By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic Back in the day, The Twilight Zone did it right. Each episode started with an everyday routine, then it added a couple of wicked twists, and before you could say, “Rod Serling” things went completely askew. Argentinean writer/director Damian Szifron has that same knack, which he exhibits masterfully in […]
Grudge Match (***)
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic This is a charming and disarming geezer sports movie. Somewhat formulaic, but a lot of fun regardless. In fact, you may get so caught up in the moment you’ll celebrate your gray and throw your Grecian Formula away. The genesis of this AARPish story came from screenwriter Tim Kelleher […]
Mandela Long Walk to Freedom (***1/2)
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic You’d think the life and times of Nelson Mandela, the man who saved South Africa from the evils of apartheid, had already been thoroughly documented. However, that’s not the case. Sure the media covered the interminable prison sentence ended by worldwide economic/political pressure, the inauguration of South Africa’s first […]
Black Nativity
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic “When a mother bestows a name on her child, it reveals her hopes.” Black Nativity, a celebrated “gospel song-play” by acclaimed poet/novelist/playwright Langston Hughes, was first staged in the 1950s with Alvin Ailey and Carmen De Lavallade. Director/writer Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou) adapts that piece into a modern, urban […]
The Best Man Holiday (***)
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic Running into old friends often brings up mixed feelings. Fond recollections. Unfinished business. Bad memories. Petty rivalries. Insecurities. Unrequited love. That’s the range of emotions and dynamics in this follow-up film to the 1999 romantic comedy The Best Man. Fourteen years later this gaggle of educated, bourgeoisie friends still […]
An American Promise Shines at the 2013 New York Film Festival
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic As the New York Film Festival kicked off its 51st year, African heritage films were few and far between, but exceptional. 12 Years A Slave stole the spotlight as it leads the Oscar race for Best Picture. The thought-provoking documentaryAmerican Promise is the modern-day bookend to a movie like […]
THE BEST FILMS OF 2013
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic In a banner year for filmmaking, black films, filmmakers, screenwriters and actors thrived. You can enjoy their movies, and those of other people who showcased their talent in 2013, by hitting the theaters this holiday season or seeing films on DVD or VOD. 12 Years a Slave (****) – […]
Lee Daniel’s The Butler (****)
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic It’s about time. Finally a major-release film about the African American struggle for equality, told from a black man’s perspective. Why has it taken Hollywood (aka the film industry) so long to do the right thing? Eugene Allen served eight presidents, Truman to Reagan, over 36 years in various […]
Fruitvale Station (***1/2)
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic If you don’t live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you might only know the rudiments of this tragic event and subsequent upheaval: Black man, in handcuffs, shot in back by white police officer in Bay Area Rapid Transit train station. Protests. Riots. Unrest. This thoughtful, methodical and contemporary […]
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (**1/2)
By Dwight Brown NNPA Film Critic Kevin Hart is a diminutive comedian (5’2″) who carries a very big audience (60,000 fans during two sold out Madison Square Garden performances). Tiny in stature with a mouth the size of the Grand Canyon, he’s ready to conquer the world. And he does, somewhat, in 75 minutes of […]
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