(****) If ever there was a need for a role model on how to run a country with compassion and strength, that time is now. And she’s the one. Something was very different about Labor Party member Jacinda Ardern. Right from the beginning of her tenure as opposition leader in 2017, she seemed gifted. Ardern’s […]
Omaha – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(**1/2) Ella, a scared little girl, asks, “Dad where are we going?” He cryptically replies, “Pretend there was a fire in the house. What would you take with you?” Next thing you now, they’re gone. Hard to imagine a crisis this devastating and the ensuing upheaval. Hard for audiences, but not for screenwriter Robert Machoian. Nor […]
East of Wall – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(**1/2) She’s a cowgirl and an Earth Mother. Living on 3000 acres in the Badlands of west South Dakota. Opening up her home and heart to wayward girls. She’s real. Tabatha Zimiga is a horse trainer. Her husband has died and now her extended family live on her ranch. Making ends meet by selling horses […]
André is an Idiot – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(***) “The greatest mistake I ever made?” “Not getting a colonoscopy when I turned 50!” A sense of regret haunts André Ricciardi as he wrestles with terminal cancer. He’s constantly rehashing the forks in the road and paths he didn’t take. As his “What ifs” amass, they make his cautionary tale more and more compelling. Add […]
Last Breath
(**1/2) “We’re going to be right in the middle of the storm,” says a concerned crew member. Something horrible could happen. Something tragic. The storyline in this feature film adaptation can be traced back to the 2019 British documentary Last Breath, directed by Alex Parkinson and Richard da Costa. And that doc used archival footage, audio, reconstruction […]
The Accidental Getaway Driver
(**1/2) It’s real. It happened. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time has consequences. This is what went down. One night in Southern California, Long Ma (Hiệp Trần Nghĩa), an elderly Vietnamese/American cab driver, is working a late-night shift and he picks up three passengers. They turn out to be escaped convicts. Tây […]
Speak – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(***) What does teenager Esther Oyetunji have in common with Oprah Winfrey, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Brad Pitt? They all were part of debate clubs. What does Oyetunji have that they don’t have? Two concurrent, Original Oratory championships at the National Speech & Debate Association’s (NSDA) competition. And she’s gunning for a third! This very illuminating […]
Seeds – 2025 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize
(***) Passing down generational and cultural wealth is the subject of this touching documentary about agrarian life. A chronicle that invites you into the homes and onto the fields of stalwart Black farmers. Nine years of recording in the deep American south has been sifted into 2h 3m of slow-moving, cinema verité style footage. Cinematographer […]
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(**1/2) “Disco is like the mom who gave birth to a couple of babies: Hip Hop and House Music.” If that’s the case, mom’s second child is getting its own bio. House music has been around since the 1970s, and most claim it originated in Chicago. In fact, an underground dance club called “Warehouse” is […]
Captain America: Brave New World
(***) He’s a Black superhero who can handle his business. A Captain America who puts villains in their place. At some point, Captain America, the Steve Rogers version with Chris Evans, passed his Vibranium shield to the new Captain America, played by Anthony Mackie. It was an easy transition with some key differences. The former […]
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