Chris Byrd

"Shirley" could have been better, muses critic Chris Byrd, but it is doubtful that Regina King could be.

"Rustin" is a laudable attempt to restore the appropriate historical stature of someone too many have forgotten. But despite Colman Domingo's outstanding portrayal of Bayard Rustin, the biopic ultimately disappoints.

It's time for President Joe Biden to keep his campaign promises to end the federal death penalty and incentivize states to do the same, says an anti-capital punishment activist.

"The Movement and the Madman' " highlights an important chapter in U.S. history. It also speaks to our distressing Trumpian era.

Augmented by its outstanding contextual analysis, the compelling storytelling of "Murder in Big Horn" heightens awareness about a problem that requires more urgent action: missing and murdered Indigenous women.

A collaboration between the Laudato Si' Movement and the Vatican, "The Letter" is structured around a dialogue the pope conducted in August 2021 at the Vatican with climate activists representing perspectives the pontiff highlighted in his encyclical.

The creators of the documentary "Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues" are more interested in the man than the artist: in his attitudes and opinions and the strong reaction he provoked from his detractors.

The filmmakers of "The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks" have a rock-solid thesis. Unfortunately, the documentary has miscalculations with its narrative and a tendency to regard its subject uncritically.

The documentarians behind "The U.S. and the Holocaust" say the United States took in more Jewish refugees than all other countries — 225,000 — during the war, but in their correct judgment, we could have done better.

Chris Byrd calls a documentary about the Black lawyer Ben Crump "imperfect and tendentious." Veering toward hagiography, "Civil: Ben Crump" will likely limit its viewership to those who concur with the filmmakers' assessment.

The documentary "Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America" is essential viewing, arriving at a crucial moment when too many deny racism happens. The film revolves around a lawyer's comprehensive talk on anti-Black racism.

Movie Review: Much of "Attica's" power comes from the way its previously unseen archival footage puts you in the thick of the state's stunning, horrifying, devastating military-style assault upon the prisoners and the hostages.

Showtime's "American Rust" is a slowly unfolding crime drama driven by strong characters and multiple points of view. It is set in the fictitious town of Buell in Southwest Pennsylvania, where the 1987 closure of the local steel mill looms large in the destiny of the community and its residents. 

Book review: Thirty years in the making, The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X was a labor of love for investigative journalist Les Payne and his daughter Tamara, who finished the book after his death.

Film Review: In any historical drama, screenwriters typically take some liberties. But Aaron Sorkin's egregious omissions and what he gets wrong fundamentally mar the new film "The Trial of the Chicago 7."

Film review: Director Dawn Porter creates a memorable, if incomplete, picture of the voting rights advocate known as the "conscience of Congress."