AngelaBassett Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: Notorious
Filed under: Drama », Music & Musicals », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », New in Theaters », Fox Searchlight »
It seems kind of gruesome, but if you're a celebrity, the length of your life and how recently you lived can have a direct effect on your biopic. In the case of the great rap star The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. Christopher Wallace) his all-too-brief 24 years of life on this earth do not require too much editing and compressing to fit into a two-hour movie. Unfortunately, since he died as recently as 1997, most of the people involved in his life are still around to offer -- or require -- input into the movie. Hence, the first half of Notorious is a vibrant tribute to its subject and the second half is a kind of housecleaning, making sure that Biggie is laid to rest, cinematically speaking, with a clean slate.
Newcomer Jamal Woolard plays Biggie as an adult, and it's as if he were born to the part. It's almost possible to forget you're watching an actor and to believe that this is the real man playing his own life, as Eminem and 50 Cent played theirs. Biggie lives in Brooklyn under the wing of his overprotective, Jamaican-born mom (Angela Bassett). He's smart but a bad student and eventually moves into the neighborhood drug trade (though he never partakes of his product). He impregnates his girlfriend, goes to jail and fills several notebooks with his unique brand of literate, jovial, fast-paced rhymes. He meets Puff Daddy (Derek Luke), an up-and-coming producer who has an idea for a record called "Juicy." Meanwhile, he discovers -- and sleeps with -- the sexy Lil Kim (Naturi Naughton) and meets and marries his true love, Faith (Antonique Smith).
Another 'Notorious' Poster for Biggie Smalls Biopic
Filed under: Drama », Music & Musicals », Fox Searchlight », Images », Posters »
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It really was about time that Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace received his own biopic. Unfortunately, judging by what I've seen so far, Notorious has been flirting with being one step up from a movie of the week -- and for someone so influential in music history, that's a shame. The latest poster for the biopic has just been released, and like most of the marketing for this film, it leaves you feeling a tad underwhelmed.
Before being crowned "the savior of East Coast hip-hop", Christopher Wallace could have been just another statistic. But, during his short career, he created some of the most influential sounds in hip-hop -- along with launching his producer, Sean 'Diddy' Combs into the spotlight. Notorious was directed by George Tillman Jr. (Barber Shop) and stars Jamal Woolard as Wallace, Angela Basset as his mother, Violetta, and Antonique Smith (RENT) as his ex-wife, Faith Evans.
A few posters have already been released, but in most cases they looked like rejected covers from Source magazine (if you don't believe me, take a gander at some of the previous one-sheets). By the looks of it, this latest poster is going for a decidedly more 'dignified' look -- and in this case, dignified seems to mean ripping off of the Ray poster. Luckily, no matter what the posters or the trailers may look like, at least this movie is going to have one hell of a soundtrack. Check out the full version of this poster after the jump.
Notorious arrives in theaters on January 16, 2009.
TIFF Review: Nothing But the Truth
Filed under: Drama », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Festival Reports », Toronto International Film Festival »
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The political drama has a good friend in Rod Lurie, who makes intelligent, earnestly liberal movies that are meaty and watchable, if not always great. He has a thing for strong female protagonists, too. He was first noticed for The Contender, about a female vice-presidential candidate being grilled about her past, and he created the lady-president TV drama Commander in Chief for ABC. His latest, a spiritual sister to The Contender, is the arbitrarily titled Nothing But the Truth, in which thorny ethical dilemmas once again mess up the life of a woman.
She is Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale), a Washington D.C. newspaper reporter who learns that America's recent missile strike against Venezuela may have been unjustified. It was done in retaliation for that country's supposed involvement in an assassination attempt against the U.S. president, but Rachel has learned that a CIA agent filed a report indicating Venezuela was not to blame -- a report that the president ignored, ordering the military strike anyway.
Rachel's news story makes waves in Washington, not just for its damning evidence against the president, but for outing the CIA agent who made the report. She is Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga), the wife of an ambassador and supposedly just an ordinary soccer mom. Her undercover profession as a government spy is over now, of course; nobody wants a spy whose name has been plastered all over the news.
Now the question is which high-level government employee leaked Erica's identity to the press? A special prosecutor named Dubois (Matt Dillon) is appointed to find out; Rachel refuses to reveal her sources; Rachel is held in contempt of court and sent to jail; stubbornness and principle-upholding ensue.
Who Should Be in Oliver Stone's Bush Biopic?
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Politics », Polls »
So far, there are only a few actors officially attached to Oliver Stone's W., the epic biopic about our current commander-in-chief. Josh Brolin was cast as President George W. Bush back in January, then recently Elizabeth Banks was chosen as his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, and last week James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn were locked into the roles of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, respectively. Unofficial casting bites, though, include a lot of other big name actors. Jeffrey Wright is reportedly in negotiations to play Colin Powell, Tommy Lee Jones is supposedly being sought for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Duvall has been rumored to be the choice for Vice President Dick Cheney and now both Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones are being named as potentials for the part of Karl Rove (who Giamatti may have already channeled for his character in Shoot 'Em Up).Jamal Woolard is 'Notorious'
Filed under: Drama », Music & Musicals », Casting »
No, that's not the Notorious B.I.G. That's Jamal Woolard, who has just been cast by Fox Searchlight to play him, Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, in the upcoming biopic Notorious. Man, the only possible critique I could come up with is that his eyebrows are a little dark. That's some spot-on casting. They're definitely not Dead Wrong.
Voletta Wallace, Smalls' mom, is happy with the casting as well: "it was Jamal's charming personality, warm spirit, wonderful sense of humor and beautiful smile that won my heart. He is a talented and charismatic actor and I am excited that he will bring Christopher's character to the big screen." Topping that off, Woolard also has the real-life experience to make this pop. THR adds to the press release, explaining that Jamal is a drug-dealer-turned-rapper just like Wallace was.
Under the directorial eye of George Tillman Jr., we've got Woolard as Wallace, Angela Bassett as Voletta, Derek Luke as Sean Combs, and Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur. Production begins March 24 in New York.
'Meet the Browns' Trailer
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Lionsgate Films », Movie Marketing », Cinematical Indie », Trailers and Clips »
In case you couldn't tell from the trailer, which seems to give every bit away, the plot of Meet the Browns follows the story of Brenda (Angela Bassett), a single mom living in Chicago with serious financial woes, who finds out her father, who she's never met, has just died. She heads to Georgia with her kids and meets her father's other family, The Browns, many of whom, such as Cora Brown (Tamela J. Mann), have starred in previous Perry movies. As we can definitely tell from the trailer, Brenda inherits a house, finds a man (Rick Fox), deals with her son's venture into dope dealing and has a grand time settling in with her new Southern family. Meet the Browns arrives in theaters March 21.
Bassett and Wyle Join 'Nothing but the Truth'
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Newsstand »
I'm excited enough that Rod Lurie is returning to politics with Nothing but the Truth, a film loosely associated with the story of Valerie Plame. But I'm becoming more excited that it will feature a wide range of talented actors, from Kate Beckinsdale to Alan Alda to Matt Dillon to Vera Farmiga to David Schwimmer to Edie Falco to Harry Lennix to the just-announced Angela Bassett and Noah Wyle. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Basset and Wyle join the ensemble as supportive figures. Bassett is to play editor-in-chief to Beckinsdale's reporter and Wyle is to play the lawyer defending Beckinsdale's character, who ends up in jail for not revealing a source. More than 13 years after being nominated for an Oscar (for What's Love Got to Do with It), I'm happy to see Bassett getting more meaty roles. In addition to this part, which will probably be too small to garner too much recognition, she is set to star opposite Don Cheadle as the titular wife in the biopic Toussaint, and she's sure to be seen by millions and millions in Tyler Perry's next movie, Meet the Browns. Wyle, too, is deserving of making his mark on the big screen now that he's done playing Dr. Carter on E.R. Coming up for him is a father role in the 1963-set coming-of-age film Boy of Pigs and his directorial debut, a romantic comedy titled Prince Test.
The interesting thing about Nothing but the Truth is it somewhat seems to combine Lurie's The Contender (possibly my favorite political film ever), which also focused on a woman under heavy scrutiny, and his recent box office disappointment Resurrecting the Champ, which similarly dealt with the world of journalism. For the sake of this great cast, I hope Nothing but the Truth is closer to the success level of the former.
Danny Glover is a Busy Man
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Cannes », Newsstand »
At Cannes supporting Bamako, a film on which he served as executive producer, Danny Glover is also taking the opportunity to talk up other projects in which he's involved, a couple of which will probably get a fair amount of attention in the US. All produced by his Louverture Films, which currently is focusing on "global African experiences and people from the global south," the upcoming films address a wide range of subjects and themes.Among the higher-profile projects, the first to go into production is likely to be Toussaint, a drama that will be Glover's directorial debut. The movie will tell the story of "18th century Haitian revolution hero Toussaint L'Ouverture," and features a cast that is a virtual who's who of African American Hollywood. According to Glover, names attached to the project include Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Mos Def, though he didn't say who would play the title role. The film will shoot in South Africa ("as a commitment to supporting filmmaking there"), starting either late this year or early in 2007.
In addition, Glover will star in an untitled film about the relationship between Albert Einstein and Paul Robeson. Playing Einstein will be Ben Kingsley; both actors will also be producing the film. According to Glover, the men were not only friends, but also political allies: They "formed part of the campaign in 1948 which tried to persuade U.S. President Harry Truman to make lynching a federal crime," and subsequently were investigated by the FBI. Screenwriters for this project are currently being courted; there's no production timeline as of yet.
Tribeca Review: Akeelah and the Bee
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Tribeca », Lionsgate Films », Theatrical Reviews », Family Films », Cinematical Indie »
If only Akeelah and the Bee had existed when I was in the third grade. While most kids had their feel-good, underdog movies about basketball and little league, there wasn't much to encourage and inspire those of us who were physically inept and a little bit brainy (aside from some R-rated sex comedies celebrating super-nerds). The best thing about Akeelah is not that it merely empowers smart kids, though; it is that, unlike the majority of sports films, the film doesn't suggest that spelling has some kind of transcendental importance. It has its own equivalent of the big game, a national bee held in Washington, D.C., but the film is more concerned with the process of getting there, and it treats the finale like a pageant rather than a competition. While most underdogs seem to climax at the end of their films, the underdog of Akeelah and the Bee simply makes passage to the next part of her life.
Akeelah (superbly played by Keke Palmer) is an underdog both because, at 11-years-old she is on the younger side of spelling bee contestants, and also because she comes from a very poor district in South Los Angeles. Although she is shy and often embarrassed about being the smartest kid in class, she is convinced by her principal, Mr. Welch (Curtis Armstrong) to participate in their school's first spelling bee. She wins the simple event and is offered coaching by Welch's friend Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), a strict older man who begins their first session together by denying Akeelah the use of "ghetto talk." He then proceeds to teach her linguistics and literature, subjects that Akeelah initially thinks are a waste of time when she should be studying actual, specific words. Like an academic version of The Karate Kid, the film treats Larabee as a literary Mr. Miyagi, building up the girl's strengths without her first realizing it.
Starbucks to shill Bee movie
Filed under: Drama », Distribution », Home Entertainment », Movie Marketing »
Following the trail trod by their successful in-store CD
sales program, Starbucks has decided to move into the movie game. They've signed on to put their considerable vending
muscle behind Akeelah
and the Bee, a drama starring Angela Bassett, about a young girl from South Central trying to make it to the
National Spelling Bee. Starbucks will offer sneak previews of the film to its customers before it opens in April. Later
in the year, the coffee shiller will sell the DVD of the film at its registers. It's the first step in a major push by
the Seattle based company to expand their retail offerings, the very concept of which seems to muck up its famed
"third place" branding
strategy – what good is having a separate space that is not work or home, if that place is trying to choke you
with media? All Marxist misgivings aside, the CD program has worked incredibly well to raise the profile of its
offering ... which only makes me wish that a certain
other, quickly-forgotten spelling bee film had been chosen for the push.
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