I like to keep track of LeAnn Rimes, I have a thing for false Christian demons who use Christianity to make millions of dollars off actual believers….you know who are too trusting in the church to see her for the harlot and heathen that she is…..a homewrecking prostitute disguised by a Christmas album, who would have been stoned to death if this was a different generation and if her fans actually had a mind of their fucking own…. To See Pics of her in a Bikini Follow This Link /
Also in Tuesday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, a new actor joins the next Hunger Games . A surreal comedy by electronic musician Quentin Dupieux is headed to screens. Reese Witherspoon boards a new romantic comedy. And a man is arrested in Ohio for bringing in weapons into a screening of TDKR . Tribeca 2013 Unveils Festival Dates The 12th annual Tribeca Film Festival will take place April 17 – 28 in New York City. The festival also announced a new Transmedia program spotlighting new trends in digital media, using innovative, interactive, web-based or multi-platform approach to story creation. The festival will present a new award for this new section. Submissions are open September 17th with an Early Deadline set for October 19th for features, shorts and transmedia projects. November 30th is the Official Deadline for all features, shorts and transmedia, while December 28th is the Late Deadline available only for feature-length films. For more information, visit Tribeca’s website . Meta Golding Joins The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Golding will play Enobaria, a former career tribute from District 2 in the series. Her character is a particularly brutal victor in The Hunger Games. Lionsgate will release Catching Fire , directed by Francis Lawrence, on November 22nd. Drafthouse Films Nabs Wrong for N. America The film by electronic musician Quentin Dupieux is a surreal comedy, which made its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, about a man’s frantic search for his kidnapped dog and the strange characters he encounters along the way. A limited theatrical and VOD release is set for 2013. Around the ‘net… Leonardo DiCaprio’s Great Gatsby Film Delayed To 2013 The 3-D adaptation by Baz Luhrmann will be released next summer, Warner Bros said. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan, had been due for release on Christmas Day in the U.S.. The new dates makes the film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald out of the upcoming Oscar race, BBC reports . Reese Witherspoon Set for Rom-Com The Beard Story details were not revealed, though it’s noted that a “beard” is often referred to a woman who acts as a surrogate date for a gay man to give the impression he’s not in fact gay. Witherspoon will produce with Peter Chernin, THR reports . Ohio Man Arrested For Carrying Weapons Into TDKR A manager was apparently suspicious when a man carried a satchel into a 10pm Saturday showing of The Dark Knight Rises . The manager and an off-duty police officer searched the bag and found a gun, ammunition and several knives, Deadline reports via The Cleveland Plain Dealer .
Re-writing the fate of Hitler’s Nazi Germany was just the start for Quentin Tarantino , whose American South-set spaghetti western Django Unchained , his follow-up to the Oscar-winning Inglorious Basterds , tackles another ugly moment in world history: Institutionalized slavery. But are audiences ready to process the tough reminder of America’s regrettable past that lies not-so-deep beneath the surface of Tarantino’s revenge Western? Tarantino and stars Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Christoph Waltz and Walton Goggins hit Comic-Con to share footage from Django Unchained , the tale of a slave (Foxx) freed by a bounty hunter (Waltz) who sets off to rescue his wife from a Southern plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). While grindhouse-esque violence , a bright pop canvas, an oily and evil DiCaprio, and Tarantino’s encyclopedic affinity for the genre have already made Django one of the most anticipated films of the year, deeper reflections demanded by the s-word — slavery — could make Django a real socio-historical conversation-starter. “When I read this script the first time I thought, this was going to start a revolution,” recalled Goggins, who filmed his part as Billy Crash, Candie’s right hand man, during time off from TV’s Justified . “Not necessarily people in the streets, but an inward revolution. I think it’s going to play a significant part in race conversations. I keep saying this over and over again: Make your dinner reservations now, because you’re going to want to talk after this movie.” In the film, Foxx’s Django is freed from bondage on the condition that he help Waltz’s Dr. King Schultz hunt down a pair of sibling outlaws, a set-up that allows Django to literally cast off his shackles and start kicking ass in retribution. But while Foxx seems to acquit himself quite while in the first promos, he points to castmate Washington for her bravery in the face of some of the film’s most difficult scenes. Between takes of a scene in which Washington is lashed, Tarantino piped in a song by gospel singer Fred Hammond through on-set speakers per Foxx’s request. The actor recalled the emotional scene. “The song was, ‘No weapons formed against me shall prosper,’” he said, singing the melody. “When that song was playing, one black lady [extra] from New Orleans who had never been on a set before, I see her hands go up like this. And I see her rocking back and forth with the child that she was standing with… You’ll see it on screen. You’ll feel it.” Washington, meanwhile, found strength within the love story at the center of Django (which reunites her with Foxx, who played her onscreen husband in Ray ). “One of the things I loved about this character is that she exists in a time when historically, black women were of a necessity independently strong, and the breakdown of the black community in order to maintain slavery began with the breakdown of the black family,” she said. “I loved that this film is about two people who, even though they exist in a time when in our Constitution they’re only 3/5 a human being, they so believe in their own humanity and so believe in the love that they share and their illegal marriage that they risk life to find each other.” While Washington’s Broomhilda isn’t the kind of action-oriented leading lady of Tarantino’s previous films, she marks a different kind of cinematic milestone. “The fact that Broomhilda gets to be the princess in the tower that gets rescued by her man in a way that kind of reclaims black marriage and black love, to me, is a different kind of strength,” Washington said. “I felt like the black woman as the princess in the tower who’s rescued is an archetype we haven’t been able to enjoy.” Diving into the themes and world of the antebellum South was tough for everyone on set, Goggins admitted. His Billy Crash — a “mandingo fight trainer extraordinaire” on Candie’s plantation — serves as one of the film’s antagonists, and required Goggins to go to some particularly ugly places in character. “While liberal Walton didn’t have anything to apologize for, I began every take with an apology because these are my friends, outside of what it means to a race of people and to everybody,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s awful to say these things, but you’re in the service of something much greater than yourself and you’re telling a piece of history that is the biggest blight on our history as a country, and it needs to be retold.” Django Unchained hits theaters this Christmas . Read more from Comic-Con 2012 here. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
They say it is good to get a child a pet because its mortality will acclimate the youngster to the concept of death. Clearly Tim Burton never saw it that way. Frankenweenie , the much beloved cult short that, ostensibly, got him fired from Disney in the 1980s, is back with a feature length 3D IMAX release from Disney this autumn. Yeah, there had to’ve been a li’l victory dance at Chez Burton on that one. The studio’s marketing is revving up in earnest, announcing a Comic-Con panel and its world premiere at Austin’s genre-friendly Fantastic Fest’s opening night on September 20th. The trailer offers two-and-a-half minutes of the expected Edward Gorey-by-way-of Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair that, as I’m sure you are well aware, has no small share of its fans. One of the more interesting things about the upcoming film will be doing a compare and contrast on the voice talent versus the short. Shelly Duvall is now Catherine O’Hara? But I love them both! Daniel Stern switched for Martin Short? Don’t make me choose! The great Paul Bartel was a voice in the original, but, alas, his death in 2000 makes it impossible for him to join this time. Unless… is there a way, you think, to resurrect idiosyncratic character actors? The film, of course, looks terrific, though I’m curious to see if the Burton schtick is enough to get kids – normal kids – to overcome their natural disinclination for black & white. With the financial windfall Burton handed Disney with Alice in Wonderland (as Warner Bros. scratches its head over Dark Shadows ) and the licensing juggernaut that is The Nightmare Before Christmas , I’m sure they were more than happy to throw the director a bone (zing!) on what was, I’m surmising, a not terribly expensive production. Either way, Frankenweenie looks like the only movie on the horizon that will be appropriate to watch while both in your jammies and drinking absinthe.
If you’ve seen the red band trailer for Ted , in which Mark Wahlberg plays a grown man whose best friend is his talking teddy bear, you may think you’ve seen the whole thing: Beware the comedy trailer that’s so packed with hilarity that you just know it’s cobbled from the best bits in the movie. But miraculously, Ted manages to sustain itself. The directorial debut of Seth MacFarlane, mastermind of that animated symphony of crudeness and ’80s pop-culture references known as Family Guy , Ted finds a surprising range of off-color vowel sounds in its potentially one-note gag. It’s also, for anyone who’s ever lived in or spent significant time in Boston, a remarkably accurate portrait of the specific brand of brewski-swilling yobbo the city tends to breed or attract – and I’m talking about the bear. Ted, the movie’s chubby protagonist (MacFarlane provides his grouchy, growly, straight-outta-Southie voice), begins his life as a garden-variety stuffed toy bestowed upon the young and hopelessly friendless John Bennett (at this point played by Bretton Manley). Ted, like a wise-ass Velveteen Rabbit, becomes “real” when poor, lonely John makes a Christmas wish that comes true: “I wish you could really talk to me – then we could be friends forever and ever.” And lo! Ted speaks, becoming John’s closest pal and confidant. Some 27 years later, a bear whose only words were once a tinny, canned “I wuv you!” emitted when his tummy was squeezed, is a trash-talking, boob-grabbing, pot-smoking layabout whose greatest joy in life is to sit on the couch next to his equally lackadaisical best pal – now played by Wahlberg – and thrill to repeated viewings of Mike Hodges’ 1980 Flash Gordon . As John says, with anticipatory delight as the opening title appears, “So bad, but so good!” One of the tricks of Ted — perhaps its smartest one — is that everyone , not just John, knows the bear can talk. (A montage shows the bear’s early years of celebrity, including appearances with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show , before the masses tire of his particular novelty and move on to other things.) And almost everyone’s OK with Ted’s presence, until John’s longtime girlfriend, Lori (Mila Kunis, who doesn’t have much to do but who’s a good sport about it), decides it’s time for her highly unambitious boyfriend (he toils away at a car-rental joint) to put away childish things, i.e. Ted. Time for the little guy to put on a suit (“I look like something you give to your kid before you tell him grandma died,” he mutters) and toddle off to his first job interview, so he can move out of John’s life and into his own apartment. The transition, as you can imagine, is rough. Ted almost works as an excoriation of those 30-and-over men-children in baggy shorts and backwards baseball caps who appear to have flooded our nation’s guy supply; it also, of course, trades heavily in the kinds of thumb-up-the-ass gags that figure so broadly in the worldview of those guys, but you can’t have everything. Wahlberg, a consistently marvelous actor, gets this sort of character intuitively, and he’s a deft straight man for this tubby little buddy all stuffed with whatever. (He’s also funny in his own right, as when he’s ordering a special bottle of champagne for his and Lori’s anniversary dinner out. “Cristalle!” she coos. He congratulates himself on his choice: “All those rich black people can’t be wrong.”) And MacFarlane, both as the voice of Ted and the string-puller behind the whole enterprise, knows what he’s doing. (He also cowrote the script, with Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild.) Family Guy , with its panoply of crude jokes, throwaway pop-culture references and non sequitur cutaways, can be both hilarious and exhausting. Somehow, Ted manages to not wear out its welcome, though the picture loses its way with the introduction of an unnecessary subplot involving Giovanni Ribisi as an unhinged bearnapper. (These days, does Ribisi ever play a character who’s not unhinged?) Yet Ted holds steady, not least because its technical values are impressively high – it’s easy enough to believe this bad-news bear really can talk – and because Ted’s character design is so winning. His eyebrows are particularly expressive, furry little hyphens of consternation, anxiety or wicked delight. And then, once you’ve heard the outstandingly ridiculous “Thunder Buddy” song, John and Ted’s preferred mode of quelling a stubborn leftover-from-childhood fear, you might just wish you had your own talking bear. But probably not. The clever absurdity of Ted is just about as much NSFW, wish-come-true nonsense as any sane person needs.
Hello my name is Carla and I’m from NYC. My biggest dream came true! June 19, 2012. This is how my story went. On June 18, 2012 I was on Twitter, checking Justin’s page of course. I saw he tweeted that he was going to be in J&R at the city for a signing. I’ ve been so exited for the album #BELIEVE that I even forgot what day it was. We got to J&R at 9, I went down really fast to see if they were still selling them, they were! I was soooo happy! I got the deluxe album and started doing the line, which wasn’t packed at 9am since the album signing started at 2pm. I was so happy the whole morning. I got to meet some cool beliebers too. I was singing his songs and calling his name with all the other fans . The news came and interviewed us. At 2pm there was still no Justin, but I didn’t care because I would of waited all day. At 3 the line started moving, even though they said we couldn’t take pictures and to put our phones away, I didn’t. When I saw him, my heart dropped, I was freaking out. I started screaming saying, “I love you Justin!!” Then it was my turn to have my album signed. I was freaking out even more, I took a quick picture without anyone seeing. I got to tell him, “I love you Justin” & he looked at me and said, “I love you too” OMG I wanted to faint, cry, I was so happy! BEST day of my life, beliebers, NEVER stop trying. I’ve been trying to meet him for years and I had the chance. One day you’ll have your chance too. Original post: Hello my name is Carla and I’m from NYC. My biggest dream…
Hi, I’m Julia. I was lucky enough to meet Justin this past Decemeber while he was in Toronto for his Christmas show. Here’s my second encounter with Justin, and best one yet. My friends and I decided to get a hotel for MMVA weekend and were hoping to meet Justin when he arrived. Unfortunately, Friday night I was working when he flew in. Some people I knew from high school had the chance to meet him around the city , like at Pizza Pizza. They were so lucky! On Saturday, my friends and I had already planned to go out to a club DJ Tay James was hosting. We got on the guestlist once it was announced, not thinking of anything other than having a good time. Saturday was a night to remember. Not only did Tay DJ, but the crew, Jeremy, as well as Justin AND Selena came. I freaked out when I saw them. When “All Around The World” came on, EVERYONE went crazy. Selena got up off the couch and started to sing and dance with Justin. They were there for at least half an hour and then left. We didn’t think this night could get any better. Since it also happened to be Alfredo’s birthday, it was an awesome time and we all hung out for a while. Finally, the day of MMVA’s came. Earlier in the day we waited outside his hotel but didn’t even get one glimpse of him. There was way too many fans, paparazzi and he must have been in his hotel room doing radio, press, and rehearsals. This was really sad for all of us. We just wanted to at least see him somewhere. After waiting so long, we decided to go to the red carpet car line up to see Justin . We thought he would roll down the window to say hi since it was only 6 of us, but I don’t think he wanted to ruin the surprise for the red carpet of having Jazzy and Jaxon with him and Selena. All of us were quite disappointed because almost all of the weekend we just wanted to just see him. Finally, Monday morning came and we knew Justin would be going to NYC for his show. We had less than 5 hours asleep and got ready for 9 a.m. to go wait outside of his hotel. At around 10 a.m. there was a lot of commotion. We saw Moshe come back from Starbucks with Bruce and an extra drink. I wonder who it was for? He brought it into the hotel and then came back outside to see two fans who wanted pictures with him. About 10 fans were there and we kept seeing Moshe, Bruce (Justin’s grandfather) and Kenny. We saw luggage being put into a black suburban so we figured it would be Justin’s car. About 10 more fans came around 11 a.m. My friends and I were getting nervous because 20 people is quite a crowd. Luckily, minutes after 11am, Justin and Selena’s car pulled up. Selena went into the car right away and we thought Justin was too… We look again, and Justin handed his bag over to Moshe to put in the car and said, “I’m coming to take pictures!” He greeted ALL of us. He took time with each and every fan making sure they got a good picture and was so sweet. My friend Nicole and I told him that we were having a buyout that upcoming Saturday (@Toronto_Buyout), along with our friend Vanessa (@vanessaalove who was sadly at work). He perked up when he heard that and said, “A buyout?! BUYOUTS are awesome!” I got my picture with Justin and he wasn’t rushing me or anyone. He just took his time and was SO polite. None of us were freaking out. We were all calm and took our turns, which probably made this a whole lot easier! I took pictures for about 8 other fans after me on their cameras and on mine to send to them. Justin and I kept making eye contact and now everything feels like such a blur. I keep asking myself, “Did that morning really happen?!” After I got my picture with Justin, I took one with Kenny! They were about to go to the airport to fly out to NYC. I’m honestly so thankful this happened. It was just perfect. Justin, if you see this, THANK YOU so much for taking the time to take pictures and talk to us. It made my day and this whole weekend was SO worth it. I LOVE YOU. -@juliaaa_xo Original post: Hi, I’m Julia. I was lucky enough to meet Justin this past…
In this week’s Hobnobbing, we wonder if the new format is really worth the five extra bucks. By Amy Wilkinson Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games” Photo: We interrupt your regularly scheduled Finnick speculation to bring you this special announcement: “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” will light up IMAX theaters come November 2013! (OK, the news broke Wednesday, but I don’t write my column until Thursday.) Anyway, this is big (as in 70 feet tall) news … if you like that sort of thing. While “The Hunger Games” was re-mastered for IMAX screens, director Francis Lawrence intends to shoot entire “Catching Fire” sequences in the larger-than-life format. As my colleague Kevin P. Sullivan noted , this will be only the sixth major studio film to be partially shot in IMAX — news to which my reaction was roughly, “Okie doke…” See, I’ve never really understood the appeal of IMAX. Isn’t it just for people with poor eyesight who need to see things really large? And why should I pay roughly five extra bucks for the privilege? I have good vision! To wit, I’ve never purposely sought out an IMAX screening. One time on vacation in Seattle my friend insisted we see “The Lion King” (nearly a decade after its initial release) in IMAX, and since I didn’t want to be a chump, I went along. I’ve probably been to one IMAX movie since (it wasn’t “Avatar,” by the way, my hometown theater is lame), but I can’t help but wonder if I’m missing something. According to conventional wisdom and my previously mentioned colleague Kevin (who graciously humored my IMAX questions and concerns), the format is considered the height of immersive movie-going technology. (So much more worth the price than 3-D, he says.) Everything’s huge! Everything’s so detailed! Everything else in the theater just disappears! It’s like that guy in the front row wearing the bowler hat festooned with Christmas lights doesn’t exist! Fine, fine. I get it. And I’m willing to give it another try because Katniss and Peeta deserve as much. (It will also give me another ready-made column idea come next Thanksgiving!) And with speculation swirling that the IMAX-friendly filming will likely focus on the nifty new Quarter Quell arena, I’m simultaneously thrilled and sick to my stomach over the idea of being completely immersed in the bloody battle. Nonetheless, let the IMAX Games begin! “Catching Fire” hits theaters November 22, 2013. Are you excited to see “Catching Fire” in IMAX? Or is it much ado about nothing? Sound off in the comments below and tweet me @amymwilk with your thoughts and suggestions for future columns! Earlier “Hunger Games” columns: » “Hunger Games”: Five Things We Learned At Movie Awards » How “Catching Fire” Could Set Taylor Kitsch’s Career Ablaze » “Hunger Games” At The Movie Awards: Dos And Don’ts » “Catching Fire” Countdown: What to Watch While You Wait » Francis Lawrence’s “Catching Fire” To-Do List Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Hunger Games’ Related Photos ‘Hunger Games’ World Premiere Red Carpet The Hunger Games
