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From Essence

The first of many summer action-packed thrillers hits theaters Friday. Pain & Gain, starring Anthony Mackie, Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, follows three bodybuilders as they join forces to kidnap, rob and attempt to murder a wealthy Miami business man.

ESSENCE.com caught up with Mackie to chat about his new buff-body crime thriller, how he got into shape and what it was like to loosen up on camera.

On preparing for his role as Adrian and whether or not he talked to the “real” Adrian, who is character is based on:

Not at all. Thinking about it, the dude is on death row. There are a lot of aspects to his personal life that I didn’t want to get in to. I feel like him being a real guy in a movie like this wasn’t so important. Not too many people know about this story, let alone know about him. I felt like if I captured the true essence of what the writer gave me on the page, then I would be able to tell the story and do him justice.

On whether or not he’s workout obsessed:

I try to be. I try to go to the gym every morning for an hour, hour and a half. It’s just to keep myself in shape. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this movie. I took a four-year period when I was playing cops and stuff like that. So I drunk a lot of whiskey and ate a lot of beef and got fat.

His competitive spirit:

I met Mark before. He’s just a real down to earth cool dude. But I have this weird thing about me—I’m always overly competitive with men over six-feet tall. I don’t know why. [laughs] Every time I see a dude over six feet, I just want to be really aggressive and I’m five-foot-eleven. Whenever I have to look up at another man I want to bite him. I don’t know why! [laughs] Once I met Dwayne it was on like donkey kong.

It sounds like this was a fun movie to film.  You can check out the full interview over on Essence.com. Are you an Anthony Mackie fan? Will you be checking this one out (with all those fine men)?

Source: WENN

From EurWeb

Golden Brooks believes in sass.

She says in a recent interview with BET.com that it takes a little tude to make it as a Black woman in showbiz.

She also chats about her latest film, “Polish Bar,” in which she plays the role of a stripper.

BET: How did you come to be in this film, Polish Bar. Your character Ebony is quite different from the one you play in Girlfriends.

Golden Brooks: After doing Girlfriends for so long, I wanted to take a chance and do a really dark, independent film. Actually, my roots are in drama. It’s comedy I have to work hard at. It’s easier for me to channel pain than to make people laugh. And I had to do that all the time for Girlfriends. I love doing it, but I knew I wanted to do more as an actress.

Check out more from the Q&A on EurWeb.com.

If it seems like it was just yesterday that Tyler Perry was rolling out another movie, it probably was. We know how he does when it comes to pushing his flicks and the time has come for yet another to hit the big screen. On March 29, 2013, the controversial film, “The Marriage Counselor,” will make it’s big screen debut and Lionsgate has just released the first trailer for the movie.

If you recall earlier this year, everyone was up in arms about Kim Kardashian being cast in this production — and Tyler Perry getting brand new and trying to act like he had no idea who she was — but thankfully she has just a small part in the movie. The film’s real stars are Jurnee Smollet, Lance Gross, Vanessa Williams, Robbie Jones, Ella Joyce, and Brandy.

According to the synopsis:

The film tells the story of Judith (Smollett), an Ivy League-educated relationship expert who makes her living dispensing marital advice, but is so bored with her own marriage (to Gross) that she breaks her professional code and cheats with a smooth talking client (Jones) only to realize she has made a huge mistake.

As for the other characters, Vanessa Williams will play the owner of the firm where Jurnee practices; Brandy will portray Lance’s co-worker; and Kim K. will play Smollett’s friend and co-worker.

The plot falls somewhere between extremely far-fetched and undoubtedly entertaining for me so I’m sure I’ll be heading to the theaters to see this. Check out the clip below and tell us what you think.

Will you be watching?

Daniel Deme/WENN.com

Jamie Foxx in a tight suit playing a supervillain? I’ll take a serving of that.

According to Variety, actor Jamie Foxx is in talks to play Electro, a supervillain, in the sequel to The Amazing Superman.  The film is set to hit theaters in 2014 but Sony Pictures apparently didn’t expect to be so far in the casting process this soon; Emma Stone and and Andrew Garfield are already returning and Shailene Woodley is in talks to be cast in a role.

While the film studio would not saying anything about Foxx being signed on or even in talks to do it, you know Twitter makes people feel a little more free-flowing of the words. Jamie tweeted last Thursday, “Dressed up as Electro for Halloween last night. Costume fits.” So either he’s letting the world know he definitely has the role or an overzealous person excited to give a story toVariety saw him out on the street and ran with it.  I guess we’ll have to see.

Jamie is quite the busy man: he’s currently gearing up to promote his upcoming film Django Unchained, co-starring Kerry Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio, which will be released on Christmas Day.

Source: Zimbio.com

We haven’t heard much from her in a while, but singer/actress, Toni Braxton, announced via Twitter that she will be starring in a movie on the Lifetime Movie Network.

The Urban Daily reports:

Her youngest son Diezel will be acting opposite his mom in he film. Braxton tweeted, “I will be filming for a new movie for Lifetime and Diezel will be in it as well, playing the role of my son!”

As expected, as soon as Toni tweeted the movie news, she was bombarded with questions about the film project. Braxton put a stop to all the inquiries with a follow-up tweet. “That’s all I can say for now.”

In case you’re not familiar, Lifetime Movie Network shows original, made for television, women-oriented movies exclusively. Popular Lifetime movies include  Natalee Holloway, Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? (starring Tori Spelling), The Face on the Milk Carton and No One Would Tell (starring Fred Savage and Candace Cameron).

It’s great to hear about this opportunity for Toni considering the health and financial problems that have plagued her and her family over the past few years. There isn’t much more information out there about this movie and I’d be surprised if she talks about it much -or at all – on Braxton Family Values next season because WeTV and Lifetime are competitors. Still, I’ll definitely be looking out for the previews. If it’s planned to be anything like every other Lifetime Movie, get the tissues ready because it’s sure to be a tearjerker.

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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Source: nerdbastards.com

It’s not every day that a trailer is released for a Quentin Tarantino movie (he’s only directed seven in his long career), let alone one led by our main man Jamie Foxx. But today is that day! We’ve been hearing since last year about Django Unchained, the big names in it (Christopher Waltz, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc.) and the story behind it: A shout out to the spaghetti western where man is slave, slave meets bounty hunter, bounty hunter trains slave to find murderous brothers who took his wife, slave gets MAD revenge in the process and possibly freedom. Sounds like something Tarantino would be into right? Well, what about you? The trailer dropped today and it looks mighty interesting! I must say, I like that the director likes to do movies that are odes to different genres (kung fu, blaxploitation, spaghetti westerns, etc.). Plus, we finally get to see Leonardo DiCaprio play something other than the lead, heroic good-guy. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think!

Will you check this out when in drops in theaters on Christmas?

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Source: Thejasminebrand.com

The reaction to news that Shaunie O’Neal and Tracey Edmonds sold a “Basketball Wives”-like project to Fox films was like the cringe heard around the world. Already fed up with the nonsense shown on VH1 every Monday night, many easily dismissed this venture as a feature-length version of either her life or the reality TV show she produces, and people weren’t exactly thrilled about the possibility of either one. In an interview with Vibe though, Shaunie claims the movie will be nothing like the reality series we love to hate and she even suggests the film is an opportunity for her to redeem herself.

“It’s fictional. It’s a movie, so it has nothing… I see people on Twitter saying, ‘Oh god, you guys gon’ take that and turn it into a movie?’ You don’t take a reality show and make it a movie. At least I wouldn’t,” she said. “It’s not a quote, unquote ‘basketball wives movie.’ Even though it has to do with basketball life, it’s not actually taking Basketball Wivesfrom TV and making it a movie. And it’s not about women sitting around arguing or lunching all the time. It’s an actual story. It’s a love story. It’s an empowering story. It’s funny. It’s life. It’s similar—we’ve taken a girl who’s just going into the NBA life and experiencing things and showing the whole story. She learns from the organization. She learns from other wives. And by the end of the story, it’s empowering for women and men. It’s so nothing like the TV show at all. No comparison.”

Empowerment and learning really aren’t defining characteristics of the VH1 show so Shaunie may be telling the truth about this film. During the interview, she also explained why she thought this project was necessary.

“It was important for me to have other outlets outside of ‘Basketball Wives’ to represent myself and who I really am and what I really would like to put out there. Because, again, I did reality TV and I can’t control that. I can’t control how everybody acts and what everybody sees. This, I can control [laughs]. If I come and I say, “This is what I envision, this is what I feel, this is what I see,” with the help of others, we sit around and collaborate on how this vision can come alive and how we can make it entertaining and how we can make people interested. And [Tracey] understood what I was saying. She got where I was coming from. We always wanted to work together on something, be it TV, movie or whatever. We sat around and talked about this for a couple months and I was so eager to make it happen because I needed some other ways to almost redeem myself. Like, this is not what I’m about people, [laughs] so let me show you. And it’s not my only way of showing but it’s a huge start. And it’s one that I know I’m gonna be 110 percent proud of.”

Since the deal was just closed last Monday, Shaunie says production is in the very early stages with the writer still finishing the script. She does know a little somethin’ somethin’ about the cast though.

“We haven’t casted yet, but I wouldn’t call [the movie] a Black woman’s story. It’s going to be a multiracial cast. Of course, there will be Black women ’cause most of the NBA seems to be. But it is going to be multiracial.”

Sounds like “Basketball Wives” to me.

Do you think Shaunie can redeem herself with this film?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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From NecoleBitchie.com

Ladies, it’s time to envy Taraji P. Henson.  Not only was she granted the opportunity to lock lips with Michael Ealy on their new movie, ‘Think Like A Man’ which hits theaters this Friday, he also licked the icing off of that cake cake cake. [Okay, just kid.... but he did lick the chocolate off of her body in the movie.]

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From EurWeb.com

Gabrielle Union, 39, is among the multitude of black Hollywood starring in the film “Think Like a Man,” based on Steve Harvey’s best-selling relationship book, “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment.”

The film focuses on four women who are following the advice laid out in the book and applying it to their own relationships. But when their significant others find out, the men attempt to use it to their advantage and give their ladies a taste of their own medicine.

Union, whose character Kristen is romantically linked to “Entourage” star Jerry “Turtle” Ferrara, said she didn’t really pick up any tips from reading Harvey’s book, because the type of advice he gives should already be common sense for any woman.

For the complete story, visit EurWeb.com.

Remember the first time you saw “Love & Basketball?” Remember how you rolled your eyes at the screen, talked back to the characters and “awwwed” at the end? If you can remember all of that, then you certainly recall telling your friends – or yourself – the things you’d never do or what you would’ve done in “that situation.”

Let’s see if you learned or peeped some of the lessons that I did….

Read the rest of this entry »