Movies

Director Ryan Coogler attends the Black Panther BFI preview screening on February 9, 2018 in London, England.

Arts

Director Ryan Coogler Says 'Black Panther' Brought Him Closer To His Roots

2:32pm February 15, 2018

by David Greene

The new film imagines an African nation, rich in minerals and unscarred by colonialism and slavery; Coogler says he traveled to the continent to dig into the question of what it means to be African.

Arts

Mythic 'Black Panther' Is A Momentous Event In Pop Culture History

2:25pm February 15, 2018

by David Edelstein

As originally conceived in 1966, the Black Panther was an African king who fought crime in a high-tech panther suit. David Edelstein says Marvel's new film about the character was worth the wait.

Queue Listen Now

Excitement Builds Ahead Of 'Black Panther' Opening

5:44am February 13, 2018

The movie has a black superhero, a mostly black cast and is set in a futuristic society in Africa. David Green talks to journalist Trey Johnson about why it has such meaning for many people of color.

Queue Listen Now

Sony Apologizes For Making Fun Of Food Allergy In 'Peter Rabbit'

4:35pm February 12, 2018

Sony's new film, Peter Rabbit, is being criticized for a scene in which a character is pelted with blackberries, to which he's allergic. Allergy advocacy groups criticized the scene and Sony has responded with an apology.

Queue Listen Now

T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) settle their differences, Wakanda style.

Arts

'Black Panther' Is A Superhero Story You Haven't Seen Before — And It's Thrilling

12:07pm February 12, 2018

by Glen Weldon

Ryan Coogler's film, set largely in the richly imagined Afro-futurist utopia of Wakanda, is by turns intimate, immediate and — most importantly — new.

"I really needed an actress for Florence who could have vulnerability but also reserve," Rees (L) says. "... And I knew that Mary (R) had that."

Dee Rees And Mary J. Blige Dug Into Their Roots To Make 'Mudbound'

1:02am February 11, 2018

by Michel Martin

The director and singer/actress both drew upon their families' history to make the Oscar-nominated film. "I think I'm always exploring this idea about the battle being bloodier at home," Rees says.

Queue Listen Now

Jóhann Jóhannsson at the 2015 BAFTAs, where he was nominated for the music he composed for the film The Theory of Everything.

Music & Culture

Oscar-Nominated Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson Dies At 48

2:27pm February 10, 2018

by Otis Hart

The renowned film composer, who scored Arrival and The Theory of Everything, died Friday in Berlin, Germany.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Clint Eastwood Celebrates Old-Fashioned Heroism In 'The 15:17 To Paris'

4:04pm February 09, 2018

by David Edelstein

In 2015, three Americans on a Paris-bound train stopped a terrorist attack in progress. Eastwood recreates the incident — and audaciously casts the real-life heroes as themselves — in his new film.

Queue Listen Now

In 'Basmati Blues,' Brie Larson Plays A White Savior. Indians Are Annoyed

2:28pm February 09, 2018

by Kamala Thiagarajan

There's Bollywood-style singing, dancing and a scene of the Oscar-winning actress riding a white horse. Indians are calling out its stereotypes and cliched portrayals of their customs and culture.

Jill Messick, at the premiere of Hot Rod in Los Angeles in 2007, "was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact," her family said.

Jill Messick, Hollywood Producer Embroiled In Weinstein Scandal, Dies By Suicide

11:45am February 09, 2018

by Scott Neuman

Messick had been a manager for actress Rose McGowan in 1997, when McGowan says Weinstein raped her. "She became collateral damage in an already horrific story," the family says.