Candice Frederick

The first three months of 2021 have proven that independent Hollywood, coming off a wildly successful year, shows no plans of slowing down. Entries from all over the globe—from Taiwan to the United States to Quebec—promise a brand-new slate of everything from pensive horrors and homegrown dramas to heartfelt romance and exclusive documentaries.
Here are the greatest films making waves right now as we settle into spring. While some of these picks enjoyed successful festival runs prior to 2021,...

It's another well-produced show you can skip
There are series that leave you with such well-earned satisfaction that you immediately want to recommend it to anyone who will listen, and there are others that leave such a sour taste in your mouth that you instantly want to chase it with anything good to watch. But then there is Mare of Easttown, which is merely fine. It's not particularly bad or good. Showrunner Brad Inglesby's suburban mystery series is an entry that seems just happy to be her...

Part of what makes a horror piece great is a mounting sense of dread that you can often feel but cannot see, a prickly score that guides you throughout an increasingly unsettling narrative, and just the right amount of delicacy that keeps the audience on its toes until the terror materializes. But Them, the new horror anthology series that debuts April 9 on Amazon Prime Video, is about as subtle as a 10-car pileup on I-95.
Created by Little Marvin, the first season (Them was given a two-seaso...

It was the era of the giant cell phone, TGIF nights with Family Matters and Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, and the return of the sexually empowered pop star. But even with all the cool new things the ‘90s wrought, the emergence of the 24-hour news cycle would become our fascination—and our downfall.
With the release of documentaries The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears and Kid 90, millennials at the forefront of today’s cultural reckoning have had to confront their formative years...

Warning: This story includes discussion about sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
If given the opportunity, many of us probably wouldn’t even consider revisiting footage of ourselves as adolescents (just imagine the angst, the awkwardness, the foolishness). That’s especially so if you grew up before social media, when there wasn’t a rolling account of every single misguided thing you said and did that could quickly be subjected to the court of public opinion. But that’s what is so r...

"Judas and the Black Messiah" has far too much in common with "The Departed." Obviously, director Shaka King's film centers on Black characters, while Martin Scorsese's Boston-set entry does not. But the general concept — a crime thriller about a man covertly working with law enforcement who infiltrates a group considered to be their threat, to eviscerate its strongest force — is the same.
It's an awkward comparison to make because, in actuality, these films shouldn't have many similarities. ...

Like so many of us watching the world burn, writer-director Rose Glass has wrestled with her faith. She grew up attending Catholic schools in the U.K. and has vicars in her family, so the thought of questioning her Christianity stayed dormant for years. But now, on the cusp of her unsettling debut film, Saint Maud, she reflects on what she didn’t articulate back then: “It’s like, who’s calling me?”
Enter the titular Maud, née Katie (Morfydd Clark), a reclusive hospice worker who’s recently re...

There’s a burst of energy when Clarice co-creator Jenny Lumet hops onto Zoom for our afternoon conversation about her astute new thriller series, inspired by the indelible heroine from The Silence of the Lambs. Donning a bright smile, casual shirt, and sun-kissed hair, the New York native has the glow of someone who’s lived in Los Angeles her entire life—not just the last two years. “I've also had, like, nine Diet Cokes, so I'm pretty caffeinated,” she laughs.
Lumet has a lot of joy in her li...

The update of Shakespeare's tale of star-crossed lovers premiered at Sundance but the update falls short
Welcome to TheGrio Top 3 x DCP with Shana Pinnock -Halle Berry on the criticism she can't 'keep' a man: 'Who said I wanted to keep them? -Reporter gives up covering Biden for a relationship with his aide: ‘Didn’t think twice’ -Yahoo Sports reporter Terez Paylor is dead at 37: 'Shocked and saddened
Much about director Carey Williams’ R#J, a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo a...

It’s been nearly 23 years since Lauren Ambrose played a teen in Can’t Hardly Wait who begrudgingly attends a graduation house party where she begins to contemplate the rest of her life, but the actress still likes to ponder her own journey. A lot has changed since she was in the beloved high school comedy, though, and even since she was angsty Claire Fisher on HBO’s iconic series Six Feet Under. Now, on the eerie series Servant, she delves into a side of herself that is dearest to her heart: ...

REVIEW: Even with its constantly rotating cast of characters, all of which are underdrawn and indecipherable, and its progressively madcap plot, 'First Date' is a weak entry into the genre
We’ve seen it before. The shy, doe-eyed teenage boy that is awkwardly pulled into a whole host of hijinks as he secretly pines for the girl who barely even know he exists. Think Michael Cera in Superbad or, well, many of his other movies. Or the young boys on Freak and Geeks. It’s an age-old shtick that Hol...

REVIEW: 'Ailey' attempts to demystify an admired yet enigmatic man, but only manages to provoke more unanswered questions
It seems like fans have been waiting forever to see a comprehensive film on beloved choreographer Alvin Ailey, the man who revolutionized dance and opened a now iconic theater, where artists from all backgrounds have mastered their crafts.
While much has been written and said about the legacy of his work, there hasn’t been a significant movie or TV series that has delved i...

“This is not a love story. This is the story of love.” The bare-bones black-and-white trailer for Malcolm & Marie prepares its audience for a dish-smashing, insult-hurling, love-making saga familiar to any couple with unresolved issues stuck together in quarantine. And the movie certainly delivers on that front. But it’s the specificities of this couple—a Black director (John David Washington) basking in recent success and his gorgeous, professionally stunted younger girlfriend (Zendaya)—that...

In 2018, Rebecca Hall made headlines announcing her directorial debut of Passing, the film adaptation of Nella Larsen’s seminal novella of the same name.
Passing has been widely revered in the Black community since its 1929 publication, and needless to say, people had some criticism about what was perceived to be yet another white filmmaker helming a Black story. There’s never really a question of if one can handle the material well; it’s whether they should.
But Hall is a rare example of an ...

'It’s more than a concert film,' the debut director said while introducing the documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival
There was hazy, hot and humid weather Black New Yorkers equally detest and enjoy in the summer of 1969, but folks rocking afros and tank tops were happy to stand shoulder to shoulder on the lawn of Mount Morris Park in Harlem for a six-week long Black music festival. All the big names hit the stage—from the Staples Singers and Stevie Wonder to Nina Simone and Sly an...