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Wonder Woman 1984,
The Little Things, and
Judas and the Black Messiahâ released through Warner Bros. new release model fell more into the superhero and crime thriller dramas, respectively, but the fourth entry in a long list of titles being released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously is a little more family-friendly but features a cast just as impressive as its predecessors. Seriously, the
Tom and Jerry: The Movie) cast is one of the most impressive of the bunch, and in terms of animated features in recent years.
With everyone from Chloë Grace Moretz taking on the role of a young hotel employee doing her best to avoid disaster and find a solution for the titular cat and mouse, to Michael Peña doing his best impression of an evil mastermind, the live-action cast is something else. Combine that with Frank Welker (along with archival footage of
The second Lady Day: Andra Day plays Billie Holiday in Lee Daniels s film
Credit: Takashi Seida
Dir: Lee Daniels. Cast: Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Natasha Lyonne, Miss Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Evan Ross, Tyler James Williams, Tone Bell. No cert, 130 min
The FBI couldn’t lynch Billie Holiday, but they inflicted their version of it. Their mutual antagonism began with the incendiary lyrics of Strange Fruit (“Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze…”), the breakout single she first recorded in 1939, and the authorities would breathe down her neck for the remaining 20 years she enjoyed between stardom and the grave.
Diana Ross gives Lee Daniels Billie Holiday biopic thumbs up nydailynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nydailynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Erik LaRay Harvey.
Andra Day stars in THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Takashi Seida.
The film follows Holiday during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, with whom she had a tumultuous affair. Beginning in the 1940’s in New York City, the federal government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to escalate and racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial and heart-wrenching ballad, “Strange Fruit.”
theGRIO previously reported, Andra Days said she “abused” her body to help get into the headspace of Holiday for her role in the film.
CinemaBlend
Feb. 23. 2021 12:12 AM
The United States vs. Billie Holiday doesnât so much feel like a film based on a screenplay as much as it does a series of index cards pinned to a corkboard.
Starring:
Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Melvin Gregg, Natasha Lyonne
Written By:
Suzan-Lori Parks
The United States vs. Billie Holiday doesnât so much feel like a film based on a screenplay as much as it does a series of index cards pinned to a corkboard.
Every biopic trying to capture the life of an individual faces the exact same inherent problem: an individualâs life doesnât play out like a traditional story. Awareness of this frequently leads filmmakers to go the route of identifying and playing out a meaningful event that encapsulates who a person was, but every so often there are movies that aim to just try and squeeze a whole existence into 120 or so minutes. The great risk, naturally, is creating what functions less like a narrative, and more l