Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Whatever She Wants (2010)Friday, March 19th, 2010 |
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Whatever She Wants is the story about one woman’s determination to rediscover who she really is… Vivian Wolf has suffered one heartbreak too many and has no room left for unfulfilling relationships. Now she has come up with the solution to every woman’s problem, a private club called “Whatever She Wants” where men have to qualify to get in. No baby daddies, no bad credit, no car, no pot bellies, and no living with your mama will get you NO ENTRY. To be in the presence of these women you have to be able to give them whatever they need. It is the grand opening and Vivian is as grand as she can be. She has it all except her own man. And for her traditional and powerfully wealthy father, Theodore Wolf, this is unacceptable. In town to celebrate Vivian’s fortieth birthday, Theodore discovers his financial contribution to Vivian’s business ventures has turned into a social club for dating. He doesn’t agree with her elitist approach to relationships. This isn’t what he expected from his oldest daughter. Her time is running out and so is his patience. She has embarrassed him and the family’s name and now he demands change. The only problem is… These two wolves ain’t afraid to howl. Question is… Which one will be the first to bite? Meanwhile, Tracy Jamison, Vivian’s more reformed younger sister and her hubby Carlos, have sought refuge in Vivian’s home. Tracy and Carlos have fallen on hard times and for Vivian this is all the proof she needs as to why her “Whatever She Wants” social club will prevent her from struggling through a pointless marriage. She wants happiness without the fight, so she instead fights with Tracy and her husband. She ridicules Carlos for putting his dreams before his wife and convinces Tracy she doesn’t have to suffer with a minimum wage brother. Enough is enough. Carlos wants to get away from it all and demands Tracy decide if she’s married to him or to her sister. Not sure what to do, Tracy ventures out and finds herself in the arms of another man who promises to give her “Whatever She Wants”. But she’s not the only one making a love connection. The close hearted Vivian who has yet to find the man she wants finally meets her match. Even the men who pass her prescreening qualification detector and are allowed into her club are not into her heart. That is until Julian Heaven breaks it in. Julian is every woman’s fantasy. He’s stunning, sexy, charming, and legit. He catches Vivian hook, line and sinker and it doesn’t take much to reel her in. But this fish might not make it to the frying pan as things start to heat up in the kitchen. It all boils over when Vivian’s joy ride with Julian comes to a crashing end. Vivian’s fantasy world crumbles into the harsh reality that whatever she wants just might not be what she gets. Witness the power, laughter, strength and honesty as Vivian searches for the perfect man who just may not come in the perfect box. Whatever She Wants is the story about one woman’s determination to rediscover who she really is… Search keywords |
Madea’s Family Reunion (2002)Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 |
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Just as Madea buries her sister, she must get ready for her granddaughter, Lisa, coming to get married at the house. It’s a bundle of laughs and drama and great music and lessons of forgiveness as Madea must endure the craziness of her neighbor, Leroy Brown, and the dysfunctional relatives staying under her own roof for the weekend. |
Sympathy for the Devil (1968)Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 |
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In the 60’s, having as the background the rehearsal and recording of “Sympathy for the Devil” in the classic album “Beggar’s Banquet” by the revolutionary bad boy Rolling Stones – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Brian Jones – plus Marianne Faithful, Godard discloses other contemporary revolutionary and ideological movements – the Black Power through the Black Panthers, the feminism, the communism, the fascism – entwined with the reading of a cheap pulp political novel divided in the chapters: “The Stones Rolling; “Outside Black Novel”; “Sight and Sound”; “All About Eve”; “The Heart of Occident”; “Inside Black Syntax”; and, “Under the Stones the Beach”. |
Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)Saturday, February 27th, 2010 |
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He’s been in the country side, he’s been downtown, he’s been to Las Vegas, he’s even been in space, now that evil Leprechaun is in DA HOOD! Three young rap artists are looking for a break. They need money to buy some music equipment so they can go to Las Vegas and enter a contest. They meet up with a local pimp named Mack Daddy who agrees to “hook them up”, but later declines. The rappers want to get even with him so one night they break into Mack’s place and steal alot of his jewelry, gold, and even the medallion off an ugly looking statue. Shouldn’t have done that! Because without the medallion, the state transforms into the Leprechaun, who goes on a killing spree once again looking for his missing gold, once again! And the song says it all, “there’s nothin’ scarier than a Lep’ in the hood!” Search keywords |
The AristoCats (1970)Friday, February 26th, 2010 |
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The beloved, pampered housecat of a retired opera star in 1910 Paris finds herself stranded in the countryside with her three children, the victims of a plot by their owner’s butler to cheat them out of a huge inheritance. They must find their way back to their home and owner, with the help of an independent-minded tomcat and other animal accomplices, while evading the butler and foiling his plan. Search keywords |
Classic Albums: Bob Marley & the Wailers – Catch a Fire (1999)Friday, February 26th, 2010 |
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In the late ’60s, the notion that reggae would become more than just a novelty act would have been laughed at. To break into the mainstream, the movement needed a powerful voice of prophetic proportions. This voice emerged from the collective work of three pioneering friends from Jamaica, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, and Robert Nesta Marley, who sought to bring about an ideological revolution through deeply meditative, hypnotic, and spiritual music. Catch a Fire was the Wailers’ and reggae’s introduction to the world and turned Bob Marley into a mega-icon of enormous proportions. It was the first album to remain true to the traditions of reggae music while having enough elements that were accessible to popular culture. This documentary, Bob Marley and the Wailers: Catch a Fire, returns to Dynamic Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, shedding light on the development of the album, the thought process of Bob, Peter, and Bunny, and the importance of the music on a song-by-song basis. The story of Catch a Fire is presented through interviews with the band members, studio musicians, and former head of Island Records Chris Blackwell. Throughout are raw studio rehearsal footage, BBC TV footage, and home movies that include performances of “Concrete Jungle,” “Slave Driver,” “Stir It Up,” and “Stop That Train.” The documentary wraps up with rare black-and-white footage of the Wailers’ tour in Edmonton, London, in 1973 with an electrifying performance of the Burnin’ song “Get Up, Stand Up.” Search keywords |
Feet of Flames (1998)Thursday, February 25th, 2010 |
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This release captures a 1998 concert from Irish dancer Michael Flatley, the man who broke from the troupe Riverdance to have his own solo career. Hinting that it may be his last live performance, Flatley is cheered on by an enthusiastic London crowd. Search keywords |
Les choristes (2004)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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On 15 January 1949, the former music teacher Clément Mathieu arrives in “Fond de l’ Etang” (“Bottom of the Well”), a boarding school for orphans and problematic boys, to work as an inspector. The place is administrated with iron fist by the cruel director Rachin, and most of the boys have severe punishments for their faults. Clément decides to teach the boys to sing in a choir in their spare time, and identify the musical potential of the rebel Pierre Morhange, the son of a beautiful single mother for whom he feels a crush. He also has a special feeling for the young Pépinot, a boy that expects the visit of his father every Saturday near the gate, but indeed lost his parents in the war. With his methods, Clément changes the lives of the boys, of the other employees and his own. |
La môme (2007)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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An un-chronological look at the life of the Little Sparrow, ‘Édith Piaf’ (qv) (1915-1963). Her mother is an alcoholic street singer, her father a circus performer, her paternal grandmother a madam. During childhood she lives with each of them. At 20, she’s a street singer discovered by a club owner who’s soon murdered, coached by a musician who brings her to concert halls, and then quickly famous. Constant companions are alcohol and heartache. The tragedies of her love affair with Marcel Cerdan and the death of her only child belie the words of one of her signature songs, “Non, je ne regrette rien.” The back and forth nature of the narrative suggests the patterns of memory and association. |
La personne aux deux personnes (2008)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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Ex-singing star Gilles Gabriel’s come-back plans are crushed when he runs into Jean-Christian Ranu, a slightly nutty accountant. Ranu’s life becomes chaotic when he discovers that Gilles was killed and is now living in his head! it was already complicated each one on their side… then now, two in the same person… |
Swing Kids (1993)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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In Nazi occupied Germany, the youth of the nation were pressed into joining a pro-Nazi Youth Leauge called the “Hiterjugend”, or Hitler Youth. A group of rebel teenagers, however, chose to defy Nazi directives and grew their hair long and listened to American music while calling themselves the “Swing Kids.” This is the story of one group of Swing Kids and how Nazi rule and persuasion tore them apart and set them against each other. |
Helloween – High Live (1996)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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Helloween rocks! |
Stoned (2005)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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Fact-based story about the drug-addled and sordid life of The Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones (Leo Gregory). Unfortunately the story moves so quickly into the sensationalized decadence and drug-induced state of Jones, that the unknowing viewer has to wonder why anyone would care. There are only a few framing sequences with members of The Stones, particularly Keith Richards (Ben Whishaw), that show they had a great respect for him and tried to bring him back into the band as he drifted away. Mixed into the destruction of Jones is a common builder, Frank Thorogood, (Paddy Considine), who is given the unenviable task of trying to please Jones by rebuilding his estate and to watch him per Jones’ manager’s (David Morrissey) instructions. Thorogood’s life is so far removed from all of the sex and drugs that he sees, that he envies and desires the tawdry life as well, but never quite fits in. Unfortunately, at least according to this film and according to a supposed death bed confessional of Thorogood in 1993, it led to Thorogood’s murder of Jones in a swimming pool “accident”. Jones’ Swedish girl friend is portrayed by Tuva Nuvotny. Other Stones are played by Luke de Woolfson (Jagger), Josef Altin (Wyman), and James D. White (Watts). The film contains full frontal male and female nudity, frequent graphic sex, constant drug use and profanity, and some violence as Brian beats his girl friend and, of course, the depiction of the murder. |
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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The sisters come back to Delores’s show to get her back as Sister Mary Clarence to teach music to a group of students in their parochial school which is doomed for closure. One of the girls, who is the most talented of the bunch, is forbidden to sing by her mother, although the choir has made it to the state championship. A group of stereotypical incompetent monks tries to stop them. |
Sister Act (1992)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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Delores is having an affair with her Mafia boss, Vince. Her career as a singer in Las Vegas is going nowhere and Vince won’t divorce his wife and she goes to him to break it off, witnessing a murder Vince just ordered. Running from the club, she seeks police protection. They agree to hide her in the one place Vince would never look for her. She finds, to her chagrin, that it is a convent, where she must impersonate a nun. After several false starts, she is assigned to the convent’s dismal choir. She challenges and reorganizes them to become a modern singing group. In this she is successful, and as the choir gets better, success brings it’s own problems. |
The Return of James Battle (2004)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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True love, motorcycle daredevils, and alien visitation all find their way into this wildly imaginative fantasy, written and directed by Didier Poiraud and his brother Thierry Poiraud, a pair of comic artists who adapted the story from their own work. James Bataille (Jason Flemyng) is in love with Concia (Vanessa Paradis), a chanteuse whose father, Bosco (Jean-Pierre Marielle), runs the only nightspot in the tiny town where they live. The mechanically inclined Bataille attempts to stage an elaborate motorcycle stunt to impress Concia, but when it goes sour, he ends up in prison with a 133-year sentence. Desperate to help Concia and raise some money, Bataille escapes from behind bars to make an appointment to fix the car of music biz tycoon Allan Chiasse (Benoît Poelvoorde). Chiasse’s timing may be fortuitous, as Concita is soon to take part in the town’s annual talent show, though he’s expected to face tough competition from a very unusual dog act. |
9 Songs (2004)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall–London’s Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night’s end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages (familiar to anyone who’s ever been in love) unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs. |
Stomp Out Loud (1997)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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The producers have done a good job, capturing most of the magic of a Stomp show without (of course) interaction with the audience. Stomp could be classified as a dance troupe, performance art, or industrial-type music, and for the full effect, it’s necessary to watch them; that makes this much better than the various soundtracks and albums floating around that have “songs” performed by Stomp. |
Glitter (2001)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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Pop star Mariah Carey plays Billie Frank, a shy, young mixed-race girl who is sent away by her alcoholic mother at a very early age. At an orphanage, she befriends Louise (Da Brat) and Roxanne (Tia Texada). Flash forward to 1983. Billie and her friends are spotted by a record producer, Timothy Walker (Terrence Howard), who wants them to sing backup for his latest pop-music discovery. But when super DJ Dice (Max Beesley) hears Billie’s incredible voice, he makes a shady deal with Timothy to get her out of that dead-end situation. Soon, Billie and Dice are making hits inside the studio, and falling in love outside of it. Eventually, the pressure of her newfound celebrity puts too heavy a strain on Billie, forcing her to decide what it is she really wants from Dice, and what she wants for herself. |
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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For years, the record industries have inserted subliminal messages into music so that they can turn teenagers into braindead zombies who do nothing but buy, buy, buy. And whenever the musician or band finds out the truth, the record company silences them to keep the truth from coming out. When the hot boy band DuJour discovers this, their manager, Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming), under his evil, corrupt boss, Fiona (Parker Posey), has the plane they are flying in crashed and him looking for a new band to use for their evil schemes. Enter Josie (Rachel Leigh Cook), the ditzy Melody (Tara Reid), and the tough Valerie (Rosario Dawson), from Josie and the Pussycats, a small band who wants to make it to the big top. When they are discovered by Wyatt, they give in and become big rock stars. But will they find out that they are just pawns for the record industry or will fame take them over? |



















