The basu! Guide to the Movies

#TheUnitedStatesVsBillieHoliday Eye-opening and shocking look at the tragic offstage life of one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time. Hard to believe the lengths to which law enforcement went to persecute her. Sad. I mean, of course I had heard of Holiday because of Baba growing up, and both him and Ma spoke about #DianaRoss in #LadySingsTheBlues, and then TBH read a great book about #StrangeFruit - a song that's just as, if not more so, haunting as ever. But I had no idea of the full story😳 Give Day a lot of credit, kid acts(and sings!) her heart out, nicely supported by a name-brand cast and fantastic score from Bowers. But, yeah, I gotta go read up more on this legendary singer and the life she led… - - - #LeeDaniels #KrisBowers #AndraDay #TrevanteRhodes #GarrettHedlund #DavineJoyRandolph #MissLawrence #RobMorgan #NatashaLyonne #ToneBell #USvsBillieHoliday #BillieHoliday #LadyDay @usvsbillieholiday @Hulu

#JudasAndTheBlackMessiah Terrifically entertaining, ambitious, passionate first(-ish) film that demands, and, most decidedly, holds your attention. Man, give the powers-that-be credit for handing such an ambitious project to such a young filmmaker, and boy, does he deliver. Yeah, it's a little loose, and meanders here and there, but it's so emotionally vivid, that you can't not look away until that jaw-dropping ending😳. Great work by the legendary Bobbitt, especially those eye-watering nighttime saturated exteriors(*almost* looks like 35mm🤗), and especially composer Harris, whose music, like the film, is not shy and brings so much verve and energy that you hope there's a long composing career ahead of him. But, dude, that cast, manohman, just *filled* to the brim with piquant(🤓) turns: Howery, Sanders(he needs to be in more stuff!), Smith(needs to be in more stuff, dude has that 90s peak-#LarenzTate vibe), Thorne, Sheen(playing *against* real-life type!),

#Collective (#Colectiv) 😳🤭 Woah! Like a gut punch to the soul! Unshakeable, unforgettable – one of the best documentaries, best foreign films, heck, one of the best *movies* of the year, heck, *any* year! You think it's about one horrifying thing, then another horrifying thing, then another, and another, and another…and soon the whole horrifying Gordian(🤔?) Knot(to quote a character) starts to unravel and everything…just gets even more horrifying! I mean s starts hitting the f and it becomes Michael Clayton... and then Brazil... and then you realise dude, this is *real* life! You really can't believe your eyes at what unfolds… Speaking of real life, you couldn't ask for a more compelling cast of real-life characters: the crusading journalist(s), the disaster victim trying to reclaim her life, the idealist coming up against the unyielding, slowly-grinding gears of bureaucracy…if you look close enough, this could be(? or is😬?) *your* country, which is what

#TheKingOfStatenIsland Good, clean #Apatow emotionally-stunted-likable-Manchild-finally-grows-up fun. Good Lord is the cast stacked *full* of people you know and love: Lombardozzi(Herc!), Corrigan(*love* that guy!); perhaps a couple like Action Bronson & Machine Gun Kelly you know, but don't love(it's hard to tell these days); and, of course, the grand poobah of 'em all, the one, the only, the great Buscemi(so good!)! And, yo, waitasec, Burr, outta nowhere, gets a massive a role, and massively hits it out of the park. You know the guy, right?, the loud, obnoxious paterfamilias from the underrated(& very excellently dark) #FIsForFamily, & the not-loud, obnoxious guy from the (2nd?)greatest #ChappellesShow sketch to rule 'em all("they ate me, a [Spoiler Alert!]…drink [bleep!]😭😂!)..and perhaps one or two other things😏. Well, he's loud here, but definitely not obnoxious, and between this and #TheMandalorian, dude's on one h*lluva winnin

#WolfWalkers Wonderful, just bl**dy wonderful! The kind of intelligent, layered, nervewrack/heartwarm/thoughtprovok-ing, non-1000-gags-per-minute-headache inducing kid's film you don't see too often these days. Let's start with that eye-watering, beautiful, lyrical, artwork (I'm not an art major, but looks like they do lotsa interesting stuff with perspectives🤔?). Every frame is one of those, uh, frame-worthy efforts, inspired by those awesome woodcut-type stuff I used to see at my Aunt's place, contrasting with the magical, mythical forests(like I said, I'm not an art major…TL;DR: it's *beautiful*!). There's a lesson in there for all of us: never let budget, or lack thereof, stand in your way! Speaking of lessons, dude, this film has *all* the allegory(?metaphor? unlike Kornheiser, I wasn't an English major😁) you can handle, especially for a kid's film(actually, all the good ones have some layer of subtext, right?). "Into your

RIP #ChristopherPlummer One of our all-time great stars: he transcended media, genres, roles, heck, time itself. Part of my earliest memories of cinema, it seemed like he was always there, and always would be. Yes, like the everyone else, I discovered him thanks to the immortal Sound of Music, it was my sister's favourite movie("Sounda" she called it🤩), and we watched it *all* the time. Truth be told, I was intimidated by him, and it would only be years, okay fine, decades later, at the Hollywood Bowl, when he looks at Maria and is about to kiss her, when I heard 10,000 people sigh in unison, that I began to understand everything he brought to that role. After Sounda, well, when I caught up to him again, he had been touring with Barrymore, written a juicy tell-all, and went off on a startling run that he pretty much continued to the very end: Wolf, Dolores Claiborne, 12 Monkeys, The Insider… But, he had been working steadily, fantastically, all those interv

#TwoOfUs (#Deux) Wonderful, just simply wonderful! An unlikely blend of comedy, drama, family dysfunction, thriller, romance, ultimately, a deeply moving story about two people that proves startlingly universal. I cannot believe this is Meneghetti's first film😲! The kid has such tonal control, even while juggling so many different tones (especially, the "thriller" aspect, in fact, you could probably "remix" the entire thing into a #Relic-esque allegorical[?/metaphorical?🧐] horror!). Production design(that tells a story), the surprising score, and especially the tremendous camerawork: at times swoony-romantic, at times deliberative-creepy zooms…man, that shot at the kitchen table👏! The cast is great, from the caregiver(congrats to the actor for creating such a 3-D hateable character😏!), the hesitant daughter, but, my goodness, the two leads👍! The quietly dignified, strong Chevallier(doing great work with her…well, you'll see, but she doesn&#

RIP #CicelyTyson One of our all-time great stars, who probably should've been given many more opportunities in film, especially in the years before her living-legend phase. I discovered her thanks to Mummum, who would use her visits to educate us on classic film / literature (as would Didu[Classic Tollywood] and Dadu[Classic Bollywood], definitely TBT stories for another day), and in this case it was Roots. Talk about an eye-opening experience! My goodness, I definitely was not ready for that experience, especially since that portion of history was only briefly alluded to in school. Like a lot of actresses who don't necessarily fit the Hollywood mold, Tyson found success on TV, and Broadway, so my exposure to her was sadly limited, but every time she showed up on screen, I was like, that's living legend Cicely Tyson! And, of course, Sounder, boy, my allergies worked in overtime for that one. Now is a good a time as any to catch up on all that I have missed