Movie Releases: May 1st

Goodchild already did a bit on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, but here are some more films being released today.

NAKED AMBITION, AN R-RATED LOOK AT AN X-RATED INDUSTRY:

Aside from the fact that I probably will watch any documentary on the porn industry, this is kind of a cool angle from the eyes of photographer Michael Grecco. Although I'll have to admit I won't go to the theaters for this, but I definitely want to check it out at some point.

+ Naked Ambition: And R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry [Variety]

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THE MERRY GENTLEMEN:

This is Michael Keaton's directorial debut about a love triangle that forms between a woman starting a new life from an abusive relationship, a suicidal hitman and an alcoholic detective. I'm definitely curious about how Keaton does as a director, and people have been saying good things about the film. Let me know how it is if anyone sees it.

+ Sundance Review: The Merry Gentlemen [Cinematical]


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THREE MONKEYS:

A politician working on his re-election finds himself in a hit-and-run accident. He then convinces his driver to take the rap in return for some under the table financial compensation. This Turkish film explores the effects of this devil's bargain on the driver's family. The trailer is pretty intense, and I'm sold.

+ Cannes Review: Three Monkeys [Cinematical]

- Sonic

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Video Pick: Passion Pit - The Reeling

Everbody is talking about Passion Pit! The breakout band of last year's CMJ Music Marathon is making lots of noise but they also make really cool videos. This is one such video for their song The Reeling. The group from Cambridge MA will be doing the Rocks Off Concert Cruise series on May 18th aboard The Temptress, but that show along with their June 19th and 20th performances at the Bowery Ballroom are already sold out! Keep and eye out for additional dates but in the mean time check out the video.

- Sonic

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Discover: Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14th 1862 in Baumgarten, a town near Vienna in Austria. He was the second child out of seven and spent most of his youth in poverty. At the age of 14 he received a scholarship to the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts where he was trained as an architectural painter. His professional career began as he was commissioned to paint interior murals and ceiling in large public buildings.


In 1897 Klimt became a founding member and president of the Vienna Secession, an organization of artists during the Vienna Art Nouveau period. The government supported them and commissioned many projects but as Klimt began to use women as his primary subject and portray a frank eroticism, he became a target of public outcry from political and religious groups. Although he stopped accepting public commissions after the incident, he kept painting and would eventually receive critical acclaim and success around 1907 during his 'golden phase' which derived from his prominent use of gold.


Klimt died in 1918 having suffered a stroke and pneumonia, but his paintings have brought some of the highest prices recorded for individual works of art. In 2006 a portrait Klimt painted in 1907 sold for $135 million which surpassed Picasso's Boy with a Pipe by almost $31 million.

+ Gustav Klimt at art.com

- Sonic

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News: Pirate Bay Verdict

Recently, it seems we just can’t get away from news of pirates and piracy. On the one hand, you have the stories coming out of Somalia about real life pirates hijacking vessels on the high seas - stories of captains being taken prisoner by desperate men in small motor boats. This even begets parodies of real life horror in the shape of last week’s South Park episode.

On the other hand, there is another type of piracy that’s been in the news. Two related stories I wanted to touch on here. First is about the new Wolverine movie posted below, and the second, the stories out of Sweden concerning The Pirate Bay. Taking the stance that you, dear reader, have never illegally downloaded any type of copyrighted materials – and, in fact, that you don’t even know what “bit torrent” means – I’ll explain to you that thepiratebay.org is a site where people all over the world share files that are almost exclusively pirated, or illegally copied and shared.

Now, my day job consists of working for a rather large and well known cable television network, and I have great pride in my company. When I hear from people that they’ve downloaded our network’s programs – even if they live outside the U.S. and don’t have ready access to our network – well, I see how companies can lose money through internet piracy. If people are illegally downloading our programs, then they seem less likely to purchase the DVD sets that we release for retail. At the same time, it is nice to see people from other markets in the world that are already spreading the good word of our company name and who are huge fans of shows that have yet to debut in their corners of the world. With these conflicting views rattling around in my head, I took a great interest in the story when I saw that the people that run thepiratebay.org were on trial in Sweden. In short, the 4 defendants were charged with knowingly making copyrighted materials available for public use. In defense, they claimed that their site hosts no actual files, and it is the users who choose to perform such activities – even though their site is named for pirating.

Well, the verdict came back guilty, which was not at all what I was expecting, I knew the defendants would appeal almost instantly. What I did not expect (though in retrospect, it isn’t all that surprising) was that the judge in the case was actually biased in the case, having a seat on the national board for protection of intellectual properties. So, that trial was probably a wash, and there will be a retrial before any need for an appeal. My guess is that the defendants, when all is said and done, come out not guilty.

- Goodchild

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Piracy: X-Men Origins - Wolverine

Months before X-Men Origins: Wolverine's actual release date – this Friday, May 1st - an actual mastered copy leaked onto the internet. Fox was quick to release a statement saying that it was only a workprint, and wasn’t finished – in fact there were entire scenes missing, and/or with unfinished visual and audio effects. As the film’s release nears, reviewers have seen the “finished” copy and have noted that the leaked workprint wasn’t far off the mark – in fact, with the exception of the scenes with unrendered effects, it is the same film. So, this becomes an important moment in the industry’s case against piracy – will the leaked copy hurt ticket sales opening day?

Personally, I would never watch the leaked copy if it wasn’t 100% done. I’m excited for this flick, and I want to see the finished product. Even if it’s only a few seconds of missing material, that will throw off my whole experience of the film – maybe I’m a bit snobbish about this, but I couldn’t deal with that. I’ll be seeing the film this weekend – will you?

+ Wolverine Origins Review [Comic Book Movie]

- Goodchild

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The Quick Guide: Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival is going on right now and although I can't feature even close to all of the films that are part of the festival I figured I can do a few that caught my attention. There are a ton of films so make sure you browse through the site yourself!

- Tribeca Film Festival

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE:

You may have heard about this film, but this is the film by Steven Soderbergh about a NYC call girl which stars real life pornstar Sasha Grey. I don't think there is much else to convince me to see this, but from the looks of it Soderbergh mad a bold but great decision in casting Grey.


+ Public Showtimes:
Tue, Apr 28, 9:00PM BMCC Tribeca PAC
Wed, Apr 29, 8:00PM SVA Theater 2
Sat, May 02, 5:30PM AMC Village VII 2

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KOBE DOIN' WORK:

This is a Spike Lee film about the day in the office kind of thing but a day in a game rather of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant. Spike is a hardcore Knicks fan mind you, but out of all the stars I think he made the right choice as Kobe is probably a more mature and experienced player than the likes of Dwayne Wade or Lebron James. I love basketball so this is another one I would love to check out.

+ Public Showtimes:
Thu, Apr 30, 3:30PM AMC Village VII 3
Thu, Apr 30, 9:30PM BMCC Tribeca PAC
Sat, May 02, 9:30PM Tribeca Cinemas Theater 2

- Sonic

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Featured Artist: Dave Cooper

Tree Helix © Dave Cooper

As you might be able to tell, Dave Cooper used to be a cartoonist. He now focuses on being an oil painter and his work is awesome. His style is fun and freaky all at once and his self proclaimed love for "fat ladies who roll around on the ground and bite or squeeze one another" shines through in many of his paintings. Cooper has many of his current works in progress posted on his Flickr page so you should definitely check that out. It's really cool to be able to see an artist's process, watching a sketch turn into a finished painting.

Flock of Girlies © Dave Cooper

Dave Cooper also made a line of toys with a company called Critterbox which I would love to own, but I believe they are all sold out at the moment. He should be having a gallery showcase real soon so keep an eye out for that, but in the meantime check him out in the internet world!

On The Ceiling © Dave Cooper

+ Dave Cooper on Flickr

- Sonic

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Featured Band: The Helio Sequence

The Helio Sequence

Whether it's on recording or live The Helio Sequence is just two guys, Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel. You may notice that their songs don't have any bass, which I think is a brave move on their part but also the reason they can pull off their songs live with just them two. Honestly you hardly notice though, and their electronica blended indie rock sound fills up a lot of the audio spectrum as is.

This duo from Portland Oregon will be in the NYC area on May 27th at the Radio City Music Hall opening up for Keane and Mat Kearney, and will be headlining their own show on May 28th at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

On a side not did you know Benjamin Weikel used to play for Modest Mouse? Interesting stuff, but anyway check them out!

+ The Helio Sequence on Myspace

- Sonic

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Highlark Was There: Alkaline Trio, Saves The Day - Starland Ballroom 4/25/09

This is a first, hopefully of many photo-blogs from shows that we go to. I haven't been to a show in a while and this was kind of a great kick-off as we head into summer. It brought me back to almost 10 years ago when I first started listening to these two bands. Goodchild and Panda Bear were there also! Good times.

+ Alkaline Trio, Saves The Day - Starland Ballroom: Sayreville, NJ - 04/25/09

Saves The Day - photo by Sonic

Saves The Day - photo by Sonic

Alkaline Trio - photo by Sonic

Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio - photo by Sonic

Alkaline Trio - photo by Sonic

The Crowd - photo by Sonic

- Sonic

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Movie Releases: April 24th

IL DIVO:

- SYNOPSIS: Award-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (The Family Friend) writes and directs this cinematic portrait of seven-time Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, whose controversial legacy peaked when he was tried for Mafia ties and subsequently acquitted. A leader with close ties to the Vatican, Andreotti was also tried and acquitted for the murder of an Italian journalist, and remains a senator for life.

I'm very interested in this one, the film is based on a true story and a rather crazy one at that. The performances look great but I'm really curious to see what went down.... and since I'm too lazy to research it, this film should get the job done!

+ IFFR 2009: Il Divo Review [Twitch]

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TYSON:


- SYNOPSIS: Assembled from over 30 hours of interviews with the controversial heavyweight champion, director James Toback takes the helm for a feature-length documentary exploring the life and career of self-destructive pugilist Mike Tyson. From his early years under the wing of famed boxing promoter Don King to his notorious match against Evander Holyfield and his conviction on sexual assault charges, Tyson's turbulent life is explored in the kind of comprehensive manner that could only have been made possible with the subject's willing participation.

I'm totally down to see what Mike Tyson has to say about his crazy life.

+ Tyson Movie Review [View London]

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THE SOLOIST:


- SYNOPSIS: The Soloist is a biographical drama about real-life musical prodigy Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who dropped out of Julliard after developing schizophrenia and became a homeless musician on the streets of Los Angeles. Journalist Steve Lopez discovers the former classical music prodigy, playing his violin on the streets. As Lopez endeavors to help the homeless man find his way back, a unique friendship is formed, one that transforms both their lives.

All 3 of this week's featured movie releases are based on true stories, and I can honestly say that I am intrigued with all of them. I mean it's not everyday a journalist encounters a schizo-homeless-musical prodigy on the street.

+ The Soloist Review [City Beat]

- Sonic

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