Swosh! & other: July 2008

Aeon

Artist: Aeon

   Genre(s):
Dance
   Rock

Discography:

Orthodoxy

Year: 2006
Tracks: 1

Bleeding the False

Year: 2005
Tracks: 15

Dark Orders

Year: 2001
Tracks: 6

Tsahan

Sex And The City - Sex Sells -- Even On Monday

Warner Bros.' Sex and the City took in an additional $5.5 million in ticket
sales on Monday -- more than most films earned during the entire previous weekend,
according to box-office trackers Media By Numbers. By contrast, the No. 2 film on
Monday, Paramount's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, took in 3.5
million. As was the case over the weekend, the box-office success of SATC
on Monday was driven by women visiting their local theaters in groups. More than
85 percent of ticket buyers were female, according to trade reports. As of Monday the film
had grossed $62.5 million.

04/06/2008

See Also

Catwoman Star Meriwether Plans 'Tell-all' Book

Original Batman movie actress Lee Meriwether has announced her plans to "tell all" in a new book. The 73-year-old actress made the feline femme fatale role of Catwoman famous when she brought the character to the big screen in 1966. And Meriwether has revealed she is penning a tome with intentions to come clean about working behind the scenes with co-stars including Batman actor Adam West. Meriwether says, "(Actor/Director) Jim Hesselman is helping me and I'm telling all." In addition to her Batman role, Meriwether also made TV history when she was crowned Miss America in 1954 - the first year the competition was broadcast live on TV.

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Steven Spielberg looks to direct 'The 39 Clues,' based on mystery series

NEW YORK - A multimedia-multi-author narrative being planned by the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter books has picked up a famous patron: Steven Spielberg.

DreamWorks Studios has acquired the film rights to "The 39 Clues," a mystery series-online game that Scholastic will debut in September. Spielberg, director of "Jaws," "Schindler's List" and the "Indiana Jones" films, says he's hoping to direct.

"'The 39 Clues' takes creative leaps to expand the story experience from the pages of the books to multiple stages of discovery and imagination," Spielberg said Wednesday in a joint statement issued by DreamWorks and Scholastic Media. "Together with Scholastic, we have the opportunity to develop this property that says 'film,' 'family,' 'fun' and 'franchise."'

"The 39 Clues," which also features a set of 355 collectible cards, is a planned 10-book series about a powerful, mysterious family that lives in upstate New York. The first instalment, "The Maze of Bones," was written by Rick Riordan, author of the best-selling "The Lightning Thief." Jude Watson and Gordon Korman are among those who will write future volumes.

-

On the Net:

http://www.scholastic.com

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Meet the Browns - 7/1/2008

Whenever anyone mentions Tyler Perry, two questions almost always enter the conversation: Why is he so popular, and when will his 15 minutes of unearned fame finally end? The first is easy to answer -- it's all about preaching to a truly underserved demographic. The second issue is more complicated. While audiences still line up for his theatrical works, his films have been finding less and less acceptance at the box office. That trend will probably continue with his most recent turn behind the camera, the so-called comedy Meet the Browns.

Hard working Brenda (Angela Bassett) is at the end of her rope. She's lost her job, she can't afford to feed her kids, and her basketball-playing son is responding to the lure of the streets. Then she learns that the father she never met has just died. His funeral is in Georgia, and the relatives have sent bus tickets so she can attend. After saying goodbye to her Latina friend Cheryl (Sofia Vergara), she heads down South.

When she arrives, Brenda is met by the flashy dressing dim bulb Leroy Brown (David Mann) and his good-hearted daughter Cora (Tamela Mann). The rest of the clan consists of LB (Frankie Faison), his wife Sarah (Margaret Avery), and the highly strung Vera (Jenifer Lewis). They are surprised to see this stranger in their midst, and even more shocked to learn of her lineage. But Brenda has new concerns, especially when a former professional ball player with a shady past (Rick Fox) takes an interest in her… and her son's future career.

Get ready to be disappointed, fans of the original Tyler Perry stage play. Meet the Browns resembles that enjoyable ensemble comedy in name only. Instead, our hardworking writer/director lifts the main storyline from his recent What's Done in the Dark… (single mother raising NBA-bound son) and intersperses it with only occasional callbacks to the malapropism-prone Leroy Brown and his entire frenzied family freak show. Gone are a few cast members, the last act funeral free-for-all, and of course, most of the God stuff. In their place are insufferable moments of mild melodrama that sloppily illustrate how single mothers suffer at the hands of deadbeat dads, envious kinfolk, and the lure of easy drug money.

On the plus side, Perry hired Angela Bassett as his social surrogate. She delivers a performance of quiet intensity, earning our respect -- and a few tears -- with her earnest desire to succeed. She is matched well by David Mann, bringing his classic human cartoon Leroy Brown to the big screen. Sure, some of his verbal mistakes are incredibly forced ("last will and testicles"), but his personality is so genuine and likeable that we forgive the larger than life qualities. Even Rick Fox redeems the standard knight in shining armor role that Perry requires of all his leading men.

Yet something is still not right with this movie, and it has more to do with what's going on behind the scenes than what's in front of the camera. Perry's desire to distance himself from the source material makes this adaptation a bit of a bait and switch. Even his appearance as the popular Madea ends up a mere cameo. And since the Brown family material is so kinetic, so winning in the way it uses character to enhance the comedy, the downer dramatics appear wildly out of place. In fact, Meet the Browns definitely feels like three different screenplays purposefully tossed together. With only one of those succeeding, perhaps Perry's time in the limelight may be shorter than he -- or his fans -- think.

Time for cake.

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