Category Archives: Arts and Culture

England Is Mine: New Biopic of former Smiths singer out August 4

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By Eric Gasa

England Is Mine. Honlodge Productions


The dark, brilliant, and narcissistic story of Steven Morrissey is finally getting the silver screen treatment. The new biopic, titled England Is Mine, arrives in theaters August 4 and centers on the singer’s youth before forming his iconic band, The Smiths.

The Smiths are revered as the most important British band of the 1980’s, and paved the way for other rock groups like The Stone Roses and Oasis. Morrissey’s heartbroken falsetto, combined with Johnny Marr’s guitar riffs made the group into a rock & roll landmark. Though the band broke up in 1987 their music and story remains popular to this day hence this new release.

Directed by Mark Gill and starring Jack Lowden as Morrissey, England Is Mine’s early setting will give viewers a peek into Manchester’s vibrant punk scene and the singer’s personal life. The trailer, released June 30, is sleek, propulsive, and shows a bashful yet pretentious Morrissey trying to make his way into the spotlight.
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Chris Hardwick’s ID10T Music Festival + Comic Conival Wraps Its Inaugural Year

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…With Thousands In Attendance, June 24th & 25th in Silicon Valley, CA

Los Angeles, CA (June 30, 2017) — Thousands of music, comedy, comics and pop culture lovers congregated for the inaugural ID10T Music Festival & Comic Conival, a groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind experience, created and hosted by Chris Hardwick.

A diverse group of attendees – many of whom were sporting impressive cosplay attire – roamed the Shoreline Amphitheatre and surrounding grounds in Mountain View, CA on Saturday, June 24th and Sunday, June 25th. Each day kicked off with panels, which were overflowing with patrons. Some highlights include Mystery Science Theatre 3000 playing clips from the new season of the reboot, The Magicians discussing the upcoming season, and during the Animaniacs Live! sing-a-long, cheers could be heard from across the venue as the original voices from the show broke into a quick live rendition of the show’s theme song.

Throughout the day, fans explored comic vendors, displays, and artist signings, with a number of themed discussions in the artist alley. Roaring laughter could be heard coming from the comedy shows, which included a surprise guest set from Chris Hardwick on both nights. Fans rushed the Mad Decent Dance Tent upon opening to grab a spot to dance. On the main stage, Saturday headliner Weezer played to a packed crowd that sang along to every lyric, and Sunday headliner Girl Talk concluded the festival by filling the stage with fans for a full on dance party.

All photos by Rob Fenn

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Summerfest 2017 In Milwaukee Is Celebrating Festival’s 50th Anniversary

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By Creative Media Times

Summerfest – 2017 Milwaukee, WI
summerfest.com

Summerfest, the yearly music festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin kicks off tonight at Henry Maier Festival Park. Dubbed “The World’s Largest Music Festival”, Summerfest is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, making it one of the world’s longest running music festivals.

Summerfest 2017 will run from June 28 to July 2, and then from July 4 to July 9. Headliner Red Hot Chili Peppers kick things off tonight at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater at 7:30 PM. Also scheduled to perform tonight at various stages are Tesla, Spin Doctors, Flume, The Moody Blues, Frankie Ballard, Misterwives, Deerhoof, Jack Irons, Back Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Hook N Sling, Touch Sensitive, Shaed, The Cougars among others.

Conceived in the 1960s by then mayor of Milwaukee Henry W. Maier, Summerfest originally hosted various events from concerts to film festivals. It has since attracted global attention and featured artists from a variety of music genres, as well as legendary music artists.

The Summerfest Big Bang Fireworks, scheduled for tonight and presented by Menards and ABC-affiliated television station WISN 12 News, has been cancelled due to severe storms. It is now rescheduled at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday.

To see the full lineup and schedules, please go to Summerfest.com >>

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Ben Affleck To Return For ‘The Accountant’ Sequel?

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By Creative Media Times

aiphotoimaging.com


It looks like Ben Affleck is assembling a new franchise. According to Deadline, Warner Bros. is gearing up for a sequel to ‘The Accountant’, Affleck’s 2016 crime-thriller vehicle directed by Gavin O’Connor.

The article reports that both director O’Connor and star Affleck are returning, and possibly Jon Bernthal as well, whose character is part of the surprising twist towards the end of the movie.

This move from the studio is a bit of a surprise. The movie itself was a moderate success. It received mixed reviews and grossed $155 million worldwide on a $44 million production budget.

But the story and the film’s ending left plenty of potential for follow-ups. The film follows Christian “Chris” Wolff, a certified public accountant and skilled assassin who grew up with high-functioning autism. Chris tracks insider financial deceptions for criminal enterprises, and receives assignments from an unidentified woman over the phone.

Deadline did not report a production schedule nor release for The Account sequel. But Affleck will next be seen as Batman on November 17 in Justice League, also from WB.

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Ron Howard Is The New Director of Han Solo Movie

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By Creative Media Times

Ron Howard by David Shankbone


It’s been somewhat of a tumultuous week for Star Wars fans. Just a few days ago, the shocking news surfaced that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were removed of their directing duties due to “creative differences.” But today is a fresh start. According to Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm and Disney has found a director replacement for it’s untitled Han Solo movie: Ron Howard.

“I’m beyond grateful to add my voice to the Star Wars Universe after being a fan since 5/25/77,” Howard tweeted. “I hope to honor the great work already done & help deliver on the promise of a Han Solo film.”

Lucasfilm also posted their announcement on Starwars.com:

“At Lucasfilm, we believe the highest goal of each film is to delight, carrying forward the spirit of the saga that George Lucas began forty years ago,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “With that in mind, we’re thrilled to announce that Ron Howard will step in to direct the untitled Han Solo film. We have a wonderful script, an incredible cast and crew, and the absolute commitment to make a great movie. Filming will resume the 10th of July.”

Those familiar with Howard’s part work should know he’s a good fit. Besides being an Academy Award winning filmmaker (for 2001’s A Beautiful Mind), his work on 1995’s space adventure, Apollo 13, was both a critical and commercial success. He’s also previously directed a George Lucas production and story, the 1988 fantasy film Willow.

The untitled Han Solo film is still scheduled for release in May 2018.

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Lorde’s ‘MELODRAMA’ Was Totally Worth Waiting For

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Waiting for it, that Green Light, we want it!

Lorde at Bonnaroo Festival 2017 by RobertoPulaski.


By Niy Birden

How many amazing things can you list about Lorde? Whether it is her perfectly-curated image, her hilariously opposite, bubbly personality in contrast to her dark music, or her very honest teenage narration of life, you have to admit, that girl is one of the most impressive music-making youth we have in today’s mainstream culture of pop. And speaking of pop, she seems to have embraced the inevitable American influence of it in her album. That was clearly obvious when she released her first single, ‘Green Light’, earlier this year. But take a close listen her long-awaited sophomore album, and it becomes more and more clear: there is no stopping this pop icon. And she may have just gotten much, much better.

The album bursts through your front door with the upbeat and exciting ‘Green Light’, giving an early insight as to what the album could possibly be based on. Detailing her “first major heartbreak’ it’s lyrics are brutally honest and her vocals are intense. Playing on her usual technique of upbeat songs with deeper meanings behind it, you’d immediately feel conflicted as to whether or not she is upset about this breakup or wildly excited. Either way, someone lied to her, which you immediately hear in the context of the ending first verse “She thinks you love the beach, you’re such a damn liar”, with the words ‘liar’ being echoed softly in the background.

The next track, ‘Sober’ is a quite impressive track because not only does it feature even more amazing play on relationship and teenage drama, but it makes quite the musical mark for her with the extensive use of brass horns. This is also another song where she uses the metaphor of dance being used in her lyrics, and goes on to ask an important question that many teens ask themselves but are too afraid to ask aloud “But what will we do when we’re sober?”. The brass horns come on strong, almost as if it is slapping you in the face and running away quicker than you can catch them each time. It gets to a playful and undoubtedly cool-girl moment when the lines “Jack and Jill get fucked up when it’s dark” as she nearly-raps it, without any music, and without any real break for air. And that dance beat-perfectly placed.
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Disney Honors Jack Kirby With A Disney Legends Award At This Year’s D23 Expo

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Founding Father of the Marvel Universe is one of the First Honorees from Marvel

New York, NY—June 16, 2017— This July, Jack Kirby will be honored for his remarkable creative achievements as a Disney Legend in a ceremony to be held at D23 Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California. Hosted by Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, the Disney Legends Award ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 14, in Hall D23 during D23 Expo 2017.

JACK KIRBY first grabbed our attention in the spring of 1941 with Captain America, a character he created with Joe Simon. Kirby then followed this debut with a prolific output of comic books in the Western, Romance, and Monster genres–all a prelude to his defining work helping to create the foundations of the Marvel Universe. For the next decade, Kirby and co-creator Stan Lee would introduce a mind-boggling array of new characters and teams — including the Avengers, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Ant-Man, Wasp, Black Panther, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Inhumans. Kirby was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame’s 1987 inaugural class and continued creating comics throughout the ’90s before passing away in 1994.

Other honorees of this year’s Legends Award are Carrie Fisher, Clyde “Gerry” Geronimi, Manuel Gonzales, Mark Hamill, Stan Lee, Garry Marshall, Julie Taymor, and Oprah Winfrey.

For more information about the Disney Legends and D23 Expo, visit D23expo.com.

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Danny Elfman To Compose ‘Justice League’ Score

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By Armando

Warner Bros. Pictures


Following Zack Snyder’s departure from his directorial duties in May 2017 and Joss Whedon’s involvement to the project, Justice League is getting another radical reorg: according to a report from Hollywood Reporter, Danny Elfman is set to score this November’s Justice League.

With Elfman previously having worked with Whedon on ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, this news reinforce just how important the relationship and chemistry of a director and composer in creating the final product.

He is certainly not new to the genre, more specifically to DC Comics, having previously scored ‘Batman’ (1989) where he won a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, as well as it’s sequel Batman Returns (1992). Elfman is a long-time collaborator of Tim Burton. In addition to Batman, they also worked together in Beetlejuice (1987), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Planet of the Apes (2001) among others.

Among his other high-profile work include Mission: Impossible (1995), Men in Black (1997), Spider-Man (2002), and most recently this year in Fifty Shades Darker and The Circle.

This makeover means Elfman is replacing Antonius Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), who himself replaced Hans Zimmer. Holkenborg was co-composer for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” along with Zimmer, who stated last year that he is done composing for superhero films.

“As my mentor Hans Zimmer told me: you haven’t made it in Hollywood as a composer until you get replaced on a project,” said Holkenborg on a recent Twitter post. “So I guess I finally graduated this week. It pains me to leave the project, but a big thanks to Zack for asking me to be part of his vision, and I wish Danny, Joss, and Warner Bros. all the best with Justice League.”

This would be an interesting and significant shift of DCEU’s score in general, the tone of which began with Man of Steel and continued with Batman V Superman. Re-shoots and additional photography of Justice League is currently underway.

Justice League is scheduled to be released on November 17, 2017.

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Sean Combs – Diddy Ranked Highest Earning Entertainer

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By: Melgie Claire

Sean Combs by Reckless Dream Photography

It has never been less demanding to end up insta-popular, however, for a few famous people, notoriety and fortune are lasting. Take Diddy: Nearly twenty years in the wake of showing up on the front of the first historically speaking Celebrity 100 issue, it might come as an astonishment to a few, however rapper turned businessman P Diddy was the world’s top worker on Forbes’ rundown of the 100 most paid celebrity in the previous year, beating Beyonce.

Diddy tops FORBES’ yearly positioning of the most noteworthy earning entertainers on the planet. Diddy earned $130 million in the previous 12 months.

Diddy – whose genuine name is Sean Combs and prior in his vocation was known as Puff Daddy – is assessed to be valued a sum of $820 million despite the fact that he has made a little music in the past 10 years.

Be that as it may, he has sought after a range of business interests and a year ago featured a North American field tour with different singers on his Bad Boy Records label.
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Actors and Industry Pay Tribute To Richard Donner

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By Creative Media Times

Richard Donner

Richard Donner is greatly responsible for inspiring modern superhero movies with the success of Superman in 1978, and nearly a decade later for the buddy cop formula with Lethal Weapon. Both went on to become hugely successful film franchises, and together with classics The Goonies, The Omen, Maverick, Scrooged and a few others, Donner helped the development of Hollywood blockbuster industry.

Last Wednesday, it was film industry’s turn to honor the director as The Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences held the special ceremony in Los Angeles to honor Donner for all of his work.

But even with success, it was his kindness and generosity that people most remember. “There’s a true humility about the man; he refers to himself as a traffic cop, but he’s a f**ng genius,” says Mel Gibson, who played Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon series. “He has a voice that gets the attention of people getting on the bus two blocks away,” said John Savage (Inside Moves).

Also present during the tribute were DC Films president Geoff Johns and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, sharing the stage and retelling how they got their start in Hollywood working for Donner. “Dick and his wife Lauren gave me my first unpaid job in Hollywood, my first part-time in Hollywood, my first full time job in Hollywood, and my first producing credit, of which is the only reason I’m standing here,” Feige said, also calling Superman: The movie “the archetype of the perfect superhero film origin story.”

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