Tribeca Gets Musical

The 6th annual Tribeca Film Festival kicks-off next week (April 25-May 6) and there's a ton of interesting music-related films on top of all the regular hoopla (Spider Man 3, Al Gore, Albert Maysles’ "Gates" documentary).

Highlights include:
"The Killing of John Lennon"
Directed By: Andrew Piddington
No, this one doesn't have a fat Jared Leto or Lindsay Lohan (that's "Chapter 27," which premiered in January at Sundance, leaked online in March and apparently still has no regular release date) and is a U.K. production (meaning no well-known American stars, probably for the best). This one is about, duh, Mark David Chapman and the days leading up to his shooting of John Lennon. Lines are lifted verbatim from Chapman's own journal and the lead is supposed to give a chilling and eerie performance (as opposed to a cheerful and upbeat one just in case you were unsure).
Download: John Lennon - "I Don't Want To Face It" (mp3) Yeah, we're tasteful, sue us.

"Pete Seeger: The Power of Song"
Directed By: Jim Brown
Musicologist, O.G. political folkie and friend of Martin Luther King, Jr., Woody Guthrie, and Cesar Chavez, Pete Seeger was so bad-ass he was blacklisted during the uptight and totalitarian McCarthy-era. Admired by cats like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, the film attempts to give a "social history through the life of one of this country's most compelling forces for change and, arguably, the most significant folk artist of our time."

"The Education of Charlie Banks"
Directed by Fred Durst
Fred Durst's directorial debut a highlight? Well, Jesse Eisenberg ("The Squid & The Whale") stars in it, so that's a plus and there's also the gleeful high probability of seeing Durst fail again. Or not, maybe he finally gets his career back on track, stranger things have happened. No word on the soundtrack yet (hopefully no Limp Bizkit songs), but the movie is a coming-of-age tale about a old friend turned thug who returns town and f-s things up for the young protagonist.

"Scott Walker - 30 Century Man"
Directed By: Stephen Kijak
We blogger'ed about this Scott Walker film already; we're super psyched. If you don't know Mr. Walker, run, don't walk to the nearest store and buy everything; namely his first-four albums. Walker is a dark, romantic figures and one of rock's most enigmatic. Don't believe us, listen to the legion of bold-faced names that appear in the film giving rapturous testimonials (people like David Bowie - also an executive producer, Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno and many more).
Download: The Walker Brothers "The Electrician" (mp3)

Other highlights include, DJ Spooky's "Rebirth of a Nation," film remix/deconstruction of D.W Griffith's super-bigoted, super-historically seminal (from a pioneering technical perspective), "Birth of a Nation." This meta-theorist reinterpretation features new visual material and and a re-worked score performed by the most excellent Kronos Quartet. The break-dancing documentary, "Planet B-Boy," the politically-charged Iraqi-Kurd, "Half Moon," the self-explanatory, "Autism: The Musical," the Warhol/Factory related documentary "A Walk Into the Sea" and half-true, half-imagined mockumentary, "The True Legend of Tony Vilar."

Soundtracks Of Some People' Lives

The soundtrack to the Douglas Copeland-penned film, "Everything's Gone Green," is naturally very Canadian (the production, director and Copeland are all Canucks) and includes tracks by Sloan, Final Fantasy, Black Mountain, Caribou, Jason Collett, Neko Case co-conspirators, the Deadly Snakes, the Fembots, the Meligrove Band and other Great White North kids.
- While we don't want to be the indie-rock soundtracks HQ, we do find it strange that the creepy "Perfect Strangers" film (the gross Bruce Willis, I'm-a-sexual-predator, Halle Barry one) features, Cat Power's "Troubled Water" from The Covers Record.

Download: Meligrove Band - "The Victory" (mp3)
Download: Fembots - "Count Down Our Days"

Ethan Hawke Scores 'Hot State' With Feist, Cat Power & Bright Eyes

This is the type of news we'd like to be breaking, sigh... According to Pitchfork, Ethan Hawke's new film, "The Hottest State" features a soundtrack written by Nora Jones collaborator Jesse Harris (he wrote or co-wrote almost all of her first Grammy award-winning album). The semi-interesting news of note is that most of Harris' songs are recorded and performed by various indie-rockers including Feist, Cat Power, Bright Eyes, M. Ward and Emmy-Lou Harrison. I think MTV first reported Feist and Willis Nelson's inclusion on this soundtrack back in March of 2006 (but no, we're not touting ourselves or anything).

"Feist has also been busy recording "Somewhere Down the Road," a track penned by Jesse Harris (Norah Jones' songwriting partner), for the Ethan Hawke-written film "The Hottest State." The soundtrack features different singers, including Tony Scherr, Willie Nelson and Norah Jones, covering songs by Harris." - by handsome MTVNews reporter, March 2006, well before aforementioned Pitchfork story.

The Hottest State tracklist
01 Rosario Ortega - "Never See You (Spanish)"
02 Willie Nelson - "Always Seem to Get Things Wrong"
03 Feist - "Somewhere Down the Road"
04 Bright Eyes - "Big Old House"
05 Emmylou Harris - "The Speed of Sound"
06 Jesse Harris - "It Will Stay With Us"
07 The Black Keys - "If You Ever Slip"
08 M. Ward - "Crooked Lines"
09 Norah Jones - "World of Trouble"
10 Brad Mehldau - "Never See You (Instrumental)"
11 Cat Power - "It's Alright to Fail"
12 Jesse Harris - "One Day the Dam Will Break"
13 Tony Scherr - "You, the Queen"
14 "Morning in a Strange City (Cafe)"
15 Rosario Ortega - "No More"
16 Jesse Harris - "Dear Dorothy"
17 Rosario Ortega - "Never See You (English)"
18 "There Are No Second Chances"

Short Cuts: Entourage Star Goes Indie, Gentle Alec Baldwin & More

- "Entourage" star Kevin Connolly goes indie with his directorial debut "Gardener of Eden," starring Lukas Haas, Erika Christensen and Giovanni Ribisi (Time Out).
- The new David Cronenberg film, "Eastern Promises" is in the final stages of completion and has a limited release date of Sept 14 (the film will likely premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival the same month). The film re-teams Cronenberg with "History of Violence's" Viggo Mortensen and also features Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassell. (Focus Feature's site sucks). It's a good bet longtime, musical collaborator, Howard Shore is onboard to compose the score again.
- Again from FF is the follow-up to Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain." The WWII espionage thriller, "Lust, Caution," is set for a Septmeber 28 limited release
- Indie-hottie Ryan Gosling lives in a tent while reading scripts and has the utmost respect for one the "few masters" in his "Fracture" co-star Anthony Hopkins. (MTV)
-Alex Baldwin gently chides young daughter for forgetfulness (the mp3 below sounds nothing like him and we feel like those that wrote this are out to get him). Apparently he's also lost visitation rights.
- Jason Schwartzman's new band (solo project, rather?) is called Coconut Records.

Coconut Records - "West Coast"


Download: Alec Baldwin Allegedly Berates His Daughter Calling Her A "Little Pig" (mp3)

Coen Bros, Korine, Soderberg Debut At Cannes

Wondering what some of your favorite filmmakers have been up to? A few of them are getting their premieres on at the upcoming Cannes film festival. Scheduled to appear are new features by the Coen Brothers ("No Country for Old Men"), arts patron Steven Soderberg ("Oceans 13"), Michael Moore ("Sicko"), Wong Kar Wai ("My Blueberry Nights"), Paulo Morelli's "City of Men" (the sequel to Fernando Meirelles' "City of God"), Gus Van Sant ("Paranoid Park") and Todd Haynes "("I'm Not There").

Harmony Korine – missing in action since 1999's "Julien Donkey-Boy" – will return to the cinematic stage with "Mister Lonely," a film that's been in the works since 2003 and stars Diego Luna and Samantha Morton. It's apparently about a young American lost in Paris who's a Michael Jackson look-alike who meets the ghost of Marilyn Monroe and ummm, some stuff about Charlie Chaplin and Shirley Temple. Interesting info is Truffaut fave/French New Wave actor Jean-Pierre Léaud will reportedly appear in the film (his last notable mainstream appearance was in Bertolucci's very-naked, very NC-17, film-fetishers wet-dream, "The Dreamers").

The Tarantino/Rodriguez flop and David Fincher's remarkably laborious and financially unsuccessful ("Zodiac") will also appear at the French Riviera-based festival.

Update: A 10-15 minute extended version of Tarantino's "Death Proof" will play at Cannes plus, Abel Ferrara's strip-club film, "Go Go Set," Emir Kuristica (director of the 1995 Palme d’Or winner, "Underground") latest ("Promise Me This"), Julian Schnabel's French-language adaptation "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," and Bela Tarr's "The Man From London."

Julie Christie, the Rumors Are True

The return of '60s icon Julie Christie is enough for us to end the day with a flimsy excuse to post video and audio homages.
However, in no small feat, Canadian actress Sarah Polley ("Go," "The Sweet Hereafter") actually coaxed Christie out of near retirement to appear in her directorial debut, "Away From Her."

Pretty astonishing considering it is her first film and Christie is no real fan of the movie world.

From the Times:

"I don't like that world very much,” Christie said. “I feel I should apologize because it sounds so prissy and so ungrateful. Of course I have got so much out of it and I’m glad my life has gone the way it has. But I can’t help it: it leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth."

Classic Christie: "Don't Look Back" trailer

Download: Yo La Tengo, "Tom Courtenay" (mp3)

Floria Sigismondi Brings Musicians, Not Sex-Kittens To Big Screen: Here Comes The Runaways

Maybe Joan Jett can bring Carmen Electra to the premiere. The story of '70s L.A. girl rockers, the Runaways is in the works. Macabre photographer/video director, Floria Sigismondi (Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, White Stripes, Bowie), is writing and directing what's going to be callled, "Neon Angels" (named after one of their hits). The Runaways were put together by L.A. impresario/scumbag Kim Fowley and their success paved the way for girl group rockers like the Go Go's, Joan Jett's solo career and also facilitated Lita Ford ascendancy to forerunner in the vixen hair-metal genre.

An unpublished memoir written by lead singer Cherie Curie will be used as source material for the film that intends "to bare all the drugs, sex and heartache experienced by girls who struggled to be viewed as musicians, not sex kittens with guitars," says Variety. Apparently it's important to the producers of the film that the movie be an indie with an edgy, R-Rating. Awesome.

But we're excited that Sigismondi is on board. It's about time she scored a real feature. She's been creating amazing videos for over a decade and helped change the music video landscape with her arrestingly dark and foreboding clips (The video she did for Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" had a major visual impact at the time and was copied the world over). She's way overdue for someone to laud her work. We appoint the excellent Director's Series people to do so (note to Palm Pictures, can you make that happen?).

Sigismondi's creepy but beautiful photo book "Immune", featured creepy but beautiful shots of Björk, Aguilera, Robert Smith, a very-pregnant Sigismondi, Leonard Cohen and other maladies and oddities.

Floria Sigsimondi videos:
Sigur Rós - "Untitled"

Tricky - "Makes Me Wanna Die"

Morning Dailies: Phil Spector, Spiderman Musical & More

- Prospective jurors in the Phil Spector case already think he's guilty in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Big surprise there.
- The Shrek 3 Soundtrack (which contains tracks by Led Zeppelin and the Ramones) also includes Fergie doing a cover of Heart's classic, "Barracuda." Implausibly, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas will tackle a cover of Sly & The Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)." Shudder. Justin Timberlake is also in what they call, "Shrek the Third."
- The Broadway production of "Spider Man," by "Across the Universe" director Julie Taymor, will feature music by U2's Bono and the Edge. No really. (Umm, we totally linked to this yesterday and missed that. Three cheers for skim reading.)
- Mellencamp & Roeper at the movies? With Ebert on sabbatical (maybe he should've taken Vincent Gallo's colon cancer hex seriously), guests are swapped out each week and rocker Mellencamp will join the show as the unlikely guest movie critic. We're trying to think of some Heartland movie joke, but nothing is coming.
- The story behind Pulp's hit "Common People" seems like an interesting video essay (via Tripwire)
- Rumor: Will the Smiths get inducted to the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame in 2008?

Download: Heart - "Barracuda" (mp3)
Download: Papa Grows Funk - "Mutha’ Funk Y’all/Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again (live medley)" (mp3)

Mid-Day Dailies - Abba Movie, Criterion Sched, Spider Man 4 & More

- Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski will help bring the ABBA musical adaptation, "Mama Mia!" to the big screen. It's a bit of a different beast, but let's hope this musical-film adaptation isn't left dangling in the wind like Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe" Beatles musical. Oh wait, maybe it is for the best...
- Speaking of Taymor, you've all heard about this Spider-Man Musical, right? Someone stop the bleeding.
- Sam Raimi is open to taking over "The Hobbit" now that the New Line/Peter Jackson imbroglio looks like it's not getting cleared up anytime soon. What happens to a possible "Spiderman 4"? Without Raimi, Kirsten Dunst's says she's not into it.
- Ornette Coleman won a pulitzer prize today. Incidentally he did one of our favorite scores (with Howard Shore); David Cronenberg's William Burroughs quasi-adaptation, "Naked Lunch." Good on 'em.
- The Pervert's Guide to Cinema starts at MOMA from April 18–23, 2007. Bring only the finest lube.
- There's a great New York Times article on the Robert Altman directed Raymond Chandler adaptation, "The Long Goodbye." Elliott Gould is such a charming modern gumshoe.
- Criterion's July schedule is up. They are releasing yet another Jean-Pierre Melville film ("Les Enfants Terrible") in July, plus films by Tarkovsky and Billy Wilder.
- An interesting take on the failure of Tarantino's fetishized Grindhouse. (from EW)

Download: Abba - "Intermezzo No. 1" (mp3)
Download: Ornette Coleman - "The Garden of Souls" (mp3)

Bryan Ferry: Fan of German Old Wave Cinema

Sharp dressed man and Roxy Music crooner, Bryan Ferry is apparently big fan of Leni Riefenstahl, Adolf Hitler's go-to propaganda filmmaker during WWII. Now the suave singer is apologizing for remarks he said to a German newspaper calling Nazi iconography, "just amazing" and "beautiful."

Of course he's essentially taken out of context, and these comments are a month old (so why does this make a stir today?), but what were you thinking Bryan? The 61-year-old told Welt Am Sonntag newspaper: "The way that the Nazis staged themselves and presented themselves, my Lord! I'm talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl and the buildings of [architect] Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags -- just fantastic. Really beautiful."

OK, film scholars will note the films of Riefenstahl are incredibly powerful and magnetic pieces of work, made for evil purposes or not, (the 1994 documentary, "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstah" dealt exactly with this subject) but c'mon Bryan, you can't invoked the Nazi's and hope it's going to be good. Next time try lauding the beauty of Russian constructivism, it worked for Franz Ferdinand.

A "deeply upset" Ferry has expressed regret over the pain his comments might have made. "I apologize unreservedly for any offence caused by my comments on Nazi iconography, which were solely made from an art history perspective."

Jewish leaders in Britain are trying to push Marks & Spencer (Ferry is a spokesman/model for them the U.K.) to distance themselves from the singer, but we assume this won't hurt his rather excellent wardrobe.

Now just to make sure I get labelled a Nazi sympathizer (and not a Roxy acolyte), here's an excuse to post some clips.

The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl:

Roxy Music - "Virginia Plain"

Suppositions On A Film Concerning Zimmy: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Cat Power

The recent New York magazine interview with Gainsbourg-Birkin offspring, actress/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg reminds us that Todd Hayne's impressionistic Bob Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan," will have its debut next month at Cannes. Gainsbourg plays Dylan's girlfriend, Sarah.

Or rather, one of the Dylans' girlfriends. Dylan's being played by five different people in the film, including, Cate Blanchett (pictured below), Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and two unknowns (including Ben Whishaw and mostly newcomer Marcus Carl Franklin who will also appear in Michel Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" scheduled for later this year).

Also set to appear in the film are Julianne Moore, Adrien Brody, indie-rock comedian David Cross (?) and Michelle Williams. It's been 5 years since Haynes' 2002 Sirk homage, "Far From Heaven," so expectations are likely to be high (or people are gonna ask, where the hell you been? With a Dylan film? Probably development hell).

Apparently the film is going to be non-traditional (with 6 Dylans, gee really?) and will have a poetic (read: weird) narrative. According to the always-reliable Wikipedia, some Dylan songs will actually appear in the film including, "Ballad of a Thin Man." One would hope they get the rights to the title track as well.

The soundtrack looks great too. The list of artists cheduled to cover Zimmy songs includes (so far), Stephen Malkmus ("Maggie's Farm" and "Ballad of a Thin Man"), the Hold Steady (b-side " Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"), and Calexico -- with Jim James, Willie Nelson, and the Byrds' Roger McGuinn.

Download: Bob Dylan - "When The Deal Goes Down" (mp3)
Download: Charlotte Gainsbourg - "5 55" (mp3)
Download: Stephen Malkmus - "Baby C'mon" (mp3)

Choose Sequels: Trainspotting 2 In The Works

It was bad enough that Irvine Welsh had to go back to the well to write a sequel to his debut novel,"Trainspotting," (2002's "Porno" revisits the same characters 9 years later), but now comes the news that there's going to be a film to accompany the novel (will they call it "Trainspotting 2"?). Director Danny Boyle has secured the rights to the book and apparently the original cast have all agreed to revise their characters, except for ummm... the most important one. Ewan McGregor apparently has said, "They can go ahead and do it if they want, but it will be without me on board." McGregor added that he was "very proud" of "Trainspotting" and didn't want to do anything that might harm its reputation.

"I read Porno and I didn't think it was as good as Trainspotting. There was nothing new in it" - Ewan McGregor

Without McGregor, what's the point, yes? However, "Porno" centers around the character "Sick Boy" (played by Angelina Jolie's first famous flame, Jonny Lee Miller) and Boyle is still insisting that McGregor is on board. Maybe Obi-Wan is still mad for being overlooked on "The Beach" (Boyle instead went with the more bankable Leonardo Dicaprio and McGregor was reportedly pissed; Boyle has such a bad Hollywood experience on the film he allegedly turned down the "Alien Ressurection" sequel).

Boyle's next film, the psychological sci-fi flick, "Sunshine" (starring Cillian Murphy and the Fantastic Four's Chris Evans, uhhh) has been completed for some time, but keeps getting pushed back. Originally due this summer, it won't likely hit theaters til late in '07. Apparently Underworld (of "Born Slippy" fame) has helped score the film which also includes a song from the band, I Am Kloot. Incidentally, the "Sunshine" trailer utilizes the oft-recycled Clint Mansell theme from "Requiem For a Dream" (also used in LOTR II trailer).

The Boyle-produced (but not directed), "28 Weeks Later" -- a follow-up to his excellent "28 Days Later" lo-fi Zombie movie -- shows the British auteur is not afraid of sequels, nor high-gloss instead of grainy digital video (the trailer features Radiohead-wannabees Muse).

Download: Blur - "Sing" from the "Trainspotting" soundtrack (mp3)
Download: Iggy Pop - "The Passenger" from the "Trainspotting" soundtrack (and Pop's Lust for Life debut, mp3)

Morning Dailies: Indy 4, Sopranos, Incredible Ed Norton; More

- After weeks of speculation, Hollywood's new It-Boy Shia LeBouf has been cast in Indiana Jones 4 (he just hosted SNL this past weekend). I think he's supposed to be Indy's son which is just a dreadful idea.
- We would post about the "Chickentown" song in the Soprano's last night, but Idolator did it for us, thanks. The episode also used songs by Sly & Robbie and Chet Baker.
- Uh, oh. More comic books news. Apparently, Edwarton Norton is the new Incredible Hulk? Or perhaps more accurately, the new Bruce Banner. (bye bye Eric Bana and Ang Lee). Louis Leterrie ("Transporter 2," "Unleashed") will direct. Well, at lease Norton sounds good, right? But even Lee, Bana and Jennifer Connelly couldn't save the original.
- DUI'er Gus Van Sant and comic book director Bryan Singer are in a race to make a film about Harvey Milk – the first openly gay person elected to U.S. office in 1977 and assasinated a years later for being so historically unlucky.
- The Shrek 3 Soundtrack apparently features the Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney and Wings, Harry Chapin, the Ramones, and for the 3rd time in a row, the Eels.
- Archetypal baby-boomer director, Lawrence Kasdan ("The Big Chill," and screenwriter of "The Empire Strikes Back," "Jedi," and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," no joke) is set to write the remake of "Clash of the Titans." Remember a perma-tanned Harry Hamlin as Perseus? Bring on the Kraken!