The sensitive project features an incredible roster of people who sit with Hughes and crew to laugh, cry, and set the record straight about Afeni and Tupac, helping us see the many sides of both enigmatic figures. The documentary has a lingering personal nature, with Hughes shown hugging many of his subjects as everything wraps … Read more
This is the case for Michi (Chieko Baisho), an elderly woman who is let go from her job at a hotel at the beginning of the film. Customers have been complaining that it makes them sad to see elderly people still working, management explains. That’s all well and good, except that Michi has no family … Read more
The aforementioned screenplay is little more than a half-assed rehash of “True Lies,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Knight and Day,” and the like that brings absolutely nothing of interest to the table. “Ghosted” is essentially a laundry line connecting its interchangeable action beats with tired characters, lazy plotting, and a complete lack of wit, humor, … Read more
The first “Little Richard Awards Show Moment” was at the 1988 Grammys, when he and Buster Poindexter (aka David Johansen, former frontman of the New York Dolls) presented the award for Best New Artist. Little Richard, resplendent in a shiny brown suit, glanced at Johansen’s towering pompadour and declared, “I used to wear my hair … Read more
It begins with a lone flamenco dancer performing alone on a wooden board laid across the sand in the middle of a Mexican desert. Her staccato taps seem to spell out in Morse code the thoughts we hear about men and the trouble they bring. And then one arrives, bringing trouble. He asks, “Where is … Read more
If “The Covenant” were only an interrogation of the hollowness of American exceptionalism, as its first hour suggests, it’d be among the most honest portrayals of the country’s role in the region. But Ritchie eventually awakens from his stupor, pushing this combat-action flick to gonzo territory. In “The Covenant,” we’re immediately given an immersive view … Read more
Before Judy Blume was a household name, she was a nervous child growing up in the shadows of a world war. Years later, after settling into her role as a young housewife, she began to write bedtime stories for her two children. Then, a publisher finally gave her a chance, and in a few years, … Read more
Bologna’s talent and charisma helped him ascend to the loftiest echelons of the royal court. But his background as the son of a plantation owner and a slave meant that he could never truly belong. Over the past 200-plus years, Bologna’s life story and impressive body of work have been buried and lost to time; … Read more
The latest in the series, “Evil Dead Rise,” comes from Irish writer/director Lee Cronin, whose 2019 feature debut “The Hole in the Ground” also revolves around sinkholes and mommy issues. Cronin’s grimy sensibility is much closer to that of remake director Fede Alvarez than Raimi’s live-action cartoons. But he does share one key thing with … Read more
Moviemaking is a tough business. You need to have a sense if humor if you’re going to survive it. Just ask David F. Sandberg, the director of such hits as Lights Out and Shazam and now, the director of the flop, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The sequel to the popular hit based on the … Read more