“The Great Debaters” is coming out on the shelves May 13^th!!!

I have a copy to giveaway!!! Please post your name; I will draw the winner Wednesday. You don’t want to miss this movie - it is inspirational to the core.

“The Great Debaters” is a wonderful and provoking film written beautifully by Robert Eisele and directed very tightly by Denzel Washington who plays the lead role.

This film sets forth the traditional values and dignity the American spirit needs, once again. Even though it’s a historical story, it has everything to do with society today.

Eisele wrote the spirit of this film and Washington brought it to life with some very young and talented actors (Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, Denzel Whitaker.)

Forest Whitaker also stars making this the first film were two black Oscar winners star in the same movie.

As a side note:  I had a chance to interview Robert Eisele about writing the script for “Debaters” and working with Washington.  Eisele spoke very highly of Washington’s ability to take the character to another depth, something you can only understand by watching him work on the set.

I must acknowlege Oprah Windrey for producing this film!!!

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According to Hollywood Reporter, Ron Perlman is set to play the bad guy in a hybrid martial arts movie “Bunraku,” which Guy Moshe is directing from his own script.

Japanese actors Gackt and Shun Sugata also have been cast in the international-flavored movie, which features Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Scottish actor Kevin McKidd and Spanish actor Jordi Molla. Now, that is a mixure!

The film is set in a hyperstylized universe a la “Sin City” and draws from a mixed bag of genres, including puppets, origami, comic books, video games and German expressionism. It follows a drifter (Hartnett) who teams with a samurai (Gackt) to take on an Eastern European gang lord, played by Perlman (”Hellboy”).

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Okay, Transformers 2, that makes sense. Iron Man 2 does as well. But Donnie Darko 2?!?

For those who haven’t seen it, Donnie Darko is a strange little indie film, written and directed by newcomer Richard Kelly, and starring Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was a mix of sci-fi and teen drama, about a teenager who is visited by a giant rabbit-creature who guides him out of his house before a jet crashes into it. It didn’t particularly do well in theatres, but it became quite the success story on DVD, making it a cult classic. And for some reason, the powers that be see fit to make a sequel.

Screen Daily reported that S. Darko is already in production. It follows Donnie’s younger sister, Samantha (played by Daviegh Chase in both films), 7 years after the events of the first film. On a road trip to LA she starts having bizarre visions.

It doesn’t help that the sequel is being directed by Chris Fisher, whose three films, Nightstalker, Dirty, and Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders, were neither critical nor commercial successes. In fact, they were quite the opposite.

Richard Kelly is reported to have no participation in the film, and I can understand why. Donnie Darko was a nice little self-enclosed film about coming to terms with one’s place in life, and death. It’s not the kind of film that warrents more. Indeed, Kelly went on to make a director’s cut of the film, which to me felt inferior to the original, adding unnecessary elements to the enigmatic tale. So in light of that, here’s a few other pointless sequels we’ree probably be hearing about shortly:

No Country for Hit Men- If you thought No Country for Old Men was about the omnipresence of violence in human society, as a force that is beyond our control or comprehension, think again. Sherrif Bell is back on the job, for one last case. Chigurrh is back, and this time Bell’s gonna settle the score.

There Will Be No More Blood- A moving melodrama about Daniel Plainview’s attempt to deal with his problems, and try to get through each day without killing someone.

Control 2: The Eternal- If you thought the biopic of Ian Curtis ended with his suicide, think again. Raised from the dead, Curtis infiltrates the seedy world of New Wave by posing as New Order’s roadie, in an attempt to save the world from drugs and hair-spray. The villain is played Martin Kemp.

United 94- The terrorists are back. But this time, The Rock is ready for them….

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 “W,” the Oliver Stone-directed drama about the life and formative years of President Bush has been set for release on Oct. 17, giving the picture three weekends in theaters before the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Shooting begins May 12 Monday in Louisiana.

Josh Brolin stars as the title character, and the cast includes Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), James Cromwell (George H.W. Bush), Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Bush), Thandie Newton (Condoleezza Rice), Jeffrey Wright (Colin Powell), Scott Glenn (Donald Rumsfeld) and Ioan Gruffudd (Tony Blair). No one is set for Vice President Dick Cheney.

“We don’t really know much about Mr. Bush beyond the controlled images we’ve been allowed to see on TV. This movie’s taking a bold stab at looking behind that curtain,” Stone said in a statement about the release date.

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Samuel L. Jackson thriller “Unthinkable” with Gregor Jordan (”The Informers”) attached to direct is set for production Sept. 2 in Michigan.

The film’s plot focuses on a major threat to the United States when the locations of three nuclear devices are shrouded in secrecy by a single terrorist. With only two days before they are deployed, a black-ops interrogator and a female FBI agent have to decide how far they will go to find them.

Jordan recently completed production on “The Informers,” starring Kim Basinger, Billy Bob Thornton, Winona Ryder and Mickey Rourke. That film will be released later this year.

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Parker Posey (”Superman Returns”) and Johnny Knoxville (”The Dukes of Hazzard”) are set to star in John Waters’ Christmas film “Fruitcake.”

The story sounds a bit farfetched or over the top. 

Reported by the Hollywood Reporter, the plot is officially under wraps but is said to center on the title character, a boy named after his favorite dessert. He runs away from home during the holidays after he and his parents are caught shoplifting meat, and then meets up with a runaway girl raised by two gay men and searching for her birth mother.

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Nancy Meyers will write and direct her next film at Universal. The untitled romantic comedy is set for big parts - a woman and two men - following a long-term relationship.

Meyers made her last two films — “Something’s Gotta Give” and “The Holiday” at Columbia.

According to Variety, Meyers said she will complete the script by August.

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 ”Queen of the South,” a Jonathan Jakubowicz’s drug-trafficking drama, is set with the major roles filled: Eva Mendes, Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley.

The film is based on Spanish writer Arturo Perez-Reverte’s novel about a Mexican woman turned Spanish drug lord (Mendes) out to avenge her boyfriend’s murder. Hartnett plays a Marine who gets involved in her business, and Kingsley plays a Russian businessman, according to Hollywood Reporter.

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Appropriately, it has been ten years since I discovered Joy Division. Having read an appealing article about them in a newspaper, I took the risk and, during a school trip abroad, forked out whatever amount of francs in the Louvre’s music store for a copy of Unknown Pleasures, with its enigmatic yet enticing cover. Popping the CD in my player, I was suddenly immersed in a world never experienced before. Within the first few seconds of ’Disorder’, its steady but muted beat, robotic yet somehow human, the strange bass tune and spiky guitars, combined with dark and profound vocals, I knew Joy Division were something special. Most people know them by their song Love Will Tear Us Apart, which was abused in a Heinekan ad a few years ago. But the band were much more, an almost literary lyricism combined with a sound that felt entirely unique. It was a sound that lasted only briefly, for the lead singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide at the age of 23.

Joy Division have been depicted twice in cinema already. Firstly, in 2002’s 24-Hour Party People, which was a playful biopic of pretentious broadcaster and music label owner Tony Wilson. Then, last saw a film about Curtis, called Control, which received much critical acclaim. And now, we see a seemingly definitive documentary on the band being released (briefly in UK cinemas, and then on DVD in the US in June), also called Joy Division.

Directed by Grant Gee, who has directed several music videos, as well as the Radiohead documentary Meeting People is Easy, the documentary conducts intimate interviews with most of the keys players in the band’s history. Band members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris are all present. You’d think that after so many years of the band’s legacy, the remaining members would be tired of retelling the same stories. Yet there’s still times when the sadness breaks through. Read on »

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“Peacock” has an all-star cast to gush over: Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman, Josh Lucas, Cillian Murphy and Ellen Page.

The psychological thriller takes place in a small town, where a quiet bank clerk’s (Murphy) life is shattered by a train crashing into his back yard revealing a woman living there.

Michael Lander is set to direct with a script he co-wrote together with Ryan Roy.

According to Variety, Sarandon stars in Warner Bros.’ upcoming “Speed Racer” and was most recently seen in Disney’s “Enchanted.”

Pullman starred in the Sundance film “Phoebe in Wonderland” and “Bottle Shock.” He also will be seen in Jennifer Lynch’s “Surveillance,” which will bow in Cannes this month.

Lucas is in production on Michael Cuesta’s “Tell-Tale” and next can be seen in Boaz Yakin’s “Death in Love.” His production company, Two Bridges, recently wrapped “The Boy in the Box,” in which he plays the single father of a mentally challenged boy.

With this cast “Peacock” looks very promising.

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