The superhero genre is accused of many things. Politically, it is described as conservative, reactionary and downright fascist. The genre has a tendency towards being white male centric, with exceptions like “Wonder Woman” and “Black Panther” highlighting rather than resolving the problem. As the Marvel and DC franchises have become more popular, studios opt for…
The second of his 12 plays dramatizing the Black experience in America during the twentieth century, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a haunting and powerful experience that focuses on Gertrude “Ma Rainey” (Viola Davis, “Widows”), known as “The Mother of the Blues,” one of the first popular Black blues singers to gain acceptance…
Critically acclaimed filmmaker Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) makes his triumphant return in the form of the modern crime thriller Widows, a film that is as familiar to McQueen’s drama heavy filmography as it is opposing to the historically driven stories he’s become internationally recognized for. Carried by one of the more commanding female…
Two powerful lead performances drive Fences, a tale about a black family living in Pittsburgh during the mid-1950s, that, while the overall experience is mostly negative, the impact is nonetheless a powerful and emotional undertaking. The screenplay is adapted from the 1983 Pulitzer Prize winning play by the late August Wilson, which was revived in…
The DC Extended Cinematic Universe continues. In what seems to be the penultimate comic book movie of the year, David Ayer (“End of Watch,” “Fury”) has the task of selling an unknown quantity to mass audiences, while also following the path of the controversial “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” I have the good fortune…
Even bad guys can be “good.” And a lot of them can do more “good.” Or so that’s the thought a clandestine government agency has and why they dreamed up putting together a team of supervillains to do their bidding. What precisely they’ll be doing in the upcoming Suicide Squad isn’t yet known but it…
From its opening images of our planet illuminated by technology, to a remarkable long take that takes the viewer through the inner operation and impact of computer processing, Blackhat hooks the viewer both emotionally and intellectually. The film delivers an enthralling rendering of both the macro and micro scale of our interconnected digital world, offering…
