There have been two major films about the Black American experience released in 2012, 12 Years a Slave and The Butler. The former is about a particularly interesting moment in American history when the North saw blacks as equal citizens while the South still viewed them as slaves, property, second class citizens. It’s a powerful and moving film with an extraordinary performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor as the enslaved Solomon Northup. The Butler is more recent history, focused…Read More
Review: Salt
After her uninspired acting in the tedious Wanted, I was leery about seeing Angelina Jolie in another action film, though I loved her as Laura Croft in Tomb Raider. She’s back in fine form in Salt, however, as tough CIA field agent Evelyn Salt who is forced to flee the agency to clear her name after being accused of being a Russian sleeper spy. Salt works for Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) and is married to…Read More
Review: Taking Woodstock
You’d have to be hiding under a rock not to know that August was the fortieth anniversary of a little outdoor concert in upstate New York called Woodstock. On August 15,16, and 17 of 1969, an incredible lineup of over thirty folk and rock groups ranging from Ravi Shankar to Arlo Guthrie, The Grateful Dead to Joe Cocker, jefferson Airplane, The Who, Janis Joplin, Santana, and, of course, Jimi Hendrix entertained a huge crowd. With…Read More