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The remake of Roots has gained widespread critical acclaim – but not from Snoop Dogg, who posted a short video on Instagram on Monday criticising the show, and suggesting that African Americans should not watch it. In the video, the rapper said that he was fed up with watching films and TV shows that depicted the abuse of black Americans. “12 Years a Slave, Roots, Underground, I can’t watch none of that shit,” Snoop Dogg said, also taking aim at the Steve McQueen-directed Oscar-winning film and the WGN TV series about slaves in Georgia escaping via an underground railroad, which...

Was it ultimately a race about race? The best picture Oscar is meant to honor the year's greatest achievement in film, and "12 Years a Slave" had no shortage of supporters before winning the top honor Sunday. But for all the film's artistry, the undercurrent of many "12 Years a Slave" conversations hinged on race and how Hollywood has for decades given short shrift to one of the most inglorious chapters in the nation's history. All the same, two Oscar voters privately admitted that they didn't see "12 Years a Slave," thinking it would be upsetting. But they said they...

Hello FRiends. So we went to see 12 years a Slave. Wow! I totally recommend it. It was a true story that does not get all Hollywood Liberal. It was basically a true to life synopsis of the time this "free" man becomes a slave. It is astonishingly good. I went because I could not believe it won the Golden Globe for 2014 as the Best Film and I had no idea about the film before that night. My wife is not convinced that it should have been best film, but I am thinking closer to believing it should be....

The image of Solomon Northup's body hanging from a tree -- noose around his neck, hands tied behind his back, feet barely touching the ground -- is uncomfortable to look at. And Steve McQueen, director of "12 Years a Slave," does not spare the audience with an expedient exit. ...................................................... The movie is an unsanitized portrait of a nation's shameful past. It is two hours of breathing in the antebellum South and then walking out of the theater trying to pretend the stench is all gone. There is no question that "12 Years a Slave" was the best picture of...

SNIP If you are one of those Americans who can't understand why the Iraqis or the Afghans aren't more grateful for all the blood and treasure we have poured into their countries over the last 12 years, go see this movie. Put yourself in the shoes of its protagonist, the kidnapped Solomon Northup (based on a real person), or the tragically mistreated slave Patsey, and feel the sense of utter helplessness when a half-crazed overseer or a power-besotted master decides to knife or shoot or whip you on a whim, knowing there will be no consequence, that he might as...