#leonrobinson

[producer9-0]

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Lol😂🤣😂😜😂 “JESS WITH THE MESS” #jesswiththemess #jesshilarious #nickcannon #brittanybell #cynthiabailey #leonrobinson #lisaraye #treysongz #dabrat #bustarhymes #richthekid #kanye #theshaderoom TAG A FRIEND (wig from @terristylez ) Reposted from @jesshilarious_official https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQLpXGlv5e/?igshid=1l6ci2elzzafk

[doomonfilm]

Favorites : Above the Rim (1994)

In the mid-1990s, there was an interesting era where the NBA was reaching heights of popularity it had yet to experience, and by extension, the entire basketball culture was booming, including streetball.  The first And1 Mixtape wouldn’t drop for several more years, but a slew of basketball movies hit the theaters right around that time, and of all films that dropped, the undisputed cult classic right out the gate was Above the Rim.  Although I’ve seen this movie easily twenty or thirty times, it’d been long enough that I got excited when I found it on HBOMax, so I had to jump in on a viewing purely on the strength of nostalgia.

High school basketball phenom Kyle Lee Watson (Duane Martin) has hopes of moving on to Georgetown to continue his career, but a bad attitude and a lack of patience threaten his chances.  The waters become murkier when childhood friend Bugaloo (Marlon Wayans) returns home from prison with a major opportunity : a spot on a team in the ShootOut tournament coached by local knucklehead and hustler Birdie (Tupac Shakur).  Kyle quickly finds himself fascinated by the fast life, but the presence of Birdie’s older brother (and former high school basketball star) Thomas “Shep” Sheppard (Leon Robinson) keeps Kyle tethered, even if only loosely.  The fragile trust between Shep and Kyle is fractured when Shep and Mailika Watson (Tonya Pinkins), Kyle’s mother, become romantically involved.  At the behest of Mailika, Shep and Coach Mike Rollins (David Bailey), Kyle’s coach, Kyle dives headlong into Birdie’s world, spending his spare time with Birdie, Motaw (Wood Harris) and Bugaloo, which quickly leads him down a regretfully dangerous path towards destruction.

Above the Rim does an amazing job of providing serviceable amounts of basketball and hood film without committing itself too far in either aspect.  The basketball scenes are kinetic on both the high school court and the blacktop, but are not so didactic that they become slaves to continuity.  By contrast, we are given more of a general set of highlights, with choreography given to specific sequences in order to correlate the court drama with the personal drama, but anyone with a critical eye can easily pick out repeat sequences or footage… in my mind, it seems that director Jeff Pollack was looking to capture a certain feeling more so than provide authentic basketball.  As far as the hood aspects go, there is certainly a sense of danger and despair that can be felt, but the film doesn’t exploit or dwell on those moments.  Most of the violence is either suggested or off-screen, and while we do see a number of weapons brandished, when they’re used they do not result in cinematic blood and gore.

Maybe I was too young and lacked life experience back in the day, but it wasn’t until this viewing that Shep’s post-traumatic stress disorder became recognizable to me.  To see your life transition from stardom to incarceration before you graduate high school would be an incredibly jarring life transition, and to have it be centered around the accidental death of your best friend (that you get blamed for) would be devastating.  While the relationship between Shep and Kyle is a mentorship of sorts, Shep’s true motivation for pushing Kyle is to absolve himself of the torture he puts himself through by replaying his game with Nutso on a nightly basis.  It’s funny how it works like that in film… as a young, basketball playing teenager with enough skill to back up my talk, it was Kyle’s journey through high school and the ShootOut tournament that held my attention.  As a forty year old man with a lifetime’s worth of loss behind me, however, I saw Shep’s story in an entirely new light that captivated me.

As mentioned previously, the basketball captured on-screen has enough style points to cover for the lack of continuity or authenticity, and even a casual basketball fan or layman will have no trouble understanding what is going on at any given moment.  New York is always a strong setting for a film, and seeing that a portion of the film deals with the street basketball culture, it makes the locale a proper choice.  Time has put the soundtrack choices under an interesting lens, with the proliferation of Dogg Pound songs still banging like the classics they are, despite feeling odd via their placement in a New York-based film.  Pollack keeps the story purposefully simple in order to keep the narrative momentum moving at a rate similar to the kinetic nature of the basketball scenes.  The casting was high quality, especially on the antagonist side.  

Duane Martin had a handful of television appearances under his belt, as well as an extremely memorable role in White Men Can’t Jump, but Above the Rim marked his first casting as a leading man, and he channeled every bit of youthful, wide-eyed naivety that he could to embody the fish lost in deep waters that was Kyle Watson.  Marlon Wayans kept his comedic touches, but took the first steps into the dramatic world that would later be captured in all their glory for Requiem for a Dream.  Tupac Shakur was already a household name, but his role as Birdie showed that his real life thug persona could be channeled and focused into a truly menacing character, similar to his appearance in Juice as Bishop.  Leon Robinson pulls out all of his leading man cards by being the strong, silent type with a deeply haunting past.  Wood Harris made the biggest blip on my radar with his loose cannon machismo, which he would later refine for his iconic role as Avon Barksdale.  Bernie Mac makes a couple of brief but memorable cameo appearances, serving as the emotional gut punch that drives home Birdie’s evil.  David Bailey and Tonya Pinkins step up with strong supporting roles, and appearances by Shawn Michael Howard, Henry Simmons, Michael Rispoli, James Williams and cameos by Bill Raftery and John Thompson fill things out.

It used to crack me up how much TNT would show this film after whatever slate of NBA games happened on any given night, but perhaps that is a testament to the strength that Above the Rim possesses.  Even the best masterpieces only have a certain level of return value to them, but I found myself just as captivated by my 2021 revisit to the film as I did nearly 30 years ago when it first appeared.

[stefanoreves]

Straight from my childhood movies list: Cool runnings. Prints available on #illustrationstefano in #etsyshops #coolrunnings #quattrosottozero #disneyplus #disneypictures #johncandy #leonrobinson #jamaica #jamaicabobsled #jamaicabobsledteam #winterolympics #winterolympics88 #olympicgames #bobsleigh #bobsled #winterolympicgames #olimpiadi #olympics #calgary #calgary88 (presso Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKEgSREh7Wc/?igshid=1mltd5lqcu0tc

[jamesvirgodo]

You know you the shit act at a craft in the entertainment industry when people don’t even need to know the last name and when your name comes up they automatically know who you are. The one and only, Leon. Leon is another famous actor/singer.  He comes across as a suave soft spoken gentleman but it’s clear he studies the craft of acting and takes it extremely serious. It comes across that Leon just handles his business and goes home I don’t hear about him in the media ever, he really don’t do press runs looking for unnecessary ways to bring  attention to himself I think that’s rare in the entertainment industry. His standout role that made me an instant fan was his portrayal of David Ruffin (one of my favorite singers) in the Temptations Series. Leon made the movie, he was tapped in embodying the spirit of David Ruffin.  Saying arguably the most iconic line in movie history that wasn’t even in the script , solely based off improve, “Aient Nobody Coming To See You Otis”. That line hit hard for me because my last job I had an assistant manger name Otis, I couldn’t stand that son of a bitch because he was always doing the most thinking he was running something he wasn’t even the Boss lmao. But anyway, what I admire the most about Leon is it takes a certain type of energy to provide classic moments and become a consistent standout performer in every role. Leon represents God Level Genius as a legendary actor. Comment your favorite movie from Leon below @wwwjustleon The Genius Is In You! #GodLevelGenius #Actor #Singer #TheTemptations #TheFiveHeartbeats #AboveTheRim #Genius #GodBody #DavidRuffin #LittleRichard #CoolRunnings #BlackExcellence #LivingLegend #Acting #Leon #LeonRobinson #Pisces #JustLeon #Producer #Director #Writer https://www.instagram.com/p/CAjHAXDgrSS/?igshid=6gr5w6wbgxqc

[sonrize561]

Michael Wright Vs Leon Robinson. Who you with? Don't just like the post, choose 1! #michaelwright #versus #leonrobinson #actors #Sonrizemusic www.Sonrizemusic.net https://www.instagram.com/p/B59PTTChdsn/?igshid=vo3pw7kfcn3g

[hollaatbrothad]

Shout out my brother @wwwjustleon ... 👌🏾💯 #brodeezytaughtme #leonrobinson https://www.instagram.com/p/B4te7X6gdV1/?igshid=1eoy98asm3ms4

[m4pr-mel]

#latergram: Tonight’s clients at #LAFF: The Indie Pilot Series - #40AndSingle by @leiladjansi w/ cast: @mirandambailey, @joselyn_dumas, #Leon (#LeonRobinson), @nikkisamonas, & @imvanessawilliams. #LosAngelesFilmFestival #PublicistLife #EventLife #IndieFilm #indiefilmmaker #indietv (at ArcLight Cinemas Culver City) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoLDRebA9jI/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1lp6g071jhcar

[blackwomenarepoppin]

#LeonRobinson x #Estelle

[atlien]

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#RHOA Cynthia Bailey’s Daughter Noelle Graduates High School… (PHOTOS) https://t.co/BAHnSlINVn Noelle Robinson, the daughter of actor Leon Robinson and super model Cynthia Bailey of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, recently celebrated her high school graduation. Read full post on StraightFromTheA.com (LINK IN BIO) - https://t.co/BAHnSlINVn #straightfromthea #atlien #atlanta #cynthiabailey #leonrobinson #noellerobinson #graduation #classof2017 #congrats #congratsgrad 👩🏽‍🎓🎓✨

[gold3nlov3-blog]

This is my show.... #thefiveheartbeats #mood #wednesday #humpday #netflix #roberttownsend #michaelwright #leonrobinson #harryjlennix #ticowells #haroldnicholas

[jenashpee-blog]

Guess what Netflix gave me for Black History Month? They put the Five Heartbeats on their streaming service. I am ready to sing along to all of the amazing songs. #TheFiveHeartbeats #band #singers #RobertTownsend #DonaldDuckMatthews #Duck #JTMatthews #movie #narrator #LeonRobinson #MichaelWright #EddieKane #EddieCain EddieKingJr#TicoWells #choirboy #AnthonyChoirBoyStone #HarryJLennix #TerrenceDresserWilliams #dresser #choreographer #DiahannCarroll #EleanorPotter #flash #JohnCanadaTerrell #MichaelFlashTurner #RoyFegan #Bird #ErnestSargeJohnson #sarge #BigRedDavis #bigred #HawthorneJames #ChuckPatterson #JimmyPotter#HaroldNicholas #TroyBeyer #Baby Doll#TheresaRandle #Brenda

[theslaymagazine]

Awww She Will Forever Be Daddy's Little Girl ❤❤❤❤❤❤ Leon With His Gorgeous Daughter Noelle Slaying A Workout Together. 😩😩😩 @wwwjustleon - workouts w/ @wwwjustleon 🥇💗 ™@noellerobinson #daddysgirl #aspenmeadows #theslaymagazine #familyslay #father #daughter #daddyandme #leonrobinson #noellerobinson @charlynichole

[atlien]

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#RHOA RECAP: S9, Ep4 ‘Another Spin Around The Block’... https://t.co/QW9GYFPVO6 The Real Housewives of Atlanta aired the 4th episode of it’s 9th season last night (November 27, 2016). This week’s episode is appropriately titled, ‘Another Spin Around the Block’ as we are once again introduced to Kandi’s baby daddy drama, Russell ‘Block’ Spencer. Bravo synopsis: "Phaedra focuses on uniting the group for a worthy cause, but charity takes a backseat when Kenya and Shereé go at it once again. Meanwhile, Cynthia’s daughter makes her modeling debut. Bob finally takes Shereé out on a romantic date, and Kandi is taken aback by an unexpected phone call that sends her into an emotional tailspin." Read recap + watch full episode on straightfromthea.com - https://t.co/QW9GYFPVO6 #straightfromthea #atlien #atlanta #kandiburruss #shereewhitfield #cynthiabailey #porshawilliams #kenyamoore #phaedraparks #rhoa9 #bobwhitfield #lenachenier #leonrobinson