
And I said to myself, self, behonest.
Are you going to be awake?
And I gave the ticket back andlet somebody else enjoy it

(01:20:23):
instead of me being there andjust ticking it off.
And I only saw 10 minutes ofthe bizarre thing.

Reggie Ponder, The reel Crit (01:20:29):
My thought is that I could give
you grace for falling asleep.
I can, because I could see howyou might be tired and all of
that.
The grace that I would not giveyou is that you have an
attitude.
You're mad at somebody becauseyou fell asleep.
My thought would've been if Ifell asleep, which I have not
often, but I've done it maybeonce or twice and somebody taps

(01:20:53):
me, I probably would've left thetheater.
So my, I'm sorry, my.
I didn't see the movie.
So if I didn't see the firsthalf of the movie I think me but
I'm not even mad that hestayed.
I'm mad that you're mad

and then ask a question like, you know, like,
come on now.
We sat through the almost threehours of it.
We went through the wholeemotional thing.

Reggie Ponder, The reel C (01:21:14):
Yeah, for sure.
I agree with you.
Let's get some rules, someetiquette in the film theaters.
It would help everybody.
It'll help us enjoy it betterand it will also help the
theaters make more money.
So I am a hundred percent withthat.

Yes.
I'm gonna miss you though, thatyou're not gonna be, my buddy's
not gonna be there.
Yeah.
But we're gonna have to holdsome of the titles.
We're gonna have to do a littleuntil you do Chicago.
So we can talk about it.
And I don't care what Reggietells you.
Reggie is, I have sat inseveral screenings where Reggie,
Reggie is a great movie buddy.

(01:21:49):
And Reggie would never.
Snore for two an hour and ahalf.

I would never snore for an hour
and a half

Ritz Carlton in his robe comfortably.
No, he would not.

I would not.
I would not.
The only thing I'm sayingthough is that I tried to do 3,
4, 1 time.
I tried to do four movies in aday.

I did five one time and, but I started at eight
and I was on a caffeine high.
I will admit that

Reggie Ponder, The reel Crit (01:22:15):
It was a mistake.
It was a mistake.
I tried, I, I really wanted tosee all those movies and I
nodded on the last movie I didbecause I,

I did it.
I did the 10 o'clock I did, Istarted at 8:00 AM and it was
kind of like, but three of them,I did it at Sundance.
Three of the movies were withinwalking distance, had a little
food break and then hit theother two.
But the, I was supposed to goto an event that evening.
I was with you.
I was like, no, I need to go toclub bed.
I was really on my last.

(01:22:45):
Like my caffeine held on justlong enough for the last movie I
saw was promising young woman.
My caffeine was like, you hadabout 10 more minutes and then
it was a wrap.
And once it was, I, when I tellyou, I got back to my hotel
room, immediately took my makeupoff, shower, got in that bed,

(01:23:07):
it was lights out.

I will tell you is that I think,
I think I'm not doing four againbecause I think really in terms
of being able to digest themovie, to decompress after the
movie and to even retain some ofthe information so I can write
my review three movies is mymax.

(01:23:30):
I need a moment to be able totalk about the movie, to think
about the movie, to do all thosethings so that when I get ready
to write my review, I'm notthinking, oh, is this movie am.
Confusing pieces of anothermovie for one movie.
So I think my limit is threeand I think I've done pretty

(01:23:51):
well with three when I try to dofour.
It just didn't work.
But with that, we are at ourtime, as usual.
As we close, I always want toknow what articles people can
check out and where they cancheck them out.
So let's get to it.
Ka you can,

as per usual, you can go over to the Philadelphia
Tribune.
You can read my conversationwith Eddie Murphy, Kiki Palmer,
and Pete Davidson for thepickup, which comes out next
week.
We can't say anymore 'causeEmbargo's not up yet.
We'll talk about that nextweek.
We have my interview with RyanKler and is up for Ironheart.

(01:24:29):
It's over at the SacramentoObserver and of course you can
read the Good Times I had.
You can watch thatover@kapasocialshow.com.
We had ourselves a good oldtime cutting up talking about
how we lied our way onto somejobs.
White lies not big lies.
White lies.
What about you, Reggie?
Where can everybody find you?

You can check out other than on

the basketball court.

Reggie Ponder, The reel (01:24:50):
That's right.
You can find my review of theNaked Gun right now on
indigo.com and in fact, you canfind all my reviews, the
Fantastic four First Steps aswell as Superman.
So go and check them out.
And right now that's all I haveout is a few reviews.
I am looking at a couple ofinterviews and trying to get

(01:25:14):
those going for next week.
So I'll keep you guys postedwith that.
That's our show.

Absolutely good times.

I will see you guys.
We will see you guys later.
We're out.

Speaker (01:25:24):
I.

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