African American

Podtalk: Filmmaker Raven Jackson for ‘All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt’

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

CHICAGO – Reflective and observational films … as if the audience is inside looking out along with the the characters … are very rare and takes a quality creator to pull off. One such film is “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” and it is written and directed by a quality creator, the poet-turned-filmmaker Raven Jackson.

Audio Film Review: Wartime Flyboys in Black & White in ‘Devotion’

Devotion

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Devotion,” a based-on-truth scenario regarding Jesse Brown, a Navy black aviator who broke through barriers during the 1950s Korean War, in theaters on November 23rd.

Podtalk: Kevin Shaw on HIs Documentary ‘Let the Little Light Shine’ at Gene Siskel Film Center

Let the Little Light Shine

CHICAGO – The City of Chicago, like a number of American cities, has gone through incredible transformations in the last 25 years. Whole neighborhoods left for dead during the white flight of the 1950s-70s have been gentrified and re-settled with luxury housing … often to the detriment of those who remained there throughout many difficult years.

In Memoriam: Merri Dee, Chicago Broadcasting Legend, Dies at 85

Merri Dee, photo by Joe Arce

CHICAGO – She was a pioneer in a broadcasting business at a time when it was mostly white and male. The incomparable Merri Dee was a fixture in Chicago media beginning in the 1960s, breaking barriers as a black woman TV personality and newscaster. She passed away in Chicago on March 16th, 2022, at age 85.

Flashback: Daphne Maxwell Reid, Aunt Vivian of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion’

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

CHICAGO – On November 18th, 2020, the streaming service HBO Max premiered “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion.” 30 years after the popular sitcom debuted, the primary cast got together to talk about the joys and foibles of developing family ties while creating and performing their characters in the show.

Film Reviews: HollywoodChicago.com On-Air Reviews of ‘7500’ & ‘Da 5 Bloods’

Da 5 Bloods

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on June 11th, 2020, discussing new VOD releases “The King of Staten Island” and “Working Man.”

Podtalk: Director Trey Edward Shults and Cast on Making ‘Waves’

CHICAGO – One of the best and more emotional films of 2019 is “Waves,” the third film of director Trey Edward Shults (“It Comes at Night”). The eclectic filmmaker explores the viability of family when a crisis occurs, especially through the young actors portraying brother and sister, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Taylor Russell.

Podtalk: Writer/Producer Alice Austen on ‘Give Me Liberty,’ in Chicago through Sept. 26, 2019

Give Me Liberty, Alice Austen

CHICAGO – Moving from writing plays for the stage to writing for film may seem like a natural transition. But at the roots in each of these separate storytelling forms there are different ways of formulating the connection between dialogue and visuals. Alice Austen made this transition when she wrote – with director Kirill Mikhanovsky – the story and screenplay for “Give Me Liberty.”

Podtalk: Reflecting on ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’

CHICAGO – San Francisco is dying. Not from blight or fault lines, but by the excess of new tech money that has been buying the city block by block. The diversity that made the town is also going away, and this circumstance is poignantly rendered in the new film “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.”

Film Review: Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ Gets Bogged Down in Conventionality

CHICAGO – Like his first film, “Get Out,” writer/director Jordan Peele creates a horror/thriller filled with symbolism and laughs. Unlike “Get Out,” “Us” is awash in overly concentrated plot points, a reliance on lesser references and an ending that can be seen from outer space. It’s not sophomore “jinx,” but more like the sophomore “over think.”

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