Musical

Dixie Chicks to Shut Up and Sing

The Weinstein Company has acquired the worldwide rights to Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, a documentary from two-time Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA, American Dream) and director Cecilia Peck, which will be featured as a Gala Presentation at the 31st Toronto Film Festival. The film, which is produced by Kopple and Peck, is a presentation of Cabin ….

Idlewild Opens Today

Idlewild is an innovative musical set in the Prohibition-era American South, where a speak-easy performer and club manager named Rooster (Big Boi) must contend with gangsters who have their eyes on the club while his piano player and partner Percival (André Benjamin) must choose between his love, Angel (Paula Patton) or his obligations to his father (Ben Vereen). View the trailer for Idlewild RIGHT HERE ….

More About Craig Brewer’s Black Snake Moan

Buzz for Craig Brewer’s next film, Black Snake Moan, started rising as soon as Hustle & Flow was released. The film is about a God-fearing bluesman (Samuel L. Jackson), who takes to a wild young woman named Rae (Christina Ricci) who was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. Here is a complete synopsis of Black Snake Moan: From the writer and director of the sleeper hit Hustle ….

Jay-Z Inspired Hip-Hop Musical to Premiere at Urbanworld

“I was inspired by Jay-Z to make this film,” says Daron Fordham, writer and director of Confessions of a Thug, a hip-hop musical premiering at this yearsUrbanworld Vibe Film Festival being held June 21-25 in New York City. Confessions of a Thug is a gritty, underground psychological exploration into the mind of a college educated street hustler named South Boy (Daron Fordham) who becomes unfulfilled ….

Dreamgirls Movie Updates

I watched the Broadway play Dreamgirls when I was 11 years old. My family made it tradition to watch Broadway shows every year, at least 3 times a year, as a family unit. Up until that time, I honestly wasn’t very impressed with Broadway in general. It just wasn’t my thing. I would have rather been home ….

J.J. Abrams to Have Sit Down in Tribeca

Join J.J. Abrams, the creator of Felicity, Alias and Lost, as he chats about how he uses Apple Computer products in his production and directing process, next Tuesday, May 2, 2006, at The Apple Store, in Soho, New York City. Abram’s directorial debut, a small indie film called Mission: Impossible 3, is premiering during the same week at the Tribeca Film Festival in Lower Manhattan. ….

A Prairie Home Companion

I have just added some stills from Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion in the photo gallery area RIGHT HERE And take a look at the trailer for the film RIGHT HERE Director Robert Altman and writer Garrison Keillor join forces with an all-star cast to create a comic backstage fable, A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, about a fictitious radio variety show that has managed to ….

Travolta and Latifah to Headline Hairspray

John Travolta and Queen Latifah have signed on to star in New Line Cinema’s upcoming feature film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical“Hairspray,” it was announced today by Toby Emmerich, New Line’s President of Production. Travolta will play Edna Turnblad and Queen Latifah will play Motormouth Maybelle in the film, which is being directed by Adam Shankman (“The Pacifier,” “Bringing Down the ….

Cannes Film Festival Looking for Hip Hop Films

The Cannes Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week (SIC – Semaine Internationale de la Critique) has joined forces with Hip-Hop multimedia communications company, Punch Media to ensure a greater influx of diverse films for potential 2006 jury selection. In order to better meet its goals of diversity in selection, particularly from the U.S. market, SIC is ….

G opens in theaters on October 28th

This is part of an open call to drum up support for “G,” a new movie which  opens around the country on Friday October 28th. “G” is a contemporary  African-American romance inspired by the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald story  The Great Gatsby. This film was produced independently because Hollywood Studios chose to pass on it based on their ….

Star Wars Tops AFI’s List of Greatest Film Scores of All Time

American Film Institute (AFI) revealed the top 25 film scores of all time in The Big Picture-AFI’s 100 Years of Film Scores, a one-night only presentation produced by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association in cooperation with AFI. A jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics and historians selected John Williams’ iconic score from ….