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American Fiction–Truth or Dare

The 2024 Academy-Award nominated indie film, American Fiction,  directed by Cord Jefferson, is  based upon the 2001 novel, “Erasure”, by Percival Everett. Black novelist and literature professor Thelonious Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), nicknamed “Monk” (perhaps after the famous jazz musician) is incensed that his novels are not well-received by readers, both Black and White.  An academic specializing in Greek mythology and drama, his books are nonetheless shelved under African American literature in bookstores.  Monk is an upper-class intellectual with a gay brother (Sterling...

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Year of the Dragon 2024–February  10, 2024, through Jan. 28, 2025

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!  Good luck from dragon fire  breathed into your lives with excitement and creativity! 2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon.  It is particularly a favorable time for change, growth, and progress.  The combination of the dragon’s dynamic energy and the grounding and stabilizing influence of the wood element will inspire imagination, leadership, and the creation of new ideas. In general, the dragon is a harbinger of great fortune,  yet unpredictable, regardless of what type of Dragon year we are in.  Its mystery is never...

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A Small Light–In a Very Dark World

A Small Light, a  National Geographic eight-episode miniseries, chronicles the life of a young German woman in her twenties, Miep Gies (Bel Powley).  Sent as a little girl by her mother  to a more safe environment in Amsterdam, unaware that  Amsterdam is on the verge of being overtaken by  Fascism. Miep, emotionally abandoned by her family, begins work for Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber) in his pectin factory, manufacturing the essential ingredient for making jam and jelly.  Soon, however, her boss will be forced to take his family into hiding from the Nazis.  Bravely,   Miep and her husband...

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My Top 12 Movies and Series for 2023

While we are all going into our fourth year of Covid, many of us craved new content to watch, and felt like there weren’t as  many good movies and series to choose from.  Certainly, the screenwriters’ strike contributed to the dearth of content.  Well, this year I still have twelve to recommend.  Some are less well-known and under-the-radar.  Also, there seemed to be more selections from DEI producers and writers, for a welcomed change! Here are the reviews I wrote this past year with the criteria that they were available online.  Of the 48 reviews I posted...

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Hunger (2023)–Parasite Anyone?

This Thai thriller features a beautiful young woman, Aoy,  and a terrifying megalomaniac celebrity chef  Paul.  Aoy stir-fries noodles in her family’s noodle shop as a fast-food cook alongside her brother and her parents. In contrast, Chef Paul berates his staff mercilessly.   In an upscale restaurant environment, Chef Paul is a culinary darling among the very wealthy. Invited to join Chef Paul, the perfectionist, Aoy is thrilled at the opportunity.  Hunger soon reveals sadism and disturbing egomania in the rarified and unsavory restaurant industry.  But the young noodle-fryer refuses...

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Black Cake–Crumbs from the Past or Just Desserts?

In this haunting story of a young girl’s treacherous journey from Jamaica to England and then to California, we see the erasing of her past in order to survive. Black Cake is  a Hulu eight-episode miniseries based on the titular best-selling novel by the Jamaican American author, Charmaine Wilkerson.  Opening in the late 1960’s with a beautiful young Jamaican teenager, Covey Lyncook (Mia Isaac) is practicing swimming in order to compete competitively.  Her mother left when she was a young child, and her father, a debt-ridden gambler, does the unforgivable:  trade his debts for his...

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