keith david Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Click the image below to view entire poster

Cinematical has just received this beautiful exclusive teaser poster for Disney's The Princess and the Frog, which marks the studio's triumphant return to 2D hand-drawn animation. Featuring the voices of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey, Keith David, Jim Cummings, John Goodman, Jenifer Lewis, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Peter Bartlett and Terrence Howard, The Princess and the Frog is based on E.D. Baker's classic novel The Frog Princess, except this film -- written and directed by the filmmaking duo of John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules) -- is set in New Orleans, stars a singing crocodile and features Disney's first African-American princess. Famed songwriter/composer Randy Newman (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc.) lent his familiar voice to the soundtrack, which I'm sure will carve out its special place alongside Disney's long list of memorable tracks.

The first trailer for The Princess and the Frog was also just released on Apple (watch it there or after the jump), and folks will have a chance to see the film when it hits theaters in New York and LA on November 25th before expanding wide on December 11th. Click the image below to view entire poster -- does this look like vintage Disney, or what?

Once you get a taste of Smart People, deal with Eddie Murphy's Nowhereland, take on a stalkerific Sandra Bullock, and then steal Kate Hudson's work, it's time to get into some dark drama.

Variety reports that Thomas Haden Church has signed on to star in a new indie film called Don McKay, with the likes of Elisabeth Shue, Melissa Leo, M. Emmet Walsh, and Keith David. Coming from writer/director Jake Goldberger and shielded by a Screen Actors Guild waiver, the $5 million project just started production in Boston. The film focuses on a man who leaves his hometown after a tragedy forces him to do so. Twenty-five years later, he comes back when he hears that "his long-lost love is dying." Not surprisingly, his return spins "a web of confusion, deceit, and murder." Old secrets never die in the movie world.

Church says that it's a passion project that he's been trying to develop with Goldberger since Sideways. Aside from the confusion that it should evoke from those into Canadian poetry, this sounds like an interesting project -- especially with this cast.

Maybe you remember him from Earth 2 all those years ago, or more recently in Prison Break. Or, perhaps you spotted him in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Whatever the project, Rockmond Dunbar has been keeping busy over the years, and now The Hollywood Reporter posts that he's gearing up for his next directorial gig -- an indie drama called Pastor Brown that was written by Rhonda Freeman-Baraka.

The film, which is currently in production in Atlanta, is being described as a "twist on the prodigal son story." Jesse Brown (Salli Richardson Whitfield) is the daughter of a pastor who has charted her own course to get away from her religious roots by becoming an exotic dancer. But then she gives that life up and returns home "to make amends with her family and teen son and eventually lead her father's parish, becoming Pastor Brown." She not only finds religion, but a little love in a Muslim man named Amir (who will be played by Dunbar). It sound more like a comedy than a drama, but I guess it can be serious as long as the Pastor doesn't give a lot of advice that starts with: "When I was an exotic dancer..."

After some concept art, a name-change, the voice of our heroine, and the voice of the villain, Disney has finally released the first official image from The Princess and the Frog, which you can see to the right, and check out in all of its glory over at Coming Soon. This flick is a pretty big deal as the studio has headed back to traditional animation for the film, but more importantly, because star Tiana will be the first African-American princess and leading lady from the studio that has brought us the likes of Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine, and Mulan.

The animated film should be interesting. It's a musical (of course) set in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. This could be cool, or a complete waste, depending on how Randy Newman tackles the music for the film. Will it be classic Newman? Will he go out on a limb and go wild with jazz? Anyhow, Tiana is a young girl who is living in the affluent French Quarter, who I imagine gets it on with a Princely frog. As Disney describes it: "From the heart of Louisiana's mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment, and discovery with a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells, and Cajun charm at every turn."

So there you have it. Is the official Tiana everything you dreamed she would be?

Here it is; just what we need in the world: A movie that scares people into forwarding along those annoying chain emails. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Nikki Reed, Noah Segan, Keith David and Betsy Russell (Saw III, IV) have signed up to star in Chain Letter. Oh yes, they're going after you ... Ms. I Never Forward Chain Mails Because I Think They're Lame. Well what if you received a chain mail that asked you to forward it on to ten friends ... only instead of spamming ten friends, you deleted it and found out that -- holy sh*t -- the Chain Man is out to kill me now. Yes, the Chain Man -- HR describes him as "the chain-wielding killer ..." Wait, so does that mean he kills people with actual chains? And when he shows up to kill someone for not forwarding along an email, do they ... laugh at him? Because, honestly, I think I would.

Saw producer Mark Burg and Roxanne Avent have snagged executive producing duties on the horror flick, while Deon Taylor is tapped to write, produce and direct. You might remember Nikki Reed as the girl who co-wrote and starred in the movie Thirteen, which was partially based on her own life as a rebellious teenager. Michael Bailey Smith (who's creepy as all hell) will play the Chain Man, while a bunch of these young actors will play the victims. Honestly, I'm curious to see how this one unfolds. Does the Chain Man come after you if you don't forward the email? And what if you only forward it to three people, instead of five? Do you get half-killed? Hey, as long as at least one person utters the line: "No, you forgot to forward the email -- that's why the Chain Man is trying to kill you!" -- then I'll be a happy man.

Depending on your personal religious beliefs, the Biblical fifth commandment is either "Honor thy Father and Mother" or "Thou shall not murder" -- at least, according to Wikipedia. Either way, Rick Yune has made a movie about it. His take on the subject, appropriately titled The Fifth Commandment, is a martial arts flick and Freestyle Releasing has just picked up distribution rights to it, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Yune qualified for the Olympic trials in Tae Kwon Do when he was 19 and later graduated from the Wharton School of Business, according to IMDb, so he has brains and brawn. He's appeared in several TV shows as well as The Fast and the Furious and Die Another Day, in which he played a North Korean general (for which he was named one of Cinematical's "Very Weirdest Bond Villains"). But I would imagine that, as with nearly all Asian-Americans in Hollywood, opportunities have been few for him, so he wrote himself a lead role in The Fifth Commandment and then got it made, serving as one of the producers.

In the film, Yune "plays a trained assassin who turns down an assignment to kill a pop singer (Dania Ramirez) because her bodyguard is his half brother (Bokeem Woodbine). The siblings soon find themselves targeted in Bangkok by every top assassin in the world, forcing them to rely on the training of their tough father (Keith David)." First-timer John Z. Lee directed; he's not to be confused with the John H. Lee who's attached to remake John Woo's The Killer.

Freestyle co-president Susan Jackson says that the fight scenes "are the real thing, not staged." The premise, the promise of realistic fight scenes, and the presence of Keith David (a longtime personal fave) and Dania Ramirez (a sexy and talented actress) make this a must-see for me. The Fifth Commandment will kick its way into more than 1,000 theaters nationwide in March 2008 -- just in time for Easter? You can watch the trailer to get a peek at the action.

I've been keeping an eye on The Princess and the Frog since I first blogged about it back in April. The movie is one of those projects that will either be a positive step towards animated cultural awareness, or another embarrassing attempt to "diversify" Disney's palate of cartoon talent. After sharing concept art for the film, Erik Davis brought word of the voice that would be behind the mouse company's first African-American princess -- Anika Noni Rose. Since then, it seems that the company is at least listening to feedback. Many have pointed out that "Maddy" perhaps wasn't the best name choice for the princess, and her name has since been changed to "Tiana." Aside from a flashy new name, the picture has signed on its villain, which is none other than Keith David.

He's one of those guys you always recognize, but might not know his name, although he's been around for years. His first credited role was in Joseph Papp's recorded theater production of The Pirates of Penzance, and since then, he's had roles in films like Platoon, Reality Bites, Armageddon, Novocaine and Crash. David will voice the sinister villain -- Dr. Facilier. Who's that? I couldn't tell you as Disney has chosen to move away from their use of well-known fairy tales for their next princess story, and instead, they are using an original story by John Musker and Ron Clements. We might not even know for a while. The Hollywood Reporter says that a "2009 holiday release is planned." Could that be Christmas? If so, we got a lot of days ahead of us before little girls get an all-new, and hopefully classy, princess.

Not since the days of Ernest Joins the Army have you seen a trailer like this one. The title of the movie is Delta Farce, but based on what Dictionary.com tells me, a "farce" is "a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character." You go watch the trailer yourself and tell me if we don't have a case of false advertising here.

Starring Keith David, DJ Qualls and (yes) Larry the Cable Guy (who describes the movie as "The Three Stooges meets Platoon" (lord help us), Delta Farce looks to be some sort of parody of the Iraq war, but since it's about three idiots who accidentally "invade" Mexico, somehow I doubt it's all that interested in social satire or insightful jokes. Lionsgate presently has the movie scheduled for a May 11 release date, but I'm expecting that date to get pushed back (and directly to video) some time soon. Just a reminder: Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector grossed about $16 million in domestic box office last year. So if you paid money to go see that one, I blame you for Delta Farce.

In honor of writer/director/composer John Carpenter's return to his roots with an updated version of his classic film Halloween (which, sadly, he won't be directing) and as I've already expressed my fondness for wrestlers-turned-actors, it should come as no surprise that one of my favorite films of all time is John Carpenter's classic They Live. Even though I love the movie, I do have a bit of a problem here. This is supposed to be a "guilty pleasure" piece, but I'm not so sure They Live qualifies. I do get a certain amount of pleasure from watching it, but I don't ever really feel guilty about it.

Dictionary.com defines "guilty" as "having or showing a sense of guilt, whether real or imagined" and "pleasure" as " enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one's liking; gratification; delight." So, thinking about it in those terms, maybe we can call They Live a guilty pleasure after all. Here's why: the film is so good that you want to watch it over and over again spending quite a bit of your time with the movie and far less time on other things like taking out the garbage, work or talking to your family. You should probably feel guilty about not doing those things, so taking it that way, They Live does qualify. Glad we got that sorted. Now, let's get on with it.

They Live, which stars "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Keith "Don't call me David" David, George "Buck" Flower and Meg "No Nickname" Foster, is equal parts action, sci-fi and social commentary on the state of politics and the influence of the media in modern society. The story of the film is pretty simple. A drifter with a "checkered past" named Nada, played by Piper, arrives in Los Angeles looking for an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have too much luck with that plan.

Piper soon comes to realize that things in the City of Angels are not exactly what they appear to be. In fact, far from it. It seems an alien race has taken over the city with its sights on world domination. Their plan is to subjugate the human race through the use of subliminal messages all over the city forcing the humans to "marry and reproduce", realize that money is their "god", and above all, "obey." Piper stumbles on the alien's plans and with the help of a group of resistance fighters (and some cool sunglasses that allow him to see the aliens for what they are) he's off to work and ready to "chew bubblegum and kick ass." It's bad news for the aliens though, because he's " ... all out of bubblegum."