The Reel Critics Network
The Reel Critics Network Podcast: With Reggie Ponder and Kathia Woods"
"Authentic Analysis. Bold and Black Opinions. Cinematic Conversations."
Get ready for movie discussions with The Reel Critics Network Podcast. We're bringing you the best (and sometimes the worst) in film and TV, from a Black perspective. Expect sharp wit, insightful commentary, and unfiltered takes.
The Reel Critics Network
The Reel Critic Network: S1 E6: Importance of African American Awards Shows, Review of "Daughters", Streaming Series to watch, & Anora, the move to love or hate
Join Reggie Ponder, the Real Critic, and Kathia Woods in another edition of the Real Critics Network podcast as they unwind post-awards season. They share personal stories about family and pet dynamics, and dive deep into the significance of the African American Film Critics Association (AFCA) Awards in recognizing Black voices in the film industry. The discussion shifts to media inequalities, highlighting the struggles of Black media outlets in gaining access to mainstream and Black-focused award shows. Reggie and Kathia also review the documentary "Daughters" and TV shows, with Kathia giving a sneak peek into NBC’s new show 'Gross Point Garden Society'. They conclude with a fiery critique of the film 'Anora' and its perplexing acclaim. Tune in for an engaging mix of industry insights and lively banter.
I'm Reggie Ponder, the Real Critic, and welcome to another edition of the Real Critics Network podcast. I am here with my host, Kathia Woods. And Kathia, how are you? How are you? How are you?
Kathia Woods:Good. We both have been, flying to friendly skies, knock on wood. We got, we
Kathia Woods (2):went where we needed to be and we got back home. Girl,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:it is so good that we're winding down on awards season. And going off, going back and forth, I just been, I'm a little bit under the weather and I am glad to be back home and getting things started. I was telling you at one point. is that this is a, not only a busy time of the year for me for the award season, it's a real busy time of the year for me for birthday season. And my immediate family, my two daughters and my wife, all I have to remember is this formula. Now, because people be stealing your information, I'm not going to tell what months that's in, right? But as long as I remember those numbers, then I am okay with my daughter, my wife. Yeah, my, my two daughters and my wife because I just need to remember that and I add 14 in there because Valentine's Day is in there somewhere. So between January and June, I'm done. I'm done for my immediate family with birthdays, but here's the deal with that, right? If I add my 10 brothers and sisters My mother in law, my five in laws, sister and brother in laws, I got birthdays through the whole year, and it's just too much. Now, I know for a fact that for you, it's you, Your husband, your daughter, and y'all adding on that darn dog. I'm not adding on the dog for no birthday. I'm not. I'm not celebrating. I'm not buying the dog a, a bone, a birthday cake, a birthday snacky snack. I'm not going to one of these fast food restaurants and asking them for a pup cup. I'm not doing that, Kathia. I'm just not.
Kathia Woods (2):You know what? But the dog is part of the family. The dog will probably be like Reggie. Look outside. Somebody trying to take something. Now, I'm not gonna go out there and stop them, but I'm gonna give you the heads up. The dog will probably come and check on you when you're not feeling well. You know, he probably, it will greet you. I know my dog does. When our daughter was still living at home, I know that the dog came down the steps a lot faster than she did to make when I got home to happy to see me. I know the dog probably, you probably in the house a good couple of hours before the kids are like, Oh dad, nice to see you. So I'm just like, Yeah, we gonna celebrate the dog because the dog is part of the family. He's in the family portrait and people. Yeah, people come he gets a little pup cup. He gets a little celebration. We usually get him something he likes, you know, and I was at a brunch this weekend. And let me just tell you, Jessica Williams, who I adore. Who's on shrinking, which is a great show on Apple TV. Plus, do you know, first of all, she was very gracious at South by Southwest last year and took a picture with my husband and who is a big fan of the show. And I said to her, I understand you're tired. If you're not up to it, it's fine. No harm, no foul. And she was like, absolutely not love that you asked. Love the way that you asked me. She took the picture with Kevin. Make a long story short, we talked about that and just thanked her and then she talked about that she's a dog mom. As a girl, I get it because my dog likes a soft life too. I said, my dog does not do tap water. My dog does, heater blankets, spa treatments, meals prep for him. KB always laughs that I make pork chops for him. I'll grill him other little meats that he likes. He likes he has a Kate Spade blanket. The vein of my existence, you and I talked about this. We got this marriage story blanket and I've been trying to find a duplicate because he loves a soft blanket, a plush blanket. He does not do the regular blankets. So when we go away and he stays, he has his own situation, he does not share space. He's not as Katarina likes to say with the commoners. So he's living his best life,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:you know what? It's just a little bit too much for me. So I don't want to kill the dog talk. So I'm going to say a couple of more things about this. thing. The first is I play with the dog because I feel for a dog just sitting in the cage or sitting in the room. That's just not having as much fun. I'm all for that, but I'm not trying to feed the dog. I'm not trying to pick up the dog poop. I'm not when, if the dog has an accident in the house, I am not happy. So if the dog is not in the house, it's this, there's nothing in my body to be like, man we're the dog at. How come the dog is not in my room? No! No! That's just how I feel. So, when Bobby moves out and she takes the dog with her, See you later! You're gonna
Kathia Woods (2):miss
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:him. You're gonna miss him. You're gonna miss him. Carrie already moved out and took her dog. I don't miss it. And it's the dog we done had the longest. Now when I visit Carrie, I play with the dog. But it's just like a, it's not even close to, but it's Yo,
Kathia Woods (2):I think. Reggie's just saying that to soften the blow, but I have a feeling when he visits Kerry, him and the dog have a little catch up time. The dog is like, good to see you, Reg! He's like, good to see you, too!
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:So the running joke for me and Kerry's dog is that if Bobby and I are in the same room, I try to get the dog's attention, and I know that the dog is going to go to Bobby. And it is so funny that we play this thing back and forth. I'll lay on the floor and ask the dog to come here and won't. And then Bobby will lay on the floor and the dog will go to Bobby. And it's the funniest thing. I have so much fun with that. I am good. That the dog likes Bobby more than it likes me. I'm good with that. I'm okay. I'm perfectly okay. Okay.
Kathia Woods (2):When Bobby goes away, does she take the dog with her?
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:She does not. And so because she doesn't take the dog away, that means that the responsibility falls on somebody else in this house. And I hate it. I hate it. I don't want to feed the dog. I don't want to take the dog out for a walk.
Kathia Woods (2):So you are in, unofficially, as much as you like to not be that person, you are still the grandparent, the dog grandparent. You are the lodging for when she goes on the road and does her thing.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Well, what I will say is the dog don't stay in my room, the dog don't stay in my bed, the dog goes back in the Bobby's room, I, nah, it ain't happening. And when I'm in my office, I don't have a dog sitting down here chilling out with me. Anyway, enough of the dog stuff. Let's talk about let's talk about something else. All right. Our first segment is called what's on my mind. And what's on my mind is not about dogs, right? What's on my mind is really about the AFCA Awards that we attended, the African American Film Critics Association Awards that we attended. And I just want to talk about not about the winners and all the people who were there, but about why I still think that these things are so important to, to have. And the first point for me is really about recognition. I think that what happens is that this helps to amplify Black voices. And specifically, AFCA celebrates and recognizes the achievement of Black filmmakers, actors, and other creators in the industry. So that's the first point. And I just think that that's really essential. The second point I want to talk about is it's actually countering that mainstream bias and we see that mainstream bias during award seasons, particularly as we're watching a particular film, get all these accolades and just won some spirit award things. And I'll talk about that later. I cannot believe that this is the film of the year. That this is the film that the people are loving and like, but anyway, it counters the mainstream. At least it gives some people some other things to think about when we talk about quality cinema. Also, it sets a precedent because it, we often recognize talent early in their careers. And we do that all the time. The talent that we show early in the career, people be like, Oh, you guys were hip to them before we were, and I love that point. And then there's the advocacy because promoting diversity, celebrating black stories and storytellers, the AFCA's really encouraged greater diversity in the film industry. I'm saying both in front of and behind the camera. It also drives a lot of conversation. It doesn't just drive that conversation between you and I, because we talk about that all the time, but it also drives conversation between our peers always asking us saying, well, I like this film. And did you like, or what did you like? And then we'll say, well, did you see this film? Did you see daughters? Did you see such and such? And they're like, no, I haven't seen that film. So it does spark that conversation. And I hope. That it influences mainstream choices. I hope that the mainstream awards look sometime and say, wow, they nominated these, or they awarded these particular films. Maybe these are some of the films that some of the other, that some of us maybe should see. And then as it relates to us. It creates a space for black critics. A lot of times our voices are absent, even in some of these major organizations where we have a presence that our voice is absent because our, our percentage in that group is still so small that our voices are just overtaken. And so those are the things that I really want to talk about, the importance of the awards like AFCA. I think it builds community. I think it's just so important for us to have those kind of awards. And that is my, what's on my mind after attending our awards just this week.
Kathia Woods (2):Couldn't agree with you more. This awards every year. I literally I have my head down for a minute. Because this
Kathia Woods:is what this gentleman on X, said about the fact that, about Viola Davis,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Oh,
Kathia Woods:That, the fact that it's hard for black women to win awards for movies that center black women and, That type of stuff where let me screw
Kathia Woods (2):up sometimes. I think he wrote sometimes I think about how viola davis was favored to win best actress twice and both times voters Instead gave a third Oscar to a white woman. Is that a circumstantial? Is that circumstantial? Maybe. I don't know, but we have so much evidence that voters just do not like awarming movies about black women. I said, and I always use Fences as a good example because Fences, she is the co lead. She is the female voice in that piece. And won a whole Tony. For best actress in a drama and people are well, they don't have best supporting. No, it's called featured that's what it's called instead of best supporting it's called featured and But i'm like they basically took that play and they translated it. So she downgraded because She knows having been nominated for best actress That she has been overlooked twice for a white woman. There's something wrong, and this is no shade to Emma Stone, that we live in a world where Emma Stone has two Oscars, Meryl Streep has three, and Frances McDermott has two, while Angela Bassett had to get an honorary one, while I'll go as much as, as far as Cicely Tyson. Not having one should have won for what I've got to do with it doesn't have one, but this is to getting back to your point. The reason why we need the afterwards and the reason why Gil and Africa and them started it because. Of the way that Ava was treated for Selma, and she was like, we need our own, right? So, AFCA recognizes Marianne Jean Baptiste, who has been absolutely overlooked this award season, with her amazing performance in Hard Truth. Don't give me that where the studio doesn't have money. I was like, neon don't got a whole bunch of money, but everybody's giving Mickey Madison, her flowers, right? Oh my
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:goodness. Oh my goodness.
Kathia Woods (2):The image awards, right? Which by the way, I, has everybody got their listening ears on? For all the folks in the back. Yes, the majority of people who get honored at the image awards are black, but the National Association for Colored People. That's what NAACP stands for is for all people of color, Latinos have been nominated. Asians have been nominated. Native Americans have been nominated. Have they won overwhelmingly? No. But they're celebrated in that space. They're welcomed in that space. They're more welcomed in that space than they are in the mainstream award shows. So I don't, so the reason we need these award shows is because that is one of the few spaces where black women, especially, get acknowledged for their contribution that they do on the big screen. And also, I don't know if you remember this, Denzel Washington, the year he won for Training Day, I said in his acceptance speech, and I'm paraphrasing. It was important for me to be here. Next week we'll do the other one, meaning the Oscars, right? But he said it was important for him to be there. Because this is the space where he was first seen before anybody else. saw him. So that's why he showed up. And just to make my last point, and I'll let you expand upon this is, one of the cruxes that I have with those award shows, not AFCA cause we don't do that at AFCA. Is a lot of people will break their necks to be a guest at the other award shows, but will not come to the black award shows. Once they get crossed over, they stop coming, right? And it leads me to my part of the rant. Cause I agree with you. We still need the Alma awards for celebrates Latin talent. We still need the GLAAD awards for celebrates members of the LGBTQIA plus community. We need, women, the award shows because it celebrates women and the list goes on and on. We need the essence and black women in Hollywood dinner because it celebrates black women. But I want to say this. What are the issues that I have with our award shows and I want to be specific about the honors and the awards. I was a black excellent brunch yesterday and several of my media girlies, black women said the invitations gotten a little dry this year. Right. We got ranted about Golden Globes drawing back on access, right? People not being able to be on the carpet. They've been in a carpet for decades, only getting the green room. Well, baby, when nobody was playing dust, when the Image Awards were on in the afternoon, and it was taking 6 hours, right? And you only saw it in syndication. It was just black media out there. Mainstream media would send their third cousin Bobo with just a little tape recorder to cover it. If you were lucky, they came for both days. They only came for one day. Now that you have variety, the Hollywood reporter or whatever, sending their black team. Now it's Oh, later for over there, but we still want you to cover it. And I say to myself. How do I get credential for the Academy Awards, which in my opinion are much harder, but I can't get credentialed for ABFF Honors, and I can't get credentialed for the Image Awards, but they still want me to do a recap. Make it make sense. So, in one way, we can't say it's for us, but we don't celebrate Black Legacy Media, and what really hurt my soul. Since I'm on my rant is I scrolled through my Instagram like we all do and why I write for a black legacy newspaper 140 years shout out to the Philadelphia Tribune and NNPA outlet which is part of black newspapers. You had somebody on the carpet It was not following. They don't have an outlet. Even my own outlet has more traffic and everything That was an influencer. So what are we doing? So this is what I'm saying. Like we take two steps forwards and we take two steps back.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Yeah. So my thoughts on this, why I'm of two minds. One, when I was in the advertising industry, I was the person that. Festivals like a BFF came to, and in fact, a BFF did come to our advertising agency and we worked with our clients to try to fund that. And since I was on the ground floor of all of them, and I mean, urban world in terms of trying to get sponsorship. What was really interesting is that I know what kind of money they got and it wasn't a lot. I know what kind of money they got. And so they're trying to produce these shows on a shoestring and a prayer. So, on the one hand, I actually understand why sometimes the folks in the front are not the folks Who should be in the front. So how the big stations and variety and all of those folks get what they get, because what's demanded of those festivals is the same thing that's being demanded of the festivals. They get all the money. They want to have the same kind of star access and so on and so forth. So they succumb to that pressure and say, okay, I'm going to put ABC, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and all these other outlets first. Because I need to treat them like they're royalty. I gotta treat them like they're royalty in order for me to be able to go back to my sponsors and then say, Hey, we got the big boys. We got KBLA. We got the stations and all of that stuff. So I understand it. I understand it from a money perspective because my sponsors asked for that. They demand that. They like, wait, you got Reggie Ponder on the red carpet or Indigo? That that ain't working for me that I'm not going to spend my money just so I could be on some ancillary papers according to how I feel. So totally understand that. The other mind is as a film critic and on the red carpet, I'm always getting the last spot. I always get the last spot, which means I don't get the questions that I don't get to talk to the people. I don't get the questions. There has to be a way in which these festivals say, you know what? These are our people. We need to make sure that they get their stuff too. And I don't know what that balance is because I don't run these award shows. I don't run these festivals. I don't know what the balance is because I know that in one way you have to be beholden. To your sponsors and making sure that they get as much publicity as they can. But then on the other hand, you need to be responsive to your people. And so it's a tough one for me and I understand it. I do understand it. The
Kathia Woods (2):problem is let's talk ABFF the person who is spearheading. The publicist and it's not the company because the company has a black publicist. The person who is spearheading this for abff is a woman is not a black person. Is that even a black agency? It is a woman of Asian descent who doesn't know because when I was at abff last year, right? I had the studio publicist for amazon Divorce in black right? Shout out to jasmine and them telling her Let give Kathia that it let Kathia speak because She's with such and such She was giving the same person. She gave credentials to on the carpet She was letting them and the girl is trying to get in the shot with the talent. She's taking selfies. Tick tock, tick tock. The clock is ticking, but I'm expected to write about this and I'm expected to cover it. But when the studio who's on the step and repeat part of the sponsorship for said festival is telling you, lady, That you need to let that their talent, which they paid for to fly out to speak to you. What are you doing
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:that? Yeah, that was my issue
Kathia Woods (2):and I did write the agency and I said. My experience with your publicist handling this, and I'll be writing a BFF because I just think, especially with last year, so many of us fought to get down there because, you had the hurricane and so many people canceled. Right. And we still came down there. We still covered the festival. So I'm like, we got to, the grass is not always greener on the other side. And I agree with you. I think there's a way that you can get the eyeballs where you can satisfy, sponsorship right as sponsors and people are cutting the check. But the problem is, urban world has been up and down because urban world people are like, well, why aren't you? Because the lack of consistency, right? Urban? Well, it's not. It's also happens around the same time as New York film festival. So, my thing is. Why is it harder for us to get access, for us to do the work that we do at New York Film Festival when it comes to our own people? It's not that we don't want to cover it, but it'd be so up and down, it'd be so disorganized, the lack of professionalism. And all I'm saying, all I'm saying, Like, it just, again, it's, it's, you want to do it, but it's always it's always, like I said, it's ABFF, it's such a hot mess to cover. It's a great atmosphere, but it's a hot mess to cover that you're like, we're getting too old to be doing that, right? That's too old to be leaving the house on messiness. And instead of saying, Hey, we need to tighten up. And on top of that, most of us don't want to go to Florida and give our money to that state. We already like what's going on down there. And then you want to act like we're in inconvenience. But this is what I'm saying. We, as black people, the reason we have created our own things is to say, this is our space. This is community. We're welcome. But then too often, we end up doing some of the exclusion, some of the elitism that we're escaping from. Which avoids, which is defeats the whole purpose about us having our own thing. We
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:do the only thing Conti I'm saying though, is that because I've been on the other side. No, I feel you and I appreciate that. The money really does influence this. So for instance, when ABFF need to get a John Singleton or Denzel Washington and all those people there, they got to pay some serious money to make sure that their accommodations and all that other type of stuff is right. Now, when they don't have the stuff, the people are like, I ain't coming for that. If you not treat me A1, I'm not coming. And so, the, I did this deal with, who was that? It was with TBS, TNT, ABFF, and some other big company that had all the money. And the amount of money that ABFF got out of this big deal with all of these companies coming together to do this big deal. Was minuscule. It was absolutely minuscule. So then when you start talking about trying to run a festival, a lot of the messiness happens because part of the messiness happens because you're trying to run the expectation is that you run the same quality festival that everybody else runs with the money that you are given. And how do I know that? Because as an advertising agency working in the advertising world, my clients wanted the same amount of service from us. Not, I'm not even talking about for the festival. I'm talking about the same amount of service from us that they were getting from the majority white firm. And I so happen to have worked for a majority white firm. So I know what money they got for that. And I know what kind of money we got for this. So money does kind of run it. And it becomes this kind of like domino effect. I still think, though, like you said, if ABFF, for instance, has a black firm running it, but then all of a sudden, they get a black PR firm, but then the people who Don't value who we are and what we are. It does cause a problem. This is a major issue. You are absolutely right. I don't know to solve for it. Maybe we'll have some stuff. Maybe on one of our segments we'll have some, we need
Kathia Woods (2):to have PR. And because it just is, and you know, the other thing that I noticed, and I'm sure you do too, friend every day. You know, we had some friends, a colleague, fellow African member, Candace Fendrick, and a whole bunch of people at Huffington Culture just got laid off. The one girl that's with me in TCA, she's been at Huffington Post for 10 years, just got laid off. IndieWire just laid off some people. If you don't understand if you don't start valuing the relationship and those of us that are still around in the press, Maybe they ain't going to be nobody there to come to your event because it's going to be nothing but freelancers and the only way you can rightfully pitch to an outlet if you have the credentials, right? So it's just very, very interesting in this media landscape where every time you turn around, somebody is getting laid off. How this is going to work out if you don't start valuing people because ain't nobody going to be left. Cause everybody's going to be, we're all fighting for the same piece of cheese. So it's going to be really interesting how things shake out, but, I appreciate your perspective cause yeah, I mean, money is very important cause you can't do any of it. Without money.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Yeah. All right. Well, we're going to revisit this discussion again. We already know that's going to happen for sure. I, we only have one movie for today to, to talk about. I know you, you're going to talk about in, in your segment the rant and rave segment, you'll talk about some of the TV shows you're watching, but there's one movie that I just want to highlight. I always do this because you are the documentary watching person. If I ever need to know about a documentary. I just need to call you. Did you, did you, have you seen a good documentary lately? Girl, that documentary daughters is fire. It is one of my favorite, favorite documentaries, maybe because I'm a man and how it, it honored us in so many different ways. But it did not let us escape our responsibilities either. It's so interesting how you get this film that says, you are, you have a responsibility, but also says that we understand what you're going through. It also says we understand what these young kids are going through. We also understand what these women are going through, who are trying to raise these daughters. It was a complete film, and I should just back up, so I'll do, and tell people what it's about.
Kathia Woods:Place it.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:This film is about a program that was started on the ideas on the minds of young girls. There was supposed to be a daddy daughter dance at a school, and one of the, one of the young girls says, Well, my daddy can't come because he's in jail. Another girl says, well, why can't we just take the daddy daughter dance to the jail? That idea in and of itself was on, from the minds of babes they, from the mouths of babes, right? Kid says, let's do it. And a woman decided to try to make it happen. These kids wrote a letter to, I guess, the correctional people and said, Hey, can we do a daddy dance at the jail? And for 12 years, they've been doing this daddy daughter dance to reconnect daddies with their daughters to, to help the daughters, but also to help the fathers. And in the process, it also helps the mothers. It is one of the most eye opening, touching, loving, disheartening films I've seen in a long time. I just really love it because it made the dad see the impact they can have on their kids lives. It made the daughter see that the dad still cared and still loved them. It made the mother see that even for those who are mad at those fathers, That it was important for these daughters to reconnect with their father. It's just a great film to watch. And I am encouraging folks to check it out. Since you told me to check it out as usual, I'm going to, I'm going to just drop it there, drop it like it's hot. It's
Kathia Woods:just a movie that it touches your
Kathia Woods (2):soul. We always talk about the breakup of the black family. People like to say welfare, welfare had a part in it, but also incarceration. Mass incarceration. Now you can say, well, they shouldn't have been doing what they're doing. We also, friend, let's pause for a minute. We know that black men go to jail longer than their white counterparts for the same crimes. We also know that black men get more false accused than their counterparts. We just had a man who got released from prison after having no DNA evidence on the testimony of a cold conspirator who later on rescinded And said that he lied and this man spent 24 years and the whole 24 years he said he didn't do it. Is, are you talking about the guy in
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Chicago? Are you talking about the guy in Chicago? Yeah. Because the guy in Chicago just did 30 years. He did 30 years. No, I'm
Kathia Woods (2):saying that's another guy who just came home. Listen, there's so many We could do a whole show on that alone.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:This just happened. This guy was just released two or three days ago. This is another 30 years, 30 years in
Kathia Woods (2):prison. Well, there's a story. There's so many, but the point that I'm making is before you're like there shouldn't have been this and shouldn't have been that more black families. And especially with the crack epidemic, you had, in some cases, mother, father, grandparents going to school, going to jail, and the kids were left to fend for themselves in the foster care system. It's easy to sit there and judge. Are there some people? Well, they gotta sit down for a minute, right? And it's hard to explain the kids, like you said, when you and I were talking like she said seven years and he said, oh, it could be seven or eight years. In some cases, it's 14 years and they're trying to and, also a lot of these families aren't rich. It's hard. There was another documentary about a lady in Philadelphia. Who had a service her and her mother would drive the van up to the state prison, right? Every Sunday morning you paid. She adopted her brother's son because he was incarcerated. So that had them start the service because they realized the challenges of them keeping up. So for like 10, the girls all paid in paid like 10 for the women to go see these men along with the kids. And it's hard, some people don't want their kids to see him in prison. It's hard to get to. It's not like when you get sent to prison, you go around the corner from where you committed the crime. You get sent a lot of times out of state, depending if it's a federal crime. So you have those challenges. So the fathers are trying to stay connected via phone and these kids are feeling like, well, I don't see you or it's harder. It's harder when I talk to you on the phone. So they show all of the challenges, but the father, daddy. Dance, it's an opportunity for them to have memories for them to have something and say, hey, I got to spend time with my dad to me, my dad. And the dad is not in the chump suit, that kind of thing. They're wearing a suit, but I think it also helps the men while they're in there. Be like, I got a demand that. Are in there because it should be in there. It lets them know. I got to straighten up. I got to tighten up.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:It really does. And I want to punctuate that point is that I think it was the number is 95 percent of the fathers who go through the daddy dance. they don't go back to jail. And that's because before they do the dance, they have to go through a, I think a 10 week program where they discuss a lot of things, how they feel about their baby's mama, how they feel about their children, how they feel about what happened to them, what they think. about their own father. They talk about all of those things and by time they get to the dance, their mindset is so different. The most poignant, I can't even say the most poignant because everything in there was poignant to me. I, it touched my soul. But one of the most moving parts is when the fathers I asked to make a promise. To their daughters, they and they're promising that they're going to be there, that they're going to straighten up and fly right that they're going to be the kind of father that they didn't have. And it is just so absolutely beautiful. So, yeah. Wow.
Kathia Woods:Yeah. And
Kathia Woods (2):It's, again, it's a conversation we need to have in a community. There's a lot of weight put on these women, but I think as women, we also have to ask ourselves, what part we have and making sure that the father stay in the lives because, you can always. Listen, I know sometimes it's not easy, but it took two people to make the child and you two are going to be tied at the hip, whether you want to be or not. Once you have a child with somebody, you're not divorced just because you may not talk to that person. That guy may not talk to the person you're in the relationship to the day you die. You two are always going to be connected. So why not make the best of it? And I think. Keep the communication open and it helps the kids later on, when the fathers get out, it does. To try to, to men. Excuse me. and I'm glad that we're talking about, I had an opportunity to speak to Quest Love, and one of the things we talked about is mental health, how we're talking about it more in the black community, about addressing generational trauma and bad decision making and how we can course correct. And it starts. So I'm glad that is a component and that the prison system is saying, Hey, before you get back out there, address that ish so you can be productive. So you don't, have anger management and all that stuff.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Yeah, well, I, I'm highly recommending. People check this film out. It's getting a four out of four on my scale. I I'm going to watch it with my daughters and we have, I think we got a good relationship, but maybe after they watch it, they'd be like, daddy, you know what? There's a couple of things that I wanted to tell you. And so let me talk to you about that.
Kathia Woods (2):You are an amazing dad. You're a girl, you're a bonafide girl, dad. You're an amazing dad. You know what I mean? And you can tell. By the way, the girls love you and also how you show up, but I think again We don't I think that's something else. We don't talk enough about Good fathers. I'm like for everybody that God help us out there on the internet ranting about their baby daddy Please can we have four women talk about yeah, we might not be together, but I got to give it to him He's a good father. You know what I mean? Yeah He's doing what he's supposed to. And can we also get past money is important, but money is not parenting. Cause we have a lot of rich fathers who give money, but they don't give time. They're not there to help raise the kids that are showing up to the games. I think a lot of people confound money with being a good parent. Those two don't necessarily work in concert.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:It's so interesting that you say that because there are two young ladies in particularly in this documentary where you could tell that they are so angry with the dead and they're not angry with their dad about money. They're not angry. But one of them says, it says, you did it and you are impacting my life because of the stupid decisions you make. And this is a kid. He mad. She's like, you impacted my life. And she not thinking about, Oh, I need a new PlayStation or I wish you were here to give me a car. I just wish you were here. It is a really good one. I'm saying absolutely check it out and it's on Netflix. So that's our movie for the week. And the last, our last segment, I'm actually going to let you have, I'm not going to let you have this, I'm, you're going to lead this one because you're watching a couple of shows that I think are noteworthy and we need to talk about it. So this is our rant and rave segment. What you what you got to rant and rave about, Kathia?
Kathia Woods (2):Well, we have a new show that's coming to NBC. 10 p. m. tomorrow and it's called gross point garden society And when I tell you if you like desperate housewives, if you like that type of trauma Well, let me tell you something these people are in the garden club from different walks of life And they commit a murder. We don't know who did the murder, but they cover it up together and baby then I'm put old boy in the garden, in the, in the little flower bed. And yes, usually, but, and everybody got their own personal mess. Now they're in this other mess together. This show is so much fun. You think NBC, some of their mid season replacements are better. Then they're false stuff. And when I tell you, when I tell you, It is like, you're gonna laugh. It's messiness. But it's a good time. It's escape television. And it starts AnnaSophiaRob as Alice. And Alice's marriage is all the way over the place. Melissa Fumero who plays Birdie. And this is a different role for Melissa Fumero because Her, she plays a sexy, spicy, kind of like reality. She's very notorious, but she got her secrets. You remember her from Brooklyn Nine Nine? Ben Rappaport is Brett. He is a divorced father, doesn't make a lot of money. And the wife, he caught his wife cheating, and she got married to a new guy. It stars Anna Asia Naomi King. She was in the Apple show. She's Catherine and Catherine's Bob is slayed and she's in a marriage and she's like, think of her as like your society, black woman, AKA, but they are the four main characters and they are together in this garden club. And now You know they're together by crime. So you're trying to figure out, and each episode is one of them narrates. And there's also, you get flashbacks on who they are, and it fast forwards and has different components. And then also, but they don't know. The beauty of the show also is the cast members, and they shot up to, I also did a set visit. It's shot here in Atlanta. So it was up to episode eight. They still don't know who did it. So they don't know who did it amongst the four. And at the same time you every episode you learn more and more and more and more and more and more and more about them, but it's a good time and I highly recommend it. You like these characters? I love these characters. And again, you, as soon as you watch it, you can say, Oh, it has a feeling to Desperate Housewives. It's because the same person worked on it. So it's coming on NBC. You'll be able to catch it on Peacock. And again, I said this before, Reggie, but soaps are back.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Oh yeah.
Kathia Woods (2):Soap operas are back. That type of show where we get like escapism and we get messiness and we get beautiful people. That is back. Beyond the Gates, that's going to be premiering. So, I think right now, because with everything that's going on, and we're not going to get through political, but I think, with everything going on, Beyond the Gates, which premieres on 2 24, on CBS at 2pm. Now, remember, all my CBS heads, that used to be the slot for As the World Turns. If you know, my soap opera people, but I think the time has come where people are saying Rome is burning reality is a lot. I want to watch some stuff where I can just kiki and have a good time and live through other people's mess. All
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Well, in a
Kathia Woods (2):fun way. So I think this show is it. Also, I did book of Canaan this week. I did the junket. Season four is coming next month and baby, then people continue to be messy. You're about to find out somebody we thought that died, didn't die. Rocky, Rocky's still Rocky, but her and Kanan are in this business relationship, but they're struggling as mother and son. But yeah, baby. Yeah it's still, it's my favorite show out of the power verse. And I think, the ante, the heat is going to be raised. And just when you think they couldn't have gotten any worse, you're going to be like, come on now. So it's going to be, it's going to be really, those of you that are fans of the show, it's the only one I like it more than ghost. This is the one for me. Cause I love Patina. I think she is amazing. And yeah,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:For sure. But I didn't like, I don't like it better than ghosts.
Kathia Woods (2):I like it better than this first spin off, which was ghost, right? And then not the original power, but I like it better. But I do think, I think the reason we are more than ever in this climate, I stand by this is because people are saying, I just want to tune out for an hour, two hours, I think like, if I think right now is the time, if you're a studio to green light, some rom coms. Because they're cheap to make, they don't cost as much as these superhero movies. People want to fall in love. People want to see something else. They don't want to see, I think with the movies that I think we're getting this feedback with these movies that are being in this award season, not that they're not good movies, but the queers, the brutalists, like people are like, life is life and right now, I do not want to sit to three hours of sheer tragedy and disappointment and. Just absolute emotional, where I'm being raked over the coals. I want to see something else. And I think right now studios need to lean into that, you know?
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:I was thinking that I didn't have a rant or rave to rant and rave to talk about, but I actually do. And I actually started off our podcast. Talking about it. And it is this movie, Anur. Go for it. I can't. I can't. You and
Kathia Woods (2):I, you and me both. I don't get
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:it. I just don't. I cannot deal with this film. And so I've, I had to ask other people, why did they like this? And what did they feel? Was phenomenal about it. And to a person, the performances for most folks. in this film, they feel that it's exceptional. This absolutely exceptional, particularly Mikey Madison's performance. Just won another one at the Spirit Awards. And actually it won three awards at the Spirit Awards, which was Best Picture, Best Actor, I think, and something else. So that's one of the things people like the other thing is that it's I guess I guess it's a unique story because people are like Oh, it's unique. It's different. It's unique and I'm like, huh? Okay, I don't get it And then people really think that Sean Baker killed this one from a direct from a directing standpoint I'm thinking firstly it felt pornographic Secondly, I didn't think that there was much nuances to Madison's performance. I just didn't. I didn't think that, okay, from hollering and screaming the whole film, that this was a film where you could say to somebody like, Oh yeah, she was really, really exceptional as an actor. It just didn't work for me. It wasn't interesting. It wasn't fun. It wasn't funny because people thought it was funny too. People thought it was funny. I just don't get it. And if this is what we believe is the best film of 2024, I'm like, wow, the best film of 2024 for me is a different film, but I won't get into that. I just cannot get into this movie. And Nora, and I think that. The Critics Choice Association made a mistake. I think BAFTA's made a mistake. I think Spirit Awards have made a mistake. And I think that the Oscars are gonna make a mistake.
Kathia Woods:I don't see her winning Best Actress. I don't see that.
Kathia Woods (2):Also, we got to remember like SAG has been so different than the actual Academy Awards. So whatever they win at SAG, but I don't either. I don't like Sean Baker's movies. He's not my cup of tea. I'm not saying I don't know the man, so I'm not speaking on him. I didn't like Red Rocket, thought that was gross. I don't like this movie, and I'm not a person that's a prude about nudity or sexuality. I just think it's Yeah, I'm not either. I feel like he makes movies for teenage boys.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:I
Kathia Woods (2):just do. I don't think he empowers women. It looks like I'm not sure if he likes women. You froze a little
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:bit on your side. I just think this is you froze a little bit on your side, so I didn't hear the last thing you said. You didn't like it, and I said I'm
Kathia Woods:not sure that he likes women. You know what I mean? I just don't I don't It's just look to me,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:It is to me and I guess one of my critic friends says that it really is about the American dream. Here is a young lady who feels that she's about to experience, she's working hard just to make ends meet and all of a sudden she meets this Russian, the son of a Russian oligarch and she hit the jackpot. So now he's going from, I guess, peanut butter and jelly to caviar. And what did the guy from the rich and the famous used to say? I can't remember what he used to say for his show, but she's doing caviar and limousines. And so all of a sudden everything is just really hunky dory. I guess the story is unique in the way in which they're trying to present it. But it just doesn't land for me as the best film, the best film of 2024. So that's my rant and rave. That's my rant and rave and I guess
Kathia Woods (2):I endorse that. And here's me, let's just keep it real. Ain't nobody watching a Nora five years from now.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:See what you just said, I'm saying to myself, would I watch this again? After I watched it the first time, would I watch a Nora again? No. In fact, it was excruciating watching it the first time. And I just wouldn't watch it the second time. And I'd like to ask my critics friends, would they be like, Hey, everybody, come on over and we're going to have an honor watching party. I don't think so. So I'm with you on that one. I guess that's it. That's our show. We're like at the end, right?
Kathia Woods (3):Yeah, but we got it done even though we traveled, and we got to see each other in person. So that's always nice.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:No, no, we did. We did. Even though it's really funny. I will say this before we close out. Is that you, you what? I wanna say left a little early.
Kathia Woods (2):I had to leave early. You know why? Because I had to get up at the crack of dawn to do the, to do baby. It was like I was coming in. You and I both flew in, so we were all in different time zones. My slot for this power junket was seven something in the morning. Like
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:it was early and
Kathia Woods (2):I hadn't really slept, so I needed to sleep. I mean, normally I don't dip. But I was fighting for my life already having dipped it. You know,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:You said you had to get up out of there.
Kathia Woods:I
Kathia Woods (2):love everybody, but I couldn't do it. I was, I, as soon as I got back to my room and took off my makeup, went straight to bed.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:Well,
Kathia Woods:you know,
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:No worries. Again, this is the Real Critics Network. We got two critics. Two opinions and one mission. This is where dialogue engages, educates, and entertains, and occasionally escalates. And we escalated at this time, but not against each other, but against the industry. You can find me on Twitter and all those other places. What as the real critic, our EEL, Kathia, I still haven't really engaged in this new one. So I'm going to, I'm going to do that soon and try to see if I can get some followers. And you could also go to my website at Reggie ponder. com. Where can we find you? Kathia.
Kathia Woods:You can find me everywhere. Well, except Twitter. I'm no longer on Twitter and X or whatever, but you can find me anywhere else at Katia, K A T H I A underscore woods.
Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic:There you go. We're out. See you next time.
