if i recall, that was right after her appearance on Ellen, when she performed “flaws & all” and moved the audience with an emotional rendition — yep, she cried.

She puts her all in her performances… We’ll see if she did with this movie

I don’t understand how people get to practice their acting skills in big budget mainstream movies? I understand that Beyonce is a big name talent and has box office appeal, but I find it ironic that the movie discusses the color barrier in the 60’s and how black stars couldn’t crossover, regardless of how talented they are because of they didn’t appeal to a white audience all why using the a black pop star in a lead role, because a talented black actress wouldn’t be able to cross the movie over. It’s the height of irony and it just shows we haven’t gotten very far at all.

She’s not a great actress, but neither is Scarlett Johansen or Jennifer Lopez and a whole bunch of other people…so at the end of the day it is what it is.

http://margeauxs-mix.ew.c...in+%27Cadillac+Records%27

Beyonce in ‘Cadillac Records’: the EW First Look

Nov 25, 2008, 01:41 PM | by Margeaux Watson
Categories: Film, Music

Last night, I attended a media screening of Cadillac Records in New York while my colleague Carrie Bell was on the scene at the movie’s star-studded L.A. premiere at the Egyptian Theater, followed by an after-party at Les Deux. I had been dying to see the film ever since Beyonce Knowles landed the role of R&B legend and ex-heroin addict Etta James. The movie, which follows Chicago-based Chess Records in the 1950s and ’60s, also stars Adrien Brody as label founder Leonard Chess, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, and Mos Def as Chuck Berry. Working with those guys clearly inspired B to step up her acting game. She doesn’t appear on screen until the second hour of the movie, but it’s worth the wait, as this is her finest cinematic performance to date. Tortured, tragic, and playfully profane, she inhabits the role with fiery conviction, though it’s certainly the most sanitized depiction of a junkie I’ve ever seen (Trainspotting this is not). The only major drawback to her performance is that she lacks the pained vocal chops to convincingly pull off James’ songs or make them her own like Diana Ross did with Billie Holiday’s standards in 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues. Each time she covers classics like “At Last” and “Trust In Me,” you hear Beyonce, not Etta. Apparently, James agrees. Last night when Carrie asked her how she felt about Beyonce’s portrayal, she replied, “She did her thing. She sings good, but I don’t think she sings as good as me.” True that, diva.

#77
Wow, you’re smart…I didn’t even think of that! It is rather ironic!
I’m still wondering about the director…is something up? The movie hasn’t gotten great reviews…People have called the director’s method into question and have said things like certain characters “saved it”…I don’t know…as I said, the bulk of the reviews will come out this week, so… but it looks like the film is going to get ok to bad reviews.

i hate beyonce, her album sucked @@@ but i have to ammit i seen the movie and i was shocked and dismayed on how wonderful she is. she is not oscar worthy but she was great. but her album still sucked

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00020088.html

check exclusive trailers

“Am I the only one who actually love beyonce voice more then etta james.. etta got a nice voice but i actually like beyonce voice better,,.. She sounds clear and clean and have way more passion in the songs.. i feel like etta is just singing the songs..”

Better than Etta? More passion? Beyonce? Don’t be selfish. Pass the joint!

another trailer

http://www.shockya.com/ne...-records-movie-trailer-3/

CL does a lot of who did best or rocked it first, however they rarely say anything bad about Beyonce. While i am not trying to down her but look at what I found online about everyone’s favorite thing.

http://www.dailymail.co.u...es-shes-stolen-years.html

RETRO SHIT IS A TRUE HATER ALWAYS IN A BEYONCE POST TALKIN SH!T SPREADIN HIS HER JEALOUSY IF YOU DONT LIKE WHY IS YOUR ASS HERE POSTIN MORE THAN HER FANS? SMH

she cant act or sing

I meant Variety, not Vanity Fair and here it is. And the critic did write her performance was “soulful” but in summing the whole thing up in the introduction, he says merely Beyonce “will put bottoms in seats” while calling Jeffrey Wright’s perfomance “unforgettable”……

Approaching the blues with the enthusiasm of an overcaffeinated brass band, helmer Darnell Martin nonetheless makes some kind of music with the percolating ’50s biopic “Cadillac Records” — mostly because she mines a righteous, mythic sensibility out of the story of Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and the birth of the Chicago blues. Jeffrey Wright’s Waters is unforgettable, Eamonn Walker gives an unnerving performance as rival bluesman Howlin’ Wolf, and Beyonce Knowles’ Etta James should put bottoms in seats.
The second feature this year to focus on the same musicians, “Cadillac Records” takes a far broader approach than Jerry Zaks’ “Who Do You Love,”‘ which concentrated more on the conflicted character of Chess than on the artists he hired, promoted, profited from and, some say, exploited. In “Cadillac Records,” Adrien Brody cuts an appropriately oily figure as the man who founded Chess Records in 1956, while Wright delivers a performance of eloquent, simmering dignity as Waters — the first Chess star, one of the great vocalists in American music and the dramatic engine of Martin’s film.

Working off her own well-researched screenplay, Martin goes so far as to have Chess’ path crossed by shadowy, muttering figures. “I’ve lost daughters to bluesmen,” they warn him outside the black nightclub he plans to open. “It’s a dangerous business you in.” No kidding: At the Club Macambo, where Chess starts booking local talent, the so-called Headhunters barge in — Waters, harmonica virtuoso Little Walter (Columbus Short) and guitarist Jimmy Rogers (Kevin Mambo). They take over the stage, fists are thrown and someone pulls a gun. Chess does the smart, politic thing and hires the invaders.

He also starts recording Waters, whose “I Can’t Be Satisfied” puts them all on the map. Bookending narration provided by Cedric the Entertainer, seriously miscast as the great songwriter Willie Dixon, tells the story of Chess’ expansion, his paying off of disc jockeys, his fostering of the unstable Little Walter, Waters’ marriage to steady, long-suffering Geneva Wade (Gabrielle Union), the clash between Waters and Howlin’ Wolf (by all accounts one of the most ferocious blues performers ever — and Walker makes you believe it), and the eventual signing of the troubled James (Knowles), whose “At Last” becomes one of the label’s real crossover hits.

One suspects Martin is a convert, one who might have come to the blues unconvinced but came away a fire-and-brimstone evangelist for the music and its people — which is good, because an overfamiliarity with the minutiae might have strangled what is, on a very basic level, a solid story. Most of the details are right-on in “Cadillac Records,” though the director’s efforts to sell it sometimes steers the film into mawkish or hokey territory.

Where it’s dead serious, though, is as a racial parable that couldn’t be timelier. Chess Records was a mixed marriage — the owner was a Polish immigrant, his artists were African-American, and much of the America they inhabited was hostile to any such arrangement. This all comes to a head after Chess signs Chuck Berry (a dryly funny Mos Def), whose hybridized pop sound had some promoters thinking he was a white country singer.

Berry is the guy who puts Chess over the top; as someone says, they’re not sure what he’s playing, but it’s not the blues. But it sells, and it bridges the racial divide: In a scene duplicated in “Who Do You Love,” the velvet ropes separating whites and blacks at a Berry concert are toppled by the audience. That Martin later has Knowles reprise the entire racial psychology of America through James and her seemingly insoluble identity problems, by contrast, is overkill; Knowles gives a soulful portrayal, but her part of the movie seems to exist in another dimension entirely.

As Waters’ self-destructive protege, Short brings blood and soul to a classic role — a kind of prince of the blues who eventually becomes torn over whether to revere the king or dethrone him.

The music — most of it performed by the actors themselves — has a real richness to it, if not quite the muscle of the Chess records themselves. Recording sessions are shot like live concerts; the club gigs feel sweaty and smoky. And Def’s Berry performances succeed in capturing what it felt like when the blues had a baby and they named it rock ‘n’ roll.

Published: November 27,2008
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Cadillac Records Movie Review

By Prairie Miller

Race and rhythm come together in the rousing tribute to the roots of US music for the masses and the rise of the Chess label, at the turbulent convergence of blues, rock ‘n roll and Jim Crow, in Cadillac Records. But in a situation of the wild beat being just a little too electrifying for its own good, Cadillac Records is a case of the music upstaging the melodrama.

Written and directed by Darnell Martin (I Like It Like That) - billed as the first African American woman to make a movie for a Hollywood studio - Cadillac Records chronicles the birth of Chicago blues and the subsequent impetus to the breakout popular recorded music in the 1950s. And, a concurrent racial and musical cross-pollination that was rock ‘n roll.

Darnell gets the sounds just right, miraculously from actors making their own music. But the storytelling is another matter, a distracting weakness not helped by doing on screen explanatory damage control via voiceovers by Cedric The Entertainer, as barely realized blues musician and songwriter Willie Dixon. And as key dramatic sequences are more often than not described rather than enacted, or conveyed as over the top whining rather than emotionally compelling, the weaker, shrill narrative rhythms of the story fail to harmonize and pale in comparison to the music.

Adrien Brody is Leonard Chess in Cadillac Records, a Jewish immigrant and Chicago nightclub owner turned music promoter who was a key figure in integrating what was once known shamefully as ‘race music.’ A shrewd wheeler dealer businessman, Chess is unaware when he recruits struggling, uprooted Mississippi sharecropper street musician Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), that his proposed financial arrangement with this genius guitarist would be historic.

As the Chess music business expands from recording to radio and the experimental explosive sounds evolve with the addition of Howlin’ Wolf (Eamonn Walker), Little Walter (Columbus Short) and Etta James (Beyonce Knowles), the nation is taken by musical storm. And racial barriers seem to come tumbling down with segregated mental mindsets and government decrees lagging far behind, though not without terror and tragedy in its wake.

Cadillac Records Movie

Cadillac Records would have benefited from a more determined focus on the historical backdrop, and less on distracting, far from subtle episodic detours into raw, fitful sentimentality. But the music is simply irresistible and makes up for any unpolished narrative flaws. And stealing the show, so to speak are Beyonce’s mesmerizing Etta James - coming full-throated circle for the performer upstaged by Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls, Eamonn Walker’s stunning Howlin’ Wolf impression, and without question, Mos Def’s hilariously irreverent reprisal of rock ‘n roll’s young rabble-rouser founding father extraordinaire, Chuck Berry.

What happen to auditions? I see Beyonce as an extra, as well as many other singers…What’s is the cognitive process when a singer acts like a singer, let me play on an audience as if they are fools.?. ps. Practice behind the cameras not in front of them.

Variety reviews Cadillac Records:

credit: imdb.com
http://www.variety.com/re...ml?categoryid=31&cs=1

Cadillac Records
By JOHN ANDERSONRead other reviews about this film

Approaching the blues with the enthusiasm of an overcaffeinated brass band, helmer Darnell Martin nonetheless makes some kind of music with the percolating ’50s biopic “Cadillac Records” — mostly because she mines a righteous, mythic sensibility out of the story of Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and the birth of the Chicago blues. Jeffrey Wright’s Waters is unforgettable, Eamonn Walker gives an unnerving performance as rival bluesman Howlin’ Wolf, and Beyonce Knowles’ Etta James should put bottoms in seats.
The second feature this year to focus on the same musicians, “Cadillac Records” takes a far broader approach than Jerry Zaks’ “Who Do You Love,”‘ which concentrated more on the conflicted character of Chess than on the artists he hired, promoted, profited from and, some say, exploited. In “Cadillac Records,” Adrien Brody cuts an appropriately oily figure as the man who founded Chess Records in 1956, while Wright delivers a performance of eloquent, simmering dignity as Waters — the first Chess star, one of the great vocalists in American music and the dramatic engine of Martin’s film.

Working off her own well-researched screenplay, Martin goes so far as to have Chess’ path crossed by shadowy, muttering figures. “I’ve lost daughters to bluesmen,” they warn him outside the black nightclub he plans to open. “It’s a dangerous business you in.” No kidding: At the Club Macambo, where Chess starts booking local talent, the so-called Headhunters barge in — Waters, harmonica virtuoso Little Walter (Columbus Short) and guitarist Jimmy Rogers (Kevin Mambo). They take over the stage, fists are thrown and someone pulls a gun. Chess does the smart, politic thing and hires the invaders.

He also starts recording Waters, whose “I Can’t Be Satisfied” puts them all on the map. Bookending narration provided by Cedric the Entertainer, seriously miscast as the great songwriter Willie Dixon, tells the story of Chess’ expansion, his paying off of disc jockeys, his fostering of the unstable Little Walter, Waters’ marriage to steady, long-suffering Geneva Wade (Gabrielle Union), the clash between Waters and Howlin’ Wolf (by all accounts one of the most ferocious blues performers ever — and Walker makes you believe it), and the eventual signing of the troubled James (Knowles), whose “At Last” becomes one of the label’s real crossover hits.

One suspects Martin is a convert, one who might have come to the blues unconvinced but came away a fire-and-brimstone evangelist for the music and its people — which is good, because an overfamiliarity with the minutiae might have strangled what is, on a very basic level, a solid story. Most of the details are right-on in “Cadillac Records,” though the director’s efforts to sell it sometimes steers the film into mawkish or hokey territory.

Where it’s dead serious, though, is as a racial parable that couldn’t be timelier. Chess Records was a mixed marriage — the owner was a Polish immigrant, his artists were African-American, and much of the America they inhabited was hostile to any such arrangement. This all comes to a head after Chess signs Chuck Berry (a dryly funny Mos Def), whose hybridized pop sound had some promoters thinking he was a white country singer.

Berry is the guy who puts Chess over the top; as someone says, they’re not sure what he’s playing, but it’s not the blues. But it sells, and it bridges the racial divide: In a scene duplicated in “Who Do You Love,” the velvet ropes separating whites and blacks at a Berry concert are toppled by the audience. That Martin later has Knowles reprise the entire racial psychology of America through James and her seemingly insoluble identity problems, by contrast, is overkill; Knowles gives a soulful portrayal, but her part of the movie seems to exist in another dimension entirely.

As Waters’ self-destructive protege, Short brings blood and soul to a classic role — a kind of prince of the blues who eventually becomes torn over whether to revere the king or dethrone him.

The music — most of it performed by the actors themselves — has a real richness to it, if not quite the muscle of the Chess records themselves. Recording sessions are shot like live concerts; the club gigs feel sweaty and smoky. And Def’s Berry performances succeed in capturing what it felt like when the blues had a baby and they named it rock ‘n’ roll.

#85
This isn’t a Beyonce fansite…or didn’t you know that? This is a gossip site and I’m doing just that… Sorry you were unaware…

The Big Picture
Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time in Chicago, home of two great baseball teams, a host of colorful politicians and the best blues in the world. Back in the day, you weren’t anyone in the blues world unless you were signed to Chess Records, the label that made stars out of a generation of rough and tumble musicians, notably Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf.

So when I was at the recent Toronto Film Festival, I made a point of seeing “Who Do You Love,” which stars Alessandro Nivola and Jon Abrahams as Leonard and Phil Chess, two hard-nosed immigrant entrepreneurs who ended up creating Chess Records, the 1950s record label that popularized urban blues and later, with the arrival of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, ushered in a brash new form of rock ‘n’ roll that was adopted by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and thousands of other young white rock artists.

After the screening, I ran into a film executive, who whispered in my ear, “Do you know that there’s another one?” Puzzled, I said, “Another what?” He laughed. “Another movie about Chess Records.”

I really thought he was joking, but it’s true. Against all odds and sound commercial judgment, the same crazy movie business that once made two asteroid movies and two movies about Truman Capote has now made two movies about the obscure icons of 1950s Chicago blues. What are the odds?

The second Chess film, made by Sony BMG Films, is “Cadillac Records,” which will be released Dec. 5 through Sony’s TriStar Pictures. Produced by Sofia Sondervan and Andy Lack, Sony BMG’s former chairman (who just took a new job running Bloomberg’s multimedia operations), the film has considerably more star power than its rival, featuring Beyonce Knowles as Chess’ top songstress, Etta James; Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess; Mos Def as Chuck Berry; and Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters.

It’s probably a misnomer to call the two pictures rivals, since “Who Do You Love,” despite earning some good notices in Toronto, remains a long shot to land a theatrical release. “Cadillac Records” will be out in 800 theaters, with a Beyonce single and a soundtrack to help attract attention. Still, the question remains–what are the odds of two 1950s blues movies being made at the same time?

The answer, as always, is that making a movie isn’t exactly a rational decision–passion trumps pragmatism. Neither film came out of today’s increasingly timid studio system, which wouldn’t dream of risking any loot on such obscure subject matter. “Cadillac Records” was championed by Lack, the former head of NBC News who ran Sony Music before being kicked upstairs after its BMG merger. According to Sondervan, Lack’s family is from the Mississippi Delta, where he grew up listening to the blues, which gave him a strong interest in the story. “Who Do You Love” was financed by Jonathan Mitchell, a wealthy real estate developer with a love for the blues and directed by Jerry Zaks, who remembers singing to R&B records as a boy in his family basement.

“I was always drawn to black music,” recalls Zaks, a four-time Tony Award-winning Broadway theater director. “When I was in fifth grade, I was convinced I was Marvin Gaye. I’d put on the records I loved, everything from Gaye and Johnny Nash to Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley, and sing to the records in front of the mirror. I think that music had a powerful impact on a whole generation of kids.”

But those kids are all nearing retirement age today and not especially regular moviegoers. So who’s going to turn out for these films? When I asked Sondervan what made her think a blues movie could make a dent in today’s marketplace, she offered an honest answer. “I don’t really know,” she said. “All I know is that Beyonce has a huge young following and a lot of people will come see the movie just because she’s in it.” She added that Beyonce has designed a clothing line of dresses inspired by the fashions in the film that are being launched later this fall at Bloomingdale’s. “All the young people we’ve shown the film to really loved it,” she says. “The blues is coming back. It’s getting played at a lot of trendy restaurants, so there’s a lot of new awareness out there.”

Hhmm. Like I said, making movies isn’t always a rational decision. Will Beyonce fans want to see her as a troubled ’50s blues diva? Angelina Jolie fans do show up when she’s trading gunfire with Brad Pitt, but they didn’t bother to come when she played Mariane Pearl in “A Mighty Heart.” And George Clooney fans, who loved him in “Oceans Eleven,” turned up their noses at “Leatherheads” and “The Good German.”

Music biopics have a pretty spotty track record. Taylor Hackford’s “Ray” was a surprise hit (though it was also independently financed outside the studio system). But “She’s Not There,” Todd Haynes’ impressionistic Bob Dylan biopic, never found an audience, despite a raft of rave reviews. Even “Dreamgirls,” the Bill Condon film loosely based on the Supremes, was a box-office disappointment.

The real challenge for films that re-create the lives of real characters is–how true to life are they? Sony hasn’t screened “Cadillac Records” yet, but the person who knows the story best of all–Leonard’s son, Marshall Chess, who served as a technical consultant on both projects–says both movies took some dramatic liberties with many of the characters’ personal lives. Which film took the most liberties? Which actor came the closest to capturing his real-life character? And which movie ended up cutting Chuck Berry entirely out of the story? We’ll have Part 2 of our post up soon, so stay tuned.

http://latimesblogs.latim...8/10/move-over-truma.html

I forgot to add. People campaign for oscars. You should never read a review and not look at it skeptically. Beyonce and her team have already started the campaigning for this Oscar, this is why we heard about the “Oscar buzz” before the movie had even wrapped.

Beyonce has made it very clear that she wants to be and ICON and unfortunately her definition of ICON is raking up awards. But my definition of and Icon is a person that can truly inspire people and actually leaves a mark of on history that is undeniable. With multiple albums under her belt, Beyonce still doesn’t have a “I Will Always Love You” or a “Vogue” or a “Thriller” or even an “At Last”. It’s not because she doesn’t have the talent, but it because she so obsessed with strategy, she’s never had the opportunity to be an actual artist. No matter how many awards she racks up and international tours she does, there are still people who don’t know a single song of hers or who she even is. While some find her ambition admirable, I find it embarrassing. It sounds really stupid to talk about wanting an Oscar before 30 as if it’s something you just apply for and pick up, versus wanting a challenging role that leaves and impression on people. The reward should be in the role itself, the Oscar should just be the icing on the cake. I find it so unbecoming when stars look for their “oscar roles”. That’s the difference between a star and an artist.

It seems like many of you haven’t really heard Etta’s stuff before. That woman could sing. Beyonce is a good singer,but Etta is great.

Beyonce’s performance surprised the hell out of me… especially the scene when she’s in the restaurant. Phenomenal! Golden Globe? Yes. Oscar? Maybe.

Yes. Overall the movie is fine… there are some really good performances: Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Gabrielle Union, Columbus Short, Mos Def… but BEYONCE = wonderful! No more cute, innocent shell to hide behind. And not another bland singing role! Her performance in Cadillac Records made Dreamgirls look like The Muppets!!!

It was an advanced screening… there are several scenes between Adrien & Beyonce that surpass typical displays of love in the film… you have to see it for yourself.

(About the heroin scene) Now I don’t want to give too much away… but it’s more so the after effects… she’s just a supporting character, so the movie isn’t focused on her.

I tell you this is a performance I’ve been waiting for from Beyonce. No Carmen or Fighting Temptations or Dreamgirls or Austin Powers or Pink Panther. A really flawed, real character/singer. And she pulls it off!

Cadillac Records
By JOHN ANDERSONRead other reviews about this film

Approaching the blues with the enthusiasm of an overcaffeinated brass band, helmer Darnell Martin nonetheless makes some kind of music with the percolating ’50s biopic “Cadillac Records” — mostly because she mines a righteous, mythic sensibility out of the story of Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and the birth of the Chicago blues. Jeffrey Wright’s Waters is unforgettable, Eamonn Walker gives an unnerving performance as rival bluesman Howlin’ Wolf, and Beyonce Knowles’ Etta James should put bottoms in seats.
The second feature this year to focus on the same musicians, “Cadillac Records” takes a far broader approach than Jerry Zaks’ “Who Do You Love,”‘ which concentrated more on the conflicted character of Chess than on the artists he hired, promoted, profited from and, some say, exploited. In “Cadillac Records,” Adrien Brody cuts an appropriately oily figure as the man who founded Chess Records in 1956, while Wright delivers a performance of eloquent, simmering dignity as Waters — the first Chess star, one of the great vocalists in American music and the dramatic engine of Martin’s film.

Working off her own well-researched screenplay, Martin goes so far as to have Chess’ path crossed by shadowy, muttering figures. “I’ve lost daughters to bluesmen,” they warn him outside the black nightclub he plans to open. “It’s a dangerous business you in.” No kidding: At the Club Macambo, where Chess starts booking local talent, the so-called Headhunters barge in — Waters, harmonica virtuoso Little Walter (Columbus Short) and guitarist Jimmy Rogers (Kevin Mambo). They take over the stage, fists are thrown and someone pulls a gun. Chess does the smart, politic thing and hires the invaders.

He also starts recording Waters, whose “I Can’t Be Satisfied” puts them all on the map. Bookending narration provided by Cedric the Entertainer, seriously miscast as the great songwriter Willie Dixon, tells the story of Chess’ expansion, his paying off of disc jockeys, his fostering of the unstable Little Walter, Waters’ marriage to steady, long-suffering Geneva Wade (Gabrielle Union), the clash between Waters and Howlin’ Wolf (by all accounts one of the most ferocious blues performers ever — and Walker makes you believe it), and the eventual signing of the troubled James (Knowles), whose “At Last” becomes one of the label’s real crossover hits.

One suspects Martin is a convert, one who might have come to the blues unconvinced but came away a fire-and-brimstone evangelist for the music and its people — which is good, because an overfamiliarity with the minutiae might have strangled what is, on a very basic level, a solid story. Most of the details are right-on in “Cadillac Records,” though the director’s efforts to sell it sometimes steers the film into mawkish or hokey territory.

Where it’s dead serious, though, is as a racial parable that couldn’t be timelier. Chess Records was a mixed marriage — the owner was a Polish immigrant, his artists were African-American, and much of the America they inhabited was hostile to any such arrangement. This all comes to a head after Chess signs Chuck Berry (a dryly funny Mos Def), whose hybridized pop sound had some promoters thinking he was a white country singer.

Berry is the guy who puts Chess over the top; as someone says, they’re not sure what he’s playing, but it’s not the blues. But it sells, and it bridges the racial divide: In a scene duplicated in “Who Do You Love,” the velvet ropes separating whites and blacks at a Berry concert are toppled by the audience. That Martin later has Knowles reprise the entire racial psychology of America through James and her seemingly insoluble identity problems, by contrast, is overkill; Knowles gives a soulful portrayal, but her part of the movie seems to exist in another dimension entirely.

As Waters’ self-destructive protege, Short brings blood and soul to a classic role — a kind of prince of the blues who eventually becomes torn over whether to revere the king or dethrone him.

The music — most of it performed by the actors themselves — has a real richness to it, if not quite the muscle of the Chess records themselves. Recording sessions are shot like live concerts; the club gigs feel sweaty and smoky. And Def’s Berry performances succeed in capturing what it felt like when the blues had a baby and they named it rock ‘n’ roll.

“Cadillac Records,” a sleeper musical from Sony/Tri Star about the early days of Chess Records and the mainstream emergence of such blues artists as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Etta James, had SAG nominating committee members whooping it up at the Fine Arts on Sunday, applauding performances by Jeffrey Wright, Adrien Brody, Columbus Short and others. Costar and producer Beyonce couldn’t make the Q&A, as she was performing at the AMAs that evening. The execs behind the entertaining picture are hoping for some serious love from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. in its Golden Globe comedy/musical categories. Beyonce as Etta James, Mos Def as Berry, Wright as Muddy Waters, Eammon Walker as Howlin’ Wolf and newcomer Columbus Short as L’il Walter tear up the screen and deliver sizzling performances that merit the attention. Beyonce shows “Dreamgirls” was no fluke. She’s the real triple threat: singer, dancer, actress.

http://www.variety.com/re...ml?categoryid=31&cs=1

Beyonce did a great job signing, but I know alot of people will compare her to James singing this song. Look, no one can sing it like Etta because it takes a certain type of pain to sing this song to the ground. Like James originally commented, Beyonce is a choir girl next to her. When she says choir girl, she is not saying anything about her singing voice, but her lifestyle. I can see an improvement in her acting, but I did enjoy what I saw.

I agree with Ms. Watson with regards with beyonce and her ability to make the song her own. Jennifer Hudson made IAMTU her own. I hear Beyonce in At Last and this song. Hopefully, her acting is better. Although the other characters interest me like Mos Der, Jeffrey Wright and Adrian.

Believe it or not, she really did a good job. She had a supporting role, and doesn’t come in until later in the film, but she was quite good.

… and WOW this film is amazing. All the actors are just fantastic. They bring forth so much passion and intensity to their roles. Yes, even Beyonce. I would’ve been rolling my eyes beforehand too but she really delivered. Amazing film. Can’t say much more than that.

Still not gonna get an Oscar. Go away. Take a break. She sings so does plenty other great singers. So what! Booooooooooo. Boooooooooooo. She should focus more singing maybe she would sell more records, wait they would have to be as good as the artists who care about their music and fans to put out good music worth buying. boooooooooooooooo. So she’s Etta. Didn’t she cast herself anyway? $$$LOL$$$

@ #17 (ASH)

did anybody peep that clip of etta talking about beyonce?

etta: “she sings good. not betta than me though” *walks off*

*DEAD*
———————————————————–
LOL!! U serious

Where can I find that clip??

you guys are a bunch of idiots do u really think they will show yall the scenes where she is really delivering? wont you think those are the most interesting parts? they dont want to give away too much? SMH thats obvious ! even when she is singin and her gesture and attitude she stepped up her game PERIOD Want or not I see emotions she pulls off

you guys are a bunch of idiots do u really think they will show yall the scenes where she is really delivering? wont you think those are the most interesting parts? they dont want to give away too much? SMH thats obvious ! even when she is singin and her gesture and attitude she stepped up her game PERIOD Want or not I see emotions she pulls off

I don’t know….she performed the song really well. I just think that with her album just coming out and her all over T.V. this will be Beyonce overkill! She probably should have put the movie out first and then the album.

Yes “Cadillac Records” is a step up from low budget films, i would loved to have “Dreamworks” budjet this film, maybe it can win best picture. Nevertheless the peformances is rated by stars 4/4 ****.

Actors
#Adrian Bordy 4/4
#Jeffrey Wright 4/4
#Emonn Walker 3/4
#Columbus Short 3/4
#Chuck Berry 4/4

Actress
#Gabrielle Union 4/4
#Emmanuel Critique 2/4
#Beyonce Knowles Carter 4/4

I was suprised that Gabrielle Union had some tramatic scene’s and carried them and might as well be in a catergory of a Golden Globe nomination. Beyonce rocked the hous, no more said Beyonce’s performance was mesmerizing.

This movie is a MASTERPIECE!!!!!!!!!

#93
Another brilliant comment that I agree with completely! I always thought it was incredibly pretentious to have an Oscar win as your goal when you’re a non-actress. Even actresses who have studied, acted and honed their craft for years don’t do as much…Weird. As I said initially, I think Beyonce is getting praise because she wasn’t bad…what I’ve seen in the previews is a bunch of overacting and really random contrived emotion…because, I’m sure, she thinks biopic + heroin addled star + self mutilation + tons of emotion on display usually equals Oscar.

loved it!

THE DAY BEYONCE WILL WIN AN AWARD FOR HER ACTING ROLES DAMN HATERS ARE GOING TO BLEED WATCH NEXT YEAR

I thought it was very moving. She sang very well.

AWFUL! The singing was too much, she over does it alot! Not good. I will wait for this movie to come on TV. This goes to show money will get you any role you want and damn near anything you want period. But it will not get you raw talent. And that’s what she doesn’t have. Singing or acting, she doesn’t have it. She looks nice and she shakes her ass all the time that’s what’s carrying her. Its time to hang it up grandma!

She’s trying real hard to get that Oscar.

@107

for goodness sake, just STFU. i swear some of ya’ll need to be thanking beyonce for giving ya’ll something to talk about EVERYDAY. honestly, what would ya’ll do if beyonce suddenly left the scene? ya’ll would be bored out of your minds. instead of sitting at an office working, people are on here hating on bee. instead of concentrating on something ele, people are on here hating on bee. we get it, you don’t like her, but how can you say what you THINK of the movie when you have yet to see the movie? forget i even asked, it’s hateration at it’s finest. i will never for the life of me get why people who don’t like beyonce come into her posts and waste so much energy on her. posting 10 different times when we got the gist the first time? it’s people like you who keep her on top because the more you hate and the more comment she gets, the higher she ranks when forbes puts out those powerful celeb list. those are based on web hits too you know? if you don’t like her, her music, her acting, SIMPLY IGNORE HER. it’s almost as if it’s hard for some of ya’ll to comprehend that. she got ya’ll minds bent and ya’ll don’t even know it. wasting your precious time writing thesis statements…..SMDH

also, some of ya’ll would NEVER give her props. she could find the cure for HIV and some of ya’ll would STILL find something wrong with her. i guess when you have so much hate in your heart, it’s hard to spread likeness, not even love, to someone else.

i will wait to judge the movie when i go see it. i will not let anybody’s opinion of bee or acting influence MY own opinion.

HaHaHa..

Hi Haters….

I Cant Wait 2 See This Movie…She Sounds So Good!!

#113
Sorry…I can’t be bothered with name changes to “argue” the same point..as most of you can… Beyonce is about as important to me as Rihanna or any other black celebrity who gets not only coverage but attention on gossip sites…I bet you’d like to think otherwise… Rihanna, Beyonce…doesn’t matter…people will be there commenting…

yea i have to say that this is kinda stupid, i havent seen the movie but bu the clip she was great, so i may see this

GIVE IT UP 73 AND 75, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU ARE NOT ME, I HAVE AN AVATAR NOW REMEMBER…..LOL….BUT POST ON….LOL

IT’S HARD TO SPEAK ON THIS POST, THAT LOUSY ACTING SPOKE FOR ITSELF! JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER ACTRESS WHO COMES TO MIND COULD HAVE DONE A BETTER JOB. PEOPLE SAY, OH, IT’S JUST A SMALL CLIP, HOW CAN YOU JUDGE HER ACTING ABILITIES IN THAT SMALL CLIP…WELL FROM WHAT I HEAR, SHE’S ONLY IN THE LAST 30 MINUTES OF THE MOVIE, WHICH MEANS SHE DON’T HAVE THAT MANY SCENES….IF YOU CAN’T ROCK THE FEW SMALL SCENES YOU ARE IN, THEN YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS IN THE MOVIE…..IN ACTING CLASS, THEY TEACH YOU HOW TO BECOME A PERSON IN ONE LINE, ONE WORD……SHE DIDN’T DO THAT FOR ME…IT LOOKED LIKE BEYONCE TRYING TOO HARD ONCE AGAIN….IN THAT SMALL SCENE, SHE SHOULD HAVE ROCKED IT….

BEYONCE IS JUST A POOR ACTRESS, HORRIBLE TO SAY THE LEAST. SHE CANNOT ACT, PERIOD! I THINK THE REVIEWS MIGHT BE A SIGH OF RELIEF FROM THE CRITICS WHO THOUGHT SHE WOULD DO BETTER, BUT ONCE AGAINS SHE FAILS AS AN ACTRESS IN MY BOOK, THEREFORE, I WILL NOT GO SEE THIS MOVIE….I’LL GET THE BOOTLEG DVD TO WATCH GABBY.

I DUNNO, SHE’S GOT ANOTHER MOVIE COMING OUT, MAYBE SHE’LL SHOW SOME ACTUALLY ACTING ABILITIES AND/OR SOME RANGE….SHE’S JUST HORRIBLE……AT SOME POINT, PUTTING HER IN THESE FILMS WILL BACKFIRE, AND MOVIE EXECUTIVES WILL SEE THAT “GIVING” HER THESE ROLES IS NOT PROFITABLE FOR THEM SINCE SHE WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO BRING IN THE BLACK AUDIENCE….NO FOOL WOULD PUT HER IN THESE FILMS FOR HER GENUINE ACTING ABILITIES (I MEAN EVEN THE PROFESSIONAL CRITICS REALIZE SHE CAN’T ACT), AND YOU KNOW IT’S SIMPLY BECAUSE OF HOW MANY NO BRAIN IDIOT-LIKE FOOLS SHE CAN DRAW TO THE THEATRE FOR OTHER REASONS, WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HER ACTING…..IT’S JUST RIDICULOUS, AND IT’S A SAD TIMES FOR REAL BONAFIDE HOLLYWOOD BLACK ACTRESSES.

OKAY, GOTTA GO, OFF TO GO EAT MORE LEFTOVERS…..

SINCE PEOPLE MENTIONING OSCARS….I DON’T THINK JHUD CAN REALLY ACT EITHER…SHE GOT SUPPORTING ACTRESS WHEN SHE WAS REAAAAALLY THE LEAD ACTRESS AND OFCOURSE PLAYING THE MAD BLACK WOMAN…I STILL DON’T KNOW WHY SHE GOT AN OSCAR IT WASN’T THAT SERIOUS.

thank you ^^^^^^^^ she wont all dat good, personatly i think anika nonie rose was the best dreamgirl

#120 and 121
I agree! Although I saw the film recently and she was better than I’d initially believed her to be… But she wasn’t all that and just as you - and Beyonce - pointed out, simply a “mad black woman”…But the irony (or hypocrisy) here is Beyonce is just that…from the previews, her character is essentially the angry black woman with an attitude.
I think this should be very interesting because if Beyonce gets nominated for her extended music video, she’ll be up against Taraji… That should be fun to watch…has it ever happened?

bey comes in at the end of the movie so what does that tell you …im not a stan but i like her here plain and normal now if she would slooooooooowly stop with the weave i will like her more lolol and my opinion does count…. lolol by the way that suit is OUCH

I completely disagree. J-JUGS did not make that song her own. She is totally overrated(acting/being herself/singing/screaming). The only Oscar worthy performance was from Eddie Murphy. The movie wasn’t all that either.

FLYLIKE I WISH I COULD SEE YOU TO GIVE YOU A HANDSHAKE AND A PAT ON THE BACK! YOU ARE SO RIGHT IN YOUR OBSERVATION, THEY USED BEYONCE’S NAME AS THE STAR OF DREAMGIRLS TO GET PEOPLE IN THE SEATS. ANYONE WHO HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF STORY LINE OF DREAMGIRLS KNOW THAT EFFIE IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF DREAMGIRLS. I DON’T THINKL JENNIFER SHOULD HAVE WON THE OSCAR EITHER, I THINK NONE OF THEM SHOULD HAVE, HONESTLY. THEIR WAS NO OVER THE TOP ACTING TO ME, EXCEPT EDDIE OR JAMIE. THIS IS ALL WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE THOUGH.

thank you and people say that beyonce is a bad actress, in dreamgirls beyonce did wat beyonce had to do. she played her character she is not oscar worthy byr she is an ACTRESS

Did 124 just say ” J- Jugs”???? LMAO!!!

I thought she did well. I cant base the whole movie off that one clip but it does spark my interest in the movie not only for her but for the entire movie. It looks good. Thanks CL

well J JUGS is disrespectful, come on

I think this movie is another pink panther, the part where they blow up all big like beyonce is the star but she’s really not in the movie.Just like dreamgirls(my favorite movie),like how beyonce was blown up to be the main actress in the movie but Jennifer Hudson really was( go J.hud..!!)

of corse B killed the song..we all know she can sing..but i saw anotha clip on tyra and i must say B stepped her acting shit up..i think she did a great job..i can’t wait to see the whole thing..and she looks beautiful as usual in her pants suit

DAMN gud PERFORMANCE KEEP AT IT BEY

SUM CHINES LEAK BRANDY ALBUM SO LAME BUT LOL SHE PERFORM DEC 5 ON THE TODAYS SHOW THE SONG HUMAN REMINDS ME OF THIS PERFORMANCE BRANDY I LITTERUALLY CRYING ON THE SONG

Also I think if beyonce wants an oscar she has to play roles like Effie( J-Hud did her thing in Dreamgirls,so fall back..!!) and she also has to play roles like Halle Berry ( Losing Isiah) I think if beyonce was to stop with all the singing roles and do a deep dark movie such as Losing Isiah,then maybe she will be Oscar worthy..!

yo that clip kinda almost made me cry ..that song is something i sure can relate to and i loved the emotion bey had when she sang it

Ok, I love Beyonce with all my heart and I am a dear fan…credit is due to her vocal talent. Of course she can blow and show great emotion for a song, it is what she does for a living. But the acting, and I’ve seen other clips besides this one that shows her acting on this movie, it’s just not up to par. Beyonce if you do read this, I’m sorry, but it is the honest to God trueth.

I think that she should start to choose roles that have NO singing in it at all. Get use to acting all the way. It is a serious craft. Most likely she will be nominated for the Globe and Oscar and that is because she is Beyonce and she’s said she wants it and she knows people. But it is not deserving just yet. She has a long way to go. However, I will go see the movie because once again I am a true fan. But just because I’m a fan doesn’t mean I have to like every single thing she puts out. I’m a supporter.

I would suggest CHIP FIELDS as an acting coach. She was very helpful with me and other actors including celebrities in Los Angeles.

After being so disappointed with Dreamgirls I vowed not to get excited over another Beyonce hyped movie but this one looks good and I will almost defnitley see it on opening night.

I agree 100% with #9. Beyonce is a beautiful singer, but she’s a horrible actress.

Bey is EVERYTHING, BUT an actress. She’s just not a believable person the screen. I love her, though.

Her pics in the pantsuit are beautiful! I agree, plain and simple works for her.

I meant, she’s not a believable person on screen.

Yes Beyonce. You go girl.

No doubt she can sing. But it’s just Beyonce in a wig…singing.

beyonce has been getting rave reviews for her performance in this movie…… you can watch 10 other clips from the movie here http://www.blackfilm.com/...res/cadillacspecial.shtml there’s 2 more of Beyonce as well…….. I’m so proud of Bee, she just keeps proving people wrong over and over again!

Can’t wait to see this movie!!! and the girl can saaaaaaaaaaaang.

HATERZ

This clip is very good…she really did her thing in that song. What I don’t get is how people can judge a performance that they haven’t seen yet! Beyonce has gotten a lot of buzz from this, i’m anxious to see the WHOLE performance.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY
I SAW THE MOVIE AND I FREAKING LOVED THIS MOVIE. 10 STARS
BRAVO TO BEYONCE. BRAVO TO BEYONCE, BRAVO TO BEYONCE
BRAVO TO MOS DEF BRAVO TO MOS DEF BRAVO TO MOS DEF
BRAVO EVERYBODY

BEYONCE IS TRUELLY AND ACTRESS

JEFREY WRIGHT OSCAR OF BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 09
ADRIAN BRODY OSCAR OF BEST ACTOR 09
MOS DEF GOLDEN GLOBE FOR BEST ACTOR 09
GABRIELLE UNION GOLDEN GLOBE FOR SUPPORTING ACTRSS
BEYONCE OSCAR AND GOLDREN GLOBE FOR BEST ACTRESS OR IF THEIR IS SUCH AWARD BEST ACTRESS FOR IMPROVEMENT

I’m sooooo tired of movies like this. Black people…we can do more in the acting world than recreate the lives of legendary singers. It’s getting really old. Is Beyonce going to take parts like this forever???

Bey looks nice in these pics. Love the suit. Don’t know if I’ll go see the movie though…

I guess maybe a better clip should have been with one of her acting instead of singing. I wonder how Obsession is with her and Idris. Hopefully, she stepped up her acting game though. Who knows she could still get nominated for an Oscar Ruby Dee was for American Gangster and she wasn’t in that movie for about 4 scenes.

Get it B!! I love how she stay vexing up the haters. LMAO

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