“El Cantante” - A biopic on Hector Lavoe, who was one of the biggest Spanish-language singers in the 1970s, but personal tragedy and a heroin addiction left him penniless and dying from complications from AIDS. Known as salsa’s bad boy, he had a crystal-clear voice and an incomparable talent for improvisation.
STARRING: Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony
DIRECTOR: Leon Ichaso
STUDIO: Picturehouse
RATING: R (For nudity, language, sexual sitations and drugs)
Director Fredi M. Murer’s moving film VITUS was Switzerland’s official 2006 Academy Awards entry for Best Foreign Language Film and was one of the most successful Swiss films of 2006. VITUS introduces us to an incredibly talented young pianist and actor, Teo Gheorghiu. The film also stars the renowned Bruno Ganz, Julika Jenkins and Urs Jucker. By the age of 12, Vitus (played by real-life piano prodigy Teo Gheorghiu) is a highly gifted musician whose parents have high hopes for him in a career as a classical pianist. The daily pressure of hours of musical practice, his overprotective but well-meaning mother (Julika Jenkins) and his father’s (Urs Jucker) precarious financial situation lead the boy to seek refuge at his eccentric grandfather’s (Bruno Ganz) house. One of the most renowned directors in his native Switzerland, writer/director Fredi M. Murer has an acclaimed forty-year body of work, which includes Locarno International Film Festival Golden Leopard winner “Hohenfeuer (Alpine Fire),” “Vollmond” and “Downtown Switzerland.” Veteran actor Bruno Ganz is one of Europe’s most prolific and internationally distinguished stars. Best known to American audiences for his portrayal of Hitler in “The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Reich,” Ganz starred in Jonathan Demme’s “The Manchurian Candidate” and Fernando Girasoli’s “Bread and Tulips.”
STARRING: Teo Gheorghiu, Julika Jenkins, Urs Jucker, Bruno Ganz
DIRECTOR: Fredi M. Murer
STUDIO: Sony Pictures Classics
RATING: PG (For mild language)
Yellow Movie” - Shot in New York and in Sanchez’s home country of Puerto Rico, this film brings to light a side of Sanchez’ acting and dancing talent that has never been seen on screen before. Sanchez, who can be seen on CBS’ hit show “Without a Trace”, and also in “Rush Hour 2 and 3”, had been developing this film as a labor of love for the last 8 years. Roselyn Sanchez plays Amaryllis Campos, a young, classically trained Latina ballerina, who dreams of leaving her impoverished home in Puerto Rico to pursue fame and fortune as a dancer. She heads for New York City, where she is forced to work in a seedy strip club to make ends meet. Setting audiences afire with her erotic moves, Amaryllis quickly becomes the strip club’s hottest attraction and falls in love with her best customer (D.B.Sweeney), who wants to take Amaryllis to live with him abroad. Finally winning an audition for a Broadway production, Amaryllis must now decide between true love and realizing her dream of becoming a star.
From Executive Producers Bruce Willis and Queen Latifah, The Hip Hop Project is the compelling story of Kazi, a formerly homeless teenager who inspires a group of New York City teens to transform their life stories into powerful works of art, using hip hop as a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery. In contrast to all the negative attention focused on hip hop, this is a story of hope, healing and the realization of dreams.
STARRING: Chris Kazi Rolle, Diana Princess Lemon, Christopher Cannon Mapp, Russell Simmons, Bruce Willis
DIRECTORS: Matt Ruskin, Scott K. Rosenberg
STUDIO: THINKFilm
RATING: PG-13 (For language - seventeen uses of the F-word)
A battle of naked ambition played out on the national and, ultimately, world stage, “Air Guitar Nation” chronicles the birth of the US Air Guitar Championships as legions of aspiring rock stars live out their dreams on a quest to become the world champion in a strange world where musical ability plays second fiddle to virtual virtuosity. As the film un-reels, two aspiring rock legends strum and strut their way towards glory and the coveted national title. C. Diddy (David Jung), a samurai warrior clad in a “Hello Kitty” breast plate and red kimono, emerges as an early favorite. But his arch nemesis from the Lower East Side, Björn Türoque (Dan Crane), is not far behind. While C. Diddy threatens to unleash his self-professed “Asian Fury” on his competitors, Björn vows to take Diddy down. As the film reaches its climax, the future of Air hangs in the balance; will Björn’s technical prowess, stage presence, and be enough to take him to the top, or will C. Diddy conquer all to become America’s first supreme being of Air -Guitar - “Air Guitar Nation.”
STARRING: Dan Crane, Gordon Hintz, David S. Jung, Zac Munro
DIRECTOR: Alexandra Lipsitz
STUDIO: Shadow Distribution
RATING: R (For some language and brief nudity)
Black Snake Moan” - A God-fearing, elderly negro bluesman named Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to his hometown after recently being abandoned by a woman he still loves. Stirred by his current state of despair, he comes out of retirement to play at a local club. During a passionate performance, he spots a young, seductive, attention-seeking redneck girl named Rae (Christina Ricci). Intrigued, he approaches her and eventually befriends her. Rae is a victim of childhood sexual abuse – a painful history that has transformed her into the town floozy, always looking for love in all the wrong places. Much to the displeasure of her angered, sex-addicted boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake), Lazarus becomes a father figure to Rae. Having put his dark past behind him, he sees her as a wounded creature and attempts to nurse her bruised psychological condition back to health.
STARRING: Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, John Cothran Jr., Justin Timberlake, S. Epatha Merkerson, Brandon Raines, Michael Raymond-James, Leonard L. Thomas
DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
STUDIO: Paramount Vantage
RATING: R
Glastonbury” is now the best known, longest running and most pre-eminent music festival in the world. Fuelled by a staggering range of music, the movie will embrace the spirit, characters and overwhelming experiences of the festival as it reflects the extraordinary world changes of the last three decades.
In 1970, a young farmer named Michael Eavis opened his 150-acre farm to 1,500 people who paid one pound each to watch a handful of pop and folk stars perform all weekend long, and the Glastonbury Festival was born. The following year, several rich hippies, including Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, provided funds to enlarge the event, and 12,500 people turned up to see David Bowie and Joan Baez. For most of the past 30 years, the Worthy Farm in Glastonbury has provided a delirious outdoor concert for thousands of people over the summer-solstice weekend at the end of June. Julien Temple (director of the Sex Pistols documentary “The Filth and the Fury”) spent a few years collecting footage from every single Glastonbury Festival, ranging from professional outtakes from the film Nicolas Roeg made about the 1971 event to amateur home videos collected from the attendees themselves, often retrieved from forgotten corners of closets and attics. Interweaving images of impromptu art happenings, skeptical locals, and stirring performances by music legends, not to mention the unbridled energy of each successive generation of youthful music fans, Glastonbury skillfully chronicles the evolution of the longest-running music festival in the world - “Glastonbury.”
STARRING: David Bowie, Coldplay, Radiohead, Oasis, Chemical Brothers, Velvet Underground, Primal Scream, The Cure
DIRECTOR: Julien Temple
STUDIO: THINKFilm
RATING: R (For nudity, drug use, language and some sexual content)
“Music & Lyrics” follows Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant), a washed-up 80s pop star who’s been reduced to working the nostalgia circuit at county fairs and amusement parks. The charismatic and talented musician gets a chance at a comeback when reigning diva Cora Corman invites him to write and record a duet with her, but there’s a problem - Alex hasn’t written a song in years, he’s never written lyrics, and he has to come up with a hit in a matter of days. Enter Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), Alex’s beguilingly quirky plant lady, whose flair for words strikes a chord with the struggling songwriter. On the rebound from a bad relationship, Sophie is reluctant to collaborate with anyone, especially commitment-phobe Alex. As their chemistry heats up at the piano and under it, Alex and Sophie will have to face their fears - and the music - if they want to find the love and success they both deserve - “Music And Lyrics.”
STARRING: Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Campbell Scott
DIRECTOR: Marc Lawrence
STUDIO: Warner Bros.
RATING: PG-13 (For some language and sexual situations)
Young At Heart” - “Young At Heart” is a documentary on a chorus of senior citizens from Massachusetts who cover songs by Jimi Hendrix, Coldplay, Sonic Youth, and other unexpected musicians.
Fox Searchlight scored big at the “2008 Oscars” with nominations for “Juno” and “The Savages.”
And, once again, Fox Searchlight and Wild About Movies bring you dozens of Free Advance Movie Screenings to one of their movies - “Young @ Heart”
STARRING: Documentary
DIRECTOR: Stephen Walker
STUDIO: Fox Searchlight
RATING: PG-13 (For language)
THEATER COUNT (Opening Weekend): TBD
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes
TOTAL DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE: TBD
U.S. DVD RELEASE DATE: TBD
“Shine A Light” is a Rolling Stones documentary that focuses on the two concerts from the group’s current “A Bigger Bang” tour as well as historical and contemporary behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. A recent concert in Austin, Texas, was also filmed. All of “Shine A Light” was under the direction of Oscar winner Martin Scorsese.
STARRING: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Bill Clinton, Ron Wood, Charlie Watts
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
STUDIO: Paramount Vantage
RATING: PG-13 (For language)