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Today, with recent news that Seith Mann has signed on to write and direct an adaptation of the graphic novel, MISS: Better Living Through Crime (with Spike Lee producing), I thought I’d take a look at the novel before it makes its way to a theater near you. The project is still in its early stages of development, so I have no idea how Mann and Lee plan on adapting this; if it’ll be a panel to panel transfer, a la, Sin City, and its other-worldliness, or if it’ll be more true to life. I hope and suspect that they’ll go with the latter. In reading the novel, immediate comparisons to other violent male/female crime spree tales were inevitable; From Bonnie & Clyde to Natural Born Killers, and even Lee Daniels’ Shadowboxer! Although MISS is much closer in content to the Daniels work, which starred Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr as assassins for hire, sometimes mother and son, and sometimes lovers; closer in the sense that MISS also features an interracial pairing – a white woman and a black man – who become killers-for-hire, in depression-era New York, USA. Although MISS is much less campy, but is every bit as violent; An unrelenting kind of violence that’s graphic, though very much in keeping with the zeitgeist, in which the story takes place – a world of abused, discarded children who grow up emotionally bankrupt, and react to the world the only way they know how; a world of pimps, pushers, prostitutes, and mobsters; a jungle where only the fittest (or the most vile and cunning) survive. And to add to the devastation, the country is in an economic slump, which only seems to serve as an additional motivation for crime.
But, there’s still more work to be done here folks! The beat goes on… no breaks So, I’m hereby announcing the NEXT challenge. An early start should help us hopefully reach (and even surpass) the $3,300 total we attracted for the first installment. The goal is to have the second winner chosen before the end of the year, and thus, the deadline for submissions this time is mid-November, the 15th – roughly 2 1/2 months from now! Plenty of time to come up with a 3 to 10 minute short script, or polish up one you already have. I’m not going to regurgitate all that I said about my inspiration for and expectations in doing this. If you aren’t already familiar with all that, I encourage you to read my lengthy initial post announcing the program HERE. The short version for newbies: Continue reading Announcing The NEXT Shadow And Act Black Filmmaker Challenge! (Let’s Do It Again)
MsWOO profiled this Brit flick, titled Sus, back in March, earlier this year HERE; about 4 months later, I attended a screening of it, and reviewed it on this blog which you can read HERE. In short, Sus is an engrossing drama, set entirely in an interrogation room, in 1979 London, in which a pair of racist cops question a black murder suspect. I dug it, and if you live in Chicago, you could dig it too, if you attend tonight’s screening of it at ICE Theaters, brought to you by Black World Cinema. Continue reading Hey Chicago! Here’s Youy Chance To See Riveting Drama “Sus” At A Theater Near You
The script, written by Pablo Fenjves, revolves around an ex-cop-turned-con who threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel rooftop, when the NYPD dispatches a female police psychologist to talk him down, but, unbeknown to the police officers, the suicide attempt is really a cover for “a massive diamond heist.” I’m guessing Worthington will play the man on a ledge? And Mackie might be one of his crew members? None of that has been revealed yet however. No word on who will play the female police psychologist either. Asger Leth (son of Jørgen Leth) is directing.
I’ve just learned that Patton has officially been cast! She’s in like Flynn! Deadline also says that the film actually will not be a sequel, and won’t be called Mission: Impossible 4. Tom Cruise and wunderkind producer/director J.J. Abrams have reportedly long-envisioned the project as a “franchise reboot;” essentially, it’s like they’re starting from scratch. Production is scheduled to begin on the $140 million film this fall with Brad Bird directing. The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner also stars. Recall Tom Cruise danced with a Thandie Newton in Mission: Impossible 2.
In addition to my love for romantic comedies, and basically anything that falls under the label of “chick flick” (which I talked about here), I rarely miss the opportunity to see a good science fiction or fantasy film, and I’m an avid science fiction reader. Among the science fiction movies I have on my DVD shelf, only two of them have black characters with a significant role in the film. All of the other films of this genre in my collection have overwhelmingly white casts. So just to satisfy my curiosity, I recently began thinking about all the sci-fi films that actually have prominently featured black characters and I discovered that there are quite a few.
Not so fast my friends… if you’re still laughing after Sergio’s post on this a few days ago, you might want to stop now In that post, film journalist David Poland was quoted as saying that he was “99.9%” sure that Lionsgate was planning to move the opening date of Tyler Perry’s adaptation of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf from its previously announced January 2011 opening date, to a fall 2010 release, in order to position the film for year-end awards consideration. And we all laughed, didn’t we? Well, guess what? Lionsgate announced today that it WILL indeed release the film this year – November 5th specifically, instead of during MLK weekend next year, as was planned. Continue reading Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” Adaptation Release Date Moved Up To Fall 2010!
If you live in New York City and you missed the 4 previous screenings of Raoul Peck’s latest offering, Moloch Tropical, well, you’ll get a 5th chance to see it! Come on folks – you have ZERO excuses now! I expect every (ok, maybe not every) New Yorker who reads this blog to have seen this film already, and if you haven’t, make an effort to see it when it screens again, as part of Michelle Materre’s Creatively Speaking screening series at BAM Cinematek, later this month. So, mark your calendars: the series runs Friday, September 24th, through Sunday the 26th – essentially a weekend. Continue reading Another Opportunity For New Yorkers To See Raoul Peck’s “Moloch Tropical”
Last Friday’s screening of Thomas Ikimi’s Legacy (which I’d been advertising on this blog prior) was a resounding success! Our best event ever, since the series (ActNow Presents: New Voices In Black Cinema) began last summer (2009); it was the best in terms of audience turnout, which obviously translates to stronger box office receipts. Of course, screening a film with a star in Idris Elba certainly helped our cause; but the strength of the film, and the marketing efforts of the ActNow Foundation family should be credited as well! The primetime 6:50 screening was completely sold-out! In fact, several folks who didn’t heed my warnings to buy their tickets in advance, hoping to do so in person, at the theater, had to be unfortunately turned away! Continue reading “Legacy” Screening Recap (The Balcony Is Closed… For Now)
Shadow & Act won the Judges Vote in the Best Film Blog category. We actually split the award with our comrades at The Black Box Office, who won the Popular Vote. So which one of you punks guys forgot to vote, or didn’t vote for us? I’m coming after you To see the full list of winners in all categories, CLICK HERE. Thanks to everyone who participated and who submitted ballots. It’s been a good first year for S&A, and we’ll see ya at the 2011 Black Weblog Awards next year!
I’m glad to see a rush of filmmakers using Kickstarter to fund their projects, and with some success too! Below are 2 short projects that are in need of financing, by talents whose works I appreciate, and I applaud – Ka’ramuu Kush and Moon Molson. Both are obviously seeking your assistance. I embedded the Kickstarter widgets for each, so click on either, or both, to be taken to their individual Kickstarter pages, where you can learn much more about both projects, and help out if you can, leading each closer to production! I will! Continue reading “Last Trane” & “Crazy Beats Strong Every Time” Need Your Help (Fund-Raising)
The songstress, who has previously expressed interest in acting, with her name coming up as a potential cast member for a number of projects over the last year or so, will will star alongside Alexander Skarsgard and Taylor Kitsch, with Peter Berg directing the science-fiction-thriller. Shooting has apparently already began, with a May 25, 2012, release date planned. The photo on the right, featuring Ms Rihanna on set, and in costume, confirms that. Not much to see there, but it’s a start h/t TLF
We alerted you to the possibility of this back in March, and now it looks like it’s a definite! Jamie Foxx is back at FOX with another sketch-comedy show said to be similar to In Living Color, which also aired on Fox in its day. In March, it was reported that the FOX network had ordered a pilot episode for the show, tentatively titled, The Jamie Foxx Project; today, Deadline says that the network has ordered 12 episodes of the half-hour comedy series to be executive produced by Foxx, with Affion Crockett attached as one of the show’s stars, who will also co-write for the series, which will tackle topical pop culture items. Recall our post on Jamie Foxx’s recent launch of No Brainer Films, a company he plans to use to produce both film and TV content, budgeted at under $10 million. I assume this deal falls under that umbrella.
Hah! I love it! I haven’t seen any mention of who directed it, but I’ll know soon enough. I am wondering though how MTV and BET will edit this so they can air it… Watch the colorful new video below: Continue reading Official Video For Cee Lo’s “F**K You” Arrives!
From my inbox… the film is called Fire!, starring Gary Dourdan; its synopsis goes: The only thing standing between Phil and his wife’s perfect happiness is a loan they need for their first home; at least, that’s what they thought. Without warning their bank is ambushed by belligerent thugs and Phil quickly becomes a pawn in the hands of the criminals. The lives of thousands of innocent people, including his wife s, hang in the balance and Phil is the only man who can save them. The North American release date says October 5, 2010. I’m guessing it’ll be a DVD/VOD release. Quentin Tarantino said it’s “A Great Movie,” as the poster (above and below) suggests, which obviously means he’s seen it, although I didn’t find any links that indicate he has any attachment to the film, like as a producer for example. Continue reading Preview Trailer – “Fire!” (Gary Dourdan Saves The World)
Today in history, September 1, 1972… American chess legend Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky of the then Soviet Union to win the international chess crown in a match made for the cold war era, in Reykjavík, Iceland. In 1993, Laurence Fishburne co-starred in a drama titled Searching For Bobby Fischer, which wasn’t about the chess master, but rather was based on the life of another chess prodigy, Joshua Waitzkin, who wasn’t even born when Fischer won the 1972 title. The title of the film speaks to Waitzkin’s desire to be the kind of winner that Fischer was in his prime. Continue reading “Fresh” Chess Connections (Today In History)
The premise is simple; film directors and screenwriters discuss some their favorite genre movies, most of the them B-movie horror or suspense flicks (and not all of them are particularly good either), while the trailers for the films are shown. Director Ernest Dickerson is a regular contributor, and today he discusses why he loves the legendary director John Huston’s 1956 version of Herman Meville’s Moby Dick, with Gregory Peck, and why it’s one of his absolute favorite movies. It’s fascinating to hear him talk about the film. It’s very obvious that it’s a movie he deeply loves, and how it’s had a real impact on his entire life.
Jurnee Smollett is doing double-duty on TV. Not only is she part of the phenomenal Friday Night Lights cast, she’ll be on the new CBS show The Defenders with Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell. Here’s a promo video with Jurnee talking about her new role. The Defenders premieres Wednesday, September 22nd at 10pm.
Just got a link for an indie film produced in Detroit. It’s in the vein of Barbershop, about a guy who doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. The lead character wants to be a famous chef instead of taking over his father’s liquor store. The story takes place on 6 Mile (think two miles south of Eminem’s 8 Mile) so you expect a certain amount of ghetto characters. It stars Roger Guenveur Smith (American Gangster) and Lawrence Lamont Jenkins, who’s short film Patzer I featured a while back. I know some of the people who worked on this film and while I’m not a big fan of movies set in the “inner city” because that’s usually where black stories are relegated, it’s good to know that filmmakers outside of Los Angeles are making stuff happen. For more info visit their official Facebook page. And watch the sneak peek after the jump… Continue reading CornerStore (Trailer/Sneak Peek) A documentary short titled People Are Children, directed by Alrick Brown and Stewart Thorndike. Some of you might recognize Alrick’s name, as he was mentioned in the 2010 Shadow And Act Black Filmmakers To Watch thread, last month. H/T Bombastic E for the video. The little girl at the 6:39 mark said it all… They just keep cranking them out… less than a month until the show debuts on Wednesday, September 22nd, at 8PM EST. Are you anxious?
And the winner is… drumroll… Not so fast my friends; hold on for just one minute It was actually not an easy decision. A good number of them would make our honorable mentions list, if we were to create one. But it really came down to 4 scripts (although I won’t say what the other 3 were) that were in the running for the funding; and incredibly, the 3 readers (myself included) who judged this competition, each independently picked the same title for the win! Continue reading Announcing The Winner Of The Shadow And Act $3300 Filmmaker Challenge! You know the drill as always…
Specifically, when asked if they would be less likely to buy a ticket to see a Mel Gibson movie, after hearing the devastating racist and misogynistic hate-filled tapes recorded by his ex-girlfriend (plus his past anti-semitic and homophobic comments), 76% of Americans (80% of men and 72% of women) said those scandals have had no effect on their decisions on whether they will or won’t see any of his movies. I guess Summit Entertainment can finally release The Beaver now… all is apparently well and good, unlike previously believed :\ So, you missed last night’s airing of BET documentary on the peaks and valleys of the female MC in hip-hop-land, My Mic Sounds Nice? If so, you can watch it all now, all 40 minutes of it, below, split into 3 parts (h/t Vulture): Continue reading Watch Now – “My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women & Hip Hop” |
  
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) Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.
If you’ve never taken a look at it, by all means check out the website Trailers from Hell (
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