You don’t have to be an expert on classic soul and R&b to recognize the American music monuments that emerged from Stax Records in the Sixties and Seventies. Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” Otis Redding’s “Respect” and “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft,” and the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” — just a few of Stax’s greatest hits — made the case that the Memphis-based record company was the Southern version of Motown.
Whether anyone fully realizes that is another matter.
Whether anyone fully realizes that is another matter.
- 5/20/2024
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
Oscar winner John Ridley has some choice words for Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who’s trying to land two seats on the board of the Walt Disney Co.
In the new episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, pod co-host Ridley excoriates Peltz for remarks the Trian Fund titan made about Disney’s superhero movies, specifically The Marvels and Black Panther. In reference to The Marvels, which starred Brie Larson, Peltz told the Financial Times, “Why do I have to have a Marvel [film] that’s all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that?”
Apparently in reference to the Black Panther movies, which have made more than $2 billion worldwide, Peltz added, “Why do I need an all-Black cast?”
Ridley rips into Peltz, saying the billionaire has no business near the Disney board room.
And that’s just the capper to a...
In the new episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, pod co-host Ridley excoriates Peltz for remarks the Trian Fund titan made about Disney’s superhero movies, specifically The Marvels and Black Panther. In reference to The Marvels, which starred Brie Larson, Peltz told the Financial Times, “Why do I have to have a Marvel [film] that’s all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that?”
Apparently in reference to the Black Panther movies, which have made more than $2 billion worldwide, Peltz added, “Why do I need an all-Black cast?”
Ridley rips into Peltz, saying the billionaire has no business near the Disney board room.
And that’s just the capper to a...
- 4/2/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
At the True/False Film Festival, packed with an array of nonfiction films from around the globe, there’s an overarching sense of connection and familiarity that emerges by the end of the four-day documentary showcase. True/False has held court in the charming college town of Columbia, Missouri as a haven for documentary film lovers for 21 years. IndieWire was particularly taken with the conversations that ensued throughout the festival — from Q&As to post-screening chit-chat — as we streamed out of the city’s historic theaters. Subtler conversations arose between the films themselves.
While the settings of the films were varied — Michigan to Mumbai, Armenia to Alphabet City — the best films touched on universal ideas: the connection between art and selfhood, changing political landscapes, and preparations for death and departure from this world. Here are some of the highlights of this year’s festival, all of which are still looking for U.
While the settings of the films were varied — Michigan to Mumbai, Armenia to Alphabet City — the best films touched on universal ideas: the connection between art and selfhood, changing political landscapes, and preparations for death and departure from this world. Here are some of the highlights of this year’s festival, all of which are still looking for U.
- 3/9/2024
- by Susannah Gruder
- Indiewire
Tracee Ellis Ross has spent time in LA, NYC, and Milan this February. The busy star has embraced several aesthetics this month, including her most recent, a Carhardt-inspired workwear look. Follow along on her February fashion journey.
Tracee Ellis Ross during the Milan Fashion Week on February 22, 2024 | Arnold Jerocki/Gc Images
Ross last wore Prada in mid-January, donning a business-casual gray collarless jacket and pencil skirt, reports Fashionista. This time, the 51-year-old headed to the Prada Fall/Winter 2024-25 Womenswear presentation wearing head-to-toe Prada again.
A sheer navy skirt and white blouse served as the base of her workwear-inspired look. A mint green fringed collar livened up Ross’s top and echoed the label’s 2024 aesthetic. The daughter of Diana Ross topped the ensemble with a distressed Prada utility coat in a classic workwear colorway: tan and mahogany.
Tracee Ellis Ross at the Prada fashion show in Milan | Victor Boyko...
Tracee Ellis Ross during the Milan Fashion Week on February 22, 2024 | Arnold Jerocki/Gc Images
Ross last wore Prada in mid-January, donning a business-casual gray collarless jacket and pencil skirt, reports Fashionista. This time, the 51-year-old headed to the Prada Fall/Winter 2024-25 Womenswear presentation wearing head-to-toe Prada again.
A sheer navy skirt and white blouse served as the base of her workwear-inspired look. A mint green fringed collar livened up Ross’s top and echoed the label’s 2024 aesthetic. The daughter of Diana Ross topped the ensemble with a distressed Prada utility coat in a classic workwear colorway: tan and mahogany.
Tracee Ellis Ross at the Prada fashion show in Milan | Victor Boyko...
- 2/22/2024
- by Ali Hicks
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Actor best known for his portrayal of a suave, uncompromising private detective in the title role of Shaft
For the opening scene of Shaft – the 1971 film that helped inaugurate the “blaxploitation” genre and spawned an Oscar-winning song in Isaac Hayes’s call-and-response classic Theme from Shaft – the director Gordon Parks mapped out to the actor Richard Roundtree exactly what would happen.
Roundtree – playing the New York detective John Shaft who “won’t cop out when there’s danger all about” as the song puts it – was to stride out of the subway near Times Square, tracked by assorted cameras positioned opposite him and at high angles. “I want you to walk across 42nd Street,” Parks said. “And I want you to own it.”...
For the opening scene of Shaft – the 1971 film that helped inaugurate the “blaxploitation” genre and spawned an Oscar-winning song in Isaac Hayes’s call-and-response classic Theme from Shaft – the director Gordon Parks mapped out to the actor Richard Roundtree exactly what would happen.
Roundtree – playing the New York detective John Shaft who “won’t cop out when there’s danger all about” as the song puts it – was to stride out of the subway near Times Square, tracked by assorted cameras positioned opposite him and at high angles. “I want you to walk across 42nd Street,” Parks said. “And I want you to own it.”...
- 10/27/2023
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Richard Roundtree, who will forever be linked with the role of trailblazing Black detective John Shaft, has died. The actor, who on screen is best remembered for the iconic role, was also a breast cancer survivor known for raising funds to treat the condition. He was more recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died yesterday afternoon, with his family at his bedside.
Richard Roundtree was born in New Rochelle, New York, played football for Southern Illinois University and did some modeling before the acting bug bit.
He was drawn to theater and joined New York’s acclaimed Negro Ensemble Company, then starred as Jack Johnson in The Great White Hope off-Broadway before the role of John Shaft presented itself — a lucky break secured after Sidney Poitier refused to screen test for the role, leading director Gordon Parks to cast Roundtree instead.
The role of Shaft, the “hotter than Bond, cooler than Bullitt” private detective,...
Richard Roundtree was born in New Rochelle, New York, played football for Southern Illinois University and did some modeling before the acting bug bit.
He was drawn to theater and joined New York’s acclaimed Negro Ensemble Company, then starred as Jack Johnson in The Great White Hope off-Broadway before the role of John Shaft presented itself — a lucky break secured after Sidney Poitier refused to screen test for the role, leading director Gordon Parks to cast Roundtree instead.
The role of Shaft, the “hotter than Bond, cooler than Bullitt” private detective,...
- 10/25/2023
- by James White
- Empire - Movies
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSSubscribe to Notebook magazine before November 1 to receive Issue 4, which explores cinematic soundscapes in their diverse sonic forms and includes contributions from filmmakers like Pedro Costa, Garrett Bradley, and Dominga Sotomayor, pop musician Julia Holter, plus a wide range of artists, writers, and scholars. Subscribers will also receive with this issue a very special gift, a seven-inch record featuring a song by filmmaker Gus Van Sant and a field recording by sound designer Leslie Shatz.This week brought the sad, shocking news that the legendary Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien has retired from filmmaking due to illness. Hou's family confirmed in a statement that he is battling Alzheimer's, and the effects of long Covid have forced him to stop making films; they requested privacy during this time, adding that he is healthy overall, in the presence of family.
- 10/25/2023
- MUBI
Shaft star Richard Roundtree has died at the age of 81. Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in the 2000 and 2019 Shaft remakes, honored Roundtree’s memory in a touching tribute on Instagram following the news of his death. More of Roundtree’s co-stars and fans, like Gabrielle Union and Sheryl Lee Ralph, have also paid tribute to the late star. Roundtree died on Tuesday, October 24 in his Los Angeles home surrounded by family. He died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. The actor, dubbed the first Black action hero, was a groundbreaking figure in Hollywood history. Playing private eye John Shaft marked an historic shift in Hollywood. Thanks to the success of the Gordon Parks-directed action-thriller, Black characters became main characters of films and TV shows instead of being stuck as sidekicks. Shaft is considered one of the first of the Blaxpoitation genre, and its legacy echoes in Hollywood today.
- 10/25/2023
- TV Insider
Richard Roundtree, who became known as “the first Black action hero” for his portrayal of detective John Shaft in five films, has died at the age of 81 following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.
“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” Roundtree’s manager Patrick McMinn said in his statement confirming the actor’s death. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”
Shaft followed the exploits of African American detective John Shaft. While the original screenplay called for Shaft to be white, director Gordon Parks opted to cast Roundtree, then just 28 years old, to play the titular character. The first Shaft film was released in 1971 on a budget of just $500,000. It went on to earn $12 million at the box office, and four sequel films followed.
Beyond its commercial success, Shaft is credited for being one of the...
“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” Roundtree’s manager Patrick McMinn said in his statement confirming the actor’s death. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”
Shaft followed the exploits of African American detective John Shaft. While the original screenplay called for Shaft to be white, director Gordon Parks opted to cast Roundtree, then just 28 years old, to play the titular character. The first Shaft film was released in 1971 on a budget of just $500,000. It went on to earn $12 million at the box office, and four sequel films followed.
Beyond its commercial success, Shaft is credited for being one of the...
- 10/25/2023
- by Alex Young and Carys Anderson
- Consequence - Film News
Richard Roundtree, the suave star of the Shaft movies who has long been called the first Black action hero, has died at the age of 81 after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. Roundtree died in his Los Angeles home with his family by his side on Tuesday, October 24, per Deadline. His manager since 1987, Patrick McMinn, said “Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” in a statement to Variety. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.” Roundtree’s signature role was playing private eye John Shaft in Shaft (1971) and its follow-ups, Shaft’s Big Score! (1972), Shaft in Africa (1973), and the short-lived Shaft TV series (1973). Roundtree’s first screen credit was in As the World Turns in 1956. He broke ground for representation in Hollywood as Shaft‘s leading man at the age of 28. Directed by Gordon Parks and based...
- 10/25/2023
- TV Insider
Richard Roundtree, the ultracool actor who helped open the door to a generation of Black filmmakers and performers with his portrayal of private eye John Shaft, “the cat that won’t cop out when there’s danger all about,” died Tuesday. He was 81.
Roundtree died at his home in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer, his manager, Patrick McMinn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
He was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and had a double mastectomy. “Breast cancer is not gender specific,” he said four years later. “And men have this cavalier attitude about health issues. I got such positive feedback because I spoke out about it, and it’s been quite a number of years now. I’m a survivor.”
Roundtree also portrayed the title character opposite Peter O’Toole as Robinson Crusoe in Man Friday, was featured as an army sergeant opposite Laurence Olivier as Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Korean...
Roundtree died at his home in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer, his manager, Patrick McMinn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
He was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and had a double mastectomy. “Breast cancer is not gender specific,” he said four years later. “And men have this cavalier attitude about health issues. I got such positive feedback because I spoke out about it, and it’s been quite a number of years now. I’m a survivor.”
Roundtree also portrayed the title character opposite Peter O’Toole as Robinson Crusoe in Man Friday, was featured as an army sergeant opposite Laurence Olivier as Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Korean...
- 10/25/2023
- by Chris Koseluk
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Richard Roundtree, an icon of Blaxploitation film who starred as detective John Shaft in Gordon Parks’ 1971 action thriller, died Tuesday afternoon after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81 years old.
His death was confirmed by Patrick McMinn, his manager since 1987.
“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” McMinn said in his statement. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”
Roundtree was a leading man from the very start of his lifetime in screen acting. After beginning his career in modeling, he secured “Shaft” at the age of 28, marking his feature debut. The MGM release earned $12 million in ticket sales off of a $500,000 production budget, helping to save the studio from bankruptcy. A breakthrough hit, “Shaft” set the tone for a prolific decade of Blaxploitation filmmaking and demonstrated Hollywood’s historical failure to consider Black talent...
His death was confirmed by Patrick McMinn, his manager since 1987.
“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” McMinn said in his statement. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”
Roundtree was a leading man from the very start of his lifetime in screen acting. After beginning his career in modeling, he secured “Shaft” at the age of 28, marking his feature debut. The MGM release earned $12 million in ticket sales off of a $500,000 production budget, helping to save the studio from bankruptcy. A breakthrough hit, “Shaft” set the tone for a prolific decade of Blaxploitation filmmaking and demonstrated Hollywood’s historical failure to consider Black talent...
- 10/25/2023
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Looking for sources of inspiration in the life of any artist, especially one working in as collaborative a medium as film, can be risky. There’s almost never a one-to-one correlation between life and art. However, in taking a more holistic view of an artist’s interests by assembling the things that have meaning to them, certain themes emerge.
A thematic relationship between art and artist is exactly what the Brooklyn Museum’s recently launched “Spike Lee: Creative Sources” is all about, featuring over 450 objects (and of course a Brooklyn stoop) from Lee’s collection. It includes the expected but also objects from Lee’s interests in art, historical artifacts, first editions, Gordon Parks and James Van Der Zee photographs, and, according to curator Kimberli Gant, “a whole Knicks area.”
Gant told IndieWire that the scope and breadth of “Creative Sources” arose out of finding thematic, organizational patterns and structures...
A thematic relationship between art and artist is exactly what the Brooklyn Museum’s recently launched “Spike Lee: Creative Sources” is all about, featuring over 450 objects (and of course a Brooklyn stoop) from Lee’s collection. It includes the expected but also objects from Lee’s interests in art, historical artifacts, first editions, Gordon Parks and James Van Der Zee photographs, and, according to curator Kimberli Gant, “a whole Knicks area.”
Gant told IndieWire that the scope and breadth of “Creative Sources” arose out of finding thematic, organizational patterns and structures...
- 10/8/2023
- by Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
What would Hollywood be without a good ole Blaxploitation film? And now that “They Cloned Tyrone” has hit Netflix screens, conversations about the Blaxploitation movies that crawled so that “They Cloned Tyrone” could pimp walk have come to the forefront.
Juel Taylor’s film welcomes watchers to The Glen, a normal, everyday neighborhood where its predominately Black residents live out their lives shopping, going to church and enjoying the fruits of their labor. However, beneath the surface, but right in front of their eyes, the government is executing a plot to keep the community in an endless cycle of unhealthy behavior that ultimately blocks them from mental and financial wellness.
Like many Blaxploitation films, “They Cloned Tyrone” creatively calls out and highlights the systemic issues Black community faces while also celebrating Black culture and Black people’s perseverance.
When “They Cloned Tyrone” hit Netflix, people online began discussing the films that influenced it,...
Juel Taylor’s film welcomes watchers to The Glen, a normal, everyday neighborhood where its predominately Black residents live out their lives shopping, going to church and enjoying the fruits of their labor. However, beneath the surface, but right in front of their eyes, the government is executing a plot to keep the community in an endless cycle of unhealthy behavior that ultimately blocks them from mental and financial wellness.
Like many Blaxploitation films, “They Cloned Tyrone” creatively calls out and highlights the systemic issues Black community faces while also celebrating Black culture and Black people’s perseverance.
When “They Cloned Tyrone” hit Netflix, people online began discussing the films that influenced it,...
- 8/3/2023
- by Raquel "Rocky" Harris
- The Wrap
In episode seven of And Just Like That season two, Nicole Ari Parker’s Lisa Todd Wexley faces the kind of personal invasion by her eldest son that not even his father, Herbert (Christopher Jackson), can excuse.
Herbert Wexley Jr. (played by Elijah Jacob) has allowed a girl he’s interested in — and who visibly does not respect Lisa’s authority — to enter his mother’s most sacred of spaces: Her closet.
Fashion has always been a sticking point for Sex and the City and its streaming continuation, And Just Like That. But much of the audience’s time spent in a closet has been with Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw and, to a smaller degree, Kristin Davis’ Charlotte York, who gets her own closet-based journey this season thanks to daughter Lily (Cathy Ang).
With Lisa, And Just Like That takes viewers — and her son’s no-boundaries love interest...
Herbert Wexley Jr. (played by Elijah Jacob) has allowed a girl he’s interested in — and who visibly does not respect Lisa’s authority — to enter his mother’s most sacred of spaces: Her closet.
Fashion has always been a sticking point for Sex and the City and its streaming continuation, And Just Like That. But much of the audience’s time spent in a closet has been with Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw and, to a smaller degree, Kristin Davis’ Charlotte York, who gets her own closet-based journey this season thanks to daughter Lily (Cathy Ang).
With Lisa, And Just Like That takes viewers — and her son’s no-boundaries love interest...
- 8/1/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Reteaming with Baz Luhrmann to make his audacious musical biopic Elvis, cinematographer Mandy Walker began with meticulous planning and testing to bring the iconic singer’s most memorable performances to the big screen.
The Warner Bros. picture is currently one of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the year, with 286 million worldwide. And more recently, Walker’s work on the movie was selected for the main competition of the Camerimage international cinematography festival — a prestigious bellwether for the cinematography Oscar race — whose 30th edition begins Nov. 12 in Torun, Poland.
Luhrmann and Walker (who previously lensed the director’s 2008 epic Australia and the Chanel No. 5 campaigns that featured Nicole Kidman and Gisele Bündchen) did meticulous research and testing before production began. This involved collecting and studying historical references, from footage of Elvis’ live Las Vegas performances to his 1968 “comeback special” that aired on NBC. Luhrmann...
Reteaming with Baz Luhrmann to make his audacious musical biopic Elvis, cinematographer Mandy Walker began with meticulous planning and testing to bring the iconic singer’s most memorable performances to the big screen.
The Warner Bros. picture is currently one of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the year, with 286 million worldwide. And more recently, Walker’s work on the movie was selected for the main competition of the Camerimage international cinematography festival — a prestigious bellwether for the cinematography Oscar race — whose 30th edition begins Nov. 12 in Torun, Poland.
Luhrmann and Walker (who previously lensed the director’s 2008 epic Australia and the Chanel No. 5 campaigns that featured Nicole Kidman and Gisele Bündchen) did meticulous research and testing before production began. This involved collecting and studying historical references, from footage of Elvis’ live Las Vegas performances to his 1968 “comeback special” that aired on NBC. Luhrmann...
- 11/11/2022
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When Natalie Kingston was setting up how she was going to photograph the limited series, “Black Bird,” she found a specific piece of inspiration for what look the show would have. “The crux of my visual inspiration was from the photographer, Gordon Parks, and this 1957 photo essay he did called ‘The Atmosphere of Crime,’” she tells Gold Derby during our Meet the Experts: TV Cinematographers panel (watch the exclusive video interview above).
Kingston remembers how visceral the photos were in using natural light but also having a moody and cinematic feel to them. “That really spoke to me. You could just feel the texture almost in these photos. There was this pastel color palette that I really responded to that I thought could be an interesting visual juxtaposition for the tone and the themes that we were exploring in ‘Black Bird.’”
SEEHow Apple TV+ can complete a Golden Globes trifecta with ‘Black Bird’
“Black Bird,...
Kingston remembers how visceral the photos were in using natural light but also having a moody and cinematic feel to them. “That really spoke to me. You could just feel the texture almost in these photos. There was this pastel color palette that I really responded to that I thought could be an interesting visual juxtaposition for the tone and the themes that we were exploring in ‘Black Bird.’”
SEEHow Apple TV+ can complete a Golden Globes trifecta with ‘Black Bird’
“Black Bird,...
- 11/11/2022
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
In “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” Elvis Mitchell’s highly pleasurable and eye-opening movie-love documentary about the American Black cinema revolution of the late ’60s and ’70s, Billy Dee Williams, now 85 but still spry, tells a funny story about what it was like to play Louis McKay, the dapper love object and would-be savior of Billie Holiday in “Lady Sings the Blues.”
The year was 1972, and African-American audiences had rarely (if ever) been given the chance to gawk at a movie star of color who was not just this sexy but this showcased for his sexiness. Louis was like Clark Gable with a dash of Marvin Gaye; when he was on that promenade stairway, Williams says, with a chuckle, that he just about fell in love with himself. That’s how unprecedented the whole thing was. The actor recalls how the lighting was fussed over (we see a shot...
The year was 1972, and African-American audiences had rarely (if ever) been given the chance to gawk at a movie star of color who was not just this sexy but this showcased for his sexiness. Louis was like Clark Gable with a dash of Marvin Gaye; when he was on that promenade stairway, Williams says, with a chuckle, that he just about fell in love with himself. That’s how unprecedented the whole thing was. The actor recalls how the lighting was fussed over (we see a shot...
- 10/10/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
National Geographic’s The First Wave took home the top award at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in New York City on Thursday.
Matthew Heineman’s documentary details the first four months of the Covid-19 pandemic in NYC, as healthcare workers at Long Island Jewish Medical Center risked their lives in the epic battle to keep the virus at bay.
Presenters at the Documentary ceremony included Frontline’s Tamara Shogaolu, In the Shadow of 9/11 and Four Hours at the Capitol’s Dan Reed, The Rescue‘s Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, Pray Away‘s Kristine Stolakis and Vice News’ Alzo Slade.
Biologist and filmmaker Sir David Attenborough received the Lifetime Achievement honors at the ceremony, which was presented to him by Louie Schwartzberg, the award-winning cinematographer, time-lapse photographer and documentarian. Dame Judi Dench also appeared via video to celebrate Attenborough.
National Geographic’s The First Wave took home the top award at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in New York City on Thursday.
Matthew Heineman’s documentary details the first four months of the Covid-19 pandemic in NYC, as healthcare workers at Long Island Jewish Medical Center risked their lives in the epic battle to keep the virus at bay.
Presenters at the Documentary ceremony included Frontline’s Tamara Shogaolu, In the Shadow of 9/11 and Four Hours at the Capitol’s Dan Reed, The Rescue‘s Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, Pray Away‘s Kristine Stolakis and Vice News’ Alzo Slade.
Biologist and filmmaker Sir David Attenborough received the Lifetime Achievement honors at the ceremony, which was presented to him by Louie Schwartzberg, the award-winning cinematographer, time-lapse photographer and documentarian. Dame Judi Dench also appeared via video to celebrate Attenborough.
- 9/30/2022
- by Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sterling Lord, who represented Jimmy Breslin, Art Buchwald, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gordon Parks and most famously, Jack Kerouac, died Saturday in Ocala, Fla. He was 102 and his death was confirmed by his daughter, Rebecca Lord. No cause was given.
The list of literary greats represented by Lord over his long career included Frank Deford, David Wise, Nicolas Pileggi, Delores Kearns Goodwin, Joe McGinniss, Pete Gent, Pete Axthelm, and more. But it was Kerouac’s book that is likely his lasting legacy, sold for 1,000 after four years of trying. It went on to sell more than five million copies.
Lord was born in Burlington, Iowa, on Sept. 3, 1920. His father was an amateur bookbinder and nourished his son’s passion for books. Oddly, Lord himself publilshed only two works, a how-to on tennis and a memoir, neither of them massive sellers.
He graduated with an English degree fro Grinnell College in Iowa, then...
The list of literary greats represented by Lord over his long career included Frank Deford, David Wise, Nicolas Pileggi, Delores Kearns Goodwin, Joe McGinniss, Pete Gent, Pete Axthelm, and more. But it was Kerouac’s book that is likely his lasting legacy, sold for 1,000 after four years of trying. It went on to sell more than five million copies.
Lord was born in Burlington, Iowa, on Sept. 3, 1920. His father was an amateur bookbinder and nourished his son’s passion for books. Oddly, Lord himself publilshed only two works, a how-to on tennis and a memoir, neither of them massive sellers.
He graduated with an English degree fro Grinnell College in Iowa, then...
- 9/4/2022
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures debuts Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971 on August 21, 2022. The ambitious exhibition, on view through April 9, 2023, explores the achievements and challenges of Black filmmakers in the US in both independent production and the studio system—in front of the camera and behind it—from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s to the early 1970s.
The Academy Museum’s second exhibition in the 11,000-square-foot Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery, Regeneration includes rarely seen excerpts of films, documentaries, newsreels, and home movies, as well as historical photographs, costumes, props, and posters. Regeneration will also feature contemporary artworks referencing the impact of the legacy of Black filmmaking and Ar elements designed for the exhibition. The exhibition will be accompanied by a range of film screenings, including world premieres of films newly restored by the Academy Film Archive, an interactive microsite with supplemental content, a robust curriculum to engage high school students and teachers,...
The Academy Museum’s second exhibition in the 11,000-square-foot Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery, Regeneration includes rarely seen excerpts of films, documentaries, newsreels, and home movies, as well as historical photographs, costumes, props, and posters. Regeneration will also feature contemporary artworks referencing the impact of the legacy of Black filmmaking and Ar elements designed for the exhibition. The exhibition will be accompanied by a range of film screenings, including world premieres of films newly restored by the Academy Film Archive, an interactive microsite with supplemental content, a robust curriculum to engage high school students and teachers,...
- 8/18/2022
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Click here to read the full article.
Roger E. Mosley, who portrayed Theodore “T.C.” Calvin, the helicopter pilot and buddy of Tom Selleck’s character on all eight seasons of the original Magnum, P.I., died Sunday. He was 83.
Mosley died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of injuries incurred in a car accident in nearby Lynwood three days earlier, his daughter, Ch-a, told The Hollywood Reporter.
On the big screen, Mosley was at his most memorable as blues and folk singer Huddie Ledbetter (“The Midnight Special”) in the period piece Leadbelly (1976), directed by Gordon Parks. In his review, Roger Ebert wrote that Mosley played the part “with great strength” and called the film “one of the best biographies of a musician I’ve ever seen.”
Mosley also was a standout in blaxploitation films, playing the angry brother of the fresh-out-of-prison Goldie (Max Julien) in the classic The Mack...
Roger E. Mosley, who portrayed Theodore “T.C.” Calvin, the helicopter pilot and buddy of Tom Selleck’s character on all eight seasons of the original Magnum, P.I., died Sunday. He was 83.
Mosley died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of injuries incurred in a car accident in nearby Lynwood three days earlier, his daughter, Ch-a, told The Hollywood Reporter.
On the big screen, Mosley was at his most memorable as blues and folk singer Huddie Ledbetter (“The Midnight Special”) in the period piece Leadbelly (1976), directed by Gordon Parks. In his review, Roger Ebert wrote that Mosley played the part “with great strength” and called the film “one of the best biographies of a musician I’ve ever seen.”
Mosley also was a standout in blaxploitation films, playing the angry brother of the fresh-out-of-prison Goldie (Max Julien) in the classic The Mack...
- 8/7/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
During his lifetime, Elvis Presley dominated popular culture. Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic “Elvis” — starring Austin Butler as Presley and Tom Hanks as his manager Colonel Tom Parker — focuses on key incidents to illuminate the performer’s influence: Sun Records, the Army, his marriage, a string of movie musicals, the 1968 “Comeback Special,” and his Las Vegas residency all come back to life with the help of cinematographer Mandy Walker.
This is Walker’s fourth collaboration with Luhrmann, after Australia and two Chanel shorts; a native of Melbourne, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2021. Walker was the Dp on the 2020 version of “Mulan,” and is currently shooting another animation-to-live-action adapation for Disney: “Snow White.” Walker spoke with IndieWire about “dress rehearsals” for The King, flying cameras, and whether or not she can say anything about “Snow White” yet.
IndieWire: Let’s start with how you work with Luhrmann.
This is Walker’s fourth collaboration with Luhrmann, after Australia and two Chanel shorts; a native of Melbourne, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2021. Walker was the Dp on the 2020 version of “Mulan,” and is currently shooting another animation-to-live-action adapation for Disney: “Snow White.” Walker spoke with IndieWire about “dress rehearsals” for The King, flying cameras, and whether or not she can say anything about “Snow White” yet.
IndieWire: Let’s start with how you work with Luhrmann.
- 6/30/2022
- by Daniel Eagan
- Indiewire
The Criterion Channel’s July lineup is an across-the-board display of strengths, ranging as it does from very specific programming cues to actor retrospectives and hardly ignoring the strength of Criterion Editions. Surely much fun’s to be had with “In the Ring,” a decade-spanning, 16-film curation of boxing pictures—Raging Bull and Fat City, of course, with some you forget are boxing movies (Rocco and His Brothers) and others you’ve likely never seen at all (count me excited for King Vidor’s The Champ). “Noir in Color” brilliantly upends common conception of a drama (and gives you excuse to see Nicholas Ray’s Party Girl); Setsuko Hara films are gathered into a handy collection; and Blake Edwards gets six.
On the Criterion Editions front they’ve gone all out: the Before trilogy, Alex Cox’s Walker, Leave Her to Heaven, Shaft, Destry Rides Again, Raging Bull, Hedwig and the Angry Inch,...
On the Criterion Editions front they’ve gone all out: the Before trilogy, Alex Cox’s Walker, Leave Her to Heaven, Shaft, Destry Rides Again, Raging Bull, Hedwig and the Angry Inch,...
- 6/21/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Richard Roundtree’s two-fisted detective tale burst on the scene announcing that a craze called Blaxploitation was on the way. No matter that the movie is somewhat slow and drab — John Shaft was the identification figure denied black audiences for 60 years, a hero who takes no guff from nobody and consistently tells The Man where to head in. Even bigger was the music theme by Isaac Hayes, which transforms Shaft’s casual stroll through Times Square into an iconic image of the 1970s. Criterion’s presentation of Gordon Parks’ smash hit has the original feature in 4K Uhd and in Blu-ray with the first sequel Shaft’s Big Score! in Blu-ray only.
Shaft
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1130
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 21, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell, Lawrence Pressman, Victor Arnold, Sherri Brewer,...
Shaft
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1130
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 21, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell, Lawrence Pressman, Victor Arnold, Sherri Brewer,...
- 6/18/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wednesday detailed how its upcoming exhibit “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971” will explore Black filmmakers from Oscar Micheaux to Melvin Van Peebles.
The Museum shared details of the exhibit, which will open on Aug. 21 and run through April 9, 2023 in the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery. It is the second major temporary exhibit at the Academy Museum, after the current installation devoted to the work of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
In a press release, the Academy Museum described the exhibition this way:
“The exhibition explores the achievements and challenges of both independent production and the studio system, from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s through the height of the civil rights movement. ‘Regeneration’ features rarely seen excerpts of films restored by the Academy Film Archive, as well as other narrative films and documentaries; newsreels and home movies; photographs; scripts; drawings; costumes; equipment; posters; and historical materials,...
The Museum shared details of the exhibit, which will open on Aug. 21 and run through April 9, 2023 in the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery. It is the second major temporary exhibit at the Academy Museum, after the current installation devoted to the work of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
In a press release, the Academy Museum described the exhibition this way:
“The exhibition explores the achievements and challenges of both independent production and the studio system, from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s through the height of the civil rights movement. ‘Regeneration’ features rarely seen excerpts of films restored by the Academy Film Archive, as well as other narrative films and documentaries; newsreels and home movies; photographs; scripts; drawings; costumes; equipment; posters; and historical materials,...
- 5/4/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
No two ways about it: April’s a great month for the Criterion Channel, which (among other things; more in a second) adds two recent favorites. We’re thrilled at the SVOD premiere of Hamaguchi’s entrancing Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, our #3 of 2021, and Bruno Dumont’s lacerating France, featuring Léa Seydoux’s finest performance yet.
Ethan Hawke’s Adventures in Moviegoing runs the gamut from Eagle Pennell’s Last Night at the Alamo to 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, while a 14-film John Ford retro (mostly) skips westerns altogether. And no notes on the Delphine Seyrig retro—multiple by Akerman, Ulrike Ottinger, Duras, a smattering of Buñuel, and Seyrig’s own film Be Pretty and Shut Up! That of all things might be the crown jewl.
See the full list of April titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
—
3 Bad Men, John Ford, 1926
Aar paar, Guru Dutt,...
Ethan Hawke’s Adventures in Moviegoing runs the gamut from Eagle Pennell’s Last Night at the Alamo to 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, while a 14-film John Ford retro (mostly) skips westerns altogether. And no notes on the Delphine Seyrig retro—multiple by Akerman, Ulrike Ottinger, Duras, a smattering of Buñuel, and Seyrig’s own film Be Pretty and Shut Up! That of all things might be the crown jewl.
See the full list of April titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
—
3 Bad Men, John Ford, 1926
Aar paar, Guru Dutt,...
- 3/25/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The summer is known for big studio blockbusters, but for many fans of The Criterion Collection, releases are in store for something special in June as they’ve announced six additions are coming in glorious 4K Uhd.
Criterion presents a group of films that includes Joachim Trier’s charming Oscar contender, “The Worst Person in the World”; Hong Kong master Stanley Kwan’s romantic ghost story, “Rouge”; Ekwa Msangi’s remarkable debut feature debut, “Farewell Amor”; and “Shaft,” the blaxploitation action-hero classic from Gordon Parks that helped launched serious black-led action films, now on 4K Uhd.
Continue reading Criterion Adds ‘Shaft,’ ‘Pink Flamingos,’ ‘Worst Person In The World’ & More Titles In June at The Playlist.
Criterion presents a group of films that includes Joachim Trier’s charming Oscar contender, “The Worst Person in the World”; Hong Kong master Stanley Kwan’s romantic ghost story, “Rouge”; Ekwa Msangi’s remarkable debut feature debut, “Farewell Amor”; and “Shaft,” the blaxploitation action-hero classic from Gordon Parks that helped launched serious black-led action films, now on 4K Uhd.
Continue reading Criterion Adds ‘Shaft,’ ‘Pink Flamingos,’ ‘Worst Person In The World’ & More Titles In June at The Playlist.
- 3/17/2022
- by Christopher Marc
- The Playlist
The Criterion Channel’s February Lineup Includes Melvin Van Peebles, Douglas Sirk, Laura Dern & More
Another month, another Criterion Channel lineup. In accordance with Black History Month their selections are especially refreshing: seven by Melvin Van Peebles, five from Kevin Jerome Everson, and Criterion editions of The Harder They Come and The Learning Tree.
Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.
See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992
All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955
The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970
Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980
Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998
Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006
Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984
Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,...
Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.
See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992
All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955
The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970
Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980
Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998
Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006
Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984
Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,...
- 1/24/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
There’s no pretending on my part to have seen everything there was to see in 2021. I’ve still got a pretty long list of movies from the year that I would like to catch up on, including the other movie from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy, Hamaguchi’s was a name that was completely unknown to me before a couple of months ago, so it’s exciting to actually have another film of his on which to hang my high expectations, after being so captivated by Drive My Car. But there are others than have yet gone unseen, including end-of-year award contenders like Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, King Richard and Belfast, along with potentially fascinating (or disappointing) titles like Luca, Red Rocket, Citizen Ashe, Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar, A Choice Of Weapons: Inspired By Gordon Parks,...
- 1/16/2022
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
The triple-threat talent Gordon Parks gets carte blanche to film his own autobiographical novel back in his old home town — and the result is one of the better depictions of growing up black in the Midwest. Parks’ memories don’t wield a fiery political agenda, nor does he say that ‘there were good people on both sides.’ It was what it was and it wasn’t always pretty. As young Newt, Kyle Johnson ‘does the right thing’ and his experience helps explain the pervading lack of faith in justice, to put it mildly. Parks’ beautiful film remains positive, reflecting his warm memories, and his direction gives us a full ensemble of black talent at work: this is said to be the first Hollywood film produced and directed by a black man.
The Learning Tree
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1107
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 14, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Kyle Johnson,...
The Learning Tree
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1107
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 14, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Kyle Johnson,...
- 12/21/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWerner Herzog is set to publish his first novel, a semi-fictional retelling of the story of Hiroo Onda. A friend of Herzog, Onda is a former Japanese soldier known for spending 29 years in the jungle on an island in the Philippines, refusing to surrender at the end of World War II. Penguin Random House states that the novel is written in "an inimitable, hypnotic style—part documentary, part poem, and part dream." Following his erotic nunsploitation film Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven is making the erotic political thriller Young Sinner. The film, according to Verhoeven and RoboCop co-writer Edward Neumeier, will take place in Washington DC and focus on a young staffer "drawn into a web of international intrigue and danger." As this is a Verhoeven film, Neumeir promises that there will be "also be a little sex.
- 12/13/2021
- MUBI
"Robert was pitching this 'little disco movie.'" HBO has debuted a full trailer for the film Mr. Saturday Night, another documentary that's part of the outstanding Music Box series of doc films this fall. It already premiered at the Doc NYC Film Festival. This is the next one to launch on HBO Max following Listening to Kenny G and Dmx: Don't Try to Understand. Mr. Saturday Night is directed by the filmmaker also behind this year's Gordon Parks doc A Choice Of Weapons. The intro from Doc NYC: "The style. The fashion. The moves. Saturday Night Fever left an indelible stamp on our cultural memory of the 1970s—and there was one man behind it all. Robert Stigwood, a producer impresario, best known for managing the Bee Gees [and Cream], took the swagger of a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn disco, and brought it to the big screen. Although the film's popularity...
- 12/3/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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There’s no better time to start putting together your holiday gift list. If you’re shopping for a movie buff this holiday season, the Criterion Collection will be releasing a few new movies on Blu-ray this month, including Regina King’s “One Night in Miami.”
The Criterion Collection version of King’s feature film directorial debut will be released December 7, which gives you plenty of time to pre-order the Blu-ray to give as a gift.
Adapted by Kemp Powers from his 2013 play, “One Night in Miami” shares a fictional take on a real-life meetup between Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Malcolm X, and Sam Cooke. The story unfolds at a Miami motel on...
There’s no better time to start putting together your holiday gift list. If you’re shopping for a movie buff this holiday season, the Criterion Collection will be releasing a few new movies on Blu-ray this month, including Regina King’s “One Night in Miami.”
The Criterion Collection version of King’s feature film directorial debut will be released December 7, which gives you plenty of time to pre-order the Blu-ray to give as a gift.
Adapted by Kemp Powers from his 2013 play, “One Night in Miami” shares a fictional take on a real-life meetup between Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Malcolm X, and Sam Cooke. The story unfolds at a Miami motel on...
- 12/2/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
Filmmaker and actress Sonja Sohn of “The Wire” returns with the follow-up to her 2017 documentary “Baltimore Rising.” The new film, titled “The Slow Hustle,” looks to be an equally powerful look at the continued corruption in the world of the Baltimore police department and the activists who seek to expose it.
“The Slow Hustle” details the mysterious death of veteran Baltimore police officer, Detective Sean Suiter. As the film lays out, Suiter’s death is just one in a string of corruption claims against Baltimore Pd, with Suiter himself marked as a key witness in an upcoming trial. As the various journalists, family members, and others associated with the case lay out, the desire was to sell Suiter as another bad apple in order to get the story squashed.
Coincidentally, the trailer is debuting four years to the day that Suiter was killed. HBO continues to weave stark social commentary into compelling narratives,...
“The Slow Hustle” details the mysterious death of veteran Baltimore police officer, Detective Sean Suiter. As the film lays out, Suiter’s death is just one in a string of corruption claims against Baltimore Pd, with Suiter himself marked as a key witness in an upcoming trial. As the various journalists, family members, and others associated with the case lay out, the desire was to sell Suiter as another bad apple in order to get the story squashed.
Coincidentally, the trailer is debuting four years to the day that Suiter was killed. HBO continues to weave stark social commentary into compelling narratives,...
- 11/16/2021
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
By any standard, Gordon Parks (1912-2006) led an extraordinary life as a photographer, filmmaker, composer, author, eyewitness to several major events of the 20th century, and above all a storyteller. As a Black man born into poverty in an America not-so-far removed from slavery, as Jim Crow laws swept the south, his life is even more remarkable. In “A Choice of Weapons: Inspired By Gordon Parks,” the HBO documentary premiering November 15, director John Maggio attempts to capture the essence of Parks, by celebrating his motivating ideology of the artist as activist, through the reflections of the generation of artists he inspired. A welcomed effort, the film doesn’t fully commit, resulting in a rather uninspired portrait of one of America’s greatest artistic trailblazers.
“A Choice of Weapons” blends Parks’ striking photographs (spanning more than 40 years) with footage of the artist in conversation, supported by reflections from a starry cast of interviewees,...
“A Choice of Weapons” blends Parks’ striking photographs (spanning more than 40 years) with footage of the artist in conversation, supported by reflections from a starry cast of interviewees,...
- 11/15/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
"Parks' photography demanded that America look at itself." HBO has unveiled an official trailer for a documentary film titled in full A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks, examining the life and career of an exceptional photographer. This first premiered at the Tribeca Film Fesitval, and launches on HBO soon. The film follows Gordon Parks' stellar career from staff photographer for Life magazine, through his development photographing everyday Americans, his evolution as a novelist & groundbreaking filmmaker. "Using Parks’ career as a historical map through the Black American experience, Emmy award winning director John Maggio's comprehensive documentary reveals Parks to be a true American treasure. An inspiration to generations, his captivating story is told here [with] Ava Duvernay, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Nelson George, Anderson Cooper and a host of contemporary photographers who stand on his shoulders." I really like that this film shows how Parks' work has inspired others to...
- 11/4/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Melvin Van Peebles, the influential filmmaker behind “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song,” and father of director and actor Mario Van Peebles, has died. He was 89.
“Dad knew that Black images matter,” Mario Van Peebles said in a statement from the Criterion Collection. “If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see, thus we need to see ourselves being free. True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer’s mentality. It meant appreciating the power, beauty and interconnectivity of all people.”
“Sweet Sweetback” will be screened at the New York Film Festival this week for a 50th anniversary tribute. “In an unparalleled career distinguished by relentless innovation, boundless curiosity and spiritual empathy, Melvin Van Peebles made an indelible mark on the international cultural landscape through his films, novels, plays and music,” the Criterion Collection said.
Melvin and Mario Van...
“Dad knew that Black images matter,” Mario Van Peebles said in a statement from the Criterion Collection. “If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see, thus we need to see ourselves being free. True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer’s mentality. It meant appreciating the power, beauty and interconnectivity of all people.”
“Sweet Sweetback” will be screened at the New York Film Festival this week for a 50th anniversary tribute. “In an unparalleled career distinguished by relentless innovation, boundless curiosity and spiritual empathy, Melvin Van Peebles made an indelible mark on the international cultural landscape through his films, novels, plays and music,” the Criterion Collection said.
Melvin and Mario Van...
- 9/22/2021
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
This story about Barry Jenkins and “The Underground Railroad” first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
The Amazon Prime limited series “The Underground Railroad” is both one of the past year’s most horrifying programs and one of its most beautiful. Based on Colson Whitehead’s best-selling novel that creates a world in which the network used to smuggle slaves out of the American South in pre-Civil War days was an actual series of underground trains, the series from “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” writer-director Barry Jenkins blends fantasy with brutal reality.
In your work, you always seem to look for a balance between lyricism and real urgency, between straightforward storytelling and a more poetic approach.
Yeah, I agree with that. There are journalists and literary writers and historians that have told the straightforward version of this story with incredible impact.
The Amazon Prime limited series “The Underground Railroad” is both one of the past year’s most horrifying programs and one of its most beautiful. Based on Colson Whitehead’s best-selling novel that creates a world in which the network used to smuggle slaves out of the American South in pre-Civil War days was an actual series of underground trains, the series from “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” writer-director Barry Jenkins blends fantasy with brutal reality.
In your work, you always seem to look for a balance between lyricism and real urgency, between straightforward storytelling and a more poetic approach.
Yeah, I agree with that. There are journalists and literary writers and historians that have told the straightforward version of this story with incredible impact.
- 8/19/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The comedian and former The Daily Show correspondent talks about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Castle (1997)
The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary
Pressure (1976)
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
Boss (1975)
Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary
The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)
The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
Black Samurai (1977)
Truck Turner (1974)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)
Friday Foster (1975)
That Man Bolt (1973)
Blacula (1972)
Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary
Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)
Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Billy Jack (1971)
John Wick (2014)
The Matrix (1999)
Cleopatra Jones...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Castle (1997)
The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary
Pressure (1976)
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
Boss (1975)
Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary
The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)
The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
Black Samurai (1977)
Truck Turner (1974)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary
Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)
Friday Foster (1975)
That Man Bolt (1973)
Blacula (1972)
Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary
Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)
Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Billy Jack (1971)
John Wick (2014)
The Matrix (1999)
Cleopatra Jones...
- 8/17/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
New Indie
Emma Seligman’s impressive “Shiva Baby” (Utopia) premieres on Blu-ray this month, and it’s a blisteringly funny, character-based comedy about a young Danielle (played by Rachel Sennott) whose rootless life when she attends a shiva with her parents (Fred Melamed and Polly Draper), only to encounter the boyfriend who’s financially supporting her, his wife — whom Danielle didn’t know existed — and Danielle’s ex-girlfriend. It’s a full buffet of misunderstandings, awkward encounters, and scene-stealing character actors, with a cast that also includes Jackie Hoffman, Dianna Agron, and Molly Gordon.
Also available: A jaded clickbait reporter has an unforgettable encounter in the indie comedy “15 Things You Didn’t Know About Bigfoot” (Kino Lorber); over-the-hill kung fu disciples rouse themselves from mid-life torpor to avenge the death of their master in the martial-arts comedy “The Paper Tigers” (Well Go USA Entertainment).
New Foreign
Eytan Fox’s cultural-generational...
Emma Seligman’s impressive “Shiva Baby” (Utopia) premieres on Blu-ray this month, and it’s a blisteringly funny, character-based comedy about a young Danielle (played by Rachel Sennott) whose rootless life when she attends a shiva with her parents (Fred Melamed and Polly Draper), only to encounter the boyfriend who’s financially supporting her, his wife — whom Danielle didn’t know existed — and Danielle’s ex-girlfriend. It’s a full buffet of misunderstandings, awkward encounters, and scene-stealing character actors, with a cast that also includes Jackie Hoffman, Dianna Agron, and Molly Gordon.
Also available: A jaded clickbait reporter has an unforgettable encounter in the indie comedy “15 Things You Didn’t Know About Bigfoot” (Kino Lorber); over-the-hill kung fu disciples rouse themselves from mid-life torpor to avenge the death of their master in the martial-arts comedy “The Paper Tigers” (Well Go USA Entertainment).
New Foreign
Eytan Fox’s cultural-generational...
- 7/8/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Fifty years ago this month, Isaac Hayes changed the course of movie music with his score for “Shaft.” Not only did Hayes, 29 at the time, become the first Black man to win a music Oscar for his title song, but the success of his two-lp soundtrack album assured that every Black action-adventure film for the next several years would be scored by a major artist of color.
“It was the achievement of his life,” says his son, Isaac Hayes III, “coming from poverty the way that he did, and the struggles that he had. ‘Shaft’ was something otherworldly for a kid from Memphis, Tennessee, that picked cotton, worked in a hog factory and got all the way to the Academy Awards. As a Black man, in 1971, it was incredible.”
“Shaft” came during changing times for movie music — it followed successful pop and rock soundtrack albums for “The Graduate” and “Easy Rider...
“It was the achievement of his life,” says his son, Isaac Hayes III, “coming from poverty the way that he did, and the struggles that he had. ‘Shaft’ was something otherworldly for a kid from Memphis, Tennessee, that picked cotton, worked in a hog factory and got all the way to the Academy Awards. As a Black man, in 1971, it was incredible.”
“Shaft” came during changing times for movie music — it followed successful pop and rock soundtrack albums for “The Graduate” and “Easy Rider...
- 6/25/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Acclaimed photojournalist Gordon Parks was something of a renaissance man. A photographer, writer, composer, film director, and activist—he imbued the American Black experience with a sense of gravitas, esteem, and pathos through his Black gaze. Referencing Parks’ same-titled autobiography, director John Maggio’s “A Choice Of Weapons: Inspired By Gordon Parks” showcases the famed photographer’s work for a new generation but does little to elaborate on the man incisively.
Continue reading ‘A Choice Of Weapons: Inspired By Gordon Parks’: Is Slightly Out Of Focus [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘A Choice Of Weapons: Inspired By Gordon Parks’: Is Slightly Out Of Focus [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.
- 6/21/2021
- by Robert Daniels
- The Playlist
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, which turns 50 this month, is the opposite of the definition imposed on it. The 1971 film inspired the Blaxploitation genre, but Melvin Van Peebles exploited no one but himself. He got the money together, wrote the script and the music, selected the shots, aimed the camera, and starred in the film. He even did the stunts and post-production editing. Everything that came after was a reaction to his revolution. The father of Black cinema is one of the godfathers of independent filmmaking, and he turned everything upside down doing it.
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song defies all expectations. Unapologetically Black, it flips every stereotype back on itself. It reconstructs the constrictions of sexual identification. It wasn’t made for the institution. It was made for the people. “This film is dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man,” reads the opening titles. That...
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song defies all expectations. Unapologetically Black, it flips every stereotype back on itself. It reconstructs the constrictions of sexual identification. It wasn’t made for the institution. It was made for the people. “This film is dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man,” reads the opening titles. That...
- 4/27/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Selection presents 56 world premieres, focuses on comedic, music-centered, socially-conscious films.
Tribeca Festival 2021 has announced 66 films in the line-up of the upcoming outdoor 20th anniversary edition that runs June 9-20, including documentaries on the late food and travel broadcaster Anthony Bourdain and Norwegian pop icons A-ha.
The selection will present 56 world premieres and focuses on comedic, music-centered, and socially-conscious films. Many of the films will also be available for US audiences to view online the day after they premiere in person through the Tribeca at Home virtual hub.
Curated Juneteenth programming throughout the festival will celebrate voices from the African Diaspora,...
Tribeca Festival 2021 has announced 66 films in the line-up of the upcoming outdoor 20th anniversary edition that runs June 9-20, including documentaries on the late food and travel broadcaster Anthony Bourdain and Norwegian pop icons A-ha.
The selection will present 56 world premieres and focuses on comedic, music-centered, and socially-conscious films. Many of the films will also be available for US audiences to view online the day after they premiere in person through the Tribeca at Home virtual hub.
Curated Juneteenth programming throughout the festival will celebrate voices from the African Diaspora,...
- 4/20/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
With “Da 5 Bloods,” writer, director and producer Spike Lee tells a story about Black Vietnam War veterans who “fought and died for a country that has not shown love to them.” But that legacy goes all the way back to the founding of the United States of America. Watch our exclusive video interview with Lee above.
See‘Da 5 Bloods’ producer Jon Kilik on film’s logistical hurdles, Spike Lee’s vision and Chadwick Boseman’s ‘mythic presence’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
The title soldiers in Lee’s film return to Vietnam in the present day to retrieve the remains of their squad leader (played in flashbacks by the late Chadwick Boseman) as well as a hidden stash of gold. But they’re also still struggling with the trauma of their service. It’s not a new story for African-Americans to die for a country that continually betrays them, “from Crispus Attucks, who was...
See‘Da 5 Bloods’ producer Jon Kilik on film’s logistical hurdles, Spike Lee’s vision and Chadwick Boseman’s ‘mythic presence’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
The title soldiers in Lee’s film return to Vietnam in the present day to retrieve the remains of their squad leader (played in flashbacks by the late Chadwick Boseman) as well as a hidden stash of gold. But they’re also still struggling with the trauma of their service. It’s not a new story for African-Americans to die for a country that continually betrays them, “from Crispus Attucks, who was...
- 3/5/2021
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Gordon Parks and Ernest Tidyman transformed the action film with this charismatic, Chandleresque Brooklyn private eye played by Richard Roundtree, the spiritual father to Foxy Brown, Cotton, The Hammer and many others. One of the first and slickest of the “blaxploitation” films, it was followed by two sequels, a TV series, a recent remake/spin-off starring Samuel L. Jackson (with a Roundtree cameo), and in the summer of 2019 a follow-up to that remake/spin-off featuring Jackson, Roundtree and Jessie T. Usher as three generations of Shaft men. Isaac Hayes’ title song won the Oscar.
The post Shaft appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Shaft appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 2/24/2021
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
After unveiling the discs that will be arriving in April, including Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder, Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep, and more, Criterion has now announced what will be coming to their streaming channel next month.
Highlights include retrospectives dedicated to Guy Maddin, Ruby Dee, Lana Turner, and Gordon Parks, plus selections from Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg’s stellar box set. They will also present the exclusive streaming premieres of Bill Duke’s The Killing Floor, William Greaves’s Nationtime, Kevin Jerome Everson’s Park Lanes, and more.
Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, which recently arrived on the collection, will be landing on the channel as well, along with a special “Lovers on the Run” series including film noir (They Live by Night) to New Hollywood (Badlands) to the French New Wave (Pierrot le fou) to Blaxploitation (Thomasine & Bushrod) and beyond. Also...
Highlights include retrospectives dedicated to Guy Maddin, Ruby Dee, Lana Turner, and Gordon Parks, plus selections from Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg’s stellar box set. They will also present the exclusive streaming premieres of Bill Duke’s The Killing Floor, William Greaves’s Nationtime, Kevin Jerome Everson’s Park Lanes, and more.
Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, which recently arrived on the collection, will be landing on the channel as well, along with a special “Lovers on the Run” series including film noir (They Live by Night) to New Hollywood (Badlands) to the French New Wave (Pierrot le fou) to Blaxploitation (Thomasine & Bushrod) and beyond. Also...
- 1/26/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Usually the annual American Cinematheque tribute puts a bunch of Hollywood folks in black tie in a hotel ballroom to ingest rubber chicken and champagne. This year’s Spike Lee award show was a streamlined virtual affair hosted by “Inside Man” star Jodie Foster, who conducted a charming interview with Lee over the course of an evening interspersed by films clips and memories from such collaborators as actors Delroy Lindo and Angela Bassett, cinematographers Ernest Dickerson and Ellen Kuras, costume designer Ruth E. Carter, and production designer Wynn Thomas.
Brooklyn-based Lee, who is 63, has directed 25 features and documentaries plus countless commercials, collecting Emmys, BAFTAs, Cannes and critics awards along the way, including last year’s Adapted Screenplay Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman.”
“If you love what you are doing you can delay father time,” Lee said. “I’ve got some more joints to make. This award is not just for me but...
Brooklyn-based Lee, who is 63, has directed 25 features and documentaries plus countless commercials, collecting Emmys, BAFTAs, Cannes and critics awards along the way, including last year’s Adapted Screenplay Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman.”
“If you love what you are doing you can delay father time,” Lee said. “I’ve got some more joints to make. This award is not just for me but...
- 1/15/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Usually the annual American Cinematheque tribute puts a bunch of Hollywood folks in black tie in a hotel ballroom to ingest rubber chicken and champagne. This year’s Spike Lee award show was a streamlined virtual affair hosted by “Inside Man” star Jodie Foster, who conducted a charming interview with Lee over the course of an evening interspersed by films clips and memories from such collaborators as actors Delroy Lindo and Angela Bassett, cinematographers Ernest Dickerson and Ellen Kuras, costume designer Ruth E. Carter, and production designer Wynn Thomas.
Brooklyn-based Lee, who is 63, has directed 25 features and documentaries plus countless commercials, collecting Emmys, BAFTAs, Cannes and critics awards along the way, including last year’s Adapted Screenplay Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman.”
“If you love what you are doing you can delay father time,” Lee said. “I’ve got some more joints to make. This award is not just for me but...
Brooklyn-based Lee, who is 63, has directed 25 features and documentaries plus countless commercials, collecting Emmys, BAFTAs, Cannes and critics awards along the way, including last year’s Adapted Screenplay Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman.”
“If you love what you are doing you can delay father time,” Lee said. “I’ve got some more joints to make. This award is not just for me but...
- 1/15/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
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