REVIEW

Everyone tells a different version of the Massachusetts Salem witch trials. In the 328 years since the event, historical accounts of the Salem town and Salem village schism change. Who sparked the accusations or baked the witch cake shift depending on the sources. Historians disagree on details big and small, but the broader picture is complete enough that a consistent timeline of events is accessible to everyone.

I don’t think it’s off point to say that without historians working to keep the atrocities of the Salem witch trials alive through extensive preservation of its people and sociology, the biblical nightmare…

‘Star Wars’ was never a ‘planned’ story, but it also wasn’t subject to whims of no plan at all either

A common refrain you’ll hear from the casual viewer to the die-hard Star Wars fan is that Star Wars wasn’t a series with a roadmap. 1977’s Star Wars had a beginning, middle, and an end. It was a bottled narrative that ends with the definitive victory of the heroes over the analog villains with no guarantee a sequel would be on the horizon until it happened. …

‘Star Wars’ joins the tired but profitable tradition of insincere diversity that runs counter to genuine representation through proper inclusion

February 2020, Netflix debuted the BBC Two produced docuseries, They Gotta Have Us. Aired October 2018, the Simon Frederick directed series marathons crucial points in Black history in interviews with Black actors, writers, directors, and producers that took part in the eighteen-month production.

Among them were veterans Dianann Carrol, Robert Townsend, and newcomers Barry Jenkins, and John Boyega. …

Episode IX never stood much chance of being a good film and the bitter pill is living with that reality

Depending on whom you ask, J.J. Abrams’ decision not to direct the whole of the Sequel Trilogy beyond Episode VII changes from franchise fatigue (he was still working on Star Trek: Into Darkness when hired to direct Episode VII) or wanting to spend more time with his family.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Abrams’ childhood friend, Greg Grunberg (Snap Wexley), suggests Abrams regretted leaving after reading Rian Johnson’s script for Episode VIII. …

‘The Last Jedi’ is not a sequel to ‘The Force Awakens’ but a standard, non-subversive refutation of its ideas and its lead characters

As The Force Awakens nears its conclusion, it establishes three branching paths for Finn, Rey Skywalker, and Kylo Ren.

For all of my frustration with how Kasdan and Abrams ended Finn’s arc, the unfortunate implications that it carried for Finn in the future, if I was naive enough to trust LucasFilm, an argument can be made that Finn suffering the worst kind’ve defeat was an attempt to combine elements of Luke Skywalker’s lowest point in his middle…

The start of the Sequel Trilogy is flawed and clumsy, but its heart is mostly in the right place with the right director and screenwriter

Potential. That’s a word you’ll see a lot when reading anything about Disney’s Star Wars Trilogy (sorry, “The Skywalker Saga”). “Man, this trilogy had so much potential. What happened?” A nebulous collection of ideas and impressions that could’ve come together to make ‘something great’, but never reached it. It’s not a lie. The Sequel Trilogy, as we informally know it, however much its start mirrored A New Hope, stuck its landing with an optimistic setup.

…

21st century films about police brutality are few in number, but Black online spaces would have you believe they dominate Black cinema

The 1990s is considered the “Golden Age of Black Film and Television”, and not without good reason. For the better part of ten years, Black (and white) directors and screenwriters created films that put Black characters in a mode of gradual normalization. 90s’ Black film was working with the successes and failures from the works made during the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.

For Black directors and writers who were able to put their work out there, the thesis…

Supermassive Games’ Man of Medan is a game I forgot about often and harbored little in terms of expectation. The only thing it seemed to have going for it is the fact that Shawn Ashmore had taken a vested interest in it and regressed into a role I haven’t seen him in since the early-to-late 2000s. …