Music & Culture
Classical Music Posts
![Being the Ricardos](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Being-the-Ricardos-movie.jpg)
Reeder’s Movie Reviews: Being the Ricardos
Let’s start with the paradoxes. The latest film from Oscar- and Emmy-winning writer-director Aaron Sorkin boasts several. Its two protagonists don’t look all that much like the historical characters they portray (although Nicole Kidman with red hair comes pretty close). The female lead, a comedy legend, has very few funny lines in the story. And, although the movie has the basic structure of a play, it provides a decidedly cinematic experience.
![West Side Story](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/West-Side-Story-movie.jpeg)
Reeder’s Movie Reviews: West Side Story
Steven Spielberg’s latest picture arrives in theatres with not only the weight of history and expectation, but also the bittersweet memories of his father and the work’s lyricist. Arnold Spielberg, the film’s dedicatee, died in August, 2020, and Stephen Sondheim passed away last month.
![Three of the student authors of Who Is Florence Price? (left to right: Sebastián Núñez, Hazel Peebles and Sophia Shao), joined by their English teacher, Shannon Potts.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/authors-with-teacher-shannon-potts-e20530656434db606b8b49f8c64f7c3e8b43c15d-1024x768.jpg)
These NYC Kids Have Written The History Of An Overlooked Black Female Composer
For decades, it was almost impossible to hear a piece of music written by Florence Price. Price was a Black, female composer who died in 1953. But a group of New York City middle school students had the opportunity to quite literally write Florence Price’s history. Their book, titled Who Is Florence Price?, is now out and available in stores.
![King Richard](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/King-Richard-movie.jpg)
Reeder’s Movie Reviews: King Richard
Twenty years ago, Will Smith accepted the challenge of portraying a living legend, and arguably reached the zenith of his acting career, in Ali. In his latest film, he plays the obsessive, controlling father of sibling tennis phenoms in King Richard. It marks another high point for him.
![C’mon C’mon](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Cmon-Cmon-movie-1024x613.jpg)
Reeder’s Movie Reviews: C’mon C’mon
The writer, director and graphic artist Mike Mills loves to explore family. His own family, to be precise. In Beginners (2010), for which the late Christopher Plummer won an Academy Award, Mills dramatizes his elderly father’s gay relationship with a much younger man. In 20th Century Women (2016), for which Mills himself earned an Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay, he focuses on his mother, portrayed by Annette Bening, and her unconventional lifestyle as a single mom in late 1970s California. Of course, the characters of Oliver and Jamie in those films serve as Mills’ alter egos. His latest project, C’mon C’mon, is the most existential and least coherent in his trilogy (to date), despite its many strengths.
![Belfast](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/belfast-714x1024.jpg)
Reeder’s Movie Reviews: Belfast
“The Irish are built to leave,” as one character ruefully observes in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s new film, his twenty-second behind the camera. Indeed, many have departed the home soil, but their abiding attachment to it has prompted a wealth of insight and inspiration. You can add Belfast to the mix.