The reliable ‘Disney Magic’ formula is in place but given an appropriate shot in the arm with the studio’s visually flamboyant, culturally expansive newest, Raya and the Last Dragon. It is a welcome return of fan favorite Kelly Marie Tran, who had largely disappeared from public view after harassment by misogynistic Star Wars fan boys. In the …
You may wonder if there is only one white person in Coming 2 America’s cast, if the movie is for you. Well, hopefully you don’t wonder, but revel in a rare example, even in 2021, of a film that centers Black performers. Hopefully you have already read reviews on this new release from Black film journalists. …
“Instead of patronizing me, why don’t you give me an interview.” This is the sort of fearless response offered by one of the intrepid female reporters from the Indian newspaper Khabar Lahariya (Waves of News), which was started and is entirely run by Dalit women. The Dalit caste is considered the lowest, or ‘untouchable’ societal group in …
Is In the Same Breath, a film about the rise of COVID-19, a documentary or a horror film? The answer is it’s both, but it’s also a fascinating chronicle of what actually happened inside Wuhan, and how both the Chinese and American people experienced the outbreak. In it, documentary director/producer Nanfu Wang exposes the misinformation spread …
I was unprepared for how beautiful and heartwarming Nikole Beckwith’s Together Together is, so I’m preparing you. Writer/director Nikole Beckwith brought her feature film debut to Sundance in 2015 with Stockholm, Pennsylvania, which starred Saoirse Ronan, and it got rave reviews. Now she returns with her second feature, and Together Together deserves equal attention. From the very first frames, the …
From the first notes of the catchy, joyful theme, people recognize the classic show Sesame Street. Through the years, it has captivated and educated kids of all ages. With the new film Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, documentary filmmaker Marilyn Agrelo takes viewers through the development and success of the classic tv show, focusing …
It seems like the opening documentary at Sundance is always meant to bring joy and inspiration. Last year it was Crip Camp, and this year it’s Harlem Cultural Festival’s directorial debut, Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could not Be Televised). The film is made up of a lot of concert footage that’s been sitting somewhere …
In the Earth is a cinematic cautionary tale that suggests getting back to nature can be more dangerous than a pandemic, and encountering a seemingly friendly, hermetic forest-dweller can be more dangerous still. In between filming a reimagining of the Hitchcock classic Rebecca and his upcoming high profile productions, filmmaker Ben Wheatley was inspired by the unsatisfying experience …
Crowd-pleasers are always de rigeuer the first day of Sundance, but as it trundles on, a daily load of 4 to 6 intense movies can take its toll. Therefore, in every Sundance schedule one needs a few palate cleansers from the heavy, albeit important documentaries, the Terence Malick-inspired, impressionistic indies, the dramas examining grief and …
Somber chamber drama Mass, actor Fran Kranz’s writing and directing debut about two sets of parents dealing and confronting each other after the loss of their sons in a mass shooting is a very tough watch. It teeters at the edge but never crosses the border into grief porn, and that’s to the credit of the …
