Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 0:00

Hey, I'm Reggie. Ponder the Real Critic and this is the Real Critics Network. I have Katya Woods in the house as usual, and we are getting a double treat because KB is joining us. Again, I will tell you is that I have the best friends in the world because one of the things that they do is they say, are we doing something? And then when we not doing something, they like, Hey, did you know about this? And. If I need to ask about some other things, they'd be like, yeah, I can help you out. So I appreciate both of you guys for being here as usual and always. And so I'll start with you, Katia. How are you? How are you?

Kathia Woods: 0:39

I'm good. Still fighting this, the last bit of this cold. Still sound a little bit like Kermit the Frog, we gonna push through.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 0:46

Kevin was sick and so Kevin got you sick. Now Jasper's sick, so everybody's sick over there.

Kathia Woods: 0:54

I think Jasper's the only one that, that is living his, still his best life. He got a little grooming appointment this afternoon to get his pedicure.'cause he's tap dancing all over my floor. But he is. He don't know it yet, but he's about to get himself together, or at least I'm about to get him together.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 1:10

I hear that for sure. Kb I'm glad you could join us as usual. I know you a little busy, but what's going on? What's going on in general?

Kay-B: 1:18

Thank you for having me. Yeah. I too was not feeling well this week. So I am on the up and up now. Feeling better today. Much better than the past few days, that's for sure. Looking forward to chatting about some things that we were able to see.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 1:35

All righty. Well, let's get into it. I wanna get into our first segment and our first segment is what's on my mind. And it, Katia actually called me and asked me did I know that Terrance TT Stern Enzy had passed away and I did not. He was a CCA member. I can't remember the last time that I spoke with him, but I actually, we were talking about him coming to Chicago and coming to the Chicago International Film Festival. So it actually really shocked me when Kasia came, gave me a call to, to talk about that. And I, and I think I, I'm trying to pull up my what I read outta Cincinnati. To give our guy somewhat of a good tribute here. And what I read at the, the Cincinnati Enquirer was the film critic for Fox 19, artistic director of the over the Rhine International Film Festival, husband, dad, friend, and son. Terrence TT Stern Enzy died September 29 and he was 56. Years of as a lead programmer and curator of the OTR Film Festival, he began serving as the artistic director of the festival in 2021. And according to a GoFundMe page for him, he was diagnosed with stage four. Sarah. Moid renal cancer. And so his illness was believed to be a bad case of pneumonia. But after being admitted to Christ Hospital August 3rd, it was discovered that he had this rare, aggressive cancer that had metastasized to both his lungs. And it's a really sad thing to hear as especially for people that, I definitely remember talking to him our last conversation and just thought I mentioned it. If you guys like to make any statements there, feel free.

Kay-B: 3:24

I didn't realize he passed until right now, so that's very, very sad. My condolences to him and his family for sure.

Kathia Woods: 3:33

He was really, really kind. He's a, he was a really good dude, you know what I mean?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 3:39

Yeah.

Kathia Woods: 3:39

And I like when Tim posted a little bit and he tagged me in some of our group pictures and I was like, damn. Normally we see him at Tiff normally he's there to look at movies and stuff for his festival, and he wasn't there this year. Normally we do a little group picture too at Tiff, and we see him at events. And I was like, oh, snap. We're all caught up in like our little bubble when we're at festivals and stuff. And then to hear that he had a cough. Here's my thing. And it, and I'm not sure we can prevent anything, but it's so important for us to go to the doctor for us to get screenings. And again, I'm not saying that would prevented him from passing, but. I do think there needs to be an awareness, and again, we're losing way too many people in our age bracket. And my thoughts definitely with his wife and his children, and he was a solid dude. You know what I mean? Like somebody, it's very hard to find anybody. He didn't have a kind word to say about him, but he was a real one, as they say, and again, really. Broke my heart and our CCA colleagues, you know?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 4:48

Yeah.

Kay-B: 4:48

And also just, it's just such a small space, being black in this space

Kathia Woods: 4:53

and on TV for as long as he was on TV too, to doing what he did and yeah he was quite kind.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 5:00

Yeah. Yeah. Gentleman. I think all those words are really appropriate. So no, thanks. Thanks you guys for for bearing with me on that one. I thought it was important to, to mention.

Kathia Woods: 5:11

Absolutely, absolutely. Like KB says, our little community of film critics is very small and it's getting smaller. So when you lose someone who really was in that space for so long and doing so much for the community. It's a heartbreaker, you know, but again, my heart goes out to his wife and his children,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 5:30

For sure. For sure. All right, we're gonna, we're gonna move on to our next segment called What You Watching? And this is really tv. I don't do as much TV as my friends because they get paid for doing tv. I just be watching tv. But K kb I'm gonna start with you on what you watching and I hope it's just not another one of them. Love shows. That's the only thing I hope, that's just, I just hope it's not.

Kay-B: 5:56

It is. So first before I talk about the new season of Love Is Blind because the first six episodes dropped this week on October 1st. Before I talk about that, I do wanna shout out a little, because it is spooky season. You know, it's October, so it is the Halloween season. Apple tv. Plus has this cute little show called The Sisters Grim, and it's based on the book series. And so it's very family friendly. It's animated, it's for kids, but basically it's about two young sisters. The sister's Grim, their parents go missing. And so they end up, previously in, in the foster care system. And so they had kind of a bad run with one of their foster care families. And their grandmother ends up finding them and so they go to live with her. And so she ends up revealing that they're actually grims and so that the town that they live in is magical, that their house is magical and it's just such an adorable little series. So I just wanted to shout that out. First because the episodes are out now on Apple TV plus. And then I did some interviews with some of the cast and they're gonna those are gonna come out, shortly. But it's a cute little show. I watched it so quickly, I said I know that's right. Come on. Spooky season. And

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 7:06

Before you get off of that. I hate when you and Kathia will be like, oh, I did some interviews.'cause you guys do so many interviews and talk to so many people. Where can we find find these interviews?

Kay-B: 7:16

So when this interview drops, it will be on nerd files, so nerd files.com, and then also on our YouTube page. But yeah, so those will drop at some point over the weekend to celebrate the launch of the series coming

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 7:28

out. Oh, ex. Excellent. Excellent. All right. You know, I'm not gonna watch it. I know you said it's it's cute and it's a little spooky. It's cute.

Kay-B: 7:34

It's cute. Spooky. Not real scary. Reggie, you know, I know you don't really do true horror'cause I don't do true horror, but it's adorable. Spooky. Okay. Alright. Alright. Like Disney spooky, like you can get into it.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 7:45

Alright. Alright, go ahead. Go ahead now

Kay-B: 7:47

for what I also watched and you can check out my interviews on nerd files.com and also Nerd Files our YouTube channel. I got to chat with five of the new singles. For Love is Blind. So we are on season nine, which seems crazy. I'm not even gonna lie to y'all. Like it seems like, I can't even believe we've had nine seasons, but this is the ninth season we're in Denver. The premise is still the same. Get into those pods. You can't see anything. And then propose. And once you propose, see if you have that physical attraction. See if you can survive, this one week vacation in an exotic place. See if you can survive moving in together just to make it to the altar. So it's still that full, six week, I think it's six week total. Six week total process, from meeting to marriage. Okay. And this season I will say kind of shocked me in a lot of ways. So we are. Only the first six episodes have dropped. More episodes will be dropping next Wednesday. But these singles, honey, I mean, when I tell you I was actually shocked by a lot of things this season, I will say because it is revealed in the first six episodes. We have a single parent, and so I believe this is the first season that we've had a single parent before and he has a son and you know, I meant

Kathia Woods: 9:02

we, we had a parent before, but this one at least admitted he's a parent.

Kay-B: 9:06

Well, right. I think, this is the first time like he is a true, like he's in a true co-parenting situation where he has half the time he has his son. And the other half, the son is with his mother, but this kid is like the most important thing in his life. So I think it's the first time maybe we've seen we've seen,'cause you're right, I feel like within the last couple of seasons there was a woman who had a daughter and she was very, a great, great great parents. She was so, so sad to leave her. But this season, yeah. So, okay. I'm sorry. I misspoke. We've had single parents before, but this time I think maybe this is the first time we had a single father. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong.

Kathia Woods: 9:40

Yeah. I'm just saying we've, we done had some people that had kids in, but he was upfront with it. He was honest. He said, I'm a single parent. Yeah. From the door. And that's why he works a job that he does. Because he needs the availability and stuff. Right. Right. But can we talk about two people?

Kay-B: 10:01

Okay.

Kathia Woods: 10:02

Who, brother man, with the, with first of all. I want my man to go to a real barber, like his hair was bothering me. You mean Edmond? Is that Edmond? I don't know.

Kay-B: 10:12

Like what? Tell

Kathia Woods: 10:13

me what any he tall guy with glasses. Yes. Edmond. Mm-hmm. Yeah, he was giving Urkel vibes, but I'm just like, sir what? What's going on? I need her to help him get him together in that aspect. Because he definitely, I was like he was like, he's single.'cause he's not the cutest certain, it's not your looks, it's your presentation that's all. It is given I need a woman's touch. I need somebody to come in here. That's why he's on the show. But I need a woman to take like to the barber and get me cool. But he's not unattractive. He just look cool. Not. He do a little corny.

Kay-B: 10:49

He

Kathia Woods: 10:49

just a little, what did he say,

Kay-B: 10:51

Kaia? He said, but I got a body though. He, and I said, you know what, no lies told. He said, but I do work out and I,

Kathia Woods: 10:56

yeah, he weighs a buckle five.

Kay-B: 10:58

So

Kathia Woods: 10:59

he do, he weigh a buckle five, but I'm gonna give him that. The Asian dude. I, okay. Then the one guy quit the show. You're further along than me. The one guy quit the show. The other girl, well,

Kay-B: 11:10

this happened. This happened in the first six.

Kathia Woods: 11:12

Yeah. This one girl quit the show. Now the one guy quit the show, the other girl was like ghosting. And I feel like the Asian guy, she was not his first choice, which I don't like when they do that. And it comes out like later. Like you just kind of like, because you wanna like, what were we doing?

Kay-B: 11:31

Are

Kathia Woods: 11:32

you only show famous?

Kay-B: 11:33

So I think you're saying it in reverse. She was not his first choice. Okay. Because his first choice is the one that left. So like his first choice is the one that left. And then he ended up saying, okay, let me see if I can work with, my number two. But no, his first choice was definitely the one that left. So, yeah. Yeah. I think you said, yeah.

Kathia Woods: 11:52

And also like why do you all keep having these people? Like you all need to vet these people. I think some people just wanna be on the show to be famous at this particular point that aren't serious about being in a relationship right now. Ms. MAMs, I don't know what her name is. Patrick. Okay, well hold

Kay-B: 12:08

on because that was Patrick. So Patrick is the guy who ends up choosing Casey. Yeah, because his first choice left. So who's Ms. MAMs

Kathia Woods: 12:15

now? Ms. MAMs with the career and she has everything and she has her business. Ma'am. Okay. We get it. You're successful. But clearly you are on the show.'cause even though your successful,'cause we know that. The demographic stated, if you are a successful man with money, you don't necessarily, most of those guys don't want a woman that's equally yolked. They want somebody who's pretty and basically wants to cater to them and wants to stay at home and have these 4.8 kids. But in this particular case, like she wants somebody to match. What's real estate boy's name I feel like on paper they matched because. He has, he's ambitious. And she's ambitious and he has his own money, but the guy that she meshed with was the single dad. But I'm like,

Kay-B: 13:06

yeah, that's Jordan. And this is Megan. Yeah. So

Kathia Woods: 13:09

I'm like so I'm like, he really kind, but you are gonna have an issue. The fact that he's not, he doesn't have money. And on top of that, I'm like. Are you ready? They're a package. Are you ready to package? Deal. So you have to be ready to be a parent. Yeah. So like she was really irking me. I'm like, okay, on the one hand you have a good man, but you have a problem with the money. Got it. And then on the other hand, you got a guy who's got the money and he's a little cocky, and you guys might be competing here because he's not gonna bend the knee and you don't wanna bend the knee. Well see,

Kay-B: 13:44

I actually don't think that's the case with Mike. So when watching Mike, I mean Mike definitely has the money and like Megan is like, okay, money. But I think with Mike, he's just too similar personality wise. There we go. That's what I'm saying. In the past. And so I think what she's looking for is something different, which is why she likes Jordan. But Jordan has, a child and Jordan doesn't make as much, so she really has to have this kind of conversation with herself, like, Hey, are you willing to be the breadwinner for the rest? Of this relationship and also be an instant stepmom because that does mean things will change with your schedule dramatically. Like she works for herself and she does really well, but it still is like there's still day-to-day things that happen and you'll have to do it. So yeah,

Kathia Woods: 14:27

TikTok, and you know what? Go make the money. And there's nothing wrong with having a stay at home dad.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 14:32

All right. So we do need to wrap this one up, but before we do my, obviously this must be something worth watching because Katya, this wasn't even on your list to talk about. And you all in it. You all in.'cause

Kathia Woods: 14:45

maybe get back in. I was outta it. I was outta love's blinds and Sharonda was like, oh no, no. And then as soon as it started, I CC Sharonda. This is why I didn't wanna be back in it, because we're in that, we're 15 minutes into this first episode and these people are irritating me already. Already. Well, it

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 15:00

must be good enough that it got you hooked. KB is this one that to stay with.

Kay-B: 15:04

Listen, I think people should watch it. One, so you know who we're talking about, who the key players are, but also that way you can kind of dive into whether or not,'cause you know, I become invested. I just finished. Love is Blind uk Okay. So I'm invested, like, who's gonna make it to the altar? Who's gonna make it to the altar? And I don't know who's gonna make it to the altar. I don't even have my predictions ready right now. So that's why I'm like, okay. Okay. Let's see. All

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 15:27

right. All right. I I love it. I love it. I love it. Okay. Katia, what you, what you watching?

Kathia Woods: 15:33

I'm watching some foolery too. It's House of Guinness now. My foolery at least it's make believe these people are on a reality TV show. My fury is rich, fun, backstabbing all that good business. House of Guinness is the, like the fictionalized story of how the House of Guinness roasted prominence and infiltrated the American market. When I tell you baby, it opens up with the father dying Ms. Benjamin Sr. But the man is still manipulating everything from the grave. Like the way he broke up this will, Edward, an author, had the second oldest kids and they inherited the brewery, but author thought he was gonna come to the funeral, go back and live his good life in London, and he said, hold my beer. You inherited the brewery together. However, you can't sell out. If you sell your share to the one brother or the other way around, you guys don't get anything, so they're stuck at the hip and author. You gotta run for office and side note, Arthur's gay, but everybody knows, but everybody knows they're not talking about it. But he's still gotta get married and at some point he gotta produce a heir, right? So the sister Ann is the only baby. Is the only girl. She gets nothing because her husband has to provide for her. Who by the way, is a vicar priest. Reverend fill in the blanks. He ain't got no money, but the point still is, but she's still responsible for helping her brothers find a wife. Then you have Ben. Senior Ben Junior who has a namesake, but he's an alcoholic. So the father said, you not getting anything, right? So he goes into the military, but he still has the prestige and the connection to the Guinness family. So he also marries for money and the girl gets, into the family, right? So everybody, nobody's marrying for love. We're all marrying for prestige. Now, here's how this thing gets really interesting.'cause when they. Brought in the woman to marry author. She comes from a good family, but her family ain't got no money and this is their way to get money back. And they tell her, and this is how they describe Arthur being gay. Are you familiar with author's infl flick Infliction? And she's like, yes. So in other words, they have to be a united front because he is gonna be running for office and she, he can, of course, being a man, he can have his fun as long as he's discreet about it, she can dili and have fun. But here's a problem. She had her fun with somebody that works for the family that also had a thing with the sister. And they told her she gotta cut it out because it's too much, too close. It's not a good look. Mind you again, did we mention the man is gay? Anyhow, but then she pretends to have broken up with the guy, but really is like, I'm still gonna do me. So how do you think that's gonna end? But the point is it's a lot of infighting. It's really scandalous. It's fun and the whole family's a mess. And every, everybody's scheming. And there's definitely gonna be a season two because

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 18:40

A and you like this, you like it?

Kathia Woods: 18:42

I do because it's escape me. We know what it's, we know it's a mess that but's other people's mess.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 18:47

That's the only thing I wanna know about that. And kb, you know, about this thing.

Kay-B: 18:54

So I know about it, but I haven't watched it yet. It's something that's on my list, but I had quite a few things to watch for interviews, so I had to kind of push it down a little bit until after I was done with that. But the way Katia is describing it is really sending me like, no way. No way. The Oh, okay, well, you get no money. You get no money, you get no. Basically,

Kathia Woods: 19:12

daddy was like, I'm gonna die, but before I die I'm gonna throw this grenade. Right. And literally like the daughter sat there and he was like, oh, you don't need money'cause you have a husband, even though your husband ain't got no money.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 19:25

He said,

Kathia Woods: 19:26

and not only are you not getting any money, but you still gotta help your brothers find women.

Kay-B: 19:32

Yeah. The dad said, I've been like, I'm going home a husband with no money, therefore you need to live poorly. That's what the dad said. While your husband,

Kathia Woods: 19:39

while your brothers get to live lavishly.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 19:41

All right so that's what you are watching Kaia. I am watching two shows. One is called Johnson, and it's about four Brother. I

Kay-B: 19:48

love Johnson.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 19:49

I, Donna was watching this and I'm like, what are you watching? And it's really about these four brothers. I'm not, they're not even brothers, they're four guys with the last name Johnson. But they act like brothers. They're from different families and it really is about love, life, tribulations and brotherhood. And I like it a lot. I like the way in which the men are portrayed in the film. I like the relationships that they have in which I don't like, because some of them are toxic, but I just like how this was written. I like how it, shows black people, and I think I, I think there are 40 episodes I might be 10 episodes in. And Donna has finished the series. So that's one of the things I'm watching, but you saw this kb

Kay-B: 20:31

Yeah, I've seen Johnson. I loved it. I've spoken about it often. It's a really, really good series. I'm not entirely sure. What, because the creator of the show actually just dropped the trailer for the new show that he created called Grits, which will be coming out on all Black. But yeah, Johnson is a it's a really good show and I'm not entirely sure. If season five is gonna happen, I hope it does. I think I, I think it may have gotten renewed because it comes on bounce normally, okay. But yeah I hope. I hope I'm not wrong, but I think it may have been. I saw it. I

Kathia Woods: 21:08

cannot, I know what you're talking about.

Kay-B: 21:09

Or season. I hope we get a season five, but I know that people can watch the previous Four Seasons on Hulu now

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 21:15

on Hulu. That's where I'm watching. And so that's it. And then the other thing that I'm watching is Next Gen Chef. I love these chef shows. That's all I want to tell you. I love these chef shows, and I love it when there's a African American in the mix. Maybe possibly kind of hopefully might be able to win the$500,000 that's at the end because that's a nice little he hefty amount. And what I like about these shows is that I do think that they really do test you as a leader and as a chef that. Sometimes it might seem like the stuff is just o overblown, but if you've ever worked in the kitchen, if you know people who work in these places, it is a high pressure environment. And next gen chef really worked for me. I'm through with the series. I just finished it. So I will not say much more than that, but those are the things I'm watching. I like to get into our next episode if our next, our next segment if we can, because we don't have a lot of time today, and that is our movie segment and for our movie segment, I'm gonna ask you, kb. To kick it off. We all saw this film and it's called The Smashing Machine. If you could tell us what it's about and tell us your initial thoughts.

Kay-B: 22:36

Yeah the Smashing Machine is the story of. Mark Kerr. So actually I just dropped an interview. I spoke to Mark Kerr the actual human that this film is based off of. And you can find that on nerd files.com as well. But I spoke to him just about, his involvement in this film, but more so about the. Nuances of the things that happened in this film. So it's the story of Mark Kerr. In this film he is portrayed by Dwayne Johnson. He has at that time because they do end up getting married later on. But at that time his relationship, it, it is a very. Very tumultuous relationship. Like I actually that, that is one of the parts of the film that is very hard to watch, just how challenging their relationship is. But at the time, he is dating Don Staples, who is portrayed by Emily Blunt in the film. And he. Is someone who has never lost a fight. Like when we see the beginning of the film, that's really what draws you in, is the fact that he has a hundred percent success rate. He is truly a champion. And so when he does end up losing his first fight, it ends up almost sending him into a deep depression. He starts to struggle with substance abuse kind of a bit more. And it sends him down a path of him really trying to, what I like to describe the film is. Finding grace almost, I think is like how the film would end up being portrayed. Now, I will say the first act of this film. It's so chaotic. Like I truly was like, what is happening? Why is everyone yelling all the time? Also, why is there no continuity in the script? Like it just is jarring. I think eventually the film finds its footing, but it takes a long time to get there. It really doesn't happen until the third act like there's so many things happening, but almost it's like there's a lot happening, but nothing's happening, if that makes sense. There's so much happening, but also nothing is occurring. And so it's mostly just him and don constantly fighting. And you're really saying to yourself in these moments I'm not entirely sure that they should be in a relationship particularly once he gets. Back from rehab and he is really trying to maintain a sober life. It just kind of becomes glaring that they are not. Really the right people at that time to be together. I don't know what happens after that, obviously, because this film only spans three years. We do know at the end of the film that he does eventually end up marrying Don. They have a son. And like something positive of that. I don't, they, I do not believe he and Don are still married. They are now divorced, but just during that time, during the film, there's just a lot of growth that I think he as a person and she as a person need to go through. Now also, the film is about brotherhood because it shows his relationship with Mark Coleman, who is another prominent fighter during that time, who is there for him for a lot of highs and lows. And so through my conversation with Mark, actually, it wasn't. Inherently clear to me, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong in this film, it really made it seem like the only person struggling with substance abuse was Mark Kerr. Based on my conversation with Mark Kerr apparently at that time, Mark Coleman also struggled with substance abuse, and so now, they have found their way back to kind of that really, really great relationship that we see in the film. He did say for a period of time when he was sober and Coleman was not, they didn't communicate. And so I found that interesting because the film, I know it's supposed to be about Mark Ker, so it's really his story, but it really made it seem like Coleman was clean and really helping him with his sobriety. And maybe that was the case. And then Coleman later on, had his own, struggles with substance abuse. But yeah, that was really interesting to me. I was like, oh, wait, I didn't realize Coleman also, was on the same path and they both needed to work out their work to sobriety.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 26:21

Two, two things here. Kb firstly you talk about how it's chaotic and you think that it finds its footing.

Kay-B: 26:28

At the end though, like the last act,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 26:30

How do you rate this film?

Kay-B: 26:32

I mean, for me, whew. That the first two acts of not really understand what's going on and not having a really clean, tight script that I think. Showcase the totality of his life and the direction that he was going in makes it hard because you can only perform so much, right? Like you can only do what you're given with the script. And I think the script was just so up and down that it made the performances up and down, right? Because you can only do what's on the page essentially. So

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 27:02

what's your verdict?

Kay-B: 27:03

In terms of should people watch it, I feel like. Watch it at home. Maybe, when it comes out on VOD, maybe, I'm not sure it's something that people would want. And I feel bad about this because I've been waiting for Dwayne Johnson to have a role like this actually, like a role that really challenges him as an actor in this capacity. I've been waiting.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 27:26

Okay. Well, I love, I'm so glad you gave us a lot there to talk about and I saw my friend's head shaking left and right and up and down. Katia, go ahead and jump in here.

Kathia Woods: 27:41

I always say sometimes I feel like I'm in the movie theater in another realm because I'm trying to understand where these folks are getting Oscar talk from. I'm really like, maybe, maybe I'm, maybe it's me. You know what I mean? Maybe my standards are realistic. First one, I interviewed Mark too. Mark is such a dynamic person when you talk to him. And none of that was captured. That made me even more, that made me even more mad because I'm like, he's fantastic, right? And he's fantastic and he's so warm and he's so honest about himself. None of that was captured in the script. I also have a little bit, I get why they cast the rock because of name recognition, but the Rock is 50 something years old, and Mark was doing this when he was in his thirties. So did we not do the math? That this 50-year-old man is playing 20 years younger. Physically, he's way taller than Mark. Also, I'm like, what is Mark's ethnicity? Because Dwayne right, he's Samoan and black, so

Kay-B: 28:42

Mark is Puerto Rican. Is he Puerto Rican and

Kathia Woods: 28:46

black,

Kay-B: 28:46

or He's Puerto Rican and white, but I think, and I'm not entirely sure, but I think he might be Afro Puerto Rican. I, but I think I'm just saying,

Kathia Woods: 28:53

I'm like, I'm not

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 28:55

Alright, so don't go deep. Don't go too deep. Don't go too deep there, KA because our time is a little limited and I wanna make sure I get all your other I'm ill.

Kathia Woods: 29:07

I mean, I'm not, but I was sitting there going. White doing. I sitting there thinking about it, let not act like I'm the only one, but my number one issue is. Mark is so dynamic and so fun to talk to. I felt like the relationship we, I feel like we came in at chapter 15 instead of a chapter one. That wasn't my number one thing. Number two, he went to rehab. It literally felt like he got dropped off and he did a whole circle in the cul-de-sac, and then she picked him up. He had a different outfit. Okay, we're not treating. Addiction seriously enough. And what drove him to your addiction. We are also not explaining that MMA. Was a free fall because when you think about it is these people are fighting each other not in the same weight class. We have no explanation. There is so much thrown against the wall that we gotta figure out ourselves that it distracts from the fantastic story of Mark's life. I just wanna say, I think, and also I love Emily Bump, but I thought she was useless in this movie. It was a lot of hysteria, but I could I just got annoyed with her. And I'm like, I got no backstory. Why they were together. I just got the story that it was a mess. My number one movie issue. My issue with this movie is it asked us to take so many leaps and bounds I felt in order to honestly. Give this a review. I had to go watch YouTube videos. I had to do my own education on who Mark is in order to fully understand if they got anything together. And what really made me realize is you had a great opportunity to tell a really good story and to help people understand how MMA got from. Being over there in Japan and how it got to here. And then Mark was one of the pioneers. And also how he helped, make sure that there's some rules and regulations in there. We never got any of that. And then what really sent me more than anything is once I kind of did get into the Dan thing, also, mark is walking around in a supermarket. So altogether I. I think the script failed him. I think the director failed him. I think the editing failed him. It's not the subject, and I think you can't say that you the rock gives an academy of warming performance because we didn't, we never are given a chance to feel anything. Although I do give him kudos for doing the best that he could with such a weak script, and that's where it's,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 31:42

and so are you recommending to watch this? What's your point? I don't,

Kathia Woods: 31:45

I'm like, I wish there was a documentary on Mark. If there's a documentary, I would point you towards that. There is, there's a document. Okay. I would say watch this. If you wanna learn about Mark and also watch some of the interviews. I'm with kb. I wait for this to come home because I am not sure. That you are going to walk away having learned anything about Mark other than the fact that he was in a very toxic relationship with his ex-wife and the mother of his child. But we learned nothing about Mark, the man who is extremely, there's so much growth that has happened with him, and I have the same issue with this movie that I have with Christie. Is that the real life people are so dynamic and the movies don't live up to the subject.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 32:28

All right. I'm gonna jump in. I think for the most part, you guys have said most of the things that I wanna say. I think this is an origin story that is an important one. I think that it does allow us to learn something about these two pioneers, mark and Mark. I also think it's a love story, and I think it's a love story between these two, two guys and how the two of them really care for the, for each other. And I love seeing that brotherhood. I think that that love letter also extends to mark and Dawn, but the. But they were so explosive that it was so jarring and so off-putting, so I totally agree with that. I think that Blunt did her job. Because if her job was to make us all irritated about that character, then she did her job.'cause I was irritated. I didn't like that character. But here's where I, most of the things that you guys said is where it fell short, but I'll just throw a couple of specifics is that I think that the filmmakers did a really good job of. Showcasing the toxic na relationship. But I think that they focused so much on that, that they got away from what this film was really about, which is about these guys being pioneers, that they leaned so much into the turmoil of that relationship that it just didn't provide us with what we needed. I think that the fight scenes they're serviceable. But I think that you make a really interesting point Katya, about the age of of the rock. I think that the fight scenes are serviceable, but if you're going to see some dynamic action, you'd be better off just going to watch like the Professional Fighters League, which is like four steps down from the UFC that tells you how good the fighting was in this film. Or maybe you might want to go to Bellator or something like that. I think that the smashing the scene is a tribute to these pioneers, but it really doesn't do much more than introduce them. And at the end of the day, I don't think I'll remember their names because I didn't interview them like you guys. And I know I will not remember this movie. This film has a lot of wrestling. And but it's wrestling in so many different ways is what I'm saying. Wrestling with the script, wrestling with the people, wrestling on, on, on the mat. But I think that the techniques they used to grapple eventually made me want to tap out. I wrote that, I checked this if you want to check it out, I'd wait for you to check this one out at home. And yeah, so I guess we all agree that if you're gonna check it out, check it out at home. But I'm not really sure that I would even do that because I don't think they did a good job with this movie. The last point that I guess I'll make Katya to one of yours about the Rock. I didn't think it was a Oscar worthy performance, but. If a woman who plays in a movie called a Nora can get an Oscar, he can get Oscar for this one. That's all I got to say. But that's, you were

Kathia Woods: 35:28

doing so good. I was with you. The idea is not to repeat foolishness, Reggie,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 35:35

if this woman can get an Oscar, an Oscar for a Nora, which I felt was like the worst movie ever. Then the Rock did his thing. And so we might as well just go ahead and we might as well just start giving him one too. But anyway I did, I do digress. You're tired. I do digress. So it seems like all three of us are saying, don't go to the theater to see this. Wait and see it at home if you do that at all.

Kay-B: 36:03

Yep. Agreed. I think we're aligned.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 36:05

With that's it for the movies that we saw. We did see some other films, and After the Hunt is one that we need to talk about, but we'll have to talk about that next week because they're saying, Hey, could you please wait till the release time, which is the 10th? And so we'll,

Kathia Woods: 36:20

We thought we had stuff to say about this. Come grab your tea, your coffee, your beverage of choice. We really got some, we're gonna have some stuff to say, but after the hunt,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 36:36

what I'll say preliminarily is that there's some stuff to talk about and I think that they make it where there should be some stuff to talk about. So this is one of those movies that hopefully that when you will leave the theater, you do talk about it. Let's move on to our last, our last segment and that last segment really is ran and rave and I was going to ran and rave about the Chicago International Film Festival, but I'll make a couple of quick statements so I can make sure that you two can have The last the last words is that the Chicago International Film Festival is starting on the 15th and the opening night film is a film called. The Golden Summer, and it's about the 2014 Jackie Robinson West Little League baseball team. That and all black baseball team that won the Little League World Series. Oh, it was, it caused a furor. Around the nation. Everybody was hyped. These kids went to the White House. They're from Chicago and it is, it was a really great story until they got this, their title stripped and they got their title stripped because apparently one of the 13 players, two of the players were out of the district. They provided their paperwork and all of that, but somehow they ended up getting to the World Series and winning. And then after the fact somebody finds out. So it's about some racial issues. It's about some stereotypes. It's about the growth. Of these young men and where they are today. 10 10, almost 11 years later. And I got an opportunity to speak with the director Kevin Shaw, about this film, and I'm very, very excited that the Chicago International Film Festivals decided that they would. Feature a Chicago film about these very, very important young men where the history is basically erased, where you don't know about them and what they accomplished as an all black team at the a Little League World Series. So I'm real, real excited about that. That's my rant and rave on that. And then I just wanna mention I am not by any stretch of imagination a swifty, but I have to say that. I haven't heard one of the songs yet, but these people are going crazy. They're going crazy. This woman released this album, and these people are going absolutely bonkers. They're crying, and I just don't remember. I loved it, it prince so much, but I don't think that I was crying. I just, wow. Taylor Swift. She's a beast. That's all I gotta say on that. All right, so let's go to your rent and rave kb.

Kay-B: 39:30

Well, I too have not heard the Taylor Swift album. But I have seen a little bit of a discourse online already with people doing a lot of different things. I don't know, but I will be listening to the new Bryson Tiller album that just came out. So that is what I will be listening to. I haven't listened to it yet. But it is on my radar, so I'm listening to that. And then I haven't had a chance to listen to the new Mariah Carey yet. So that is also another album that I will be probably listening to at some point. This weekend I like to try out new albums as I clean. So maybe that is, an opportunity to do so. But that's really my rant and rave. There's nothing else I can actually talk about right now that I'm dying. I am dying to talk about some things, but these embargoes are killing me that TV wise. That I would love to share, but I do wanna give a shout out to. High potential, which is back and has seen significant growth in its season Two numbers as it should. It's a procedural. It's very, very good. It is a lovely show and they're back. I think we have had three episodes this season already. And it's great. So if you are not watching high potential, it comes on A, B, C. And I do wanna recommend that for people. And then also shout out Abbott Elementary is back as well as of this week. So they had their first episode of the new season this week. So, yeah. You're muted. You're muted. Reggie, I'm

Kathia Woods: 40:55

sorry, I'm muted. I was

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 40:56

saying Katya, we on time. We are on time, girl. So what? You gotta, what? What's what? You gotta rent and rave about.

Kathia Woods: 41:03

As you know, we're on, did sentencing watch. May we be done with this by Monday. Let's make, let's be done with it and put it behind us where it needs to be and stay there. Let us learn from this. Number one, stop getting your information from people that just doing stuff for clicks. Number two, let's pick our heroes better. And number three. I don't care how many bops you made, but if you mess up, you mess up. You got, you do the crime, you gotta do the time. And I don't care how good the bops were, I don't care how many memories we have, we gotta start keeping it 1000. And I don't, definitely don't wanna hear, but so and so got away with it. The idea is not to, repeat rinse of what other people are doing, especially when the harm is being done against black women. So after Monday. Let's put it behind us. And we are not marching in the streets for this. We got real issues, we got worry about. And my other one is, I do wanna give a positive one. The root is black owned again, and let's pray that she gets the resources that she needs to put the journalism back in the root. Because here's the thing is we all were very excited when by now bought the Grio and then it went down from a full staff to four people, whatever you got here, and then a whole bunch of freelancers. The idea is not just for us to own. These outlets, whether it is digital, whatever the thing is. But for us to really invest in the infrastructure and most importantly, get the funding that we need in order to have a viable outlet, with editors and things that you need to be respectable because we really need it now more than ever. But congratulations on the route. And we all know some people that work were there that are like, thank the Lord, because it was getting a little crazy over there.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 42:54

You and I have talked about this on numerous occasions having worked on the advertising end where advertising really helps to keep these organizations Solvent. I do know that someone like a b Byron Allen could just pay for the, you know, he could make sure and keep his thing afloat and actually pay for staff and all that.'cause as much, as much as he's done, I don't know where her funding is coming from. So when you look at a Byron Allen, you say, man, come on man. You could, you, you personally could do better even though you are not gonna get the kind of advertising dollars that you need. What she does is gonna be interesting because I don't know, again, where her money is. The advertising dollars is just not there these days, and we're all learning that and knowing that is that people are running away from things that are black. And I'm glad that it's owned by a black woman. I really hope that she has some backers behind her because that climate right now from an advertising perspective is really, really tough for black entities.

Kathia Woods: 43:58

And her name is, I'm sorry, Ashley Allison, you might remember her. She, she does a lot of appearance who's a political pundit on CNN, but on the Abbey Phillips Show, Lord God bless her.'cause Scott be working everybody's nerve. But I do, I think I think we have to be cautionary and we also gotta give her time let's not, she just purchased it. Let's not go around and be, expect things to turn around in a week or a month. I always say that when these things happen, you gotta give it at least a good five years.'cause you gotta look at the financials, you gotta do auditing, you gotta see, you gotta look at money, and then you gotta look at how much more money. And you've just mentioned the advertising, so give her some room. To really restructure and get it to where it needs to be. Don't be mad. And I think that was a mistake a little bit from us'cause we're like, oh by and Aaron bought it, everything's gonna be everything. That understanding that he might not have. And I wish that he was also a little bit more front that he didn't have a full financial picture because a lot of promises were made and then things didn't pan out. So I do want us to give her. The grace and understanding. That's why I say five years, same thing. Whoever's gonna head essence next, right? Don't just expect them to fix everything overnight. You gotta give people at least five years to take the thing and reconstruction it, and then implement the ideas and allow those ideas to grow. So I think that's the part where we have to give. Our community a little bit more gray. And as you stated, that ha don't have the advertising dollars, that don't have the funds that are counterparts do. But I'm really like, listen, black women, we always leave from the front.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 45:39

Well, that, that's exciting. Any thoughts on that kb, before we move on?

Kay-B: 45:43

No, I think Katya is right. It doesn't happen overnight, so it's not gonna be within the next six months that you're gonna see such a drastic change. But it will take years for us to be able to see it. And I hope it goes well.'cause I mean, you know, there's a lot of things happening truly. But I think that one of the number one biggest issues in journalism is just the fact that black people are not staffed. That's the reality, so we are forced to create our own, live in this. Perpetual freelancer state. And so while our other counterparts are being staffed at, kind of these legacy. Publications and outlets. We don't have that same liberty. We're just not getting hired at those publications or our own oftentimes. And so I do hope that this opens up opportunities for staffed roles, staffed positions that pay livable wages, and that really put black journalism back at the forefront.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 46:35

All right. I want to thank both of you guys and I'm gonna add on A-A-A-A-A segment. And this segment is this is really our closing segment, but in our closing segment, please tell us where they can find you. I'm gonna start with you kb, where they can find your stuff, what you have out currently. And also when you do that, please tell us something that fantastically happened to you in the last month. Give let's end on a real positive note.

Kay-B: 47:04

Yeah. As you can see on the screen, my. Content is on socials at the Lady kb, that's at T-H-E-L-A-D-Y-K-A-Y-B. So you can follow me and see updates there. Like I mentioned throughout this segment and I know Kaia mentioned she had a conversation with Mark Kerr as well. My conversation with Mark Kerr is on nerd files.com and honestly, we talked about a lot of things in that conversation. We talked about what Grace looks like. You know how lost. Teaches resilience. We talked about brotherhood in this current state. And so I think it's a very well-rounded conversation. Just obviously helping to promote this film, the Smashing Machine. And like I said, stay tuned because my sister's Grims interviews will come out and, I love a little animated scenario and like I said, I think it's adorable. Stay tuned for that as well. And then for those of you who are watching, love Is Blind. Those interviews dropped on Wednesday with, again, five of those singles. So you can look for everything on nerd files.com. And yeah, the great things that are happening are these interviews. So I think support those, I think it takes a lot of time and work from each of us to be able to put out this content and put out these conversations that we're doing. And we do a lot behind the scenes. It's a bit of a heavy lift it's. Is something to be proud of and something to be grateful for, and something that is positive. So, you know, support our work that is what's positive. All right

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 48:30

Kaia,

Kathia Woods: 48:31

You can read my work at the Philadelphia Tribune, my review including the Smashing Machine. You can also read a lot of my TIFF coverage on Couple Soul show.com, and you could read also some of my work at the Sacramento Observer.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 48:48

Tell us something. That's, that was good though. Oh.

Kathia Woods: 48:50

Oh. I'm gonna be for the celebration of Latin cinema and television. I'm going to be the CCA on corporate host. You'll be seeing me talk to all our honorees. We'll do it in English, Portuguese, and Espanol if need be.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 49:06

Oh, excellent. All right. You can fi, you can find me@indigo.com. I currently have my review of the Smashing Machine up on, on Monday, I'll have a interview with Rachel Holder for Love Brooklyn. That'll come up and you could check that out. Yesterday I interviewed Kevin Shaw. For the one golden summer, and that'll come out of the following week around the opening of the festival. And then the good thing that happened to me, I can't say where it is, but I think I got an assignment from somebody that I haven't worked for a while. I, it, they haven't confirmed it, but they said, Hey, we are offering you, so Reggie might be like flapping his wings a little bit, you know. So I'm excited about that. And the best thing I'm excited about is I'm excited about you two. Thank you so much. We are at the end. This is our show. This is the Real Critics Network, and we will see you next time.

Kathia Woods: 50:08

See you next week. Thank you. Excuse me. Oh my God, my throat is still so dry. Hate it. Hate it, Reggie.