Ruth E. Carter – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

SINNERS – Review by Sherin Nicole

December 18, 2025December 21, 2025 Sherin Nicole Autumn Durald Arkapaw, hailee steinfeld, hannah beachler, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, MICHAEL B JORDAN, Miles Caton, Ruth E. Carter, ryan coogler, Sinners, Wunmi Mosaku

Sinners is alive. Both in the moment and immortal. It’s a story about stories, a cinematic conjuring where folklore, music, and family become the marrow of survival. Ryan Coogler has crafted a bold reclamation but also an expansion of the American narrative on film, where vampires are less monsters than metaphors for the forces that have haunted and fractured our communities for generations. Here, the juke joint isn’t just a set piece. It’s a crossroads where Black-American, Chinese-American, Choctaw, and Old Irish traditions intersect in harmony and discord—each of our musical traditions entwined in the story’s DNA. Coogler trusts us to reconcile the mixing of genres, allowing the weight of history and centuries of rage to roil beneath the surface of Mississippi culture and lore. Never spelling out what anything means but trusting us to find the poetry in what we see and how it makes us feel.

Reviews

SINNERS – Review by Leslie Combemale

April 24, 2025April 26, 2025 Leslie Combemale Autumn Durand Arkapaw, delroy lindo, hailee steinfeld, hannah beachler, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Miles Caton, Ruth E. Carter, ryan coogler, Sinners, Wunmi Mosaku

While it’s true that Sinners is multi-layered, and filled with symbolism, the film can absolutely be enjoyed by those just wanting to experience a great period vampire thriller. The film takes place in 1932’s Mississippi Delta. Twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Coogler longtime collaborator Michael B Jordan) have returned home from Chicago with a bag full of money, and plan to build and run a new juke joint. They gather friends and family to help with opening night, and it gets off to a great start. Mid-evening, they find themselves forced to fight dark supernatural forces that want kill them all, or worse yet, integrate them into their vampiric colony. In addition to what’s seen on the entertaining surface, there are deeper layers in which vampirism becomes a metaphor for both colonization and conversion to Christianity and away from African spirituality.

Reviews

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

November 17, 2022November 19, 2022 Valerie Kalfrin Angela Bassett, chadwick boseman, letitia wright, Ruth E. Carter, ryan coogler, wakanda forever

Wakanda Forever, then, had a tall order to fill, and if it’s flawed in parts, it also acknowledges this loss and moves forward in a way that’s ultimately satisfying. The plot is sometimes messy, with many moving parts, but the film gives its actors—especially Wakanda’s formidable women—powerful performances and moments to shine. Ultimately, Wakanda Forever delivers an emotional sendoff fit for a king—and a message that Wakanda, cherished by its creators onscreen and off, will carry on.

Reviews

COMING 2 AMERICA – Review by Susan Granger

March 10, 2021April 16, 2021 Susan Granger coming 2 america, Craig Brewer, eddie murphy, kiki layne, Leslie Jones, Monzamo Mbatha, Ruth E. Carter, Shari Headley, Tracy Morgan

If you never saw or can’t remember Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America (1988), you might enjoy the original before tuning into this comedic sequel, newly released on Amazon Prime. But it’s not necessary. Director Craig Brewer, working with writers Kenya Barris, Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield, supplies all the background information you’ll need to follow the fairy tale.

Reviews

COMING 2 AMERICA – Review by Leslie Combemale

March 3, 2021March 8, 2021 Leslie Combemale coming 2 america, Craig Brewer, eddie murphy, kiki layne, Leslie Jones, Monzamo Mbatha, Ruth E. Carter, Shari Headley, Tracy Morgan

Silly, sweet, and full of powerful Black female characters who are neither beholden to, nor second fiddle to some blonde, white lead. Coming 2 America is more a vehicle for the female actors than for stars Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. It is also unabashedly made for fans of the original cult classic.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT April 2020: Ruth E. Carter, Costume Designer, Style Setter, Mentor

April 1, 2020February 28, 2026 Leslie Combemale 0 Comments black panther, coming 2 america, costume design, oscars, ruth carter, Ruth E. Carter, spike lee

Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth Carter has carved a monumental career for herself in an industry that rarely had people of color working in her profession. Women of color, rarer still. Carter has been breaking barriers and building her reputation in the film industry for over 30 years. She’s reached the height of her aspirational dreams, turning what she’s most passionate about into her life’s work. She’s changed society through the films she’s chosen and cleared the way for acceptance of women of color in collaborative artistic positions of power in Hollywood.

Interviews

Ruth E. Carter and Sandy Powell talk Epic Costuming – Jazz Tangcay interviews

November 27, 2019December 28, 2019 Jazz Tangcay 0 Comments designers, dolemite is my name, domemite is my name, eddie murphy, robert de niro, ruth carter, Ruth E. Carter, sandy powell, the irishman

Ruth E. Carter made history when she became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Outstanding Costume Design add this year for “Black Panther.” Recently, she’s reteamed with Eddie Murphy on Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name” (they previously collaborated on “Daddy Day Care,” “I Spy” and “Dr. Dolittle 2”), for which where she created more than over 75 costume changes for the star Murphy alone.

Commentaries News

“Academy Originals” Focus on Women Filmmakers – Michelle McCue Reports

September 2, 2014June 8, 2020 Michelle McCue 0 Comments academy of motion picture arts and sciences, Academy Originals, Aileen Brosh McKenna, ampas, Ava DuVernay, Betsy Heimann, Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith, Ruth E. Carter, Tina Gordon Chism

AMPAS’ video series “Academy Originals” focuses on behind-the-scenes artists and skills that get a film from page to screen. Episodes cover everything from how Jurassic Park changed the VFX world to screenwriters who toil away at local coffee shops. With Oscar emcee Ellen DeGeneres and the re-election of AMPAS President, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy is showing diversity, Many “Academy Originals” highlight women filmmakers, showing how their contributions inspire young girls to become filmmakers. Read on…