When asking talented Director Abi Damaris Corbin about what drew her interest in creating the vision for this specific true story feature in the movie “Breaking”, she gave a compassionate and personal response – “it was a transformative thing for me to write and be a part of too, because I gained a greater level of empathy for my dad.”
Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown are brilliant in the satirical comedy, HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL about the Church, faith, extreme abundance, sexuality, and more topics that often go unaddressed.
Ella Dixon stars alongside McKenna Grace in the upcoming film The Bad Seed Returns, which premieres on Lifetime on September 5.
It’s safe to describe Ronald Bronstein as the Safdie Brothers’ secret weapon.
Although Owen Wilson, Jesse Williams, and Michael Peña were among the very few adults in this film, young actors Walker Scobell and Momona Tamada stole the show.
The Territory brings an indigenous voice to the digital age, to document an ancient and dire conflict. Released by National Geographic and directed by Alex Pritz, the film was shot in concert with an Uru-eu-wau-wau film team. The Uru-eu-wau-wau have been using the technology to document the illegal logging, mining, and theft of their land. They were first contacted in 1981 and disease decimated their population. The situation in the Amazon mirrors the American west a few generations ago. The Uru-eu-wau-wau number 183 and their film crews patrol a territory triple the size of Delaware.
On the banks of the river, the film group forms a circle before they go on patrol. They all wear matching shirts with the word Vigilancia written in yellow. 18 year old Bitate says they are experiencing the same struggle their ancestors did, but now they have different tools. Along with bows and arrows, they prepare cell phones, cameras, and drones. The film is worth watching if only to see a group of teenage natives in screen printed T-shirts and war paint arrest an intruder at arrow point, tell him he needs a face mask, spray his hands with hand-sanitizer, and vlog it.
Producer Gabriel Uchida told the panel that he was drawn to the film while trying to make a project about war. The Territory documents a war that indigenous teenagers have been forced into. With the help of the digital age, they’re fighting with control over their narratives. When Bitate spoke on the panel, the translator used the word strengthen when Bitate described how filmmaking would help his tribe.
The visuals are a welcome reminder of what National Geographic does best. The shapes and colors of the rainforest are as captivating as ever. The documentary also relies on interviews with those who are slowly destroying the Amazon. Intrepid farmers, surrounded by burnt trees, calmly stake their claim to the land in quasi religious terms. It might seem odd that the documentary got access to the same group they’re exposing. Alex Pritz explained that it was easy to speak with the farmers if you were American. Their belt buckles and cowboy hats communicate a clear admiration for the American colonial project.
Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been touted as a Latin American Trump. At the beginning of the film Bitate watches a campaign speech where he tells an enthused audience, “There won’t be one more inch of indigenous reservation.” The Uru-eu-wau-wau territory is located in Rondonia, where he received almost 80% of the vote. Many Brazilian activists have been murdered during his presidency. The film documents a threat against the daughter of Nedinha, an activist and another protagonist. Nedinhia is a fierce defender of the Amazon. Along with Bitate, Alex, and indigenous activist Txai, she spoke on the panel after the film. She explained that Uru-eu-wau-wau territory was not just another random swath of jungle. Their territory hosts over 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Protecting the Amazon is a matter of protecting our planet.
The Great Wolf Lodge resorts take it up a notch by debuting a new feature animated film in their theme parks!
Take the film ‘Jaws’, combine it with the ‘The Lion King‘, add a stellar cast starring the amazing Idris Elba, and you’ve got one ‘Beast’ of a movie!
Aubrey Plaza stars in “Emily the Criminal,” a movie in the made-for-millennials genre of student debt crime thriller.
Saddled with debt from an unfinished degree, Plaza’s character Emily turns to a credit card fraud scheme and falls into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. There, she meets enchanting fraudster Youcef, played by Theo Rossi.
For Rossi, crippling debt hits close to home. “I didn’t get out of student debt until I got ‘Sons of Anarchy,’” he told the Knockturnal at a screening from Rooftop Films at New Design High School. He said that if he didn’t land the role in FX’s hit biker gang saga he may never have settled his debts. Being mired in student loans is an all too common predicament, which leads the film’s main character to desperate situations. “When people’s backs are against the wall things might go down,” said Rossi.
First time feature director John Patton Ford, too, found himself in this predicament. “It’s not exactly my story. But I understood it. I feel like I was authorized to tell it. I lived enough of this to tell it with authenticity. I understood the central character in a deep, authentic way,” Ford told the Knockturnal.
In a pre-screening Q&A, Ford said while he wasn’t involved in a credit card racket himself, he did have secondhand contact. He said, “One day I was reading the LA times and there was this giant expose about this FBI bust. And I was like, ‘Oh wow these are the people in my neighborhood. Oh this is on my street. Oh this is the guy that’s next door to me. This is the guy I fight for parking spaces with.’”
Plaza also talked about her student debt during the Q&A. She said she had to work multiple jobs to pay for school. As for the criminal element of making ends meet: “I was around stuff. I’m not going to say what,” she said to a laughing audience.
“Emily the Criminal” is currently in theaters.
Netflix’s “Day Shift” Movie is now streaming! The cast includes the talented and hilarious leading actors, Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, Dave Franco, and Meagan Good.