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It’s A Hard Knock Life: But Not For The Movie Annie!!

WOW! WOW! WOW!! I went to see the movie Annie and it blew me away!! And that’s hard to do. Especially with a kiddie movie, that’s also a musical. I was a very good aunt and would MAKE myself take my niece and nephew to see BORING, child friendly, movies, when they were little. Now that they are real grown, I have divorced kiddie movies because they wear me out!! LOL. Now, I’m moody with musicals. If they aren’t done well, it makes my “Brain Bleed” when they break into song all nilly willy. So for me to enjoy a musical, it’s a timing thing. The dialogue and the singing has to flow seamlessly and attack me, without my knowing it. And in this modern day remake of Annie, produced by Jay-Z, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and directed by Will Cluck, they intertwined the two, masterfully!! Which made it very easy for me to enjoy the childlike, sweetness, of the film.

 

Just a little back story, Annie was a 1977 musical and in 1982, adapted as a movie. Which was a snoozer!! In contrast to the modern day remake of the story, which pops!! It’s about a little Harlem girl named Annie, who’s parents left her as a baby, played by the Oscar and Golden Globe Nominated, Quvenzhané Wallis, has led a hard-knock life with her calculating foster mother, Miss Hannigan, played by Cameron Diaz. However, all that changes when hard-nosed billionaire and mayoral candidate Will Stacks, played by Jamie Foxx, takes her in on the recommendation of his advisers (Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale). Stacks believes that he's Annie's guardian angel, but the plucky youngster's confidence and sunny outlook may mean that Annie will save Will instead. This story was remixed perfectly!! It was refreshing, fun and entertaining. When you can get a single, childfree person, like myself, to enjoy a family, friendly, film, like Annie, you are a beast!!

I’m glad Will’s and Jada’s daughter, Willow Smith, decided NOT to take the role of Annie. "To be honest, something inside me was just, like, 'Don't',” she told vogue, "I'm very connected with my intuition." I agree!! Frankly, I feel she was too old for the part. And after having seen Quvenzhane’s performance, I couldn’t imagine anybody else in that role. It was made for her. Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz also had stellar performances. The film took me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I found myself rooting for Annie, hating Miss Hannigan & Will Stacks and then forgiving them in the end, when they did the right thing by Annie. POWERFUL!! Just a teeny weeny complaint, I was a little disappointed because in the movie, they didn’t play the Jay-Z sampled version of the song, “It’s A Hard Knock Life.” I was really looking forward to that. But no biggie!!

Although I didn’t wanna address the drama, I would be remiss if I didn’t. Ok, in 2011 when Will Smith announced plans for a redux of Annie, people lost their d_mn minds because a black girl was to play the role. There was an all out Twitter war, bashing the fact that Annie was gonna be black. #DISASTER!! Some of the hateful things those racist “mothercluckers” said really “clucked” my life up!! Here is just one of the nasty tweets, “How depressing. Whatever would Daddy Warbucks say? There is no Daddy Warbucks any more. He's been replaced by Will Stacks, a telecommunications billionaire with mayoral ambitions, played by Jamie Foxx.” This is the kind of hate that these racist adults spewed in response to a little girl who won the role of Annie. SCARY!! The tweets got more brutal but I’m not gonna publish them because the negativity makes me sick to my stomach. However, you get the point. Oh, this ignorant, insensitive, idiot, #ConsequenceOfSound, bootleg writer, #AdrianeNeuenschwander wrote, “Within five not-so-subtle minutes, the new Annie is acknowledging the original film and shitting on its memory. I half-expected Jay-Z to pop up in the corner of the frame and yell, Kids, this ain’t your daddy’s Annie! It’s that brazenly crass.” That was her review??? She needs to lay on several couches!! NO, this ain’t your daddy’s Annie!! This is OUR daddy’s Annie!! BOOM!!

Racist people, who don’t like the fact that Annie was a little black girl in the foster care system, need to GET OVER IT!! Because as we know, there are plenty of little black children in foster care, so why not have a black girl play what’s very real in our community on the big screen!!?? However, instead of hating on that reality, racists need to focus on why “THEY” are ok with lies like Liz Taylor playing Cleopatra, who we all know is black!! Or why “THEY” are ok with the new Ridley Scott Biblical epic film, “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” starring an all white cast, about Egyptian culture?? REALLY? REALLY?? And when you do see a black person in the film, they’re playing servants, assassins and thieves. So instead of “THOSE” folks spending time bashing Annie, a movie of fiction, “THOSE” folks need to flip their iPhone cameras around to take a #Selfie, boycotting that truth-less, trash, Exodus!! #BoycottExodusMovie!!

It's Hard Knock Life: But Not For The Movie Annie!! Even after all of the racist reviews, Annie tied at $5 million dollars with The Hobbit at this Friday’s box office and came in third at $16 million dollars opening weekend, behind The Hobbit and Night at the Museum. PHENOMENOL!! The film’s success is largely due to the fact that kids don’t care if you’re black or white, they just like, what they like. So trust me, I’m not giving Annie a good review because I’m black. I don’t have a horse in the race, nor is Will, Jada or Jay-Z paying my healthcare, car note, insurance and rent!! LMFBAO!! This movie really is a family, friendly, fun, entertaining, inspiring, film, that will open up children’s minds to what’s possible!! And where I’m from, that’s what dreams are made of!! So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, it would be a perfect way, to end Christmas day.

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