Nearly 40 years ago Close Encounters of the Third Kind set the bar very high for sci-fi films that eschewed conventional all-out action sequences and garnered their strength from immense suspense, evocative visuals and mind-numbing mystery. Arrival is in that same elite category. Brainy. Intense. Scary. It joins a very exclusive club. The […]
Loving
For a long time it was a forbidden love. Through slavery, the reconstruction era, on into the 20th century, particularly in the South, interracial romantic relations were looked down on and marriages were illegal. Anti-miscegenation laws were on the books in 16 states below the Mason-Dixon line. Marry someone not of your race and face […]
New Orleans: Touring Around During the 2016 Film Festival
New Orleans is such a culturally rich city. It’s no wonder its citizens love, support and attend the New Orleans Film Festival. Take their lead. Plan a vacation around NOFF and you can watch world premiere movies, scout out up-and-coming filmmakers and take advantage of all the fun activities the city has to offer. Places […]
2016 New Orleans Film Festival – A Melting Pot of Quality Films
The 2016 New Orleans Film Festival kicked off its 27th year by opening with the U.S. premiere of Rob Reiner’s new film LBJ. That genius bit of programming was due to the high quality of the presidential bio film and the fact that it was shot in New Orleans. LBJ started the fest that […]
Moonlight
In just his second feature film, writer/director Barry Jenkins tells a compelling story about sexual repression and ambiguity through the eyes of a vulnerable and confused little boy, who grows up to question his sexual identity as a teen and then finds a thin measure of serenity as a young man. Based on […]
Kevin Hart: What Now?
Has success spoiled Kevin Hart? Forbes Magazine lists him as 2016’s highest paid comedian with an annual income of $87.5 million, from June 1 2015, to June 1 2016. Unlike many of his cohorts (Jerry Seinfeld, etc.) Hart makes lots of his income from live performances in large stadiums where he can earn $1 million […]
The Birth of a Nation
Finally a filmmaker unearths one of the biggest secrets in American history: slave revolts. It’s a lesson rarely mentioned in history books, though it’s common knowledge to anyone who has taken a black history course. Kudos to actor-turned-director Nate Parker for shepherding this ambitious project from the kernel of an idea to the completion […]
The 13th, Ava DuVernay’s Enlightening Documentary, Opens 2016 New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival celebrates its 54th year by trying something new. For the first time in history, its Opening Night World Premiere will be a documentary. Even more noteworthy, this non-fiction film is by director Ava DuVernay (Selma) and it focuses on America’s deep problem with its criminal justice/penal system and […]
Denial
There are points in time when free speech, facts, passion and history collide. It happened in real life to Deborah Esther Lipstadt, an American historian and lecturer who holds a Ph.D. in Jewish History. Her personal and professional challenge stems from an entanglement in a British libel trial involving the history of the Holocaust […]
The Magnificent Seven
In the original 1960s The Magnificent Seven, seven gunfighters assembled to help a Mexican peasant village fight off villains. That’s the basic premise. This 2016 version is an update that blends old classic Westerns with a new Western genre. What’s on view in this kick-ass cowboy movie are solid production elements, alpha male acting, […]
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