Actors Jamie Campbell Bower (l) and Edi Gathegi (r) entertain questions from twilighters at recent meet and greet at Mall of Georgia.

As the second chapter of the Twilight franchise: New Moon looms on the horizon, die hard fans (or “Twi-hards”) have been lining up across the country to catch a glimpse of the faces behind the stars as they embark on a cross-country mall promotional tour.

Last week, Edi Gathegi who portrays the foreboding, dread-headed vampire Laurent and Jamie Campbell Bower, whose character Caius is introduced in the latest film greeted fans and responded to questions in a Q&A session held at the Mall of Georgia. Gathegi and Bower sat down briefly to discuss the making of the latest feature film and their own fascination with the series. The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens Fri., Nov. 20.

Was it easier to get into character this time around since you’ve played Laurent before?

Gathegi: It was definitely easier but initially it was very difficult because he’s described as having a slightly French accent and French is the accent that is hardest for me. It’s sort of impossible to do a slight French accent when you can’t even do a regular accent, so I had to learn the accent and then scale it back which was a challenge. So for the second film most of the work had already been done, I just stepped in put myself in a new situation and just trusted Chris Weitz’s directing.

Continue reading Speakeasy with Jamie Campbell Bower and Edi Gathegi.

On Thursday evening hundreds of screaming Twilight fans flocked to the Mall of Georgia to meet actors Edi Gathegi and Jamie Campbell Bower from the upcoming film The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Over 500 fans – known as “Twilighters” waited in line at Hot Topic inside the mall for a chance to get New Moon mini posters signed by movie vampires Laurent (Gathegi) and Caius (Bower).

After the autograph session, Gathegi and Bower met an ever growing crowd in the mall’s Village courtyard for a hour-long Q & A session. Most questions were collected earlier from waiting fans but later in the session a microphone was passed for the attendees to ask the actors directly.

It was clear what was on the mind of the screaming Twi-hard adolescent girls who made up the majority of the crowd. Most of the questions mulled within the range of “Would You Marry Me” to “What was it like to work with Robert Pattinson.”  Of course you can’t have a Twilight conversation without asking the most important question for any true Twilight fan: “Team Edward or Team Jacob.” Both Gathegi and Bower declared an affinity towards Team Edward … OME!

The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens Fri., Nov. 20 in area theaters.

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In recognition of his tireless efforts on behalf of Atlanta’s children, filmmaker Libby Spears has dedicated her latest documentary Playground to the memory of the late Fulton County Judge, Sanford “Sunny” Jones. The film premieres as part of a memorial benefit hosted by the Juvenile Justice Fund honoring Jones on Tuesday, October 20th at the Woodruff Arts Center. The event benefits the Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) and Angela’s House, an organization that provides home care services to households with medically fragile children. Jones, who served as Fulton County Juvenile Court judge was killed in small plane crash in Alabama earlier this year.

Playground sheds light on child sex trafficking taking place in the United States. The film profiles former victims and provides a candid look at the legal and social systems that fails to adequately respond to the crisis. Playground was produced by actor/director George Clooney, writer/actor Grant Heslov and director Steven Soderbergh, the team behind the Oscar-nominated film Good Night and Good Luck.

Judge Jones helped to create the Juvenile Justice Fund in Atlanta in 2001. The fund provides constructive alternatives to youth detention and programs to reduce the number of children returning to unsafe, abusive and destructive homes.

Memorial Benefit for Judge Sanford Jones. Tuesday, October 20, 2009 – 6:00pm. Woodruff Arts Center Symphony Hall. 1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309. General admission $25, premiere and VIP pre-reception $125. Tickets can be purchased online at www.woodruffcentertickets.org or by phone, 404-733-5000.

Disney brought a little taste of Christmas to Atlanta this morning as Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train Tour rolled into town. The seven car train features a museum, gallery and interactive, multimedia experiences.

Passengers on the tour saw personal belongings from Charles Dickens on loan from the Dicken’s Museum in London, original props and models used in the film, featurettes explaining the technology behind the CGI feature film and an interactive photo booth where passengers’ images were morphed into characters from the movie. Outside the train, Disney set up a 25-foot 3D movie theater including snow to watch 10 minutes of scenes from the film.

The Christmas Carol train has been traveling across the country since Memorial Day weekend. The tour started in Los Angeles, CA and will end in a few weeks in New York City, NY. You can find out more about the train tour and its upcoming scheduled stops on the tour’s website.

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Disney’s A Christmas Carol, Rated-PG. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Stars Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn. Opens nationwide Friday, Nov. 6.

SHAWTY WHAT YOUR NAME IS: Snow White greets her new BFF's in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Disney celebrates 72 years of Sleepy, Sneezy, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Dopey and of course Snow White this year with the release of the Diamond Edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Artists, not dwarfs remastered over 120,000 animation cells to restore the film to a pristine quality better than the original version. According to Disney Animation Curator, Lella Smith, reflections of camera men on individual cells as well as their fingerprints covered the original theatrical version of the film. Smith shared insights about the development of Disney’s first animated feature film in an online presentation about the dwarfs and the long journey animators took to produce the movie.

Ok, so fingerprints and ghostly images may not peak your interests, but here’s a couple of little known facts Smith shared about the film available in behind-the-scene features on the Diamond Edition:

1. Snoopy was considered as a name for one of the seven dwarfs in the film. Other names considered were Wheezy, Baldy, Lazy, Tubby and Jumpy.
2. In early concepts of the dwarfs, they were drawn as tall as Snow White.
3. It took two years to come up with the seven dwarfs we know today.
4. Snow White was the highest grossing film until it was surpassed by Gone With the Wind in 1939.
5. Snow White was the first film to have an accompanying soundtrack released.
6. Snow White and Dopey were motion modeled by the same person, famed dancer Marge Champion.
7. There’s a total of 60-million illustrations archived from the Snow White project in the Disney library.

Disney’s Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs – Diamond Edition. Rated G. Available on Blu-Ray and DVD Tues. October 6.

By popular demand, Paramount Pictures announced screenings of their underground horror flick Paranormal Activity midnight tonight at Atlantic Station.

Over 230,000 people have requested the studio release the film through an innovative distribution promotional website, paranormalmovie.com. On the site, users “demand” the showing of the film selecting their city or by adding their city to the growing list. Los Angeles and New York topped the list, while Atlanta ranked 10th in total demand requests followed by Miami and Las Vegas.

In Paranormal Activity, a young couple tries to figure out what’s causing the strange occurrences in their home each night, especially while trying to sleep. Armed with a video camera and low-tech recording devices they soon capture evidence they’re not alone in the house when something forcibly make its presence known to them.

From viewing the trailer, its clear the film was shot as a mocumentary in the same vein as its low-budget predecessor, The Blair Witch Project. According to various reviews and viewer comments, the film is truly unnerving, and the website bloody-disgusting.com describes it as “one of the scariest movies of all time.”

While that remains to be seen, there are reports that director Steven Spielberg had his own account of paranormal activity while viewing the movie. In the Paranormal Activity Wikipedia entry, its noted that Spielberg witnessed a bedroom door inexplicably close and lock from the inside while he viewed the film. He returned the screener in a garbage bag stating that his copy was haunted.

Paranormal Activity, Screening October 2, 2009 12:01 am, Not Rated, Directed by Oren Peli, Stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. Exclusive midnight showing at Regal Atlantic Station.

Oh shit, its another Michael Moore film!

Once again Moore points a spotlight on the topic du jour -  this go round, it’s about the all mighty dollar in his upcoming release, Capitalism: A Love Story.

In the trailer, we get to ask “show me the money!” to Congress and the big wigs on Wall Street as Moore tries to make sense of the recession and the bail outs, asking those parties responsible to ‘fess up and pay up.

It would seem Moore has turned his particular type of documentary-styled filmmaking into a successful formula; add one part American tragedy to one part government bureaucracy. Add a dash of public outrage and a pinch of easy-to-find victims. Stir in some humor, skewed opinion and public flogging of parties responsible to the mix. Shake well and spread thick on the conscious of the concerned and you get yet another “controversial” Moore film.

As much as I think Moore makes a killing by pandering to the lowest common denominator – public fear and skepticism in the system and American culture, let me be fair in saying he does bring the sentiment and voices of John Q Public to the podium. If nothing else, he tries to help some of his fellow Americans by champion the causes they desperately need answers to.

Capitalism appears to be haphazard walk into the bowels of the recession and the greed that created it. I sincerely hope Moore casts an objective light on the subject to spark a real debate amongst the people he intends to snare and enrage.

Yeah, right.

Capitalism: A Love Story (not rated) in limited release September 23, 2009.

BLUE MAN DUPED: Sully (Sam Worthington) gets schooled on nightlife on Pandora by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) in Jame Cameron's Avatar.

On Friday, August 21, over 400 Atlantans made their way to AMC Theaters to view 15 minutes of the James Cameron’s upcoming epic, Avatar. As part of “Avatar Day,” viewers were given an exclusive look at scenes from the film in IMAX 3D.

Long lines in the hundreds formed at both AMC Southlake Pavilion and AMC Barrett Commons as eager fans waited to see the screening of the Avatar preview. Attendees reserved their seats by registering online at www.avatarmovie.com.

Cameron introduced the preview welcoming the curious crowds to a sneak peek of the out of this world film. In the preview, we’re introduced to Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a crippled war veteran given a second chance by being downloaded into the body of a Nav’l, a native humanoid species on the hostile planet Pandora. Once linked to his avatar, Sully embarks on a journey of adventure and self discovery.

Across the blogosphere, the preview received mixed reviews. Around the web, people have begun calling the film Dances with wolves in space. After the screening, twitterers couldn’t wait to share their opinions of the preview.

Rubber_Rabbit: After meeting James Cameron at E3 and watching the #Avatar teaser I’m adding it to the must watch list. #movies http://ow.ly/l5Xv

Geekanerd: A: I agree with Degan. The #Avatar trailer looks wretched. Advanced Haterism begins now.

Aminojaku: Watched the #Avatar teaser trailer last night on iTunes. Holy crap. OMFG my head exploded does not even begin to describe it.

johnnycocaine: is afraid #avatar is going to basically be Return of the Ewoks.

kclynL: just went to see the screening of #AVATAR… now i’m getting excited for december…wooohooo!!! beyond our imagination movie…

Kneon: Is it just me, or does #Avatar look like a video game? For all the hype I thought the CGI looked fakey.

osulop: #Avatar CGI looked way more convincing in the preview on the big screen in 3D. Only thing I’m not too taken with is the shakycam.

andyroyal: saw the James Cameron #Avatar teaser on Friday, all I can say is O M G!!! I cannot wait for this film to come out or the game from @ubisoft

Cameron’s Avatar is a 3D spectacle but looks and feels at times like a bad acid trip. The blue skinned Nav’l mannerisms do remind you of images of Pre-Colonial Native Americans and even in the 15 minute preview, you get the sense that Cameron is trying to ram a message about humanity down your throat. Cameron proved he’s a genius at sci-fi story telling, but can he pull off a story about blue people on another planet?  I’m hopeful but not sure if he’ll sell this flick to the masses firmly planted here on planet Earth.

Avatar (not yet rated) stars Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana. Film opens nationwide December 18, 2009

Has this ever happened to you – you get to the theater early, grab a large $10 soda, engage in witty convo with your movie buddy, survive 15  minutes of coming attractions. Then just as the movie gets well underway, your bladder starts screaming for release. As you walk down the dark corridor out of the auditorium, you hear roaring laughter or screams or my favorite, “oh Hell naw!” You get back later with your friend telling you, “you missed the good part.”

Well worry no more, now you can know exactly when to step away to “pay the water bill” with a quick visit to runpee.com before heading to the movies.

Runpee.com flushes all colorful commentary and gives its readers the facts – what times and what scenes should movie goers head to out to take a bathroom break. What I like most is the interface. There’s no reviews to wade through, no fussy graphics – just a easy-to-use panel showing how many four minute breaks and at what times are essentially worth skipping. If you wanna know what happened while you were out. hit the “unscramble” button and scene spoilers are decrypted.

The “pee times” are submitted solely from the site’s registered users and thus subject to some scrutiny. That said, new movies and previously submitted updates are consistently added. Registration is free and movie updates are not moderated so they appear on the site immediately.

Recently, the Runpee’s creator/developer, polyGeek announced the release of a mobile version. Runpee is available for download for Apple iPhones for $.99.

Instead of reaming the annals of the new movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, I thought it may be better to give potential movie goers a G.I. Joe primer and let them be their own critics for a change.  As all Joe fans know, “Knowing is half the battle,” so here’s all you need to know about G.I. Joe and the movie’s relation to the long running comic and various animated series.

G.I. Joe and Cobra organizations FYI
First off, G.I. Joe isn’t America’s elite covert strike force anymore. Instead they’re some NATO empowered military group that doesn’t have a clue of what’s going on in the world around them. Believe it or not, this is not that far of a stretch.  In Devil’s Due Publishing’s (DDP) G.I. Joe: Cobra Reborn, Cobra rises and makes surgical strikes around the U.S. and at that point in time, there is no Joe team to combat them. The Joes, a group of active and inactive military specialists are recruited and get organized in the follow up book G.I. Joe: G.I. Joe Reborn.

Reborn successfully depicts the world of Joe in a more realistic and believable setting. In the series, Cobra’s maniacal attempts to take over the world are stripped away and replaced with a leaner, more plausible right-wing group set on destroying America and the democracy Cobra believes ruined this country. This is very similar to the movie except for the America part. Cobra is once again an international terrorist group hell bent on ruling the world, but acts more like a shadow organization causing calamity and manipulating governments to bend to their will.

Meet the Joes
I scoured a couple stacks of Joe comics and cartoons to figure out where the hell these characters were derived. At the top there’s the General Hawk (Dennis Quaid), who helms the team. Hawk’s home base was split between the Pentagon and the U.S.S. Flag and had very little to do with team operation and focused more as a liaison between the government and the team. Quaid’s Hawk is very much a hands-on leader which incidentally manifests more in this manner in the DDP comic series.

Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is an enigma to me in the movie. He was introduced in the Joe series in the early 90’s and is a heavy ordinance trooper, that equates to being a big dude with a big gun. In the film, he’s the field team leader FROM ENGLAND who seem to get there a little too late in most instances. In the animated series, G.I. Joe Sigma Six, he’s still just a trooper with big guns so where how HD ends up taking point on missions is confusing.

Scarlett (Rachel Nichols) character really gets under my skin. In the film, Scarlett is a type-A know it all who doesn’t even know she has a feminine side let alone know what to do with it. Nichol’s portrayal of the team’s favorite red head is oblivious to human interaction and faults her strict upbringing for her cold fish demeanor.  In the cartoon series and the books, Scarlett is a counter intelligence, martial arts prodigy whose weapon of choice is the crossbow. Scarlett gets her name from her red hair and being an ATLANTA NATIVE (Scarlett O’Hara, get it) which is completely loss in this movie. Scarlett is Duke’s on again off again girl until later comic series when Scarlett and Snake Eyes make a go of it, unsuccessfully. In the film, she takes a reluctant shine to Ripcord (Wayans).

Next we meet Breaker (Siad Taghmaoui), he’s the Joe’s FRENCH chief communications officer and intellectual heavyweight during the movie. You know how it is, he’s the one who defuses the bombs, figures out ways to cypher cryptic messages and solve technical anomalies. Taghmaoui’s character is necessary since you need brains on any team, but here’s the problem I have – HE’S DEAD IN THE G.I. JOE SERIES! There’s several other living Joes they could have drawn from for the role. For example, in G.I. Joe Sigma 6, they used technogeek High Tech to deliver the smarts for the team, he created the gauntlets, vehicles and artillery the team used to combat Cobra. Did they just pull his name from a hat, I think so.

The coolest and deadliest member of the Joe team is and will always be Snake Eyes (Ray Park). Dressed in his visored ninja bodysuit and wielding his katana sword, he is THE commando you want in your corner to get things done. In the series, Snake Eye’s is disfigured and mute from a helicopter crash but in the film he’s taken on a vow of silence as a promise to exact revenge on his nemesis Storm Shadow, who murdered is marital arts sensai. In the later versions of the comic book series, Snake Eyes removes his mask revealing a huge scar across his face.

The last members of the movies assault team are Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) who get recruited to help fulfill G.I. Joe’s first mission against the soon-to-be-identified Cobra organization. Tatum’s Duke lacks the focus you’d expect from the cartoon and comic’s field leader, especially when confronted with his lost love/fiancee Ana, who turns out to be The Baroness, one of the bad guys. Ripcord is a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumper in the comics but its pretty obvious Wayans is the designated comic relief for the movie. His lighthearted attempts to take the edge off the action and multiple but whoopings falls flat. Wayans’ action scenes are ok even though he doesn’t engage in much hand to hand combat. One plus on Ripcord’s character in the film is a scene where he makes a HALO jump after destroying a warhead in the upper atmosphere.

The Bad Guys
James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston) is head of MARS corporation, a technology company responsible for most of the worlds defensive weaponry. Little do his NATO customers know, he’s also Destro, a known weapons dealer who sells the same arsenal to NATO’s enemies to fund his shadow organization (soon to become Cobra). In the earlier books and the cartoon series, Destro is portrayed as a brilliant but scorned scientist who partners with Cobra making the world his laboratory. In later books (Cobra Reborn) we see Destro as McCullen who believes it’s his destiny to stongarm the world into submission and deliver the much needed order only he can provide.

Ana (Sienna Miller) is the Baroness, a ruthless assassin and McCullen’s right hand man. The Baroness is cold and calculating martial arts master who’ll stop at nothing to complete her mission. The film’s re-imagining of this character is probably the most disappointing. In the books and cartoon, she’s a sports a thick German accent and a master of disguise and espionage. Her character role takes a true Hollywood twist towards the end that will make true Joe fans moan out loud.

Like the Joes, Cobra has its own resident ninja to take care of business - Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee). Unlike his good guy counterpart Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow craves the spotlight and tends to make bold statements, like using throwing stars (his calling card) when sent on a kill. Shadow’s beef with Snake Eyes is in line with the comics and cartoon. They both attended the same martial arts school and as their skills developed Shadow’s jealosy of Snake Eye’s prowess drove him down a dark path of validation and revenge. Lee’s portrayal of Storm Shadow is pretty good, he shows his mastery of his choice weaponry and delivers the same deadpan tone you’d expect from a ninja.

Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) is probably the most dramatic departure from his original Cobra character. In the animated version and earlier comic versions, Zartan was a master of disguise who had a particular skin abnormality which made him sensitive to light. When in contact with bright light/sunlight, his skin would turn dark blue and painful. In the later Reborn series, Zartan is reinvented as simply a master chameleon with a twisted murderous tendency. Vosloo’s version of Zartan is clearly culled from the new comic’s vision and strays very little from the what you see in the book.

The last member of the team is the mysterious Doctor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a creepy deformed husk of a man hidden behind goggles and a breathing mask. Not much is known about the Doctor until his true identity is revealed and he dons the mantle of Cobra Commander. In the series and earlier comics, Cobra Commander has had multiple origins in several story arcs. The most memorable origin is from G.I. Joe – The Movie in which he’s a brilliant scientist from the secret mutate land of Cobra-La. After a being disfigured from a forbidden lab accident he sets out to fulfill his destiny to take over the world. In the book Cobra Reborn, The Commander is merely a small businessman whose world is torn asunder from government bureaucracy and vows to fight the oppressive American government by taking power through his secret group, Cobra.

The Lowdown
As a longtime fan of the animated series and comic books, I straddled the fence on this one, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.  The CGI vehicles throughout the movie resemble plastic instead of metal at times so it feels like you’re looking at retail grade toy models instead of cool, realistic metal arsenal. Overall its entertaining and a relatively good thrill ride, but gets corny and sadly laughable with some of the relationships and plot twists.

What’s Missing

Check out this parody of the animated series classic PSAs. Its actually funnier than what Marlon Wayans does in the movie.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Rated PG-13, In theaters August 7, 2009, Directed by Stephen Sommers

The Cast of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

There’s a lot of grumbling and groans about the upcoming film G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra floating around the web and for while I’ve been trying to keep my cup of “Joe” half full. But after watching the latest trailer for the movie, I too had to start jeering this re-imagining of one of my favorite childhood cartoons.

In this trailer, we see Duke (Channing Tatum), Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) and Scarlett (Rachel Nichols) show some skin as they work out. The antics are just laughable and goes against the tone of the previous clips which focus more on the Joe’s fight against the terrorist exploits of Cobra.

Earlier trailers for the movie featured amazing disaster sequences with explosions and destruction reigning around the world. It sets up the need for an elite U.S. covert ops team, the Joes to come save the day. From there is a lot of foot-to-ass fight sequences and car chases which always make me eager to buy a ticket. For future reference,  cars+explosions+kickass = ed happy, but this new trailer is just bad – its venomous crap and makes the movie seem more of a farce than most fans originally anticipated it to be.

The film is seems to be inspired loosely by Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Sigma Six franchise which appeared in comics, cartoons and of course action figures. In Sigma Six, the Joes use special gauntlets which activate special devices, artillery and armor to thwart their foes. This is a far departure from the original animated series and 80’s serial comic book which portrayed Cobra as a blundering corp of egotistical villains. The movie trailers don’t seem have that tone and more importantly, evolved the group into a worldwide organization that knows how to put the terror in terrorist.

For those of us who enjoyed the tongue and cheek 80’s cartoon, G.I. Joe, Season 1.1 was released last week. The 4-disc set features some the series’ multi-part, serial episodes as well other memorable individual episodes.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hits theaters in wide release August 7, 2009

Nick Cage has decided that he’ll muddy the water’s once again with sequel to the 2007 bomb Ghost Rider with a sequel, Ghost Rider 2 (no colon and subtitle as of yet).

According to brief interview with MTV during the promotional tour for his latest film G-Force, Cage mentioned he would like to deviate from the “western” feel the first movie had and steer it towards a more “international” view.

In Ghost Rider, Cage plays Johnny Blaze, a daredevil motorcyclist who at a young age sold his soul to the devil. In return for Satan’s favor, he’s impervious to harm and channels an inner demon who acts as a bounty hunter for fugitive demons.

According the IMDB, no information is available for the project, meaning Cage is still fishing looking for a writer and director to helm the project.

Here’s the MTV interview where Cage spoke briefly on the subject and what he’d like to see happen with the direction of the franchise.

STRIKE A POSE: Noah Ringer portrays Aang in The Last Airbender

Paramount released the first teaser trailer of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender earlier this week. The film is a live-action adaptation of the Emmy Award-winning animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender which ran three seasons on the Nickelodeon kid’s network and continues in reruns on Nick and Nicktoons channels.

In the animated version, Avatar tells the story of Aang, a young boy with the ability to control the elements of water, fire, earth and air. Instead of accepting his avatar mantle, Aang runs away and due to an accident, he’s encased in ice for 100 years. Once awakened,  Aang learns he’s the last of his tribe and starts on a journey to fulfill his destiny, and restore balance to the world that has been overrun by the Fire Nation.

The Live-Action version of the film was written by the animated show’s creator, Michael Dante DiMartin and stars newcomer Noah Ringer as Aang.

The Last Airbender is scheduled for release on July 2, 2010.

As part of the official movie site for Fox’s upcoming teen film, I Love You, Beth Cooper, Hayden Panettiere encourages teens to submit their own video confessions or “Moments of Truth” to be featured in an upcoming commercial for the film.

You can go to the official movie website and click “submit” to post your own video, view submission or if you prefer to be anonymous, you can tweet your moment of truth via the Twitter interface on the page.

According IMDB Here’s what ILUBC is all about:

A nerdy valedictorian proclaims his love for the hottest and most popular girl in school – Beth Cooper (Panettiere) – during his graduation speech. Much to his surprise, Beth shows up at his door that very night and decides to show him the best night of his life.

Definitely one for teens, but the moments of truth submissions (Twitter and YouTube) are pretty interesting.

Atlantans love a good party and last week people came out to groove for a good cause.

On Thursday, April 30, people headed to Johns Creek, Ga for a special benefit screening of Screen Media’s upcoming film, Love N’ Dancing. Afterwards party-goers enjoyed a night a great food and dancing as part of the star-filled event at the Daza Dance Ballroom Academy. Portions of the proceeds will benefit The Creative Coalition, a non-profit arts advocacy organization.

According to the studio release, Love N’ Dancing adds a new twist to traditional dance-to-romance movies:

LOVE N’ DANCING is the story of a bored-with-life English teacher who meets a West Coast Swing champion dancer, who have an instant connection. Both feel that the other can fulfill what was missing in their lives. But Jessica’s got a workaholic fiancée who’s not a bad guy when he’s not on his Blackberry, and Jake’s got his former partner Corinne, who just won’t let Jake away from the dangling carrot of a rekindled relationship. Jake and Jessica must try to elude all obstacles, romantic or otherwise, to stay focused on the goal – winning the World Title and winning each other. Will they give in to the pressure or come out like champs?

Love N’ Dancing stars Amy Smart, Tom Malloy, Billy Zane, Caroline Rhea and Rachel Dratch. The film opens in theaters Friday, May 8, 2009.  (All photos by Jeremy Adamo).

Amy Smart and Tom Malloy, co-stars of LOVE N’ DANCING, arriving on red carpet at Daza Dance Ballroom Academy

Amy Smart, Robert Royson (choreographer), Liz Chester (co-owner of Daza Dance Academy), Tom Malloy, and Antonio Daza (co-owner Daza Dance Academy) on red carpet.

Liz Chester (4th from left) and guests enjoying dance demonstrations at red carpet after party at Daza Dance Ballroom Academy

West Coast Swing Champions Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollman performing at red carpet after party at Daza Dance Ballroom Academy.

Brad Pitt motivates the troops.

During last week’s American Idol competition, Fox aired the latest trailer and exclusive clips from Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Inglourious Basterds.

The movie revolves around an American-Jewish military task force sent to Paris to provoke fear into the Nazis by brutally scalping soldiers. The movie stars Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger.

Check out the official website to view the latest video. Inglorious Basterds hits theaters August 21, 2009.

Geek blogs blew up over the weekend posting the latest images from Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming film, Splice. The movie is directed by Vincenzo Natali and stars Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley. From what I’ve read on Ain’t It Cool News and Bloody Disgusting, its your typical “renegade geneticist create a new life form by splicing human and animal DNA only to find in horror the error of their ways” movie. Here’s the official description taken from Geeks of Doom:

The film is about Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named Dren, the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators – only to have that bond turn deadly.

No release dates have been given for the film.

One of the larger criticisms of movies adapted from books, especially comic books, is so much of the character, plot and subtext is lost in translation when adapting the story to a general audience.

When news of Watchmen, probably the most popular graphic novels of all time was slated to become a live-action feature film, fanboys around the web lit up bulletin boards speculating how on Earth would they be able to pull this off. Watchmen is not one story, but a series of subplots, wrapped around the main plot -  an enigmatic murder of a retired costumed hero. To make it even more conflicting, there’s a completely separate comic book, The Black Freighter wrapped within the book. Watchmen fans were buzzing and practically demanded the essence of their beloved comic not be butchered in Zach Snyder’s version.

Warner Premiere’s Watchmen: The Motion Comic is a modestly animated, unabridged version of the book. The DVD is true to the novel and breaks the story down into twelve chapters on two discs. Every single frame of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s graphic novel has been brought to life with seemingly low-tech finesse reminiscent of cartoons from the mid 60’s circa Marvel’s Spider-man, The Incredible Hulk and The Mighty Thor. Unlike a cartoon, the animation relies on the composition of the comic book cells completely. This includes the original drawings, the text bubbles and even narration boxes to create the illusion.

You definitely appreciate the brevity of film as you make your way through the chapters. The entire series is over five hours long and has a series of lull points where the story meanders during character subplots. Still, the novelty of the concept will hold your interest and get you through the slow spots.

While so much attention is given to the visual elements in the series, its surprising and disappointing that very little depth was added to the audio. Sure, the original soundtrack complements the animation brilliantly and every “zap” and “boom” is there for added effect. However, voice acting range for the characters is unfortunately missing. Instead of the expected movie cast voicing the characters, the entire series is voiced by one person. TV veteran actor Tom Stechschulte lends his talents to define each character which gets a bit unnerving at times as he voices everyone from a pubescent Silk Specter to a middle aged African-American psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Long analyzing costumed vigilante, Rorschach. Eventually his voice blends completely into the canvas of the picture and you rarely notice effort he provided.

I was surprised that no special features were included on the DVD. There are trailers for Warner Premiere’s The Black Freighter, a full length animated feature taken from the Watchmen novel, and the highly anticipated Wonder Woman but there are no interviews or behind the scenes offerings.

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic can be considered a comic book fan’s dream come true, but it offers very little to someone who is not a fan of animation or the book. If you’re not interested in reading the graphic novel, this is a great primer to wet your appetite for the upcoming film.

[rating: 4]

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic, directed by Jake S. Hughes, starring Tom Stechshulte, 325 minutes. Not Rated. List Price $19.99. Blu-Ray $26.99. Individual chapters available on iTunes $1.99 each.

(Image courtesy doyouhavethecrazy.com)

Directed by local filmmakers David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush, The Signal took a while to reach theaters but it’s finally hitting the big screen (albeit in limited-release form) this weekend.

The directors, as well as one of the producers for the movie, Alex Motlagh dropped by the CL offices and sat down to talk cult movies, low-budget horror, and stereotypes.

The movie was shot on location right here in Atlanta, so, even though it might not be suitable for all ages (or tastes, for that matter) go see it. Support the local talent. For a trailer, and to read more about the film, head on over to PopSmart.

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Hello world!

We might as well start off as if this were our first episode. It’s been a while huh? Well we’ve been working waaay too much but we managed to get together for you all another amazin’ episode of Ed Loves Bacon (ELB for short, tho I know how Ed hates that acronym).

Anyway people, this week Ed sat down with Jason Schwartzman who’s in the new film The Darjeeling Limited. He talked to us about the movie, filming in India, a crazy river scene, and he managed to squeeze in some details about his side project, Coconut Records, his one-man band.

He even let us play one of his songs for you, “West Side,” so check that out after the interview.

Show links:

• jason-schwartzman.com
• youngbabyrecords.com – his very own label
• Hotel Chevalier – A sexy short that serves as prequel to The Darjeeling Limited, with Jason and the beatiful Natalie Portman (iTunes link).
• The Darjeeling Limited - Trailer at apple.com

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With the success of his first film, Boyz In The Hood, John Singleton has made a significant mark on Hollywood. His early box office success as a writer and director, can be seen in the films, Higher Learning, Poetic Justice and Rosewood.

Lately, John has jumped from behind the camera and taken the role of producer, with films Black Snake Moan and critically acclaimed, Hustle and Flow. John’s latest project, Illegal Tender, is a fictional tale of a Nyurican gangster’s legacy and one boys journey to find his way out of a maze of secrets and vendettas.

John stops by to discuss his latest project, issues in Black Hollywood and rumors of his makings of The Black Panther and Luke Cage projects.

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Links:

Illegal Tender: The official website for the film
John Singleton’s Wiki: All you need to know about the man
Tego Calderon: Want to know more about the man, check out Tego’s Myspace page

In this episode, Ed sits down with artist, Chris “Kazi” Rolle to discuss “The Hip Hop Project,” which he, and his students are featured. We also chat with the film’s director, Matt Ruskin on the making of this five-year project. Plus you’ll hear tracks from the soundtrack featured in the movie.

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Links:

The Hip Hop Project: Official site to the movie
Art Start: New York arts project that started the HHP
Volunteer Match: Looking to give a hand, why not start here

Ed talks with former FBI investigation specialist, Eric O’Neill (pictured left) and director/writer, Billy Ray (pictured right) about the capture of FBI Special Agent, Robert Hanssen (2001) featured in the upcoming film, Breach. Plus Alejandro shares his views on a few subjects.

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Links:
Breach Official Movie Website: Chronicling the pursuit and capture of this infamous FBI case.
The FBI web site: Find out what they had to say in their own words, including declassified documents about their investigation and what lead to his capture.
CNN’s Special Report: Ted’s people did a great job covering this case. Check out what they have on the case and the inner-workings of Robert Hanssen.

Ed interviews John Dau, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, who is featured in the upcoming documentary God Grew Tired of Us. Alejandro has this week’s cover story updates (including Carlton Hargro’s Fantasia user-generated interview)

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Links:
God Grew Tired of Us Official Website: learn more about the Lost Boys of Sudan and about relief efforts.
International Rescue Committee: The organization which provide refuge and relocation for the lost boys
Direct Change: John is the new Director for Sudanese efforts. Find out more about the organization, their projects and how you can help.

Ed chats with Athen, Ga’s own James Ponsoldt on the making of his new feature film, Off The Black starring Nick Nolte. Alejandro gives us the lowdown on the buzz behind Mara Shalhop’s three-part Black Mafia Family (BMF) cover story and podcasts.

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Links:
Off The Black web site: Nick Nolte plays a lonely, drunken baseball umpire. I’m not going say anything else…
The Smoking Gun mugshots: Okay I lied, you gotta check out Nick’s infamous mugshot.
James Ponsoldt’s blog: Delightful editorials from the mind of the director.
MisterMurph’s Myspace page: He’s the man behind our new theme song. Check out his music samples and blog, you won’t be disappointed…disturbed, but not disappointed.
Creative Loafing BMF cover story: Well I guess they weren’t called Black Mafia Family for nothing.

In this episode of EL Bacon (like the nickname), Ed sits down with writer, director, Nick Cassavetes to discuss his views on movie making and his new feature film “Alpha Dog” starring Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone and Justin Timberlake. Alejandro give us a heads up on what going on at the Loaf.

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Links:
Alpha Dog official movie web site: Yeah, yeah it’s got JT in it. He’s bringing sexy back…to crime.
Court TV’s crimelibrary: It’s practically criminal if you don’t find this archive of devious transgressions entertaining.
Internet Movie Database (IMDB): A co-worker thought Nick was a “tall drink of water.” Aside from that, he’s a talented writer and director. Read more about him and his projects on his IMDB profile page.

In this episode, Ed gets the low down on the new film “Harsh Times” from its creator and director, David Ayer. Alejandro is back again with this week’s CL cover story updates.
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links:
Harsh Times: the official movie site
Awesomebale.org: for those people who need to get their “Bale” on.
Street Gangs Recource Center: Interesting info about gangs, especially LA gangs.
NBC’s two-minute replay: Keep your free time, watch abbreviated versions of some of nbc’s weekly prime time shows in two minutes!

Ed chats with author, Augusten Burroughs on his life and the success of his bestselling book, Running With Scissors. Oh, and make way for Alejandro Leal.
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links:
augusten.com: link to Augusten Burroughs’ official website
Running with Scissors: the official movie site.
Comedy Central’s Motherload: finally, let the testicles have their say on Comedy Central’s new show Baxter & McGuire starting November 6, 2006.
Nip/Tuck website: We didn’t mention it much in the interview, but Running with Scissors is directed and adapted to screen by Ryan Murphy, creator of FX’s runaway hit, Nip/Tuck.

Ed discusses comedy and the film business with School For Scoundrels Writer, Director, Todd Phillips.
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Links:
School For Scoundrels site: The official web site for the movie.
New York Underground Film Festival: Todd Phillips’ annual indie film shindig.
The Frat Pack Tribute site: The name sucks, but we all really want to hang with ‘em.

It’s all about unsolved mysteries in the episode of Ed Loves Bacon. Ed goes one-on-one with Author James Ellroy about the subject of his book and upcoming film The Black Dahlia. Plus, learn about some other infamous unsolved crimes.
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links:
theblackdahliamovie.net: link to the official movie site.
ellroy.com: site dedicated to all things James Ellroy.
bethshort.com: you’ve gone this far, find out more about the infamous Hollywood murder mystery.

This week, Ed speaks with director John A. Davis about the upcoming film, The Ant Bully. He also buys a few livestock from Heifer.org
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links:
antbully.com: link to the official movie site
nick.com: Nickelodeon, home to Davis’ Jimmy Neutron and other shows
heifer.org: supply food to needy people world wide.

Ed talks with Writer, Director Kevin Smith about all things Clerks…and our not-so-guilty pleasure Degrassi.
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links:
viewaskew.com: the portal the askewniverse
My Boring-Ass Life: Kevin Smith’s blog
Degrassi The Next Generation Web site: yup, believe the hype!

Ed and Aaron discuss the fall movies picks, hits and misses.
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