George Clooney’s new film The Midnight Sky, carries forward his activism on behalf of our planet Earth. Clooney stars as Arctic researcher Augustine, and he produced and directed the film. Augustine’s left alone in his northern station when colleagues rush home for their last remaining days. The Earth’s being swallowed up by a toxic, man-made cloud. Augustine’s determined to warn… View Post
Caoilinn Springall and George Clooney in The Midnight Sky By Anne Brodie Looks like Nomadland’s Frances McDormand has fierce competition for all the Best Actress awards in Viola Davis. Davis is unrecognizable as 20’s blues icon Ma Rainey, in George C. Wolfe’s film adaptation of August Wilson’s Broadway hit play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Ma is big, bold, entitled, confident and… View Post
Viola Davis’s astonishing transformation into 20’s blues singer Ma Rainey is an act of pure thespian skill that may well earn Davis a second Oscar. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom directed by George C. Wolfe and based on August Wilson’s long running Broadway hit stars Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman. So, who was Ma Rainey? Born Gertrude Pridgett in 1896, and born… View Post
Strong Oscar buzz for Netflix’ Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, based on August Wilson’s play and starring Viola Davis as the legendary 20’s singer, the “Mother of the Blues”. Rainey records a studio song over the course of a sweltering hot day, as band members, played by Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts and the late Chadwick Boseman walk a fine… View Post
Sarah Gadon, one of Canada’s most sought after actors, seeks out complexity in her work and its clear she got what she wanted in Lawrence Michael in Black Bear. Gadon, Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott challenge the audience within the framework of changing circumstances, putting it mildly, as they hole up in a remote woods cabin. What She Said’ Anne… View Post
By Anne Brodie Two orders of Meryl, please. The extraordinarily talented Ms. Streep id dramatic then comic in two wildly divergent films this weekend. First Meryl joins Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest and Lucas Hedges in Steven Soderbergh’s Let Them All Talk an edgy, intimate wonder about a world-renowned author who invites two university friends to join her on an ocean voyage to… View Post