In The Heights is streaming on HBO Max I wasn’t a fan of musicals until I was. It took a while. The problem began with old black and white movies. Fred Astaire. A vibe right at home in the 30s and 40s. The kind of thing that was a fairly reliable moneymaker in theaters up until the 60s. And, yes, there are a few films that, even then, I recognized as classics. What kind of monster dislikes Singin’ In The Rain? Andrew Lloyd Webber’s output didn’t help matters. I saw The Phantom of the Opera and even bought an overpriced t-shirt in a misguided gambit to try and fit in with the theater kids... Read More

Sometimes a giant ape is just a giant ape. Sometimes not. If you’re a filmmaker, the trick to making a memorable creature feature is to make sure your message doesn’t overwhelm your entertainment value. Yes, you can read 1933’s King Kong as a screed about the racist fear of black sexuality. Yes, you can also read 1954’s Godzilla as Japan grappling with their anxiety over nuclear power. But you can also read those two movies as being about: A giant gorilla killing people and wrecking stuff. An atomic lizard killing people and wrecking stuff. Hey, if you’re looking... Read More

Straight Outta Compton is really two movies stitched together. The first movie is intense, angry, joyful, and it’s about a group of friends trying to escape the madness of a racist society through art. There’s a couple of scenes in the beginning that encapsulates that perfectly. First, young Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) sits on a school bus, writing lyrics in a notebook. He’s in South Central Los Angeles, ground zero of America’s failed war on drugs. A few seats up, a group of kids are yelling playfully at a car driven by a gangbanger. The gangbanger does not like... Read More