|
Vol. 14
No. 08
Pick Hits
At The Movies
Charlie Bartlett
Charlie Bartlett has been kicked out of every private school he ever attended.
And now that he's moved on to public school, he's simply getting pummeled. But
when Charlie discovers that the kids who surround him--the outcast and the
popular alike--are secretly in desperate need, his entrepreneurial spirit takes
over. Hanging up his shingle in the Boys' restroom, Charlie becomes an
underground, not to mention under-aged, shrink who only listens to the private
confessions of his schoolmates, and makes the imprudent decision to hand out the
pills he's proffered from his own psychiatric sessions. Meanwhile, at home,
Charlie keeps charming his way out of an inevitable confrontation his adoring
but utterly overwhelmed mother Marilyn. Then, Charlie Bartlett makes his big
mistake--falling in love with the beautiful and bold daughter of the school's
increasingly disenchanted Principal, who is hot on his trail. As Charlie
Bartlett's world and fledgling psychiatric practice unravel, he begins to
discover there's a whole lot more to making a difference than handing out pills.
On DVD
American Gangster
Based on the life of drug-kingpin-turned-informant,
Frank Lucas, who grew up in segregated North Carolina
where he watched as his cousin was shot by the Klan for
looking at a white girl. He eventually made his way to
Harlem where he became a heroin kingpin by traveling to
Asia's Golden Triangle to make connections, shipping
heroin back to the US in the coffins of soldiers killed
in Vietnam. He soon made upwards of one million dollars
a day in drug sales. Lucas was shadowed by lawman,
Richie Roberts, who finally helped bring the kingpin to
justice. The two then worked together to expose the
crooked cops and foreign nationals who made importing
heroin so easy.
The Buzz..
Now that the
crisis of the writers strike has been averted, plans are moving ahead for the
Academy Awards. The show will feature a lot of star power with
George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Miley Cyrus,
Jessica Alba and Steve Carell being named as
presenters. The Oscars, which air February 24, will be hosted by the Daily
Show's Jon Stewart.
Joel Surnow, a co-creator of 24, is leaving the show to
pursue other projects. Surnow had been thinking about leaving the FOX show for a
while, and during the writers' strike he came to a firm decision. His departure
is effective immediately, meaning he won't be part of the 16 episodes yet to be
filmed for the show's seventh season.
Benji Madden won't be enjoying the same domestic bliss as his
twin, Joel Madden. The Good Charlotte musician and his fiancee,
Date Movie star Sophie Monk, are no longer a couple.
The Olympic Games are supposed to promote peace among the
countries of the world, which is why Steven Spielberg is backing
away from his involvement with them this year. The Oscar-winning director said
that he won't serve as one of the artistic advisers to the Beijing Olympics as
planned because China has yet to use its influence on the Sudanese government to
end the crisis in Darfur.
 Avril
Lavigne is launching her own perfume and clothing line. Lavigne has
confirmed that she’ll follow in the stylish footsteps of Jennifer
Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Hilary Duff. The
pop-punk star will unveil her threads and fragrance after her tour ends in July.
Word spread about her new business after she trademarked her name. Lavigne said
she’s had a fashion venture in mind for three years and says, "I wanted to own a
company and really be able to be a designer.”
J.J. Abrams'
revamp of the Star Trek franchise has been moved off its Christmas
2008 release. Paramount made the move to maximize the box office potential for
Star Trek, which will now open the week after X-Men Origins: Wolverine
and the week before Sony has scheduled Angels and Demons.
Quarterlife will premiere on NBC the night of Feb. 26, but if
you're near a TV earlier that day, you can catch it on MTV too. The two networks
have entered into a deal to promote the TV premiere of the series, which has
been airing online in eight-minute installments for a few months and is making
the leap to broadcast television.
Juno Oscar nominee Ellen Page is filling her spring dance card
quickly, adding her third upcoming project in a month. Page will star with
Cillian Murphy in Peacock, a psychological thriller directed
by Michael Lander and written by Lander and Ryan Roy.
The CW sitcom Girlfriends will be bidding adieu to the
network after eight seasons on the air.
When you get an oddball cast that includes Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson,
Jessica Biel, Justin Long and Seann William Scott
together, chances are they're voicing characters in an animated film. Those four
will lend their pipes to the lead characters in Planet 51, a big
budget offering that will mark New Line's first foray into the 3-D CG-animated
universe.
Linkin Park kick off their Minutes to Midnight tour tonight
in Omaha, Nebraska with openers Coheed and Cambria and Chiodos. Vocalist Mike
Shinoda says they're especially excited about this tour because they now
have five albums of material to choose from when drawing up their set list,
which they plan to change around for each show. They're also excited to be
playing arenas again, and are especially anxious to play New York's Madison
Square Garden and LA's Staples Center for the first time. The tour will come to
a close on March 10th in Sacramento.
Hank Azaria will join Ben Stiller and Amy Adams
in 20th Century Fox's Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian.
The sequel has Stiller's character working at the Smithsonian museum in
Washington, D.C. where once again, artifacts and figures come to life at night.
Adams will play a historical figure in love with Stiller's character while
Azaria will play an all-powerful Egyptian pharaoh named Kah Mun Rah.
Warner Bros. and Lucasfilm announced today that the highly
anticipated animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, will be
making a theatrical debut on August 15, 2008 before appearing on the Cartoon
Network and TNT in the weeks afterwards.
The Game is headed for jail. After entering a plea of no contest
to a firearms charge, an LA judge sentenced the rapper to 60 days in the
slammer, 150 hours of community service and three years probation. It'd be a
good idea for him to tie up any loose ends: The Game has to turn himself in
before March 3.
Feist is admitting that she was “naïve” about the impact that licencing
her 1,2,3,4 video to iPod for their Nano commercial would have on her
career. The recent Grammy nominee told BBC News that while she had little idea
at the time of how popular the commercial would make her, it’s done her nothing
but favours and delivered her music to a whole new audience.
Kanye West has announced that he’ll be visiting several Canadian
cities on his recently announced Glow In The Dark tour. Kanye will make stops in
Montreal (May 20), Toronto (May 21), Saskatoon (May 27), Edmonton (May 29) and
Calgary (May 30). Rihanna, N.E.R.D and Lupe Fiasco
will be openers on the tour, which starts on April 16 in Seattle.
Bono keeps moving a step closer to sainthood. The U2 frontman and
artist Damien Hirst raised $42 million dollars in a special
Valentine’s Day art auction last night in Manhattan. All the proceeds from the
event, will go to support the UN’s AIDS relief programs in Africa. |
