Everyone involved with Snowfall told us that the series wouldn’t end well. No one consumed by the show’s crescendoing tension could expect anything but tragedy.
Few, if any, outlaws ever got away scot-free. And, even with the boundless capabilities of historical fiction, neither could Damson Idris’s Franklin Saint. Many Snowfall fans anticipated the series concluding with him being whisked away by the CIA, or killed at the hands of his Aunt Louie (Angela Lewis) — if not one of the many people whose lives he’d ruined en...
Few, if any, outlaws ever got away scot-free. And, even with the boundless capabilities of historical fiction, neither could Damson Idris’s Franklin Saint. Many Snowfall fans anticipated the series concluding with him being whisked away by the CIA, or killed at the hands of his Aunt Louie (Angela Lewis) — if not one of the many people whose lives he’d ruined en...
- 4/20/2023
- by Andre Gee
- Rollingstone.com
The fastest way to separate die-hard Snowfall fans from trendy ones is dropping White Rob’s name.
Played by actor Taylor Kowalski, White Rob is an old friend of Franklin’s from high school, a member of his O.G. crew and the one who introduced him to his first plug, Avi. That’s why Rob’s brief but significant appearance in Season 4 mattered to hardcore Snowfallers who reveled in seeing his familiar face.
More from TVLineSnowfall's Damson Idris on Franklin's Gangster Flex in Season 4 Finale: I Felt Like I 'Scored 70 Points for the Lakers'Snowfall's Damson Idris, Melvin Gregg and...
Played by actor Taylor Kowalski, White Rob is an old friend of Franklin’s from high school, a member of his O.G. crew and the one who introduced him to his first plug, Avi. That’s why Rob’s brief but significant appearance in Season 4 mattered to hardcore Snowfallers who reveled in seeing his familiar face.
More from TVLineSnowfall's Damson Idris on Franklin's Gangster Flex in Season 4 Finale: I Felt Like I 'Scored 70 Points for the Lakers'Snowfall's Damson Idris, Melvin Gregg and...
- 6/10/2021
- by Mekeisha Madden Toby
- TVLine.com
Death is not a new concept on Snowfall.
In Season 4 alone, fans have watched the violent deaths of an innocent 5-year-old girl and Fatback, the goodhearted but gullible man who was willing to take the fall for her homicide right up until his own. That said, Wednesday’s trio of murders in the season’s penultimate installment, titled “Sleeping Dogs,” felt different and more shocking somehow. Maybe that’s because two of the deaths could’ve been avoided.
More from TVLineSnowfall's Gail Bean: Wanda and Leon's Love Humanizes AddictionSnowfall EP and Writer Walter Mosley: 'John Singleton Is...
In Season 4 alone, fans have watched the violent deaths of an innocent 5-year-old girl and Fatback, the goodhearted but gullible man who was willing to take the fall for her homicide right up until his own. That said, Wednesday’s trio of murders in the season’s penultimate installment, titled “Sleeping Dogs,” felt different and more shocking somehow. Maybe that’s because two of the deaths could’ve been avoided.
More from TVLineSnowfall's Gail Bean: Wanda and Leon's Love Humanizes AddictionSnowfall EP and Writer Walter Mosley: 'John Singleton Is...
- 4/15/2021
- by Mekeisha Madden Toby
- TVLine.com
It's been 26 years since John Singleton shook up Hollywood with Boyz n the Hood, his feature film debut and a semi-autobiographical story about a Crenshaw teenager trying to live an ordinary life during the height of the Crips/Bloods gang war. Now, the first African-American ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar revisits the crime-ridden Los Angeles he once observed first-hand – and offers a larger, much-needed historical context that helped shape those mean streets.
Singleton's new FX show Snowfall (which debuts on July 5th) follows Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), an ambitious L.
Singleton's new FX show Snowfall (which debuts on July 5th) follows Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), an ambitious L.
- 6/30/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Universal
Imagine a world where films about utopian futures and jet-packs and robots, or sadomasochistic sex fests or tales of espionage and intrigue would end up being among some of the most stunted releases of the year… Yeah, welcome to 2015.
For all of the tightly written, wonderfully exciting projects like Carol, Mad Max and Brooklyn that were rich and diverse and never compromised on thrill factor, some of the year’s films so badly fudged their potential that their lack of follow through is almost comical. They were exciting lies sold on the back of enticing premises and misrepresenting trailers that made claims the films simply couldn’t deliver on.
To borrow crude imagery from one of the worst offenders, we’d been warmed up with all manner of clamps and feathers only to be left dangling from the ceiling, trussed up like a turkey, moist but unsatisfied. And there...
Imagine a world where films about utopian futures and jet-packs and robots, or sadomasochistic sex fests or tales of espionage and intrigue would end up being among some of the most stunted releases of the year… Yeah, welcome to 2015.
For all of the tightly written, wonderfully exciting projects like Carol, Mad Max and Brooklyn that were rich and diverse and never compromised on thrill factor, some of the year’s films so badly fudged their potential that their lack of follow through is almost comical. They were exciting lies sold on the back of enticing premises and misrepresenting trailers that made claims the films simply couldn’t deliver on.
To borrow crude imagery from one of the worst offenders, we’d been warmed up with all manner of clamps and feathers only to be left dangling from the ceiling, trussed up like a turkey, moist but unsatisfied. And there...
- 12/31/2015
- by Simon Gallagher
- Obsessed with Film
In the mid-90's journalist Gary Webb made claims that the CIA were importing vast amounts of cocaine in to the U.S. to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contra rebel army. Despite enormous pressure not to, his allegations were ultimately published in the series 'Dark Alliance', leading to Webb be the centre of a vicious smear campaign, where much of the media slowly turned against him, which affected both his job and personal life. Kill the Messenger, based in part on Nick Shou's biography of the same name and Webb's own series of articles, brings this story to the big screen, with Jeremy Renner in the lead role, which reiterates that there is more to the actor than shooting arrows in The Avengers or being a replacement for Matt Damon in the Bourne franchise. He completely embodies both sides of Webb: an idealistic and dogged journalist in his public life,...
- 3/7/2015
- by noreply@blogger.com (Tom White)
- www.themoviebit.com
Director: Michael Cuesta; Screenwriter: Peter Landesman; Starring: Jeremy Renner, Robert Patrick, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Paz Vega, Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Rosemarie DeWitt; Running time: 112 mins; Certificate: 15
It only takes one small-town journalist to make a difference in Kill the Messenger, a true-life conspiracy thriller in the vein of All the President's Men, with The Hurt Locker and The Avengers' Jeremy Renner in buzzing electric form as the titular scribe. His defining moment is a 1996 series of articles uncovering the CIA's involvement in aiming to depose the Nicaraguan government, an effort funded by sales of crack cocaine – mainly in South Central, Los Angeles.
Apart from the dodgy foreign politics, issues of race and class are squarely in the frame as government spooks deem the lives of some of their own citizens expendable when weighed against the cost of arming the Nicaraguan Contra movement (who supply and distribute the coke in the Us,...
It only takes one small-town journalist to make a difference in Kill the Messenger, a true-life conspiracy thriller in the vein of All the President's Men, with The Hurt Locker and The Avengers' Jeremy Renner in buzzing electric form as the titular scribe. His defining moment is a 1996 series of articles uncovering the CIA's involvement in aiming to depose the Nicaraguan government, an effort funded by sales of crack cocaine – mainly in South Central, Los Angeles.
Apart from the dodgy foreign politics, issues of race and class are squarely in the frame as government spooks deem the lives of some of their own citizens expendable when weighed against the cost of arming the Nicaraguan Contra movement (who supply and distribute the coke in the Us,...
- 3/4/2015
- Digital Spy
Michael Cuesta’s magnificent newsroom thriller is more than just a throwback to the paranoid conspiracy films of the 70s
If I decide to call Michael Cuesta’s magnificent newsroom thriller Kill The Messenger the anti-All The President’s Men, it’s not merely because it also tells the true story of a tireless young investigative reporter following a vast conspiracy to its logical conclusion. It is because this lean and barbed low-budget drama is involved in a much more complex relationship with the 1970s “Paranoia Trilogy” of films by Alan Pakula and Gordon Willis.
Kill The Messenger, set in 1994-6, even opens in direct homage to The Parallax View: a door opens, a reporter stands outside, he gets invited in, and is present when police raid the building. Real-life reporter Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner, in a richly detailed performance) stumbles into a horrifying story about a gigantic, mid-...
If I decide to call Michael Cuesta’s magnificent newsroom thriller Kill The Messenger the anti-All The President’s Men, it’s not merely because it also tells the true story of a tireless young investigative reporter following a vast conspiracy to its logical conclusion. It is because this lean and barbed low-budget drama is involved in a much more complex relationship with the 1970s “Paranoia Trilogy” of films by Alan Pakula and Gordon Willis.
Kill The Messenger, set in 1994-6, even opens in direct homage to The Parallax View: a door opens, a reporter stands outside, he gets invited in, and is present when police raid the building. Real-life reporter Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner, in a richly detailed performance) stumbles into a horrifying story about a gigantic, mid-...
- 3/2/2015
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Michael Cuesta’s magnificent newsroom thriller is more than just a throwback to the paranoid conspiracy films of the 70s
If I decide to call Michael Cuesta’s magnificent newsroom thriller Kill The Messenger the anti-All The President’s Men, it’s not merely because it also tells the true story of a tireless young investigative reporter following a vast conspiracy to its logical conclusion. It is because this lean and barbed low-budget drama is involved in a much more complex relationship with the 1970s “Paranoia Trilogy” of films by Alan Pakula and Gordon Willis.
Kill The Messenger, set in 1994-6, even opens in direct homage to The Parallax View: a door opens, a reporter stands outside, he gets invited in, and is present when police raid the building. Real-life reporter Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner, in a richly detailed performance) stumbles into a horrifying story about a gigantic, mid-...
If I decide to call Michael Cuesta’s magnificent newsroom thriller Kill The Messenger the anti-All The President’s Men, it’s not merely because it also tells the true story of a tireless young investigative reporter following a vast conspiracy to its logical conclusion. It is because this lean and barbed low-budget drama is involved in a much more complex relationship with the 1970s “Paranoia Trilogy” of films by Alan Pakula and Gordon Willis.
Kill The Messenger, set in 1994-6, even opens in direct homage to The Parallax View: a door opens, a reporter stands outside, he gets invited in, and is present when police raid the building. Real-life reporter Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner, in a richly detailed performance) stumbles into a horrifying story about a gigantic, mid-...
- 1/12/2015
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
‘Tis the season for awards, and while voters are busy weighing the merits of top Oscar contenders, the industry’s intangibles have fallen by the wayside. The year in film is comprised of so many movie moments and overlooked details that go unrecognized by Hollywood, so here’s a list of superlatives and unconventional awards that serve as an alternative to the prim-and-proper Oscars. There’s even more ground to cover than last year, so let’s get started …
Movies
Best Animal Title: Gold: “Birdman” Silver: “The Dog” Bronze: “Foxcatcher” Honorable Mention: “Big Bad Wolves”
Best Movie Set Primarily in One Location: “Locke,...
Movies
Best Animal Title: Gold: “Birdman” Silver: “The Dog” Bronze: “Foxcatcher” Honorable Mention: “Big Bad Wolves”
Best Movie Set Primarily in One Location: “Locke,...
- 12/31/2014
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
The history of America’s “War on Drugs” has produced many stories. One of the lesser-known ones is that of the late Gary Webb, an investigative reporter for the San Jose Mercury News who wrote a series of articles about the CIA’s involvement in cocaine trafficking into the United States. The film Kill the Messenger tries to tell the story of Webb and the backlash he faced because of his writing. Unfortunately, despite some good performances, the film falls short of its lofty ambitions.
Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner), a journalist for the San Jose Mercury News, thinks he’s found the story of a lifetime when he discovers information that seems to expose the CIA’s role in arming the Contra rebels in Nicaragua and supporting their trafficking of cocaine into the United States. But after Webb’s expose is published, he becomes the target of a vicious smear...
Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner), a journalist for the San Jose Mercury News, thinks he’s found the story of a lifetime when he discovers information that seems to expose the CIA’s role in arming the Contra rebels in Nicaragua and supporting their trafficking of cocaine into the United States. But after Webb’s expose is published, he becomes the target of a vicious smear...
- 10/23/2014
- by Timothy Monforton
- CinemaNerdz
In the 1980s, the CIA was complicit in the marketing of Nicaraguan cocaine to lower class Californians in order to fund the country’s Contra rebels. This was a thesis that San Jose Mercury News journalist Gary Webb put out into the world in the late 90s, and was eventually destroyed because of it. The new film Kill the Messenger is Webb’s own story, a “David vs. Goliath” tale in which David is crushed and ruined by forces that can spin the media in their own favor, while easily discrediting the blood-sweat-tears efforts of a reporter who had to keep many of his sources anonymous.
Director Michael Cuesta creates a vivid portrayal of Webb (played by Jeremy Renner) presenting him as a dedicated working man and also a conflicted father. Kill the Messenger becomes more than the story of a media victim, but a patriarch who tries to maintain...
Director Michael Cuesta creates a vivid portrayal of Webb (played by Jeremy Renner) presenting him as a dedicated working man and also a conflicted father. Kill the Messenger becomes more than the story of a media victim, but a patriarch who tries to maintain...
- 10/10/2014
- by Nick Allen
- The Scorecard Review
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