Right Cinema

Meet Vanessa Calloway, the “Coming to America” actress who is back on television with the show “Baldwin Hills”. See her biography, photos and video here.

Vanessa Bell Calloway

Like “The Hills”, “Laguna Beach”, and “Newport Harbor” before it, “Baldwin Hills” is another reality television show about high school kids living the high life on their parents’ dime. But unlike the first three, “Baldwin Hills” airs on BET, not MTV. One of the show’s main characters is Ashley Calloway, daughter of actress Vanessa Bell Calloway.

As a biography, Vanessa Bell Calloway was born on March 20, 1957, in Cleveland, Ohio, so her age is 51. She attended college at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Dr. Anthony Calloway, and her two daughters.

Vanessa has been acting since 1985, starting first on soap operas like “All My Children” and “Days of Our Lives”. But her first big break came with the film “Coming to America” with Eddie Murphy. Since then she has appeared on many a variety of television shows and movies. Throughout her career, Vanessa has been nominated for 7 NAACP image awards.

Now Vanessa is back with two reality television shows. In addition to the popular teenage drama “Baldwin Hills”, she is the producer of “Vanessa Bell Calloway: In the Company of Friends”, a show in which the viewing audience is invited over for a dinner party for intimate conversation and tasty treats.

See more photos of Vanessa Calloway and a video below.

Photos and Video

Nickelodeon star Josh Peck will appear nude in his upcoming film ‘The Wackness’ where he stars alongside Ben Kingsley. You can see Peck’s biography, photos and video below.

Josh Peck

Josh spent the last two years getting fit for the role and has lost a total of 100 pounds in the last four years.

“There’s only the funny fat guy parts or the heavy friend. It’s an unfortunate stereotype, and I wanted to have the chance to play roles like this, to have more quality. And I wanted to be healthier.”

Even after the weight loss, he still looks in the mirror and sees “a goofball.” But he had to have felt a little more confident during his outdoor nude shower scene.

Josh Peck was born November 10, 1986 in New York City. He tried his hand at stand up comedy at age eight and shortly after moved to Hollywood with his mother. After arriving in Los Angeles, Peck landed a role on “The Amanda Show.” He then starred in “Drake & Josh,” which is where he gained popularity. This new role is definitely a stretch from the previous one.

“It’s definitely a different sort of forum than people are used to seeing me in,” acknowledges Peck. “But I really hope that the Nickelodeon audience can sort of take a leap of faith with me and accept me in this new arena.”

Peck has been in several other indie films including “Special,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and he played the role of a bully in “Drillbit Taylor.” “The Wackness” is set to release August 29th. Along with Peck and Kingsley, Famke Janssen and Mary-Kate Olsen star in the story of a teenage pot dealer who pays his psychiatrist in pot while dating his step-daughter.

You can see more photos and video of Peck below.

Photos and Video

There are just a few DVDs releasing this week, and while they’re not huge titles, they might still make for an entertaining movie night. This week we’ve got “Stop-Loss”, “Superhero Movie”, and “Sleepwalking”.

“Stop-Loss” Releases on DVD July 8

Stop-Loss

The latest in movies about the Iraq War and the soldiers who fight in it, “Stop-Loss” tells the story of a soldier who returns from war, looking forward to starting a life after the military. But when he goes to get discharged, they tell him that he’s been stop-lossed. That means that even though he has fulfilled his duty and his time is up, the army won’t let him out because the rule says that in the event of war, a soldier’s enlistment continues until six months after the war ends. Unfortunately for the boys fighting the war, most of the time they don’t realize this until they’re told about the stop-loss.

In the film, we watch as Ryan Phillippe deals with his own stop-loss and how he handles his change in plans. When a soldier is stop-lossed, it doesn’t just affect him, it affects his friends, family, and fellow brothers in arms.

Superhero Movie

From the makers of the spoof “Scary Movie” comes the latest in comedic movies that poke fun at different genres. This time, it’s the comic book genre. “Superhero Movie” stars Leslie Nielsen, Tracy Morgan, Drake Bell, and Pamela Anderson as various superheros. There’s not much else to say about this one – if you’ve seen one spoof you’ve seen them all.

Sleepwalking

In “Sleepwalking” Charlize Theron plays a mother who has never dealt with the past. After she abandons her daughter, played by Anna Sophia Robb, the girl has to come to terms with the events, and in doing so forms a bond with her uncle. After the 11-year-old ends up in foster care, her uncle breaks her out and takes her back to his childhood home to meet his father, played by Dennis Hopper.

Unfortunately, the film appears to fall short. Director William Maher is said to “bring in surreal touches and put on literary airs”, which ruins the realness of the story. The best thing about it, according to the New York Times, is Anna Sophia Robb.

See the trailers for the movies below.

Videos

The Dark Knight is two weeks from release in Australia and there is talk of an Oscar for the late Heath Ledger. You can see the much watched video below.

Heath Ledger

One of the critics behind Ledger is Peter Travers from Rolling Stone.

“It’s typical of Ledger’s total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I’m Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked,” he wrote. “I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. If there’s a movement to get him the first posthumous [acting] Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976’s Network, sign me up.”

You can see the first five minutes and four trailers for the movie here. If nominated, Ledger would be the seventh actor in Oscar history to receive the honor after death, and as stated above, only the second since Peter Finch to win. What do you think, is Heath Ledger Oscar worthy? See the video below.

Video

The latest in the James Bond franchise, “Quantum of Solace”, isn’t set to be released until November 7, 2008, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get excited about it. The first trailer for the film was released yesterday, and there’s not doubt after watching it that James Bond number 137 will be full of action.

Daniel Craig in “Quantum of Solace”

The movie picks up right where “Casino Royale” left off. But this time around, James Bond is out for revenge. After the death of his love, Mr. 007 sets out to get back at the killer, and stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country’s water supply.

And it’s non-stop action in the process – between a boat chase and rumors of a full frontal Daniel Craig nude scene, you won’t be sorry you spent your cash on a ticket for this film. So how long until November 7?

See the “Quantum of Solace” trailer and the poster below.

Photos and Video