ohGr will be on the road touring for the first time in three years to support their fourth album, unDeveloped (released in May 2011). The tour, which will include cities in the Western half of North America, will kick off in San Francisco on December 1, 2011.
unDeveloped‘s garnered positive reviews from critics, with Chris Alexander, Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria, saying, “From the coiled fetal cover imagery by artist Steven R. Gilmore, to the album’s creeping bio-mechanical opening strains that sound akin to a transmission from a hell spawned HAM radio, to its melancholy, downbeat yet undeniably sensual mid-section and its rousingly theatrical closing symphonies, unDeveloped is Ogre and Walk at the peak of their creative powers, a primal yet refined work of odd audio sculpted by dogs who are dedicated to bucking conventions …and who are apparently even more blood hungry now than they were in their collective youth.”
Ogre describes the album as having a “soft theme of distorted sexuality.” IGLOO’s review states, “Ogre and Mark Walk are in top form and have put together an album of excellent aggressive synth-pop. unDeveloped is both Ohgr’s most aggressive and accessible to date.”
“Dexter‘s enormous success is a real tribute to the great achievements of its cast, producers, and the powerhouse performance of Michael C. Hall,” David Nevins, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. stated in the press release. “The series is bigger than it’s ever been in its sixth season, both in terms of audience and its impact on the cultural landscape. Together with Michael, the creative team on the show has a very clear sense of where they intend to take the show over the next two seasons and, as a huge fan, I’m excited to watch the story of Dexter Morgan play out.”
Michael C. Hall added, “On behalf of the entire Dexter family, we relish the invitation to delve ever deeper into Dexter’s world.”
Season six has been averaging 5.12 million weekly viewers, according to Showtime, which makes it the series’ highest rated season yet.
Fans of Star Wars have a chance to buy a special collector’s edition pin and help out charity. Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox have created a pin featuring C-3PO and R2-D2 which will be sold for $3 each to raise funds for Variety programs that help out children who are disabled and disadvantaged.
The pins will be on sale from November 2011 – April 2012.
Announcing the sale of the pin, National Manager of Variety the Children’s Charity of the United States Erica Lopez stated, “Star Wars is a phenomenon that reaches throughout the globe and across generations. We encourage everyone to be a hero and purchase a pin to improve the life of a child in their community.”
The 3D version of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace hits theaters on February 10, 2012.
The field of documentary films in the running for the 2012 Oscars has narrowed to 15. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed which films have made the cut and will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards®:
“Battle for Brooklyn” (RUMER Inc.)
“Bill Cunningham New York” (First Thought Films)
“Buck” (Cedar Creek Productions)
“Hell and Back Again” (Roast Beef Productions Limited)
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” (Marshall Curry Productions, LLC)
“Jane’s Journey” (NEOS Film GmbH & Co. KG)
“The Loving Story” (Augusta Films)
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” (@radical.media)
“Pina” (Neue Road Movies GmbH)
“Project Nim” (Red Box Films)
“Semper Fi: Always Faithful” (Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc.)
“Sing Your Song” (S2BN Belafonte Productions, LLC)
“Undefeated” (Spitfire Pictures)
“Under Fire: Journalists in Combat” (JUF Pictures, Inc.)
“We Were Here” (Weissman Projects, LLC)
The nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, 2012. The Oscars will take place on February 26, 2012 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA.
Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – November 19, 2011
The year is 1998, and Manhattan is abuzz with anticipation about the upcoming auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. But the auction is far more than a diversion for Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish), a transplanted Southerner trapped in an unhappy and abusive marriage. Transfixed by the exquisite artifacts of the Windsors’ lives, Wally becomes obsessed with the love story of Wallis Simspon (Andrea Riseborough), the chic, charismatic American who captured the heart of King Edward VIII (James D’Arcy). As she learns more about the sacrifices Wallis made in choosing to be with Edward, Wally finds the courage to follow her own heart and create her own happiness.
A newlywed couple recovers from a car accident that puts the wife in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, her husband endeavors to win her heart again.
“George Clooney brings new definition to the word ‘star,’” stated Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner in the announcement. “A consummate actor, director, producer and screenwriter, he’s demonstrated that no discipline within the film industry is beyond his reach. In The Ides of March as an actor, director, producer and screenwriter, Clooney exposes the gritty world of political campaigns where winning is the only option, no matter how devastating the consequences. In The Descendants, he gives a bravura performance as a reluctant patriarch, living in a Hawaiian paradise, who is thrust into making life and death decisions affecting his entire family. To this star of many talents, whose career, fortunately for all of us who admire him, is still a work in progress, the Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present the 2011 Chairman’s Award to George Clooney.”
Ben Affleck, Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman are among the past recipients of the Chairman’s Award.
Source: Palm Springs International Film Festival – November 18, 2011
Bo, voiced by Meibh Campbell, Erik, voiced by Ava Acres, Mumble, voiced by Elijah Wood, and Atticus, voiced by Benjamin 'Lil P-Nut' Flores Jr in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ animated family comedy adventure Happy Feet Two.
“There’s plenty of reasons to dance.” “What’s mine, Pa?” That’s Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood), the master of tap dance in the penguin world, trying to convince his son, Erik, to join in on the fun but finding out the hard way that his son has zero dancing talent in the 3-D animated film, Happy Feet Two.
After being laughed at by most of the crowd, Erik runs away with his two best friends and meets up with Ramon (Robin Williams) who is heading back to his own tribe of penguins. Not long after arriving, Ramon and the boys are introduced to the Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria), a penguin who can fly! Stunned and amazed by his soaring ability, Erik sees Sven as his hero and dreams of soaring up into the sky himself.
Hot on their trail is Mumble who waddles into Sven’s big flying show and is not happy about Erik running away or about the charismatic Sven’s influence on his son. To make matters even worse, powerful forces shake the penguin’s Arctic world and trap almost the entire clan of Emperor Penguins. What used to be their home is now their prison with no way out. So it’s up to Mumble to bring together the penguin nations, as well as giant Elephant Seals and tiny Krill, to work together and find a way to set the imprisoned penguins free.
Fun, colorful, and bright, Happy Feet Two is an animated musical adventure that accomplishes something very rare for a sequel…it matches the original film. Elijah Wood returns effectively as the voice of everyone’s favorite penguin, Mumble, and Robin Williams doesn’t miss a beat returning to voice Ramon, the penguin who is forever seeking love, and the wise Barry White-sounding penguin, Lovelace.
Hank Azaria joins the cast as the voice of the mighty flying Sven with just the right goofiness and charm. Perhaps the best addition to the film though are the vocal talents of Brad Pitt as Will the Krill, determined to work his way up the food chain and become a predator, and Matt Damon as the voice of Bill the Krill, his buddy who is terrified of everything in the ocean.
The film has sharp writing with plenty of laugh-out-loud humor and a few sweet and touching scenes that work beautifully. It also has an original plot focusing not just on the dancing, singing, and the classic old tale of fitting in but creating the threat to the penguin world and what being a real hero is all about.
The 3D animation works wonderfully in the film, adding real depth to the ocean scenes both above and under the water as well as the flying scenes with Sven and when the trapped penguins try in vain to fly out of their prison.
Cute, charming, and funny, Happy Feet Two is a crowd-pleasing, toe-tapping, family-friendly, worthy adventure that will have both adults and children cheering and rooting for the penguins and their friends.
GRADE: B
Happy Feet Two hits theaters on November 18, 2011 and is rated PG for some rude humor and mild peril.
George Clooney and Shailene Woodley in ‘The Descendants’ (Photo By: Merie Wallace)
Coming off a lot of festival buzz is writer/director Alexander Payne’sThe Descendants, and there are three reasons people are wondering if it can be one of the contenders in the upcoming awards race:
1) It’s been 7 years since Payne’s last feature film, Sideways, and his track record is rather impressive, with About Schmidt, Election and Citizen Ruth also under his belt. While some were more widely seen than others, they all received fairly kind critical notice.
2) Pretty much anything with George Clooney these days seems to carry a pre-established sense of gravitas. His ability to be picky about the scripts, casts, and directors he wants to work with allows a greater percentage of those films to be more than mere diversions for audiences looking to mentally escape a hectic workweek.
3) The film’s pretty good.
The story centers on Matt King (Clooney), a lawyer in Hawaii with bloodlines that trace back to King Kamehameha, who’s facing a few difficult decisions. He’s in charge of figuring out the best way to sell off a large parcel of family-owned land in Kauai before a trust dissolves and ownership rights get tricky. This means dealing with a horde of cousins who disagree with one another on what that best way should be and being under the scrutiny of Hawaiians who don’t want the pristine land turned into another tourist trap.
Then there’s his home life. From the outset of the film, his wife is in a coma following an accident and Matt is about to discover the problems in their marriage were bigger than he thought. Add in two daughters he’s never had to parent on his own (Shailene Woodley & Amara Miller) and the emotional minefield is now fully armed. The plot progresses as Dad and the girls navigate their way through Mom’s hospital stay and begin to figure out how to their roles with one another.
Most effective in the film are the script and the cast. Payne has always had a knack for sharp dialogue and the ability to get to the core of his characters; they’re flawed in the way real people are flawed, and they’re on the hunt for answers to deal with whatever phase of their life is being presented on-screen at the time. Working hand-in-hand with that script is a well-cast group of actors.
Of course, it starts with Clooney. While I’m of the opinion he’s more movie star than actor, it’s hard to deny his likability, and this is a slight departure from just portraying Dr. Ross/Danny Ocean one more time. But what really sells things are Woodley, Miller, and the chemistry among all three. Their performances deliver not only the line readings but also the nuances to these characters. Each of them is dealing with the events surrounding them in their own ways, and it’s a joy to watch them on-screen.
Supporting cast members are also up to the task, helping to paint a picture of what this family must have been like before the accident and the degree to which they’ll have to band together to weather this particular storm. Of course, Robert Forster makes for one hell of a father-in-law, and Judy Greer plays sympathetic and endearing as good as they come. The two odd bits are Matthew Lillard and Nick Krause.
Not for lack of effort or ability, seeing Lillard portray an actual adult just feels a bit … wrong. Having films like SLC Punk, Hackers and Scream cemented into memory, the notion of being someone with a job and kids is almost foreign. As for Krause, there’s nothing wrong performance-wise. He’s a friend of the oldest daughter, tagging along with her to provide moral support. However, he’s also the very definition of a plot device, helping steer Clooney at just the right time and providing comic relief when things could possibly get a bit too tense for some.
Perhaps my biggest complaint is the extent to which we interact with Lillard and Greer, as it seems like the sole focus of the picture should be on the immediate family but even that, and the obviousness of using Krause as a plot device, didn’t detract much from the overall experience. And although there’s not much apart from the script and perhaps the eldest daughter’s performance that may stand out once 2011 shakes out, The Descendants is often entertaining, slightly cathartic, and well worth a trip to the theaters.
GRADE: B+
The Descendants hits theaters on November 18, 2011 and is rated R for language including some sexual references.
Summit Entertainment, the studio behind all the Twilight films, has just unleashed the trailer for their 2012 thriller, Gone. Directed by Heitor Dhalia and starring Amanda Seyfried, Wes Bentley, Emily Wickersham, and Jennifer Carpenter, Gone is scheduled to hit theaters on February 24, 2012.
Watch the trailer:
The Plot:
When Jill Parrish (Seyfried) returns home from the night shift to find her sister’s bed empty, she is convinced that the serial killer who kidnapped her two years before has come back to finish the job. But the police do not believe her and Jill knows time is running out. With no one to turn to, Jill sets off to find her sister and face her abductor once and for all.
Fans of 
The field of documentary films in the running for the 2012 Oscars has narrowed to 15. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed which films have made the cut and will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards®: 
