At its Cannes debut yesterday BlacKkKlansman was met with a rapturous response and a 10-minute standing ovation, with many saying Spike Lee’s movie captures the zeitgeist, using a true story from the past to talk about modern race issues and the bigotry of the Trump era.
Here’s the synopsis: ‘From visionary filmmaker Spike Lee comes the incredible true story of an American hero. It’s the early 1970s, a time of great social upheaval as the struggle for civil rights rages on. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first African-American detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department, but his arrival is greeted with skepticism and open hostility by the department’s rank and file. Undaunted, Stallworth resolves to make a name for himself and a difference in his community. He bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan.
Posing as a racist extremist, Stallworth contacts the group and soon finds himself invited into its inner ‘circle. He even cultivates a relationship with the Klan’s Grand Wizard, David Duke (Topher Grace), who praises Ron’s commitment to the advancement of White America. With the undercover investigation growing ever more complex, Stallworth’s colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), poses as Ron in face-to-face meetings with members of hate group, gaining insider’s knowledge of a deadly plot. Together, Stallworth and Zimmerman team up to take down the organization whose real aim is to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream.
‘Produced by the team behind the Academy-Award® winning Get Out, BlacKkKlansman offers an unflinching, true-life examination of race relations in 1970s America that is just as bracingly relevant in today’s tumultuous world.’
The film hits cinemas in August. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]
The supernatural horror It Follows got writer/director David Robert Mitchell plenty of attention, and also ensured his next movie was going to be bigger budget with a better known cast. That follow-up is Under The Silver Lake, which stars Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough and Topher Grace.
Netflix has shown they can take on television at their own game (something most thought was impossible a few years ago), and now they want to show Hollywood they can make really big movies too. This year they’ve got the likes of Bright, starring Will Smith, as well as War Machine, with Brad Pitt. The trailer for the latter has now arrived.
Today Netflix was in Berlin, trying to woo the European market and showing off some of its upcoming wares. After releasing a trailer for Bright, starring Will Smith a couple of days ago, they decided today was a good time for the first teaser for another film they’ve got up their sleeve featuring a-list talent – War Machine, starring Brad Pitt.
By all accounts American Ultra is a bit of an unusual movie – part Cheech & Chong and part action thriller – which reteams Adventureland co-stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart.
Previously called A Many Splintered Thing but now given the more mainstream friendly title Playing It Cool, sees Chris Evans stepping away from shields and S.H.I.E.L.Ds, and heading into quirkily romantic mode.
The American Ultra cast continues to grow. A couple of weeks ago Uma Thurman joined Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart in the movie, and now