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CD Review: BEL AMI soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER | 05/26/2012

BEL AMI soundtrack | ©2012 Varese Sarabande Records

Rachel Portman, the mistress of costume drama scoring, takes on the French Bell Epoque era for BEL AMI. And in the stylistically seamless company of Indian co-composer Lakshman Joseph De Saram, Portman shows off her musical trademark of dance-like rhythms and emotive, feminine strings. Her Baroque classicism very much suits AMI‘s elegant social stratification a few centuries hence, and the seductive cunning of the ex soldier who finds his way to success through society’s hemlines. Going for a tone that contrasts poetic beauty with the darkness that lies under the characters’ finery, Portman and De Saram’s music is impressively fashioned […]Read On »

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Exclusive Photos from the BATTLESHIP American Premiere

By SUE SCHNEIDER |

Taylor Kitsch and Liam Neeson at the American Premiere of BATTLESHIP | ©2012 Sue Schneider

Universal Pictures held the American Premiere of BATTLESHIP recently at the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The “sea blue” carpet had special sections for the fans around the carpet. As the stars of the film and the guests walked the carpet they stopped to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans. Walking the carpet were the stars of the film, which included: Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker, Tadanobu Asano, Hamish Linklater, Adrian Bellani, Dante Jimenez, Michael Meldman, Jackie Johnson, Stephen Bishop, Leni Ito, Writers Eric Hoeber and Jon Hoeber. Joining them were […]Read On »

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CD Review: WHITE FANG soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER |

WHITE FANG soundtrack | ©2012 Intrada Records

Just like the confident bear who tangles with an upstart white wolf, Basil Poledouris’ old-fangled orchestral score was given a proper mauling by the Disney execs, who make their period Jack London adventure seem a lot more contemporary. But where it’s usually the veteran creature who’d lose the fight when thrown into the fight pit of studio politics, quite a bit of both composers’ work ended up in WHITE FANG, making the movie most notable for its stylistic clash of scores in the long run (even if Zimmer somehow went uncredited). Yet props can also be given to Disney for […]Read On »

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GAME OF THRONES Videogame, Art book and Game Guide Giveaway

By The Editors of ASSIGNMENT X | 05/25/2012

GAME OF THRONES fans get ready for a cool little ASSIGNMENT X giveaway to promote the new GAME OF THRONES role-playing videogame that just hit the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC consoles. We have two gift packs to give away (to U.S. residents only) that include the video game (your choice of either Xbox or PS3), a limited edition GAME OF THRONES Visuals of the RPG art book and the Prima videogame guide. Super cool indeed. There are three ways to enter this giveaway for a chance to receive this gift pack – leave a comment below on this article […]Read On »

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TV Review: GAME OF THRONES – Season 2 – “The Prince of Winterfell”

By RACHEL REITSLEFF |

Rose Leslie in GAME OF THRONES - Season 2 - "The Prince of Winterfell" | ©2012 HBO/Oliver Upton

Stars: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley, Emilia Clarke, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Liam Cunningham, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Richard Madden, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen, John Bradley, Jack Gleeson, Charles Dance, Rory McCann, Stephen Dillane, Natalie Tena, James Cosmo, Jerome Flynn, Conleth Hill, Sibel Kekilli, Gwendoline Christie, Gemma Whelan, Donald Sumpter Joe Dempsie, Oona Chaplin, Rose Leslie, Tom Wlaschihar Writers: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, series created by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, based on George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” Director: Alan Taylor Network: HBO, Sundays @ 9 PM Airdate: May 20, 2012 Click […]Read On »

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TV Review: DUETS – Season 1 – “Superstars Greatest Hits” – Series Premiere

By CARL CORTEZ |

John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, Quddus, Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland and Robin Thicke in DUETS - Season 1 | ©2012 ABC/Kelsey McNeal

Featuring: Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles, John Legend, Robin Thicke Network: ABC, Thursday nights Original Telecast: May 25, 2012 So close on the heels of the AMERICAN IDOL and THE VOICE finales, ABC gets into the musical competition game with DUETS. At two hours, the series premiere proves to be a bit unwieldy like many competition shows, but the premise is at least somewhat different – four superstars Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, Robin Thicke and John Legend pick two contestants apiece to be their duet partners. The title allows them to go, “let’s duet” (get the pun) and then […]Read On »

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TV Review: AWAKE – Season 1 – “Turtles All The Way Down” – Series Finale

By CARL CORTEZ |

Jason Isaacs in AWAKE - Season 1 - "Turtles All The Way Down" - Series Finale | ©2012 NBC/Michael Desmond

Stars: Jason Issacs, Laura Allen, Dylan Minnette, Cherry Jones, Steve Harris, Wilmer Valderrama, BD Wong Writer: Kyle Killen, story by Killen, Leonard Chang, Noelle Valdivia Director: Miguel Sapochnik Network: NBC, airs Thursday nights Original Telecast: May 24, 2012 There’s two ways to look at the challenging NBC series AWAKE. On one hand, the network gave a greenlight to a challenging, original and incredibly high-concept police procedural that in any other NBC era it wouldn’t even make it past the pilot stage. On the other hand, you can view it as another missed opportunity – a chance to build and grow […]Read On »

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TV Review: REVENGE – Season One – “Reckoning” – Season Finale

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON | 05/24/2012

Emily VanCamp in REVENGE - Season 1 finale - "Reckoning" | ©2012 ABC/Eric McCandless

Stars: Emily VanCamp, Madeleine Stowe, Henry Czerny, Josh Bowman, Nick Wechsler, Gabriel Mann, Ashley Madekwe, Christa B. Allen, Connor Paolo Writer: Mike Kelley & Mark B. Perry Director: Sanford Bookstaver Network: ABC, Wednesday nights, 10 p.m. Original Telecast: May 23, 2012 Like you couldn’t have figured “Reckoning,” the season finale of REVENGE was going to end in a cliffhanger. Cliffhangers have been the Standard Operating Procedure for this show from scene one. Even last week’s episode, “Grief,” ended with us wondering if the producers had really killed off Nolan (Gabriel Mann – and one of our totally fave characters). Whew! They hadn’t – and we find that out in relatively quick order, for which we […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: AWAKE stars BD Wong and Cherry Jones are shrink wrapped

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN |

Jason Isaacs and BD Wong in AWAKE - Season 1 - "That's Not My Penguin" | ©2012 NBC/Neil Jacobs

AWAKE has its series finale tonight on NBC. The thoughtful, offbeat show is part psychological mystery and part procedural. Created by Kyle Killen, who executive-produces with Howard Gordon (24, HOMELAND) stars Jason Isaacs as LAPD detective Mike Britten, who wakes to one reality where his wife is alive but their son has died, then goes to sleep and wakes in a different universe where his teenaged son is still with him but his wife has passed away. Not surprisingly, Mike is in therapy. His doctor in the universe where his wife still lives is Dr. John Lee, played by BD […]Read On »

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TV Review: MAD MEN – Season 5 – “Christmas Waltz”

By SEAN ELLIOTT |

Jessica Pare and Jon Hamm in MAD MEN - Season 5 - "Christmas Waltz" | ©2012 AMC/Jordin Althaus

Stars: John Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, Jared Harris, John Slattery, January Jones, Jessica Pare, Robert Morse, Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, Kiernan Shipka Writer: Victor Levin & Matthew Wiener, Series created by Matthew Wiener Director: Michael Uppendahl Network: AMC, airs Sunday nights Original Telecast: May 20, 2012 “Christmas Waltz” is such an odd episode of MAD MEN to me. It feels like little bits and pieces of various characters’ stories without any kind of a central through line to tie them together as well as some episodes in the past. There are so many significant moments in this […]Read On »

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