Do protests help or hurt a film is the question

By Nadine Jolson

SANTA MONICA, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/7/09 — You may have heard about “Kill Speed,” perhaps the most talked about film at AFM 2009.

There is a negative campaign circulating. According to Eric Norwitz, the attorney representing Epic Pictures Group, Inc., and Patrick Ewald, “The allegations ’Kill Speed’ is a stolen film are ridiculous and without any merit whatsoever.  The Bass Entertainment Pictures’ high-flying film, ‘Kill Speed’ was conceived, written, and directed solely by Kim Bass.”

Break ins, print theft and duplicitous name changes?  That’s what Michael Belt and FilmTheft.com are claiming in an email news release just sent out to media and industry attendees of the American Film Market.  Here’s the complete text of the [Read more →]

Copyright 2009 David Glover www.CaroonStock.com

Republican Governor Charlie Crist is popular in Florida but a decided moderate running on a platform of less taxes and less spending. The Far Right of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh types ran the Congressional 23rd District election of Deidre Scozzofava into the ditch. Can they do it again with Charlie Crist and put in their choice Marco Rubio?

MJ coin coupons to be given to some moviegoers

By: Stephanie Tsoflias

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/5/09 — As the masses rush to catch a final glimpse of the King of Pop in THIS IS IT, we’ve learned that fans can take home a special piece of MJ this weekend. In conjunction with the national release of Michael Jackson’s documentary, moviegoers will receive a certificate for the Officially Licensed and Jackson Estate Approved MJ Commemorative Coin.

The campaign, giving fans a chance to honor [Read more →]

BBC America 1-hour documentary with Top Gear star premieres Tuesday, November 10th, 8pm ET/PT **** Four Stars
By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/5/2009 – “Going to space changed the way we look at the Earth,” says Top Gear presenter James May, who’s taking a look at the moon missions forty years later. “At 46 I’m too old, too unfit and too long-haired to ever know what it would be to be an astronaut. The U-2 is the peak of 50s aviation from the dawn of the space age. The Air Force has offered to take me up to 70,000 feet where I’ll be able to look into the blackness of space.”

Top Gear presenter James May fulfills a childhood dream of flying to the edge of space. Driven by a passion for technology, May seeks out the astronauts and the engineering heroes of the space race, the few who flew and built the machines that may be man’s greatest technological achievement.

“NASA’s first space suits were based on [Read more →]

After months of silence the singer opens up

By Adam Shapiro

Rihanna plans domestic abuse press tour

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/04/09 – “Domestic violence is a big secret,” Rihanna said. “The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn’t heard. Now I can help speak for those women.”

After nine months of silence, pop sensation Rihanna is at last opening up about her seemingly perfect relationship with singer Chris Brown and the shocking event that led his arrest last February.

In an upcoming ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer airing Thursday on “Good Morning America” and Friday on “20/20,” Rihanna acknowledged that Chris Brown was “definitely my first big love” but explained that their relationship was self-destructive. “The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other,” she proclaimed.

The pop star’s public outpouring continued with Glamour Magazine. After being named Glamour’s 2009 Woman of the Year, Rihanna appears in the December issue to discuss her ongoing healing process and the overwhelming media frenzy that immediately followed Brown’s assault on her the night before the Grammy Awards.

“I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. It was like, ‘What, there are helicopters circling my house? There are 100 people in my cul-de-sac? What do you mean, I can’t [Read more →]

Biography of Paul McCartney mixes his personal life and his music *** 3 Stars
Gabrielle Pantera interviews Paul McCartney a Life author Peter A Carlin

Paul McCartney dining at the astral cafeteria according to a member of Wings

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/4/2009 – “I always love talking to musicians and the producers/arrangers who work with musicians in their natural element,” says Paul McCartney a Life author Peter A. Carlin. “They have very little interest in the media mythology surrounding a famous artist, and focus entirely on the quality of their work and the experience of working with them.”

Paul McCartney a Life traces the origin of Paul McCartney’s life, how he met John Lennon, and how they became the Beatles. The book looks at his loves, his life with first wife Linda through to her unfortunate death, and his disastrous second marriage with Heather Mills.

“What really intrigues me is the interplay between an artist’s ordinary life…growing up, going to school, winding clocks, eating chocolate…and his artistry,” says Carlin. “How does one inspire or inhibit the other? Where does an ordinary life lift off into a more magical realm? Not many books seem as fixated on this as I am, so I figure, oh hell, better write it myself. When a person can describe, vividly, the experience of playing music alongside Paul McCartney, the joy in his face as the voices slide into harmony, the way he’ll lose himself in the process…dining at the astral cafeteria, according to one member of Wings…I feel like I’m hearing something extremely important and [Read more →]

Copyright 2009 David Glover www.CaroonStock.com

House Minority Leader John Boehner, as Napoleon, declaring the Conservative Political Revolution is now on.  The GOP swinging to the far Right.

I’m With Ringo: A Baby Boomer goes to review a show on the Vegas trip and realizes how important the Beatles music has been in his life.

By Alex Ben Block

Beatles get a little Love from Cirque du Soleil

LAS VEGAS (HOLLYWOOD TODAY) – 11/3/09 — My love affair with the Beatles music began in the Sixties and is still going strong. Their songs have turned out to be oracles of a new age in which music was all that mattered. When the British invasion hit America in the early 1960s I immediately surrendered. They have been a key part of the soundtrack of my life ever since.

The Fab Four got me again last Friday night when I was blown away by the Cirque du Soleil’s multimedia stage and musical extravaganza “Love” at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. They have taken the Beatles music and matched it to the zany, creative genius of Cirque du Soleil (French for “Circus of the Sun).” The result is a delight of bouncing, flying madness set to the soundtrack of the legendary British band, creating  near sensory overload and a unique form of entertainment.

Today in the U.S. Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Cirque offers a multi-media experience that crosses theater and a circus with the pacing of a shoot em up western,  as might be conceived by the Marx brothers on steroids. The environment is replete with huge video screens exploding with stunning images in perfect sync with the flow of history, life, acrobats, jugglers, stilt walkers, dancers, [Read more →]

Jersey Boys Find A Home In Sin City

By Alex Ben Block

Jersey Boys

LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Today) 11/3/09 –  Halloween night the streets of Las Vegas were jammed with witches, pirates, mermaids and jokers amid a river of costumed revelers; but in the spacious modern theater inside the Palazzo Resort Hotel-Casino it was 1962 once again and four Italian boys were starting their unlikely rise from the hard streets of New Jersey to international stardom in the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys.”

The Las Vegas production of “Jersey Boys” has been a hit since it opened in May 2008, bringing the Tony Award winning Broadway sensation to a city that plays a supporting role in the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, mixing jukebox hits with a surprisingly captivating tale of love, life and fame.

I caught up with the Sin City version of Frankie Valli’s life as madness filled the streets outside, and music drove the story inside the specially built two story theater where the simplicity of the sets works brilliantly to put the emotion, drama and power of the musical front and center. It’s no wonder “Jersey Boys” has been chosen by the town’s biggest newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, as “Best Show” for the two years it has been running.

Even for those too young to remember Valli, the music he performed and [Read more →]

Disney, snowed in at the House of Mouse, releases on DVD today *** 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera

Disney Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/3/2009 – “When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human,” said Mickey Mouse creator and original voice Walt Disney. “That’s the secret of his popularity. We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin, a little fellow trying to do the best he could. I think we are rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea.”

Disney Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse presents Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and their animated friends. When they get snowed in, they learn the true meaning of Christmas. Originally debuted in 2001, this hour-length adventure stars more than 35 Disney characters including Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Bambi, Dumbo and The Lion King.

Mickey Mouse might never have been created but for the [Read more →]

Copyright 2009 David Glover www.CaroonStock.com

Joe Lieberman is threatening the Democrats with a filibuster if they keep in a public option in the Health Care Bill. The tactic may win concessions for major insurance companies based in the Democratic senator’s home state of Connecticut.