Currently screening at Cinema Village in New York City is London: The Modern Babylon, director Julien Temple's epic time-traveling voyage to the heart of his hometown. From musicians, writers and artists, to *dangerous* thinkers, political radicals and, above all, everyday people, the feature doc is the story of London's immigrants and how together they changed the city forever, from the start of the 20th century, to the present day. The story unfolds through film archives and voices of Londoners past and present, powered by the flow of popular music across the century. 2 more screenings remain this week on the following dates: • Thursday, June 6, 2013 at...

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Denzel Washington is in talks to star in Warner Bros' adaptation of the debut sci-fi novel by Adam Sternbergh, titled Shovel Ready. The story is set in a dystopian future and centers on a garbageman-turned-hitman who opts to instead protect a young girl he's been asked to kill - the daughter of a powerful maniacal evangelist. Sternbergh is also the culture editor of the New York Times magazine. The novel won't actually be available for sale until early 2014. Given the above description, comparisons to past Denzel Washington films like Man On Fire, as well as future Denzel Washington films like The Equalizer, abound. In both, like Shovel Ready, Denzel is paired up with a young...

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In April of 2012 I spoke with Writer/Director Ryan Coogler via Skype to Production Design his first feature "Fruitvale Station" that would be filming in the Bay Area in the summer. I was so impressed with Ryan's vision for this film and his infectious beautiful soul and spirit, before we were done talking I told him, "I want to work on this project." A few days before we spoke, after I read the script, I began to research the Bay Area, specifically where Oscar Grant grew up. I looked at everything having to do with Oscar, from the cell phone footage of the night Oscar was killed at the Fruitvale BART, the protests that took place after the verdict was announced, to the very...

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FX Networks' newest channel, FXX, which is scheduled to begin broadcasting on September 2 in more than 72 million homes, has picked up its first original series, an animated comedy about a gay white rapper, titled Chozen. In the series, our gay white rapper leaves prison with "a new message and new skills, which he will use in his quest for redemption and domination," said the network said in a press release. The new comedy will be executive produced by Danny McBride, with voice actors including Method Man, McBride, Saturday Night Live's Bobby Moynihan, and Parks and Recreation's Nick Swardson. FX President of Original Programming Nick Grad, calls Chozen, an...

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Details via press release below..."Family Matters" and "Die Hard" star, REGINALD VELJOHNSON, is heading to Baton Rouge, LA after Memorial Day weekend to start work on ANGEL'S WINGS, a heartwarming, family film directed by AARON L. WILLIAMS (Preaching to the Pastor, The Pastor's Secrets, Mama I Want to Sing). VELJOHNSON (Hart of Dixie, Mike & Molly, TRON: Uprising) plays "Coach Carter," a volunteer coach for the Angel's, a youth soccer team, who takes his "job" a bit too seriously. He joins previously announced cast members TAYLOR FAYE RUFFIN (The Chaperone, That's What I Am, Sinners and Saints), TYLER HUMPHREY (The Ledge, The Haunting in...

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CNN Films has announced that Girl Rising, the groundbreaking film directed by Academy Award nominee Richard Robbins, will debut on CNN and CNN International on Sunday, June 16 at 9pm ET. The film is the centerpiece of 10x10 - a global action campaign to educate girls around the world - and documents the extraordinary stories of girls from across the globe, fighting to overcome impossible odds to realize their dreams. In the film, each girl's story is told by celebrated writers from their individual countries. Additional narration is provided by Kerry Washington, Alicia Keys, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek, Freida Pinto,...

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After releasing 2 sneak peek clips from Being Mary Jane, BET has now unveiled the film's first full trailer, which is embedded below. Its premiere date is set for Tuesday, July 2, at 10:30pm, which I found interesting, if only because it's a feature film, so I'm assuming its feature-length, which means it's at least an hour+. Also, it's a Tuesday night; and with commercials, it could be ending around midnight, which seems a bit late. Then again, it's the week of the July 4 holiday. My take away from this is that BET likely considers it more adult fare, than some of its earlier more family-friendly programming. I'm often trying to understand who exactly BET's audience is,...

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Ok, so talk to me like I'm stupid. I could stomach the first poster (see it HERE if you haven't), but this one, I'm not so sure that I can. When I first saw it, I actually thought it was an intentionally sarcastic fan-made image. Alas, it's straight from The Weinstein Company, who'll be releasing the film on August 16. Based on all the information we have on the film (including a review of the script), none of the marketing materials I've seen for it (the trailer and the 2 posters) truly reconcile. What am I missing here, folks? I'm just really curious about the way TWC has been packaging and branding it, ahead of its release, and the message they seem to want to deliver,...

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Sundance Channel has greenlit a new original reality series exec produced by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, titled Dream School. Jackson, who will also appear on the show, will executive produce under his G-Unit Films and Television production banner. Created by Jamie Oliver, who will also executive produce, the series, according to the press release, will be a 6-part, hour long program, focusing on troubled teens who are inspired to turn their lives around. Homeless, privileged, neglected or bullied; the kids on this show all have one thing in common - they are dropouts. High school dropouts are four times as likely to be unemployed as those who have completed four years...

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In consideration of tomorrow's long-awaited theatrical opening of Geoffrey Fletcher's teen assassin thriller, Violet & Daisy (also his feature film directorial debut), for the fun of it, with your assistance, I thought I'd come up with a list of previous assassin movies starring black actors (even though Violet & Daisy doesn't star black actors). Needless to say, pickings are slim with this criteria, which speaks to the already-addressed overall lack of variety in the kinds of roles and projects that black actors are considered for (especially within the studio system). But here's what I could come up with: 1 - Forest Whitaker in Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the...

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