It’s been a long time coming but the newly reunited Ben Folds Five is set to release The Sound Of The Life Of the Mind on September 18, 2012. The album of new music marks the first from the group in 13 years, with a portion of the funds raised from its sale going to support Music Education and Music Therapy (a charity chosen by Ben Folds Five).
Per the official announcement: “The music’s genesis took place via a successful grassroots direct-to-fans campaign on PledgeMusic, where artists and fans work together with charities to create albums and other projects.”
The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind Track List
“Erase Me”
“Michael Praytor, Five Years Later”
“Sky High”
“The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind”
“On Being Frank”
“Draw A Crowd”
“Do It Anyway”
“Hold That Thought”
“Away When You Were Here”
“Thank You For Breaking My Heart”
Ben Folds Five 2012-2013 Tour
September 13 Holyoke, MA Mountain Park Amphitheatre
September 14 New York, NY Central Park Rumsey Playground
September 16 Cary, NC Koka Booth Amphitheatre
September 18 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
September 19 North Charleston, SC North Charleston Performing Arts Center
September 21 Pensacola Beach, FL DeLuna Fest
September 23 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
September 24 Austin, TX Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheatre
September 25 Houston, TX Bayou Music Center
September 28 Kansas City, MO Starlight
October 2 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit
October 5 Buffalo, NY Kleinhas
November 10 Melbourne, Australia Harvest Festival – Werribee Park
November 17 Sydney, Australia Harvest Festival – Parramatta Park
November 18 Brisbane, Australia Harvest Festival – Botanic Gardens
November 23 Bristol, England O2 Academy
November 24 Nottingham, England Rock City
November 26 Dublin, Ireland Vicar Street
November 29 Manchester, England O2 Apollo
November 30 Glasgow, Scotland O2 Academy
December 1 Leeds, England O2 Academy
December 3 Birmingham, England O2 Academy
December 4 London, England O2 Academy Brixton
December 5 London, England O2 Academy Brixton
Details on Ben Folds Five [Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment]
Ben Folds Five–Ben Folds (piano), Robert Sledge (bass) and Darren Jessee (drums)–launched in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1994. The trio’s high energy gigs garnering an intensely loyal fanbase, BFF signed first with an indie before a move to the majors wrought 1997’s watershed Whatever And Ever Amen. A slice of pure pop perfection, the album introduced the ballad “Brick,” broke the band commercially and sold more than two million copies worldwide. BFF recorded its last album, 1999’s The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, which included the single “Army,” before disbanding in 2000. (The trio reunited for a one-off live performance of The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner on MySpace in 2008).
In 2011, the original three members of Ben Folds Five came together to record three new studio tracks for The Best Imitation Of Myself: A Retrospective, a career-spanning Ben Folds anthology. The band’s magic rekindled in the new tracks, BFF gave its first concert in more than a decade to a spellbound audience at New York’s Mountain Jam Festival on June 2, 2012. In the wake of the group’s triumphal return at Mountain Jam, the group performed a short run of key US summer festival dates including Bonnaroo, Milwaukee Summerfest, and Old St. Patrick’s Church Block Party in Chicago.
I’m thinking Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon books weren’t meant to be made into movies. They’re an enjoyable read, but there’s so much backstory to digest, so many minute but important details involving the cases Langdon becomes involved in that neither The Da Vinci Code nor Angels and Demons have translated well into feature films. Plus, whether a conscious decision or just one made to make the films flow smoother cinematically, they’re a whitewashed version of Brown’s controversial swipes at the Catholic Church.
While Angels and Demons is a better movie than The Da Vinci Code (just the fact Tom Hanks’ hairdo doesn’t look ridiculous in this film, as it did in Da Vinci Code, is an improvement), it’s not nearly as entertaining as the source material. Those who’ve read Brown’s books are likely to walk away from this film sadly disappointed. And for those who haven’t read Angels and Demons, the experience isn’t going to be all that much better.
Without giving anything away, much of the power of the ending of the book Angels and Demons is sadly missing from the film adaptation. And one of the more interesting central characters has been completely removed from the film version. It’s an action film minus serious thrills, a whodunit that doesn’t pull in the audience the way it needs to.
The Story
The Pope passed away and now it’s time to elect a new one. Crowds gather in front of the Vatican and the College of Cardinals is prepared to go into seclusion in order to elect the next leader of the Catholic Church. But wait, there’s a huge monkey wrench tossed into their plans: there’s a bomb on the premises and the four favorites to be elected Pope are suddenly missing.
Enter Robert Langdon, noted Harvard symbologist and one of the few people on the planet who has studied the secret organization behind the plot to blow up Vatican City. Langdon knows as much as one can about the Illuminati without actually being a member of the renegade group. He’ll have help tracking down clues and trying to find the bomb from a gorgeous scientist (played by Ayelet Zurer). She and her father were employed by CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, and devised a method to create antimatter, a tiny, tiny amount of which was stolen and is set to explode at midnight. And those cardinals that are missing? Well, the Illuminati will execute one an hour leading up to midnight.
So, let’s recap Langdon’s tasks: Find the clues, follow where they lead, try and save each cardinal before he’s killed in a horrifying manner, work around the Church’s security personnel who don’t really believe in the Illuminati or in the fact they will be annihilated at midnight, try and find the bomb, and then figure out the best way to render it harmless. All this must be accomplished in just a matter of hours, including the research necessary to figure out the Illuminati’s secret hiding places – something no one has ever done. Given that Angels and Demons the book is set before The Da Vinci Code (though the film isn’t), it’s unlikely our hero will perish while trying to save the Vatican.
The Cast
Tom Hanks is fine as Langdon, and it truly is a blessing that he’s not being forced to wear that silly wig again. When Hanks was initially cast in the role of Robert Langdon back in 2004, I was skeptical because he isn’t anything like how I pictured the character while reading Brown’s book. But director Ron Howard knew what he was doing in casting his friend/frequent collaborator in the lead. Both films needed someone charismatic, relatable, and able to talk us through the ins and outs of the hunt, and frankly there aren’t that many actors in Hanks’ age group who fit that bill.
Hanks is the best thing about Angels and Demons. Although he’s surrounded by a talented group of supporting players that includes Stellan Skarsgard, Ewan McGregor, and Armin Mueller-Stahl, none makes an impact the way Hanks does. Even his lovely co-star, Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, doesn’t stand out. She’s relegated to being a minor player in the film, while in the book her role in the action was greatly expanded.
The Bottom Line
Yes, Angels and Demons succeeds in ways The Da Vinci Code failed, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth devoting your time to in a movie theater. Watching Hanks as Langdon do his impression of a Tasmanian Devil racing all around Rome trying to get to specific Illuminati-related locations in time to stop murders is only mildly fun.
Angels and Demons is bedeviled with problems in logic, the majority of which were spelled out in the book but were lost in translation on the way to the screen. And then there’s that final act…one which I won’t spell out here…that’s a tepid version of the book’s. That alone was enough to ruin Angels and Demons for me.
GRADE: C+
Angels and Demons was directed by Ron Howard and is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, disturbing images and thematic material.
IDW Publishing announced they will be publishing the comic book series Vitriol The Hunter by Brent Allen and Good Charlotte’s Billy Martin. The first edition will arrive in early 2013 featuring art by Martin. Commenting on the new venture, Martin said, “This book has traveled everywhere I have on tour over the last few years. I’ve had a light table and art supplies set up on countless buses and hotel rooms across the world.”
“Billy and I have done numerous writing projects together and this is definitely our best work to date,” Allen said. “Being from Baltimore, Edgar Allan Poe is a hero of mine, and I can only hope to step foot in part of his shadow on this project. We are both really excited to hear how the readers take to the world we created.”
Martin is also working on a soundtrack which was inspired by Vitriol The Hunter. The soundtrack will mark the first official release under the name ‘Villain’ and will feature original music available for free inside the comic book.
The Plot:
Vitriol The Hunter is co-created by Martin and Allen, and draws on the folklore and old monster myths prevalent in today’s society, twisting them into a macabre-style story reminiscent of classic horror movies crossed with futuristic fantasy. A self-proclaimed vigilante, Vitriol embarks on a mission to protect his homeland from the malicious monsters that have overtaken it, led by a brutal tyrant vampire.
Set in the fictional city of Basilika in 2127, Vitriol The Hunter chronicles our hero’s journey as he encounters werewolves, hordes of hellions, and other walking myths. This new horror series is slated to run for six issues.
HBO announced the addition of new season three Game of Thrones cast members while presenting a standing room-only panel at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, with each new Game of Thrones cast member introducing themselves in a short but sweet video:
– Mackenzie Crook as Orell. A wildling raider, Orell is a “warg” or “skinchanger,” with the ability to enter the mind of an animal and control its actions.
– Clive Russell as Bryndon “The Blackfish” Tully. Known far and wide as “The Blackfish,” Brynden is a famous knight and the uncle of Catelyn Stark. He quarreled bitterly with his brother, Lord Hoster Tully, and the two were estranged for many years.
– Nathalie Emannuel as Missandei. Originally from the peaceful island of Naath, Missandei was sold into slavery as a child, along with her brother. She received education in various languages and became a translator to the slave trader Kraznys in Astapor.
– Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon, the only child of Stannis Baratheon. An avid reader, she escapes her lonely life through myths and stories – her books are her most treasured possessions.
– Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr. A key member of the outlaw band known as the Brotherhood Without Banners, he is a Red Priest, in service of the Lord of Light, and originally hails from the Free City of Myr, in Essos.
– Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed, a mysterious and enigmatic young man who becomes an important ally to Bran Stark.
– Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed. The eldest daughter of Howland Reed and a staunch Stark loyalist, Meera and her younger brother Jojen seek out Bran Stark to protect him on his hard journey north.
– Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion. Once the lord of Blackhaven and a celebrated warrior, Lord Beric has now become the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners, a band of vigilante outlaws.
– Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane. A famed wildling warrior and chief lieutenant of the “King Beyond the Wall,” Mance Rayder, Tormund is fearsome and strong, with a large build and a beard to match.
– Philip McGinley as Anguy, an extremely skilled archer and key member of the outlaw band known as the Brotherhood Without Banners.
– Tara Fitzgerald as Selyse Baratheon. The wife of Stannis Baratheon, Selyse spends much of her life in seclusion, shut away in a gloomy tower.
– Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully. The younger brother of Catelyn Stark, Edmure has recently become Lord of Riverrun in the wake of his father’s death.
– Anton Lesser as Qyburn, a former maester of the Citadel, who was stripped of his chain many years ago.
Returning Game of Thrones cast members include Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen,Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Richard Madden, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Sophie Turner, Jack Gleeson and Alfie Allen.
Disney’s offered up this first trailer for the 2013 film Oz: The Great and Powerful and if you didn’t know who directed the fantasy adventure, you might assume it’s a Tim Burton film. It’s not. This prequel was directed by Sam Raimi (the first three Spider-Man movies), however it does have a Burton connection. Joe Roth serves as producer on this and Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams, Oz: The Great and Powerful will arrive in theaters on March 8, 2013.
The Plot:
When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot–fame and fortune are his for the taking–that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity–and even a bit of wizardry–Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
Lullaby explores the power of life, its transformative moments and reconnections between loved ones. Estranged from his family, Jonathan (Hedlund) receives word that his father, Robert (Jenkins), who has been fighting illness for over a decade has chosen to take himself off life support in less than forty-eight hours. What follows is an unexpected journey of love, laughter, and forgiveness.
Writer/director Neill Blomkamp blew audiences away with his first feature film, District 9, which premiered at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. And it was only fitting he returned to the Con to debut footage from his second film, Elysium, a movie the studio and filmmaker have been keeping pretty much top secret, only announcing an official synopsis for just days before the 2012 Comic-Con. The preview screening of Elysium footage proved to be one of the biggest hits at the Con, with the film’s stars including Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Sharlto Copley (the star of District 9) making the trek to San Diego to talk to movie fans about the sci-fi film.
Returning to Comic-Con, Copley – who was more than happy to be back to the place he credits with helping to make District 9 so successful – was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the jammed-to-capacity crowd. Catching a quieter moment with Elysium‘s main bad guy, I asked him about the project which is bigger in scale than his first collaboration with writer/director Blomkamp.
Exclusive Interview with Sharlto Copley from Elysium
Saying yes to doing another movie with Neill must have been a real no-brainer.
“Definitely.”
Did you even have to read the script?
“No. I saw the initial design work, the first actual images I saw from Elysium were at the BAFTAs for District 9. He showed me a few things on his computer and I was like, ‘Dude, I want to do this movie.’ I didn’t even know what it was about; I didn’t know anything. ‘I just want to do the movie. Please, can I do the movie?'”
Did he say at that point that he had something in mind for you already?
“No, he didn’t know what was going to happen because he was still writing the script. He still had different ideas. And then he sent me an early draft of the script a while later, just sent it to me to see what I thought. Immediately I resonated with this character that I’m playing which is really the main villain in the movie. I said to him, ‘Dude, just so you know, this is the one I’d like to do if you want me.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I hear you.’ And it was an opportunity to make a really unique and different character, that’s what specifically resonated with me with this character. I loved the story, I loved the script and all, but I was drawn to try and do something different.”
If he had said he wanted you but not for that specific character, would you still have said yes?
“Yeah, I would have been an extra. I would have been an extra walking onto the set selling oranges.”
Do the designs he initially showed you wind up in the film or did his vision change from those early drafts?
“That stuff always develops over time, but essentially it was the same. He develops his design work as he goes and refines certain things. He refined a lot of things in the story and went through two or three different story versions and main character versions even, but the essence of the film is the same.”
Was it a lot different working with Neill on this with a big budget and studio backing than it was on District 9?
“It wasn’t because Neill had so much control over this film so we weren’t answering to like a million people at a studio. So it really just felt like the same thing but just with more money and less hassle and less stress, better craft services, less dirt. Although I lie – we shoot in Mexico City so there was a fair amount of dirt. We were in the slums of Mexico. But also, this was a much more tightly scripted film than District 9 was, but Neill again allowed me to go and improv like crazy. I love that and so I did again a huge amount of improv with the character.”
Did you take your character in a direction that wasn’t actually in the script?
“Oh, totally. I think he’d originally written him as like a British guy and then Neill and I worked together on turning him into a South African and a very specific type of South African, based on South African characters and stereotypes of, again, people we both knew about. We kind of defined and developed the character, just because it was the opportunity…I could have played him British, I could have played him Eastern European, I could have, but it was just you don’t get a lot of opportunities to do something really different. And I felt this was one of those, and so did he.”
Is it fun to play a villain?
“It is, but more specifically when the villain isn’t too serious. The last villain I really enjoyed was Heath Ledger’s Joker and where you can sort of have a bit of charisma to the fellow and you can play with him and it’s not overly dark. This is a genre movie, so the whole movie it’s not taking itself 100% seriously. There is that element of fun, and so I didn’t find it depressing me at the end of the day or anything like that.”
There wasn’t any problem shaking off the character.
[Laughing] “Exactly. I am pretty good with that stuff. I can shake it off if I need to because, you know, it’s going to some dark places – don’t get me wrong, but it’s doing it in a bit of a fun way and I’d like to think somewhat charismatic way, hopefully.”
Before the Comic-Con panel, we hadn’t seen anything from it. It’s been such a well-kept secret. What’s the tone?
“Cool. Is that a tone? Can you use that as a tone? Amazing? Intense? That’s the tone. It’s pretty awesome.”
District 9 really got kicked off here at Comic Con. Is that why it was important to bring this film here too?
“I suppose so, for the studio, for Sony. For me, it’s just very emotional because this is the place where my life changed. 2009 my life literally changed after the first screening of District 9. They brought it here to kind of see what would happen. We had two press dates on our tour as we went into Comic Con. I got a sheet that said, ‘Los Angeles press engagements: none listed.’ ‘New York press engagements: none listed.’ And then the next morning after the first Comic Con screening, it was like, ‘Guys, we need you to go to 10 cities, and then you need to go to other countries. You’re going to go to Japan.'”
That must have been such a good feeling.
“Yeah. Especially when you…I’m nine years old wanting to be in film in South Africa, making little movies, feeling like I’m very isolated down there. And you come to a place like this years later and you arrive and you find people that love film as much as you and like what you did. Thank God, because of course it could go the other way. I mean, they’re not necessarily always going to like what you do, but I feel confident with this one; I feel good about the character and I feel good about the movie.”
What are you allowed to say about the movie?
“I mean, what’s out there now. It’s a movie about the haves and the have nots. The haves are now living off the surface of the Earth in an amazing environment, it’s like Beverly Hills in the sky, and the have nots are stuck on Earth in an overpopulated environment that’s not very pleasant to live in. My guy is the main villain. He’s the equivalent, I suppose, of what you’d find today as like a black ops operative for Elysium, for the government officials. He hides out on Earth and they activate him when there’s problems that need to be dealt with off the record.”
He takes out people?
“Yes he does, very much so. It’s a very different role for me.”
Do you have to do a lot of shooting and working with guns?
“There’s quite a bit of like swords and knives and guns, and he’s extremely lethal. There’s several ways that the man could kill you very easily.”
Swords and knives? Isn’t this set in 2159? Are we still fighting with swords and knives?
“Yes, but he does because he likes it. It’s just more interesting. He’s a warrior and it makes it more exciting, more intimidating. It’s sort of the analogy of, because if you imagine that most of Earth the way it’s populated now, using analogies like the way that in certain – again, drawing from like places in Africa – people will take a knife and chop your hand off as an intimidation tactic. So my guy’s that sort of guy. So that you understand my point, I will chop your hand off if necessary. So the sword really represents that. I mean I could kill you, but that’s not as interesting as chopping your hand off to kind of say I’m serious.”
Overall you said the tone is “cool,” but is it really bloody and gory?
“Yeah, very similar to the District 9 type of thing. It’s very, very grounded in real kind of issues but then with a sci-fi kind of action but with gore. It’s very much Neill’s style again, just maybe a little bit slicker this time. He’s going for a more sort of polished look than he did in District 9.”
HBO premiered a new trailer for the second half of True Blood season 5 during the show’s presentation at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con. The sexy vampire series proved once again to be super popular with Comic Con attendees, with cast members including Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin and Alexander Skarsgard answering questions from loyal viewers at the annual gathering of comic book, film, and TV fans. During the Q&A, show creator Alan Ball promised more sex scenes are on their way in the second half of the season as well as more info on Sookie and Jason’s parents and three new romances.
“Theatrical releases for our films are a progression that has always been part of our company’s plan,” stated partner Paul Bales. “We think #HOLDYOURBREATH is the perfect match for our area of expertise considering our history with horror and other genre films.”
The Plot:
Based on the urban legend that you can breathe in evil spirits when passing cemeteries, #HOLDYOURBREATH follows seven friends embarking on a weekend camping trip who pass a run-down cemetery and find themselves arguing about the legitimacy of the urban myth. When one friend refuses to hold his breath while passing by, he finds himself the unwitting host to a notorious serial killer who jumps from body to body in order to pick off each of the friends one-by-one.
Commenting on the third season renewal, Head of MTV Programming David Janollari said, “Teen Wolf represents a terrific foray into the scripted world for the millennial MTV audience, and marks tremendous success in the continued diversification of our schedule. Renewing the show for a third season celebrates the creative vision of Executive Producer Jeff Davis and the remarkable talent of the cast who bring this bona fide fan favorite to life.”
The show’s the #1 series in its time period among teen viewers and, according to MTV, now ranks as the “#1 series across all TV in its time period among the key P12-34 demo, and draws 1.8 million total viewers each week.”
The Plot:
Teen Wolf is a sexy, suspenseful drama about transformation set against the backdrop of contemporary teen life, with a forbidden, romantic love story at its core. The series stars Tyler Posey as Scott McCall, Crystal Reed as Allison Argent, Dylan O’Brien as Stiles, Tyler Hoechlin as Derek Hale, Holland Roden as Lydia Martin and Colton Haynes as Jackson Whittemore.
IDW Publishing announced they will be publishing the comic book series Vitriol The Hunter by Brent Allen and Good Charlotte’s Billy Martin. The first edition will arrive in early 2013 featuring art by Martin. Commenting on the new venture, Martin said, “This book has traveled everywhere I have on tour over the last few years. I’ve had a light table and art supplies set up on countless buses and hotel rooms across the world.”
