May 12, 2010 • Khari Williams
Morality tale set to the rhythms of Jamaican dancehall music, What Comes Around has vital life lessons sprinkled throughout a storyline featuring non-stop vulgarity, double-crossing and sexual innuendos and exploits of every kind imaginable. Family viewing? Not by a long shot, but the consenting adult viewer who endures to the end will almost surely have taken a crash course in the complexities of relationships and the perils - biological and otherwise-- they can produce.
The story centers on half-brothers Denzel and Sylvester, whose playboy father we're introduced to during the film's somewhat riveting yet quite hilarious (perhaps unintentionally so) opening sequence. Sylvester, despite his obvious lifelong contempt for his father, has nevertheless adopted his playboy ways, whereas Denzel has taken a divergent path, preferring to settle down with main squeeze Lucille - whether she likes it or not.
The story centers on half-brothers Denzel and Sylvester, whose playboy father we're introduced to during the film's somewhat riveting yet quite hilarious (perhaps unintentionally so) opening sequence. Sylvester, despite his obvious lifelong contempt for his father, has nevertheless adopted his playboy ways, whereas Denzel has taken a divergent path, preferring to settle down with main squeeze Lucille - whether she likes it or not.
April 29, 2010 • Tiffani Knowles
To separate oneself from the language, food and habits that one has been forming since birth is no small feat. It can be argued that these things comprise us and without them we stand to lose our very identity.
In the documentary film Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy, we are given a bird's eye perspective into the heart-wrenching experience of one 8-year-old girl who is taken from her native China and adopted by a White American family in New York.
In the documentary film Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy, we are given a bird's eye perspective into the heart-wrenching experience of one 8-year-old girl who is taken from her native China and adopted by a White American family in New York.
February 18, 2010 • Tiffani Knowles
A review of Michael Lichtenstein's latest off-color film about two daughters who return home to care for their ailing father and the surprises that await them.
February 3, 2010 • K. Swann
Columnist K. Swann hips us to what living faith out loud in the art and entertainment industry looks like.
January 6, 2010 • K. Swann
Last June, the legendary Dave Matthews Band released their seventh studio album titled Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. During the recording of the album, the band and their fans suffered a tragic loss. LeRoi Moore, whose sax playing added a distinct and sophisticated kind of cool to the band's sound, died while recovering from an ATV accident. This is how the album got its name. Drummer Carter Beauford and LeRoi Moore created the term 'GrooGrux' to describe a sort of mystical and cool musical happening. LeRoi was and still is the 'GrooGrux king.'
To be honest, I had a high school romance with the music of DMB that flirted with geek-like fanaticism. But with my growing up and into the gospels, we suffered a slow but severe falling out. Despite my love for their musical flair, I have found some of Dave's lyrics to become less honest with time - and certainly less relevant to my changing heart. Then came the headlines announcing LeRoi's death.
To be honest, I had a high school romance with the music of DMB that flirted with geek-like fanaticism. But with my growing up and into the gospels, we suffered a slow but severe falling out. Despite my love for their musical flair, I have found some of Dave's lyrics to become less honest with time - and certainly less relevant to my changing heart. Then came the headlines announcing LeRoi's death.
January 5, 2010 • Tiffani Knowles
With images of the blithe, happy-go-lucky lifestyles of the typical American family so cleverly juxtaposed against the gritty, rough-hewn images on the battlefield of Afghanistan, Jim Sheridan's Brothers is not just another war film, but a tender introspective piece about two worlds with an immeasurable influence on one another.
Adapted from the Danish screenplay Brodre, Brothers tells the story of Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) who has built a very successful career as a Marine. His younger brother, Tommy, (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the black sheep of the family who is constantly in trouble with the law. Despite the suspicions of their father and Sam's wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), Sam still demonstrates an unconditional love for his brother.
Adapted from the Danish screenplay Brodre, Brothers tells the story of Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) who has built a very successful career as a Marine. His younger brother, Tommy, (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the black sheep of the family who is constantly in trouble with the law. Despite the suspicions of their father and Sam's wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), Sam still demonstrates an unconditional love for his brother.
December 24, 2009 • Khari Williams
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is Terry Gilliam's latest film but will forever be known as Heath Ledger's last. The Academy Award-winning Australian actor died during production, necessitating a trio of A-listers to complete the project in his stead. And while Ledger likely won't receive another posthumous Oscar nod, as he did for 2008's The Dark Knight, Imaginarium nonetheless succeeds as a swansong.
The plot revolves around the traveling freak show led by Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), a 1,000-year-old wizard blessed (cursed?) with the gift of manipulating the imaginations of those who walk through his mystical mirror. Once transported into the fantasy world that lies beyond, guests must choose between the wide, easy path that promises pleasure or the difficult, narrow and often steep way that could lead them to redemption - if only it were more attractively packaged.
The plot revolves around the traveling freak show led by Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), a 1,000-year-old wizard blessed (cursed?) with the gift of manipulating the imaginations of those who walk through his mystical mirror. Once transported into the fantasy world that lies beyond, guests must choose between the wide, easy path that promises pleasure or the difficult, narrow and often steep way that could lead them to redemption - if only it were more attractively packaged.
November 26, 2009 • Tiffani Knowles
Color bursts accentuate images connoting passion, fame and fury as audience members are invited to an intimate performance by Fela Kuti, the Nigerian musician credited with the creation of funk, in the Broadway production of FELA!
FELA!, which has just opened on Broadway, applies stirring Afrobeat (a musical blend of jazz, funk, highlife and Yoruba rhythms) and inspired dancing akin to the period and region in West Africa, to tell the story of the controversial Nigerian musician who rose to fame in the '70s and '80s for his artistic innovations joined with political activism.
Fela Kuti, who died over 10 years ago, would have been flushed with delight to see the captivating power of "Zombie" and "Water No Get Enemy," sung in his Pidgin English, on audiences at the Eugene O'Neil Theater.
FELA!, which has just opened on Broadway, applies stirring Afrobeat (a musical blend of jazz, funk, highlife and Yoruba rhythms) and inspired dancing akin to the period and region in West Africa, to tell the story of the controversial Nigerian musician who rose to fame in the '70s and '80s for his artistic innovations joined with political activism.
Fela Kuti, who died over 10 years ago, would have been flushed with delight to see the captivating power of "Zombie" and "Water No Get Enemy," sung in his Pidgin English, on audiences at the Eugene O'Neil Theater.
November 25, 2009 • Tiffani Knowles
TobyMac, Grammy-winning urban hip rock fusion artist, rocked the stage during his musical gumbo concert at The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
November 11, 2009 • Chrisnatha Derosier
Nas. The Roots. Guru. These hip-hop artists and their music are very distinctly connected for they have all been shaped by a musical genre that was birthed about 50 years before their time.
From its traded improvisations to its origins in youthful rebellion, the modern musical expression of hip-hop is very heavily influenced by and, indeed, patterns the social climate of the old world genre of jazz.
Will Isma, a member of the South Florida Christian hip-hop quartet Trinity Boyz Movement, believes that jazz adds a soulful element to hip-hop.
From its traded improvisations to its origins in youthful rebellion, the modern musical expression of hip-hop is very heavily influenced by and, indeed, patterns the social climate of the old world genre of jazz.
Will Isma, a member of the South Florida Christian hip-hop quartet Trinity Boyz Movement, believes that jazz adds a soulful element to hip-hop.