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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

“Hurt & Lucas Join Movie Immortals - The Gaea Times” plus 3 more

“Hurt & Lucas Join Movie Immortals - The Gaea Times” plus 3 more


Hurt & Lucas Join Movie Immortals - The Gaea Times

Posted: 07 Apr 2010 01:54 AM PDT

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Al Jolson movie Mammy' now on DVD in limited release - Victoria Advocate

Posted: 06 Apr 2010 06:13 AM PDT

By Susan King

Los Angeles Times

(MCT)

The 1930 movie musical "Mammy" is an important - if almost shockingly politically incorrect - piece in the canon of the legendary Al Jolson's career.

"Mammy" stars "The World's Greatest Entertainer" - a moniker Jolson had for 40 years - in his only feature that was shot partly in early two-strip Technicolor. The score was by the legendary Irving Berlin and includes the standard "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy." The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, who later won the Oscar for "Casablanca."

For years, the color footage in "Mammy" had disappeared. All that had survived the decades were time-ravaged black-and-white prints. Then in 2002 the UCLA Film & Television Archive unveiled its restoration of "Mammy" complete with those color sequences, which had been discovered in the Nederlands Filmmuseum.

UCLA's restoration work has been digitally fine-tuned for its DVD release by Warner Home Video this week.

But the DVD is not getting a wide distribution. "Mammy" is being released through Warner Archive Collection (www.warnerarchive.com), which is targeted at film buffs.

The reason?

Jolson was one of numerous performers - including Eddie Cantor and Bing Crosby - who appeared both on stage and in film in blackface performing musical numbers. In "Mammy," Jolson plays one of the stars of a minstrel show touring small towns in the early 1900s. Jolson himself got his start in minstrel shows before he became the biggest stars on Broadway in the teens and '20s.

"Blackface" was the term coined for the theatrical makeup used in U.S. minstrel shows where white actors wore black makeup on their faces complete with exaggerated mouths. The first big minstrel show occurred in 1843, eventually evolving into a three-act program featuring songs, dances and comedy.

The minstrel shows began to wane in the late 19th century, but blackface acts found a home in vaudeville, on stage and eventually in film (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and Joan Crawford were among those who performed such musical numbers). Blackface continued in features and even cartoons until the 1950s - just a decade before the Civil Rights Act was signed into law in 1964.

"We are very, very sensitive to the issue of blackface," says George Feltenstein, senior vice president of the theatrical catalog for Warner Home Video.

"The archive collection makes it possible for us to release a film like this in an historical context as opposed to someone just innocently putting the movie on a shelf in a store not knowing what it is and running the risk of being viewed out of context."

But for Jolson fans, "it is a dream come true to own a copy. True film buffs have been dying for this to come out. We all thought it was lost. ..."

"Mammy" was the fourth film Jolson made under contract to Warner Bros. His 1927 feature debut in 'The Jazz Singer" changed the face of filmmaking. Though "Jazz Singer" was technically a silent film, sound was employed for all of Jolson's electrifying numbers, as well as for a few lines of dialogue. "Jazz Singer" was the death knell to the silent era. And moviegoers wanted more musicals.

By the time "Mammy" was released, though, musicals were beginning to lose their vogue with audiences. "Mammy" still managed to become a hit, but Jolson's film career took a tumble after 1930.

Feltenstein admits Jolson's legacy "is forever tainted" because most people today only know him for his blackface routines. But Jolson, who died in 1950 at the age of 64, was far more than that.

"His influence on American popular music can't even be quantified," says Feltenstein.

___

(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.

Visit the Los Angeles Times on the Internet at http://www.latimes.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.


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Production of the Smurfs movie begins in New York - COMICBOOKMOVIE.com

Posted: 05 Apr 2010 01:17 PM PDT

Audiences everywhere are in for a Smurfy good time as the Smurfs make their first 3D trip to the big screen. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours – in fact, smack dab in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down. The film is set for release August 3, 2011.

Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, and Hank Azaria star on camera opposite an all-star voice cast. Anton Yelchin will play Clumsy Smurf; comedy legend Jonathan Winters, who voiced roles in the "Smurfs" television series, will voice Papa Smurf; Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Katy Perry will play Smurfette; Alan Cumming will play Gutsy Smurf; "SNL's" Fred Armisen will voice Brainy Smurf; and George Lopez will play Grouchy Smurf.

In the live-action roles, Azaria will play the Smurfs' nemesis, the evil wizard Gargamel. Harris and Mays star as an expectant couple whose lives are turned upside down when the Smurfs cross over from their magical village to New York City. Vergara plays Odile, Harris's boss, a cosmetics executive.

The film is directed by Raja Gosnell. The screenplay is by J. David Stem & David N. Weiss and Jay Scherick & David Ronn, based on the characters and works of Peyo. The producer is Jordan Kerner and Ezra Swerdlow, Ben Haber, and Paul Neesan are the executive producers.

Commenting on the announcement, Minghella said, "We're thrilled with the way our cast has come together. Raja and Jordan and the entire team working on 'The Smurfs' have developed a film with tremendous heart and great comedy and now we have a dream cast to bring the movie to life."

Adds producer Jordan Kerner, "What a wonderful journey this has been. The time is right for an adventure that will thrill fans and introduce the blue heroes to a new generation, and the technology is here to allow the three-apple-high Smurfs to appear in all their glory on the big screen and in 3D. Columbia Pictures has been magnificent at every turn in their commitment to get 'The Smurfs' to the screen. Our partners at Lafig, including Peyo's daughter Veronique Culliford, have been with us in the creation of the story and characters every step of the way. It's a real thrill to begin shooting and working with our compatriots at Sony Pictures Animation. Just wait – the blue invasion is coming!"

Phil Meheux (Edge of Darkness) is the director of photography and the production designer is Bill Boes (Beverly Hills Chihuahua). Sabrina Plisco (Beverly Hills Chihuahua) is the film's editor, Maricel Pagulayan (Avatar) is the VFX Producer and Richard R. Hoover (Superman Returns) is the visual effects supervisor, with Sony Pictures Imageworks creating imagery and animation for the magical world of the Smurfs.

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18 Comments


Starsapphire @ LMAO!!

Cool find @ PROMORUS!!

Talking SUPERHEROES... (LOL)

CLICK click = 111 SUPERHEROINE'S HOLIDAY SPECIAL CASTING!!! Thanks ; D

DDD'S, JOSHES, SHHH's, NIGHTAVENGER'S and EVERYONES great stuff are all there too, FAN-FIC>>>>>>>>>>


I kno it has nothing to do with this. I jus really enjoy this part


This movie will fail misreably, along with the sims, stretch armstrong and rock em' sock em' movies!
at the same time robotech has absolutely nothing going on. sad world we live in.
After seeing Avatar, I wouldn't mind watching a Smurfs movie with the kids.
Sounds like an interesting plot. Hope its a Smurfing success.
What the F***.

Why? we have already had one Smurf movie
*cough*AVATAR*cough*

And yet we still get nothing for the Robotech movie. I agree with GRIF. It truley is a sad sad world.

Oh on a side note since we are all posting random videos. I am going to se Rocky Horror this week, an forgot to do the Timewarp, and found this hillarious video on Youtube.

Can anyone guess who I'm going as? first to get it right gets a NOPRIZE, they seem to be popular around here


THAT'S SMURFTACULAR!!!!! LOL

@Shazam. No THAT is smurftacular!

I'd smurf that...


@theHawk- Hell yeah, She'll smurf ya for a smurfing smurf. You smurfing me bro?? LOL
Well that depends on what your smurfing about. I'm not sure about smurfing someones smurf
This movie is going to suck. It's such a cop-out doing the "from their world, to ours" storyline.

Balls.


@tricky i [frick]ing agree on that
??? Why do these dumb Hollywood assholes always have to ruin everything good about my childhood? Is it so hard to have this movie set in Medieval times like the cartoon was? This sounds exactly like the same kind of shit they did with the Super Mario Brothers movie (needs to be remade on that note). What other beloved '80s cartoon is Hollywood going to F up? Thundercats? Voltron?
Wasnt avatar enough? do they really have to make another smurf movie?
HOLY HELL..LOL..THE SMURFS in 3D that would be incredible on acid..lol. The making of this film proves once again that my idea for a film could be possible. Dave Chappelle as a manic depressive Count Chocula!
@TheHawk-OMG!!! SHUT THE SMURF UP?!?!?!?! LOL ; )~ That is freaking Smurf.

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Movie News & Gossip - YAHOO!

Posted: 06 Apr 2010 10:34 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Olivia Thirlby, the young actress known for supporting roles in such indies as " Juno " and " The Wackness ," has booked one of the leading roles in "The Darkest Hour," a sci-fi action movie that will shoot on location in Moscow during the summer.

The script, which director Chris Gorak and Josh Zetumer are currently revising, follows a group of Americans traveling in the Russian capital when an alien invasion occurs. Thirlby plays a trust-fund girl who teams up with others to try to defeat the invaders.

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