Checking in with Damani Harrison

 What are you working on right now? I’ve been working with the Piedmont Council of the Arts, attending their creative conversations to discuss arts access programs in Charlottesville. I’ve also been involved with the Youth Development Network. They’re essentially an umbrella organization that gets disadvantaged youth, or youth in general, engaged in activities and positive […]

Just Wright; PG, 111 minutes; Carmike Cinema 6

Just Wright is billed as a romantic comedy, but it doesn’t have many laughs to offer, and not a lot in the way of real romance either. Maybe that’s O.K. The very platonic chemistry between its stars—Queen Latifah as a goodhearted physical therapist and the rapper Common as a goodhearted NBA celebrity—makes them look more […]

Movies playing in town

Babies (PG) This documentary looks at the first days of four babies in four far corners of the world. Vinegar Hill Theater The Back-up Plan (PG-13, 98 minutes) In this romantic comedy, Jennifer Lopez plays a single woman who wants to get pregnant without waiting any more to meet Mr. Right. So she gets pregnant. Then she meets Mr. […]

Checking in with Christopher King

 What are you currently working on? Well, about 20 or so projects right now, including a series of imprints for this label called Tompkins Square Records up in New York City. They asked me to do a series of CDs focusing on under-anthologized, under-appreciated prewar blues and country artists, so right now I’m working on […]

Robin Hood; PG-13, 140 minutes; Carmike Cinema 6

 It’s true: There is no reason for another Robin Hood movie. But of course the Hollywood tradition of Robin Hood movies is to keep making them anyway. So here’s Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, another of Scott’s bloated vehicles for the battle-action Russell Crowe. Stealing from the past to give to the present: Russell Crowe teams […]