Watch This.
9 Episodes. Starring: Regina King, Tim Blake Nelson, Yahya Abdul-Matten II, Jean Smart, Hong Chau, Louis Gossett Jr., Don Johnson & Jeremy Irons. Creator: Damon Lindelof.
Tulsa shock. This weekend at a Trump rally in Oklahoma for his followers who believe the confederate flag is the American one (you can't have stars with stripes unless all the stars are united) less people showed up than my 13th birthday party. Let the record show I was an unpopular kid. And apparently we have Tik Tok users, K Pop fans and of course Trump's "popularity" to thank for that. I think they call that karma. It couldn't have happened in a more fitting place. Maybe those in Tulsa, Oklahoma were at home watching 'Watchmen', the series that came ten years after 'Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice' director Zack Snyder's 2009 living and breathing comic book of a graphic novel movie changed the game. As this weekend for Juneteenth HBO (whose new Max service is going to take us to 'The Snyder Cut' of Zack's original intended 'Justice League' movie after years of fans campaigning for its release) who have boasted everything from 'True Detective' to 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' made their series from 'The Leftovers' creator Damon Lindelof free for the weekend to stream, no subscription required (but what about those last three episodes guys outside the U.S.?). But why did they make this stellar season starring 'If Beale Street Could Talk' Oscar winner Regina King (this shows crowning achievement), 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs' himself Tim Blake Nelson (always on fine form when things matter, like this year's 'Just Mercy' with Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx), 'Aquaman's' Black Manta, Yahya Abdul-Matten II (another DC Universe crossover and rising hero of our times), 'Frasier's' own Jean Smart (with a superhero name herself), successfully shifting the tone of this series mid-season, just like 'Downsizing' and 'Inherent Vice' star Hong Chau, the 'Roots' of absolute legend and Doomsday clock catalyst Louis Gossett Jr., 'Miami Vice's' Don Johnson (back rolling up his sleeves with this and Rian Johnson's 'Knives Out') and Alfred himself, Jeremy Irons, delightfully stranger and better than ever (come on, this is getting ridiculous) you ask? Just watch.
Tulsa, 1921 the iconic yellow 'Watchmen' words read planted in the middle of a city in carnage. It's Black Wall Street and fires are raging as everything people can get their hands on are thrown, windows are smashed, bullets are shot, blood is spilled. Black lives are treated like the don't matter and cowards are hidden under white hoods. Sound familiar? Like Charlottesville last year, or everything the police have done to people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and countless more whose names or story go untold, but one judged like a cover by those who truly aren't going by the book (especially the good one), just judging by the color of skin that is much more beautiful than ours, as they try and cover everything up. What has lead to the protests that march in unison today like a million men wanting peace in a world of no justice. Shamefully I was ignorant to the history of the Tulsa massacre, but Lindelof's show wasn't and after this weekend hopefully we all won't be as another lesson as learned as the bleached and tanned Trump looks up to the bleachers of the nose bleeds and sees nothing but upturned seats like your local cinema closed right now. And this time he can't blame corona or whatever repugnent racist phrase he calls it, especially as he used to believe it didn't exist like he thinks climate change doesn't. Are you starting to feel the cold yet Donald? Those acoustic guitar playing fans of his outside better learn four more chords...because they aren't going to get four more years. Period. It ends this November with Biden. Even if the wake of his destruction will take years to repair. Just like all of the hope and change of ObamaGREAT that Trump like an insolant child undid in months, with no care. The man with the MAGA hat made America hate again. We need a First Lady like Michelle to carry the torch of liberty. Justice for all.
Politics as usual? Too much? Especially for a Brit with Brexit and Boris to deal with who now living in Japan should just mind his own business? Isn't this supposed to be review? Shut up and talk about dribbling, basketball writer, right? Well yes and 'Watchmen' like it's Dr. Manhattan project reveal is a first rate first season-with big superhero moments and like the movie a super nostalgic soundtrack too-that you should watch now whilst you still can for free, or even pay to play. Because people who never needed to, or should have had paid the price. And no reparation could ever pay them back properly. Not for all they've lost. So shows like this will speak for the voices that don't go heard. And you thought it was all about superheroes? Art needs to paint us a bigger picture. Even if it is dressed up in a cape with the last face you expected to see behind the mask. This is important storytelling right now, like when comics were a reflection of our times. Even if this is a different world were Robert Redford is President. Like the iconic opening credits to Snyder's 'Watchmen' taking us through history from the Cold War to sailors kissing their ladies in Times Square ticker tape like "War Is Over" and JFK's assassination behind the grassy knoll as Bob Dylan who just delivered a rough and rowdy 17 minute retelling of that this weekend tells us the 'Times They Are A-Changing'. Or Marvel's game and face of superhero changing 'Black Panther' standing being the revolutionary political party in the 60's. Like the X-Men's Professor Xavier and Magneto representing the violent and non violent sides of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X respectively with respect. As timely as movies like 'Mercy' being made available for free like museums of history and all the things you need to see like Ava DuVernay's '13th' documentary or 'When They See Us'. Or Spike Lee's 'BlackKklansman' and now 'Da 5 Bloods' (if you want to talk about what America did in the Vietnam War, to Black Lives too) streaming on Netflix. Or how about Dave Chappelle's latest stand-up on YouTube that is no joke and exactly why it's called '8.46'? I again shamefully had no idea and now I'm nothing but angry, like he and we all should be. Because just like Black Lives, Black History matters...regardless of the month. It's more than a Twitter trend that lasts two weeks for some privileged people trying to look good for likes. Black Lives STILL Matter! Even when the media that deems leaves. And if it's happening right now...on your very doorstep. 35 blocks of Tulsa, Oklahoma were destroyed in 1921 and 36 people lost their lives (26 black)...officially. But it was said hundreds did, whilst 800 were admitted to hospital and 6,000 black residents were interned in large facilities as they lost their homes and livelihoods. And some Americans still don't admit this happened like 'The Promise' of the Armenian genocide. And you want to talk about a rally or a T.V. show? Well as this one begins with a young black family putting their son in a box in a back of a truck heading out of town with friends. All because he has a better chance of surviving their as bullets tear through it and out of the peephole one makes he looks out and sees the same spot he said goodbye to his folks being blown to pieces, what more can we say? As this young boy who has just become a man all too young finds a baby crying wrapped in the American flag. Cradling it and telling it, "it's OK" as no one else will. You think stories like this aren't real like a note that simply says, "take care of this boy" than you have no idea like what's on the other side of the paper or constitution. They're being told now. Stop, look and listen to what's going on. Because like Marvin it will make you want to holler until like Sam Cooke a change comes. It's been promised like the land that Martin dreamed of for far too long now. Wake up! It's time. Tick. Tock. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'Watchmen (2009)', 'The Leftovers'. '13th'.
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