Movies: Spring 2020

Monarch Movie Recommendations

CHARM CITY KINGS
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Starring: Meek Mill, Jahi Di’Allo Winston , Teyonah Parris

This film can be described as Fast and the Furious meets Boyz in the Hood. A film set in West Baltimore, Charm City Kings captures a summer with pals Lamont (Donielle Tremaine Hansley) and Sweartagawd (Kezii Curtis) who come together with their crew every Sunday to watch bikers zipping down the streets in makeshift derbies, ā€œdoing the 12ā€ as they pitch backward in elaborate wheelies. This excitement is the allure that pushes Jahi Di’Allo into doing whatever it takes to join the local bikers, who also are involved in criminal activity. Charm City Kings is a story loaded with a lot of street narrative and emotion that comes alive when the cyclists speed through the streets.

BLACK WIDOW
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: Florence Pugh, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr.

Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Black Widow, tying together storyline plots and alliances that helped shape her identity. The film takes place after Captain America: Civil War and presumably before Avengers: Infinity War. Shot in Budapest, the Hungarian capital can be traced through the earlier films.

RESPECT
Director: Liesl Tommy
Starring: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Mary J. Blige

Hudson was handpicked by Aretha Franklin herself before she passed away in 2018. Respect covers the life of Aretha from singing as a child in her father’s church choir, to becoming an iconic superstar and civil rights activist. Producers have yet to fully reveal what years we can expect to be covered, but it sounds like it will be about Franklin’s entire life and career. Born March 25, 1942 in Memphis, Tenn., she began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father, CL Franklin, was the minister. In 1960, aged just 18, she started a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but with only minor success. Seven years later, she signed to Atlantic Records, achieving huge commercial and critical acclaim with songs such as ā€œRespect,ā€ ā€œ(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,ā€ ā€œSpanish Harlemā€ and ā€œThink.ā€ She achieved her ā€œQueen of Soulā€ status by the end of the decade. Franklin recorded a total of 112 charted singles in the U.S., becoming the most charted female artist in the chart’s history.

LOVE BIRDS
Director: Michael Showalter
Starring: Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, Kyle Bornheimer

A couple (Issa Rae & Kumail Nanjiani) experiences a defining moment in their relationship when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme – and hilarious – circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they and their relationship can survive the night.

NO TIME TO DIE
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Starring: Ana de Armas, LƩa Seydoux, Daniel Craig, Rami Malek

The next installment in the James Bond franchise is titled No Time To Die, and it brings back veteran star Daniel Craig as the iconic secret agent. Craig’s character is introduced to a female fellow agent played by Lashana Lynch. The two spies form an uneasy alliance as they’re recruited to take down a megalomaniac played by Academy Award winner Rami Malek.

SEPTEMBER GRAY
Proprietor of September Gray Fine Art Gallery

BIOĀ 

Gray’s life’s work is a reflection of her enduring passion for the arts. Following a noteworthy career in the performing arts, Gray launched a successful fine art consultancy practice wherein she was celebrated for her ability to assist corporate and private collectors with articulating and executing single acquisition and long–term collecting strategies. Gray’s career in the arts and decade as an art consultant inform her role as gallerist. An avid collector, Gray has a talent for ā€œspeaking the languageā€ of both artist and collector and a knack for connecting the gallery’s clients to works by artists whose vision and methodologies resonate with their individual tastes, complement their existing collections and honor their overall investment strategy and appetite for risk. Gray holds a B.A. in Art History from DePaul University. A committed art education advocate, Gray serves on a number of non-profit boards and is co-founder of The Gray Foundation, an organization committed to building a world of enriched life options for youth through the promotion of art and education. Gray shares art news and collection strategies in her electronic quarterly journal, The Gray Book.

https://septembergrayart.com/

JUSTIN SULIVAN, CFP
Senior Vice President Market Leader

BIO 

Justin oversees a team of professionals striving to achieve the highest level of client satisfaction. His top priority is that the team not only meets, but also exceeds the client’s expectations. Through Justin’s leadership and commitment, he helps ensure that the client benefits form a full complement of investment, trust, financial planning and private banking services to help them achieve their financial goals.

XAVIER DANIELS

BIO  

Paintings are influenced by his experiences with brotherhood at both Morehouse and as a firefighter. In creating his art, he is actively thinking about the perception of black men and attempting to be a catalyst for a different view on the black male experience. According to Daniels, the conversations happening in popular culture about black males leave them invisible in discussions about themselves. The portraits of black men Daniels creates are large in an effort to symbolically assert black male presence into those conversations. His work has been shown around the world through Almine Rech and Richard Beavers Gallery. Xavier lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.

https://xavierdaniels.com/

MARRYAM MOMA

BIO

A Tanzanian-Nigerian visual artist based in Atlanta, GA, is renowned for her prolific exhibition history. Moma’s dedication to her art has earned her prestigious residencies at The Migration Artist Residency, Atlanta, GA, and a blended residency and teaching opportunity at The Swimming HoleFoundation in Upstate NY. The Hambidge Center for the Arts awarded her a Distinguished Artist Fellowship, enriching her narrative-driven solo exhibitions like “ICONoclasts.” This showing intertwines paper cut elements to celebrate and empower revolutionary Black figures. Moma continues to innovate within her practice, expanding her presence through murals, public art installations and exhibitions including an indoor mural for Clark Atlanta universities student innovation lounge sponsored by Dell Technologies and Home depot, ICONoclasts Atlanta building-wide public installation sponsored by Dashboard and If Not Us then Who public digital art mural sponsored by A&E Atlanta. 

https://www.marryammoma.com/

DL WARFIELD

BIO

Atlanta-based artist DL Warfield, a veteran artist who has consistently proven himself a talent of the highest caliber – one who has delivered at the highest levels repeatedly throughout his life and career. Yes, many artists are talented; DL Warfield is prolific.

Warfield’s body of work proves his instinctive knowledge and understanding of pop culture and has given him a permanent place at the cutting edge of the new and next. From St. Louis to New York City, Atlanta and worldwide, his talent, skill and endless creativity have taken him to the top of his field again and again, and he intends to push forward wherever a path to artistic excellence can be forged.

The following is a snapshot of his works and clientele. 

Nike, Sprite, Heineken, Anheuser-Busch, Geffen Records, Sony Entertainment, DreamWorks, Sony Music, OutKast Inc., Universal Records, Boys & Girls Clubs, HBO, Virgin Records, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Vibe Magazine, automotive giant Ford Motor Company. He designed the branding for the City of Atlanta’s Film and Entertainment office and at the same time, His fine art has been featured at national landmarks, including the Time-Life Building in New York City, and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, KY, which he loaned two original pieces for three years.

https://dlwarfield.com/

EDDIE FONTNO

BIO

A native of the Bronx, New York, is most inspired by the brilliance and uniqueness of excellence within the African American culture. The subjects of his work have all possessed a transformative greatness, which paved the way and changed the lives of many, providing a guiding light for the world around them. Fontno takes a subtle approach and focuses on that ā€œlightā€ to capture the detailed nuances through his usage of graphite and oil paint (black and white) that enhances the contrast between light and dark. Fontno’s never-ending quest to find truth and beauty in its most natural form is reflective in the choice of figures in his pieces; paying homage to those who have in some way shaped his view of the world and positively affected his evolution as an artist, father and man. Fontno attended the High School of Art & Design in New York, New York and Howard University in Washington, DC. His work has been displayed in the White House (Madam Vice President Kamala Harris’ private office) and the much-acclaimed October Gallery in Philadelphia, Pa. He has also been commissioned for portraits throughout the Northeast region. 

www.eddiefontno.com

RSVP

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9:30PM to 11:30 PM!

ROBERT KOOL BELL| LE KOOL CHAMPAGNE

BIO

For many years, Robert Kool Bell, Leader and Co-founder of Kool & The Gang, sought out Grand Cru Vineyards from owners that have been selling for generations and decided to work with Paul Berthelot a Multi-Vintage producer since 1884. Voila The Celebration Champagne was born! 

https://lekoolchampagne.com

EDDIE FONTNO

BIO

A native of the Bronx, New York, is most inspired by the brilliance and uniqueness of excellence within the African American culture. The subjects of his work have all possessed a transformative greatness, which paved the way and changed the lives of many, providing a guiding light for the world around them. Fontno takes a subtle approach and focuses on that ā€œlightā€ to capture the detailed nuances through his usage of graphite and oil paint (black and white) that enhances the contrast between light and dark. Fontno’s never-ending quest to find truth and beauty in its most natural form is reflective in the choice of figures in his pieces; paying homage to those who have in some way shaped his view of the world and positively affected his evolution as an artist, father and man. Fontno attended the High School of Art & Design in New York, New York and Howard University in Washington, DC. His work has been displayed in the White House (Madam Vice President Kamala Harris’ private office) and the much-acclaimed October Gallery in Philadelphia, Pa. He has also been commissioned for portraits throughout the Northeast region.

Website: www.eddiefontno.com