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Auditions Monday
Production is seeking talent for humorous Reality TV Comedy/Action Cable Network show being shot in Memphis. MUSICIANS (BLUES BAND)
BAND MANAGER (must be able to appear irresponsible & unscrupulous)
MEN WHO FIGHT OVER BEAUTIFUL "BAD GIRL"
(Caucasians 25-35)
1 Boyfriend who is betrayed
1 Guy who cheats (is big and strong, muscle build)
1 Gal is beautiful ("hot") but irresponsible and a troublemaker
Please send head shots and full body shots with contact information to arrange audition for Monday afternoon, August 2
NickiNewburger@mac.com
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Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
by Greg Akers
Opening with a masterful, 20-plus-minute re-creation of the infamous 1913 Parisian premiere of the ballet The Rite of Spring and shot through with a gorgeous mise-en-scène that makes the film as much about place as people, Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky is the art-house companion piece to last year’s more-traditional biopic Coco Before Chanel. The bulk of the film takes place in 1920: after the Russian Revolution has forced Igor Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen), his consumptive wife Katarina (Yelena Morozova), and…
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Modern Family
The Kids Are All Right is just alright.
by Addison Engelking
Because it succeeds (and fails) as a family drama instead of as a public service announcement about the competence of gay parents, Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, like Brokeback Mountain, is some kind of cultural triumph. However, as anyone who's seen Brokeback Mountain (or, further back, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) knows, cultural triumphs are not necessarily cinematic triumphs. It's altogether unsurprising, then, that the film is a largely retrograde affair reliant on thin, conventional characters and hollow,…
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Angelina Jolie stars in palatable espionage thriller.
by Greg Akers
Fresh off her grotesque turn in the morally repugnant Wanted and her no-more-than-two-dimensional turn in Changeling, there may be no actor I want to see headline a movie right now less than Angelina Jolie. (Check that: Julia Roberts.) And fresh off viewings of the brainy, airtight suspense of Inception, there may be no movie I wanted to see less than the twist-stuffed action (suggested by the trailer) of Salt. That's all to report I couldn't have been less enthused about…
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Memphis Beat: "Run On"
Memphis Beat, "Run On"
Originally Aired July 27, 2010
Episode Named After: The traditional gospel song, sometimes called "Run On" and sometimes called "God's Gonna Cut You Down." It's been recorded countless times over the years, but because this is Memphis Beat, the song is an Elvis reference. Presley recorded it in 1966 and it can be found on Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Songs. Other notable recent versions have been done by Johnny Cash, Moby, and the Blind Boys of Alabama.
Plot Synopsis: Nice opening as we see fingers hit "A3" on a jukebox then reach for a beer as the percussive opening of Sam & Dave's "I Thank You" starts. It's Officer Sutton (DJ Qualls), who begins singing along and is soon joined by colleagues Detective Dwight Hendricks (Jason Lee), Whitehead (Sam Hennings), and Greenback (Leonard Earl Howze).
A drunken sing-along leads to roughhousing shenanigans which leads to a bar fight with civilians, whom our heroes polish off before returning to their Sam & Dave. Off-duty cops beating up people in bars. Just another fun Memphis night.
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Sound Advice: Holly & the Heathens at the Hi-Tone
I've always liked Holly Cole's blend of girl pop, classic rock and hard corn honky tonk but her first EP Fearless and Free left me a little cold. With the exception of "Turtle Dove," a sweetly crafted study in old school twang, the songs all sounded a little murky and too much alike. Even Cole's full bodied voice couldn't make me fall in love with the disc the way I wanted to. And there was so much potential on display on Fearless and Free that I really wanted to.
Cole's second release, the eponymous Holly & the Heathens, represents at least the partial fulfillment of that initial promise. It's an alluring hodge-podge of sounds and styles that show off Cole's considerable talents while suggesting that this is an artist who's still slugging it out with her influences, trying to figure out where she fits. Standout tracks include "Make Up Your Mind," a folk-psyche ballad that calls to mind Burning World-era Swans. "All That Was Lost" begins with the freight train rhythm of an old Johnny Cash song but plays out as an answer to “As Long,” from , The Reigning Sound's first CD Break Up Break Down. "All in One Day" is a hip shaking exercise in classic rock while the beautifully arranged "Holy," is a spare waltz for guitar and violin that closes this completely satisfying disk with a classic country music koan: “How do you sleep at night when your baby's aching?” Well, how do you?
Holly & the Heathens is a thoughtfully arranged, beautifully sung tangle of yearning and heartbreak. Cole and company celebrate its release on Saturday, July 24th at the Hi-Tone with Jeffrey James & the Haul.
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Spyce Girl: 'Salt' - A Review
In one of the few moments in "Salt" in which Angelia Jolie stops for breath, the seasoned action-movie Fury removes a pair of contact lenses and a row of false teeth, and then dyes her blond hair black. This "disguise"...
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Angelina Jolie in palatable espionage thriller Salt
by Greg Akers
Fresh off her grotesque turn in the morally repugnant Wanted and her no-more-than-two-dimensional turn in Changeling, there may be no actor I want to see headline a movie right now less than Angelina Jolie. (Check that: Julia Roberts.) And fresh off viewings of the brainy, airtight suspense of Inception, there may be no movie I wanted to see less than the twist-stuffed action (suggested by the trailer) of Salt. That’s all to report I couldn’t have been less enthused about…
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Win Tickets to Sheryl Crow and Maroon 5
Enter here for your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Sheryl Crow at Mud Island Amphitheater on August 20th, with special guest Colbie Caillat.
Enter here for your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Maroon 5 at Mud Island Amphitheater on August 27th, with special guest Kris Allen.
We're giving away a pair of tickets each week until both shows. Each week is a different drawing and you can enter as many times as you like, as often as you like. Winners will be notified by email on the morning of each drawing.
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Villa of the Damned: 'I Am Love' - A Review
I'm calling "I Am Love" the best movie of the year to date; a companion viewer called it "repulsive," in condemnation of the behavior of the lead character played by Tilda Swinton. Does one opinion invalidate the other? Or...
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Seeking talent for reality show
Seeking charismatic, big, unique personalities for humorous Reality TV Comedy/Action Cable Network show presentation in Memphis, shooting on August 4-6. You must be available for all three days, all day.
Please be available this Thursday & Friday July 21-22 for very brief audition (taping for LA based company).
Story is about Car Repo business with confident, aggressive characters who are somewhat fearless and tough--can handle any situation (and look "mechanically inclined")
Interesting individuals with variety of qualities are sought. No two people will be similar, seeking a range of characters of ages (over 21) and types.
Please send a headshot, contact info, and available times for audition scheduling on appointment basis.
You will be contacted for location and time.
Send info to: NickiNewburger@yahoo.com
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Sensual Italian import is silly, grandiose, but striking.
by Chris Herrington
The Italian melodrama I Am Love is often as ridiculous and grandiose as its title. It's the story of Emma Recchi (Tilda Swinton), the elegant, composed Russian wife of a Milanese textile magnate, whose great thaw comes at the tender hands of her adult son's best friend, Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), an earthy chef who becomes her secret lover. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Yorick Le Saux (who also photographed French director Francois Ozon's somewhat similar crossover art-house hit Swimming Pool), the…
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In the Club
Local filmmakers talk Antenna, show work-in-progress.
by J.D. Reager
Local filmmakers C. Scott McCoy and Laura Jean Hocking, who produced the Indie Memphis-winning Automusik Can Do No Wrong and its follow-up, Eat, are currently working on a documentary about the city's defunct but legendary punk/alternative venue the Antenna club. The duo will preview their work-in-progress this weekend in the latest installment of the Brooks Museum's Reel to Real series, where they will screen scenes from Automusik Can Do No Wrong and selections from musical docs that have influenced them,…
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A Very Unfortunate Elvis Item
From the department of the ghoulish and disgusting: Medical instruments and other materials relating to the autopsy of Elvis Presley are being put up for auction by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
The items —Â which include a toe tag — were apparently saved by for many years by an embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home and will be put up for auction in two lots (estimated at $6,000-$8,000 and $4,000-$6,000, respectively) on August 12th. You can see the Hindman site for more details —Â if you dare.
(Credit to Boing Boing for unearthing this.)
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Memphis Beat: "One Night of Sin"
Memphis Beat, "One Night of Sin"
Originally Aired July 20, 2010
Disappointingly, this was probably the least "Memphis-y" episode of Memphis Beat yet, and since that's what we care about here, this recap will be shorter than most.
Episode Named After: "One Night (of Sin)," in its original version, is a gloriously hung-over 1956 New Orleans R&B gem from Smiley Lewis. Elvis Presley recorded it a couple of years later, both in Lewis' version (which you can hear on the compilation Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk and Rockabilly) and in a cleaned-up version. Elvis' altered "One Night" ("with you" replacing "of sin") was released in 1958 on a single opposite " I Got Stung," hitting #4 on the pop chart and #10 on the R&B chart. Elvis later did a killer version of the song on this 1968 "comeback" special for NBC.
Plot Synopsis: Detective Dwight Hendricks (Jason Lee) and his mama (Celia Weston) are attending a public memorial service for Memphis music legend Darlene "Ma" Boswell. There, the remaining members of the performing Boswell family — husband Doc and daughters Maddie and Delilah — perform a bluegrass-inflected tune and manager Frank Dixon delivers a eulogy.
Afterward, while Dwight is doing a man-on-the-street interview with a documentary filmmaker, Dixon is found dead behind the theatre where the memorial service was held, having fallen from the building's third-floor balcony. Lt. Rice (Alfre Woodard) suspects grief-based suicide but Dwight's advanced detecting skills lead him to assume foul play.
As Dwight sifts through multiple suspects, including a "super fan" played by guest star Giovanni Ribisi, a "B" plot about partner Whitehead's inappropriate tall tales on the job doesn't go much of anywhere.
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Film Review: "Micmacs"
In Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs, there are two big weapons manufacturers in the French town where Bazil (Dany Boon) lives, and he has been victimized by both: Bazil's father was killed by a landmine made by one, and Bazil is mortally wounded by a bullet made by the other.
Homeless and destitute, Bazil falls in with a gang of other discarded people on the fringes of society, living in a junkyard: an ex-con, a contortionist, a former human cannonball, a human calculator, a machinery artist. They all have questionable talents, except when they are united. Bazil enlists his new friends to help him take down the arms dealers.
With a series of serious practical jokes that unfold like Rube Goldberg machines, the gang pits the two weapons-manufacturer CEOs against each other and stand back to watch the damage escalate — until an exiled African dictator complicates matters.
Micmacs earns its many physical-acting nods to Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and The Three Stooges. Boon has a lanky body and an everyman mug but he comes alive with frequent poetic physical moires.
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Original Big Star Bassist Andy Hummel Dies
Multiple media sources have confirmed tonight news that first emerged on Twitter this afternoon, that original Big Star bassist Andy Hummel passed away today at his Fort Worth, Texas, home, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Hummel was 59.
 - (L-R) Andy Hummel, Jody Stephens, Alex Chilton
Hummel played on the band's first two, classic, albums, 1972's #1 Record and 1974's Radio City, before leaving the band and eventually relocating to Texas, where he built a successful career in the aeronautics field.
Though he never pursued music as a profession after leaving Big Star, Hummel remained close to the band's legacy, appearing, with drummer Jody Stephens, at a Big Star panel at Austin's South by Southwest Music Festival several years ago, and again last year in the wake of lead singer Alex Chilton's sudden death. Hummel took the stage in Austin this spring to join Stephens and a host of Big Star-influenced musicians in an impromptu tribute concert to Chilton. Here he is, playing bass on "September Gurls," then embracing Stephens —Â now the band's last surviving member — before leaving the stage:
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Local documentaries in production
Two local documentaries are underway that the Commission has been assisting in production.
One is a look at the legendary alt/punk club The Antenna by filmmakers Laura Jean Hocking and C. Scott McCoy. This Sunday (July 25) the husband/wife team will host a Reel To Real segment at the Brooks Museum where they will screen segments from their favorite rock documentaries, as well as footage from their still-in-progress doc.
The Brooks event is 2 p.m. Sunday; tickets are $6 members, $8 non-members. Free with VIP Film Pass. For more information or to purchase tickets call 544-6208.
Go here to read an interview with the filmmakers in the Flyer.
The other documentary is "Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin', a production of Sherman Willmott's Shangri-la Projects. Go to MemphisHeatTheMovie.com for more info.
Meanwhile, John Beifuss has posted something on both documentaries on his blog here. 
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Skewby Gets Busy
Memphis hip-hop hopeful Skewby, who was tabbed an "Unsigned Hype" by The Source earlier this year and featured in our spring music issue, has been prolific of late, with a series of first-rate mixtape-style releases coming out over the past few weeks as an appetizer for his upcoming debut "album," More or Less.
Today, Skewby and his team put up a video for his remix of the P.Diddy single "Angels":
Earlier this month, Skewby reacted to the NBA free-agency madness with his own single, "Free Agent":
And late last month, Skewby teamed up with fellow Memphis MC Gyft for the terrific "So Dope":
None of this new music is from the forthcoming More or Less, currently planned for a September release. It's all just the opening act. You can download all this music and find out more about Skewby here.
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Daylight Fades Encore Screening
After selling out two premiere screenings at Paradiso last month, the locally produced vampire-themed drama Daylight Fades gets a couple of encore screenings this week at Studio on the Square.
The film will screen at 7 p.m. and 9:25 p.m. Tuesday, July 20th. Tickets are $9.99 and are available in advance until midnight tonight here. Any leftover tickets will be made available at the door tomorrow night.
The film is still expected to get a longer local run sometime this year, but this will be the last chance to see it this summer.
You can read my interview with the team behind Daylight Fades, including director Brad Ellis and actor/screenwriter Allen Gardner, here.
The film's trailer:
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Oscars 2011 1.0
This weekend, before imbibing Inception for a second time, it struck me that it's probably time to make a first stab at predicting the 10 movies that'll be nominated for Best Picture Oscar in about 6 months. After all, it was way back in June 2009 when I made my first, pitiful attempt at the 2010 Oscars.
I was 2 for 10 in that initial prognostication. Let's see if I can do better this time. In order of my certainty they'll be nominated.
Best Picture 2011 1.0
Inception
Toy Story 3
The Social Network
Never Let Me Go
The Tree of Life
Another Year
The Kids Are Alright
Eat Pray Love
The King's Speech
The Fighter
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"Losers Take All" to start production
The film "Losers Take All" is getting production underway in Memphis. A client of the Commission, it will be filming through August.
The Commercial Appeal story about the project quotes producer Mike S. Ryan ("21 Grams," "Forty Shades of Blue") praising the local crew base: "The crew is energetic and creative, and I always love working in Memphis and this environment." Local talent will be hired for several speaking roles. Kyle Gallner ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake) will star and Alex Steyermark ("Prey for Rock & Roll," "One Last Thing") is directing. Pictured: Director Alex Steyermark 
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It's a Panic! 'A Town Called Panic' and 'M. Hulot's Holiday' at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Variously described as "Art Clokey on acid" (Clokey was the creator of Gumby and Pokey) and "zany, brainy and insane-y" (sounds like a lost verse from "The Addams Family" theme song), "A Town Called Panic" is a bizarro delight...
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Squirrel Skinners and Crank Cookers: 'Winter's Bone' - A Review
Part murder mystery, part coming-of-age drama, "Winter's Bone" transports moviegoers to a real place most of us haven't seen before: the darkling woods of the Missouri Ozarks, where clannish mountainfolk stew squirrels and cook methamphetamine with sometimes-equal gusto....
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A Capering Caper: 'Micmacs' - A Review
Influenced by the loosey-goosey reality of cartoons (a clip from a 1955 Tex Avery short is instructive) and silent comedy, "Micmacs" is a colorful three-ring circus of a movie, as one might expect from a production with a cast of...
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