Movies & Television

  By Dwight Brown, NNPA Newswire Film Critic This hilarious and relentlessly bawdy take on a girls’ weekend reunion in New Orleans is following in the footsteps of some very popular female-appeal movies like “Sex In the City” and “Bridesmaids.” But “Girls Trip” is not a copycat. It’s very unique and will leave its own…

San Francisco Art Exchange LLC (SFAE) is pleased and proud to announce that it has been selected to exclusively represent the sale of the Separate Cinema Archive: a comprehensive collection of such singular unprecedented importance that there is no other remotely like it in world.  The archive is comprised of 35,000 items, including rare vintage…

Freeform, Disney’s young adult television and streaming network, continues to grow its roster of original series by ordering scripted comedy “college-ish” (working title), a spin-off of ABC’s award-winning hit series “black-ish,” starring breakout star Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson and Deon Cole as Charlie Telphy. Freeform has ordered 13 episodes of the half-hour, single-camera comedy which is…

The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition will continue its “Gullah/Geechee Living History” series with a series of movies at the St. Helena Branch Library on historic St. Helena Island, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation.  The entire community is invited to come out to be a part of the new “Gullah/Geechee TV & Movie Club.”  Each showing will…

In Charleston’s rich history, there are few names, when spoken, provoke feelings of considerable reverence, while simultaneously provoking mass indignation. In 1822, Denmark Vesey, a free black man, planned a slave revolt that alarmed the city of Charleston, causing him, along with 34 other co-conspirators, to hang publicly. 37 others were banished, four whites fined,…

By Dwight Brown (NNPA Newswire Film Critic) For a long time it was a forbidden love. Through slavery, the reconstruction era, on into the 20th century, particularly in the South, interracial romantic relations were looked down on and marriages were illegal. Anti-miscegenation laws were on the books in 16 states below the Mason-Dixon line. Marry…

By Dwight Brown (NNPA Newswire Film Critic) In just his second feature film, writer/director Barry Jenkins tells a compelling story about sexual repression and ambiguity through the eyes of a vulnerable and confused little boy, who grows up to question his sexual identity as a teen and then finds a thin measure of serenity as…

By Dwight Brown (NNPA Newswire Film Critic) Has success spoiled Kevin Hart? Forbes Magazine lists him as 2016’s highest paid comedian with an annual income of $87.5 million, from June 1, 2015, to June 1, 2016. Unlike many of his cohorts (Jerry Seinfeld, etc.) Hart makes lots of his income from live performances in large…

By Dwight Brown (NNPA Wire Service Film Critic) Finally, a filmmaker unearths one of the biggest secrets in American history: slave revolts. It’s a lesson rarely mentioned in history books, though it’s common knowledge to anyone who has taken a Black History course. Kudos to actor-turned-director Nate Parker for shepherding this ambitious project from the…

By Dwight Brown (NNPA Newswire Film Critic) For 41 years the Toronto International Film Festival has attracted the world’s best films and built and audience. At the 2016 festival, 480,000 film lovers filled seats, screened movies and experienced the festivities. Credit TIFF’s Artistic Director Cameron Bailey and his discerning team for assembling a high quality…