Big screen adaptations of novels written by black authors are few and far between, which is precisely why we shouldn’t just support black movies, but black books as well – especially considering African-American achievements in literature are highly underrated. So definitely give these movies a watch, but do yourself one better and pick up the original books, because we already know that the movies are never ever as good as the original literary work

While some people watch movies and quietly root for the villain (no lie, I thought Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was bad a**!), many of us do the complete opposite–we watch these cocky, disrespectful, distasteful and often violent characters with disgust. Some are so good at being bad that we equate the actors with these characters for a long time, and some are eerily effective, to the point that you watch the character, act like you know them, and scoff at the fact that you dislike them so much. If you ever say, “UGH!” when you watch these movies, or shake your head at these characters a few times, then you’ll probably agree that they were villains you loved to hate.

Sanaa Lathan in The Family That Preys

If you watched just 30 minutes of The Family That Preys and viewed Lathan as Andrea, you were probably just as sick of her as we were. She was a conniving cheater, dogging out her hard-working and fine man (Rockmond Dunbar) for the town’s stuck-up socialite and trust-fund baby. And in the end, she revealed that *SPOILER* the son her husband thought was his blood was a product of her affair. She didn’t even look remorseful at all! Who else wanted to reach through the screen and shake her real good???

Source: Warner Bros

When will these movie producers learn? Not every amazing book will become an amazing movie. Some books are just filled with way too much literary genius to be accurately portrayed in a film. Even the books that aren’t literary genius still can be difficult to portray in movie. So why do these film producers even bother? Well, they always seem to think that theirs will be different. Instead, it ends up failing just like the many movie adaptations before it. In these cases, the situation was no different. Here are some movie adaptations that failed to impress not only those who read the books, but probably those who did not even read the books.

Source: mylazythoughts.tumblr.com

When I watch a movie, if it’s good, I’m all in. Completely invested, often times too much so. Throughout the duration of the movie, I struggle with the characters. When they laugh, I laugh. When they cry, I cry. I go through it. And if the film is really good, I find myself trying to find solutions to the problems they encountered, long after the movie is over. Some stories and the characters in them just stick with you. This is particularly true when it comes to the “bad guys.” From an early age we think we know who falls into that category and we try to avoid the bad dudes at all costs. But in these memorable movies, the bad guy is thrown in your face. You have to deal with him and sometimes he’s a bit terrifying. See who I’m talking about.

Michael Ealy didn’t have to give us another reason to love him but we like that he did anyway. In a recent interview at the premiere of his new film “Underworld,” Michael took a second to thank the “beautiful black women” who have supported him during his career and he also talked about how he feels about being labeled a sex symbol.

Check out highlights of his interview:

On his role in “For Colored Girls”

“I genuinely love all the beautiful Black women that came up to me and wanted to hug me after that performance. It wasn’t an easy one, and I was worried that people would look at me differently after that so the amount of support I got was tremendous.”

On Being a Sex Symbol

“If someone wants to put that title on me, God bless them. I don’t carry myself as such, and I will never, ever think of myself as such. For me, the most important thing when I came into this business is to show some sort of talent so I can have longevity and not be another pretty face.

“I’ll take the sex appeal label. I’ll take that label any day of the week. It’s better than not being that guy, so I’ll take it.”

The Best Way to His Heart

“Compassion and consideration for others. There’s nothing worse than a selfish woman. Selfish and self-absorbed? Walk away. I can’t deal with you.”

What He Likes Physically

“I like long legs.”

Check out the rest of the interview here.

Did you look at Michael Ealy differently after his role in “For Colored Girls?”

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Your boyfriend, boo thang or husband has been known to work your nerves on occasion. But he’s human. You probably irritate him a little bit too. Despite his flaws and quirks, hopefully he’s still a good dude. If he’s really been testing you as of late, compare him to some of these fictional fellas who had no type of act right whatsoever. If you finish this list and realize your man is just like one of more of these men, it’s time to get your life together with a quickness.

Father’s Day is always a great day to reflect on the amazing things your own dad has done for you, and on a website that focuses a lot on women most of the time, it’s nice to show some love to the men, especially the committed fathers out there, near and far, real or fake…

We’ve already most recently given mad props to our favorite fathers from our favorite movies, but now it’s time to put on blast a few fathers from some film and television gems, who can’t seem to act right. Their deeds have made them some of the crappiest dads out there, and hopefully this list will help you be more grateful for the dad you’ve got. Cause he could be one of these fools…

Oh, one more thing. If you have not seen “For Colored Girls,” but you plan to see it, do NOT click on the last slide. *SPOILER ALERT*

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By Mary Worrell

You may not recognize her name, but if you’ve enjoyed films like “Cadillac Records” and “For Colored Girls”, you’ve certainly seen her vision and work come to life on the big screen. Johnetta Boone, a 48-year-old married mother of two and Washington, D.C. native, has made a name for herself over the last 30 years in Hollywood as a costume designer.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Boone attended the Duke Ellington School for Performing Arts high school and later the New York Fashion Institute of Technology.

“I went there not really thinking as a teenager that Hollywood be something accessible to me. It was just a fantasy – a feeling moment in thought,” Boone said.

But that fleeting fantasy became a reality soon after arriving in New York, where she lived for 18 years while her career flourished and before returning to D.C. to raise her children. Her foot in the exclusive door to Hollywood came with her first job in college as an assistant to a stylist – a friend’s aunt and former fashion editor who left the magazine industry for life as a freelance stylist. In 1983, only two years after coming to the big apple for college, Boone and her friend started their fashion careers together.

“From there I just never did anything else,” Boone said. “We found our niche and it was wonderful. Back in those days, the industry was very posh. We worked with some amazing photographers and icons of the fashion industry.”

It was through those interactions that Boone learned the ins and outs of the fashion industry, styling and Hollywood. She gleaned all she could from the industry in preparation for what has become a long and diverse career spanning genres–from period fashion to sports uniforms, print photography and commercials, to television and major motion pictures.

“I always wanted to do something behind the scenes, but [I] didn’t know what that was,” she said. “I kept going and chipping away until the moment presented itself.”

Boone worked as an assistant for a number of years while attending college, but eventually the time came for Boone to move on.

“Once we built out careers, like a mother bird she let us fly,” Boone said. “She said I had more than enough experience and gave me my next project.”

Boone struck out on her own and began styling for advertising and magazine editorials, but a unique opportunity arose when she was asked to design for “Showtime at the Apollo” and later the “Apollo Comedy Hour.” Having worked with still photography up until that point, Boone suddenly found inspiration in the moving pictures.

Anika Noni Rose’s star took off after her role big screen role as Lorrell in “Dreamgirls.” Since then she voiced the story of Disney’s first Black princess and most recently she starred in Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls.” The singer/actress answered 20 questions with Black Voices about the relationships she developed with the other actresses in “For Colored Girls,” the lack of diversity with the Oscar nominations this year and how she’d like to see more multicultural movies.

Check out the interview here.

I went to see “For Colored Girls” hoping to gain insight into the experiences of black women in America. I consider myself a Tyler Perry fan, but was a little saddened by some of what I saw. I’m not sure if we are empowering black women by reminding them that the source of all of their pain and frustration happens to be black men. The women start the film as bubbling, shiny, well-adjusted human beings and end the movie as depleted, tortured souls who are effectively dead on the inside. Of course, this is almost completely due to the terrible men in their lives. Let’s quickly catalog the list of black men in “For Colored Girls,” shall we?

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