Today - just a day after The Bloodshot Eye posted the official poster for the film - Sundance officials announced that Craig Brewer will return to Park City, Utah, for the premiere of his $13 million "Hustle & Flow" follow-up, "Black Snake Moan."

The festival takes place Jan. 18-28, when Park City usually is coated with snow and slush. But will festivalgoers even need their parkas when they exit the theater after watching a semi-naked Christina Ricci writhe in the delta dirt like something out of Erskine Caldwell? (Seeing Midtown chanteuse Amy LaVere and Memphian-turned-Playboy's November "Babe of the Month" Clare Grant play touch football in their skivvies might raise temperatures, too.)

A few months ago, The Commercial Appeal reported that "Black Snake" likely would debut out of competition at Sundance. The idea made sense: It was at Sundance two years ago that Brewer was elevated from talented indie regional hopeful to Hollywood player when the in-competition "Hustle" earned the Audience Award for favorite film and a $9 million distribution deal from Paramount. Today's announcement means we finally can remove such wiggle-words as "likely" from any further reporting on the "Black Snake" premiere.

"Black Snake" will be screened as part of the festival's 17-film "Premieres" category, devoted to "the latest work from established American and international directors and world premieres of highly anticipated films," to quote the Sundance press release.The exact date for the "Black Snake" debut (and any followup screenings during the festival) have yet to be set, but they could be announced as early as next week on the Sundance website.

Here - effulgent back-patting included - is the full text of the Nov. 30 Sundance press release about all the screenings in this year's out-of-competition categories. (The in-competition films were announced earlier in the week.)

2007 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS IN THE "PREMIERES," "SPECTRUM," "NEW FRONTIER," "PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT" AND "FROM THE SUNDANCE COLLECTION" SECTIONS

Filmmakers Pushing the Boundaries of Aesthetics, Invention and Storytelling

Park City, UT - the second of three program announcements, Sundance Institute announced today the line-up of films screening at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in the out-of-competition sections Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier, Park City at Midnight, and From the Sundance Collection. The premier showcase for the best new work of American and international independent filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival provides audiences with the opportunity to discover the most innovative new dramatic and documentary films from today's emerging independent filmmakers. The 2007 Sundance Film Festival runs January 18-28, in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah. A complete list of films is available at the Sundance Institute website at www.sundance.org.

For the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, 123 feature films were selected including 82 world premieres, 22 North American premieres and 13 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries with nearly 60 first or second-time feature filmmakers. These films were selected from 3,287 feature submissions composed of 1,852 U.S. feature films and 1,435 international feature films. These numbers represent an increase from 2006 when 1,764 U.S. feature films and 1,384 international films were considered. This year's Festival includes films from 25 countries including Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

"We are struck by the sheer diversity of independent film in this year's festival, particularly in the Premieres and Spectrum sections," said Geoffrey Gilmore, Director of the Sundance Film Festival. "The range of artistic expression this year - both directorial and in performances - gives a special quality to the films presented in Premieres. The Spectrum section truly uncovers the aesthetic experimentation and complex storytelling that is at the heart of emerging independent filmmaking at this moment."

"Building on the Sundance Film Festival tradition of experimentation and innovation, this year's expanded NEW FRONTIER section will present a unique platform for both filmmakers and artists using the latest media technology," said John Cooper, Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival. "Audiences will also find the usual surprises in the adventurous work presented in the Park City at Midnight section that has developed a dedicated following at the Festival for both cult films and comedies."

The Festival opens on January 18 in Park City with the world premiere of the documentary CHICAGO 10, written and directed by Brett Morgen. CHICAGO 10 is an innovative documentary that combines historical storytelling, archival footage, animation and music to tell the story about the 1968 anti-war protests around the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that resulted in the famous Chicago Conspiracy Trial in 1969.

On Friday, January 26, the Closing Film screening in Park City signals the beginning of the Festival's final weekend. This year's Closing Film is the world premiere of director Nelson George's LIFE SUPPORT, a fictionalized account of the true story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and AIDS activist in the black community. LIFE SUPPORT stars Queen Latifah, Anna Deavere Smith, Wendell Pierce, and Evan Ross.

Other Festival highlights include the Salt Lake City Gala on Friday, January 19 featuring the U.S. premiere of AWAY FROM HER, directed by Sarah Polley. AWAY FROM HER tells the story of a man coping with the institutionalization of his wife due to Alzheimer's Disease and stars Olympia Dukakis, Gordon Pinsent, Julie Christie, and Michael Murphy.

Festival films screen in nine sections: Documentary Competition, Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier, Park City at Midnight, and From the Sundance Collection. The Short Film program will be announced on Wednesday, December 8, 2006. A complete list of films and other information is available at www.sundance.org.

PREMIERES

To showcase the diversity of contemporary independent cinema, the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section offers 17 selections of the latest work from established American and international directors and world premieres of highly anticipated films.

The films screening in Premieres are:

AN AMERICAN CRIME / U.S.A. (Director: Tommy O'Haver; Screenwriters: Tommy O'Haver, Irene Turner) - A fictionalized account of the true story of a young girl's torturous ordeal at the hands of a troubled mother of seven in 1960s Indianapolis. World Premiere.

AWAY FROM HER / Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Sarah Polley) - Married for almost 50 years, Grant and Fiona's serenity is interrupted by Fiona's increasingly frequent memory lapses. When it is no longer possible for either of them to ignore the fact that she is being consumed by Alzheimer's disease, the limits of love and loyalty are wrenchingly redefined. U.S. Premiere.

BLACK SNAKE MOAN / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Craig Brewer) - Desire is a burning sickness for Rae, while making her the white-trash sexual target of every man and boy in her small Tennessee town. When her true love leaves for military service, Rae plunges into wild excess. Beaten and left for dead, she is taken in by a reformed bluesman, a private self-contained black man who nurses deep anger of his own and who is fiercely committed to his task of keeping her alive. World Premiere.

CHAPTER 27 / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jarrett Schaefer) - A terrifying glimpse into the deranged mind of Mark David Chapman during his days in NYC prior to the murder of John Lennon, which is played out through his obsession with JD Salinger's classic novel 'The Catcher in the Rye'. World Premiere.

CHICAGO 10 / U.S.A. (Director Brett Morgen) - CHICAGO 10 presents contemporary history with a forced perspective, mixing bold and original animation with extraordinary archival footage that explores the build-up to and unraveling of the Chicago Conspiracy Trial and the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. World Premiere.

CLUBLAND / Australia (Director: Cherie Nowlan; Screenwriter: Keith Thompson) - Tim has a new girlfriend. It should be the perfect romance but something is holding him back. He has a secret...his parents are "Entertainers"! There are never just two people in a family love story. World Premiere.

THE GOOD NIGHT / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jake Paltrow) - A man finds he has more happiness and love with the woman in his dreams than in his miserable day to day reality. World Premiere.

KING OF CALIFORNIA / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Mike Cahill) - An unstable dad who after getting out of a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's Spanish gold buried somewhere under suburbia. World Premiere.

LIFE SUPPORT / U.S.A. (Director: Nelson George; Screenwriters: Nelson George, Jim McKay, Hannah Weyer) - LIFE SUPPORT views the African-American community's HIV crisis through the eyes of a survivor who is a mother, a former addict and an AIDS activist. World Premiere.

LONGFORD / U.K. (Director: Tom Hooper; Screenwriter: Peter Morgan) - A portrait of Lord Longford, a tireless British campaigner whose controversial beliefs often resulted in furious political debate and personal conflict. World Premiere.

THE NINES / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: John August) - A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways. World Premiere.

RESURRECTING THE CHAMP / U.S.A. (Director: Rod Lurie; Screenwriters: Allison Burnett, Michael Bortman, Chris Gerolmo, Rod Lurie) - A down on his luck sports reporter has his life and career upturned when he lands the story of his career: A former heavyweight boxing superstar, previously thought to be dead, is living his final years on the streets. Finally, he can earn the respect of his wife and editor - but the dark secret he finds may be too much for him to bear. World Premiere.

THE SAVAGES / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Tamara Jenkins) - A comic-drama about a pair of adult siblings who are suddenly plucked from their self-absorbed lives when they are forced to care for their estranged and elderly father who never cared for them - an irreverent story about life, love and mortality. World Premiere.

SON OF RAMBOW / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Garth Jennings) - Will is the eldest son in a family with a strict moral and religious view and has never been allowed to mix with other people, listen to music or watch TV. That is until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. World Premiere.

SUMMER RAIN (EL CAMINO DE LOS INGLESES) / Spain (Director: Antonio Banderas; Screenwriter: Antonio Soler) - The film is adapted from an award-winning novel written by the director's childhood friend, Antonio Soler, and is a deeply personal and poetic recreation of their generation growing up in Malaga in the late 1970s. World Premiere.

TRADE / U.S.A. (Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner; Screenwriter: Jose Rivera) - Adriana is a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother, Jorge, to save her. As Jorge dodges immigration officers and incredible obstacles to track the girls' abductors, he meets Ray, a Texas cop whose own family loss to sex trafficking leads him to become an ally in the boy's quest. World Premiere.

YEAR OF THE DOG / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Mike White) - Peggy is a happy-go-lucky secretary - a great friend, employee, and sister who lives alone with her beloved dog. But when Pencil unexpectedly dies, Peggy must embark on a journey of personal transformation that is hilarious, poignant and suspenseful. World Premiere.

SPECTRUM

A tribute to the abundance of compelling new voices and the creative spirit in independent filmmaking, the Spectrum program presents 24 out-of-competition dramatic and documentary films from some of the most promising new filmmakers from the U.S. and around the world.

The films screening in Spectrum are:

ANGEL-A / France (Director and Screenwriter: Luc Besson) - A fairy tale about a man who gets a second chance in life when he saves a statuesque, mysterious beauty from a suicide bid in the Seine River. North American Premiere.

BUGMASTER (Mushishi) / Japan (Director: Katsuhiro Otomo; Screenwriter: Sadayuki Murai) - A traveling mystical doctor, "a Bugmaster," passes through remote regions of Japan curing the ill-effects of supernatural creatures, the "Mushi," who plague the people in this tale of ancient legend based on a celebrated Manga. U.S. Premiere.

DARK MATTER/ U.S.A. (Director: Chen Shi-Zheng; Screenwriter: Billy Shebar) - Inspired by real events, DARK MATTER delves into the world of a brilliant Chinese astronomy student whose dreams are challenged when he arrives in America to pursue his Ph.D. World Premiere.

DEDICATION / U.S.A. (Director: Justin Theroux; Screenwriter: David Bromberg) - A socially dysfunctional children's book author is forced to work closely with a female illustrator when he loses his long-time collaborator and only friend. World Premiere.

DELIRIOUS / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Tom DiCillo) - A small time paparazzo befriends and hires a homeless young man who flirts with fame and fortune when he becomes entangled with a famous pop star. North American Premiere.

THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK / U.S.A. (Directors: Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern) - THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK is a documentary that exposes the genocide raging in Darfur, Sudan as seen through the eyes of a former U.S. marine who returns home to make the story public. World Premiere.

EXPIRED / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Cecilia Miniucchi) - When a lonely, gentle meter maid meets a troubled fellow parking officer, their love affair becomes an awkward dance of attraction and antagonism. World Premiere.

FAY GRIM / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Hal Hartley) - A single mother whose husband has been missing for seven years is used as bait by the CIA in this international espionage caper. U.S. Premiere.

FRAULEIN / Switzerland (Director and Screenwriter: Andrea Staka) - A hardened Zurich restaurant owner from Yugoslavia finds her cool detachment from the past disrupted with the arrival of a younger, free-spirited woman seeking a better life after the Balkan War. North American Premiere.

THE GO-GETTER / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Martin Hynes) - When his mother dies a teenager takes a road-trip in a stolen car to find his long-lost brother. Along the way he discovers a profound connection with the car-owner and with himself as well. World Premiere.

THE GREAT WORLD OF SOUND / U.S.A. (Director: Craig Zobel; Screenwriter: George Smith, Craig Zobel) - When a man answers an ad to train as a record producer, he's excited by the prospect of signing undiscovered artists only to discover his new job isn't all it's cracked up to be. World Premiere.

IF I HAD KNOWN I WAS A GENIUS/ U.S.A. (Director: Dominique Wirtschafter; Screenwriter: Markus Redmond) - A young African-American man recounts his life. When he finds out he has a high IQ he struggles to fit in somewhere while also battling with his dysfunctional family. World Premiere.

INTERVIEW / U.S.A. (Director: Steve Buscemi; Screenwriters: Steve Buscemi, David Schechter) - A fading political journalist has a falling out with his editor and is given an assignment to interview a top television actress, which derails into a battle of wits and deep dark secrets. World Premiere.

LOW AND BEHOLD / U.S.A. (Director: Zack Godshall; Screenwriters: Zack Godshall, Barlow Jacobs) - When an unmotivated young man signs on as an insurance adjuster in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, he is profoundly changed by the destruction and loss he encounters. World Premiere.

LA MISMA LUNA (THE SAME MOON) / U.S.A. (Director: Patricia Riggen; Screenwriter: Ligiah Villalobos) - When his grandmother dies a young Mexican boy struggles to cross the border to reunite with his beloved mother, who is working hard in Los Angeles to create a better life for the family. World Premiere.

MISS NAVAJO / U.S.A. (Director: Billy Luther) - A documentary that explores the role of women and tradition in Navajo culture by following one young woman as she prepares for and competes in the Miss Navajo Nation Pageant. World Premiere.

RED ROAD / UK (Director and Screenwriter: Andrea Arnold) - When a man she never wanted to see again suddenly appears back in Jackie's ordered, isolated Glasgow life, she has no choice; she is compelled to confront him. U.S. Premiere.

REPRISE / Norway (Director: Joachim Trier; Screenwriters: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt) - Two competitive twenty-something friends, fueled by literary aspirations and youthful exuberance, endure the pangs of love, depression and burgeoning careers. U.S. Premiere.

SAVE ME / U.S.A. (Director: Robert Cary; Screenwriters: Craig Chester, Alan Hines, Robert Desiderio) - A deft exploration of the controversial gay reform movement, SAVE ME follows a sex and drug addicted young man who is forced into a Christian-run ministry in an attempt to cure him of his "gay affliction," where instead he is faced with the truth in his heart and spirit. World Premiere.

TULI / Philippines (Director: Auraeus Solito; Screenwriter: Jimmy Flores) - When a young girl in a remote Philippine village is forced into an arranged marriage by her abusive father, she rejects traditional mores and creates an alternative life. U.S. Premiere.

THE UNFORESEEN / U.S.A. (Director: Laura Dunn) - When a west Texas farm boy develops pristine hill country into large-scale subdivisions, threatening a fragile limestone aquifer, an environmental movement rises up and fights back. This documentary takes a hard look at the American dream and asks, "What does it mean to grow?" World Premiere.

WAITRESS / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Adrienne Shelly) - A pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep South falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness. World Premiere.

WONDERS ARE MANY / U.S.A. (Director: Jon Else) - A documentary that tracks the creation of Peter Sellars' and John Adams' 2005 opera about Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, while also exploring the complex birth of nuclear weapons. World Premiere.

YEAR OF THE FISH / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: David Kaplan) - A rotoscope-animated modern-day Cinderella story set in the underbelly of New York's Chinatown. World Premiere.

NEW FRONTIER

New Frontier represents the evolution of the Frontier section exploring the experimental world of filmmaking. New Frontier is an expanded program that includes work from artists pushing the boundaries of art by using the moving image to create new cinematic modes of storytelling. This year's line-up includes a program of short films and 5 feature-length films from 4 countries.

The films screening in New Frontier are:

Artist Spotlight: Pierre HuYghe / France (Director: Pierre Huyghe) - A presentation of short films that have rarely been screened outside of a museum or art gallery context. Huyghe is one of France's most celebrated young artists. His multimedia installations - which are concerned with collective memory, the construction of narratives, and textures of re-enactment - have been exhibited at museums across the world including the Guggenheim, Tate Modern, and the Whitney Museums.

THE LAST DINING TABLE / South Korea (Director and Screenwriter: Gyeong-Tae Roh) - This minimal and surrealist film about irony and separation poetically explores modern social problems including pollution and environmental concerns and the collapse of family values. North American Premiere

OFFSCREEN / Denmark (Director: Christoffer Boe; Screenwriter: Christoffer Boe, Knud Romer Jørgensen) - Actor Nicolas Bro reigns supreme in the role of Nicolas Bro - a man intent on making a film about himself. After his director friend Christoffer Boe lends him a camera, his self-monitoring is so hair-raisingly private (and creepy!) that it becomes impossible to separate fact from fiction. World Premiere.

PHANTOM LOVE / U.S.A. (Director: Nina Menkes) - A surreal drama about a woman trapped within an enmeshed family, and her slow process of personal liberation. Set in Los Angeles and Rishikesh, India, the film combines fairy-tale elements with brutal black and white photography to create a powerful testament about inner transformation. World Premiere.

SLIPSTREAM / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Anthony Hopkins) - A man discovers that life is random and fortune is sightless as he is thrown into a vortex where time, dreams and reality collide in an increasingly whirling Slipstream. World Premiere.

ZIDANE: A 21st CENTURY PORTRAIT / France (Director: Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno) - During the course of an entire football match, seventeen super-35mm Scope format cameras were set around the playing field focusing solely on football legend Zinedine Zidane, who agreed to become the center of attention for this out-of-the-ordinary, full-length feature film. U.S. Premiere.

In addition to the films screening in New Frontier, the program includes media installations, media-based performances, and panel discussions at New Frontier on Main - a new venue located across from the Egyptian Theatre in the Main St. Mall formerly known as the Film Center. Artists whose work will be featured in the program are Paul Chan (multi-media installation), Shu Lea Cheang (interactive mobile media), Martha Colburn (multi-media installation), R. Luke Dubois (multi-media installation), Eric Dyer (multi-media installation), James Graham (multi-media installation), Ricardo Rivera and Pier Nicola D'Amico (multi-media installation), Lincoln Schatz (interactive video art), and Travis Wilkerson (media based performance).

PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT

Park City at Midnight offers eight films that are likely to amuse, surprise, or shock the bleary-eyed viewer and offer a lively last stop in the nightly film-going circuit. Some films presented in Park City at Midnight at past Sundance Film Festivals include: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, SAW, OLD BOY, and AMERICAN HARDCORE.

The films screening in Park City at Midnight are:

FIDO / Canada (Director: Andrew Currie; Screenwriters: Robert Chomiak, Andrew Currie) - Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido. But when Fido eats the next-door neighbor, Mom and Dad hit the roof, and Timmy has to go to the ends of the earth to keep Fido in the family. U.S. Premiere

FINISHING THE GAME / U.S.A. (Director: Justin Lin, Screenwriters: Josh Diamond, Justin Lin) - Bruce Lee's shock death left legions of stunned fans and a legacy of 12 minutes from his unfinished 'Game Of Death.' Undeterred, studio executives launched a search for his replacement chronicled here through the eyes of five aspiring thespians who find out what the real game is.World Premiere.

IT IS FINE! EVERYTHING IS FINE. / U.S.A. (Director: Crispin Hellion Glover, David Brothers; Screenwriters: Crispin Hellion Glover, Steven C. Stewart) - A man with a severe case of cerebral palsy, Steven C. Stuart's naive, fantastical, psychosexual retelling of his point of view of life involving many women. World Premiere.

THE SIGNAL / U.S.A. (Directors and Screenwriters: David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush) - Told in three parts from three unique perspectives created by three visionary directors, THE SIGNAL is a horrific journey towards the discovery that the most brutal violent monster might actually be within all of us. World Premiere.

SK8 LIFE / Canada (Director: S. Wyeth Clarkson; Screenwriters: S. Wyeth Clarkson, Elan Mastai) - 8 sk8trs brought together to make a 'sk8 tape', crash at the legendary "Crashpad." They soon discover its days are numbered and band together to save it. North American Premiere.

SMILEY FACE / U.S.A. (Director: Gregg Araki; Screenwriter: Dylan Haggerty) - Jane F, an unsuccessful slacker actress, inadvertently eats her roommate's pot cupcakes and proceeds to have a very strange day of hijinks and surreal misadventures. World Premiere.

THE TEN / U.S.A. (Director: David Wain; Screenwriters: Ken Marino, David Wain) - Ten stories, each inspired by one of The Ten Commandments, illustrate the perils of modern life via extreme comedy. World Premiere.

WE ARE THE STRANGE / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: M dot Strange) - In this animated feature film, two outcasts fight for survival in a sinister fantasy world. Their lives are constantly in jeopardy after they're caught in the middle of a deadly battle between bizarre monsters on their way to the ice cream shop. World Premiere.

FROM THE SUNDANCE COLLECTION

Each year the Festival presents two retrospective screenings of feature-length films from the Sundance Collection at UCLA, paying tribute to seminal works in the history of independent film. This series reflects Sundance Institute's commitment to collect and preserve independent films for contemporary and future audiences.

THE RIVER'S EDGE / U.S.A. 1987 (Director: Tim Hunter; Screenwriter: Neal Jimenez) - A tight-knit group of high school slackers struggle to reconcile friendship and responsibility when one of them kills his girlfriend in this disturbing portrait of moral ambivalence and alienated youth in small town America.

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC / U.S.A. 1986 (Director: W.T. Morgan) - A rarely seen 1987 documentary that explores the music and musicians of the early 1980s LA punk band X, as well as the underground music scene of the time, the foibles of the music industry, and the "unheard music" of American culture in the 1980s.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

THE LAST MIMZY / U.S.A. (Director: Bob Shaye; Screenplay by: Bruce Joel Rubin and Toby Emmerich; Screen Story by James V. Hart and Carol Skilken) - Based on the acclaimed sci-fi short story by Lewis Padgett, The Last Mimzy centers on two children who discover a mysterious box containing some strange devices they think are toys. As the children play with these "toys," they begin to display higher intelligence levels, prompting their parents and the community to search for answers. World Premiere.

AUTISM EVERY DAY / U.S.A (Director: Lauren Thierry) - AUTISM EVERY DAY is a short film takes you inside the lives of families struggling to raise children with autism. It is a gritty, truthful portrayal of the 24-hour-a-day challenge faced by families as they confront the heartbreak of autism with uncompromising hope and unconditional love. World Premiere.

Continue Reading »

I've never particularly been a fan of Pitchfork Media, the indie-music Web site that is sort of a Wine Spectator for the sensitive bearded set. It's not just that Pitchfork's main focus is the kind of indie music I tend not to like (out of tune, self-consciously "artful," bearded), but that the reviews are even more pedantic, self-indulgent and obtuse than the subjects themselves. In short, Pitchfork is the embodiment of everything that annoys me about the iPod/mp3 blog/A-is-the-new-B era (Disclosure: I won a free iPod Mini in a sweepstakes and used to contribute to an mp3 blog).

So I was interested to see a nice piece in Slate breaking down the phenomenon of music lovers who hate Pitchfork. Different haters have different reasons to hate, one reason being that Pitchfork delights in being the East German figure-skating judge, cutting down bands that had enjoyed universal leg-humping from the mp3 bloggers. That, along with expert columns on subgenres like grime and glitch-house, almost makes Pitchfork worth checking out from time to time.

Continue Reading »

We made it through Thanksgiving without too much damage to our waistlines, now on to Christmas.

Nobody wants to think about calories every time they take a bite. That's a bit Scroogish.
But, hey, it's always a good idea to be informed.

So with that in mind, here's a little tidbit worth knowing from the December issue of Shape magazine:

The High Price of Holiday Nibbles:

2 spoonfuls of cookie batter: 128 calories, 6 g fat
4 sips of egnog: 86 calories, 5 g fat
2 pigs in a blanket: 72 calories, 6 g fat
1 small handful of party mix, 60 calories, 3 g fat
1 small cheese cube, 69 calories, 6 g fat
1 slice honeybaked ham, 70 calories, 2 g fat
1 large forkful of pecan pie, 101 calories, 1 g fat

All good food for thought.

Continue Reading »

Want to see the official poster for Memphis moviemaker Craig Brewer's upcoming "Black Snake Moan"?

Here it is:

This represents the inevitable third step in a collect-'em-all campaign calculated to build buzz about the movie (currently slated to premiere in an out-of-competition screening at the mid-point of the Sundance Film Festival, to be held Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Utah).

The poster - which includes full credit information and the R rating logo (for "strong sexual content, language, some violence and drug use" - is the logical sequel to the promo sheets released three months ago, which depicted Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci solo.

In other words, Poster 1 + Poster 2 = Poster 3. (Or, Bad M.F. + Baby Doll = "I want to see what happens in poster 4!")

Brewer himself refers to the new poster design as "a 'Conan the Barbarian' / 'Star Wars' throwback."

Meanwhile, over at the "Black Snake Moan" official website, you can view 37 fan-created trailers for the film, crafted by movie mavens hoping to win a free trip to Sundance in a make-your-own-"Black Snake"-trailer contest sponsored by releasing studio Paramount Vantage. ("Judges are reviewing the entries... Check back soon for the winner," promises the site).

And just so you won't think every female in the film is a scantily clad hotpants swamp slut, here's a shot of the Sam Jackson character's true love interest, a sweet rural Tennessee pharmacist played by Emmy-winning "Law and Order" star S. Epatha Merkerson.

"Black Snake Moan" - shot a year ago in and around Memphis in - currently is set to open nationwide Feb. 23.

Continue Reading »

It's a little hard to take pet photos with Santa without the big man. That's something Sunny Meadows Safe Haven for Pets is facing unless one of you Santaesque pet lovers will volunteer. The group needs someone to put on their Santa suit and spend a few hours holding dogs and cats. (Yes, Rottweilers feel like they should get to sit in laps too!) The pay is good if you like dog kisses and cat cuddles.

The good news is that you don't have to listen to wish lists!

If you can volunteer, call Bonnie at 355-4718.Your gig will be from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Dec. 9th and 10th at the Wolfchase PetSmart.

Continue Reading »

If you live at Country Squire Apartments at Walnut Grove and Germantown Parkway, please be on the look out for a lost maltese. It was lost three days ago. Please help this little 7-pound tuft of white find it's way back home. Call 452 7037
or emailtipalo@bellsouth.net

Continue Reading »

...in "Happy Feet," the computer-animated feature that's been the No. 1 movie at the American box office since its Nov. 17 opening. (The juggernaut march of the penguins even left 007 trampled underfoot: "Casino Royale," which opened the same day, has remained in second place.)

Unusual and unpredictable (it's not at all the nonstop cutefest promised by the trailer), "Happy Feet" may be of particular interest to readers of The Commercial Appeal because it features an emperor penguin named Memphis, voiced by Hugh Jackman in an imprecise but intentional Elvis accent. (Playing it safe, the end credits acknowledge that Elvis' voice and mannerisms are the trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises.) As a result, the movie includes this sentence you never expected to hear, voiced by narrator Robin Williams: "It was Memphis who called out most fervently to turn the Earth and bring back the sun."

Perhaps inevitably, Memphis' mate is named Norma Jean, voiced by Nicole Kidman in a breathy Marilyn Monroe voice ("She's got a wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk," observes Memphis). The pair's courtship begins when Memphis sings "Heartbreak Hotel" (why shouldn't an emperor penguin want to emulate the King?); Norma Jean answers with Prince's "Kiss." Not long after their union, a "bad egg" named Mumble (Elijah Wood) arrives: a "funky little fellow" who'd rather dance than sing. "I wouldn't do that around folks, son - it ain't penguin," says Memphis, who admits to being an occasional "backslider" himself.

Combined with the arctic setting, this loving-but-ashamed father/misfit son dynamic recalls the relationship in the 40-year-old holiday TV classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"; the estrangement also suggests a coming-out story. More intriguingly, Mumble's gotta-dance mindset recalls an earlier animation classic, Tex Avery's 1936 Merrie Melodies short "I Love To Singa," a spoof of "The Jazz Singer" about a hep young owl who defies his conservative piano teacher father by becoming a crooner ("I love to sing-a/ About the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a," is the owlet's instantly memorable theme song).

Name-checking old movies in reference to a new release can be a pointless exercise, but in the case of "Happy Feet" the citations are useful because they make us realize that the movie takes itself seriously and intends to be taken seriously. Unlike such recent CGI animal films as "Madagascar," "The Wild," "Open Season," "Over the Hedge" and "Barnyard" (which seem interchangeable in memory, despite their differences), "Happy Feet" doesn't pander to viewers with potty humor, nonstop pop culture references and sitcom-style wisecracks. Instead, it suggests a bold mash-up of "March of the Penguins" and "Moulin Rouge," as songs by Queen, the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and many others pervade the soundtrack and the lives of the penguins. Sometimes, the songs play behind the action; sometimes, they come from the mouths (beaks?) of the birds; almost always, they require moviegoers to adjust their expectations and assumptions about the musical content of animated films (and movies in general).

The required adjustments never stop. After Mumble embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the flock's disappearing fish supply, the movie abandons cute musical comedy to become, in essence, a scary but ultimately hopeful "first contact" science-fiction story - imagine a penguincentric "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," with elements of "The Twilight Zone." At this point it becomes undeniable that "Happy Feet" is the work of a true auteur: Australian writer-director George Miller, whose previous film, the risky (and widely disliked) sequel "Babe: Pig in the City" (1998), was another movie for adults of all ages that looked at human society and achievement with a skeptical animal's-eye view. The earned eco-message found in "Pig" and "Feet" links these films to Miller's breakthrough movies, "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior"; it also explains why another of the many movies that came to mind while I was watching "Happy Feet" was the recent documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Inevitably (for an animated film aimed at the mass family audience), "Happy Feet" eventually dances its way to the happy ending promised by the upbeat adjective in its title. This ending is extremely problematic, however, suggesting (arguably) that Mumble has become a dupe of what could be termed colonial invaders and exploiters. Even a more positive interpretation of the movie's resolution reinforces the sad reality that animals that aren't cute or entertaining may be doomed; slugs, sponges and warthogs will have to fend for themselves without the aid of humanity, at least until they learn to dance.

Continue Reading »