‘Movie Corner’ Archives
Movie Corner: Melvin Van Peebles
He's the ManMelvin Van Peebles (1932-2021) Melvin Van Peebles. Photo by John Matthew Smith By HOWARD McQUITTER II The African American filmmaker-actor Melvin Van Peebles, a fiercely independent filmmaker, could make memorable and remarkable films on a shoestring budget such as the 1971 bombshell film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song about a Black pimp who kills two policemen for beating up a Black militant and how he eludes law enforcement. (His son Mario, is also an actor/director.) And with Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, in particular, but in conjunction with his body of work (his directorial debut is Watermelon Man in Hollywood), the man is often known as the "Godfather of Black cinema". (The late Black director Gordon Parks is also a modern pioneer of Black cinema.) Mr. Melvin Van Peebles graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a B. A. in 1953. He decided to travel heavily in Europe, Mexico and the United States taking on jobs such as postal worker, painter, [...]
Movie Corner: Coda
Vendome Pictures (2021) By HOWARD MCQUITTER II Official film poster, Apple TV+ What can I say about this motion picture that is "art- house", perhaps, yet rings to me to be one of the best films since the 2021 Oscars? CODA (the 2021 story) is the precise literary work by both the director and screenwriter: Sian Heder. She tells a story of one family of deaf members except for the daughter, Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), in a small fishing town (set in Massachusetts) where the family makes their living by catching and selling fish from a boat. A superb performance by Emilia Jones and fine performances by the supporting cast: Marlee Matlin (won best actress for Children of a Lesser God , a theme centering on deaf people) as Ruby's mother; Troy Kotsur (Frank Rossi) as Ruby's father; and Daniel Durant (Leo Rossi) as her brother. Although Ruby is the only non- deaf person, she is [...]
Movie Corner Bonus: Candyman
Horror/Thriller Universal Pictures (2021) ★★★★ (4 out of 5) By HOWARD MCQUITTER II Universal Pictures If one says “candyman” five times consecutively in an audible voice one can expect a ghost from the past, a large Black man with a hook on his right hand who will kill anyone daring to repeat his name five times in a row. Director Nia DaCosta takes a slightly different take from the original Candyman, directed by Briton Bernard Rose (Frankenstein , Paperhouse ), whose horror film is referred to by some to be the Halloween of the 1990s. Behind DaCosta's version is a steady and reliable hand of one the screenwriters - Jordan Peele. A 2020-21 look at the former Cabrini-Green neighborhood (still there in the 1990s but crumbling in desperate need of repair) which is "nicely" hidden by white developers and whites who have fled to the suburbs and exurbs. Candyman still hangs [...]
