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In a 1999 interview with LA Weekly, Armond White said, “Spike [Lee] has become a first-rate marketer—he knows what a young audience wants, and he supplies it. Spike picks hot topics—basketball, interracial dating—but that doesn’t mean you break ground. Barbara Walters picks hot topics every day. The pretense of seriousness doesn’t mean you’re serious.” In defense of Charles Burnett’s 1977 masterpiece Killer of Sheep, White, who wrote a piece on the film for The A List: The National Society of Film Critics’ 100 Essential Films, also suggests that Burnett, not Lee, shows black American life as it really is.

The way White sees it, Lee’s joints are brash and fashionable but their truths are rarely vibrant, made and marketed to appeal to the same youth that typically favors American Pie over All the Real Girls, Trainspotting over All or Nothing, and Dead Presidents over George Washington.

"Independent to the bone..." Kino Lorber has revealed a new trailer for the 4K restoration of the American indie cinema classic Killer of Sheep, made by filmmaker Charles Burnett as his feature debut in 1978. Filmed in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 70s, Burnett wrote, directed, produced, shot, and edited Killer of Sheep as his UCLA thesis film. Since then, the film went on to receive the Critics’ Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1981, the U.S. Library of Congress selected the film as one of the first fifty films on the National Film Registry in 1990, and the National Society of Film Critics selected it as one of the "100 Essential Films" of all time in 2002. It's only now getting a proper release. The film depicts the culture of urban African-Americans in Los Angeles' Watts district in a style often likened to Italian neorealism, with a series of vignettes.

Charles Burnett’s legacy is being restored — staring with the literal restoration with his most iconic film.

The acclaimed writer/director/producer/editor, who recently turned 80, has seen a lot — including his lost comedy “The Annihilation of Fish” earn a 4K restoration and theatrical release for the first time in the almost 30 years since its 1999 debut. And now, Burnett’s acclaimed feature “Killer of Sheep” is also landing a 4K re-release from Kino Lorber and Milestone Films, plus a Criterion premiere.

“Killer of Sheep” was deemed one of the 50 greatest films of all time by the Sight and Sound critics’ poll in 2022. The 1977 indie was additionally among the first 50 films named to Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1990.

“Killer of Sheep” centers on Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders), a slaughterhouse worker who becomes disconnected from his wife, his children, and himself due to his grueling work.

The official synopsis reads:...

Early in Billy Woodberry’s Bless Their Little Hearts, Charlie (Nate Hardman) declares to a group of drinking buddies that there’s a time in every man’s life when he must “make a decision between the spiritual and the material.” Until now, Charlie has always chosen the material, and his pronouncement suggests a deliberate mental shift, perhaps as a form of self-preservation to stave off despair. After all, he pounds the pavement day after day, begging for work and filling out employment applications, yet all he ever has to show for it is the occasional temporary landscaping gig or a few bucks from selling catfish he caught by the side of the road.

Where Charlie’s confidence in the spiritual is short-lived—his faith is only ever rewarded by dashed hopes—it remains the central focus of Woodberry’s touching and melancholic feature-length debut. Written with piercing clarity by Charles Burnett,...

Damn! I totally effed up and scheduled our podcast season debut tonight, completely forgetting that the MoMA Charles Burnett retrospective also begins tonight! And with his masterpiece too, Killer Of Sheep, which I Still haven’t seen on the big screen, and really want to. I have the recently released DVD issue, but, I think this is a film I’d really love to see in a theater, in all its gritty black and white glory.

Anyway… I already alerted you to this about 2 or 3 weeks ago, so consider this a reminder! MoMA sent out the below press release which details the entire retrospective.

But I’ll break it down for you:

What is it? Charles Burnett is being feted at MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art, here in New York City) with a series titled Charles Burnett: The Power To Endure.

When is it? April 6-25, 2011.

Where is it?...

Have you purchased your tickets yet?

I already alerted you to this 2 weeks ago week I believe it was. Consider this a reminder! MoMA sent out the below press release which details the entire retrospective.

But I’ll break it down for you:

What is it? Charles Burnett is being feted at MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art, here in New York City) with a complete retrospective titled Charles Burnett: The Power To Endure.

When is it? April 6-25, 2011.

Where is it? At MoMA of course – specifically, the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters.

How much will each screening cost you? $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with current I.D.

The full lineup follows below. As can be expected, Killer Of Sheep, My Brother’s Wedding, To Sleep With Anger, The Glass Shield, and other of his most known films, will screen.

But of most...