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Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Jacket To Be Auctioned

Christian Allaire — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:19:31 +0000

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The infamous red and black leather jacket Michael Jackson wore in his ‘Thriller’ video is being auctioned, reports CTV.

The auction administrator, Darren Julien, says the jacket is “the most recognized and significant piece of pop culture” to come up for sale and expects the jacket will get at least $200,000.

The jacket is even autographed, as Jackson signed the jacket as a gift to his longtime costume designers, Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush.

The jacket will be fought over at the ‘Music Icons’ auction on June 25 and 26 at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills.

Other Jackson items up for sale include the wig he wore when he announced his ‘This Is It’ tour in London, a fedora and sparkled glove he wore on stage, his shirt from the ‘Scream’ video and a beaten mailbox from the Carolwood Drive estate where Jackson died in 2009.

The auction will also include one of Eric Clapton’s guitars, Frank Sinatra’s 1986 Jaguar, handwritten lyrics and a leather jacket from Johnny Cash, and a signed harmonica from Bob Dylan, among others.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Shambala Preserve.

These are definitely pieces of history, so if you’ve got some cash to spare, head on over and bid. I think a sequinned glove is a great investment.

Movie Review: Red Riding Hood

Christian Allaire — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 16:31:08 +0000

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We all know the story: girl wears a red cape, is being followed by a wolf. She then visits her grandmother, her grandmother is the wolf. Or something like that. But all this goes out the window in Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of the classic “Red Riding Hood.”

Let’s start with the positive. Hardwicke, the director of the film who’s also directed for “Twilight,” delivers a visually stunning film. It captures great North American landscape, and the film’s forte definitely lies its cinematography and visual appeal. I absolutely commend her artistic decisions and direction she took within the story. I mean, contrasting Amanda Seyfried’s gentle blond hair and piercing blue eyes with that dramatic red cape. Heaven on screen. In fact, Seyfried is genuinely what saves the film from disaster itself – her understated acting is not only realistic but saves the movie from being cheesy.

But let’s move into what’s wrong with the film. Although the movie has its twists and turns that keep it interesting, the story itself suffers from an identity crisis. Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf, a young girl (Seyfried) falls for an orphaned woodcutter (Shiloh Fernandez), much to her family’s displeasure. So is the movie a thriller? A love story? A dark comedy? It dabbles in a bit of all three. There is a certain melodramatic love tension that occurs between the two young hotties, then there are brutal wolf attacks on the village people, and then there are clever allusions to the original fairytale. But it’s all too much. Pick on one theme, and make it great.

I saw this movie with my friend, and we left feeling neutral. It wasn’t a bad movie, in fact, we both said it could have been a lot of worse so we respected the fact that they made it interesting. But then again, the movie wasn’t great. They could have been much more shocking with how they changed the story, they could have made way more clever connections to the original, and besides Seyfried, the acting could have been better.

But for what the movie is, a teenage love-action story, the movie achieves its goal and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. I give it a 2.5 out of 5, smack dab in the middle. Not great, not horrid.

Movie Review: ‘Takers’

Jacob Morris — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:00:04 +0000

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The action/thriller film Takers is, plain and simple, the kind of movie you should go and watch if you have nothing better to do and are looking for an OK combination of cheap laughs and overly dramatic sequences.

Making up the roster of thieves are Hayden Christensen, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Michael Ealy, rapper T.I. and R&B artist Chris Brown. Essentially a ‘taker’ is, as described very directly in the movie, someone who takes things for a living.

The plot is simple: After the takers take a lot of money from a bank, they say they’re done. Then T.I., who used to be a taker gets out of prison and tries to convince his old taker pals that they should take some more. Despite their rule of only taking once a year, they’re quickly swayed to believe their vindictive friend has got their backs still.

I think that the entire movie can be simplified to one moment, when it’s mentioned that the crew is going to take down an armored truck like in The Italian Job. The only problem is that The Italian Job actually does an adequate job of fulfilling what action fans want, where as Takers seems to fall a little flat.

The way the movie is constructed disengages audiences from the story; instead of sticking to the main heist that is planned and carried out, there are so many different stories occurring that it’s really hard to follow—and it doesn’t come together well in the end, the end just sort of happens.

There multiple subplots are so unnecessary, and subsequently they’re hard to take seriously. They range from the marital problems of the poorly characterized protagonist cop, Matt Dillon, as well as his partner’s struggles with his son’s serious illness all the way to the rehab that one of the takers’ sisters is going through. There is just so much going on that you begin to ask yourself, “whaaaaat?”

Now, it’s not that Takers doesn’t attempt to portray a quality, action-filled crime story; the problem is that it tries a little too hard. Sitting in the theatre, the parts of the movie that were obviously intended to be dramatic were received with huge bouts of laughter from the audience.

Despite it having all of the components of a great action movie—Guns, private rooftop and balcony talks, chases, planes, money, and quirky Russians who love vodka—Takers falls a little short and definitely won’t be the best movie you see this summer.

Movie Review: ‘Salt’

Jacob Morris — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:34:07 +0000

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Between improvised rocket launchers, highway chases that include several truck jumps, secret identities, and a very high body count, Salt is a movie that will have you highly entertained throughout the whole film.

Angelina Jolie stars as the highly trained CIA agent, Evelyn Salt, a character who takes advantage of every opportunity to showcase the unbelievably awesome skills that you would expect such a character to possess. However, it’s not just the awesomeness of Evelyn Salt that makes this movie entertaining; it’s a combination of the action and the elaborate and twisting plot—that keeps you guessing until the very end— that will have audiences coming out.

The movie really gets going early on when Salt flees a CIA building after a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy with a plot to assassinate the Russian president. The line between friend and foe is blurred early on and the true identity of Salt becomes the unanswered question that keeps the story moving.

After Salt runs, what follows is a fast paced story told through director Phillip Noyce’s incredible action sequences and complicated through Kurt Wimmer’s script. Although Salt is most entertaining for the action, there is also an attempt at some political undertones reminiscent of the Cold War woven into the background of the story. This acts as a base for the plot, but as is the case with the most films in the genre, it isn’t as important as the thrill of the action.

A lot is packed into the hour and a half it takes to tell the story in Salt. Right from the beginning Evelyn Salt is portrayed as a character that means business when it comes to making any body that gets in her way hit the floor. It’s quickly realized after the inciting incident that Evelyn Salt may not be who she says she is, or who other people say she is for that matter, and that’s the fun of the movie. Salt keeps audiences guessing until the very end.

One downside to the film is that it’s over so quickly and it feels like some of the loose ends haven’t been tied up, but if you’re looking for a good quality, fast-paced action movie then Salt is definitely for you. Salt is the kind of movie that sucks you in and keeps you wondering how it’s all going to come together at the end and you’ve got to take it for what it is—a great action movie.

Prison Inmates Tribute Michael Jackson

Sara Harowitz — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:26:30 +0000

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Back in July, inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines released a video of them dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” according to perezhilton.com. Since its online post, it has received over 10 million views.

To celebrate the DVD release of the late King of Pop Michael Jackson documentary This Is It, Jackson’s choreographer Travis Payne and dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid went to the detention center and staged a dance tribute to the star. It features 1,500 inmates dancing to “They Don’t Really Care About Us.”

It seems that these are not the only two videos done by the Cebu inmates – Youtube shows that the group has done videos to songs by such other artists as Soulja Boy, Black Eyed Peas, Queen, as well as songs from the musical Grease.

Dancers Around the World Try for Thriller Record

Vanessa Baker — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:47:09 +0000

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People all over the world tried to break the Guinness World Record for the most people dancing simultaneously to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” reports CBC. Saturday night, approximately 20,000 people in more than 200 locations in 37 countries performed the famous dance.

230 people gathered in downtown Vancouver for the event. Participants brought food and monetary donations for the city’s food bank.

“When we take our first step, people in China will take their first step,” said Graeme Lea, who co-ordinated the event. Cell phones were used to ensure groups around the world began dancing at the same time.

Thriller is the bestselling album of all time, selling 100 million copies worldwide.

It is yet to be determined if Saturday’s events will top the previous record, set Aug. 29 of this year in Mexico City on what would have been the singer’s 51st birthday. The final count on that date was 13,597 dancers.

Minka Kelly Joins Cast Of The Roommate

Eva Lam — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:57:19 +0000

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“Friday Night Lights” star Minka Kelly will discover the scary side of college after joining the cast of upcoming psychological thriller “The Roommate.”

As previously reported, the film stars Leighton Meester (“Gossip Girl”) as a college freshmen who becomes dangerously obsessed with her new roomie, Sara, to be played by Kelly.

The cast of the Screen Gems thriller is rounded out by Aly Michalka of the pop group Aly and AJ, Cam Gigandet (“Twilight”) and Matt Lanter (the new “90210″). Michalka will play an outgoing dormmate, Lanter will play Sara’s ex-boyfriend and Gigandet will play her current boyfriend, according to Variety.

The movie, which is being directed by Christian E. Christiansen, started shooting last week in Los Angeles.

Kelly recently finished filming the CW pilot “Body Politic” and will next appear in the romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer.” Despite low ratings, the critically-praised drama “Friday Night Lights” was renewed for a fourth season by NBC last week.

Megan Fox To Star In Border Thriller

Eva Lam — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:47:58 +0000

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Megan Fox has been cast as the lead in the Screen Gems thriller “The Crossing.”

The “Transformers” star will play one half of a couple who is returning from a Mexican vacation when they are carjacked and the husband is kidnapped. In order to free him, Fox’s character must smuggle heroin across the border.

Production on the movie could begin as early as July, says The Hollywood Reporter.

It’s the latest in a string of new projects for Fox, who will appear on the big screen later this year in the sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and the Diablo Cody-penned dark comedy-horror film “Jennifer’s Body.”

The 22-year-old has several other movies in the works, including the indie drama “Passion Plays” – in which she will play an angel opposite Mickey Rourke – the action Western “Jonah Hex” and the comic book-based adventure tale “Fathom.”