Backstage Pass

Hello Summer! I have two film reviews, first up, “Miss Juneteenth,” it’s centered on the ‘Miss Juneteenth’ pageant in Fort Worth, Texas. Writer-director Channing Godfrey Peoples grew up in Texas, where teenagers compete for the crown of Miss Juneteenth. The beauty pageant winners are offered scholarships to historic black universities, in…

  “The Last Dance” is a 10 Part Documentary Series by ESPN that debuted June 2020, covering Michael Jordan’s extraordinary basketball career with the Chicago Bulls dynasty. Leaving no stone uncovered, Jordan’s interviews along with the interviews of the Bulls players, and others such as Scottie Pippin, Steve Kerr Dennis…

Happy Father’s Day weekend! First up “Dads,” it’s a comedy and documentary film centered on dads by director Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard’s daughter. The film premiered in Toronto in 2019. I was able to attend the opening and interview Ron Howard and his daughter Bryce on the Red Carpet…

  “Shirley” stars Elizabeth Moss as Shirley Jackson, the acclaimed horror writer of the 1950s. Michael Stuhlbarg plays her husband, Stanley Hyman. The film will stream online and will also open in select drive-in theaters. It’s a drama set after the release of Jackson’s famous short story, “The Lottery,” in…

“Military Wives” is based on the inspiring true story of a group of women in England from different backgrounds who form a choir while their husbands are in serving in Afghanistan. Kristin Scott Thomas, Kate and Sharon Horgan, Lisa star in the film, and their personalities mix as well as…

Ozark Season 3 on Netflix, it’s a drama. Jason Bateman, Marty, and Laura Linney, Wendy star in the series as husband and wife. In Season 1, Marty and his family live in Naperville, a suburb of Chicago, and quickly leave for the Ozarks as Marty is part of a money-laundering…

“Spaceship Earth,” is a true documentary film that follows the journey of eight conservationists, who spent two years quarantined inside of a replica of the Earth’s ecosystem, called BIOSPHERE 2. The year was 1991 and the place Oracle, AZ. In using archival and present-day footage, the film begins 20 years…

  “Virgin River,” is a romantic comedy and drama series with 10 episodes in Season 1 and is streaming on Netflix. It’s based on the book of the same name by Robyn Carr. We meet Mel, played by Alexandra Breckenridge, a Midwife, and nurse; she’s hoping to start a new…

  “Selah and the Spades” is a High School drama with anti-hero Selah who claims her throne. Five factions run a Pennsylvania boarding school’s student body. Selah Summers, played by Lovie Simone, runs the most powerful group, the Spades. They sell illegal alcohol and pills. As tensions between the factions…

The setting is Brooklyn, NY, where 12-year-old Abe, played by Noah Schnapp, (best known as Will Byers in “Stranger Things”), lives with endless family conflict. His father, (Arian Moayed) is Muslim, and atheist and his mother (Dagmara Dominczyk) are Jewish, while religious. All of Abe’s grandparents come over every night…