Scotsman McAvoy hits Hollywood action with "Wanted"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Scottish actor James McAvoy bursts onto Hollywood's blockbuster movie scene on Friday with his new film "Wanted," but don't expect the actor best known for art-house cinema to start playing the part of a Tinseltown superstar.


McAvoy portrays a buff assassin in the high-tech action thriller, but gives credit to his stunt double for making him look cool. He squirms when asked about kissing co-star Angelina Jolie and delights in his character's panic attacks.


"The perfect condition for an actor to have to portray," he told Reuters.


After breakthrough roles in a pair of award-winning dramas aimed at art houses -- "The Last King of Scotland" and "Atonement" -- the 29-year-old said "Wanted," which is adapted from a violent comic book series, spoke to his inner boy.


"I got to satisfy the 16-year-old boy's yearning to break things and jump up and down and beat people up," McAvoy told Reuters. "It was a very physical film and I had to get fit and go to the gym, which I don't really enjoy."


McAvoy's character Wesley is a sloped-shoulder slacker who wallows in the misery of a cubicle-bound job, an overbearing boss and a cheating girlfriend.


Then Fox (Jolie) shows up to tell Wes that greater things await him: he must take over for his long-lost father, killed while working for the Fraternity, a centuries-old league of supersensory assassins.


Fox and Fraternity leader Sloane (Morgan Freeman) whip Wesley into shape by beating him nearly to death so he can avenge his father's death. The beatings are brutal, as is the emotional toll on Wesley, and McAvoy said he had to dip into his reserves to pull it all off. 

Golden Space Needles awarded

'Blossoms' takes best film; 'Em' gets grand jury prize

Audience members gave Doris Dorris' "Cherry Blossoms -- Hanami" the best film Golden Space Needle Award at the 34th Seattle International Film Festival, which ended Sunday. The jury's grand prize went to Tony Barbieri's "Em."


At the 25-day fest, the jury awarded a special jury prize to writer-director Russell Brown for "The Bluetooth Virgin."


Within the fest's New Directors Showcase competition, the grand jury prize was awarded to Yves-Christian Fournier's "Everything Is Fine," while the special jury prize was bestowed on Anna Melikyan's "Mermaid."


The grand jury prize for documentary was presented to Isaac Julien's "Derek," and special jury prizes were awarded to Raphael Mathie's "Combalion" and Timothy Hotchner's "Accelerating America."


The short film winners were Rebecca Dreyfus' "Self Portrait With Cows Going Home and Other Works: A Portrait of Sylvia Plachy" in the documentary category, with Christina Voros' "The Ladies" picking up the special prize; Luis Cook's "The Pearce Sisters" in the animation category, with Kim Slate's "Home" winning the special prize; and Atul Taishete's "Rewind" in the narrative category. Narrative special jury prizes were handed out to Amy Gebhardt's "Walnut," Paddy Considine's "Dog Altogether," Teemu Nikki's "A Mate" and Steph Green's "New Boy."


John Grigsby's "Introduction to Lucid Dreaming" and Adam Keker's "On the Assassination of the President" earned honorable mentions for inventive filmmaking.


Rose McAleese's "Disorder" claimed the FutureWave Jury's Grand Jury Prize WaveMaker Award. Honorable mentions went to Misami Kubo's "4th Floor"; Meng Mao, Eli Shalcross, Charlie Shelton, and Matt Yaggy's "Driving to the New Age: American Automobiles and You"; and Dave Riff's "New Perspective."


Anthony O'Brien's "Perfect Sport" was the MyFestival Feature Film winner, and John Burish's "Robbie's Withdrawel" was the MyFestival Short Film winner.


MyFestival special recognition awards went to Jason Goodman's "Eternal City" and Kirsten Alaqidy's "Hot Wind: America's Fallout Casualties."


In addition to "Cherry Blossom -- Hanami," other audience winners that scored Space Needle Awards were:


Best documentary: Denny Tedesco's "The Wrecking Crew"


Best director: Amin Matalqa for "Captain Abu Raed"


Best actor: Alan Rickman for "Bottle Shock"


Best actress: Jessica Chastain for "Jolene"


Best short film: Andreas Utta's "Felix"


Lena Sharpe Award, given to the film by a woman director that receives the most votes from the public: Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River."

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Phil Collins' model daughter lands TV job

Phil Collins' 18-year-old daughter Lily has landed a job as a television presenter for Nickelodeon.
The teenager, who currently works as a model, is studying broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California.
Collins will act as a roving entertainment correspondent for the children's channel, reporting from the sets of Nickelodeon television series, movie premieres, awards shows, concerts and other celebrity events.
Last year the young model was a guest correspondent on the network's 'Slime Across America' tour.
She also helped out with E! Entertainment's red-carpet Oscars coverage last weekend.

Heater Mills advices woman seeking divorce

London (ANI): Setting herself as an example, Heather Mills has offered an advice to a woman on how to deal with divorce. The 40-year-old former, who recently bagged 24 million pounds from ex husband Sir Paul McCartney in a divorce deal, gave suggestions to a woman enduring a 'painful' split. "Be strong like me. It might take a few years, but you can come out the other side and be a better person," The Sun quoted Mills, as saying. The unnamed woman said: "I guess she knows what she's talking about." Mills recently launched a taunting attack on the former Beatle, wishing him luck with his 'three girlfriends.' In her first television interview since winning a 24.3million-pound divorce settlement, Mills accused the veteran singer of having three girlfriends.

Steven Tyler checks into rehab for 'safe environment'

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler said today (May 29) that he decided to check into rehab to find "a safe environment to recuperate".

The veteran rocker has been undergoing medical treatment and physical therapy for foot problems, which Tyler said have taken their toll on him physically and emotionally.

�??The doctors told me the pain in my feet could be corrected but it would require a few surgeries over time,�?� he said in a statement.

�??The �??foot repair�?? pain was intense, greater than I'd anticipated. The months of rehabilitative care and the painful strain of physical therapy were traumatic. I really needed a safe environment to recuperate where I could shut off my phone and get back on my feet."

Tyler added that he has no intention of letting this slow his band down. "Make no mistake, Aerosmith has no plans to stop rocking. There�??s a new album to record, then another tour.�?�

Tyler battled drug and alcohol abuse problems in the 1970s and 1980s, successfully completing rehab in 1986.

--By our Los Angeles staff.
Find out more about NME.

Johansson unveils her debut album

Scarlett Johansson played her debut album, 'Anywhere I Lay My Head', to journalists at a listening party in New York yesterday.
Billboard reports that the launch took place at Joe's Pub in the city.
'Anywhere I Lay My Head' features 10 covers of Tom Waits songs and one original track, 'Song for Jo'; it will be released on 20 May.
Johansson said that she had originally planned to record an album of standards but then decided to celebrate Waits' material.
"His melodies are so beautiful and his voice is so distinct," she said.
Johansson said that her interpretations of the music legend's songs have met with his approval.
"I sent him some of the early, early recordings, and he said, 'Go ahead'. I've heard he's very pleased," said the star.
While Johansson has no plans at present to do live shows, she said the idea of possibly doing a festival date with the musicians who worked on the album would be intriguing.
The full tracklisting for 'Anywhere I Lay My Head' is:'Fawn''Town with No Cheer''Falling Down''Anywhere I Lay My Head''Fannin' Street''Song for Jo''Green Grass''I Wish I Was in New Orleans''I Don't Want To Grow Up''No One Knows I'm Gone''Who Are You?'

Sister Sledge

   
Artist: Sister Sledge

   Genre(s): 
Rock
   disco
   Other
   

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Discography:


   
 Sister Sledge

   Year: 1986   
Tracks: 11


   
 All American Girls

   Year: 1981   
Tracks: 10


   
 Love Somebody Todeay

   Year: 1980   
Tracks: 8


   
 We Are Family

   Year: 1979   
Tracks: 15

---

Best known for their work with Chic in the late '70s, siblings Debbie, Kim, Joni, and Kathy Sledge -- together with Sister Sledge -- reached the tallness of their popularity during the disco earned run average just had been recording since the early '70s and were placid active in the former '90s. The mathematical group was formed in Philadelphia in 1971, when the sisters' ages ranged from 12 to 16, and they recorded their first single, "Time Will Tell," for the Philly-based Money Back label. (For the first few days, the group called itself Sisters Sledge.) In 1972, Sister Sledge signed with Atco and recorded its instant single, "Weatherman," which was followed by the Jackson 5-like "Mummy Never Told Me" in 1973.


Sis Sledge's offset national hit came in 1974, when "Making love, Don't You Go Through No Changes on Me" reached number 31 on the R&B charts and the Philadelphians recorded their debut album, Circle of Love. Their second album, Together, was released in 1977 and contained the issue 61 R&B hit "Smash hit Boy." It wasn't until 1979, when Chic leaders Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards produced We Are Family, that Sister Sledge really exploded commercially. "He's the Greatest Dancer" and We Are Family's title song both soared to number one on the R&B charts, and the latter (a number iI pop smash) was adopted as a composition by the World Series-winning Pittsburgh Pirates.


Sis Sledge's succeeding album, Dear Somebody Today (1980), was as well produced by the Rodgers/Edwards squad, and the single "Got to Love Somebody" became a number six R&B hit. In 1981, Sister Sledge switched producers and worked with Narada Michael Walden, wHO produced 1981's splendid All American Girls. The title song was a number three R&B strike, and in 1982, Sister Sledge had a number 14 R&B strike with a cover of Mary Wells' "My Guy" that appeared on The Sisters. But after that, the foursome's popularity washy, and it never had another Top 20 strike in the U.S. -- although 1985's "Frankie" (a number 32 R&B strike in the States) became a bulge number one hit in England. Sister Sledge left Atlantic for estimable in 1985, but its members kept in use in the nineties. Epic released Kathy's debut solo record album, Heart, in 1992, and 1997 found the sisters transcription a risk-taking date, African Eyes, arguably one of the finest albums they of all time recorded.