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QUICK TAKES: Megyn Kelly Disappoints NBC; Sloane Stephens Wins US OPEN

Insecure actress Yvonne Orji is set to join Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish in the movie directed by Malcolm D. Lee

Regret is growing at NBC for pushing Tamron Hall out the door to make room for former FOX News host, Megyn Kelly.

Prior to Kelly’s debut, NBC was reportedly in a "panic" over the fear that Megyn Kelly could not attract non-White and younger audiences for her daytime show.

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According to reports, Tamron Hall, the former Today show anchor is being dragged into the ugly divorce of Jesse Jackson Jr. — and the former U.S. congressman is not happy about it.

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Can we just say that Black Girl Magic was on display at the US OPEN!

While tennis star, Serena Williams was out on maternity leave, her sister Venus, Madison Keys, and Sloane Stephens were holding it down.

All three made it to the US OPEN semi-finals and this was the first US OPEN women’s final with two Black women at center court and their names were not Williams.

Congratulations to Sloane Stephens for winning it all!

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The Kevin Hart comedy Night School just added another name to its roster. Insecure actress Yvonne Orji is set to join Hart and Tiffany Haddish in the movie directed by Malcolm D. Lee.

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Musician, John Legend, revealed in an interview with The Guardian, a British newspaper, he tried to break up with Chrissy Teigen years ago and she was not having it. The breakup lasted 90 minutes.

  • Published in Videos

Spike Lee Signs Deal With Netflix for She's Gotta Have It

She's Gotta Have It, the film that put Spike Lee on the map, gets a 10-episode run from Netflix

Shout out to filmmaker Spike Lee!

Brooklyn native Spike Lee inked a deal with Netflix to direct a 10-episode adaptation of She's Gotta Have It.

In case you never saw She's Gotta Have It or need a refresher, the story centers on Nola Darling, a Brooklyn-based artist in her late 20s struggling to define herself and divide her time among her friends, job, and three lovers.

"She's Gotta Have It has a very special place in my heart. We shot this film in 12 days (two six-day weeks) way back in the back, back of the hot summer of 1985 for a mere total of $175,000. Funds that we begged, borrowed and whatnot to get that money. This is the first official Spike Lee feature film joint and everything that we have been blessed with in this tough business of film all have been due to SGHI. Now with the passing (August 8) of the 30th anniversary, it's a gift that keeps on giving. We are getting an opportunity to revisit these memorable characters who will still be relevant and avant-garde three decades later. With all that said, it was my wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, a producer in her own right, who had the vision to take my film from the big screen and turn it into an episodic series. It had not occurred to me at all. Tonya saw it plain as day. I didn't. We are hyped that Netflix is on board with this vision as Nola Darling, Mars Blackmon, Jamie Overstreet and Greer Childs do da damn thang now, today in da republic of Brooklyn, New York," commented Lee.

The Malcolm X director will serve as creator and executive producer; and his producer wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, will also executive produce.

Spike Lee has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, but never won. In November 2015, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences presented Lee with an Honorary Academy Award for his contributions to filmmaking. Lee also won a Black Reel Award for his producing role in the Gina Prince-Bythewood directed Love and Basketball, the Black Movie Awards for Inside Man, and the Berlin International Film Festival for Get on the Bus. Lee's film, Malcolm X, which received critical acclaim, did not get nominated for an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture nor did Lee receive a nomination for Best Director. Actor Denzel Washington received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, but did not win.

Do The Right Thing, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989, was one of Spike Lee's most memorable films. Lee's 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, about the children killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 was nominated for the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award.

Lee's other impressive directorial works include: Mo Better Blues; Jungle Fever; and School Daze. Another fan favorite in the Spike Lee toolbox, The Best Man, Lee produced, but did not direct; that honor goes to his cousin, Malcolm D. Lee.

Are you looking forward to seeing episodes of She's Gotta Have It?

Movie Review: Barbershop: The Next Cut

This trip to the barbershop is worth it

It's been a long time – 10 years to be exact – since Calvin's Barbershop last opened. The two stalwarts, Calvin (Ice Cube) the owner, and Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) who has worked in the shop since Calvin's father was owner are back in their lead roles in Barbershop's third iteration, Barbershop: The Next Cut. Common and Lamorne Morris play Rashad and Jerrod, two of the other barbers at Calvin's.

Barber Shop Photo Common Cedric The Entertainer Ice CubeBarbershop: The Next Cut cast from left to right: Common, Cedric The Entertainer, and Ice Cube

The shop which in an earlier version expanded to include a salon for the ladies has also expanded discussion topics from the old list of politics, social issues, and the opposite sex. Those same topics are now enhanced by a verbal battle of the sexes. Angie (Regina Hall) is co-owner and runs the salon. Nicki Minaj and Margot Bingham play stylists on her staff.

Barbershop: The Next Cut is the best one yet! It's funny, dramatic, well-written enriched by great performances. It deals with a catalog of compelling issues: marriage, parenting, dating, urban violence, interpersonal relationships and racial stereotypes.

I am usually not a big fan of films telling urban stories. They often project images with racist stereotypes just as offensive as those that were commonplace in the 1930s and 40s: black characters who are dumb; steal; lie; and who are excessively violent.

This story is about people who range in intellect, values, and goals. It accurately reflects the complex and diverse variety of people in the black community.

The writing is one of the keys to this film's success. The funny lines come at a machine gun rate. Eddie describes the young thugs in the neighborhood as "a bunch of conjugal visits gone wrong". There is the use of the "N" word. And I have always maintained that is not necessary. A creative writer can pen authentic dialogue without using that slur.

The director Malcolm D. Lee takes full advantage of Minaj's "assets". Her breast and butt are on screen so often that they could have been listed as co-stars!

As to our cast diversity rating, Barbershop: The Next Cut, gets a "D". Truthfully, this is not a diverse cast. It is almost an all-black cast, save an Indian-American barber who works at Calvin's and a few white characters thrown in at the end.

Barbershop: The Next Cut is more than just a comedy. It's exceptional filmmaking. It's rated P-13 and is 152 minutes. It gets our highest rating: See It!

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