Category: MAIN

By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) Based on the true story of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and the infiltration of the Chicago chapter of the party by FBI informant William O’Neal, writer/director Shaka King presents an all-too-real and dual-faceted example of our US government’s oppression of Black America. Out-spoken and unfiltered,… Continue reading JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Based on Mohamedou Ould Salahi’s memoir Guantanamo Diary, this film adaptation by director Kevin Macdonald does manage to deliver an emotional wallop, but gets undermined by a mostly dull, legal procedural approach to the material. The movie follows the legal defense and their investigation into the… Continue reading THE MAURITANIAN

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Barb and Star initially seems like an SNL sketch idea that never made it to the show and seems destined for failure in a feature treatment. Going into this movie, I tempered my expectations accordingly, but was ultimately pleasantly surprised with the delightful comedic results that… Continue reading BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) The idea of making another time loop movie actually is rather amusing if one were to think about it. In a time loop plot, a character or characters often repeat a day or a certain chain of events, sometimes with different outcomes, only to start over… Continue reading THE MAP OF TINY PERFECT THINGS

By Laurie Coker Rating: D+ Rarely does a film host six directors. But Hopeless Romantic, a film about treading through the ups and downs of romance does.  Directed by a group of women from the East Coast of Canada, Deanne Foley, Martine Blue, Stephanie Clattenburg, Latonia Hartery, Ruth Lawrence, and Megan Wennberg, Hopeless Romantic has… Continue reading HOPELESS ROMANTIC

By Laurie Coker Rating: A An exceptional cast can make almost any movie good, but when given a remarkable and timely story in which to play, the result can be near perfection. Such is the case with Judas and the Black Messiah, a Vietnam Era biopic that shines a glaring light on racial issues as… Continue reading JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

By Laurie Coker Rating: F There is nothing blissful about Bliss, a convoluted sci-fi drama starring Salma Hayek and Owen Wilson. Writer/director Mike Cahill’s overly dark – thematically and visually – story of one man’s life in and out of reality plays out like a bad LSD trip and a messy rom-com simultaneously. A truly… Continue reading BLISS

By Laurie Coker Rating: A Doing effective wickedly dark comedy takes talent and writer-director, Emerald Fennell does it with a devilish flourish. Starring Carrey Mulligan, a Promising Young Woman, is a provocative, bleakly realistic revenge tale that digs deeply into serious issues. A clearly passionate lead actress and an excellent ensemble cast, coupled with Fennell’s… Continue reading A PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

By Mark Saldana Rating: 1.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Bliss’s tagline, “Chase Something Real,” invites the audience to follow its protagonist on a soul-searching journey as he attempts to define what is very real to him. However, the film unintentionally has the audience trying to make sense of a poorly developed concept, ambiguously confusing plot… Continue reading BLISS