‘Arts’ Archives
Movie Corner – Joker
By Howard McQuitteroldschoolmovies.wordpress.comhowardmcquitter68@gmail.com  “Joker” (2019)Warner Bros.4/5 Stars It”™s Gotham City, circa 1981, but it”™s mood is somber, melancholy, with visual decay from loads of trash and super rats running in and out of fifth, while crime is nearly everywhere. Then, thugs steal purses and wallets; to start the film rolling, Arthur Fleck, an amateur clown by day, is beaten and robbed by roaming bands of thugs. Gotham City really is the future. Actually, what is at play here is a series of snapshots of today”™s American cities”™ disparities balled into one, like in Gotham City, and rancidity rising near boiling point between the wealthy and the poor. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a.k.a. “Joker”, lives with Penny Fleck (Frances Conroy) in what is one of those apartments with drab hallways and worn-out interiors (that with a little ambition can be made presentable). [...]
Diahann Carroll: reflections on a groundbreaking career
By DWIGHT HOBBES Reprinted with permission from Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder October 14, 2019 MGN Online The late Diahann Carroll broke interesting, transitional ground starring as “Julia” (NBC, 1968-71). Her portrayal of a gracefully dutiful, wholesomely assimilated single mom was the image and embodiment of a white woman with brown skin: Caucasian features, straight hair, and grammatically correct at all times. The character was a widowed, well-paid nurse working for a white doctor, living in white suburbia. (more…)
Movie corner: ”˜It”™ returns with roller-coaster ride that thrills
By HOWARD McQUITTER II Howard McQuitter oldschoolmovies.wordpress.com howardmcquitter68@gmail.com “It Chapter Two” ***1/2 of 5  New Line Cinema Andy Muschietti directed the well-crafted horror film “It” (2017), the highest grossing horror film a $ 700,381,748 worldwide. He has his sequel “It Chapter Two” when “The Losers,” now adults, are called back to their hometown Derry, Maine, to confront the menacing clown, Pennywise (Bill Skargard). While many sequels are or seemingly redundant, Muschietti”™s sequel is a legitimate one. However, the running time of two hours and 50 minutes, I think, cannot be altogether justified. Twenty-seven years later, Mike Hanion (Isaiah Mustafa), a librarian at the town library, is the only one of the seven-group,”The Losers,” who stayed in Derry. Events of missing children begin to recur in Derry bringing back nightmarish flashes to Mike. Mike [...]
