THE SUICIDE SQUAD is a thrilling action packed flick
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport and “Doc” Hunter Bush, Podcast Czar
You could not have called on a more perfect filmmaker to rebrand a property that had a lackluster, messy start.
CONCRETE COWBOY shows a different side of Philly
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, The Red Herring
Ricky Staub shows these parts of the city to be filled with people trying to get by as best they can.
Yardie
Directed by Idris Elba
Starring Aml Ameen, Sheldon Shepherd, Stephen Graham, Shantol Jackson
Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes
MPAA rating: not rated
by Jaime Davis, The Fixer
Actors directing movies is nothing new, yet for some reason it feels novel when an actor announces they’re heading to the director’s chair. Like…look what I can do, world! For every solid Gone Baby Gone, there’s an equally squalid Live by Night (looking at you, Ben Affleck). I’m typically skeptical of actors jumping into the hot seat…call me a doubter but I mostly just don’t want to watch people typically revered getting dogged by critics and grandmas the world over. Maybe I’m just a benevolent overprotective big sister type? Or maybe I’m a hater. (Probably 86% hater). I’ll be the first to admit when I’m wrong, though - I’ve gone on the record about Bradley Cooper’s skills and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird ended up being an example of fine filmmaking. Olivia Wilde is the latest to break into the game - a super fun trailer for her film, Booksmart, has been making the rounds online. So when I heard Idris Elba was diving in, filming an adaptation of Victor Headley’s 1992 novel Yardie, I crossed my fingers, said a sweet ‘lil Catholic prayer my grandma taught me, and held my breath. I love Idris Elba! Doesn’t everybody? Please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please let it be decent, I chanted to myself for weeks.
Read MoreThe Dark Tower
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel (2017)
by Sandy DeVito
It's hard for me to judge this film without taking into account how huge it is that Idris Elba is Roland Deschain in a film adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower books. Like, for all the bad shit that has gone down lately in our world, this weird universe of bold-faced falsehoods we now find ourselves in, and for all the flaws this film has (that is, a pretty significant amount), the reality that Idris Elba is playing Roland, a character King originally based on Clint Eastwood's character in the Man With No Name trilogy - the whitest of white-ass dudes - is endlessly thrilling and wonderful to me. It's truly a dream come true to see that role transformed by an actor of color. Elba is an artist of rare talent and charisma, and Roland is made better and truer in his hands while remaining honest to the spirit of the character. What mattered to me when I sat down in the theater was that Idris would be given the space to make Roland his own. When the end credits rolled, I felt relief that I had the opportunity to see a black man in that role in my lifetime. Roland is the heart and soul of the Dark Tower universe, and Idris has done him justice here - Elba's Roland of Eld is a commanding and immediate hero of old, brimming with weary kindness, righteous anger, and royal majesty. I felt I would follow him literally anywhere on Keystone Earth, or anywhere on any world, utterly confident he could kick anyone's ass and live another day.
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