Entertainment

ABOVE PHOTO:  Jeff Chang  (Photo: Bert Johnson) Interview with Kam Williams Jeff Chang is a sage thinker with his finger on the pulse of American culture. His first book, the critically-acclaimed “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation,” collected a cornucopia of honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian-American Literary…

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By Tambay A. Obenson Shadow and Act.com  After its BET broadcast premiere last year, it was made available on Netflix as a streaming title, but was almost immediately yanked from the service, to the consternation of many of you who didn’t see it when it was in theaters (a limited release), and who, for one…

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Review by Kam Williams Luscious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is the ailing CEO of Empire Entertainment, a company he built into a music industry titan while his wife Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) was doing 17 years behind bars for a crime that he committed. Like a modern-day King Lear, he’s ready to surrender the throne to…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Russell Simmons Interview with Kam Williams Russell Simmons has been very active as of late in the Black Lives Matter movement, and not merely as a participant on the picket lines. Whether extracting a promise from N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo to appoint special prosecutors in cases of police brutality, or defending Bill de…

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ABOVE PHOTO: Selma. Kam’s Annual Assessment of the Cream of the Cinematic Crop By Kam Williams The year 2014 has produced a cornucopia of great films, at least a dozen of which has an excellent shot of taking home the Academy Award for Best Picture, including Boyhood, Birdman, The Imitation Game and Whiplash, to name…

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Starring Regina Hall, Jill Scott and Eve Jeffers Cooper By Tambay A. Obenson Shadow and Act  Making its world premier as part of OWN Network’s month-long celebration in January honoring civil rights legends who paved the way, will be Light Girls, Bill Duke’s follow-up to his acclaimed documentary Dark Girls, which will air on Monday,…

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By Tambay A. Obenson  Shadow and Act  Regina Hall, Jill Scott, and Eve Jeffers Cooper star as three single friends who vow to get married within a year after attending their best friend’s wedding, in the Lifetime Original Movie With This Ring, which premieres on Saturday, January 24, 2015, at 8pm ET/PT. Brooklyn Sudano, Deion…

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ABOVE PHOTO: Amy Pascal (insert) (s_bukley / Shutterstock.com) By Tanya Steele  Shadow and Act.com Here is where Shadow and Act and Indiewire would like to give a warning: the following views are held by the author of the piece. They are her views alone. Yep, mine. Someone please stop this insanity train from moving along the…

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By Kam Williams  Top Ten Big Budget Black Films 1.Selma 2.The Equalizer 3.Top Five 4.Belle 5.Get on Up 6.Beyond The Lights 7.About Last Night 8.Think Like a Man Too 9.Black or White 10.Addicted Best Independent Black Films 1.Dear White People   2.Half of a Yellow Sun 3.The Retrieval 4.From the Rough 5.Sucka 4 Luv  Best…

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ABOVE PHOTO: Muhammad Ali (Shuttersock) By Bruce Schreiner Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Boxing great Muhammad Ali was hospitalized with a mild case of pneumonia that was caught early and should result in a short hospital stay, an Ali spokesman said Saturday night. The three-time world heavyweight champion, who is battling Parkinson’s disease, is being…

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