By Jonathan Landrum Jr., Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Netflix could be a dominant force at next month's NAACP Image Awards.
The streaming giant on Tuesday emerged with a leading 52 nominations including the film "The Harder They Fall." The movie — featuring a large starry cast including Regina King, Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba and LaKeith Stanfield — pulled in 12 nominations, including for best picture. Netflix landed 23 nominations in the television/streaming categories.
"The Harder They Fall," produced by Jay-Z, is based on real Black characters from the Old West who have generally been overlooked in the genre. The story follows Nat Love, a cowboy whose gun-slinging crew face off with Rufus Black, an outlaw who killed Love's parents years ago.
Issa Rae's "Insecure" earned 13 nominations including best comedy television series. "Harlem," "black-ish," "Run the World" and "The Upshaws" are also competing for best comedy series. "The Upshaws and "Colin in Black & White" are among the Netflix series recognized by the Image Awards.
H.E.R. received the most nominations in the music recording categories with six, including best female artist and album for her project "Back of My Mind." She will compete in the outstanding album category against Silk Sonic's "An Evening with Silk Sonic," Drake's "Certified Lover Boy," Jazmine Sullivan's "Heaux Tales" and "When It's All Said and Done… Take Time" by GivÄ“on."
Regina King will compete for entertainer of the year against Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion, Jennifer Hudson and Tiffany Haddish.
The nominees were announced by "black-ish" actor Marcus Scribner, singer Tinashe and actor/musician Kyla Pratt.
In addition to "The Harder They Fall," the nominees for best picture are "King Richard," "Respect," "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" and "Judas and the Black Messiah"
Stanfield could come away with best leading and supporting actor trophies. He's nominated for best actor in a film for his role in "Judas and the Black Messiah" and his supporting efforts in "The Harder They Fall."
For best actor, Stanfield will compete against Denzel Washington, Majors, Mahershala Ali and Will Smith.
The nominees for best actress in a film are Andra Day, Halle Berry, Jennifer Hudson, Tessa Thompson and Zendaya.
WarnerMedia gathered 55 nominations through its multiple entities. The entertainment conglomerate garnered nominations mostly from Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO and OWN.
RCA Records might make its presence felt with the most nominations across record labels. The label garnered 15 nominations with the musical success of H.E.R, Sullivan, Doja Cat and Kirk Franklin.
With the rise in COVID-19 cases, the awards honoring entertainers and writers of color will move forward without an in-person audience. The two-hour awards show, hosted by Anthony Anderson, will be broadcast on Feb. 26 on BET at 8 p.m. EST. For a full rundown of nominees, click here.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More