News

Gifted children (or prodigy) movies are driven by an intriguing paradox: what if they don’t realize their full potential if not adequately challenged? But what if the pursuit of intense challenges inculcates within them a fear of failure which can adversely impact their childhood and beyond? In a world where individuals can be casually stigmatized for being ‘different’, extraordinary intellect can’t always be a gift. Movies like A Beautiful Mind (2001), Shine (1996), Good Will Hunting (1997), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The End of the Tour (2015), The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016) dealt with super-smart people burdened with mental or emotional problems. The films mentioned below grapple with such problems or quandary (of kids & teens), some with unflinching profundity and some hide its relevant messages beneath saccharine narrative layers.

Honorable Mention: Vitus (2006)

Fredi M. Murer’s light-hearted and leisurely paced Swiss drama tells the eponymous tale of a 12-year-old piano prodigy (Teo Gheorghiu...

In the tradition of Jodi Foster, Emma Watson, and Drew Barrymore, there is another actress whose talent survived childhood stardom and remains viable and among the most popular in Hollywood during her adult years. Best known to the world as “Keke,” Lauren Keyana Palmer was born in Harvey, Illinois, in 1993. As a child, she studied theater before – at the young age of 9 – she was cast in her first feature film, the Ice Cube-produced hit film Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and she continues to be a popular actress and media personality today, twenty years later.

After Barbershop 2: Back in Business, the following year, in 2005, Palmer signed a record deal with Atlantic Records, and from there, she soared on screen, through music, and as a media favorite because of her no-nonsense and unapologetically confident personality which was a perfect fit for her most impressive film to date.

Palmer’s...

Angela Bassett, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of her generation. She was nominated 29 years ago for the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It, making her the only Black person nominated for the best actress Oscar in the 1990s, and she is nominated this year for the best supporting actress Oscar her portrayal of Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, making her only the fourth Black actress who has received more than one acting Oscar nomination, and the first person ever nominated for a performance in a Marvel movie.

Of Bassett — who has also won two Golden Globe Awards, for the aforementioned two films, and has been nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, for a variety of programs — Time film critic Richard Corliss...

In the era of #MeToo, in which women are finally being given a voice against sexual predators, a movie about a false rape accusation feels like a tough sell. Brian Banks is an earnestly told true story of criminal injustice focusing on Banks (a terrific Aldis Hodge in a bust-out performance), a junior at Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, California, who’s headed to USC on a scholarship and a future NFL career as a linebacker. That future evaporates when Banks is wrongly accused of sexual assault by fellow...

Perhaps the worst thing a film can be, even more so than the binary of good or bad, is forgettable. That is the best way to reflect upon “Brian Banks,” the latest film in the canon of dramas that highlight the criminalization and mass incarceration of black people in the United States.

Director Tom Shadyac (“The Nutty Professor”) flatly tells the true story of the titular football star whose promising career came to a screeching halt when he was wrongfully accused and convicted of raping a young woman in 2002 (when he was 17 years old) and spent six years in prison. Though we see brief flashbacks of Brian in jail feeling defeated and struggling to navigate the system inside, much of the film is spent after his incarceration, as he tries in vain to find work despite having a criminal record while on a strict custody parole and fighting to clear his name.

Brian Banks Bleecker Street Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Tom Shadyac Screenwriter: Doug Atchison Cast: Aldis Hodge, Greg Kinnear, Sherri Shepherd, Xosha Roquemore, Melanie Liburd, Tiffany Dupont Screened at: Tribeca, NYC, 6/5/19 Opens: August 9, 2019 When Spain in the 15th century determined to make the entire […]

The post Brian Banks Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Brian Banks Trailer The movie trailer for Brian Banks (2018), directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Doug Atchison, has been released by Bleecker Street Media. Plot Synopsis Brian Banks‘ plot synopsis: based on the book by Brian Banks, “The inspirational true story of Brian Banks (Aldis Hodge), an All-American high school football [...]

Continue reading: Brian Banks (2018) Movie Trailer: Aldis Hodge is Wrongly Convicted & Fights to Fulfill His NFL Dream...

“Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris’ willingness to tackle tough topics on primetime network television – including police brutality, corporal punishment, and the 2016 election – “opens minds and hearts into a window into a world many folks don’t understand,” said one of the show’s stars, Marcus Scribner, in honoring Barris at the 44th Annual Humanitas Prize awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Friday night.

“In the space of 30 minutes, Kenya is able to weave these stories that have never been told on television before, and I think that’s why he’s such an amazing artist,” said Scribner, who plays teenage son Andre Johnson, Jr. on the ABC show. “He’s never out to make bank; he’s there to make change.”

Scribner accepted the Voice for Change award on behalf of Barris, who could not attend due to a family emergency. Humanitas says the award is designed to honor a...

Feature films On the Basis of Sex and Love Simon, along with TV series God Friended Me were among the big winners at the 44th annual Humanitas Prize ceremony tonight at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

A surprise double award, for 30-Minute Television Comedy, went to Dear White People and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

The Humanitas prize was created to honor film and TV writers whose work inspires compassion, hope, and understanding in the human family. For the second year, all prize winners are donating their $20,000 awards to nonprofits engaged in nurturing young writers.

The ceremony also honored Marta Kauffman with the Kieser Award and Kenya Barris (Black-ish) with the Voice for Change Award.

Barris was unable to attend due to a family emergency and his award was accepted by Black-ish cast member Marcus Scribner. Scribner talked about Barris’ courage in taking on controversial topics, including whether or not it’s...

Exclusive: Bleecker Street has partnered with ShivHans Pictures for the release of Brian Banks, the true story about an All-American football player who went to prison for a crime he did not commit. Directed by Tom Shadyac, the pic premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it picked up the Audience Award. It will bow in theaters August 9, 2019.

Aldis Hodge stars in the title role along with Greg Kinnear, Sherri Shepherd, Melanie Liburd, Xosha Roquemore, and Tiffany Dupont.

Banks (Hodge) was a high school football star who had committed to USC by his junior year. In 2002, his life upended when he is falsely accused of rape. Fiercely maintaining his innocence and despite any evidence to support the accusation, Brian is nonetheless railroaded through the justice system and sentenced to a decade of prison and probation. Ultimately, with the help of Justin Brooks (Kinnear) and the California Innocence Project, Banks...

Box office blockbusters such as “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians” and small screen series including “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “One Day at a Time” and “This Is Us” are among the finalists for the 44th annual Humanitas Prize, Humanitas executive director Cathleen Young and president Ali LeRoi announced Tuesday.

“It’s always an honor and a privilege to lift up writers who are passionate about telling stories that entertain us, but also deeply explore what it means to be a human in a way that promotes peace and love,” Young said.

A total of 58 writers are nominated for their work in the 30-minute comedy, 60-minute drama, children’s teleplay, independent feature film, drama feature film, comedy feature film, family feature film and documentary categories. The prize was created to celebrate writers “whose work inspires compassion, hope, and understanding in the human family.”

“Humanitas enjoyed an embarrassment of riches this year,...

Disney/Marvel’s blockbuster Black Panther and NBC’s This Is Us are among the nominees for the 44th annual Humanitas Prize. Winners will be revealed in a ceremony February 8 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The prize was created to honor film and TV writers whose work inspires compassion, hope, and understanding in the human family.

The February ceremony will also also honor Marta Kauffman with The Kieser Award and Kenya Barris

with the Voice For Change Award.

Here are the nominees:

60-minute Drama

God Friended Me, “Pilot” Written by Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrandt

Orange Is The New Black, “Be Free” Written by Brian Chamberlayne

The Good Doctor, “More” Written by David Shore and Lloyd Gilyard Jr.

This Is Us, “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life” Written by Kay Oyegun

30-minute Comedy

Dear White People, “Volume 2: Chapter VIII” Written by Jack Moore

One Day At A Time, “Hello, Penelope” Written...

The timing could hardly be worse for “Brian Banks,” a well-meaning and emotionally engaging movie about the California Innocence Project’s incredible battle to exonerate a Long Beach football player who lost 11 years of his life to prison and parole after a high school classmate falsely accused him of rape. Independently made and still seeking distribution, the compelling biopic — a stark departure from lowbrow studio comedies for “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” director Tom Shadyac — faces an uphill path not unlike the one Cip lawyer Justin Brooks (played here by Greg Kinnear) accepted when he took Banks’ case (a chance-of-a-lifetime role for Aldis Hodge).

In a sign that this solid social-justice drama stands apart from current events — an exceptional case that neither contradicts nor enhances the #MeToo movement — “Brian Banks” was met with multiple standing ovations at its L.A. Film Festival premiere, even as the nation’s attention was turned...

Exclusive: The Los Angeles Film Festival is on the move from June to this month, where it opens on Thursday with the world premiere of the music documentary Echo in the Canyon. Over the course of the next week, the festival will be offering an array of cinematic programming of all kinds including several more world premiere features.

One of those is the locally based Brian Banks, which marks a return to narrative filmmaking by director Tom Shadyac, whose most recent work with the spiritual documentary I Am and whose mosat recent commercial film was 2007’s Evan Almighty. A powerful and inspiring film, Brian Banks is a decided departure for the man whose filmography includes Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, Dragonfly and Eddie Murphy’s The Nutty Professor. Independently made, Brian Banks stars Aldis Hodge in the title role alog with Greg Kinnear, Sherri Shepherd, Melanie Liburd,...

Xosha Roquemore of The Mindy Project has joined the cast of Brian Banks, the drama recounting the true story of the wrongful imprisonment and exoneration of the onetime high school football prodigy.

Tom Shadyac is directing the feature, making it his first directorial project since 2003’s Bruce Almighty and 2007’s Evan Almighty. Aldis Hodge, Greg Kinnear and Tiffany Dupont are also among the cast, and Doug Atchison wrote the script. The project was originally incubated through Amy Baer’s development fund Gidden Media, and Baer will produce alongside ShivHans Pictures’ Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson. Banks, Justin Brooks and Neil Strum are...

Xosha Roquemore of The Mindy Project has joined the cast of Brian Banks, the drama recounting the true story of the wrongful imprisonment and exoneration of the onetime high school football prodigy.

Tom Shadyac is directing the feature, making it his first directorial project since 2003’s Bruce Almighty and 2007’s Evan Almighty. Aldis Hodge, Greg Kinnear and Tiffany Dupont are also among the cast, and Doug Atchison wrote the script. The project was originally incubated through Amy Baer’s development fund Gidden Media, and Baer will produce alongside ShivHans Pictures’ Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson. Banks, Justin Brooks and Neil ...

Tiffany Dupont has joined the cast of Brian Banks, the drama recounting the true story of the wrongful imprisonment and exoneration of the one-time high school football prodigy.

Tom Shadyac is directing the feature, making it his first directorial project since 2003’s Bruce Almighty and 2007’s Evan Almighty. Aldis Hodge and Greg Kinnear are also among the cast, and Doug Atchison wrote the script. The project was originally incubated through Amy Baer’s development fund Gidden Media, and Baer will produce alongside ShivHans Pictures’ Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson. Banks, Justin Brooks and Neil Strum are executive producers.

Brian Banks centers on the titular...

Tiffany Dupont has joined the cast of Brian Banks, the drama recounting the true story of the wrongful imprisonment and exoneration of the one-time high school football prodigy.

Tom Shadyac is directing the feature, making it his first directorial project since 2003’s Bruce Almighty and 2007’s Evan Almighty. Aldis Hodge and Greg Kinnear are also among the cast, and Doug Atchison wrote the script. The project was originally incubated through Amy Baer’s development fund Gidden Media, and Baer will produce alongside ShivHans Pictures’ Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson. Banks, Justin Brooks and Neil Strum are executive producers.

Brian Banks ...

Tom Shadyac is set to direct Brian Banks, a drama recounting the true story of the wrongful imprisonment and exoneration of the one-time high school football prodigy.

Shadyac will helm the film from a script by Doug Atchison. The project was originally incubated through Amy Baer’s development fund Gidden Media, and Baer will produce alongside ShivHans Pictures’ Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson. Banks, Atchison, Justin Brooks and Neal Strum are executive producers. Production will begin later this summer.

Brian Banks centers on the titular high-school football player who was committed to USC by his junior year. His life was upended in...

Tom Shadyac is set to direct Brian Banks, a drama recounting the true story of the wrongful imprisonment and exoneration of the one-time high school football prodigy.

Shadyac will helm the film from a script by Doug Atchison. The project was originally incubated through Amy Baer’s development fund Gidden Media, and Baer will produce alongside ShivHans Pictures’ Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson. Banks, Atchison, Justin Brooks and Neal Strum are executive producers. Production is set to begin later this summer.

Brian Banks centers on the titular high-school football player who was committed to USC by his junior year. His life was ...

Tom Shadyac is set to direct Brian Banks, a drama recounting the true story of the wrongful imprisonment and exoneration of the one-time high school football prodigy.

Shadyac will helm the film from a script by Doug Atchison. The project was originally incubated through Amy Baer’s development fund Gidden Media, and Baer will produce alongside ShivHans Pictures’ Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson. Banks, Atchison, Justin Brooks and Neal Strum are executive producers. Production is set to begin later this summer.

Brian Banks centers on the titular high-school football player who was committed to USC by his junior year. His life was ...

Updated With Corrected Membership Figures: TV writer and producer Shawn Ryan was the top vote-getter in the WGA West’s board election, which saw a turnout of 22.4% of the guild’s members casting ballots. Ryan, creator and showrunner of The Shield and The Chicago Code, got more votes than all of the incumbents in the race, with his name appearing on nearly 67% of the 1,835 ballots cast. The guild has more than 21,000 members, according to its latest filing with the Department of Labor. The guild said there were about 8,200 members eligible to vote.

All five incumbents — Chip Johannessen, Scott Alexander, Michael Oates Palmer, Katherine Fugate and Marjorie David — won re-election to two-year terms on the board. Fugate finished second in the voting, with her name appearing on 1,124 ballots (61.3%), followed by Johannessen (1,071, 58.4%); Alexander (965, 52.6%); Aaron Mendelsohn (964, 52.5%); David (952, 51.9%); Palmer (817, 44.5%); Jonathan Fernandez (722, 39.3%); and Peter Lefcourt, who was elected to a one-year term (648, 35.3%), filling the vacancy...

The WGA West has issued its final list of 18 candidates, including five incumbents, who will be competing for eight seats on the its board of directors in the September election. Incumbents Chip Johannessen, Scott Alexander, Michael Oates Palmer, Katherine Fugate and Marjorie David will square off against challengers Shawn Ryan, Chris Derrick, Cynthia Riddle, Peter Lefcourt, Shernold Edwards, Peter Murrieta, Doug Atchison, Stan Chervin, Jonathan Fernandez, Courtney Ellinger, Mark Amato, Aaron Mendelsohn, and Aaron Fullerton. The guild will host its annual Candidates Night forum, where members can grill the candidates, on September 3 at the guild’s La headquarters. Ballots […]...

The companies will jointly develop, finance and produce a feature adaptation of Alice Ozma’s memoirs.

Doug Atchison of Akeelah And The Bee fame will adapt the screenplay of The Reading Promise, about a single father and librarian who reads aloud to his daughter every night until she leaves for college.

“At its core, The Reading Promise is a heartfelt, imaginative story that celebrates family and love of reading, and as such, celebrates the core tenants of a Walden Media film,” said Walden Media COO Frank Smith. “Jim Brozina’s dedication to his family and the promise they made are nothing short of inspirational.”

Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh and Deborah Giarratana will produce alongside Walden Media. Relativity president Tucker Tooley will serve as executive producer.

Walden Media’s vp of development and production, Naia Cucukov, who was an actual student of Brozina’s in their town of Millville, New Jersey, brought the project...

The companies will jointly develop, finance and produce a feature adaptation of Alice Ozma’s memoirs.

Doug Atchison of Akeelah And The Bee fame will adapt the screenplay of The Reading Promise, about a single father and librarian who reads aloud to his daughter every night until she leaves for college.

“At its core, The Reading Promise is a heartfelt, imaginative story that celebrates family and love of reading, and as such, celebrates the core tenants of a Walden Media film,” said Walden Media COO Frank Smith. “Jim Brozina’s dedication to his family and the promise they made are nothing short of inspirational.”

Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh and Deborah Giarratana will produce alongside Walden Media. Relativity president Tucker Tooley will serve as executive producer.

Walden Media’s vp of development and production, Naia Cucukov, who was an actual student of Brozina’s in their town of Millville, New Jersey, brought the project...

Relativity and Walden Media announced today that they will develop, finance and produce a feature film adaptation of Alice Ozma's The Reading Promise, a bestselling memoir of how a shared passion for reading helped a single father and his youngest daughter navigate the ups and downs of their lives. Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee) is set to write the screenplay.

Walden Media COO Frank Smith had this to say in a statement.

"At its core, The Reading Promise is a heartfelt, imaginative story that celebrates family and love of reading, and as such, celebrates the core tenants of a Walden Media film. Jim Brozina's dedication to his family and the promise they made are nothing short of inspirational."

The Reading Promise is a heartwarming, true story of a young woman whose single father (Jim Brozina), a beloved elementary school librarian, made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights.

Relativity and Walden Media announced today that they will develop, finance and produce a feature film adaptation of Alice Ozma's The Reading Promise, a bestselling memoir of how a shared passion for reading helped a single father and his youngest daughter navigate the ups and downs of their lives. Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee) is set to write the screenplay.

Walden Media COO Frank Smith had this to say in a statement.

"At its core, The Reading Promise is a heartfelt, imaginative story that celebrates family and love of reading, and as such, celebrates the core tenants of a Walden Media film. Jim Brozina's dedication to his family and the promise they made are nothing short of inspirational."

The Reading Promise is a heartwarming, true story of a young woman whose single father (Jim Brozina), a beloved elementary school librarian, made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights.

Relativity and Walden Media announced today that they will develop, finance and produce a feature film adaptation of Alice Ozma.s The Reading Promise, the bestselling memoir of how a shared passion for reading helped a single father and his youngest daughter navigate the ups and downs of their lives. Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee) is set to write the screenplay.

Relativity and Walden Media will team for an adaptation of the bestselling memoir The Reading Promise. The studios will develop, finance and produce the film, with Relativity overseeing U.S distribution. Doug Atchison, who wrote Akeelah and the Bee, will adapt the script from Alice Ozma's memoir. List Hollywood's 100 Favorite FIlms The Reading Promise is Ozma's story of the pact her single father, elementary school librarian Jim Brozina, made to read aloud with her for one hundred consecutive nights — which became 3,218 nights, or eight years, until Ozma left for college. Her memoir was published by Grand Central

read more...

Big Eyes

Terence Stamp has joined the cast of Tim Burton's "Big Eyes", a biopic of painter Margaret Keane and her husband Walter who took credit for his wife's work.

Stamp plays John Canaday, the New York Times senior art critic who is appalled and exasperated by Walter's rise to prominence. Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman and Danny Huston also star. [Source: THR]

Kill The Messenger

Rosemarie DeWitt is in final negotiations to play the female lead in Michael Cuesta's true-story thriller "Kill The Messenger" at Focus Features. The film is a biopic of journalist Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner).

Webb committed suicide after being the target of a smear campaign when he linked the CIA to a scheme to arm Contra rebels in Nicaragua and import cocaine into California. Rehearsals start next month. [Source: Deadline]

Inherent Vice

Peter McRobbie ("Lincoln," "Law & Order") is set to play loan shark Adrian Prussia in Paul Thomas Anderson...

• Rosemarie DeWitt is in negotiations to star opposite Jeremy Renner (The Avengers) in Kill The Messenger, based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb and his reporting around the CIA’s involvement in cocaine trafficking. DeWitt, who played Charmaine Craine in United States of Tara, is becoming more of a household name thanks to memorable roles in films such as Your Sister’s Sister and Rachel Getting Married. She can be seen next in Lynn Shelton’s Touchy Feely with Scoot McNairy and Ellen Page. [Deadline]

• Michael Peña (Gangster Squad), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond), and Dougray Scott (Hemlock Grove) have...

Here is your latest casting information: Rosemarie DeWitt (Cinderella Man) is in final negotiations to play the female lead opposite Jeremy Renner in Kill the Messenger, based on a true story of the suicide of a reporter investigating the CIA. Terence Stamp (Wanted) has joined Tim Burton's Big Eyes, based on the lives of painters Margaret and Walter Keane, played by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus) and Wyatt Russell (Cowboys & Aliens) will play two members of the historic Boston Bruins hockey team in writer-director Doug Atchison's Turk. Hit the jump for more on each project. First up from Deadline is the news that DeWitt is about to board Kill the Messenger for Michael Cuesta (Homeland) who directs from a Peter Landesman (Trade) script.  The thriller's story centers on "Gary Webb (Renner), a San Jose Mercury News reporter who committed suicide after being the target of...

"Prometheus" star Logan Marshall-Green and hockey-loving actor Wyatt Russell are finalizing deals to play former Boston Bruins Derek Sanderson and Bobby Orr in Doug Atchison's indie movie "Turk," which counts Ed Burns among its producing team. Atchison ("Akeelah and the Bee") is writing and directing the film, which Shep Harmon is producing via his Tenth Green Productions banner along with Burns and Aaron Lubin of Marlboro Road Gang. Chris Pappas wrote an earlier draft of the script. Nicknamed "Turk," Sanderson was a talented but troubled member of the Stanley Cup-winning Bruins in...

The 26th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is accepting entries until May 2. So get writing if you haven't earned more than $5,000 from the sale or option of a screen or teleplay, or haven't received another fellowship or prize of more than $5,000. Feature length original works, written in English and from up to two authors are eligible. Each year, the Nicholl Fellowship awards up to five $30,000 awards. Starting in 1985, 118 fellowships have been awarded. Among the past recipients are Oscar® nominee Susannah Grant (The Soloist, Erin Brockovich, Pocahontas), Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee), Mike Rich (Secretariat, The Rookie, Finding Forrester), Ehren Kruger (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Ring, Arlington Road) and Andrew Marlowe (ABC's Castle, Hollow ...

Beverly Hills, CA . The deadline to submit entries for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 26th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is Monday, May 2, 2011.

The Nicholl competition is open to any individual who has not earned more than $5,000 from the sale or option of a screenplay or teleplay, or received a fellowship or prize of more than $5,000 that includes a “first look” clause, an option or any other quid pro quo involving the writer’s work. To enter, writers must submit a completed online application, upload one Pdf copy of their original screenplay in English and pay the Us$45 entry fee before 11:59 p.m. Pt on May 2, 2011.

Entry scripts must be feature length and the original work of a sole author or of exactly two collaborative authors. The scripts must have been written originally in English. Adaptations and translated scripts are not eligible.

Filed under: Features, Family Film Guide

Celebrate Black History Month with these great films, all of which capture the black American experience and can be enjoyed by the entire family. Each film -- whether it be comedic, romantic or animated -- tells a story filled with plenty of themes that will draw you in emotionally and keep you entertained.

'Akeelah and the Bee' (2006)

Directed by Doug Atchison, this inspirational film stars Keke Palmer as a young girl from Los Angeles trying to make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, who co-starred in 'Boyz N the Hood' and 'What's Love Got to Do With It,' united for the third time to play Keke's mother and her mentor, respectively.

Appropriate for Ages: All ages

'The Pursuit of Happyness' (2006)

Based on the true story of Chris Gardner, Will Smith...

The five winners of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 25th annual Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting are listed below. Each will receive $30,000 (in installments) at a gala dinner on November 4. Of the 6,304 submissions, the Nicholls Committee (made up of chairperson and producer Gale Anne Hurd; writers Naomi Foner, Daniel Petrie, Jr., Tom Rickman and Dana Stevens; actor Eva Marie Saint; cinematographers John Bailey and Steven B. Poster; executive Bill Mechanic; producers Peter Samuelson and Robert W. Shapiro; and agent Ronald R. Mardigian) chose the five winners who will each complete a feature length script during their fellowship year. Of the 113 fellowships that have been awarded over time, recipients include Oscar nominee Susannah Grant (The Soloist, Erin Brockovich), Doug Atchison ...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has received 6,304 entries for its Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, from which up to five recipients will be granted $30,000 each in November. In its 25th year, the competition welcomed first time entries from Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cameroon, Uganda and Uruguay. All 50 states and dozens of countries are also represented this year. To be eligible, screenwriters must not have earned over $5,000 from writing for film or TV, entries must be feature length and originally written in English (translations and adaptations are ineligible). Of the 113 fellowships that have been awarded over time, recipients include including Oscar nominee Susannah Grant (The Soloist, Erin Brockovich), Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee), Mike Rich (The Rookie, Finding Forrester), ...

Liam Hemsworth has been offered one of the two lead roles in college sports drama "The Throwback" reports The Wrap.

The film is based on the true story of Frank and Isaac Gildea, the only father-son pair to play college basketball together.

Frank dropped out of college, but returned two decades later and joined his son on the school’s basketball team which went on to a major win.

Dennis Quaid will play the father. Doug Atchison ("Akeelah and the Bee) directs from a script by Nick Santora and Brad Gann...

The deadline for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 24th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is May 1, 2009. Entries must be postmarked by May 1 or submitted online by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on May 1. As per the Academy’s press release, "the program is open to screenwriters who have not earned more than $5,000 writing fictional work for film or television. Entry scripts must be feature length and the original work of a sole author or of exactly two collaborative authors. The scripts must have been written originally in English. Adaptations and translated scripts are not eligible. Up to five $30,000 fellowships are awarded each year." Several past Nicholl fellows have gone on to successful screenwriting careers, including Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee), Ehren Kruger (Reindeer Games, Scream 3), and Andrew Marlowe (Air Force One). Returning as Nicholl Committee [...]...

Having just finished watching all the March Madness games and marveling at the fact that all the players are younger than I am, I can't really figure out how both a father and a son could possibly play for one team simultaneously. But it happened in real life, and Walden Media, that studio that wants to lift the spirits of your entire family, will be making a movie of the true story of Frank and Isaac Gildea. And they've made a really great choice to direct it. Variety reports that Akeelah and the Bee director Doug Atchison has signed on to direct The Throwback, making it the first film he's directed since that indie became a modest hit. The producers, Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, are pretty experienced in the inspirational sports area-- they produced Invincible, The Rookie and Miracle in recent years. You can read all about Frank and...

Walden Media has hired Doug Atchison to direct its basketball-themed film The Throwback , reports Variety . The true story is based on the lives of Frank and Isaac Gildea, the only father-son duo to ever play basketball together on a college team. Nick Santora penned the screenplay. Mayhem Pictures' Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray--the pair behind such sports pics as Invincible , The Rookie and Miracle --are producing.

A cursory look at the filmography of writer-director Ramin Bahrani -- and by "cursory," I mean one not involving actually viewing any of his films -- will suggest to many that he's the kind of filmmaker who specializes in the oft-dreaded Movie That Is Good For You. His films invariably deal with cross-cultural exchange, or lack thereof; his characters are strangers in strange (albeit torn-from-today's-headlines) lands. They are immigrants looking for ways of belonging, foreigners trying to make peace with their obscure pasts and other species of societal outcasts. A possible précis for Bahrani's latest picture, "Goodbye Solo," wouldn't have to try terribly hard to make it sound like a cross between "Driving Miss Daisy" and Kiarostami's "A Taste of Cherry." The picture, set in Winston-Salem (where Bahrani himself was born) tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a cheery Senegalese cab driver named Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) and a super-gruff,...

Two presenters have been chosen to unveil the nominees for the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. On Monday, December 1, executive producer Jeff Margolis has announced that Academy Award-nominated actress Angela Bassett and Emmy Award-winning actor Eric McCormack will join SAG president Alan Rosenberg to announce the nominations of the latest SAG Awards.

The two will uncover which movies and TV series are receiving the nods on a live telecast on Thursday, December 18 at 6 A.M. Pt/9 A.M. Et. The nominations announcement for five film and eight television categories itself will be held in the SilverScreen Theater at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, and aired on TNT.

Angela Bassett currently join the cast ensemble of NBC's television series "ER" as new ER head Dr. Cate Banfield. She is known for her works in Tyler Perry's romantic comedy "Meet the Browns", Doug Atchison's drama "Akeelah and...

Twelve screenwriters have been chosen to participate in Film Independent's annual Screenwriters Lab, set to take place July 30-Sept. 12 in Los Angeles.

The seven-week program, designed to help writers working in independent film to improve their craft and sponsored by WGA West, will be taught by Jeff Kleeman.

The participating writers and their projects are Nicole Jefferson, Becoming Betty Davis; Mike Miller, Cleave; Suzi Yoonessi, Dear Lemon Lima; Tony Mosher and Mitch Larson, Down the Dirt Road; Drew Pillsbury, Kiss Don't Tell; Gretchen Somerfeld, Miami Purity; Garret Williams, Mudpuppy; Jessica Sanders, My Daily Routine; Cheryl Guerriero, Palmer; and Abigail Severance and Mo Perkins, The Summer We Drowned.

The session's guest speakers will include writer-directors Scott Frank, Doug Atchison, Scott Prendergast and Karen Moncrieff as well as writers Jeff Stockwell and Eric Roth.

DreamWorks has cast their vote for Halle Berry to play a former congressional candidate in the upcoming inspirational drama Class Act per Variety. Doug Atchison will write and direct the film based on a true story of a Nevada school teacher whose sixth-grade students helped organize her 2000 campaign against a heavily-favored incumbent. Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Underground Films are also on board to produce the project with the studio. Production is expected to begin next summer. Berry is currently shooting Things We Lost In the Fire with Benicio Del Toro.

TORONTO -- Canadian director Lalita Krishna's Move Your World, a documentary about young people raising AIDS prevention awareness in Tanzania, earned the audience award at the 9th annual Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children on Sunday. Sprockets' festivalgoers also gave the audience award for best animated film to Thierry Schiel's Renart the Fox, from Luxembourg, as the curtain went down on the Toronto International Film Festival's annual showcase of kids-themed films. Feature films grabbing trophies as part of juried competition included British director Paul Marcus for Heidi, which starred Emma Bolger, Max von Sydow and Geraldine Chaplin, and U.S. director Doug Atchison earning an award for Akeelah and the Bee, a drama set around the U.S. National Spelling Bee that stars Keke Palmer, Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne.

During the course of the half-dozen years it has taken Doug Atchison's "Akeelah and the Bee" to go from script to screen, that old schoolhouse standby known as the spelling bee suddenly became hot property, informing everything from the documentary "Spellbound" to the novel/film "Bee Season" to the hit Broadway musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

Arriving in that aftermath, Atchison's heartfelt drama about an 11-year-old black girl from South Central L.A. who expertly faces down the multisyllabics at the Scripps National Spelling Bee can't help but feel a bit played out despite its empowering message and nice performances.

Such subject matter would, back in the day, have made for a swell "ABC Afterschool Special", but as a significant moviegoing draw, suffice it to say the future isn't looking exactly pulchritudinous.

Effectively anchoring the picture is Keke Palmer's lovely lead performance as Akeelah Anderson, a bright, highly articulate kid who's a terror in Scrabble but an underachiever in the classroom.

Taken under the wing of the sternly professorial but soft-spoken Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), Akeelah ascends the spelling competition ladder leading to a hard-earned spot in the big event despite the objections of her hard-working, widowed mother (Angela Bassett), who would seem to have a bee in her bonnet.

Akeelah ultimately earns her seat in the Washington Hyatt Grand Ballroom, but Will She go the distance to become a motivating force for her family, friends and general community at large?

Word.

Adhering closely to the inspirational film playbook, Atchison hits all the essential emotional posts, but even if certain scenes have a weakness for the overly purposeful, this stuff can still click effectively with audiences, especially with an accomplished cast.

While Fishburne and Bassett, who worked together in "What's Love Got to Do With It", bring the required weight to their respective roles, the film does particularly well by the effervescent performances of its juvenile cast. In addition to Palmer's bright work, young JR Villarreal demonstrates some natural comic timing as Javier, an easygoing spelling bee veteran from Woodland Hills who shows her the ropes.

Behind the scenes, M. David Mullen's photography is clean and crisp, while editor Glenn Farr ("The Right Stuff") orchestrates all that spelling quite efficaciously.

Akeelah and the Bee

Lionsgate

A Lionsgate, 2929 Prods. and Starbucks Entertainment presentation ofan Out of the Blue Entertainment and Reactor Films production

in association with Cinema Gypsy Productions Inc.

Credits:

Director-screenwriter: Doug Atchison

Producers: Nancy Hult Ganis, Sid Ganis, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Romersa, Danny Llewelyn

Executive producers: Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban, Marc Butan, Helen Sugland, Michael Burns, Michael Paseornek, Tom Ortenberg

Director of photography: M. David Mullen

Production designer: Warren Alan Young

Editor: Glenn Farr

Costume designer: Sharen Davis

Music: Aaron Zigman

Cast:

Dr. Larabee: Laurence Fishburne

Tanya: Angela Bassett

Akeelah: Keke Palmer

Mr. Welch: Curtis Armstrong

Javier: JR Villarreal

Dylan: Sean Michael Afable

MPAA rating PG

Running time -- 112 minutes...