Release Date: 09/22/2014; Direct-to-Video Genre: Drama Rating: NR Runtime: 82 mins. Studio: Maverick Entertainment Director: Kimberly D Conner Cast: Sheree Bynum, Karen Malina White, Michael Higgenbottom, Kevin Craig West, Dingani Beza.
Synopsis: Troy Alexander returns to her roots, armed with a plan, to pass the bar and start her own practice. Although, her love of the law takes a back seat to her young son, Jordan, it provides an escape from realities. Troy is convinced she doesn’t need love. She’s content and love is a distraction, until her friends, Tarin and Camryn stumble upon Malik Bond, a middle school math teacher. Her friends plan a meeting and all doesn’t go according to plan. Troy realizes that what Malik lacks in his wallet, he makes up for it in other areas. Sparks fly and life seems perfect… Then circumstances bring her well-thought plans to a halt. Her life flashes before her eyes, just as love lands at her door. Astounding revelations affecting the family in different ways, when the unthinkable happens. (Source: Maverick Entertainment).
Release Date: 7/15/14; Direct-to-Video Genre: Drama Rating:NR Running Time: 129 mins. Studio: Maverick Entertainment Director: Christopher Dorrah Cast: Clifton Powell (Blake), Tahiry Jose (Sare), Ray Lavender (Chris), Chrystle Wilson (Kim).
Story: Based on the real life events of three incarcerated women as they detail traumatic events from their love lives. It’s about the complicated relationships, from first love to last, and how life events shape our hearts. (Source: Maverick Entertainment, official site).
Release Date: 7/22/14; Direct-to-Video Genre: Drama Rating: NR Running Time:85 mins. Studio: Maverick Entertainment Director: Danzell Calhoun Cast:Raheem Saltmarshall (Meshach), Kim Van Hamlin (Grace), Hosiea Ransom (C-Money).
Story: Meshach Johnson is forced to find his identity while wandering the perilous streets of a decaying city. TORN between the dead end life and the abundant life God has promised him, Johnson’s endless struggle to find his “true self” takes him on a path that threatens to bring about his demise. (Source: Maverick Entertainment, official site).
]a/k/a I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story
Release Date: 1/17/15 (Lifetime) Genre: Drama/Biography Rating: Not Available Studio: Lifetime Director: Angela Bassett
Cast: Yaya DaCosta (Whitney Houston), Arlen Escarpeta (Bobby Brown), Yolonda Ross (Robyn Crawford), Suzzanne Douglas (Cissy Houston), Mark Rolston (Clive Davis).
Details: On 12/3/14 Shadow and Act reported, Whitney chronicles the headline-making relationship between the iconic singer, actress, producer and model Whitney Houston and singer and songwriter Bobby Brown from the time they first met at the very height of their celebrity to their courtship and tumultuous marriage. Houston’s vocal performances in the film are sung by Deborah Cox. The music featured in the film includes Houston’s hits “The Greatest Love of All,” “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” “I’m Every Woman” and “I Will Always Love You” as well as Brown’s “Every Little Step.” Source: Shadow and Act.
Trailer:
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On 7/16/14 The New York Daily News reported, the first images from I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story were released earlier this week, one of which shows DaCosta recreating Houston’s iconic cover for her 1987 album “Whitney.” The other shows Escarpeta hugging DaCosta in a pose familiar to how Brown and Houston were often photographed.
One thing DaCosta won’t be recreating is the “Greatest Love of All” singer’s vocals. E! News reports that R&B star Deborah Cox will supply the vocal tracks for the actress’ musical performances.
The biopic, which is being directed by Houston’s Waiting to Exhale co-star Angela Bassett, is currently filming and is expected to debut on Lifetime in 2015. Source: The New York Daily News, IMDB. Photo Source: The Wrap.
According to an article published by the Daily Mail Reporter, former America’s Next Top Model contestant, Yaya Dacosta Alafia, will play Whitney Houston in an upcoming Lifetime Original Movie biopic set for release in 2015. According to Shadow and Act, the TV movie, tentatively titled “Whitney Houston” will chronicle the headline-making relationship between the iconic singer, actress, producer and model and singer, songwriter Bobby Brown. It will be set in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s, during the early years of the couple’s relationship from the first time they met to their courtship and tumultuous marriage. Veteran actress Angela Bassett will make her directorial debut from a script penned by Shem Bitterman, who also wrote the 2013 Lifetime Original Movie, Betty & Coretta, in which Bassett starred in the title role of Coretta Scott King.
Alafia has some mighty big shoes to fill in playing the legendary diva, but the former reality TV star does have some acting experience as she previously had roles in All My Children, Ugly Betty, House, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Big Words, The Kids Are All Right, and TRON: Legacy.
While many fans are excited about the project, according to TMZ, Whitney’s family is ‘pissed’ about the made-for-television movie because they feel she deserves so much more. Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law, told the gossip site: “Whitney is certainly worthy of more than a television movie. If Whitney were here today, this would not be happening.” Whitney’s estate has reportedly already informed Lifetime of their displeasure and is said to be threatening a lawsuit if the network refuses to cancel production. The singer’s loved ones are planning their own big screen movie in the style of Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which they feel would be a more fitting tribute to the musical icon. Sources: Daily Mail Reporter, Shadow and Act, TMZ.
Release Date: 6/17/14; DVD Genre: Comedy Rating: NR Running Time: 108 mins. Studio: Maverick Entertainment Director: Crosby Tatum
Cast: Crosby Tatum (Crosby Tylor), Jae Holland (J), J.D. Achille (Cynthia Simpson), Kandace C. Cummings (AP), Alison Wachtler (Adrian Lyman).
Story: A socially-awkward, heavy-set college student conducts a Philosophy class experiment by conning his sexy, womanizing best friend into posing as “himself” to date a beautiful, charming woman from an online dating website. He’s doing all this to prevent himself from losing his scholarship, and flunking out of school. Once the truth unfolds, he realizes it was a huge mistake. (Sources: Maverick Entertainment, official site; IMDB).
a/k/a Blue Goose Hollow Release Date: 5/16/15 (HBO) Genre: Drama/Biography MPAA Rating: Not Available Studio(s): Flavor Unit, Zanuck Company, Shelby Stone Productions, HBO Director: Dee Rees
Cast: Queen Latifah (Bessie Smith), Michael K. Williams (Jack Gee), Tika Sumpter (Lucille), Khandi Alexander (Viola), Mike Epps (Richard), Mo’Nique (Ma Rainey), Charles S. Dutton (William “Pa” Rainey), Bryan Greenberg (John Hammond), Oliver Platt (Carl Van Vechten).
Story: Film focuses on Smith’s transformation from a struggling young singer into “The Empress of the Blues,” who became one of the most successful recording artists of the 1920s and is an enduring icon today. Source: HBO.
Update:Shadow & Act reported on 2/24/15 that the film will offer an intimate look at the determined woman whose immense talent and love for music took her from anonymity in the rough-and-tumble world of vaudeville to the 1920s blues scene and international fame, capturing her professional highs and personal lows, and ultimate legend.
On July 10th, Eurweb reported that HBO released a cast list and other details regarding its upcoming film Bessie. Co-stars include Michael K. Williams (Boardwalk Empire) as Bessie’s husband Jack; Khandi Alexander (Scandal) as Bessie’s big sister, Viola; Mike Epps as Richard, a bootlegger and romantic interest; Tika Sumpter (The Haves and Have Nots) as Lucille, a performer and romantic interest; Tory Kittles (True Detective) as Bessie’s older brother Clarence; Oliver Platt, as fame photographer and writer Carl Van Vechten; Charles Dutton as Ma Rainey’s husband, William “Pa” Rainey; and Oscar winner Mo’Nique as blues legend Ma Rainey.
Written and directed by Dee Rees, the movie will focus on “Smith’s transformation from a struggling young singer into ‘Empress of the Blues’ and one of the most successful recording artists of the 1920s,” notes HBO in a statement. Source(s): Eurweb, HBO.
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Details: Rapper, award winning actress, and talk show host Queen Latifah will star in and executive produce a biopic for HBO based on the life of iconic blues singer Bessie Smith. Known as the “Empress of the Blues” and considered the greatest blues singer of all time, Smith sang alongside Ma ‘Mother of the Blues’ Rainey at an early age. She later performed in minstrel shows and cabarets to become a successful singer and vaudevillian actress and eventually rose to become the most acclaimed and highly paid African American entertainer of the 1920s and ’30s. In spite of her many successes, Smith fought to overcome the challenges of a stormy personal life, including a tempestuous marriage and bisexual relationships. Her career took a hit due to alcoholism and the Great Depression, and as she was trying to make a comeback, she lost her life in a major car accident.
The film is based on Chris Albertson’s biography Bessie and the screenplay is being penned by Dee Rees, writer-director of the critically acclaimed Pariah. According to a Shadow and Act columnist, who viewed a February 2014 draft of the screenplay, it features 20 musical numbers and the story is “a wild ride led by Bessie’s bubbling personality, free-wheeling style and push to steer her own life and career. Her character is portrayed as brash, feisty and unafraid to fight, which makes her an electric performer but wreaks havoc in her personal life.”
It is rumored that production is set to begin this month (mid-June 2014) in Atlanta. (Sources: Moviepilot; Project Casting; Shadow and Act).
Black Cinema Connection 