Fast and Furious/Summer of Soul

Vin Diesel is unlikely to ever win an Academy Award for his acting, but he is totally convincing as he drives cars in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise. In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano discuss the latest installment, "F9," in which his character goes up against some world domination-oriented bad guys and also makes a pit stop to repair a fractured relationship with a brother played by John Cena. Although Mike is hardly a fan of this noisy franchise, he agrees with Marie that it is fun watching action sequences that defy the laws of physics. Turning to something entirely different, Marie and Mike also talk about what they both call a must-see music documentary, "Summer of Soul." It has terrific footage from a series of concerts held in a park in Harlem in 1969, as well as fresh interviews in which performers and audience members look back at that culturally important event. The performers include Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder,  B.B. King, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Fifth Dimension and the Edwin Hawkins Singers. Wow!