The new film by Oscar-nominated director Barry Jenkins plays right into the New York Film Festival’s style guide. If Beale Street Could Talk is a lushly created, gorgeously crafted work of art. At times the style outweighs the storyline, but most people looking for art films won’t care. The same can be said about a lot […]
The phrase “The Hate U Give Little Infants F—s Everybody” gave the hip-hop group T-H-U-G-L-I-F-E its name. The sentiment fromTupac Shakur (and other group members, Big Syke, Stretch, Mopreme Shakur, The Rated R and Macadoshis) was that the kids you ignore or deride turn into young people who will be a stone in your shoe. […]
It’s a match made in heaven. Well maybe Atlanta, that’s where this film was shot. Kevin Hart, the rich, diminutive comic heavyweight shares the silver screen with the breakout star and his former protégé, the very cray cray Tiffany Haddish. There’s a great potential for outrageous, sidesplitting humor and for the most part the duo lives […]
For 43 years the Toronto International Film Festival has been the epicenter of the film industry. This year at TIFF, 500,000 filmgoers previewed the highest quality films in the world before they are shown at their local theaters. Many movie lovers come to Toronto, home to 2.5 million people from 200 distinct ethnic backgrounds, for […]
Nearly 500,000 film lovers flocked to the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival screening over 250 films from 80 countries. Artistry and diversity, the hallmarks of TIFF, were on view. Black artists, filmmakers and films were a key part of the soiree. Big budget movies, small indie films, documentaries and shorts filled out the innovative programming. […]
It’s been 25 years since Wayne Wang directed the winsome romantic drama The Joy Luck Club. That’s the last time a large American studio gave a major theatrical release to a film with an Asian cast. It’s been too long of a wait. But if there’s going to be a breakthrough, the auspicious debut of […]
HBO’s OZ set the bar high for views of prison life. Few convict TV series or movies have approached that rarified level until A Prayer Before Dawn took this twisted trip to a hellish penal institution in Thailand. In Bangkok, young British boxer Billy Moore (Joe Cole) fights both opponents and personal demons. He has better luck with his […]
You just can’t make this stuff up! A black detective infiltrates the white racist Ku Klux Klan. When? Where? Why? How? If you want to know the details and want to be entertained while you catch up on this bit of Americana history, just set aside 2h 14min and watch this screen adaptation of the […]
Intimate portraits of young siblings are rarely this raw and authentic. There is something special and magnetic about the relationship between this orphaned 18-year-old black girl and her supportive 10-year-old sister. Actress turned director Jordana Spiro (best known for Netflix series Ozark) co-wrote the script for Night Comes On with Angelica Nwandu. Their story follows […]
Bigger. Better. Badass. By now you know what to expect from Mission: Impossible movies. Daredevil action scenes. Breakneck speeds. Cunning espionage. Inventive direction. Top production quality. Spot-on performances. Mission: Impossible — Fallen doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It just ups the ante, intensifies all the elements and makes everything look bigger—like you’re looking at life through […]