White People Won't Save You

Is it only April? We hope everyone has been doing well and hanging in there. Hopefully today's episode will help up lift some spirits because we've got a fun one with 1995's Die Hard With a Vengeance. Not only was Jordan surprised to learn this is actually the third film in the series, but also that it could have also co-starred Laurence Fishburne instead of Sam Jackson.  It also lets us ask a lot...

Oscar season might be over but that doesn't mean we still can't cover some Oscar bait. 2009's The Soloist that has all the makings of an awards season darling: two stars at the height of their power with Robert Downey Jr. an Jamie Foxx, an award winning director and screen writer and a sappy true story. And yet, it feels like a parody.  We discuss how cruelly this movie treats the unhoused communi...

Never in the history of this show has a movie caught Jordan and Cameron so off guard. 1994's Just Cause isn't just a wildly racist movie, it actually thinks it's doing the work...until it decides the work is too hard and creates a cartoonishly villainous Black character with the craziest plan we've ever seen in a movie.  Starring Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, Blair Underwood, Ruby Dee, Scarlet...

We're back with one from the vaults! Audio on Jordan's end wasn't the best (computer was on deaths door) but the episode itself is a banger...or should we say a Dead Bang... Anyways, this movie almost feels like a spiritual prequel to another movie we've done, Rebel Ridge, as this time it's Don Johnson going after white supremacist. You can almost imagine his character retiring to the south and be...

Finally we get to sit down and talk about one of the most acclaimed movies of 2024, Nickel Boys. Directed by RaMell Ross and based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Colson Whitehead, it's a stunning portrait of Black life and incredible piece of filmmaking.  We discuss the use of POV and how it forces empathy, our theater experiences, and the dreamlike qualities of the film.  Things are crazy...

We're kicking off the New Year with some absolute foolishness as we discuss the movie where Harry Potter goes undercover as a white supremacist. That's right, we're talking about 2016's Imperium and we're joined by the wonderful Brandon Collins of Medium Popcorn and Drunk Black History.  We ask why Daniel Radcliffe looks like he's  about to cry in every scene, if the movie understands the differen...

Did you ever think you were watching one movie and ended up seeing another? That's the horror our wonderful guest comedian and comic writer Kristal Adams faced, thinking she was going to watch Rescuers Down Under and instead having to sit through Quigley Down Under.  Kristal joins us to tell her harrowing tale as we break down Tom Selleck's last desperate attempt to make his Indiana Jones dreams c...

Hello friends! We hope everyone has been hanging in. We ourselves had to take a little break following the election as well as for the Holidays, but we're back to finish the year out strong.  This particular episode was recorded the week of the election but we thought it might be best to let it sit for a bit, since we're sure many of you are also still getting your heads around everything. We give...

Happy Halloween! As scary as the real world is, we figured everyone could use a break and a really dumb movie, so here's 1993's Ghost Brigade. Also known as Grey Knight, Killing Box, and The Lost Brigade this civil war zombie can't even get the "zombie" or "civil war" part right.  Joined by the one and only Justina Ireland (Amazing Spider-Man, Star Wars: The High Republic, Dread Nation) joins us t...

Ride with us down the Mississippi as we speak with the award winning duo of David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson about 1993's The Adventure of Huck Finn and more importantly their new graphic novel reimagining of Mark Twain's classic, Big Jim and The White Boy.  That's right, their new book shifts the perspective to Jim and gives more context to his life and story, literally what we talk abou...

Special episode alert! Today we discuss the new Netflix film Rebel Ridge, very much the kind of movie that inverts our usual films. A movie about civil asset forfeiture doesn't sound too exciting, but there's a lot of good things to be found in this one.  All that said, we do have a few issues which leads to an interesting discussion about white filmmakers tackling Black stories, choices Black act...

Bzzz bzz that's the sound of the... Beekepers? Joined by WPWSY All Star Julian Lyltle, we discuss the 2024 breakout hit The Beekeeper.  Jason Statham kicking ass in all his glory, but our real interest here is one Phlyicia Rashad. We wonder what makes this a lowkey savior film, if Jason Statham has ever made a truly bad movie, and much more.  Find Julian wherever you do your social media at @julia...

And now, starting at white savior, from the university of "who the hell thought this was a good idea", 2014's Thunderstruck! Truly one of the most puzzling films of the 2010's, Thunderstruck is at once a movie that thought it would make sense to star the notoriously anti-social Kevin Durant but also decided that would be enough (it wasn't, it didn't even make a million at the box office).  We disc...

Back together again! Cameron was in Baltimore for the week, so this episode was actually done in person, which was much needed because we had a lot to say on this one.  1970's The Landlord might sound good on paper (Hal Ashby, Bill Gunn, Louis Gossett Jr., Beau Bridges) but it plays out like some of the worst mishmash of hippie dreams and racial politics. A nepo baby buys a building in Harlem and....

We're back again with one of our greatest living actors, Denzel Washington. This time, it's the 2010 true train story, Unstoppable. Starring opposite Chris Pine along with Rosario Dawson, it's unbelievably the first of Denzel's train duology (Taking of Pelham 123 comes out the following year).  We get into the tricky savior move pulled in this one, the behind the scenes of how Denzel almost wasn't...

Since everyday feels like an historical event in 2024, we decided to go back in time to another, 2015's Stonewall. Joined by Jared McCullough of the Black Geek Energy podcast, we discuss this disaster of a movie by the disaster movie master, Roland Emmerich.  Not only does this movie insert a white man into the middle of a historically Black and Latino uprising, not only does it reduce almost ever...

Have you ever wanted to see Brooke Shields with dreads? Or here Elijah Wood call another white person "the true nigga"? Or watch 1990's Knicks shooting guard Allan Houston act? Well 1999's Black and White has all this and more. A truly baffling film, we take the long winding road through all of the insane moments of this film.. From one of craziest death scenes caught on film, to a lot of white pe...

Sometimes you gotta pop out and...you know the rest. We're so excited to welcome the amazing KT of the For Your Reference podcast to come on and discuss a savior from down under, 2002's Black and White. Did Cameron watch an entirely different film called Black and White? Yes. Did both have white people saying crazy things? Also yes. We discuss how the savior trope persists across countries, aborig...

You ever see a movie poster and think, "nah that can't be real"? This is one of them. Amos and Andrew(?) starring Samuel L. Jackson(?!) and Nicholas Cage(!?!) is a buddy movie all about some bullshit. With a double dose of Blackface and a sprinkling of racial slurs, we have a textbook case of why we do this podcast.   We also ask, is the buddy race comedy ever good, talk about the original Amos an...

We're live! Coming to you from Caveat in NYC, we pulled out all the stops for the last live show of the spring. Joined by pod favorite Aileen Clark (of Uy Que Horror! ) we discuss everyone's horny fave, 1999's The Mummy.  The Millennial classic turned 25 and we have a lot of thoughts. From if hotness determined your survival, Evelyn's eyebrows or lack thereof, and all the messiness behind the brow...

Sometimes you gotta pop up and show niggas! Wow, what a week and change it's been for Hip-Hop. We actually had recorded something last Thursday and well...you know what happened. But we couldn't not talk about Kendrick and Drake and everything it means.  The culture, the music, the jokes, the wild takes! We cover it all and more!  And just a reminder our last live show of the Spring is coming up s...

First, all solidarity to the students protesting across the country. We're seeing some truly horrifying things but the strength and conviction is what's needed. The kids are holding it down and we need to do the same for them.  With that said, we're back after a few live shows with the amazing Panama Jackson (The Grio) to talk about what may very well be the last good movie Cuba Gooding Jr. ever m...

We talking about Jazz y'all! Specifically the 2016 film, La La Land. The hype, the 14 Academy Award nominations, the viral Moonlight moment, 8 years later, is this movie still mid? You know it!  We're joined by the hilarious Roxxy Haze to discuss, why did white people love this movie so much, did you remember any of the songs, and much more!  Roxxy is so talented, you definitely need to check out...

In celebration of our first live show coming this Sunday (April 14th at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, get tickets here ! ) we're flashing back to one of our first episodes! Hopefully you'll join us this Sunday and our guest Dylan Green (Pitchfork, Reel Notes Podcast) as we dive back into this mess!  

Phew! Every once in a while we find a movie that makes you ask, "how is this real?" This is one of those ones. We call in WPWSY Hall of Famer Shawn Pryor to discuss a movie that has Tony Todd, Stacy Dash, and *checks notes* Ray Parker Jr.?  We discuss the absurdity of the Vampire gang, give Psycho his flowers, and just marvel at the many wild turns this movie takes.  Shawn is out here putting in w...