Coded Bias explores a researcher’s discovery of facial recognition algorithms and how they aren’t accurate for dark-skinned people. If you’re not familiar with facial racognition software, this film will quickly get you up to speed. It’s all because of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini. Her discovery led to some startling results and in some cases, lack thereof. Despite her best efforts, there is still no federal regulation of facial algorithms. Or at least, this…
"SXSW 2020: Coded Bias"Month: March 2020
Both Uncut Gems and Bombshell are among the fall awards contenders now available for fans to physically bring home on home video. Both Bombshell and Uncut Gems are available either as a Blu-ray combo pack or on DVD. Every now and then, we get a phenomenal performance from Adam Sandler. Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, Funny People, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), and Uncut Gems feature such performances. We get a career-best in the…
"Uncut Gems, Bombshell now on home video"
Whether or not you’re a fan of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Hulu documentary series offers insight into both her life and marriage. The four-part documentary series runs in at 253 minutes. It’s a worthy commitment to binge-watch in one day but the decision is totally worth it. It’s how I spent my Sunday afternoon following the end of a very long week. Before I go any further, I’ll disclaim that I am…
"Hillary: Four Hours Is Worth It For Clinton"
Maura Spiegel’s recently published book, Sidney Lumet: A Life, is the definitive look at the Oscar-nominated filmmaker. After getting his start as a child actor on the stage, Sidney Lumet would transition to directing. By the time he retired from filmmaking, he directed some 45 films in his career. Some would also go onto earn Oscar nominations. Others would be critically panned. In the mid-90s, Lumet would pen his own book in hopes of being…
"Sidney Lumet: A Life by Maura Spiegel"
Some of the suggestions following the cancellation of SXSW this month is to hold an online film festival but there are some problems with this idea. While the headlining films will survive the SXSW cancellation, make no mistake that they would have benefited from the marketing that comes with playing SXSW. These films are also secure in having a distributor and a release date. Other films aren’t so lucky. There have been a few suggestions…
"SXSW: An Online Film Festival Isn’t The Same"
Writer-director Andrew Heckler sat down with Solzy at the Movies yesterday morning to discuss the recently released Burden while in Chicago. Burden won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2018 and didn’t open in theaters until this year. Why do you think that the film struggled to get distribution for so long? Andrew Heckler: Technically, it’s because that Sundance in 2018 was insane. There was so much swirling around that was working against any movie…
"Andrew Heckler talks Burden"
There is certainly something to be said about the role of the critic when one sits down to watch The Burnt Orange Heresy. “If it is just about telling the truth, anybody can do it,” James Figueras says about being a critic. “My job is to separate the good ones from the bad ones.” Critics are frauds. Or so this is the argument that the film does its best to make. At the same time,…
"The Burnt Orange Heresy Argues About Critics"
Spenser Confidential puts the city of Boston front and center while taking its inspiration from Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland. There’s something in seeing a Mark Wahlberg action film debut not in cinemas but on Netflix. It’s just a little bit weird to be watching a Wahlberg film for the first time on TV during opening weekend. But hey, this is the world we’re currently living in so we may as well start getting used to…
"Spenser Confidential Shows A New Boston"
Ben Affleck manages to deliver a masterclass in acting with his performance as an alcoholic basketball coach in The Way Back. Gavin O’Connor has done it again. The director of Miracle and Warrior knows his way around a sports movie. Brad Ingelsby’s script isn’t immune to some of the classic sports film cliches but that’s alright. The most climactic scene in the film doesn’t quite hit with the level it should because we already know…
"The Way Back: Ben Affleck Turns In A Masterclass"
First Cow takes us back in time to the Pacific Northwest where we look at life as seen through the lens of a fur trapper and Chinese immigrant. Fur trapper Cookie Figowitz (John Maguro) befriends a Chinese immigrant, King-Lu (Orion Lee) early on in the film. The two of them are among many to explore the Oregon Territory in the 1820s. While there’s surely a lot of history that one could examine, the film settles…
"First Cow: Bromance Thrives on Stealing"