Reviews

It’s not easy to translate an August Wilson play to the silver screen, yet noted theater veteran George C. Wolfe does his utmost from a tight-knit setting in this joyous, as well as wrenching, inspired music-infused historical fiction.  Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom features Chadwick Boseman (21 Bridges) and Viola Davis (an Oscar winner for the […]

Florian Zeller directs and adapts his often-produced play with Christopher Hampton (Atonement) in a way that might seem restricted by its origin.  Though an operatic score burrows into secrets and can be a status and personality indicator.  Yet, The Father can be a surprisingly moving, as well as discordant path through memory and time.  It […]

An intriguing variation on Spike lee’s BlacKKKlansman is this passionate, evocative true-life account bookended by a PBS special over three decades ago.  Life that film there’s also an eerie epilogue that makes for timely provocation.  Judas and the Black Messiah stars Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield (both in Jordan Peele’s breakout hit Get Out) and […]

Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon provides another vibrant, distinctive experience in drawing from myth in capping a trilogy – after The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea. Wolfwalkers in its character expression, use colors and attention to detail would get high recognition from stalwarts like those behind Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke for […]

This mid-19th Century tale of forbidden romance can be striking from a visual sense but tedious from a narrative one where dialogue can seem awkward at times.  Being inspired to emerge from a repressed state is noticeable in The World To Come presented as a polished period drama from Norway’s Mona Fastvold. A wintry feel […]