It sounds heretical to say this, because the pandemic has taken such a toll on the film industry this year, but COVID-19 is the best thing to happen to the Academy Awards broadcast. The virus and its social distancing protocols, which previously sank the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and other awards programs prompted Oscars producer Steven Soderbergh – an Oscar winner … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 19-20, 2020
Film: Playwright August Wilson began his chronicle of the African-American experience throughout the 20th century, one decade at a time, with 1984’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a fictional look at the so-called “Mother of the Blues” in a tension-filled recording session at a Chicago race label in 1927. Now director George C. Wolfe has brought the tale to the screen, with a pair … [Read more...]