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Vol. 9
No. 27
Pick Hits
At The Movies
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
It's 10 years after Terminator 2, Sarah Connor has
died and her son has become a recluse. Soon an
unstoppable Termanatrix, the T-X enters the early 21st
century on a mission to kill John Connor and one of
his lieutenants. Following the T-X through the portal
is the reliable, obsolete T-101 (Arnold
Schwarzenegger), sent to protect John and Kate.
Terminator 3 has a number of impressive action
sequences, including one that features two crashing
helicopters and another in which the T-101 and T-X go
at it, one-on-one. But none is more impressive than
the crane chase, where the world's largest crane goes
crashing through everything in its path in an
out-of-control attempt to run down John and Kate. T3
delivers more fireworks than the 4th of July.
On Video
How to Lose a Guy in
Ten Days
A
basic two-person comedy about beautiful people who
find love with each other despite their initial
attempts to dissuade any such possibility. Matthew
McConaughey plays an advertising man that makes a deal
to win an account by betting he can get any woman to
fall in love with him in 10 days. Kate Hudson plays a
writer for a woman's magazine who persuades her editor
to let her write a story on what not to do in a
relationship, namely how to lose a guy in 10 days.
Naturally the pair meets at a bar and well, let the
battle begin.
Off The Record
Sam Roberts - We Were Born in a Flame
After garnering success with his
six-song EP, Montreal's Sam Roberts proves it wasn't
just some big fluke. A thematic extension of The Human
Condition EP (the album repeats one cut from that
disc, along with re-recorded versions of two more
tracks) Flame capably showcases the same likable
qualities. The Beatlesque songcraft and vocals, the
power-pop guitar crunch, the gorgeous harmonies and
addictive hooks are all here once again. And this time
some brilliant bits of lyricism, some lightly
psychedelic excursions, some fuzzy garage-pop, and
even a touch of reggae have joined them. If his last
release made him famous, heaven only knows where this
one will take him.
The Buzz...
Jay-Z
disclosed his plans for his next and supposedly last LP,
The Black Album, which includes 12 tracks featuring
collaborations with Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50
Cent, Timbaland, the
Neptunes,
and Prince.
Charlie's Angels Full Throttle
director McG says that when the DVD version is released in the fall, he
intends to restore scenes that had to be removed in order to get a PG-13 rating.
"It was too sexual. It was too violent. I had to back off. Wait until you see
the DVD."
Despite earlier comments that
he wouldn't be back, American Idol judge Simon Cowell says he'll likely
be back for a third season. Cowell, however, expects a significant raise over
his $1 million fee last season.
MTV's
reigning hit The Osbournes plummeted in its third-season premiere
Tuesday, luring just more than half the audience that tuned in to last season's
debut episode. Despite the steep drop, the ratings were still respectable by
cable programming standards.
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HULKSTER WALKS OUT |
Hulk Hogan's
WWE future is apparently over, yet again. Hogan, like the majority of the WWE
roster, is having major problems with the writing team so he walked out on the
company. He has
been upset at the amount of losses he has been accumulating and sees no future
for his character. The WWE has yet to inform their fans because they are trying
to encourage Hogan to rethink his decision.
Former
Mφtley Crόe
drummer Tommy Lee is reportedly co-producing
several tracks for the sophomore solo album from
Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter. It is
not presently clear if Lee will be co-writing
any of the material, which is set to surface in early
2004.
What's
the hottest item in today's toy box? Yu-Gi-Oh! leads the pack. After Yu-Gi-Oh!,
today's top 10 toys are, in order: Power Rangers, Transformers, Thomas and
Friends, Star Wars, Spider-Man, Barbie, Beyblade, Disney Princess and Care
Bears.
Joel Zwick
is in talks for Fat Albert, the live-action film based on the 1970s cartoon for
20th Century Fox. The original creator of the show, Bill Cosby, will be
producing the project, in where the group of kids led by Fat Albert walk out of
the cartoon world and into the real world.
Destiny's Child may be adding another member next year. Solange Knowles,
Beyonce's sister, will join the fold. Solange has tagged along on tour
with the girls and even wrote songs for Kelly Rowland's solo album. The
group plans to reconvene and record in 2004.
Activision filed suit against Star Trek's bosses at Viacom,
accusing the media giant of running the
Enterprise into the ground, and
zapping fan interest in its videogame tie-ins.
CBS has cancelled two summertime sitcoms,
Nathan Lane's
Charlie Lawrence and Baby Bob. Both shows got the short end of the scythe after
just a handful of airings.
American Idol
fans hoping for a record-store rematch when Ruben Studdard and Clay
Aiken release their debut albums next month will be disappointed. RCA has
scrapped its original plan to release the amateur singers' albums simultaneously
on August 19.
Iggy Pop and original Stooges Ron and Scott Asheton have recorded
their first new music together in 30 years and are planning to hit the road
again this summer.
Bowing to complaints from Asian American groups, cable
network Fox Movie Channel has dropped a summer-long festival of decades-old
movies featuring the Chinese detective Charlie Chan.
Having celebrated Elvis Presley's career with the 2003
release of Elvis 30 #1 Hits, RCA/BMG has set an Oct. 7 release date for a
companion hits collection, Elvis 2nd to None. The compilation will boast a host
of additional No. 1 singles alongside other classic Presley tunes and a new
remix.
Busty beach babe Pamela
Anderson is getting over her split from fiancι Kid Rock by dating his
chart rival Fred Durst. The Baywatch beauty Pam seems to have a penchant
for hard rockers.
Action star Jean-Claude Van
Damme's career appears to have taken a huge slump - he's now considering an
offer to appear on France's equivalent of reality TV show Big Brother.
Stone Sour will contribute a rare track titled Inside the Cynic to the
upcoming Freddy vs. Jason soundtrack. The disc, due Aug. 5, also will feature
ex-Faith No More singer Mike Patton teaming up with Sepultura
on a tune called The Waste. Other artists who made the cut for the CD include
Slipknot, Type O Negative and Mushroomhead.
Rush have been added to the lineup of the Rolling Stones-headlined
SARS benefit concert scheduled for July 30 in
Toronto. Tickets sales for the
massive gig, which also will feature AC/DC, the Guess Who and many
others, surpassed 150,000 in the first day. Meanwhile, organizers reportedly are
working on a deal with two broadcasters to air the concert for worldwide TV and
radio specials.
Lenny Kravitz has created his own label imprint to be distributed by
Warner Bros. Records. Called Roxie Records after his late mother, actress
Roxie Roker, the label has signed upstart singer Dan Dyer as one of
its first artists. Meanwhile, Kravitz plans to drop a new studio album, Funk, in
the fall.
Nintendo has announced that the feature film rights to
Eternal Darkness have been secured.
Dreamworks
is developing a thriller entitled IQ 83 to be rewritten by writer/director
David Frankel.
Charlie's Angels scribe John August is set to write a
new Tarzan script for a big budget feature. The film will be produced under
Warner Bros. based Jerry Weintraub Productions.
Rumours are flying that Roland Emmerich and Dean
Devlin are set to go forward on an Independence Day sequel without Will
Smith. Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, and Vivica Fox are
set to return in lieu of Smith's absence.
The company that first optioned Nia Vardalos'
screenplay for My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 1997 has sued the writer-actress and
the film's producers, claiming that it has seen no profits.
Former Dallas
Cowboys WR Michael Irvin will join ESPN's NFL Sunday Countdown this fall.
After nearly two years as a regular on Fox Sports Net's Best Damn Sports Show
Period, Irvin is leaving the show and heading for ESPN.
Lisa Guerrero
will join ABC's Monday Night Football as a sideline reporter for the upcoming
season. She replaces Melissa Stark, who will not return for a fourth
season because she is expecting her first child in September. Guerrero comes
from Fox Sports, where she worked on Best Damn Sports Show Period.
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