Tag: movies

Like other creative enterprises that get national exposure but can be overlooked in their hometowns, Turner Classic Movies is a lodestar for fans of classic film that is sometimes taken for granted in Atlanta. The network’s film-purist canon of uncut, commercial-free movies, piped into American homes like cinematic catnip 24 hours a day, has made it a beloved binge-watch for top directors like Nancy Meyers, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese.

Movie theaters have famously struggled to get a streaming-obsessed audience out of their Cloud sofas and back into the multiplex—with the exception of Atlanta’s historic Plaza Theatre. Working alongside another bastion of Atlanta film culture, Videodrome, the Plaza has become a buzzing nexus of cinema since owner Chris Escobar took over in 2017. With the launch of “Plazadrome” collaborations in 2018, the film synergy has been off the charts.

Occasionally poignant and often delightfully goofy, the film features Asante Blackk as Adam Campbell, a sensitive introverted high school artist who documents the before and after alien times in melancholy paintings that hang on his family’s living room wall. Those paintings, and a big chunk of the film’s creative vision, come courtesy of Atlanta-based artist William Downs, who worked closely with director Cory Finley to bring Landscape With Invisible Hand’s unique look and feel to life.

At first, when I pulled into the parking lot of the newly reopened Tara Theatre for a Sunday screening, the 55-year-old theater seemingly hadn’t changed at all. The 1960s facade’s glittering lights still illuminated an otherwise generic Cheshire Bridge strip mall, finally lit after a seven-month closure. The Plaza Theatre’s owner, Chris Escobar, revived the Tara just in time for Memorial Day weekend, and I was excited to return to the place where I’d seen dozens of movies over the past decade, from obscure A24 indies to Oscar-winning dramas. But there was something off I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

For his directorial debut, it would have been easy for Michael B. Jordan to give audiences another run-of-the-mill entry in the hit 47-year-old Rocky film franchise. But between rounds in the ring—with help from screenwriters Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin and story from Ryan Coogler—Jordan crafts a film about toxic masculinity, the challenges Black men face in communicating their emotions about past trauma, the lasting impact of childhood friendships, and the importance of forgiveness.

The new 32-minute original documentary, produced by the Atlanta History Center under its new Atlanta History Center Originals banner, premiered Wednesday night at AHC and illustrates the history of the world’s largest confederate monument by tracking the timeline of its birth.

Till—a heartbreaking biopic about Emmett Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, played by Atlanta-native Danielle Deadwyler—opens in select cities (including Atlanta) on October 14 and nationwide on October 28. Here, director Chinonye Chukwu discusses Deadwyler’s powerful performance and why the story of Emmett Till remains sadly relevant today.

For as many movies that film in Atlanta, few actually set their stories in the city. But director Jason Orley’s new Amazon Original rom-com, I Want You Back, puts the city at the forefront, as stars Charlie Day and Jenny Slate try to win back their exes.

As we slowly win back some of the hallmarks of normalcy we were forced for so long to do without, we must also bid goodbye to the quirky innovations that took their place. The Plaza Theatre's drive-in service is one of those.

Streaming media is booming, and production crews are working harder than ever. But they say the gains of the digital-entertainment age aren’t being fairly distributed.