BlacKkKlansman

Release Date:  8/10/18; In Theaters
Genre:  Drama/Biography
Rating:  NR
Director:   Spike Lee
Studio(s):   Blumhouse Productions, Monkeypaw Productions, Perfect World Pictures, QC Entertainment, Focus Features
Running time:  128 mins.

Cast:  John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Laura Harrier, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser, Corey Hawkins, Harry Belafonte, Robert John Burke.

Story:   BlacKkKlansman tells the true story of Stallworth (Washington), who began as Colorado Springs’s first African-American police officer, then later rose to the rank of detective. In one of the most unlikely cases of undercover infiltration imaginable, Stallworth and his partner Flip Zimmerman (Driver) penetrated the ranks of the KKK at the highest levels in order to thwart the organization’s attempt to take over the city.  The movie will release on August 10th, which coincides with the one-year anniversary of the  Charlottesville incident, when a white supremacist protest against the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue erupted in violence, claiming the life of counter-protester Heather Heyer on August 11, 2017.  Lee and co-producer Jordan Peele adapted the film from Ron Stallworth’s 2014 memoir “Black Klansman.”  Sources:  Screenrant, Color Lines.

Trailer:

What Men Want

Release Date:  2/8/19; In Theaters
Genre:  Comedy
Rating:  Unknown
Director:  Adam Shankman
Studio(s):   Will Packer Productions, Paramount Pictures
Running time:  Unknown
Cast:  Taraji P. Henson, Tracy Morgan, Aldis Hodge, Tamala Jones, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Max Greenfield

Story:   Gender swapped remake of the film What Women Want which was released in 2000 and earned 375 million worldwide.  The remake stars Taraji P. Henson as a female sports agent who has been constantly boxed out by her male colleagues.  However, when she gains the power to hear men’s thoughts, she is able to shift the paradigm to her advantage as she races to sign the NBA’s next superstar.  Source:  Flickeringmyth

Trailer:

The Bobby Brown Story

Release Date:  9/4/18; BET
Genre:  Biography
Rating:  NR
Director:  Kiel Adrian Scott
Studio(s):   Jesse Collins Entertainment, Black Entertainment Television (BET)
Running time:  Unknown
Cast:  Woody McClain (Bobby Brown), Gabrielle Dennis (Whitney Houston), Mekhi Phifer (Tommy Brown), Laz Alonso (Louil Silas, Jr.), T.K. Carter (Herbert Brown), Lance Gross (Steven Sealy), LilRel Howery (Brian Irvine), Sandi McCree (Carole Brown), Alyssa Goss (Alicia Etheridge), Tyler Marcel Williams (Young Bobby), Donshea Hopkins (Bobbi Kristina Brown).

Story:   Whitney and Bobby’s roller-coaster marriage played out on the covers of tabloids and even reality TV, and the film will showcase their successes and struggles during their turbulent relationship.  The New Edition Story broke BET ratings records when it aired in January 2017, and The Bobby Brown Story picks up where that pic left off, following Brown’s successful solo run.  McClain is reprising his role as Brown, one of the genre’s original “bad boys” whose life epitomizes the meaning of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.  His hits may have kept him at the top of the charts, but his antics kept him on the front page. 

Gabrielle Dennis will play iconic diva, Whitney Houston in the two-part miniseries while Bobbi Kristina will be portrayed by Donshea Hopkins.  Phifer plays Tommy Brown, Bobby’s brother. Howery is Brian Irvine, Bobby’s business manager. Carter plays Herbert “Pops” Brown, Bobby’s father. Alonso is Louil Silas, Jr., an MCA producer-executive who helps make Bobby a solo star. Gross is set as Steven Sealy, a childhood friend of Bobby’s who is killed in a gunfight after hanging with him at a hometown bar. Goss plays Bobby’s current wife, Alicia Etheridge, and McCree will reprise her New Edition Story role as Bobby’s mother Carole Brown.  Source:  Deadline; Photo Source:  Deadline (Rex/Shutterstock; Associated Press).

Trailer:

Down For Whatever

Release Date:  7/22/18 (TV One)
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  Unknown
Director:  Timothy Wayne Folsome
Studio(s):   Swirl Films, TV One
Running time:  Unknown
Cast:  Letoya Luckett (Tracy), Hosea Chanchez (Mike), Bre-z (Denise), Imani Hakim (Sonya)

Story:   Down For Whatever chronicles Tracy, a young successful doctor and her detective husband, Mike.  Although happily married, one thing has always been missing in their relationship – a sense of family.  Tracy grew up in foster care and longs for the traditional family environment that she never had.  When Mike suddenly loses his partner in a senseless cop-killing, Tracy is there to support him.  That is, until she receives an unexpected visit from a social worker who informs her that the ruthless killers suspected in the murder are her biological sisters, Denise and Sonya.  Tracy is overwhelmed and in disbelief by the news, but before telling her husband, she decides to track her sisters down herself.  Will she make it to them before the cops do?  Source:  Futoncritic.  Photo Source:  TV One.

Trailer:

Furlough

Release Date:  3/16/18; In Theaters & VOD
Genre:  Comedy
Rating:   R
Director:  Laurie Collyer
Studio(s):   EFC Films, Furlough Productions, IFC Films
Running Time:  83 mins.

Cast:  Tessa Thompson (Nicole Stevens), Whoopi Goldberg (Mrs. Stevens), Melissa Leo (Joan Anderson), Anna Paquin, La La Anthony (Brandy)

Story:   When a rowdy inmate (Melissa Leo) gets one weekend out of prison to visit her ailing mother, the rookie corrections officer (Tessa Thompson) assigned to keep an eye on her struggles to keep her in line during their emergency furlough.  Source(s):  Indiewire, IFC Center.

Trailer:

First Match

Release Date:  3/12/18 – 3/16/18 – SXSW Film Festival; 3/30/18 – Netflix (2017)
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  NR
Director:  Olivia Newman
Studio(s):   CreativeBionics, Clubhouse Pictures, Netflix.
Running Time:  102 mins.

Cast:  Elvire Emanuelle, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Colman Domingo, Jharrel Jerome, Jared Kemp

Story:   Hardened by years in foster care, a teenage girl from Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood, decides that wrestling boys is the only way back to her estranged father.  Source(s):  SXSW.com; Flickeringmyth.

 

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