The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is now available on Premium Video on Demand and Premium Electronic Sell-Through from Lionsgate, and following its launch, we were able to sit down with star Babs Olusanmokun (Dune; Dune: Part Two; The Book of Clarence) to talk about his pivotal role in the Guy Ritchie-directed actioner.
In the film, Olusanmokun plays Richard Heron, one of the members of the team and works closely with Eiza González ("Marjorie Stewart") to take down the Nazis by land while the rest of the team head to the sea. He tells me about the importance of telling this story, his experience working with Guy Ritchie again, and a whole lot more.
Additionally, the film will also be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on June 25!
Watch our full video interview with Babs Olusanmokun below and/or keep scrolling to read the transcript. Plus, please remember...
In the film, Olusanmokun plays Richard Heron, one of the members of the team and works closely with Eiza González ("Marjorie Stewart") to take down the Nazis by land while the rest of the team head to the sea. He tells me about the importance of telling this story, his experience working with Guy Ritchie again, and a whole lot more.
Additionally, the film will also be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on June 25!
Watch our full video interview with Babs Olusanmokun below and/or keep scrolling to read the transcript. Plus, please remember...
- 5/22/2024
- ComicBookMovie.com
Oscar Micheaux is a trailblazing American filmmaker whose name and fandom — including Spike Lee and the late John Singleton — are better known than his groundbreaking films. A festival opening in New York on Friday, May 3, at Film Forum aims to fix that.
Though competition is steep in the New York film space, with 17 films and several curated special events, “Oscar Micheaux and the Birth of Black Independent Cinema” is designed to make history. Seven films on the schedule are new restorations of the original prints. Some screenings will be accompanied by live musical performances, much like when silent films were originally exhibited in the 1910s and 1920s. On May 5, there’s also a tribute for the recently deceased author and filmmaker Pearl Bowser, a pivotal architect of the renaissance Micheaux’s work now enjoys. The lineup also boasts conversations with DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller), who composed new scores for...
Though competition is steep in the New York film space, with 17 films and several curated special events, “Oscar Micheaux and the Birth of Black Independent Cinema” is designed to make history. Seven films on the schedule are new restorations of the original prints. Some screenings will be accompanied by live musical performances, much like when silent films were originally exhibited in the 1910s and 1920s. On May 5, there’s also a tribute for the recently deceased author and filmmaker Pearl Bowser, a pivotal architect of the renaissance Micheaux’s work now enjoys. The lineup also boasts conversations with DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller), who composed new scores for...
- 5/2/2024
- by Carole V. Bell
- Indiewire
105 years ago this year, the birth of Black independent cinema commenced when Oscar Micheaux released his silent feature The Homesteader. While that 1919 film, along with most of the pioneering director’s silent work, has been lost, 17 of Micheaux’s films, including seven new restorations, are now coming to theaters with Kino Lorber’s new retrospective Oscar Micheaux and the Birth of Black Independent Cinema. Presented in partnership with the Library of Congress, the retrospective kicks off on May 3 at Film Forum before touring to other cities nationwide, and we’re pleased to exclusively launch the trailer. Kino Lorber will also release the Micheaux collection on home video later this year.
One of the earliest filmmakers to depict the Black American experience with nuance and depth, Oscar Micheaux directed more than 40 films between 1919 and 1948, working in both the silent and talkie era, exploring a range of complex, often taboo subjects that included religious hypocrisy,...
One of the earliest filmmakers to depict the Black American experience with nuance and depth, Oscar Micheaux directed more than 40 films between 1919 and 1948, working in both the silent and talkie era, exploring a range of complex, often taboo subjects that included religious hypocrisy,...
- 4/24/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Before the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened its doors in 2021, even senior staffers were surprised by the depth of Black film history that dwelt in its archives. Looking through the film posters and memorabilia from race movies of the early 20th century, co-curator Doris Berger found herself amazed and chagrined. She had stumbled on a treasure trove and heritage she knew little about.
Berger is not alone and her experience isn’t surprising. The foundational titles most of us know and gravitate to first when we think of Black film tend to be the earnest classics of the 1960s, the blaxploitation movies of the 1970s, and the indie Black cinema of the 1980s and 1990s.
In those archives, Dr. Berger recognized a rich history screaming out for greater attention. The result was an exhibition, conceived and produced in partnership with National Museum of African American History and Culture film and photography curator Dr.
Berger is not alone and her experience isn’t surprising. The foundational titles most of us know and gravitate to first when we think of Black film tend to be the earnest classics of the 1960s, the blaxploitation movies of the 1970s, and the indie Black cinema of the 1980s and 1990s.
In those archives, Dr. Berger recognized a rich history screaming out for greater attention. The result was an exhibition, conceived and produced in partnership with National Museum of African American History and Culture film and photography curator Dr.
- 2/26/2024
- by Carole V. Bell
- Indiewire
March on Washington organizer Bayard Rustin, a Black and gay civil rights advocate who died in 1987 after decades of fighting for peace, nonviolence, and racial equality in the workplace, gets a rousing spotlight in playwright-turned-filmmaker George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin.” The Netflix drama, in theaters now and streaming on the platform November 17, stars Colman Domingo in the title role, and it’s one of this year’s awards contenders to watch. Barack and Michelle Obama back the film through their Higher Ground productions, making an appearance this past weekend to support the biopic. Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black co-write the screenplay, which centers on Rustin’s 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Recently, none other than Oscar-winning “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins moderated a Q&a with Wolfe and Breece at Ross House in Los Angeles on November 6. “I watched the movie, and when it ended, I sat up...
Recently, none other than Oscar-winning “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins moderated a Q&a with Wolfe and Breece at Ross House in Los Angeles on November 6. “I watched the movie, and when it ended, I sat up...
- 11/13/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
George C. Wolfe’s miraculous new film “Rustin” is many things. It’s a biographical film about Bayard Rustin (played by Colman Domingo), an unsung hero of the Civil Rights movement and a key architect of the 1963 March on Washington. It’s also a buddy movie with Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen). And it’s a process movie about exactly what it takes to launch an event of the march’s scale, complexity and importance.
What makes the movie even more impressive is that it does it all while peeling back the layers of who Rustin was, as a key Civil Rights figure that few know about in the same breath as, say, King, Medgar Evers (who is referenced in the film) or Malcolm X (who is not).
For director Wolfe, learning about Rustin was a discovery process that spanned years.
“I’ve learned in stages. I...
What makes the movie even more impressive is that it does it all while peeling back the layers of who Rustin was, as a key Civil Rights figure that few know about in the same breath as, say, King, Medgar Evers (who is referenced in the film) or Malcolm X (who is not).
For director Wolfe, learning about Rustin was a discovery process that spanned years.
“I’ve learned in stages. I...
- 9/11/2023
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
It isn’t that I don’t enjoy a good superhero show or movie, but I like it when Marvel gets playful with genre. It’s the reason I always say that my favorite film in the MCU is the first 45 minutes of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the part that’s basically a ’70s conspiracy thriller, before the action gets bigger and the tone becomes more conventional. I loved WandaVision at its meta-sitcom-y peak and thought Hawkeye was most charming as Marvel’s explosive take on a Hallmark holiday film.
So when the logline for Secret Invasion, Disney+’s latest six-parter, suggested a paranoid Cold War drama with a backdrop of conquering lizard-aliens, that got my pulse racing a little.
Through two episodes, the series itself is a disappointment. A tremendous cast, led by Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Colman and Don Cheadle, keeps things generally watchable and,...
So when the logline for Secret Invasion, Disney+’s latest six-parter, suggested a paranoid Cold War drama with a backdrop of conquering lizard-aliens, that got my pulse racing a little.
Through two episodes, the series itself is a disappointment. A tremendous cast, led by Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Colman and Don Cheadle, keeps things generally watchable and,...
- 6/14/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Harry Belafonte was a child when his mother sent him and his brother to live with relatives in Jamaica.
He was born in Harlem on the cusp of the Great Depression, and after his father left the family, Belafonte’s mom thought her children might fare better in her home country. She wanted to save them from the deleterious effects of her precarious immigration status and poverty. Harry, as he writes in his memoir My Song, was a difficult child, prone to fighting with other kids. His mother — single, newly devout in her faith and working tirelessly to make ends meet — thought this move would help her troubled son.
Salvation is a tall order, but Jamaica did leave its mark. In Kingston, among his mother’s people, Belafonte discovered the sounds on which he would base part of his artistry. Many of the songs he sang later in his career,...
He was born in Harlem on the cusp of the Great Depression, and after his father left the family, Belafonte’s mom thought her children might fare better in her home country. She wanted to save them from the deleterious effects of her precarious immigration status and poverty. Harry, as he writes in his memoir My Song, was a difficult child, prone to fighting with other kids. His mother — single, newly devout in her faith and working tirelessly to make ends meet — thought this move would help her troubled son.
Salvation is a tall order, but Jamaica did leave its mark. In Kingston, among his mother’s people, Belafonte discovered the sounds on which he would base part of his artistry. Many of the songs he sang later in his career,...
- 4/26/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The star with the gorgeous calypso voice was also a naturally passionate actor who appeared in heists, colonial confrontations – and even the last love triangle on Earth
In the middle of the 20th century, Harry Belafonte was at the dizzying high point of his stunning multi-hyphenate celebrity: this handsome, athletic, Caribbean-American star with a gorgeous calypso singing voice was at the top of his game in music, movies and politics. He was the million-selling artist whose easy and sensuous musical stylings and lighter-skinned image made him acceptable to white audiences. But this didn’t stop him having a fierce screen presence and an even fiercer commitment to civil rights. He was the friend and comrade of Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King Jr – and his crossover success, incidentally, never stopped him being subject to the ugliest kind of bigotry from racists who saw his fame as a kind of infiltration.
In the middle of the 20th century, Harry Belafonte was at the dizzying high point of his stunning multi-hyphenate celebrity: this handsome, athletic, Caribbean-American star with a gorgeous calypso singing voice was at the top of his game in music, movies and politics. He was the million-selling artist whose easy and sensuous musical stylings and lighter-skinned image made him acceptable to white audiences. But this didn’t stop him having a fierce screen presence and an even fiercer commitment to civil rights. He was the friend and comrade of Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King Jr – and his crossover success, incidentally, never stopped him being subject to the ugliest kind of bigotry from racists who saw his fame as a kind of infiltration.
- 4/25/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has passed away. He was 96.
Belafonte passed away Tuesday due to congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said Paula M. Witt, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-o),” and its call of “Day-o! Daaaaay-o.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”
He stands as the model and...
Belafonte passed away Tuesday due to congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said Paula M. Witt, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-o),” and its call of “Day-o! Daaaaay-o.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”
He stands as the model and...
- 4/25/2023
- by Divya Goyal
- ET Canada
Harry Belafonte, the actor, producer, singer and activist who made calypso music a national phenomenon with “Day-o” (The Banana Boat Song) and used his considerable stardom to draw attention to Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights issues and injustices around the world, has died. He was 96.
Belafonte, recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2014, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home on the Upper West Side with his wife, Pamela, by his side, longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine told The Hollywood Reporter.
A master at blending pop, jazz and traditional West Indian rhythms, the Caribbean-American Belafonte released more than 30 albums during his career and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy from the Recording Academy in 2000.
Calypso, which featured “Day-o” and another hit, “Jamaica Farewell,” topped the Billboard pop album list for an incredible 31 weeks in 1956 and is credited as...
Belafonte, recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2014, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home on the Upper West Side with his wife, Pamela, by his side, longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine told The Hollywood Reporter.
A master at blending pop, jazz and traditional West Indian rhythms, the Caribbean-American Belafonte released more than 30 albums during his career and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy from the Recording Academy in 2000.
Calypso, which featured “Day-o” and another hit, “Jamaica Farewell,” topped the Billboard pop album list for an incredible 31 weeks in 1956 and is credited as...
- 4/25/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Iconic actor, musician, and lifelong activist Harry Belafonte has died at the age of 96. The cause, per his longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine, was congestive heart failure.
Belafonte’s singing shaped a musical consciousness for generations of Americans, from traditional folk music and spirituals to Caribbean calypso and protest songs. His acting in films such as “Carmen Jones” and “Odds Against Tomorrow” won praise and helped pave the way for Black performers who would follow. And his activism took him to the front lines of the civil rights movement, where he marched with Martin Luther King Jr., lobbied for the release of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela, and joined other stars to raise money for famine relief on the African continent. Realizing from an early age the power of celebrity to advance social change, Belafonte was among the rare few to have been equally entrenched in the worlds of entertainment and politics with genuine results to spare.
Belafonte’s singing shaped a musical consciousness for generations of Americans, from traditional folk music and spirituals to Caribbean calypso and protest songs. His acting in films such as “Carmen Jones” and “Odds Against Tomorrow” won praise and helped pave the way for Black performers who would follow. And his activism took him to the front lines of the civil rights movement, where he marched with Martin Luther King Jr., lobbied for the release of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela, and joined other stars to raise money for famine relief on the African continent. Realizing from an early age the power of celebrity to advance social change, Belafonte was among the rare few to have been equally entrenched in the worlds of entertainment and politics with genuine results to spare.
- 4/25/2023
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Singer, actor, producer and activist Harry Belafonte, who spawned a calypso craze in the U.S. with his music and blazed new trails for African-American performers, has died of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home. He was 96.
An award-winning Broadway performer and a versatile recording and concert star of the ’50s, the lithe, handsome Belafonte became one of the first black leading men in Hollywood. He later branched into production work on theatrical films and telepics.
As his career stretched into the new millennium, his commitment to social causes never took a back seat to his professional work.
An intimate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he was an important voice in the ’60s civil rights movement, and he later embarked on charitable activities on behalf of underdeveloped African nations. He was an outspoken opponent of South Africa’s apartheid policies.
Belafonte was set to receive the Motion Picture...
An award-winning Broadway performer and a versatile recording and concert star of the ’50s, the lithe, handsome Belafonte became one of the first black leading men in Hollywood. He later branched into production work on theatrical films and telepics.
As his career stretched into the new millennium, his commitment to social causes never took a back seat to his professional work.
An intimate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he was an important voice in the ’60s civil rights movement, and he later embarked on charitable activities on behalf of underdeveloped African nations. He was an outspoken opponent of South Africa’s apartheid policies.
Belafonte was set to receive the Motion Picture...
- 4/25/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
As famed Afro-Peruvian activist, choreographer, and poet Victoria Santa Cruz once said, "We need to recover our history, tell our own stories, and sing our own songs."
It is this sentiment that I live by when discussing Afrolatinidad. Afrolatinidad is not a new concept or idea. As a people and culture, Afro-Latinxs have been fighting for centuries to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and respected for their contributions to larger society. The term Afrolatinidad is used to describe the cultural identity and heritage of Black people from Latin America and Latin Americans of African descent, whose ancestors had undergone the experience of chattel slavery. Clarity is important here because there has been so much confusion about who is or isn't considered Afro-Latinx.
The confusion around Afro-Latinidad and who gets to claim it can be traced back to the complex history of mestizaje and racism in Latin America. Mestizaje refers to the mixing of Indigenous,...
It is this sentiment that I live by when discussing Afrolatinidad. Afrolatinidad is not a new concept or idea. As a people and culture, Afro-Latinxs have been fighting for centuries to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and respected for their contributions to larger society. The term Afrolatinidad is used to describe the cultural identity and heritage of Black people from Latin America and Latin Americans of African descent, whose ancestors had undergone the experience of chattel slavery. Clarity is important here because there has been so much confusion about who is or isn't considered Afro-Latinx.
The confusion around Afro-Latinidad and who gets to claim it can be traced back to the complex history of mestizaje and racism in Latin America. Mestizaje refers to the mixing of Indigenous,...
- 4/20/2023
- by Nydia Simone
- Popsugar.com
Dropkick Murphys team up with Violent Femmes to fight the Ku Klux Klan on the new collaborative track “Gotta Get to Peekskill.” It’s the latest single from Dropkick’s upcoming album, Okemah Rising.
As previously reported, Okemah Rising (due May 12th) is the second Dropkick album to interpret the words of late folk legend Woody Guthrie, following last year’s This Machine Still Kills Fascists.
The song features the distinctive voices of Violent Femmes frontman Gordon Gano and Dropkick Murphys singer Ken Casey, as they trade verses on the track, singing Guthrie’s lyrics about confronting the Ku Klux Klan.
“We had the privilege of collaborating with the Violent Femmes on this feisty track,” said Casey in a press release. “Acoustic Dropkicks sounds a lot like the Violent Femmes in my opinion, so the collaboration is musically and symbolically fitting. And singing a song about fighting the Ku Klux Klan is always extra fun.
As previously reported, Okemah Rising (due May 12th) is the second Dropkick album to interpret the words of late folk legend Woody Guthrie, following last year’s This Machine Still Kills Fascists.
The song features the distinctive voices of Violent Femmes frontman Gordon Gano and Dropkick Murphys singer Ken Casey, as they trade verses on the track, singing Guthrie’s lyrics about confronting the Ku Klux Klan.
“We had the privilege of collaborating with the Violent Femmes on this feisty track,” said Casey in a press release. “Acoustic Dropkicks sounds a lot like the Violent Femmes in my opinion, so the collaboration is musically and symbolically fitting. And singing a song about fighting the Ku Klux Klan is always extra fun.
- 3/31/2023
- by Spencer Kaufman
- Consequence - Music
Spoiler Alert: This post contains details from the first four episodes of Peacock’s Poker Face.
Natasha Lyonne is a casino waitress with an uncanny ability to tell when people are lying in her latest collaboration with Rian Johnson, Peacock’s Poker Face.
She’s not reading their faces or their body language. It’s “just a feeling,” her character Charlie explains in the first episode, which debuted Thursday along with three additional episodes.
Related Story ‘Poker Face’ Review: No Lie! Natasha Lyonne & Rian Johnson’s Peacock Road Trip Procedural Is All Green Lights & Parking Spaces Related Story NBCUniversal And Comcast Execs "More Confident" Than They Were A Year Ago In Peacock Profit Outlook, Jeff Shell Says Related Story Peacock Clears 20M Subscribers, Helping Comcast Nip Wall Street Q4 Estimates
As the premiere unfolds, Charlie agrees to help her boss take down a high-profile gambler, only to realize that he...
Natasha Lyonne is a casino waitress with an uncanny ability to tell when people are lying in her latest collaboration with Rian Johnson, Peacock’s Poker Face.
She’s not reading their faces or their body language. It’s “just a feeling,” her character Charlie explains in the first episode, which debuted Thursday along with three additional episodes.
Related Story ‘Poker Face’ Review: No Lie! Natasha Lyonne & Rian Johnson’s Peacock Road Trip Procedural Is All Green Lights & Parking Spaces Related Story NBCUniversal And Comcast Execs "More Confident" Than They Were A Year Ago In Peacock Profit Outlook, Jeff Shell Says Related Story Peacock Clears 20M Subscribers, Helping Comcast Nip Wall Street Q4 Estimates
As the premiere unfolds, Charlie agrees to help her boss take down a high-profile gambler, only to realize that he...
- 1/26/2023
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
When discussing representation, we emphasize the necessity of Black people living in this moment and seeing themselves onscreen. But in the past, Black audiences had a much stronger need to visualize a different, more prosperous future in the wake of the violent realities of Jim Crow, segregation, and the Civil Rights movement. They needed to see a world where Black people were allowed to meet their full potential as artists, thinkers, and craftspeople.
In the opening lines of the new documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” director Elvis Mitchell speaks of his grandmother, remarking that “movies changed the way she dreamed.” For people in her generation, those dreams could be life-changing.
But most of the faces she saw onscreen at the movies were white. For the Black cinephile in the early years of Hollywood, projecting oneself onto characters was necessary. And yet, there were filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux and,...
In the opening lines of the new documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” director Elvis Mitchell speaks of his grandmother, remarking that “movies changed the way she dreamed.” For people in her generation, those dreams could be life-changing.
But most of the faces she saw onscreen at the movies were white. For the Black cinephile in the early years of Hollywood, projecting oneself onto characters was necessary. And yet, there were filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux and,...
- 10/11/2022
- by Jourdain Searles
- Indiewire
Patricio Guzmán’s documentary juxtaposes historical chaos with the eternal beauty of the mountain range that surrounds Santiago
Documentary film-maker Patricio Guzmán returns to his great and tragic theme of exile – from his Chilean homeland, from his past, from a world that made a certain sort of sense before the brutal 1973 coup which unseated Salvador Allende and introduced a military despotism whose ugly consequences have never been resolved there. Like his 2012 film Nostalgia for the Light, which reflected on the vast beauty of the Atacama desert in central Chile and thegreat Paranal observatory, contrasted with the shabby dishonour of 73, The Cordillera of Dreams again finds the film-maker juxtaposing the historical chaos and despair with the eternal beauty and mystery of the landscape: in this case, the awe-inspiring “cordillera” or Andean mountain range that surrounds his home town of Santiago.
Guzmán fled Chile soon after the coup and the cordillera’s...
Documentary film-maker Patricio Guzmán returns to his great and tragic theme of exile – from his Chilean homeland, from his past, from a world that made a certain sort of sense before the brutal 1973 coup which unseated Salvador Allende and introduced a military despotism whose ugly consequences have never been resolved there. Like his 2012 film Nostalgia for the Light, which reflected on the vast beauty of the Atacama desert in central Chile and thegreat Paranal observatory, contrasted with the shabby dishonour of 73, The Cordillera of Dreams again finds the film-maker juxtaposing the historical chaos and despair with the eternal beauty and mystery of the landscape: in this case, the awe-inspiring “cordillera” or Andean mountain range that surrounds his home town of Santiago.
Guzmán fled Chile soon after the coup and the cordillera’s...
- 10/4/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
He was our first Black movie star, in a certain, classical sense of that term. Other Black actors had appeared in popular Hollywood movies, had even gone so far as to win an Academy Award for their work before Sidney Poitier made it big (just one person — Hattie McDaniel — and just one time, in 1939, but still). And other Black image-makers had labored in other corners of the industry, working behind and in front of the camera some time before Poitier made his way to the United States from the Bahamas...
- 9/23/2022
- by K. Austin Collins
- Rollingstone.com
No one is better at telling Sidney Poitier’s story than Sidney Poitier himself.
The brilliance of Reginald Hudlin’s documentary for Apple TV+ is that it lets him do just that. An incredibly gifted storyteller, Poitier, who died at age 94 in January 2022, opens “Sidney” by saying in voiceover, “I was not expected to live.”
Of course we know that Poitier, who was born two months premature, his life hanging by a thread, did live, and lived exceptionally well, touching so many other lives with his groundbreaking Hollywood career. Having him tell his own story, largely via edited footage and voiceover from seven hours of interviews the film’s producer Oprah Winfrey conducted with Poitier in 2012, allows “Sidney” to be about the man, not just his milestones.
Many of the stories Poitier relates he’s told before in his books, especially his great 2000 memoir “The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography.
The brilliance of Reginald Hudlin’s documentary for Apple TV+ is that it lets him do just that. An incredibly gifted storyteller, Poitier, who died at age 94 in January 2022, opens “Sidney” by saying in voiceover, “I was not expected to live.”
Of course we know that Poitier, who was born two months premature, his life hanging by a thread, did live, and lived exceptionally well, touching so many other lives with his groundbreaking Hollywood career. Having him tell his own story, largely via edited footage and voiceover from seven hours of interviews the film’s producer Oprah Winfrey conducted with Poitier in 2012, allows “Sidney” to be about the man, not just his milestones.
Many of the stories Poitier relates he’s told before in his books, especially his great 2000 memoir “The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography.
- 9/23/2022
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
A pioneering movie star intensely aware of his place in film history, Sidney Poitier published no fewer than three autobiographies during his life, generously sharing what he’d lived and learned with those who’d appreciated his work in films such as “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” But words can only reach so far in an era dominated by the moving image, and as such, we’re fortunate that Poitier was open to repeating himself one last time for “Sidney” — director Reginald Hudlin’s definitive portrait for Apple TV+ — before his death this year at the age of 94.
Few movie stars have been more inspirational than Poitier, who was more than just a star, but also a symbol to so many — be they aspiring Black performers or the public at large, who saw their own views on civil rights embodied in the characters he played.
Few movie stars have been more inspirational than Poitier, who was more than just a star, but also a symbol to so many — be they aspiring Black performers or the public at large, who saw their own views on civil rights embodied in the characters he played.
- 9/23/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
“Sidney,” a documentary tribute to the trailblazing Black movie star Sidney Poitier, was produced by Oprah Winfrey, and it leans far more toward one-dimensional inspiration than insight. Important questions are sometimes raised here by the interview subjects, but they are almost always evasively dropped.
In the opening moments of the movie, we hear Poitier’s unmistakable voice on the soundtrack: “I was not expected to live,” he says. “I was born two months premature.” Poitier relates that his father got a shoebox in which he was going to “tuck me away,” but Poitier’s mother insisted on giving him some more time to recover.
The early sections of “Sidney” are much stronger than what comes later, because it is Poitier himself telling the tale in interview footage and setting the expansive, very dramatic tone. He knew how to tell a story so that each nuance would make itself felt; when...
In the opening moments of the movie, we hear Poitier’s unmistakable voice on the soundtrack: “I was not expected to live,” he says. “I was born two months premature.” Poitier relates that his father got a shoebox in which he was going to “tuck me away,” but Poitier’s mother insisted on giving him some more time to recover.
The early sections of “Sidney” are much stronger than what comes later, because it is Poitier himself telling the tale in interview footage and setting the expansive, very dramatic tone. He knew how to tell a story so that each nuance would make itself felt; when...
- 9/22/2022
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
The Academy Museum’s Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 is not to be missed. Not only does the exhibition celebrate Black representation in film, it serves as an important reminder and lesson about the contributions of Black filmmakers and stars to the world of cinema.
Opening Aug. 21, seven galleries make up the exhibit exploring Oscar Micheaux’s low-budget dramas in the silent-film era to the works of Melvin Van Peebles.
The exhibition also introduces audiences to stars largely unknown to mainstream moviegoers — Ralph Cooper, Clarence Brooks and Francine Everett — alongside iconic screen legends Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Lena Horne.
Poiter’s Oscar for “Lillies of the Field” is just one of the many artifacts on display in this historic exhibition. Alongside the award are tap shoes worn by the Nicholas Brothers and one of Louis Armstrong’s trumpets.
Cowboy Boots worn by Herb Jeffries in 1937’s...
Opening Aug. 21, seven galleries make up the exhibit exploring Oscar Micheaux’s low-budget dramas in the silent-film era to the works of Melvin Van Peebles.
The exhibition also introduces audiences to stars largely unknown to mainstream moviegoers — Ralph Cooper, Clarence Brooks and Francine Everett — alongside iconic screen legends Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Lena Horne.
Poiter’s Oscar for “Lillies of the Field” is just one of the many artifacts on display in this historic exhibition. Alongside the award are tap shoes worn by the Nicholas Brothers and one of Louis Armstrong’s trumpets.
Cowboy Boots worn by Herb Jeffries in 1937’s...
- 8/19/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay and Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Hailing from the “City of Brotherly Love” the son of two visual artists. Benmio gravitated towards acting at a young age. Philadelphia was a great place to begin his artistic journey. As a proud member of the first graduating class of Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, his training took him to New York City by way of Syracuse. He earned his equity card Off-Broadway at Lamama Theater in an innovative production of Sam Shepard’s “The Tooth of Crime.” Paul Robeson said that “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth.” That’s definitely his mission whether on set or on
10 Things You didn’t Know about Benmio McCrea...
10 Things You didn’t Know about Benmio McCrea...
- 5/18/2022
- by Aiden Mason
- TVovermind.com
Eleanor Roosevelt was the first superstar First Lady of the 20th century and forever altered the role of the wife of the president of the United States. Over the decades, several actresses have earned kudos and awards for portraying her.
Greer Garson won the Golden Globe and reaped an Oscar nomination for the 1960 film “Sunrise at Campobello,” which chronicled Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s battle with polio in 1921.
Jane Alexander received Emmy nominations for the acclaimed 1976 “Eleanor and Franklin,” based on Joseph P. Lash’s best-seller, and the 1977 sequel “Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years.” She won the Emmy for playing Sara, the mother of Fdr in 2005’s “Warm Springs.”
Speaking of “Warm Springs,” Cynthia Nixon received an Emmy nomination as Eleanor in the HBO movie that detailed Fdr’s (Kenneth Branagh) work with other polio patients.
Jean Stapleton was an Emmy nominee for 1982’s “Eleanor, First Lady of the World,...
Greer Garson won the Golden Globe and reaped an Oscar nomination for the 1960 film “Sunrise at Campobello,” which chronicled Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s battle with polio in 1921.
Jane Alexander received Emmy nominations for the acclaimed 1976 “Eleanor and Franklin,” based on Joseph P. Lash’s best-seller, and the 1977 sequel “Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years.” She won the Emmy for playing Sara, the mother of Fdr in 2005’s “Warm Springs.”
Speaking of “Warm Springs,” Cynthia Nixon received an Emmy nomination as Eleanor in the HBO movie that detailed Fdr’s (Kenneth Branagh) work with other polio patients.
Jean Stapleton was an Emmy nominee for 1982’s “Eleanor, First Lady of the World,...
- 4/28/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures today announced the first round of exhibition rotations scheduled for the 2022–2023 season, which further its mission to advance the understanding, celebration, and preservation of cinema.
This summer, the Museum will open the exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971, which will explore the history of Black cinema from its earliest days to just after the civil rights movement. In the fall, the museum will open galleries devoted to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and the influences of French filmmaker Agnès Varda.
In early 2023, new exhibitions will open, with spaces spotlighting Boyz n the Hood, Casablanca, documentarian Lourdes Portillo, and the collaboration between production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer. Then, in late spring, the Museum will open its first permanent exhibition, Hollywoodland, chronicling the founding and the founders of the Hollywood studio system in Los Angeles.
Over time, new objects, images, and interviews will be added to various galleries,...
This summer, the Museum will open the exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971, which will explore the history of Black cinema from its earliest days to just after the civil rights movement. In the fall, the museum will open galleries devoted to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and the influences of French filmmaker Agnès Varda.
In early 2023, new exhibitions will open, with spaces spotlighting Boyz n the Hood, Casablanca, documentarian Lourdes Portillo, and the collaboration between production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer. Then, in late spring, the Museum will open its first permanent exhibition, Hollywoodland, chronicling the founding and the founders of the Hollywood studio system in Los Angeles.
Over time, new objects, images, and interviews will be added to various galleries,...
- 3/21/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Poitier, who has died aged 94, came to fame via a trio of movie roles defined by race and racial difference
For postwar America, Sidney Poitier became something like the Black Cary Grant: a strikingly handsome and well-spoken Bahamian-American actor. He was a natural film star who projected passion, yet tempered by a kind of refinement and restraint that white moviegoers found very reassuring. Poitier was graceful, manly, self-possessed, with an innate dignity and a tremendous screen presence. He also had a beautiful, melodious voice – the result of his childhood spent in the Bahamas, and then struggling early years in New York, trying to make it as an actor and privately studying the voices of mellifluous white radio announcers. He was a traditional, classical actor in many ways, following in the footsteps of Paul Robeson and Canada Lee, but eminently castable in a new generation of modern roles.
Almost all his...
For postwar America, Sidney Poitier became something like the Black Cary Grant: a strikingly handsome and well-spoken Bahamian-American actor. He was a natural film star who projected passion, yet tempered by a kind of refinement and restraint that white moviegoers found very reassuring. Poitier was graceful, manly, self-possessed, with an innate dignity and a tremendous screen presence. He also had a beautiful, melodious voice – the result of his childhood spent in the Bahamas, and then struggling early years in New York, trying to make it as an actor and privately studying the voices of mellifluous white radio announcers. He was a traditional, classical actor in many ways, following in the footsteps of Paul Robeson and Canada Lee, but eminently castable in a new generation of modern roles.
Almost all his...
- 1/7/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Lewis Milestone directed this poetic, optimistic ode to the American infantryman, a ‘lone patrol’ saga that emphasizes its soldiers’ hopes and fears. The lineup of fresh, eager acting talent is remarkable: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie. Voiceovers and ‘ballads’ give a six-mile beachhead incursion the tone of a spiritual rumination. A beautiful full film restoration brings the image back to prime quality. The controversial filmmakers and the unusual production circumstances are covered in Alan K. Rode’s commentary.
A Walk in the Sun
Blu-ray + DVD
Kit Parker Films / Mvd Visual
1945 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Street Date January 18, 2022 / The Definitive Restoration / Available from Amazon / 29.95
Starring: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie, Matt Willis,...
A Walk in the Sun
Blu-ray + DVD
Kit Parker Films / Mvd Visual
1945 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Street Date January 18, 2022 / The Definitive Restoration / Available from Amazon / 29.95
Starring: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie, Matt Willis,...
- 1/4/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, the concept of time — and feeling like you’re running out of it — is central to the narrative. Corey Hawkins and Moses Ingram play Lord and Lady Macduff, the fertile young couple who represent all that has eluded the Macbeths — a bushel of children to continue their lineage and potential for upward mobility in their political future. They’re time incarnate.
In the pantheon of film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s Scottish play, the Apple and A24 production stands out, not only for its modern black-and-white cinematography, but the inclusion of a wide array of Black actors is another notable triumph.
Hawkins, Ingram and Sean Patrick Thomas discussed the production’s prominent diversity with Variety at the film’s L.A. premiere at the DGA Theatre earlier this month.
“When’s the last time you’ve seen it?...
In the pantheon of film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s Scottish play, the Apple and A24 production stands out, not only for its modern black-and-white cinematography, but the inclusion of a wide array of Black actors is another notable triumph.
Hawkins, Ingram and Sean Patrick Thomas discussed the production’s prominent diversity with Variety at the film’s L.A. premiere at the DGA Theatre earlier this month.
“When’s the last time you’ve seen it?...
- 12/27/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
In film history, the anthology genre is the most challenging. Episodic films often have several directors and screenwriters which gives them an inconsistent tone and quality. But the genre’s pitfalls haven’t stopped such filmmakers including Akira Kurosawa (“Dreams”), the Coens (“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”), Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez (“Sin City”); Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese (“New York Stories”); and Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller and Steven Spielberg (“Twilight Zone: The Movie”).
Wes Anderson joined them with his latest film “The French Dispatch,” which received a nine-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. The comedy brings to life three stories from an American magazine published in a fictional French city and features his stock company of actors including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson.
If you are a fan of the genre, here are the best anthology movies that...
Wes Anderson joined them with his latest film “The French Dispatch,” which received a nine-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. The comedy brings to life three stories from an American magazine published in a fictional French city and features his stock company of actors including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson.
If you are a fan of the genre, here are the best anthology movies that...
- 10/30/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
IndieWire turns 25 this year. To mark the occasion, we’re running a series of essays about the future of everything we cover.
Quick: How many films can you find on Netflix from before 1980? Gems can be uncovered there — shout-out to Youssef Chahine’s 1958 Egyptian classic, “Cairo Station” — but the burden is on those cinephiles already interested enough to seek them out.
Lovers of film history aren’t born, they’re made. Discussions with other film fans, nights out at your university rep cinema, and serendipitous discoveries on Turner Classic Movies, certainly help. Many of us owe our parents for exposing us to classic film at an early age. Still, we’ve reached a point where movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, as well as concurrent world cinema titles, are more accessible than ever, but risk falling further into obscurity.
There was a time when you couldn’t see even towering classics,...
Quick: How many films can you find on Netflix from before 1980? Gems can be uncovered there — shout-out to Youssef Chahine’s 1958 Egyptian classic, “Cairo Station” — but the burden is on those cinephiles already interested enough to seek them out.
Lovers of film history aren’t born, they’re made. Discussions with other film fans, nights out at your university rep cinema, and serendipitous discoveries on Turner Classic Movies, certainly help. Many of us owe our parents for exposing us to classic film at an early age. Still, we’ve reached a point where movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, as well as concurrent world cinema titles, are more accessible than ever, but risk falling further into obscurity.
There was a time when you couldn’t see even towering classics,...
- 10/28/2021
- by Christian Blauvelt and Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
After a 15 months delay, the 74th annual Tony Awards honoring the best of Broadway will be held September 26 on CBS and Paramount +. And there a lot of familiar faces expected at the ceremony at the Winter Garden Theatre including six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, who is nominated for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”; Jane Alexander, who won her first Tony Award 52 years ago for “The Great White Hope” and contends for “Grand Horizons”; and 90-year-old Lois Smith, who made her Broadway debut nearly 70 years ago, is up for “The Inheritance.”
The Tony Awards first ceremony, held April 6 1947 at the Grand Ballroom of the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, was a vastly different affair. Awards were handed out in only eight categories. Producer, director and Tony founder Brock Pemberton was the host of the evening which was broadcast on Wor and Mutual Network radio stations.
The Tony Awards first ceremony, held April 6 1947 at the Grand Ballroom of the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, was a vastly different affair. Awards were handed out in only eight categories. Producer, director and Tony founder Brock Pemberton was the host of the evening which was broadcast on Wor and Mutual Network radio stations.
- 8/28/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Colson Whitehead’s novel Sag Harbor is getting the small screen treatment.
Boat Rocker Studios has put in development Pulitzer Prize-winner Whitehead’s novel Sag Harbor as a television series at HBO Max. Daniel “Koa” Beaty is attached to write the pilot. Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland’s Cinema Gypsy Productions is on board to executive produce.
“Colson is a once-in-a-generation author who has the unique ability to craft beautiful and authentic stories that captivate and transform readers and Sag Harbor is a true expression of that gift,” said Katie O’Connell Marsh, Vice-Chair, Boat Rocker Studios. “We’re thrilled to be working with HBO Max, Cinema Gypsy, and Koa to bring this coming-of-age story to the screen.”
Set in 1985, Sag Harbor tells the story of Benji Cooper, one of the few Black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. Every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons,...
Boat Rocker Studios has put in development Pulitzer Prize-winner Whitehead’s novel Sag Harbor as a television series at HBO Max. Daniel “Koa” Beaty is attached to write the pilot. Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland’s Cinema Gypsy Productions is on board to executive produce.
“Colson is a once-in-a-generation author who has the unique ability to craft beautiful and authentic stories that captivate and transform readers and Sag Harbor is a true expression of that gift,” said Katie O’Connell Marsh, Vice-Chair, Boat Rocker Studios. “We’re thrilled to be working with HBO Max, Cinema Gypsy, and Koa to bring this coming-of-age story to the screen.”
Set in 1985, Sag Harbor tells the story of Benji Cooper, one of the few Black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. Every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons,...
- 8/5/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features bassist Bob Daisley.
Ozzy Osbourne has worked with many bass players throughout the course of his long solo career, but he undeniably did his best work with Bob Daisley.
Ozzy Osbourne has worked with many bass players throughout the course of his long solo career, but he undeniably did his best work with Bob Daisley.
- 8/4/2021
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Historians may now acknowledge Oscar Micheaux as a pioneering Black filmmaker, and the industry could be catching up. However, that acclaim certainly didn’t follow him through his lifetime, when the hustling novelist and director made complex dramas about Black life in America across three decades, starting with the silent era and continuing for many years after that. By the time of his death in 1951, the child of former slaves in Kentucky had written six novels and directed 44 films, but around 80 percent of them have been lost.
Needless to say, most people have been late to the party when it comes to Micheaux’s career, including Cannes. But the festival’s Cannes Classics sidebar made up for that this year by screening a new restoration of Micheaux’s 1935 crime thriller “Murder in Harlem,” alongside a new documentary about the filmmaker’s contemporary resonance, “Oscar Micheaux – The Superhero of Black Cinema,...
Needless to say, most people have been late to the party when it comes to Micheaux’s career, including Cannes. But the festival’s Cannes Classics sidebar made up for that this year by screening a new restoration of Micheaux’s 1935 crime thriller “Murder in Harlem,” alongside a new documentary about the filmmaker’s contemporary resonance, “Oscar Micheaux – The Superhero of Black Cinema,...
- 7/11/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
When Harry Belafonte accepted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2014, he recounted how the racial and cultural insensitivities he witnessed on film screens as a child began his “rebellion against injustice and human distortion and hate.” He also quoted his hero, Paul Robeson, by saying, “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. They are civilization’s radical voice,” and encouraged his audience to use their power and skills for positive change. Belafonte followed in the footsteps of Danny Kaye and Audrey Hepburn as the third Unicef Goodwill Ambassador to receive this special Academy Award. Next year, a fourth will be added to the list, as performer and philanthropist Danny Glover has been chosen as the newest honoree.
Along with honorary award recipients Samuel L. Jackson, Elaine May, and Liv Ullmann, Glover is set to be recognized at the upcoming 12th annual Governors Awards. The 74-year-old has earned this accolade for his...
Along with honorary award recipients Samuel L. Jackson, Elaine May, and Liv Ullmann, Glover is set to be recognized at the upcoming 12th annual Governors Awards. The 74-year-old has earned this accolade for his...
- 6/29/2021
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Living as an ex-pat in Paris in the late 1950s, Melvin Van Peebles taught himself the language and wrote five books in French. The fifth, 1967’s “La Permission,” became the basis for his 1968 feature-film debut, “The Story of a Three-Day Pass.” A commentary on France’s contradictory attitudes about race, it’s an exploration of an interracial relationship between a Black American GI stationed in France and a white Parisian woman. A 4K restoration by IndieCollect, in consultation with his son Mario Van Peebles, opened in US theaters May 14.
The re-release isn’t tied to a milestone anniversary. “There’s a renewed interest in looking at Black history, given all that’s happened in the last few years, and you see it on the screen,” Mario said. “It’s also an anniversary of all things Van Peebles in a way: ‘Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song’ celebrates its 50-year anniversary this year.
The re-release isn’t tied to a milestone anniversary. “There’s a renewed interest in looking at Black history, given all that’s happened in the last few years, and you see it on the screen,” Mario said. “It’s also an anniversary of all things Van Peebles in a way: ‘Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song’ celebrates its 50-year anniversary this year.
- 5/17/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Black filmmakers have struggled for representation as long as the movies have existed. As Hollywood took shape in the early half of the 20th century, Black directors were already looking for ways to push back on prevailing stereotypes. From the “uplift” films of the 1910s, produced via initiatives at the Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes, to the naturalistic shorts made by William Foster in Chicago, and the work of the Lincoln Motion Picture Company — the first Black-owned film production enterprise in the United States — there was no shortage of examples.
The most prolific and tireless voice during this period was Oscar Micheaux, who blazed trails in Black American cinema beginning with his 1919 feature debut, “The Homesteader,” the first feature film written and directed by an African American. It’s been 90 years since he became the first Black filmmaker to produce a sound feature film with “The Exile;” it’s been 70 years since his death.
The most prolific and tireless voice during this period was Oscar Micheaux, who blazed trails in Black American cinema beginning with his 1919 feature debut, “The Homesteader,” the first feature film written and directed by an African American. It’s been 90 years since he became the first Black filmmaker to produce a sound feature film with “The Exile;” it’s been 70 years since his death.
- 5/12/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
They turned drawings into symphonies and made black boxes sing. Why were they never given their due? The maker of a new film, full of revealing archive footage, aims to put this right
Wearing a black cocktail dress and a foil-bright silver headscarf, a woman stands in the corner of a drawing room performing The Swan by Saint-Saëns, while a group of men look on. Although the scene has a sedate Edwardian air to it, this is actually 1976. The woman whirls her red nails around a mysterious black box, making it sigh and lament, whisper and sing. This is Clara Rockmore, the first virtuoso of the theremin, and her audience – all there to learn – includes Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesiser.
A year later, aged 66, Rockmore would release her first album, recorded by Moog, 35 years after she made her concert debut on the instrument at New York’s City Hall,...
Wearing a black cocktail dress and a foil-bright silver headscarf, a woman stands in the corner of a drawing room performing The Swan by Saint-Saëns, while a group of men look on. Although the scene has a sedate Edwardian air to it, this is actually 1976. The woman whirls her red nails around a mysterious black box, making it sigh and lament, whisper and sing. This is Clara Rockmore, the first virtuoso of the theremin, and her audience – all there to learn – includes Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesiser.
A year later, aged 66, Rockmore would release her first album, recorded by Moog, 35 years after she made her concert debut on the instrument at New York’s City Hall,...
- 4/23/2021
- by Jude Rogers
- The Guardian - Film News
Welcome Dan, aka Comic Concierge, back to Nerdly with his new YouTube channel dedicated to all things comics. From weekly new releases to graphic novels. Comics are for everyone but the key is finding the right one. Comic Concierge is here to help with that journey, with a range of videos discussing everything from weekly pick-ups, dollar-bin dives, comic book theory, analysis and more!
Graphic Thoughts #4: Pretty Deadly Vol 1, A Graphic Biography of Paul Robeson, Chasin’ the Bird
This week’s Graphic Thoughts include a fantastical western and two very different ways to look at historical icons. Things kick off with a look at Pretty Deadly Vol 1 then shift over to learning about Paul Robeson with A Graphic Biography o Paul Robeson: Ballard of An America. Lastly we end things with one of last year’s most notable comics Chasin the Bird.
Time Stamps
00:45 – Pretty Deadly Vol 1,
05:...
Graphic Thoughts #4: Pretty Deadly Vol 1, A Graphic Biography of Paul Robeson, Chasin’ the Bird
This week’s Graphic Thoughts include a fantastical western and two very different ways to look at historical icons. Things kick off with a look at Pretty Deadly Vol 1 then shift over to learning about Paul Robeson with A Graphic Biography o Paul Robeson: Ballard of An America. Lastly we end things with one of last year’s most notable comics Chasin the Bird.
Time Stamps
00:45 – Pretty Deadly Vol 1,
05:...
- 4/23/2021
- by Dan Clark
- Nerdly
By Tim McGlynn
“What does he care if the land ain’t free?”
The Warner Archive has done itself proud with their new release of MGM’s splendid 1951 production of Showboat. This Technicolor spectacular is actually the third film version of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein classic, which is based on a novel by Edna Ferber. The Freed unit at MGM pulled out all the stops for this effort and cast Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead, Marge and Gower Champion and William Warfield in this turn- of -the last century story set in the deep South.
Cap’n Andy and his wife Parthy use their paddle Wheeler, the Cotton Blossom, to put on shows up and down the Mississippi River. Their daughter, Magnolia, dreams of playing a part but is discouraged by her strict mother. One day a charming, but down and out gambler...
“What does he care if the land ain’t free?”
The Warner Archive has done itself proud with their new release of MGM’s splendid 1951 production of Showboat. This Technicolor spectacular is actually the third film version of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein classic, which is based on a novel by Edna Ferber. The Freed unit at MGM pulled out all the stops for this effort and cast Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead, Marge and Gower Champion and William Warfield in this turn- of -the last century story set in the deep South.
Cap’n Andy and his wife Parthy use their paddle Wheeler, the Cotton Blossom, to put on shows up and down the Mississippi River. Their daughter, Magnolia, dreams of playing a part but is discouraged by her strict mother. One day a charming, but down and out gambler...
- 3/9/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By Tim McGlynn
“What does he care if the land ain’t free?”
The Warner Archive has done itself proud with their new release of MGM’s splendid 1951 production of Showboat. This Technicolor spectacular is actually the third film version of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein classic, which is based on a novel by Edna Ferber. The Freed unit at MGM pulled out all the stops for this effort and cast Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead, Marge and Gower Champion and William Warfield in this turn- of -the last century story set in the deep South.
Cap’n Andy and his wife Parthy use their paddle Wheeler, the Cotton Blossom, to put on shows up and down the Mississippi River. Their daughter, Magnolia, dreams of playing a part but is discouraged by her strict mother. One day a charming, but down and out gambler...
“What does he care if the land ain’t free?”
The Warner Archive has done itself proud with their new release of MGM’s splendid 1951 production of Showboat. This Technicolor spectacular is actually the third film version of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein classic, which is based on a novel by Edna Ferber. The Freed unit at MGM pulled out all the stops for this effort and cast Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead, Marge and Gower Champion and William Warfield in this turn- of -the last century story set in the deep South.
Cap’n Andy and his wife Parthy use their paddle Wheeler, the Cotton Blossom, to put on shows up and down the Mississippi River. Their daughter, Magnolia, dreams of playing a part but is discouraged by her strict mother. One day a charming, but down and out gambler...
- 3/9/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Trojan Jamaica/BMG has partnered with Until the Ribbon Breaks for a remix of Toots and the Maytals’ “Got to Be Tough,” donating all proceeds to Black Lives Matter.
The title track to Toots Hibberts’ final studio album, the video features footage of protests and police brutality, including figures Rosa Parks, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, C.T. Vivian, and Paul Robeson. Senator Corey Booker can be heard stating, “Everything about us is interwoven, it is interconnected, we are in relationship with each other” throughout the track, repeated through the beats and Hibbert’s own singing.
The title track to Toots Hibberts’ final studio album, the video features footage of protests and police brutality, including figures Rosa Parks, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, C.T. Vivian, and Paul Robeson. Senator Corey Booker can be heard stating, “Everything about us is interwoven, it is interconnected, we are in relationship with each other” throughout the track, repeated through the beats and Hibbert’s own singing.
- 2/5/2021
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
I don't know about you, but I'm in tears after watching the cast of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air come together for HBO's reunion special, which dropped on Nov. 18. During the hour-long program, former castmates Will Smith, Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, Alfonso Ribeiro, and DJ Jazzy Jeff paid homage to their late costar James Avery, aka Uncle Phil, who died in 2013 due to open-heart surgery complications. In honor of Avery's legacy, they opened up about his fatherly presence on and off screen before showing a video tribute with his most notable scenes. Look ahead to read the sweetest quotes from the cast's salute to Avery.
Related: What Has the Banks Family Been Up to Since The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Here's a Recap Ali on Avery's knowledge about Black artistry: "James is the heart of the show. He was my teacher. I learned what...
Related: What Has the Banks Family Been Up to Since The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Here's a Recap Ali on Avery's knowledge about Black artistry: "James is the heart of the show. He was my teacher. I learned what...
- 11/19/2020
- by Brea Cubit
- Popsugar.com
“Is all or a portion of your spouse's income deposited in a checking account, joint checking account, your spouse's separate checking savings account, your separate checking and savings account…?” The administrator's tedious voice continues in this fashion, stern and unforgiving. More questions concerning money, welfare checks, and the daily American grind, asked by faceless system operators on the other end of a telephone line build layers of sound on top of metallic instruments, bells, and the buzzing of Los Angeles and the advertisements of an American dream. The dissonance of this swirling sound design, the intro of Haile Gerima’s Bush Mama (1979), takes one specifically to a place, a class, and a people: The Black working class experience, the sounds of a restless city. The opening of this mixtape encapsulates the vitality and experimentation of sound design and music in the films of the L.A. Rebellion, a film movement...
- 9/27/2020
- MUBI
Act Like a Man is a column examining male screen performers past and present, across nationality and genre. If movie stars reflect the needs and desires of their audience in any particular era, examining their personas, popularity, fandom, and specific appeals has plenty to tell us about the way cinema has constructed—and occasionally deconstructed—manhood on our screens.Harry Belafonte has lived so many lives. He has walked among the giants of politics and culture, from Martin Luther King Jr. to John F. Kennedy to Bob Dylan, and become a respected elder of the civil rights struggle in America. His impact on American mid-century life has been so significant that it’s difficult to define him as any single thing, or to see him occupying only one role. His reputation as the "Calypso King" helped to popularize Caribbean music in the states, and his chart-topping 1956 record Calypso would be...
- 7/20/2020
- MUBI
Showtime is developing a limited series about entertainment icon and activist Lena Horne.
The series is currently titled “Blackbird: Lena Horne and America,” named for Horne’s favorite poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Jenny Lumet, Horne’s granddaughter, will co-write the first few episodes of the series with Alex Kurtzman, with both also executive producing.
The series will span 60 years of Horne’s life, from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom in the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, and her triumphant return to Broadway. It will also delve into her relationships with luminaries like Paul Robeson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Ava Gardner, and Orson Welles
“Bringing my grandmother’s story to the screen required a multi-generational effort,” said Lumet. “Grandma passed her stories to my mother, who now passes them to me,...
The series is currently titled “Blackbird: Lena Horne and America,” named for Horne’s favorite poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Jenny Lumet, Horne’s granddaughter, will co-write the first few episodes of the series with Alex Kurtzman, with both also executive producing.
The series will span 60 years of Horne’s life, from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom in the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, and her triumphant return to Broadway. It will also delve into her relationships with luminaries like Paul Robeson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Ava Gardner, and Orson Welles
“Bringing my grandmother’s story to the screen required a multi-generational effort,” said Lumet. “Grandma passed her stories to my mother, who now passes them to me,...
- 7/8/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Showtime is developing a limited series about the life of entertainer and activist Lena Horne, with Horne’s granddaughter Jenny Lumet writing and executive producing.
Lumet will write the first few episodes with her longtime producing partner, Alex Kurtzman. The series will be produced by CBS TV Studios and Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. Heather Kadin will serve as an executive producer as well.
“Bringing my grandmother’s story to the screen required a multi-generational effort,” said Lumet. “Grandma passed her stories to my mother, who now passes them to me, so I may pass them to the children of our family. Lena’s story is so intimate and at the same time, it’s the story of America – America at its most honest, most musical, most tragic and most joyous. It’s crucial now. Especially now. She was the love of my life.”
Also Read: CBS Fall Schedule: Chuck Lorre...
Lumet will write the first few episodes with her longtime producing partner, Alex Kurtzman. The series will be produced by CBS TV Studios and Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. Heather Kadin will serve as an executive producer as well.
“Bringing my grandmother’s story to the screen required a multi-generational effort,” said Lumet. “Grandma passed her stories to my mother, who now passes them to me, so I may pass them to the children of our family. Lena’s story is so intimate and at the same time, it’s the story of America – America at its most honest, most musical, most tragic and most joyous. It’s crucial now. Especially now. She was the love of my life.”
Also Read: CBS Fall Schedule: Chuck Lorre...
- 7/8/2020
- by Tim Baysinger
- The Wrap
The life of entertainer and activist Lena Horne is to be turned into a limited series by Showtime with Alex Kurtzman and Horne’s granddaughter Jenny Lumet.
The ViacomCBS-backed cable network is developing Blackbird: Lena Horne and America and will tell her story from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom of the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement and her triumphant return to Broadway.
It will explore her relationships with Paul Robeson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Ava Gardner and Orson Welles and look at how she navigated stardom during Jim Crow as a direct descendant of slaves and their enslavers.
The series will be produced by CBS Television Studios and Secret Hideout and Heather Kadin, who worked with Kurtzman on Star Trek: Discovery, will also exec produce alongside Lumet, who wrote Rachel Getting Married...
The ViacomCBS-backed cable network is developing Blackbird: Lena Horne and America and will tell her story from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom of the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement and her triumphant return to Broadway.
It will explore her relationships with Paul Robeson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Ava Gardner and Orson Welles and look at how she navigated stardom during Jim Crow as a direct descendant of slaves and their enslavers.
The series will be produced by CBS Television Studios and Secret Hideout and Heather Kadin, who worked with Kurtzman on Star Trek: Discovery, will also exec produce alongside Lumet, who wrote Rachel Getting Married...
- 7/8/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
One of the best and most melodic of filmic transpositions from Broadway, James Whale’s beautifully directed movie showcases all-time great performances by Irene Dunne, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Hattie McDaniel, and Charles Winninger. If you didn’t grow up with an awareness of this 1936 show, it’s because it was tossed in a vault and kept from view for more than forty years. Criterion’s new disc is a wonderful surprise that does the movie justice.
Show Boat
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1021
1936 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 31, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley, Queenie Smith, Sammy White, Donald Cook, Hattie McDaniel, Arthur Hohl, Charles B. Middleton, J. Farrell MacDonald, Clarence Muse, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.
Cinematography: John J. Mescall
Original Music: Jerome Kern and Lyrics Oscar Hammerstein II
Written by Oscar Hammerstein II from the...
Show Boat
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1021
1936 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 31, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley, Queenie Smith, Sammy White, Donald Cook, Hattie McDaniel, Arthur Hohl, Charles B. Middleton, J. Farrell MacDonald, Clarence Muse, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.
Cinematography: John J. Mescall
Original Music: Jerome Kern and Lyrics Oscar Hammerstein II
Written by Oscar Hammerstein II from the...
- 3/21/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.