EUyeshima

It's a shame A24 botched the distribution and marketing strategy for this exceptional 2024 drama because it was nearly impossible for anyone to see it until quite recently when it finally landed on Amazon Prime. The always dependable Colman Domingo still managed to earn a well deserved Best Actor Oscar nomination playing the real-life character of John "Divine G" Whitfield, an unjustly charged inmate at the long-established Sing Sing Correctional Facility and a founding member of the impressive Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program. RTA allows inmates to be engaged in professionally run theatre and writing workshops to pave a most unexpected avenue for restorative justice. Focused on the RTA's mission, the film is quite unlike any other prison drama I've ever seen as director Greg Kwedar doesn't formulaically concentrate on violent riots or death-defying escapes. Instead he focuses on the growing friendship between Whitfield and fellow program participant Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, an initially aggressive and resentful inmate who is almost Whitfield's polar opposite. The twist is that Maclin is playing a younger version of himself and gives a startlingly combustible, combative performance as he grows to love and appreciate acting. In reverse character arcs, Maclin lands the coveted role of Hamlet in a wild time-traveling musical comedy, while Whitfield faces an encroaching wave of dread about his chances for parole. Except for Paul Raci's shopworn volunteer director and Sean San Jose's touching role as Mike Mike, the cast is made up of real-life RTA alumni who bring bracing humanity to their roles. This film is well worth seeking out.

Directed by Lawrence Lamont and written by Syreeta Singleton, this shrewdly rambunctious 2025 comedy has more on its mind than its predictable premise, an absurd caper that has two best friend roommates desperately scrambling to find their rent money before an eight-hour deadline when they face eviction. The freewheeling shenanigans that ensue reflect as much on its unique setting in South LA's Baldwin Village neighborhood, as it does on the madcap sensibilities of the cast and creators. The set pieces come fast and furious - a selfish entrepreneurial boyfriend, a nasty revenge-seeking female named 'Big Booty', a rip-off loan center, a blood bank, a pair of Michael Jordans, a biscuit bandit, and a scary gangster. While some of the sight gags and plot turns are no more sophisticated than Abbott & Costello, much of the action is shrewdly staged and the streetwise dialogue remains sharply on the mark. As buttoned-up Dreux and flighty Alyssa, Keke Palmer and SZA deliver their roles with pure comedy conviction while making their adversity-challenged friendship quite palpable. The rest of the cast is filled with comic gems with standout turns by Keyla Monterroso Mejia as the unsympathetic loan center employee, Janelle James as an incompetent blood bank nurse, and Katt Williams as a philosophical homeless man. Genuinely hilarious.

It's nice to see Norman Lear's name prominently displayed in the credits as this 2025 comedy series represents his last effort as an executive producer. His influence is clear from the show's focus on the LGBTQIA+ community in the relatively unexplored rural setting of Mobile, Alabama. The comedy, however, is not nearly as bracing or risk-taking as the best of Lear's ahead-of-their time sitcoms, even though punchlines are delivered in a constantly overemphatic fashion. Laverne Cox plays Desiree Slate, a transsexual woman who upon losing her art gallery in New York, decides to go back to her hometown and reunite with Harry, her car wash-owning father. Of course there are conflicts over the eight-episode arc, but it's primarily of the more predictable, heartwarming variety. It helps that veteran comic George Wallace plays Harry with his trademark sass intact and some hilarious throwaway lines. The cast is definitely game, but there just isn't much subtlety or complexity in any of the roles or the way the actors approach the roles. Perhaps that will evolve if there's a Season 2.