film

Since releasing She's Gotta Have It in 1986, director Spike Lee has been a formidable name in the film landscape. His films challenge the status quo and highlight problems in America, and in black America, all while gripping audiences with heightened reality and strong casting to deliver his directorial voice.

Milwaukee's Francophiles can begin celebrating Bastille Days early this year at the Avalon Theater with a screening of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 film Amélie on Wednesday, July 11th. "France has nurtured one of the world's most significant movie industries," says film critic Dave Luhrssen. "The country can lay claim to having invented motion pictures. It was the sight of the first commercial screening of a movie."

It’s been 25 years since movie audiences first saw awe-inspiring dinosaurs come to life in Steven Spielberg’s classic film – Jurassic Park. Yet, five films (and possibly counting) later, studios are still making movies about the inevitable bad situations that will happen when large, once extinct dangerous creators are brought back to life.

If you grew up watching public television, the sound of a piano's ascending chords and the ding of a trolley bell may take you back to the land of "Make Believe" and into the television home of Fred Rogers. Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood began in 1968 and continuously aired first-run shows for more than 30 years.

You wouldn’t expect that a program with a soft-spoken and gentle man in a zip up cardigan playing with puppets would have touched so many people, but generations came to know Mr. Rogers as an essential part of their lives, early education, and childhood.

The Golden Age of Hollywood ran from 1929 - when the “talkies” were introduced - to the 1960s. Film stars were groomed and promoted by a studio system that could be both supportive and exploitive. When the studios began to break up in '60s, many of the stars they made famous were entering their old age. Some were still working by the late '70s, others were happily, or not, retired. But they were still accessible to fans in a way that modern celebrities aren’t.

Movie fans and film critics alike are perhaps feeling a little anxious for Solo: A Star Wars Story to be released on the big screen. During its rocky production, Solo saw a change of directors from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to veteran filmmaker Ron Howard (which came with months of re-shoots).

With a title like Disobedience, you might expect a film full of intense conflict. And while there is certainly conflict, it's much more internal -  at times quietly reflected through the lives of the main characters.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that the 19th installment in the Marvel universe is on screens around the world.  Avengers: Infinity War recently became the fastest movie to earn one billion dollars.

It is jampacked with everyone’s favorite superheroes -  Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther...  But do those epic proportions work to the advantage or the detriment of the story at the heart of the film? 

In the summer of 2013, 19-year-old Jessie Blodgett was a music education student at UW-Milwaukee, intent on changing the world through music.  She was devoted to the cause of ending male violence against women.

But in July of 2013, Jessie Blodgett was raped and murdered in her own home. The story shook her hometown of Hartford devastating many, especially her father, Buck.

READ: 'I'm Just A Dad Who Wants to Do Something': How Tragedy Sparked A Mission

Jewel Thais-Williams is an important figure to people in several communities. She’s the founder of the legendary Los Angeles night club, the Catch One. For four decades, “the Catch” was a place where politicians, and everyday people of all colors, cultures, and backgrounds could come together and dance the night away – and more importantly, be accepted.

On Wednesday night, the 11th of April, Milwaukee's 2nd annual CineLatino Hispanic Film Festival gets underway. The kickoff event is at the Bistroplex at Southridge and the remainder of the festival takes place at the South Shore Cinema in Oak Creek.

Many science fiction movies qualify as visual spectacles, but there are only a select few that bring up the essential question of what it means to be human.

Alex Garland has been a novelist since the 1980s and emerged to mainstream audiences as a formidable science fiction screenwriter and director with Ex Machina four years ago.

Both that film and his latest, Annihilation, leave audiences pondering far after the credits roll.

Oscar-winning filmmaker and Milwaukee native John Ridley formally unveiled plans to bankroll a new, for-profit creative hub in an old Pabst Brewery building on West McKinley avenue.

This weekend marks the 90th Academy Awards – or what Lake Effect’s Audrey Nowakowski and Milwaukee film critics Ryan Jay and Dave Luhrssen call the Super Bowl of film!

Come Sunday evening, the Motion Picture Academy will announce their verdicts for best film, best actor, best actress, and best director of 2017. Among the top films up for awards are The Shape of Water, Dunkirk, Get Out, and Lady Bird – a testament to how broad the genres and film topics are this year.

Who do you think will win best picture?

You might not expect the city of Beloit, Wisconsin to have a reputation among members of the international film community. But over the past 13 years, a group of people have been working towards the goal of  “Bringing the world to Beloit, and Beloit to the World" with the Beloit International Film Festival.

The festival’s executive director, and Beloit native, Max Maiken answers the question, “Why Beloit?”