In this wonderful series (based on his own 1986 film) Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” is a natural yet cinematically exhilarating look at Nola Darling, a modern black woman who makes no apologies as she navigates through her life and relationships on her own terms.

Unambiguously set in 2016 (and 2018 for season two) this vibrant series has pure delight in every episode.

The concert film “Woodstock,” made in 1970 by director Michael Wadleigh, captured the August 1969 “three days of peace and love” music festival in Bethel, New York, the touchstone for a generation and the height of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, The Who, Santana and Jimi Hendrix were among the notables who took to that muddy, rainy stage, which Wadleigh’s cameramen and editors, including a young Martin Scorsese, weaved together into a

HBO’s “Deadwood” was a rather brilliant parable of corruption and violence that forever changed this country. The show’s now infamous “Deadwood Speak” (courtesy of the great David Milch) and its rich detail to character made it something truly unique.

Fans were floored when the show was abruptly cancelled after season three and argued their favorite characters and s, at the expense of fluidity.

(this article is a reprint; it was originally published on Screen Comment in 2017) Were I ever tempted to leave Paris and pitch my tent in a warmer city, a city where it doesn’t rain as often, where skies are bluer and inhabitants smile, I only need to look back on this last week to realize that I could never live elsewhere (but I already know that.) So how did that week go? I saw three films: “Le Redoutable,” about New Wave cinema

Lite De Palma can still be good De Palma. “Domino” sees the master-filmmaker working with a lesser script yet coming out on top.

The director had made clear his disgust with the making of this film, whose production at one point was in danger of being shut down because of money issues. De Palma still insists many crew members hadn’t been properly paid and says that this “was

Russia’s Spetsnaz, or special task force, is a cohort of young soldiers who continuously train in preparation for taking on enemies of the state. They pay tribute to fallen comrades killed in past conflicts, sometimes under mysterious circumstances.

In his film “The Son,” Russian-born filmmaker Alexander Abaturov chooses to ignore the whys and the hows of the high-stakes

When planetary disaster strikes the planet, one turns to country-music for solace. The song in question was written by Grammy-nominated country music singer Sturgill Simpson and keeps making a comeback throughout “The Dead Don’t Die,” the new Jim Jarmusch film which opened the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The song, which shows up repeatedly in dialogues, on a CD that changes hands, is a mantra, something for

The documentary “Amazing Grace,” the filmed version of an Aretha Franklin concert in a black church, was originally filmed in 1972 by Sidney Pollack. The problem—lack of synchronization between image and sound—that prevented the project from being completed, has finally been fixed thanks to digital technology. That which gives us a superb and moving moment of music and film history and demonstrates

Director Mary Harron has had a fascinating journey on her way to the Tribeca Film Festival. Her earlier film “American Psycho” tells the story of a demented killer. “The Notorious Bettie Page” was a historic period piece. With “Charlie Says,” a historic period piece about a demented killer, she’s completed the circle.The story of Charles Manson and his infamous crimes has been told before, most notably in the 1976 made-for-TV

Race, class, social injustice. Our country has struggled with these since forever and cinema provides the means to address issues and heed the call of activism and resistance through art.In these dangerously unstable times “Blindspotting” has led the charge and turned the camera on us. When the film came out last year, it was a striking debut for first-time filmmaker Carlos Lopez Estrada (Estrada had directed