Movies

Coogler knows how to get great performances out of Jordan. Jordan, an accomplished young actor, knows how to give the director every emotion he seeks: fear, anger, sadness, joy.

Nick Cannon is a multi-faceted entertainer who wears many hats: comedian, executive producer, television host, film star, director, entrepreneur, philanthropist and author of children’s books.

Just when we were ready to give up on Spike Lee, wouldn’t you know he’d reassert his relevance with a decent inner-city drama decrying the gang violence in Chicago? Ironically, this timely tale is based on Lysistrata, an ancient play staged by Aristophanes way back in 411 BC. Set in Athens during the Peloponnesian War, that farcical adventure revolved […]

Michael Bakari Jordan is considered one of Hollywood’s brightest young actors. He garnered critical acclaim for his sterling portrayal of Oscar Grant in Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, a searing account of a slaying by police officers on a San Francisco train platform.

Bahamian Son, a semi-autographical film, was filmed both in Minneapolis and the Bahamas. It stars Reggie Henderson, who wrote the screenplay and co-produced it.

During the height of the Cold War, the U.S. and USSR are on opposite sides of ideology, economic goals and political aspirations. Espionage is the order of the day, with each side sending spies to the other side (or tapping conversations when possible).

Roger Guenveur Smith over the course of his three-decades-plus acting career has appeared in many Spike Lee works. But in a MSR phone interview last month, he let known that the successful collaboration with the famed director got its beginning in Minneapolis’ Uptown area.

Following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, a school teacher named Harriet Glickman and a few of her friends, took it upon themselves to petition comic writer and creator of the popular Peanuts comic strip, Charles M. Schulz, for more characters of color, a bold move that resulted in the inclusion of a character named ‘Franklin.’

After witnessing Mavis Staples perform in concert several years ago, Jessica Edwards went beyond just going home and binge listening to the singer’s songbook — she produced the first feature-length documentary on the legendary singer.

Malala Yousafzai was named after a girl who spoke out and was killed for speaking out. That folk hero of the same name was a flag-bearing teenager who perished in 1880 while rallying fellow Pashtun resistance fighters to an unlikely victory over British invaders in a pivotal battle of the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

The 2015 Twin Cities Black Film Festival (TCBFF) will kick off four days of films, shorts and documentaries — all by Black filmmakers — Thursday, October 8 through Sunday, October 11 at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis.

“I am very honored but as a Black filmmaker, we don’t trust the system in which we are going to be judged,” said Joe Brewster in a recent MSR phone interview. He and his wife Michele Stephenson co-produced and directed American Promise.

Tony-Award nominee Sanaa Lathan delivers a striking presence and undeniable energy to each project she takes on and continues to build on an already impressive career. She recently completed production on two films.

Carter High, based on a true story about the 1988 Dallas Carter High School Cowboys, is set for national release October 30.

The film, which stars Charles S. Dutton, Vivica A. Fox, Pooch Hall and David Banner, was screened at the 2015 National Association of Black Journalists annual convention in Minneapolis last month. The movie tells the story of several members of the Carter football team who went on a crime spree after a state championship season in the 1980s.

In 2011, Pastor Alex Kendrick produced, directed, wrote and starre

d in Courageous, a very compelling, action-oriented, faith-based drama. With War Room, he’s opted to play only a supporting role in the flick, thereby freeing himself to focus more on his duties behind the camera.

After the company he works for files for bankruptcy, Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) accepts a position overseas with Cardiff, a transnational water bottling corporation.

Warning: This isn’t some chump change Sundance indie movie about the rap group N.W.A. Nor is it a should-have-gone-straight-to-DVD afterthought about hip hop culture. This is a full-fledged, big budget looking homage to the L.A. rap scene that smartly, emotionally and historically capsulizes the life and times of Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and everyone around them who caused the big bang that popularized West Coast rap music. This is an Oscar-caliber film. This movie is a monster.

Rogue Nation is the fifth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise featuring Tom Cruise as the dashing and daring Ethan Hunt.

Sometimes artistry and insanity are so intertwined you can’t distinguish between them. That was the challenge for singer Nina Simone; dealing with worldwide fame and a madness she couldn’t shake.