New this week: Spike Lee flick, 'Artemis Fowl,' Norah Jones

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorThe relationship between director Spike Lee and composer Terence Blanchard is rooted in collaboration, counting over 15 films together — most recently, “Da 5 Bloods.”“Terence is a great jazz musician and band player,” says Lee. “He brings that wealth of understanding of what music does with colors, shapes and feeling.”Blanchard, who moonlights as a trumpeter, credits the strength of their 30-year relationship to Lee’s self-assurance as an artist.

Ellise Shafer editorSpike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” will be free to stream online until June 29.The 1989 film is also the American Film Institute‘s pick this week for its Movie Club. It will be accompanied by a live conversation with Lee on AFI’s YouTube channel on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Todd McCarthy The most striking, urgent, up-to-the-minute film I’ve seen this week was directed by Spike Lee. It speaks to the moment, pulses with turbulent emotional and political currents, overflows with vibrant characters and bluntly confronts society’s painful unfinished business.

In announcing its latest Movie Club selection, the American Film Institute packed in a bit more news. The organization is partnering with Universal Pictures to offer free rentals of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and will feature the filmmaker in conversation on Thursday.

For a long time, Spike Lee has had his finger on the pulse of America. In 1992, he screened Malcolm X for studio execs on the same day that four white cops who brutally beat unarmed Black construction worker Rodney King were acquitted of assault.

You would think that Spike Lee wouldn’t have much trouble finding a studio to finance and distribute his films. After decades of films that have been nominated for all sorts of awards and coming off his first Oscar win, it would stand to reason that a filmmaker would have a line of studios hoping to work with him.

There must be a “whole new agenda” after the coronavirus pandemic, director Spike Lee has said.

Also Read: Spike Lee Calls George Floyd and 'Do The Right Thing' Character Radio Raheem 'Brothers' in Short Film (Video)Sprawling and expansive at more than two-and-a-half hours, “Da 5 Bloods” is Lee’s Vietnam epic, a journey up the river with more than a few nods to “Apocalypse Now.” (Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” even shows up at one point.) The more it has on its mind, the better it is, because the vitality of Lee’s filmmaking lies not in the way he shows these guys hiking through the

Just like many around the nation, Spike Lee is feeling the heaviness over the recent death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests against brutality.

Spike Lee is feeling the heaviness over the recent death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests against brutality.The 63-year-old director is known for speaking up for what he believes in, and stepped out to participate in a protest and vigil for Floyd in New York City this week.

June isn’t off to a particularly great start, following the already awful events of the rest of the year so far, but if there’s anything to look forward to it’s some terrific films scheduled for release this month. From the latest films by Spike Lee and Josephine Decker to festival favorites that built buzz in the last year, there’s plenty to engage in.

Shortly after the video was released of George Floyd being killed by a police officer and protests began to rise up around the US, Spike Lee released a short clip editing together the videos of Floyd and Eric Garner being killed alongside a similar scene in the director’s own “Do The Right Thing,” asking the question, “When will history stop repeating itself?” In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lee talked about the connection between his 1989 acclaimed film and the recent racist

"He's trying to be a dictator"

«Will history stop repeating itself?» Spike Lee asks as much at the start of a minute-and-a-half-long short film he shared on Twitter, which splices clips from his 1989 film,, with footage of the police killings of Eric Garner in 2014 and George Floyd in May.

NEW YORK -- It's not the first time that Spike Lee's “Do the Right Thing” has been freshly urgent, but Lee's 1989 film has again found blistering relevance in the wake of George Floyd's death.

"Will history stop repeating itself?"