It must have been two weeks of pure hell for First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. First there was November 22, 1963 to November 25, the time span between the assassination of her husband and his funeral. Then the days leading up to December 3, when she was pushed out of the White House. For […]
Saroo Brierley, a five-year old boy from a small town in India, got lost on a train ride, wound up at the massive Howrah Junction railway station in Calcutta and became an orphaned street kid. An Australian couple adopted him, but years later at age 25, his yearning for his birth family took him […]
Nearly 40 years ago Close Encounters of the Third Kind set the bar very high for sci-fi films that eschewed conventional all-out action sequences and garnered their strength from immense suspense, evocative visuals and mind-numbing mystery. Arrival is in that same elite category. Brainy. Intense. Scary. It joins a very exclusive club. The […]
For a long time it was a forbidden love. Through slavery, the reconstruction era, on into the 20th century, particularly in the South, interracial romantic relations were looked down on and marriages were illegal. Anti-miscegenation laws were on the books in 16 states below the Mason-Dixon line. Marry someone not of your race and face […]
New Orleans is such a culturally rich city. It’s no wonder its citizens love, support and attend the New Orleans Film Festival. Take their lead. Plan a vacation around NOFF and you can watch world premiere movies, scout out up-and-coming filmmakers and take advantage of all the fun activities the city has to offer. Places […]
The 2016 New Orleans Film Festival kicked off its 27th year by opening with the U.S. premiere of Rob Reiner’s new film LBJ. That genius bit of programming was due to the high quality of the presidential bio film and the fact that it was shot in New Orleans. LBJ started the fest that […]
In just his second feature film, writer/director Barry Jenkins tells a compelling story about sexual repression and ambiguity through the eyes of a vulnerable and confused little boy, who grows up to question his sexual identity as a teen and then finds a thin measure of serenity as a young man. Based on […]
Has success spoiled Kevin Hart? Forbes Magazine lists him as 2016’s highest paid comedian with an annual income of $87.5 million, from June 1 2015, to June 1 2016. Unlike many of his cohorts (Jerry Seinfeld, etc.) Hart makes lots of his income from live performances in large stadiums where he can earn $1 million […]
Finally a filmmaker unearths one of the biggest secrets in American history: slave revolts. It’s a lesson rarely mentioned in history books, though it’s common knowledge to anyone who has taken a black history course. Kudos to actor-turned-director Nate Parker for shepherding this ambitious project from the kernel of an idea to the completion […]
The New York Film Festival celebrates its 54th year by trying something new. For the first time in history, its Opening Night World Premiere will be a documentary. Even more noteworthy, this non-fiction film is by director Ava DuVernay (Selma) and it focuses on America’s deep problem with its criminal justice/penal system and […]