14-year-olds Alec Atkins, Malcolm Brickhouse and Jarad Dawkins make up the metal band Unlocking the Truth. Though they started out playing to Times Square crowds, they eventually acquired a manager, a huge record deal, and became the youngest band to ever play Coachella. Luke Meyer’s music documentary “Breaking a Monster” follows the boys’ rise to fame and the troubles they face as they struggle with early adulthood and the pressures of stardom. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.
Read More: How a Legal Battle With Sony Put This Documentary in Jeopardy
The film first premiered at South by Southwest in March of last year before traveling on the festival circuit. After the band underwent a contract dispute with Sony Music Entertainment, the film was in a holding pattern for over a year. Meyer and producer Tom Davis eventually started a Kickstarter campaign to help self-release the film with Abramorama.
Read More: How a Legal Battle With Sony Put This Documentary in Jeopardy
The film first premiered at South by Southwest in March of last year before traveling on the festival circuit. After the band underwent a contract dispute with Sony Music Entertainment, the film was in a holding pattern for over a year. Meyer and producer Tom Davis eventually started a Kickstarter campaign to help self-release the film with Abramorama.
- 10/6/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
[Editor’s Note: Typically, we recommend six or seven series newly available on Netflix in the coming month, but this September is chock full of choices — in part because fall shows are starting up again and networks want to make sure fans are caught up on prior seasons. So, this month, we’ve selected 17 high-priority choices and have highlighted our favorites. Choose for yourself, or settle in for the ultimate binge.]
1. “Easy” Season 1 (available September 22)
Why Should I Watch It? Orlando Bloom, Malin Akerman, Jake Johnson, Marc Maron, Dave Franco, Hannibal Buress, Emily Ratajkowski, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Aya Cash and Elizabeth Reaser star in this new eight-episode anthology series, but even that kind of star power can’t compete with a brilliant creator. Good thing “Easy” springs from the mind of indie favorite Joe Swanberg. The “Uncle Kent” and “Drinking Buddies” writer-director is taking on his first TV series with a comfortable setting — Chicago — and subject — “love, sex, technology and culture.” We can’t wait.
Best Episode: Every episode Aya Cash appears in will be the best, so hopefully she’s in every single one.
Read More: Netflix Orders Joe Swanberg Anthology Series, ‘Easy,’ Starring Orlando Bloom, Aya Cash and More
2. “Call the Midwife” Season 5 (available September 19)
Why Should I Watch It? I know, I know. We badger you about this every year,...
1. “Easy” Season 1 (available September 22)
Why Should I Watch It? Orlando Bloom, Malin Akerman, Jake Johnson, Marc Maron, Dave Franco, Hannibal Buress, Emily Ratajkowski, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Aya Cash and Elizabeth Reaser star in this new eight-episode anthology series, but even that kind of star power can’t compete with a brilliant creator. Good thing “Easy” springs from the mind of indie favorite Joe Swanberg. The “Uncle Kent” and “Drinking Buddies” writer-director is taking on his first TV series with a comfortable setting — Chicago — and subject — “love, sex, technology and culture.” We can’t wait.
Best Episode: Every episode Aya Cash appears in will be the best, so hopefully she’s in every single one.
Read More: Netflix Orders Joe Swanberg Anthology Series, ‘Easy,’ Starring Orlando Bloom, Aya Cash and More
2. “Call the Midwife” Season 5 (available September 19)
Why Should I Watch It? I know, I know. We badger you about this every year,...
- 9/1/2016
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Three young boys from Brooklyn, NY - Malcolm Brickhouse, Jared Dawkins and Alex Atkins- inspired by entrance music played for wrestlers at events and theme songs of their favorite anime shows started their own metal band, Unlocking the Truth Despite a history of talented African American musicians and bands rocking it out throughout the decades, from Chuck Berry to Jimi Hendrix to Living Colour the notion of an African American hard rock/metal band is still alien if not disregarded as a novelty. At least that is what some first thought of Unlocking the Truth when their videos of street performances in Times Square popped up on YouTube a handful of years ago. Ambitious and talented at their young age their videos racked up...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 6/27/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Following in the vein of We are the Best! and Sing Street, this summer brings another movie about youngsters expressing themselves through music, and turning out to be quite good at it. The only difference with Breaking a Monster is that it’s a true story and its been captured in documentary form thanks to director Luke Meyer.
The film, which has screened at many festivals, including SXSW, Hot Docs and BAMCinemaFest, tracks the rise of Unlocking the Truth, a band comprised of then-7th graders who started out in Times Square playing to crowds and have risen to fame, opening for Metallica and nabbing a $1.8 million record deal with Sony. Ahead of a release later this June, well-timed with the debut of their first album, the first trailer has now landed. Check it out below, along with the poster.
Breaking A Monster begins as the three members of band...
The film, which has screened at many festivals, including SXSW, Hot Docs and BAMCinemaFest, tracks the rise of Unlocking the Truth, a band comprised of then-7th graders who started out in Times Square playing to crowds and have risen to fame, opening for Metallica and nabbing a $1.8 million record deal with Sony. Ahead of a release later this June, well-timed with the debut of their first album, the first trailer has now landed. Check it out below, along with the poster.
Breaking A Monster begins as the three members of band...
- 6/7/2016
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
"They're relating to everything in La because of Grand Theft Auto!" Abramorama has debuted a trailer for the documentary Breaking A Monster, which profiles the heavy metal / punk rock band Unlocking the Truth. The story begins profiling them when they're in 7th grade, following this three-man band as they play shows to big crowds on the streets of New York City, eventually landing a major record deal along with gigs opening for Metallica. The band features Malcolm Brickhouse on vocals & guitar, Alec Atkins on bass, and Jarad Dawkins on drums. It's not just another rock doc about being famous, since it's also a coming-of-age story of these kids growing up right when they're making it big living their dream. Fire it up below. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Luke Meyer's doc Breaking A Monster, direct from YouTube: Breaking A Monster begins as the three members of the band...
- 6/3/2016
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Needless to say, Unlocking the Truth isn't your typical heavy metal band. Consisting of three black teenagers from Brooklyn, the group broke through thanks to YouTube -- that great 21st century star-maker that gave rise to no less a pop sensation than Justin Bieber -- where videos of the trio's impressive performances in Times Square went viral. Whether Malcolm Brickhouse (guitar/vocals), Jarad Dawkins (drums) and Alec Atkins (bass) can successfully ride the fame-wave that has had them open for groups as iconic as Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses and Marilyn Manson is the question at the heart of Breaking a Monster, a new documentary that charts the unlikely stars' precocious breakthrough into the industry (they signed a $1.8 million, five album deal with Sony Music Entertainment before negotiating their release from the contract last year) and the inevitable pitfalls that arise from it. The Luke Meyer-directed docu looks like a...
- 6/3/2016
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
Say the words “heavy metal” and a certain image comes to mind: mean-looking, hard-living dudes, tattoos, and some unusually placed piercings. What you don’t generally see are three young, African-American kids from Brooklyn. But that — along with some incredible talent — is just what made Unlocking The Truth a sensation, and the upcoming documentary […]
The post Trailer For Heavy Metal, Coming Of Age Documentary ‘Breaking A Monster’ Rocks Out appeared first on The Playlist.
The post Trailer For Heavy Metal, Coming Of Age Documentary ‘Breaking A Monster’ Rocks Out appeared first on The Playlist.
- 6/3/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Plus: Mpi acquires If There’s A Hell Below; Saban buys Come And Find Me; Shout! Factory, Legacy Classics in production-distribution pact; and more
Abramorama will release Luke Meyer’s music documentary Breaking A Monster theatrically across the Us, kicking off with a June 24 launch in New York.
The film charts the birth of the heavy metal band Unlocking The Truth as 7th grade schoolchildren who sign with an industry veteran manager and land a major record deal.
Saban Films has acquired North American rights to Aaron Paul starrer Come And Find Me, which marks the feature debut of Zack Whedon. Annabelle Wallis also stars in the thriller about a mysterious girlfriend. Automatik’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Motion Picture Capital’s Leon Clarance and Oddfellows Entertainment’s Chris Ferguson produced the film and the executive producers are Laure Vaysse and Jo Monk.Broad Green Pictures has cast Megalyn Echikunwoke, Eden SherLyndon Smith, Gage Golightly, [link...
Abramorama will release Luke Meyer’s music documentary Breaking A Monster theatrically across the Us, kicking off with a June 24 launch in New York.
The film charts the birth of the heavy metal band Unlocking The Truth as 7th grade schoolchildren who sign with an industry veteran manager and land a major record deal.
Saban Films has acquired North American rights to Aaron Paul starrer Come And Find Me, which marks the feature debut of Zack Whedon. Annabelle Wallis also stars in the thriller about a mysterious girlfriend. Automatik’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Motion Picture Capital’s Leon Clarance and Oddfellows Entertainment’s Chris Ferguson produced the film and the executive producers are Laure Vaysse and Jo Monk.Broad Green Pictures has cast Megalyn Echikunwoke, Eden SherLyndon Smith, Gage Golightly, [link...
- 5/26/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Better Call Saul Season Two premieres Monday, February 15th on AMC, but star Bob Odenkirk realizes some potential viewers may need shortcuts to get caught up. During his Thursday appearance on The Tonight Show, the actor challenged himself to summarize the Emmy-nominated first season in one minute – but given the show's complex backstory (and its connections to Breaking Bad), that plan quickly crumbled.
"Show's called Better Call Saul. I play Jimmy McGill," Odenkirk says in the clip. "He is the person who becomes Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad, which – we should start there,...
"Show's called Better Call Saul. I play Jimmy McGill," Odenkirk says in the clip. "He is the person who becomes Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad, which – we should start there,...
- 2/12/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Read More: Meet the 2015 SXSW Filmmakers #23: Luke Meyer Follows Pre-Teen Metal Band in 'Breaking A Monster' Indiewire's Nigel M. Smith moderated a panel at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival in March discussing the musical, coming-of-age documentary "Breaking a Monster," which chronicles the young rock band Unlocking the Truth and their journey to stardom as well as childhood obstacles. The band's 12 and 13-year-old members, Malcolm Brickhouse, Jarad Dawkins and Alec Atkins, the film's director, Luke Meyer, and producer Tom Davis spoke about the making of the film, gaining their parents' trust and what it was like following the band for a year. Highlights from the talk are below. You can watch the entire discussion above. "Breaking a Monster" plays next at HotDocs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto. Teens Enjoy Their PrivacyWhen asked what they thought of the rough cut, band member Dawkins revealed that he initially thought that some of his personal.
- 4/28/2015
- by Travis Clark
- Indiewire
Earlier this week we brought you a gallery of images from the studio we set up at SXSW in partnership with photographer Daniel Bergeron and Movies on Demand. As the 2015 edition of the festival comes to a close, we have put together a gallery of select images pulled from the second two days of our four-day shoot. Click here to access the first gallery. Read More: SXSW 2015 Portraits of Sally Field, Nick Kroll, Jason Schwartzman and More "Wild Horses" writer-director Robert Duvall."Manson Family Vacation" executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass."Creative Control" director Benjamin Dickinson, actress Alexia Rasmussen and actor Dan Gill."Brand: A Second Coming" director Ondi Timoner.Read More: The 2015 Indiewire SXSW Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival "Breaking a Monster" subjects Unlocking the Truth bandmates Alec Atkins, Malcolm Brickhouse and Jarad Dawkins."Love and Mercy"...
- 3/21/2015
- by Shipra Gupta
- Indiewire
Amy Schumer and Bill Hader in TrainwreckPhoto: Universal Pictures With Sundance just wrapping up and Berlin starting up in a few days, we are now immersed in the year-long barrage of film festivals. One such festival in South By Southwest. A few weeks back they announced the first seven films of their program, including the opening night film Brand: A Second Coming. Today, they have revealed the rest of the features to be shown in March (except for the midnight program), and some of it has me very excited. The bigger titles announced do not do much for me. Paul Feig's Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, and the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart starrer Get Hard leave a lot to be desired in terms of anticipation, as does a work in progress cut of Judd Apatow's latest film Trainwreck. I'm guessing an Apatow work in progress is probably around three and a half hours.
- 2/3/2015
- by Mike Shutt
- Rope of Silicon
South by Southwest, the multi-faceted film, music and technology festival held annually in Austin, TX will feature such upcoming films as Paul Feig’s Spy, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, Alex Gibney’s documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, and Ondi Timoner’s Russell Brand profile Brand: A Second Coming as headliners in this year’s film festival lineup.
SXSW runs from March 13 to 21 in Austin and is now in its 22nd year. Variety has details of the 145 films and 100 world premieres bowing at this year’s festival. Brand, as previously reported, will be the festival’s opening night film.
Other notable titles on the list are the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, a rough cut of Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, the directorial debut of 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland, Ex Machina, and a new comedy by Michael Showalter, Hello, My Name is Doris.
On the small screen,...
SXSW runs from March 13 to 21 in Austin and is now in its 22nd year. Variety has details of the 145 films and 100 world premieres bowing at this year’s festival. Brand, as previously reported, will be the festival’s opening night film.
Other notable titles on the list are the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, a rough cut of Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, the directorial debut of 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland, Ex Machina, and a new comedy by Michael Showalter, Hello, My Name is Doris.
On the small screen,...
- 2/3/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
Top brass at the 22nd South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival have announced the feature line-up for the upcoming festival, set to run from March 13-21 in Austin, Texas.
SXSW will showcase 145 features. The line-up includes 60 films from first-time film-makers and comprises 100 world premieres, 13 North American premieres and 11 Us premieres.
Head of film Janet Pierson and her team of programmers culled selections from a record 2,385 feature-length submissions composed of 1,614 Us and 771 international features. The record of 7,335 total submissions marks a 13% gain on 2014.
For the first time the number of films in the juried Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature selections have risen from eight to ten. The complete Conference line-up and schedule will be released on February 17.
Besides the Narrative Feature Competition and Documentary Feature Competition selections listed below, feature entries include Judd Apatow’s work-in-progress comedy Trainwreck starring Amy Schumer in Special Events, music film 808 (pictured) in 24 Beats Per Second and Alex Garland’s sci-fi...
SXSW will showcase 145 features. The line-up includes 60 films from first-time film-makers and comprises 100 world premieres, 13 North American premieres and 11 Us premieres.
Head of film Janet Pierson and her team of programmers culled selections from a record 2,385 feature-length submissions composed of 1,614 Us and 771 international features. The record of 7,335 total submissions marks a 13% gain on 2014.
For the first time the number of films in the juried Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature selections have risen from eight to ten. The complete Conference line-up and schedule will be released on February 17.
Besides the Narrative Feature Competition and Documentary Feature Competition selections listed below, feature entries include Judd Apatow’s work-in-progress comedy Trainwreck starring Amy Schumer in Special Events, music film 808 (pictured) in 24 Beats Per Second and Alex Garland’s sci-fi...
- 2/3/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
They may still be "Unlocking the Truth," but this heavy metal-playing trio of Brooklyn, N.Y. 8th graders seems to have already found the key to success. Guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse, 13, bassist Alec Atkins, 13, and drummer Jarad Dawkins, 12, have signed a Sony record deal for up to $1.7 million. The boys, who together create the band Unlocking the Truth, locked in the deal with Sony over the weekend, the New York Daily News reports. “It’s so exciting. We’re jumping over the moon,” Jarad’s mother, Tabatha Dawkins, told [...]...
- 7/15/2014
- Us Weekly
The heavy metal trio reportedly inked a $1.8 million deal with Sony.
This isn't your typical boy band.
Brooklyn-based trio Unlocking the Truth is on the rise after harnessing the power of YouTube to go from busking for change in Times Square to performing at Coachella. Now, they've reportedly inked a $1.8 million record deal with Sony. Not bad for a group of 12- and 13-year-olds.
Meet Alec Atkins, Jarad Dawkins and Malcolm Brickhouse, the heavy metal middle school band making waves for their raw talent and frankly, for being adorable. They've been best buds since pre-school and cite Metallica, Slipknot, Disturbed, Living Colour, Chelsea Grin, Motionless in White and Escape the Fate as their biggest influences. "Metal is in their blood," declares a line in their website bio.
They may have signed a mega-money deal with Sony, but according to the New York Post, Unlocking the Truth still needs to prove that they can translate YouTube hits into...
This isn't your typical boy band.
Brooklyn-based trio Unlocking the Truth is on the rise after harnessing the power of YouTube to go from busking for change in Times Square to performing at Coachella. Now, they've reportedly inked a $1.8 million record deal with Sony. Not bad for a group of 12- and 13-year-olds.
Meet Alec Atkins, Jarad Dawkins and Malcolm Brickhouse, the heavy metal middle school band making waves for their raw talent and frankly, for being adorable. They've been best buds since pre-school and cite Metallica, Slipknot, Disturbed, Living Colour, Chelsea Grin, Motionless in White and Escape the Fate as their biggest influences. "Metal is in their blood," declares a line in their website bio.
They may have signed a mega-money deal with Sony, but according to the New York Post, Unlocking the Truth still needs to prove that they can translate YouTube hits into...
- 7/14/2014
- Entertainment Tonight
When you think of the average eighth-grader from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, you probably aren't thinking of Unlocking the Truth. And that's to their advantage. The three boys - guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse, 13; bassist Alec Atkins, 13; and drummer Jarad Dawkins, 12 - play heavy metal, a genre choice that places them at odds with their peers, though it's working to their advantage: The group just signed a record contract with Sony that's potentially worth up to $1.7 million. The group's profile grew steadily over the past year: A video of them busking in Manhattan (their music decidedly against the grain of typical street musicians) went viral,...
- 7/14/2014
- by Alex Heigl
- PEOPLE.com
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