Iron Man

SPOILER ALERT: Iron Man defeats The Mandarin.

I can’t say it much better than the official production description:

Oscar Isaac in ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’

“’Inside Llewyn Davis’ follows a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles; some of them of his own making.”

If you are a fan of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen you won’t miss this one. I know I love the Coen’s vast array of movies and am looking forward to see how Justin Timberlake’s beard plays in this one. The beard surfaces in December of this year.

Here is the official plot synopsis for this one:

Juno Temple & Michael Angarano in ‘The Brass Teapot’

“The Brass Teapot feature film is a supernatural comedy starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano, based on the comic book series about a broke, mid-twenty year old couple who, in these difficult economic times, find a mysterious and magical brass teapot which gives them money every time they (or others) are hurt near it. After realizing the teapot’s powers, John and Alice must decide how far they will go to fulfill their dream.”

Like I said before, I like originality, and this seems pretty original. It is based off of a comic which is based on a short story. Both the comic and the short story are written by Tim Macy and Ramaa Mosley… who just happen to be the writer and director (respectively) of this movie. What a kawinkydink.

Throw in the acting talents of Juno Temple and Michael Angarano and this looks like a hoot. The film had a limited release already so be on the lookout for a wider release or coming to your favorite VOD spot.

The History of Future Folk

The logline for this movie is simple: Aliens decide to form a bluegrass band instead of destroying Earth. I know, I know, I know… A tale as old as time. A premise you see every other week at the box office…

This looks campy, quirky, funny, sweet and original. There needs to be more original ideas like this produced in Hollywood. I applaud the writer/co-director John Mitchell and admit I am a bit jealous I didn’t think of this concept first. And he got Dee Snider to be in his movie.

You can look for this in theaters May 31^st. I know I will be.

Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick is awesome. Everything I have seen her in from ‘Up in the Air’ to ‘50/50’ to ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ to ‘Pitch Perfect’, she has been just that pitch perfect. Even her voice over in ‘Paranorman’ was one of the better things about that movie. (I have not seen a single Twilight movie, but I am sure she would be the only think I like about them if I did watch.)

Now she has made a video for the song she sang at the auditions in ‘Pitch Perfect’ and I believe I’ve watched it at least a dozen times. I can’t get enough of Anna Kendrick. We need to hang out.

If you want to see some bonus Anna Kendrick (and frankly who doesn’t?) Check out my post for the Ben Folds Five’s song ‘Do It Anyway’. It has Anna Kendrick, Chris Hardwick and the Fraggles! Throw in Ben Folds and you have a quadfecta of awesome!

Jawas Mother’s Day Card

To all the Moms out there, nerdy or not, I hope you have the happiest of Mother’s Days… and thank you for everything. Even though sometimes we don’t show it, and we should, we love you very much!

Gravity

HOLY… F***….! First off there are only two on screen actors in this movie; George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. The other people in the movie are only voices we hear. Second… HOLY F***! Those were the two words out of my mouth when I watched this trailer. The next word, wasn’t a word it was just the noise you make when your body shudders.

This looks to be a fantastic nightmare scenario (directed by the immensely talented Alfonso Cuarón who helmed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Y Tu Mamá También) for anyone who has been in space, ever dreamed about going into space or had casually thoughts about space in general. It is best watched so go and watch the trailer. The movie you will have to wait longer for. That doesn’t come out till the end of October.

The Worlds End Poster

I HAVE A TEASER TRAILER!!!

Sorry for the abuse of the caps but I have been waiting for some form of  trailer to come for this movie for months. The World’s End is the swan song in the notorious ‘Three Flavours Cornetto’ trilogy (or Blood and Ice Cream trilogy). For those of you unfamiliar with this trilogy the first two movies are Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Now you see my excitement?

The plot for this movie is 5 friends reunite years later to attempt a pub crawl (or bar crawl for those of us in the US) that they didn’t complete while younger. In the course of trying to finish the pub crawl things happen.

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, and Eddie Marsan in ‘The Worlds End’.

So I have no release date other than this year some time. We here at TAMN will update you viewers as we have more info. (UPDATE: TAMN here with an update. Looks like the release date for the movie is August 23^rd. So buckle up campers it’s going to be a long summers ride!)

(Happily dances into bliss)

Emma Watson in ‘The Bling Ring’

This movie is based on the ‘Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch’. This was a group of mainly teenagers, who from ’08-’09 pilfered rich and famous people in and around the Hollywood Hills area to the tune of over $3 million. The crew repeatedly broke in and robbed Paris Hilton, with the majority of the cash and swag they retrieved, they stole from her.

In the fictional representation of these real life events, we get to see the combination of two very talented people; Emma Watson and Sofia Coppola. Emma’s career is smoking hot right now with her fantastic performance in the wonderful movie (which I own) ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’. Plus a big Biblical epic staring her and Russell Crowe due out next year ‘Noah’, her star is firmly ensconced high in the Hollywood sky. Sofia is a fantastic writer and a very talented director. From ‘The Virgin Suicides’ to ‘Marie Antoinette’ to the phenomenal ‘Lost in Translation’ she has the skill and the eye.

Emma Watson & Sofia Coppola

Sofia has as a way of pulling out these exceptional performances which has me very excited to see what she has done with Emma and everyone else in this one. Have to wait till mid-June to see.

#MusicMonday

Now this, among a myriad of things, makes me feel old; Huey Lewis and the News’ album ‘Sports’ turns 30 this year. 30! Huey was 33 when ‘Sports’ came out which means he turns 63 in July of this year. WTF? Where has the time gone?

Huey Lewis and the News

I remember that HLatN was everywhere back then. Just about every time you turned on the radio one of their songs was playing on the radio.  ‘Sports’ had 5 charting singles on it, 4 that hit the top 10, and it was certified 7x platinum just in the US. The follow up ‘Fore!’ continued the success with 5 top 10 hits, 2 number 1 hits and it was certified 3x platinum. Oh yeah, in between those two albums they had their first #1 hit off the ‘Back to the Future’ soundtrack. It lost the Best Original Song Oscar to ‘Say You, Say Me’ by Lionel Richie from the ‘White Nights’ soundtrack.

Needless to say HLatN has had a long and storied career. I can always throw on their music and be happy. Which for me is the hallmark of a good band. Here are a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

The Heart Of Rock & Roll

This was the song that produced the only Grammy win (to my knowledge) for HLatN. It won the Grammy in 1985 for Best Music Video, Long Form. It was a great video and a great tune.

If This Is It

I always looked forward to their music videos. And this is one of my favorites. Can you guess why?

Hip to Be Square

I defy you to not smile when this song comes on!

Stuck with You

This song invades my head like Genghis Khan; with no warning, without provocation, and then rules with an iron fist for decades. Oddly, I don’t mind. Plus the video had Pierce Brosnan’s wife Keely Shaye Smith in it. I wonder if the song played at their wedding….

The Power of Love

You couldn’t go anywhere the summer of 1985 without hearing this song. It was the group’s first #1 hit and like I said before was nominated for an Oscar. The cool thing is that Robert Zemeckis called Huey and said that Marty would be a fan of HLatN and asked if he would write a song for the movie. Huey said, well we are working on something right now and you can use that. Wammo, presto, boom… we got this…

Back in Time

You can’t listen to that without then thinking of this… at least I can’t.

Doing It All for My Baby

Great song and great video. This was the 80’s. Back when videos would tell a story. They were mini movies, short films. Really it is a lost art form. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs and definitely one of my favorite videos of all time.

Cruisin’

No ‘and the News’ on this one but I need to include it on the list. This is from the 2000 movie ‘Duets’ and is a cover of the Smokey Robinson hit from 1979. The movie is a buddy road trip flick with the central focus on karaoke. It stars Huey Lewis, Maria Bello, Andre Braugher, Paul Giamatti, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angie Dickinson. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. I rather enjoyed it.