Monthly Archives: August 2024

Pharrell Williams

“Piece By Piece” Trailer, Images and Poster

true stories
Piece by Piece Lego movie about Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams always saw music as a portal to another dimension. He imagined wondrous swirls of sound and color that immersed him in another version of the world.

Lego Movie about Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams stars in director Morgan Neville’s PIECE BY PIECE, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

In Piece By Piece, Morgan Neville brings to life the global icon’s singular way of seeing, in vivid color, against the grain. The film opens up a new form of the cinematic experience. 

The film is Pharrell’s brainchild, and he adamantly believes that anyone can bring their dreams to life. LEGO animation tells his story, an improbable idea if audaciously original. The film deftly flits between genres to create a new animated biopic about an inimitable superstar. 

Pharrell Williams stars in director Morgan Neville’s PIECE BY PIECE, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

In the film, Pharrell tells his story in a way he never has before. He recounts his journey as a young dreamer from the projects of Virginia Beach. He wills his way to success and redefines the sounds and styles of multiple generations in hip-hop and beyond.

Pharrell Williams stars in director Morgan Neville’s PIECE BY PIECE, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

Pharrell shares this incredible journey with superstars from Jay-Z and Missy Elliott to Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar. Explore raw behind-the-scenes moments of Pharrell’s life reimagined in Neville’s cinematic vision with playfully vibrant animation.

It is a kaleidoscopic jukebox odyssey that reveals Pharrell’s inner world and some of his most iconic creations.

Other films directed by Morgan Neville:

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

They’ll Love Me When I am Dead

STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces

Ridley Scott's Napoleon

“Napoleon: The Director’s Cut” Sneak Peak, Images and Clips

Apple TV, drama

Napoleon: The Director’s Cut stars Joaquin Phoenix as the French emperor and military leader. The film is a fresh and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and swift, ruthless climb to the emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine, played by Vanessa Kirby.

Vanessa Kirby

The director’s cut delves deeper into Josephine’s origin story and features more extravagant costumes, new larger-than-life sets, and the previously unreleased Battle of Marengo scene.

The audience is also given more details about Napoleon’s demise, from his attempted assassination to his failed invasion of Russia.

from the producers of A Quiet Place

“Apartment 7A” Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Jim Sturgess

drama, horror, Paramount +, thriller, , , , , , ,

Apartment 7A is a psychological thriller directed by Natalie Erika James. It stars Julia Garner and premieres on September 27. It will be available to stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the US and select international markets. Set in 1965 New York City, the film tells the story before the legendary horror classic Rosemary’s Baby, exploring what happened in the Bramford building before Rosemary moved in.

An ambitious young dancer, Terry Gionoffrio, played by Garner, dreams of fame and fortune in New York City. However, after suffering a devastating injury, an older, wealthy couple, played by Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally, welcomes her into their home in the luxury apartment building Bramford.

The horror film delves into the uncertainties of pregnancy problems. When fellow resident and influential Broadway producer, played by Jim Sturgess, offers her another chance at fame, all her dreams are finally coming true.

While Rosemary’s Baby is considered a classic horror film dealing with adult sexuality and occult themes, Apartmet 7A follows the same path. The story taps into paranoia, oven, betrayal and rape.

However, after an evening she can’t fully remember, disturbing circumstances soon have her second-guessing the sacrifices she’s willing to make for her career as she realizes that something evil is living not only in Apartment 7A but in Bramford itself.

The additional supporting cast includes Marli Siu, Andrew Buchan, Rosy McEwen and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

La Maison a French series

“La Maison” Trailer

Apple TV, episodic, foreign, , , , , , ,
La Maison, Foriegn series

High fashion meets high stakes in this behind-the-curtain look at how an iconic fashion house is thrown into scandal and reinvention by a viral video featuring star designer Vincent Ledu, played by Lambert Wilson, leaving his family’s iconic and legendary haute couture house, LEDU, hanging by a thread.

Perle Foster, played by Amira Casar, Vincent’s former muse still in his shadow, collaborates with visionary next-generation designer Paloma Castel, played by Zita Hanrotto, to save, evolve and renew the century-old Maison LEDU. Taking advantage of Vincent’s demise, Diane Rovel, played by Carole Bouquet, the ruthless CEO of the powerful Rovel luxury group, launches an offensive to acquire what she sees as her most important prize: Maison LEDU. To achieve her goal, anything is fair game, as this is more than acquiring just another brand — it’s about revenge.

Sonic Hedgehog

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” Trailer, Images, Sizzle Reel and Poster

action, adventure, animation, based on video game, children movies, family movies, kid movies, sequels, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jim Carrey in Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic the Hedgehog, voiced by Ben Schwartz, returns, hopefully, in his most thrilling adventure yet.

Sonic, Knuckles, voiced by Idris Elba, and Tails, voiced by Colleen O’Shaughne, reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, played by Keanu Reeves, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before.

Knuckles (Idris Elba), Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 from Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, Inc.

With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping Shadow and protecting the planet.

Jim Carrey and Bob Schwartz
Jim Carrey as Ivo Robotnik and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 from Paramount Pictures and Sega of America, Inc.

In this all-star cast, Jim Carrey returns as Doctor Egg.

Jeff Fowler returns as the director. Other films he’s directed besides Sonic films:

Knuckles

The Pink Panther

Escape from Pretoria

Superman Reeve

“SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY” Trailer and Poster

documentary, true stories

Most people know the story about Christopher Reeve, who returned Superman to the silver screen.

He rose to stardom when he landed the role in the 1970s. Yet in 1995, he had a near-fatal horse-riding accident that left him completely paralyzed. Reeve spends the remainder of his life supporting the search for a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui directed the documentary, which surely will bring audiences to tears.

The lord of the rings

“The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim” Trailer and Poster

animation, based on a book, children movies, drama, family movies, fantasy, kid movies

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim follows the life and conflict of Helm Hammerhand’s time. Hammerhand is a King of Rohan.

Phoebe Gittins, Arty Papageorgiou and Jeffrey Addiss wrote the screenplay. According to Warner Bros, surprisingly, Helm Hammerhand is attacked by Wuff, an intelligent and ruthless Dunlending lord who seeks vengeance for his father’s death.

Helm and his people are forced to take a daring stand in the ancient stronghold of Hornburg, a mighty fortress that will later be known as Helm’s Deep.

Finding herself more and more in a desperate situation, Hera, the daughter of Helm, is summoned to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on the destruction of Helm and his people.

The voice actors include Miranda Otto, Brian Cox, Gaia Wise and Luke Pasqualino.

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” Starring André Holland, Andra Day

drama,

Directed by Titus Kaphar, Exhibiting Forgiveness follows Andre Holland as Tarrell, an admired American painter who lives with his wife, singer Aisha, played by Andra Day, and their young son, Jermaine.

Tarrell’s artwork excavates beauty from the anguish of his youth, keeping past wounds at bay. His path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, La’Ron, played by John Earl Jelks, a conscience-stricken man desperate to reconcile.

Tarrell’s mother, Joyce, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, a pious woman with a profound and joyful spirituality, hopes that Tarrell can open his heart to forgiveness, giving them all another chance at being a family. In this raw and profoundly moving film, Tarrell and La’Ron learn that forgetting might be a more significant challenge than forgiving.

From Kaphar’s website:

Titus Kaphar is an artist whose paintings, sculptures, and installations examine the history of representation by transforming its styles and mediums with formal innovations to emphasize the physicality and dimensionality of the canvas and materials themselves. His practice seeks to dislodge history from its status as the “past” in order to unearth its contemporary relevance. He cuts, crumples, shrouds, shreds, stitches, tars, twists, binds, erases, breaks, tears, and turns the paintings and sculptures he creates, reconfiguring them into works that reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history.

Metropolis with Adam Driver

Coppola’s “Megalopolis” Starring Adam Driver,  Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza

drama, science fiction, ,
Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola’s film explores love, power, greed, change, destiny and hope. It focuses on the obsession with perfection in a world far from flawless. The storyline follows Shakespeare’s themes, the political history of Catiline and Robert Moses’s biography of Robert Caro.

Coppola's Megaloplis
Metropolis, Coppola's latest movie

Megalopolis taps literary and historical references such as Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and the spiritual journey of Siddhartha and Greek poet Sappho.

Francis Ford Coppola wrote and directed Metropolis, a science fiction drama. Adam Driver plays Cesar Catilina, an artist whose ingenuity leaps him into a utopian, idealistic future. A genius student, he develops an innovative material called Magalon. He has plans to use it to build a utopian city called Megalopolis. But his ambitions do not go unnoticed with his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito.

Giancarlo Esposito as Mayor Cicero in Megalopolis. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

Cicero is committed to a regressive status quo that perpetuates special interests, greed and partisan warfare. As new mayor, Cicero inherits a bankrupt administration and plans to orchestrate a casino complex to boost revenue and rectify modern New York City.

Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia Cicero in Megalopolis. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

Nathalie Emmanuel plays Julia Cicero. She is romantically involved with Cesar, tearing her loyalty between her father’s scheme and Cesar’s hope for a better world. Such a rip causes a conflicting chasm, though her independent thinking may help her resolve their differences.

Cesar and Julia
Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia Cicero and Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina in Megalopolis. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

Principle photography took place in Georgia. Yet one scene showing an entrance to Ciero’s home looks like the front of Huntington Gardens Mansion.

However, the story is about a hierarchical society divided between achieving a better society and maintaining the status quo. Coppola compares the Catilinarian conspiracy to today’s America, which is at the beginning of the end.

The rest of the supporting cast includes Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D.B. Sweeney and Dustin Hoffman.

Francis Ford Coppola and Adam Driver.
Writer/Director Francis Ford Coppola and Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina in Megalopolis. Photo Credit: Phil Caruso

Familia De Medianoche

“Familia De Medianoche (Midnight Family)”

Apple TV, drama, episodic, foreign, true stories, , ,

Inspired by the award-winning documentary of the same name, “Midnight Family” follows Marigaby Tamayo, an ambitious and gifted medical student by day.

She spends her nights saving lives aboard her family’s privately owned ambulance in sprawling, contrasted, and fascinating Mexico City.

Along with her father, Ramón, and her siblings, Marcus and Julito, Marigaby serves a population of millions by tackling extreme medical emergencies to make a living.