It’s hard to believe but it seems the pandemic may be finally coming to a close, at least in the world of cinema. Nothing indicated this more so than the New York Premiere of “The Batman”.
After five long years, Sing 2 is finally here. Fans of the first Sing movie have been anticipating what was next for the franchise and Sing 2 did not disappoint. Opening to the public on December 22, 2021 Sing 2, written and directed by acclaimed returning filmmaker Garth Jennings, follows the story of Buster Moon and all of his animal performers while they get ready to take on the stage again.
Buster Moon is tasked with trying to find and persuade the world’s most reclusive rock star to join them in their performance. As Buster attempts to make this dream into a reality the audience goes through an emotional rollercoaster learning how healing the power of music can really be and how music can heal even the most broken heart. Sing 2 is sure to be a box office hit with returning all-star cast such as Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, and Nick Kroll along with additional new characters played by Pharrell Williams, Halsey, Letitia Wright, Bobby Cannavale, Nick Offerman, Eric Andre and Chelsea Peretti, and rock legend Bono. The movie also features the original song “Your Song Saved My Life” by Bono and The Edge from legendary Irish rock band U2. The song “Your Song Saved my Life” being their first project in three years. Bono making his animated film debut playing reclusive former rockstar Clay Colloway told us, “It took this movie to get me to write this song to write it out, and I’m really grateful to this film and it was fun getting in touch with my inner big cat.”
Sing 2 also features an array of new songs that combine dozens of classic rock and pop hit songs that the audience is sure to enjoy. With the all-star casts electrifying performances and Illumination’s signature humor and heart, Sing 2 is on track to be the feel-good movie of the year that the whole family can enjoy.
Check out our interviews with actors Matthew McConaughey, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Eric André, Tori Kelly, Executive Music Producer and CEO of The Recording Academy Harvey Mason Jr., and Bono and The Edge from U2 on the red carpet and don’t forget to check out our official TikTok for more behind the scenes content!
Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Jude Hill, and Ciaran Hinds attend the premiere of the Belfast movie at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California on Monday.
You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll cheer as it wins all of the trophies next award show season!
Watch the interview above.
Set in the late 1960s, Belfast is a semi-autobiographical tale from Sir Kenneth Branagh that explores the life of a/his charming working-class family during The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Belfast’s Los Angeles premiere saw most of the stars walk the red carpet with the exception of Dame Judi Dench. PS. We missed you!
Bite-size star Jude Hill plays a young Sir Kenneth Branagh in the film and walked the carpet with a beautiful mystery blonde… ok, it was his Mom but she was still beautiful and mysterious. Jude was 9 when he landed the life-changing role. He’s 11 now. A man. Jude told The Knockturnal‘s Kinsey Schofield that he was initially a little nervous to work with Kenneth but the Harry Potter star turned out to be “such a nice guy.” I can concur!
Upon mention of a recent Variety article comparing Branagh to Walt Disney, George Clooney, and Warren Beatty, the writer/director responds, “It’s beautifully insane!”
Ciaran Hinds, who is also from Belfast, discusses what he discovered about his own family tree and what it’s like to recreate someone that someone else once loved. Hinds seemed most excited for American audiences to get a peek at the Belfast movie!
Last but not least, we ask Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan what it is like to recreate someone’s life in front of them… plus we check on Jamie’s wifi situation.
YOU GET AN OSCAR, YOU GET AN OSCAR, YOU GET AN OSCAR.
Belfast is in theaters on November 12, 2021, and stars Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Jude Hill, Judi Dench, and Ciaran Hinds.
Kinsey Schofield is a contributor to The Knockturnal and you can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Dear Evan Hansen,
The cast of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film ‘Old’ hit the red carpet for the world premiere.
On Juneteenth, The Tribeca Film Festival celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the 1991 musical, The Five Heartbeats, directed by and starring Robert Townsend.
Blindspotting, co-written and co-starred by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, is part dark comedy and part poetic musical, choreographed by Jon Boogz and Lil Buck. Casal and Diggs are executive producers on the series and features Casal as not only the showrunner but also reprises his role as Miles, Ashley’s longtime boyfriend. The limited series (8 episodes) follows the critically acclaimed 2018 feature film, six months after Miles goes to jail. However, this time the narrative is heavily focused on the people who are affected by Miles’s longer-than-expected jail sentence for possession of drugs.
Ashley, his loyal and devoted longtime girlfriend, is forced to move in with his hippie, Birkenstock-wearing mother, Rainey (Helen Hunt), and Instagram baddie sister Trish (Jaylon Barron) to raise their young son Sean (Atticus Woodward). While Ashley is making ends meet by working in a boujee Chateau Marmont-esque hotel full of white privilege, Trish has a progressive sex workgroup of girls running their half-naked business in the living room.
The series is nothing short of hilarious with Candace Nicholas-Lippman as Ashley’s protective best friend and Benjamin Earl Turner as the neighbor next door negotiating with little Sean for a food truck burrito since he’s on house arrest. Blindspotting is more than a comedy as it tackles deeper issues of wealth disparity and shows the reality of the failed justice system in America. You can expect to laugh out loud and want to become more of an activist for prison reform after watching the series.
The LA premiere took place at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Sunday, June 13th, and stars Jasmine Cephas Jones (Ashley), Helen Hunt (Miles’s mom, Rainey), Jaylen Barron (Miles’ sister, Trish) were all in attendance. Jasmine Cephas Jones and Andrew Chapelle got to reunite from their last time working together on Hamilton as they play opposite of each other as friend co-workers in the series.
The 2018 film was written as a love letter to Oakland and features some of the best bay area music out there and the series is no different. Because Casal and Diggs are real friends they share real experiences growing up in the Bay and wanted to put an accurate representation of where they come from on-screen.
“The music and the culture of the bay is so beautiful and so multidimensional and complex… I think it’s been put on the map many different times by many different artists but never quite in this way so we wanted to add a little sauce to it and really just show love to so many artists and so many culture creators and innovators the bay has to offer,” said Rafael Casal.
Producer Keith Calder spoke about the underlying message of the series when talking about how important it is for stories to be told that deal with the aftermath of a loved one being locked up and what that experience is like. He also touched on how the US plays a significant factor in that corrupt prison system as it has the highest incarceration rates in the world.
“The United States has the highest incarceration rates in the world and it’s something that’s taken for granted as an unchangeable fact and we don’t believe that to be true,” said Calder. “We think that if people see the impact on not just the people inside the jail but the tens of millions of people that are indirectly affected either being a family member there or someone in the community or really the long extent of prison once you leave incarceration, too.”
The series puts a face and name to the need for change in America. Audiences who may not have empathy for drug users will hopefully walk away with a more open mindset after they fall in love with the characters in the show.
Guests from the premiere also included Oakland native, Kehlani, where she talked about her new song with T-Pain ‘I Like Dat’ which they performed on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE June 10th! Of course, Ron Cephas Jones was also there in support of his daughter’s performance on screen as well as Brandee Evans and Dascha Polanco.
If you like shows like On My Block and films like Do The Right Thing then you’ll binge Blindspotting in no time. Blindspotting is now available to stream on STARZ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCtdIC666Ec
A story of triumph, determination, and one woman’s dream for an entire community.
On Tuesday, February 4, Woman’s Day celebrated heart-health heroes at the 17th annual Red Dress Awards, held at the Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
On Monday, January 13, Lauren Yee and Jackie Sibblies Drury were honored with Steinberg Playwright Awards at the 12th Annual “Mimi” Awards, held at the Lincoln Center Theater.