Tourists flock to Aruba, a Caribbean island 19 miles off the coast of South America, for the pristine, white-sand shoreline and placid, clear waters. But when you consider the island’s culture, history, nightlife, restaurants, sports and dramatic desert terrain, alluring beaches are just the opening act. >> Read More
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic It’s like watching 10,000 Oprah Winfrey shows squeezed into 134 minutes – and no one gets a free car! Some works of art should just be left alone. Would you paint a wider smile on the Mona Lisa? Would you add a break dancing routine to Alvin Ailey’s Revelations? […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic “Just letting you know, we’re going to run this b—- down!” Runaway Train, Speed, we’ve seen out of control behemoth vehicles before and for some reason we fall for the heart-palpitating notion of innocent people being killed by an uncontrollable force. Granted Unstoppable doesn’t break the mold, but it’s […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic Filmmaker Todd Phillips wrote and directed The Hangover, the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. It won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical. “The Hangover” had it all: shocking debauchery, sardonic comic performances (Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Ed Helms), eccentric cameos […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic In years past Black films from the U.S. were prominent at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Secret Live Of Bees, in 2008. Precious…, in 2009. In 2010, Black American films were noticeably absent. However, films about black life in Africa shined bright. These dispatches from the motherland, along […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic Whatever Angelina Jolie was paid for starring in this nail-biting action thriller, she deserved each and every million. She’s the first woman to command an action movie, on this level, since Sigourney Weaver in Aliens or Anne Parillaud in La Femme Nikita. The script by “Tomas Crown Affair” scribe […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic “The seed we plant in this man’s mind will come to define him.” Deep sleep leaves us all vulnerable. That weakened altered subconscious state is where Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a thought thief, does his dirty work. He insinuates himself into the dreams of CEOs, extracting secrets, committing new […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic There are certainties in life. We live. We die. All of us experience the loss of a loved one, and what better setting for a laugh-out-loud comedy than a funeral? Everyone can relate to the universal stress of this end-of-life ritual, which is only compounded by the tension in […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child…” The gift of life is examined through the eyes of three women. Three disparate souls haunted by their past, living life today teetering on emotional eggshells and apprehensive about their future. History binds them. Destiny sets them on a precarious course, falling […]
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic Sometimes it’s best just to leave a classic film alone… 26 years have passed since Ralph Macchio played a transplanted teen from New Jersey who relocated to California with his single mom, encountered some bullies, was taught how to fight and win a karate competition by a noble handyman/martial […]