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Spanish Animation is ready for more international collaborations in the near future, but there is one stipulation: “Passion is mandatory,” said Hampa Studio’s Álvaro García González. Behind “The Treasure of Barracuda,” the company is currently eyeing Latin America.

“Anybody who makes animation needs passion. Otherwise, you would work in a different industry. We are a great country to co-produce with. Also because of very competitive prices, compared with the rest of Europe.”

Speaking at Annecy’s Animation from Spain: The Spanish Animation Industry in the Spotlight panel, González was accompanied by Daysi Cruz Cid of Morgana Studios, which joined forces with ReachStar and ReDefine Originals on upcoming Dominican Republic-set baseball pic “Diamante.”

“We care a lot about people and about culture. That’s why ‘Diamante’ was born. We wanted to give back to the Dominican Republic. It’s about passion, again, and the pursuit of happiness. We are proud...

When taking on established animated franchises, you can’t just “listen to nostalgia,” according to Jeff Rowe, director of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”

“That’s when things get stale,” he said during Variety’s “Innovation and Inspiration in Global Animation” panel at Annecy Animation Festival, moderated by international editor Elsa Keslassy. Rowe was joined by “Transformers One” director Josh Cooley, “The Smurfs Movie” helmer Chris Miller and María Trénor, the director of “Rock Bottom.”

“It’s important to look at things with fresh eyes and ask, ‘Does this make sense? Does a man who was a sensei turning into a rat make sense?'” Rowe continued. “Our goal was to make a film that those who have never heard of ‘Ninja Turtles’ – or hated it and hated that the movie was even happening – were still able to enjoy.”

Therefore, the team hired many people who had “no familiarity with the franchise.

Catalan animation is in a fantastic place and at this year’s Annecy Festival, the region will demonstrate its vitality to the whole world with an impressive lineup of films and projects selected in major sections.

Featuring in this year’s main competition lineup, Maria Trenor’s rock and roll musical “Rock Bottom” is a psychedelic trip inspired by the life and music of U.K. artist Robert Wyatt.

One of the most ­topical films to come out of Catalonia in recent years, “Black Butterflies,” is an animated documentary about three women from very different parts of the world whose lives are dramatically impacted by climate change. The film is directed by David Baute and produced by Ikiru Films, Televisió de Catalunya, Tinglado Film, Anangu Grup and Tunche Films.

Screening in this year’s non-competitive Annecy Presents section, “Buffalo Kids” is a CG family feature produced by Jordi Gasull’s...

Global animation has seen a significant uptick in the production and dissemination of titles produced for mature audiences. Catalonia is no exception, and the Spanish community’s adult animation industry is thriving as artists look to tell more mature stories with their work.

Several high-profile examples stand out at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival. Maria Trenor’s psychedelic musical “Rock Bottom” is world premiering in the festival’s main competition, and David Baute’s global warming documentary “Black Butterflies” is playing in the Contrechamp section. “The Doctor’s Wife,” a Catalonia-Portugal co-production, will feature in the festival’s Tribute to Portuguese Animation – A New Generation showcase.

Trenor’s “Rock Bottom” is produced by Catalan producer Alba Sotorra, who is recognized for her fearlessness in backing adventurous local productions made by women filmmakers, and often with international partners. In this case, she produces a psychedelic rotoscoped story inspired by the life and music of U.

Paris-based Loco Films has secured global sales rights to “Rock Bottom,” an animated feature exploring the life and music of British artist Robert Wyatt that will world premiere in the main competition at next week’s Annecy Festival.

“Rock Bottom” is a trippy portrayal of the romance between Bob, a famous rock musician, and Alif, a talented visual artist, delivered through lush and vibrant rotoscoped 2D animation.

Together, the duo dives into the creative vortex of 1970s hippie culture in Mallorca and New York. The film explores the elation and agony of the creative process, the allure of easily accessible drugs, breaking away from routine, and the complex nature of relationships.

Arnaud Godart, head of sales and acquisitions at Loco Films, told Variety: “We were fascinated by the originality and subtlety of the animation, which recreates the hippy ’70s era in an almost sensory way. The film is a unique and mesmerizing experience,...

Trénor se convierte en la primera directora española en participar en la sección oficial del festival. © Avalon

El largometraje de animación “Rock Bottom”, de la española María Trénor, competirá en la Sección Oficial del Festival Internacional de Cine de Animación de Annecy.

Inspirada en la música y la vida de Robert Wyatt y Alfreda Benge y su icónico álbum homónimo, “Rock Bottom” es una historia de amor autodestructivo entre Bob y Alif, una joven pareja de artistas inmersa en la vorágine creativa y rompedora de la cultura hippy de principios de los 70. Las drogas convertirán un apasionado verano en una pesadilla en un viaje por los temas de la música de Wyatt: la euforia y la angustia de la creación artística, la fascinación inconsciente por las drogas, el desencanto por la rutina y la degradación física y mental.

La directora, María Trénor, ha comentado lo siguiente acerca de su...

“A Hunt for Hedgehogs,” the new film by Hungarian director Mihály Schwechtje and “Rock Bottom,” the feature debut of Spaniard María Trénor mark two potential highlights of San Sebastian’s pix-in-post sidebar Wip Europa, that runs Sept 25-27.

In 2020, the San Sebastian Film Festival, the highest-profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world, launched two new pix-in-post showcases, Wip Latam and Wip Europa, replacing respectively Films in Progress and Glocal in Progress sidebars.

The five candidates productions that will vie for the Wip Europa Award are from Germany, Hungary, Spain and Turkey. Among them is “A Hunt for Hedgehogs,” the second feature from Schwechtje who debuted with “I Hope You’ll Die Next Time:-),” winner of best film in the youth strand at Tallinn Black Nights in 2018. He has also directed several episodes of the popular HBO Hungary series “In Treatment.”

“Rock Bottom,” an animated feature using a rotoscoped 2D style,...

Underscoring a renaissance on Spain’s genre scene, a duo of titles – Daniel Calparsoro’s “All the Names of God” and Carlota Pereda’s “The Chapel” – lead the lineup of the second Spanish Screenings on Tour, which unspools at Rome’s Mia forum, taking place Oct. 9-13.

A platform of market premieres, projects, pics in post and potential remake titles, the Spanish Screenings also underscore the ever stronger emergence in Spain of open arthouse titles – Isaki Lacuesta’s “Saturn Return,” Arantxa Echeverría “Chinas,” Benito Zambrano’s “Jumping the Fence” and Gerardo Herrero’s “Under Therapy,” which was one of the best-selling titles at March’s Malaga Spanish Screenings.

With titles in Next from Spain set to present trailers, Spanish Screenings on Tour will also position a bevy of anticipated feature debuts, at different stages of production, from Spain’s seemingly bottomless well of new talent, such as Jaume Claret Muxart.

Five productions from Germany, Hungary, Spain and Turkey will make up the Wip Europa selection, the San Sebastián Festival initiative running from 25-27 September for films at the post-production stage with a majority of European production.

German director Michael Fetter Nathansky will show his second film, Mannequins (working title), a romantic drama set against a social backdrop about the magic of falling in love and the painful process of falling out in one of Europe’s biggest mining areas. The film participated in its project stage in the Cutting Edge Talent Camp of Mannheim-Heidelberg Festival.

Sima’s Song is also the second film from the Afghan moviemaker Roya Sadat, known for her activism in favour of women’s rights. This Spanish coproduction with The Netherlands and France set in Afghanistan prior to the breakout of civil war narrates the confrontation between two close friends on different sides of the political fence.

Five productions from Germany, Hungary, Spain and Turkey will make up the Wip Europa selection, the San Sebastián Festival initiative running from 25-27 September for films at the post-production stage with a majority of European production.

German director Michael Fetter Nathansky will show his second film, Mannequins (working title), a romantic drama set against a social backdrop about the magic of falling in love and the painful process of falling out in one of Europe’s biggest mining areas. The film participated in its project stage in the Cutting Edge Talent Camp of Mannheim-Heidelberg Festival.

Sima’s Song is also the second film from the Afghan moviemaker Roya Sadat, known for her activism in favour of women’s rights. This Spanish coproduction with The Netherlands and France set in Afghanistan prior to the breakout of civil war narrates the confrontation between two close friends on different sides of the political fence.

Five projects from Germany, Spain, Hungry and Turkey will participate in this year’s initiative for films in post-production.

Five projects from Germany, Spain, Hungry and Turkey will participate in San Sebastian’s Wip Europa initiative for films in post-production with majority European backing.

The programme will run September 25-27 during which the projects will be screened to producers, distributors, sales agents and programmers. A €10,000 Wip Europa prize is up for grabs to assist with post-production services.

Among the selection is Rima’s Song from Afghan filmmaker Roya Sadat whose debut feature A Letter To The President was the country...

Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll were but three of the shared subjects animating the Annecy Animation Showcase, presented as part of the Marché du Film at last month’s Cannes Film Festival. Marking its fifth edition, this year’s work-in-progress spotlight imparted a decidedly adult flavor, with a preponderance of showcased titles tackling outré material for mature crowds.

“On the market side, adult-skewing projects are no longer a trend,” says Annecy chief Mickaël Marin. “The form is now well-established. Of course, global platforms have opened new doors and widened the field of possibilities, so we encourage financiers and broadcasters if not to take risks, then to at least explore new avenues beyond traditional family animation.”

Of the five projects presented at the Cannes showcase, “Hina is Beautiful,” from Japan’s Iwaisawa Kenji, and “Rock Bottom,” from Spain’s María Trénor, both deploy a similar, rotoscoped 2D style towards wildly different ends.

Spain’s Revelations showcase has focused on shorts, not features, unveiling the huge breadth of animation talent and techniques in Spain.

Some shorts directors are already stars, such as Alberto Mielgo with the Oscar-winner “The Windshield Wiper.” Diego Porral, director of “Leopoldo From the Bar,” served as animation lead on “Love, Death + Robots” episode “Kill Team Kill.”

Standouts among new projects in Revelations included “Latente,” a Next Lab Generation winner from Carlos Zaragoza and Aurora Jiménez, and Martín Romero’s “To Bird or Not to Bird,” from Uniko and Abano Producións, which is a 2D short made largely in black and white featuring an angst-ridden clock cuckoo and other birds beset by environmental destruction.

Revelations climaxes with a special screening, the first in a cinema, of “Sith,” Rodrigo Blaas’ episode in Disney+’s “Star Wars: Visions.”

As for features, here are 10 toon titles to track. Further international co-productions – Mr.

Five Catalan movies made Cannes Festival’s cut, six were selected for Marché du Film sections. Details and other top Catalan movies on the Croisette:

“20,000 Species of Bees,” (Estibaliz Urresola)

One of the big winners at Berlin, taking Leading Performance, and two other key prizes, and now healthy racking up healthy sales, including a Film Movement U.S. pickup, “Bees” builds from a naturalistic base – a family off for a village summer holiday – to become a moving an ode to women’s freedom. Produced out of Barcelona by Valérie Delpierre’s Inicia Films. Sales: Luxbox

“Blondi,” (Dolores Fonzi)

From La Unión de los Ríos, behind “Argentina, 1985”), the awaited directorial debut of Fonzi, star of Santiago Mitre’s Cannes winner “Paulina,” a double mother-son coming of age dramedy. Sales: Film Factory

“A Bright Sun,” (Monica Cambra, Ariadna Fortuny)

Facing the end of the world, Mila, 11, tries to keep her family together by celebrating a party.

“Hina is Beautiful,” a new film from Japan’s Iwaisawa Kenji, director of the cult “On-Gaku: Our Sound”), headlines an Annecy Animation Showcase at this year’s Cannes’ Marché du Film.

The Showcase in general looks like a declaration of intentions from the world’s most important animation festival. Its shows heartfelt support for some of the world’s most original, redolent and sometimes riotous – think France’s Jul, Brazil’s Otto Guerra – adult animation auteurs of all ages, hailing from four corners of the earth.

All productions are works in progress, though production status varies radically from one title to another.

“Hina” looks to have largely flown under the international radar to date, which will make this year’s Showcase a must-attend after Iwaisawa burst onto the scene with left-of-field musical comedy “On-Gaku,” hailed by Variety as 2020’s “biggest dark horse in anime fandom.” If it’s half as...

Neil Diamond is a songwriting juggernaut. For example, he wrote a few of The Monkees‘ songs. A pair of those tunes became massive hits.

The Monkees | Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer 4. ‘I’m a Believer’

While The Monkees gave the world many great songs, “I’m a Believer” is possibly their most famous track. It’s appeared in films like Shrek and Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci. It’s been covered by Smash Mouth, Weezer, MonaLisa Twins, and Robert Wyatt. The tune is fantastic, and decades of shifting musical trends haven’t changed that.

According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, The Monkees’ manager, Don Kirshner, wanted a follow-up to “Last Train to Clarksville” that would sell even more copies. He called his friend Jeff Barry looking for a new song for the Prefab Four. Barry gave him “I’m a Believer,” which he was working on with the then-upcoming Diamond.

Malaga’s Animation Day showcases some of the most important animation features in the pipeline in Spain, all made with international partners.

On Tuesday, March 14, five recent outstanding Spanish animated works in progress will be pitched by their producers to the international industry during the event.

Animation Day forms part of Spanish Screenings Content at Malaga Festival’s industry zone Mafiz, supported by Icex Spain’s Trade & Investment entity with the collaboration of Diboos, the Spanish Federation of Animation Producers and the VFX Production Companies Associations.

The five Wip animated titles selected are “4 Days Before Christmas,” a produced by 3Doubles Producciones and Capitán Araña with Canada’s Pvp Media; Barcelona-based Doce Entertainment’s Latin American project “Dalia and the Red Book”; Salvador Simó’s Spain-China toon feature “Dragonkeeper”; Abano Producions, El Gatoverde and Uniko’s German co-production “Sultana’s Dream”; and “Rock Bottom,” a Spain-Poland co-production from Alba Sotorra, Jaibo Films and Gs Animation.

What should be a fresh start for a family turns into a living nightmare when they discover their living quarters at an apartment building is already home to centuries-old hauntings in the comic book series Lot 13.

Written by Steve Niles and featuring artwork by Glenn Fabry, Lot 13 was originally published by DC Comics from 2012–2013, and we're thrilled (and chilled) to exclusively announce that Dark Horse Books will be collecting the entire series in trade paperback for the first time!

The Lot 13 trade paperback will be released in comic shops on May 3rd, 2023, followed by a bookstore release on May 16th!

Below, we have the official press release with additional details and a look at the cover art for Lot 13, and to pre-order the Lot 13 trade paperback, visit Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

Press Release: Milwaukie, Ore. — Dark Horse Books presents Lot 13, a terrifying horror story from the minds of Steve...

Co-organized with CAA Media Finance, a new San Sebastian Festival Creative Investors’ Conference will see many of the good and great of the international film business descend on September’s fest edition to be pitched 10 higher-budget Spanish movies by their producers.

The Conference will run Sept.19-20. In a cosmopolitan lineup, titles pitched include international co-productions such as “Whalemen (At the Ends of the Earth)” from “Everest” director Baltasar Kormákur as well as the latest from “Amama” helmer Asier Altuna and “Raqa,” from Gerardo Herrero, an Academy Award wining producer for “The Secret in Their Eyes.”

The conference’s high-profile international investors, producers, agents and executives take in Mubi’s Bobby Allen, Piers Wenger at A24 Europe, Focus Features’s Kiska Higgs, 30West’s Trevor Groth, Vincent Maraval at Wild Bunch International and Netflix’s Teresa Moneo.

Also confirmed are the Elysian Film Group’s Danny Perkins, Neon CEO Tom Quinn,...

New projects by David Pérez Sañudo, the rising young star of Basque cinema, Manuel Martín Cuenca, whose last four films have all been selected for Toronto, and Leire Apellániz, with one of the most ambitious Basque features in the making, all feature in a high-caliber lineup of projects at Eave on Demand Sevilla, a development workshop.

Madrid Ecam Incubator alum Ainhoa Menéndez and Berlinale Teddy Award winner María Trénor Colomer also have already announced projects at Eave on Demand, which kicks off industry events at Seville on Nov. 8 with a masterclass, Script Development Strategies, by Clare Downs.

Further masterclasses, given by Oliver Damian, on European Co-Production and the Role of the Producer, and Aranka Matits, on Distribution & the International Market, aim to provide the directors with the necessary skills to navigate a highly competitive market, which Martín Cuenca and Apellániz already have experience with titles such as “Cannibal” and “The Sacred Spirit.

Editors’ Pick: The Beatles, White Album: Super Deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition

“There’s a moment on the Beatles’ new ‘Super Deluxe’ edition of the White Album that sums up all the glories of their 1968 masterpiece,” writes Rob Sheffield. “And weirdly, that moment is ‘Good Night.’ There’s always been something mysterious about ‘Good Night’ — the album’s orchestral finale. It’s a tender ballad from John, one he always meant for Ringo Starr to sing, without ever explaining to Ringo (or anyone else) why. Many fans dismissed it as a coy joke.

“Just for once, we couldn’t find an anniversary,” Nick Mason says with a laugh, explaining the imminent arrival of Unattended Luggage, a new box set of the Pink Floyd drummer’s solo work, on August 31st. The three-disc reissue, in vinyl and CD editions, collates Mason’s eclectic releases under his own name in the early and mid-1980s, as Pink Floyd hit their theatrical peak with The Wall, then ruptured over creative control and direction. Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports, made in 1979 but not issued until 1981, was the...

In today's roundup of news and views: A new short from Laura Poitras, a profile of Nick Zedd, an excerpt from Jeff Lipsky's forthcoming memoir, a mid-90s interview with Peter Greenaway, an examination of the connections between Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Robert Wyatt's classic album Rock Bottom, Jonathan Rosenbaum on paintings by Manny Farber, an appreciation of Montgomery Clift, Josh Safdie and Alex Ross Perry on Entourage, interviews with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roy Andersson, rumors of forthcoming films by Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Haneke—and more. » - David Hudson...

In today's roundup of news and views: A new short from Laura Poitras, a profile of Nick Zedd, an excerpt from Jeff Lipsky's forthcoming memoir, a mid-90s interview with Peter Greenaway, an examination of the connections between Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Robert Wyatt's classic album Rock Bottom, Jonathan Rosenbaum on paintings by Manny Farber, an appreciation of Montgomery Clift, Josh Safdie and Alex Ross Perry on Entourage, interviews with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roy Andersson, rumors of forthcoming films by Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Haneke—and more. » - David Hudson...

Composer Max Richter on Zadie Smith, the Edinburgh festival and why he has a soft spot for James Joyce's Ulysses

Composer Max Richter was born in Germany, and moved to the UK as a child. As a founding member of the contemporary classical group Piano Circus, he commissioned and performed music by composers including Brian Eno, Philip Glass and Julia Wolfe. On the solo albums that followed, he collaborated with the likes of actress Tilda Swinton, musician Robert Wyatt and DJ/ producer Roni Size. In 2008, the Royal Ballet commissioned him to compose the music for Infra, choreographed by Wayne McGregor, with whom he later worked on the chamber opera, Sum (2012). Richter's work has featured in films such as Shutter Island (2010), and he penned the original soundtrack to Waltz with Bashir (2008). He has also provided music for several art installations, including rAndom International's Rain Room at the Barbican. In 2012, Richter...

Mvd Entertainment Group will release "Going Underground: Paul McCartney, The Beatles, and The UK Counter-Culture" on DVD, October 1, 2013. The new film includes rare archival footage, photographs from private collections, music from Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Soft Machine, Amm and a whole lot more:

"...in the mid-1960's the British way of life was transformed by the emergence of a cultural underground movement. Led by a loose collective of young radicals, they introduced new social, sexual and aesthetic perspectives. Operating out of the heart of London, their various activities, from 'The International Times' - a bi-weekly journal that no hipster could be seen without - to the psychedelic nightclub UFO, promoted alternative lifestyles and values, and sparked a social revolution.

"This film not only traces the history of this underground scene, but also explores its impact on the pre-eminent British group of the era, 'The Beatles'. 

"Although they were well established...

London (AP) — Kevin Ayer's record label says the influential Soft Machine founder has died in France. He was 68. Jack McLean, assistant to the managing director of Lo-Max Records, said Thursday that Ayer's body had been discovered in his bed at his home in the medieval village Montolieu in the south of France. "We believe he died Feb. 18 of natural causes and was found two days later," said McLean. "He hadn't been ill, but he lived a rock 'n' roll lifestyle and everything that comes with that." Ayers and Robert Wyatt formed the Soft Machine in 1966, taking the...

Dreamers, like the worlds they inhabit, come and go, leaving a profoundly vague impression in their wake. Kevin Ayers was never a major star. His songs were simply too idiosyncratic to garner mass appeal, but like many for whom fame was largely an irritant of the creative process, he exerted a greater influence than he imagined or really cared for. 

Morrissey is now viewed as the quintessential English pop icon, but the soil he sprang from was gritty, working class, and Northern. The product of an inner city education system, his brand of Britishness is not as universal as it might appear to outsiders. There are many variations of the national characteristic, and Ayers had a colonial, distractedly comfortable middle-class one. sullied by his public school incarceration, and the memory of distant sunshine from a childhood spent abroad. A slightly surreal confection of Nick Drake, Noel Coward, and country house fop,...

Get The Blessing. Sounds almost like a demand, doesn’t it? Well, let me assure you that the sense of urgency conveyed in the band’s name is echoed wonderfully in their new record “Oc DC”, released on March 5th through Naim Jazz. This is contemporary heavyweight get-up-and-move jazz at its finest.

Get The Blessing are Jake McMurchie on saxophone, Pete Judge on trumpet, and Portishead duo Clive Dreamer and Jim Barr on drum and bass respectively. Despite the obvious selling point of the latter performers’ former band, McMurchie and Judge most definitely take the lead on this record. The opening track (also the title track) features tight harmony playing between the two, the trumpet sounding wonderfully muted and the saxophone taking off with real ferocity. The rhythm section really rocks on this tune as well, the players seeming to revel playing in a major key for a change.

The...

Filed under: Movie News

Andy Serkis is no stranger to classic novels. The actor starred as Smeagol in the 'Lord of the Rings' franchise and will reprise the role in the upcoming 'Hobbit' films. But now he may be taking on another historic book: 'Animal Farm.'

Written by George Orwell, the 1945 novel tells the story of Joseph Stalin and the rise of the Soviet Union as told through a group of farm animals. Although there have been two 'Animal Farm' films already, this version would use motion-capture technology.

Serkis is said to be working with Robert Wyatt on the project, who directed him in the upcoming 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes.'

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It almost doesn’t matter what Robert Wyatt is singing; the veteran British art-rocker has a voice so distinctively dreamy and smoky that it’s like the spawn of a saxophone and a violin, and it fits into a composition the way any other classical instrument would. On For The Ghosts Within, Wyatt actually works with a saxophonist and a violinist—Gilad Atzmon and Ros Stephen, respectively—on a set of standards and re-imagined Wyatt originals. But Ghosts isn’t some staid, tasteful covers album. It’s lush, yes, and frequently beautiful, but there’s also something subtly unsettled about ...

Holdsworth/Pasqua/Haslip/Wackerman: Blues for Tony (Moonjune)

Guitar aficionados with prog-rock and/or jazz fusion proclivities certainly know and appreciate Allan Holdsworth's four-decades-long body of work: stints in Soft Machine, Tony Williams' Lifetime, supergroup U.K. (whose eponymous debut, the only U.K. album Holdsworth played on, was one of the last great classics of prog's '70s heyday), Gong, and Jean-Luc Ponty, plus fine work as a leader (I.O.U. and The Sixteen Men of Tain are favorites). Nonetheless, it's fair to say that many lesser talents have achieved far greater fame.

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For a while, it looked like there was going to be a new Planet of the Apes movie, one that picked up in the middle of the original film franchise and would ultimately lead to one of the most famous closing scenes in movie history. If you're going to reboot it, that's the best way to go.

That was November 2008, but it cooled off pretty quickly. Then, at the beginning of this year, the project gained momentum again. Scott Frank, who had written a script for the new beginning and was set to direct, was bounced off the film, but Fox still planned to ahead with what was called Caesar, the name of the original ape who helped turn the world upside down (and the subject of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, probably the best of the sequels).

Minus Scott Frank, there was obviously more work to be...

Capitol remasters and reissues the entire Beatles catalog

From California to Canterbury, England, the 1960s were a period of great musical innovation. Artists as varied as Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, the Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and later the Soft Machine and George Clinton were turning simple surf music, girl-group rock ’n’ roll, folk, country, Philly soul and jazz into swirling symphonic opuses, psychedelic mayhem and other blends of avant-garde weirdness.

Britpop legends Blur made their much anticipated comeback with an intimate gig at the East Anglican Railway Museum on Saturday night. The hit-laden 28-song set kicks off a huge string summer of shows for the reformed 'Parklife' collective, which will culminate in massive headline shows at Glastonbury and Hyde Park. In celebration of their long-awaited return, Digital Spy has gathered 10 fascinating pop facts about the band's charismatic frontman Damon Albarn. 1. Damon was born on March 23, 1968 to Keith and Hazel Albarn. Keith was an Art College headteacher, BBC presenter and the manager of jazz-rock outfit Soft Machine, while Hazel was a theatre set designer. 2. Albarn's strong anti-war political beliefs stem from his relationship with his grandfather, who was imprisoned as a conscientious objector during World War II. 3. Before forming Blur and (more)...