Long before Samuel L. Jackson held the distinction of being the hardest working black actor in movies, Louis Gossett, Jr. was considered to be just that when he profile was far bigger than Jackson’s. His Emmy win for the groundbreaking Roots miniseries in 1977 and his Oscar win for An Officer and a Gentleman in 1982 made him one of the most in-demand black actors outside of Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor in the 80s. While many of his post-Oscar choices ranged from classics to low-rent home video flicks, Gossett always sought the most strongest portrayals of black men not only in film but also on the stage. His presence in any movie elevated the cast around him and would always be a welcome addition to any film now matter how good or bad.

The Mother Brain returns in an all-new podcast audio format to review the last few summer 2014 releases including GUARDIANS… Read more Mother Brain’s Summer Movie Review 2014

I’m home relaxing after a rough past week and with nothing much else to do, I watch Monday Night Raw. It was the 8/4/14 show. The show begins like it has almost every week with the heel Authority coming to ringside to run down all the babyfaces in WWE. There was one major difference, however. Triple H is selling nearly every money match for the upcoming Summerslam event and how you can watch it on the WWE Network for $9.99 a month (with a six month commitment). He keeps repeating 9.99 until the fans start chanting it over and over. Just when I thought that was the only time WWE would go overkill hyping their new network, they would repeatedly do this 41 times in the evening between commentator plugs, Twitter feeds, commercials, and even JBL holding up a handwritten 9.99 on a piece of paper. This was supposed to be a filler Raw before the go home show. Instead, it was treated as ‘Plugamania.’

The actress most infamous for the topless pool scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High has always been the subject of many “Where Are They Now” discussions. Phoebe Cates was an underrated icon of the 80s with a unique girl next door look that made her a favorite for casting directors to typecast as a love interest. Eventually, the Manhattan-born actress decided to semi-retire from film all together for much more richer experiences in life.

It was two years ago when I posted a blog about 10 movie sequels that never saw the light of day. Two years later, 5 out of those 10 movies are now either in production or back in active development with the latest Star Wars installments leading the way. So it got Cos and I thinking of more unproduced sequels that the public seldom hears about or are considered legend to many cinefiles. As of this writing, here’s the next 10 along with their background and how close they came into production

The first time I heard the name James Bond was in the summer of 1989 when Licence to Kill was released in theaters. Being a Ghostbusters and Batman fan at the time, I did not know anything about Bond as a character and the fact that there were 15 other films that came before it. Timothy Dalton was my first exposure to the role before I even knew that Sean Connery started it and I did catch up on the films until after the release of Goldeneye in 1995. By then, I was quick to judge Dalton as my least favorite actor as 007 due to his darker interpretation of the role. Little did I know then he was attempting to recapture a real world aspect of Ian Fleming’s novels that was lost in Connery as well as George Lazenby and Roger Moore’s performances.

I was saddened to hear about the recent passing of the Oscar nominated actor, Bob Hoskins. Two years ago, Hoskins had announced his retirement from acting after revealing his Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis. I had plans to write about him for the Underrated Actors Blog because of his popularity in cinema during the 80s and early 90s. Instead of writing about his life and career as I usually do for the blog, I’m going to discuss the way I was raised on his work.

1. The Usos (c) vs Los Matadores vs The Real Americans vs Ryback and Curtis Axel (Fatal four-way) Matadores are… Read more Mother Brain’s WrestleMania XXX Predictions