#brandy noorwood

[costumeloverz71]

Cinderella (Brandy Noorwood).. Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997). Costume by Ellen Mirojnick.

[lyledebeast]

I saw The Front Room tonight, and due to it being made by Max and Sam Eggers (brothers to Robert of The Vvitch (2015) fame), I was expecting a horror movie.

If it is, it's about the horrors of how much is expected of middle-aged for how little reward. I knew when we find out Belinda (Brandy Noorwood) is a former adjunct in Anthropology who is still being treated like an adjunct by her department, I new this was going to be a very different kind of ride.

And then things get so much worse when she becomes the attendant of both her newborn and her mother-in-law. There is not as much religious horror with Kathryn Hunter's character as I expected. There are some supernatural elements, but the film does not take them anywhere. Both actresses do an amazing job with what they were given, but they were not given much in the way of story.

Also, because nothing in the trailers prepared me for this, be warned that there is an overwhelming amount of excrement. This movie goes through shit like Damien Leone goes through blood.

[cin3ma-girl]

Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

Directed by Robert Iscove, staring Brandy Noorwood, Bernadette Peters, Whitney Houston, Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Garber, Jason Alexander, and Paolo Montalban, and released on November 2, 1997 by Walt Disney Television.

It is rather fascinating that every year I have a massive craving to watch this film, yes craving because I will not be satisfied until I watch it lol. I scoured the internet’s streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime but had no luck until I managed to come upon it on Youtube for free, someone was kind enough to upload it (pirating is bad kids). So I sat down on my couch with my bag of chips ready to start watching it.

I always remembered how this was one of my favorite movies that would come on cable and I would watch it with my friends as we swooned over Paolo Montalban (he is so dreamy) and how badly we wished we were Cinderella. When re-watching the movie, I noticed how amazing the acting was except for one person, Brandy. I never noticed how bad she was in this role, I mean everyone in the cast was acting circles around her, but she seemed out of place which I found rather interesting considering she had acted in the TV show Thea for 19 episodes prior to her taking on Cinderella. Her acting felt forced as if she was simply acting out the role rather than taking it on as her own and becoming Cinderella herself, there wasn’t a moment in the movie where I said “That is Cinderella” but rather I would say “That’s Brandy playing Cinderella.”

Montalban had no prior acting experience which I found very difficult to believe because he seems very natural in this role (maybe he knew he was meant for the royal life), but every scene he was in felt as if he had been acting for years. He very much held his own when he was in scenes with Goldberg, Garber, and Alexander.

Another actor that I found myself drawn to was Jason Alexander. Oh my gosh was he amazing, every time he was in a scene he pretty much stole the spotlight. When I think of this movie he is the first one to pop into my head. He encompassed his character and the subtle nuances that set him apart from his other co-stars were what made his character memorable.

For those of you that made it this far into my review, if you haven’t seen the movie, it is a musical lol. The songs were great and catchy, I would say I have at least 2 top favorite songs from here “the Sweetest Sound” and “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful” but that isn’t to say the other songs aren’t good, I just can’t help but listen to them on their own.

I do have to say I have two major gripes as a result of this movie. The first would have to be the fact that this movie is a musical play that was produced successfully with an amazing mise-en-scene and camera angles, it makes me upset that there aren’t many more stage plays converted to movies but filmed as a stage play. I’m not counting those NBC live plays because those are...well live... and not that good.

They need to hire a director, get a studio back lot, make some sets for the play as they would for the stage but better quality...come to think of it, this is exactly the 1940′s Hollywood musical Golden Age movies I’m talking about. Well, Hollywood should re-adapt that method again without the actor contracts and not get so crazy to pump out those movies.

I mean can you imagine all the plays that can be made????? The release of Hamilton on Disney+ seems to be going great (admitting I have not seen it yet because there is way too much hype that I know I will hold it to a high standard and will only be disappointed) but based off of what I have seen, it still looks as if it is on a stage being filmed from one angle. With Cinderella, yes it was on a set, but the camera was not limited to one angle. There was camera movement, dolly shots, close-ups, shots that follow the actors as they walked. There wasn’t the sense that the viewer was stuck to a chair looking into this world, instead the viewer became a part of that world as a fly on the wall looking into the lives of these characters. There was a sense of intimacy between the viewer and these characters that can’t be found in Hamilton (assuming) or the NBC filmed live plays. There is no excuse for studios to NOT be filming stage plays in this format. Come on Disney, you filmed it once, why not again?

The other gripe I have as a result of this movie is one of diversity in movies. Granted, now more studios are finding out that the human race doesn’t just consist of white people, this production did an amazing job at its casting. Based on some internet research, the movie had intended to have a black Cinderella and it seems like Brandy was the only one in their minds to play her, I mean they could have picked Aaliyah but okay...

The fact that this movie had “color-blind” casting was amazing because this is what it is like in the real world. There are mixed families, when I question why the prince was Asian when his parents were black and white, my mom said he was probably adopted. Just because you might look different doesn’t mean you aren’t a family. If Disney did this once in 1997, why did it take them 12 years to have another black princess? Shame on you Disney for not pushing black Cinderella when you had already established that she existed. And Shame on Hollywood for taking so long to accept diversity in major roles. Can you imagine the amount of confidence and acceptance children would have gotten if movies were more diverse in the past 30 years? smh.

Mix it up even more Hollywood, I mean you are making fiction films you know. If anyone questions you, just clap back with “it’s just a fucking movie yo” 

If you made it this far into my long review of this movie and haven’t seen it, go on youtube and watch it. It wont cost you anything but 1.5 hours of your time, and since we’re currently in quarantine...what better thing do you have to do than sit down and watch tv, I mean you already cleaned yesterday.

Until next time, remember to keep that popcorn commin’

[jazzasarus]

I cant help but imagine Allura as my favorite 80s/90s black girls

Tatyana Ali 

Nia Long

kellie shanygne 

Lark Voorhies 

Brandy Noorwood 

[lovelaurenlondon]

(via laurenlondon.net)

[favouritethingsbyazzizz]

Brandy photographed by Neal Preston, 1996

[airyze]

imma put it down....

u gon fall in luv...

[fyeahbrandy]

Vintage Brandy Pic!: Brandy w/ one of her starz, @cam-cat when he was a baby!

[jessi-minaj-blog]

[NEW] Brandy - Vibrant

[costumeloverz71]

Cinderella (Brandy Noorwood) Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1995).. Costume by Ellen Mirojnick..

[djnightryda-blog]

BTW I Can Rap

Here we see Brandy hopping on her own track. She doesn't sound bad and with the lack of female presence in the rap game she may have a place..."i just do this for a hobby baby...but i might be good at it"

[lovelaurenlondon]

I never realized how tall Jay Ellis is.

[lovelaurenlondon]

On tonight's episode of The Game

[lovelaurenlondon]

Highlights from this weeks episode of The Game

[lovelaurenlondon]

The Cast Of The Game Get's 'Ratchet'

[favouritethingsbyazzizz]

Brandy photographed by Marc Asnin, 1994