(**) It is written. Making a befuddling satire is a sin and mixing pageantry with ambiguity is not the next coming. That’s why The Book of Clarence flounders. This story of Jesus’s final days riffs off the many Hollywood interpretations that came before it. From 1927’s The King of Kings by Cecile B DeMille to 2004’s The Passion of the […]
Lift
(**1/2) Any film that begins with an elaborate, broad daylight heist deserves viewers’ attention. It’s what comes between that intro and the film’s adrenalin-pumping final hour that may give Netflix audiences reasons to take a refrigerator break. Comedian and comic actor Kevin Hart tries to ditch his funny, smart-mouth persona to play a suave international […]
Society of the Snow
(***) “If I die, I give you permission to feed on my body.” Sounds like the opening line of a cheesy vampire movie. Instead, it’s the turning point in a based-on-fact drama that pits men against the elements and their only weapons are ingenuity, an unflagging will to survive and courage. In 1972, a Uruguayan […]
Good Grief
(**1/2) A tepid rom/com/dra usually breeds ambivalence. That’s the case here. There are chuckles, whimsy, flirtations and tragic twists. But in the end, though entertaining and breezy, nothing cuts as deep as it should. Comic actor/showrunner/writer/producer/director Daniel Levy was laugh-out-loud funny on his Emmy-winning series Schitt’s Creek. As a family went from great wealth to abject poverty in […]
9 New Black-Owned Restaurants To Visit In 2024
Black chefs and restaurateurs are creating new dishes, reinventing traditional ones and preserving the classics. See for yourself. My article on Essence.com will show you the way. Click here.
10 BEST FILMS 2023
As 2023 ends, this year’s best films are vying for awards that will crescendo with the Oscar® race. Film fans don’t have to watch from the sidelines. They can join the fun and view them all in theaters, VOD or on streaming services. Pictures, directors, screenwriters, actors and behind the lens talent have given their […]
Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé
(***) Mother/wife, CEO and performer. Beyoncé knows who she is. Now the rest of the world will too. Just like her BeyHive, a fan club that she showers with love and devotion: “My heart is full. My soul is full.” The Destiny’s Child lead singer has some news. She’s grown as a solo artist. From […]
Napoleon
(**1/2) It’s hard to be a fearless leader and a little cuckhold at the same time. It’s enough to give a man a Napoleon complex. The first question Francophiles will ask is why are a British director of Oscar-winning epics (Ridley Scott, Gladiator) and an American character actor (Joaquin Phoenix, Joker) collaborating on a bio/war film about […]
8 Black-Owned Restaurants That Throw Down For Thanksgiving So You Don’t Have To
When it comes to preparing for a Thanksgiving Day dinner, get somebody else to do it. Black chefs around the country have mouthwatering food ready so you can relax on turkey day. Read full story on Essence.com: Click here.
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
(***) “A lot of things I don’t remember, I choose not to remember. I make up the rest. That’s what storytelling is all about,” says poet/writer/activist/educator Nikki Giovanni. In this very enlightening homage, by documentarians Joe Brewster and Michéle Stephenson, the icon and intellectual gets the respect she deserves. Years of speaking truths, reflecting on […]
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