From The “A Sojourner’s Truth” File…By Sean E. Ali

“There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other”. ~ Harriet Tubman I’m not one for slavery era movies any more. The story has to be pretty damn catchy in general to pull me in and it had best […]

Victoria & Abdul

2017 BBC Films/Perfect World Pictures/Working Title Films/Cross Street Films/Focus Features/Universal Pictures Directed by Stephen Frears Produced by Tim Bevan/Eric Fellner/Beeban Kidron/Tracey Seeward Screenplay by Lee Hall Based on “Victoria & Abdul” by Shrabani Basu I have no idea if British cinema invented the period costume drama (that is a genre, right?) but they know how […]

American Made

2017 Universal Pictures/Cross Creek Pictures/Imagine Entertainment/Quadrant Pictures/Vendian Entertainment/Kylin Pictures Directed by Doug Liman Produced by Brian Grazer/Brian Oliver/Tyler Thompson/Doug Davison/Kim Roth Written by Gary Spinelli Having pretty much devoted himself to action movies for the last decade or so it’s easy to forget that Tom Cruise was once regarded as one hell of a dramatic […]

Hidden Figures

2016 Fox 2000 Pictures/Chernin Entertainment/TSG Entertainment/20th Century Fox Directed by Theodore Melfi Produced by Donna Gigliotto/Peter Chernin/Pharrell Williams/Jenno Topping/Theodore Melfi Screenplay by Alison Schroeder/Theodore Melfi Based on “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly There are two stories of heroism running side-by-side in HIDDEN FIGURES. There’s the one we all know because it’s been so documented, […]

The Right Stuff

1983 The Ladd Company/Warner Bros. Directed by and Screenplay by Philip Kaufman Produced by Irwin Winkler/Robert Chartoff\ Based on “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe Music by Bill Conti Cinematography by Caleb Deschanel One of the reasons why THE RIGHT STUFF stands out in my memory is because I saw it during its original theatrical […]

The African Doctor

2016 TFI Films Production/Mars Films Directed by Julien Rambaldi Produced by Pauline Duhault/Olivier Delbosc/Marc Meissonier Screenplay by Julien Rambaldi/Kamini/Benoit Graffin I think that it’s more than safe to say that 2016 has been one hell of a year. It’s a year that I have no doubt will go down in history. Most of you […]

Queen of Katwe

2016 Walt Disney Pictures/ESPN Films/Mirabai Films Directed by Mira Nair Produced by John Carls/Lydia Dean Pilcher Screenplay by William Wheeler Based on “The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster” by Tim Crothers If you’ve been reading my reviews on a regular basis you’ll doubtless […]