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 Critics Network S1 E19. The Bad guys 2 & The Naked Gun
Reggie and Kathia
What's On My Mind: NABJ and The State of Black Media
Movies: The Bad Guys 2 and The Naked Gun
Rant and Rave: Box Office and Audience behavior in the movie theater
Hey, Im Reggie Ponder, the real critic and this is the Reel Critics Network. I am with my co-host Kathia Woods. Kathia, how are you? How are you?
Kathia Woods:Good, good, good. It's still 10,000 degrees outside. It's still 10,000 degrees. Okay. I need it to be, I need, can we get a 85? That would be amazing. Not, it's, it really is 1000 or 1010.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:That is a really good lead into our first segment with, which is what's on my mind and what's on my mind is it is hot in Chicago for the most part, and I just want you to know that you step outside. It's, it's hot. Hot. And I know for a fact that you do not want to be here in Chicago because while we do have some good Italian ice, which I did take you to half by the way, which I did take you to half, while we do have refreshing Italian ice here in Chicago, I don't think you want to be here. I think you, oh, you're not in Philly no more. That's right. You are in a hot city. Hot Atlanta. Yes. I forgot all about that.
Kathia Woods:It's hot in Philadelphia too. 'cause I asked my daughter. Now if we were in Chicago and we'd get waterized, my sec, my follow up question would be like, can we stand in the fri in the freezer where it's housed? Because from the moment we would've, and Reggie is a wonderful host, but we were literally three steps from that. The spot to the car, it would've melted.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:It wa it, it was hot. But you know what
Kathia Woods:It wa it was listen, because it's about to be NABJ convention time. It was lovely in Chicago, we had a breeze. I would walk from my hotel and just out a little bit, Lollapalooza was across the way. That didn't even bother me. I had a nice little stroll, but if convention was right now, I would be absolutely not.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I
Kathia Woods:feel like you are on
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic: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're involved in some panels, and I wanna ask you a few questions about NABJ as a overall organization and not really as an organization, more so about the platform the showcase platform that we have every year. You are one of those people who tries very hard to make sure that the panels are on point. So let's talk about what panels, if at all you're doing and what you're involved in regarding the panels at NABJ this year.
Kathia Woods:I'm involved in this panel. I'm not moderating anything that I know of as of right now. I could change as of right now, I think. There, there's more panels on freelancing. We are in the middle of an election. We are voting for a new NABJ president. And some other positions that are in Pivotal. I think, last year's convention was a little lively 'cause you know, who came to the convention and I think it's like any, it's like anything else where we're yelling at membership. Like you can't be mad from outside the club and constantly have these social media conversations. But when it comes time to exercise your vote, right? You are not, you're not doing that. You're not exercising your vote. And I feel like we need to do better. We're paying money, we're paying for this membership, and we're not active participants. And the question then becomes, how do we. Move forward, this organization that we love, that we need so much. So for me this year, convention is also about having those hard conversations, and going to panels and also pushing leadership. It's always nice to see everybody 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 more? And I'm vocal on it just as much. NA BJ's gotta do more than issue a statement. NA BJ's gotta start going, demanding to have these meetings and demanding to have things put in writing. That, that, and also, here's the other question, right? Just to end on this, and I'll let you jump in. Of course, right now. Between, there's like this a three peer part and I want your opinion on this because you are someone that is a little bit older. So you can speak from a, this perspective, we have three major issues. We have black media, right? That is not pivoting and not meeting the moment and not understanding that we, the way the business model is set up is not a productive business model to meet the needs of our community. 'cause you can't get good reporting paying people $2 an hour and you can't get good reporting if you are not more present on the internet. That's just the fact, I don't care if you hate it, that parts of it that I hate. But it's just the fact you have to, if you wanna get this next generation to support your set outlet, you have to be on the net social media, whatever you have there. Then we have the fact that, a good portion of our newsrooms are being gutted and the people that are getting laid off are a lot of people that look like us. We have a lot of regional media that, people are station swapping and before you were a consumer reporter, now you're a multimedia journalist, meaning that you cover whatever they want you to cover and you are on the desk, you're doing the weather, you're doing sports, whatever. Like it's crazy, but you are getting paid and you have a lot of burnout. So you have good people leaving the industry. And then also, so how are we preparing the next generation that is right now in college studying journalism? Other than telling them to take your journalism skills and become a copywriter. Like what's the plan here and how are we. Meeting or holding, the employers what's the percentage looking like? I see a lot of people online at NABJ for job interviews, but how many of them are getting hired? How many of them are still working in the industry? So we need that data. So to me, those are the three, three things. And the last one is we're looking for new executive director, the person in charge of helping us get the money. And that's a super, super important job. But I really wanna hear your input. Do you feel, I think you feel like I do, the organizations need it, but what does NABJ need to do to meet the moment in this time versus the old days? And we listen, you're not gonna hurt my feelings because No, no. I'll not hurt your feelings, my membership fee, like everybody else, I ain't got no type of perks.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:The first thing I'm gonna say is that when you start talking about people, membership, being involved and voting, and even doing more than voting, just being involved. I'm one of the people you're talking to is that I am not as active as I could be in NABJ. And in fact, if it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be. I had felt for some time that NABJ didn't meet my needs as a film critic. It generally worked with broadcast media folks and not film critic folks. So I was a part of the organization, but I didn't participate, participate. I just felt that it's a needed organization and I would be a part of it and support it as best as I could. And I will say that I think one of the things we need is that we need exactly what you just said, more people being involved and how do we get those more people being involved. I think people like you. I know for a fact that you pulled 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. And so I'm just gonna do one of these. Oh, that's right. That's right. We're on radio, but so people can't see me clapping. I'm gonna do one of these because you were talking about me. You're still talking about me because you are right. We need to do a better job. And I don't have a problem with pointing at myself. See, I think a lot of times what we do is we point at other people and wanna say they the problem. 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 you do. I really I remember many conversations where you are like, okay, okay buddy, we need to do this. We in your city, I'm gonna need you to do that.
Kathia Woods:And, but you also, in your defense, when I made the call. You answered. That's the other thing is when I do try to pull people in and I will say, Hey I rang a bat signal. I didn't hear from you, and I made sure that when you came, that you felt welcomed and that you had the things you needed to make it worthwhile. Like, you know what I mean? Absolutely. Like what are we doing? Are we, other than you just being in the photo album, right? So you can you go to other things in the convention? Can you get something out of it other than just, us using, tapping your knowledge. So I think that is, you know, you have to give value for value.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Oh, absolutely. And so much so that I did contemplate going this year. It's just a money of dollars and cents. Because then you started talking about the, our news organizations pivoting. Be it that they need to be on social media, be it that they need to be on the internet. It's a two part issue here. One is that you need to be there, but the other one is, can you afford to be there? And that is just the fact of the matter, when I worked in advertising, we kept a lot of black media afloat in Chicago or not in just Chicago, across the nation. And the reason I know that is because that's where we spent our money. We spent our money with black publications and a lot of those publications actually went out of business after we stopped spending money for those publications. And I would suspect given the onslaught on DEI and talking about things that are diversity related, that the papers are struggling more than ever today, I would suspect. Because I know what they pay me to write my articles. So for five years I wrote for a publication at a subpar rate. And I knew that, but I offered them that rate because I knew they couldn't afford me any other way. But I felt that our publications still need to hear voices of black folks talking about movies versus not doing so. So I took a very, I, again, I offered the rate. I said, look, I'll do it for this amount of money. Not because I wanted them to I just wanted to write for them. But because I felt that our readers, our audiences needed that type of thing, when I tried to get more money, like five years later. They were like, I can't do it. I just can't do it. And I understand if you have to go someplace else, but I can't. And you've been with us for five years, we love you, thank you so much. Appreciate you. But I just can't do it. And I've been to their newsroom with two people printing the paper, writing the paper, not checking my typos by the way, 'cause I had typos in my stuff. But that, that's a whole nother another issue. But when you are just hanging on by shoes string, that's what you get. So to try to pivot to social media and not even have the skills to do so means that you have to have somebody who knows how to do that. And young people with rightfully so are not gonna be like, look, I'm just gonna be volunteering my skills for nothing. I need to get paid. So there's this, there's the a tough thing that's going on here is that young people are recognizing their value, particularly as it relates to the internet and social media. And these older publications are saying, I recognize it, but I just don't have the resources to have somebody on full staff. So that's a tough one. That's a really tough one to have. And I can see it full. I can see it for sure.
Kathia Woods:I think we also have to be willing to apply for these grants, right? And we, and I think that, and then, you know. That you and I have had these extensive conversations that black publications pulling from the wire and they don't even pull from other black journalists, which is, I think, the biggest sin, if you're gonna do it, at least pull from Black Voices. And understanding also that we have, when we apply that money from the grants, we don't share the wealth. And I also said this, if you had a fully developed arts and entertainment section of your various outlets, you could go after that awards money, which is way bigger pocket than what the Ford Local dealership is offering you. But we don't have this conversation because there is ignorance around what we do. And I also feel like we, are we too many, not all underscore bold, still do fundraising or. Chase the money the traditional way. Like we, that's take an ad. Instead of saying, no, I need a, you can get a banner. This goes on the website. This is what are the numbers for the website? Not understanding the website is really the money maker. That the print is the secondary Right. And like for instance Yeah, it's true. Lucky they still get, okay, so they have from what the number say 53,000 hardcore subscribers. It doesn't include what the people buy at the airport and the different kiosks. So let's say for this conversation, 'cause we like to work with round numbers, it's 60 K, right? Let's just say that 60 K, but the website is 425,000. That's the one that you really should be talking to about the advertisers. That's the tie in. And. I just learned that the website is not available to, for people to view it in certain parts outside of the United States. So you are missing an international voice, right? So you are also not getting, so you have, let's say 425 unique visitors per month. So I'm not gonna use jargon. So put it in info and that's your driving number. Then you gotta know what's your demographic. Obviously it's predominantly black, but is it more women? Okay. Which it is. It's more women than men. So then there is advertising that you can go out to that is products geared to women. Who cares if it's Playtex? What? There's nothing wrong. It's not like you're asking for, a porn side to be advertised. It is money. So I think we're also have to open up our minds and go after these money, these companies, these pharmaceutical companies that have the money to advertise. So that you can have, continue to have a strong editorial staff, right? I think that's a conversation we were having with Essence. What's the point of having a great editor in chief if you are not going to let that editor in chief 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 get the money and you put together a real plan and you won't be able to pay like what Vogue is paying, but you can pay more like asking a starting journalist, which is what some of our outlets are paying that lives in Chicago, that lives in Philadelphia, that lives in New York. God forbid you live in LA to work for $30,000 and 2025 is insane.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:It is the only, the not, the only thing, the thing, the biggest pushback though is that because my biggest clients were the Walmarts of the world. I know that those companies kept papers in business. I know that. I know that today those companies are not trying to keep those papers in business. And I mean those, even those with an internet following, because I, the way in which we look at black media and I'm talking about the world, the way in the, in which the, the United States particularly looks at black media is like, yeah, that thing over there maybe there's somebody over there who's doing something, but for the most part. I don't need to be there. And you can tell that because there are black media organizations, I'm forgetting the one for for there are at least two black newspaper organizations. And I know, and
Kathia Woods:then PA is one. I don't know the other one. Yeah,
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:It, I couldn't remember the name of it. N-A-P-A-P-A, they have come together 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 I can't get it as a independent newspaper, let's put all our stuff together and say, do you want our 6 million people collectively? And many advertisers are just not doing that. And because I was on the other side, I know that they came, they were coming to us, asking us for the money. I know that they weren't sitting there saying, ah, you know, oh, poor little me, I we can't get any money. They're like, well, wait a minute. We got whatever million people, and if you advertise in all of our papers, this is what you'll get. And we would always just do like a little, little bit. And I know that it just wasn't enough to keep those publications afloat. And you know as well, because when we do go to NABJ, fewer and fewer of our black publications there. They can't even afford to go to NABJ. So I think you're, I think we're saying two things. I think one is that they have to try to figure out how do you get the revenue? 'cause you can't sit around saying, oh, poor old me. So you definitely need to do that. You also need to recognize though that there's other people saying, I don't want to do business with them. I don't see them as important. I don't see them as that kind of entity. And because. It was my job to give out that money. I know that those organizations are out there looking, so they got two things going on. You do have to try to pivot, work harder. We do have to recognize that working harder is not always the solution. I'm always, I always laugh when people say, working hard is the antidote to failure. When you work hard, you are gonna, you're gonna make it. I don't buy it. I don't, I don't buy it. I am going to, I've been in the process of trying to write an article about that, but I'm trying to, I wanna make sure that I couch it because I'm not trying to say that you should not work hard. I'm just saying don't tell me that working hard is gonna get you where you're gonna go. Now, not working hard probably is not gonna get you where you need to go. Don't tell me. Working hard is gonna get you where you need to go. I know the publisher of the editor of the paper that I used to work for, and I say used to because he, the, that editor, I think I told you this, is that he perished in a fire. Yeah, I know he worked hard. I could find him at his desk at any point in the night. I could find him at two, three in the morning if I wanted to and say, Hey I'm sending this late. 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 rain and shine. I'm always here, so I know that he works. I'll leave that part. But you mentioned a couple other things. Is that how our newsrooms are gutted in many by many our black folks? You were talking about general market. Newsrooms and how many of our people of color will either be let go or just can't survive on the current salaries that they're, that they have. And so they have to make a move and they have to pivot themselves because we are independent organizations and 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 news per, it's funny, my daughter, my niece worked for CVS and she did everything when she works for C-V-S-I-C-B-S and you know the position that they call it because you helped a young man get one at the last NABJ and I forgot what they call that position, 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 got paid for that was a penance, but she did it because you get to get the experience and all that other type of stuff. So I do know that people are you, you're right in terms of people leaving or being gutted, you look at my, the radio station I've worked for 16 years, a number of US black folks have been put to the sideline, not necessarily out to pasture, but are not as major as we used to be because of cuts to the radio station and there's a number of people of color. And then the last one is that how are we preparing the next generation again? This is where you come in and you get a clap, clap, clap. When we were at the last NABJ, what were you doing? Come over here, kid, come over here. Did you talk to these people? Have you discussed with this? Let me see what you, let me look at your resume because let me see. And we just need to have more people doing that. That is such a beautiful thing. So again, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. I look and you serious about it? You not playing. You were like, oh, you need a you need a writer. Where? In what city? Oh, you need it in Baltimore? Hold on, wait a minute. I think I know somebody.
Kathia Woods:I think it is we have a lot of work to do, but I do think, I think about we have B and C go, right? That failed. And it's all these people. Then we had everybody was all excited when I was looking at when Byron Allen bought Dereo, right? And he bought the s and b and Z go. Within a matter of months. It, before the ink was even dry, he got at that whole newsroom and I think it's IT Grill. April Ryan was the White House correspondent. She's not there. She's working for someone else. And it's like, what's the point? And people are mad and at the owners of Essence, but I'm like, it was already starting to get gut it when it was under Time Warner. So you're like, is the answer also, if we're gonna buy it, what's the point of us buying it if we're not, if we don't have the means to keep it in operation? Because we are just as guilty, I feel like, and I'm like did. So the question I always have as I talk about this, I'm like, did Byron Allen. What was happening here? Did, would the numbers off or did he not think that the Grio was in, in problems as much as is as it is and trying to run an effective news thing with four people, right? 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 a consistent voice for set thing or a consistent right, where you're like,
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:the income or consistent income is that if if you are using me. You're using somebody else and we're switching off. I currently write for indigo.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 film critics, particularly because we don't have a female voice, but from a money perspective, if there were 10 film critics, I could not survive. So Reggie gets to talk about the movies, but we don't get to hear from our sisters about, okay, Reggie, you know, that was sexist. Okay. Reggie, you know, that massaging this? I was like, no, that was good. I, when they was making love, I liked that you was like, Uhuh, nah, that don't work and we do need that voice because. You know, you know us, you know the brothers be trying to tell people what to do. We need that other voice. So I, I wish my organization could have more.
Kathia Woods:We're all doing that. Like I write TV and film and music 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 in critic choice. I said You have to reopen this conversation about having people being dual members in this market. You can know it's very niche to afford to just be like, or even more so, right, to be like, I'm only going to speak about Art House. Excuse me, art house films and not talk about summer movies. Like we all have our preference, right? Of what we enjoy covering more. But do you want to eat? Do you want to work? There are people I remember during a pandemic, I'm not gonna name names 'cause we're keeping it cute. But there were people during the pandemic when theaters were closed that swore prior to that. I'm not doing tv, I'm not talking about reality tv. Love is blind. And don't get me wrong, I pick and choose why it covers as far as reality tv, I'm not doing love and hip hop. Like I can't do it like I need my brain. Bob
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Bobby's gonna be upset with you if you're not doing love Allen though, because,
Kathia Woods:but I feel like, you pick what you can out of that, but these same people that swore up and down these quote unquote elitist, the people that we talk about that don't want to open up the conversation for everyday people, guess what? They had to start covering these 10. You know what's the guy, the tiger sharks and all of that, because that's all Tiger King. He had Tiger,
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:tiger
Kathia Woods:King, so it was Tiger King. So it was either you covered the streaming and streaming saved our assets. Because if it wasn't for streaming with theaters being dark and no excuse me. No new productions on traditional tv. There's only so many lists we can make of things. You are not things you might have missed. 10 TV shows you're not watching 10 movies, classic movies. There's only so many times we can roll that out. It really saved our butts. But these people all of a sudden, 'cause I really looked at some people with a very strong side eye as I see them on Twitter, whatever the heck you're calling it these days, all of a sudden I'm like, wait a minute, you are writing about tv 'cause you have no choice. So I think I do agree, I do think that we also have to understand that you don't, you can't afford, if you wanna make a living, if you wanna get paid to say, I'm not covering this. Just like people didn't wanna cover foreign films. And then foreign films are becoming more mainstream. So I think it's a very three fear, four or five, six tiered. Conversation.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:It's, and I'm
Kathia Woods:looking forward to going to convention and having those, and sometimes you, at the family reunion, we got pulled some of our cousins to the front of the congregation and say, boo, it's time for you to have a seat and give someone else a chance. We try it your way and we're at a stalwart. That doesn't mean you can't come to the cookout anymore. You just can't be in charge of hospitality.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I totally agree. I think this is a great conversation and I know you are pushing to have these types of conversations at NABJ. I already know that. I really applaud you and thank you for doing a lot of this hard work because when you get to the family reunion, people are, some of the people in the family are already saying, Uhuh, I ain't talking to her. 'cause I know. It's,
Kathia Woods:it's, it's, it's everything. We as a people, we gotta, we ought to move forward together. We die together. It ain't like, ooh, it ain't gonna affect me. There's so many people that have worked, like Gie you know this, we have colleagues that worked at places for 10, 15, 20 years that got let go.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I do, I do.
Kathia Woods:And oh, they didn't even get, at least back in the day, they gave you a little party and a good partying gift. They didn't even get a partying gift. They weren't even allowed to come back to the office and get their name plate.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Yeah, I got, I have a few here and yeah, for sure. Thank you so much for that conversation. I really appreciate it. We're gonna move on and talk about some movies. So we're gonna move into our movie segment and you saw something that I didn't see now before you talk about this. 'cause you are one of the bad guys. Oops. Did I say the movie? Oops. I didn't mean to do that Is you. Get to see everything. And I am not happy. I am upset. I know I'm not supposed to be envious or jealous or whatever, but this movie I actually could have seen. It was on Saturday and my choice was go play basketball or go to the movie. Hi, your boy decided to go play basketball. So I did not see this movie. And tell us a little bit about it and what you think.
Kathia Woods:I think it's fun. We need, we keep forgetting that. What's the name of it? What's the name of it? Bad guys. The Bad Guys too. And I think we forget that summertime means we need to have some movie for our smallest movie going population, right? Family movies are still a bulk of what makes money at the box office and we have to understand across the board, right? So you have, excuse me, you have, your little people, when I say I'm gonna say kindergarten, 'cause below it's a little hard. You gotta be like, touch and go, right? Your grade school kids and then you know, your middle schoolers. And I think this is something that even you as an adult will enjoy. The gang is back. San Rockwell is the wolf. Craig Robinson is the shark. Craig Robinson had me cracking up like nobody's business. And then you have Aquafina is the spider and Anthony Ramas is the snake. So they are now trying to go good. The bad guys are trying to go good. The Wve is trying to get a regular job. Everybody's trying to be just regular people, right? But then you have the bad girls. The bad girls played by Natasha Leone and Daniel Brooks. And they. They tempt the bad guys back into doing bad work, but for the greater good, right? So half of the humor in this is how the bad guys are trying to adjust to being regular people, right? They're trying to be good people. The wolf is trying to get a job. As I said in the interview, it may help to not go somewhere for a job interview that you did an unauthorized withdrawal from several times. They're not gonna hire you friend. The standard of living has gone down a little bit. The car goes, it's touch and go, and it's been humbling for our bad guys, but the bad girls. Tr, try to blame something on them. And they lure them into helping them do bad things, but in the end, the bad guys do turn out to be good. And what I love about this is these things only work as good as the the voice characters. And Sam Rockwell has a very distinguished voice, of course. Robinson is hilarious on his own that chemistry is real. You could tell in an interview that they all really like each other. Aquafina is great, and Anthony Ramas and the snake has a little bit of a romance. It's just a really good fun. And I think also the lesson in this is for kids is that you can turn your life around. You can make the most of your second chance. You are not the fine. By your mistakes, you can be the good guy. And again, this is a fun movie. It's less than two hours. Hallelujah. And it has enough visualization in terms of the animation and everything for your youngest people. I think there's some fun things. The shark, gets a little gassy. When he has anxiety. So that in itself and seeing them use their criminal skills for good. But it's a really, I think, a fun movie. And definitely take your small people, your crew, as hot as it is, you can't, if you can't, if the 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.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:What, what age group is this for?
Kathia Woods:I think kindergarten. I think if there's no foul language, there's anybody dying. It's just really, really good. Fonders enough in there and, do the family package. If you are, if you're fortunate enough, like I was for a while to be home with your children, you can go on a Tuesday. The movies aren't just for the weekend. You can go on a Tuesday in the afternoon, get every, get the whole game together. If you got the A MC package, your little discount. Of your condiments and all that, but just, it's just a cute, I think the movies we're talking about today are just fun movies.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I love that, that you say that. And there's somebody that I like who's in it who plays Diane Foxton. And you didn't mention that person. So, help me out. Who is that?
Kathia Woods:Oh my God. Is it, hold on. I got another
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Azzy.
Kathia Woods:Oh, Azzy Azzy didn't do. Yes. My husband loves Azzy Beats too. But Azzy, maybe she had some personal things going on. She might be shooting, but she did not do the press run for this. Oh. But the rest of the gang showed up. The rest of the gang showed up,
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:And where can we check out your interview.
Kathia Woods:Oh, you can go to the Cuppa Soul show YouTube channel, and you can go to the Sacramento 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 this much in the junket and we laugh from the moment. Go.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:That is absolutely great. So the, you're recommending this?
Kathia Woods:Absolutely. Because again, we gotta remember the movies are for everybody. And this is, you mean, I think Superman and Fantastic Four is a little bit long and it's a little bit tough for the youngest members of your family, but this, this, they're gonna have a good time. They're gonna talk about, some of the silly things. And again, shout out to Sam Rockwell, who's having a really amazing year from his work on the White Lotus to this. I just feel like he's one of our most underrated actors and he is extremely versatile and just a really, really good soul. And I love when he did win an Academy Award, his tribute to Philip Hoffman.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:The question that I would ask you is about this movie before we move on to the next one, is this a movie that the kid at heart, like myself, would sneak in and go see by myself?
Kathia Woods:Yeah, because like I said, is, there's certain scenes that I really chuckled up loud and just, I love the camaraderie between, I was fully entertained. I was engulfed. Like sometimes I will say to certain critics, they're like, oh, this is this. I'm like, no 6-year-old cares about the, an analytical. Play that you are talking about as a parent, nobody cares. Is this something a that's appropriate for kids? If so, watch age group, right? How long is the run time? I think when we, at least I'm gonna speak for myself. When I review children's movies, I try to do it from that lens. I try not to. Now, once in a while you'll have certain animated movies like The Lion King when it comes out. That just is wonderful and appropriate 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 of those movies, but for the most part, when people talk about, oh, this is not cynical, I'm like, no kid. Go spend some time with some small people. They'll tell you why they love a movie. Is this the music work they will 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 a movie for that, right? The shark, passing gas. That's the type of stuff that kids like. So that's the mindset that I try to look at it. And most important, like you said, is when you ask, is it what age group? If it's two hours, we all know some kids can sit full for an hour and 10. Some kids are only good for an hour. So these are the important factors. All that other jazz, don't nobody care.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Last question about this, particularly about the cast. Is there something that you learned about any member of the cast? Just one. 'cause we could be talking about this forever and I want people to go and see your review. Is this something that you learned about any member of the cast that you would like to share?
Kathia Woods:Yeah. When Craig Robinson said that he tried out for the sketch comedy show and he had a he said he had a black comodo. I don't know why I just immediately started laughing and this is a guy who comes up with these different characters and he said he tried out with the sketch comedy show and he went in there up prepared. So he went on the fly and this is what he came out with. And I'm just trying to think of the people that were auditioning him and were like, he said, yeah, it, it just was, it, it's a bad, it just was all the type of bad. And the funny thing is because even 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 you that people who are super talented and are known for things have their off days. And he was like, that day he just didn't have it.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:All right. Well, that's it. That is a recommendation. To go check out the bad guys too. Moving to our second movie, and that is The Naked Gun, and I'll start that one off. I always am hesitant when we continue to go back to the same stuff when you know that a Leslie Nielsen was just a absolutely iconic. The question would be, why? Why? Why would you do this? This is a big, big risk for a couple of reasons. In my mind, one, Liam Neeson needs to live up to Leslie Nielsen because the people who are older like myself, who watch that series are like, okay, is it gonna be good? Two. He needs to bring in the new people into the franchise who never saw any of the movies and make it where it is relevant and fresh enough today. And those were my questions when I saw the trailer, I said, okay, okay. The acting seemed like he could at least give Leslie, give homage to Leslie. And that's what I saw from the trailer. So let's talk about the what the movie is about, and then the things that I liked that Neeson Liam Neeson plays a Lieutenant Frank, Dr. D Drin din Junior. And he tr he tries to thwart a bank robbery in the process. He messes everything up and his Chief Davis played by CCH Pounder. Decides to take him off of that case and put him on traffic duty. He has a traffic case and his first traffic case is a guy who dies in a self-driving car. It so happens that case is connected to the bank robbery and everything else that he is not supposed to get involved in. And so now he's back involved in 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 is determined to find out what's really going on, and he puts a lot of people in danger and possibly he could possibly save the world. It's execute. Really, it's actually cute just from what was happening there. But let me say this, first and foremost, the plot doesn't matter. It doesn't that it doesn't matter. So if you are there trying to look at the plot and say it doesn't make any sense, that's not what matters. This film is clearly a spoof of detective movies and it is an homage to the Naked Gun franchise with jokes and jabs at the series, as well as the genre. It's partially about recreating the goofiness that you see in the past, but it's also partially about extending. The franchise to appeal to a new generation. And they're trying to balance both of those. And I think from a joke perspective, they actually do a decent job. The film has all the ingredients of a spoof. The first thing it references the prior movies. And there's a joke about a certain former NFL running back that will absolutely have you laughing. At least it did me. You'll see that one actually in the, a little bit of that one in the trailer to it. It exaggerates the stereotypes. So a as an example, there's this bit about coffee, and let's just say that the coffee is supersized and there's plenty of it. And I, the, those exaggerations are the things that kind of make you laugh and stay with, they stay with the gag, by the way. They never leave it, they never leave this coffee issue. And you're just gonna see it over and over and over again. And also mimics history but with its own twist. You have this. Obligatory police chief who hollers and screams at people lets you know that you're in the right precinct. That's what happens on all these kind of detective movies. There's this black police chief who's like, why did you do this? And how, and CCH pounder, I think she's perfect for this role and does a really great job. And then there's the fourth wall. When you break that fourth wall, it has to be funny and it is it they start talking to you directly and you're like, wait a minute. I am I in the movie? I didn't know that. And like I said, the plot doesn't matter because this is really a winding, convoluted road that's constructed for those looking to chuckle and Belly lab. That's what it's all about for those people who looking to chuckle and Belly lab. Belly lab. So what did I not like about it Is that the naked gun is silly. It is a silly movie. And because of that, it's not for everyone. Many of the jokes, you actually will see them coming, like the stuff that I just talked about with the coffee. Some of 'em you won't, but some of 'em you will, you'll, you know that they're about to give him another cup of coffee, but in a sense they feel familiar and maybe not as original as you like them to be. And that might be a downfall for people who might be new to the, to this franchise because they might not get it. I think it's clever. And that leads into my other point because I think it's clever, but it actually in some ways might be too clever for itself because it, the jokes are, to me, the jokes remind me of of the movie Inception where they fold on each other so much so that it creates this like complex tired land tiered landscape that could impact your laugh factor. You'd be like, okay, he said this, they said this, so you do have to piece some of this stuff together. And then finally, just because it is about the franchise. There will be jokes that just will go over your head and if you haven't seen the other movies, you won't know what people are laughing about. Or even if you've seen the other movies, you might not remember that. Oh, that joke was about this. There were a couple of jokes where I had to go. I came back home and I watched one of the older films because I was like, I missed something. And I was like, oh, that's what they were talking about. So my rating for this is that I think this is a matinee movie, one of those that you go see in the theater, get your, using your terminology, get your Kiki on and laugh and have a good time. Is this a run to the theater right away? You bet not Miss Movie. Not to me. But I think that they did a good job. I think they did a good job overall, but I don't think that Frank Junior eclipsed Frank Senior. That's my thought.
Kathia Woods:I didn't, first of all, I love that Liam Neeson decided to do this because his persona has been so tied to the taking the bat. Like he's this tough, rugged guy, and for him to lean all the way in with the silliness, with the miniskirt and all the stuff that, that the originalist chose the fact that he knows that he's wrestling with this super macho persona. So I, I love that for him and I love the fact that he got it. Let's circle back. I think the other one is the fact that he, that this is just, like I said, like you said, it's just a fun getaway, right? You know that this movie does not want to be deep. It doesn't strive to be deep, it is ultra silly the stereotypes of what a police squad 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 of the original franchise. I love the fact that he was how can I say this? That's how they addressed it and moved on. First of all, can we did not talk about Pamela Anderson. Okay. I love this resurgence for her. I love this for her so, so much. And I love the fact that she also understands what people, that she's probably making fun of herself too, but pe they probably think that she's like this in real life. And kudos for having a woman over 50 play this part because normally they will get some 20-year-old to do it, but I think, I love the casting. They're both two mature people and again, I love her timing and this is really, really good that chemistry is authentic. And I love talk about a pivot this second half of her career between the last showgirl in Las Vegas. This absolutely love this for her.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Let me say something to that. I'm really glad that you mentioned that because I mentioned Pamela Anderson in my review as well. And I think to exactly what you just said, the chemistry is really good in this one between her and Liam and the thing that I like the most. Was that they stayed in character and played it deadpan. Like they were serious. They stayed in character. And that's what makes it work because the way in which the two of them worked together to not break, if you will,
Kathia Woods:I mean from the last showgirl right. This has opened up opportunities for her. And if you've not seen the last showgirl in Las Vegas the last show girl, so the last showgirl go see it. It's on HBO Max. She's really good in it. And so is Dave Batista. He like, it takes you a minute to realize who he's playing 'cause he is wearing long hair. And I think a lot of men didn't get that. Her character, the women got it right. And so is Jamie Le Curtis, she's good in this too. But moving back on to this, I feel like. It just it is a movie that understands the whole shtick of the movie is to make fun of every possible stereotype. Like to the point, even the crime scene, right? Pick up the knife, stand in this, all the things you're not supposed to do,
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Have a chair.
Kathia Woods:Yeah. You know what I mean? So you see it coming, but it's still funny and it's still great. And I think what they, I agree with you. It's like, Ooh, this is such a love thing. How can they do it where it doesn't seem like a poor copycat? And I think they accomplished that goal. They understood. They paid homage to the old one where it needs to be, they have this crime, which is a little kink, weird. You know what I mean? But everybody, all the actors understand if you can't make laugh at yourself, if you take yourself too serious, you shouldn't be in this movie. And that's what the assignment is like. You have to be willing to be like, what? And another film that is less than two hours. So bless their heart.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Yeah. I, again, I recommend it. Go check it out at the matinee. If you're not gonna check it out 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 would run, run to go see. No, I think they do a good job though.
Kathia Woods:If you don't want to see, and there are people out there, the somebody talked to me when the superheroes. You have superhero fatigue. You don't wanna see the iteration of Jurassic Park. This is for you. You said, gimme two tickets for none of the above. And they go, I got one for you. Naked Gone. And that's, it's going to have a nostalgia for people that are like, I wanna go to the movies, get outta the heat and see this. And that's what it is. Again, not everything needs to be deep. Be deep. If you just wanna come, you had a bad week and you just wanna laugh. This is a movie for you. Good. I gave it like a strong six.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I gave it So I'll have to do my conversion. I gave it two and a half out of four. Thought it was, again, were worth checking out. And I know that some people enjoyed it even more than I did because they were laughing so loud and so hard. I was
Kathia Woods:laughing. It's just. It's just silly. There's some moments you're like, what I love when, when she was like, no, thank you. I'll stand. And then she was like, on second thought, I'll take the chair and walked out with it. And again, it only works 'cause she was committed to the bid. True. Because had she like, oh, and then put the chair down? No, no, no. She needed to walk out with that chair.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:We're gonna walk out and talk a little bit about I got a little rant and rave here. And go for it,
Kathia Woods:friend.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:And, and that rant and rave is not really a rant or a rave. It's really just talking a little bit about the box office, because I love looking at what is doing well in the theaters. And last week, rightfully so, the number one movie was the Fantastic four First Steps. It did. Hundred and $18 million. It's gonna be very interesting to see what the drop off is for that movie. When you look at
Kathia Woods:fantastic for
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic: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 and it opened with 125 million and what I found to be interesting is that it fell off 53%. And I, that, that made sense to me because I thought it was a solid movie, but not a movie that like centers, I think centers did, centers fall off only like 25% or something like that.
Kathia Woods:You said strong word of mouth. Super strong word of mouth. And a lot of people. The other part too is, and I'll ask you this question since we're doing box office talk, is Superman, the type of movie you're gonna see again, while it's still at the theater where sinners was the type of movie that people were like, I wanna see it again. I wanna see it in imax, I wanna see it. They were willing to pay for IMAX ticket. So to, to ask you that question, is Superman the type of movie that people are saying, Hey, I gotta see it again.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:And this was my exact question to people, is this a movie that after 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 go see it. And Superman just wasn't that movie for me.
Kathia Woods:Also, worldwide, Superman is a global brand. Batman held up better and Batman was almost three hours. Than Superman did worldwide. And I think, this is my opinion, I think it's because they tinkered with his, they made him so relatable that a lot of people were like, I don't want that in my Superman. I want my Superman to be just that super.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I wanna see more. I think many of them want to see more action. So yeah, it was,
Kathia Woods:and I thought for it to get to the action, there was so much of his personal trauma, so much this, by the time we got to the action, you were like, it was almost like you were ready to go already, at least for me. And I felt like if you were not, if you didn't grow up or you never saw Superman movie, it didn't know anything about Superman. Like for the people that were not part of this DC comic book world. This is a rough entry into they, somebody literally walked out and said, why are they beefing him and Lex Luther? I go, that's a legitimate question.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic: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 basically saying, you know what I am not gonna go see this again. This is not a movie that I would just run off and go see again. And I think they did a good job. But is it the movie that you would really go and check out? Again, so it's gonna be very interesting when we look at this movie and see if people are gonna go and run out and go see it again.
Kathia Woods:Also we didn't have that right when we were younger. We just went, we just go and we see 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 the end of end all, not understanding that if you go see it on Monday, you go see it on Tuesday. That's all part of the box office. Especially in the summertime where more people have time off people are home with their kids a little bit more. The weekend is not always conducive for you to go to the movies. But I also think it's, it is also more affordable to go during the week. 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't run out and see this movie on from Thur, it's, let's be honest, from Thursday through Sunday. That it's the end all of end all
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:It's true. I think that the theaters don't have the roadway to have movies that might do good. It really impacts them tremendously. Like, okay, we'll keep it, we'll keep it a little bit, we'll keep it for two weeks when we're hoping that maybe it'll catch on. When you look at a movie like Sinners and I couldn't remember what the drop off was, but it was 4.8%. Then the next week it was 27.6 and the next week it was 33. So it, it did not have a 50% drop off until the 10th week, no, the 11th week. The staying power of that movie was unbelievable. I am very curious as to what will happen with the Fantastic four and see what kind of drop off that it might have. 117 million is really not a lot of money for a movie of that size.
Kathia Woods:It's also it's this, because we have these blockbusters coming out back to back. So you go from being on these super big screens and then you immediately ushered out to make room for the next thing. We don't curate things anymore. And it, and I also wanna know is do we even still have, near where my parents lived when I was growing up, there was the $5 movie and they would get the big blockbuster movies a week later, right? And hey listen. Young men, when you are dating and you know, your money's a little tight. You are in high school, that that place was a bop 'cause you could still get your snacks and everything. You were in there like a Colombian drug king pin. Oh wow. You could take somebody for five, for two people. You were in there big balling. You pull up, you got free parking, you treat your date. That was flourishing. But do we, do these even still exist? These types of theaters? You know what I mean? I listen, I know some people that would absolutely love that, but I'm going to piggyback off of you. I saw a TikTok social media post about this man that went to Regal, not a MC. Same difference though. And he went to see F1. He was excited. I think he went to see two movies, F1 and there was another movie and he talked about the etiquette at the theater, how you have somebody was trying to live tweet during F1, which is crazy. That's crazy work. And we've seen that when we've gone to screenings and public screen, you know, how I feel about 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 your seats, you know, like you don may be like, okay, we gonna sit in the middle, but right in the center, or you may wanna have a ILC, whatever the thing is. But you strategically go, and I know some people to make sure that nobody sits in, also pay for the seat next to them so they can have peaks, like if you go by the movies, by yourself. But this gentleman said. He went to the movies, he picked at his seat and there were these groups of friends. First movie, one person was on his left and one person was on his right and they were trying to have a conversation over him and he, for the life of him, was like, what? What? Like, why wouldn't you pick two seats next to one another if you're together? Then he said it got worse 'cause the third friend came over and they were having a three-way conversation. This is before the movie started. So he's okay, I'm not gonna say anything 'cause it's gonna wind down. Then the third friend came over and had the audacity to ask him if he would move so they could sit together. It's given that airplane talk. And he was like, absolutely not. And he also was like I just said, he said, I asked nicely once the movie start, could they refrain from talking? 'cause we're here to see the entertainment's on the screen. So they were like texting and doing the stuff that they do. Also, he was complaining about the previous I, 'cause again, we go to screenings and just pop right in. We go right to the money shot. I too was like, oh my God. Like it's, we are still watching previews while we're 30, 40 minutes in. But I get it 'cause we gotta pay the bills and that what pays, keeps the lights on. We revert to the other thing is where he saw the other movie, forgot what the other movie was. Another, the big movie where these guys were sitting in seats that they hadn't selected and then the family that selected those seats and they had to tell them to move. Basically what he's saying is part of the movie going experience and some of these theaters have to do a better job. And I've been saying that for decades. Happy to see other people saying it. We gotta curate a better experience. If you're gonna charge what you charge, A, you gotta, these theaters, these bathrooms not being clean. And I get it when your average employee is 16, okay? But you still, there's no reason why you are paying to go to this theater. You're paying to be an IMAX or whatever big screen is, and your feet are sticking to the floor. Or you're still seeing the remnants for the last crew that saw it, or the bathroom looks like, 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, these concessions are not looking better every year at Cinema Con, I walk through the concession floor and I'm like, where is the display to have better things? Other than the stuff that's gonna clog your arteries. The experience of going to the movie theater, even those of us that go for a living, is a nightmare at time because we have a generation that think they have to be a part of the action instead of understanding that, that the entertainment is on the screen. It's really getting to the point where I think we need to have a thing where you are not allowed to have your phone on, and if you are seen on your phone, you are escorted out, no money back. It needs to be the type of financial thing. Well that to make gun, and I'm gonna let you jump in. Security said, are you ready for this?
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:All right. That
Kathia Woods:type of behavior at the screening of Superman, and I saw it for, 'cause we did some interviews, so I saw it in a different environment. There were about 10 critics that saw it. We were spread out all over the theater, so I did not see it with the public. But that public screening, the first one here in Atlanta, wanna guess how many people got kicked out Because they were on their phone, they were trying to take screenshots, they were tweeting or whatever the hell they were doing. Do you wanna know how many people got kicked out?
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:How many?
Kathia Woods:15 Escorted out. What are we do? First of all, it's a privilege to go to movies for free to be invited to the screenings by the studio, right? Whether you're a critic or influencer, that is part of the problem. We are no longer understanding that the entertainment is on the screen. And it's the same way with Broadway plays where people are on the phone and think they can answer a phone. And doing all we have lost the etiquette. So you are paying a lot of money. And on top of that. You gotta sit next to people that talk Alamo theaters and they have a no talking. I'm not talking about like, ooh, you know, you're shocked. I'm talking about chitchat. They have a no hard no phones policy. And maybe we need to have that across the board for people to understand that you are in community with other people and you don't have the right to, to ruin other people's things. Thoughts, Reggie,
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:A couple of thoughts and that is really a rant and rave. So thank you so much because you saved my, the segment. I said I didn't really have a rant in Rave and you had a rant in Rave. You made me think of the Minecraft movie that people were, I think, mimicking all the things in the movie and it got pretty darn crazy. I read so many articles about some of the things that people were doing in the movie, a chicken, popcorn, all types of things that they were doing to, as part of the entertainment. They felt that they was part of the entertainment and what's the film that everybody goes to see every year and they sing with the movie? It's a cult favorite. It's a Rocky Horror movie picture show that if you've ever been to one of those that's basically what's happening at every movie. Ha. Have you been to see that movie?
Kathia Woods:A Minecraft? Yes.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:No, no, no, no. Rocky Horror Picture Movie.
Kathia Woods:Yes, yes. But that is an interactive experience.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I understand. But it wasn't initially. No, it was not Initially. It grew into that and people are okay with it. So this is what I'm thinking. Two things. The reason comedians these days decide that you cannot have your phone during the show is for a couple of reasons. One, you are not watching me, you are not participating with what I'm saying. Two is that I am testing out my material. I don't need you running out there, putting it out there, and then all of a sudden I am canceled because I'm trying to be funny and part of being funny is being funny with the crowd and so on and so forth. I love that, that when I would go to see, when I went to see Trevor Noah, they took the phones. I'm like, that works. I'm good. Because I'm, I don't need to record him while I'm trying to watch him, but I'm older. So I have to understand that too, is that I say to people who take out their phones, why don't you experience the experience? But what they say back to me is that that's how they are experiencing it, is they are taking video of it and that's what makes them happy and that's how they enjoy it. So here's my solution. What about a showing for people who just want to go and do what they do? Pull out your phones, talk all through the movie, but just a showing just for those people. Because I think there's a lot of those people these days, I don't want it. So I agree with you for what I want. I definitely don't want to see all of that while I'm trying to watch a film. So that would be my thought. I like what Alamo is doing because I want to see the movie. I wanna enjoy the movie. As long as somebody could still talk to the screen in a scary movie, if you can't talk to the screen and say, no, no, no, no, no. Don't
Kathia Woods:go that way. No, no, we're not talking. That is like a natural reaction. You are not like, oh my God. Or you're not trying to narrate the movie. Do you understand what I mean? Like we can't hear the plot or we missed a moment because. Or you decide you wanna be like, girl, I'm at the movies. You know what I mean? Where you're like we've all been to screenings where people literally screen is so bright. It's like a dome light, right? Absolutely. And you're, and now you can't because it's right here in your face. You don't wanna acknowledge it, but you can't. Or the person sitting right next to you or it's this, this the part I really hate. You get the phone. It's not even like, why are you talking? If you are talking to somebody in the lobby and they're getting 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 need to know the entire order. What, who likes what? I'm getting to know way more about you than I am for the movie I paid for. So I do think I know people who strategically, Reggie. Strategically drive to certain theaters.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I'm one of go to the movies on I'm of those certain
Kathia Woods:days.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I'm one of
Kathia Woods:those. So they avoid certain people. And I'm not talking about hood people, I'm just talking about the people that don't understand. We are here to see a thing on the screen, not your shenanigans. And I really, and some people get upset with him, but I'm like, get outta your feelings. The theater owners have to do a better job and maybe sit an employee in the screening and instead of us having to leave, get somebody and be like, ma'am, you either get off your phone or we're gonna have to escort you out. The reason Alamo, and and I think that's another reason why people go to Alamo and you can get yourself a little cocktail, you can get yourself from them Food. Food is because of that role.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:The reason Alamo is doing it. And if people don't understand it, it is all about the money. Because Alamo knows that Reggie ponder is not coming, and the fewer people who come, the fewer, the less money you make. So from a dollars and cents perspective, it really does turn off a lot of people who can go to the movie to enjoy themselves. Now, I will tell you, I went to see centers in a theater that I knew I would be quiet because I didn't wanna miss anything. The second time I went to see centers, I went to theater where I knew people were going to be a little, little talkative because I wanted to experience, I did wanna experience that with folks. Alamo is very, very smart. They know what they're doing and they're going. I think they're gonna reap the benefits from it. Because,
Kathia Woods: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 where these movies are a little rough as it is, right? You're sitting through queer, it's three hours, you are already on your last caffeine ball. Ooh, you're holding onto your last cell. Think about conclave a movie like that. Think about if somebody decided to talk as, and that last vital part where we all go and listen, everybody was leaned in. We really enjoying the movie A tip. And somebody goes, we all went you know how the end is? I'm not gonna say it 'cause I don't wanna ruin it for people. You go, oh, that is a normal reaction. '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 reaction because I decided I wanted to ask you what we doing after the screening during that moment. You would've been like, really?
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:And or even if a movie, like a movie like Conclave You, it is a dialogue driven film. So the more people talk, Donna hates when I do this, by the way. I say what did they say? What she hates it when I do that. So of course I need people to be quiet. 'cause I miss, I'm missing stuff when they're not quiet. I telling them myself,
Kathia Woods:I, but it's, but you are not, I've been to the movies and I've been screenings with you and you are not that person. No, but lemme tell you something else. It's not just at the Supermans, the F ones. It's also when we're at film festivals where people have been on their phones and I'm like, what are you doing? Or. I am gonna tell, this is my last little story, and I can't believe I never shared this with you. So you know how we have, I gotta paint this picture for people that can't, that have never been. So when you go to film festivals, there are obviously some films are gonna be shown in traditional movie theaters, but you have to get creative, these galas and Tiff like Toronto has these beautiful theaters that normally our plays are shown in Broadway shows and that, and they get, they bring in the screen, same Sundance, they take some of these school auditoriums and they convert them into movie theaters by bringing in these big screens. Well, let me hold your hand here. So we're not at the Prince of Wales Theater, which is. The one that's further up, it's the one before that. Something, something, right? Whatever it's called. That is a really old theater. And I can tell you how old it is because when you sit upstairs, oh, your knees and I'm not a tall person. I'm five six, right? I'm like, average belt. You have to twi twirl your body a little bit so you don't feel like your knees are about to fall 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 bit of a longer film and it's Mecho, it's not a good time. So we're sitting in this theater and it is already a very somber movie about this man who's extremely overweight and he no longer is a part of society and he's slowly dying 'cause he's eating himself to. So that is the movie we're seeing. We're in there like tight quarters and we've got our little water and our snacks and I'm like in the middle. So it's not even like I can get out early, right? The person next to me on everything that I love, if I'm dying, I'm done. If I'm lying, I'm dying. Falls asleep. And when I tell you, falls asleep, it's not like, ooh, you know, like where you get a little big where you do, I'm talking full on snoring. Everybody in the front row, in the side row turns around and of course, this person next to me and looking at me and they're looking at me like so absolutely freaking out. I don't put my hands on people that I don't know and we, you're not about to have me have an international incident in this man. Then get up and then he decides to hit me and then the whole damn thing is done. Because I definitely do put hands back, but it's just, he's snoring so loud and they're like, they're doing this, trying to get him to wake up. And I'm like, no, no, no. Slept through the first half of the movie. So finally, 'cause somebody got up and went and got him, volunteers, like this guy, it's like disturbing. And then you could tell the people from down there were looking up, this was the premier, Brandon Frazier, the director, all these people are in the theater. People looking up like, who the hell? What is happening? So they get the us, the volunteer poor person. I was like, go with God. And they nudge him to wake up and they were like, sir, whispered quietly, sir, we need you to either, you need to be awake or you need to excuse yourself 'cause you're disturbing. You know the thing. And he's like, oh. First of all, I'm like the fact you had an attitude, audacity, right? But man, just to stay away, I'm like the fact that he got mad that we woke him up out of his slumber. So the movie ends, there's q and a afterwards, right? And he raises his hand when I tell you we were in this together all section, whatever row we were in and looked at that. Man, if you don't put your hand down, the audacity of you to think that you can ask, that's questions. After you slapped through the first 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's typing and there's no subtitle. I was struggling with trying to enjoy this movie, right? And understand why this performance was so good. When I tell you. That man lowered his hand. 'cause we were about to have a coup 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 a question. This is what I'm talking about, where people who lack self-awareness because we get to go for free. Reggie, you know what these passes cost. You know what these tickets cost And you in there going for free, taking a nap, disturbing everything. This is the stuff that we are alluding to bring back etiquette. We are all tired. It's a ruling schedule, but I'd rather you skip the movie. Give the ticket back, come back and fight in another day. I've done it. I've done it where I've been like, you know what? I tried to do two midnight movies. I only lasted for one. And I said to myself, self, be honest. Are you going to be awake? And I gave the ticket back and let somebody else enjoy it instead of me being there and just ticking it off. And I only saw 10 minutes of the bizarre thing.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:My thought is that I could give you grace for falling asleep. I can, because I could see how you might be tired and all of that. The grace that I would not give you is that you have an attitude. You're mad at somebody because you fell asleep. My thought would've been if I fell asleep, which I have not often, but I've done it maybe once or twice and somebody taps me, I probably would've left the theater. So my, I'm sorry, my. I didn't see the movie. So if I didn't see the first half of the movie I think me but I'm not even mad that he stayed. I'm mad that you're mad
Kathia Woods:and then ask a question like, you know, like, come on now. We sat through the almost three hours of it. We went through the whole emotional thing.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:Yeah, for sure. I agree with you. Let's get some rules, some etiquette in the film theaters. It would help everybody. It'll help us enjoy it better and it will also help the theaters make more money. So I am a hundred percent with that.
Kathia Woods:Yes. I'm gonna miss you though, that you're not gonna be, my buddy's not gonna be there. Yeah. But we're gonna have to hold some of the titles. We're gonna have to do a little until you do Chicago. So we can talk about it. And I don't care what Reggie tells you. Reggie is, I have sat in several screenings where Reggie, Reggie is a great movie buddy. And Reggie would never. Snore for two an hour and a half.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I would never snore for an hour and a half
Kathia Woods:Ritz Carlton in his robe comfortably. No, he would not.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I would not. I would not. The only thing I'm saying though is that I tried to do 3, 4, 1 time. I tried to do four movies in a day.
Kathia Woods: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 Critic:It was a mistake. It was a mistake. I tried, I, I really wanted to see all those movies and I nodded on the last movie I did because I,
Kathia Woods:I did it. I did the 10 o'clock I did, I started at 8:00 AM and it was kind of like, but three of them, I did it at Sundance. Three of the movies were within walking distance, had a little food break and then hit the other two. But the, I was supposed to go to an event that evening. I was with you. I was like, no, I need to go to club bed. I was really on my last. Like my caffeine held on just long enough for the last movie I saw was promising young woman. My caffeine was like, you had about 10 more minutes and then it was a wrap. And once it was, I, when I tell you, I got back to my hotel room, immediately took my makeup off, shower, got in that bed, it was lights out.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I will tell you is that I think, I think I'm not doing four again because I think really in terms of being able to digest the movie, to decompress after the movie and to even retain some of the information so I can write my review three movies is my max. I need a moment to be able to talk about the movie, to think about the movie, to do all those things so that when I get ready to write my review, I'm not thinking, oh, is this movie am. Confusing pieces of another movie for one movie. So I think my limit is three and I think I've done pretty well with three when I try to do four. It just didn't work. But with that, we are at our time, as usual. As we close, I always want to know what articles people can check out and where they can check them out. So let's get to it. Ka you can,
Kathia Woods:as per usual, you can go over to the Philadelphia Tribune. You can read my conversation with Eddie Murphy, Kiki Palmer, and Pete Davidson for the pickup, which comes out next week. We can't say anymore 'cause Embargo's not up yet. We'll talk about that next week. We have my interview with Ryan Kler and is up for Ironheart. It's over at the Sacramento Observer and of course you can read the Good Times I had. You can watch that over@kapasocialshow.com. We had ourselves a good old time cutting up talking about how we lied our way onto some jobs. White lies not big lies. White lies. What about you, Reggie? Where can everybody find you?
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:You can check out other than on
Kathia Woods:the basketball court.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:That's right. You can find my review of the Naked Gun right now on indigo.com and in fact, you can find all my reviews, the Fantastic four First Steps as well as Superman. So go and check them out. And right now that's all I have out is a few reviews. I am looking at a couple of interviews and trying to get those going for next week. So I'll keep you guys posted with that. That's our show.
Kathia Woods:Absolutely good times.
Reggie Ponder, The reel Critic:I will see you guys. We will see you guys later. We're out.
Speaker:I.
