Blacklisted author Millard Lampell’s Cantata “The Lonesome Train” tells us, “Freedom’s a thing that has no ending. It needs to be cared for; it needs defending.” Set in 1958 in Caroline County Virginia, Jeff Nichols’ (“Midnight Special”) Loving depicts one defense of freedom that is not as well known as it should be, the U.S….
In the past calendar year (or thereabouts), there have been at least four major boxing films, “Creed,” “Southpaw,” “Hands of Stone” and now Bleed for This. Written and directed by Ben Younger (“Prime”), his first effort in more than a decade, and produced by Martin Scorsese, it tells the story of Vinny Pazienza, professional boxer…
Lew Ayres, who starred in the classic 1931 anti-war film (and Best Picture Academy Award winner), “All Quiet on the Western Front,” was so affected by that movie, he became a conscientious objector and served as a medic in World War II (and was later to earn a Best Actor nomination for “Johnny Belinda”). Others…
Historical and even scientific truth can be merely the consensus agreed upon by those who presently have the power and influence to determine public opinion, or it can be based on evidence that has been tested in the laboratory, in debate, or in a court of law. Written by David Hare and based on the…
The great American poet Emily Dickinson wrote: “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality.” Whether or not Dickinson stopped for life, it kindly stopped for her and her immortality is enshrined in the legacy of the 1800 exquisite poems she left, only…
First of all, despite the title, The Birth of a Nation, this film is in no way connected to the 1915 silent classic directed by D. W. Griffith. Secondly, I was led to the “Confessions Of Nat Turner” (the real jailhouse interviews in 1831, not the 1967 William Styron novel) from an article in “The…
Indian filmmaker Mira Nair (“Amelia,” “New York, I Love You”) presents a rather uniquely touching, emotional and winning spirit in the coming-of-age biopic/sporting drama Queen of Katwe. Nair concocts an uplifting and personalized story of hope and adversity that should be profoundly inspiring especially for young females from all walks of life that face daily…
