Actors are drawn to biopics like moths to a particularly bright, often gold-tinted flame because it allows them to test their impressionistic mettle, to inhabit the real life of someone who’s often larger than life, to chart how an extraordinary human being is transformed into an emblem of their moment. Audiences are drawn to biopics because we love actors, or at the very least we like seeing them trying to fill the shoes of these renowned figures and find the person beneath the symbolic purpose, shouted slogans, and prosthetic schnozzes.
- 3/22/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Plot: The story of the first Black congresswoman and political icon, Shirley Chisholm, and her trailblazing run for president of the U.S. It chronicles her audacious, boundary-breaking 1972 presidential campaign.
Review: 2024 is an election year in the United States, which means we are going to be inundated by countless robocalls and television ads as the country once again selects the Commander in Chief for the next four years. While it is as contentious as ever in this country, there have been volatile and unique elections in the past. Fifty-two years ago, an election took place that featured many firsts, but most notably, it was the year that Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first black candidate for President of the United States. Her story has been chronicled in documentaries and was spoofed last year in Hulu’s History of the World Part II. Still, John Ridley’s feature film Shirley, starring...
Review: 2024 is an election year in the United States, which means we are going to be inundated by countless robocalls and television ads as the country once again selects the Commander in Chief for the next four years. While it is as contentious as ever in this country, there have been volatile and unique elections in the past. Fifty-two years ago, an election took place that featured many firsts, but most notably, it was the year that Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first black candidate for President of the United States. Her story has been chronicled in documentaries and was spoofed last year in Hulu’s History of the World Part II. Still, John Ridley’s feature film Shirley, starring...
- 3/15/2024
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Netflix’s Shirley is in so many ways a companion piece to the streaming platform’s recent Rustin that the two films could be entries in the same anthology series. Both shed light on influential Black political figures too long undervalued in historical accounts of their era. Both are driven by commanding performances from first-rate actors in the title roles. Both focus on specific chapters of the lives they depict, mostly skirting the clichés of cradle-to-grave biopics. But both also struggle to frame their subjects in the forceful dramatic terms they merit, getting stuck in too much expository talk and at times nudging reclamation into hagiography.
There’s a moment late in the film, where after long resisting the notion of campaigning in California as a waste of time and resources in her run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (Regina King) finally agrees to make a play...
There’s a moment late in the film, where after long resisting the notion of campaigning in California as a waste of time and resources in her run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (Regina King) finally agrees to make a play...
- 3/15/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Azealia Banks is one of the most controversial rappers who ever lived. So maybe it’s no surprise she once praised John Lennon’s most offensive song. The tune proved offensive even at the time, and some radio stations didn’t want to play it, irrespective of John’s progressive intentions.
Azealia Banks said this John Lennon song is 1 of the best songs ever
During a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Banks was asked if social media had become a bigger deal in the world of music than music itself. “Yeah,” she replied. “But it’s not music. They’re selling ideas, lifestyles, whatever comes out of liberal academia’s a**.
“And it changes,” she continued. “It’s almost like the unwritten rules of Blackness, it’s like the unwritten rules of just how to conduct yourself. John Lennon wrote a song called ‘Woman Is the N***** of the World,’ and...
Azealia Banks said this John Lennon song is 1 of the best songs ever
During a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Banks was asked if social media had become a bigger deal in the world of music than music itself. “Yeah,” she replied. “But it’s not music. They’re selling ideas, lifestyles, whatever comes out of liberal academia’s a**.
“And it changes,” she continued. “It’s almost like the unwritten rules of Blackness, it’s like the unwritten rules of just how to conduct yourself. John Lennon wrote a song called ‘Woman Is the N***** of the World,’ and...
- 2/8/2024
- by Matthew Trzcinski
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
It's the beginning of the end for the "Fast & Furious" franchise, with "Fast X," the first half of the two-part conclusion of the series, speeding its way into theaters later this year. As was announced in 2022, Academy Award-winner and Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson, is joining the "Fast" family as the mysterious new character, Tess. While little has been made known about her new character, Larson's past performances make her a perfect addition to the action franchise centering on fast cars, heists, spies, and loyalty.
Larson has been acting since she was just a child, with her breakthrough performance on the sitcom "Raising Dad" occurring when she was only 12 years old. She would go on to appear in bit parts in films like "13 Going on 30" as one of the Six Chicks, or in "Sleepover," where she plays an 8th grader with a driver's license because she's been held back so many times.
Larson has been acting since she was just a child, with her breakthrough performance on the sitcom "Raising Dad" occurring when she was only 12 years old. She would go on to appear in bit parts in films like "13 Going on 30" as one of the Six Chicks, or in "Sleepover," where she plays an 8th grader with a driver's license because she's been held back so many times.
- 2/9/2023
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
Solea Pfeiffer was on the phone with Don Cheadle about a possible appearance on his Showtime series Black Monday when another call came in. She ignored it. The 27-year-old actress didn’t end up working with Cheadle, but she did land a lead role in A Jazzman’s Blues, a period drama directed by Tyler Perry, who happened to be the unidentified caller.
A Jazzman’s Blues marks Pfeiffer’s first feature film after being lauded for her stage performances in the original national tour of Hamilton and Gustavo Dudamel’s West Side Story production at the Hollywood Bowl. In October, she stars as Penny Lane in the Broadway premiere of Almost Famous.
Perry’s film, set in the 1940s American South, tells the tragic tale of a young woman who is forced by her mother to pass as white and leave behind the Black man she loves.
Solea Pfeiffer was on the phone with Don Cheadle about a possible appearance on his Showtime series Black Monday when another call came in. She ignored it. The 27-year-old actress didn’t end up working with Cheadle, but she did land a lead role in A Jazzman’s Blues, a period drama directed by Tyler Perry, who happened to be the unidentified caller.
A Jazzman’s Blues marks Pfeiffer’s first feature film after being lauded for her stage performances in the original national tour of Hamilton and Gustavo Dudamel’s West Side Story production at the Hollywood Bowl. In October, she stars as Penny Lane in the Broadway premiere of Almost Famous.
Perry’s film, set in the 1940s American South, tells the tragic tale of a young woman who is forced by her mother to pass as white and leave behind the Black man she loves.
- 9/17/2022
- by Pamela McClintock
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ava DuVernay Selected for Inaugural MacDowell Trophy
Ava DuVernay will accept the inaugural Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award on behalf of her Array Releasing during MacDowell’s Virtual National Benefit on Oct. 19.
“As I have learned more about MacDowell, and the range of artists who have been in residence over decades, I am moved by how their work has influenced our world,” DuVernay said. “Marian MacDowell was the woman who, in 1907, had the unique vision to support artists from many different walks of life in an effort to remove barriers to creativity. I am touched that our narrative change collective Array, which is built upon a mission to articulate and amplify stories from the widest range of art makers, is being honored in Ms. MacDowell’s name.”
This year’s award is being underwritten by Agnes Gund, who said DuVernay’s documentary “13th” inspired the formation of Gund’s Art for Justice Fund.
Ava DuVernay will accept the inaugural Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award on behalf of her Array Releasing during MacDowell’s Virtual National Benefit on Oct. 19.
“As I have learned more about MacDowell, and the range of artists who have been in residence over decades, I am moved by how their work has influenced our world,” DuVernay said. “Marian MacDowell was the woman who, in 1907, had the unique vision to support artists from many different walks of life in an effort to remove barriers to creativity. I am touched that our narrative change collective Array, which is built upon a mission to articulate and amplify stories from the widest range of art makers, is being honored in Ms. MacDowell’s name.”
This year’s award is being underwritten by Agnes Gund, who said DuVernay’s documentary “13th” inspired the formation of Gund’s Art for Justice Fund.
- 9/29/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to documentary Nationtime by William Greaves, about the historic National Black Political Convention of 1972 which brought together major Black leaders and activists of the time.
The distributor is planning an October 23 release in virtual cinemas through its Kino Marquee label.
Narrated by Sidney Poitier, the film was originally considered too radical for TV broadcast, and has only circulated in a heavily edited 60-minute version. But the original full-length version was found in a Pittsburgh warehouse in 2018 and restored in 4K by IndieCollect, supervised by Louise Greaves and funded by Jane Fonda and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Trust.
The documentary, which also includes poems recited by Harry Belafonte, focuses on the Gary Convention in Indiana, which gathered 10,000 Black politicians, activists, and artists from across the political spectrum, including more than 500 media representatives.
Delegates included Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale,...
The distributor is planning an October 23 release in virtual cinemas through its Kino Marquee label.
Narrated by Sidney Poitier, the film was originally considered too radical for TV broadcast, and has only circulated in a heavily edited 60-minute version. But the original full-length version was found in a Pittsburgh warehouse in 2018 and restored in 4K by IndieCollect, supervised by Louise Greaves and funded by Jane Fonda and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Trust.
The documentary, which also includes poems recited by Harry Belafonte, focuses on the Gary Convention in Indiana, which gathered 10,000 Black politicians, activists, and artists from across the political spectrum, including more than 500 media representatives.
Delegates included Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale,...
- 9/28/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
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