The likes of King Barrett and Neville are impressing in the WWE right now but the history of British wrestling goes back much further than the occasional breakthroughs in Connecticut.
Audiences of 18 million people watched World of Sport at its peak and enjoyed some of the most fascinating characters in the history of the sport.
Perhaps the most remarkable was Les Kellett. "He was never the top man, but he was always the one people talked about and the one people wanted to see," screenwriter and director Harvey Auzorst tells us, explaining how his film Kellett came to be in development.
Impressed by the script for Auzorst's Blackpool-based Rat Pack Sands, wrestling legend and current Nxt general manager William Regal vouched for Auzorst among the famously close-knit British wrestling community.
The former Blue Blood put him in touch with his one-time tag partner Dave Taylor, which opened the door to...
Audiences of 18 million people watched World of Sport at its peak and enjoyed some of the most fascinating characters in the history of the sport.
Perhaps the most remarkable was Les Kellett. "He was never the top man, but he was always the one people talked about and the one people wanted to see," screenwriter and director Harvey Auzorst tells us, explaining how his film Kellett came to be in development.
Impressed by the script for Auzorst's Blackpool-based Rat Pack Sands, wrestling legend and current Nxt general manager William Regal vouched for Auzorst among the famously close-knit British wrestling community.
The former Blue Blood put him in touch with his one-time tag partner Dave Taylor, which opened the door to...
- 5/29/2015
- Digital Spy
Somewhere between the Dave Chappelle of comedy stardom and the Dave Chappelle of abrupt sabbaticals for contemplative stretches in Africa is the guy who experienced "the best single day of my career" when he threw a party for a few thousand friends and fans.
Inviting some of the most gifted and socially conscious hip-hop and R&B artists, he assembled his dream concert on a corner in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Director Michel Gondry chronicles the Sept. 18, 2004, event and its lead-up in this loose-limbed, funny and impassioned documentary.
For some fans of the comedian, this will be an introduction to many of the musical artists in the all-star lineup. But Mos Def, Kanye West, Lauryn Hill and John Legend, among others, are draws in their own right, and "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" in Brooklyn should find reason to celebrate at the boxoffice.
Chappelle's sly comedy here arises more in situational riffs, rehearsals and backstage banter than in a stand-up format. The adventure begins in Ohio, where he lives (which in itself speaks volumes about his aversion to showbiz lifestyles). Days before the show, Chappelle offers random citizens and acquaintances -- among them a convenience-store owner and a couple of probation officers -- golden tickets to the party, providing a chartered bus ride to New York and hotel accommodations. True inspiration strikes when he invites the Central State University marching band to join the musical lineup.
Gondry intercuts Ohio scenes and preconcert New York sequences with the show itself. Passing through a street of Brooklyn townhouses, Chappelle delivers a megaphone-amped party invitation to "the Huxtables" of "Cosby Show" fame. He clowns with neighborhood kids, some of who attend the Bed-Stuy daycare center where Biggie Smalls went. Chappelle's ease with people and his natural way of drawing them out is a joy, as is his passion for the music.
The musicians, too, bring a lot of feeling to this free event. Visionary cinematographer Ellen Kuras collaborated with Gondry on "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," and her intimate camerawork is essential to the emotional power of Jonathan Demme's performance film "Neil Young: Heart of Gold". She works her magic here. While the intimacy of "Heart" was all about the artist and his collaborators, "Block Party"'s crucial dynamics are the relationship between performers and audience. And Kuras' cameras don't miss the way the artists watch one another: West's appreciative smile when the marching band does its thing, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu admiring each other's sets and then generating some serious goddess power together, Chappelle grooving to all of it.
Bling is not on the menu. Hip-hop duo Dead Prez ("Would you rather have a Lexus or justice?") deliver one of the most powerful and politically engaged sets; as Chappelle points out, you're not likely to hear them on the radio. The concert culminates in a surprise reunion of the Fugees, in part Hill's creative solution to Columbia's not allowing her to perform her solo material at the event.
The filmmakers have captured the sense of a particular shared experience: the daylong concert, with its deepening emotion and electricity. The word "community" has become a cliche, but this party, both backstage and before the crowd, illustrates a specific sense of cultural community and the singular bliss of standing on a city street in late-summer rain for a once-in-a-lifetime concert.
DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY
Rogue Pictures A Rogue Pictures and Bob Yari Prods. presentation of a Pilot Boy/Kabuki Brothers Films production in association with Partizan Films
Credits:
Director: Michel Gondry
Producers: Dave Chappelle, Bob Yari, Mustafa Abuelhija, Julie Fong
Executive producers: Greg Manocherian, Doug Levine, Skot Bright
Director of photography: Ellen Kuras
Production designer: Lauri Faggioni
Concert music arranged and produced by Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson
Co-producers: Robert Katz, Callum Greene
Editors: Sarah Flack, Jeff Buchanan
Cast:
Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, Mos Def, John Legend, Talib Kweli, the Fugees, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Common, the Roots, Cody ChesnuTT, Big Daddy Kane
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 102 minutes...
Inviting some of the most gifted and socially conscious hip-hop and R&B artists, he assembled his dream concert on a corner in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Director Michel Gondry chronicles the Sept. 18, 2004, event and its lead-up in this loose-limbed, funny and impassioned documentary.
For some fans of the comedian, this will be an introduction to many of the musical artists in the all-star lineup. But Mos Def, Kanye West, Lauryn Hill and John Legend, among others, are draws in their own right, and "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" in Brooklyn should find reason to celebrate at the boxoffice.
Chappelle's sly comedy here arises more in situational riffs, rehearsals and backstage banter than in a stand-up format. The adventure begins in Ohio, where he lives (which in itself speaks volumes about his aversion to showbiz lifestyles). Days before the show, Chappelle offers random citizens and acquaintances -- among them a convenience-store owner and a couple of probation officers -- golden tickets to the party, providing a chartered bus ride to New York and hotel accommodations. True inspiration strikes when he invites the Central State University marching band to join the musical lineup.
Gondry intercuts Ohio scenes and preconcert New York sequences with the show itself. Passing through a street of Brooklyn townhouses, Chappelle delivers a megaphone-amped party invitation to "the Huxtables" of "Cosby Show" fame. He clowns with neighborhood kids, some of who attend the Bed-Stuy daycare center where Biggie Smalls went. Chappelle's ease with people and his natural way of drawing them out is a joy, as is his passion for the music.
The musicians, too, bring a lot of feeling to this free event. Visionary cinematographer Ellen Kuras collaborated with Gondry on "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," and her intimate camerawork is essential to the emotional power of Jonathan Demme's performance film "Neil Young: Heart of Gold". She works her magic here. While the intimacy of "Heart" was all about the artist and his collaborators, "Block Party"'s crucial dynamics are the relationship between performers and audience. And Kuras' cameras don't miss the way the artists watch one another: West's appreciative smile when the marching band does its thing, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu admiring each other's sets and then generating some serious goddess power together, Chappelle grooving to all of it.
Bling is not on the menu. Hip-hop duo Dead Prez ("Would you rather have a Lexus or justice?") deliver one of the most powerful and politically engaged sets; as Chappelle points out, you're not likely to hear them on the radio. The concert culminates in a surprise reunion of the Fugees, in part Hill's creative solution to Columbia's not allowing her to perform her solo material at the event.
The filmmakers have captured the sense of a particular shared experience: the daylong concert, with its deepening emotion and electricity. The word "community" has become a cliche, but this party, both backstage and before the crowd, illustrates a specific sense of cultural community and the singular bliss of standing on a city street in late-summer rain for a once-in-a-lifetime concert.
DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY
Rogue Pictures A Rogue Pictures and Bob Yari Prods. presentation of a Pilot Boy/Kabuki Brothers Films production in association with Partizan Films
Credits:
Director: Michel Gondry
Producers: Dave Chappelle, Bob Yari, Mustafa Abuelhija, Julie Fong
Executive producers: Greg Manocherian, Doug Levine, Skot Bright
Director of photography: Ellen Kuras
Production designer: Lauri Faggioni
Concert music arranged and produced by Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson
Co-producers: Robert Katz, Callum Greene
Editors: Sarah Flack, Jeff Buchanan
Cast:
Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, Mos Def, John Legend, Talib Kweli, the Fugees, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Common, the Roots, Cody ChesnuTT, Big Daddy Kane
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 102 minutes...
After having to sit back and watch others remake his zombie classics -- minus any of the trademark sociopolitical subtext -- George A. Romero has returned to the land of the dead for the first time in two decades, and it's quite evident the godfather of the modern horror film still has much on his mind.
Receiving its world premiere at the CineVegas Film Festival, Land of the Dead is the fourth movie in what was originally a trilogy, beginning with 1968's seminal Night of the Living Dead, the movie that has inspired a couple of generations of filmmakers.
The latest installment could well be Romero's masterpiece. Taking full advantage of state-of-the-art makeup and visual effects, he has a more vivid canvas at his disposal, not to mention two decades worth of pent-up observations about American society.
Even those walking dead have learned a thing or two in the interim.
Romero's legion of fans as well as those who like an allegory with the emphasis on the gory will likely show their appreciation by stalking the theaters in droves, giving Universal a very lively opening weekend, while enthusiastic word-of-mouth could give those zombies some legs.
Having staggered their way through Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, it's apparent those ever-growing masses of "walkers" have started to develop an appetite for more than just fresh flesh.
Following the grunting lead of Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), an imposing gas station attendant, the living dead have begun to sort of re-enact their once-normal lives prior to their affliction.
Meanwhile, the remaining affluent and powerful among the living have fortified themselves in an ivory tower -- a luxury complex called Fiddler's Green, which effectively looks down upon the less fortunate of the city's inhabitants who struggle to survive in the dangerous streets.
It's all the domain of the powerful Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), a slick CEO who keeps himself sequestered in the Green while hiring a group of mercenaries, led by Riley (Simon Baker) and his second-in-command, Cholo (John Leguizamo), to run retrieval missions beyond the electrified fences for luxury items.
But even as they plow their way through the armies of "stenches" in a massive armored vehicle called Dead Reckoning, there's an unstoppable unrest brewing among the dead and the living alike that's about to reach a boiling point.
Although Romero ventured outside his native Pittsburgh to shoot this one in Toronto, it's very clear, from the flag-waving vigilantes to the anti-terrorist rhetoric spewed by Hopper's big-money operator, that most criticisms are being leveled due south of the border.
But those familiar with Romero's work know that doesn't mean they're in for a Michael Moore diatribe. The horror show is still the main attraction, and Land of the Dead delivers the goods in harrowing, visceral heaps.
Bolstered by a talented cast that also includes Asia Argento as a tough cookie ex-hooker who joins Baker's entourage, the film never skimps on atmosphere, which at times verges on the horrifically poetic.
Adding to the uncompromising effect is Miroslaw Baszak's night-drenched cinematography, Michael Doherty's tight edit and a pulse-pounding score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek.
Land of the Dead
Universal
Universal Pictures and Atmosphere Entertainment MM present a Mark Canton-Bernie Goldmann and Romero-Grunwald production in association with Wild Bunch
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: George A. Romero
Producers: Mark Canton, Bernie Goldmann, Peter Grunwald
Executive producers: Steve Barnett, Dennis E. Jones, Ryan Kavanaugh, Lynwood Spinks
Director of photography: Miroslaw Baszak
Production designer: Arv Greywal
Editor: Michael Doherty
Costume designer: Alex Kavanagh
Special makeup effects: Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger
Music: Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek
Cast:
Riley: Simon Baker
Cholo: John Leguizamo
Kaufman: Dennis Hopper
Slack: Asia Argento
Charlie: Robert Joy
Big Daddy: Eugene Clark
Pretty Boy: Joanne Boland
Foxy: Tony Nappo
Number 9: Jennifer Baxter
Butcher: Boyd Banks
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 100 minutes...
Receiving its world premiere at the CineVegas Film Festival, Land of the Dead is the fourth movie in what was originally a trilogy, beginning with 1968's seminal Night of the Living Dead, the movie that has inspired a couple of generations of filmmakers.
The latest installment could well be Romero's masterpiece. Taking full advantage of state-of-the-art makeup and visual effects, he has a more vivid canvas at his disposal, not to mention two decades worth of pent-up observations about American society.
Even those walking dead have learned a thing or two in the interim.
Romero's legion of fans as well as those who like an allegory with the emphasis on the gory will likely show their appreciation by stalking the theaters in droves, giving Universal a very lively opening weekend, while enthusiastic word-of-mouth could give those zombies some legs.
Having staggered their way through Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, it's apparent those ever-growing masses of "walkers" have started to develop an appetite for more than just fresh flesh.
Following the grunting lead of Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), an imposing gas station attendant, the living dead have begun to sort of re-enact their once-normal lives prior to their affliction.
Meanwhile, the remaining affluent and powerful among the living have fortified themselves in an ivory tower -- a luxury complex called Fiddler's Green, which effectively looks down upon the less fortunate of the city's inhabitants who struggle to survive in the dangerous streets.
It's all the domain of the powerful Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), a slick CEO who keeps himself sequestered in the Green while hiring a group of mercenaries, led by Riley (Simon Baker) and his second-in-command, Cholo (John Leguizamo), to run retrieval missions beyond the electrified fences for luxury items.
But even as they plow their way through the armies of "stenches" in a massive armored vehicle called Dead Reckoning, there's an unstoppable unrest brewing among the dead and the living alike that's about to reach a boiling point.
Although Romero ventured outside his native Pittsburgh to shoot this one in Toronto, it's very clear, from the flag-waving vigilantes to the anti-terrorist rhetoric spewed by Hopper's big-money operator, that most criticisms are being leveled due south of the border.
But those familiar with Romero's work know that doesn't mean they're in for a Michael Moore diatribe. The horror show is still the main attraction, and Land of the Dead delivers the goods in harrowing, visceral heaps.
Bolstered by a talented cast that also includes Asia Argento as a tough cookie ex-hooker who joins Baker's entourage, the film never skimps on atmosphere, which at times verges on the horrifically poetic.
Adding to the uncompromising effect is Miroslaw Baszak's night-drenched cinematography, Michael Doherty's tight edit and a pulse-pounding score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek.
Land of the Dead
Universal
Universal Pictures and Atmosphere Entertainment MM present a Mark Canton-Bernie Goldmann and Romero-Grunwald production in association with Wild Bunch
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: George A. Romero
Producers: Mark Canton, Bernie Goldmann, Peter Grunwald
Executive producers: Steve Barnett, Dennis E. Jones, Ryan Kavanaugh, Lynwood Spinks
Director of photography: Miroslaw Baszak
Production designer: Arv Greywal
Editor: Michael Doherty
Costume designer: Alex Kavanagh
Special makeup effects: Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger
Music: Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek
Cast:
Riley: Simon Baker
Cholo: John Leguizamo
Kaufman: Dennis Hopper
Slack: Asia Argento
Charlie: Robert Joy
Big Daddy: Eugene Clark
Pretty Boy: Joanne Boland
Foxy: Tony Nappo
Number 9: Jennifer Baxter
Butcher: Boyd Banks
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 100 minutes...
- 7/12/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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