Charles Bramesco

Tupac Shakur was a complicated man: he had the world at his feet while carrying its weight on his shoulders, he was a thug menace to some and an inspirational poet to others, a commercial titan who chafed at the notion of bringing money into a white-owned record label system. The legendary rapper’s life was marked by inner conflict until it was tragically cut short in a 1996 drive-by shooting, leaving him dead on the pavement at 25 years old. Though the gifted M.C. was taken from us far too soon (God, imagine what Tupac’s midlife-crisis album would’ve sounded like) he left behind a stirring life story just begging for a biopic.

If you do indeed believe that Tupac Shakur was assassinated in a drive-by shooting back in 1996, then the upcoming biopic All Eyez on Me will be a fine tribute to a singularly gifted lyricist and force for positive social change. If you have opened your eyes to the Illuminati conspiracy, however, then this film represents yet another propagandistic effort to obscure the fact that Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Eazy-E, Charizma and Big L currently bide their time in a subterranean lair beneath a ranch in Billings, Montana. #WakeUp #StayWoke #IlluminatiDreamz

The hottest franchise property this spring doesn’t have any leveled cities, declarations about whether men are or are not still good, or bulging muscles writhing beneath colored spandex. Barbershop: the Next Cut, the third installment in the Barbershop Cinematic Universe, will debut on April 15 and undoubtedly upend the many box-office records that Batman vs... Read More ...

Historically, the number-one rationale behind the overwhelming whiteness of Hollywood has been the financial imperative, the dubious claim that movies with predominantly black casts then become “black movies,” which is to say that they are niche movies, which is to say that they are not profitable. Despite this not being remotely true — Creed is one of, like, a bajillion counterexamples — many studio heads have hidden racist hiring practices behind sound business practices, claiming only to give the people what they want, which is apparently white actors. Now, at long last, we’ve got some hard data to refute this horse-pucky stance once and for all.

Just because professional wrestling is staged, that doesn't make it any less real. This is the paradoxical koan at the heart of Nine Legends, an officially WWE-sanctioned documentary chronicling the life and times of the sport’s greatest icons...

There’s something oddly charming about small-scale, off-the-cuff vanity projects from major filmmakers. Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing didn’t radically reimagine the Bard’s original text, but the context of production lent the film an immediately likable vibe. As legend goes, Whedon was having some of his closest chums/collaborators over for cocktails at his Los Angeles mansion when they decided it would be boozy fun to rattle off a little Shakespeare. They had such a good time, Whedon figured it could be cool to shoot it all and keep costs low by staging it around his house. The resulting product is a breezy but minor project with a healthy sense of spontaneity that shows off the filmmaker’s resourcefulness with a budget of practically zero.

Stand-up concert movies are generally hit-or-miss — Kevin Hart fans will go to see it, people who aren’t won’t — but this one feels a little more ceremonious.

The 70mm roadshow presentation of The Hateful Eight has been in theaters for a couple weeks now, and Quentin Tarantino’s newest film went into wide release back on New Year's Day. However, the Weinstein Company has no intention of letting up with their push of publicity for the distributors’ huge financial gamble, and in their constant preaching of the Hateful Eight gospel, they’ve released anothe

In the grand pantheon of immortal James Bond theme singers, a golden hall where Shirley Bassey sits atop a gilded throne with Nancy Sinatra at her right hand and the recently-inducted Adele at her left, chances are you won’t find Sam Smith...

Mad Max: Fury Road came out all the way back in May, and even though vocal enthusiasm from the action opus’ passionate fanbase hasn’t faded in the months since, it still feels like it’s been a while. The Fury Road superfans may be starting to despair at the thought of a lifetime spent without the precious privilege of their favorite movie on the big screen, in the theater, as it was meant to be seen. But in an interview with Screen Daily, Mad Max mastermind George Miller hinted that the faithful might not have seen the last of Max Rockatansky at their neighborhood cineplexes.