It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to clue us in on who is the Queen of Jazz. It’s Ella Fitzgerald, my dear Watson, Lady Ella. William Basie began to boogie-woogie piano keys at a Harlem club catering to “uptown celebrities.” After a quick stomp through Kansas City, he came back as Count Basie. There are few true royalties among jazz, ask anyone waiting for residual checks, but as Duke Ellington made clear, these two had that thing which made them swing. Eagle Rock Entertainment is dropping two documentaries celebrating these American jazz icons: Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things and Count Basie: Through His Own Eyes exclusively on digital formats on Sept. 11.
“Recently enjoying a hugely successful Virtual Cinema release, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things presents a deep, insightful look into the life of The ‘First Lady Of Song,’” according to the press statement. “Ella Fitzgerald’s journey is thoroughly explored,...
“Recently enjoying a hugely successful Virtual Cinema release, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things presents a deep, insightful look into the life of The ‘First Lady Of Song,’” according to the press statement. “Ella Fitzgerald’s journey is thoroughly explored,...
- 8/26/2020
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Early on in “Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things,” singer Patti Austin tells the story of how Fitzgerald — traveling with a big band in the 1930s and apparently the only one on the bus with no interest in getting high — would sit in the back with her coat over her head to act as her “own personal filtration system.” That’s good for a laugh, and it’s also good for a sense of relief, in being reminded that this will be the rare film about a 20th century jazz giant that doesn’t have to worry about when to start in on the tragic foreshadowing. Living to a ripe old age, in this genre of documentary, is not just one of those things.
It’s suggested in director Leslie Woodhead’s film that Fitzgerald lived a fairly lonely life when she was off the road — but it’s...
It’s suggested in director Leslie Woodhead’s film that Fitzgerald lived a fairly lonely life when she was off the road — but it’s...
- 6/27/2020
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Tony Sokol Feb 13, 2020
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things documentary paints an intimate portrait of the First Lady Of Jazz.
Ella Fitzgerald debuted at an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in 1934. She sang Hoagy Carmichael's "Judy" and "The Object of My Affection" and won $25. She went on win 13 Grammys, sell more than 40 million albums and be proclaimed "The First Lady of Jazz." Eagle Rock Entertainment will present Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things this spring. Directed by Leslie Woodhead along with producer Reggie Nadelson, the film will be screened in select cinemas beginning April 3.
A pillar of American music history, Ella is an international icon. Her tone, delivery, and scat improvisations laid the groundwork for generations of vocalists. Just One Of Those Things presents the artist through an intimate lens, "through all of her moments of triumph and joy, delivering a clear picture of the...
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things documentary paints an intimate portrait of the First Lady Of Jazz.
Ella Fitzgerald debuted at an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in 1934. She sang Hoagy Carmichael's "Judy" and "The Object of My Affection" and won $25. She went on win 13 Grammys, sell more than 40 million albums and be proclaimed "The First Lady of Jazz." Eagle Rock Entertainment will present Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things this spring. Directed by Leslie Woodhead along with producer Reggie Nadelson, the film will be screened in select cinemas beginning April 3.
A pillar of American music history, Ella is an international icon. Her tone, delivery, and scat improvisations laid the groundwork for generations of vocalists. Just One Of Those Things presents the artist through an intimate lens, "through all of her moments of triumph and joy, delivering a clear picture of the...
- 2/13/2020
- Den of Geek
For those of us who weren’t lucky enough to attend a Beatles concert in the 1960s, Ron Howard’s Eight Days a Week just might be the next best thing. The 2016 documentary traces the band’s rise from a cramped and dank cellar in Liverpool to record breaking television appearances, jam packed stadiums, and—ultimately—rock immortality. Lovingly assembled through rare and often unseen fan home movie footage, Howard’s film also draws on more familiar material—restored to the highest echelons of HD— and new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. All told, it’s a joyous...
- 11/21/2017
- by Jordan Runtagh
- PEOPLE.com
New York, Jun. 2: A former spy has revealed that John Lennon and Paul McCartney promoted a cultural revolution among the Soviet youth, which played a part in the demolition of communism in the Ussr.
The Beatles were utterly forbidden behind the Iron Curtain but the band's songs were able to get through to the communist nation with the help of Vox.
Leslie Woodhead, who became a cameraman for the Granada Television station in Manchester, England after his espionage escapades, said in his new book 'How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin' that had the band's songs penetrated the Ussr a few years earlier, they would have fallen on far less fertile ground.
Among the kids, in the late '50s and early '60s, it was believed that.
The Beatles were utterly forbidden behind the Iron Curtain but the band's songs were able to get through to the communist nation with the help of Vox.
Leslie Woodhead, who became a cameraman for the Granada Television station in Manchester, England after his espionage escapades, said in his new book 'How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin' that had the band's songs penetrated the Ussr a few years earlier, they would have fallen on far less fertile ground.
Among the kids, in the late '50s and early '60s, it was believed that.
- 6/2/2013
- by Ketali Mehta
- RealBollywood.com
Moscow, Red Square, May 24, 2003. As the sun slides behind the Kremlin, a hundred thousand people pack into Red Square, into the heart of Russia. The fairy-tale domes of Saint Basil’s cathedral and the ancient red walls of the Kremlin seem to be on fire. The vast crowd roars — and many weep — as a familiar figure strikes the first chords. “Back in the U.S.S.R.” rolls out across the square — and Paul McCartney is here at last to sing it.
“People cried rivers and waterfalls of tears,” says Artemy Troitsky, Russia’s celebrity rock guru. “It was like something that sums up your whole life.” “Moscow girls make me sing and shout,” sings McCartney, and the crowd sings back, laughing, crying, hugging, dancing to an anthem that had once put some of them in jail, lost them their jobs and their education, turned them into outcasts. Now the Soviet Beatles generation,...
“People cried rivers and waterfalls of tears,” says Artemy Troitsky, Russia’s celebrity rock guru. “It was like something that sums up your whole life.” “Moscow girls make me sing and shout,” sings McCartney, and the crowd sings back, laughing, crying, hugging, dancing to an anthem that had once put some of them in jail, lost them their jobs and their education, turned them into outcasts. Now the Soviet Beatles generation,...
- 4/29/2013
- by Andrew Losowsky
- Huffington Post
There was a terrific reminder last night of the brilliant investigative and campaigning journalism of Granada TV's World In Action in the 35 years from 1963 until 1998.
ITV1 screened a 90-minute documentary showing a variety of the highlights from the series with contributions from past editors - such as Ray Fitzwalter, John Birt, Leslie Woodhead, Steve Boulton and Ian McBride - plus a former editor, Paul Greengrass, cameraman George Jesse Turner, researcher Michael Apted and Granada's ex-chairman Sir Denis Forman.
Among about the programmes they spoke about, with understandable pride, were those that helped to effect genuine changes, such as the release of the innocent Birmingham Six, the reuniting of Anwar Ditta with her three children and the exposures of John Poulson and Reginald Maudling.
As Greengrass pointed out, it was the mixture of journalism and film-making that made the programmes so popular and so successful. It is fair to say World In Action...
ITV1 screened a 90-minute documentary showing a variety of the highlights from the series with contributions from past editors - such as Ray Fitzwalter, John Birt, Leslie Woodhead, Steve Boulton and Ian McBride - plus a former editor, Paul Greengrass, cameraman George Jesse Turner, researcher Michael Apted and Granada's ex-chairman Sir Denis Forman.
Among about the programmes they spoke about, with understandable pride, were those that helped to effect genuine changes, such as the release of the innocent Birmingham Six, the reuniting of Anwar Ditta with her three children and the exposures of John Poulson and Reginald Maudling.
As Greengrass pointed out, it was the mixture of journalism and film-making that made the programmes so popular and so successful. It is fair to say World In Action...
- 1/8/2013
- by Roy Greenslade
- The Guardian - Film News
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced Tuesday (April 24) the nominations for its 2012 television awards. British miniseries "Appropriate Adult," which chronicles the real-life serial killer Fred West, leads the way with four nominations.
Other notable nominations include Dame Maggie Smith up for Supporting Actress for her work on "Downton Abbey" - it's the only nomination "Downton" received, after earning two nominations the previous year. "Modern Family" also earned a nomination in the International category.
The full list of nominations:
Leading Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch - Sherlock (BBC One)
Dominic West - Appropriate Adult (ITV)
John Simm - Exile (BBC One)
Joseph Gilgun - This is England '88 (Channel 4)
Leading Actress
Emily Watson - Appropriate Adult (ITV1)
Nadine Marshall - Random (Channel 4)
Romola Garai - The Crimson Petal and the White (BBC Two)
Vicky McClure - This is England '88 (Channel 4)
Supporting Actor
Andrew Scott - Sherlock...
Other notable nominations include Dame Maggie Smith up for Supporting Actress for her work on "Downton Abbey" - it's the only nomination "Downton" received, after earning two nominations the previous year. "Modern Family" also earned a nomination in the International category.
The full list of nominations:
Leading Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch - Sherlock (BBC One)
Dominic West - Appropriate Adult (ITV)
John Simm - Exile (BBC One)
Joseph Gilgun - This is England '88 (Channel 4)
Leading Actress
Emily Watson - Appropriate Adult (ITV1)
Nadine Marshall - Random (Channel 4)
Romola Garai - The Crimson Petal and the White (BBC Two)
Vicky McClure - This is England '88 (Channel 4)
Supporting Actor
Andrew Scott - Sherlock...
- 4/24/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
For a film about one of the world's fastest men, "Endurance" moves ploddingly.
Part docudrama, part travelogue and part sedative, this re-creation of the life of Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, who set a world record at the 1996 Olympics, is visually impressive but dramatically inert.
Using the engaging Gebrselassie and nonactors playing people in his formative life, award-winning documentary filmmaker Leslie Woodhead has concocted a curious nonfiction feature. Woodhead incorporates footage of Gebrselassie's 10,000-meter Atlanta triumph and cinema verite re-creations but oddly leaves out key aspects of the big race that could have made for far more involving viewing.
As a result, this long-distance saga, spearheaded by Terrence Malick and Edward R. Pressman, is an endurance that would have made more sense on the Disney Channel than in theaters, where its performance will be significantly less than Olympian.
Woodhead and ever-probing cameraman Ivan Strasburg spend a lot of time establishing the oppressive conditions in which Gebrselassie was raised. The eighth of 10 children born to a hard-working Ethiopian farmer and his wife, young Haile (Yonas Zergaw) is seen running barefoot here and there under the relentless African sun.
One day in 1980, Haile is huddled behind his family's mud hut, listening to a radio broadcast of fellow Ethiopian Miruts Yifter's successful 10,000-meter race at the Moscow Olympics, and realizes his destiny.
But by the time Haile is well on his chosen path, so much footage has been squandered capturing all of the National Geographic-worthy vistas that Woodhead and his editors (Saar Klien and Oral Norrie Ottley) are forced to cut to the chase without building effectively toward the big finale.
It's a shame, because a legitimate, crowd-rousing story can be found, ironically, in the media kit. According to the production notes, during the Atlanta race, Gebrselassie was boxed in by two members of the Kenyan team -- one in front, one behind -- pressuring him to run faster than he had planned in order to deplete his energy sooner. In addition, the eventual gold medalist had to cope with a severe blister on his foot that became infected during training.
But precious little of this dramatic gold has been mined in Woodhead's rigid, uninspiring portrait of Gebrselassie, whose potentially winning screen biography has been given the runaround.
ENDURANCE
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
A Walt Disney Pictures presentation
of a La Junta Llc. production
in association with Film Four and Helkon Media Filmvertrieb
Director-screenwriter:Leslie Woodhead
Producers:Edward R. Pressman, Terrence Malick, Max Palevsky
Executive producer:Wallace Wolf
Director of photography:Ivan Strasburg
Editors:Saar Klien, Oral Norrie Ottley
Music:John Powell
Music supervisor:Hans Zimmer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Haile Gebrselassie:Himself
Haile's father:Bekele Gebrselassie
Haile's brother:Assefa Gebrselassie
Haile's wife:Alem Tellahun
Haile's police trainer:Tizazu Mashresha
Haile's mother:Shawanness Gebrselassie
Running time -- 83 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
Part docudrama, part travelogue and part sedative, this re-creation of the life of Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, who set a world record at the 1996 Olympics, is visually impressive but dramatically inert.
Using the engaging Gebrselassie and nonactors playing people in his formative life, award-winning documentary filmmaker Leslie Woodhead has concocted a curious nonfiction feature. Woodhead incorporates footage of Gebrselassie's 10,000-meter Atlanta triumph and cinema verite re-creations but oddly leaves out key aspects of the big race that could have made for far more involving viewing.
As a result, this long-distance saga, spearheaded by Terrence Malick and Edward R. Pressman, is an endurance that would have made more sense on the Disney Channel than in theaters, where its performance will be significantly less than Olympian.
Woodhead and ever-probing cameraman Ivan Strasburg spend a lot of time establishing the oppressive conditions in which Gebrselassie was raised. The eighth of 10 children born to a hard-working Ethiopian farmer and his wife, young Haile (Yonas Zergaw) is seen running barefoot here and there under the relentless African sun.
One day in 1980, Haile is huddled behind his family's mud hut, listening to a radio broadcast of fellow Ethiopian Miruts Yifter's successful 10,000-meter race at the Moscow Olympics, and realizes his destiny.
But by the time Haile is well on his chosen path, so much footage has been squandered capturing all of the National Geographic-worthy vistas that Woodhead and his editors (Saar Klien and Oral Norrie Ottley) are forced to cut to the chase without building effectively toward the big finale.
It's a shame, because a legitimate, crowd-rousing story can be found, ironically, in the media kit. According to the production notes, during the Atlanta race, Gebrselassie was boxed in by two members of the Kenyan team -- one in front, one behind -- pressuring him to run faster than he had planned in order to deplete his energy sooner. In addition, the eventual gold medalist had to cope with a severe blister on his foot that became infected during training.
But precious little of this dramatic gold has been mined in Woodhead's rigid, uninspiring portrait of Gebrselassie, whose potentially winning screen biography has been given the runaround.
ENDURANCE
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
A Walt Disney Pictures presentation
of a La Junta Llc. production
in association with Film Four and Helkon Media Filmvertrieb
Director-screenwriter:Leslie Woodhead
Producers:Edward R. Pressman, Terrence Malick, Max Palevsky
Executive producer:Wallace Wolf
Director of photography:Ivan Strasburg
Editors:Saar Klien, Oral Norrie Ottley
Music:John Powell
Music supervisor:Hans Zimmer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Haile Gebrselassie:Himself
Haile's father:Bekele Gebrselassie
Haile's brother:Assefa Gebrselassie
Haile's wife:Alem Tellahun
Haile's police trainer:Tizazu Mashresha
Haile's mother:Shawanness Gebrselassie
Running time -- 83 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
- 5/13/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.