Ang Lee’s 3-D ‘Life Of Pi’ : Five New Shows On MTV : Rolling Stones Museum & The Billboard Latin Music Awards

CinemaCon: Ang Lee’s 3-D ‘Life of Pi’ inspires early Oscar talk

LAS VEGAS — 20th Century Fox showed off footage from a handful of splashy summer blockbusters, including Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” at CinemaCon, the theater owners’ convention now underway. But studio co-chairmen Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos made it clear that they’re hopeful their biggest movie this year will be December’s “Life of Pi,” Ang Lee’s 3-D adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel.

“Ang wants to raise the bar,” Rothman said. “The medium skips forward again [with 'Life of Pi'], and you will believe the unbelievable.”

Indeed, the footage shown from the film seemed to inspire a resounding positive reaction from the crowd. In it, 17-year-old protagonist Pi finds himself on a cargo ship with his family and a slew of zoo animals when a storm begins to rage in the middle of the night. The young man rushes to the ship’s deck to witness the intense weather first-hand when he ends up being thrown overboard and into a lifeboat with a zebra and a Bengal tiger. The 3-D technology was especially impressive in the underwater scenes, where Pi floated lifelessly for nearly a minute, and in moments when waves of bubbling water and animals came rushing toward him.

Despite the encouraging response from the crowd — many of whom were even brought to tears and seemed quick to proclaim the movie a possible Oscar contender — Lee immediately walked on stage and told the audience: “It’s unfinished! When you see the movie, it will be a lot more moving.”

In an interview after the screening, the “Brokeback Mountain” filmmaker said being compared to directors like James Cameron and George Lucas — two directors who appeared along with Lee in a promo reel screened at the event — made him uncomfortable.

“To be honest with you, I like to be modest,” the 57-year-old said. “I would like people to get surprised about my work, instead of it being over-hyped. That’s what I’d be more comfortable with. But it’s a big picture. I have to go with the flow.”

Lee said it was the performance of young Indian actor Suraj Sharma, chosen from more than 3,000 hopefuls, that ultimately inspired him to move forward with the technically challenging production — even though Sharma couldn’t swim when he was first cast.

“I met him, I tested him, and he held his breath for 20 seconds. So I got him a swimming coach, work-out coach — every coach,” the filmmaker said with a laugh. “He gives an emotional performance in a movie that has the look of a family film, but it’s also a movie about big ideas. I hope people will spend weeks talking about it — that’s my idea of a family film.”

credit & thanks :  : latimes.com–Amy Kaufman  // Photo: “Life of Pi” Credit: Rhythm and Hues / 20th Century Fox

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MTV: What you need to know about five new shows

NEW YORK — MTV unveiled a not-so-pregnant-looking Snooki and a very-polished-sounding Alicia Keys at its annual upfront in this city’s Beacon Theatre on Thursday. It also teased clips from a host of new shows that you’ll see roll out over the next year, everything from a docu-series about online dating to a scripted comedy about unemployment. Here are the takeaways on the five new series.

“Catfish” — Neve Schulman stole Sundance Film Festival-goers’ hearts as the charming, unusually credulous victim at the center of an online-dating hoax a couple of years back. Now he’s moving from subject to counselor as he helps everyday people explore  “what happens when you fall in love with someone you never met.” From the footage here, Schulman combs through a newly swooning person’s online correspondence and takes them to their new paramour’s house to see if the online lover is who they say they are. The footage suggested a reality-dating show — someone falls in love with a person they’ve never met and barely know (it could almost be the “Bachelor”!) — meets “To Catch a Predator.”

“Wake Brothers” — On its face, the idea of watching two surfer dudes, as Phil and Bob Soven are, fight to win wakeboarding competitions and top each other suggests an undercooked reality-show take on an X-Games competition. But what could have been self-indulgent here looked casual and funny, as the brothers — who also brought their act to the stage Thursday — enjoy plenty of genuinely zany and spontaneous moments.

“Underemployed” — A group of early twentysomethings struggle with love and employment in a post-college haze of self-doubt and entitlement. No , it’s not “Girls,” but “Underemployed,” MTV’s spin on the Millennials-adrift genre. Maybe it’s just that the show, from “Six Feet Under” veteran Craig Wright, is being introduced as the rough-around-the-edges “Girls” continues its run in the zeitgeist, but the clips of “Underemployed” showed a series far too slick and glib to be anything close to relatable. The one-liners didn’t quite land either.

“The Inbetweeners”—You’ve seen the types many times before in “Superbad,” “Project X” and other Judd Apatow and Todd Phillips films: teen boys who are not exactly nerdy but far away from cool bumble their way through life and love in high school. You’ll see them again in “Inbetweeners,” Brad Copeland’s adaptation of a British series.

“Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous”—With his showy manner and snarky style, the viral-video star Bo Burnham isn’t to everyone’s taste. But what he displayed in this scripted show—playing a version of himself as a young man trying to make it as an Internet star (complete with meta touches, like Stone filming scenes from his fictional life)–was funny and unusual.  If it doesn’t wear thin or push certain buttons too hard, MTV could have a sleeper on its hands.

credit & thanks : .latimes.com  – Steven Zeitchik /  Photo: Bo Burnham in “Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous.” Credit: Sam Urdank/MTV

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“But we can’t expect them to fly over from San Francisco or Ireland just to visit the museum,” Schroeder added.

The museum’s famous urinals made headlines around the world after several local women complained they were degrading.

“It was the best publicity we could possibly have had,” said Schroeder, confirming the toilets were still on display.

“People came from far away just to use the toilet.”

credit & thanks : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9231176/Rolling-Stones-museum-opens-in-small-German-town.html

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In a year when Billboard’s Latin charts were dominated by uptempo dance music and a slew of younger names, veteran hitmaker Don Omar and newcomer Prince Royce tied as the biggest winners at the 2012 Billboard Latin Music Awards, earning eight honors each.

Presented by State Farm, the awards show aired live April 26 on Telemundo from the BankUnited Center in Miami, featuring performances by Don Omar and Prince Royce, as well as Pitbull, Juanes and Brazilian artist Michel Teló, the lattermost singing his No. 1 hit “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” on U.S. TV for the first time.

Thanks to sales and airplay of his self-titled debut album, urban bachata star Prince Royce was named artist of the year, which considers an artist’s combined rankings on Billboard’s sales, radio and digital songs charts. After winning the new Latin artist honor in 2011, Prince Royce was able to sustain that momentum in 2012, with his work on indie label Top Stop also winning accolades as album of the year, in addition to digital album, tropical album and tropical albums artist, solo.

Prince Royce (real name: Geoffrey Rojas) also took the songwriter award, with his hit “Corazón Sin Cara” winning tropical song and helping him claim tropical songs artist, solo.

If Prince Royce’s awards haul pointed to an album’s success, then Don Omar’s wins were due to specific songs, with the Lucenzo collaboration “Danza Kuduro” (Machete/Universal Music Latin Entertainment [UMLE]) and lambada reboot “Taboo” scoring many of the song honors.

Last year’s Latin rhythm airplay song winner, “Danza Kuduro” took home the 2012 song of the year, vocal event honor, as well as digital song and Latin rhythm song, while “Taboo” won song of the year (a category that considers airplay and digital sales), airplay song and Latin pop song. Don Omar also claimed the Latin rhythm songs artist and Latin rhythm albums artist accolades.

Rock icon Maná, the only act considered alternative that became a finalist this year, collected five awards in the duo or group category, including albums artist of the year, Latin pop songs artist, Latin pop album and Latin pop albums artist for Drama y Luz (Warner). The group, which is on tour and performed on the awards show through a remote feed, also won songs artist of the year, duo or group.

Pitbull’s opening number, “Manos Pa’rriba,” had the audience waving their hands in the air as flames roared up from the floor. It was followed by the first award of the evening, collected by Cristian Castro, who used the stage to thank his new record label — Sony Music Latin — and take a jab at his former label, Universal.

Later in the show, a tribute to Selena included a performance by Samo and Castro. who performed songs from a new album that features some of Latin music’s biggest names performing duets with the late singer’s voice on new versions of her hits. Castro performed “Como Me Duele” with several Selena look-a-likes as background singers, and Samo performed “Amor Prohibido.”

Don Omar performed a medley of songs that included the “Lambada” remake “Taboo.” He performed the song on stage with Brazilian singer Loailwa Braz, who sang the original hit version of “Lambada.”

Don Omar (right), performing with Akon (left) and Loalwa Braz (center) at the awards show. (Photo: Telemundo)

Regional Mexican Gerardo Ortiz performed “Amor Confuso” and “Aquiles Afirmo.” The crooner appeared on a throne, wearing a shiny black leather outfit. Paulina Rubio sang her single “Boys Will Be Boys”

Billboard’s Leila Cobo’s joined music mogul Emilio Estefan onstage to honor Marc Anthony with a Billboard Hall of Fame award to recognize the influence his music has had around the world.

Anthony — who planted a big, televised kiss on his Venezuelan model girlfriend Shannon de Lima’s lips before accepting — joked with the audience (“They’re having a party over there — you are all coming to my house after”), referred to himself as a “little boy who dreamed on the streets of New York,” and shared the award not only with his musical family, but with his nuclear family as well.

“Everybody in this room says they sacrifice themselves to pursue a career. But I want to recognize my kids and my family, who have sacrificed equally,” Anthony said, naming his five kids — Ariana, 18, from his first marriage; Cristian, 10, and Ryan, 8, from his marriage with former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres; and his 4-year-old twins Emme and Max with Jennifer Lopez. He also thanked his mother and siblings. “They have sacrificed, too.”

Anthony thanked the crowed and promised he’s not going to rest on his laurels.

“I am just starting,” he said. “There’s a lot more to come, my people. A lot more to come.”

During a year in which few females ruled the charts, veteran Sony artist Shakira won four awards: songs artist of the year, female; albums artist, female; Latin pop songs artist, solo; and social artist.

Reggaetón duo Wis­in & Yandel won three awards, as did French/Portuguese artist Lucenzo on the strength of his “Danza Kuduro” duet with Don Omar. The song also led to production team A&X winning its first producer of the year award.

Artist of the year, new went to regional Mexican band La Adictiva Banda San José de Mesillas, while party rock duo LMFAO won crossover artist and Enrique Iglesias took the touring artist honor. Chart fixture Pitbull took home songs artist of the year, male.

The awards show followed the previous evening’s Billboard Bash, where Sony Music Latin and Universal Music Latino/UMLE tied with seven awards each in the label categories. UMLE-owned companies rounded out the rest of the Bash winners, with regional Mexican label Disa taking three awards, urban imprint Machete getting two prizes and regional Mexican imprint Fonovisa earning a single accolade. Regional Mexican specialist Marcha Musical won publisher of the year, while Sony/ATV Latin was named the top publishing corporation.

The Billboard Latin Music Awards honor the most popular albums, songs and performers in Latin music, as determined by the actual sales and radio airplay data that inform Billboard’s weekly charts during the awards’ eligibility period of Feb. 5, 2011, through Jan. 28, 2012.

credit & thanks : : http://www.billboard.com/news#/news/billboard-latin-music-awards-don-omar-prince-1006894952.story

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