Movies
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A Long-Awaited Aretha Doc Is Now Due for Release—But Is That What the Queen of Soul Wanted?
Try to sit through the two minutes and 38 seconds of the Amazing Grace trailer without getting the least bit emotional. We dare you. In fact, we’ll wait. It’s been less than three months since Aretha Franklin died, but now, a Sydney Pollack-directed documentary chronicling the recording of her seminal 1972 live gospel double album…
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Belly Is the 2nd Greatest Music Video of All Time Behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
Let me be very clear, I love Belly. I love love it. When Mary J. Blige sang about “Real Love” in 1992, a whole ass six years before Belly would be released to the masses, she had no idea that she was singing my soul’s affinity for Hype Williams’ best music video ever. And what’s…
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The Hate U Give Isn't a Very Good Movie and It's Very Hard to Say That Out Loud
On October 3, Wesley Morris, in a piece for the New York Times Magazine titled “The Morality Wars,” sounded the alarm (in a nutshell) about the difficulty in critiquing black art in today’s political climate in favor of protecting the culture. Basically, he said that because the stakes are higher for black art, it has…
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The Bad Boys Sequel Is Officially Happening. Will Smith Said Y’all Ain’t Ready
After many fits and starts and one of the stars saying the project may never see the light of day, it appears that the long-awaited sequel to 2003’s Bad Boys II is finally happening. Are you ready? The film’s two stars—Will Smith and Martin Lawrence—both posted on their Instagram accounts that the movie is a…
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A Prince Documentary Is in the Works at Netflix—with Ava DuVernay at the Helm
“Black excellence” is a phrase oft-used at The Root, but we’re not sure it’s quite adequate to describe this news: In the midst of completing her highly anticipated drama for Netflix, The Central Park Five, Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay is also in production on another documentary for the network, this time about…
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TV Crew Filming Police Brutality Scene in Eric Garner’s Neighborhood Kicked Out by Angry Residents
Sometimes you have to admit when you’re wrong. For instance, I was always puzzled why people felt the need to defend monuments to the dead, such as Confederate monuments, as if history could be confined to a slab of stone or a sliver of real estate. Aside from the obvious racial implications, I thought those…
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Get in the Spirit With These 13 Black Horror Films This Halloween
Looking to get in the spirit of Halloween by having a scary movie marathon, but tired of the same old stuff? We know the formula: mix one black character that dies in the opening scene with a handful of Chads slashed by a masked murderer, then add one frantic Becky being chased through the woods,…
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Watch: New Documentary Surviving R. Kelly Highlights the Difference Between the Musician and the ‘Monster’
Cable network Lifetime has unveiled a trailer for a new documentary series that promises to tell the “untold story” of the women who endured R. Kelly’s abuse. The documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, which will run in three parts and clock in at six hours total, may be the most comprehensive and detailed look at Kelly’s…
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Meeeooow: Idris Elba to Join Film Adaptation of Cats
What can we say? The man has range. Idris Elba is reportedly in final negotiations to join the star-studded film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, Cats. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Elba would play Macavity, “a master criminal” of a cat (having owned a cat, I can tell you they’re all potentially master criminals,…