Jojo Rabbit (Blu-ray) by William Harrison THE FILM: Quirky, frequently funny and wearing its heart on its sleeve, Jojo Rabbit earned a number of fans upon its release last fall, with many claiming it as their favorite film of the year. While I enjoyed writer/producer/director Taika Waititi's dramatic farce, it did not quite bowl me over as it did some. Making fun of Nazis on film is nothing new, and Mel Brooks' The Producers, is one of my favorite comedies. Waititi's film follows a young German boy, Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), toward the end of World War II as he prepares to join the Deutsches Jungvolk (aka the Hitler Youth). Jojo is a ball of nerves and turns to his imaginary friend, an exaggerated Adolf Hitler (Waititi, pulling quadruple duty), for advice. This plot device is likely to raise a few eyebrows, but, as Read the entire review »

Harriet (Blu-ray) by Jesse Skeen Slavery was a shameful period in our nation's history, and has been continuously taught in hopes that it will never happen again (those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it). The story of Harriet Tubman, a slave who fought for the freedom of not just herself but others, was told many times in school, and it's interesting that this hasn't been considered for a movie until now. Harriet is played by Cynthia Erivo, given the name "Minty" as a slave. She and her family are slaves on the Brodess farm, but she is married to a freed black man named John (Zackary Momoh) who tries to get Harriet freed by legal means. There are also provisions that Harriet's other family members are to be freed at a certain point, but Mr. Brodess (Michael Marunde, doing a rather stereotypical bad-guy performance) flatly refuses to consider or honor any of that. This is when we find out that Harriet, at least as portr...Read the entire review »