“Hollywood before special effects.
(🎥 via @TheFigen) https://t.co/y6wv2BNMEc”

After 28 years of stuntpeople lobbying the Academy, an annual category for them remains elusive. Why?

Two hundred years after the first Africans were transported to America against their will, their descendants sailed back to the land of their ancestors. Soon, thousands of freeborn Blacks and former slaves settled on Africa's west coast, in the land that would become Liberia, named for the liberty they so dearly sought. Liberia's growth from a "colony" with a coastline barely 600 miles long to a modern state was not without challenges, but nothing prepared Liberians for the country's devastating civil war that began on Christmas Eve, 1989, and lasted seven long years.

The untold story of America's African progeny is presented in Liberia: America's Stepchild. This dramatic documentary follows the parallel stories of America's relationship with the African republic of Liberia -- founded and backed by the American Colonization Society (ACS) and the U.S. government as a home for freeborn Blacks and former slaves -- and the settlers' relationship with the indigenous people. As seen through the eyes of Liberian filmmaker Nancee Oku Bright, the film also explores the causes of the turmoil that has ravaged Liberia since 1980.

"Today people generally think of Liberia as a disaster, but it was not always so," says producer Nancee Oku Bright. "Liberia was a founding member of the United Nations and one of the key initiators of the Organization of African Unity. It was the only Black republic in the sea of colonial Africa, and it made the colonizers very uncomfortable and the Africans very proud.

The easiest way to make .nfo files for your Kodi/XBMC library

Simply fill in the fields below then click download to get a formatted .nfo file. Only the fields you enter will be included in the .nfo file. For more info on how to use .nfo files with your Kodi/XBMC library, please visit the Kodi wiki.

As Hollywood moves further left, here are some of the best conservative films that promote liberty, truth, family, patriotism, and the fight against evil.

The ongoing suppression of the truth by the Communist Party is evident throughout the mini-series. You might not know this from reading the New York Times. //

The Chernobyl disaster was not the result of undermining expertise. It was the result of the deliberate suppression of scientific analysis by a totalitarian state with the power to terrorize people into silence. //

The comparison of Chernobyl to the climate change debate is also bizarre, quite beyond the paranoid premise that America now resembles anything like the dystopian Soviet nightmare depicted in the mini-series. It is considered an article of faith that there is a “scientific consensus” about climate change. Yet in the Soviet Union, the “scientific consensus” was that a RMBK reactor literally could not explode, because dissent was silenced by those with power. //

the surprising conclusion at the Daily Beast: “By its finale, Chernobyl has transformed from a story about plant-operator faults to one about systematic deception on the part of the stubborn, arrogant, blind and foolish Soviets, whose communist culture—demanding absolute loyalty to the Party, which is always perfect and infallible, even when facts say otherwise—compelled everyone to cover up the truth lest they be vilified as nation-besmirching traitors.”

But on balance, too many entertainment writers decided to review a story about suppressing the truth by imitating the apparatchiks.

Kubrick may have set out to make a science-fiction film, but 2001: A Space Odyssey, which turns 50 this week, is closer to home than we think, writes Nicholas Barber.

From director Christopher Nolan (Inception) comes the story of ex-pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), who must leave his family and Earth behind to lead an expedition beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars. ///

Imagery of black hole lensing is mathematically and astronomically accurate; astrophysics consultant published two scientific papers advancing the physics of black holes based on research for the imagery in this film.

Film also uses actual testimony from "survivors" and witnesses of the 1930s "Great Dust Bowl" for authenticity.

When NASA picks up three signals of extraterrestrial origin coming from within our own solar system, the space agency expedites a mission to investigate the sources. As Earth's lone emissary, they send Commander Roger Nelson, the test pilot for an experimental spacecraft called the Magellan, assisted by an onboard A.I. named Ferdinand. ///

Kickstarter-funded

Salyut 7 (Russian: Салют 7) is a 2017 Russian historical drama film directed by Klim Shipenko. The story is based on the Soyuz T-13 mission in 1985, part of the Soviet Salyut programme; it was the first time in history that a 'dead' space station was docked with, and brought back into service. //

Special effects are extremely well-done, especially weightless scenes.

Opening shots of welding in space by a female cosmonaut are incredible, but accurate to historical fact!

When movie icons like Albert Finney die, the only true way to honor them as fans is to revisit their body of work with softer, more appreciative eyes.