'Milkwater': Film Review

While a new deadly pandemic continues to grip attention worldwide — understandably — the documentary Wake Up: Stories From the Frontline of Suicide Prevention throws the spotlight back on an ancient and no less complex scourge: suicide. A major contributor (along with substance abuse) to the inexorably rising number of deaths of despair in the United States, suicide is now a leading cause of death for several demographics, particularly young men.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticWith “Da 5 Bloods,” Spike Lee follows his long overdue Oscar win for “BlacKkKlansman” by revealing a side of the Vietnam story that’s seldom told. Through the Trojan horse of a treasure-hunt adventure movie, the director explores the mindset of Black soldiers who fought for their country at a time when African Americans were being oppressed at home.

A poorly imagined crime flick that comes nowhere near justifying its 2.5-hour running time, Olivier Megaton's The Last Days of American Crime adapts a graphic novel in which the U.S. government has built a mind-control ray — maybe this is that 5G conspiracy the Alex Jones crowd has been ranting about? — that will soon prevent would-be villains from breaking the law.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticThese days, searching for solace amid a global pandemic and nationwide protests, film critics frequently find themselves referring to “the movie we need right now,” lavishing that cliché description on anything that offers the slightest comfort or context in a world turned upside-down. Let me assure you, Netflix’s “The Last Days of American Crime” is not that movie.

By Dave McNary

By Klaritza Rico

This year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, which was scheduled to take place last week, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 may well have been the only force capable of preventing an Indian American competitor from winning the contest for the 13th year in a row.

By Dave McNary

While Tuesday should be a day for Kelly Ripa to celebrate, the host has other things on her mind.

Jimmy Fallon addressed anger over his past wearing of blackface during the latest episode of his late-night talk show on Monday night.

Jimmy Fallon used Monday night’s episode of his late night show to address anger over his past wearing of blackface with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) President Derrick Johnson.

You’ve seen Kevin James play a Queens delivery man, a mall cop, a retired cop, a biology teacher turned MMA fighter, a zookeeper (in Zookeeper), the president of the United States, an animated Frankenstein, and a straight firefighter pretending that he’s gay. But it’s fairly certain that you’ve never quite seen him as he is in Becky, a stylish and very gory home-invasion thriller from the directing duo of Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott.

By Dino-Ray Ramos

The British Film Commission released their safety guidelines for restarting COVID-19 film production late Sunday after weeks of discussions by the British Film Institute’s coronavirus task force with labor organizations, epidemiologists, and studios based in both the U.K. and United States.

The British Film Commission released their safety guidelines for restarting COVID-19 film production late Sunday after weeks of discussions by the British Film Institute’s coronavirus task force with labor organizations, epidemiologists, and studios based in both the U.K. and United States.

Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest have been busy hosting their show while under quarantine. Fans were extremely worried about Ryan Seacrest and some even thought he suffered a stroke when he appeared life, following the American Idol finale.

The phrase “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” which has often (and perhaps erroneously) been attributed to American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, was a familiar saying by about 1920. And it makes perfect sense that the phrase roughly coincides with the dawn of cinema, because filmmakers have been cinematically paraphrasing it for much of the last 100 years.

In a recent piece for The New Yorker, Bill Buford movingly recounts the kind of romantic apprenticeship most aspiring chefs imagine when they hear the word "stage": Having moved to Lyon to absorb French food culture, the American humbly offered himself as a student hoping to learn from the crusty character who made the town's best bread. A skill was passed from master to learner, a friendship developed, and a new evangelist for the region's traditions was born.