Review: Aretha biopic "Respect"

by Patrick Ball

The scene is a packed movie theater in Oakland, California on Christmas Day, 2006. The film is Dreamgirls. We’re finishing up the iconic musical number “Listen”, a solid 75-80% into the movie. Beyoncé’s Deena Jones hits the last passionate note and the audience loses it, clapping and hollering, and a woman stands up and screams “You GO, EFFIE!” That was how powerful Jennifer Hudson’s Academy Award winning performance was, that this woman was ascribing every fabulous moment in the movie to her and her character, even when another character/actress was onscreen.

Hudson has had a bumpy road as a film actress since then, but is back in a big way in Respect, the long awaited Aretha Franklin biopic...

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Locarno Diary #4: Good cop, bad cop

by Elisa Giudici

Locarno Film Festival's symbol is a leopard: before any screening a "pardo" (italian for pard) walks across the screen roaring, just before the edition's motto appears (2021's motto is "Cinema is back"). All prizes are shapes as small, stylized felines, the most important one being Pardo d'Oro, the Golden Leopard. Pardo is for Locarno what Lion is for Venice and Palms are for Cannes...with some interesting results.

The main colours of Locarno Film Festival are yellow and black, as in pard's coat. Pard spot motif can be seen everywhere: window shops, café, restaurants. Everyone in Locarno wants to celebrate the main event of the summer season. So during the Festival there is a little "pard mania" everywhere...

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Emmy Category Analysis: Will Netflix, Bravo, Disney or RuPaul win "Unstructured Reality Program"?

The Film Experience Team takes a look at Emmy categories.

Netflix won Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program last year with "Cheer." Can they repeat with "Selling Sunset" (above) or "Indian Matchmaking"?

By Christopher James

I’m done feeling guilty about it, I love reality TV. Weekly Bravo nights with friends have become a staple of my social calendar. Fill my TV screen with Real Housewives, realtors Selling on Sunset or hot singles looking for “blind” love. I want it all.

Admittedly, the Unstructured Reality Program category skews much less… colorful… than my tastes in reality TV. Shows like CNN’s United Shades of America and Discovery’s Deadliest Catch have won the prize three times each, the current record. They tend to go more for “inspirational” than “drama-filled.” They were able to split the difference a bit with two wins for Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, which was when I first became invested in the category (and her campaign to EGOT)... 

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Posterized: Jennifer Hudson

by Nathaniel R

With Respect, the Aretha Franklin biopic, hitting theaters today let's talk Jennifer Hudson's movie career. Well, her TV and Broadway career, too, since she's primarily a singer even when moonlighting as an actress. She's made more movies than you probably think.

How many of her performances have you seen? The posters are after the jump...

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Breakfast with... the Magrath Sisters

by Nathaniel R

Tess Harper and Chocolate Covered Donut

This morning I had the most terrible urge to shove multiple pastries into my mouth. This was surely due to my diet (I've lost 10 lbs since June!) and unrelated to watching Crimes of the Heart (1986) at 6:30 AM. But, speaking of, my goodness those Southern belles have major sweet tooths...

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