Why did Mookie throw the trash can? You can see the crowd watching the murder of Radio Raheem at the hands of white cops, their shared looks of horror. Mookie shares the same look, then runs his hands down his face. He’s come to a decision. With deliberate purpose, he walks to a battered trash can, tosses away the lid and the garbage, then lifts up the can.  You can see Mookie break into a run and heave the trash can. It smashes through the window of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. The look on his face isn’t one of triumph or exultation. It’s exhaustion. 1989 was the year that put Spike Lee on... Read More

Good movies possess fearsome power. They can inspire you or piss you off, provide you with the motivation to get up and do something. Even in our age of disposable media, what else has that kind of influence? Consider this. Brokeback Mountain punched through decades of homophobia and, with an aching love story, helped to “normalize” the LGBT experience. Coming at a time of renewed racial tensions, Selma dropped viewers into the midst of the civil rights movement and reminded us that we’re truly doomed to repeat history unless we have the moral strength to overcome it. The... Read More

Every week before I see the movie I end up reviewing, I talk to my kid about it. He’s 8 years old, bright, and possesses a goofy sense of humor. Sometimes he’s interested in what I’m going to see. Other times, his attention is captured by more lofty subjects.* I mentioned offhandedly to him that I was considering seeing The Jungle Book, the latest version of Rudyard Kipling’s venerable collection of stories. With the speed of a feral man-cub, he grabbed both sides of my face, leaned in close, and hissed, “I’m coming with you.” Having barely escaped a... Read More