💥 Kerry Washington on ‘Shadow Force’

Sleep or movie May Happy Friday y all It s the end of a LONG week in which I ve been at the Plaza or the Tara enjoying the Atlanta Film Festival almost every day I love watching movies that should be obvious at this point but even the best of us get sleepy sometimes And this long week of movie-watching has just about taken it out of me But the fun isn t over yet The in-person aspect of the festival will continue through the weekend and then you ll be able to enjoy films virtually until May Check out the lineup here Without further ado Action The Atlanta Film Festival in recent months reported it will honor filmmaker David O Russell with its Originator Award and also host a May screening of Russell s film The Fighter Russell s films have been lauded over the years but he has also been the subject of numerous troubling assertions More on that story here In other festival news this year the Atlanta Film Festival will honor Mary Ann Hughes Ray McKinnon and the Georgia Film Academy with its IMAGE Film Award In affair you missed it Jim Farmer interviewed actor Marco Calvani for the Georgia Voice this week discussing his new role in the Netflix show The Four Seasons Francis Ford Coppola received the American Film Institute s Life Achievement Award over the weekend Check out the tribute here Sinners had another great weekend at the box office with million domestic That marks the smallest second-week drop-off ever for an R-rated film Let s hope the magic continues this weekend And if you want to check out my review of the film you can do so here This week includes more Atlanta Film Festival interviews including one with Kerry Washington and filmmakers Sabrina Greco and Miguel Ortiz Plus we ve got reviews of the new Marvel movie Thunderbolts and Daniel Minahan s queer melodrama On Swift Horses You can also check out a new episode of my podcast Crash Zoom and enjoy a sparse listening and reading recommendations on your lunch break Thanks for reading Sammie The Midtown Mutt Gala returns this Sun May Inspired by the Met Gala enjoy food music vendors and costumed dogs on the red carpet Free to watch Details here SPONSOR MESSAGEPhoto by Juan Pablo Gutierrez courtesy of LionsgateKerry Washington talks parenting producing and Shadow Force Coming up Mother s Day weekend Kerry Washington will star in a new film about the rougher side of parenting literally Shadow Force stars Washington and Omar Sy as two former shadow operatives on the run from their old crew The couple must stay out of harm s way and avoid the bounty on their heads while keeping their young son Ky Jahleel Kamara safe at the same time Ahead of its Mother s Day weekend release on May the film played at this year s Atlanta Film Festival on April with Washington in attendance I also got the opportunity to speak with Washington about the film which as an Olivia Pope stan was huge for me Check out that conversation here Scenthound salutes educators with free servicesSPONSORED BY SCENTHOUND To celebrate Coach Appreciation Week May - and thank our amazing educators Scenthound is offering FREE Basic Hygiene Services for educators furry family members throughout May Free system includes Bath Ear Cleaning Nail Clipping Filing Teeth Brushing Let Scenthound pamper your pup while you continue to shape young minds Contact our Buckhead Dunwoody or Tucker locations to schedule your free utility must have valid ID OR If you know an amazing educator pass this on Photo provided by Sabrina GrecoSabrina Greco on embarrassment and miscommunication in Lockjaw Everyone has had a bad night out indulged in a little too much to drink declared something embarrassing gotten into a fight with a friend It happens But for preponderance of us when those bad nights arise we don t have to face them with our jaws wired shut In Lockjaw a film from writer director Sabrina Greco dysfunctional Raina Blu Hunt suffers through her first night out post a drunken accident that landed her in the hospital and with a mouth full of metal rendering it impossible for her to speak normally Lockjaw takes the feelings of embarrassment from those bad nights out and magnifies them by a million Greco s film in the last few days played at the Atlanta Film Festival and I got the opportunity to talk with her after the screening Check out that interview here Photo provided by Atlanta Film FestivalMiguel Ortiz talks getting past the block with Bloqu Miguel Ortiz has consistently demanded to be a storyteller In fact he narrated his mom he would be a filmmaker when he was just years old Decades later he s made it Bloqu is Ortiz s short film about a drummer played by Malick Koly struggling to push through a creative block of sorts The film is playing in the Black Boy Fly shorts block at this year s Atlanta Film Festival on Saturday at the Plaza Theatre The drummer s struggle for inspiration mirrors Ortiz s own experience while writing the film just through a different artistic medium I in recent weeks spoke with Ortiz about the making of the film and how dwelling on the personal stuff can sometimes help you break through Check out that conversation here Photo by Chuck Zlotnick MARVELThe Thunderbolts are the superheroes we didn t think we neededWEEKLY FILM REVIEW At the beginning of Thunderbolts Yelena Belova Florence Pugh is on a mission sent by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine Julia Louis-Dreyfus to destroy any and all evidence of a super soldier experiment gone wrong As the last scientist standing tries to take her down she begins to narrate exactly how the following scene will play out there ll be a scramble for the gun a brief skirmish resulting in a bunch of smashed lab equipment the scientist will make a brave attempt at a meager last words and Yelena will kill him Bing bang boom done Boring Yelena might be talking about the mission at hand but it s not hard to make the leap that this is Thunderbolts commenting on the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole The formula is becoming tired and they know it But as much as this moment is poking fun at the state of these movies Thunderbolts is not suggesting that Marvel abandon the routine all together just that it tries to get back to whatever made that early run of movies work in the first place And by God Thunderbolts does just that Read my full review here Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics On Swift Horses and the melodrama of awakeningWEEKLY FILM REVIEW A little tactics into On Swift Horses Henry Diego Calva takes Julius Jacob Elordi one of our central characters to watch an atomic bomb test in the desert It s a fitting metaphor for the way that Henry a smokin hot Las Vegas casino worker is about to blow up Julius life That s sort of what On Swift Horses directed by Daniel Minahan and based on Shannon Pufahl s novel of the same name is all about although the bomb metaphor is a little more of an on-the-nose representation of awakening than anything else that happens in the film Julius and his sister-in-law Muriel Daisy Edgar-Jones serve as our main characters two people on separate but similar journeys of self-discovery one trying to do what s expected of them the other running away but both avoiding the truth about their sexualities and their identities Melodrama can be a challenging genre to get right but On Swift Horses enters the canon as a solid modern entry a story of what it means to stop going through the motions and to truly awaken to your life Read my full review here The Midtown Mutt Gala returns this Sun May Inspired by the Met Gala enjoy food music vendors and costumed dogs on the red carpet Free to watch Details here SPONSOR MESSAGEPhoto by Lola Scott design by Aaron StrandCrash Zoom diversity on film sets and the creator business sector boom Welcome to Crash Zoom a podcast where we take a deep dive into film and entertainment industry news Each week join me and my cohost indie filmmaker Aaron Strand as we explore how things happening at the highest level trickle down and affect the independent artist This week we discuss why there s such a booming creator market system more additions to the Cannes Film Festival and more Check out the episode here Lights Camera Action The Blank Check podcast is back with a new miniseries they re doing the Lord s work and covering the films of the queen Amy Heckerling Listen to the first episode on Fast Times at Ridgemont High here For the New York Times John McWhorter made a list of movies from before that are still essential viewing in contemporary times Entries include Singin in the Rain Casablanca and more It s a good list but as all great lists do it made me want to make my own to give a few love to everything John left out Check out McWhorter s list here With Andrew Ahn s The Wedding Banquet and Roshan Sethi s A Nice Indian Boy both hitting theaters this spring it feels like we re in the season of queer Asian cinema For GQ Raymond Ang talked to both filmmakers about the pressures of working in Hollywood and their hopes that this burst is just the start of something more Check out the full article here The post Kerry Washington on Shadow Force appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta