Now Playing In Your Living Room: “John Lewis: Good Trouble” Is a Fitting Tribute To a True American Hero
JULY 20, 2020 John Lewis, who died on Friday at the age of 80, was a real-life American hero. I don’t use a word like that lightly, but Lewis…
African-American
Now Playing in Your Living Room : “Becoming” Offers Us a Glimpse of the Michelle Obama That We All Know Is There
MAY 18, 2020 I was reading the New York Times online the other day and noticed that this coming week, Michelle Obama’s memoir “Becoming” has climbed to #2 on…
Now Playing in Your Living Room: Mackie & Jackson Team Up to Bring Life to the Mediocre “The Banker”
APRIL 2, 2020 The real-life drama, “The Banker,” is Apple TV+’s first foray into motion picture production, and like most of the programming I’ve seen so far on the…
Now Playing In Your Living Room: Eddie Murphy Returns and Rules in “Dolemite Is My Name”
DECEMBER 23, 2019 Watching Eddie Murphy’s brilliant hosting job this past weekend on “Saturday Night Live,” I was reminded his great return to movies this fall in the comedy…
It Took Over Four Decades to Reach the Screen, But “Amazing Grace” Was Worth the Wait
APRIL 5, 2019 It took 47 years to reach theaters, but the documentary “Amazing Grace” is sheer musical bliss. Originally shot in 1972 at a two-night recording session held…
“Green Book” Is a Film That Could Have Challenged Audiences But Is Content With Pandering To Them Instead
DECEMBER 3, 2018 The biggest bonfire currently raging among the nation’s film critics is over the qualities (or lack thereof) of the latest strong Oscar contender, “Green Book.” Don’t…
“The Hate U Give” May Focus on a Police Shooting, But Its Heart Is With The People Left Behind
OCTOBER 24, 2018 Director George Tillman, Jr. has made a beauty of a film in “The Hate U Give.” There may be the word “hate” in the title,…
Spike Lee Doesn’t Need a Comeback, But Still, “BlacKkKlansman” Is One Terrific Movie
AUGUST 9, 2018 What’s most exciting about Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” is not necessarily the storyline, although the real-life story of undercover cop Ron Stallworth is fascinating. It’s that Spike…
Boots Riley’s “Sorry To Bother You” Is a Sharp Social Satire That Morphs Into Something Else Entirely
AUGUST 6, 2018 A number of critics of critics have compared Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” to Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning “Get Out,” a comparison that is not fair…
Director Ava DuVernay Swings For the Fences, But “A Wrinkle in Time” Is Only a Bloop Single
MARCH 29, 2018 After creating two of the most challenging films in the past four years about African-American history, Ava DuVernay would seem to be able to direct almost…
