Aurelia Butler

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    Beyond ‘Shaft’: 5 Blaxploitation Movies You Should Know

    A Film Forum series pays tribute to the 1970s genre that birthed “Superfly” and “Foxy Brown,” but also features lesser-known films that show the genre’s range.John Shaft emerges from a New York City subway to the rat-tat-tatting of the film’s empowering theme song. A drug dealer named Super Fly leaps over a fence in his brown leisure suit. A cool Foxy Brown pulls a gun from her luminous Afro.The heroes of blaxploitation, a genre that dominated the 1970s, radically altered the representation of Black Americans in cinema away from the roles of domestics, comic relief, and buttoned-down freedom fighters. In this genre, Black people wore fashion that was as colorful as their personalities, had Afros as large as their ambitions, and grasped sexual, political and economic freedom. These heroes were not chanting “we shall overcome.” The system would have to overcome them.The genre’s treasures can be witnessed at Film Forum in Manhattan, where, over the course of a week, 16 movies will screen as part of a series called Blaxploitation, Baby! While the program features plenty of well-known titles, it also includes under-the-radar gems that add greater context, depth and variety to the genre. Below is a selection of some of the rarer highlights in the series, and, for those unable to attend, information on where to stream them.‘Sheba, Baby’ (1975)Stream it on Tubi.Of Pam Grier’s butt-kicking heroines (Foxy Brown, Coffy, Friday Foster), Sheba Shayne, a private investigator returning to her hometown to defend her father against a gentrifying syndicate, might be her most commanding. Her fashion is fly: blue denim ensembles and trim white suits topped by a white fedora. She is also respected. While Sheba is certainly the center of every man’s attention, Grier is not just playing a dangerous sexpot, as in previous roles. This is a professional, diligent woman adept both in the boardroom and against an enforcer like Pilot (D’Urville Martin) or his conniving boss, a white man named Shark (Dick Merrifield). “Sheba, Baby” demonstrates that Grier could vary her persona, tinkering with it to fit the political requirements of the film.‘Slaughter’ (1972)Stream it on Pluto TV.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    An Undersung and Unruly Woodstock in Pictures, 30 Years On

    A new photography show celebrates the 30th anniversary of Woodstock 1994, middle child to the festivals of 1969 and 1999.Nestled between the instantly legendary festival in 1969 and the violence of the 1999 incarnation, Woodstock 1994 — a 25th anniversary celebration of the original — can be easy to overlook.That installment, in Saugerties, N.Y., was supposed to be a slightly more grown-up (or, depending who you ask, commercial) version. But, as in 1969, attendees saw severe traffic jams, fences that could not contain the crowd and rainy weather that turned the festival grounds into a muddy slog.Then, five years later, fires, rioting and reports of sexual assault at the 1999 festival made national headlines, and gave “Woodstock” a whole new meaning.Members of the band Green Day, at Woodstock 1994, in a photo by Danny Clinch.Danny ClinchNow, for the 30th anniversary of ’94, a photography exhibition places the middle child of the festivals at center stage. The show, at the Opus 40 gallery in Saugerties, opens on Friday and runs for three weeks. It features work from Albert Watson, Henry Diltz, Cheryl Dunn and Danny Clinch, who remember the festival as messy yet rewarding.That the show is taking place at all is thanks to Watson, who is known for black-and-white portraits of luminaries including Steve Jobs. The show was put together by Tyler Harte, a Manhattan property manager who moonlights as an organizer of concerts and skateboard events — and manages the building where Watson’s photography studio is. Harte realized that the anniversary was coming up and contacted Watson about potentially doing something with his 1994 photography.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Netflix Documentary ‘Daughters’ Shows Reality of Girls Separated From Imprisoned Fathers

    The Netflix documentary doesn’t gloss over hard truths as it follows participants in the Date With Dad program.It’s not unusual for a documentary to be a tear-jerker. Stories of unusual connection or unusual bravery tend to make for good cinema, so when the film features real people, it’s even more affecting. But even by those standards, “Daughters” (on Netflix), directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, is extraordinarily moving.The film focuses on the Date With Dad program, which Patton has led for more than 12 years as part of her community work with Black girls. The children are brought to the prisons where their fathers are incarcerated for a party with dancing, refreshments and opportunities to take photos and talk. Socials like these might be run of the mill for many Americans, but for these families they’re extraordinary: Prisons have increasingly stopped in-person visits (known as “touch visits”) between family members, resorting instead to video and phone calls. Furthermore, incarcerated people can be moved from institution to institution, sometimes far from their families. For some fathers, these events may be the only time during their sentences that they can interact with their daughters in person.The film focuses on several girls, ages 5 to 13, as well as on their imprisoned fathers. The men who are eligible to participate in Date With Dad are required to first attend a 10-week coaching program led by a mentor. These sessions are captured in the documentary, and feel a lot like group therapy. Rae and Patton spend equal time with the girls and the men, letting us listen as they talk about their hopes, their fears, their relationships with their own parents, their regrets and a lot more. Women, too, are part of the story: For many who have been pushed into operating as both mother and father, it’s a fraught decision to even allow their daughters this contact. Their strength is remarkable.There are a lot of tears in this documentary, for the subjects and the audience, too. But “Daughters” is a remarkable study in how to tell this kind of story without twisting into sentimentality. I had assumed “Daughters” would conclude with the dance, with the glad reunions, tears, joy and the promise of closer relationships, but Rae and Patton are more invested in candor than in a happy ending. They’ve constructed the film to show the range of emotions that the girls have toward their fathers, even at the dance, where some are overjoyed and weeping and others are clearly struggling with their feelings.After the dance, the film continues to check in with some of the subjects for several years, exploring how the program affected their futures but also how their fathers’ continued imprisonment profoundly shaped the girls’ lives. Plenty of it is good. But rebuilding a family torn apart by the often unpredictable prison system is hard work, and it doesn’t always go the way we want. When hope does exist, it’s hard-won. And “Daughters” lets us feel all of that, too. More

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    Jack Russell, Great White Singer and Survivor of Nightclub Fire, Dies at 63

    At a show in 2003 with his “Jack Russell’s Great White,” a pyrotechnics display ignited a fire that killed 100 people, including the band’s guitarist.Jack Russell, the singer who led the popular 1980s hard rock band Great White, as well as a spinoff group that set off one of the deadliest nightclub fires ever, has died. He was 63.The cause of death was lewy body dementia and multiple system atrophy, said K.L. Doty, the author of Mr. Russell’s autobiography. No other details were given.Mr. Russell’s death was announced in a post on his official Instagram profile on Thursday and confirmed by Ms. Doty. Great White also paid tribute to his death on its Instagram page.Mr. Russell co-founded Great White with guitarist Mark Kendall. The band, originally called Dante Fox, began playing in small clubs in Southern California in the early 1980s. It became Great White in 1984. The group’s first big hit, “Rock Me,” landed the No. 60 spot on the Billboard Top 100 Chart in 1987.Great White found success with its third album, which featured its biggest hit, “Once Bitten Twice Shy.” The song reached No. 5 in 1989 and earned the band a 1990 Grammy nomination.Mr. Russell briefly left Great White in 1996 to build a solo career but returned in 1999. By 2001, Great White had disbanded.In 2002, Mr. Russell and Mr. Kendall hired three new musicians and began touring as Jack Russell’s Great White, playing in small clubs. In February 2003, while performing at the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., the band’s pyrotechnics ignited a deadly fire that killed 100 people, including Great White’s guitarist, and left 230 injured. It was one of the worst club fires in U.S. history.The two brothers who owned the club, and installed the highly flammable soundproofing foam around its stage, and the band’s tour manager, who lit the blaze, were charged in connection with the fire.Mr. Russell was not charged, but members of the band agreed to pay a $1 million settlement.By 2005, Jack Russell’s Great White parted ways after “the stress from lawsuits, inner band turmoil, and Russell’s substance abuse problems, had taken its toll,” according to the All Music Guide.Great White reunited in 2007, but it was short-lived. Mr. Russell continued making music with Jack Russell’s Great White. He announced in an Instagram post in July that he was retiring because of his health problems.“I am unable to perform at the level I desire and at the level you deserve,” Mr. Russell wrote. “Words cannot express my gratitude for the many years of memories, love, and support.”Jack Patrick Russell was born on Dec. 5, 1960 in Montebello, Calif. He grew up in Whittier, Calif., and dropped out of high school to pursue music.He is survived by his wife, Heather Ann Russell, and his son, Matthew Hucko. More

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    Greg Kihn, Who Scored Hits With ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘The Breakup Song,’ Dies at 75

    Mr. Kihn later became a popular morning disc jockey in the San Francisco Bay Area.Greg Kihn, the singer-songwriter whose band scored hits with “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ’Em),” in the 1980s and who went on to become a popular radio disc jockey, died on Tuesday at health care facility in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was 75.The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a statement posted on his website on Thursday.Mr. Kihn rose to fame in the early 1980s as the frontman of the Greg Kihn Band, a California pop group. Mr. Kihn crafted songs that blended folk, classic rock, blues and pop. He’d achieved some success with several songs before his first big hit, “The Breakup Song,” written with Steve Wright, the band’s bass guitarist, reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1981.“I can tell you, life with a hit record is much better than life without a hit record,” Mr. Kihn said in a 2011 interview on the website LikeTotally80s.The band’s biggest hit, “Jeopardy,” which he also wrote with Mr. Wright, reached the No. 2 spot on the Hot 100 chart in 1983.The “Jeopardy” music video was practically on a loop on MTV that year. Weird Al Yankovic parodied the song with “I Lost on Jeopardy,” which featured Don Pardo, who for many years was an announcer on the “Jeopardy” television game show. Mr. Kihn, who said in interviews he was flattered to be parodied, also appeared at the end of Weird Al’s video for the song, driving a convertible with the license plate “LOSER.”In the mid-1990s, Mr. Kihn became a morning radio disc jockey for the classic rock radio station KFOX in the San Francisco Bay area, a job he held until 2012.In 2017 he released “ReKihndled,” his first studio album in more than 20 years.He also published six novels, including two that were music-themed: “Painted Black,” a fictional thriller about the death of Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones; and “Rubber Soul,” a fictional thriller about the Beatles. He also contributed to and edited “Carved In Rock,” an anthology of short stories by rock musicians including Pete Townsend of The Who, Ray Davies of The Kinks and Joan Jett. Gregory Stanley Kihn was born on July 10, 1949, in Baltimore. He moved to the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1970s, The San Francisco Examiner reported.Mr. Kihn is survived by his wife, Jay Arafiles-Kihn;a son, Ryan Kihn; a daughter, Alexis Harrington-Kihn; a sister, Laura Otremba; and two grandchildren.In an August 2018 interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mr. Kihn said he had had great opportunities throughout his career.“I look back on my career and it’s been a stunning success, and I love that it was varied,” Mr. Kihn said. “I’ve been very blessed.”A complete obituary will follow. More

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    ‘The Union’ Review: Old Flames and Spy Games

    When a mission goes pear-shaped, a covert operative (Halle Berry) turns to a secret weapon: her high school boyfriend (Mark Wahlberg).The “Mission: Impossible” series went missing in action this summer, but that’s no reason to settle for Netflix’s “The Union,” a depressing illustration of the wisdom that sometimes you shouldn’t buy — or stream — generic. The movie combines a catalog of elements from the Tom Cruise franchise (supersecret agents, exotic locales, stunts) with a high-concept twist so silly it might as well have been selected by A.I.: What if — hear this out — the lead operatives happened to be former high school sweethearts?“The Union,” directed by Julian Farino, kicks off in Trieste, Italy, with a blatant retread of the first “M:I” installment: The agents are on a mission to retrieve a traitor with a stolen hard drive. Suddenly, violence breaks out, and almost the whole team is killed. A survivor from the group, Roxanne (Halle Berry), pitches her boss, Tom (J.K. Simmons), on who to turn to for help: “If he’s anything like that guy I remember,” she says, “he’s exactly who we need.”“He” is her onetime boyfriend, Mike (Mark Wahlberg), now a construction worker in New Jersey who is hooking up with their seventh-grade English teacher (Dana Delany). Roxanne hasn’t seen him in 25 years when she approaches him in a bar. His credentials are that he is, in Roxanne’s words, “a nobody”: Because of the nature of the pilfered intelligence on the drive, she and Tom need someone who has left virtually no civic footprint.Besides, their spy outfit, the Union — so covert that half the intelligence community doesn’t know it exists and the other half regrets finding out, Roxanne says, as if reciting a tagline — prefers blue-collar guys to Ivy League suits. They are, in theory, way more fun than the C.I.A. (Stephen Campbell Moore appears as a stiff from Langley.) Mike used to be a star athlete and is accustomed to spending all day on a sky-high beam. With that background, shouldn’t a three-and-half-minute training montage suffice?The other Union members are defined largely by their specialties — physical force (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), psychology (Alice Lee), computing (Jackie Earle Haley) — and the movie makes a few feeble feints at fish-out-of-water humor. (Mike may never have left the tristate area before, but does he really not know what side of the road the British drive on?)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    How Well Do You Know Disaster Movies? Revisit the Golden Years.

    In a world … where tornadoes launch livestock across the sky … … where faulty wiring turns a skyscraper into a death trap … … where a menace from above forces you to stop and look up … … one question remains … “What you are about to see could happen to any city, anywhere.” […] More

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    Popcast (Deluxe): A Word With Action Bronson

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the culture show hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes a rapid-fire questionnaire answered by the rapper Action Bronson, whose new album, “Johann Sebastian Bachlava The Doctor,” is out now. Topics covered include:The music of his childhoodParenting and his children’s tasteLearning to navigate successStress reliefHis lighthearted gourmand side and go-to ordersConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More