Day: June 3, 2007

Categories
Movies

Bring it on!!

Apatow’s new baby: ‘Year One’
Hot on the heels of “Knocked Up,” Judd Apatow has drawn upon a multigenerational who’s who of comedy for his latest project at Columbia Pictures.
Jack Black and Michael Cera are attached to star in the comedy “Year One” from producer Apatow and director Harold Ramis.
Ramis also will serve as a producer on the film, while Owen Wilson will serve as an executive producer.
Penned by Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg from a story by Ramis, plot details are being kept under wraps.
“With Judd Apatow, Harold Ramis, Jack Black and Michael Cera, the filmmakers have assembled an insanely talented group of comedians, and we couldn’t be more thrilled or excited by the way this project has come together,” Columbia president of production Matt Tolmach said.
Tolmach will oversee “Year One” for the studio along with Jonathan Kadin.
Black, whose credits include Peter Jackson’s 2005 epic “King Kong” and the comedy “Nacho Libre,” most recently starred in Columbia’s romantic comedy “The Holiday.” He next will be seen in Michel Gondry’s “Be Kind Rewind” and “Margot at the Wedding,” directed by Noah Baumbach.
Comedy actor Cera is best known for playing George-Michael Bluth in the Fox series “Arrested Development.” He will next star in Columbia’s “Superbad,” from producer Apatow, followed by the indie comedy “Juno.”
Ramis, an iconic writer-director-actor, was behind some of the classic comedies of the 1970s and 1980s. He penned “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “Meatballs,” “Stripes,” “Ghostbusters,” “Ghostbusters II” and “Back to School.” His directing credits include “Caddyshack,” which he also co-wrote, “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Groundhog Day,” “Analyze This” and the sequel “Analyze That.” He most recently directed episodes of the NBC series “The Office.”
In addition to “Knocked Up,” which Apatow directed, wrote and produced, the multihyphenate has several films in the works, a number of which are at Columbia including “Superbad,” “Walk Hard,” “Pineapple Express,” “Step Brothers” and “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.”

Categories
Television

Ahhhhh!!

Frak, No! Battlestar Preps Final Voyage
The Galactica is ready to be mothballed.
The brain trust behind Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica on Friday announced plans to wrap up the critically acclaimed cult series after its upcoming fourth season.
“This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and, finally, an end,” executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick said in a statement.
“Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end, and we’ve decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there: We’re going out with a bang.”
And despite losing their top-rated original series, the Sci Fi overlords are okay with the move.
Mark Stern, the network’s executive vice president of original programming, said he and his fellow suits “respect the producers’ decision to end the series.”
Last month at the Saturn Awards, where Battlestar was named Best Syndicated/Cable Series, star Edward James Olmos hinted that the show was ready to make its final voyage.
That prompted Eick and Sci Fi to issue a statement asserting “no decision had been made” on the show’s fate. “I promise you that when Ron and I make a decision about Galactica’s future, we’ll let you know,” said Eick, who is also producing NBC’s buzzed-about remake of Bionic Woman, which debuts next season.
Premiering in 2003 as a miniseries, Moore and Eick’s Battlestar Galactica was a “reimagined” take on ABC’s 1978 Star Wars-riffing sci-fi show and its spinoffs. Moore and Eick stuck to the original’s basic premiseóthe robotic Cylons rebel against their human masters and virtually annihilate the race, sending the few survivors in a quixotic interstellar journey to find a mythical, lost “13th colony” known as Earth. The “rag-tag fugitive fleet” is led by crusty Admiral William Adama (Olmos) and cancer-stricken President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell).
However, the new Battlestar jettisoned the high camp of the original in favor of a taut serialized drama focusing on strong character development and emotional conflict, while taking plot cues from 9-11 and the war in Iraq.
The storytelling formula has proved a success with TV critics. Although it has yet to earn a top-tier Emmy nod, the new Battlestar received a Peabody last year and was named to the American Film Institute’s Top 10 list of television shows for two years running.
“It’s been a wonderful, creative experience,” Moore said during a conference call Friday. “I feel like we’ve had enough time…It feels like the momentum of the series is moving to a conclusion.”
He added that he and Eick planned on tackling the series’ lingering questions in the remaning episodes.
“The intention is to concentrate on the characters and their relationships and bring them all to an end point. I don’t know if we’ll resolve every single thingÖbut the intention is to move toward what is the final chapter,” Moore said. “The show has always been about a search for EarthÖso it will definitely figure into this year’s story line.”
Eick, meanwhile, said he intended to use Battlestar actors on Bionic Woman and other future TV projects. “We stumbled onto the greatest collection of actors I’ve ever been a part of…[and] I’m trying to make use of this cast as much as possible.” Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) guest stars on the Bionic Woman pilot and will likely be a recurring character, he said.
Perhaps because the rumors of the show’s demise have persisted, diehards took the news in stride Friday.
“Seriously, it’s sad to know it for sure, but I’d rather know now than find out with just a few episodes left. We can savor every moment with the full knowledge that the journey is almost over,” TowelOfApollo wrote on Sci Fi’s Battlestar message board.
“Every end is a beginning,” added Punchface. “In this case, it’s a point in the history of sci-fi as a genre where we will be able to say ‘this is where the genre began to really get respect.’ Firefly and Farscape may have started it, but it was Battlestar Galactica that really got the ball rolling.”
So much for the resistance.
The swan-song season is currently in production in Vancouver, with the first of its final 22 episodes scheduled to launch in early 2008. To tide fans over, however, Sci Fi has commissioned an extended two-hour Battlestar Galactica stand-alone episode, titled “Razor,” to air in November focusing on the adventures of the Galactica’s sister ship, the Pegasus.

Categories
Awards

THeir new CD is awesome, even if it is only an instrumental disc.

Beastie Boys named Webby artists of the year
Beastie Boys, one of the longest surviving acts in hip hop, are to be honoured as Webby artists of the year for an innovative 2006 concert film put together with footage shot by dozens of audience members using handheld cameras.
The film, Awesome, I F***ing Shot That, foreshadows the coming trend to user-generated video.
When the New York-based trio wanted to create a movie about their tour, they gave 50 cameras to fans to shoot their concerts and then edited the content together to create the movie.
Beastie Boys are to be honoured alongside David Bowie, eBay’s Meg Whitman, and YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen at the 11th Annual Webby Awards on June 5 in New York.
The awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and dubbed the “Oscars of the internet,” are international awards for excellence in websites, interactive advertising, online film, and video and mobile content.
About 70 awards are to be given. They include lifetime achievement awards for Bowie, who operates a digital media company that works with artists such as the Rolling Stones, and Whitman, president and chief executive of eBay since 1998.
Hurley and Chen will be named people of the year.
Last.fm, How Stuff Works, Comedy Central’s Honesty and EepyBird.com are among the other top winners.
The ceremony is unique in that it limits acceptance speeches to five words only.
Beastie Boys have been strong advocates of more flexible copyright rules to allow artists and fans to swap and remix music.
Their Licensed to Ill album was released by Def Jam in 1986, and their most recent album, The Mix-Up, comes out on June 26th.

Categories
Canada

I will see it in two weeks!!

Toronto’s ROM Crystal celebrated by slew of Canadian talent
The Royal Ontario Museum celebrated the official unveiling of its new addition with a showcase of Canadian talent including David Foster, K’naan and Natalie McMaster on Saturday evening.
The gala celebrated the public opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal; the ROM’s bold new $135-million addition that juts out over Toronto’s Bloor Street.
Legendary composer David Foster shared one of three stages with singers Deborah Cox, Jann Arden, rapper K’naan, Canadian Tenors, jazz singer Dione Taylor, and fiddler Natalie McMaster.
Actor Gordon Pinsent and environmentalist David Suzuki also made appearances, while Governor General MichaÎlle Jean dedicated the structure’s opening.
Suzuki took the opportunity to speak to the country’s determination to battle climate change.
“I believe we’ve turned a corner, that we’re on our way to a more sustainable Canada,” Suzuki said.
Thousands of people of all ages lined the streets for the concert entitled “A World of Possibilities,” which was hosted by actor Paul Gross.
Tickets for the event were issued at noon on Saturday but crowds began to gather early in the morning.
The event, which also featured a stunning fireworks display, was designed to tell the story of humankind’s evolution through the ages.
The 75-minute show marked the end of the six-year development project for Canada’s largest museum that cost $270 million to complete.
Conceived by architect Daniel Libeskind, the crystal has been met with both scorn and adoration.
The 175,000-square-foot aluminum-and-glass-covered structure reaches 10 storeys in the air and houses seven galleries.
Architectural buffs chided the addition saying it does nothing to enhance the streetscape and fails to blend with the rest of the heritage building.
Supporters believe the bold design will promote experimental architecture in the city, something Toronto has lacked for a number of years.

Categories
Movies

I saw “Knocked Up” and loved it!! As for “Pirates”…who cares?!?!?

‘Pirates’ sinks but stays on top
LOS ANGELES – “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” hit an ebb tide in its second weekend but still had enough buoyancy to hold the No. 1 spot at the box office.
With a $43.2 million weekend, Disney’s blockbuster sequel sank a steep 62.4 percent from its $114.7 million opening a week earlier, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Universal’s romantic comedy “Knocked Up,” starring Katherine Heigl as a career woman who gets pregnant from a one-night stand with a slacker (Seth Rogen), debuted a strong No. 2 with $29.3 million. The movie’s weekend gross equaled its entire production budget.
“It looks like a lot of people wanted to get knocked up this weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
MGM’s thriller “Mr. Brooks,” with Kevin Costner as a mild-mannered businessman who moonlights as a serial killer, premiered in fourth place with $10 million.
Picturehouse’s sports tale “Gracie,” featuring Elisabeth Shue in a film inspired by tragic events in her own life and her teenage days as the only girl on a boys soccer team, opened at No. 7 with $1.4 million.
The big drop for “Pirates of the Caribbean” was typical of summer flicks that open to colossal numbers. In the second weekend, Sony’s “Spider-Man 3” tumbled 62 percent from its record $151.1 million debut, while DreamWorks Animation’s “Shrek the Third” fell 57 percent from its $121.6 million opening.
While big films once had longer shelf life, most blockbusters today aim to pack in the crowds the first weekend before audiences move on to the next hit. By the second weekend, most people who wanted to catch a big movie already have seen it.
“It’s exactly where I expected it,” said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. “Once you get everybody who is that avid, crazy fan that’s going to see it the first week, then you rely on people who never go out the first week and the people who just come back and back and back.”
With its mix of serious themes and bawdy humor, director Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up” became a rare R-rated comedy to click with a mainstream audience, much as his “The 40-Year-old Virgin” did two years ago. Most Hollywood comedies have a softer tone to land a PG-13 rating.
“This could not be reduced to PG-13 just to get a broader audience. It would have lost the beauty of the whole film,” said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. “It’s amazing how Judd hits the exact buttons of what average people go through in their lives.”
Overseas, “At World’s End” did an additional $105.4 million over the weekend to bring its worldwide total to $625.3 million.
Domestically, the movie has grossed $216.5 million, trailing last summer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which had a $135.6 million opening and had taken in $258.4 million after its second weekend.
“Shrek the Third” took in $26.7 million domestically to lift its total to $254.6 million. It is rolling out gradually overseas.
With $7.5 million, “Spider-Man 3” padded its domestic haul to $318.3 million. Worldwide, “Spider-Man 3” has taken in $844 million, surpassing 2002’s “Spider-Man” ($821 million) to become the biggest hit in Sony’s history.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” $43.2 million.
2. “Knocked Up,” $29.3 million.
3. “Shrek the Third,” $26.7 million.
4. “Mr. Brooks,” $10 million.
5. “Spider-Man 3,” $7.5 million.
6. “Waitress,” $2 million.
7. “Gracie,” $1.4 million.
8. “Bug,” $1.22 million.
9. “28 Weeks Later,” $1.2 million.
10. “Disturbia,” $1.1 million.