Directed by Sean Penn, Flag Day follows Jennifer Vogel, played by Dylan Penn, who comes to terms with her larger-than-life father. As a child, Jennifer marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure.
Yes. Dylan is Sean’s real-life daughter, which makes the production intriguing. She is a celebrity model whose international talent is huge.
Jennifer’s father taught her much about love and joy, but he also was the most notorious counterfeiter in US history. Based on a true story, Flag Day is an intimate family portrait of a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of her past. At the same time, she reconciles the inescapable bond between a daughter and her father.
At the heart of the movie is a love story between a father and daughter. Sean Penn describes it, “a complicated one.” It is a story of one woman’s pursuit to find truth in her life after growing up in the shadow of her father’s criminality. We see the bonds of family ebb and flow with each truthful revelation and each destructive lie. This father-daughter story serves as a metaphor for a country that often cannot live up to its highest ideals.
A country that doesn’t follow through on its promises. Stoic imagery of flags waving and fireworks give way to darkened windows, disguises and eventually handcuffs and jail cells. Ultimately, it is a story of perseverance, of truth, and learning who you are in the shadow of someone else. It is a story of uncovering memories and examining those memories from a raw and vulnerable place.
The movie includes an impressive cast Josh Brolin, Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Bailey Noble, Hopper Jack Penn and Katheryn Winnick.
Directed by Michael Showalter, The Eyes of Tammy Faye takes an intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, played by Jessica Chastain.
In the 1970s and 80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker, played by Andrew Garfield, rose from humble beginnings to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and theme park. The public revered their message of love, acceptance and prosperity.
Tammy Faye was legendary for her indelible eyelashes, her idiosyncratic singing, and her eagerness to embrace people from all walks of life. However, it wasn’t long before financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and scandal toppled their carefully constructed empire.
With these two powerhouse actors, we are going to see some fine acting, but we already know the storyline.
Jessica Chastain does meticulous preparation and research when developing characters, and becoming Tammy Faye was no different. She studied Tammy Faye Bakker for seven years, memorizing all of her mannerisms and vocal inflections from the hours of tape she watched.
Impressed, Michael Showalter says, “Her bar is very high, her level of dedication, perfectionism and preparedness. The level of the performance, the depths that she’s willing to go to. It’s amazing to work with an actor like that because they give so much.”
Building a character based on a well-known public figure is always a challenge, but Chastain’s biggest hurdle was overcoming how other people perceived Tammy Faye. “I spent years looking at footage of her and never once saw mascara running down her face,” said Chastain. “Tammy Faye was nothing like the caricature the media fed off of. She was the ordained minister Jim wasn’t. She preached acceptance and compassion and meant it, and that’s what we wanted people to see in this film. When everyone turned their backs on people with HIV and AIDS, she invited a high-profile gay pastor who had AIDS to be on her show. She also hosted Praise The Lord network shows all day long, wrote four books and released twenty-four albums. She never got paid for any of it. She gave her money back to the church.”
Chastain had been in close touch with Tammy Faye’s children before and during production. Tammy Faye’s daughter, Tammy Sue, and her two children traveled to set for the pivotal interview scene with HIV/AIDS activist Steve Pieters, played by actor Randy Havens, a gay minister who candidly spoke with Tammy about his illness, coming out and losing his partner. By the end of the shoot, family members were in tears, stunned and moved by the emotion the scene evoked. Bailey and Barbato also recognized the significance of her contribution to the LGBTQIA community, saying, “Homosexuality has often been demonized by the Christian community. At a time when people shrank from HIV and AIDS, Tammy was having none of it. She didn’t believe in labeling people. She understood the power of the camera to look into the eyes of people far and wide and share the truth.”
Playing a singer was another test for Chastain, whose previous musical experience only included college experience. Drawing inspiration from Tammy Faye, she dove right into an area outside of her comfort zone. “She was never embarrassed,” the actress added. “People were drawn to her because she was unique. She used her platform to advocate for a celebration of our differences and knowing that made it easier for me to perform.” It inspired Andrew Garfield in his role as Jim as well. “Tammy is so rooted into Jessica’s heart, and that’s an amazing place to come from. You follow her into the fray because of that; because she’s so passionate and devoted.”
“I won’t go forward looking in the rearview mirror of my life.” – Tammy Faye Bakker
Chastain and Garfield connected before shooting and began sending each other articles and videos about the Bakkers, but their commitment to building the characters’ relationship didn’t stop there. “Once we got to Charlotte, North Carolina, we would go to church every Sunday at Heritage USA,” Chastain recalled. “It became a weekly thing. We saw people that we recognized from watching the documentaries who had worked with Jim and Tammy. They were generous in giving us their insight. It was an incredible and inspiring way to start the work week.”
Being from the UK, Garfield wasn’t initially familiar with Bakker’s story, so he had a fresh perspective on the couple. “I knew that Tammy Faye was an icon in the LGBTQ community, but I didn’t know anything else,” said Garfield. “It’s a very American story, even the evangelical movement is a very American movement.”
Spirituality had always captivated Garfield and how ego and money can bastardize nearly every spiritual movement. Jim initially met Tammy Faye at North Central Bible College after leaving behind a “sinful” life as a rock’n’roll-loving DJ and devoted himself to serving Christ. Later on, when he and Tammy Faye founded Praise The Lord (PTL), the world’s largest religious broadcasting network, their success and wealth twisted Jim’s perception of his own faith. While researching Jim’s decline, it struck Garfield how many preachers equated God’s love with material wealth instead of redemption in the afterlife.
“Jim’s actually a very complicated person,” says Garfield. “I found it easy to fall in love with him. What he and Tammy did was really radical. They created a wild alternative to other Christian broadcasting of the time. They had a longing to heal people. Instead of waiting for joy in heaven, they advocated for happiness in the here and now. His downfall was that he lost sight of all of that, and I found his fallibility fascinating.”
Showalter also recognized the importance of portraying Jim Bakker in a more nuanced way. “Andrew really found humanity to Jim Bakker and… really forced us all to see Jim, not just as a two-dimensional character… we could have gone down that path, and I’m so glad we didn’t. Andrew has created this incredibly complicated, deeply flawed but also compelling character in Jim.”
Directed by Michael Gracey, P!nk: All I Know So Far, join award-winning musician P!NK as she embarks on her record-breaking 2019 “Beautiful Trauma” world tour. See her welcome audiences to join her chosen family while trying to balance being a mom, a wife, a boss and a performer.
Gracey’s mixing of footage from the road, behind-the-scenes interviews, and personal material gives power to this spectacle. Gracey is best known for The Greatest Showman, which had solid musical numbers.
The audiences get a glimpse behind the curtain of the circus that P!NK calls life.
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Summer of Soul presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion.
Over six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park — now Marcus Garvey Park.
The 5th Dimension performing at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, featured in the documentary SUMMER OF SOUL.
Never seen footage and largely forgotten — until now. The movie shines a light on the history of our spiritual well-being. It stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present.
The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more.
Written by Natasa Drakulic and directed by Predrag Antonijevic, Dara of Jasenovac follows a little girl named Dara, played by Biljana Cekic, during the Holocaust in the Balkans to the infamous extermination camp complex Jasenovac — coined as Balkan’s Auschwitz. The story takes place in the Nazi-occupied Croatian Ustasha regime “NDH” in former Yugoslavia during WWII. They are told through the eyes of Dara, who the Nazis sent as a child during the Holocaust, ruled by sadistic camp commander Maks Luburic until the liberation. It is the first modern WWII movie that takes place in or shows the NDH-era camp.
It begins during the summer of 1942 when the family of twelve-year-old Dara is taken away and separated into two concentration camps. She witnessed all the horrors of the Ustashe regime. After they kill her brother and mother, she tries to save her younger brother’s life, hoping that her father is still alive.
Probably one of the most overlooked parts of history, Germans do not run Jasenovac, but the fascist Ustase runs the complex. He brutally murdered Jews, Serbs and Roma people, which included many women and children. As unspeakable atrocities unfold, Dara must summon tremendous courage to protect her infant brother from a terrible fate. At the same time, she safeguards her own survival and plots a precarious path toward freedom. The movie is the Serbian selection for the Academy Awards for Best International Feature.
The movie has English subtitles, and the rest of the talented cast includes Vuk Kostic, Natasa Ninkovic, and Nikolina Jelisavac.
Directed by Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah follows Fred Hampton, played by Daniel Kaluuya, who is the Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. His fateful betrayal by FBI informant William O’Neal, played by LaKeith Stanfield, is a predictable and sad story of one individual’s goal to help others.
Only the trailer is available without images or poster. As soon as they become available, I will post them.
Directed by filmmaker Dawn Porter, John Lewis: Good Trouble chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Representative from Georgia.
Using interviews and rare archival footage, Porter chronicles John Robert Lewis’s 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, healthcare reform, and immigration.
On the far right, John Lewis is with fellow protesters at Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 80 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, inspiring family and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s film includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and others who figure prominently in his life.
Directed by Liesl Tommy and starring Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin, following the rise of her career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom, Respect is the remarkable true story of the music icon’s journey to find her voice.
(ctr) Marlon Wayans stars as Ted White and Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin.
The movie also stars Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore, Tate Donovan, Heather Headley, Skye Dakota Turner, and Mary J. Blige.
Kristen Stewart evolved into a talented actress since her Twilight movies. The camera shows her upbeat, charismatic, and determined. Jean Seberg is Stewart’s next role, and she’s embraced the character as the title role for the movie Seberg.
Directed by Benedict Andrews and inspired by true events, the movie follows Seberg as the French New Wave darling and Breathless star.
Directed by Benedict Andrews and inspired by true events, the movie follows Seberg as the French New Wave darling and Breathless star.
In the late 1960s, the FBI targeted her because of her support of the civil rights movement and romantic involvement with Hakim Jamal, played by Anthony Mackie, among others.
Andrews tells the thriller through a film noir style. His directing credits include remakes of two Tennessee William’s plays: A Street Car Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, Hoover’s overreaching surveillance and harassment to suppress and discredit Seberg’s activism destroyed her life and career.
The well-rounded cast includes Jack O’Connell, Margaret Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Yvan Attal, Stephen Root, Colm Meaney, and Vince Vaughn.
The next three movie clips offer the main plot point of the movie, which was the government spying on her because of her strong stance in cultural issues in America.
