TV / Film News

Film Director Slams Microsoft as Non-Talent Friendly

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2009

Microsoft/XBox was by far the most dreadful, non-talent friendly company Ive ever worked for, claims director James Gunn following his experiences with the companys Horror Gone Comedy video series.

Gunn, who is most notable for writing the two live-action Scooby Doo films, signed on to create a video for Microsoft, for, essentially, no money, based on the idea that he would have complete creative freedom. According to a post on Gunns blog, it didnt quite work out like that.

Shortly ...

Continue Reading...

Recording the 'Wolverine' Score

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2009

A look at Gregson-Williams in the studio

It's a Tuesday afternoon in late March on the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century-Fox. Harry Gregson-Williams, looking a bit haggard after having been up most of the night finishing the music of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine," stands before a 40- voice choir as they prepare to sing -- in the strange-sounding Old Icelandic language -- stanzas from an ancient Norse poem that will underscore the film's dramatic opening. “Let's try one a little ...

Continue Reading...

The Adaptation of Times Columnist Steve Lopez's Book Hits All the Wrong Notes.

Source: Michael Ricci
April 24, 2009

Remember when Lloyd Bentsen told Dan Quayle, “I knew Jack Kennedy. . . . Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy"? Well, I felt a little that way when it came to reviewing The Soloist.

I could back up and write all this in the reviewer's traditional third person, but that feels disingenuous. After all, I do know Steve Lopez, whose wonderful Los Angeles Times columns and later book about his unlikely friendship with a gifted but deeply troubled street musician started ...

Continue Reading...

Wynton Marsalis to Perform on Letterman

Source: On Target Media Group
April 23, 2009

Wynton Marsalis has been confirmed to appear on the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ on Wed May 13th.

The Pulitzer Prize & 9-time Grammy Award winner will perform the new song ‘School Boy’ from his new Blue Note album He & She - his 5th Blue Note release that features 22 tracks of his signature jazz, as well as spoken word and poetry tracks, all centered around the theme of the relationship between man and woman.

The show will air ...

Continue Reading...

The Music Instinct: Science and Song

Source: All About Jazz
April 23, 2009

THE TRUE POWER OF MUSIC UNFOLDS IN THE MUSIC INSTINCT: SCIENCE AND SONG hosted by Bobby McFerrin and Dr. Daniel Levitin

While listening to music, neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, asks the questions “where do goose bumps come from?" and “what's going on in my brain that allows the goosebumps to happen?" Levitin leads a group of researchers as they investigate music's fundamental physical structure; its biological, emotional and psychological impact; its brain altering and healing powers and its role in human ...

Continue Reading...

Another Documentary, Another Riff on the History and Mystery of Jazz

Source: Michael Ricci
April 20, 2009

Icons Among Us, a four-part series beginning Monday on the Documentary Channel, serves as a retort to Ken Burns’s 2001 television documentary Jazz. It doesn't make this explicit, but it doesn't need to. There's no other elephant in the room. Mr. Burns's series, you may remember, outlined styles and eras and individual accomplishments. His film--with a narrator supplying context and imposing historical judgments--attempted to tell the story from the music's beginning. He put forth a big extra-musical idea: jazz is ...

Continue Reading...

Jamie Foxx's Skid Role Soloist

Source: Michael Ricci
April 20, 2009

Jamie Foxx struggled while playing Nathaniel Ayers, who suffers from schizophrenia. The role reminded Foxx of a mentally traumatic experience he had at age 18.

In nightclubs and strip joints across the country, the song of the moment is Jamie Foxx's “Blame It (On the Alcohol)," a leering tale of bad boys, well, behaving badly. The hit certainly inspired a few smirks in Hollywood, where Foxx has become a respected star but also has a reputation for playing as hard ...

Continue Reading...

'Icons Among Us' Shows Jazz in a Different Light

Source: Michael Ricci
April 20, 2009

Of all the genres in music, jazz might lead them in terms of the sheer number of eulogies that are racked up in its honor on a yearly basis.

Which is, of course, as absurd as the similar calls bemoaning rock's death that come around every few years. However, if recent tribute activity is any indication, jazz may be alive and well, but it's acquired a troubling addiction to its past; a habit that comes with its own crippling side-effects. ...

Continue Reading...