‘Bob Marley: One Love’ plays a bland, family-authorised tune

ENTERTAINMENT

Despite offering Kingsley Ben-Adir the breakout role that has clearly awaited him, Bob Marley: One Love comes across too much as a licensed product, a family-blessed movie that avoids the detail (and potential rough edges) of an actual biopic to focus on one narrow slice of the reggae star’s too-brief life. It’s a dutiful addition to a recent wave of such biographies (see Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody), but a largely uninspired one.
Part of that can be traced to King Richard director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s decision, as he told Yahoo, that based on his experience with that earlier movie, he “would not have made the film if they were not involved,” referencing Marley’s widow Rita and children Ziggy and Cecelia, all credited as producers.
Such involvement, however, can be a double-edged sword, and in the case of One Love, at least, yields a movie that feels particularly thin and sanitized, picking up with tumult in Marley’s home of Jamaica, an assassination attempt on his life in 1976, and a move to Europe where he came up with his album Exodus and then toured to support it.
Set primarily within that slender window, Green (who shares script credit with three other writers) deals with the biographical aspects through fleeting flashbacks, mostly involving Marley’s courtship of his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch), who, in the present-tense portion of the film, too often is left sporting a pained expression as evidence of marital strain, while only glancingly addressing its origins.
Leaning into Marley’s accent and mannerisms, Ben-Adir (whose eclectic recent resume includes Marvel’s Secret Invasion, Barbie, and playing another icon, Malcolm X, in One Night in Miami) captures the singer’s magnetism and creativity, but the unerring nature of that portrait is somewhat hamstrung by the movie’s narrative structure.
Similarly, there’s relatively little done to develop the supporting players, and other than one flash of temper, the movie presents a largely unblemished snapshot of Marley, especially compared to the warts-and-all excesses depicted in other biographical tales covering musical superstars.
All that really leaves, then, is the music itself, and performance sequences meticulously replicated with Ben-Adir primarily lip-synching to Marley’s vocals.
What One Love doesn’t do, ultimately, is provide enough material to distinguish the movie from the contours of an authorized biography or documentary. In that sense, the film pays tribute to Marley’s work but winds up hampered by a love for its subject that works against its ability to deliver major insights or rock-star-level drama. – CNN

Whoopi Goldberg lands her latestfilm role

Whoopi Goldberg landed her latest film role after storming out of her house to complain about noisy on-set activity on her street.
The Colour Purple star, who has taken the part of Stagecoach Mary in director Mario Van Peebles’ Western Outlaw Posse, is said to have yelled at the crew before she ended up chatting to the filmmaker about her future in acting before he offered her the role.
Mario, 67, probably best known for directing and starring in ‘New Jack City’ alongside Ice-T, 66, told Page Six: “I did not cast Whoopi. Whoopi cast herself. “I was directing a show on the (Hulu drama) Wu-Tang: An American Saga in New Jersey, and this neighbour came over all irate yelling, ‘Who is making all that racket,’ and it was Whoopi.
“When she realised I was directing, I asked her what do you want do next, and she said, ‘I want do a Western’, and I said, ‘I’m getting ready to do a Western.’ “Then she said, ‘Do you know who Stagecoach Mary is?,’ and I said ‘Yes.’”
Stagecoach Mary was a mail carrier who became the first black woman to be employed as a major route postwoman in the US. – Bang Showbiz

Jackson’s abuse accusers want trial date defore ‘Michael’ biopic

The two Michael Jackson molestation accusers featured in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland have won the right to combine their negligence lawsuits against Jackson’s companies into a single case and are pressing for a trial by early next year – before the April 2025 debut of the Michael biopic helmed by Training Day director Antoine Fuqua.
A judge granted the consolidation to plaintiffs Wade Robson and James Safechuck during a Wednesday hearing in Beverly Hills, Calif. Standing outside the courtroom after the ruling, the duo’s lawyer said he believes defendants MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures – both now owned by the estate – are seeking a trial well beyond his target of February 2025 because the biopic is expected to be largely flattering.
“They want the Michael Jackson biopic to come out before the trial. That’s what I think,” lawyer John C. Carpenter tells Rolling Stone. “These corporations that facilitated the abuse in the first place, they’re rewriting the history.” – Rolling Stone

Zac Efron reveals desire to become a father

Zac Efron, pictured, is opening up about his hopes for the future.
The 36-year-old Baywatch star spoke to E! News about potentially raising kids when he gets a bit older. “I think I’d love to have kids one day,” he told the outlet.
Despite his recent confession, Efron wasn’t always keen on the idea of becoming a father. Two years ago, the former High School Musical heartthrob expressed slight hesitation in taking on a parental role after starring as a dad in the 2022 film, Firestarter. In conversation with Ellen DeGeneres on her eponymous talk show, Efron said: “I think that was a healthy dose to put me off of it for as long as necessary.”
“I have a little bit more growing to do, probably,” he continued. “I don’t know. Not yet.”
One scene from the film required an intimate moment between Efron and his on-screen daughter, Charlie, played by 12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong.
“All of a sudden I had this daughter in front of me. We had a pretty heavy dad-daughter scene right off the bat, and I realized I was drastically underprepared for this part,” the Disney Channel Alum remarked. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought it would just kind of click, but no, that’s not really the case!”
“Luckily, Ryan is just so sweet, she’s just the coolest, and after two days, we had the best bond, so that part got really easy,” Efron added.
Still, Efron was weary of assuming the role of a dad in reality following his part in the movie. Though his mindset has changed in the last two years, The Iron Claw isn’t in a hurry to start a family or get married. Instead, Efron’s spent time working and honouring his career thus far.  – Independent

Comedian Lewis, ‘Curb’ star, dead at 76

Comedian and actor Richard Lewis, pictured, whose self-deprecating humor and acerbic wit in shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Anything but Love entertained audiences for decades, has died, according to his publicist Jeff Abraham. He was 76.
Abraham said in an email to CNN that the entertainer passed away “peacefully” at his home in Los Angeles after having a heart attack.
In April of 2023, Richard revealed that he had been living with Parkinson’s disease.
Known as a comic’s comic, Lewis made his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1974, becoming a staple of the late-night comedy scene. – CNN