Center Stage The best in the world of film and music Issue #2

3 - 4 Film on our radar A look the films that have us buzzing here at Center Stage

6 Shiny Toy Guns! There back with their third studio album

7 The Amazing Spider-Man What to expect from the new Spidey flick.

contents

Center Stage Issue #2

In this issue...

Cover story...

1 Center Stage Issue 2

Image from IMDB.com

Movies on our radar

3 Center Stage Issue 2 1 star = AVOID 2 star = Fair 3 Star = Good 4Star = Impressive 5 Star = MUST SEE!!

The Muppets Kermit and the gang are back!

Cheesy, corny, over-the-top, hearing these three words to describe

the film should put you off completely. When it comes to The

Muppets however, you wouldn’t expect anything less. Twelve years

after its last feature-length release Kermit and the rest of those lov-

able Muppets are back led by How I Met Your Mother star Jason

Segal who is also credited as join script writer along with Nicolas

Stoller. Filled with catchy melodies and non-stop playful humor,

three Muppet fans must unite the old crew together in order to

save their run-down studio from an evil oil tycoon. The Muppets is

a film that will bring out your inner child as well as introduce their

in deniable charm to a new generation, a must-see for anyone in

the mood for a feel good movie.

The film which launched Kate Hudson into Holly-

wood stardom. Almost Famous is a coming-of-age

story about a 15 year old boy who has been hired by

Rolling Stone magazine to tour with, and write, about

an up and coming rock band named Stillwater. The

film boasts an impressive soundtrack of classic 70’s

rock hits, however even if that doesn’t take your

fancy, it’s worth a watch just for Hudson’ perform-

ance alone. Kate Hudson plays a woman introducing

a young boy to the ‘real life’ of manhood away from

the limitations of his over-protective mother. Written

and directed by Cameron Crowe, mastermind be-

hind Jerry Maguire, the film is emotionally gripping

and endlessly enjoyable.

Almost Famous “Nothing is real, everything is possible”. The tagline

for Jaco Van Dormael’ indie hit Mr Nobody per-

fectly sums up exactly what to expect from the film.

Set in 2092, 118 year old Nemo is the oldest man

alive, recounting certain parts of his life to a journal-

ist. Like many of us do from time to time, he ex-

plores how different his life may have been had he

made particular decisions in certain situations mak-

ing his actual life path a blur to both reporter and the

audience. Musician and part-time actor Jared Leto is

incredibly convincing throughout the emotional rol-

lercoaster ride he helps generating to the audience

and the film without a doubt will have you looking

back at your own life and your own decisions.

Mr Nobody

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1 star = AVOID 2 star = Fair 3 Star = Good 4Star = Impressive 5 Star = MUST SEE!!

Beautifully shot, brilliantly written, Confessions was

Japans official selection for the 83rd Academy

Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and winner

of Best Film and Best Supporting Actress at the 53

rd Blue Ribbon Awards, Japan’s answer to the Os-

cars. The psychological thriller is based on a grieving

mother set out for revenge on the students in her

class who were responsible for her daughter’s death.

Whilst it is not known as an art house film, the ex-

perimental techniques used by Nakashima contribute

to the stylistic way in which the film is made through-

out, from the editing down to each individual per-

formance.

Confessions The Olympics are quickly approaching, so why not

enjoy a film by the organizer of the opening ceremony

Danny Boyle. Sunshine isn’t his best known work; how-

ever it offers a great example of how people will cope

under the most extreme circumstances. Set 50 years

into the future a team of astronauts are sent to revive

the dying sun, however the mission fails. Seven years

later a new team is sent to complete the mission, but

complications soon arise pitting the whole operation, as

well as the lives of the astronauts, in jeopardy. The char-

acters archetypes are explored in more depth than you

would expect from such a film, giving the audience

meaning to the actions they take. With a budget of £26

million (the largest of any Boyle film) Sunshine boasts

very impressive visual effects as well a cast consisting of

Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans on the top of their

game.

Sunshine

Melancholia Lars Von Trier is at it again.

Let’s start off by saying film maker Lars Von Trier isn’t for everybody.

Many of his films repel against classic Hollywood narrative and touch

upon more realistic issues we face in life. However there are always

plenty of elements and reasoning behind each characters motifs and

characteristics that require two or three more viewings to fully under-

stand. Melancholia is no different and focuses on Justine (Kirsten

Dunst) as she struggles to feel happy on her wedding day, a day that

should be the happiest of her life. The film explores the struggles of

family relationships and the tension between Justine and Claire

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide

with Earth. Kirsten Dunst gives one of her greatest performances and

shows how she has matured as an actress throughout her career.

Written by: Matthew Rathbone Courtesy of: yhworld.co.uk

3

4 3

Image from IMDB.com

The warm, dry air of the Los Angeles basin continues its constant

temperature, inviting art and progress for those who can stare

through the plastic debauchery of its passing inhabitants. Just under-

neath the surface, buried in a submarine-like state of creative meta-

morphosis, the four original members of electronic rock outfit Shiny

Toy Guns shape-shift in circles; building, cutting, carving and finish-

ing an album they have spent the last three years of their lives in vio-

lent labor with. III, which marks the elated return of vocalist Carah

Faye Charnow and the first new material by the original line-up in six

years, will be released October 23 on Five Seven Music.

III, the band’s third album features Carah Faye Charnow, the origi-

nal vocalist who, along with band mates Chad Petree (vocals/

guitars), Jeremy Dawson (keyboards) and Mikey Martin (drums),

propelled Shiny Toy GUns into the spotlight with their first hits “Le

Disko” and “You Are The One” from their debut 2006 release We Are Pilots. Production on III, courtesy of Mirror Machines (the

band’s Petree and Dawson), is lush and dramatic, ranging from driv-

ing tracks like “Somewhere To Hide,” “Mercy” and “The Sun” to

sublime like “Wait For Me” and “Fading Listening.” The album is

mixed by the legendary Tony Maserati (Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Jason

Mraz).

Leading up to its release, parts of “Waiting Alone” has been selec-

tively unveiled via “#loverunner,” an unbelievable journey filmed

across 6,000 miles of the United States over the course of 25 days.

One of the largest and most extensive projects Shiny Toy Guns have

ever attempted, “#loverunner” is the visual and video interpretation

of “Waiting Alone.” All the parts will come together as an artistic

video presented in July. Follow the band on its social media channels

for future clips.

(Original Source: http://www.nettwerk.com/news/shiny-toy-guns-release-iii-

october-23-lead-single-waiting-alone-out-now-0)

6 Center Stage Issue 2

Shiny Toy Guns go original!

In The Spotlight

This summer Sony Pictures officially begin the new era of the web crawling

maestro that is Spider-Man, but will it live up to the anticipation?

8 Center Stage Issue 2

Our favorite man

to wear skin tight

spandex is back!

The year of all things geek-a-fied continues and if you’re

anything like me (a self proclaimed geek and darn proud

of it!) you couldn’t be any more excited. 2012 has already

seen the release of the record breaking superhero love fest

that was The Avengers, which became the biggest film

opening of all time grossing over $200 million in its first

week then grossing another $100 million in its second

weekend. The Earth’s Mightiest success story continued as

it crossed the $1 billion total mark worldwide after just 19

days after its opening release overseas. Before this we were

treated to The Hunger Games, an adaptation of Suzanne

Collins’ novel which pitted our teenage heroin Katniss

Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) against fellow teenagers all

from different districts to compete in a contest which re-

quired them all to kill each other until there was only one

left (we won’t take the easy route like many others and

(our survey says)

“The new spider-

man poster is

amazing”

-GolfPichaya

“The only reason

I’m gonna see The

Amazing Spider-

Man is cuase I’m

an enormous

geek...and I love

Spider-Man ”

-Doctor_Drew

“The Lizard gets

chatty in new clip

for The Amazing

Spider-Man”

-mynamesrosalind

Twitter Feed

make the obvious similarity to Japanese

cult phenomena Battle Royale...oh

wait?). So how can the year get any

better for us superhero loving super

fans? Well there is the release of the

last outing of our favourite cape cru-

sader and The Dark Knight himself,

Batman, on July 20th. However before

that we have our favourite man yet to

run around in tight spandex whilst busy

saving the world, Spider-man, to wet

our appetite first on July 3rd. July is look-

ing like one heck of a month!

Let’s start off by saying that this

is no Spider-man 4. Sam Raimi, direc-

tor of the previous three films which

grossed $1.1 billion combined, is gone.

Tobey Maguire, the web crawler him-

self, is too...gone.

Instead The

Amazing Spider-

Man is another

origin story of

how a young Pe-

ter Parker adapts

to his newly found

powers, however

this time we are

taken back to his

high school days. The announcement

came back in 2010 when production on

Spider-Man 4 was stalled due to con-

stant script problems.

The so-so reputation Spider-

Man 3 left on many movie-goers meant

that Sony Pictures were pressured to

provide a film that picked up the quality

the first two Spider-Man films had and

to pick up a franchise that quite frankly

seems to have been heading on a down-

fall. A new script written by Zodiac

scribe James Vanderbilt meant taking

Spidey back to high school for a fresh

reboot to the franchise, which also

meant a reboot to the cast and filmmak-

ing team. There were no hard feeling

left with Raimi. “Working on the

‘Spider-Man’ movies was the experience

of a lifetime for me,” Raimi states in a

statement to The Telegraph. “While we

were looking forward to doing a fourth

one together, the studio and Marvel

have a unique opportunity to take the

franchise in a new direction, and I know

they will do a terrific job”.

With the last three films now a

trilogy of the past, who is the man to

take on the web slingers pressures of

saving humanity from the evil within it?

This man is no other than Brit Andrew

Garfield. In a press conference to unveil

Garfield, new director Marc Webb

states, “Though his name may be new

to many, those who know this young

actor’s work understand his extraordi-

nary talents. He has as rare combination

of intelligence, wit, and humanity. Mark

my words; you will love Andrew Gar-

field as Peter Parker”.

Well if that wasn’t enough pres-

sure to put on the young man’s shoul-

ders. Garfield has become more of a

household name since this statement

was released back in 2010, most notably

due to his role in David Fincher’ 2010

biopic The Social Network, which ex-

plored the life of Facebook creator

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). His

performance as Eduardo Saverin, part

owner of Facebook, earned Garfield a

>>>

“MARK MY WORDS; YOU WILL LOVE ANDREW GARFIELD AS PETER PARKER” MARC WEBB

9 Center Stage Issue 2

10 Center Stage Issue 2

WHO PLAYS WHO...

Andrew Garfield is.....SPIDER-MAN.

Most known for:

Connecting the world together by playing Facebook founder

Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010).

Other notable work:

Never Let Me Go (2010)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Lions For Lambs (2009)

Boy A (2007)

Emma Stone is.....GWEN STACY.

Most known for:

Raising her high school social standing by claiming to be more

experienced than one of a young age should be in the sexual

department in Easy A (2010).

Other notable work:

The Help (2011)

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

Zombieland (2009)

Superbad (2007)

Rhys Ifans is.....THE LIZARD.

Most known for:

Playing Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, who is presented as

the real author of Shakespeare's works in Anonymous (2011).

Other notable work:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Harrows: Part 1 (2010)

Mr Nobody (2009)

Little Nicky (2000)

Notting Hill (1999)

Martin Sheen is.....UNCLE BEN.

Most known for:

Being sent on a life threatening mission into Cambodia to

assassinate a renegade who serves as a leader like figure to the

locals in Apocalypse Now (1979).

Other notable work:

The Departed (2006)

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

The West Wing (1999)

Badlands (1973)

11 Center Stage Issue 2

TRAILER

"MY HEART IS NUCLEUR, LOVE IS ALL THAT I FEAR"

RADIOACTIVE

Bafta nomination for Best Supporting

Actor just narrowly missing out to Geof-

frey Rush for his performance in The

King’s Speech. The Social Network also

generated Garfield another 22 nomina-

tions throughout the year at various

award shows. Garfield moved on to star

in romantic drama Never Let Me Go

alongside fellow Brits Carey Mulligan

and Kiera Knightley, which his perform-

ance was described by Empire magazine

to be “truly impressive”.

Accompanying Garfield in The Amaz-

ing Spider-Man is a highly impressive

supporting cast consisting of Emma

Stone, Rhys Ifans and Martin Sheen.

Scriptwriter Vanderbilt and director

Webb have been rather clever in the

pre-production process by introducing

new characters that were not entirely

explored in the previous three films.

Whilst Garfield is pretty much a guaran-

tee to come across every comparison

between his portrayal of Peter Parker to

the one of Tobey Maguire (as perhaps

Martin Sheen will as Uncle Ben), this is

something Emma Stone will not have to

worry about. Emma Stone plays Gwen

Stacy, Peter Parker’s first love interest

before the iconic Mary-Jane, who did

make an appearance in Spider-Man 3

played by Bryce Dallas Howard. How-

ever Gwen Stacy will get a lot more

attention in The Amazing Spider-Man

giving Stone an opportunity to make the

character her own, a thought that per-

haps ran through Stone’s head before

accepting the role.

So with the movie already completed,

the teaser trailers as well as the posters

already released to the public there is

only one thing left...the film’s release.

With each day bringing July 3rd that

much closer and our excitement that

much higher here’s hope that Webb

and Garfield can do to Spider-Man what

Nolan and Bale did to Batman by

breathing new life into a franchise that

seemed to have run into a dead end.

Matthew Rathbone

The Amazing Spider-Man is released in

cinema on July 3rd.

http://

www.youtube.com/

watch?

v=FpKPiHYJc54

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http://blog.newsarama.com/2010/08/04/comic-art-collecting-101/

http://www.comicvine.com/news/j-scott-campbell-covers-no-turning-back-in-amazing-spider-man-688/144759/

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