REVIEW: Candyman [1992]

Sweets to the sweet. An urban legend ghost such as Candyman (Tony Todd) doesn’t care about anyone besides those willing to keep his memory alive. His purpose in death is to be remembered through blood—turning his heinous fate from the late nineteenth century into a curse that haunts others into being too scared to naively follow in his own footsteps where it comes to the belief that someone who looks like him can escape the prejudice that targets the color of his skin. So when Chicago grad students Helen Lyle…

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REVIEW: Harriet [2019]

God showed me the way. Harriet Tubman is such an important heroic figure in American history that she was set to replace Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill next year (the 19th Amendment’s centennial anniversary). That she isn’t anymore (Hollywood producer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin delayed the switch in a move most believe was to instead keep Donald Trump’s favorite president’s visage on the currency throughout his term) is hardly surprising since that heroism will always come with an asterisk in this country due to her being Black and…

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REVIEW: Talk to Me [2007]

“The call letters, y’all” Here is a biopic that knows what it is. Petey Greene, an ex-con with a voice, gets his chance to speak to a city and use his one true gift, the one thing he enjoys and is good at besides being a miscreant. Kasi Lemmons never tries to tell us about Petey or his manager Dewey Hughes’ past history to get them to where we start the film. Besides what they tell each other, the film being shown encompasses the start of what would be a…

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