Archive for

Based on the 1981 Broadway musical comes Dreamgirls, a story of greed, tough hate, and romance. Three young women - Deena Jones, Effie White, and Lorrell Robinson - desire to become pop stars and get their wish when they’re picked to be backup singers for the legendary James “Thunder” Early. Then they’re set free for leads, but Curtis Taylor and Effie’s brother C.C. decide for Deena to be lead which upsets Effie.

Gina Norris is a long way from the Barbershop - she’s moved from Chicago to Atlanta so her daughter can attend a prestigious music school, and she’s made a name for herself at a posh salon with her cutting edge hairstyles. But when her egotistical boss, Jorge, takes credit for her work, she leaves the salon with shampoo girl Lynn in tow to open a shop of her own. Gina buys a rundown salon and inherits a motley group of headstrong stylists, a colorful clientèle, and and a sexy piano-playing electrician, Joe. It’s a rocky road to fulfilling her dreams, but you can’t keep a good woman down.

While flying from Los Angeles to New York, the “good boy” Oliver Martin meets the “bad girl” Emily Friehl and they have sex in the restroom. They stay together along the day in New York, when Oliver discloses the planning of his life - his future career, successful job and then raising a family. He gives the phone number of his mother to Emily and asks her to call seven years later to check. For seven years, they occasionally meet each other, and in the end, their relationship becomes love.

Chris Atkins presents STAR SUCKERS as a series of five ‘lessons’ on fame in the modern world: how children are persuaded that fame is something they want, how television and the media reinforces the importance of celebrity and the efforts to attain it, how the mind and body reinforces our need to follow the activities of well-known people and strive to join their number, how the press became addicted to celebrity coverage, and how the art of promoting fame has led to celebrities and their handlers controlling the press instead of the press having say. Along the way, Atkins demonstrates how celebrity “news” with no basis in fact gets into print, why newspapers will run press releases almost verbatim, how parents will eagerly sign away the image rights to their kids, how certain mass scale charity events end up helping the performers far more than the causes they designed to support, and how publicists keep accurate but unflattering stories out of the news.

Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda—and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.

‘Nelson Mandela’ (qv)’s release from prison and his ascent to a democratically elected President of South Africa marks a radical change in the country. This change away from apartheid will not be easy for anyone in the country, but Mandela has to figure out how to galvanize the residents of the country together. Because of his love of the game, Mandela places his support behind the Springboks, the national rugby team. South Africa is hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup, that being the only reason the Springboks are even competing in the tournament as its years on the sideline of world rugby events has not made it world ranked. The Springboks were previously considered the team of white South Africa, and as such was denounced by Mandela when he was in prison. But he does whatever he can to make it the team of all South Africa. He needs the support of the Springboks and its captain, ‘Francois Pienaar’ (qv), to achieve his unrealistic goal of the Springboks winning the World Cup, even against such rugby powerhouses the All-Blacks representing New Zealand. Mandela tries to inspire Pienaar to lead by example, much like Mandela has himself. Beyond Mandela’s dream, his racially mixed security team has the added pressure of protecting him at the Springboks’ matches while he places himself in potentially unprotectable situations.

It’s November 30, 1962. Native Brit George Falconer, an English professor at a Los Angeles area college, is finding it difficult to cope with life. Jim, his personal partner of sixteen years, died in a car accident eight months earlier when he was visiting with family. Jim’s family were not going to tell George of the death or accident let alone allow him to attend the funeral. This day, George has decided to get his affairs in order before he will commit suicide that evening. As he routinely and fastidiously prepares for the suicide and post suicide, George reminisces about his life with Jim. But George spends this day with various people, who see a man sadder than usual and who affect his own thoughts about what he is going to do. Those people include Carlos, a Spanish immigrant/aspiring actor/gigolo recently arrived in Los Angeles; Charley, his best friend who he knew from England, she who is a drama queen of a woman who romantically desires her best friend despite his sexual orientation; and Kenny Potter, one of his students, who seems to be curious about his professor beyond English class.


