Article by James Gevork of Starstruck Extreme

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon has just been released this past week and flocks of people have already watched it and it has already hit the box office status.  The much awaited third movie from the Transformers franchise did not disappoint fans. Megan Fox did not return as Mikaela Banes but Victoria’s Secret model, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley comes in to play Sam Witwicky’s love interest. She plays Carly Spencer, the original character from the cartoon which Mikaela Banes was based on.  The third movie sees Sam Witwicky, played by actor Shia Labeouf, freshly out of college, with a new job and a new girlfriend, as well as another Decepticon plot to rule the universe to tear down. Catch Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon in theatres near you!

Monte Carlo is another movie which opened this past weekend. It stars Disney Channel’s star Selena Gomez, Gossip Girls’ Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy. It is set in Monte Carlo and tells of a story about a girl who assumes an heiress’ identity when she is mistaken for the heiress. This is a definitely fun movie to watch with your tweens.

Zookeeper is another movie to watch out for. It is set to come out in July 8^th. It stars funny man Kevin James with Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb. It’s a story about animals breaking their code of silence and decides to talk to help their Zookeeper find love. Definitely a fun family movie, catch it when it comes out in theatres on July 8, 2011.

Steven Spielberg, in securing the screen rights to the book known as Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy written by two prominent Guardian journalists is all set to have his studio oversee the productions of the movie.

The book has been written as an investigative thriller along the lines of “All the President’s Men” carefully documenting the life of Julian Assange right from his childhood all the way to the creation of the infamous Wikileaks website in 2006.

It also meticulously documents the close and secretive relationship between The Guardian and Wikileaks, and their collaboration which is considered by many to be one of the greatest journalistic scoops for a long time to come. Along with this, there is detailed coverage of the leak of almost 250000 secret cables that were released in December 2010.

While this project in no doubt undertaken by DreamWorks, Spielberg’s company, there are other projects that are also underway to cover this story in the form of a documentary by Alex Gibney and a biopic that is based on a New York article by Raffi Khatchadourian and that will be co-produced by HBO and the BBC.

In comparison to these projects, DreamWorks version seems to be in the initial stages since it requires a screenwriter, a cast and a director. And while Julian Assange fighting with an extradition order to Sweden where he has to deal with sexual abuse allegations, there is little doubt that this movie will raise a lot of eyebrows and get attention from moviegoers everywhere.

What better way to escape reality than to dive into the realm of movies? When you first step foot into the theatre and the lights are down, the ability to forget about the world outside the doors becomes effortless. Time is lost and the mind is freed from the pressures of reality. The characters plights become more important than your own, and the movie takes hold of you. For a few hours, buttery popcorn and bubbly soda help you slide away from any worries you may left at the ticket counter.

People have enjoyed going to the movies for over a century. The first movies were a series of photographs shown in rapid progression to create movement. Once motion picture cameras were invented, more life like movement shaped an entrancing experience for the first audiences. Eventually sound and color were added to bring the entire event to life. With today’s advancements in computer generated imaging, movies take on a whole life of their own.

The general public has long been entertained by the motion pictures they delight in, as well as the actors and actresses who play their favorite roles. Magazines, tabloids, and television shows are always out to capture the artists in any given situation. From marriage to child birth, and especially throughout the process of bad decision making, the public loves to read and hear about the lives of Hollywood Stars.

The entertainment value of motion pictures and those who create them will always be on the rise.

The last time Ryan Gosling and Nicholas Winding Refn paired up to offer ‘Drive’, it was received with a standing ovation.

However, with their recent release, Only God Forgives, the Grand Theatre Lumiere resonated with boos and whistles as soon as the credit were rolling. This reaction came as a real surprise for many as the title was widely-anticipated.

Most reviewers think that this is hardly the final verdict on the movie since it probably is a reaction by the press after possible sensory overload from watching so many movies at the Cannes Film Festival.

Another factor that caused a negative reaction such as this one is probably due to the movie being screened at 8:30 AM.

In watching the movie, it’s obvious that the director has clearly moved away from the themes vividly seen in ‘Drive’. In fact, the movie has been shot in Bangkok and loaded with violence, with one scene of a man being sliced open to this ribcage while Gosling’s character, Julian, gets a real thrashing from a Thai martial artist.

And there’s his mother, Crystal, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, who has a terrible temper and a desire for revenge that is just as vicious. Julian is her younger son, and her not-so-endearing traits are made evident, thanks to the death of her elder son, Billy.

And despite the negative reaction of the critics, some reviewers are of the opinion that Refn’s work largely meets the artistic goals that he sought to meet. And from watching the flick, some of these goals include not telling a conventional story or even giving the audience what it is looking for.

With DC Comics’ “Man of Steel” due to be released shortly, Warner Bros confirmed that it is to be the first of a series of releases.

Speaking of this change in direction, President Robinov in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, said, “I think you’ll see that, going forward, anything can live in this world . . . [Nolan's] Batman was deliberately and smartly positioned as a stand-alone. The world they lived in was very isolated without any knowledge of any other superheroes. What Zack and Chris have done with this film is allow you to really introduce other characters into the same world.”

While he also promised to make announcements in the coming weeks that would give fans a clear picture as to which superheroes will feature in the future movies that will be released.

However, Goyer, the screenwriter of the Dark Knight trilogy and the Man of Steel, in not wanting to reveal any information about future sequels, explained why in saying that Nolan prefers to “put everything into this film and then worry about the next film later”.

What he also goes on to reveal is that much like the Batman trilogy, a similar approach was taken towards the production of the Man of Steel. Of course, this hasn’t stopped comic book fans from being curious about crossovers.

As for Rubinov, he dropped a couple of hints about a possibility of a crossover but what he made clear that there was no Justice League movie in the works with Nolan at its helm.

In an effort to lure the proverbial couch potato away from their cable and satellite TV connections, movie theaters are now getting satellite dishes of their own.

With three of the biggest movie theater chains and five Hollywood studios announcing the long awaited dream of the satellite delivery of movies to theater will finally become a reality over the summer, it won’t be long before studios such as Sony and 20th Century Fox also joins in.

While this won’t save much for moviegoers, this will remove the century-old practice of sending reels of film to theaters and replace it with the delivery of these movies that are encoded on hard drives.

Since this will allow movies to be downloaded from a private networks onto a dedicated servers, this will reduce the costs to almost one-tenth of the prior costs.

But not everyone is pleased with this industry-changing decision and some of these include entities such as indie-film distributors, small theaters chains and independently owned movie houses. The reason for this is because the process of conversion to digital projection costs about $70000 to $100000 – a cost that could hardly be borne by some movie theaters at the risk of bankruptcy.

In fact, this change in the way we watch movies will put almost 10000 movie theaters out of business with the exception of a few cinemas keeping 35mm projectors, if only to cater to a niche audience.

Yet there’s one distinct advantage to those who are able to go through with the conversion process – the ability to offer entertainment that goes beyond movies.

Producers of the Academy Awards show, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, have revealed that not only will the award ceremony be fast-paced, host a plethora of big stars but will also entail racy comedy that Seth MacFarlane is known for.

Speaking of how this year’s show will be different, both producers are quick to point this out, in saying, “We have more performances on that stage than we can ever remember there being in the past. And we are not trotting people out just to sing and dance. Every single thing you see on that stage will be related to movies. We have devised ways that we are hoping will make the pacing faster … That doesn’t mean we are not going to give as much weight to honouring the winners, but there has been a lot of dead space in the show (in the past).”

However, it’s not just about the awards as the producers have assembled a long list of actors and actresses lined up for a “music in movies” extravaganza along with a few surprises apart from the ones that might follow once the award winners are announced.

Also, MacFarlane, producer of ‘Family Guy’, will get to show off his vocal skills while sharing some of the best moments in Hollywood as the show progresses.

This year’s Academy Awards celebrates its 85th year in show business and will be broadcast not only on ABC television but in almost 225 countries around the world.

What a year of moviemaking. If one had to make a list of the best movies, it would be a difficult one, indeed considering the quality of entertainment in almost every category.

While the latest James Bond flick or even the final installment to the Batman trilogy made waves, the truth is that there were several other flicks that gave it a run for its money.

So, here are 4 must-watch movies released in 2012:

#4: Argo

Directed by Ben Affleck, the plot revolves around the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and rescue of the U.S Embassy personnel. If you haven’t watched this flick already, you’ll be at the edge of your seats throughout.

#3: Lincoln

The movie deals with Lincoln’s efforts to add the 13th Amendment to the U.S Constitution and with a star-studded cast including the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones, it’s no wonder the movie has received several nominations.

#2: Zero Dark Thirty

It’s about the War on Terror, the capture of Bin Laden and directed Kathryn Bigelow, the director of ‘The Hurt Locker’. Jessica Chastain handles the role of a CIA operative to perfection. While the movie has raised controversy as to whether it obtained details about Operation Neptune Spear, it definitely is a must-watch.

#1: The Master

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, who plays a World War II vet, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a cult leader, this movie touches a raw nerve for some as it deals with the subjects such as God, sex, money and country.

Steven Spielberg’s Civil War epic titled ‘Lincoln’, led the Golden Globes, with 7 nominations, while Argo and Django Unchained stayed tied in second place with 5 nominations apiece.

In expressing his gratitude much like Spielberg, Argo’s director, Ben Affleck said, “There are plenty of mornings when I’ve not been nominated, so it makes me pretty happy. When you’re dealing with Iran and the United States you’re walking a minefield — militarily, politically and culturally.”

Some of the acting honors that Lincoln received include Best Director for Steven Spielberg while Tommy Lee Jones, Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field all received acting nominations. Alternatively, movies such as ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and ‘The Master’ received four and three nominations respectively while the critically-acclaimed drama ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ was completely ignored.

Among the other nominees for Best Motion Picture – Drama was the Life of Pi and Zero Dark Thirty, the latter was a thriller based on the Osama Bin Laden manhunt.

Apart from Daniel Day-Lewis who has been nominated for Best Actor –Motion Picture Drama, the other contenders are Denzel Washington in ‘Flight’, Joaquin Phoenix in ‘The Master’, Richard Gere in ‘Arbitrage’ and John Hawkes in ‘The Sessions’.

As for the nominations for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, the list includes Rachel Weisz in ‘Deep Blue Sea’, Naomi Watts in ‘The Impossible’, Helen Mirren in ‘Hitchcock’, Marion Cotillard in ‘Rust and Bone’ as well as Jessica Chastain in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’.

Finally, the nominees for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Les Miserables, Moonrise Kingdom, Salmon Fishing in Yemen and Silver Linings Playbook.

These Golden Globe nominees that are usually picked by Los Angeles entertainment journalists are known to not necessarily predict the winners of the Academy Awards.

One of the best selling and strongest markets in the music industry at the moment is Christian music. There is a huge market both in the United States and abroad , and its success can often be attributed to its ability to mix genres and bring fans from other musical styles all together into one unified place. While the radio may not play Christian music as frequently as the Top 40 always, but there are plenty of online radio stations that broadcast plenty of Christian oriented tunes more frequently than you might expect.

As said, the reason that music in the Christian community has done so well is not only because it has a strong group of supporters both of the faith and of the music style , but it has crossed bridges into other musical territory that give it more of a mass appeal to a multitude of listeners.

Primarily, genres like country music and gospel music have made their way into the Christian style over the last few years. Themes of Christianity are included in other styles that allow it to spread its wings, no pun intended, into more of a mainstream audience. Sites like www.onlineradiostations.com give you the opportunity to find the hottest music in all genres and styles from today’s hottest Christian and country artists. At the very least it will give you a good jumping off point for finding other stations that offer similar sounds that you may be looking for.

Apart from a new sequel for Ted, Mark Wahlberg, according to Michael Bay, will replace Shia LeBeouf, in the fourth installment of the Transformers robot franchise.

In expressing why Mark would be perfect for the role, Director Michael Bay of the earlier installment, said, “Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on Pain and Gain and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his calibre is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers’ legacy.”

This development was recently announced by Bay on his blog after denying rumors that Wahlberg would take over from LeBouf in the fourth movie. He also revealed that next movie would take a whole new direction, thanks to his collaboration with veteran director and producer, Steven Spielberg, in the past few months.

The third movie, Dark of the Moon, was a box-office success in being the second-highest grossing motion picture of 2011 while the three movies released so far have fared just as well in making a whopping $2.6 billion worldwide.

The fourth installment begins shooting in next spring and is scheduled to be released June 27, 2014. The earlier three movies, which were directed by Michael Bay, featured the talent of Peter Cullen as the voice for the Autobot leader Optimus Prime.

On the other hand, Ted, a Seth McFarlane comedy, which starred Wahlberg, topped both the US and UK charts this year. A sequel is also in the works as announced by Universal Pictures.

Box office revenues have increased by almost 58 percent compared to last year because of several films that have exceeded expectations, with ‘Taken 2’ and ‘Argo’ right in front.

Dan Fellman, Warner Brothers’, President of Domestic Distribution, puts things in perspective, in saying “Good movies rise to the occasion. Both ‘The Town’ and ‘Gran Torino’ played older initially and then turned into four-quadrant movies.”

Taken 2, with Liam Neeson, remained at No. 1 by grossing $22.5 million over its second weekend to a total of $219.6 million – close to the $226.8 million that the first installment ‘Taken’ earned.

The critically-acclaimed Argo, directed also by Affleck, earned $20.1 million in its second week, and easily kept its No. 2 spot while also garnering a A+ CinemaScore, ensuring that the movie will run throughout the awards season.

Argo’s story revolves around the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis and the escape of six Americans hiding in the Canadian embassy, thanks to cover provided by a fake movie production, staged by Tony Mendez, and played by Affleck in the movie.

Taking the No. 3 position is Sinister, the supernatural horror flick, which grossed $18.3 million over the weekend and has turned out to be the most profitable of the top movies as its budget was about $3 million.

Also at No. 4, is ‘Hotel Transylvania’, which in its third weekend, crossed the $100 million mark, and according to experts and Sony officials, are exceeding industry expectation in showing no signs of slowing down.

Another Sony offering titled ‘Here comes the Boom’, starring Kevin James and Salma Hayek grossed $12 million to take the No. 5 spot.

Are you looking for a place to listen to the radio online? Below you are going to find some tips for finding the right one and also the benefits of listening to free music online, like 80s music. 

Look at the radio station online if you’re going to need a password and login for listening to the sections on the station like music or talk or for information about contests. There are a lot of radio stations that are online and that are free. But some of the stations are going to charge a fee monthly, and this can range from $6 all the way up to $20 monthly.  When you pay, usually you’re going to get access to all of the station’s areas.  That is going to make the amount you are paying worth it.

Benefits: The biggest benefit of listening to online radio is that you can access many radio stations that you aren’t normally going to have access to because of where you live.  Another big advantage is that there’s almost a limitless amount of live events, radio events, radio shows, and music that you are able to listen to. This kind of technology lets you access entertainment anytime you want to and you don’t have to download any files.

Looking for somewhere to hear your favorite music? Go to the Online Radio Stations website.  There you will find quite a lot to choose from and even talk shows that you are able to listen to everyday.