“André Holland Talks Netflix’s ‘High Flying Bird’ And The Racial Politics of Sports”

A chat with one of the best actors out there about process, trust, and one of the most pervasive social and political issues of our day, that of America’s original sin. Continue reading →

Review: Kings, 2018, dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

I don’t know of a more elegant way to say this, guys: Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s new movie suuuuuuuuuucks. It gives me literally zero pleasure to call Kings, her interpretation of the events leading into and surrounding the 1992 L.A. riots that erupted after the acquittal of the officers guilty of beating Rodney King, one of the worst … Continue reading →

Review: High Fantasy, 2017, dir. Jenna Bass

I think we’re going to see a lot of people making movies on iPhones, or I guess I should say a lot more people; it’s not like Sean Baker, the brilliant Sean Baker, he of Tangerine, and Starlet, and Prince of Broadway, is the first filmmaker to think of using a mobile device to shoot a movie, but I doubt … Continue reading →

Review: Burning Sands, 2017, dir. Gerard McMurray

It’s a thing in the entertainment biz that if a movie about subject A is released into the pop cultural wilds, inevitably another movie about the same subject will be released shortly thereafter. To wit: Andrew Neel’s Goat opened in theaters last September, detailing the intimate particulars of fraternity hazing rituals and rites of initiation. It’s … Continue reading →

Paste’s 29 Most Anticipated New TV Shows Of 2017

A couple years back, I wrote a review of Justin Simien’s awesome feature debut, Dear White People, and assholes on the Internet decided that the best response to a film so named was to drop a bunch of racist-as-fuck comments in the comments section, without really reading the review (or seeing the movie, obviously). My editor … Continue reading →

What “Free State of Jones” Meant To Say”

When I put in for a review copy of Free State of Jones, I thought I’d end up just writing a standard review of Gary Ross’ film about the Southern Unionist and freedom fighter Newton Knight. I was completely 100% wrong, thus proving that I am a big dummy. Instead, I wrote about the terrible, horrible, … Continue reading →

“The Legend of Tarzan’s Hashtag Problem”

…annnnnd here’s “part two” of my attempt at getting to the core of why The Legend of Tarzan is such a failure and such an embarrassment as a modern studio blockbuster. How do you make a racist novel written in bygone times un-racist? Can you? Is it worth the effort to try? And is trying in and of … Continue reading →

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 →