Caught In The Act

Summer Sanitarium - Minneapolis MN

You can accuse limpbizkit front man Fred Durst of a lot of things, but lack of showmanship isn’t one of them. It’s the type of showmanship that earned bizkit the number-two billing on this tour despite Linkin Park’s record breaking album sales. bizkit’s performance of Break Stuff, which Durst lovingly dedicated to “Britney f***in’ Spears” resulted in rabid crowd response reminiscent of the group's Woodstock '99 appearance, when they upstaged Metallica. Annoyed about not being able to see fans in the back of the venue, Durst ventured onto the main floor through the crowd to perform a cover of the Who's Behind Blue Eyes which created chaos as the fans in the lower decks jumped the railings and flooded onto the floor (picture 42,000 metal heads jumping and pumping their fists with fury) and set the table perfectly for Metallica front man James Hetfield. Metallica started their set with a pummeling versions of Battery and Master of Puppets, which set the pace for a decidedly old-fashioned evening wherein the band took material primarily from its first five albums, already not the easiest to play, and play them 1 and a half times faster. Even the band's new album, St. Anger, a clear throwback to their older, punishing sound, only received scant attention. Frantic and the title track were the only songs Metallica felt obliged to play. Drummer Lars Ulrich, still the athletic speed-metal drummer of yesteryear, was clearly enjoying the improved support from new bass player Robert ‘The Monster’ Trujillo who provoked the mosh pit as he spun around and paced the stage like a caged animal. Fuel was the standout performance of the night, with Hetfield introducing it as sort of a metal cheerleader. "Gimme an M," he said with a laugh. "Gimme an E. Gimme a T. A-L-L-I-C-A. Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire." Metallica's performance was something to behold. They may never return to the glory of their late-‘80s tours, but this night's performance dished up quite a dose of fury.

At The Movies

American Wedding

With East Great Falls High now just a memory, the kids have grown into young adults ready to wreak havoc with a new rite of passage. Jim and Michelle are getting married in a hurry. Jim's grandmother is sick and wants to see Jim walk down the aisle, so they're going for it in two frantic weeks. Stifler plans to throw the ultimate bachelor party while everybody else sweats and frets. Jim's Dad (Eugene Levy) is cool as ever, dispensing advice that no one wants to hear and getting ready for one of the best days of his life. Just as horny, tacky and funny as the first two.

The Buzz...

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has revealed that the group's current Summer Sanitarium Tour is going so well this year that the band is thinking about expanding the Sanitarium concept to the winter, and bringing the tour to arenas.

If one dose of Pirates of the Caribbean was not enough for you, there may be another. In anticipation of the film's success, Disney had already made sequel arrangements with such key cast members as Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, as well as with the behind-the-scenes duo of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski.

Bryan Singer has finished writing a treatment for the third X-Men film, which will focus primarily on Wolverine and on Jean Grey's transformation into Phoenix (shame on all of you who thought she died at the end of X2). Halle Berry's character will likely only appear as a cameo due to her increasingly busy schedule.

While it's all very well to hear about what's going on in Hollywood, it's all the more fulfilling when some industrious snapper provides pictorial evidence for us to see with our own eyes. Check out this sneaky shot of the second teaser poster for Spider-Man 2. Companion to the previously revealed Doc Ock poster, this one is of the wallcrawler himself (starting to look a bit McFarlane-esque) swinging through he New York streets.

Film fans hoping for a successful conclusion to the long-running Superman saga had their hopes dashed with well-placed sources claiming that McG (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle) has signed on to direct the Super-Hero flick for Warner Bros. McG, who's been described as a 'staggeringly awful director' will be most fans' worst case scenario for the position of director. And if that isn't bad enough it seems that the role of Lois Lane has been pinpointed for none other than Drew Barrymore. Let the complaining begin!

While Avril Lavigne works on the next batch of songs for her next studio album, fans will be able to fill the time with her live CD and DVD, My World, due out September 29th. The DVD promises footage from her world tour, plus backstage and on-the-road shenanigans with her band and openers like Canadian pop-punk acts Gob and Simple Plan.

BATMAN: DEAD END

Batman: Dead End, that much talked about fan-made short film that screened at last weekend's San Diego Comic-Con, is now available for download in QuickTime format. Sporting some great production design and a costume straight out of an Alex Ross painting, this expensive short features the Dark Knight duking it out with, not only the Joker, but an Alien and Predator (from the Fox movies) as well.

Finding Nemo has become the biggest animated box-office hit of all time, exceeding the previous record of $312.8 million taken in by The Lion King.

VH1 named the 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons and four of them are superheroes. Wonder Woman, Batman and Spider-Man all made the list, but failed to break the top 100. Superman, on the other hand, soared all the way to #2 on the list, only falling behind Oprah.

Arnold Schwarzenegger who reaffirmed his commitment to King Conan: Crown of Iron (although he has not yet signed a contract for it). Schwarzenegger is said to be hot for The Rock (The Scorpion King) to take the reins as Kon, Conan's estranged son.

The Rock, due to be at next week's RAW, could be involved in this year's SummerSlam. Providing his movie schedule permits it, Rock would take on Chris Jericho. The pair still have unfinished business from the last time the Rock was on WWE television.

Peyton Reed has bailed out on the Fantastic Four movie according to Marvel chief Avi Arad, who cited "creative differences" as the reasons for Reed's exit and insists that the project is still slated for a December 2004 release, director be damned.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will keep DVD buyers busy in the coming months: Futurama Volume Two (August 12), The Simpsons Season Three (August 26), Angel: Season Two (September 2), Family Guy: Volume 2 (September 9) and 24: Season Two (September 23).

Fresh from the set of Pirates of the Caribbean, the lovely Keira Knightley has confirmed that Steven Spielberg was interested in her for the fourth Jurassic Park movie.

Cartoon Network’s premiere telecast of its newest original series, Teen Titans (Saturday 9pm), earned powerful ratings increases across all target demos making it the most-watched Cartoon Network premiere ever with boys 6-11.

Rapper 50 Cent has decided to make a biopic film about himself and has hired Terry Winter (The Sopranos) to adapt his story. The movie will story Cent's life from his boyhood in Queens to becoming a rap superstar. It will include such events as his mother's death at age 8, his crack dealing career at age 12 and his being shot nine different times.

Rap mogul Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs revealed that he would love to produce Snoop Dogg's next album, but only if long-term producer Dr. Dre isn't available. Bad Boy boss Diddy admits to being a huge fan of the Gin 'N' Juice singer but is being careful not to step on Dre's toes.

Sarah Jessica Parker has given Sex And the City fans hope, by hinting that the last series will not be the final TV outing for the girls. The actress and executive producer let slip that the series will be left very open-ended, meaning special episodes or even a feature-length movie of the saucy girls' antics could be possible.

Viacom will officially make the switch from TNN to Spike TV on August 11th, nearly 2 months late due to an injunction that was placed by director Spike Lee. Spike TV will premiere with a party, taped months ago, at the Playboy Mansion featuring Pamela Anderson and a two-hour WWE special.

Stargate SG-1 has been picked up for an eighth season by Sci Fi Channel. The series, currently airing its seventh season, remains a monster success story for Sci Fi and is the network's most-watched program.

Midway announced plans for a new arcade retro-pack for all three major gaming consoles which will include more than 20 classic arcade games (including Spy Hunter, Gauntlet, Rampage, Paperboy, Smash TV, etc.) plus DVD extras including developer interviews and historical background details on Midway's early days.

Abandon Pictures has purchased the film rights to the comic strip Hagar the Horrible, with plans to bring the newspaper comic strip to the big-screen in a live-action film.

Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox (Ice Age) have announced their next CGI project, Robots. Halle Berry, Ewan McGregor, Mel Brooks, Jim Broadbent and Jennifer Coolidge are just a few of the actors who have already closed deals to lend their voices to the film. Robots is scheduled to be released March 11, 2005.

Bon Jovi are switching things up for four remaining shows on their Bounce Tour. The plan is for the first half of the show to be performed unplugged and then the second half to be full-blown electric. Apparently, ‘Jovi experimented with the acoustic aspect during the past few shows and it was such a hit so the band decided to do the same thing for the remaining schedule.