Review: The Hate U Give

by Dancin' Dan

Audrey Wells, the screenwriter of The Hate U Give, lost her battle with cancer the day before the film opened. A sad story, to be sure, but what a send off. The Hate U Give, adapted from the novel by Angie Thomas, is a marvel of a film, one that completely belies its "YA literature" categorization. Its wrangling with the complex issues faced by black Americans surely owes a debt to Thomas's source material, but Wells's adaptation, directed by George Tillman, Jr., brings the novel to the screen in a form that breaks out of any audience box that it might be put in. It may come from a novel for teens, and it may feature a mostly black cast, but make no mistake: This is not just a film for everyone, it's one of the best, most vital films of the year.

Teenage Starr (Amandla Stenberg) and her family live in the "ghetto" area Garden Heights, because her parents think it is important to be with their people (they themselves grew up there), and daddy Maverick owns a grocery store there. But she and her older half-brother Seven attend a private school in a wealthier, whiter neighborhood...

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Podcast: First Man, Colette, and A Star is Born

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl talk three new films in theaters.

Index (54 minutes)
00:01 Intro & Festival fatigue
02:00 First Man Nathaniel is pro and Murtada mixed
14:30 We both love A Star is Born (but aren't rooting 4 Gaga to win)
35:00 Backlashes at the Oscars and what happens.. or doesn't
38:00 Best Picture randomness and Roma
42:35 Keira Knightley as Colette
48:20 Please look out for Border and Shoplifters which are opening soon

Referenced in this discussion
• Roma review
• NYFF Reviews
• Best Actress Chart 
• Best Actor Chart

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Colette, First Man, A Star is Born

Exciting 30 Year-Old Actors, An Armchair Casting Director's List

A special Top Ten today, derived from an aborted or perhaps delayed larger project -- you just never know. - Editor

Though we usually discuss actresses we like to keep you on your toes with a curveball now and then, so today: actors entering the prime male casting range! The thirtysomething years tend to be where men in showbiz can make their major marks and become respected actors / huge stars. Yes, there are actors that get really famous as young as actresses do (DiCaprio, Chalamet, etc) but they're the exception rather than the rule. These men were all born in 1988 so they just turned 30 (or will in the next handful of weeks). Which of them do you think will have an amazing decade of screen work ahead? And which, if any, do you think we'll still be talking about in 2028? (In an alternate life I was a casting director so I love concocting these survey lists.)

TEN EXCITING 30 YEAR-OLD ACTORS
Okay, eleven. We're bad at math

How talented is the '88 vintage? Time, talent, commitment, luck, and opportunities will tell but these men were selected due to work we've seen or hunches about their potential. But take this with a grain of salt because there are literally thousands of actors all over the world who could rise up quickly if the right opportunity / exposure happens. They're listed in alphabetical order...

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Beauty Break: Happy Rita Hayworth Centennial !

'The Love Goddess' herself, Rita Hayworth, was born on this day 100 years ago in Brooklyn. Audiences first noticed her in a small role in Only Angels Have Wings (1939) and she seguewayed into profile boosters like Blood and Sand (1941) and Strawberry Blonde (1941). A natural dancer she made two pictures she obviously cherished with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) -- Astaire went so far as calling her his favorite dancer partner -- and was one of the two ubiquitous pinups of World War II for American soldiers (the other being Betty Grable)...

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Soundtracking: "A Star is Born (2018)"

Chris Feil wraps up his look at the musical legacy of A Star is Born...

Bradley Cooper has kept with the 1976 A Star is Born’s arena template, largely correcting many of that film’s pitfalls for his directorial debut. Most obvious, the songs don’t mostly suck. And though it does lose sight of the perspective of Lady Gaga’s emerging singer somewhat, it’s more of a two-hander in terms of musical responsibility.

That shared weight is evident in the film’s showstopper “Shallow”, the song that already defines the film’s iconography and identity. It matches the “yes-and” nature of falling in love: Ally’s lyrics and soaring melody presenting the fear of taking the leap, Jackson orchestrating it to something cohesive and singular, both of them contributing the personal and universal essential to any ballad worth its luster. They’re both observational and confessional, with “I’m falling” being the most terrifying admission. Like love, the song begins with a simple feeling, and its eventual rush of emotion builds until it must be submitted to.

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