Author Archives: Dwight Brown

By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic “I love you Cameron Tanner. Always have. Always will.” Most husbands adore their wives’ words of love. Cameron’s (Mahershala Ali, Moonlight) ambivalence stems from his secret, painful ordeal. He’s dying and his wife Poppy (Naomie Harris, Moonlight) doesn’t know it. Convulsions. Blackouts. Brain disease is draining the […]

By Dwight Brown, NNPA Film Critic In 2021 we could watch movies in theaters or screen them on streaming services. Two venues. Two choices. It’s a great way for more films to be seen by more people. The best and brightest of this year’s films were inspiring, noteworthy and will vie for awards in weeks […]

By Dwight Brown, NNPA Syndication Film Critic The American Black Film Festival  named actress-turned-director Halle Berry its official ABFF Ambassador in 2021. As the fest celebrated its 25th year, Berry proudly showcased her directorial debut Bruised. Normally the fest takes place in Miami, but this year ABFF’s Black films screened on their streaming service ABFFPLAY.com. […]

By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic King Richard has won the coveted Miami International Film Festival GEMS 2021 Audience Award, and it’s no wonder. It’s a crowd-pleaser! The spirit of the prescient planner, dreamer and barker Richard Williams, the work ethic and faith of his wife Oracene “Brandy” Price coupled with the talent […]

By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic It’s a farewell. An elongated sendoff James Bond fans will instinctively desire. And they should. As should any action film enthusiast who likes a dash of style mixed in with their adrenaline-rush martini. James Bond (Daniel Craig) has retired from the game and MI6. He is not […]

By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic When exposition and backstory weigh down an opening scene it’s tough for a film to get off the ground. That’s the burden screenwriter Nick Schenk (Gran Torino) and novelist N. Richard Nash’s dated, over-written script gives this road trip movie. Dead weight. In 1979, Mike Milo (Clint […]

By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic He’s a man about town. A lanky masseur in a tony neighborhood in Warsaw’s metro area. A Ukrainian immigrant. A foreigner. Not overly handsome, but magnetic. That’s the main character in this bedroom community slow-burning farce about a man whose sensitive hands rub Polish people the right […]

Skye Dakota Turner stars as Young Aretha Franklin and Audra McDonald as her mother Barbara in RESPECT, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. (Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert) By Dwight Brown, NNPA News Wire Film Critic “They want to hear you sing,” says Rev. C.L. Franklin (Forest Whitaker) to his 10-year-old daughter Aretha (Skye Dakota […]