Editorial Product Review: :Working with a theme and history that's obviously dear to her heart, first-time writer-director Julie Dash's exquisitely alive film chronicles the last days of the Gullah, an Americanized West African people in danger of losing their identity. Dash makes up for some overly schematic dialogue and an occasionally pokey pace with some strong performances (particularly Cora Lee Day as the sternly matriarchal Nana) and an absolutely wonderful visual sense (kudos should also go to her ace cinematographer Arthur ...
Editorial Product Review: :In 1982, a brash young former weatherman from Indianapolis changed the face of wee-hours television forever. Taking over the 12:30 am time slot, 'LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN' awoke the world with the wacky antics of Stupid Pet Tricks, Paul Shaffer, Larry Bud Melman, and of course, Dave himself. The first season was the most offbeat. In later years, the show became full of celebrity guests. However, the first year was full of hilarious antics like elevator ...
Editorial Product Review:Description:Thailand-set actioner involving a Karate expert and two cohorts who try to rescue a kidnapped senator's daughter from oriental villains.
Editorial Product Review: :Watching Pryor go from imitating a drinking deer to a woman debating about going in the woods gives just a hint of the comedic genius of the man. Crude, foul, and real, this is the first and best of his concert films. Pryor does dead-on impersonations of the respective races, cussing, trying to act tough, getting kicked in personal spots. But it's his imagination that elevates him to a different level. He gives his impressions of what animals ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:There are many remarkable things about the documentary 4 Little Girls. Spike Lee's striking, beautifully realized film is a cinematic lesson of what kind of material is better suited to the documentary format. In his first documentary, Lee shares an attribute of Ken Burns: the major event in his documentary is not seen on camera. Except for four quick glimpses of black-and-white autopsy photos, the picture stays clear from the bombing. Lee remains with the faces, ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:Tina Turner, that dynamic diva of pop/soul/R&B from the '60s to the '90s, sings like a woman whose life story is every bit as rough and tough as her voice. And What's Love Got to Do With It, based on her autobiographical account (in I, Tina, written with Kurt Loder) of her years under the iron fist of her abusive husband and musical partner/Svengali Ike, is further proof of what we've always known about Tina: She's ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:Accompanied by a menagerie of products, Ken Burns's expansive 10-episode paean, Jazz, completes his trilogy on American culture, following The Civil War and Baseball. Spanning more than 19 hours, Jazz is, of course, about a lot more than what many have called America's classical music--especially in episodes 1 through 7. It's here that Burns unearths precious visual images of jazz musicians and hangs historical narratives around the music with convincing authority. Time can stand still as ...
Editorial Product Review: :Maya Angelou, one of the most prominent literary figures of the 20th century, grew up during--and became a vital part of--one of the most volatile periods of American history. The inspiring, tragic, outrageous life of Maya Angelou could be the subject of an entire college course, but this video serves as a terrific first primer. This Intimate Portrait provides an overview of her life and accomplishments; interviews and video clips show Anglou's rise from a difficult childhood to ...
Editorial Product Review: :Friday is the rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no-frills tale of a typical day in the life of a pair of African American youth in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on ...
Small and light enough for a shirt pocket, Samsung's Helix YX-M1 is a one-stop audio entertainment center with an XM radio, a digital music player, and room for 50 hours of tunes, but it comes up short on battery life.
