TV / Film News

Jazz up Summertime with Turner Classic's Big-Band Movie Marathon

Source: All About Jazz
July 2, 2008

When it rose in popularity between the Jazz Age and the advent of rock 'n' roll, big band music was aided by dovetailing nicely with the movies being made at the time. Turner Classic Movies takes advantage of this for a monthlong, 42-film Wednesday night festival of “Big Bands in the Movies." It begins with the 1937 Busby Berkeley-directed “Hollywood Hotel" (8 p.m.) featuring the work of a young Benny Goodman. It's followed by the 1941 “Las Vegas Nights" (10 ...

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Vocalizing Wall-E to R2-D2.....Too!

Source: Michael Ricci
June 30, 2008

Ben Burtt: The man behind R2-D2 and Wall-E's beeps

AUDIO PUPPETEER: We wanted to have this illusion that the voices for Wall-E and Eve and the other characters are part of their function, (sound designer Ben Burtt says of Pixar's Wall-E.)

Burtt speaks the characters' language. In fact, he's created a galaxy of unusual noises in his 30-year career: the crack of Indy's whip, Chewbacca's yowl, the lightsaber hum. IT'S A RISKY MOVE by anyone's standards. Pixar's delightfully ...

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MTV Urges Fans to Remix Music Videos

Source: PC Magazine
June 27, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Seeking new ways to entertain audiences, music television network MTV has recently begun allowing fans of new and upcoming shows to discuss and post their own versions of music videos on the Web. This month the network launched “FNMTV", which airs new videos every Friday night and invites viewers to go online to comment on them and upload their reinterpretations at MTV.com. MTV has used a similar strategy in limited ways on past programs such as ...

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Six Concerts from 2007 Rochester International Jazz Festival to Air This Summer on PBS Stations Nationwide

Source: Dalmath Associates Inc.
June 25, 2008

See and hear more exciting scenes and sounds from the Rochester International Jazz Festival on PBS stations around the nation. WXXI Public Broadcasting (wxxi.org) in Rochester, NY will present season two of the Festival capturing the essence of the 2007 nine-day music festival with spectacular performances by some of today's hottest musicians and legendary names in jazz. The entire series will air on PBS HD across the country (including WXXI-HD DT21.1/cable 1011) in July and run through August. Shot in ...

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Artist as the Perennial Subject of Films

Source: Michael Ricci
June 23, 2008

Why can't the muse and real life get along?

“He wants to be normal, he just doesn't know what that means."

The life of the artist has long been romanticized and debunked, portrayed in turn as full of glamour, inner torment, the high life and low fortunes. This year's Los Angeles Film Festival features a number of documentaries that explore la vie bohme from many angles. Among the art-themed selections screening are the films “Finishing Heaven," “The Art of Failure: ...

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Herzog at the End of the Earth

Source: Michael Ricci
June 23, 2008

EXTREME MEASURES: Werner Herzog Explores the Antarctic The filmmaker travels to the South Pole to make what he says might be the deepest film of his career, 'Encounters at the End of the World.' His film crew consisting only of him and a cameraman.

“The only thing that becomes quite obvious in Antarctica," he said, “is that our presence on this planet, the human presence on the planet, is not really sustainable."

WERNER HERZOG says he should have ...

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America Once Had Talent

Source: All About Jazz
June 18, 2008

American Film Insitute Top Ten List

The first summer it was on the air, NBC's America's Got Talent was an amusing diversion. The next, it was a forgettable holdover. Now, it just seems like a cruel, sarcastically named taunt. OK, NBC, we get it--we get it! America does not in fact have talent! Do you need to keep rubbing our noses in it summer after summer? For those who wish to reminisce about the days when America, I'm told, did ...

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SounDoctrine's Jere B Makes Film Acting Debut World Premiere at Cleveland's Tower City

Source: All About Jazz
June 18, 2008

Ohio based Alternative Jazz Funk Band SOUNDOCTRINE's Producer and Drummer Jere B, has made his acting debut in the movie Greater Threat, written and directed by filmmaker Ray O'Neil. The World Premiere will take place Sunday, June 29th at 2:00pm at Tower City in Cleveland, Ohio 230 Huron Road #7256, Cleveland, OH 44113. Cast & Crew Red Carpet arrival begins at 12:30pm. A VIP Reception will follow at the Tower 230 Bar & Grille, featuring live music by SounDoctrine. “It's ...

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