Shirley Jo Finney, a theater director and the star of Wilma (1977), has died. She was 74.
The Fountain Theatre announced Finney’s death on social media writing in an Instagram post, “With broken hearts, we share the sad news that director Shirley Jo Finney, a beloved member of our Fountain Family, passed away yesterday after a long illness.”
Some of the productions that Finney directed included Citizen: An American Lyric, Heart Song, In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, The Ballad of Emmett Till, Yellowman, Central Avenue and From the Mississippi Delta.
Finney had been battling with cancer for eight months, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
Finney starred in the television film Wilma, a biopic about track star Wilma Rudolph and the obstacles she faced to win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics. In the television movie, Finney starred opposite Cicely Tyson, Jason Bernard, Denzel Washington and more.
The Fountain Theatre announced Finney’s death on social media writing in an Instagram post, “With broken hearts, we share the sad news that director Shirley Jo Finney, a beloved member of our Fountain Family, passed away yesterday after a long illness.”
Some of the productions that Finney directed included Citizen: An American Lyric, Heart Song, In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, The Ballad of Emmett Till, Yellowman, Central Avenue and From the Mississippi Delta.
Finney had been battling with cancer for eight months, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
Finney starred in the television film Wilma, a biopic about track star Wilma Rudolph and the obstacles she faced to win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics. In the television movie, Finney starred opposite Cicely Tyson, Jason Bernard, Denzel Washington and more.
- 10/15/2023
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
Plot: A former Department of Homeland Security agent (Jim Caviezel) risks his life to save a brother and sister who sex traffickers have abducted, eventually launching a large scale operation to save hundreds of kids. Eventually it spawns Operation Underground Railroad, an organization committed to ending the child sex trafficking trade.
Review: Sound of Freedom is definitely one of the most notable movies of the summer season. Having originally been produced by 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired the company, the movie sat on the shelf for five years. Boasting a modest budget and coming from a pretty tiny studio, the grassroots campaign used to market the film has resulted in some pretty staggering box office results, with it having already grossed $40 million. It will likely be the highest-grossing independent film of the year. However, it’s also been a lightning rod for controversy, with many slamming it as a “Quanon film.
Review: Sound of Freedom is definitely one of the most notable movies of the summer season. Having originally been produced by 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired the company, the movie sat on the shelf for five years. Boasting a modest budget and coming from a pretty tiny studio, the grassroots campaign used to market the film has resulted in some pretty staggering box office results, with it having already grossed $40 million. It will likely be the highest-grossing independent film of the year. However, it’s also been a lightning rod for controversy, with many slamming it as a “Quanon film.
- 7/11/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
'Cancel Culture’ vultures are now circling Disney's 'Mickey Mouse', who according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular 'blackface' minstrel of all time:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " said Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations....
"...an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie' wear white gloves worn by black servants, performing their version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with a cast of cartoon animals.
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " said Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations....
"...an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie", the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928...
...is a classic example of the popular singing 'black minstrel' of the time.
In another cartoon short, "Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), 'Mickey' and girlfriend 'Minnie' wear white gloves worn by black servants, performing their version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with a cast of cartoon animals.
- 4/2/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
"The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse", produced by Disney Television Animation, is the new original TV special, streaming February 18, 2022 on Disney+:
"...'The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse' spotlights the adventurous and comedic antics of ‘Mickey Mouse' and his female friend 'Minnie', geared towards fans of all ages..."
Recently left-wing 'cancel culture' vultures have been attacking Disney's original 'Mickey Mouse' character, that according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular 'Jim Crow' minstrel of all time.
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
"...'The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse' spotlights the adventurous and comedic antics of ‘Mickey Mouse' and his female friend 'Minnie', geared towards fans of all ages..."
Recently left-wing 'cancel culture' vultures have been attacking Disney's original 'Mickey Mouse' character, that according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular 'Jim Crow' minstrel of all time.
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
- 1/22/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
When most of us hear the word “animation,” we think of cuddly imagery from Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse cartoons. We generally don’t think about sexual assault, racism and violence.
But the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ core exhibition, “Stories of Cinema,” showcases a more problematic side of animation history. A three-gallery experience titled “Inventing Worlds and Characters” looks back at questionable imagery and tropes. Through these galleries, they are exploring animation, effects and encounters. It both exists as its own genre and encompasses every other genre such as westerns, noir, documentaries, and more. It’s also a craft that encompasses all the other crafts such as production and costume design, editing, etc.
“When you have a completely unlimited craft by the laws of physics, you can have wondrous examples of pure imagination,” says assistant curator Dara Jaffe. “Still, you also get these extremely grotesque depictions that reflect the racism of the current time.
But the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ core exhibition, “Stories of Cinema,” showcases a more problematic side of animation history. A three-gallery experience titled “Inventing Worlds and Characters” looks back at questionable imagery and tropes. Through these galleries, they are exploring animation, effects and encounters. It both exists as its own genre and encompasses every other genre such as westerns, noir, documentaries, and more. It’s also a craft that encompasses all the other crafts such as production and costume design, editing, etc.
“When you have a completely unlimited craft by the laws of physics, you can have wondrous examples of pure imagination,” says assistant curator Dara Jaffe. “Still, you also get these extremely grotesque depictions that reflect the racism of the current time.
- 9/17/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Illustration by Jeff CashvanMovie-lovers!Welcome back to The Deuce Notebook, a collaboration between Mubi Notebook and The Deuce Film Series, our monthly event at Nitehawk Williamsburg that excavates the facts and fantasies of cinema's most infamous block in the world: 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. For each screening, my co-hosts and I pick a flick that we think embodies the era of all-night moviegoing down the “Flamboyant Floodway,” and present the theater at which it premiered.Back in October 2013, for our second screening at Nitehawk, we presented Abel Ferrara’s second feature—so, we thought for our second Mubi column we would feature the film a second time. You dig?Every screening concludes with our 'famous' raffle, the grand prize of which is always an original poster by the 'Maestro’ Jeff Cashvan. Enter for your chance to win Jeff’s one-sheet above by shooting us an email and saying ciao: thedeucefilmseries@gmail.
- 4/20/2021
- MUBI
While some Americans are demanding the Democrat party pay reparations for the creation and implementation of the 1865 US 'Jim Crow' laws, as a legal way to put Black citizens into indentured servitude, taking away their voting rights, controlling where they lived, how they traveled and to seize their children for labor purposes, 'cancel culture' vultures are now circling Disney's 'Mickey Mouse', that according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation" by Nicholas Sammond, was created to be the most popular Jim Crow minstrel of all time:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'.
"'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists...
- 4/8/2021
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
In the wake of streaming service Disney+ reaching 100 million worldwide subscribers, but limiting access for younger viewers to classic cartoons "Dumbo", "Peter Pan" and other titles over 'racist stereotypes', all eyes are now on iconic 'Mickey Mouse', who according to the book "Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation", by Nicholas Sammond is the most famous 'blackface' performer of all time:
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"Rather, American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'. 'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie', the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928, is just a classic example of the popular 'black minstrel' of the time.
"Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), features 'Mickey' and 'Minnie,...
"Commercial animation in the United States didn’t borrow from blackface minstrelsy, nor was it simply influenced by it, " writes Sammond.
"Rather, American animation is actually in many of its most enduring incarnations an integral part of the ongoing iconographic and performative traditions of 'blackface'. 'Mickey Mouse' isn't like a minstrel; he is a minstrel."
Sammond insists the cartoon short "Steamboat Willie', the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928, is just a classic example of the popular 'black minstrel' of the time.
"Mickey’s Mellerdrammer" (1933), features 'Mickey' and 'Minnie,...
- 3/10/2021
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
The following contains spoilers for Lovecraft Country episode 8.
Lovecraft Country puts racism at the forefront of its storytelling. Anti-Blackness is as much a character as Leti and Tic. It manifests in many ways on the show, through the protagonists’ engagement with white characters and the systems they control. And through characters like Ruby, whose internalized racism sometimes puts them odds with their own. Anti-Blackness takes on a specific visual language in episode 8, “Jig-a-Bobo”, when Diana is chased by malevolent “pickaninnies”.
Diana runs away from the line to view the body of her deceased best friend, Emmet “Bobo” Till, which no one notices. She is left alone and unprotected by all of the adults in her life and is cursed by Captain Lancaster as a result. She’s beset upon by specters only she can see, they pursue her incessantly, and she can’t tell anyone about them. The ghouls takes the form of Topsy,...
Lovecraft Country puts racism at the forefront of its storytelling. Anti-Blackness is as much a character as Leti and Tic. It manifests in many ways on the show, through the protagonists’ engagement with white characters and the systems they control. And through characters like Ruby, whose internalized racism sometimes puts them odds with their own. Anti-Blackness takes on a specific visual language in episode 8, “Jig-a-Bobo”, when Diana is chased by malevolent “pickaninnies”.
Diana runs away from the line to view the body of her deceased best friend, Emmet “Bobo” Till, which no one notices. She is left alone and unprotected by all of the adults in her life and is cursed by Captain Lancaster as a result. She’s beset upon by specters only she can see, they pursue her incessantly, and she can’t tell anyone about them. The ghouls takes the form of Topsy,...
- 10/7/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Image Source: HBO
In Lovecraft Country episode eight, "Jig-a-Bobo," Diana Freeman's finest moment is backed by the empowering words of activist Naomi Wadler. Still trying to process the death of Emmett Till, who in the series is her best friend, Bobo, Diana has a run-in with Captain Lancaster, who places a curse on her. Because of the curse, she's stalked by demonic versions of Topsy from Uncle Tom's Cabin that only she can see.
Diana spends most of the episode worried that they're going to kill her, but rather than give into Lancaster's demands, she spits in his face and decides she can get rid of them herself. It's at this moment of bravery that Wadler's words, which were originally advocating against gun violence, are heard loud and clear. "For far too long, these Black girls and women have been just numbers. I am here to say never again for those girls too.
In Lovecraft Country episode eight, "Jig-a-Bobo," Diana Freeman's finest moment is backed by the empowering words of activist Naomi Wadler. Still trying to process the death of Emmett Till, who in the series is her best friend, Bobo, Diana has a run-in with Captain Lancaster, who places a curse on her. Because of the curse, she's stalked by demonic versions of Topsy from Uncle Tom's Cabin that only she can see.
Diana spends most of the episode worried that they're going to kill her, but rather than give into Lancaster's demands, she spits in his face and decides she can get rid of them herself. It's at this moment of bravery that Wadler's words, which were originally advocating against gun violence, are heard loud and clear. "For far too long, these Black girls and women have been just numbers. I am here to say never again for those girls too.
- 10/5/2020
- by Grayson Gilcrease
- Popsugar.com
And now for something we had read about but never before saw: Tod Slaughter’s highly entertaining murder thriller is stylized in a vintage theatrical format, the Victorian blood & thunder barnstorming drama, originally from 1880 or thereabouts. Slaughter’s refined gentleman is also a crazed killer with a bizarre modus operandi. Everything that happens is borderline preposterous, and all the better for it. It’s not exactly a horror picture — unadventurous fans may just see a creaky 80-year old movie — but Tod Slaughter is one of a kind. Kino’s new Blu-ray is a beautiful restoration with an informative and entertaining audio commentary.
The Face at the Window
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date October 6, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Tod Slaughter, Marjorie Taylor, Aubrey Mallalieu, John Warwick, Robert Adair, Wallace Evennett, Leonard Henry, Kay Lewis, Bill Shine .
Cinematography: Hone Glendenning
Film Editor: Jack Harris
Original...
The Face at the Window
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date October 6, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Tod Slaughter, Marjorie Taylor, Aubrey Mallalieu, John Warwick, Robert Adair, Wallace Evennett, Leonard Henry, Kay Lewis, Bill Shine .
Cinematography: Hone Glendenning
Film Editor: Jack Harris
Original...
- 10/3/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Lassie Lou Ahern, the versatile child actress who appeared in the Our Gang comedy shorts and played a boy in the Universal Pictures silent epic Uncle Tom's Cabin, has died. She was 97.
Ahern, who was a protégé of the American icon Will Rogers and years later taught dance to the likes of Renee Zellweger, died Thursday in Prescott, Arizona, of complications related to the flu, film preservationist Jeffrey Crouse told The Hollywood Reporter.
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927), a film adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, took almost two years to make on location alongside the Mississippi River and...
Ahern, who was a protégé of the American icon Will Rogers and years later taught dance to the likes of Renee Zellweger, died Thursday in Prescott, Arizona, of complications related to the flu, film preservationist Jeffrey Crouse told The Hollywood Reporter.
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927), a film adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, took almost two years to make on location alongside the Mississippi River and...
- 8/18/2016
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Let me set a scene for you. A few years back at a party for filmmakers, one white filmmaker who has written and directed a critically acclaimed film with black leads says to another who has done the same: "I cast African Americans in my movie because I thought it would help me. It won me an award but nobody's seen my movie. I'll never make that mistake again." An acclaimed black director observes, aghast. Upon hearing this story, I shook my head and nodded. This isn't new. The pillaging and embrace of our stories and our bodies for accelerated acclaim is a tale as old as time; many of them are our most canonical tales of black American life: Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Adventures...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 8/18/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Let me set a scene for you. A few years back at a party for filmmakers one white filmmaker who has written and directed a critically acclaimed film with black leads says to another who has done the same: "I cast African Americans in my movie because I thought it would help me. It won me an award but nobody's seen my movie. I'll never make that mistake again." An acclaimed black director observes, aghast. Upon hearing this story I shook my head and nodded. This isn't new. The pillaging and embrace of our stories and our bodies for accelerated acclaim is a tale as old as time, many of them are our most canonical tales of black American life: Uncle Tom's Cabin, The...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/1/2016
- Screen Anarchy
"It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's," Lupita Nyong'o said in her graciously beautiful acceptance speech for best supporting actress. The 12 Years a Slave actress gave thanks to the spirit of Patsy and Solomon, the real-life tragic figures whose story is brought to life in the film that also took home best picture. The movie is based on Solomon's book of the same name, which captured the attention of Americans when it was written. And 1853, the same year the memoir came out, The New York Times covered "the kidnapping case" that "excited so high a degree of interest." The article described Solomon as "this unfortunate man who, who had been snatched so villainously from the land of freedom, and compelled to undergo sufferings almost inconceivable in this land of heathenism, where slavery exists with...
- 3/3/2014
- by Annie Gabillet
- Popsugar.com
As Steve McQueen's Oscar favourite 12 Years a Slave opens at cinemas, Sarah Churchwell returns to the 1853 memoir that inspired it – one of many narratives that exposed the brutal truth about slavery, too long ignored or sentimentalised by Hollywood
In 1825 a fugitive slave named William Grimes wrote an autobiography in order to earn $500 to purchase freedom from his erstwhile master, who had discovered his whereabouts in Connecticut and was trying to remand Grimes back into slavery. At the end of his story the fugitive makes a memorable offer: "If it were not for the stripes on my back which were made while I was a slave, I would in my will, leave my skin a legacy to the government, desiring that it might be taken off and made into parchment, and then bind the constitution of glorious happy and free America." Few literary images have more vividly evoked the hypocrisy...
In 1825 a fugitive slave named William Grimes wrote an autobiography in order to earn $500 to purchase freedom from his erstwhile master, who had discovered his whereabouts in Connecticut and was trying to remand Grimes back into slavery. At the end of his story the fugitive makes a memorable offer: "If it were not for the stripes on my back which were made while I was a slave, I would in my will, leave my skin a legacy to the government, desiring that it might be taken off and made into parchment, and then bind the constitution of glorious happy and free America." Few literary images have more vividly evoked the hypocrisy...
- 1/11/2014
- by Sarah Churchwell
- The Guardian - Film News
One of the revelations from the current New York Times list of non-fiction bestsellers is how many films--many in the late-year awards derby-- have landed there. Solomon Northup's "12 Years a Slave," which was overshadowed upon its 1853 publication by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852) and "A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1853) and was long known only in historian circles, now sits at number three on the bestseller list. Impressive, and cool. Also on the list are Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom," no doubt given a boost by the coincidence of the South African leader's death and the Weinstein film in theaters; Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson's "Lone Survivor" (the Peter Berg-directed title hits theaters on Christmas); and Laura Hillenbrand's "Lone Survivor," currently in production down under with Angelina Jolie at the helm. TV has a strong sway, too. Piper Kerman's "Orange Is the New Black,...
- 12/19/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
By Lee Pfeiffer
The magnificent Oscar-winning best picture of the year for 1968, Oliver!, has been released as a Blu-ray special limited edition (3,000 units) by Twilight Time. This adaptation of the smash stage hit was a dream project for director Lewis Gilbert but, much to his dismay, the director's seat was given to Sir Carol Reed. How Gilbert's version of the film would have differed will never be known but suffice it to say, it's hard to imagine he could have improved on Reed's vision. There had been numerous previous screen versions of Dickens' classic novel Oliver Twist, with the most notable being David Lean's 1948 movie with a star-making turn by Alec Guinness as Fagin. The 1963 stage musical by Lionel Bart was a sensation and it stood to reason that the screen rights were quickly scooped up. The film went against the tide when considering other major musicals of the period.
The magnificent Oscar-winning best picture of the year for 1968, Oliver!, has been released as a Blu-ray special limited edition (3,000 units) by Twilight Time. This adaptation of the smash stage hit was a dream project for director Lewis Gilbert but, much to his dismay, the director's seat was given to Sir Carol Reed. How Gilbert's version of the film would have differed will never be known but suffice it to say, it's hard to imagine he could have improved on Reed's vision. There had been numerous previous screen versions of Dickens' classic novel Oliver Twist, with the most notable being David Lean's 1948 movie with a star-making turn by Alec Guinness as Fagin. The 1963 stage musical by Lionel Bart was a sensation and it stood to reason that the screen rights were quickly scooped up. The film went against the tide when considering other major musicals of the period.
- 11/26/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
It looks like Oscar winner Anne Hathaway won't be taking on the role of mother just yet. After Star Magazine claimed the Les Miserables star was pregnant with her first child, Hathaway's rep quickly clarified the rumors and confirmed to Us Weekly that she is not, in fact, with child. It all started when her brother, Tom, made a joke about one day becoming an uncle or "Uncle Tom" -- a reference to Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 anti-slavery epic Uncle Tom's Cabin -- during a standup comedy show [...]...
- 11/6/2013
- Us Weekly
In this week's issue of New York Magazine, Frank Rich writes about how for all of the praise that 12 Years a Slave is an important film, it is unlikely to change entrenched racist opinions, just as neither Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Roots, nor Obama's election has ushered in the mythic post-racial America. In light of this, New York's Eric Benson spoke to Roots star Levar Burton, who discussed his admiration for Steve McQueen's film and his suspicion that, like Burton's iconic miniseries, 12 Years may be unlikely to change minds.You got your big break when you were cast in Roots as Kunta Kinte, a West African man who is captured and brought to America as a slave. During production, was there a sense that Roots was more than just a television mini-series? You have to remember we’re looking back through the lens of a 19-year-old.
- 11/5/2013
- by Eric Benson
- Vulture
Washington, Sept. 3: A Clemson University professor has claimed that the bestselling book of the 19th century, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', is based on a runaway slave that author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, harbored for a night in her Maine home, shortly before penning the book.
The professor in question, Susanna Ashton, has done an in-depth research on the life of John Andrew Jackson, who escaped from a South Carolina's Sumter County plantation in 1847, CBS News reported.
And, Ashton believes that the anti-slavery novel that fueled the abolitionist cause and helped put the nation on the path toward the Civil War, would never have been written, were it not for that one-night visit.
Ashton has alleged that Jackson shared his.
The professor in question, Susanna Ashton, has done an in-depth research on the life of John Andrew Jackson, who escaped from a South Carolina's Sumter County plantation in 1847, CBS News reported.
And, Ashton believes that the anti-slavery novel that fueled the abolitionist cause and helped put the nation on the path toward the Civil War, would never have been written, were it not for that one-night visit.
Ashton has alleged that Jackson shared his.
- 9/3/2013
- by Rahul Kapoor
- RealBollywood.com
The Hollywood Reporter A former sitcom writer "kvells and kvetches" about The Guilt Trip and Parental Guidance starring Babs and Bette
PopWatch Mark Harris on Hollywood's love of gun violence. I highly recommend reading this but I highly caution Not reading the comments because as per usual the gun crazies come out. They'd have us all packing and I so don't want to live in their preferred world.
Cinema Blend Katey & Eric on 12 Unfairly Overlooked Movies of 2012 from Hello I Must Be Going (Yay, Melanie!) through Cosmopolis
Awards Daily Whoa. Ann Dowd is footing the bill for her own Oscar campaign.
The Hollywood Reporter talks to Emayatzy Corinealdi on her breakthrough in Middle of Nowhere. You know. I've been trying not to talk about this because I can't figure out a way to say it that doesn't sound indelicate but in some ways I really hate falling in love with...
PopWatch Mark Harris on Hollywood's love of gun violence. I highly recommend reading this but I highly caution Not reading the comments because as per usual the gun crazies come out. They'd have us all packing and I so don't want to live in their preferred world.
Cinema Blend Katey & Eric on 12 Unfairly Overlooked Movies of 2012 from Hello I Must Be Going (Yay, Melanie!) through Cosmopolis
Awards Daily Whoa. Ann Dowd is footing the bill for her own Oscar campaign.
The Hollywood Reporter talks to Emayatzy Corinealdi on her breakthrough in Middle of Nowhere. You know. I've been trying not to talk about this because I can't figure out a way to say it that doesn't sound indelicate but in some ways I really hate falling in love with...
- 12/20/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The National Film Registry has added 25 more films that will be preserved in the Library of Congress. To be included in the registry the film needs to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” They have to be at least ten years old and are chosen from a list of films nominated by the public.
There's some great films that have been added this year. We've got the original 3:10 to Yuma, The Matrix, A Christmas Story, A League of Their Own, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dirty Harry, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several more.
Check out the full list of films that were added this year below, and you can head over to the Registry website to nominate films that you think should be added in 2013!
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Considered to be one of the best westerns of the 1950s, “3:10 to Yuma” has gained in stature since its original release as...
There's some great films that have been added this year. We've got the original 3:10 to Yuma, The Matrix, A Christmas Story, A League of Their Own, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dirty Harry, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several more.
Check out the full list of films that were added this year below, and you can head over to the Registry website to nominate films that you think should be added in 2013!
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Considered to be one of the best westerns of the 1950s, “3:10 to Yuma” has gained in stature since its original release as...
- 12/20/2012
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
The Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today named 25 motion pictures that have been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Glad to see The Spook Who Sat By The Door on this list of 25 film, selected because they are deemend “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. Also worth noting is the 1914 film adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. "Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of preserving America’s unparalleled film heritage," said the Librarian of Congress James H. Billington....
- 12/19/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
A League of Their Own and The Matrix: together at last and forever. (There's no crying in the Matrix, because it's all just a mental projection.) The two films were among the 25 chosen to be included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Other notable additions include: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dirty Harry, Slacker, Laurel and Hardy's Son of the Desert, the 1914 adaption of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Born Yesterday, the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, the original 3:10 to Yuma, and Kodachrome's 1922 revolutionary color film test. Also, it appears the Library of Congress is in the holiday spirit, as A Christmas Story also made the cut. It's good to know there's a backup just in case TBS goes under.
- 12/19/2012
- by Jesse David Fox
- Vulture
It's time to brush up on your film history, because the Librarian of Congress has added 25 more films to the National Film Registry. Among them are movies like "A Christmas Story" (and just in time for the holiday), "Dirty Harry" and "The Matrix," with movies like "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "A League of Their Own" also making the cut.
The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of the films. Once a movie is added to the Registry, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation then makes sure that it is preserved for generations to come. This new batch of movies brings up the total number of films in the Library of Congress registry to 600.
"Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of preserving America's unparalleled film heritage," Librarian of Congress James Billington says in a statement. "These films are not selected as the...
The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of the films. Once a movie is added to the Registry, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation then makes sure that it is preserved for generations to come. This new batch of movies brings up the total number of films in the Library of Congress registry to 600.
"Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of preserving America's unparalleled film heritage," Librarian of Congress James Billington says in a statement. "These films are not selected as the...
- 12/19/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Washington — "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Dirty Harry" and "A League of Their Own" will be preserved for their enduring significance in American culture at by the Library of Congress, along with "A Christmas Story" and some pioneering sports movies.
They are among 25 selections the library is inducting Wednesday into the National Film Registry. Congress created the program in 1989 to preserve films for their cultural or historical significance. The latest additions bring the registry to 600 films that include Hollywood features, documentaries, independent films and early experimental flicks.
The newest film chosen for preservation is 1999's "The Matrix," noted for its state-of-the-art special effects and computer-generated animation with a style that drew on Hong Kong action films and Japanese anime to change science fiction filmmaking, curators noted.
The oldest film being preserved, "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight," dates back 115 years to 1897. Film curators said the boxing movie helped establish the film industry as a successful business,...
They are among 25 selections the library is inducting Wednesday into the National Film Registry. Congress created the program in 1989 to preserve films for their cultural or historical significance. The latest additions bring the registry to 600 films that include Hollywood features, documentaries, independent films and early experimental flicks.
The newest film chosen for preservation is 1999's "The Matrix," noted for its state-of-the-art special effects and computer-generated animation with a style that drew on Hong Kong action films and Japanese anime to change science fiction filmmaking, curators noted.
The oldest film being preserved, "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight," dates back 115 years to 1897. Film curators said the boxing movie helped establish the film industry as a successful business,...
- 12/19/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
As his 'anti-autobiography' shows, Michael Moore clearly thinks of himself as a saint
The publicity bumf for this "anti-autobiography" from the author and film-maker boasts that its format is "breaking the autobiographical mould". That's not completely true. Here Comes Trouble, as the seminary-schooled Moore will be only too aware, fits into a well-established literary tradition. It's a contribution to the lives-of-the-saints genre, its principal innovation being that its author is also its subject.
I'm serious. It's all there, in mythic (that is, semi-fictional) form: miracles and parables; early signs of being marked out by God; precocious insight and courage in telling truth to power; and the foot-washing humility of the ordinary hardscrabble guy from Flint, Michigan. How else do you explain, for instance, a chapter called "A Blessing" which opens, with no apparent sign of humour "My priest had a confession he wanted to make to me", and whose pivotal...
The publicity bumf for this "anti-autobiography" from the author and film-maker boasts that its format is "breaking the autobiographical mould". That's not completely true. Here Comes Trouble, as the seminary-schooled Moore will be only too aware, fits into a well-established literary tradition. It's a contribution to the lives-of-the-saints genre, its principal innovation being that its author is also its subject.
I'm serious. It's all there, in mythic (that is, semi-fictional) form: miracles and parables; early signs of being marked out by God; precocious insight and courage in telling truth to power; and the foot-washing humility of the ordinary hardscrabble guy from Flint, Michigan. How else do you explain, for instance, a chapter called "A Blessing" which opens, with no apparent sign of humour "My priest had a confession he wanted to make to me", and whose pivotal...
- 9/14/2011
- by Sam Leith
- The Guardian - Film News
Was E. E. Cummings a Racist?
That was the provocative HuffPost-style headline May 27 on Brow Beat, a culture blog on Slate.com. The author, Nina Shen Rastogi, reported that a lost poem by e. e. cummings had been discovered. The poem, named "(tonite," was published in the Awl, whose editor, Choire Sicha, tweeted that it was "reeeeaaaal troublesome!!!"
Her tweet linked to an excellent essay by James Dempsey, which is about a long-running correspondence between Cummings and his friend Scofield Thayer, the publisher of the important literary magazine The Dial.
Dempsey wrote:
"I've been researching Thayer for about five years now, with the aim of writing a biography that would give him his share of credit for publishing The Dial. It was while researching that book at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, that I came across the previously unknown, unpublished poem by Cummings, "(tonite."
"The poem...begins with a parenthesis,...
That was the provocative HuffPost-style headline May 27 on Brow Beat, a culture blog on Slate.com. The author, Nina Shen Rastogi, reported that a lost poem by e. e. cummings had been discovered. The poem, named "(tonite," was published in the Awl, whose editor, Choire Sicha, tweeted that it was "reeeeaaaal troublesome!!!"
Her tweet linked to an excellent essay by James Dempsey, which is about a long-running correspondence between Cummings and his friend Scofield Thayer, the publisher of the important literary magazine The Dial.
Dempsey wrote:
"I've been researching Thayer for about five years now, with the aim of writing a biography that would give him his share of credit for publishing The Dial. It was while researching that book at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, that I came across the previously unknown, unpublished poem by Cummings, "(tonite."
"The poem...begins with a parenthesis,...
- 5/28/2011
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
We're used to seeing replicants depicted as unfeeling automatons but Mark Romanek's Kazuo Ishiguro adaptation sees things from their point of view
"You will become adults, but only briefly …"
In Never Let Me Go, Mark Romanek's austerely beautiful adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, life has a sell-by date, humans have a shelf life and death arrives in accordance with somebody else's schedule. You are a body to be plundered and mined for parts; get used to it.
The clones of Never Let Me Go are perhaps the most sympathetic creatures of their kind yet depicted on film; children bred and farmed for profit and the health of others, but who teem with the hormones, anxieties and doubts of "normal" children. The few glimpses and rumours of the wider world we are offered suggest it is riven with medical horrors – eugenics, experiments, organ trafficking. The clones are a...
"You will become adults, but only briefly …"
In Never Let Me Go, Mark Romanek's austerely beautiful adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, life has a sell-by date, humans have a shelf life and death arrives in accordance with somebody else's schedule. You are a body to be plundered and mined for parts; get used to it.
The clones of Never Let Me Go are perhaps the most sympathetic creatures of their kind yet depicted on film; children bred and farmed for profit and the health of others, but who teem with the hormones, anxieties and doubts of "normal" children. The few glimpses and rumours of the wider world we are offered suggest it is riven with medical horrors – eugenics, experiments, organ trafficking. The clones are a...
- 2/5/2011
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
When, on Dec. 30, David Sheward filed his critique of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players' production of "The Mikado," the reviewing year ended for Back Stage. During 2010, Sheward and co–head critic Erik Haagensen reported on more than 250 theater and cabaret shows and, thanks to their responsibilities as members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle and the Drama Desk, saw many other offerings they didn't review. Rather than present yet another top 10 list of the "best" shows of the year, Sheward and Haagensen decided that a publication serving actors should salute actors.What follows is each man's selection of 10 memorable performances—by five women and five men—seen in 2010. Not the "best," not the "most," not ranked in any order, simply 10 performances that were so outstanding they wanted to salute them. Ten is an arbitrary limit. Without question, there were other performances that were as memorable as these.
- 12/30/2010
- backstage.com
Harems, slavery and death by fire - all tidied up by Deborah Kerr's phoney British governess in this 1956 frock-happy toe-tapper
Director: Walter Lang
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: D+
In 1862, King Mongkut Rama IV of Siam (now Thailand) employed governess Anna Leonowens to teach English to his harem and his dozens of children.
Identity
Anna (Deborah Kerr) arrives in Bangkok, all prissy, crinolined Englishwoman abroad, complete with a nasty spoiled son in a Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit. "Sometimes I wonder if you know what you're really facing, an Englishwoman alone in a country like Siam," growls the ship's captain. True, Leonowens claimed to have been born in Wales in 1834 into an upper-middle class family. But in fact, according to a recent biography, she was born in Bombay in 1831, to a poor, widowed teenage mother of mixed British and Indian origin. She grew up entirely in India, speaking Hindi and Marathi as well as English,...
Director: Walter Lang
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: D+
In 1862, King Mongkut Rama IV of Siam (now Thailand) employed governess Anna Leonowens to teach English to his harem and his dozens of children.
Identity
Anna (Deborah Kerr) arrives in Bangkok, all prissy, crinolined Englishwoman abroad, complete with a nasty spoiled son in a Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit. "Sometimes I wonder if you know what you're really facing, an Englishwoman alone in a country like Siam," growls the ship's captain. True, Leonowens claimed to have been born in Wales in 1834 into an upper-middle class family. But in fact, according to a recent biography, she was born in Bombay in 1831, to a poor, widowed teenage mother of mixed British and Indian origin. She grew up entirely in India, speaking Hindi and Marathi as well as English,...
- 4/15/2010
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
If you're like me, and let's assume you all are, you greet the discovery of a film called Tamango with the hope that it's some kind of anagrammatic sequel to Matango: Fungus of Terror. But it's not anything of the kind, it's a solemn drama about the slave trade. Idiot.
What distinguishes the film immediately is this subject matter, which had been pretty well ignored - and please do correct me if I'm wrong - by Hollywood, with the dubious exceptions of the various versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and those ante-bellum melodramas like Gone with the Wind which tend to consign the issue of slavery to the background. And here's Tamango, a French production made in 1958, with an international cast including Curt Jurgens and Dorothy Dandridge.
...
What distinguishes the film immediately is this subject matter, which had been pretty well ignored - and please do correct me if I'm wrong - by Hollywood, with the dubious exceptions of the various versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and those ante-bellum melodramas like Gone with the Wind which tend to consign the issue of slavery to the background. And here's Tamango, a French production made in 1958, with an international cast including Curt Jurgens and Dorothy Dandridge.
...
- 3/11/2010
- MUBI
If you're like me, and let's assume you all are, you greet the discovery of a film called Tamango with the hope that it's some kind of anagrammatic sequel to Matango: Fungus of Terror. But it's not anything of the kind, it's a solemn drama about the slave trade. Idiot.
What distinguishes the film immediately is this subject matter, which had been pretty well ignored - and please do correct me if I'm wrong - by Hollywood, with the dubious exceptions of the various versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and those ante-bellum melodramas like Gone with the Wind which tend to consign the issue of slavery to the background. And here's Tamango, a French production made in 1958, with an international cast including Curt Jurgens and Dorothy Dandridge.
...
What distinguishes the film immediately is this subject matter, which had been pretty well ignored - and please do correct me if I'm wrong - by Hollywood, with the dubious exceptions of the various versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and those ante-bellum melodramas like Gone with the Wind which tend to consign the issue of slavery to the background. And here's Tamango, a French production made in 1958, with an international cast including Curt Jurgens and Dorothy Dandridge.
...
- 3/11/2010
- MUBI
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