By Kam Williams

Who is Pope Francis? Baptized Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he was born in Argentina on December 17, 1936. He would follow his calling at an early age by entering the seminary while still in his teens.

After being ordained, he began his career teaching theology. He was appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and subsequently named a cardinal three years later by John Paul II.

When he became pope in March of 2013, he made history by being the first Jesuit, the first from the Americas, and the first Francis. He took that name in honor of Francis of Assisi, the saint generally regarded as the one most closely mirroring Christ’s compassion for the poor. more

By Kam Williams

On March 3, 1991, five LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officers were caught on camera viciously beating an unarmed black man who had led them on a high-speed chase instead of pulling over as directed. When the police cornered him, the driver, Rodney King, suffered a broken ankle, a broken cheekbone, multiple skull fractures, and chipped teeth in the subsequent assault by the police with their billy clubs.

A year later, riots broke out all over South Central Los Angeles after a jury acquitted all the officers involved in the arrest. Six days later, 63 people had died and thousands of businesses had been looted and burned to the ground, with over a billion dollars in damages. more

By Kam Williams

In 1972, Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) was a career U.S. diplomat serving overseas in Lebanon. He and his wife Nadia (Leila Bekhti) were so comfortable living in the Middle East that they had decided to adopt Karim (Idir Chender), a 13-year-old Palestinian refugee.

This, despite the fact that unstable Lebanon had a history of falling into a state of unrest where warring factions faced each other for months, if not years. However, as a seasoned veteran, Mason knew how to keep the lines of communication open because the fighting starts once the talking stops. more

By Kam Williams

On July 18, 1969, Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy (Jason Clarke) hosted a reunion in a rented cottage on Chappaquiddick, a tiny island just 150 yards off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The gathering was in honor of the Boiler Room Girls, six women who had worked on his late brother Bobby’s presidential campaign the previous year.

Around 11:15 pm, Kennedy left the party in his ‘67 Oldsmobile with one of those young staffers, 28 year-old Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara). About an hour later, the car, driven by Kennedy, went down a dirt road and off of a wooden bridge. The driver lost control and the car landed upside-down in  Poucha Pond. more

By Kam Williams

It is 2045, a time when the planet has devolved into a desolate dystopia that is a combination of pollution, overpopulation, poverty, corruption, and global warming. Most of humanity lives in slums where they escape their misery by disappearing, via virtual reality, into the Oasis, a parallel universe co-created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg). Halliday is now in control of Oasis and Morrow is no longer associated with the firm.

The picture’s point of departure is an unrecognizable Columbus, Ohio, that is a devastated metropolis that has been reduced to a wasteland of vertical “stacks,” i.e. mobile homes that are piled  on top one another. We meet Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), who is an orphaned teen who has been taken in by his Aunt Alice (Susan Lynch).  more

By Kam Williams

Times have certainly changed when dramatic actresses can now play action heroes in blockbuster movies. For instance, Jennifer Lawrence had already been nominated for an Academy Award (Winter’s Bone) when she agreed to star as Katniss Everdeen in the adaptation of The Hunger Games trilogy. Alicia Vikander is following Jennifer’s lead by assuming the role of Lara Croft in the remake of the Tomb Raider. She had won an Academy Award (The Danish Girl), and also received critical acclaim for her performances in Ex Machina and Testament of Youth.  more

By Kam Williams

Ella (Helen Mirren) and John Spencer (Donald Sutherland) have been happily married for more than 50 years, and their love hasn’t diminished one iota in spite of his battle with dementia or by hers with brain cancer. Therefore, the inseparable couple resisted their doctors who wanted them to move into different healthcare facilities.

Instead, the 80+ year-olds decide to share one last vacation in their mothballed RV fondly called “The Leisure Seeker.” They plan to drive from Wellesley down to Key West where John, a retired English professor, hopes to visit the home of Ernest Hemingway. more

By Kam Williams

Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) would tell you that he’s a typical teen, except for the fact that he’s hiding one huge secret. He’s gay, but he hasn’t told his parents (Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Garner) or any of his friends. He’s even dated a female classmate (Cassady McClincy) at Creekwood High to keep up the charade.

He’s well aware of the merciless teasing waiting for anybody who is brave enough to come out of the closet after witnessing the fate of Ethan (Clark Moore), who was bullied at the school after he revealed his sexual orientation.

Simon keeps his equilibrium by anonymously visiting an LGBTQ-friendly blog where he has found another gay student from Creekwood High. At first, they only support each other, however, over time their friendship blossoms into love. However, since they’re both using pseudonyms Simon has no idea who “Blue” is because both of them are understandably hesitant to reveal their true identities. more

By Kam Williams

Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) is a loyal employee at Promethium Pharmaceuticals who has been patiently waiting for his chance to share in the success from the company’s lucrative sales of medical marijuana in a pill form. Unfortunately, the naive Nigerian immigrant is unaware that the Chicago-based company’s CEO, Richard Rusk (Joel Edgerton), has no intention of giving him a share of the profits.

Instead, Richard fills his head with promises of a lavish lifestyle like the ones he’s seen in rap videos. Furthermore, Harold has no idea that his boss is having an affair with his wife, Bonnie (Thandie Newton). In addition, Richard is in a relationship with his business partner, Elaine (Charlize Theron).  more

By Kam Williams

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is an Oscar-nominated documentary that chronicles an outrageous example of bigotry against the Sung’s Chinese American immigrant family. Patriarch Thomas Sung was inspired by the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life, when he and his family founded the Abacus Federal Savings Bank in 1984 in New York City’s Chinatown.

He wanted to help the people of his community get loans after repeatedly witnessing how other lending institutions were willing take Chinese people’s deposits, but were reluctant to let them borrow money. Abacus flourished over the years, and his daughters, Jill and Heather, joined the family business as executives after they became lawyers. more

By Kam Williams

The Shape of Water is clearly a favorite in this year’s Oscar sweepstakes. The science fiction fantasy about love across species lines was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, in six major categories: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Lead Actress (Sally Hawkins), Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer), and Supporting Actor (Richard Jenkins).

Writer/director Guillermo del Toro was apparently inspired by Creature from the Black Lagoon, a classic horror film from the 50s. This variation on the theme portrays the merman as being misunderstood instead of evil. more

By Kam Williams

In 1983, 17-year-old Elio Perlman (Timothee Chalamet) is spending another summer in Lombardy, in northern Italy, with his parents. Each year, Elio’s father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an archaeology professor, invites a different doctoral candidate to live with his family over the summer and be his research assistant.

This year, the guest is Oliver (Armie Hammer) who is Jewish and gay. That’s just fine with Elio, who’s exploring his sexuality and has been dating a local girl (Esther Garrel), until Oliver arrives at the villa.

It isn’t long before Elio realizes that he is developing feelings for the 24-year-old Oliver, who is quick to understand what is happening. Elio and Oliver spend long stretches of time flirting with each other, whether it’s swimming in the lake, canoodling at a cafe, or taking walks along the shore.  more

By Kam Williams

Zenzile Miriam Makeba was born black in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1932, which meant she was a second-class citizen. In fact, she spent the first six months of her life in prison with her mother, a sangoma (witch doctor), who was sent to prison just days after giving birth.

Luckily, her mother was also an amateur singer, and that was a gift Miriam inherited. She married at 17 and had a child a year later, but was soon abandoned by her abusive husband. So, to support her young daughter, she started singing professionally.

After performing and recording with several different bands, she found a measure of fame as the lead singer of an all-girl group called The Skylarks. However, while on tour out of the country in 1959, Miriam’s passport was revoked after the release in Italy of Come Back, Africa, a secretly filmed anti-apartheid documentary drama in which she appeared.  more

By Kam Williams

A few days after the 9/11 attack, President George W. Bush visited Ground Zero where he delivered an iconic speech while standing on a pile of rubble. He assured the rescue workers and the rest of America that those responsible for the senseless slaughter would soon be held accountable.

Less than a month later, the first contingent of soldiers was sent to Afghanistan. Their top secret operation, code named Task Force Dagger, called for them to be dropped behind enemy lines and rendezvous with a local militia led by General Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban).

The American Special Forces unit, composed of a dozen elite soldiers, was led by Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth). He was not only confident that the mission would be successful, but made the bold guarantee that no one under his command would perish in battle.  more

By Kam Williams

The Post is a movie that should be compared to two classic newsroom thrillers: All the President’s Men (1976) and Spotlight (2015). Like the former, it’s set in Washington, D.C. in the 70s and is about an attempt by the Nixon administration to prevent the publication of incriminating information leaked to the Washington Post by a whistleblower. And it’s eerily similar to the Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight in that they’re both dramas about an idealistic newspaper’s legal battle in defense of freedom of the press.

Hollywood has a predictable habit of parroting success, which means it’s just a matter of time before a knockoff of a big hit arrives in theaters. In this case, Spotlight’s Academy Award-winning scriptwriter, Josh Singer, was tapped to tweak first timer Liz Hannah’s original screenplay about the Pentagon Papers. more

By Kam Williams

Darkest Hour and Dunkirk cover the same period of time, which was Winston Churchill’s (Gary Oldman) first month as prime minister of Great Britain. When he was sworn in on May 10, 1940, the country was at war with Germany which had already conquered most of Europe and was just starting to invade Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.

Churchill’s predecessor, Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) had unsuccessfully tried a diplomatic policy of appeasement which had only emboldened Hitler. As a result, soon after entering office, Winston found himself facing a daunting task after the Nazis’ blitzkrieg had broken through the Maginot Line.  more

By Kam Williams

In 1998, 19-year-old Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) met a mysterious, middle-aged man named Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in a San Francisco acting class. Wiseau not only lied about his age but claimed to be from New Orleans, despite a thick, Eastern European accent.

However, Tommy was wealthy enough to underwrite a Hollywood production that starred himself. And Greg was willing to overlook the eccentric millionaire’s inexperience when he was offered a co-starring role. more

By Kam Williams

Twenty years ago, Frances McDormand won an Academy Award for Fargo, a delightful whodunit set in a tiny Minnesota town inhabited by colorful local characters. In that Coen Brothers’ black comedy, McDormand played a dedicated police chief who was tireless in her efforts to solve a murder case, even though she was pregnant.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a similar dark mystery set in the Midwest, that’s also full of folksy characters. McDormand plays Mildred Hayes, the mother of her teenage daughter (Kathryn Newton) whose beaten and raped corpse was found lying in a ditch along a lonely stretch of road. more

By Kam Williams

Saoirse Ronan is only 23 and has already been nominated for an Academy Award twice: for Brooklyn (2015) and Atonement (2005). Now, she’s certain to land another nomination for her memorable performance as the title character in Lady Bird.

It’s hard to say whether three times will prove to be the charm for her, since this has been a banner year for actresses, with powerful performances turned in by competitors like Sally Hawkins, Frances McDormand, and Meryl Streep. Win or lose, Ronan deserves all of her accolades for her performance in a very demanding role as a tormented teen constantly in crisis.  more

By Kam Williams

It is August 12, 1945. Japan is reeling and on the verge of surrendering in the wake of atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With Germany having surrendered to the Allies back in the spring, Europe is already in postwar mode, though not exactly at peace, as we are about to learn.

On this bright summer day Samuel Hermann (Ivan Angelus) and his son (Marcell Nagy) disembark from a train that has just arrived in their rural Hungarian hometown. Oddly, their presence doesn’t inspire the locals to celebrate the fact that two of their Jewish neighbors, who were taken away by the Nazis, had miraculously survived the Holocaust and have now returned home.

Instead, the Orthodox Jewish pair are greeted with suspicion, because their property had long since been appropriated by residents in the small town. So, as Samuel and his son load their luggage onto a horse-drawn-carriage, the village notary (Peter Rudolf) directs the driver (Miklos B. Szekely) to go very slowly.  more