I write about TV and film as well as other areas of pop culture.
'Civil War' Isn't Worth The Discourse
(Left to right) Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura and Cailee Spaeny portray war photojournalists in director Alex Garland's ill-conceived new film.
Murray Close
You know how sometimes when there’s been such a wide spectrum of passionate, well-argued reactions to a film that you begin to think that it might actually be superb since it’s already ignited such a fascinating and polarizing debate? Well, “Civil War” proves that theory wrong.
The chatter around director Alex Garland’s film began last Dece...
'Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead' Didn't Need A Remake — With Black People
(L to R) The capable Donielle T. Hansley Jr., Simone Joy Jones, Ayaami Sledge and Carter Young attempt to breathe new life into an unnecessary remake of the white-centric 1991 cult classic. But the film's existence raises familiar questions.
Courtesy of BET+
Director Stephen Herek’s 1991 cult comedy, “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead,” is a bit of an awkward movie to talk about today.
It satisfied young audiences at the time with its story about 17-year-old Sue Ellen Crandell (Christina A...
We've Finally Got A New Brown Action Star In Hollywood
As Kid in "Monkey Man," Dev Patel recasts the typical action hero as himself.
Universal Pictures
Let’s get this out of the way first: With “Monkey Man,” Dev Patel, 33, co-wrote his way out of what might have been years of more Hollywood hell. White male-directed films like “Slumdog Millionaire,” others where he would have played the love interest of white women like in “Lion” or the nice, tokenized South Asian character like in “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”
As the lead in “Monkey M...
What 'Ripley' Understands About Infiltrating The Rich
Andrew Scott plays the cunning grifter Tom Ripley in "Ripley."
Netflix © 2023
In today’s climate, where billionaires are swallowing media companies whole, it seems like every fictional TV or movie plot even marginally concerning wealthy characters must confront a number of familiar questions. Do the have-nots “eat the rich”? Does the story effectively make the audience want to condemn the wealthy or affluence in general?
And more broadly: What does it say about capitalism?
To be fair, filmmak...
'Shirley' Underscores The Problem With The Great Black Historical Figure Trope
Writer-director John Ridley's "Shirley," inspired by Shirley Chisholm's historic campaign for Democratic party presidential nomination, has no soul.
Glen Wilson/Netflix
There’s a moment in writer-director John Ridley’s new film, “Shirley,” based on the life and career of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black U.S. congresswoman, when you think it’s going to finally buckle under its own austere weight and let us see some humanity.
Shirley (Regina King) is studiously seated — back straight, shoulder...
Freaknik And The Question Of Black Female Sexual Liberation In The '90s
In 1998, the MTV reality series, “True Life,” aired an episode on Freaknik, the wildly popular Atlanta festival launched in the ’80s, where Black college students could have community with live entertainment that devolved into chaos and instances of sexual violence by the late ’90s. It follows several southern college students as they prepare for the annual event.
Some are fraternity brothers brushing off their step routines for a competition at Freaknik. Others are packing their winnebago fo...
'Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV' Covers A Lot. And It's Still Not Enough.
Cast members from "The Amanda Show," from left: Nancy Sullivan, John Kassir, Amanda Bynes, Raquel Lee and Drake Bell.
Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: Nickelodeon/Everett/Getty
The question of a way forward always comes to mind when new allegations emerge against Hollywood and/or its foot soldiers, as is the case with “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.” The new Investigation Discovery docuseries reflects on allegations of toxicity at Nickelodeon throughout the late ’90s and 2000s.
It’s p...
'Boarders' Has The Potential To Become Tubi's First Original Hit Series — If People Watch It
Jodie Campbell (center left) and Josh Tedeku play teens struggling to navigate a problematic code of ethics at a mostly white boarding school in "Boarders."
Jonathan Birch/BBC/Studio Lambert Media Ltd.
In an unforgiving TV landscape where promising new scripted series are being canceled left and right, it can sometimes feel hopeless to invest time in a show that could be ― and is often very quickly ― on the chopping block, especially when it’s a streaming platform original.
Hulu’s “This Fool,...
Recent Parental Guidance Suggestions Seem Hopeless In A World With Book Bans
Many young people are aware of and desire conversation around sensitive topics, as seen in the Oscar-nominated documentary, "The ABCs of Book Banning."
Illustration:Jianan Liu/HuffPost;Photo:Getty Images, courtesy of mtv documentary films
To hear some adults tell it, adolescents are exposed to troubling and inappropriate messages found in many children’s and young adult books, TV, and film. But one look at the staggering (and growing) list of banned books will give you a sense of what those m...
There Is No Shortage Of Great Female-Directed Films
There's been a lot of talk this week about how certain (read: white) female filmmakers have been overlooked in the Oscar nominations. The Sundance Film Festival has made tremendous efforts to highlight a wide variety of bold new movies from women across all backgrounds. Will that same energy around "Barbie" be given to them too?
Illustration: Damon Dahlen/HuffPost; Photos: Courtesy of Sundance Institute
PARK CITY, Utah — Amid our inclination to focus on Hollywood’s many inequities, including,...
Interrogating The Black Female Image In AI
BINA48, the groundbreaking AI inspired by the real-life Bina Rothblatt, a Black woman, continued to both excite crowds at the Sundance premiere of the documentary "Love Machina" and provoke concern over how Black female identity is interpreted in the mostly white-led digital landscape.
Neilson Barnard via Getty Images
PARK CITY, Utah — Much has been written about how many Hollywood projects make strides in representation but lack the experience or creative input from those represented to pull...
Issa López Went To A Dark Place To Helm 'True Detective' — With The Support Of Native People
"True Detective" needed a recalibration of sorts. With showrunner Issa López at the helm, the hit thriller series gets an electrifying jolt — and from a personal, honest place.
Michele K. Short / HBO
Issa López is a bit anxious as we hop on a video call to discuss the fourth season of “True Detective.” For what it’s worth, though, it’s a pretty big deal for her. She’s the first female showrunner, writer, director and executive producer of the previously mostly white male-helmed and -centered ...
TV Shows We’re Looking Forward To In 2024
"The Woman in the Wall" (left), "Abbott Elementary" and "Elsbeth"
Photo illustration: Maddie Abuyuan/HuffPost. Photos: Chris Barr/BBC/Showtime; Matt Sayles/ABC; Elizabeth Fisher/CBS
We’ll have a lot to look forward to in 2024 as TV show production catches up.
With strikes by both the Writers Guild of America and the actors union, television was in a weird space for the better part of 2023. Delays and cancellations have had us waiting longer than usual for our favorite shows to come back or se...
18 Movies We're Looking Forward To In 2024
Maddie Abuyuan/HuffPost; Jojo Whilden/Paramount; Focus Features;
The start of a new year is a strange time for movies: We’re right in the middle of awards season, still sifting through the previous year’s Oscar contenders and their seemingly endless promotional campaigns, that it almost doesn’t feel like a brand new year.
Luckily, there are plenty of upcoming releases in theaters and on streaming, including releases as soon as January. And as always, there will be plenty more exciting movies ...
The Compromises Of 'The Color Purple'
It's been 41 years since the release of author Alice Walker's iconic novel, "The Color Purple." A glossy new film proves that white Hollywood still hasn't caught up with its categorically Black and queer feminist voice.
Illustration: Jianan Liu/HuffPost; Photo: Getty Images, Warner Bros. Pictures, wikipedia.org
There was a time when you couldn’t go to a Black woman’s home and there wasn’t a copy of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” lying around somewhere, probably dogeared with highlighted pa...