The A.V. Club - Newswire

Film: Newswire:First look at CGI Smurfs hints at exciting levels of sass, pop-culture savvy

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:01:00 -0600

Way back in 2008, before Barack Obama and Conan O’Brien issued a joint decree on the end of cynicism, we (as in “I”) approached the prospect of a CGI reboot of The Smurfs with some trepidation and a whole lot of preemptive sarcasm, as was the style at the time. In those dark, despairing days, when bitterness flowed like the honeyed Sparks whose taurine-y candle would be senselessly snuffed out later that year, and we hadn’t yet learned how to mentally retreat to Pandorum whenever mankind failed to live up to our wildly inflated sense of nobility, we ...

TV: Newswire:Second season of Jersey Shore to lose the Jersey, keep the shore

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:36:00 -0600

After rampant, okay, occasional speculation about a possible move, Movieline is reporting that the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore will uproot and shoot the series' second season in Miami's South Beach. To which we say, fah. What is Jersey Shore without the Jersey setting? Sure, moving Snooki, The Situation, JWoww, Tony Macaroni, and Sweaty Dave might provide some fish-out-of-water comedy, but think about the lost atmosphere. (Note: We're not sure all the names in that previous sentence are accurate.)

Film: Newswire:Peter Bogdanovich to adapt Kurt Andersen's Turn of the Century

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:05:00 -0600

Peter Bogdanovich has worn many hats throughout his long, checkered, sometimes glorious, often tragic careers: fedoras, stovepipes, straw hats, even the occasional bowler. He's also played a lot of different roles: historian, critic, writer, director, pompous boob, ascot enthusiast, sycophant to great filmmakers everywhere, Orson Welles sidekick. Now Mr. Excitement is about to add a new hat to his collection of hats. Yes, he's headed down to the professional haberdashery and picked up a nifty new number I like to call "Guy who is adapting Kurt Andersen's mammoth novel Turn Of The Century for the big screen ...

DVD: Newswire:DVD Release List – 02/09/10

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:00:00 -0600

Let’s make this simple: the movie to get this week is A Serious Man. Bitch about the ending all you want, or call the picture pretentious, or too obvious, or too obscure, or what-have-you… you’re barking up the wrong tree with me, buddy. It’s a Coen brothers movie. It’s funny, it’s surprisingly sweet, and it goes to unexpected places. Just get it—even if you don’t “get it.” Also worth your time? Nicolas Winding Refn’s arty crime epic Bronson, which features one of last year’s best performances, whether the Academy wants to ...

TV: Newswire:Ratings: Super Bowl XLIV beats MASH; NBC Nightly News outpaces prime-time

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:14:00 -0600

The final numbers aren't in yet, but preliminary ratings show that Super Bowl XLIV drew 106.5 million viewers in the U.S., topping the 105.97 million who watched the final episode of M*A*S*H*, which previously held the record for most-watched program ever. At a time when TV audiences are fragmenting and shrinking, the continued mass popularity of the Super Bowl is quite a phenomenon. Also surprising? The continued success of NBC Nightly News, which is currently averaging over 10 million viewers per telecast, or more than any current prime-time NBC program. Network news audiences ...

Film: Newswire:Regency, Akiva Goldsman working on Mr. And Mrs. Smith "reboot"

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -0600

Not too many people are aware of this, but Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are currently dating, having fallen in love on the set of 2005's Mr. And Mrs. Smith, an event that went curiously under-reported in the media. While I haven't been able to find information about the state of their relationship I have learned that Regency semi-inexplicably plans on "rebooting" the Mr. And Mrs. Smith franchise with a new, undoubtedly less expensive couple in the lead. Now New York's Vulture Blog is reporting that the spin-off-sequel-prequel-reboot will be called Mr. And Mrs. Jones and is ...

Film: Newswire:Weekend Box Office: A hunk of dough

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:58:00 -0600

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. After seven full weeks at #1—and a total domestic gross of $630 million and counting—James Cameron’s Avatar finally slipped into second place, having run smack into Channing Tatum’s rock-hard abs. Despite mostly negative reviews, the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Dear John, starring Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, proved strong counter-programming on Super Bowl weekend, collecting $32 million for first. The big question: Will it have the legs to hold onto #1 for the next two months? (Answer: No, it will drop by 60% and get crushed by The Wolfman and Valentine ...

TV: Newswire:American Idol producers want shock jock Howard Stern to replace Simon Cowell

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:37:00 -0600

Only in the entertainment industry is “Judged Sybian contests” a stand-out on resumes. E!Online via The New York Post is reporting that American Idol producers are courting Howard Stern to replace Simon Cowell once the vitriolic judge departs at the end of this season. Cowell, who’s been with the show for all of its nine seasons, was reportedly earning $50 million a year, which could be an attractive figure for Stern, whose $100 million-a-year contract with Sirius XM Radio expires at the end of this year. The source for the Post claims that producers are looking for someone ...

DVD: Newswire:R. Kelly wants you to beg for more

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:43:00 -0600

In his second Twitvid in the last few days, R. Kelly has responded to fans who've inquired about more chapters of his monumentally insane super-video Trapped In The Closet. (If you haven't seen it, you really owe it to yourself.) In the video below, he coyly reveals that he's already got FIFTEEN more chapters ready to go, but he needs to hear from fans that they want it, need it, gotta have it before he'll unleash his secret monster on the world. He'll be waiting for you right there, baby. He'll be waiting there ...

Music: Newswire:Relix serves up a comprehensive Pavement reunion article, written by Will Eno

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:18:00 -0600

Relix has just published the first meaty article on the Pavement reunion, penned by playwright Will Eno. It features interviews with the key players, who are surprisingly sunny and uncynical about the whole thing. (Payday makes me smile, too.) Check out the whole thing here. There's also a supplementary article with testimonials about Pavement's greatness from Trey Anastasio and others. Yeah, that's a little weird, I guess.

Theater: Newswire:Duncan Sheik to write music for American Psycho musical

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:17:00 -0600

The name Duncan Sheik conjures up countless images. Well, two or three at least: a blandly handsome man strumming his way through the adult contemporary hit "Barely Breathing", a coffee shop in the late nineties, various Duncan Sheik CDs in the cutout bin at the used record store. Soon you will be able to add "Naked, blood-splattered Christian Bale doggedly pursuing with a chainsaw" to that list. Nymag.com and many other sites are now reporting that the mellow troubadour will be composing the music for the upcoming musical American Psycho. Sheik previously wrote the music for the well-received musical ...

TV: Newswire:Today in autopsies: Brittany Murphy

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:08:00 -0600

Following yesterday's report that Jay Reatard died from cocaine toxicity (with help from alcohol), news comes from CNN and MSNBC today that actress Brittany Murphy died of "acquired pneumonia," with anemia and "multiple drug intoxication" cited as contributing factors. In this case, those were prescription drugs, though the coroner declined to elaborate. The death has been ruled accidental. Murphy, 32, died Dec. 20 after collapsing at home.

Eat/Drink: Newswire:Taco Bell pays tribute to its late founder...

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:30:00 -0600

...aptly.

Music: Newswire:Warner to experiment with "new" "Six-Pak" release format

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:58:00 -0600

In the latest instance of big labels throwing comical life preservers at physical formats, Warner Music Nashville announced today that it'll experiment with releasing new music in multiple six-song installments, instead of in full albums. In other words: Congrats, major labels, you've discovered what EPs are again. According to Billboard, the first artist to get the "Six-Pak" treatment will be country singer Blake Shelton. He'll put out one six-song CD in March and another in August. The report doesn't have any information on how the (sigh) "Six-Pak" will be priced, but it sounds suspiciously like a ...

Music: Newswire:Arcade Fire sells out (for Haiti)

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:27:00 -0600

Arcade Fire, a band that has been pointedly careful and reticent about the use of its music for commercial purposes (outside of, y'know, selling its own albums), has agreed to license "Wake Up" to the NFL for use during the Super Bowl. The beautiful catch: The band is giving all the money to the Haitian-relief charity Partners In Health. (No word on how much money that is, but it's probably a lot.) Y'all may remember Arcade Fire's reaction to the NFL using bits of "No Cars Go" in a Super Bowl ad without permission in 2008--they ...

Music: Newswire:Wyclef, Fergie, Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga and a whole bunch of other motherfuckers to remake "We Are The World" to benefit Haiti earthquake victims

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:19:00 -0600

If you're as old as we are, you remember that halcyon cultural moment in the mid-1980s when a whole whole bunch of random motherfuckers recorded a terrible, terrible song called "We Are The World" that solved the African starvation crisis forever and allowed some very wealthy, very famous people to feel really, really good about themselves. Now a whole bunch of other motherfuckers are getting together to rerecord the terrible, terrible song to help victims of last month's earthquake in Haiti. Motherfuckers involved include Fergie, Lady Gaga, Li'l Wayne, Eminem, Drake, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Nipsey Hussle, Barbra ...

Music: Newswire:Cocaine toxicity, alcohol killed Jay Reatard, autopsy reports

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:15:00 -0600

Breaking news from the Memphis Commercial Appeal: Cocaine toxicity, aided and abetted by booze, did in musician Jay Reatard, according to the results of an autopsy released this morning. The 29-year-old Reatard—a.k.a. Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr.—was found dead January 13 in his home. A report from the local FOX affiliate, which quickly spread elsewhere, claimed his death was being investigated as a homicide, but FOX has taken the story off its site, and there's been no word to that effect in the weeks since Reatard's death.

Music: Newswire:R. Kelly answers your burning questions about yodeling

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:03:00 -0600

"Brilliant R&B singer/crazy person" R. Kelly (to quote Aziz Ansari's new disc) has taken to Twitter to answer fans' questions about his jam "Echo" via poorly synched web video—specifically, what's the deal with the yodeling? Apparently R&B fans aren't too familiar with ancient style of communication, so Kels advises them not to get too "deep embedded" in the meaning of the song. "Yodeling is something you can do just to have fun," he says. If fans are still concerned, he says, "Just appreciate the metaphors, man, you know? It'll be a'ight ...

Music: Newswire:UPDATED: Def Jux closing down?

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:15:00 -0600

More ominous rumors that are likely true: Shabooty.com reports that cool indie hip-hop label Definitive Jux is closing. Although it's not confirmed—leader El-P won't say until an official statement is ready—Shabooty analyzes the writing that has been on the wall, including statements from former Def Jux artists. The label has been home to a who's who of indie-rap notables—such as Mr. Lif, Murs, Dizzee Rascal, The Perceptionists, and, of course, El-P himself—but the label has been quiet lately, as fellow indie label Rhymesayers has grown more prominent. UPDATE: Last night, El-P posted ...

Books: Newswire:Calvin And Hobbes creator Bill Watterson gives first interview in over twenty years

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:06:00 -0600

Calvin And Hobbes writer Bill Watterson is the J.D Salinger of the comic strip world, a reclusive genius whose legend has only grown since he quit while at the top of his game and disappeared from public view fifteen years ago. So it was quite the coup when the Cleveland Plain Dealer 's John Campanelli scored an interview with him in connection with an upcoming book about the iconic comic strip. Here's the interview and here's an interview about the interview. How very meta!