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Donald Trump loves music. It does not love him back. But neither fact has ever been more obvious than this week, when he made his DJ debut. Even by his standards, it was a bizarre instant-classic trainwreck. At his Monday town hall event in Oaks, Pennsylvania, he quit taking questions from the crowd, and turned his campaign rally into a dance party. “Let’s not do any more questions,” Trump said. “Let’s just listen to music. Who the hell wants to hear questions?” Then he just stood there frozen in a 40-minute K-hole,...

On Monday, late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert eviscerated the Donald Trump campaign after an Oaks, Pennsylvania, event billed as a Q&a session with Trump devolved into a mixtape listening session as the former president shouted for his staffer to play some of the favorite tracks that have been blasted to crowds at his 2024 campaign rallies.

At the event, moderated by South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, Trump took a few questions. One was about addressing the price of groceries, to which the former president again gave an answer that invoked the fictional character Hannibal Lecter, immigrants and “Black jobs.” At another point, the candidate encouraged his supporters to vote on Jan. 5 — two months after election day. The venue was the stuffy Expo Center, and an attendee got overheated and fainted. This is when the music started, first with Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” performed by the legendary Luciano Pavarotti.

Donald Trump defended his decision to turn a town-hall event Monday night into an unusual, nearly 40-minute listening session of his favorite songs from his campaign’s music playlist.

The event was interrupted by two medical emergencies in the crowd, something that is not entirely uncommon at campaign events. But it forced Trump to stop the Q&a as people were tended to.

Trump stood on stage with Gov. Kristi Noem (R-sd) as the recorded music played, starting with an orchestral version of “Ave Maria” and then moving to Luciano Pavarotti’s rendition.

“Let’s make this a music fest,” Trump said at one point to the crowd in Oaks, Pa. “Who the hell wants to hear questions?”

I had a Town Hall in Pennsylvania last night. It was amazing! The Q and A was almost finished when people began fainting from the excitement and heat. We started playing music while we waited,...

If there’s been a single moment representing the definitive emergence of the world from the Covid-19 pandemic, it was the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Paris. The Olympics needed this after the necessary, but emotionally stifling, lockdowns of the Tokyo and Beijing Games. The world needed this.

A coming-out party for the ages — and easily the best Opening Ceremony for a Summer or Winter Games since Rio’s in 2016, if not earlier — the July 26 ceremony featured several moments of transcendent emergence that will stick with viewers for a long time: There was the first ringing of the bells of Notre Dame since fire almost destroyed the 900-year-old cathedral in April 2019; Rafa Nadal, after all his injuries and still walking with slight hesitation, taking the Olympic torch to a waiting boat on the Seine, where Serena Williams was waiting (along with Carl Lewis and Nadia Comaneci) in what was kind of...

It may not be too much of an exaggeration to say that Jim Henson came up with the concept for an immersive video dome long before Sphere bubbled up in Las Vegas.

In the mid-1960s he developed an idea for a nightclub he called Cyclia – “the entertainment experience of the future” – that would feature crystal panels throughout the ceiling, floor and walls onto which films would be projected.

“Once an hour, a woman in a white leotard would rise from a pedestal in the center of the floor to have film projected on her body as she danced,” writes author Brian Jay Jones in Jim Henson: A Biography.

For better or worse, the psychedelia-inspired concept never became a reality. But it’s an example of the restless imagination that propelled Henson throughout his life. The incredible range of Henson’s creative urges come into focus in Ron Howard’s documentary Jim Henson Idea Man,...

Mediawan Rights will rep international sales rights and has released a first teaser clip for “My Way,” a documentary about the iconic song that features a star-studded cast including Ol’ Blue Eyes himself and is narrated by Jane Fonda. The film premieres May 16 with a screening at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinema de la Plage.

Directed by Thierry Teston in collaboration with Lisa Azuelos, “My Way” is billed as “a captivating journey into the heart of an iconic song that explores the universal appeal and enduring legacy of a timeless classic.”

Through the lens of performers including Frank Sinatra, Ben Harper, Paul Anka, David Bowie, Claude François, Clara Luciani and Sparks, and full of never-before-heard anecdotes, the documentary aims to paint a vivid portrait of the song’s evolution and impact on different generations and cultures, using rare archival footage to trace the remarkable journey of a single melody...

Los Angeles, Jan 6 (Ians) Grammy winner Michael Bolton has revealed that he has been diagnosed with brain tumour and will be taking a temporary break from performing.

The 70-year-old singer took to Facebook to make the announcement about his health, reports deadline.com.

“Just before the holidays, it was discovered that I had a brain tumor, which required immediate surgery. Thanks to my incredible medical team, the surgery was a success,” Bolton wrote.

“I am now recuperating at home and surrounded by the tremendous love and support of my family.”

He told fans he will be taking the “next couple of months” to his recovery and taking a “temporary break” from touring.

“It is always the hardest thing for me to ever disappoint my fans or postpone a show, but have no doubt I am working hard to accelerate my recovery and get back to performing soon,” wrote Bolton.

“Know...

Rolling Stone witnessed all of the action at this year’s 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in Spain.

This year’s ceremony moved overseas to Seville for the first time ever, and our Senior Music Editor Julyssa Lopez and Video Producer and Host Ilana Woldenberg caught up with some of the acts who walked the red carpet before the awards show.

We got to chat with Peso Pluma and Nicki Nicole (who made their red carpet debut as a couple), Juanes, Gale, Maria Becerra, Ana Del Castillo, and more. Watch their interviews,...

10 November 2023 — Today, Lise Davidsen, the most in-demand soprano in the world right now, releases her new album, ‘Christmas From Norway’ via Decca Classics/Universal Music Canada. Hailed as “The living, breathing meteor of the current opera world.” (The I Paper), Lise Davidsen‘s forthcoming album presents a delightful and personally selected collection of traditional Norwegian Christmas music and classic festive favourites, spreading the warm glow of the Scandinavian Christmas spirit. Reflecting on the project, Lise expresses her long-standing desire to create this album. “For Scandinavians, Christmas serves as a beacon of light in the midst of a lengthy winter. Perhaps that is why we embrace it so wholeheartedly.” says Lise.

The ‘Norwegian Starlight’ (quote) is unstoppable: this season alone Lise has starred in the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms, where she ‘swept all before her’ (The i Paper), alongside cellist and label-mate Sheku Kanneh-Mason, during an event she...

Luke Evans shared a new video of him singing opera over the weekend!

The 44-year-old actor uploaded a video where he is just in his underwear and a beanie, while singing along to Luciano Pavarotti, who was a Italian operatic tenor.

“On sunny Saturdays, we sing Pavarotti,” he captioned the clip.

While he received praise for the video, his boyfriend Fran Tomas‘ reaction in the comments was a little different than most of the other comments on the post.

Find out how he reacted inside…

“...

Can you believe that Christmas is less than two months away?! Now that it’s November, it’s time to start listening to your holiday music playlists.

SiriusXM just revealed their official lineup of 26 festival channels, including three new ones. The holiday season kicks off November 8 on SiriusXM with many of the channels live now and streaming on the SiriusXM app.

Traditional holiday songs, classical Christmas carols, country Christmas classics, contemporary holiday tunes, soul music, Hanukkah music and so many more, can be heard on all of the offerings.

Subscribers are able to listen online, on-the-go with the SiriusXM mobile app, and at home on a wide variety of connected devices including smart TVs, Amazon Alexa devices, Apple TV, PlayStation, Roku, Sonos speakers and more.

Head inside to check out the list of channels…

Keep scrolling for the full list of channels…

SiriusXM’s Holiday Channel Line-Up (Quick Guide)

Channel...

Jones sang ‘Delilah’ with opera star Luciano Pavarotti at the tenor’s annual charity concert in aid of Afghan refugees.

In 1992, Jones recorded a version of “All You Need Is Love” for ChildLine and performed in a live stage performance of Dylan Thomas’ “Under Milkwood” to benefit the Prince's Trust. He also supported the Prince’s charity in 2001 at the London fundraiser “Party In The Park”.

In 1993, Tom recorded version of the Rolling Stones’ classic “Gimme Shelter” to benefit the UK homeless charity, Shelter, and sang at Sting's annual show at Carnegie Hall to benefit his charity, The Rainforest Foundation.

Charities & foundations supported

Tom Jones has supported the following charities:

Bridge SchoolCash For KidsComic ReliefElton John AIDS FoundationGRAMMY FoundationHelp for HeroesHoping FoundationMusiCaresNordoff RobbinsPrince's TrustSmall Steps Project Read more about Tom Jones's charity work and events. Related articles Elton John, P. Diddy and Andrew Lloyd-Webber to Celebrate Life of Princess...

Norman Steinberg, the Emmy-winning screenwriter who teamed with Mel Brooks on Blazing Saddles and My Favorite Year and wrote for the Michael Keaton-starring Mr. Mom and Johnny Dangerously, has died. He was 83.

Steinberg died March 15 at his Hudson Valley home in upstate New York, his family announced.

Steinberg also wrote Yes, Giorgio (1982), starring Italian opera star Luciano Pavarotti in his feature acting debut, and co-wrote Funny About Love (1990), directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Gene Wilder and Christine Lahti.

The Brooklyn native and former lawyer won his Emmy very early in his career, for his work on a Flip Wilson variety show.

His TV résumé also included developing Marlo Thomas’ 1974 landmark kids special, Free to Be … You & Me (he brought Brooks in on that); serving as a writer and executive producer on the first two seasons of CBS’ Cosby; and creating the short-lived CBS sitcoms Doctor, Doctor and Teech.

Legendary tenor Placido Domingo is facing a new round of sexual harassment allegations, three years after he stepped down from the Los Angeles Opera over similar claims.

The new accusations come from a fellow Spanish singer with whom Domingo performed on a TV show that aired on Spain’s La Sexta. She alleges that he once tried to kiss her and also asked to touch her on another occasion after a rehearsal in a local theater some two decades ago.

Related Story Meghan Markle & Prince Harry Respond To Jeremy Clarkson’s Latest Apology; Amazon Reportedly Set To Part Ways With ‘The Grand Tour’ Vet – Update Related Story Former L.A. Opera General Director Placido Domingo Hospitalized Due To Coronavirus – Update Related Story This Week In Music: Placido Domingo Gives First Interview Following Sex Harassment Charges

“The first time that I felt unease was when we were rehearsing,” the woman said on La Sexta.

When protests broke out in Iran in 2009 over the fraudulent presidential election, one of the country’s leading artists stood up against the regime and its violent repression of demonstrators. Vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian recorded a song with lyrics addressed to government militias attacking people in the streets: “Lay down your guns. Come, sit down, talk, hear. Perhaps the light of humanity will get through to your heart.”

With mass protests again flaring in Iran in recent months—perhaps the most serious challenge to the fundamentalist regime since the Islamic Revolution of 1979—Shajarian’s example and solidarity with the people remain as vital as ever.

Shajarian’s life and the unique stature he attained in Iranian culture are explored in the Oscar-contending documentary The Voice of Dust and Ash, directed by first-time Iranian American filmmaker Mandana Biscotti. The director’s father had been friends with Shajarian—or “Ostad” as he is often called,...

Click here to read the full article.

“Like everyone else in L.A., I have a screenplay,” Bono told the sold-out crowd at the Orpheum Theatre Sunday night for Stories of Surrender, a combination one-man autobiographical show and stripped-down U2 tour (minus his three bandmates) in support of his new memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.

The line drew a big laugh from the crowd. But were he being serious — and Bono’s life story is certainly as worthy of the rock biopic treatment as Freddie Mercury’s or Elton John’s — then he came to the right the place. Among the adoring fans were J.J. Abrams, Colin Farrell, Rita Wilson (husband Tom Hanks caught the Nov. 2 tour opener at New York City’s Beacon Theatre), and Cindy Crawford and her tequila-magnate spouse Rande Gerber, to name a few of the Hollywood movers and shakers in attendance.

By 7:45 p.m.

This story about Ron Howard, José Andrés and “We Feed People” first appeared in the Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

After making documentaries on the Beatles and Luciano Pavarotti, director Ron Howard has turned to crisis response for his last two films, 2020’s “Rebuilding Paradise” and the new “We Feed People.” The former film dealt with the aftermath of a deadly California wildfire in 2018, while the latter chronicles Spanish-born chef José Andrés and his World Central Kitchen, which responds to natural disasters and wars around the world by bringing food to those in need.

“We Feed People” includes glimpses of Andrés’ family life, but it’s really about a heroic effort to cut through bureaucracy in moments of crisis.

Also Read:

‘We Feed People’ Film Review: Ron Howard Documents José Andrés’ Mission to Nourish Bodies and Souls

Ron, what was the challenge of summing up José in a movie?...

The 1995 Grammys ceremony was one of the most interesting the award show has ever had. Most relevant to this year, it was the last year without nomination review committees. And not coincidentally, it was the year Tony Bennett won Album of the Year for his “MTV Unplugged.” Bennett’s win is an interesting one to ponder, especially as he is now nominated for Album of the Year again for “Love for Sale” with Lady Gaga.

Bennett has always been on the Grammys’ radar. His first wins were at the 5th Grammy Awards, where he took home Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance for “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Bennett was a consistent nominee for a couple years after that, but dropped off the awards’ radar for 25 years until in 1991 his album “Astoria: Portrait Of The Artist” became his first nomination since 1966.

SEE2022 Gold Derby...

SAG-AFTRA’s unclaimed residuals fund has grown to roughly $76 million – up 60% from $48 million six years ago. According to the union, the fund now contains 124,000 separate accounts for members and others, living and dead, that it can’t locate. That’s up from 96,000 accounts in 2016.

“The funds may be unclaimed for a variety of reasons including a bad address or as a result of mail returned for other reasons; unresolved estate issues, or the funds may be in trust for an inactive or dissolved loan out corporation,” a spokesperson for the union said. “Most often, residuals may be waiting for a recipient or their agent to formalize a change of address or submit the appropriate paperwork to claim the funds. The union uses a number of tools to locate and get money to those individuals due unclaimed residuals including mail, email and telephone outreach to last known address and telephone number,...

As Luciano Pavarotti demonstrated in Yes, Giorgio, his woeful attempt at screen stardom, opera and romantic comedy don’t necessarily mix well onscreen. Fortunately, this new effort from director Ben Lewin fares somewhat better, thanks to the appealing charm of lead players Danielle Macdonald and Hugh Skinner and the amusingly droll humor for which Scottish characters are particularly suited (it’s hard to take a man in a kilt totally seriously). Undemanding rom-com fans and, to a lesser degree, opera lovers, should take some mild pleasure in Falling for Figaro, although the humor isn’t of Gilbert and Sullivan proportions.

The film’s ...

As Luciano Pavarotti demonstrated in Yes, Giorgio, his woeful attempt at screen stardom, opera and romantic comedy don’t necessarily mix well onscreen. Fortunately, this new effort from director Ben Lewin fares somewhat better, thanks to the appealing charm of lead players Danielle Macdonald and Hugh Skinner and the amusingly droll humor for which Scottish characters are particularly suited (it’s hard to take a man in a kilt totally seriously). Undemanding rom-com fans and, to a lesser degree, opera lovers, should take some mild pleasure in Falling for Figaro, although the humor isn’t of Gilbert and Sullivan proportions.

The film’s ...

Amazon Studios has unveiled a new high-concept Italian original movie featuring pop star Laura Pausini, who recently collaborated with Diane Warren to perform the Oscar-nominated theme song “Io Sì” (Seen) for Sophia Loren-starrer “The Life Ahead.”

The still untitled film, which has begun shooting, is being helmed by Ivan Cotroneo, who is among Italy’s most innovative writer-directors, known for several hit Rai TV series such as “Crazy About Love,” which featured Bollywood-style musical numbers, as well as some indie feature films. Endemol Shine Italy is producing. The pic will drop exclusively on Prime Video in over 240 territories in 2022.

Pausini, who performs mainly in Italian and Spanish, is a 2006 Grammy Award winner for “Escucha” in the best Latin pop album category, one of 13 studio albums she has released, scoring more than 70 million album sales around the world.

She regularly tours internationally and has performed with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti,...

Of the top contenders for Best Limited Series Actress, British star Cynthia Erivo faced the greatest technical challenges in playing Aretha Franklin in Nat Geo’s “Genius: Aretha.” The category has five slots and is much more competitive than those honoring actors who work in dramatic and comedic series. This 2015 Tony winner for playing Celie in “The Color Purple” and 2019 double Oscar nominee for “Harriet” is currently in the running for an Emmy alongside Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”), Kate Winslet (“Mare of Easttown”), Michaela Coel (“I May Destroy You”) and Elizabeth Olsen (“WandaVision”), according to Gold Derby predictions.

Erivo had to sing Aretha’s greatest hits from a period of 30-odd years, matching live performances of such hits as “You’re All I Need to Get By,” a studio session of her first hit, “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You” and finally the opening bars of “Nessun Dorma,...

Welcome to this week’s Nwa: Powerrr review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have more in Nick Aldis’s quest to not be called Brutus Magnus any more. There’s plenty to cover here, so let’s…what the… Stevie The Monkey: Oo Oo Oo! Ah Ah Ah! Me: Stupid monkey! Go to Hell! Stm: Ohhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Me: Who you s—tin’? You’re a dumbass! Stm: Wawawawawawawawawa!!!!!!!!!! Me: I’ve had it with your bull-s—t! Life is not a highway! Stm: Uhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh!!!!!! Me: No it’s not! Stm: Ohha! Me: There is no such thing as a bisexual airplane! It’s not called a bi-plane! Stm: Oo Oo! Me: Go f—k an Arby’s Ripple-Dipple Melt! Stm: Huh? Me: Yeah! Got your ass there! Nwa: Power starts now!

Match #1: Slice Boogie def. Jax Dane – Falls Count Anywhere Match The Score: 7 out...

R&b superstars Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak have joined forces to form a duo called Silk Sonic. The single “Leave The Door Open,” off their album “An Evening with Silk Sonic,” has so far been tremendously popular, recently topping the Billboard Hot 100. But while their continued commercial success seems all but certain, one question does remain: what are their Grammy chances? Let’s look at some past supergroups to see how the recording academy has reacted to them and what that might mean for this new dynamic duo.

The Highwomen

This critically acclaimed all-female supergroup consists of Grammy winners Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby. The country and Americana quartet released their debut album in late 2019 to great reviews. As for the Grammys, they surprisingly only got one nom for Best Country Song for “Crowded Table,” which they eventually won against bigger hits like Miranda Lambert...

The director of 2019’s critically acclaimed Martin Eden returns with For Lucio, a slim, charming documentary about one of Italy’s premier post-war crooners. Lucio Dalla, born in Bologna in 1943, witnessed Italy’s recovery from the destruction of the second World War as his pastoral Bolognese childhood was replaced by rapid industrialization in a country that was painfully losing its social and cultural identity. It may be brief at 78 minutes, but this is a rewarding film, mostly pivoting on a series of interviews with the singer’s manager Tobia, who regales stories of Lucio from his early days hustling for gigs in Rome to a nationally renowned artist with a powerful social conscience.

A former child star, Lucio started on the Italian jazz scene as a clarinettist, only moving into singing because being in the band didn’t earn him enough money. “Singing wasn’t in my plans,” he says...

David Romano, a tenor who appeared in the original Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera and served as a vocal coach to the likes of Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman, has died. He was 69.

Romano had a heart ailment and died Saturday at his home in Palm Springs, his friend Michael Caprio announced.

Romano toured the world as soloist, sang in more than 100 concerts with conductor and chorus leader Roger Wagner and was heard on more than 30 film soundtracks; for the 1982 MGM film Yes, Giorgio, he performed a duet with Luciano Pavarotti.

In 1998, Romano released ...

David Romano, a tenor who appeared in the original Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera and served as a vocal coach to the likes of Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman, has died. He was 69.

Romano had a heart ailment and died Saturday at his home in Palm Springs, his friend Michael Caprio announced.

Romano toured the world as soloist, sang in more than 100 concerts with conductor and chorus leader Roger Wagner and was heard on more than 30 film soundtracks; for the 1982 MGM film Yes, Giorgio, he performed a duet with Luciano Pavarotti.

In 1998, Romano released ...

Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”) is a strong contender at this year’s Academy Awards over in Best Documentary Feature for his well-received film “Rebuilding Paradise.” After premiering in January at Sundance, it was released theatrically in July, and will debut ad-free on National Geographic on November 8.

That is the second anniversary of the devastating Camp Fire that destroyed almost all of the picturesque town of Paradise, California and surrounding areas killing 85 people, destroying some 95% of the town’s structures including hospitals and schools, with losses of upwards of $16 billion.

Paradise, which is located in Northern California in Butte County, had a population of 26,500 before the Camp Fire, but only 2,900 lived there a year after firestorm. For Howard, “the year we spent watching what happened in Paradise was sort of a reminder that community adds up to something. We live in an increasingly complicated global society that challenges...

As summer comes to a close and sweater season begins, many of us will start to incorporate baths into our routine — or stop taking showers altogether. Whether it’s a simple bath with warm water or additions that include bath bombs, salt, candles, books, or wine, baths are an ideal way to decompress from a long day. And these days most of us need to decompress more than ever. Just ask Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard, who’s made a delightful hobby of it: “Some people meditate, some people go for runs,...

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has announced the latest group of entertainment professionals in the categories of Motion Pictures, Television, Live Theatre/Live Performance, Recording and Radio to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021. The new selections were revealed via the Walk of Fame Facebook page on Thursday.

The honorees were chosen from among hundreds of nominations at a selection committee meeting held this month with the final approval coming down from the Hollywood Chamber’s board of directors. Ellen K, radio personality and the chair of the Walk of Fame selection panel, announced the new honorees alongside Rana Ghadban, the president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

“The Walk of Fame selection panel is pleased to announce 35 new honorees to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Selection Panel, made up of fellow Walk of Famers, hand-picks a group of honorees each...

Sunday marks Bono’s 60th birthday, and to celebrate the U2 singer has unveiled his “60 Songs That Saved My Life” playlist.

“These are some of the songs that saved my life,’ Bono wrote of the playlist. “The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.'”

Bono also penned a “fan letter” of gratitude to each of the artists included on his playlist,...

Mythos Studios has expanded the team behind the animated feature film Cupid with Michael Gracey (the director of The Greatest Showman) joining as executive producer and Mike Vukadinovich (Hulu’s The Runaways) coming aboard to write the script for the Justin Bieber vehicle.

Pic is built around the Hellenic tale of Cupid and Psyche with Bieber set to executive produce and voice the title role as the winged figure of myth and passion. The announcements were made by Founding Chairman of Marvel Studios David Maisel, now Chairman and Co-Founder of Mythos Studios. Mythos was founded in 2018 by Maisel and Scooter Braun, founder of Sb Projects and Chairman of Ithaca Holdings, who joined as the principal investor..

Gracey brings his extensive experience working at the intersection of music and film to the feature, an original adaptation of the enduring 2,000-year-old love story.

“The addition of Michael Gracey and Mike Vukadinovich, who...

Among the nearly 20 documentary films and TV series projects shared with Variety by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, one stands out: Martin Scorsese has a new music documentary in the kiln.

Imagine Docs, which is the entertainment company’s nonfiction unit, said that the documentary will mark a return to familiar territory for “The Irishman” director Scorsese — specifically the 1970s music scene. Scorsese is no stranger to this world, as his 2019 Netflix documentary “Rolling Thunder Revue” explored a legendary 1975 Bob Dylan tour through the eyes and ears of the period. Scorsese’s prior music documentaries include “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” “No Direction Home,” and “The Last Waltz.” In terms of fiction projects revolving around this turbulent era of music, Scorsese and Mick Jagger were among the co-creators of HBO’s one-season wonder, “Vinyl,” which starred Bobby Cannavale (who stars in “Irishman”) as a decadent ’70s record executive.

In his latest documentary Pavarotti, two-time Academy Award®-winning director Ron Howard celebrates the life of the beloved opera star Luciano Pavarotti, who sold over 100 million records in his lifetime. Pavarotti is available now on Digital Download and comes to Blu-ray and DVD on 25th November 2019. To celebrate the release, we are offering two winners the chance to win a Blu-ray copy.

The 1990 World Cup in Italy was the moment opera left the elite and hit the masses. Opera star Pavarotti joined fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras onstage in Rome watched by millions around the world. Their powerful rendition of “Nessun Dorma” lives on as one of the most popular and famous pieces of music the world has ever heard, and Pavarotti realised his long-held dream of bringing opera into the mainstream.

Ron Howard takes an intimate approach in telling Pavarotti’s story, going beyond the iconic public...

‘Promised.’

Most of the new releases in Australian cinemas last weekend had bombed or under-performed in the Us weeks or months ago, so their fates were probably sealed.

Splatter comedy Ready or Not, Ron Howard’s homage to the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti, English musical dramedy Blinded by the Light and indie Us drama After the Wedding were among the Halloween strugglers.

The top-grossing title at the Lavazza Italian Film Festival, writer-director Nick Conidi’s Promised opened on 45 screens via Umbrella Entertainment. The weekend take for the 1950s-set drama starring Tina Arena, Paul Mercurio, Antoniette Iesue, Daniel Berini and Mirko Grillini was a modest $57,000 but the total including festival screenings is a decent $198,000.

The top 20 titles generated $11.3 million, down 21 per cent on the prior frame according to Numero, getting some uplift from Indian imports Bigil and, to a lesser extent, Housefull 4.

Facing minimal competition, Todd Phillips’ Joker led the field for the fourth consecutive weekend,...

Farm animals, the historic moon landing and World War I veterans back to vivid life top the nominations for the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.

The Biggest Little Farm leads this year with seven nominations, including Best Documentary Feature, John Chester for Best Director and noms for Best Cinematography, Editing, Score, Narration and Science/Nature Documentary.

Recognized with six nominations each are Apollo 11 and They Shall Not Grow Old. The nominations for Apollo 11 are Best Documentary Feature, Todd Douglas Miller for Best Director, plus Editing, Score, Archival Documentary and Science/Nature Documentary, The nominations for They Shall Not Grow Old are Best Documentary Feature, Peter Jackson for Best Director, Editing, Score, Archival Documentary and Most Innovative Documentary.

One Child Nation received five nominations: Best Documentary Feature, Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang for Best Director, along with Editing, Narration, and Political Documentary.

The Cave, Honeyland, American Factor, Aquarela...

A certain type of documentary has grown in prevalence and popularity lately — the piece that marshals evidence in service of the case that a very widely known contemporary figure is actually even greater than one had previously thought. The vogue began in summer 2018 with the features “Rbg” (about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” (about children’s television personality Fred Rogers) and has continued with documentaries about figures as varied as Toni Morrison, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and Luciano Pavarotti — and now, in Netflix’s three-episode documentary series “Inside Bill’s Brain,” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Shepherded by Davis Guggenheim (an Oscar-winner for “An Inconvenient Truth”), we’re walked through the tech founder and humanitarian’s personal history in a manner that grows stultifying the more praise gets ladled on. It’s not that Gates’s current endeavors don’t merit attention and applause:...

Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” will be among highlights of the upcoming Rome Film Festival, following its European launch as the closing film at the BFI London Film Festival.

As with the Oct. 13 London premiere, key cast members of the hotly anticipated Netflix film are expected to attend the screening in Rome, as is Scorsese. The Rome premiere, which festival director Antonio Monda described as the event’s “centerpiece,” will take place on October 21.

“The Irishman” reunites Scorsese with his “Gangs of New York” screenwriter Steve Zaillian, who adapts from Charles Brandt’s novel “I Heard You Paint Houses,” about the unsolved mystery of union boss Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance. The long-gestating film provides “a monumental journey through the hidden corridors of organized crime: its inner workings, rivalries and connections to mainstream politics,” according to promotional materials.

Besides Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, who star in the roles of Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa,...

In today’s film news roundup, Paramount sets up another Will Smith sci-fi project, “Distant Harmony: Pavarotti in China” gets re-released and pro-immigrant “The Infiltrators” finds a home.

Project Launch

Paramount Pictures has signed Will Smith to produce and star in a movie adaptation of Marcus Sakey’s dystopian trilogy “Brilliance.”

Akiva Goldsman will write the script and produce with James Lassiter and Shane Salerno. “Brilliance” will be a co-production between Goldsman’s Weed Road, Smith’s Westbrook and Overbrook and Salerno’s the Story Factory.

The story is set in a world where 1% of the children are born with powerful intellectual gifts and demonized by society. A director is not yet on board.

Smith starred in “Aladdin” and will next be seen in Ang Lee’s sci-fi thriller “Gemini Man,” which Paramount opens on Oct. 11. The news was first reported by Deadline.

Re-release

Giant Pictures, the digital film distribution division of Giant Interactive,...

Dona Flor And Her Two Husbands, starring Sônia Braga, opened at The Paris Theatre in 1978 Photo: Bruno Barreto

The Paris Theatre, one of the most prestigious cinemas in the Us, is no more. A notice of closure was posted in August for what was the last remaining single-screen cinema in Manhattan. Ron Howard's documentary Pavarotti on Luciano Pavarotti was the final film shown at the 581-seat palace located on West 58th Street off Fifth Avenue near The Plaza Hotel. The ribbon for the opening of The Paris Theatre was cut by Marlene Dietrich in 1948.

Bruno Barreto: "The final scene of what I think is one of Sydney Pollack’s best films, takes place right across the street from The Paris Theatre, at the entrance of The Plaza Hotel." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In 2013, Bruno Barreto's incandescent Reaching For The Moon, starring the formidable trio Miranda Otto, Glória Pires and Tracy Middendorf...

Covering specialized box office has largely come to mean covering documentaries. They’re no longer a subset; these films are the top performers for art-house theaters. But as distributors begin the fall-festival prowl for new titles, the nonfiction market isn’t as strong as it might appear.

Documentaries — the ones that play festivals, not the concert films, special events, Disney nature films, and right-wing polemics — dominate art houses. Using the most recent week as an example, there were 23 specialized titles. Of these, 12 were documentaries. A year ago, there were 24 titles and six were docs. The year prior, 18 titles and three documentaries.

While there may be many, more-complex reasons for the increased public interest in documentaries, their box-office presence is easily explained: Narrative films have died off, and nature abhors a vacuum.

Art houses once relied on a diverse range of distributors to supply films outside awards season that would gross between $25 million-$60 million,...

From Bono to Domingo, the stars line up to sing the praises of their late friend in Ron Howard’s heart-sinking documentary

Bland, incurious and passionless, this documentary about the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti is like a promotional video licensed by a team of copyright lawyers – and about as challenging as a Three Tenors gig at Wembley stadium. Pavarotti’s glorious voice all but drowns in a 114-minute montage of obsequious syrup.

Director Ron Howard certainly has an important lineup of interviewees: co-tenors José Carreras and Plácido Domingo, first wife Adua Veroni, second wife Nicoletta Mantovani, assistant, student and former lover Madelyn Renee – and also his New York manager Herbert Breslin and London promoter Harvey Goldsmith. Everyone is on their best behaviour, no one speaking out of turn about the great man or each other. Weirdly, the most interesting interview moments come in old archive footage of Pavarotti speaking to Clive James and Russell Harty.

Rule No, 1 for a documentary: You need to choose an interesting topic. And when your topic is a single person, that person’s story better be an enticing one. When Ron Howard started looking into making a film about opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, he discovered that the famous tenor was a ready-made movie character. Howard [...]

The post In ‘Pavarotti,’ Ron Howard Discovered A Real Character appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

The Front Row, Kncc release follows the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s 30-year cinema ban at the end of 2017.

Ron Howard’s Pavarotti, exploring the life and work of Italian opera legend Luciano Pavarotti, is set to become the first major documentary to be given a wide theatrical release in Saudi Arabia following the lifting of its 30-year-cinema ban at the end of 2017.

Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and partner company Kuwait National Cinema Company, which own all Mena rights for the work, have announced the documentary will open on July 25 in Saudi Arabia in Vox Cinemas and AMC Cinemas.

Pavarotti performs at the People’s Assembly in Peking, China. Photo by Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images.

In Pavarotti, director Ron Howard spotlights opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti, the most famous tenor of the past 50 years, so famous that even people who had never heard an opera knew his name.

Even if you don’t know anything about opera, you have probably heard of the Three Tenors – Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. If you are an opera fan, you know Pavarotti as one the great voices, the best tenor of the second half the last century and beginning of this one. Ron Howard’s affectionate but honest documentary has something for both of those audiences.

Pavarotti was a rock star of an opera star, a pop culture celebrity whose fame reached beyond the rarefied world of opera, something that didn’t always please opera fans. Pavarotti not...

Pavarotti CBS Films Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Ron Howard Screenwriter: Cassidy Hartmann, Mark Monroe Cast: Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Griminelli, Nicolette Mantovani, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Angela Gheorghiu, Carol Vaness, Vittorio Grigolo Screened at: Dolby24, NYC, 6/4/19 Opens: June 7, 2019 I had what passes for a […]

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Ron Howard is in the music documentary business again. Just two years after directing “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week” about the Fab Four’s early days, he’s back with “Pavarotti,” a film chronicling the life of the late opera great Luciano Pavarotti that hits theaters June 7.

Howard admits he wasn’t an avid opera fan before his “Eight Days a Week” producer Nigel Sinclair pitched him the Pavarotti project.

“Similar to ‘The Beatles: Eight Days a Week’ movie, he said ‘Look, we found some new footage. I think the family is interested or willing to talk. We don’t know for sure, but does the character interest you at all?’” Howard says in this week’s episode of Variety and iHeart’s movie podcast “The Big Ticket.” “And I said ‘Well, it’s kind of perfect for me because I love explorations where I have an innate respect and fascination,...

Ron Howard doesn’t remember meeting Luciano Pavarotti so much as feeling his presence. “My memory has less to do with my brief handshake and fleeting eye contact with the maestro and more to do with the fact that it was at this giant Golden Globes event with major movie stars and elite television stars,” the film director says. “But even with those people there, when he arrived, he was it. And that was in the early Eighties, before the Three Tenors even. He was beginning to have that kind of impact,...

Watching Ron Howard enlist an all-star cast of experts, industry luminaries and celebrities to catalog Luciano Pavarotti’s many, many achievements as a singer, it’s easy to think that the filmmaker chose hagiography as his preferred storytelling format for the new documentary “Pavarotti.”

But in exploring a career distinguished by industry-changing benchmarks, and a life driven by the opera superstar’s irrepressible charisma that even his ex-wife cheerfully forgives his transgressions, Howard can be forgiven for showing his subject the same generosity that Pavarotti extended to the world through both his art and his personality.

A celebratory but thoughtful overview of Luciano Pavarotti’s life, loves and career, “Pavarotti” skillfully chronicles the larger-than-life performer’s transformative impact on the opera industry, as well as upon the people that he encountered, professionally and personally, during his more than 50-year career.

Watch Video: Pavarotti Comes Home in Emotional Trailer for Ron...