“Everything seemed the same, but it wasn’t. It was a nightmare.” By 1978, the American Dream was officially dead. The counterculture of the ’60s and early ’70s had been absorbed into the mainstream, packaged and sold through a matrix of unlimited consumerism and...
The term ‘Uncle Tom’ conjures up harsh memories of America’s racist past. Yet to author and filmmaker Jared Brock, the phrase is something different entirely. According to Brock, who premiered his latest work at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center last night, it’s in some serious need of clarification or as he says, ‘redemption’. In...
It’s been about two weeks since I saw Avengers: Infinity War. I saw it twice over the course of 48 hours, on the night it premiered and then again on the next night. Over 10 years of storytelling and 19 films have led up to the ultimate big bad of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the most pearl-clutching post-credits sequence in Marvel...
Richmond provides the backdrop for many productions, from random alleyways on “Homeland” to the Laburnum House on the canceled “Mercy Street,” but it’s rare that the city receives the type of exposure Jai Jamison is aiming for with his forthcoming short, “Slave Cry.” A pilot for a proposed TV series, Jamison said he wanted to tell a contemporary...
The Lisbon girls, oh the Lisbon girls. Sophia Coppola’s brilliant and vibrant 1999 debut “The Virgin Suicides” follows a group of teenage boys (now men 25 years later) obsessed with the five teenage Lisbon sisters, fixating on their lives just prior to their mystifying, premature deaths. Adapted from Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel, the film faithfully...
Tonight, the Richmond International Film Festival (RIFF) kicks off at the historic Byrd Theatre, launching a week-long screening of more than 150 films. RIFF includes films from a wide range of genres and styles, from animated shorts to documentaries, and features works from over 35 countries. The festival opens with “Nona”, a narrative feature...
From slavery to freedom through food and resistance, John Dabney’s story is one not often mentioned, but one that should be celebrated and honored not only for Black History Month, but for the mark he left on Richmond as well. And that story will be told at the Black History Museum this week with a screening of The Hail Storm: John Dabney in...
The 8th Annual Richmond Environmental Film Festival, which kicked off last night, has come around once again for its week-long showcase to raise awareness on environmental issues featuring local and national films at various venues across the city. Every year, the festival bolsters its lineup with an arsenal of films, providing breathtaking,...
No film about adolescence has stood the test of time quite like John Hughes’ ode to forced school on a Saturday quite like “The Breakfast Club”. A quintessential 80’s flick, released slap dab in the middle of the decade, was a rounding success at the time of its release and then went on to become a fevered favorite among those looking for...
Good nonsense is indeed hard to find. Terry Gilliam’s 1977’s “Jabberwocky” is less the spiritual successor of his previous landmark comedy “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, but more of a continuation on that film’s satirical bent of the Dark Ages with silliness run amok during very cruel, nasty times. Based (very) loosely off of the mythical...
