Tag: BlacKkKlansman

The Best Movies of 2018

“A Star is Born,” “Black Panther,” “First Reformed” and “Cold War” are all among Brian’s best movies of 2018

The films released in 2018 are all firmly in the Trump era. If the best movies of last year were the ones that were either shockingly relevant to the times (“Get Out”) or were enough pure adrenaline escapism (“Baby Driver”) to provide a distraction from the barrage of noise and conflict going on in the real world, then the most effective movies of this year were the ones that managed to do both. They’re timely and don’t ignore the world around them but also were wildly entertaining and richly cinematic.

Films as diverse as Spike Lee’s hyper-political genre film “BlacKkKlansman,” the tear jerking documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” Marvel’s racially-charged superhero epic “Black Panther” and the delightful fable “Paddington 2” were able to be in the same conversation as movies that say as much about life in 2018 as they are fun to watch. Though maybe that’s the key for any year and not just years in which every push notification and tweet brings an absurd amount of anxiety. The best movies are ones that have something to say, that make you think and that you want to watch again.

These were the 10 (okay, 11) movies that did all of the above this year: Continue reading “The Best Movies of 2018”

BlacKkKlansman

Spike Lee’s film packages a poignant, harrowing message about institutionalized racism in a wholly entertaining, traditional package.

blackkklansman posterA member of the Ku Klux Klan is nestled with his wife in their bed. As they spoon, a soothing love song adorns their pillow talk. They whisper sweet nothings about killing n—ers and dreaming of a better tomorrow.

This is one of several unsettling scenes in Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.” And it’s not just because of the language. The scene isn’t staged as a laughable parody, but as the genuine sentiment of two ordinary, real Americans who have internalized their hate so much that to them, it feels normal.

“BlacKkKlansman” shines a light on how violent racism and prejudice becomes institutionalized and normalized. But Lee also gives some hope, despite a bittersweet ending and a grim coda that invokes the Charlottesville riots of last year, that positive change can be embraced as well.

He does it through a film that’s as radical as it is traditional. It’s as much a wake up call and blatant parable for 2018 as it is a subtle indictment of the world beyond Trump’s America. With any luck, “BlacKkKlansman” will rattle some cages and startle people into action. But Lee’s managed to do it with as entertaining and compelling a movie as he’s made in decades. Continue reading “BlacKkKlansman”