Micheaux Mission

The streets of Cleveland in the wake of Martin Luther King's death are teeming with threats of militant violence and one man's disillusionment and paranoia uncorks the tension in harsh tones. An unforgiving naked look at a urgent time in history through the story of a black man losing his soul, starring Julian Mayfield, Ruby Dee, Max Julien, Raymond St. Jacque and directed by Jules Dissian. An cri...

The Men of the Mission sit down with actor DORIAN MISSICK (Animal Kingdom) to dig all into Spike Lee's CLOCKERS with name drops on Anthony Mackie, Mekhi Phifer and a peek behind the steel of Marvel's Luke Cage, starring future guest of the MIcheaux Mission and MRS. DORIAN MISSICK - Simone 'Misty Knight' Missick. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distribu...

The 1980s may have been a renaissance for science fiction movies with Star Wars and its sequels, Star Trek and Buckaroo Banzai lighting the skies and filling the seats. But a non-descript science fiction-ish slavery allegory set in the rumbling streets of Harlem offers a more cerebral thoughtful brand of galactic whimsy. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces,...

How do you transplant a good old fashion Southern Gothic onto the boiling streets of 1990s Los Angeles? Writer/director Charles Burnett makes it so in a tale rich with mysticism, symbolism and cynicism starring Danny Glover, Mary Alice and the award-winning Sheryl Lee-Ralph. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encour...

Return with us to the 1930s, when the independent spirit of creativity shown itself in the 'race films' that played theaters in Negro parts of town and in the hoofers, clowns and saucy sirens that populated those cheap celluloid fare. But whispering from below the musical numbers and paper-thin mob tale of PARADISE IN HARLEM is a commentary on black lives and a time capsule of forgotten talent. **...

From 1966 comes the story of black man portrayed by a white man playing a black man who pretends to be a white man so he can infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan to avenge the death of his daughter. If you don't believe us, it's all there in the movie's theme song. This scathing drama from the minds of director Ted V. Mikels and producer Joe Solomon (The Corpse Grinders) has to be seen to be believed. ***...

The Men welcome Dr. Michele Prettyman Beverly by way of Mercer University in Georgia to take a trip further south...to Louisiana and 1997's EVE'S BAYOU. Starring Lynn Whitfield, Samuel Jackson, Debbie Morgan and Diahann Carroll, this essential of black cinema features star making performances by young Jurnee Smollett and Meagan Goode. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company...

Spike Lee takes the first screenplay from a then little known Suzan-Lori Parks, casts the sultry Theresa Randle in the lead role, cobbles together a soundtrack from Prince odds and ends and presents...the jury's still out on just what Girl 6 is, really. Even the Men are at opposite ends with this one. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and mo...

The Men on the Mission welcome AISHA HARRIS of Slate.com to talk about their intriguing list of the 50 Greatest Films by Back Directors, a master class of the human experience as envisioned by some of the industry's most innovative and under-appreciated auteurs. The order or even the number isn't the thing (spoiler: DO THE RIGHT THING is #1) so much as the story of the process and its revelations....

We were supposed to review Spike Lee's GIRL 6 this week but it's not available online anywhere. Hard copies are pretty scarce too. Seems reasonably reasonable to Len but Vince is quite put off by the dilemma and would like to share his put-off'ness' with you. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit...

Warner Brothers wanted a sequel to Purple Rain. Prince wanted to make a movie. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis wanted a check. Graffiti Bridge happened. If that sounds like a recipe for disaster, you're only half right. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter fo...

The French Riviera may have never looked so good as it does in Prince's directorial debut but the stunning black and white cinematography can't save all involved from growing Under The Cherry Moon. Yet West Coast writer/filmmaker MAURICE POPLAR loves it! *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the...

Dr. Elisabeth 'Li' Sumpter of MythMedia Studios booked herself for Purple Rain before there was a Mission. And she delivers insight, reflections and heartfelt memories about her experience with the film and its amazing creator, the late Prince Rogers Nelson aka Prince. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage yo...

Don't call it a documentary though it certainly feels like one. The loose narrative and stilted acting doesn't detract (that much) from this time capsule find from 1983, the birth of hip-hop as told in the subway sprayed hues of NYC in Charlie Ahern and the immortal Fab Five Freddy's WILD STYLE. Special guest, certified hip-hop head DAN DINKINS - The Mayor of the Starting Five podcast - lends the...

Tamara Dobson strikes an imposing and sexy figure across the screen as the James Bond-ian special agent named CLEOPATRA JONES, whose mission in 1973 was to bring sisters to the movie theaters with a heroine they can call their own. Bernie Casey, Antonio Vargas and 2-time Academy Award winner Shelly Winters round out the cast of this Warner Brother's 70s treasure. *** This show is a part of the Pod...

The Men welcome CHARMEL SIPPIO of the Reluctantly Adult podcast (http://www.ireluctantlyadult.com/) aboard the Mission to review 2002's BROWN SUGAR starring Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, Queen Latifah and Mos Def. A Rick Famuyiwa (DOPE) film that doesn't hold up too well to criticism but still strikes a chord with the reviewers. The trick is - what does that chord sound like? *** This show is a part o...

A stage play from the late 90s makes its way to the silver screen in 2000 starring Hill Harper, Rae Dawn Chong, Marla Gibbs, Obba Babatundé and Billy Dee Williams. It makes for a strange stop on the Micheaux Mission. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter...

Emayatzy Corinealdi gives a riveting performance as a woman struggling aginast the self-inflicted bars she's planted around her life while her husband sits behind them literally. Ava Duvernay directs the hell out of this 2012 drama, if the Men are to be believed. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to v...

Tyler Perry is a very polarizing figure in black culture with as many people of note congratulating his success and what he's done with it as there are who decry the middling product he creates. No one can dismiss the fact that the man knows is audience and has loyal fans coast to coast. But are any of them on The Micheaux Mission? *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company tha...

The welfare system of 1974 plays protagonist to the over-crowded love affair of Claudine and Rupert. Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones and a young intense Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs star in the authentic romantic 'dramedy' that asks pointed questions filled with unsettling answers. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We enc...

The bluesy side of Southside Chicago is bathed in the gorgeous browns of the cast and visuals of 1997's Love Jones, writer-director Theodore Witcher only feature film. Larenz Tate shows the chops and cut of a star rising, Lisa Nicole Carson and Isaiah Washington flirt with the promise of what could be and Nia Long becomes Nia Long. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company tha...

Eddie Murphy. Halle Berry. Robin Givens. Martin Lawrence. David Alan Grier. Grace Jones. Eartha Kitt. Director Reggie Hudlin. All these amazing powerhouses at the peak or approaching the heights of their powers and the Men gush like schoolboys over the talented Tisha Campbell. Special guest Autumn Simmons (TalkFuzion Radio) big ups ALL the women in this buppie romantic classic. *** This show is a...

Writer-director Neil Drumming's examination at growing old with hip-hop is a wordy Dear John to the culture as well as the manchild during the 2008 election of Barack Obama, starring Dorian Missick, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Darien Sills-Evans and Yaya DaCosta. MICHEAUX MISSION theme - "Nola" by Bill Lee/Ronnie Dyson *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes...

The refreshing but quirky coming of age comedy by writer-director Rick Famuyiwa and starring Shameil Moore reintroduces the streets of Southern California as the setting for thuggery and geeky hi-jinks 21st Century style. Micheaux Mission theme - NOLA by Bill Lee/R. Dyson *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage...

The city of San Francisco is the playing field for two people making the most of a one-night stand in this exceptional slice of romance and life and exploration. MICHEAUX MISSION theme - "Nola" by Bill Lee/Ronnie Dyson *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newslett...