John Singleton made history

by Cláudio Alves

As previously explored in our 1991 pre-Smackdown ruminations, the 64th Academy Awards were marked by several first in the annals of Oscar history. The Silence of the Lambs became the first horror movie to conquer Best Picture, and it was also only the third flick to win the Oscars' Big Five (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) after It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Among the other Best Picture contenders, Disney's Beauty and the Beast also made a splash, becoming the first animated feature to be nominated for that most important category. Still, more important even than that landmark for animation, we have the case of John Singleton who, in one fell swoop, became the first Black man to be in contention for the Best Director Oscar, as well as the youngest nominee in the category's history…

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Review: The High Note

by Chris Feil

Are VH1 Movies That Rock still a thing? The kind of movie that the VH1 programming gods connected through the vague thematic tissue of music, casual comfort viewing meant to be consumed on repeated Sunday afternoons, structured flawlessly to pause for snack breaks? It’s as if those gods had carved The High Note from gold for how much the film embodies that vibe.

The film centers around a music icon Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross) and her assistant Maggie (Dakota Johnson). As Grace attempts another relaunch of old music, Maggie’s music producer ambitions clash against Grace’s tried-and-true formula for success - and the star’s wariness that her assistant might be using her coattails. But Maggie begins to grow her producer chops (and a little romance) with a fledging singer songwriter (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), and struggles to balance her goals with her loyalty to her demanding boss within an uncrackable industry...

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Boyz n the Hood Turns 25

Lynn Lee revisits the John Singleton classic on its 25th anniversary.

Four young boys walk along a railroad track, idly chatting but in search of something specific.  They find what they’re looking for: a dead body.  A group of older boys arrives and harasses them.  The most pugnacious of the younger group fights back in a way that foreshadows his destiny as an adult.

Stand by Me?  No, Boyz n the Hood, which opened in theaters 25 years ago today.  And the parallels are no mere coincidence. Writer and drector John Singleton was intentionally referencing the earlier Rob Reiner film – perhaps as much for the differences as the similarities between the two narratives of boyhood and the cultural spaces they occupy...

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