Review: Bessie
Bessie stars Queen Latifah as legendary blues singer Bessie Smith. Think of it as a series of vignettes – events and scenes that aren’t necessarily tied into a smooth narrative.
Dee Rees
Review: The Last Thing He Wanted
The Last Thing He Wanted stars Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Rosie Perez, Willem Dafoe, and Edi Gathegi. It was directed by Dee Rees, based on a novel by Joan Didion. Doesn’t that sound fabulous?
Review: Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams is a science fiction anthology of 10 episodes streaming on Amazon. Instead of reviewing the anthology as a whole the way I normally would a TV season, I’ll briefly discuss each individual episode. Various writers took the short stories of Philip K. Dick and made them into the individual tales of Philip K. Dick’s Electric …
A Dozen Wonderful Films Directed by Women from 2017
I always preface these end of year lists with a disclaimer. I don’t see everything. I don’t subscribe to everything and I don’t go out to the theater weekly. Nobody is telling me what to see or paying me to go see things. I’m just watching what looks good to me. So, with that said, let me talk about 12 …
A Dozen Wonderful Films Directed by Women from 2017 Read More »
Review: Mudbound
Mudbound grabs you from the first moments and won’t let go. It twists you up, wrings you breathless, and spits you out gasping. Finally, whew, finally, it shows you a break in the cloudy skies to let in a beam of sunshine.
Watch This: Trailer for Mudbound
Mudbound is the latest from director Dee Rees. It’s the story of two families – one black, one white – bound uneasily together on the muddy farmland of the Mississippi Delta during the Jim Crow era.
Watch This: Trailer for Electric Dreams
Electric Dreams, or more correctly Phillip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, is an anthology sci-fi series based on the short stories of Phillip K. Dick. It has 10 stand alone episodes. It’s coming as an Amazon Prime original.
Watch This: Trailer for When We Rise
When We Rise is an 8 hour mini-series to air on ABC on four nights. When We Rise tells the story of the LGBTQ rights movement, tracking key figures from their first days as activists to the present day.
Bessie Release Announced by HBO
HBO’s biopic about Bessie Smith, Bessie is scheduled for release in the spring. The film stars Queen Latifah as the legendary blues singer. The HBO synopsis of the film: Queen Latifah stars as legendary blues singer Bessie Smith in this HBO Films presentation, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dee Rees from a screenplay by Dee Rees and Christopher Cleveland & Bettina …
Gimmie Some of That Ol’ Time Music
Two biopics about two great but very different singers from the old days are in the works and I cannot wait to see them both. It’s early yet there’s no news on release times. Bessie Smith The first is a biopic for HBO about Bessie Smith. I’m seeing the name Blue Goose Hollow for this film, which may be the …