The Birth of a Nation

Nate Parker, center, as Nat Turner in 

"The Birth of a Nation."

By George M. Thomas

Taken merely as a biopic, THE BIRTH OF A NATION offers nothing new.

Taken purely as movie about slavery, it offers nothing we’ve not seen before. 

However, when you scratch the surface, THE BIRTH OF A NATION maps a sociological course to the present day.  Therein lays its appeal for some. 

Although the story of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in Virginia is a formidable one worth telling, it probably could have been told better than presented by Nate Parker’s version.

Repost: Two Days, One Night (opens in Akron February 20th at the Nightlight Cinema)

[TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT opens in Akron on Friday February 20th at the Nightlight Cinema.]

Review by Pamela Zoslov

The Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are known for writing, producing and directing films that focus on working-class life in their native Belgium. The duo started with documentary films and moved into dramas shot in a naturalistic style. TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT, Belgium's entry for Best Foreign Language Film in this year's Academy Awards, is the first Dardenne film to star a an “A-list” actress, Marion Cotillard, whose performance earned a nomination for Best Actress. "Hiring such a famous actress was an additional challenge for us,” said Luc of Ms. Cotillard, who adopted a Belgian accent for the role.

Two Days, One Night (opens in Cleveland January 30th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT opens in Cleveland on Friday January 30th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Pamela Zoslov

The Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are known for writing, producing and directing films that focus on working-class life in their native Belgium. The duo started with documentary films and moved into dramas shot in a naturalistic style. TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT, Belgium's entry for Best Foreign Language Film in this year's Academy Awards, is the first Dardenne film to star a an “A-list” actress, Marion Cotillard, whose performance earned a nomination for Best Actress. "Hiring such a famous actress was an additional challenge for us,” said Luc of Ms. Cotillard, who adopted a Belgian accent for the role.

Academy Awards party benefiting the Cinematheque coming February 24

[Press release from the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Greater Cleveland film lovers will gather at the at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque on Sunday, February 24^th to attend a very special film and benefit organized by Ciné Arts Cleveland!, a local internet group for movie lovers.

 

Entitled “Eat Drink Watch Oscars” (a reference to Ang Lee’s Oscar-nominated 1994 film Eat Drink Man Woman), this unique benefit will begin with WATCHing the new film Sister at the Cinematheque at 4:30 p.m.  (Sister is Switzerland’s official entry for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.) After the screening, the party will move to Nighttown for the EAT and DRINK portions of the evening.  Before, during, and after dinner, partygoers will WATCH the Red Carpet and Academy Awards presentations on large-screen televisions beginning at 7 p.m. Serious cinephiles will have a special quiet room (away from the restaurant hubbub) devoted to WATCHing the telecast following dinner.

 

Dope Island with Charles Cassady Jr. : Some Post-show thoughts on the 2010 Oscars

First thing you have to know: I'm not gay. I write about movies a lot, but I am not gay.

True, I went through a live-theater phase in my adolescence and teen years. Even did...musicals. Hey, everyone experiments at puberty. Some try pot, heroin, LSD, radical body modification, suicidal BASE jumping, Aryan Nations, militant Islam....I did Rodgers and Hammerstein and Sigmund Romberg. Thank heaven there was no YouTube at the time to preserve the evidence. Ultimately I grew out of live theater before any permanent damage was done. Now, aside from the necessity of a paycheck in covering the arts-leisure beat, rarely do I have any interest in setting foot in a stage venue. I've gone to print repeatedly with the mistaken assertions that Leslie Bricusse wrote Oliver! and The Music Man takes place in Gary, Indiana, to the extent that an actual homosexual man got very upset with me and set me straight (LOL) that it was Lionel Bart who did the Dickens blockbuster tuner and River City, Iowa, where Harold Hill peddled his musical instruments, respectively. Okay, sue me. I'm not gay (read up on Lionel Bart some time; dude probably would have lived longer if it were indeed someone else, and not him, who had written Oliver! ).