Local Talent: Gabrielle Union in Deliver Us from Eva

Welcome back for Day 2 of Local Talent. Our next actor may have left the Husker lands in search of acting gigs and while that does happen you cannot fault Omaha from holding her up as a beacon of talent. Graduated with honors from UCLA, voted #52 in Maxim's 100 Sexist Women, this girl was performing below her capabilities. Now going through her filmography she has been a femme fatale, other woman character actor for more than a few films. The whole let's use this girl for her looks rather than any depth in acting cliche'. Until I came across the romantic comedy giving her center stage and brother let me just say, "She took it and ran with it." This is Deliver Us From Eva.

There is a corner pocket joke but I will behave.

Evangeline 'Eva' Dandrige (Gabrielle Union of City of Angels, Two Can Play That Game, Abandon, Cradle 2 the Grave, Bad Boys II, Flashforward and Being Mary Jane) is part of the Health Department in Los Angeles as an inspector which works for her very perfectionist nature and bossy demeanor. Everything and everyone should be just so for the world to be in order. Her order. Eva drives her sisters Kareenah (Essence Atkins of Here and Now, Under One Roof, Malibu Shores, Smart Guy, Half & Half, Love for Sale, My Sister's Wedding and Girlfriends' Getaway), Bethany (Robinne Lee of National Security, Hitch, Seven Pounds, 13 Going on 30 and Forgiveness) and Jacqui (Meagan Good of Miles From Home, One Missed Call, Saw V, The Unborn, Californication, Deception and A Girl Like Grace) to bettering their lives.  She constantly judges her sisters by their choices in life as well as in men. This close connection is due to them basically raising themselves after the death of their parents so older sister Eva's words of wisdom and advice holds great weight for the girls.

Damn, Union got booty fellas.

Our collective boys: Tim (Mel Jackson of Soul Food, The Temptations, Where Is Love Waiting, Abduction of Jesse Bookman and Four Seasons), Mike (Duane Martin of White Men Can't Jump, Above the Rim. Any Given Sunday, All of Us, Rita Rocks, The Paul Reiser Show and Sister Code) and Darrell (Dartanyan Edmonds of Ride, Woo, Bulworth, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Trippin', Rangers and NYPD Blue) are losing their damn minds, not getting any quality time, privacy and in general lives of their own with Eva popping by whenever. Fed up with this, the fellas feel they need a player to seduce Eva and get her out of their hair. Mike calls his boy Ray (LL Cool J of Toys, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Deep Blue Sea, In the House, Rollerball, S.W.A.T., Last Holiday and NCIS: Los Angeles), offers him 5 grand to make this spoiled princess bounce for a few so they can get their own. Okay, I cannot write this dated street lingo worth a damn. Ray agrees to the deal, meets Eva for dinner for what can only be considered as "THE DATE FROM HELL." and throws the boys' lettuce back at them saying she is impossible.

Later Ray bumps into Eva delivering meat to the local restaurants and offers an olive branch and the two look like they are forming a friendship to a relationship. The sisters start seeing Ray and Eva as the ideal couple but notice how their own relationships aren't as solid and the boys are back in hot water. Rather than be grown-ups, owning up to their faults and striving to be better men (Like we all should, fellas.), they choose an elaborate plan to fake Ray's death so it will convince Eva to leave the city and go elsewhere and out of their lives.

Does the plan succeed? Will they have to actually kill Ray? What the hell is going on?

This film feels like a take on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew and about seeing people for who they really are. It has heart and soul and some really good lines. This film also showcases both Gabrielle and LL in starring roles rather than the typical stereotypes they have both played in the past. It is fun, wrong and entertaining. Give it a view. Rated R for a bit of language and some implied sex but other than that, hell the kids can watch it.

I am not mugging...well maybe a bit.

Local Talent: A Streetcar Named Desire

Howdy all and welcome to Day 1 of Local Talent This man I speak of has been a general to Julius Caesar, a Wild One, been through Guys and Dolls, he has been to The Appaloosa and even has portrayed The Godfather. Native to these plains of wheat,corn and beef production, he debuted on Broadway in October 19^th of 1944 in "I Remember Mama" as an astounding success that he made his first film debut in Fred Zinnermann's The Men in 1950, about a paralized war vet trying to adjust to the world without his limbs. I speak of none other than Marlon Brando. This particular blog covers one of his earliest films of heartache, woe and an excellent performance. This is A Streetcar Named Desire.

The face of every domestic disturbance.

Named after the play by playwright and author Tennessee Williams (The Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Cat on a Hot Tin Room, Suddenly, Last Summer and The Night of the Iguana) this drama with a hint of film noir hails from a story of a southern belle, Blanche Dubois (Vivien Leigh of Fire Over England, Storm in a Teacup, A Yank at Oxford, Gone with the Wind 21 Days Together, Waterloo Bridge and Ship of Fools) an aristocrat seeks refuge after an series of losses along with her sister and brother-in-law in a rickety, run-down tenement in New Orleans. Blanche a high school teacher leaves her beloved home of Auriol Mississippi with her sister Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter of Actor's Studio, Anything Can Happen, Storm Center, Playhouse 90, Lamp at Midnight, Planet of the Apes, All My Children and Born Innocent) and her brother-in-law Stanley (Marlon Brando of The Men, Viva Zapata!, The Wild One, On the Waterfront, Guys and Dolls, The Chase, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris and Apocalypse Now). As she tells her sister, Blanche explains that the family estate, Belle Reve has been claimed by the town and there is nothing to be done about it. Stanley convinced otherwise, proceeds to go through her papers only to end up fighting with Blanche's poems sent to her by her late husband. Our thuggish brute simply defends his actions by saying his was looking out for his family and tells Blanche that Stella is going to have a baby. Clearly reason enough to behave like a thoughtless jackass.

Clearly I am superior to Jessica Tandy.

A collection of Stanley's poker buddies come over and one stands out above the rest, a fella named Mitch (Karl Malden of On the Waterfront, How the West Was Won, Patton, The Streets of San Francisco, Captains Courageous, Meteor, Skag and Nuts) who is decent, fair and honest. Blanche takes a liking to him but Stanley's drunken rage causes his buddies to vamoose when he up and slaps Stella. Hiding at Eunice's (Peg Hillias of A Streetcar Named Desire, The Wayward Girl, That Night! And Peyton Place) until Stanley redeems himself by carrying Stella to bed, Blanche has curbed her tongue long enough. That morning she is adamant about Stella leaving her subhuman animal of a husband and coming away with her.

Does Stanley stand for this abuse? Is Blanche hiding deep seeded secrets? Will these two kooky kids work out?

A few points of interest on our film now. Nine members of the original Broadway cast repeated their roles in the movie, only Vivien Leigh was chosen over Jessica Tandy for the roles of Blanche given Leigh's popularity of Gone With the Wind. Despite the incredible performance of Brando's part he loathed and detested his character to no end. Nominated for 12 awards winning four at the 24^th Academy Awards, this film set an Oscar record being the first film to win three acting categories. Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden), Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hunter) and Best Art Direction (Richard Day and George Hopkins)

Toss the wife in the pot and the game is gonna heat up!

Local Talent

Welcome one and all. Today, I was thinking about the local entertainment as my co-star Shawn of Rotten Ramblin' On was on about. Artists, musicians and film makers...hell we could interview the collection of coplayers, costumers and creators. That being said I decided to cover more than a handful of movie stars that have made it in Hollywood hailing from our plains.

Just a Midwestern boy.

Local Talent establishes actors, writers, directors, athletes of past and present ranging from Drama to Horror films, showcasing as much as one can. Two examples of such is dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and musician Fred Astaire (Top Hat, Swing Time, Royal Wedding, Funny Face and It Takes a Thief) and Broadway star and film method actor Montgomery Clift (Red River, The Big Lift, A Place in the Sun, I Confess,The Young Lions and The Misfits)

Steve Borden, Sr who you know better as Sting of WWE as a professional wrestler, bodybuilder and even author. Former gridiron football player, Heisman Trophy winner and NFL San Diego Chargers running back and wide receiver Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers. Actor Randy J. Goodwin (Girlfriends, CSI: Miami, Flip the Script, Big Shots, The Vampire Diaries, Annie Claus is Coming to Town, The Mind's End and The Job) and newcomer to Horror, Karrie Bauman (The Legacy of Boggy Creek, Escape to Black Tree Forest, The Dead Hour, The Eyes of Isabelle, Cheerleader Camp: To the Death and Poet) and actor/comedian Jorge Garcia (Hurley of Lost, Hitman:Bloody Money, Alcatraz, Gaspar, How I Met Your Mother, The Wedding Ringer, The Ridiculous 6 and Hawaii Five-0) just to name a handful.

This week we explore humble beginnings to stardom and having the guts to try their luck from the Midwest and push out to their dreams.

What? You thought this chin was from Hollywood?