Rickie Lee Jones. By Ian McCrudden.She was dubbed the Duchess of Coolsville by Time magazine—a racy enchantress who dressed, in her own words, “like a stripper and German cabaret dancer,” and sang like Billie Holiday on a rock bender. Her casually hip 1979 song “Chuck E.’s in Love” hit the airwaves with a jazz-percussive bang, and the cover of her debut album, Rickie Lee Jones, like the recording itself, became a classic: the 24-year-old Jones, dirty-blond hair falling in her face, dragging on a cigarillo and wearing what would become her signature red beret. The former runaway was an instant, wild success.
- 7/22/2011
- Vanity Fair
A group of friends meet at a summer house on a Swedish island to celebrate Midsummer, part solstice celebration, part fertility festival. Emil is planning an elaborate surprise for his fiancée, to whom he proposed at the celebrations a year earlier, Micke is fretting over his heavily pregnant wife, Eva is trying to get over her recent split from Patrick, who she felt didn’t really desire her and Anders and Maria are trying to start a family but Anders hasn’t told her that he has found out that he has a low sperm count. Added to this heady mix is Sam, Emil’s friend from the Us, who is over in Sweden to experience Midsummer and perhaps tour Europe by motorcycle, as he has always dreamed of doing.
*****
The title of this curious but enjoyable film is somewhat misleading, generating as it does the expectation of a bawdy,...
*****
The title of this curious but enjoyable film is somewhat misleading, generating as it does the expectation of a bawdy,...
- 2/2/2011
- by Dave Roper
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Not to be confused with Woody Allen’s 1982 feature A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, A Swedish Midsummer Sex Comedy, or Äntligen midsommar! (2009) as it is known in Sweden, is the latest offering from director Ian McCrudden. First things first; here’s what the synopsis in the press notes has to say:
“A beautiful waterfront house, a Swedish flag fluttering in the wind. A sailboat tied to the wooden deck below. This is the setting of the friends' annual Midsummer celebrations. The friends are gathered at Emil's (Daniel Gustavsson) family house and the herring lunch, sauna, games and compulsory skinny dipping are as always prepared. Expectations are set – Micke (Alexander Karim) worries about his highly pregnant wife and the fastest way to the nearest hospital."
"Eva (Anna Littorin) is looking for some distraction from her recent split with Patrick (Per Wernolf) and Sam (Luke Perry). Emil's college buddy from the...
“A beautiful waterfront house, a Swedish flag fluttering in the wind. A sailboat tied to the wooden deck below. This is the setting of the friends' annual Midsummer celebrations. The friends are gathered at Emil's (Daniel Gustavsson) family house and the herring lunch, sauna, games and compulsory skinny dipping are as always prepared. Expectations are set – Micke (Alexander Karim) worries about his highly pregnant wife and the fastest way to the nearest hospital."
"Eva (Anna Littorin) is looking for some distraction from her recent split with Patrick (Per Wernolf) and Sam (Luke Perry). Emil's college buddy from the...
- 2/1/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
HollywoodNews.com: The Cast of David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” which include Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Josh Pence, Brenda Song, Rashida Jones, Douglas Urbanski and Rooney Mara, were recognized at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony with the “Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award.”
About Jesse Eisenberg
Trained in theater and film, Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg) made his feature film debut in the 2002 independent film “Rodger Dodger,” in which he starred opposite Campbell Scott and for which he was nominated for a Gotham Award.
For his performance in “The Squid and the Whale” opposite Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels, Eisenberg received nominations for an Independent Spirit Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2009, he starred in “Adventureland” for director Greg Mottola and in “Zombieland” for director Ruben Fleischer. For these films, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award. Eisenberg has...
About Jesse Eisenberg
Trained in theater and film, Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg) made his feature film debut in the 2002 independent film “Rodger Dodger,” in which he starred opposite Campbell Scott and for which he was nominated for a Gotham Award.
For his performance in “The Squid and the Whale” opposite Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels, Eisenberg received nominations for an Independent Spirit Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2009, he starred in “Adventureland” for director Greg Mottola and in “Zombieland” for director Ruben Fleischer. For these films, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award. Eisenberg has...
- 11/4/2010
- by Linny Lum
- Hollywoodnews.com
HollywoodNews.com: The 14th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, are pleased to announce that the Cast of David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Josh Pence, Brenda Song, Rashida Jones, Douglas Urbanski and Rooney Mara, will be recognized at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony with the “Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award.”
Previously announced honorees for this year’s Hollywood Awards Gala include: Sean Penn for the “Humanitarian Award”; Sylvester Stallone for the “Career Achievement Award”; Annette Bening for the “Actress Award”; Robert Duvall for the “Actor Award”; Helena Bonham Carter for the “Supporting Actress Award”; Sam Rockwell for the “Supporting Actor Award”; Zach Galifianakis for the “Comedy Actor Award”; Andrew Garfield for the “Breakthrough Actor Award”; Mia Wasikowska for the “Breakthrough Actress Award”; Jennifer Lawrence for the “New Hollywood Award”; Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary for the...
Previously announced honorees for this year’s Hollywood Awards Gala include: Sean Penn for the “Humanitarian Award”; Sylvester Stallone for the “Career Achievement Award”; Annette Bening for the “Actress Award”; Robert Duvall for the “Actor Award”; Helena Bonham Carter for the “Supporting Actress Award”; Sam Rockwell for the “Supporting Actor Award”; Zach Galifianakis for the “Comedy Actor Award”; Andrew Garfield for the “Breakthrough Actor Award”; Mia Wasikowska for the “Breakthrough Actress Award”; Jennifer Lawrence for the “New Hollywood Award”; Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary for the...
- 10/19/2010
- by Linny Lum
- Hollywoodnews.com
I'd been acting for many years, and had reached the point where something had to give. Not only was the pavement pounded—it was ground to a fine powder. I was willing to make one last big effort, and go out with a bang, so to speak. More like the Big Bang—giving birth to something huge—than "Bang Bang, You're Dead." Making a feature film could be just that: One that I wrote and in which I appeared as the lead. I've made some short films. Now I'd finally written a feature-length screenplay, "The Things We Carry." I hadn't intended to write such a personal story. It started out as one thing, and by the time I was done with it—years later—it had morphed from a narrative casually influenced by my experiences to one that was unequivocally inspired by my life. While there's still plenty of fictionalization and dramatization,...
- 10/16/2009
- backstage.com
By Neil Pedley
With the summer's end in sight, this week might represent the last hurrah in the name of good fun before the gloomy, Oscar-baiting seriousness of the fall release schedule descends upon us. Woody's back, there's a grindhouse/B-movie double header, and in the realm of blockbuster comedy, it's the wily veteran versus the young upstart as Ben Stiller battles Seth Rogen in an all-out race to the stupid.
"Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer"
Although she was overshadowed by such greats as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day became one of the "three queens of Jazz," in spite of an artform dominated by African-Americans and her struggle with her own personal demons. In this documentary, the famed white jazz vocalist reflects on nearly 70 years in the spotlight, not merely performing jazz, but living it as a lifestyle. O'Day's former manager Robbie Cavolina and...
With the summer's end in sight, this week might represent the last hurrah in the name of good fun before the gloomy, Oscar-baiting seriousness of the fall release schedule descends upon us. Woody's back, there's a grindhouse/B-movie double header, and in the realm of blockbuster comedy, it's the wily veteran versus the young upstart as Ben Stiller battles Seth Rogen in an all-out race to the stupid.
"Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer"
Although she was overshadowed by such greats as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, Anita O'Day became one of the "three queens of Jazz," in spite of an artform dominated by African-Americans and her struggle with her own personal demons. In this documentary, the famed white jazz vocalist reflects on nearly 70 years in the spotlight, not merely performing jazz, but living it as a lifestyle. O'Day's former manager Robbie Cavolina and...
- 8/11/2008
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
NEW YORK -- A jazz singer's tragic life will hit screens this May in the Palm Pictures documentary Anita O'Day: The Life Of a Music Legend.
Palm picked up all North American rights to the portrait of O'Day, who overcame alcoholism, rape, heroin addiction and jail time in her seven decade career. Directors Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden filmed interviews with the singer shortly before her 2006 death at age 87.
Legend includes new interviews with jazz artists Annie Ross (Robert Altman's Short Cuts) Margaret Whiting and George Wein, along with rare footage of O'Day performances with Louis Armstrong and other musicians from her 1940s heyday.
The film premiered at last year's Tribeca Film Festival. A fall DVD release is planned following the platform theatrical release in May.
Palm's Ed Arentz negotiated the deal with Cavolina, McCrudden and producer Melissa Davis.
Palm picked up all North American rights to the portrait of O'Day, who overcame alcoholism, rape, heroin addiction and jail time in her seven decade career. Directors Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden filmed interviews with the singer shortly before her 2006 death at age 87.
Legend includes new interviews with jazz artists Annie Ross (Robert Altman's Short Cuts) Margaret Whiting and George Wein, along with rare footage of O'Day performances with Louis Armstrong and other musicians from her 1940s heyday.
The film premiered at last year's Tribeca Film Festival. A fall DVD release is planned following the platform theatrical release in May.
Palm's Ed Arentz negotiated the deal with Cavolina, McCrudden and producer Melissa Davis.
Mill Valley Film Festival
AOD Prods.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Anita O'Day, a singer whose captivating stage presence, rich smoky voice, sophisticated good looks and unique phrasing made her a performer who inspired ecstatic joy and awe, was considered the only white female singer in the same jazz league as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, though she was never as well known.
That she failed to attain the fame of the aforementioned greats or that her career never reached the same heights was in part because of her being her own worst enemy. This and more is discussed by a roster of record industry professionals, jazz critics and friends who sing her praises in Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, an engaging if less than revelatory documentary, from Robbie Cavolina (O'Day's former manager) and Ian McCrudden, which covers her seven-decade career and was screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
For those who read her frank autobiography, "High Times, Hard Times", there's little new here. But the docu, which should have a good run on the festival circuit and a second life on television broadcast, will introduce O'Day to the uninitiated and make fans nostalgic for her smooth, feeling delivery, tough-girl demeanor and technical prowess.
O'Day's famous lightning-fast rhythmic delivery was fueled, in no small measure, by bouts of alcoholism and a 20-year heroin addiction that nearly killed her. Most of the money she earned went directly into her arm or into the system of drummer and fellow junkie John Poole, who died from an overdose.
The filmmakers incorporate grainy TV kinescopes of interviews with Dick Cavett and David Frost -- she turns around and turns it on when confronted by a judgmental Bryant Gumbel -- testimonials from those who knew her and excerpts from conversations with O'Day, shot in disconcerting extreme close-up shortly before her death last year at 87.
But it's rare clips of her singing solo or along with Stan Kenton, Hoagy Carmichael, Roy Eldridge, Gene Krupa or Louis Armstrong that grab the spotlight. This includes footage of her memorable, show-stopping rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. High as a kite and dressed in a chic, white-fringed black hat and matching dress, she's a sight to behold and a supreme pleasure to hear.
AOD Prods.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Anita O'Day, a singer whose captivating stage presence, rich smoky voice, sophisticated good looks and unique phrasing made her a performer who inspired ecstatic joy and awe, was considered the only white female singer in the same jazz league as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, though she was never as well known.
That she failed to attain the fame of the aforementioned greats or that her career never reached the same heights was in part because of her being her own worst enemy. This and more is discussed by a roster of record industry professionals, jazz critics and friends who sing her praises in Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, an engaging if less than revelatory documentary, from Robbie Cavolina (O'Day's former manager) and Ian McCrudden, which covers her seven-decade career and was screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
For those who read her frank autobiography, "High Times, Hard Times", there's little new here. But the docu, which should have a good run on the festival circuit and a second life on television broadcast, will introduce O'Day to the uninitiated and make fans nostalgic for her smooth, feeling delivery, tough-girl demeanor and technical prowess.
O'Day's famous lightning-fast rhythmic delivery was fueled, in no small measure, by bouts of alcoholism and a 20-year heroin addiction that nearly killed her. Most of the money she earned went directly into her arm or into the system of drummer and fellow junkie John Poole, who died from an overdose.
The filmmakers incorporate grainy TV kinescopes of interviews with Dick Cavett and David Frost -- she turns around and turns it on when confronted by a judgmental Bryant Gumbel -- testimonials from those who knew her and excerpts from conversations with O'Day, shot in disconcerting extreme close-up shortly before her death last year at 87.
But it's rare clips of her singing solo or along with Stan Kenton, Hoagy Carmichael, Roy Eldridge, Gene Krupa or Louis Armstrong that grab the spotlight. This includes footage of her memorable, show-stopping rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. High as a kite and dressed in a chic, white-fringed black hat and matching dress, she's a sight to behold and a supreme pleasure to hear.
- 11/2/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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