20 Years Later Shawshank is Still Cashing In

20 years in, "The Shawshank Redemption" isn't just a great film, but one of the few that still generates generous returns for all involved.

I saw this article on MSN detailing just how 'Shawshank' continues to make money and how some of the actors still get recognized for their roles all these years later.

The article goes on to explain how a film like "Shawshank" is a goldmine for film libraries who license movies to television networks. "Shawshank" might be viewed as the rising tide that lifts all boats when it's packaged with other less desirable films, but yet can still bring back a decent return for the studio. The film has made more than $100 million since its 1994 theatrical release.

Remembering Rwanda 20 Years Later

There are some things in life that no matter how much time passes, they simply cannot be forgotten for the pain is still too much to bear. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide is one of those things.

What began in April 1994, 20 years later still seems inconceivable. More than 800,000 men, women, and children were killed in a period lasting about 100 days. The stories are almost as unbelievable as the numbers. Husbands murdered their wives. Former co-workers attacking each other. Hundreds of people barricaded themselves in a church hoping and praying the militia would not be able to break through. Sadly, they were wrong. People recall entrusting their neighbors to look after their families, only to find out some of the very people they trusted to watch over their loved ones were responsible for their deaths.

Photo: http://voiceseducation.org

Ahmad - Back In The Day (1994)

Props to Ahmad who just recently obtained his bachelors from Stanford.

Remembering Roger Ebert

Last week the world -- not just the film world -- lost an icon in Roger Ebert.

Though Ebert's official title was that of film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, he was much more than that to the movie going American public. "Two thumbs up" was a phrase that originated with Ebert and his former film critic Gene Siskel, that became synonymous with a positive review of a new film. How esteemed was Roger Ebert in the movie industry? He's the only film critic with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

When it came to race and the social dynamics of the Hollywood studio system, Ebert didn't shy away from those subjects either. During the 1990s, two of his choices for movie of the year centered around protagonists of color: "Malcolm X" in 1992 and "Hoop Dreams" in 1994. Lauren Williams of The Root does an excellent job of compiling Ebert's reviews on some well known black films at the time. Ebert goes beyond the characters and main story of the films and asks larger hard hitting questions about the impact of these films within cinema.