TV / Film News

Mad Men and the Wall St. Journal

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 22, 2010

When I was a college intern at The New York Times in the late 1970s, I worked for the editors of the Op-Ed and editorial pages. One of the editorial board editors was architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who had already won a Pulitzer Prize. [Pictured: Jon Hamm as Mad Men's Don Draper]

Each day I'd bring Ms. Huxtable a stack of new architecture books that publishers had sent over for her to peruse or review. And each day she'd ...

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The Queen's Suite - a young jazz musicians dream to play to the Queen of England

Source: Corine Dhondee
July 17, 2010

'The trailer on Kickstarter is most easily the most inspiring thing I have seen in my adult life.' What is the Queen's Suite? The Queen's Suite is about Peter Edwards, one of Britain's most promising jazz arrangers and his dream is to perform Duke Ellington's Queen's Suite (which was written in 1959 for the current British Monarch) to the Queen at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The film follows Peter as he puts together his band, rehearses them and negotiates with ...

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The Miles Davis Movie: Which Way Are We Going?

Source: Miles Davis Online
July 13, 2010

Interesting article in the NY Times Sunday about biopics. The Miles Davis Biopic was not mentioned, obviously(!), but the points made by Dennis Lim about the delicate craft of producing a successful biopic can be easily connected to the Miles Davis Movie--and the many hurdles it faces as the project remains in an ongoing and agonizing cycle of development.

Often maligned yet ever popular, the biopic is surely the most reductive of movie genres. All biographers face the task of ...

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Apple Hopes to Re-Enter the Living Room

Source: Michael Ricci
July 2, 2010

In September 2006, Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, announced news of the company's latest offering: the Apple TV. Mr. Jobs had high hopes for his latest creation, so high that he told his audience that he hoped the Apple TV would be a fourth leg to the Apple business among PCs and iPods and iPhones.

When the Apple TV was unveiled a few months later in early 2007, Mr. Jobs reiterated these comments in an interview with USA Today: ...

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Remastered Film Celebrating Elvis Presley's Career to be Shown in Theaters Across the Country

Source: Michael Ricci
July 2, 2010

Elvis Presley is returning to the big screen again in the remastered film “Elvis on Tour: 75th Anniversary Celebration," which will be shown July 29 at more than 460 movie theaters around the country.

The movie will feature remastered footage of concert performances and interviews from the 1972 documentary “Elvis on Tour" -- the singer's last film before he died in 1977.

The film's release commemorates the 75th anniversary of Elvis' birth and includes a retrospective from his former wife, ...

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Screenwriters Find Work is Dwindling

Source: Michael Ricci
July 2, 2010

Looking to cut costs, Hollywood studios recast the rules under which they have long hired writers.

Screenwriter David Steinberg was invited last fall by a producer to pitch his idea for a rewrite of a “high-concept comedy" about an adult slacker for a major studio. Steinberg figured he had a good shot at the assignment with credits like “American Pie 2" under his belt, even though he heard there were many other writers competing for the opening. After an initial ...

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Phil Spector Documentary to Screen in Hollywood

Source: Michael Ricci
July 2, 2010

A new British documentary, The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector, will screen for a week in August at the American Cinematheques Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, where the films director and co-producer, Vikram Jayanti, will be on hand for the opening night on Aug. 19.

Jayanti interviewed Spector in depth during his first trial in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra mansion in 2003. That trial ended in a hung jury, but on re-trial, Spector was convicted ...

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A Cloud over Bali's Beautiful Beaches

Source: Michael Ricci
July 2, 2010

A documentary about Bali's 'Kuta cowboys,' the young bronzed Indonesian surfers who provide erotic services to female tourists on discreet sex vacations has brought unwelcome attention to Kuta Beach.

Amit Virmani was vacationing at Bali's famous Kuta Beach when he met a 12-year-old boy who told him of his unlikely goal: to grow up fast, so he could be a gigolo. The boy said his heroes were the young bronzed Indonesian surfers who provided erotic services to Japanese women and ...

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