Spike Lee’s latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, drops on Netflix today. His previous film BlackKklansman stands as one of his best. Do you need more than that? Of course not. From Boulder Weekly Vol. 25, No. 52, “Like clarifying history with lightning.” It’s a famous shot from … Continue reading BLACKKKLANSMAN
This Friday, Spike Lee’s latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, drops on Netflix. Hopscotching between the 1960s and modern-day America and Vietnam, nothing about the movie looks like your run-of-the-mill story of Vietnam vets. Then again, nothing is run-of-the-mill in a Lee … Continue reading CHI-RAQ
Carrot cake is delicious, and Toni Morrison is magnificent. You don’t need much more of an introduction than that. From Boulder Weekly Vol. 26, No. 50, “And she was loved!“ With the wisdom of the wise and the smile of a sage, … Continue reading TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM
Writer James Baldwin wasn’t just adept with essays and non-fiction; he was a top-shelf novelist, and If Beale Street Could Talk ranks among his best. Written in the early 1970s, Beale Street rings true today as it did then, proof that change is so … Continue reading IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
When Raoul Peck’s documentary I Am Not Your Negro arrived in late 2016, it was like a bolt of lightning out of the blue. Over the next few months, the movie trickled out into art house theaters, garnered reviews and attention, and … Continue reading I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
Tagging up on yesterday’s post, what can movies teach us about our past? To borrow a line from William Faulkner: The past isn’t dead; it hasn’t even passed. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing from 1989 is a masterpiece. Made over 30 … Continue reading DO THE RIGHT THING
What can movies tell us about the world we live in? Have lived in? Will live in? Siegfried Kracauer’s seminal 1947 study, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, puts forth that the roots of the National … Continue reading FORBIDDEN FILMS
Yesterday was the first time my wife and I got to visit the library since mid-March. Granted, we sat in our car and waited until a librarian came out and put our holds in the trunk, but it’s a start. … Continue reading EX LIBRIS: THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
For a lot of people, movies and TV have been the only window into the lives of others these past 10 or so weeks. For some, movies and TV are the only window into the lives of others. They learn … Continue reading LIFE, ANIMATED
If you haven’t seen Blow the Man Down, then you really ought to remedy that. It’s on Amazon Prime, go ahead, I’ll wait. If you have seen Blow the Man Down, you know how good Morgan Saylor is as Mary Beth. An … Continue reading WHITE GIRL
