Pop Culture Buzz

“Julie & Julia” centers on a frustrated temp secretary who embarks on a yearlong culinary quest to cook all 524 recipes in Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” She chronicles her trials and tribulations in a blog that catches on with the food crowd. Up front and center are the performances by the incredible Meryl Streep and the sweet as pie Amy Adams.

Director Nora Ephron (”Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail”) adapted the screenplay from Julie Powell’s book “Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen”. The film is actually an adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Julie Powell’s “Julie & Julia” and “My Life in France”, by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme (for all the foodies out there).

Check out the trailer and leave your thoughts in the comments below!

“The Road” is a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed all civilization and, apparently, most life on earth. The film stars Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron. The novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction so there is a lot riding on this film to be a masterpiece of sorts. The look, feel and over all impression I got from the trailer below is that this film may be the “it” movie of 2009.

The Australian band “Empire of the Sun” owe a lot to the 80’s and the David Bowie/Jim Henson film “Labyrinth” that is for sure. But don’t let their bizarre throw back fashion sense fool you, their first single “Walking On A Dream” is an old school New Wave pop gem! The music video below has made me very curious to hear the rest of the songs off their debut album which was released last October. What do you think?

The Weinstein’s have finally released the first movie trailer for Rob Marshall’s “Nine”. Marshall, who directed “Chicago”, is the winner of six Academy Awards including Best Picture. The story for “Nine” is inspired by the classic Fellini film “8 1/2″. The original 1982 Broadway production was nominated for twelve Tony Awards and winning five, including Best Musical.

The musical tells the story of world famous film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he prepares his latest picture and balances the numerous women in his life including his wife (Marion Cotillard), a producer, a mistress (Penelope Cruz), a film star muse (Nicole Kidman), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), the whore from his youth (Fergie), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), and his deceased mother (Sophia Loren).

The trailer for “Nine” is an absolute visual and aural delight, but did we expect anything less from Marshall? It definitely looks every bit like Oscar bait with its stunning cinematography, exquisite musical sequences and choreography and, of course, all the immense talent involved. Check it out for yourself below!

LISTEN TO A NON-STOP MIX OF 40 NEW SONGS BY GREEN DAY, THE GOSSIP, CALVIN HARRIS, THE BLACK EYED PEAS, METRIC & MORE!!

(SONG PLAYLIST IS SET ON RANDOM SHUFFLE AND ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

ARTICLE BELOW WAS TAKEN FROM SPIN.COM

Surrealist songs about robots, fans with a penchant for drug use, gigantic UFOs that shoot confetti — there’s no denying the Flaming Lips’ status as psychedelic rock titans. But now the Oklahoma band are taking the ultimate plunge in conceptual bombast by releasing their first-ever double album late this September.

“Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that we should do a double album,” Coyne told Billboard.com of their follow-up to 2006’s At War With The Mystics, tentatively called Embryonic. “Just this idea that you can kind of weave a couple of themes into there and you can sort of sprawl a little bit.”

The band — frontman Wayne Coyne, bassist Michael Ivins, and guitarist Steven Drozd — have written 13 tracks for the new release, and plan to pen eight to nine more in Drozd’s empty, unsold house, which the axeman put on market last summer. “People locally do know that we’re recording there,” Coyne told EW. “I’ve talked to quite a few musicians who have gone to an open-house day and looked around and said, ‘Oh, this is where they’re doing their new record.’”

So how do the new songs sound?

Coyne said that one new track, called “Convinced of the Hex,” is like “Joy Division-meets-Miles Davis Group,” while “I Don’t Understand Karma” is his response to John Lennon’s “Instant Karma.”

“There was an element of accidentally stumbling upon more spontaneous sort of freak-out stuff,” Coyne said of the sessions. “We were sitting at Steven’s house and we just started out having these freak-out jam sessions where he’d play drums and I’d play bass and we just would sort of do freaky stuff. Some of those recordings, even though they’re not recorded very well, really had a spontaneity about them that we probably wouldn’t have purposely done.”

The Flaming Lips have a handful of gigs leading up to September’s All Tomorrow’s Parties concert, for which the band is picking the performers. Fans heading to the shows can expect new material. “We’re up for anything,” Coyne said.

ARTICLE ABOVE WAS TAKEN FROM SPIN.COM

*** STARS

If you’re planning on seeing “Observe and Report”, hold on to your britches and get ready to be thoroughly shocked and offended. Seth Rogan fans expecting another sweet and sensitive physical comedy will instead be treated to a film with much darker humor. Rogan plays security guard Ronnie Barnhardt whose delusions of grandeur are put to the test when the mall he works at is struck by a flasher. Anyone who has ever shopped in a mall knows that mall cops just aren’t cool and Rogan plays the out of luck loser type with fine tuned timing.

“Observe and Report” has a harsh and bizarre tone that makes you unsure whether you can laugh, although the dysfunctional characters do eventually win you over. This is a movie about damaged, deranged people, who you wouldn’t want to be near if you met them in real life. Somehow Director Jody Hill is able to push his characters to the edge of horribleness while keeping them brutally funny.

I also have to give a lot of credit to Anna Faris who proves that she is not afraid of going to extreme lengths to get laughs. Throughout the movie, she never tries to sweeten her character up like many actresses would have. Right now, she is proving to be one of cinema’s most valuable comic actresses with this and “The House Bunny”. Another inspired performance to be found in “Observe and Report” is from Celia Weston, and she plays Ronnie’s alcoholic mother. This could have been a cruel and clichéd character but Celia makes it a lot more than that.

Ultimately this film works because it is so true to life and at times uncomfortably all too real. Sure some of the humor is violent, perverted, drug related, and just disgusting, but it’s hysterical nonetheless. I appreciated the shock and awe of it all. “Observe and Report” is funny and uncompromising, offering laughs without denial or shame. This might not be a movie for everyone, but it was gut busting funny for me.

“H2″ will pick up at the exact moment the first movie stopped and follow the aftermath of Michael Myers’ murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode. The sequel will continue writer/director Rob Zombie’s reboot that electrified the Myers mythos with his unique rocker/director brand of fiery violence. As a fan of Zombie’s earlier film work, and as someone who hated his “Halloween” remake, I can only hope this new film is as terifying and original as his horrific classic “The Devils Rejects”, I guess we’ll see.

** 1/2 STARS

The gruff, ripped Marvel superhero Wolverine strikes out on his own in the “X-Men” movie spin-off starring series regular Hugh Jackman. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” tells the story of Wolverine’s epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with his brother Victor Creed (who will later become Sabretooth), and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, with surprise appearances by several legends of the “X-Men” universe including “Gambit” and “Death Pool” (played by Ryan Reynolds below).

“Wolverine” is your basic summer blockbuster fare, the equivalent of cinematic junk food. The first 20 minutes of “Origins” had me pumped up, but somewhere in the middle you could hear the air escaping out of it like a deflating balloon. Even though the over-the-top action and fighting was top notch, this film failed to provide a strong plot to go along with all the incredibly intense action scenes.

I really liked the first half of this movie so much that I found it especially disappointing when the second half fell flat. It’s always a shame when fantastic actors and their characters don’t get their due. The biggest fault in “Origins” is that the script plays it too safe and it clings to the generic rules of the superhero movie universe. While not a disaster, “Wolverine” isn’t the claws-out, kick-ass summer adventure I had hoped it would be

“Wolverine” is nowhere near on the same level as “The Dark Knight” or “Iron Man”, but it does just enough things right to justify the price of a matinee ticket. Hugh Jackman is this film’s biggest redeemer; he is a truly likeable lead actor with screen presence and real menace.
“Wolverine” is not a bad film and it is an improvement on “X-Men: The Last Stand”, but it also feels like every other tired comic-book adaptation we’ve ever seen.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has released the first teaser trailer for “District 9″, which you might see before “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. “District 9″ is super secret sci-fi project produced by Peter Jackson. Not much was known about this project when it was first announced but the brilliant marketing and ad campaign has already peaked movie geeks interest online for months now.

The concept for “Disrict 9″ involves aliens who have landed in Johannesburg, South Africa, and are living as refugees there. It has a very Cloverfield feeling to it, and is shot like a documentary, following around the MNU (essentially, the local government-run police) who are trying to keep them contained in certain areas of the city.

The ship in the trailer looks amazing and I can only how cool it will look on the big screen, especially in the doc-style the movie is filmed in. Some people might be disappointed by the blur that is on the alien’s face, but I think that adds to the mystery of the project, and makes you want to see what’s behind the censored box. Watch the trailer below and leave your thoughts in the comments section!

I never would have guessed that Santogold’s & Lykke Li’s voices would meld together so well, but the funky laid back beat spun by NASA added to Kanye’s cocky rap, is pretty impressive. NASA’s debut album “The Spirit of the Apollo” is crammed full of hot guest vocals that are truly inspired. Check out the trippy and futuristic “Gifted” music video below and judge for yourself.

House-party guru Calvin Harris is releasing his highly anticipated second studio album sometime this year. The first single from the Scotsman’s still-untitled effort is “I’m Not Alone.” Below is a message from Calvin Harris’ MySpace page talking about his new “sound”:

Pete Tong had the first play of I’m Not Alone on friday, that’s my new single, it’s on my music player now. In an attempt to delay piracy i have given it an “I’m Your Nan” remix, so i hope you enjoy that. Obviously I hope you like it, it’s had some interesting reactions so far - a lot of them good, some of them bad! For those hating, please be aware that what i’m trying to do is make memorable music, and given that i have already made songs that sound like “Acceptable in the 80s” and “The Girls”, and indeed “Dance Wiv Me” it’s time to move on and keep it interesting, which involves taking risks, one of those risks being that perhaps nobody will like it…! But i would much rather that be the case than i make some cut up distorted blog house tune, i think there is enough of that around at the moment. So give it a chance won’t you?

Thanks
Calvin x

LISTEN TO A NON-STOP MIX OF OVER 200 OF MY FAVORITE POP SONGS FROM THE LAST 20 YEARS!!

(SONG PLAYLIST IS SET ON RANDOM SHUFFLE AND ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

*** 1/2 STARS

In “I Love You, Man”, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is a successful real estate agent who, upon getting engaged to the woman of his dreams, Zooey (played by Rashida Jones from “Parks & Recreation”), discovers that he has no male friend close enough to serve as his Best Man. Peter immediately sets out to fix the situation by embarking on a series of side splitting “man-dates”. Peter eventually meets a laid back single guy (played by Jason Segel) who shares his passion for the band Rush and they both fall head first into a serious friendship.

I have to say that romantic comedies are my least favorite genre of film. There are some exceptions of course but as a theory I will always avoid any film that stars Sandra Bullock, Kate Hudson or Matthew McConaughey. A newly recent trend in cinema has been the male romantic comedy or “bromance” film. This new perspective from the sensitive “every day” guy has not only been effective in comedies such as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Pineapple Express” but I think it adds a much needed mature side to funny testosterone driven films.

Paul Rudd has become the new hot male star of these modern day forward thinking comedies because he comes off as authentic and real. With “Role Models” he showed us his stubborn stereotypical male side without becoming grating or down right piggish. In “I Love You Man” you can’t help but fall in love with his awkward and clumsy character. In any other film Rudd’s character would have been portrayed as being gay or weak, but good writing and great performances show that male relationships can be sincere. The same can be said for the brilliant supporting acting by Jason Segel who steals every scene that he is in.

Sure one of the jokes in this film is two guys saying “I Love You Man”, but nowhere does the screenplay show any hints of homophobia, which has always been a problem in male buddy flicks. This film doesn’t talk down to the audience, it actually has a lot to say about how men share their emotions with eachother (so ladies make sure you see this movie!). I rarely use the term, but this may be one of the best “date movies” ever created. I laughed a lot in this movie and at times I was genuinely moved, and in a male romantic comedy what else can you ask for?