Sterling k brown – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

PARADISE – Review by Susan Granger

March 11, 2025 Susan Granger dan fogelman, disney, hulu, James Marsden, julianne nicholson, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Paradise, series, Sterling k brown

This action-packed political thriller combines a sci-fi apocalyptic theme with a compelling whodunnit. The plot follows Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown), assigned to guard U.S. President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), a smarmy Southern Democrat from a wealthy family. Problem is: When Collins reports for work one morning, he discovers that Bradford has been brutally murdered in his bedroom and the President’s personal tablet, containing highly classified state secrets, is missing.

Reviews

ATLAS – Review by Nadine Whitney

May 23, 2024May 25, 2024 Nadine Whitney Abraham Popoola, Atlas, Brad Peyton, jennifer lopez, Lana Parrilla, Mark Strong, netflix, Simu Liu, Sterling k brown

Whatever Jennifer Lopez is doing in Atlas is enough to make you doubt she’s ever been in a movie before. Lopez isn’t given a stellar script to work with but that doesn’t excuse her abominable performance. Simu Liu is easy to believe as an AI synthetic because he has precisely one emotional state. Sterling K. Brown is solid as the heroic ranger who probably should have listened to Atlas, but he isn’t in the film enough to make enough of an impact. The fact that the most relatable character is the AI running the ARC is more than likely deliberate but speaks to how badly written and acted Atlas Shepard is.

Reviews

AMERICAN FICTION – Review by Susan Granger

January 23, 2024January 24, 2024 Susan Granger American Fiction, Cord Jefferson, Erasures, issa rae, Jeffrey Wright, John Ortiz, Laura Karpman, Leslie Uggams, Percival Everett, Sterling k brown, tracee ellis ross

Based on Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasures, Cord Jefferson’s cagey American Fiction has garnered five Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. The story introduces Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a serious West Coast university professor/fledgling writer who bristles at the media’s exploitation of Black stereotypes for profit.

Reviews

AMERICAN FICTION – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

December 1, 2023December 4, 2023 Valerie Kalfrin American Fiction, Cord Jefferson, issa rae, Jeffrey Wright, Leslie Uggams, Percival Everett, Sterling k brown, tracee ellis ross

Hearing Black artists’ work described as “raw” and “real” grates on Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. It’s not that Monk (Jeffrey Wright), a professor and author, doesn’t find some writing transportive. He just considers a lot of what catapults onto best-seller lists and movie screens featuring Black characters pandering: stories of drugs, deadbeat dads, pregnant teens, and police shootings. Those circumstances might be some people’s realities, but writer/director Cord Jefferson’s debut feature film argues there are other stories we’re not seeing. A blistering indictment of giving the public what it thinks it wants, it criticizes the publishing industry—and some films—for “elevating” Black voices yet perpetuating stereotypes.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK July 7, 2023: BIOSPHERE

July 1, 2023July 3, 2023 Jennifer Merin betsy bozdech, biosphere, Cate Marquis, ifc films, jennifer merin, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, mark duplass, mel eslyn, motw, Movie of the Week, nikki fowler, sandie angulo chen, scifi, sherin nicole, Sterling k brown

“Life finds a way.” This classic line from Jurassic Park is referenced more than once in director Mel Eslyn’s Biosphere, and there couldn’t be a more apt way to summarize the story of this quirky, unexpected dramedy about two lifelong best friends (Mark Duplass, who co-wrote the film with Eslyn, and Sterling K. Brown) who may be the last people left alive on Earth after an unspecified planet-ending disaster.

Reviews

BIOSPHERE – Review by Jennifer Merin

June 26, 2023July 1, 2023 Jennifer Merin biosphere, mark duplass, mel eslyn, motw, Movie of the Week, scifi, Sterling k brown

Director Mel Eslyn’s Biosphere is a wonderful addition to the cannon of Mark Duplass-produced quirky and profoundly satirical films. Duplass and Sterling K. Brown deliver brilliant emotionally rich performances that embrace the sheer absurdity of the narrative as though it is absolutely real. They’ll turn you into a believer of the preposterous. And you’ll alternatingly laugh and tear up all the way

Reviews

BIOSPHERE – Review by Liz Whittemore

June 26, 2023September 4, 2023 Liz Whittemore biosphere, mark duplass, mel eslyn, motw, Movie of the Week, scifi, Sterling k brown

Two distinctly fleshed-out male characters complement one another with their genuine presence for each other. Writer-director Mel Eslyn and co-writer Mark Duplass give a duality to the dialogue that is beyond clever. Biosphere is an undoubtedly slick mashup of gender identity storytelling, politics, and faith in humanity. Breezy, charming, touching, and completely unexpected, Biosphere mixes hope, science, and comedy. There is nothing else like it. It is a weird and wonderful wow of a film, brimming with delicious feminist energy.

Reviews

HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL. – Review by Martha K Baker

September 8, 2022September 11, 2022 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) Adamma Ebo, Adanna Ebo, Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul, motw, Movie of the Week, nicole beharie, regina hall, Sterling k brown

Lee-Curtis Childs pastors a megachurch. Or he did until he did something scandalous. Now, he wants his flock back in

Reviews

HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL – Review by Susan Granger

September 8, 2022September 11, 2022 Susan Granger Adamma Ebo, Adanna Ebo, Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul, motw, Movie of the Week, nicole beharie, regina hall, Sterling k brown

In this satire of Southern megachurch culture and its prosperity gospel, Regina Hall is the pragmatically loyal wife of an egomaniacal, philandering pastor, played by Sterling K. Brown. Atlanta’s Wander for Greater Paths Baptist megachurch lost all but faithful five of its 25,000 followers after Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Brown) was exposed in a sexual misconduct scandal. So now he and his chagrined First Lady wife Trinitie (Hall) have embarked on a miscalculated comeback strategy, relying more on publicity than prayer.

Reviews

HONK FOR JESUS, SAVE YOUR SOUL. – Review by T.J. Callahan

August 31, 2022September 1, 2022 T. J. Callahan Adamma Ebo, Adanna Ebo, Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul, motw, Movie of the Week, nicole beharie, regina hall, Sterling k brown

Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall are the Pastor and First Lady of the Wander to Greater Paths congregation. They have it all. A huge home, clothes, cars, cash and tens of thousands of followers. Joel and Victoria Osteen are jealous. But it’s not all fancy hats and hallelujahs. A scandal forces the church to temporarily close and the two spiritual leaders must fight to rebuild their flock.

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