VH1 is known for music programming and reality television; however, that will soon change as the network makes its bold, first attempt at a scripted film,”Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story.” The long awaited film will take viewers on a ride from the group members’ beginnings, to their meteoric rise to the top of the music charts in the 1990s and beyond.

Hip-hop artist and television personality Lil Mama will have the honor of portraying the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez. Lil Mama emerged onto the scene in 2007 with her infectious hit single “Lip Gloss” from her “VYP: Voice of the Young People” album. The song attained a Gold certification from the RIAA in 2008, while the album went on to sell 19, 000 copies in its first week and 66,000 copies thereafter. Lil Mama then began serving as a judge on MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew“ in 2008 at the age of 19. This will be her first film.

Keke Palmer has been chosen to portray Rozunda “Chili” Thomas. Unlike Lil Mama, Palmer is not new to the film industry. The 19-year-old has appeared in films alongside Laurence Fishburne (‘Akeelah and the Bee’), Tyler Perry (‘Madea’s Family Reunion’), Ice Cube (‘The Longshots’) and Dolly Parton (‘Joyful Noise’), among others. Of her new role, Palmer tells the Daily News, “I’m excited to be a part of this amazing project portraying one of the members of such an iconic group that inspired my passion for music.”

Drew Sidora will round out the cast as Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins. Sidora’s most notable roles are as Lucy Avila in ‘Step Up’, alongside Channing Tatum, and as herself on “The Game”, a television series. When the news first broke of her involvement in the biopic, Sidora took to her twitter account to thank her fans and share a few encouraging words. “Be sure to always believe in yourself. Never give up! Stay optimistic and persistent and amazing things will come into play!”

Though some TLC fans have expressed doubts that the ladies will be able to pull off their portrayals, VH1’s Executive Vice President of Original Programming and Production is confident that the project will be a success. “With this cast, we are thrilled with the talent assembled both in front of and behind the cameras,” he said. “TLC are truly music pioneers and this movie is a fantastic way to expand our scripted push by combining our audience’s passion for music with their love of story. We know our viewers will be eager to go beyond the headlines and into the surprisingly personal, never before told stories of these groundbreaking women.”

TLC’s surviving members, Thomas and Watkins, will serve as the film’s executive producers.

The article Lil Mama, Keke Palmer, Drew Sidora Cast in TLC Biopic appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Lionsgate, the leading next generation studio, announced recently that it will partner with Crest Animation Studios to co-produce the Stereoscopic 3D animated family feature ‘Norm of the North’ as the second film in their three-picture deal. Lionsgate will distribute in North America. The announcement was jointly made by Joe Drake, Lionsgate Co-Chief Operating Officer and Motion Picture Group President; Mike Paseornek, Lionsgate President of Motion Picture Production; Ken Katsumoto, Lionsgate Executive Vice President of Family Entertainment; Noah Fogelson, CEO of Crest Animation Productions; and Seemha Ramanna, Managing Director Crest Animation Studios.

‘Norm of the North’ is written by Steven and Daniel Altiere. Delivery is anticipated for the first quarter of 2012. Katsumoto will oversee the production for Lionsgate; Crest Animation President of Production Richard Rich will oversee for Crest.

The first film in the Lionsgate/Crest partnership was last year’s CGI animated family feature ‘Alpha and Omega’, featuring the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panetierre, Christina Ricci, Danny Glover, Dennis Hopper and Larry Miller. Directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck, ‘Alpha and Omega’ premiered in October 2010.

Said Paseornek and Katsumoto, “Our partnership with Crest has gotten off to a terrific start with ‘Alpha and Omega’, and ‘Norm of the North’ is an ideal follow-up. In its range of characters, locations and narrative, ‘Norm of the North’ offers a bounty of riches for family audiences.”

“We are delighted to be producing ‘Norm of the North’ with our friends at Lionsgate,” commented Fogelson. “This is a wonderful story, full of humor and heart, and stereoscopic 3D technology will bring it vividly to life.”

The deal was negotiated for Lionsgate by Wendy Jaffe, Executive Vice President Business & Legal Affairs, Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Sean Kisker, Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning, and Katsumoto; and for Crest Animation Productions by attorney Josh Grode of Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor LLP.

The article ‘Norm of the North’: Lionsgate, Crest Announce Second Film appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The 5th Edition of the Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival has certainly ended on a high note. LEFF’11 had all the main ingredients to become its best edition to date (as was predicted last week) but only time could tell if this was truly going to be an edition to remember. The programme promised a week long of high-quality events and it surely delivered.

It is one of the youngest Film Festivals in Europe but other veterans should definitely learn a thing or two from LEFF. Paulo Branco’s Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival proved worthy of the buzz surrounding it in international media outlets.

Every screening began punctually (apart from minor technical glitches) and the price of the admission tickets was very cheap, considering they allowed access to premieres and masterclasses with actors, directors, and producers. Most of the screenings were presented by one of the actors in the film, a movie critic or producer and after it a small discussion regarding the film was held.

According to LEFF’s director Branco, this might have possibly been the best edition yet, and who are we to doubt his words? In a recent interview, Branco also admitted that upcoming editions should be held in both Lisbon and Estoril, in a partnership with Lisbon’s City Hall.

Even though most of the movies shown are not what one would expect to see in a regular movie theater, most of the screenings were sold out and were incredibly entertaining.

All of the movies were divided in categories: the Official Selection, Retrospective, Tribute, Cinemart (including features by Matthew Barney and Yasmina Reza), In Memoriam, Rare Filmmakers, Film Heritage Preservation (with the cooperation of the Martin Scorcese and the World Cinema Foundation), Cinema and History, and several Special Screenings of feature films and television series.

The big winner of the Festival was Twilight Portrait, by Angelina Nikonova, as it took home the award for Best Feature. Twilight Portrait tells the story of a social worker who decides to take on her dramatic past and it is Nikonova’s debut as a film director. Cédric Kahn’s Une Vie Meilleure won the Special Jury Award – João Bénard da Costa, as well as the Cineuropa Award.

Other special mentions include Here I am, by Bálint Szimler and Aman (Safe and Sound) by Ali Jaberansari. LEFF ended on a winning streak as Almodóvar’s latest (The Skin I Live In) was shown to an eager audience in Lisbon, with the presence of Jan Cornet and Marisa Paredes. In Estoril, Melancholia by Lars Von Trier closed the Festival but hopefully LEFF’s next edition will come soon enough.  

cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com

The article LEFF’11: The Best Edition Yet? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

An actor smoking a cigarette in a movie may soon be considered as racey as explicit sex scenes. A number of health organizations argue that smoking on camera should make a film “R” rated. Drug use, obscene language and nudity are the common characteristics moviegoers expect of an “R” rated film. In the future, film watchers may need to add “lighting up” to that list.

Research conducted by Department of Primary Care and Public Health at The Imperial College in London, found that approximately one in five teenagers worldwide, ages 13 to 15, is a regular smoker, with nearly 100,000 children taking up the habit every day. The study concluded that “exposure to smoking in movies is a potent stimulus for youth smoking.”

<pAn article published by the Public Library of Science stated similar findings. It pointed to the connection between tobacco imagery in films and the likelihood of youth to experiment with smoking. “Essentially eliminating smoking and other tobacco imagery from youth-rated films would substantially reduce the total exposure of onscreen smoking images delivered to youth,” explained the article.

The World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, suggest that all future films that include scenes with smoking be given the adult content rating.

The movie industry is aware of health organizations’ concerns with smoking on screen. According to the CDC, Hollywood is less likely to show actors lighting up on in movie scenes than they were five years ago. However, health groups are still determined to view the smoking scenes that are still being included in films with a more critical eye.

Not all researches are on board with the notion of rating smoking in films more harshly. In an article, also published by the Public Library of Science, a study at the University of Sydney argued against the idea of giving smoking an adult rating in films. The article pointed out that youth are likely being exposed to smoking, to a greater degree, outside the context of the movie theatre. The researchers also expressed an overall concern with the notion of regulating cultural expression.

While no new standard has been passed, anti-smoking advocates continue to push for a more serious rating of movies that choose to include the addictive habit.

The article Smoking Scenes in Movies Requires an “R” Rating, Some Argue appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

After Universal Studios Inc. initially approved the making of at least one feature length film adaptation of author Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Series, they pulled funding for the film because it was too risky. Ron Howard was set to direct the film, with Javier Bordem as the Gunslinger, Roland Deschain. Howard envisioned three feature length films with a two-season television series to help finish off the story.

Problems first arose several months ago when Universal began talking about trying to reduce the budget and maybe just doing one film. Negotiations continued until Universal finally decided that the endeavor was simply too uncertain to put their money behind.

The seven-book series is not very kid-friendly and the audience would not be as widespread as other projects they were considering. The story focuses on Roland Deschain’s quest to reach The Dark Tower through many struggles and setbacks.

Despite Universal’s decision to back out of this project, Howard is still dedicated to seeing King’s series come to life. As Entertainment Weekly reported on July 19, Universal’s first right of refusal is now expired, and so Howard is free to try acquire support from other studios. Howard is determined to get The Dark Tower Series to the big screen and he has not given up yet.

Neither has the author of the series, Stephen King. In an email to Entertainment Weekly he reported that he has “no ill will, and trust[s] Ron Howard to get Roland and his friends before the camera somewhere else. He’s very committed to the project.”

King does not seem too worried about this latest setback, but is instead looking toward the future.

Over the years, a large number of King’s books have made it to the big screen with varying degrees of success. Films such as The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile or The Shining did well both at the box office and with critics and Kathy Bates from Misery even managed to score an Oscar for her performance.

Other films have not fared so well, most notably, Sleepwalkers and Maximum Overdrive. Both were slammed by numerous critics for plot holes and bad acting. Additionally, they did not make very much money at the box office.

Considering the hit or miss factor to films based off of King’s books, it makes sense that Universal would be leery about not only making one movie, but dedicating large amounts of money to three films and a television series.

Spending the kind of money it takes to finish The Dark Tower film adaptation will take millions of dollars and the willingness to risk not making it back in profits. King’s series is a huge undertaking and the quality of the story certainly makes it something that a number of people would be excited to see come to life on the big screen.

Only time will tell if Howard will be able to keep his promise and find a new studio willing to take the risk.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.facebook.com/stephenkingwriter

The article Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Fails to Make it to the Big Screen appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The short film Wormhole by Jezebel Pictures pulls us in from the very beginning as we are thrown into a whirlwind journey. Written and directed by Jessica Sharzer, Wormhole is an intriguing little snapshot of a broken family. Filled with emotional trauma, loss, and the hope for a change, the short film shows a young boy named Wally (TJ Sullivan) trying to overcome the kidnapping of his younger brother Micheal. In only twenty minutes we are given a full story of young Wally’s introduction to the concepts of light, dark, and the connection of black and white holes to create wormholes. Thus, we begin a wild chase to find one of his own, in order to bring back his missing brother.

As the story opens we are on a busy street, in the middle of a fight, between two parents over their son. We later learn that a past day on the beach led to the tragic kidnapping of young Michael, leaving the family in turmoil and worried for their remaining son, Wally. An over protective mother (Claire Beckman) pushes Wally away with what he interprets as resentment and hatred. While a loving, supportive grandmother (Suzanne Shepherd), calms and helps the confused boy to learn his own special way to cope with the loss of Michael. Wally gets his idea of finding a wormhole after listening to a lesson of his grandmother’s during a visit to where she teaches. Throughout the rest of the short film we see Wally search frantically for the wormhole that he has begun to believe will lead him to Michael.

The quality of the filming is very well done with some very smooth transitions between scenes. The dark tone of the film also makes for a solemn atmosphere, while the flashbacks to the day on the beach are brighter and bring forward what appear to be happier times for the family. I really enjoyed common pieces that stayed throughout the film such as the yo-yo. It adds a childish nature to the film and brings out the idea that maybe it once belonged to Mike as it was present in most scenes, and transferred hands often between the mother and Wally.

The film quickly transitions to flashbacks of his family happy on a beach enjoying the sun’ both in the beginning while first driving away from father, as well as throughout the film. I loved these flashbacks because they really helped to keep the story going. Especial the in medias res style of starting in the middle of things, then going back through these flashbacks to reveal what happened as we proceed through the story. There are plenty of other exciting events, but I won’t spoil anything, and let you experience it firsthand.

Finally, with so many strong emotional pulls from all of the actors and actresses, as well as a relate-able and understandable, and moving story we see how tragic situation can be overcome with the help of those around us. Overall, a very good short film worth watching!

The article Jessica Sharzer – Wormhole, A Journey of Acceptance appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.