2011 NAACP Image Award Winners in Film Categories

The 42nd NAACP Image Awards ceremony was held Friday night (March 4th) at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The Image Awards celebrate and honor the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of film, television, music, and literature. The awards also honor individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors.

This honor isn’t just for African-Americans/Black people, as Latino and Asian and Asian American artists have also received awards and nominations. In fact, Sofia Vergara, the Columbia-born actress and star of ABC’s hit series, “Modern Family,” won an Image Award this year. I was unable to watch the entire awards broadcast (on FOX), so a hearty thank you to the website Current.com for their complete winners list.

42ND NAACP Image Awards Film Winners List:

Outstanding Motion Picture: “For Colored Girls”

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Denzel Washington – “The Book of Eli”

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Halle Berry – “Frankie and Alice”

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Samuel L. Jackson – “Mother and Child”

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls”

Outstanding Independent Motion Picture: “Frankie and Alice”

Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture: “Biutiful”

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television): TIE

• Mary King, Anna Waterhouse, Joe Shrapnel, Marko King, Jonathan Watters, Cheryl Edwards – “Frankie and Alice”

• Michael Elliot – “Just Wright”

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television): Tyler Perry – “For Colored Girls”

2011 NAACP Image Award Winners in Television Categories

42ND NAACP Image Awards Television Winners List:

Outstanding Comedy Series: “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”
Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: David Mann – “Meet the Browns”
Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series: Vanessa Williams – “Desperate Housewives”
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Ice Cube – “Are We There Yet?”
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Sofia Vergara – “Modern Family”
Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series: Kevin Rodney Sullivan – “Modern Family” (Game Changer)
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series: Aaron McGruder – “The Boondocks”

Outstanding Drama Series: “Grey’s Anatomy”
Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series: LL Cool J – “NCIS: Los Angeles”
Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series: Regina King – “Southland”
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Terrence Howard – “Law & Order: Los Angeles”
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: S. Epatha Merkerson – “Law & Order”
Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series: Shonda Rhimes – “Private Practice” – (Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King?)
Outstanding Directing in a Dramatic Series: Millicent Shelton – “Men of a Certain Age” (Go with the Flow)

Outstanding TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special: “Sins of the Mother”
Outstanding Actor in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special: Idris Elba – “Luther”
Outstanding Actress in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special: Jill Scott – “Sins of the Mother”

Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series: Rodney Saulsberry – “The Bold and the Beautiful”
Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series: Tatyana Ali – “The Young and the Restless”
Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special): “Unsung”
Outstanding Talk Series: “The View”
Outstanding Reality Series: “Sunday Best”
Outstanding Variety (Series or Special): “UNCF An Evening of Stars Tribute to Lionel Richie”
Outstanding Children’s Program: “True Jackson, VP”
Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children’s Program (Series or Special): Keke Palmer – “True Jackson, VP”
Outstanding Documentary (Theatrical or Television): “For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots”

2011 NAACP Image Award Winners in Music Categories

42ND NAACP Image Awards Music Winners List:

Outstanding Male Artist: Usher

Outstanding Female Artist: Mary J. Blige

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration: John Legend and The Roots

Outstanding New Artist: Willow Smith

Outstanding Jazz Album: “From Billie Holiday to Edith Piaf – Live in Marciac” – The Wynton Marsalis Quintet and Richard Galliano

Outstanding Gospel Album (Traditional or Contemporary): “You Are Not Alone” – Mavis Staples

Outstanding World Music Album: “VOCAbuLarieS” – Bobby McFerrin

Outstanding Music Video: “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)” – Alicia Keys

Outstanding Song: “Bittersweet” – Fantasia Barrino

Outstanding Album: “Wake Up!” – John Legend and The Roots

Review: "Faster" is One Angry Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Faster (2010)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, some drug use and language
DIRECTOR: George Tillman Jr.
WRITERS: Tony Gayton and Joe Gayton
PRODUCERS: Tony Gayton, Liz Glotzer, Martin Shafer, and Robert Teitel
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Grady
EDITOR: Dirk Westervelt

CRIME/ACTION

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Maggie Grace, Xander Berkeley, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Mike Epps, Moon Bloodgood, and Tom Berenger

Released during the 2010 Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Faster is a hard-boiled revenge thriller starring Dwayne Johnson (formerly The Rock). The title, “Faster,” really doesn’t fit this movie, nor does it indicate just how mean this flick is.

The day he is released from prison, a convicted bank robber, known only as “Driver” (Dwayne Johnson), hits the streets. He is on a mission to take revenge on the men who killed his brother, Gary (Matt Gerald), and got him sent to prison for 10 years. Tracking Driver are two detectives, the professional Cicero (Carla Gugino) and a burnout known as “Cop” (Billy Bog Thornton). Meanwhile, an unknown person, someone on Driver’s hit list, hires a flamboyant and egocentric hit man known as “Killer” (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) to stop Driver.

Faster is one angry movie, but while some of it is quite good, the movie mostly feels undeveloped. Director George Tillman, Jr. helms the film with what seems like a ham-fisted determination to shock the audience with each moment of violence or bloody payback. It works… sometimes. Faster is a blunt instrument that punishes the audience for its bloodlust and love of retribution. What the film lacks are those fine touches that can transform a crime film from mere action movie to hard-boiled classic. These touches include a deeper insight into the hero, a clearer adversary, and a better use of the setting, among other things.

For most of Faster, Dwayne Johnson is a huffing, puffing force of nature, so much so that you might miss the moments in this film when Johnson, without a word of dialogue, conveys so much of Driver’s pain and grief. Hiding behind the depiction of a murderous badass is a quieter portrayal of a man struggling with spiritual issues like redemption and especially forgiveness.

Faster wastes good characters in Carla Gugino’s Cicero and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s evangelist character. Billy Bob Thornton and Oliver Jackson-Cohen actually get some time to develop their characters, although Jackson-Cohen’s Killer seems out of place here.

I’ve said this many times before about many other movies (as have other critics and reviewers): Faster is good, but it could have been much more than the one-note action flick that it is.

6 of 10
B

Friday, March 04, 2011

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Oscar Nominee Diane Lane Cast as "Martha Kent" in New Superman Movie

Diane Lane Cast as Martha Kent in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ New Superman Movie

 

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced today that Oscar®-nominated actress Diane Lane will play Martha Kent, the only mother Clark Kent has ever known, in the new Superman movie to be directed by Zack Snyder.

 

Snyder stated, “This was a very important piece of casting for me because Martha Kent is the woman whose values helped shape the man we know as Superman. We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers beyond her imagination.”

Lane will star with Henry Cavill, who was recently announced as the new Clark Kent/Superman.

Lane earned an Academy Award® nomination for her performance in the 2002 drama “Unfaithful.” She most recently starred in the family hit “Secretariat.” She next stars in the HBO feature “Cinema Verite,” opposite Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini. Lane’s long list of film credits also includes “Nights in Rodanthe,” “Hollywoodland,” “Must Love Dogs,” “Under the Tuscan Sun,” “Perfect Storm,” “My Dog Skip,” “Chaplin,” “The Cotton Club” and “A Little Romance,” to name only a portion.

Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder are the producers of the film. The screenplay is being written by David S. Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Nolan. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.

Slated for release in December 2012, the new Superman movie will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Review: "Megamind" More Than Mindless Superhero Action

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Megamind (2010)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action and some language
DIRECTOR: Tom McGrath
WRITERS: Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons
PRODUCERS: Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino
EDITOR: Michael Andrews
COMPOSERS: Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer

ANIMATION/SUPERHERO/COMEDY/ACTION with elements of romance

Starring: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, Brad Pitt, J.K. Simmons, Ben Stiller, Justin Long, Bill Hader, and Amy Poehler

It is not a rousing tale of a superhero family-that-plays-together like The Incredibles. It lacks the heartwarming, cuddliness of Despicable Me. Still, Megamind, a 2010 computer-animated movie from DreamWorks Animation, is a top notch superhero movie. It takes a different path, turning the ups-and-downs of friendship, dating, relationships, and career into a movie that mixes action comedy, romantic comedy, and superheroes.

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a super-intelligent, blue-skinned alien who was sent here as a baby by his parents before their world was destroyed. Metro Man (Brad Pitt) also came to earth as a baby. Megamind grew up to be a supervillain, and Metro Man became a superhero and the defender of Metro City. Megamind and Metro Man have fought each other for years, and Metro Man always wins.

Then, one day, Megamind actually kills Metro Man. Metro City becomes Megamind’s playground, but he soon finds his life boring and pointless with a superhero to fight. Megamind creates a new superhero he names Titan (Jonah Hill), but instead of using his powers for good (and for fighting Megamind), Titan turns bad. Meanwhile, Megamind falls in love with Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey), a reporter he used to kidnap to irritate Metro Man. Now, Megamind and Roxanne have to save the city.

Not only is the animation sleek, gracefully, and colorful in Megamind, but it is also spectacular. As befitting a good superhero movie, there are big action set pieces, and the explosions, fights, and mass destruction look nearly as awesome as anything found in a Transformers movie. From a technical point of view, this film should have gotten an Academy Award nomination for animated feature film and at least sound editing.

Perhaps, what held this movie back from greater acclaim is that quite a bit of Megamind seems recycled from other films, even if those similarities were unintentional. It seems like the odd man out, especially because before Megamind debuted, movie audiences had already seen a 3D animated film about a supervillain, the aforementioned Despicable Me. While Despicable Me is a heartwarming tale of a reluctant surrogate father and three cute little girls, Megamind is actually an adult-leaning film about mid-life crisis and relationship disappointments.

Megamind rises above any faults because of its voice cast. They tackle the various comic tones of the screenplay with wit and, occasionally, with style and substance. I think Will Ferrell is a brilliant comic actor with impeccable timing. Truthfully, Megamind would be pedestrian filler material, but Ferrell’s voice performance offers so many textures and layers that add richness to Megamind the character.

Tina Fey’s sparkling, witty turn creates a winning Lois Lane-like star reporter in Roxanne Ritchi. Brad Pitt proves, as he did in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), that voice-acting for animated characters is not his thing. Jonah Hill is surprisingly good as the spurned nerd-turned-villain, and J.K. Simmons is pitch perfect as the Warden of Metro City Prison.

The advertising campaign for Megamind failed the film because it emphasized the fantastic action scenes, special effects, inventive mechanical creatures and devices, while ignoring the heart of the story. Megamind is about the search to be accepted, to belong, and to be loved. It is a Woody Allen-like take on the superhero movie, and is, in fact, much better than Allen’s recent relationship comedies.

8 of 10
A

Thursday, March 03, 2011

 

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Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock Headline New Stephen Daldry Movie

Cameras Roll on “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” as It Heads from the Page to the Big Screen

Hanks and Bullock Headline the Cast under the Direction of Stephen Daldry

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography is underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ feature film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s acclaimed novel “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.” The film stars Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks, and is being directed by Stephen Daldry (“The Reader,” “The Hours”) and produced by Scott Rudin (“The Social Network,” “True Grit”).

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” also stars Thomas Horn, making his acting debut as 11-year-old Oskar Schell, an exceptional child with an off-kilter world view and a daunting mission ahead of him.

Oskar is convinced that his father (Hanks), who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a final message for him hidden somewhere in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother (Bullock) and driven by a relentlessly active mind that refuses to believe in things that can’t be observed, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father’s closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his own loss to a greater understanding of the observable world around him.

Shooting entirely in New York, Daldry directs the film from a screenplay by Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump,” “The Insider”). Celia Costas (“Doubt,” “Closer”) serves as executive producer with Mark Roybal (“Doubt”) and Nora Skinner (“The Reader”).

Also starring in the film are James Gandolfini as Ron, a new friend of Oskar’s mom; Zoe Caldwell as the boy’s grandmother; Max von Sydow as the man renting a room from Oskar’s grandmother, who befriends Oskar and accompanies him on his quest; and Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright as a couple whose own tenuous relationship has a profound effect on Oskar.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Chris Menges (“The Mission,” “The Killing Fields”); production designer K.K. Barrett (“Where the Wild Things Are”); and costume designer Ann Roth (“The English Patient”).

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is currently scheduled for release in 2011 and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.