Keke Palmer Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In Shrink, screening in the Premiere section at the Sundance Film Festival, Kevin Spacey plays a psychiatrist whose boutique L.A. office, A-list clientele and best-selling pop psychology books form a thin layer of respectability over his ruined personal life, insurmountable grief, serious pot problem and a host of other crises. Spacey developed the film with his Trigger Street production company, with Jonas Pate directing Thomas Moffet's script, and Spacey part of an ensemble cast that includes Robin Williams, Saffron Burrows, Mark Webber, Dallas Roberts and Keke Palmer. I asked Spacey if doing so many scenes revolving on just two people talking is an actor's dream, or an actor's nightmare: "As compared to? Explosions, and cars flying through the air? I think it's an actor's dream, and I also think it's an audience's dream; there's noting quite like being able to go to to a play or the cinema and watch people exchange as human beings, I think."

Spacey spoke with Cinematical about smoking fake weed, how Sundance has changed the movies, how Hollywood eats its young, his voice-over role as the supercomputer GERTY opposite Sam Rockwell in the Sundance selection Moon, and much more.

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



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Last year I saw Gracie, a movie about a teenage girl who wants to play high-school soccer in the late 1970s, when the game was considered a males-only sport in America, and faces a lot of opposition from her school. I finished my review with the line, "If it were football, would we be agreeing more with Gracie's opponents?" The Longshots gives us the opportunity to consider that question. Can we sympathize with, and cheer on, a girl who wants to succeed as a quarterback in an all-boys' football league? The answer is yes, because The Longshots focuses on characters and personal relationships and as a result, feels richer and more satisfying than the standard sports-genre film.

The story is simple and except for the girl-quarterback angle, old-fashioned in a Capra-esque way. Jasmine (Keke Palmer) is a middle-school loner and misfit in a small town hit by economic troubles. Her mom Claire (Tasha Smith) has to work longer hours at the diner -- dad ditched town and family several years ago -- and Jasmine is still too young to be left alone after school. So Claire pleads, nags and finally bribes her husband's brother Curtis (Ice Cube), an unemployed ex-football player, to keep an eye on his niece Jasmine. Of course they can't stand each other at first, but eventually Curtis discovers that Jasmine has an excellent throwing arm and teaches her how to be a quarterback. Meanwhile, the town's playground football team is languishing, and one thing they're missing is a decent quarterback, sooo ...

With Kit Kittredge: An American Girl finally opening in limited release on Wednesday, it seemed like a good time to take a look at other films girls in the same age demographic might also enjoy. As a mother of three daughters, I like to seek out films that have strong female characters. So many of the roles for females in Hollywood either fall into blatant stereotypes or position young girls and women as existing on this planet primarily for the pleasures of the male half of the species, and I don't want my girls growing up believing the images of women they're exposed to through the media. Of course, everything in life doesn't have to have a political agenda -- what fun would that be? So some of these are just films my own daughters very much enjoy, that the girl in your life might like also.

Here are seven great films for fans of American Girl books and movies ... let me know what others I've missed that you like; with only seven slots to work with, I had to leave out a lot of films I otherwise would have included ...

Do you remember the news that Fred Durst was working on his second directorial gig, a sports drama called Comeback? Well, for some reason, the film is now untitled (why change it to untitled when you at least have a working title!?), and it's got a cast to boot. But first, to refresh your memory: Ice Cube signed on to star in and produce the film, which is about a young, female quarterback named Jasmine Plummer who became the first girl to play in the Pop Warner football tournament. Cube had picked the role of Plummer's uncle and mentor.

Now Reuters reports that Keke Palmer has signed on to star as Jasmine. You might remember her from Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, or more likely, as the spelling fiend in Akeelah and the Bee. She's going to be joined by Tasha Smith (Why Did I Get Married?), Jill Marie Jones (Girlfriends), Matt Craven (Disturbia), and Garret Morris (The Jamie Foxx Show). Oh yeah, and Dash Mihok, who I left separate because, well, I have a soft spot for Benvolio, and I wanted to give him his own sentence.

Anyhow... There you have it. Comeback is still on its way, just as a different yet-to-be-released/decided name. In the meantime, I'm still waiting to see Durst's first -- The Education of Charlie Banks.

Well, we all know how well Code Name: The Cleaner performed at the box office, but did you know there's another Cleaner heading our way? No, it thankfully will not be a sequel to the Cedric the Entertainer flop. (Question: Are you allowed to call yourself "the entertainer" when people aren't very entertained by your work?) The other film, simply titled Cleaner, is a thriller that stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, Christa Campbell, Keke Palmer and, now, Eva Mendes -- who, as you all know, is my imaginary wife from a parallel universe. But, anyway ...

We've been covering this film for awhile now, ever since Sammy Jackson first signed on to star. Basically, Jackson plays one of those guys who cleans crime scenes for a living, and when he winds up covering up a homicide that hasn't been reported yet, guess who gets blamed for murder? Mendes will play widow to the murder victim, who turns to Jackson for some help (cleaning her apartment, we wonder?). Of course, pic is being directed by Renny Harlin, known for such gems as Deep Blue Sea, Exorcist: The Beginning, Mindhunters and The Covenant. Will Cleaner, um, clean up at the box office? I guess we'll soon find out; shooting began yesterday in Louisiana.

Odds and ends from Golden Globes Day Thursday:

• We've already told you how Samuel L. Jackson is set to star in Cleaner (not Code Name: The Cleaner or The Cleaner -- simply, Cleaner), to be directed by Renny Harlin. Now, it appears two more folks might be joining his cleaning crew. Ed Harris and Keke Palmer (remember Akeelah from Akeelah and the Bee?) are in talks to co-star in the pic which follows a man (Jackson) who cleans up crime scenes, but soon finds himself in trouble when the dude cleans up evidence from a murder before it's reported. Harris will play a cop and Jackson's former partner, while Palmer gets the honor of playing Jackson's daughter. "Daddy, why do you clean splattered brains for a living? Can't you be, like, an accountant?"
• Entertainment Weekly has some pretty badass pics from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's new film Grindhouse. Long story short: Tarantino's half (Death Proof) follows a psycho stunt driver who runs people over with this sweeet looking car. Rodriguez's half (Planet Terror) is apparently some balls-to-the-wall zombie flick. I imagine the amount of blood, guts and gore in this puppy will set some sort of record ... but don't hold me to that. In the pics, Russell rocks out his ride and -- wait -- check out Rose McGowan and Marley Shelton on that bike with something exploding in the background. Yum. Er, cool.
• While you're checking out all those pics, why not dive into the first official still photo from Ocean's Thirteen. Oh yes, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney are all decked out in suits and shades -- they're just sitting at the airport, minding their own business. However, we're positive Clooney and his gang of the sexiest men alive have more than a few aces up their sleeves ... if you know what I mean. [via JoBlo]
• According to British tabloid The Sun (which, in case you did not know, is the most reliable source on the entire planet), The Killers are in talks to perform the title song for Bond 22 (aka the one after Casino Royale). I'd like to be the first one to say, well, killer! I dig The Killers, always have -- and I'm in agreement with The Sun's secret inside source, who says: "The Killers have reached the perfect point in their career to do a Bond track. They have the right sound, right look and a huge fanbase, making them the perfect choice." Bond 22 (or should we start calling it Risico?) is scheduled to hit theaters in November 2008. If you could choose any artist to perform the next Bond song, who would it be?

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.