Features

The Ru Report #122

Coming Home
Academy Award winners abound.

Denzel Washington (Out Of Time), Halle Berry (Baps), Johnny Depp (Once Upon A Time In Mexico) and Cuba Gooding Jr.,(Judgment Night) aren't the only Hollywood heavyweights who have home video packages coming out this month.

The likes of Sidney Poitier, Pam Grier, Harry Belafonte, Gordon Parks and Bill Cosby are getting the royal treatment via various home viewing products too.

Next week, Warner Home Video will release four classic films, re-mastered with all-new digital transfers: Super Fly, Uptown Saturday Night, Let's Do It Again and A Piece Of The Action. With the combined artistry of the living aforementioned legends along with the talents of Richard Pryor, Ossie Davis, James Earl Jones and Ron O'Neal, these films stand out as the true tapestry of must-see-movies of the 1970s.

The premiere DVD edition of Super Fly features a new documentary, Last Deal: A Retrospective, including interviews with cast and producers, as well as expert commentary by USC School of Cinema and Television professor Dr. Todd Boyd. The disc also boasts several archival featurettes, including Ron O'Neal on The Making of Super Fly, Curtis Mayfield on Super Fly, and Behind the Threads, in which costume designer Nate Adams discusses the film's original trend-setting fashions.

The premiere DVD editions of Uptown Saturday Night and A Piece Of The Action feature commentaries by Dr. Boyd. …Action also includes a bonus retrospective, Dynamite Duo, with candid interviews from cast members James Earl Jones, Jimmie Walker, Julius Harris, Denise Nicholas and John Amos. The debut disc for Let's Do It Again is highlighted by commentary from screenwriter Richard Wesley and film critic Armond White.

On January 20, MGM will release its own nostalgic packages: The Best Of Soul Cinema and The Sidney Poitier DVD Collection, featuring--for the first time in DVD format--classic films such as For The Love Of Ivy, In The Heat Of The Night, and Lilies Of The Field, along with Cooley High, Hell Up In Harlem and Foxy Brown, respectively. Soul Cinema doesn't only offer 70's films in its packaging. Keenan Ivory Wayans's blaxploitation spoof I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" is also included.

MGM will also release a string of stand alone titles on January 20, including Blacula, Hammer and The Monkey Hustle.

Music Notes
Bootylicious diva Beyonce Knowles is all set to sing the national anthem for "Super Bowl XXXVIII," which will be televised by CBS live from Houston's Reliant Stadium on February 1. With an expected 130 million viewers in the United States and a potential worldwide audience of 800 million viewers, this will arguably be her biggest audience to date. The Destiny's Child front-woman joins an elite group of A-list talents who have been asked to sing the anthem in the past like Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Vanessa Williams, Wynton Marsalis, Whitney Houston and The Backstreet Boys.

The two-CD, 34-track compilation Legacy: The Greatest Hits Collection-Deluxe Edition arrives on retail racks on February 3. For the first time, every hit from Boyz II Men ranging from 1991-2000, their tenure on Universal/Motown is represented--one double platinum, eight platinum and two gold singles and nine more Top 40 R&B hits; plus a second disc of rare remixes, movie tracks and other recordings the fans have craved, each digitally re-mastered. Included in the packaging is a 28-page booklet featuring rare, archival photos and two essays chronicling the group's meteoric career.

Neo Soul singer/songwriter Jill Scott is just about ready for her close-up. From January 12 through mid February Ms. Scott will be basking in the glow of the UPN hit series "Girlfriends" as she makes her acting debut as William's love interest Donna, identified by the oracle as his true soul mate. The down-home Philadelphia native is no stranger to the acting craft. She toured with the traveling production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "Rent" before her music career sent her into a stratosphere. Speaking of, her sophomore studio album is due out this summer. Expect to see and hear much of her before and around then.

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) will induct Reverend Al Green, Sandi Patty, Frances W. Preston and the recently deceased Vestal Goodman into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Established in 1971 and has inducted 125 members since its inception, including Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Amy Grant, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Andrae Crouch, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Oak Ridge Boys, Petra, Bill and Gloria Gaither, the Rambos, Thomas A. Dorsey, the Fairfield Four, Billy Graham and the Jordanaires.

Performing rights organization BMI will present the 5^th Annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon during the 19^th Annual Stellar Awards festivities this weekend. Honorees include Cissy Houston and The Clark Sisters. The gala luncheon will also feature special musical performances by Virtue, Kim Burrell, Albertina Walker, Angie Stone, Yolanda Adams and Mary Mary. The invitation-only event salutes gospel music and honors outstanding gospel music recording artists, award-winning BMI writers and publishers, and gospel music industry executives.

Stuff
There is a new diva in town over at the Essence magazine empire. Forty-something fashionista Suzanne Boyd will assume the position as Editor-In-Chief of Essence's new women's magazine, which is in the prototype, test market stages. With the working title of THAT, the new publication will cater to a hipper, younger and more edgy urban female demographic (ala Honey magazine). Ms. Boyd, a multiracial Caribbean beauty, hails from Canada where she helmed the country's leading fashion magazine; Flare. The statuesque editrix is said to have a strong skill set and will suit the suits at Time Warner very well. (The new magazine is a more "pronounced" partnership between Essence and the multimedia giant.) She's also one hell of a celebrity in her own right in Toronto. Ms. Boyd is due to arrive in the magazine's Times Square headquarters in early March.

Celebrating its 10^th anniversary, The Fashion & Arts Xchange Inc. will honor actor/dancer/choreographer and designer Geoffrey Holder and his wife Carmen De Lavallade with the Lifetime Achievement Award in an evening entitled Paradise: A Celebration of Excellence. The event will kick off the 2004 Olympus Fall Fashion Week in New York City and take place February 6 at The Fashion Institute of Technology's Haft Auditorium. Presenters and guests for the evening will include Diahann Carroll, Phylicia Rashad and the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Judith Jamison. Fashion Arts Xchange will also so pay tribute to pioneers of excellence in the field of fashion with a recognition award to Ophelia Devore, Dee Simmons (of Grace Del Marco), designer Wesley Tann, illustrator Glenn Tunstall, Wall Street Journal journalist Teri Agins and, president of Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Dr. Joyce F. Brown.

The soon-to-be defunct hit UPN series "The Parkers"--will be going out with a big bang. For the final episodes--as previously reported about here--lead character Nikki Parker has a new love interest played by Hollywood heartthrob Mel Jackson, who gained popularity in movies like Soul Food and Deliver Us From Eva, and the TV show Living Single. An insider tells us that there are wedding bells in the air.

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey will receive the 2004 Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Broadcasters on April 19 in Las Vegas. Each year the award recognizes broadcasters who have made significant and lasting contributions to the broadcasting industry. You would've thought The Almighty O would've been selected as the recipient of this award for all the years of making groundbreaking contributions to the broadcast arena. Hmmm. I wonder if she'll show. The voting committee may be a day late and a dollar (or one billion) short.

The frisky American Pie franchise is still blazing hot. Last summer, its most recent installment, American Wedding, hit the $100 million-plus mark. Six months later, the home video companion has become the biggest DVD comedy franchise of all time with three-day sales of three million units. The package includes 25 minutes of footage specially produced for the un-rated DVD, created by the cast and filmmakers. Provocative special features also include Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party, Stifler Speak, Cheesy Wedding Video, Grooming the Groom and outrageous deleted scenes and outtakes. Director Jesse Dylan and franchise stars such as Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan and Seann William Scott offer commentary.

I could teach you, but I have to charge.

Message Karu F Daniels or email him directly at therureport@aol.com

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