Pop Culture Chronicles

Hello again everyone, and Happy Holidays! This past week, i had the opportunity to watch the critically -  acclaimed drama, Manchester By Sea. The film stars Casey Affleck, as his character, Lee Chandler, a handyman in Boston, MA. Lee receives the unexpected news, that his brother, Joe Chandler,( Kyle Chandler "Friday Night Lights") dies unexpectedly of a heart attack. Joe leaves Lee in charge of his son, Lee's nephew, Patrick. Over the course of the week, Lee travels back home to Manchester, MA to attend to his brother's will and arrangements. He encounters old flames, such as his ex-wife(Michelle Williams) and story of the infamous fire. Lee, seems to deflect from these issues and tries to place Patrick's guardianship onto someone else. However, it is up to Lee to face the music and be a man and accept his responsibility. This film was beautifully shot and director Kenneth Lonergren and his crew's cinematography was organic. When watching the film, I felt

This past Friday, I got the opportunity to see the new film, Bleed For This, starring Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart. Teller plays the brash and infamous boxer, Vinny " The Pazmanian Devil" Pazienza. In the mid to late 1980s, Pazienza was seen as a wild child of boxing, with his bravado in the ring and theatrics in interviews. However, his life would be forever changed, when he suffered a nearly fatal car accident, with a friend, after winning a welterweight title in 1988. Pazienza broke his neck and was nearly paralyzed. His boxing career was thought of to be extinct. Yet, Pazienza, would not give up his dreams that easily. Over the course of 6 months, and with trainer Kevin Rooney, ( Eckhart)  who also trained Mike Tyson, they would train back home in Providence, Rhode Island. Though video recordings of his training, Pazienza was able to analyze his physical therapy and boxing technique. Once the media of wind of this, his career became resurrected. Though hard work and d

Well folks, I'm back with a new post. Over the past two weeks, I have been watching the highly anticipated new show from Mr. Donald Glover aka rapper/singer Childish Gambino. The show centers around Earn, (Gambino), working at an airport, trying to make ends meet with his daughter and girlfriend. He seems out of luck and hopeless in in the colorful city of Atlanta, but finds hope, when he discovers his cousin, has gained popularity as a rapper. Earn decides to reach out to his cousin, known as Paperboy, to manage him and make money to support his family. Paperboy is reluctant about Earn's intentions, but trusts him because he's family. However, their road to success is not going to be easy, considering the music industry, new rappers, the dangerous city of Atlanta, and this being the first time Earn and Paperboy have ever done something of this magnitude. Every day is a blessing for them, and they must navigate their own road to success. We'll see how they pan out. Th

EDM or Electronic Dance Music has hit the music scene hard for the last 6 years or so and there have been numerous DJs to displace their music, but the DJ who is one of the leaders in EDM is Steve Aoki. Steve Aoki in his new documentary, I'll Sleep When I'm dead, chronicles his life as a Japanese-American living in Southern California and the son of famous Rocky Aoki, founder of Bennihana, wrestler, real estate mogul, and much more. Aoki gives the viewers a glimpse into his life as a child and growing up under his father's shadow, being bullied based on his Japanese heritage at school, and trying to find his place in the world, until as a young adult, when he discovered punk rock music and later DJ-ing , and starting his own record label with some friends. Initially, Aoki didn't see himself as a DJ but as a record executive, but he found a way and his talent shined through. He also found mentor-ship and friendship with the late great DJ, DJ A.M.  Aoki began to gain noto

For those of you who are looking for a new summer show to watch, I suggest the new Netflix series, The Getdown. The Getdown chronicles the lives of urban youth in the South Bronx, NY in the late 1970s.  The youth who were faced with much violence, poverty and crime, find outlets in music, and developing a new sound, with hip-hop. A group of young teen guys assemble and call themselves, the Getdown crew, the make rhymes and beats with their DJ and make new dances and compete with rival crews in nearby neighborhoods. In addition, there's a group of young ladies that sing and try to make it out of the Bronx as well, by forming a disco group.  Yet, they are faced with the backlash of parents and their religious upbringings that may hinder their road to stardom. The show encompasses the life and times of the NYC youth in the late 70s and the people, especially in the Bronx. I highly recommend you watch this show and the new season is set to debut in 2017. It is now streaming on Netflix

With college football coming up in the US in a couple weeks, this new show on Netflix sparks the fire for football again. Last Chance U, with its 6-episode first season, entails a community college, Eastern Mississippi Comunity College, and head coach Buddy Stephens. Stephens and his staff have won multiple NCJAA football titles in the past 10 years , and have resurrected the college careers of former D-1 athletes that come to the school with off the field issues. Stephens and his staff and the athletic tutors look to mold these players and challenge their off the field issues, such as academic failure, crime, drug/alcohol usage and most of these players come from underprivileged backgrounds. The show does an excellent job of interviewing and highlighting these players and giving their stories. In addition, once these players follow this program and achieve their athletic and academic standards, the players have gone on to play in new D-1 college programs, graduate, and potentially hea

Just saw this new film, expected to hit theaters this fall, entitled, The Phenom. The Phenom stars Paul Giammatti , Ethan Hawke, and Johnny Simmons. It is a baseball tale about a young highschool prodigy, named Hopper Gibson. Hopper is about to embark on future major league success and gets drafted by the Atlanta Braves. He starts out well as a rookie, but hits a slump , and gets sent down to the minor leagues, and has some performance  issues. Therefore, the team issues a top sports psychologist to help Gibson, and addresses his realtionship with this abusive father, who obsesses over him and the game of baseball, his personal relationships and personality as a whole. Hopper begins to realize that he does not  have to meet everyone's expectations and just play the game for fun, like he did as a child. Overall, the film is dramatic, exciting and heartfelt. My rating for the film is a 8.5/10. it is expected to hit theaters this fall or spring. Be on the lookout for the Phenom.

A recently new show that came out this spring of 2016 on Netflix, starring Will Arnett in Flaked. Flaked is about a Southern Californian  AA counselor , who also owners a hardware store, named Chip. Chip spends his time around the beach and partying , but after a couple of failed relationships and a serious drunk driving accident, Chip needs to find out what matters most in life and what can he do to be truly happy. The show is funny, yet has a serious and dramatic element. I highly recommend this show. My rating so far would be a 9/10. If you have Netflix, or don't but find access to watch this show, its a good one!

In a new Netflix special, a documentary on Tony Robbins, a world renowned life coach, public speaker and motivator who has changed thousands of lives with his seminars and techniques , he is documented with his most popular seminar , Date With Destiny,(2014). Date With Destiny is a 6 day seminar in Boca Raton, FL. Robbins and his guests are gone through a series of mental, psychological exercises , goal settings, and Robbins individually interacts with guests and challenges them about their biggest fears, regrets, problems, or the simplest problem that hinders that person's happiness.  Many of these guests struggle with suicide , depression, anxiety, bad relationships, family abuse, physical and emotional abuse. He also shares his life story and his battles with depression, anxiety, and family abuse and how that shaped him and wanted to help others.  I personally recommend this documentary and its now streaming on Netflix, , so check it out! Its for everyone who is struggling in li

A new series on Amazon prime follows the NFL team , the Arizona Cardinals during the 2015-16 season and a quest for a championship. The Cardinals did very well this season and won a franchise record, 13 of 16 games and advanced to the NFC Championship , one game away from the Superbowl and came up short to the Carolina Panthers, under the their dynamic quarterback , Cam Newton. Although, the Cardinals did not achieve their goal of winning a superbowl this season, don't count them out for the 2016-17 season, this fall. They are hungry and have the talent to go all the way next year. In the documentary series, similar to HBO's Hard Knocks, the camera crew interviews head coach Bruce Arians, team leaders Larry Fitzgerald who is most likely a hall of fame bound wide receiver after his career is over, and veteran quarterback, Carson Palmer. The Cardinals also have defensive leaders such as Tryann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson who are pro bowlers and just coming into their athletic pr

This summer for movies has been lackluster and hasn't been up to par for sure, but there are some movies this year, such as Sing Street, which is a musical comedy worthwhile. Sing Street takes place in the mid 80's Ireland and follows an Irish lad and his mates in highschool who are social outcasts, but through inspiration form bands such as Duran , Duran and his brother, a band assembles and turns out they have some musical talent. In addition, the main lad, the lead, Cosmo, fancies a young beautiful girl across the street and tries to get her attention by asking her to be a video girl for the band.  Cosmo and his band's young lives  starts to change and they gain attention, but he has some family problems at home , while trying to be in a relationship with his dream girl , and making and sustaining a successful band in his young 15 year old life.  Overall, the film is well done, great drama and comedy from the entire cast and great cinematography throughout the film.  My

Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island crew are back with a new film, Popstar: Never Stop Popping, which entails a story of a singing crew, The Style Boyz and their run to fame, when suddenly the band breaks up and part they their ways over creative control. Years pass by and the lead, Conner, aka Conner4real becomes a megastar solo act with his DJ and ex-style boy, the become sensations but trouble arises when Conner's highly anticipated new album, CONNquest, isn't as hot as projected. Conner becomes selfish, narcissistic, and in denial about his disruption in his former childhood band, The Style Boyz.  This leaves one question, will Conner change his ways and make up with his band and make real music again? Find out in  theaters now! The film is hilarious and mocks current pop-stars with absolute accuracy. Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXqy408-dBk

Well folks, Captain America is back with a new adventure and he and his team, the Avengers, face some serious internal conflicts with one another. Due to the the constant damage from the missions, the Avengers are challenged by the United Nations to be restricted and only defend the world under their supervision with their accords. Iron Man and his team believes this is beneficial and they must sign the accords to help prevent innocent lives from being killed.  However, Captain America and others from the Avengers believe that they should not be under the supervision of the UN and continue their duties as the Avengers. In addition, Cap's friend and the Winter Soldier, Bucky, is still on the loose and Cap makes it his mission to rescue him and try to restore his good nature and not be brainwashed from the Soviet forces Bucky was under during the end of the Cold War.  Iron hates Bucky and wants to kill him due to Bucky's risky behavior and being  a threat to society. Cap is at a

Everybody Wants Some, directed by Richard Linklater ( School of Rock, Boyhood, Dazed and Confused), depicts a story of a young collegiate baseball player, who is about to enter in his freshman year of college. The film takes place in the start of the 1980s, in Texas, as the protagonist, Jake, ( Blake Jenner), meets his rowdy and free-spirited teammates in his shared team house for the year. His teammates show Jake and his fellow freshmen classmates, how to pick up girls in college, what not to do at parties, engage in some "mary jane", and some childish baseball hazing rituals that every freshman must go through to gain acceptance on the team.  Along the way, Jake encounters a girl who catches his eye, he makes it his mission to find this mystery girl , later known as Beverly in the film, and get to know her better.  Overall, the film is a great throwback to the pop culture scene in the 1980s, with amazing set designs, the props such as the "8-track music player", i

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to see the mixed reviewed Batman v. Superman. Batman, played by former Daredevil, Ben Affleck, is on a quest to prevent Superman from destroying his beloved Gotham City. Meanwhile, Superman, ( Henry Cavill), Superman wants to stop Batman , in which he thinks he is responsible for the crime in his city of Metropolis. Along the the way there are appearances from Wonderwoman, Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman. As for the film's action sequences, they were pretty decent, a little over the top on the CGI effects from director, Zack Snyder, but he is known to focus on heavy action sequences. In addition, the film was a little long, 2 hours and 30 mins is pretty long, its really 3 hours when you're in the theater, including the previews. The film could have been condensed and there were some unnecessary back stories from the supporting cast members of the film, such as the  Lois Lane and Superman love affair, we all know that she loves  Superman and d

Lin Manuel Miranda, actor, musical artist is well known for his works in Broadway and theater in  general. Also, he has established himself as a famous composer, arranger, and overall artist. This latin artist can practically do it all and his new play, Hamilton, entailing the life of American figure, Alexander Hamilton, and Miranda has turned it into a rap musical, that had been selling out for the past couple of months in NYC. To demonstrate his amazing skills, here is a clip from his appearance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, back in November, and has a full-on free style rap battle with Black Thought from the Roots. I've watched this multiple times and I still don't know how he does it.  In the challenge, he is assigned random words from a computer generator and is supposed to make a rap on the spot. I guess that's why he's so talented because all the great singers and actors know how to improvise. Check it out below: Enjoy and be amazed!! https://www.f

Last night, was the 88th Academy Awards, hosted by famous comedian and actor, Chris Rock. The Academy Awards, as we all know, is the most prestigious award in film. Actors,directors, writers, producers, production designers, costume designers, film editors clamor and hope to hear the famous words.. " And the Oscar goes too..." and their name. Well, this year in film, we have some truly great, controversial, thought provoking films and performances by seasoned actors and newcomers to the Oscars. Here are some of the major winners from tonight's show, Best Screenplay - Spotlight ( Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer ) Best Cinematography- The Revenant ( El Chivo) Best Director-  The Revenant (Alejandro G. Innaritu) Best Actor- The Revenant ( Leonardo DiCaprio) Best Actress - Room ( Brie Larson) In addition, the action film , Mad Max : Fury Road, stole the show with a total of 6 wins for: Best Film Editing Best Costume Design Best Makeup/Hair styling Best Produc

Hey everybody, I'm back and I want to let you guys in on some great TV I have been watching the past couple of months.  There is a new show on Netflix, called Love, which is created by Judd Apatow and Paul Rust, who also stars in the show, along with former Community star, Gilian Jacobs. Love is a story of a nerdy Hollywood child star tutor, Gus , ( Rust) who was recently dumped by his girlfriend. Then, there is Mickey, a free spirited, somewhat eccentric and spontaneous satellite radio program director. The two cross paths in a local convince store when Mickey can't pay for her daily coffee and Gus, who is there the whole time and sees what Mickey ( Jacobs)  can't pay for the coffee and tries to bargain with the cashier, decides to be the hero and pay for the coffee along with his items from the store. From there, they form a friendship and hang out with one another, dabble into some crazy adventures, and possibly form an unlikely romance. The show is funny obviously, qu

What's up all my Michael Jackson fans out there! Everyone should go watch the new documentary on the King of Pop, directed by Spike Lee. It entails the beginnings of Jackson's solo career and the foundation and processing of his debut album, Off the Wall. Michael teamed up with Quincy Jones, the legendary musician, composer, and friend of Michael's to establish his new sound and the process of developing Michael as an individual atrist. The film will also entail the roots of his stardom, which most of us already, he and his brothers started the Jackson 5 with Motown and head of Motown, Berry Gordy making the Jacksons a household name. In addition, the film also probably discuss the evolution of the Jackson 5 into the Jacksons, one the Jackson family separated from Mowtown as young adults and wanted more artistic and corporate control of their success.Especially for Michael, the lead singer of the group and unanimously the most talented and versitale of the Jackson family, h

Breaking News: The Cleveland Cavaliers have fired their coach, David Blatt after one and half seasons. Blatt in his first year, last season led his team to the NBA Finals and lost to Golden State in 6 games. I feel that Blatt should have been fired and even in this season, with a record of 30-11, best in the Eastern Conference and leading the East for the second consecutive season of his coaching career in the NBA. The Cavaliers had some undisclosed issues with Blatt  evidently and today it has come to a boiling point.  The future of this year's Cavs team wit LeBron James is uncertain and potentially some players may be getting traded as well. The Cavs look to win now and this firing of Blatt confirms their sentiments.  I believe the Cavs will maintain their control of the Eastern Conference, but will not win this year's NBA Finals, their coaching is up in the air and until it gets resolved with a proven coach and reliable coach, they will win.

Well folks, we are into our second week of NFL Playoff football. Things have begun to heat up and teams are pushing to be in the Superbowl in February. There are some excellent matchups this week on both the NFC and AFC sides. Here are my picks for the NFC Divisional Round: Green Bay Packers vs. Arizona Cardinals.  Arizona Wins, 28-24. Green Bay came off against an impressive win against the Washington Redskins who were red hot heading into the playoffs. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers seems to have steered his Packers into the right direction, but I don't think they will beat Arizona who has been amazing all year long.  A month ago, Arizona stomped on Green Bay in the regular season, with a 38-8 win at home.  Green Bay will again have to head to Arizona, but I think they will put up a fight, but their superbowl chances will come to a close. Next up, Seattle Seahawks vs. Carolina Panthers. I have the Carolina Panthers winning convincingly against the 2-time defending NFC Cha

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to see the new David  O'Russell film, Joy, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert Deniro. The film Joy, centers around an aspiring inventor by the name of Joy. Joy had some ups and downs in life, a failed marriage, two kids, living at home and support her parents , children and grandmother, and her ex-husband. It isn't until one day, when she comes up with a savvy idea to make  the all-in- reusable and detachable mop, inspired by a household accident.  Joy has this great idea and it is ahead of its' time, nothing like this has been created before. So, joy treks on a journey to get her mop patented and sold to the public, but along the way , she deals with the workings of the business world and how to be an entrepreneur, an especially as an independent woman. She faces challenges , but what is remarkable , with perseverance, the right business connections and creativity, Joy achieves her wildest dreams. The cinematogr

Hello everyone and especially football fans. The NFL postseason is upon us and it all goes down this weekend. There are some incredible stories of teams this year that made the postseason and some experts thought that they wouldn't make it this far, for both conferences, such as the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and my hometown Washington Redskins.  There have been some disappointing perennial playoffs teams this year, such as the Green Bay Packers, and Seattle Seahawks who usually lead their divisions , but have tons of playoffs pedigree to propel them to the next round possibly. In addition, there is the Cincinnati Bengals too, that have made the playoffs the past 4 years, but have failed to make it past the wildcard round, will they move on this year? So, with that being said, here are my wildcard picks for the AFC and NFC Wildcard playoffs. Kansas City vs. Houston , I got the Chiefs winning 24-17. Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati,  Pittsburgh, 28-20 For the NFC Redskin