As a native Texan, Juneteenth was in my DNA, and that of every Black American in the state, especially children, long before that date grabbed national headlines. Too young to embrace its historic meaning, we gleefully participated in festive events and fanfare at schools, parks and churches throughout Houston. And the spread of food—fried chicken,

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

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

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

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

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

“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

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”

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

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