There’s a theoretical sweet spot to be found for Machine Gun Preacher — that of the multi-quadrant film, as the marketers say. It aims to be a hard-charging actioner that’s also a based-on-a-true-story tale of rebirth and uplift; an earnest, somber look at conflicts in Sudan that’s simultaneously a faith-centric, family-oriented redemption song. Directed by Marc Forster (of, appropriately enough, Quantum of Solace and Finding Neverland ) from a screenplay by Jason Keller (who’s also credited as one of the writers on Tarsem Singh’s upcoming take on Snow White ), Machine Gun Preacher always seems aware that it’s working off ripe material, but can’t fit it into beats that work on-screen.
On Wednesday, Sept. 21, Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch appeared on The Real News with Paul Jay to handicap the 2012 presidential race, imagine what the GOP would do if Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) makes the final two, and explain why libertarians don’t generally favor tax increases. Around 20 minutes: Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Reason Magazine – Hit & Run Discovery Date : 22/09/2011 14:53 Number of articles : 2
And boobs in a wave pool, and boobs on a lazy river, and maybe even boobs being sprayed with water guns! That’s right, the location for the sequel to Mr. Skin’s Breast Picture of 2010, Piranha 3D, the breastacularly titled Piranha 3DD , has been revealed. The film will take place in a water park named “Wilderness Waters” that is overrun with the feisty little flesh-strippers. If Piranha 3DD is anything like its predecessor (and considering the writers and director of Piranha 3D are all returning, it will be) before the mayhem and carnage there will be flesh-stripping of an entirely different sort as bikini babes get nude for some wet n’ wild fun. Filming for Piranha 3DD is set to begin in North Carolina at the end of May. It’s going to be a bikini bash to die for, and Mr. Skin can hard ly wait!
Some say the movie chronicling Conan’s ouster from NBC is funnier than his show. By Eric Ditzian Conan O’Brien Photo: Noel Vasquez/ Getty Four months removed from the debut of his TBS late-night show, Conan O’Brien swept into the South by Southwest film festival over the weekend, a bit reluctantly, to promote a documentary cataloguing the fallout from his “Tonight Show” firing and his subsequent creative resurrection via a live comedy tour. Called “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop,” the doc begins by recapping his NBC ouster and follows the comedian and his team as they come up with the comedy tour idea, build it from the ground up and then head out on the road. O’Brien has already largely moved on from these sordid events, but for one evening, he was compelled to relive the juicy late-night scandal and his reaction to it, which was not always as high-minded as he might have hoped. A few reviews, as well as O’Brien’s own comments about the project, have already hit the Web, so read on for some early insight into “Can’t Stop.” The Overview “What starts out as a sanity-restoring make-work project evolves into a highly entertaining cross-country extravaganza during the course of ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop,’ an up-close account of the former ‘Tonight Show’ host’s two-month, 32-city comedy-and-music variety-show tour shortly after he parted ways with NBC in 2010. But the biggest laughs and most intriguing revelations are provided offstage in this slickly produced documentary, as O’Brien — often pushing himself to the point of exhaustion before, during and after performances — plays for keeps while playing for laughs.” — Joe Leydon, Variety The Laughs “Conan O’Brien should take some satisfaction in the thought that Jay Leno will never earn as much laughter in half an hour as he and his crew does in the first third of ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.’ To be fair, O’Brien’s TV talk show was rarely if ever this full-tilt hilarious, either, which might have something to do with why he seems to have so many more supporters than the program had viewers. But ‘Can’t Stop’ is as entertaining as any showbiz doc in recent memory and could draw a nice audience of Team Coco followers in a limited theatrical release.” — John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter Conan, In His Own Words, Part I “I personally have trouble watching it because it’s a time in my life that I don’t like to go back to. I’m happy where I am now. I don’t really need to go back to it. But I made a commitment.” — O’Brien, in an Associated Press interview Conan, In His Own Words, Part II “I’ve done thousands of hours of television, and they get a sense of you, but you’re really only on TV for an hour, and this is seeing these other sides of me. It’s funny, because my staff, they saw this and they said, ‘Oh, we get to see a little bit of Mean Conan.’ And they said, ‘Mean Conan, he’s our favorite, he’s the funniest Conan.’ Which is weird. There’s a way in which, after our meetings sometimes, I’ll talk about the show and I’ll just go on these long riffs, which are over-the-top, sarcastic about everything, and people will be laughing really hard while I’m saying negative things about the show. I’m really hard on myself, I get very dark. I tease people constantly. I physically fight my writers, and they fight me back. And so it’s this gear I have that I’ve used sometimes on television but really hardly at all. There’s all of this stuff there that I think, well, if not now, when? Might as well let people know he exists.” — Conan O’Brien, in a New York Times interview
Franco’s ‘distracted’ delivery and Anne’s ‘charming’ turn has drawn inevitable comparisons to past emcees like Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. By Eric Ditzian Anne Hathaway and James Franco host the 2011 Academy Awards on Sunday Photo: Getty Images In the wake of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ effort to infuse some youthful vitality into Sunday’s Oscar ceremony by tapping James Franco and Anne Hathaway to emcee the event, positive praise for the hosts’ joint performance has been hard to find. The New York Times called Hathaway “charming and charismatic” but said Franco came off “a little distracted and even blas
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards will be held on February 27, 2011. As usual, Black actors are largely absent from the nominee roll call. How could they be considered for the big W? They aren’t even contenders for significant roles in these films. Traditionally, Oscar picks are selected due to their high artistic value — which is subjectively determined by a group of voters. The dearth of Black actors in film begs many to wonder whether minorities are simply written out ofl events due to the perspective of the writers and directors (usually white men) or purposely excluded from films because their buying dollars aren’t perceived as relevant to the film industry’s gatekeepers (executive producers, who finance flicks). Either way, it’s offensive. Here’s a round up of the movies selected for “Best Picture” and the billion dollar question is … have you seen them?
For our musical recap of the ‘Blame It on the Alcohol’ episode, we got really into the spirit of things. By Jim Cantiello Dot-Marie Jones and Matthew Morrison on “Glee” Tuesday night Photo: FOX This week’s “Glee” seems to have inspired a one-man party here in the MTV Newsroom. After Rachel’s wild party, our own Jim Cantiello seems to have hit the sauce and, well, to quote Jamie Foxx , if you can’t follow along with this song, blame it on the alcohol. Rachel Berry’s dads left her alone in a big empty house. They’re off on Rosie’s gay
Charles Lane’s brief claim to fame was a stint at a gone-to-seed once great magazine where, as editor, he discovered that one of his writers was “making shit up.” For years he has traded on this brief moment in the sun like Erik Estrada making a living appearing at car dealership openings. Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Firedoglake Discovery Date : 21/02/2011 00:06 Number of articles : 4
Charles Lane’s brief claim to fame was a stint at a gone-to-seed once great magazine where, as editor, he discovered that one of his writers was “making shit up.” For years he has traded on this brief moment in the sun like Erik Estrada making a living appearing at car dealership openings. Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Firedoglake Discovery Date : 21/02/2011 00:06 Number of articles : 4
Russell Brand, Willow Smith, Jonah Hill are just a few stars looking to revamp film and TV classics like ‘Arthur’, ‘Annie’ and ’21 Jump Street.’ By Terri Schwartz Beyonc
