Focus on Film & Television Reviews and writings about these subjects. As well as Pop Culture at times. With a bit of an edge and some color
Written & Directed By: Noah Baumbach
Cinematography: Robbie Ryan
Editor: Jennifer Lame
Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johannson, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Laura Dern, Julie Hagerty, Wallace Shawn, Merrit Wever, Mickey Sumner, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Irene Choi, Robert Smigel, Carlos Jacott, Lucas Neff
An incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together.
Written & Directed By: Edward Burns
Cinematography: Frank Prinzi
Editor: Susan Graef
Cast: Edward Burns, Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Amanda Peet, John Mahoney, Mike McGlone, Leslie Mann, Frank Vincent, Maxine Bahns
The love lives of two brothers, Mickey and Francis, interconnect as Francis cheats on his wife with Mickey’s ex-girlfriend, while Mickey impulsively marries a stranger.
Directed By: Larry Peerce
Written by: Arnold Schulman
Based on a Novel By: Philip Roth
Cinematography: Enrique Bravo & Gerald Hirschfeld
Editor: Ralph Rosenblum
Cast: Richard Benjamin, Ali MacGraw, Jack Klugman, Nan Martin, Jaclyn Smith, Michael Nouri, Michael Myers, Monroe Arnold
A Jewish man and a Jewish woman meet and while attracted to each other, find that their worlds are very different. She is the archtypical Jewish American Princess, very emotionally involved with her parents’ world, and the world they have created for her, while he is much less dependent on his family. They begin an affair, which brings more differences to the surface.
Written & Directed By: Spike Jonze
Cinematography By: Hoyte Van Hoytema
Editor: Jeff Buchanan & Eric Zunmbrunnen
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt, Rooney Mara, Portia Doubleday, Matt Letscher, Olivia Wilde
A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that’s designed to meet his every need.
Written & Directed By: Jeff Nichols
Cinematography By: Adam Stone
Editor: Julie Monroe
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Nick Kroll, Will Dalton, Sharon Blackwood, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas, Bill Camp
The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, whose challenge of their anti-miscegenation arrest for their marriage in Virginia led to a legal battle that would end at the US Supreme Court.
Directed By: Tom Shadyac
Written By: Doug Atchinson
Cinematography: Ricardo Diaz
Editor: Greg Hayden
Cast: Aldis Hodge, Greg Kinnear, Sherri Shepherd, Dorian Missick, Morgan Freeman, Tiffany Dupont, Melanie Liburd, Xosha Roquemore
A football player’s dreams to play in the NFL are halted when he is wrongly convicted and sent to prison. Years later, he fights to clear his name within an unjust system.
Written & Directed By: Sebastian Silva
Cinematography: Alexis Zabe
Editor: Jennifer Lame & Sofia Subercaseaux
Cast: Jason Mitchell, Christopher Abbott, Caleb Landry Jones, Michael Cera, Michael Zegen, Reg E. Cathey, Ann Dowd, Roddy Bottum, Nicolas Arze
Tyler, a sole black man, attends an otherwise all-white weekend of drunken bro debauchery on a birthday trip to a cabin in the Catskills.
Directed By: Melina Matsoukas
Written By: Lena Waithe
Story By: Lena Waithe & James Frey
Cinematography By: Tat Radcliffe
Editor: Pete Beaudreau
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bokeen Woodbine, Sturgill Simpson, Indya Moore, Flea, Chloe Sevingy, Benito Martinez, Jahai Di’allo
Winston
Slim and Queen’s first date takes an unexpected turn when a policeman pulls them over for a minor traffic violation. When the situation escalates, Slim takes the officer’s gun and shoots him in self-defence. Now labelled cop killers in the media, Slim and Queen feel that they have no choice but to go on the run and evade the law. When a video of the incident goes viral, the unwitting outlaws soon become a symbol of trauma, terror, grief and pain for people all across the country.
Written & Directed By: John Singleton
Cinematography: Peter Lyons Collister
Editor: Bruce Canon
Cast: Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, Regina King, Joe Torry, Maya Angelou, Q-tip, Tyra Ferrell, Khandi Alexander, Jenifer Lewis, Tone Loc, Ricky Harris, Clifton Collins Jr., Michael Rapaport, Lloyd Avery II, Robi Reed, Roger Gueneveur Smith, Yvette Wilson, Kimberly Brooks, Maia Campbell, Michael Colyar, Sarena Mobley, Lori Petty, Billy Zane
After witnessing the murder of her first and only boyfriend, young Justice decides to forget about college and become a South Central Los Angeles hairdresser. Avoiding friends, the only way for her to cope with her depression is by composing beautiful poetry. On her way to a convention in Oakland, she is forced to ride with an independent-minded postal worker whom she has not gotten along with in the past. After various arguments between them and their friends, they start to discover that their thoughts on violence, socially and domestically, are the same. Justice may finally feel that she is not as alone as before.
Written & Directed By: Reggie Rock Bythewood
Cinematography: Bill Dill
Editor: Kevin Krasny & Joel Plotch
Cast: Nicole Ari Parker, Isiah Washinton, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Kadeem Hardison, Estelle Harris, Malinda Williams, Tichina Arnold, James Avery, Jenifer Lewis, Jay Underwood, Constance Marie, Wren T. Brown, Marcia Cross, Anna Maria Horsford, Mel Jackson, Brent Jennings, Juanita Jennings, Peter Onaroti, Chi McBride, KImberly Russell, Royale Watkins, Aisha Tyler
A black female TV producer struggles in Hollywood.
Cut To The Chase 