by Tim Gordon
As the year winds toward its last frame, this week’s Keeping It Reel with FilmGordon becomes something deeper than a movie conversation.
It becomes a moment of remembrance. A moment of gratitude. A moment to honor two towering Black cultural giants who shaped the sound and the screen: Dr. Richard Smallwood, the Maestro of modern gospel, and Isiah Whitlock Jr., one of our most distinctive and beloved character actors. Their passings cast a long and reflective shadow over this final episode of 2025.
Richard Smallwood’s music didn’t just sit on a page. It breathed. It lifted. It wrapped itself around the wounded and the weary like a warm choir robe. From “Total Praise” to “The Center of My Joy,” Smallwood created hymns that felt like revival in stereo. His compositions were cathedral architecture built from chords. They were scripture made melodic. They were sanctuary for millions. On this week’s show, we honor not just his catalog, but the comfort he offered to listeners who needed healing when the world felt too heavy.
We also celebrate the life of Whitlock, a master of tone whose performances could swing from sly humor to political gravitas with effortless precision. Whether you knew him as Senator Clay Davis on The Wire, as a scene-stealer in comedies like Cedar Rapids, or as a dramatic force in Spike Lee joints like Da 5 Bloods, Whitlock brought presence to every project. His unmistakable voice and his generosity as an actor made him a fan favorite and a staple across film and television.
But as we honor the past, we also look to the cinematic futures waiting just beyond the calendar page. The episode previews one of 2026’s most anticipated studio events: Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday. With the multiverse collapsing, old heroes returning, and new alliances teased, speculation is already running hotter than a Wakandan forge.
And for moviegoers seeking something right now, the holiday slate is bursting with bold choices. Josh Safdie return with Marty Supreme, a fever-bright character study starring Timothée Chalamet as a table tennis prodigy spiraling under the weight of his own ambition. Meanwhile, James Cameron drops audiences back into Pandora with Avatar: Fire and Ash, a volcanic expansion of Na’vi lore that pushes the boundaries of visual filmmaking yet again. And for those craving something rooted in music and emotion, Song Sung Blue delivers a heartfelt, bittersweet melody of reinvention, pain, and performance.
It’s remembrance. It’s cinema. It’s celebration. And it’s the perfect send-off for a year filled with seismic stories on and off the screen.
As we close the book on 2025, Keeping It Reel reminds us of something simple and powerful: art endures. Legacies echo. And the reel keeps turning.
