What to Watch This Weekend: April 17, 2020

Redbox: Just Mercy

Just Mercy is an inspiring, timely, and sadly appropriate movie for our times.  It has Oscar-worthy acting, amazing cinematography, and tells an important story that that doesn't leave a heart untouched or an eye dry at its conclusion.  For more information, check out our review!

Redbox: Underwater
Underwater's intense action, climactic score, and good characters are sunk by a plot that dives into nonsense halfway through this short film.  However, it is still worth a rental to see the interesting premise and suspenseful action.  For more information, check out our review!

Digital: Pigeon Kings
PigeonKings explores the competitive aerobatic pigeon scene in south central LA through two men's passion for the sport and community.  For more information, check out our review!

Streaming (Netflix): #BlackAF

#BlackAF provides a great balance of comedy and storytelling, while taking risks in being unfiltered, bold, and honest.  For more information, check out our review!

Streaming (Amazon): The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse has a distinctive and recognizable style, along with Oscar-worthy performances from its two leads.  For more information, check out our review!

Streaming (Netflix): Sergio

The Lighthouse has a distinctive and recognizable style, along with Oscar-worthy performances from its two leads.  For more information, check out our review!

Streaming (Netflix): School Life

School Life teaches some valuable life lessons about growing up and finding your place in life, with an enjoyable cast of characters in a French high school drama. For more information, check out our review!

Streaming (HBO): It: Chapter 2
It Chapter Two reunites the Losers with the iconic clown, but does so in an unnecessarily long way.  The film has a fantastic cast and a ton of tension, but the long run time and ridiculous CG effects spoil the overall experience.  For more information, check out our review!

Streaming (Showtime): A Dog's Journey

If you want something uplifting this weekend, check out this audience-loved movie about a dog who lives multiple lives to try and come back to his original owner. 

Review: #blackAF

Release date: April 17, 2020
Running time: 8 Episodes (30-40 Minutes each)
Starring: Kenya Barris, Rashida Jones, Gil Ozeri

Bringing something new to 2020 is a show that is roughly inspired by Kenya Barris's life.  Barris, the creator of Black-ish, Grown-ish, and Mixed-ish, now brings us the new Netflix series #BlackAF.  Although each of his previous shows have been creative and successful, Barris still brough new creative ideas to this latest series.  This show starring Kenya Barris, along with Rashida Jones, Gil Ozeri and many more, follows Barris's day to day life and covers parenting, business, and how fame, culture, race, and society all play into it. Don't expect anything normal about this show because it is absolutely unfiltered and  apologetically black. Diving into the perspective of a black wealthy family trying to fit into today's society, this show follows that family living their life the way that want to regardless of whether it is deemed the right way.  

I cannot stress enough, this show is for the culture. It targets the black family audiences as its primary viewers but still makes it enjoyable for everyone. Much like the "ish" shows #BlackAF follows the same style of writing and storytelling where it is both loaded with comedy and still presents an overall life message to take from it. Consider this a premium channel version of those projects, where the premium part sweetens all aspects.  Trust me, it gets ridiculously silly at times while still remaining very entertaining. Even the filming style--where the series is filmed like a parody of a reality show--adds to the overall comedy of the series.  This show wasn't afraid to take any chances and completely pulled back the curtains into the black family household.

The chemistry between Barris and Jones is flawless. At times I almost tend to forget they are not actually married.  Jones, who I consider to be a very underrated actress because of how excellent she is in taking roles and making it her own.  She is seamless as the spouse and mother in the family.  The kids involved in this project are also enjoyable and far more believable than I expected.  Frankly, it is surprising how they are able to truly capture their respective roles and captivate their audiences.  However, although the series already has an extensive cast, #BlackAF still manages to throw in a ton of cameos for your viewing enjoyment.  I enjoyed how this show provides a great balance of comedy and storytelling but takes the risk in being completely unfiltered, bold, and honest, revealing what it truly means to be #BlackAF.

Watch It.