Movie Reviews
Movie Reviews

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee | Features

It’s a joy to hear Ossie Davis tell the origin story of his 57-year partnership with Ruby Dee. “I married for money,” he states with a glint of good humor in his eyes. The tale, which he regaled for the Archive of American Television back in 1999, begins with the two of them appearing in

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Movie Reviews

“Zola,” “Anora,” and the DEI Mirage | Features

Watching the 2025 Oscars was supremely irritating for a variety of reasons, but what aggravated me the most wasn’t the random James Bond tribute or even the Best Original song winner (although that comes close)—it was the Academy’s embrace of “Anora,” a dramedy about a stripper who has a whirlwind, doomed romance with a Russian

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Movie Reviews

The Rite to Save a Life | Features

There was a squirrel’s life between me and the edge. It was late May and my sister and I were driving down the tree-shaded road leading to my father’s house. My mother’s car is a big, graceful ride, so we took our time. Truth be told, rushing was beyond us. For reasons fathomed only by

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Movie Reviews

Syfy’s “Revival” Resurrects the Small-Town Zombie Craze In Suitably Morbid Fashion | TV/Streaming

For the longest time, we’ve gotten used to zombies being one of two types: The shambolic, brain-hungry walkers of “Night of the Living Dead” or the lightning-fast runners of “28 Days Later.” But Syfy’s new series “Revival,” based on the comic book of the same name, hearkens back to another brief flirtation we had in

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Movie Reviews

Rescuing a Movie About Angels From the Devil Himself: Kevin Smith on “Dogma” | Interviews

For Kevin Smith, making “Dogma” was the ultimate expression of his own waning religiosity, filtered through the verbose, irreverent, and crude humor that made him one of the most revered filmmakers of the ’90s indie boom. The kernel of the script predates his microbudget hit debut “Clerks,” having begun as a script called “God” that

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Movie Reviews

How Ving Rhames Became the True Heart of the Mission: Impossible Franchise | Features

“Why is it the Black man always dies in the first 10 pages?”  Luther Stickell, played by Ving Rhames, was supposed to die in the first “Mission: Impossible” movie. Brian De Palma’s 1995 film did away with almost all of the TV show’s characters and radically changed the one who remained, all to leave Tom

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Movie Reviews

Dancing With Death: Mike Flanagan on “The Life of Chuck” | Interviews

Mike Flanagan is no stranger to telling stories about death. However, his latest film is something quite different in how it dances with existential questions about the boundless beauty of life, the terrible agony of loss, and, ultimately, what it all means as our lives inevitably come to a close.  In “The Life of Chuck”

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Movie Reviews

A Great Businessman in the Persona of a Wonderful Entertainer: Todd Purdum on Desi Arnaz | Interviews

Todd Purdum’s new book is a biography of Desi Arnaz, described in the subtitle as “The Man Who Invented Television.” Most people today associate him with the straight man for his then-wife, Lucille Ball, in the classic “I Love Lucy” sitcom, and the character he played, nightclub singer Ricky Ricardo. But Arnaz’s most enduring legacy

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Movie Reviews

59th Karlovy Vary Film Festival Announces Official Selection and Juries | Festivals & Awards

One of the oldest film festivals in the world, and the most prestigious such festival in Eastern and Central Europe, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) has announced the official selection for its upcoming 59th edition, to be held July 4-12 in the Czech Republic.  34 titles have been announced within this year’s official

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Movie Reviews

What to Watch on Netflix: June 2025 | TV/Streaming

It’s a pretty light month at the powerhouse streamer of all streamers, Netflix. Maybe they didn’t want to distract from the final season of “Squid Game”? Maybe they know more people are out and about at the start of Summer? We’ll never know. And, to be fair, there are a few interesting drops this month,

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