The fourth in the ongoing series of the Chicago screenings of the L.A. Rebellion touring film series will continue on Thursday May 9 with a screening of Haile Gerima's powerful 1979 film Bush Mama. The film, which stars Barbara O. Jones, was made by Gerima (Sankofa, Teza, Adwa) as his thesis project when he was a graduate film student at UCLA; one of the cinematographers on the project was future film director Charles Burnett, whose film, My Brother's Wedding, was screened last week. The film deals with a young wife who increasingly becomes radicalized by the obstacles she faces when her Army veteran husband is arrested and imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. The film...

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Here's the second episode of a U.K. made dramatic web series Redemptions End which premiered a few weeks ago. (HERE) The 4-part series, which was created and executive produced by Claudius Peters, and written and directed by Daniel Rusteau, tells the grisly story about group of friends, desperate for money, who steal dead bodies to sell on the black market. And, needless to say, things go very wrong The cast for the series includes creator Peters, James Wardell, Rowan Clift, Daniel Ahmadi, Belinda Fenty and Gershwyn Eustache Jr. who are all experienced stage and TV actors.Here is Episode Two:

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I keep saying that eventually people will tire of comic book super hero movies and will long for more adult movies again about people interacting with people, and I keep getting proved wrong. The latest evidence that I don't know what I'm talking about is Iron Man 3, which opened to a stunning $175 million domestically with a worldwide total to date of $680 million. And the film has only been out for just over a week. How far can it go? But there are films that are also making money as well. 42 is still holding on strong, coming, as it did last week, in third place and still easily looks headed for an eventual gross of $90-100 million. Not exactly Iron Man figures...

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As Lionsgate prepares its new comedy Peeples for wide release on May 10, the entire ensemble cast opened up about making the film, what we can expect to see, and some of the memorable moments that happened on set. To recap the plot, Craig Robinson stars in the film as Wade Walker, an average guy hoping to propose to his perfectionist, Type A girlfriend (Kerry Washington), who decides to crash her family's weekend in the Hamptons and is met with the challenge of cozying up to her overachieving family. The Peeples clan is rounded out by Judge and Mrs. Peeples, played by David Alan Grier and S. Epatha Merkerson, Kali Hawk and Tyler James Williams as the Peeples siblings, and Wade's...

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I learned that Zach Braff, who, as you all know, launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $2 million to shoot an indie feature film, actually contributed to a campaign that I've pushed heavily here on S&A - the Freedom Fighters documentary project about exonerated black men who band together to form a detective agency to investigate cases of other men behind bars, claiming to have been falsely imprisoned. Not that I'm implying that Zach learned about the project from S&A, but I was glad to see that he'd contributed to the campaign, which, by the way, still needs another $8,000 to reach its goal, with 6 days left. But not only did Zach contribute,...

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Dayo Okeniyi (Thresh in The Hunger Games) is in negotiations to star opposite Alex Pettyfer and Gabriella Wilde in Universal's Endless Love. Said to be a big role in the film, Okeniyi will play Pettyfer's best friend - the BBF lives - who's described as "mischievous and a daredevil," in a story about teens caught up in a love triangle that becomes dark and disastrous. Maybe he's one third of that love triangle with Pettyfer and Wilde?? Directing the film is Shana Feste, with Scott Stuber and Pam Abdy of Bluegrass Films and Josh Schwartzand Stephanie Savage of Fake Empire are producing. J. Miles...

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Even though I spent the first 9 years of my life in Nigeria, Yoruba isn't a language I can claim to understand (my mother is Igbo, so is this were an Igbo translation, I might have been of much better use here). But I thought this was interesting enough to share... There are Nigerian movies made in Yoruba that are subtitled in English, but it's not very often that I see an American movie dubbed in Yoruba. Then again, I'm never looking specifically for them... until now anyway; because this did make me curious enough to research American movies dubbed in Yoruba. But I didn't immediately find anything online. I'll keep digging though. I'm told that some enterprising young men...

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I'm actually humored by all the international attention Nollywood has received in recent years - an industry that's been around for almost 3 decades, as the rest of the world catches up to it. I'm working on a round-table discussion with Nigerian filmmakers for S&A; it's just a matter of getting them all together at a time that works for all of us, considering the differing time zones (some are in Nigeria; in the UK; the USA - Los Angeles & New York; South Africa). But it's about time I did something like that, presenting the past, present and future of the industry, from the firsthand experiences of those who have been, and continue to be on the front-lines, so to speak -...

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There's a reason Marvel kicked things off with "Iron Man," and that's Tony Stark.When this franchise started, Marvel made the best decision they could have: they gave Robert Downey Jr. another shot at the big leagues (not to mention inspired directing choices in Kenneth Branagh for "Thor," Shane Black here, and James Gunn for the upcoming "Guardians of the Galaxy"). Downey Jr. is brimming with personality. Tony Stark has a personality. Steve Rogers is a bland poster boy for patriotism. Thor is always saying things like, "I will return," and if we laugh, we normally laugh at him, not with him. Bruce Banner has some personality every once in a while, but he spends a good deal of his time as a...

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Despite what might have seemed like a less than typical/expected domestic response to MIB3 last summer (it made about $260 million less than the first; and about $100 million less than the second - adjusted for inflation), the film still managed a worldwide gross of over $624 million! Keeping inline with the changing times, the bulk of its box office (more than 70%) came from overseas. It helps when you have an international superstar like Will Smith, and a known brand. So maybe then it shouldn't be a surprise that a 4th Men In Black movie has be greenlit by Sony Pictures, with Oren Uziel (a relative newbie, according to his IMDB page) tapped to pen the script. Said to be in its early...

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