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24 May

When Rock and Soul Royalty Came Together for Angela Davis

New DVD release, , ,
1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything highlights the almost psychic rapport between radicals and radical thinking musicians. One activist brought together the Queen of Soul and the top royalty of British Rock. The documentary points out how Aretha Franklin offered to post bail for Angela Davis, but the former philosophy professor also drew in support from The Rolling Stones, former Beatle John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and by extension, Bob Dylan. Angela Davis was born to encourage free thought. The neighborhood where she grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, was called “Dynamite Hill,” because the Ku Klux Klan tried to…
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05 May

Jupiter’s Legacy: Tenika Davis and the Power of The Flare II

Netflix, New DVD release, , , , ,
This article is presented by: There isn’t much known about Petra Small on Jupiter’s Legacy beyond the fact that her superhero alter ego is the Flare II, but thankfully we do know something about the woman who plays her, Canadian actress Tenika Davis.  She got her start as a competitor on the 2006 edition of the reality show Canada’s Next Top Model, where she came in sixth place. This opened the door for her, giving her the opportunity guest star on TV shows like The Listener, Skins, Lost Girl,and Space Janitors, but star in the Degrassi Goes Hollywood TV movie,…
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18 Dec

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Review: Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman Bring Fire to Blues

Netflix, New DVD release, , , , , ,
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a powerful, slow-building, jangling film that’s full of life. It may feel loose, but from the script to the cast, there’s not an ounce of fat on it. When the time comes, it delivers a brutal gut-punch, and then one more for the road. Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis take up all the oxygen every time they’re in the room, which makes the anticipation of their eventual showdown feel breathless. In sweltering 1927 Chicago, the legendary “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) is in town to record an album; her panic-y white manager…
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16 Dec

How Viola Davis Became A Blues Legend in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

New DVD release, , , , , ,
Premiering on Netflix this week, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a film adaptation of the award-winning 1982 play of the same name by August Wilson. The stage version was part of Wilson’s 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle, which acted as a chronicle the African American experience in the 20th century. And in the Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom portion of that cycle, events take place over the course of a single recording session in 1920s Chicago. There a fictionalized version of real-life blues singer Ma Rainey (played in the film by Viola Davis) and the members of her band–including the ambitious and hot-headed…
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19 Nov

Happiest Season Review: Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis Make Christmas Classic

New DVD release, , , , , ,
As we approach Thanksgiving, television is already firmly entrenched in the holiday movie season: Hallmark and Lifetime have begun rolling out their dozens of cookie-cutter Christmas love stories starring city gals, country men, and interchangeable plot elements involving saving small towns or romancing royalty. What a relief, then, that Clea DuVall’s Christmas rom-com Happiest Season instantly and effortlessly breaks that mold while simultaneously being the kind of sweet, poignant, funny film you’ll want to rewatch every December. Having wrapped production mere weeks before the coronavirus lockdown at the start of 2020, Happiest Season is the first studio-backed (Sony’s TriStar Pictures)…
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10 Aug

Tron 3 Back in the Works with Director Garth Davis

New DVD release, , ,
Tron 3 is about to emerge from its imprisonment in the proverbial Grid of Disney’s backlog, as evidenced by the Mouse House’s appointment of a director. Garth Davis is now set to direct the long-gestating untitled third film in the Tron franchise, reports Deadline. Davis, an emerging talent known for indie dramas, most recently directed the 2018 Rooney Mara-starring Biblical epic, Mary Magdalene, and the Oscar-nominated 2016 Dev Patel-starring biographical piece, Lion, along with television runs with Top of the Lake (for which he shared an Emmy nod,) and Love My Way. While the status of the script is not…
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26 Aug

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

Max SchindlerMovie reviews, ,
Miles Davis: Horn player, bandleader, innovator. Miles Davis was a singular force of nature, the very embodiment of cool. The central theme of his life, and of this film is Davis' restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms. This documentary feature explores archival photos and home movies shot by Miles and his colleagues, his manuscripts and Miles' original paintings, to explore the man behind the music.Rated: Not RatedRelease Date: Aug 23, 2019
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27 Sep

Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives

Max SchindlerMovie reviews, , ,
Documentarian Chris Perkel catalogues the life and successes of iconic music executive Clive Davis, from his miraculous start at Columbia Records through his trailblazing work at Arista Records and J Records, with a heavy dose of outstanding music sprinkled in between. More than mere biography, The Soundtrack of Our Lives is a guided tour of cultural revolution from the ?60s to the rise of hip- hop, led by a man who consistently caught the next wave before everyone else?if he didn?t just create the wave himself. [Apple Music]Rated: Not RatedRelease Date: Sep 27, 2017
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DVD Guide reviews current dvd releases of movies and TV shows. The reviews of these dvd releases are my thoughts and understandings of the movie, dvd releases or TV show and not be taken as fact.

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