The original Ocean's 11 (1960) starred Frank Sinatra and a tight-knit cadre of fellow Las Vegas headliners affectionately dubbed the Rat Pack by the press. The bawdy band of brothers were famous for partying and making impromptu appearances at each other's shows on the Strip. They even shot the movie right there in Vegas so they could continue working. That buddy flick was … [Read more...]
Arts & Entertainment: a space for local and national arts and entertainment stories, with an emphasis on stories pertaining to African and African Americans.
Pan-African graphic novel to get full length animated adaptation
Black Sands, an animated feature film based on the award-winning comic novels of the Black Sands Universe, is on the horizon. The African American-owned comic and children’s book publisher Black Sands Entertainment (BSE) recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring the feature film vision to fruition. Created by military husband and wife duo Manuel and Geiszel Godo, … [Read more...]
Gabrielle Union breaks into the suspense genre
A maternal instinct-driven thriller on Mother’s Day weekend may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Breaking In starring Gabrielle Union found an audience. The $6 million budget home invasion suspense flick opened at number-three behind Avengers: Infinity War and Life of the Party to a respectable $16.5 million estimate, according to industry reports. Ignoring the poor reviews … [Read more...]
A conversation with cinematic groundbreaker Craig Rice
In the Twin Cities, when comes to being artistically sound, completely serious about culture, and important to sustaining African American cinema, we’re talking filmmaker-producer Craig Laurence Rice. Not since the late firebrand legend DeJunius Hughes (Twin Cities International Black Film Festival founder) has there been so successful a cinematic groundbreaker this side of … [Read more...]
‘Rampage’: Mutant monsters decimate the Windy City in old-fashioned horror flick
Hey, sci-fi fans, did you find it hard to stomach the sight of a human mating with another species in The Shape of Water, too? If so, have I got a movie that'll wash the bad taste right out of your mouth. Call me shallow, but I much prefer this old-fashioned monster flick. Loosely based on the video game of the same name, Rampage is reminiscent of campy Japanese classics … [Read more...]