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      ‘Martha: A Picture Story’ Review: Snapshots of a Career

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Martha: A Picture Story’ Review: Snapshots of a CareerThis documentary recounts the work of Martha Cooper, a photographer instrumental in establishing the validity of street art.The photographer Martha Cooper.Credit…Janette Beckman/UtopiaMarch 16, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETMartha: A Picture StoryDirected by Selina MilesDocumentary, Biography1h 22mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.“Martha: A Picture Story” turns the camera around on Martha Cooper, a photographer who captured the era when graffiti-covered subway cars crisscrossed New York, and who was among the first to give serious consideration to the artists who scrawled on those trains. The book “Subway Art,” Cooper’s 1984 collaboration with the photographer Henry Chalfant, developed an international underground following, providing a stylistic template — Cooper’s word — for aspiring graffiti writers.In this documentary, directed by Selina Miles, Cooper and her associates take us through her career, from a stint in the Peace Corps in Thailand to her work snapping street scenes for The New York Post. Now in her 70s, Cooper is still working, and Miles trails her as she seeks to document a neighborhood in southwest Baltimore, her hometown. (In the sort of interplay between subject and film crew that “Martha: A Picture Story” could have used more of, Cooper at one point asks that the movie camera be turned off — she needs to gain her subjects’ trust first.)[embedded content]Cooper is unafraid of risks. Near the beginning and end, we watch her accompany street artists in Germany on furtive missions. There is poignancy in seeing her reminisce with Jay Edlin (known as J.SON), a graffiti artist and historian, at a cleaned-up subway station in the Bronx.The film does a fair job of explaining Cooper’s temperament. (An editor who tried to assign her to photograph pollen for National Geographic found that wasn’t a great fit.) Ultimately, though, the photos are the thing. A conventional biographical portrait almost feels redundant. Cooper has already documented her own life story.Martha: A Picture StoryNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      'Moonlight' Director Left Stunned by Delroy Lindo's Oscars Snub

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      WENN/Avalon/Nicky Nelson

      Surprised that the ‘Da 5 Bloods’ actor was left out of the Academy Awards shortlist, filmmaker Barry Jenkins looks back at the time he held up his trophy in front of a screenshot the British veteran.

      Mar 16, 2021
      AceShowbiz – Filmmaker Barry Jenkins has been left in disbelief after actor Delroy Lindo was snubbed by Oscar voters for his role in “Da 5 Bloods”.
      The “Moonlight” director was so convinced Lindo would be nominated for an acting honor – and win, he took a photo of himself holding up his own Oscar in front of a screenshot of the British screen veteran in action, and saved it to his phone.
      He thought he would be able to celebrate Lindo’s nod for the Spike Lee war drama on Monday, March 15, when the Academy Awards shortlist was announced, but he was stunned to discover his pal had been overlooked.
      “I took this pic eight or so months ago but decided not to tweet it,” Jenkins explained as he shared the image on Twitter. “If you had told me that by March 2021 it would be irrelevant I would’ve thought you crazy. An a** outta me (sic)”.

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      Barry Jenkins weighed in on the snubbing of Delroy Lindo by Oscar voters.
      Despite picking up a string of awards season accolades, “Da 5 Bloods”, which co-starred the late Chadwick Boseman, was virtually shut out by Academy members, only picking up one nomination for Best Original Score for Terence Blanchard.
      Lindo and “Da 5 Bloods” were not the only ones getting the cold shoulder. Jodie Foster was missing from the Best Supporting Actress list despite winning a Golden Globe for “The Mauritanian”. Similar situation also happened to Regina King. The “One Night in Miami…” director was left out of Best Director category though she was nominated at Critics’ Choice Awards and DGA Awards among others.
      Both “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” were also left out of the Best Picture run. “Black Bottom” additionally was excluded from the contention for Best Adapted Screenplay. Still, it managed to get its stars Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis vying for the acting titles.

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      H.E.R. to Follow Passion for Acting After Winning Another Grammy

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      Instagram

      The ‘I Can’t Breathe’ singer has made her movie debut in Jennifer Garner’s ‘Yes Day’, and earns Oscar nomination for ‘Fight For You’ from ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ soundtrack.

      Mar 16, 2021
      AceShowbiz – Grammy-winning singer H.E.R. is ready to “go full throttle” with her acting career after making her movie debut in Jennifer Garner’s new family comedy “Yes Day”. The star, who picked up the Best Song Grammy on Sunday, March 14 for “I Can’t Breathe”, is keen to take a step back from the recording studio to ramp up her acting credentials.
      “I’ve been so focused on making music but I think it’s time now for me to go full throttle with acting,” H.E.R. told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m working on that right now, following my passion for acting.”
      In her film debut, H.E.R. had the opportunity to sing a cover of the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Loving” in a music festival scene with Garner and her movie daughter Jenna Ortega, and she enjoyed working alongside the Hollywood veteran.
      “[Garner] was so sweet and so much fun,” the R&B artist shared. “We got to improvise a little bit. It really was just such a fun environment. She told me she loves my music, which is really cool. Plus, my band got to be a part of it with me, which was so dope. It was such a surreal experience for me.”
      In addition to “Yes Day”, H.E.R. has been a part of the success of “Judas and the Black Messiah”, as her song “Fight for You” features on the historical film’s soundtrack, and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song on Monday.

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      Reacting to the news on Twitter, she wrote, “WOKE UP TO AN OSCAR NOMINATION!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!”

      H.E.R. reacted to her Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.
      And, speaking to EW prior to the nominations announcement, she said of the movie, which revolves around the betrayal and death of Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton, “Judas and the Black Messiah was such an important story because it’s so important to black history.”
      “I was really honored to be a part of it and I had a lot of fun making the song because I was able to tap into that late ’60s and early ’70s vibe. I’m a soul baby, it’s my favorite genre of music.”
      She added, “Being able to do something really musical for it and to be able to talk about what was happening then and connect it to what’s been happening now with social injustice, was cool for me – bringing those two worlds together.”
      “At the end of the day, we’re still fighting for a lot of the same things we were fighting for then. That’s what I wanted to bring out in the song. It’s very different from what I did for ‘Yes Day’.”

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      Zack Snyder in 'Place of Desperation' When Quitting 'Justice League'

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      WENN

      The DC superhero filmmaker opens up about his abrupt departure from the star-studded comic book movie back in 2017, claiming he was so desperate that he didn’t care if his decision would end his career.

      Mar 16, 2021
      AceShowbiz – Zack Snyder feared walking away from “Justice League” would do long-term damage to his career – but ultimately he “didn’t care.”
      The 55-year-old filmmaker quit the superhero movie during post-production work on the project after his daughter Autumn committed suicide and, although Zack knew the move could’ve damaged his career, he simply “didn’t care” at the time.
      He shared, “I was in such a place of desperation, I didn’t care. You know what? Good riddance to Justice League. I was like, ‘Guys, really? You’re going to give me a hard time? Let’s go. I’ll fight you right now.’ ”
      “I was not in the mood for that kind of thing. I felt like we had done a great job, and the movie was done, even the two-hour-and-20-minute version that the studio had knocked me down to.”

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      Zack knows his family “needed” him at the time, and he insisted it was entirely his decision to walk away from the film.
      Asked if he left “Justice League” of his own volition, he told the New York Times newspaper, “Absolutely. The decision to leave was 100 per cent mine.”
      “I knew the fight that I was in for with them. And my family needed me, and I needed them. I was in a struggle at home, and then to go to my place of work and be in a second struggle there seemed like an outrageous thing to do to myself and my loved ones.”
      Zack is set to release a director’s cut of his Justice League movie on HBO Max, and he explained how the idea came about.
      He shared, “Almost every movie I’ve ever made has a director’s cut. When I said, OK, I’m done, I (told) one of the editors I worked with: put it together as best you can, and give it to me.”

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      Riz Ahmed Feels Blessed to Be First Muslim Nominated for Best Actor at 2021 Oscars

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      WENN

      The ‘Sound of Metal’ actor is overjoyed after he was announced as one of the contenders for the prestigious Best Actor title at the upcoming 93rd annual Academy Awards.

      Mar 16, 2021
      AceShowbiz – British star Riz Ahmed has made Oscars history as the first Muslim and first person of Pakistani descent to be recognised in the Best Actor category for his role in “Sound of Metal”.
      The first-time nominee is humbled by the honour, and is proud to represent people of colour on Hollywood’s big night.
      Ahmed, who hails from Wembley, just outside of London, tells Deadline, “If there’s a way in which people can find themselves in this moment, and can feel inspired and connected on a deeper level, I’m all for it.”
      “Whether they see me as the first British Pakistani, or the first guy from Wembley, you know, there’s so many ways to view it. But as long as it feels like an opportunity for more people than ever before to really connect and feel included in this moment, that’s a blessing.”
      He is part of the most diverse group of acting nominees to ever be celebrated by officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with nine actors of colour in the running for top prizes this year (21), and Ahmed is thrilled to see so many different kinds of stories being accepted into mainstream culture and awarded with nods.
      “It’s why we do it, to stretch our hearts and stretch our minds, and in the process stretch culture,” he reflected of the diverse Oscars field.

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      “We should stretch culture so that it’s big enough and wide enough and expansive enough so that there’s space for all of us to find ourselves in it, to feel that we belong and that we’re included, and that we matter.”
      “These changes aren’t just something that’s good politically or socially. It’s something which allows stories and storytelling to get back to its original intention, which is to embrace all of us.”
      And Ahmed is particularly pleased to be nominated for filmmaker Darius Marder’s “Sound of Metal”, in which he plays a drummer who has to adjust to a new way of life after losing his hearing.
      “It feels like a privilege to be part of this team,” he smiled. “It was a special project where everyone got together, there were no egos, and it was all about us pulling toward this larger vision.”
      “We made the film unsure whether anyone would see it, really, so for us to come out with six nominations is just the most beautiful feeling. For Darius, who spent 13 years trying to get this film made; for (co-star and Best Supporting Actor nominee) Paul Raci, who spent 35 years sitting on this tremendous talent and perhaps not being given the platform to really express it; and for the entire team. I know it’s a cliche but it was truly a labour of love.”
      In addition to Ahmed’s groundbreaking nomination, “Minari” star Steven Yeun became the first Asian-American ever to be shortlisted for Best Actor while his co-star Yuh-Jung Youn was hailed as the first Korean person to land an acting Oscar nod, and “Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao made further history as the first woman of colour to be recognised in the Best Director category.
      The winners will be revealed when the 93rd Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on 25 April.

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      Riz Ahmed and Steven Yeun Make History at the 2021 Oscar Nominations

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonOscar Nominations HighlightsNominees ListSnubs and SurprisesBest Director NomineesStream the NomineesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRiz Ahmed and Steven Yeun Make History at the 2021 Oscar NominationsFor the first time, two men of Asian heritage are up for best actor. Their films, “Sound of Metal” and “Minari,” are also up for best picture.March 15, 2021Updated 5:19 p.m. ETRiz Ahmed in “Sound of Metal.”Credit…Amazon Studios, via Associated PressSteven Yeun in “Minari.”Credit…David Bornfriend/A24, via Associated PressIt’s been nearly 20 years since a man of Asian heritage notched a best actor nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.But this year, for the first time in the 93-year history of the Academy Awards, there are two: Steven Yeun (“Minari”), who was born in South Korea and raised in the United States, and Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), who is a Briton of Pakistani descent. Both Ahmed and Yeun are first-time nominees.Their inclusion is especially notable because despite a spate of Asian-led films in recent years, including last year’s best picture winner, “Parasite,” the academy had failed to recognize the performers.Just two actors of Asian heritage have ever been nominated in the category: The Russian-born Yul Brynner (“The King and I”), and Ben Kingsley (“Gandhi,” “House of Sand and Fog”), whose father is Indian. Brynner and Kingsley each won the award once.Yeun and Ahmed have some tough competition: The other three nominees this year are Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), who won a posthumous Golden Globe for best actor in a drama, Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”) and Gary Oldman (“Mank”).The New York Times’s co-chief film critic A.O. Scott called Yeun’s performance in “Minari,” as a Korean immigrant father who moves his family to the Ozarks, “effortlessly magnetic.” Scott praised his proclivity for finding “the cracks in the character’s carefully cultivated reserve, the large, unsettled emotions behind the facade of stoicism.”Ahmed won acclaim for his performance as a drummer who loses his hearing in “Sound of Metal,” which the Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis praised for its “extraordinarily intricate” sound design. She singled out Ahmed for his “tweaking urgency that’s poignantly credible — he’s a study in distress.”Even though only four men of Asian heritage have ever been nominated for best actor, the situation is far more bleak in the best actress category, where only one woman of Asian heritage has ever been nominated (Merle Oberon for the 1935 drama “The Dark Angel”), and none has won.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Viola Davis and Andra Day Are Up for Best Actress at the Oscars

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonOscar Nominations HighlightsNominees ListSnubs and SurprisesBest Director NomineesStream the NomineesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOscar Nominations 2021: Two Black Women Are Up for Best ActressAndra Day and Viola Davis are the category’s first pair of Black nominees since 1973, when Diana Ross was nominated for “Lady Sings the Blues” and Cicely Tyson was up for “Sounder.”Andra Day, left, as Billie Holiday, and Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. It’s been nearly 50 years since two Black stars competed for best actress in the same year.March 15, 2021Updated 5:03 p.m. ETAndra Day was just the second Black woman to win best actress in a drama at the Golden Globes.Now, she’s part of another milestone: For the first time in nearly 50 years, two Black women are up for best actress in the same year.Day, who plays the iconic singer Billie Holiday in the Hulu biopic “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” and Viola Davis, who plays another pioneering singer in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” are the first pair of Black actresses to be nominated since Diana Ross (“Lady Sings the Blues”) and Cicely Tyson (“Sounder”) faced off in 1973.And, in a twist of fate, Day is nominated for the same role that Ross played. Though, she’s probably hoping for better luck: Ross lost the 1973 race to Liza Minnelli, who won for her performance as Sally Bowles in “Cabaret.”Day told Variety in January that she took an immersive approach to her character, including losing nearly 40 pounds and taking up drinking and smoking cigarettes. “I just asked God to give me all of the pain and trauma,” she said. It was her first acting role in a major film.Though “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” received mixed reviews, Day garnered critical acclaim for what The New York Times co-chief film critic A.O. Scott called her “canny and charismatic” performance. Her voice, he wrote, “has some of Holiday’s signature breathy rasp and delicate lilt, and suggests her ability to move from whimsy to anguish and back in the space of a phrase.”This is Davis’s fourth nomination (she won best supporting actress in 2017 for her role in “Fences”). In “Ma Rainey,” she plays blues singer Ma Rainey alongside Chadwick Boseman’s trumpeter, Levee, in what was the late actor’s final film role before he died of colon cancer in August.“Davis brilliantly portrays both the vulnerable position and indomitable spirit of this sturdy figure,” Mark Kermode wrote in The Guardian in December, “with fiery eyes shining through the dark shadows and battered rouge of her makeup, proudly standing her ground.”Day and Davis will go up against Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”) and Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”).In the more than 90 years the awards have been handed out, there has been only a single Black best actress winner — Halle Berry for “Monster’s Ball” in 2001.“It’s one of my biggest heartbreaks,” she told Variety last year. “The morning after, I thought, ‘Wow, I was chosen to open a door.’ And then, to have no one … I question, ‘Was that an important moment, or was it just an important moment for me?’”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More