“Look around you, this is the uprising.” When Children of Men was released in 2006, it flopped. It had nothing to do with the filmmaking. Visually, this is one of the most striking films of the last two decades. It flopped because the story was too real. The politics...
Prepare to laugh, cry, and laugh again -- spoken-word artist Roscoe Burnems will premiere his first stand-up special, Traumedy, at The HEALing Hub this Sunday. “Laugh till you cry, cry till you laugh.” As award-winning spoken word artist and RVA local Roscoe Burnems brings together comedy and spoken word for his first film special, Traumedy --...
After over a dozen adaptations on big and small screens, does the world really need Greta Gerwig's take on Little Women? For reviewer Chris Cassingham, the answer is a resounding yes. Louisa May Alcott’s book Little Women is about four girls growing up during and after the Civil war; Greta Gerwig’s movie Little Women is, in many ways, about that...
Clint Eastwood's film about the 1996 Olympic bombing hopes to critique unjust institutions, but loses its moral authority by manipulating a true story in pursuit of an obvious agenda. There is an exchange of dialogue in the latter half of Clint Eastwood’s new film, Richard Jewell, that distills the film’s guiding ideology. After finding out the...
In Knives Out, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson takes a stab at a traditional country-house murder mystery, with excellent results. Don’t be surprised to find out that one of the most politically prescient films of the year comes from a director whose last film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, sparked a backlash among hordes of rabid fans for making the...
Less a biopic than an intriguing tale about a life-changing encounter between a famous television host and an embittered journalist, A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood nonetheless captures the enduring positive spirit that made Mr. Rogers so beloved. Mr. Rogers has a quiet serenity about him that, to the most cynical among us, could come across...
Emlyn Crenshaw, a veteran of the Richmond theatre scene, never thought she could have a job in television production. A year after arriving in LA, though, she's landed behind the scenes at Netflix's Raising Dion. Plenty of unemployed college graduates pack up and head for sunny California. Richmond native Emlyn Crenshaw, 26, moved to Los Angeles...
This affecting portrait of a marriage coming to an end gets beyond marriage and divorce to tell a story about all the struggles and vulnerabilities that make us human. At first glance, Charlie and Nicole Barber could be considered the ideal couple. They’re unbelievably well-matched in creativity, spirit, passion for their jobs, their son Henry,...
Virginia film Mount Skylight, originally a short, is expanding to feature length with help from Winchester's Magic Lantern Theater. The chilling film tells a story of four hikers who encounter a seemingly empty town in the Shenandoahs. Fans of the suspenseful, Virginia-based short film Mount Skylight are in for some positive news: the short is...
Jojo Rabbit is an "anti-hate satire" featuring a bumbling Nazi pre-teen and a comical imaginary Adolf Hitler. But is there an effective message underneath these startling satirical elements? Taika Waititi’s most beloved films combine an unencumbered sense of fun with a deep compassion for their characters. The New Zealand director’s rise to...
