This year at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, audiences listened to filmmakers as they told their vibrant stories in their own words. Allswell (**1/2) Three Brooklyn Latinx bond in this very charming family comedy drama. Screenwriters Elizabeth Rodriguez and Bob Snyder set the stage, and Snyder as the director pushes and pulls the characters around NYC’s biggest borough. The hub is […]
Elvis
(**1/2) Baz Luhrmann photobombs this Elvis portrait with over-extravagant filmmaking that dwarfs the iconic rock and roller. And that ain’t easy. The script, cowritten by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell and Craig Pearce (Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet), puts it all out there. Ambitious singer borrows heavily from R&B music, fuses it with up-tempo rock and twangy country […]
Black Life Goes Full Frame at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is back on track. In 2022 it offered both theater screenings (June 8th – 19th) and at-home TFF App-viewings too (up to June 26th). Festival premieres and parties were back in full swing, and images of Black life were everywhere. Feature films, documentaries, shorts, series… Aisha (***) For Aisha Osagie (Letitia Wright, Black Panther), a Nigerian […]
Hustle
(***) When comic actor Adam Sandler took on the challenging role of a diamond dealer in the gritty riveting film Uncut Gems, he crossed a chasm. It was as if he’d put his past behind him and was determined to become a multifaceted actor. Hustle proves that point. Sandler doesn’t overdo the basketball scout character of Stanley Sugarmen. […]
Top Gun: Maverick
(***1/2) Not sure what they paid Tom Cruise for making this Top Gun sequel. But whatever it was, it’s not enough. He carries this behemoth action/drama on his shoulders and well deserves a great big pay day. Back in 1986, cadets at a U.S. Navy elite fighter pilot school were rivals competing for respect. One upstart stood […]
The Takedown
Biracial buddy cop movies (e.g., Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon) aren’t a new phenomenon and could use a refresh. The genre gets a needed update with this French ebony/ivory crime story that’s novel due its unusual antagonists who are right-wing, antiimmigrant zealots. In this year’s French presidential election, the incumbent Emmanuel Macron, a moderate, beat his far-right and very xenophobic challenger Marine Le Pen. Clearly racism and the fear of […]
Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story
(***) You can bet on music’s healing power. New Orleans has played those odds for over 50 years with its renown jazz fest that mends spirits and brings all kinds of people together. Jazz festivals abound worldwide and quite often the term “Jazz” is just a catch-all for various music genres. Case in point, the […]
The Northman
Hell hath no fury like a Nordic prince wronged. That’s the premise of this 10th century Scandinavian revenge allegory. Deceit, murder and vengeance rain down in torrents. Once upon a time, King Rørik of Denmark appointed two brothers, Horwedil and Fengo, as the rulers of the peninsula of Jutland. Horwedil slayed the King of Norway, he […]
Paris 13th District
(***) If bed swapping was a sport, these French twentysomethings would be Olympic-caliber athletes. Millennials have infested Paris’13th arrondissement district. They walk down streets, chatting and philosophizing. It’s enough to make you wonder who they are, what they do and where they’re going. If your eyes focus on Émilie (Lucie Zhang), Camille (Makita Samba) and […]
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(**) She’s yanked, pushed and pulled. To here, there, everywhere. To times and places she couldn’t imagine. The very drably attired Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) owns and operates a laundromat with her nerdy looking husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). At least she thought he was her spouse. He may be […]
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