Polley, Trailer Park Boys make the cut for year's top Canadian films
The latest from filmmaking duo Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn, Sarah Polley's debut as a feature film director and Trailer Park Boys: The Movie have all turned up on a list of the year's best Canadian films.
The Toronto International Film Festival Group announced its annual Canada's Top Ten list of homegrown films at an industry event hosted by actors Sylvie Moreau and Dave Foley in Toronto Tuesday evening.
In addition to Mike Clattenburg's Canadian box office hit Trailer Park Boys, the cross-country, 10-member jury panel selected Kunuk and Cohn's The Journals of Knud Rasmussen — which opened this year's Toronto International Film Festival — and Away From Her, Polley's poignant adaptation of the Alice Munro short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain.
Rounding out the unranked Top Ten list are:
- Congorama, directed by Philippe Falardeau.
- Manufactured Landscapes, directed by Jennifer Baichwal.
- Monkey Warfare, directed by Reginald Harkema.
- Radiant City, directed by Gary Burns and Jim Brown.
- Sharkwater, directed by Rob Stewart.
- Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi, directed by Noël Mitrani.
- Un dimanche à Kigali, directed by Robert Favreau.
Diverse nature praised
Piers Handling, director and CEO of the film festival group, praised the diverse genres and subjects explored in this year's films, which range from expansive documentary to laugh-out-loud comedy.
"These films give audiences a chance to experience the stories our filmmakers are telling, challenge our notions of cinema and can even change the way we view the world," Handling said in a statement.
Organizers will screen all 10 films at Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto from Jan. 26 to Feb. 4.
As per tradition, some of the screenings will include introductions or Q&A sessions with the filmmakers.
Festival organizers have also organized three themed panel sessions: a documentary panel with Burns, Brown and Baichwal; a discussion about Quebec cinema with Falardeau, Favreau and Mitrani; and an in-depth analysis of how the low-budget Monkey Warfare was made, featuring the lead cast and creative crew of the indie film.
Established in 2001, Canada's Top Ten recognizes and celebrates the best in Canadian cinema over the past year.
To be considered for the annual list, a film must have premiered at a major Canadian film festival or had a commercial theatrical release in Canada in 2006. Features, shorts, documentaries, animation and experimental films that have premiered are all eligible.
Ben Stiller & Owen Wilson Keen On More "Zoolander"
Comedy actor Ben Stiller will soon be re-teaming with Owen Wilson for more zany adventures of Zoolander.
According to USA Today, New Line Films, Stiller and Wilson are all looking forward to another chapter of laughs about the high-fashion male model with the low-IQ.
While Stiller previously played down the possibility of a sequel after the death of his good friend Drake Sather, creator and writer of the character, he seems to think the time is right to let "Zoolander" re-emerge.
Remembering his reasoning and his friend, Stiller admits, "He was the heart and soul of all the shorts and the script. I think John (Hamburg) and I could address it, but that really took the wind out of my sails for a bit."
Sara Evans set to kick off new outing
Country singer Sara Evans, still backing her 2005 release, "Real Fine Place," will launch her next tour on New Year's Eve as she begins to map out roadwork for 2007.
Evans will play a New Year's Eve show in Mount Pleasant, IL, before hitting the road for an outing that covers the first two months of next year. The 13-city trek will take the singer to mid-February, with several shows already lined up for later on in the year, including a pair of dates in March, and three concerts set for June.
Members of Evans' fan club will have access to special pre-sale opportunities for the upcoming trek, according to the singer's website.
In October, Evans made news when she announced that she was filing for divorce from her husband, Craig Schelske. At the time, Evans also withdrew from her participation on ABC-TV's "Dancing With the Stars," citing the need to give her full attention to the couple's three children.
Evans recently teamed with the co-writers of her hit single "You'll Always Be My Baby" to produce a book based on the song. The book, co-authored by Tony Martin and Tom Shapiro, hit store shelves in November. In a press release, Evans termed it a "thank you to my fans" for standing by her during her recent marital problems.
Here are Sara's scheduled concert dates:
December 2006
31 - Mount Pleasant, MI - Soraing Eagle Casino
January 2007
12 - Charlotte, NC - Ovens Auditorium
13 - Baltimore, MD - Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
18 - Cleveland, OH - State Theatre
19 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre
27 - Springfield, MO - Shrine Mosque
28 - Cape Girardeau, MO - Show Me Center
February 2007
1 - Duluth, GA - The Gwinnett Center
9 - Williamsport, PA - Community Arts Center
11 - Wilkes Barre, PA - Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
15 - Norfolk, VA - Chrysler Hall
16 - Lancaster, PA - American Music Theater
17 - Wheeling, WV - Capital Music Hall
March 2007
24 - Valdosta, GA - Wild Adventures
25 - Winter Haven, FL - Cypress Gardens
June 2007
22 - Cadott, WI - Chippewa Valley Country Fest
23 - Rockford, IL - Davis Memorial Park
24 - Ionia, MI - Ionia Community Fairgrounds
Fans' appetite for new Guns album is undiminished
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Axl Rose's fans are hoping for a miracle this Christmas -- the release of "Chinese Democracy," the first album of original Guns N' Roses music in 15 years.
Rose, 44, the only original member of the combustible rock group, vaguely told MTV in late August that the album would hit store shelves "this year," 12 years after work started. The band is currently on a U.S. tour, its first since 2002, but the album still has no official release date.
With only a few weeks left in 2006, most Guns N' Roses fans now believe the only music they will hear on Christmas morning will be "Silent Night." During a sold-out performance at New York City's Madison Square Garden last month, Rose was mum about the album, which has cost roughly $13 million to make, according to a New York Times story in March 2005.
"Believing 'Chinese Democracy' is coming out this year is the same as believing in Santa Claus," said a fan on the popular HereTodayGoneToHell Web site (http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com) earlier this month.
Rose's manager, Merck Mercuriadis, who further stoked fan anticipation in early October when he told Rolling Stone magazine that fans "might walk into (their) record shop one Tuesday and find it there," declined to comment for this article. Interscope Records, the band's label, referred inquiries to Mercuriadis. (Albums usually go on sale on Tuesdays in the United States, a day earlier elsewhere.)
NEW SONGS, TOUR
Most of Rose's bandmates on Guns N' Roses' last album of new material, the two-volume "Use Your Illusion" set, either quit or were fired as the singer took control of the group, and then took his time recording a followup. Several waves of replacements also came and went.
Fortunately, the die-hard fans have more staying power. In January, they were sent into a frenzy when a casual Rose broke his silence to talk to Rolling Stone about the album, describing it as "complex."
That was followed in February by Internet leaks of four new songs, "Better," "I.R.S.," "Catcher in the Rye," and "There Was a Time." Two months later, Guns N' Roses announced a summer European tour, and then played four sold-out warm-up shows at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom in May.
"For the first time, we had proof that there was new material," said Eric Romano, 33, a Montreal computer technician and webmaster of http://www.MyGNRForum.com.
Finally, on August 31, Rose appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York, where he said "it is this year," in response to a question about the "Chinese Democracy" release.
"That's what did it for a lot of fans," said Brian Sharma, 28, a Philadelphia lawyer and owner of two cats named "Axl" and "Rose." "Axl (had) never said that before."
"This year the excitement level hit an all-time high," said Mark Strigl, 37, co-host of "Talking Metal," a pod-cast about heavy metal. "I don't know if that excitement will ever be topped again with the hard-core fans."
A NEW HOPE?
Disappointed fans now expect the album to arrive sometime in 2007, possibly timed with the 20th anniversary of "Appetite for Destruction," the band's 1987 blockbuster debut. Some expect an official announcement in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Guns N' Roses' global audience remains formidable. The band has sold 38.5 million albums in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, while worldwide sales are estimated at more than 90 million. Guns N' Roses' "Greatest Hits," released in 2004, has sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S.
In a way, however, the absence of "Democracy" makes the online fan community that much more cohesive, Strigl said. It "gives them something to hope for."
And Rose's dependable unpredictability is part of Guns N' Roses' lasting appeal.
"He's doing it his way, which is the rock n' roll ethos," Sharma said.
Evel Knievel sues rapper Kanye West over music video
Retired motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel has filed a lawsuit against Kanye West over a music video featuring the hit rapper as a character named Evel Kanyevel who attempts to jump over a canyon while riding a rocket-powered motorcycle.
Knievel, 68, filed the lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Tampa, Fla., on Monday, alleging the more than five-minute music video for Touch the Sky infringes on his trademark name and likeness.
The daredevil icon, whose real name is Robert Craig Knievel Jr., called the video "vulgar and offensive," and said the rapper "uses my image to catapult himself on the public."
The lawsuit seeks damages and a halt to further distribution of the video, which had its debut in February.
In the video, which also stars Canadian actress Pamela Anderson, West is dressed in a star-studded jumpsuit — reminiscent of the one Knievel wore during his stunt motorcycle jumps — and attempts a jump across a canyon.
The lawsuit alleges that even the vehicle used in the video is "visually indistinguishable" from the one Knievel used in his Snake River Canyon jump in 1974.
Knievel, who has been in poor health in the last few years, rose to fame in the late 1960s as a touring motorcycle stunt rider. The former salesman and fervent self-promoter was as renowned for his daring jumps as for his spectacular crashes and broken bones.
Famous attempts included the New Year's Day 1968 jump across the fountains in front of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas — a stunt that left Knievel in a coma for a month — and a jump over 13 buses at London's Wembley Stadium in 1975, when he broke his pelvis.
During the Snake River Canyon jump, Knievel's parachute deployed before he cleared the launch ramp. Although the chute carried the daredevil into the canyon, he was left with only minor injuries.
West had no comment about the lawsuit, which also names Roc-A-Fella Records, AOL and the video's director, Chris Milk. Milk's previous work includes directing West's videos for Jesus Walks and All Falls Down.
No stranger to attention-getting outbursts himself, West made a scene last month at the MTV Europe Awards when Touch the Sky lost in the best video category.
"Best video should have been mine. I should have won," West said after storming the stage in protest.
"It cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons."
Dylan, Gnarls top Rolling Stone's 2006 picks
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bob Dylan's first album in five years, "Modern Times," and the infectious Gnarls Barkley single "Crazy" topped Rolling Stone's picks for 2006, the magazine said on Tuesday.
Rolling Stone hailed the weirdness of "Modern Times," and said Dylan has not sounded so frisky since his underrated 1968 album " John Wesley Harding."
Number two on its albums list was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Stadium Arcadium" -- "a confessional and creative triumph" -- followed by Sonic Youth's "Rather Ripped" -- "a light, simple, terse, almost-pop album."
On the singles list, Rolling Stone said "Crazy" was a song "nobody even pretended not to like." Garage rock band the Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes" came in at No. 2, followed by rapper Chamillionaire's "Ridin."'
Canyon, Cormier lead ECMA noms
HALIFAX (CP) - Nova Scotia artists lead the way in nominations for the 2007 East Coast Music Awards.
Country singer George Canyon of Pictou County and roots artist J. P. Cormier of Cape Breton each received five nominations for the awards show to be held Feb. 18 in Halifax. Canyon picked up nods for recording of the year, entertainer of the year and male solo recording.
Cormier is nominated for bluegrass recording of the year, instrumental recording and folk recording.
Halifax-based band In-Flight Safety received four nominations, as did Halifax singer Jill Barber and Newfoundland's Ron Hynes.
Nova Scotians Charlie A'Court, Joel Plaskett, Sloan and The Trews each picked up three nominations, as did P.E.I.'s The Chucky Danger Band.
Princes' pop concert 10 years after Diana death
LONDON (Reuters) - Princes William and Harry announced plans on Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of their mother Princess Diana's death with a pop concert at the new Wembley Stadium in London.
Artists scheduled to appear include Elton John, Duran Duran, Joss Stone, Pharrell Williams and Bryan Ferry. The English National Ballet will also perform and Andrew Lloyd Webber will perform a medley of songs from his shows.
There will also be a church memorial service for Diana who died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
"We both wanted to put our stamp on it. We want it to represent exactly what our mother would have wanted," Prince William said in a statement.
"So therefore the church service alone isn't enough. We wanted to have this big concert full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness, which I know she would have wanted."
The concert, on July 1 next year, will be one of the first to be held in the new Wembley sports stadium in west London.
A long-awaited British police report into Diana's death due this week is expected to rule out foul play and could finally lay to rest conspiracy theories that she was murdered rather than that she died the victim of a tragic accident.