My favorite Mission Impossible episode

For no particular reason, I want to share an episode of Mission Impossible that was a favorite of mine. This is from the original series and was on television first on November 21, 1970. The episode is called Hunted.

This episode starts off with the rescue of a religious leader of an African nation that is ruled by Apartheid (namely South Africa). The goal of the IMF team is to get him out of the nation so he can start the process of revolution and end the racist laws that hold down the majority of people in the nation.

It only took another 16 years before America seriously looked at South Africa and joined with the world in denouncing Apartheid. It took a total of 24 years from this episode before Apartheid ended. The episode was well ahead of it's time, and sadly it failed to inspire our nation or Government.

It's also one of the few episodes (or television shows) where African Americans are featured and not merely background thugs. Even when you compare it to 90% of the shows on television today.

The episode stars: Greg Morris, Sam Elliott, Leonard Nimoy, Peter Graves, Lesley Ann Warren, and Ta-Tanisha (who I think did a great job of being deaf and mute in this role).

[The video is not a production or edit by M V Consulting, Inc.]











I've long remembered this episode. It was quite good.

As a side note, does anyone else think that Ta-Tanisha looks incerdibly like Nana Hill (another beautiful woman) from A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy and Star Trek (the 2009 remake) fame?

The Maxim Top 10 of the Hot 100 list

Another year has passed, the stock market just closed and many are looking for a ray of sunshine. Well perchance this will brighten your day. The latest Maxim Hot 100 list has just been released.

Right up there with the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, this list is well anticipated. But being the critical being I am, I pondered the top 10. Are they really worthy of being on the list? Should they really be ranked so high?

For those that heard the First Lady was on the list, yes it is true. No, she is not in the top 10. Nor should she be. She may be one of the best looking First Lady’s, definitely in my lifetime, but being on the list is about as good as she deserves (at number 93). Besides, were she not married to President Obama [the Great] she would never have made the list.

• Olivia Wilde – at least it’s not one of the Jessica’s (Beil, Alba, Simpson). Still the best thing that can be said is that being on a hit television show, really helps push you up front. Not a #1 in my book.
  
• Megan Fox – Those hamburgers she had to eat for Transformers 2 really paid off. Still being the old guy I am, I like women that are more real than stick figures. She doesn’t match up to Beyonce (#52), Fergie (#45), or Marisa Tomei (#97).
  
• Bar Refaeli – You may not know the name, but by know you know the figure. I can see her as a top 10 choice. Too much media for her not to be.
  
• Malin Akerman – Who is this? If you say that, then you missed Watchmen and seriously missed her. She deserves to be a top 5 to me.
  
• Mila Kunis – Jackie from That 70’s Show. She’s over 21 and fits in the top 10.
  
• Eliza Dushku – she doesn’t Bring It On for me. At best she’s in the top 50.
  
• Adriana Lima – Hello. Does she make the top 10 for me? Yep. Though she is a bit skinny, it’s that foreign quality that gets her on the top.
  
• Rihanna – Like the saying goes,

  “There is no bad news in entertainment and politics.”

  I feel for what she has been through, but not enough to put her in the top 10.
  
• Jordana Brewster – Seriously? Ok she did SI, and she was in Fast & Furious (first and latest). But the top 10? No, I don’t think so.
  
• Jennifer Love Hewitt – What is it with the people that pick these lists? She is eternally on the top of these lists, and I still cannot see it. Too skinny, too ugly. Better now than earlier in her career (plastic surgery?) but still nowhere near the top considering who is on this list.
  

So in my list I need to replace 6 women on this Maxim Hot 100 top 10 list. Who would I have picked?

Charlize Theron (#38) – She has a grace, a body, and a mind. She has talent too. How do you not pick this woman?

Gabrielle Union (#71) – She can match up to any of the other women on this list any day. J-Lo wishes she had that ass. Which is more curves than basically everyone on the top 10 of Maxim. Plus she looks better and is older too.

Tricia Helfer (#75) – How did they miss her from the top list? Does Hewitt really compare? They even ranked her at #75 if you can believe it.

Hayden Panettiere (#36) – On the thin side as well. But I’m working with the Maxim list here. There aren’t many women who know what a cheeseburger is. Or even a salad in some cases.

Zoe Saldana (#29) – I said before that being in a popular item helps push yopu to the top, but obviously Maxim did not push her far enough up the list. If you didn’t think Nichelle Nichols was sexy on TV, this movie Uhura has to do it.

And for my final choice, I pick someone not on the list of Maxim. Mind you this woman is sexy, and attractive as any woman on the list (in my opinion far more than most). You might have seen her in A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy – and if you did you didn’t forgert her. Nana Hill. (and I believe she was in the Star Trek movie too)

Part 3 of the Michael Vass interview with Sundance noted director Dennis Dortch

This is the third part in my series of the taped interview with Sundance Film Festival winning director and writer Dennis Dortch. In this part of the interview we discuss the DVD of his movie A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy, the motivations of the characters, and several of the actors.

You can see the first part of the in depth interview at Sundance director Dennis Dortch interviewed by Michael Vass

You can read the second part of the interview at Director Dennis Dortch interviewed by Michael Vass - pt 2


Michael Vass : I can understand. Perhaps that’s why, and I think that a lot of people will find this through out all of your vignettes, that there is a lot of honesty. It is very honest. Very almost taken directly from life. You did a great job with the writing and directing and being able to make it like a real moment. I think that adds a lot to the power of what’s going on there. It’s just that I just like it the other way because it kind of almost gets a comeuppance. To a certain extent it kind of gets that a little more.

I did watch the extras which I think most people should see. You’ve got a lot of different things happing within the preparations. Some of the scenes are very different from what we got in the final version. I guess you did that with all the different actors going just a little bit more off the cuff just kind of letting them roll with it to a certain extent. Is that correct?

Dennis Dortch : Yeah very true I think it goes along with the honesty thing. After a while the scenes start sounding like lines. I think I write natural but it does not sound natural coming out of the actor’s mouth. It’s because for actors its their job to make it believable in the scene; to be in the moment. I can’t direct them on every single nuance. So I think having them have that freedom to be able to improvise and explore goes along with the same goals as being honest and true - makes it more real.

Michael Vass : Ok I can see that and it did work. It works very well.

One thing you didn’t change in any version, at least it looks like that from the extras, is the American Boyfriend storyline. You could have used almost any type of group of people. Inparticular you could have gone with some whites, some Russian. You could have gone to native Indians, or Jewish. There are so many people you could have interjected instead of Ann Marie Liu (Emily Liu) I believe that’s her name. But you went there in that direction and they're Chinese. Traditional Chinese I believe? Is that correct?

Dennis Dortch : Yes that is correct.

Michael Vass : Why did you make that choice to the Asian? To use Asians.

Dennis Dortch : For two reasons, one is because its really happened in my real life so I stuck with that and what I knew. And two - there’s a particular type of tone I was going for. I can only write what I know number one and number two a lot of people can identify and have had more experience with a Chinese family.

I could have made them Mohican but it just seemed too straight forward. To on the nose and racism does go beyond, people learn it. You know what I mean? So that is another part that I wanted to get at and I also wanted to bring in a freshness something that was different to. And felt a little different as far as a Chinese family hanging around popping the Mandarin.

And I think the other part was quite honestly, it was like Alphonso. He had the same experience with a Chinese girl he was dating, and my editor who edited that particular vignette, he had the same experience. He [editor] was not really dating the girl but he was friends with her but she would never take him to her house till one day they dropped by to pick up some stuff and he felt really strong with it… and so everybody can identify with it. But this is after the fact, after I wrote it of course. But I knew I was on to something that was very identifiable. Speaking the Chinese was really the way to go.

Michael Vass : It makes perfect sense to me, and it is a different approach to that theme. I just know some readers are going so say, ”well why did he do that?” So I just wanted to ask that. So you said that it happened to you? Did you actually walk through the door like that at the end? You said it was something that you did.

Dennis Dortch : No it was something that I wanted to do. I didn’t have the courage to do that. I get to do that in the movie but I didn’t. We were caught like the line where Ann Marie says he’s just a friend, that happened. I was hidden in that room or pushed out the back door on about three occasions.

Michael Vass : I’ve had that happen too.

Dennis Dortch : On the fourth occasion her parents walked up. It was hot you know you have the door open the screen door closed and they walked up and I didn’t even see them. They walked in on us and my girlfriend at the time let go of me and jumped and said, “he’s just a friend.” It was hurtful so that is exactly how that happened and so that actually played out in the film, but the other part was made up. A scene that was in my head that I wanted to do since I was sitting in that room steaming for hours you know.

Michael Vass : I think there is a lot of black men who can cheer that on, because I’ve had a similar experience to that same one and I didn’t [do anything]. I’m a strong man too and no I didn’t make that confrontation either so I can relate both to.

We all want to be him walking out that door but then again most of us aren’t going to do it. So that’s why I wanted to ask that because its kind of funny. Because we’ve all had that same experience.

By the way where did you find Nana Hill?

Dennis Dortch : She actually auditioned for Reprisosity and you probably saw that on the extras. She was just a girl who would literally go down and do it. So she didn’t work at all. But I liked her so much, that sensuality in her, and I definitely wanted a chocolate sister. I love natural hair in an afro so I wrote that part for her, it was supposed to be that hidden tract after the credits. But it was shot so beautifully that it was a nice little interlude that I ended up putting it into the main film.

Michael Vass : Where is she from? She sounds almost South African.

Dennis Dortch : Yes she is from Uganda.

Michael Vass : She is stunning and I think you just may have started a great career there because I can’t see Hollywood turning around and going I can’t use her. They’ve got to be using her more.

Dennis Dortch : Last time I saw her she was on CSI, but yes she is getting work here and there.

Michael Vass : Let me just skip ahead a little bit on a question that is also of interest into the actors you’ve worked with so far. Are you looking at going into the same thing that Spike Lee, Clint Eastwood and a few directors do. Which is to use a consistent core group of people over and over again in most of your films, or at least several of them?

Dennis Dortch : I don’t know, I’m not sure yet. But it’s possible to do that some times. I’m not sure yet but I don’t think that they knew that at the time either you know.

I think they were kind of looking for people. Probably new fresh people and just going back to people like Wesley Snipes, you know just kind of going back to the same actors. Because you know there really is only so many great actors. So I don’t know if we really are premeditated to do that, I think we just naturally kind of run out of options.

Who knows what this person really embodies, then you just start writing for people we know because we’ve got something so strong in our heads. So its kind of hard for me to say what I would do. I have no idea right now.

I have my next film in my head and I’m not thinking about any particular actor I’d use. Chonte is probably the one that comes to mind more often. Between her and Mylika who played the girl in Tonight, those are my best actors. And in my head yes I’d use them again but I’ve not made any plans yet.

Michael Vass : Ok so there is something for people to look forward to and I know they both have fans. But there are people who are fans of several of the people you use. So there is something they will be looking forward to in your next item.

Before I go there though …give me a moment, I’m just thinking through … there are a couple of things I wanted to hit on. Did you have a favorite story in this? I know American Boyfriend is one that you’ve lived but was that your favorite or was there a favorite in all the stories?

Dennis Dortch : No. They’re all my babies.

Michael Vass : Well its all yours that’s true.

Continued in part 4…

DVD Review: A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy

I just finished watching A Good Day to be Black and Sexy, which is now out on DVD for those that missed it in the theaters, and I have to say WOW. No wonder it did so well at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

I didn’t just watch the film; I watched the extras the DVD provided, auditions, deleted scenes, behind the scenes and more. Because the film captured me. And I’m trying to find a way to explain how.

The film is not your generic action, drama or so on film. This is more of an art house film. But don’t let that put you off on seeing this film. There is humor, and sensuality, moments of fear and disappointment, and a consistent display of daily life in all its forms.

The film is broken into several vignettes. Each is separate of each other, with the exception of Tonite (parts 1 & 2) though they are only connected by the character Tamala (played by Mylika Davis). And each expressed something very different about love, sensuality, sex and the pursuit thereof.

What will really blow the mind of some viewers is the fact that all the characters except Jasmine - Emily Liu - and her family are Black. This may not sound like a big deal. But once the film starts, it takes mere moments for your mind to wake up to the fact that you haven’t seen this before. It just doesn’t get conveyed in Hollywood. Except in the most superficial and more often than not violent manner.

I should also mention right off the bat that this is not a film for kids. This is R-rated and it deserves that rating. This is mature content. But it is also thought provoking.

For me the 3 best vignettes of the film have to be Her Man, Reprise, and American Boyfriend. Not that the other parts are not good, just that they evoked the most emotional reaction from me. Though I admit feeling the fear for the safety of Tamala in Tonite part 1, and anger at Julian - played by Jerome Anthony Hawkins - in Tonite part 2.

I can tell you that there was not one part of this film that did not evoke some emotional response from me. Whether it was a sense of unease, humor, a desire to punch one of the male characters in the mouth, or triumph, each part had me moving with it. And considering that the overall pace of the film is slow, taking it’s time to do what it needed to, its hard to have an audience follow so closely for so long. Yet Director Dennis Dortch succeeds.

Director/Writer Dortch hits a nerve in this film. He makes you want to know more about these characters. He gives you a glimpse and you want the extras as soon as you can get them.

And the cast of actors is a great find. If several of these actors and actresses don’t get more attention from Hollywood it proves the whole thing is rigged. Because the talent is just so apparent.

This is especially true with the character of Helena, played by Chonte Harris. Helena is bitter, unsatisfied, spiteful, loving, and quite possibly in love all at once. Her lines are short and simple, yet convey a huge depth of conversation. And her movements give the impression of a spring coiled and ready to explode.

For the male actors Alphonso Johnson, portraying Jesse, is the stand out. While he may not have a lot of screen time in which to work, he moves you. His desire to understand, his frustration at being ignored, his anger at being minimized all play thru. And his ultimate act of wordless defiance, and expression of love just rocket you with joy.

And there is chemistry among all the couples. Perhaps best personified by Nana Hill’s Candi and Kareem Grimes’ Russell. You can feel the trust, playfulness and wild abandon waiting for its chance.

I have to mention that I seriously think that Nana Hill will be seen a lot more. It’s no surprise that her image is the cover of the DVD, and her acting equally conveys that sensuality and something extra you just can’t describe.

And I strongly suggest watching the alternate ending to Tonite part 2. Which I felt needed to be seen, and if there must be a negative mentioned it has to be that this was not in the feature film. Or at least I wanted it to be as I was so angry with Julian.

Director/Writer Dennis Dortch has done a great job with this first film. In many ways I can imagine this leading to a career much like Spike Lee’s. Controversial yet in a gratifyingly different manner. And not afraid to place the viewer in a position they may not have expected to be in, while still making the experience worthwhile.

If I sound positive and excited about this film, I am. Far too few films these days give you an experience. Most of the time you can watch something and forget everything you saw in the last 2 hours 2 minutes after it’s over. When a film leaves you with something tangible it needs to be lauded.

I have many questions I’d like to ask Dennis Dortch, and I hope to have the chance to ask him sometime soon. But I can and do say that I recommend owning a copy of this film.