Damn Yankees: The Movie

With all the big movies being turned into musicals lately, here’s one that’s going the other way.  The Tony award-winning musical, Damn Yankees, is in the beginning stages of becoming a film.  The film version will also be a musical, although producers are trying to decide how to deliver the original songs with a more modern feel.  The musical opened on Broadway in 1955, and the songs and story tie it to that time period.

Jake Gyllenhaal is signed on to play the lead character, Joe Boyd, whose love of baseball leads him to make a bargain with the devil to play on the team as slugger Joe Hardy.  The devil uses tricks, such as a gorgeous lost soul named Lola, to keep Joe involved with the deal, therefore giving up his soul.  The devil will be played by Jim Carrey.  Neither Gyllenhaal nor Carrey has ever played in a musical, which should be interesting.  They are also totally different types of actors, which makes me curious as to how they will play off one another.

Damn Yankees was made into a film in 1958, but hasn’t been on screen since then.  There have been attempts at getting it made for years now, but this is the first time it has been given the green light.

Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel have been announced as writers, and Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will be producing (they previously produced the film version of the musical Hairspray, and are currenly working on a sequel to that as well).

This Week’s Movie Releases

Here are this week’s big movie releases.  Which one do you think will take the top spot?  I don’t think it’s much of a question this week with the Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience hitting theaters.  Calm down, it’s probably already sold out for Friday night, so put your credit cards away and pick another movie to see.

Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience

The Jonas Brothers head to the big screen–in Disney Digital 3-D–in a high-energy Walt Disney Pictures rockumentary feature film event from director Bruce Hendricks (Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert)

(Starring Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift.  Rated G.)

Crossing Over

Immigrants from around the world enter Los Angeles every day, with hopeful visions of a better life, but little notion of what that life may cost.

(Starring Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta.  Rated R.)

Echelon Conspiracy

(Starring Shane West, Ving Rhames, Martin Sheen.  Rated PG-13.)

Fact Checking Obama

On Tuesday night, our new President gave a passionate speech to Congress, but some people are saying he doesn’t have all his facts quite right.  As much as I love Obama, I like to look at both sides of things, and I think everyone needs a good fact check once in a while.

My Way News (in association with the Associated Press) ran an article that checks out many of the statements and promises that Obama made on Tuesday, and it’s quite interesting to see what they reveal.  Some of the corrections are a little picky, and some are lacking in evidence, so you may have to do a little sleuthing on your own.  But it gives us a starting point for questions we might need to form when looking at these plans.  It’s always important to use caution when listening to the promises of a politician, so it’s nice to have them broken down once in a while to find a balance between hope and realism.

Read the article on My Way News here: Fact Check: Obama’s Speech to Congress

Butterfly Boucher

Australian singer/songwriter Butterfly Boucher (who now lives in Nashville) will release her new album Scary Fragile sometime this year, and I’m already in love with her music.  I’ve spent most of the day on her MySpace page, listening to “Gun for a Tongue,” “Bitter Song,” and “For the Love of Love,” which are all quickly becoming favorites.  Upbeat music and strong, clear vocals work perfectly with the thoughtful lyrics, giving you songs that you will find yourself listening to over and over.

“Bitter Song” was featured on Grey’s Anatomy, and she did a collaboration with David Bowie for Shrek 2 of his song “Changes.” Both songs can be downloaded on Amazon or iTunes.

Her album Flutterby was released in 2004 and can be listened to in its entirety on Butterfly’s MySpace page: Butterfly Boucher

Click Read More to see the video for another of her great tracks, “I Can’t Make Me Love You.”
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The Neverending Story (Of Hollywood Remakes)

“Oh, it’s not a remake, we’re doing a completely new retelling of the original book, putting in a lot of things they left out in the first film.”  This is the quote that is flying all over Hollywood right now, with each of the 1000s of movie remakes they are coming up with.  The latest victim: The Neverending Story.  It’s a movie that so many of us grew up with and loved, and now it will be slaughtered by Hollywood greed.

Okay, to be fair I don’t know if the movie will be terrible or not, but I do know that I won’t like it either way.  It could be an Oscar-worthy creation with great acting and amazing special effects, and I won’t be impressed.  I love the original and nothing will live up to that.  Part of the joy of the original film was the 80s style with which it was presented.  A digital, green screen Falcor just won’t be the same as a giant robotic version of the creature.  And how can anyone else try to play Atreyu?  He was the love of my life from the time I was 3 years old and first saw the film.  You just can’t replace my first love like that.

Wasn’t it bad enough to have sat through the 2 sequels of the original film?  Now we have to be punished with a remake?  They need to stop this before it gets too serious.  If I hear of plans to remake The Goonies, that’s it, my childhood will be ruined.

“The Marriage Ref”

If you were having marital problems, who would be the first person you would go to for advice?  If you said Jerry Seinfeld (you’re crazy), then you’re going to love his new show, “The Marriage Ref,” on NBC.  Seinfeld calls it a “comedic” reality show, where real life couples experiencing marriage issues are “refereed” by iconic sports stars, opinionated celebrities (I can only begin to guess who this will involve), and of course, comedians.  “This is not a therapy show, it’s a comedy show,” Seinfeld said.  “After nine years of marriage, I have discovered that the comedic potential of this subject is quite rich.”

Umm…is it just me or do celebrity marriages last about 1/50th the amount of time of an average marriage?  Do you really want someone who has been divorced 5 times to give you marriage counseling?  With the divorce rate being so high these days, you would hope that couples might go seek some professional advice before sitting down with Jerry Seinfeld to talk about their issues.  “What’s the deal with marriages…”  I guess if nothing else, his horribly monotone voice will torture them into working things out so they can get off the show more quickly.

“The Marriage Ref” doesn’t yet have an air date, as it’s only begun to be devloped by the network.  Just when I thought therapists couldn’t get worse than Dr. Phil, Jerry Seinfeld decides to create a comedy about the downfall of loving relationships.  Can’t wait!

Lovers Electric

An electropop band from Australia, Lovers Electric has a danceable sound with meaningful lyrics.  It’s not easy to make dance music that can double as a good thoughtful song, but this band does.  In Australia they are achieving some radio play, and have two singles out on iTunes.  Unfortunately, we can’t get them here in the US just yet, but I think that once people start hearing their music, they will be quickly popular.  One of their songs has already been featured on The Hills, and they are currently in Los Angeles working on a release for the US, and also doing some performances.  So it’s just a matter of time before they start getting some much deserved attention!

“Could This Be” and “Start Again” are my two favorite tracks.  Watch the video for “Could This Be” below, and then listen to “Start Again” and other songs on their MySpace page here: Lovers Electric

Blackbird

Blackbird, a play by David Harrower, is the story of a 27-year-old woman named Una who goes back after 15 years to confront Ray, the man she had an affair with when she was 12 and he was 40.  The entire play takes place in the break room of Ray’s workplace, which is very symbolically littered with dirty dishes, empty food containers, and overflowing trash cans.  The show runs about 90 minutes, and consists of a discussion between the two characters about what happened and how it affected each of their lives.  They alternate between anger, fear, sadness, and even happiness in their emotional exchange, and you find yourself completely immersed in their pain and confusion.

The way the script is written leads you through the minds of the characters and you find yourself relating to both of them.  I realized at the end that really most of the performance took place in my head, as you visualize the moments the characters are referring to, but the stage action is very minimal.  I thought this was a very interesting way to present theatre, and it takes a very talented writer and actors to pull it off.

Although the subject matter is serious, the play’s author says it is about looking more deeply into these issues and seeing how they can happen. “I don’t believe it is [a play about pedophilia],” Harrower said.  “Yes, it discusses an illegal, underage relationship and, in most people’s minds, the man would be termed a pedophile.  But I wanted to look at the gray areas in between.  I don’t condone their relationship, but in their past, it happened — and it has happened in real life.  What interested me is how people then go on to deal with the consequences of their actions and desires, how they justify or explain to themselves the reasons for what they did.”
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Circus: The Remixes

Britney Spears has seen great success once again with the sales of her latest album, Circus, which was released on December 2nd in the United States.  The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling over 505,000 copies in its first week.  This made it Britney’s fifth number one album, and also made Britney the only performer to have four albums to debut with 500,000 or more copies sold.  The album has now gone Platinum, selling over 1,304,000 copies in the U.S.

Ready to capitalize on this great success, the title single from the album, “Circus,” has been remixed and released on iTunes, featuring five mixes of the hit song.  I think it’s great that Britney is doing so well, but even as her biggest fan, I don’t really need five different remixes of the same song on a CD.  I’ve never understood why they always try to feature remixes as a way of selling more albums.  Once I have the original song, that’s really all I need.  Someone taking a song I love, chopping it up, and putting it to different music seems to totally defeat the purpose.

If there happen to be any remix fans out there, click here to buy the new album on iTunes: Circus (Remixes)

And click Read More to listen to one of the songs from the album, “Diplo Circus Remix.”
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Slumdog Millionaire: The Musical?

Just days after Slumdog Millionaire’s big win at the Oscars, producer Christian Colson has announced that they are setting up for a stage version of the show, with covers of A.R. Rahman’s award-winning songs included.  Although the deals aren’t settled yet, negotiations are already beginning to make the musical a reality.  Producers say that this is all in the interest of the children from the film, and that the money will be used to raise more funds for them.  That sounds like a sneaky alibi to me, but I hope that they do follow through on their word.
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