Posts Tagged ‘Glee’

CTV NEWSCHANEL: FULL “POP LIFE” EPISODE FOR OCTOBER 07, 2017

Film critic and pop culture historian Richard Crouse shares a toast with celebrity guests and entertainment pundits every week on CTV News Channel’s all-new talk show POP LIFE.

Featuring in-depth discussion and debate on pop culture and modern life, POP LIFE features sit-down interviews with celebrities from across the entertainment world, including superstar jazz musician Diana Krall, legendary rock star Meatloaf, stand-up comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell, actor and best-selling author Chris Colfer, celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower, and many more.

Watch the fourth episode with “Glee” star and best selling author Chris Colfer and Modern Manners Panel, actor and musician Amy Jo Johnson, news anchor Marcia MacMillan and celebrity nutritionist Kim D’Eon! They talk about whether manner are a thing of the past. Watch the whole show HERE!

Watch all new shows every Saturday at 8:30 pm on Saturday or 2:30 pm on Sunday on the CTV NessChannel! (channel 1501 on Bell Fibe, 62 on Rogers)

CTV NEWSCHANNEL: “POP LIFE” ICYMI INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR CHRIS COLFER!

Chris Colfer came to fame playing Kurt Hummel on the hit show “Glee” and is now an international best selling author. His “The Land of Stories” YA books have captured the imagination of a whole new set of fans. In this interview he talks about the books, his toughest critics and why reading is important.

Tune in at 8:30 pm on Saturday or 2:30 pm on Sunday (1:30 pm on October 1 only!) on the CTV NessChannel! (channel 1501 on Bell Fibe, 62 on Rogers).

Watch the whole thing HERE!

 

CTV NEWSCHANNEL POP LIFE: Oddest fan fiction ABOUT Chris ColfER.

This week on POP LIFE find out the oddest fan fiction “Glee” star and best selling author Chris Colfer has read about himself.
Watch the whole thing HERE!

Film critic and pop culture historian Richard Crouse shares a toast with celebrity guests and entertainment pundits every week on CTV News Channel’s all-new talk show POP LIFE.

Featuring in-depth discussion and debate on pop culture and modern life, POP LIFE features sit-down interviews with celebrities from across the entertainment world, including superstar jazz musician Diana Krall, legendary rock star Meatloaf, stand-up comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell, actor and best-selling author Chris Colfer, celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower, and many more.

Watch Pop Life every Saturday at 8:30 pm and Sunday at 2:30 pm on the CTV NewsChannel, channel 1501 on Bell Fibe, 62 on Rogers.

PITCH PERFECT 2: 3 ½ STARS. “should keep toes tapping and audience’s laughing.”

“Pitch Perfect 2” is perfect for two groups, Anna Kendrick fans and people who have already worn out their “Glee” DVDs and need another fix of footstompin’ vocal pop songs. The follow-up to the popular 2012 film is sillier than the original but should keep toes tapping and audience’s laughing.

The acapella bellas of the first movie begin the story as the reigning national champions of unaccompanied singing. They are, as an acapella commentator (John Michael Higgins) says, “An inspiration to girls all over the country too ugly to be cheerleaders.” Their career takes a nosedive as they perform at the Kennedy Centre in celebration of President Obama’s birthday. In an extreme wardrobe malfunction the Australian member, Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson), gives POTUS “a gift from down under” when she accidentally goes commando on stage.

Barred from competing in national singing contests and events—“Whose going to sing at the Puppy Bowl?” they wonder—the group, led by Beca (Kendrick), decide to go international for their final performance before graduation. Signing up for the world championships in Copenhagen they understand they are taking several risks. First, “No American team has ever won because they hate us,” they’re told, “The whole world hates us.” Secondly, they’re up against some stiff competition in the form of the German Das Sound Machine, a Teutonic terror of choir singers who vow to destroy the Bardem Belles.

“Pitch Perfect 2” is about underdogs, female bonding, coming of age and overcoming fear.

What am I saying? It’s actually only about as deep as a lunch tray, with only the barest of story to hold the characters together. The stars (Ester Dean, Shelley Regner, Kelley Jakle, Brittany Snow, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Chrissie Fit and Hailee Steinfeld) sing, dance, do slapstick and tell mildly raunchy jokes. It’s a summer movie that is relatively unconcerned with coherency and more concerned with spending time with likeable actors as they warble their way through the script.

Director Elizabeth Banks (yes, that Elizabeth Banks, who also appears as a sarcastic acapella podcaster) keeps “Pitch Perfect 2” nimble on it’s feet, adding laughs with funny cameos from Snoop Dogg and Keegan-Michael Key and keeping the pace in two-four time. Picking on the movie’s odd construction—the villains, Das Sound Machine, disappear for half-an-hour and a subplot involving a Beca’s career choice is wrapped up a bit too quickly—seems harsh when the film has this much of a feel good vibe.

Watch Canadian Music Week’s Fireside Chat with Music Supervisor PJ Bloom!

In May 2014 Richard hosted the Canadian Music Week Don’t Stop Believin’: A Fireside Chat with Glee Music Supervisor PJ Bloom!

From the CMW website: Move over Elvis and The Beatles. Through his work on Glee alone, music supervisor PJ Bloom has set the record for the most charted songs by a single talent in Billboard history (and made the mag’s annual Power 100 List). One of the world’s busiest soundtrack supervisors, he has shaped the sound of hundreds of TV episodes, movies, video games and ads and is the go-to guy for the likes of Mssrs. Spielberg and Bruckheimer. Nobody knows the symbiotic relationship between music and image like this soundtrack superstar.

STAGE FRIGHT: 2 STARS. “a murky mix of ‘Sleepaway Camp’ and ‘Glee.'”

“Stage Fright” feels like a classic Canadian tax dodge film. From the imported lead actors propping up the unknown Canadian cast to the slightly vulgar tone, the movie feels like it might have earned a dentist or some other wealthy person a massive write down on lines 205 to 485 of this year’s tax form, which, I suspect, is part of the joke.

Camilla Swanson (Allie MacDonald) is the daughter of murdered opera singer Kylie (Minnie Driver), a diva who was killed on the opening night of her greatest triumph The Haunting of the Opera. The young girl was raised by her step-father Roger (Meat “Bat out of Hell” Loaf) and now works at his performing arts summer camp as a cook. She puts down the ladle when Roger decides to mount a new production of his ex-wife’s big show at the camp.

She wins the lead role, but soon bodies start piling up—“The show must carry on,” they sing after the death of one character—and she wonders if the show is cursed.

Like the bold musical reimagining of “The Vagina Monologues” they mention in the movie, “Stage Fright” is an audacious idea; a slasher musical. That it doesn’t quite work as either an operetta or horror film doesn’t take away from the brashness of the concept but it does beg unfavorable comparisons with other movies containing scares and songs. From “Phantom of the Paradise” to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and ”Sweeney Todd,” tunes and terror have frequently co-existed, but rarely has anyone tried to mix-and-match the down-and-dirty scares of movies like “Sleepaway Camp” with “Glee.”

This isn’t new territory for director / writer Jerome Sable. His short film short film, a horror musical called “The Legend of Beaver Dam,” debuted at Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival and won awards all over the world. Perhaps “Stage Fright” is an idea that might have worked better as a short film. That way he might have found a better balance between the music and the mayhem.

The opening, with Driver, is a grabber, but thirty tune-filled minutes pass before anything gory happens and even then the second kill isn’t particularly gory or even interesting. I’m not sure that the bloodhounds will be interested in the songs, so the gruesome stuff has to be wild to get them onside. As it is “Stage Fright” feels like they tried to please both horror fans and musical aficionados. As it is, it falls somewhere in the murky middle.

The lyrics to the closing credit song has a couple of lines that musically question what the audience is still doing there, asks why they are watching the credits, and urges them not to pirate the movie. If the rest of the movie had been that clever in its presentation of the material “Stage Fright” might have delivered more on the promise of its premise.

P.J. Bloom, “Glee’s” music supervisor & Richard onstage at CMW on May 10!

pj-bloom-email-headerFrom cmw.net:

Canadian Music Week is pleased to welcome top music supervisor PJ Bloom in an exclusive fireside chat at CMW2014 on Saturday, May 10 at the Marriott Toronto Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel. Delegates will have a chance to look into Bloom’s extraordinary success with the hit series Glee and hear his views on the role of music in the visual arts.

PJ Bloom is one of the top music supervisors in the entertainment industry. He has created and produced unique soundtracks for over fifty films, hundreds of television episodes, video games, advertisements and even amusement park thrill rides with sales tallying more than 50 million singles and 13 million albums worldwide. As the music supervisor for the entire groundbreaking Glee franchise, his work holds the record for most charted songs by a single act in Billboard Hot 100 chart history, surpassing Elvis Presley, The Beatles and James Brown.

Bloom has collaborated with such prolific filmmakers and television producers as Ryan Murphy, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott while rendering his distinctive brand to nearly every studio and network in the Hollywood system and beyond. A partner in Neophonic, one of the largest music supervision firms in the US, his company boasts over twenty high-profile productions at any given time including the award-winning series American Horror StoryBoardwalk Empire andGame of Thrones as well as new hit series The Americans and Banshee.

Recognized as one of the most creative and inexhaustible entrepreneurs in the music industry today, Bloom has received a host of awards and accolades from his peers. In 2012 alone, he made Billboard Magazine’s annual Power 100 List, was presented with the prestigious TJ Martell Humanitarian Award and was named Music Supervisor of the Year by the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM). A two-time BMI Pop Award winner, two-time BMI Urban Award winner, and two-time ASCAP Pop Award winner, he is also a founding member of the Guild of Music Supervisors (GMS).

To participate in this exceptional opportunity, visit www.cmw.net to register as a delegate.