Lifetime To Premiere 3 New Films For Black History Month (Betty & Coretta)

[crazyfists3600]

You must be thinking of Andersson H.

Poor Anderson, but I seriously have a feeling that this joke will never get old.

[Souler]

lol, I just realized: Bassett is playing Coretta Scott King in this film, not Betty Shabazz?

[coolinout1]

First Trailer For Lifetime's Interracial/Interfaith Romance 'Twist Of Faith' Debuts (Toni Braxton, Mykelti Williamson)
by Tambay A. Obenson
January 31, 2013 2:30 PM



It will be one of 3 movies headlining Lifetime's Black History Month celebration - Twist of Faith, starring Toni Braxton, Mykelti Williamson and David Julian Hirsh.

Synopsis:
Jacob Fisher (Hirsh), an Orthodox Jewish Cantor and amateur songwriter who resides in Brooklyn, New York, witnesses the senseless murder of his wife and three children. Catatonic, Jacob walks out on his Jewish mourning ritual, leaving behind his Jewish garments, wallet and keys. Abandoning his identity, he wanders aimlessly, hoping somehow to understand his tragedy. Fortuitously, he lands in Brent, Alabama (population 2,500), where he is embraced by Nina (Braxton), a single mother and the lead singer of a small gospel choir (an unlikely finalist in the competition to determine the best gospel choir in Alabama), her Uncle Moe (Williamson) and their gospel community who help his return to life while music brings Nina and Jacob together as they try to make sense of his past and their possible future.

Braxton's 9-year-old son Diezel plays her son in the movie as well, which will premiere on Saturday, February 9, at 8pm ET/PT.

Lifetime has released the tele-pic's very first trailer, which is below, along with a bunch of pics from the romantic drama: http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/twist-of-faith/video



















READ MORE HERE

[coolinout1]

Reviews for Betty and Coretta, which premiered this past Saturday:

"Betty & Coretta," is an earnest Lifetime production about the two famous civil rights widows, timed to kick off its Black History Month efforts, but which proves somewhat stilted dramatically in its stolid, dutiful presentation of the movement's history. Mary J. Blige and Angela Bassett are fine in the title roles, but the movie ultimately feels more episodic than cohesive.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117949126/

"Betty & Coretta," Lifetime's original film about the friendship of Betty Shabazz and Coretta Scott King, reminds us of an elementary-school pageant in which the kids dress up as historical figures and give little speeches about their characters' lives.
It's a dreary term-paper of a movie, void of plot and content to jump from one historical event to the next without any sort of theme to connect them.

The lead roles are played by R&B singer Mary J. Blige and veteran Angela Bassett. As Coretta, Bassett makes the most of the limited material. Unfortunately, hers is the lesser role, with Blige's Betty being the movie's true protagonist.

On the singer-turned-actor scale, Blige ranks closer to Elvis Presley than to Cher or Barbra Streisand. She subscribes to the read-then-emote school of acting, seemingly lacking the skill to do both at once.

The best part of the film really shouldn't even be a part of it. For no reason that makes any dramatic sense, Ruby Dee appears occasionally to offer a bit of her own recollections. Dee, a longtime actor and civil-rights activist, knew most of the people depicted in "Betty & Coretta" and was at many of the events. It would have been better simply to tape her for two hours than to construct this wooden tableau that passes for a movie.

http://www.ocregister.com/entertainm...etty-film.html

Angela Bassett gave a fine performance for what she was given to work with. Her reaction to her husband’s assassination was subtle and well-acted, but unfortunately she’s not given much opportunity to shine through the rest of the film. And Lifetime can tell me a million times in their promos that Mary J. Blige is a Grammy nominee, but that doesn’t tell me anything about her acting chops, which were lacking. Her performance lacked nuance, but she’s a singer, so that can’t be expected of her — except that she was cast in a movie.

I was actually most impressed by Malik Yoba as Martin Luther King, Jr. He bore a convincing resemblance to King, and he turned in a powerful performance in the few scenes he was in. Unfortunately, because most of the movie occurs after the two men are assassinated, I didn’t get to see much of him.

Even the film’s talented actors aren’t really given a chance to shine, however, because the storytelling is so weak. As with Liz & Dick, this movie, which spans more than thirty years, seems to take a “checklist” approach to conveying the events. You get the feeling that someone mapped out a timeline of major events in the title women’s lives, and then wrote scene by scene accordingly, without any kind of natural transitions. Because of this, the character development, particularly the relationship between King and Shabazz, suffers. The TV spots and publicity for the film made it out to be a powerful story of female bonds. But the two women are actually not even shown together that often, and when they are, they’re either doing stereotypical female activities like shoe-shopping, or they’re talking about their husbands. I’m no expert on how close the women were in real life, but for a movie which makes itself out to be about a friendship, it lacked the appropriate pathos and storytelling cues to convey that message.

http://www.crushable.com/2013/02/03/...#ixzz2JxNWdQzQ

[coolinout1]

Three more days!

[Donezo]

coolinout, I love that you keep the flame burning for all these washed up R&B singers. What is Deborah Cox up to these days??

[knative]

I just googled her, and gross.

[coolinout1]

^ Yep, she's been on that tour since last year as well as releasing a bunch of dance singles w/various DJs.