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Search resuls for: "Glenn Kenny"


6 mentions found


In late 1984 the singer and activist Harry Belafonte was both impressed and perturbed by “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” a British charity single featuring a cast of pop stars. The proceeds from the project went to Ethiopian famine relief. Belafonte complained to the music manager Ken Kragen, “We have white folks saving Black folks and we don’t have Black folks saving Black folks.”Such was the spur for the 1985 song “We Are the World.” The creative nucleus was Black: its writers, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson; Stevie Wonder (who didn’t get a writing credit but, as relayed in the film, was invaluable to the whole creative process); and the producer-arranger Quincy Jones. How the project turned into a one-night-only superstar fest — “If a bomb lands on this place,” a droll Paul Simon quipped while surveying the room, “John Denver’s back on top” — is chronicled in “The Greatest Night in Pop,” directed by Bao Nguyen.
Persons: Harry Belafonte, , Belafonte, Ken Kragen, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, “ John Denver’s, , Bao Nguyen Locations: British
The singer June Carter Cash was born in 1929 into the Carter Family, an influential early country music group, and toured with Elvis Presley in the 1950s. She married Johnny Cash in 1968 and became part of his touring show. Archival footage of its making anchors the new documentary “June,” directed by Kristen Vaurio. The phrase that gave that album its title, “Press On,” is a neat encapsulation of June’s life philosophy. Her love story with Cash, and her perseverance as he battled addictions, is one of the most renowned in the annals of 20th-century celebrity.
Persons: Carter Cash, Carter, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Merle Kilgore, , Kristen Vaurio, Cash Organizations: Locations:
Woo’s pictures have always operated on the “pure cinema” principle. For this picture he put his prodigious staging, shooting and cutting skills to a test that won’t surprise his fans: The movie is practically free of dialogue. In his initial maniacal reaction, he’s shot in the throat by a drug dealer with slashes of black tattooed on one side of his face. The attack happens around Christmas, and once Brian emerges from a monthslong drinking binge, he shapes up, takes up arms, and marks the next Christmas on his calendar: “Kill them all.” And so it goes. Car chases, motorcycle chases, stabbings, shootings, bone-breaking.
Persons: Joel Kinnaman, Brian, he’s, Catarina Sandino Moreno, mutters, John Woo Locations: California
The premise that motors “No Hard Feelings,” a new comedy directed by Gene Stupnitsky, is, if not outright indecent, at least a little crass. Via online advertisement, Laird and Allison, megawealthy Montauk residents, are seeking an attractive woman in her early 20s to deflower their socially awkward Princeton-bound son, Percy. Taking up the offer is Jennifer Lawrence’s Maddie, a lifelong Montauker who’s increasingly resentful of the rich folk taking over her town. She’s 32 and a little too old for the gig, but she’s a knockout — as mentioned, she’s played by Lawrence — and has a canny sales pitch. Assigned to “date date” the puppy-cute but initially highly recessive 19-year-old Percy, she goes after her prey with an aggressiveness that’s initially off-putting to the lad.
Persons: Gene Stupnitsky, Laird, Allison, Percy, Jennifer Lawrence’s Maddie, who’s, she’s, Lawrence —, Maddie isn’t, that’s Locations: Montauk, Princeton
And Walls, while appealing, can’t get within striking distance of Snipes’ intensity. The script by Barris and Hall, both veterans of the television sitcom “black-ish,” does the actors no favors. The basketball action is similar to the script, that is, indifferently staged and shot. This movie not only doesn’t jump, it barely gets off the couch. White Men Can’t JumpRated R for, what else, language.
The former boxer George Foreman’s late-20th-century popularity as a television pitchman for a line of cooking products has enabled a collective amnesia. Boxing has given us many fighters who have won world champion titles more than once. But Foreman won his first heavyweight title bout in 1973. Too bad “Big George Foreman,” directed by George Tillman, Jr., is so shockingly flat. George, who can wallop like no other boxer, almost obliviously moves from strength to strength.
Total: 6