As much as staying in one’s lane has its benefits, expanding one’s creative horizons my be even more important. Throughout her diverse career, Queen Latifah has expressed herself through hip hop, jazz, acting, and producing, proving that complacency isn’t one of her traits. She stars with Jennifer Garner in the drama Miracles from Heaven, a movie based on Christy Beam’s 2015 memoir.
A Country Called Home marks the promising feature filmmaking debut of Anna Axster, a director who infuses her story with a wonderfully understated tone. The picture centers Ellie (the always engaged Imogen Poots), a young woman who travels to a small town in Texas to bury her estranged father. Understandably shattered and conflicted as she comes to terms with her father’s passing, Ellie finds comfort and friendship with an entirely new family (Mackenzie Davis is a wannabe country singer with moxie, musician Ryan Bingham as a hard working single father, and Mary McCormack as the father’s former companion).
It’s night two of The Voice Blind Auditions and everyone is still buzzing about Alisan Porter’s performance from the night before. While she appears to be the early frontrunner, there are still plenty of spots left on every coach’s teams. So who will sing their hearts out and join the competition? Let’s get into the Night Two Blind Auditions.
When “A Country Called Home” begins, Ellie (Imogen Poots) is adrift in Los Angeles, saddled with a completely oblivious boyfriend (Josh Helman) and a seeming pipe dream of furniture designing. Her life of relative inaction takes a drastic turn upon hearing of her estranged father’s (J. Alan Nelson) weakened condition. Growing up is occasionally hard to do, and that transition is Ellie’s biggest challenge.
Benicio Del Toro, last seen in the films A Perfect Day and Sicario, turns 49 today. Before the Oscar winning actor (he won for Traffic) decided to embark in film, he had spacier ambitious as a four-year-old.
Ethan Hawke takes on one of his most challenging roles to date with Born To Be Blue, a look into the life of famed (and troubled) jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. Also known as for his mesmeric and smooth vocal stylings, Baker was one of the leaders of the West Coast jazz scene, and the film spotlights a pivotal moment of his comeback in the 1960s.
Opening February 19, The Witch is the heralded debut of filmmaker Robert Eggers, who received the Directing Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The movie is also filed with excellent performances, as newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy delivers stunning work as Thomasin, a teenage girl in 1630 New England who may “possess” an inextricable bond with a mysterious figure in the forest.
Sarah Wayne Callies’ acting schedule has been a hectic and fruitful one over the past couple of years. Tonight, you can catch her on the USA network show Colony, which has been renewed for a second season and she also stars in the horror-thriller The Other Side of the Door (opening March 4).
Premiering March 20 on NBC, Crowded centers on once empty nester parents Mike and Martina (Patrick Warburton, Carrie Preston) whose two daughters (Miranda Cosgrove, Mia Serafino) move back home. Coupled with Mike’s parents’ (Stacy Keach, Carlease Burke) decision not to move to Florida, this house, though filled with love, is definitely “crowded.” Miranda Cosgrove and Mia Serafino talked about what makes the show unique.