Who else but me would watch A Wrinkle in Time and go, “Hey, Michael Peña’s character sure does remind me of Pennywise the Dancing Clown”? Nobody, that’s who. That’s why I’m the one writing about this silly nonsense and not, like, someone else. I’m being a bit cheeky with this piece I did for Thrillist, but: Come … Continue reading
Tagged with Ava DuVernay …
“How ‘Wrinkle in Time’ Refuses to Conform”
Recently, I took it upon myself as a journalist, a critic, and a writer to re-read A Wrinkle in Time, the ol’ Madeleine L’Engle book, in preparation for A Wrinkle in Time, the new Ava DuVernay adaptation. (I actually covered the story years back, when Disney hired Jennifer Lee to write it, so I’ve been procrastinating on … Continue reading
The Playlist’s 22 Best Documentaries Of 2016
…hey, how about that, another year end list, whaddya know. 2016 is a big documentary year, as in “there are a lot of great documentaries that came out this year.” I wrote about Ava DuVernay’s 13th, and Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson, two fundamentally unalike films that remain among the year’s best documentary offerings, for The Playlist.
Whites, Camera, Action
It is pretty to think that all of this year’s Oscars outrage might have been avoided with just a few shifts in nominations. In truth, recognition for some combination of Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith, Teyonah Parris, Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, Jada Pinkett Smith, Abraham Attah, Idris Elba, Mya Taylor, Aaron Covington, … Continue reading
Review: Selma, 2014, dir. Ava DuVernay
“If Selma can be described in one word, it’s “fiery.” Biopics are typically such rote, thankless exercises in filmmaking that the idea anybody could make one colored with brushstrokes this passionate feels contrary. But there’s no better way to characterize what Ava DuVernay has accomplished in her dramatic chronicle of the 1965 voting rights marches … Continue reading
Essay: Ferguson, SELMA, And Hope
“I saw Ava DuVernay’s Selma at a “for your consideration” screening the same night a grand jury in St. Louis County declined to indict Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.” (Via Badass Digest.)