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Highly Suspect Reviews: The Color Purple

The Color Purple Movie Review

THE COLOR PURPLE MOVIE REVIEW

The 1985 adaptation by Steven Spielberg of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker was nominated for 11 Oscars (although it didn’t win any), was a huge success in theaters, and generally is thought of as a fantastic film. It does seem odd to take this story of deep trauma and add music and dancing. And yet, it works. At least it had the toes tapping and the eyeducts moistening with Chris, Frank, and Kim who review it here. The lead role of Celie is taken over here by Fantasia Barrino, who previously had played the role in the Broadway version of the musical. Celie is separated from her beloved sister at a pre-teen age against their wills when Celie is married off by her sexually abusive father to a local ne’er-do-well Mister (Colman Domingo). She is treated as a maid rather than a wife and is ignored on the best of days. When a circuit singer comes to town, Shug (Taraji P. Henson) that Mister lusts after, Celie starts to see that maybe a woman can be independant and not have to put up with beasts like her husband and father. With a fantastic cast (especially MVP Danielle Brooks as Sofia), The Color Purple is really something to see, hear, and feel. Because we had all the feels.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Blitz Bazawule

STARRING: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, Ciara, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Batiste, Louis Gossett Jr., David Alan Grier, Deon Cole, Tamela J. Mann, Elizabeth Marvel, Stephen Hill

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Photo on 2011-10-02 at 13.02Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Kimberly Brown (Highly Suspect Reviews)

Kimberly wants to live in a world filled with blue telephone boxes, speedsters, and ice dragons but through an ironic twist of fate, she’s stuck in this reality where these wondrous things only exist on page or film. Kim’s perpetual desire to consume sci-fi and fantasy media as a teen led her to the study of illustration/design at university to better understand its creation. Currently an Austin transplant, when she’s not wearing her critic hat you can find her pretending to like hiking, fielding questions about her hair or maybe even enjoying a local brew at the nearest dive bar.

 

 

Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive. His ultimate goal is to write a script for his boyhood crush, Michelle Pfeiffer.

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