![\"large_large_6MwSy2gAptrNHz4p7IQlmdnf2FL\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/large_large_6MwSy2gAptrNHz4p7IQlmdnf2FL.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGo read my friend Odie’s rave review of Beyond the Lights<\/i> over at Rogerebert.com.<\/a> All I can say is: WHAT HE SAID. <\/p>\n I read his review nodding to myself the whole time, vigorously, in agreement. YES. It is that good!<\/p>\n I am a huge fan of the work of director Gina Prince-Bythewood, and had high high hopes for Beyond the Lights<\/i>. One of my favorite romances is her Love and Basketball<\/i> (I babbled about it here<\/a>), starring Sanaa Lathan, a woman I have gone on and on about before<\/a>. One of my favorite actresses. Love and Basketball<\/i> is that total rarity: a romance for grown-ups<\/i>. <\/p>\n And so is Beyond the Lights<\/i>.<\/p>\n Read Odie’s review. Go see this film.<\/p>\n You don’t get to complain about the crap “Hollywood” puts out there if you don’t go and see a film like Beyond the Lights<\/i>. It’s smart, touching, angry, vulnerable, with fantastic performances. It is the stuff many audiences beg for, sick to death as many of us are of superhero bullshit and movies aimed at a teenage male demographic. <\/p>\n But still: Beyond the Lights<\/i> almost didn’t get made at all. That’s the marketplace today. It’s old-school Hollywood, it’s the kind of movie Hollywood itself used to specialize in. The fact that it is here, and that it is good as it is, is not a surprise, to those of us who love Gina Prince-Bythewood’s stuff, but it is a triumph. It’s in theaters now. <\/p>\n One of my favorite films of the year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Go read my friend Odie’s rave review of Beyond the Lights over at Rogerebert.com. All I can say is: WHAT HE SAID. I read his review nodding to myself the whole time, vigorously, in agreement. YES. It is that good! … Continue reading