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Paul Justman, director of the acclaimed 2002 documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown as well as classic MTV-era music videos including the J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” and Diana Ross’ “Muscles,” has died at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He was 74.

His March 7 death was announced by his brother, the J. Geils keyboard player Seth Justman, to The New York Times for an obituary today.

Named Best Non-Fiction Film of 2002 by the New York Film Critics, among other awards including two Grammys, Standing in the Shadows of Motown chronicled the story of the Funk Brothers, the legendary, if at the time largely unknown, studio musicians who played on numerous Motown hits. The film gave long overdue credit to musicians Jamerson, Jack Ashford, Bob Babbitt, Joe Hunter, Uriel Jones, Joe Messina, Eddie Willis, Richard “Pistol” Allen, Benny “Papa Zita” Benjamin, Eddie “Bongo” Brown, Johnny Griffith, Earl Van Dyke and Robert White,...

Joe Messina, the prolific guitarist whose work with the Funk Brothers can be heard on an array of Motown classics, died Monday, April 4, the Detroit Free Press reports. He was 93.

Messina died at his home in Northville, Michigan after a lengthy battle with kidney disease. Despite his long illness, Messina’s son, Joel, said his father had not only been living on his own up until a month ago, but he was still frequently inviting fellow musicians over to jam.

“As one of the original Funk Brothers, Joe Messina leaves...

Hulu is out with its list of everything new coming and going in March, and the new additions include the three-episode series premiere of “Little Fires Everywhere” starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, and the premiere of the Hillary Clinton documentary “Hillary.”

Those two shows premiere March 18 and March 6, respectively. Other highlights include “Into the Dark: Crawlers,” about body-switching aliens and also out on March 6; the complete second season of “Love Island: Australia” coming March 13, and the two-episode series premiere of “Devs” starring Nick Offerman on March 6.

Movies leaving the site on March 31 include “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Precious” and “Big Fish.”

Also Read: Hulu's 'Into the Dark' Sets Body-Switching Aliens Thriller 'Crawlers' as March Movie (Exclusive)

Here’s everything coming and going to and from Hulu in March:

Arriving March 1

Ok K.O, Let’s Be Heroes!: Complete Season 3 (Cartoon Network)

50/50 (2011)

Abduction (2011)

Blue City (1986)

Cantinflas (2014)

Charlotte’s Web...

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn made their mark together as the hosts of the reality competition TV series “Project Runway.” The Emmy-winning pair left that show to preside over another hunt for the next hot designer, “Making the Cut.” This globe-trotting series, which debuts in March on Amazon Prime Video, takes contestants to the design capitals of the world as they compete to stay in the competition.

Amazon Prime Video has also cornered the market on the remakes of Agatha Christie‘s classic mystery novels. The adaptation of her one-off novel, “The Pale Horse,” starts to stream on Amazon Prime mid month after debuting on the BBC at Christmas.

Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming to Amazon Prime Video in March 2020. Unlike Netflix, Amazon does not disclose the shows and movies leaving the service in any given month.

See Netflix schedule: Here’s what is coming...

Alec Bojalad Feb 19, 2020

Here's everything coming to Amazon Prime instant video in March 2020!

For its new releases in March 2020, Amazon Prime is enlisting help from some horror friends.

Yes, horror is the name of the game this month with Night of the Living Dead (albeit the 2007 version), The Crazies, and The Descent all arriving on March 1. And if that weren't enough, Pet Sematary comes a little later on on May 19. Look at Church the cat in that thumbnail image. How could you not want to watch his spooky adventures?

The Amazon original offerings are typically sparse for March 2020 but still pack some punch. Italian import ZeroZeroZero stars Gabriel Byrne and arrives on May 6. Then British import Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse comes a little later on March 13.

For what it's worth, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot debuts on March 13 so it's not all horror and all European TV all the time.

We’ve already touched base on the Netflix titles heading our way next month, but what about Amazon Prime?

Though the former is widely considered to be the undisputed heavyweight of the online streaming world, it didn’t take long for Prime to become a tantalizing prospect, no thanks to kick-ass original series like The Expanse, The Boys and The Man in the High Castle.

The real issue for the end consumer is juggling all those subscriptions, particularly now that Disney+ is live across North America (March 24th for those in the UK). Be that as it may, as February nears its end, Amazon has detailed all of the content bound for Prime in March 2020.

Among the new additions are a host of big-name horror films, including Neil Marshall’s The Descent and its creepy sequel. Best of all? Pet Sematary, the reimagining of Stephen King’s literary developed by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer.

Amazon Prime Video is out with its list of everything new coming to the streaming service in March, and the highlights include new fashion-competition series “Making the Cut,” hosted by “Project Runway” alums Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn. That’s out March 27.

Other Amazon originals include “Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse,” a mystery coming March 13, crime series “ZeroZeroZero” and crime film “Blow the Man Down,” coming March 6 and March 20 respectively.

Prime members will also be able to stream scary movies like “Night of the Living Dead,” “The Decent” and “Pet Sematary” next month.

Also Read: 'Lord of the Rings' on Amazon Casts 13 Series Regulars

Here is the full list of everything arriving on Amazon in March.

March 1

Abduction (2011)

Cantinflas (2014)

Chilly Dogs (2001)

Danny Roane: First Time Director (2007)

Deck The Halls (2011)

Destiny Turns On The Radio (1995)

Eyes Of An Angel (1994)

Going The Distance (2010)

Good Morning, Killer (2011)

Henry’s Crime (2010)

Hide (2011)

Hornets Nest...

Alec Bojalad Feb 18, 2020

We have a list of the new Hulu movies and shows arriving in March 2020.

March sees the beginning of one of TV's more interesting experiment in 2020. Hulu's new releases for March 2020 are highlighted by the launch of the torturously-named "FX on Hulu" in which certain FX shows will premiere exclusively on Hulu.

Yes, when Disney set out up the entertainment industry, it gained more brands than it knew what to do with. And that's how you get stuff like FX on Hulu. The streaming/cable hybrid begins in earnest in March with two series, Alex Garland's sci-fi Devs and the weird Lil Dickey comedy Dave. More FX on Hulu is set to arrive in April as well.

Hulu's only $5.99/month now, grab the deal here!

In addition to FX's offerings, Hulu has some intriguing originals of its own for March 2020. Hillary Clinton docuseries, Hillary, premieres on...

Melvin Ragin, known as “Wah Wah Watson” for the quivering, darting, wonderfully textured sounds he conjured from his guitar and wah wah pedal in countless sessions for stars of soul and funk, died on Wednesday. He was 67 years old.

“It’s with a heavy heart that we regret to announce the passing of my loving husband Wah Wah Watson today at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica,” the guitarist’s wife, Itsuko Aono, said in a statement. “He will be greatly missed, but music is eternal. Wherever he is,...

Eddie Willis, guitarist and original member of the famed Motown Records house band the Funk Brothers, died Monday near his hometown of Grenada, Mississippi. Willis was 82.

Willis’ daughter Terez Willis told the Detroit Free Press that her father had been suffering from complications from his lifelong bout with polio, which he had since childhood and prevented Willis from touring more frequently during the prime of his career.

The guitarist, nicknamed “Chank,” joined the Motown house band in 1959, joining a group of session musicians that included guitarists Joe Messina, Robert White and Marv Tarplin,...

Docs like 20 Feet From Stardom have shown us how delightful it can be for music fans to hang out with the unsung performers who back up famous musicians. The best of these usually zero in on a certain scene — à la Muscle Shoals or Standing in the Shadows of Motown — exploiting a community-building narrative as a way of getting us to care about players we don't know. Fran Strine's Hired Gun, on the other hand, is scattershot, introducing instrumentalists who've played everything from heavy metal to Disney kid-pop, and rarely doing much to capture its subjects' individual quirks....

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Marcus Belgrave (1936-2015) - Trumpet Player. Legend of the Detroit jazz scene, he can be seen in the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown. He died on May 24. (Nyt) Michael Blake (1945-2015) - Screenwriter. He won an Oscar for adapting his own novel into the script for Dances With Wolves (see below). He died on May 2. (THR) Wally Cassell (1912-2015) - Actor. He starred in movies of the '40s and '50s, including White Heat and Story of...

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A magnificently soundtracked documentary showcases the town in segregationist Alabama that became an oasis of mixed skin colours and musical styles, and a wellspring of hit records

Who would've thought a bunch of white musicians would be the studio band for some of the top black R&B and soul artists of all time? Well, anyone who's watched Standing in the Shadows of Motown, for starters, the film that looms silently over this documentary about another 60s music scene: the legendary performers and hit records that came swirling like Tennessee River water out of the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, pop 8,000. But if it doesn't have quite the same original impact as Standing in the Shadows, and at times looks uncomfortably like a Jack Daniels ad, what Greg Camalier's film shares is a mesmerising soundtrack. Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Percy "When a Man Loves a Woman" Sledge, the Allman Brothers,...

"20 Feet From Stardom" is an exceptional music documentary that shines the spotlight on some wonderfully talented backup singers -- gifted musicians who were never fully able to make that short walk to the front of the stage to become successful solo artists. Drawn from over five decades of talented artists, along with interviews from superstars like Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder, the work joins a pantheon of other exceptional music documentaries that do more than simply present a series of tunes, but focus on some of the most intense and important aspects of creative expression, of the vagaries of "success," and the challenges and luck involved that far supersede anything as fundamental as talent.

Moviefone spoke with director Morgan Neville about his process and the fleeting, elusive nature of fame.

Moviefone: What was the impetus for this story? What drew you to these wonderful women?

Morgan Neville: I have...

As films about Ginger Baker and the Stone Roses are released, here's our pick of the movies in which film-makers focus on the drama behind the songs

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We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005)

"Our band could be your life," sang the Minutemen in History Lesson Part II – a line that embodied the fierce love the audiences of the Us indie underground held for their bands. The Minutemen were pioneers, coming out of the southern California hardcore punk scene, but to be tied to it, and living what they preached – "We jam econo," was a phrase bassist Mike Watt coined to describe a commitment to doing everything cheaply and independently. More than a history lesson, though, We Jam Econo is a deeply moving love letter from Watt to his friend – and the Minutemen's leader – D Boon, who died in...

Detroit — More than 40 years have passed since the recording of Marvin Gaye's "Save the Children," but a replay of the song in the studio where it was recorded compressed time and brought tears to the eyes of Louvain Demps.

Demps was no mere fan visiting what's now the Motown Historical Museum. She was one of the women singing the angelic, high harmonies on the recording – and hearing it in Hitsville USA's Studio A was too much.

"It's my heart, it's my heart," she said.

For Demps and her fellow Andantes, Jackie Hicks and Marlene Barrow-Tate, moments like these have been private, since the wider world knew only their voices, not their faces. But now in their 70s, the unsung backing group who sang on thousands of Motown songs is finally getting acclaim for its contributions to the groundbreaking, chart-topping music made in Detroit in the 1960s and early `70s...

Detroit -- Prominent Motown studio musician and Funk Brothers member Bob Babbitt, whose bass playing pounded through the Temptations hit "Ball of Confusion" and Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," has died. He was 74.

Babbitt died Monday of complications from brain cancer in Nashville, Tenn., where he had lived for many years, his manager David Spero said in a statement released by Universal Music, the label in which Babbitt contributed to numerous hit records.

Well-known for decades among musicians, Babbitt laid down bass lines on Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," along with "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, "Inner City Blues" by Marvin Gaye, and Edwin Starr's "War."

"Bob was a teddy bear of a guy," former Motown engineer Ed Wolfrum told the Detroit Free Press. "And he was an extraordinary musician – a player's player."

After leaving Motown, he recorded with Bette Midler,...

One of my most amusing memories as a member of the New York Film Critics Circle is the 2002 voting meeting, at which we selected our award-winners - and Jackass: The Movie nearly ran away with the prize as the year's best nonfiction film. It was one of those crazy moments, where a sudden blip in the zeitgeist of the room led a number of (I assume) the male members of the group to hop on the Jackass bandwagon. It may have been one faction's way of denying the award to Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, but Jackass accrued an increasing number of votes in each round of the voting, enough to deny Moore the award, which eventually went to Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Had Jackass won, it would have been the biggest upset since dark horse Cameron Diaz won...

Quickcard Review – 46th Chicago International Film Festival

Click Here for complete coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff 2010)

Thunder Soul

Directed by: Mark Landsman

Cast: Conrad “Prof” Johnson Sr. and the Kashmere Stage Band

Running Time: 1 hr 25 mins

Rating: PG

Release Date: Tbd

Plot: Thunder Soul follows the origins of a legendary stage band in Texas. This documentary charts their successes and their failures as they prepare to reunite over 30 years later to pay tribute to their charismatic band leader.

Who’S It For? Music fans, particularly if you enjoy funk, will enjoy this, but also just fans of good storytelling and engaging people. If you were a fan of Standing in the Shadows of Motown or Young @ Heart you can’t afford to miss this one.

Overall

Every so often you come across that one movie that reminds you of all that film has to offer. There are...