The Pawnshop 

A brief look at two Barry Jenkins films that have established him as one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.

The original Mothra is a fun monster movie that has way stronger lore, music, and special effects than most of its contemporaries.

'Living' dives into many themes that we can all understand regardless of our cultural backgrounds. We can see this through the shared similarities between 'Ikiru' and 'Living'.

The film seems like an extreme interpretation of the conspiracy theorists that exist in real life. And then, there’s the twist.

At first glance, Black as Night is a strange title choice for a film about vampirism in post-Katrina New Orleans. However, the title alludes to the world's anti-black and colorist messages.

“And I think to myself….what a wonderful world”. Louis Armstrong sang about this notion via his classic 1967 song, an ode to witnessing elements of our life that should be but some reminders of exactly what that concluding line of each verse indicates. Now we see our contemporary realities and, just being honest, it makes a sentiment like this seem SO overtly far away….perhaps even impossible….to accept or believe could be. It sounds harsh, but again, so much of what is occurring speaks not to beauty, but bedlam.