Kobe Bryant provides valuable assist to Michael B. Jordan movie ‘Just Mercy’

HOLLYWOOD – “Just Mercy” is billed as an inspiring drama featuring a real-life hero who gave hope to the hopeless and those facing racism and corruption.

Based on the true story of lawyer and activist Bryan Stevenson who fought for those who had been wrongfully convicted, the movie shows the severe injustices suffered by African-Americans accused of crimes they did not commit.

Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant is a fan of the movie and he showed his support to the Warner Bros. drama at a recent community screening in Los Angeles.

“What Bryan had to go through and the amount of perseverance in the face of true fear, true danger. It’s not like, you know, the fear of missing a game winning shot and then you lose the game... It's dealing with real-life consequences,” Bryant said.

“To be able to have that amount of courage, that amount of determination, that amount of focus to persevere through tremendous odds, you're going to leave this theater feeling inspired,” he added.

Actor Michael B. Jordan plays Stevenson.

When asked for advice to someone facing corruption or racial bias, Jordan said: “That's tough. One advice I would give is to never lose hope. It's something that Bryan always says, that hopelessness is the enemy of justice. You gotta have hope. You gotta hope that something's going to happen that you haven't seen before.”

Meanwhile, Jamie Foxx plays Walter McMillian, who was sentenced to die in 1987 despite a lack of evidence.

Karan Kendrick plays his wife, and “Captain Marvel” actress Brie Larson reunited with director Destin Daniel Cretton to complete the ensemble cast of the inspiring drama.

Foxx received a SAG Awards best actor nomination for his portrayal of McMillian, who faced extreme racism and corruption in Alabama.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Box office: 'Captain Marvel' soars to $153-M launch

LOS ANGELES -- Brie Larson's "Captain Marvel" is soaring to a heroic opening weekend of $153 million in North America at 4,310 sites, reviving what had been a slumbering 2019 box office.

"Captain Marvel" took in $302 million internationally, giving it an estimated global opening weekend of $455 million -- the sixth highest global debut of all time.

The 21st installment of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe propelled total domestic moviegoing to $210 million -- nearly $70 million above the same frame last year. It was the first weekend of 2019 to outperform the same frame of 2018.

"Captain Marvel" will wind up with the 18th biggest domestic opening weekend of all time. Disney's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" has the 17th-highest launch frame with $155.1 million in 2016. It will be the biggest opening title since "Incredibles 2" launched with $182 million in June and should post the best start for a standalone superhero film since Marvel's "Black Panther" launched with $202 million in 2018.

Larson stars as Carol Danvers, the pilot who becomes the vastly powerful Captain Marvel after the Earth is caught at the center of a galactic conflict in 1995. The cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law. The movie is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

"Captain Marvel" performed well above studio projections, which had pegged the film at $125 million. It took in nearly triple what had been the biggest opener of the year with "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" at $55 million on Feb. 22-24.

Total domestic box office for 2019, which had plunged by 27 percent before the weekend, is now down 21 percent at $1.79 billion, according to Comscore's Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst.

"Thankfully 'Captain Marvel's' superpowers extend to the box office realm and as expected provided a much-needed box office boost that the 2019 box office has been waiting for with a positively out of this world debut," he said. "The allure and power of the superhero genre is as powerful as ever and just what blockbuster starved audiences have been waiting for in the form of a perfectly cast Brie Larson in this most powerful role."

"Captain Marvel" landed an A CinemaScore. Comscore/Screen Engine's PostTrak survey of audiences resulted in an 81 percent total positive score with a strong 66 percent of audiences saying they would "definitely recommend" the film.

Universal's third weekend of "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" led the rest of the pack with $14.7 million at 4,402 locations for a 17-day domestic total of $119.7 million. The second weekend of "Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral" followed with $12.1 million at 2,442 venues.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Actors of color win big at SAG Awards amid diversity furor

LOS ANGELES -- "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to diverse TV," Idris Elba joked on stage after winning twice at Saturday's Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, where actors of color claimed a slew of wins amid a furor in Hollywood over the lack of on-screen diversity.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson and the cast of "Spotlight" -- all white actors -- won the top three film awards of the night, but the rest mainly honored diverse cast and roles. That is in stark contrast to the Oscars, where no actors of color are nominated this year for the industry's highest honors.

"Spotlight," about the Boston Globe's probe of child abuse in the Catholic Church, beat out hip-hop biopic "Straight Outta Compton" for best film ensemble. The movie starred Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams.

"This is not only for survivors of this horrific situation, this is really for the disenfranchised," Keaton said. "This is for the Flint, Michigans in the world, for the powerless."

DiCaprio was named best actor for playing a fur-trapper in pioneer-era retribution drama "The Revenant."

"We all stand on shoulders of giants, so thank all those actors from past who have inspired me and all the actors in this room," DiCaprio said.

Larson, who played a woman held hostage with a young son in "Room," was named best actress, while Sweden's Alicia Vikander won best supporting actress for playing the wife of transgender artist Lili Elbe in "The Danish Girl."

"Spotlight," DiCaprio, Larson and Vikander are all nominated for Oscars, and with their Saturday wins, are cemented as front-runners in their respective categories.

Elba, a black British actor, won two SAG awards: best supporting actor for playing a mercenary commander in Netflix's West African war drama "Beasts of No Nation," and best actor in a limited series for BBC's crime drama "Luther."

"We made a film about real people and real lives, and to be awarded for that is very special," Elba said of his "Beasts" win.

In the television categories, which featured far more diverse actors and roles, Netflix's women's prison show "Orange Is the New Black," won the best comedy series ensemble award for the second consecutive year.

"Look at this stage," cast member Laura Prepon said while accepting the award. "This is what we talk about when we talk about diversity. Different race, color, creed, sexual orientation."

"Orange" star Uzo Aduba won best comedy series actress for playing kooky inmate Crazy Eyes, Queen Latifah won best actress in a TV miniseries for playing blues singer Bessie Smith in HBO's "Bessie," and Viola Davis won best drama actress for ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder." All three actresses are black.

Jeffrey Tambor won best comedy series actor for playing Maura Pfefferman, an aging wealthy transgender woman in Amazon's "Transparent."

"I'd like to dedicate this award to the non-Maura Pfeffermans who don't have a lot of cash for their operations, for their medicine, for their freedom," Tambor said.

Kevin Spacey was named best drama actor for political thriller "House of Cards," and British period drama "Downton Abbey" was named best drama ensemble.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com