BOOZE IT UP BEFORE SEEING WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT The pace of Whisky Tango Foxtrot is so fast that instead of an exposé of the perils of a female war correspondent, filmviewers witness how Kim Baker (played by Tina Fey) takes a break in a loud night club, is repeatedly seduced, loses her boyfriend, and in effect is more […]
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JACKIE SHARES THE TRAUMA OF JFK’S DEATH In 1963, an American president who had brought hope for a new beginning—a Camelot—was shot dead alongside his wife, Jackie (played by Natalie Portman). She had to endure the blood spatter and make painful decisions following his death. Directed by Pablo Larraín, the film Jackie demonstrates much more than most filmviewers
LION ROARS ABOUT MISSING CHILDREN Every year, according to a title at the end of Lion, some 80,000 children go astray from their homes in India—and more worldwide. One such child, five-year-old Saroo (played by Sonny Pawar), goes to a train station with his brother, but then his brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) goes off to work, leaving
MOANA INSULTS POLYNESIANS Four directors had a script for Moana to accompany an animated story of how Polynesians moved from one part of the Pacific to their current home in Hawai‛i. Instead of flying to Honolulu to learn how the native population acts and talks, they Americanized the characters. The result was that the Demi-God Māui is
LOVING WINS OVER THE SUPREME COURT Richard Loving (played by Joel Edgerton) marry Mildred (Ruth Negga) in 1958 by traveling from Caroline County, Virginia, to see a judge in Washington, DC. They thus know that they are violating Virginia’s antimiscegenation law but seem naïve about the consequences of returning home to inevitable arrest, as he
PRICELESS ENDS WITH A DOT COM Slavery continues today in a different from—the sale of young women into prostitution. But where can one find and expose the practice that goes on in the cities of the world? James Stevens (played by Joel Smallbone) does so in Priceless by accident. His wife has died, but he
THE BIRTH OF A NATION CELEBRATES FREEDOM FOR SLAVES—FOR A TIME A biopic of Nat Turner (played by director Ned Parker), The Birth of a Nation sets the framework for the famous Turner Rebellion of slaves in Southhampton County, Virginia (though filming is in Savannah, Georgia), who killed 60 Whites in two days before being
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COME WHAT MAY ANSWERS CRITICS OF ADMITTING SYRIAN REFUGEES Many politicians question the current policy of admitting Syrians who are fleeing from a brutal civil war. Yet they may have forgotten that the French, expecting the German military to take over northern parts of their country, fled south in droves with no expectation of where
TANNA IS MARGARET MEAD’S DREAM COME TRUE What was it like in the Hawaiian Islands before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778? There is no better portrayal on the screen than in Tanna, a contemporary Australian movie filmed on the island of Tanna, south of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila. Tanna was visited by Captain
SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU PORTRAYS 2 SENTIMENTAL DATES Director/writer Richard Tanne poses a question in Southside With You: How did Barack Obama sweep Michelle Robinson off her feet? The answer is found in a concise film consisting of preparation for a first date, the first date, and the second date ending with a kiss. Whereas Michelle