'Black Hawk Down' has such distinctive visual aplomb that its jingoism starts to feel like part of its atmosphere.

'Black Hawk Down' wants to be about something, and in the midst of the meticulously staged gunfire, the picture seems to choose futility arbitrarily.

I thought that, as a black audience member, I would like to see something that reflected an experience that's not normally exhibited in documentaries, or is so much about black people as victims in this country, and black people not taking control of their own lives and their own destinies.

Berry was a transitional and, to my mind, revolutionary black figure who had to find a place for the rage that the crucible of racism created.

One thing that I've noticed about big families is that they usually break down into two camps: the talkers and the watchers.

You know what? As a black person, you see so much racism. Films are no different than the government, politics - it's everywhere. It's not exclusively film. It's infuriating to see it in film. But my being in film changes things.