Celebrities Talk About Their Favorite Holiday

By Darlene Donloe

We’re in the midst of the holiday season.  Just weeks ago we celebrated Thanksgiving. Soon we will celebrate Christmas and then New Year's Day.  It’s the trifecta of celebrations. There’s a lot to rejoice about. There’s a lot to be thankful for. I wondered which holiday celebrities look forward to the most. Is it Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's Eve/New Year'sDay. Some of the responses were surprising. Some were poignant and others were predictable.   Check out the responses below.

Aloe Blacc

ALOE BLACC – I love Christmas the most because it means we get to go to Australia. Every other Christmas we go to my wife’s family’s place. They live in Sydney. During Thanksgiving I’m working –sometimes in Europe – they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.

EVERETT HARP – Actually it’s between Thanksgiving and Christmas because I look forward to eating.

Lisa Vidal

LISA VIDAL – Christmas because it represents my LORD and SAVIOR and a family time when it’s just us in nature, away from the craziness.

RAHSAAN PATTERSON – Thanksgiving!  The food and the love of family and friends and gratitude.

ALTHEA RENE – Christmas because that’s my birthday.

Sinbad

SINBAD – I’m always on the road. My life is a holiday. Christmas was big when I was little. But now, people get stuff all year long. Thanksgiving is about eating with family, but you should do that anyway. The older I get the less a holiday means. It’s manmade now.

NORMAN BROWN – Christmas. It’s got to be Christmas.

KIRK WHALUM – Christmas. It’s when we celebrate our Lord.

Loretta Devine

LORETTA DEVINE – New Year’s Day – All the work is over. It’s time to party.

COLMAN DOMINGO (The Birth of a Nation) – Thanksgiving. It’s about the food.

KENNY LATTIMORE – Christmas, well first for the obvious reason, second because I have a new Christmas CD called, Kenny Lattimore.

KENNY LEON  (director)  - I like all of them because they are all God’s days.

PAUL JACKSON JR.  – Christmas because it celebrates the birth of Christ. I know some people say he wasn’t actually born on that day. That’s OK. We’re celebrating the event, not the day.

Robert 'Kool' Bell

ROBERT KOOL BELL (Kool & The Gang)– Thanksgiving because it’s a time when families get together. You’re with your cousins, uncles, aunts, kids and everybody for dinner and reminiscing.

JUSTIN TIPPING (‘Kicks’ director) – New Years Eve is too depressing for some reason.  I haven’t had the New Year’s kiss. I’m still sipping on my drink. Is there anyone you can set me up with?  So I’m going to say Thanksgiving because my family always finds a way to come together in the Bay area and gather around my grandmother. And it’s great. No matter how much bigger the family gets - we always find the time to see each other at Thanksgiving.  We go around the room and say what we’re thankful for. We come back every year. It grounds you and reminds you there is more to life than, um, I don’t know, a New Year’s kiss.

Darius McCrary

DARIUS MCCRARY (Family Matters) – I don’t celebrate holidays, especially pagan holidays.  I do like Thanksgiving because we should celebrate Thanksgiving 365 days a year.

AUNJANUE ELLIS (The Birth of a Nation) – Thanksgiving. Why -  because of the food.

KYLE BOWSER (Trial By Jury – The Case of the N Word).  For me its between Christmas and Thanksgiving. I enjoy them both for the same reason. The family aspect of it and to be more expressive about your feelings for family. We are going to Philly where my mother and grandmother live. I’m looking forward to that. So much magic associated with Christmas. The celebration of the birth of Christ. I can’t choose between the two.

MIGUEL NUNEZ (The Return of the Living Dead)– Thanksgiving because it brings people together.

Lawrence And Pratt Are Two Lonely 'Passengers'

By Darlene Donloe

Imagine that you’ve volunteered to take a journey through space on a ship called Avalon in order to get to a new planet that you will call home. The journey takes place in a pod where you’re in a deep sleep until you reach your destination. The ship is headed to Homestead II, a pioneer colony of an overloaded Earth.

In Passengers, out in theaters nationwide, the journey takes 125 years, but, somehow a passenger has awakened 90 years too early and can’t go back to sleep. What to do? He’s all alone on a ship that is now malfunctioning. There are 5000 other people on the ship, but they are all sleep. There is Arthur, an android bartender (Michael Sheen) on the ship, but he’s not a real person with feelings.  So, yes, this passenger is alone, but you’re not alone.

This is the dilemma of Jim (Chris Pratt), an engineer and then Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), who are eventually put in the position of saving everyone on board.

But first lets talk about Jim. Jim is awakened by mistake through no fault of his own. An asteroid damaged the ship and somehow knocked it out of whack. However, as loneliness, panic and hopelessness starts to take over, Jim sets his sights on Aurora who is still sleeping peacefully in her pod.  Should he awaken her and ruin her life, or should he endure being alone for the rest of his life.   Before he makes his decision, he checks out everything there is to learn about Aurora on the ship’s computer. Convinced he’d like to have her as a partner, Jim does the unthinkable. Oh, the humanity.

With only the two of them on the ship as human companions, Jim and Aurora eventually fall in love.  However, once Aurora learns the truth about how she was awakened, all bets are off. She is furious with Jim.  You can’t get more furious. He has ruined her life and essentially “murdered” her.  In a way murder is the right word. With 90 years left on their journey, it stands to reason that Aurora will be dead before the ship reaches its destination.

Surprisingly, Gus (Laurence Fishburne), an officer on the ship, is also awakened early.  Luckily for Jim and Aurora he knows a lot about the ship and has some theories on how it can be fixed.  The problem is Gus is sick and dying. Whatever help he can give has to be done quickly.  It's an interesting twist in the story that would have brought more meat and potatoes to the film had it been played out.  Fishburne’s role is brief, but effective.

This is Jim and Aurora’s story.  Can these two people find love on a spaceship? Passengers is a love story wrapped in a sci-fi adventure.

Directed Morten Tyldum has fashioned an aesthetically beautiful sci-fi drama with incredible special effects.  It’s an interesting story, but by the time we get to the last 40 minutes it becomes predictable.

Passengers, directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Jon Spaihts, stars Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne.

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likeable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), Passengers gets an L (likeable).

Passengers is RATED PG-13 (for discreet sexuality, nudity and perilous action); Running time: 1h 56m

AWFJ Announces The Year's EDA Award Winners

“MOONLIGHT” LEADS WITH SEVEN EDAS INCLUDING BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY AND BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 

AVA DUVERNAY TAKES THREE AWARDS IN THE 

10TH ANNUAL AWFJ YEAR END AWARDS 

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) announced the winners of the 10th annual AWFJ EDA Awards. This year AWFJ presents EDA Awards in 25 categories, divided into three sections: the standard ‘Best Of’ section, the Female Focus awards and the irreverent EDA Special Mention awards—including Actress Most in Need of a New Agent and the AWFJ Hall of Shame Award.

In the ‘Best Of’ section, this year’s big winner is "Moonlight", garnering EDA Awards in seven categories, including Best Film, Best Director for Barry Jenkins, Best Screenplay (Adapted) for Jenkins, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Mahershala Ali, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay won three EDAs for Best Documentary for "13th," Best Female Director for "13th" and Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry for 13th and for raising awareness about the need for diversity and gender equality in Hollywood "Manchester By the Sea" won two EDA Awards for Best Actor for Casey Affleck and Best Screenplay (Original) for Kenneth Longergan.

In the EDA Special Mention Categories, Annette Bening and Isabelle Huppert tied for the Actress Defying Age and Ageism Award, while Huppert was honored the Bravest Performance Award for "Elle." Jennifer Aniston won the Actress Most in Need of a New Agent for "Mother’s Day" and "Office Christmas Party." 

“This year has brought heightened awareness of the impact movies and cinema culture have on setting our social norms,” states EDA AWARDS and AWFJ founder and film critic Jennifer Merin. “The need for gender parity and greater diversity in the movie industry is patently clear. These goals are fundamental to AWFJ’s mission and core values. I'm thrilled that in our 10th anniversary awards season AWFJ members voted to honor such a diverse array of talent representing such a broad spectrum of perspectives, making the 2016 EDA Awards particularly relevant at a time when art -- and film, in particular -- must be the vanguard of social progress.” 

Here’s the entire list of this year’s winners: 

AWFJ  BEST OF AWARDS

These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.

Best Film: Moonlight

Best Director: Barry Jenkins – Moonlight 

Best Screenplay, Original: Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Screenplay, Adapted: Moonlight – Barry Jenkins   

Best Documentary: 13th – Ava DuVernay 

Best Animated Film: Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush

Best Actress: Ruth Negga – Loving 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis – Fences 

Best Actor: Casey Affleck – Manchester By The Sea  

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight

Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director: Moonlight – Yesi Ramirez  

Best Cinematography: Moonlight – James Laxton 

Best Editing: Moonlight – Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders 

Best Non-English-Language Film: The Handmaiden – Park Chan-Wook

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

These awards honor WOMEN only.

Best Woman Director: Ava DuVernay -13^th 

Best Woman Screenwriter: Kelly Reinhardt – Certain Women 

Best Animated Female (tie):

Judy in Zootopia – Ginnifer Goodwin 

Moana in Moana – Auli’i Cravalho 

Best Breakthrough Performance: Ruth Negga – Loving 

Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry:

Ava DuVernay – For 13th and raising awareness about the need for diversity and gender equality in Hollywood

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Actress Defying Age and Ageism (tie):

Annette Bening – 20th Century Women 

Isabelle Huppert – Elle and Things to Come 

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Lead and The Love Interest Award : Rules Don’t Apply – Warren Beatty (b. 1937) and Lily Collins (b. 1989)

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent: Jennifer Aniston – Mother’s Day and Office Christmas Party  

Bravest Performance: Isabelle Huppert – Elle 

Remake or Sequel That Shouldn’t have been Made: Ben Hur

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award: Sharon Maguire and Renee Zellwegger for Bridget Jones’s Baby  

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS:  AWFJ, a not-for-profit corporation, is an international association of professional female movie critics, reporters and feature writers working in print, broadcast and online media, dedicated to raising the volume on women's voices in the film community by broadening opportunities for women who write about film and supporting films by and about women – both in front of and behind the cameras – through intra-group promotional activities, outreach programs and by presenting EDA awards in recognition of outstanding accomplishments (the best and worst) by and about women in the movies. More information about AWFJ, including the membership list, can be accessed at www.awfj.org or sending inquiries to awfjinc@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE EDA AWARDS:  The AWFJ presents EDA Awards to honor women's achievements in front of and behind the cameras.  In addition to the annual end of the year awards, AWFJ presents EDA Awards for Best Female-Directed Films at select film festivals,including IDFA, Whistler Film Festival, DOXA. Edinburgh Film Festival. St. Louis International Film Festival and others. The EDAs are named in honor of AWFJ founder Jennifer Merin's mother, Eda Reiss Merin, a stage, film and screen actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. A dedicated foot soldier in the industry, Eda was one of the founders of AFTRA and a long standing member of AMPAS.  

Denzel and Viola Star In August Wilson's 'Fences'

By Darlene Donloe

Someone asked me what I thought of the new Paramount film, Fences, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

I took a beat and thought about it carefully because I really wanted to give a heartfelt response. I really wanted to give the film, out Christmas Day, and its vibrant characters and involving story, an authentic observation.

I began by saying I loved it.  I followed with Viola Davis being a breathtaking actress who gives all of herself and none of herself to her roles. I added how Denzel Washington engulfs his role and fills out the screen with this engaging portrayal of one of the American theater world’s most complicated characters ever – Troy Maxson. I continued with how Davis and Washington’s chemistry on stage and now on screen is palpable and how they meld into each other as they exchange refreshing and rapid banter. Their marriage of words and performance is unmatched.

Denzel Washington directed and stars in August Wilson’s Fences along with his fellow performers from the Tony-winning 2010 Broadway revival.

The story, part of Wilson’s 10-play anthology, centers on the Maxson’s, an African American family in 1950s Pittsburgh.

Troy Maxson (Washington) is a garbage collector and a former baseball star who creates tension in his family when he squashes his son's (Jovan Adepo) dream of playing college football. He’s convinced his son will suffer the wrath of racism like he did when he tried to excel in sports.

Troy is a broken man in many ways – and a whole man in others. When we meet him he’s waxing lyrical about life and his world with is best friend, Bono (Stephen McKinley Henderson). As the story goes on pieces of Troy are unwrapped. He was an excellent ball player in the Negro Leagues, he was in prison, he’s very hard on his son and loves his wife, Rose (Davis).

Troy loves to talk. He’ll talk about anything – and then talk some more.  He loves to talk about the time he wrestled three days and three nights with Death.  He’s not afraid of Death. In fact, he invites Death to take its best shot. Choking his bat tighter, he looks death square in the eye and lets it know, he’s ready for it.

Washington reprises the role that was made famous by James Earl Jones in the original 1985 production. Laurence Fishburne has also taken on the heady role. But it’s Washington who has given the role breath in recent years. What he’s done with the role is exceptional. He made it his own. He’s delivered a vulnerable, funny, harsh, unrepentant and bitter – yet loving Troy Maxson.

Davis as Troy’s long-suffering wife, gives as good as she gets in the role. She, too is reprising the role she crushed on Broadway.  Rose is the moral compass of the family. She’s the true rock, the gel that holds it together. And even when it looks like the boulder is about to crumble, Rose steps up with her powerful voice and constitution.

The entire cast delivers. Russell Hornsby is Lyons, Troy’s son by a previous marriage.  Mykelti Williamson is Troy’s brother Gabriel, whose life was shattered by a head injury during World War II. Jovan Adepo is good as Troy’s son. Stephen McKinley Henderson makes it do what it do as Troy’s best friend, Bono.  All given Bravo performances.

As the director, Washington has sculpted a film that feels like a theatrical production. The blocking, quite unique in its presentation, is like that of a filmed reading or a theatrical production. It works in some areas – is a bit shaky in others. But, overall, he has directed a full, satisfying movie.

August Wilson’s dialogue is like poetry. It flows. It speaks truth. It’s emotional. It’s nourishing. Washington’s directorial take enriches the story.

As the movie’s dialogue states, fences are built to keep some people out and to keep some people in.  Whether you’re out or in, there is something to learn from this film. It’s a winner!

Fences is directed by and stars Denzel Washington. It’s written by August Wilson and stars Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson and Saniyya Sidney

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likeable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), Fences gets an E (excellent).