Black Men Can't Jump [In Hollywood]

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Thrash, written and directed by Tommy Wirkola, starring Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, and Djimon Hounsou. Together, they discuss bull sharks, the film’s crisp runtime, why Thrash might've popped on Netflix its resemblance to Crawl, what does and does not happen in the film, how it broke Jerah, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are joined Yazmin Monet Watkins (Grand Crew, “Who All Gon’ Be There?”) to cover You, Me & Tuscany, directed by Kat Coiro, screenplay by Ryan Engle, story by Ryan Engle and Kristin N. Engle, starring Halle Bailey, Regé-Jean Page, Marco Calvani, and Aziza Scott. Together, they discuss Regé-Jean Page… possibly… being… too… hot…, the film's so-so opening weekend at the box office, coming for the pasta only to get lost in the sauce, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering The Drama, written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. Together, in a spoiler-heavy episode, they discuss how to discuss this particular film, Zendaya’s career to date, what the worst thing Bray ever did was, bad friends, just how great the cast filling out the smaller parts of the film were, hectic weddings, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering They Will Kill You, directed by Kirill Sokolov, written by Kirill Sokolov and Alex Litvak, starring Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette. Together, they discuss sequel naming conventions, what goes on in the crossword world, Bray managing the bits this episode, where Zazie’s been, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are getting back their unfinished discussion of The Burial (2023), directed by Maggie Betts, screenplay by Dough Wright and Maggie Betts, story by Doug Wright, based on “The Burial” by Jonathan Harr, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Foxx, Jurnee Smollett, Alan Ruck, Mamoudou Athie, Pamela Reed, and Bill Camp. Together, they cover their experiences with jury duty, their reluctance to fully talk about the movie, James tipping his rating for The Cause extremely early, seeing Jurnee Smollett across the room, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon START covering The Burial (2023), directed by Maggie Betts, screenplay by Doug Wright and Maggie Betts, story by Doug Wright, based on “The Burial” by Jonathan Harr, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Foxx, Jurnee Smollett, Alan Ruck, Mamoudou Athie, Pamela Reed, and Bill Camp, before pivoting to recapping this year's Oscars ceremony. Together, they discuss The Burial being a good movie for lines, how Jerah knows Michael B. Jordan’s family, Ryan Coogler's Original Screenplay win, his Directing and Best Picture losses, how amazing it was to see Michael B. Jordan's win for Best Actor...

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are making their Oscars predictions in advance of the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. Together, they discuss what they expect to happen with the first ever Casting Oscar, where all the Oscars for comedic performances are, the head-to-head between Sinners and One Battle After Another, which shorts they dug, what they felt was snubbed, what Elio is doing in the mix, how many nominated films James caught up with, and much, much more!

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This week, James and Jon are covering The Six Triple Eight (2024), written and directed by Tyler Perry, based on “Fighting a Two-Front War” by Kevin M. Hymel, starring Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, and Oprah Winfrey. Together, they discuss what they’d do on the admin side of war, Jerah being out sick, Bond songs' success rate at The Oscars, the music of Diane Warren, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

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This week, James, Jerah and Jon are covering Relationship Goals, directed by Linda Mendoza, written by Michael Elliot, Cory Tynan, and Laura Lekkos, starring Kelly Rowland, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Robin Thede, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, and Matt Walsh. Together, they discuss when they clocked that the film was based on a book, controversial pastors, being proud of marrying someone you met in high school, Jerah’s texting life, James auditioning for the film, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah and Jon are covering Goat, directed by Tyler Dillihay, screenplay by Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley, story by Nicolas Curcio and Peter Chiarelli, starring Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Aaron Pierre, Nicola Coughlan, David Harbour, Nick Kroll, Jennifer Lewis, Patton Oswalt, Jelly Roll, Jennifer Hudson, Sherry Cola, Eduardo Franco, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, and Stephen Curry. Together, they discuss who knew when which Avatar would come out, Goat’s extensive voice cast, what it lost out to at the box office its opening weekend, the politics of Jelly Roll, and much, much more! Listen to the fu...

This week, James, Jerah and Jon are joined by writer and comedian Tim Barnes (Judge Travis, Maurice on Mars) to cover Loving (2016), written and directed by Jeff Nichols, starring Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Marton Csokas, Nick Kroll, and Michael Shannon. Together, they discuss how this Black History Month hasn’t quite been feeling like Black History Month, Brian Cox’s work as the voice of McDonald’s, being surprised by Nick Kroll, Will Smith’s music, how Loving is like Avatar, and much, much more! 

Find more of Tim’s work here: https://www.timbarnesco...

This week, James, Jerah and Jon are covering The Wrecking Crew, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto, written by Jonathan Tropper, starring Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Claes Bang, Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Frankie Adams, Miyavi, Stephen Root, and Morena Baccarin. Together, they discuss pairing Drax and Aquaman, recent trailers they’ve been loving, whether or not leaving the record registers for listeners, having a Brat summer, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

Pick up copies of James and Connor Ratliff's Stitch comics here: https://www.dyn...

This week, James, Jerah and Jon are covering Unstoppable (2024), directed by William Goldenberg, screenplay by Eric Champnella, Alex Harris, and John Hindman, based on the book of the same name by Anthony Robles and Austin Murphy, starring Jarrell Jerome, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Don Cheadle, and Jennifer Lopez. Together, they discuss the kind of wrestling they’re discussing this episode, what happened to Black-led studio releases, how to get on a podcast, what they think about film festival standing ovations, how many days Don Cheadle spent working on the film, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah and Jon are joined by the great comedian, writer, and podcaster Brandon Collins (Drunk Black History) to cover Night Patrol, directed by Ryan Prows, written by Shaye Ogbonna, Ryan Prows, Tim Cairo, and Jake Gibson, starring Jermaine Fowler, Justin Long, Freddie Gibbs, RJ Cyler, YG, Nicki Micheaux, Flying Lotus, CM Punk, and Dermot Mulroney. Together, they discuss seeing the film in theaters, whether or not this is Jermaine Fowler's first time being first-billed, how well the show's audience knows Freddie Gibbs, why James' camera is off, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode...

This week, Jerah and Jon are covering F1, directed by Joe Kosinski, screenplay by Ehren Kruger, starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Javier Bardem. Together, they discuss James' ongoing vacation, whether or not Damson’s a lead of the film, what quote they would do if they were doing quotes, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

Pick up copies of James and Connor Ratliff's Stitch comics here: https://www.dynamite.com/disney/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513035647503011

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This week, Jerah and Jon are covering Play Dirty, directed by Shane Black, written by Shane Black, Charles Monday, and Anthony Bagarozzi, starring Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Izumi, Nat Wolff, Gretchen Mol, Thomas Jane, and Tony Shalhoub. Together, they discuss the episode being a mess, James’ absence, the film’s deceptive LaKeith-centric marketing, where all the Black men-led films are of late, what they should discuss next, and much, much more! 

Pick up copies of James and Connor Ratliff's Stitch comics here: https://www.dynamite.com/disney/viewProduct.html?PRO=C...

While the show is on break for the holidays, we're replaying some classic holiday episodes!

Original Description:

This week we get into the spirit with Malcom D. Lee's The Best Man Holiday (2013). A tightly constructed romantic comedy with Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, Morris Chestnut, Terrence Howard. Oh you haven't heard of it? Why is that!? Instead of Love Actually for the 10th time, give this a look!

Listen to Bray's The Floor podcast "The Floor Play" here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-floor-play...

While the show is on break for the holidays, we're replaying some classic holiday episodes!

Original Description:

It’s the Holiday Season! James, Jerah, and Jonathan are joined by Tessa Hersh to discuss David E. Talbert’s 2020 instant classic, “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.” The musical follows a toymaker who rediscovers that everything is possible, if you believe. It stars Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Hugh Bonneville, Anika Noni Rose, Madalen Mills, Phylicia Rashad, Lisa Davina Phillip, and Rick Martin.

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PRODUCTION NOTE: The show is taking the next two weeks off for the holidays—we will be back with new episodes in January!

This week, Jerah and Jon are covering Dashing Through the Snow (2023), directed by Tim Story, screenplay by Scott Rosenberg, starring Lil Red Howery, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Teyonah Parris, Oscar Nunez, Madison Skye Validum, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Together, they discuss Scott Rosenberg’s career, whether or not Bray’s losing it, where James is, what Dashing Through the Snow is, the other Black-led holiday films they’ve covered, and much, much more! Listen...

This week, James and Jon welcome comedian and writer Ian Edwards (Untitled: The Comedy Special You Didn’t Know You Needed) to cover Being Eddie, directed by Angus Wall, starring Eddie Murphy, Dave Chapelle, and Jerry Seinfeld. Together, they discuss where Jerah is, how you even rate a documentary like Being Eddie, what it’s like seeing someone with such extreme talent come into their own, Eddie's peers' feelings about him, his house, their personal Eddie histories, and much, much more! 

Watch Ian’s Special here: https://youtu.be/q_4pEVD6Y3k?si=m6lalpb...

This week, Jon is joined by actors and writers Moni Odeyepo (Who All Gon’ Be There?, Peacock) and Tessa Claire Hersh (Younger, Desus & Mero) to cover Wicked: For Good, directed by Jon M. Chu, screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum. Together, they discuss what James and Jerah DON’T have to contribute to the conversation, whether or not they should all sing, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon welcome the legendary Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, Boston Blue) for a special interview episode. Together, they discuss the ongoing legacy of his turn as Winston Zeddemore, the ups and downs of his decades-long career, that now-famous tee-shirt photo, where he’s seen progress in the industry on Black creatives, where he hasn’t, the surprising impact Roots had on the industry, and much, much more! 

Listen to The Floor Play here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-floor-play/id1842879987

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Predator: Badlands, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, screenplay by Patrick Aison, story by Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg, starring Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. Together, they discuss their feelings about lore both Predator-related and not-Predator-related, being Dan Trachtenberg fans, liking homework, finding Bray’s intro offensive, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

Listen to The Floor Play here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-floor-play/id1842879987

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This week, James and Jon are covering Frankenstein, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz. Together, they discuss their respective histories with Mary Shelley’s novel, the material being every kid's first opportunity to be pedantic re: who actually is Frankenstein, the film being verified “hot” on the popcorn meter, what they’d do in a cloning situation, just how strong Frankenstein's monster is, how the film compares to Nosferatu, and much, much more! 

Listen to The Floor Play here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Hedda, written and directed by Nia DaCosta, based on Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler, starring Tessa Thompson, Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock, and Nina Hoss. Together, they discuss experiencing the turn of a century, life in the Willenium, why they’re talking about Will Smith so much in the teaser for the Hedda episode, other Hedda Gabler adaptations, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

Listen to The Floor Play, Bray's The Floor recap podcast, here...

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering A House of Dynamite, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by Noah Oppenheim, starring Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, and Tracy Letts. Together, they discuss how often they think of nuclear armageddon, how familiar the score felt, the film’s resemblance to Contagion (without spoilers), the film’s resemblance to Paradise (WITH spoilers, be warned, for roughly the 23:10–38:30 area (but really, kind of throughout, so, if you want to avoid Paradise spoilers, watch that, THEN watch A House of Dynamite, and THEN listen to this episode), the way the film w...

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Leprechaun in the Hood (2000), directed by Rob Spera, screenplay by Doug Hall and Jon Huffman, story by William Wells, Alan Reynolds, Rob Spera, and Doug Hall, starring Warwick Davis and Ice-T. Together, they discuss how they’ve never managed to cover any Leprechaun films before, Bray’s annual tradition of mainlining a horror franchise, silly horror, when Chucky got funny, how many Leprechauns made it to theaters, the film’s spot-on recreation of the 1970s, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Slice (2018), written and directed by Austin Vesely, starring Zazie Beetz, Chance Bennett, Rae Gray, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Katherine Cunningham, Will Brill, Y’Ian Noel, Hannibal Buress, Tim Becker, Joe Keery, Chris Parnell, and Paul Scheer. Together, they discuss their plans for watching horror movies this October, not wanting to hear about the Final Destination movies at all, drunk crossing guards, whether or not $66,000 is a solid amount of money for Slice to’ve made on VOD, who Slice’s protagonist is, its perfect runtime, witch logic, whether or not Chance the Rapper...

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering The Smashing Machine, written and directed by Benny Safdie, based on the 2002 documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksander Usyk. Together, they discuss the best way to do an impression of The Smashing Machine himself, just how visceral the sound design of the film is (in the right theater), what Jerah does and does not see, in what circumstances they’d all be caught in an MMA fight, and much, much more! Listen to th...

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering One Battle After Another, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti. Together, they discuss this not being a political podcast, daddy daughter games, the complexities of the Perfidia Beverly Hills character, what was going on with Junglepussy’s styling in the film, seeing Christmas Adventurers in the wild, the film’s Oscar chances, how great Benicio del Toro is, car chases, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Him, directed by Justin Tipping, written by Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers, and Justin Tipping, starring Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox, and Tim Heidecker. Together, they discuss the setup everyone expected, how well Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle’s doing at the box office, the bait-and-switch feel of Him’s marketing campaign leaning so heavily on Jordan Peele producing it, what was lost between the film’s development and ultimate production, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Back in Action, directed by Seth Gordon, written by Seth Gordon and Brendan O’Brien, starring Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Andrew Scott, Jamie Demetriou, Kyle Chandler, and Glenn Close. Together, they discuss The Emmys, how much of the film they actually remember, James’ feeling about a good IP, who’s using Facebook nowadays, elder Gen-Xers, just how famous Kyle Chandler is, why a person might have to pull double duty, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering Highest 2 Lowest, the latest film directed by Spike Lee, from a screenplay by Alan Fox, based on Akira Kurosawa's High and Low, starring Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, and ASAP Rocky. Together, they discuss how Patreon episodes work, being peanut butter and jealous, what James drank this morning, the film’s oddball theatrical/streaming release, Spike Lee’s recent turn to working with streamers, whether or not to trust standing ovation time records, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering The Longshots (2008), directed by Fred Durst, written by Nick Santora and Doug Atchison, starring Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Dash Mihock, Tasha Smith, Jill Marie Jones, and Matt Craven. Together, they discuss the ways The Longshots is like King Richard, Fred Durst’s directing career, which disaster movie Jerah’s never seen, what should’ve been in The Longshots based on the true story that was the basis for the film, whether or not there’s anything else to say, Garrett Morris’ career, and much, much more! 

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This week, James and Jon are covering The Pickup, directed by Tim Story, written by Matt Miner and Kevin Burrows, starring Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Eva Longoria, and Keke Palmer. Together, they discuss Jerah not being on to hate on Bray’s intro, other titles that might have worked for the film, what’s available behind the paywall, how many stand-up specials Eddie Murphy's done, the critical/audience agreement on the film, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

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This week, actor and writer Kobi Omenaka (The Wire Stripped podcast, Flixwatcher) joins Jerah and Jon to cover War of the Worlds, directed by Rich Lee, screenplay by Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman, story by Kenneth A. Golde, starring Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Iman Benson, Henry Hunter Hall, Devon Bostick, Michael O’Neill, and Andrea Savage. Together, they discuss the length of animated shows’ production timelines, the film’s meteoric rise from a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score to a 4% Rotten Tomatoes score, just how reliable streaming numbers are, kind of loving the movie, thumb drives, the power of Ama...

This week, James and Jerah are covering 40 Acres (2024), directed by R.T. Thorne, story by R.T. Thorne and Lora Campbell, screenplay by R.T. Thorne and Glenn Taylor, starring Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O’Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, and Leenah Robinson. Together, they discuss the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, just how many of Danielle Deadwyler’s roles have been in extremely stressful movies, things they’ve been told to watch but haven’t yet, whether or not the show’s covered Time Cut, Wikipedia summaries, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's E...

This week, Jerah and Jon are covering Crash (2004), directed by Paul Haggis, screenplay by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Thandiwe Newton, Ryan Phillippe, and Larenz Tate. Together, they discuss just how much so things have gotten worse since the film came out, the arc Crash’s reputation has gone on since winning Best Picture, where they diverge on the film, how exhausting movies about racism are, and much, much more! 

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This week, James, Jerah, and Jon are covering KPop Demon Hunters, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, screenplay by Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, and Chris Appelhans, story by Maggie Kang, starring Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Lee Byung-hun. Together, they discuss K-Pop generally, where they know the film’s voice cast from, Bray seeing demons on his television, whether or not KPop Demon Hunters' plot is very straightforward, and much, much more! Listen to the full episode on Patreon or Red Circle's Exclusive Feed!

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This week, actor and writer Moni Odeyepo (Who All Gon’ Be There?, Peacock) joins James and Jon to cover Opus, written and directed by Mark Anthony Green, starring Ayo Edibiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Tatanka Means, Young Mazino, Stephanie Suganami, Tamera Tomakili, and Tony Hale. Together, they discuss getting obsessed with a musician, when the film came out, Opus' hair and makeup departments nailing it, thinking of The Bear when someone mentions Beef, bean bag revelations, if dinosaurs gave Jurassic World Rebirth's Rotten Tomatoes score a bump over Opus', and much, much more! 

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