‘Is That Black Enough For You?!?’ Review: Elvis Mitchell’s Doc Is An Imperative Guide Through Blaxploitation [NYFF]

EXCLUSIVE: In the splashiest launch of the AFM so far, Guy Ritchie and Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer have enlisted Superman Henry Cavill and Baby Driver star Eiza González to lead their World War II action spy movie The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which Black Bear International has arranged financing on and is launching for world sales.

Middle East’s MBC Strikes Wide-Ranging Deal With Turkey’s Medyapim & Ay Yapim; ‘Doctor Foster’ Remake Deal With The BBC

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi-owned MBC Group, which is the top broadcaster in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has forged a five-year partnership with Turkish TV production powerhouses Medyapim and Ay Yapim, officially ending a ban on Turkish soaps that had been put in place in 2018. MBC, which is the top satellite free-to-air player in the Middle East and North Africa, and also a major MENA region premium streamer, in 2018 had pulled highly popular Turkish dramas from its channels, allegedly for political reasons stemming from tensions at that time between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The move was also believed to have been made to give greater impetus to local production. Since then, several Turkish shows had gradually seeped back into MBC programming. But this deal signals a complete policy reversal.

BBC EastEnders' actress Emma Barton, who plays Honey Mitchell in the soap, is set to appear in a magical new role. Emma, 45, can be seen dressed in a sparkling ballgown as she prepares to star in panto this Christmas.The actress looked stunning in the promotional shot for the stage production of Beauty and the Beast.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic In “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” Elvis Mitchell’s highly pleasurable and eye-opening movie-love documentary about the American Black cinema revolution of the late ’60s and ’70s, Billy Dee Williams, now 85 but still spry, tells a funny story about what it was like to play Louis McKay, the dapper love object and would-be savior of Billie Holiday in “Lady Sings the Blues.” The year was 1972, and African-American audiences had rarely (if ever) been given the chance to gawk at a movie star of color who was not just this sexy but this showcased for his sexiness. Louis was like Clark Gable with a dash of Marvin Gaye; when he was on that promenade stairway, Williams says that he just about fell in love with himself. That’s how unprecedented the whole thing was. The actor recalls how the lighting was fussed over (we see a shot in which Louis appears bathed in an old-movie glow), and how unreal that was to him on the set. At the time, Black actors didn’t get lighting like that. But Black audiences drank it in with a better-late-than-never swoon, even as they knew that this was a representation they’d been denied for more than half a century.

For over two decades, Elvis Mitchell, a film critic for LA Weekly and The New York Times, has wanted to put Blaxploitation in its proper historical place. While the results of his desire would prototypically arrive from Mitchell in the form of a book, sadly, those plans went for naught.

For a film that might initially come across as a glorified advertisement, with executive producers Dwayne Wade and LeBron James, in addition to the backing of NBA entertainment, Netflix’s “The Redeem Team” — about the 2008 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team — doesn’t have any business being as good as it actually is.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Although a news report went out Friday morning — and then was pulled — that Joni Mitchell had died, the story was published in error, and the singer-songwriter remains alive and well. “I can confirm all is well so this was done in error,” says a representative for Rhino, which is involved with Mitchell in an ongoing reissue series of her catalog material. The faux report went out from People magazine, with tell-tale signs of a “pre-write” obituary that was published accidentally — every major news organization’s worst nightmare. “Joni Mitchell Dies at TK AGE,” read the headline that was seen on the magazine’s website as well as in a tweet, the “TK” meaning “to come” in journalistic parlance. The story itself also included editorial notes indicating details that needed to be filled in.

“One decade answered the question: what happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun, or does it explode?” That’s film critic, now filmmaker Elvis Mitchell narrating in his new documentary “Is That Black Enough For You?!?” Mitchell’s new doc, executive produced by David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh, centers on the 1970s Black film revolution and the rise of Blaxploitation in that decade. Continue reading ‘Is That Black Enough For You?!?’ Trailer: Samuel L.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Whoopi Goldberg and Zendaya are just some of the stars who appear in Elvis Mitchell’s “Is That Black Enough for You?” Netflix documentary. Mitchell’s doc bows this weekend at the New York Film Festival. Mitchell, a film critic who has written for LA Weekly and The New York Times takes on the role of writer, director and narrator as he traces the history of Black representation in cinema. The documentary examines Black cultural achievement in the 1960s and ’70s and debunks the notion that Black cinema in that period only meant Blaxploitation films.

“He’s not only who he is at home,” the friend of a Korean filmmaker tells the director’s daughter in Hong Sang-soo’s latest film. But “who he is at home” is at the heart of what “Walk Up” is all about.

The gifts from this birthday party 60 years ago just keep on coming.Marilyn Monroe’s sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday” during a gala celebrating President John F. Kennedy’s 45th birthday at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962, was followed by an exclusive afterparty at the East 69th Street townhouse of then-Democratic National Committee co-chairman Arthur Krim and his wife, Dr.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In what is expected to be a surefire hit, Buendia Estudios revealed an upcoming TV series adaptation of Antonio Gala’s erotic novel, “La Pasion Turca.” The popular novel was last adapted into a hit feature film in 1994 with the late Vicente Aranda directing and Andres Vicente Gomez of Lolafilms producing. It starred singer-actress Ana Belen in what is considered her most successful film. Buendia Estudios’ director general Ignacio Corrales and editorial director Sonia Martínez jointly announced the new project at the 2nd edition of the Iberseries & Platino Industria television event in Madrid. The new six-episode series set to air on Spanish free-to-air channel Antena 3 and streamer AtresPlayer Premium will start shooting by the end of October in Turkey for seven weeks before moving to Madrid. The cast will be made up of Spanish, Turkish and Italian talent.