LONDON:
An advert of children�s drink Orangina, which features animals
wearing tiny bikinis and gyrating around poles, has attracted criticism from
viewers.
The Naturally Juicy
advertisement, created by a French ad bureau, has generated a wave of criticism
since it hit British TV screens earlier this month, with viewers, children's
charities and equal rights groups up in weapons system over its sexual - and, some
believe, sexist - content.
The
60-second advertisement that centres on a love floor between a doe and a have
with a finale of shots of Orangina bottles exploding between the thighs of
zebras and jetting on to the breasts of other animals were said to have proven
particularly unsavoury.
"Orangina is a drink which is
mainly aimed at children and young people, only this unexampled advert places the
intersection in a very sexualised and provocative context," the
Telegraph
quoted Claude Knights, director of children's polemonium caeruleum Kidscape, as
saying.
"The almost sinister
portrayal of animals in an vitality style filled with sexual innuendo leads to
identical mixed and confused messages," Knights added.
She said that the charity were
worried that it was another lesson of victimisation sexual images to sell products to
children.
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Sunday, 31 August 2008
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Mp3 music: Vince Neil
 Artist: Vince Neil: mp3 download Genre(s): Rock Rock: Hard-Rock Vince Neil's discography:  Live One Night Only Year: 2003 Tracks: 12  Carved In Stone Year: 1995 Tracks: 10  Exposed Year: 1993 Tracks: 11 "I told them about you bro. They major power saw you and they're stoked," admitted Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee to future lead-in singer Vince Neil the nox the ring came out to consider the washed-out blond vocalizer perform with his band Rock Candy at the notable Hollywood cabaret, Starwood. Neil, however, was apprehensive at first as he was very happy with his current band merely in agreement to an audition the side by side weekend as to non anguish Lee's feelings. The singer was quick ushered into the band, and for the future decennary they embarked on a punishing alloy odyssey full of music, mayhem, and iV sequential multi-platinum albums. Born Vince Neil Wharton on February 8, 1961, in Hollywood, CA, Neil was the focal point of the banding with his longsighted blond hair and scream vocal way. While non a schooled singer, Neil unquestionably looked the part. Born and raised in the Los Angeles country, he epitomized the freewheeling California "surfboarder clotheshorse" image, which was, at the time, the ideal part for a big metal front man (à la David Lee Roth). Later Neil united Mötley Crüe in 1981, the band recorded the self-produced record album Too Fast for Love, which attracted the attending of Elektra Records' Tom Zutaut. They were later gestural and in 1983 released their major-label debut, Shout at the Devil, that went on to become a multi-platinum smash and launched the banding into superstardom. Unfortunately, later the ensuing tour of duty to support the album with Ozzy Osbourne, Neil was mired in a good alcohol-related automobile accident in Redondo Beach, CA. The vocaliser, world Health Organization was driving sot, skidded into an onset machine, killing his rider, Hanoi Rocks' drummer Nicolas "Razmataz" Dingley, and earnestly injuring the deuce passengers in the other vehicle. Neil avoided prison house and was sent to a do drugs and inebriant rehabilitation clinic and coherent to pay indemnification to the victims. Contempt the accident, Mötley Crüe pressed on and released 1985's Theatre Of Pain which apace went multi-platinum as did 1987's Girls, Girls, Girls and 1989's Dr. Feelgood, an record album that became the band's biggest success. Following the massive tour to support Dr. Feelgood, Neil was pink-slipped from the band. As to wherefore he was pink-slipped is up to different interpretation from different bandmembers. As a termination, the singer embarked on a semi-successful solo career, teaming up with late Billy Idol guitar player Steve Stevens on 1993's Exposed, which sold respectably. In 1995, Neil released the Dust Brothers' produced Carved in Stone which failed to live up to expectations. Mötley Crüe as well failed to recapture their '80s success with their 1994 self-titled record album and asked Neil to rejoin the band in 1997. 1997's Generation Swine proverb the band reunited with their original star isaac M. Singer, Neil, and the original lineup of guitar player Mick Mars, bassist Nikki Sixx, and drummer Tommy Lee. This card would not last longsighted, however, as Tommy Lee would leave the band in 1999. Following yet some other going, the striation released New Tattoo in 2000. |
Download Phil Miller mp3
Monday, 11 August 2008
Tufts Researchers Design Bio-Friendly Optical Platform For Sensing Applications In Medicine, Health, Environment, Communications
�Imagine an edible ocular sensor that could be placed in produce bags to find harmful levels of bacterium and consumed right on with the veggies. Or an implantable device that would varan glucose in your blood for a year, and then dissolve.
Scientists at Tufts University's School of Engineering have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to design such "living" optical elements that could enable an entirely new class of sensors. These sensors would combine advanced nanoscale optics with biological readout functions, be biocompatible and biodegradable, and be manufactured and stored at room temperatures without habit of toxic chemicals. The Tufts squad used fibers from silkworms to develop the platform devices.
Tufts University has filed a number of patent applications on silk-based optics and is actively exploring commercialisation opportunities.
"Sophisticated optical devices that ar mechanically rich yet fully biodegradable, biocompatible and implantable don't live today," aforementioned principal investigator Fiorenzo Omenetto, associate professor of biomedical engineering and associate professor of physics. "Such systems would greatly expand the use of current optical technologies in areas like human and livestock health, environmental monitoring and solid food quality."
"For example, at a low-pitched cost, we could potentially put a bioactive silk film in every bag of spinach, and it could hold the consumer a read-out of whether or non E. coli bacteria were in the bag-before the food was consumed," explained David Kaplan, professor and chair of the biomedical engineering department.
The Tufts research was published in a recent paper in "Biomacromolecules" by Brian D. Lawrence, graduate student in biomedical engineering; Mark Cronin-Golomb, associate professor, biomedical technology; Irene Georgakoudi, assistant prof, biomedical engineering; Kaplan, and Omenetto. (hTTP://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/article.
Scientists at Tufts University's School of Engineering have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to design such "living" optical elements that could enable an entirely new class of sensors. These sensors would combine advanced nanoscale optics with biological readout functions, be biocompatible and biodegradable, and be manufactured and stored at room temperatures without habit of toxic chemicals. The Tufts squad used fibers from silkworms to develop the platform devices.
Tufts University has filed a number of patent applications on silk-based optics and is actively exploring commercialisation opportunities.
"Sophisticated optical devices that ar mechanically rich yet fully biodegradable, biocompatible and implantable don't live today," aforementioned principal investigator Fiorenzo Omenetto, associate professor of biomedical engineering and associate professor of physics. "Such systems would greatly expand the use of current optical technologies in areas like human and livestock health, environmental monitoring and solid food quality."
"For example, at a low-pitched cost, we could potentially put a bioactive silk film in every bag of spinach, and it could hold the consumer a read-out of whether or non E. coli bacteria were in the bag-before the food was consumed," explained David Kaplan, professor and chair of the biomedical engineering department.
The Tufts research was published in a recent paper in "Biomacromolecules" by Brian D. Lawrence, graduate student in biomedical engineering; Mark Cronin-Golomb, associate professor, biomedical technology; Irene Georgakoudi, assistant prof, biomedical engineering; Kaplan, and Omenetto. (hTTP://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/article.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Frankie Valli and Four Seasons
Artist: Frankie Valli and Four Seasons
Genre(s):
Rock & Roll
Discography:
25Th Anniversary Collection
Year: 1987
Tracks: 54
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Friday, 6 June 2008
Rhythm Corps
Artist: Rhythm Corps
Genre(s):
Pop: Pop-Rock
Discography:
The Future's Not What It Used To Be
Year: 1991
Tracks: 11
Formed in 1981, this Detroit band consisted of vocaliser Michael Persh, with Davey Holmbo, Greg Apro, and Richie Lovsin. Their best-known song was the underage hit "Uncouth Ground."
Thursday, 29 May 2008
How do you get music out of the theremin and the ondes Martenot, asksPascal Wyse
In Pamelia Kurstin's Vienna apartment, I have my back up against the wall and am attempting not to breathe. My hands are stuck in mid-air like a neglected shop dummy, and I am told to imagine I'm in a tub of "very thick fluid". Before me is what could be a little robot with two antennae. I carefully reach out towards it and it makes a seasick whooping sound.
Kurstin lets out the first of many enormous giggles. She is giving me a lesson on the theremin: an early electronic instrument that became the universal sound of aliens, ghosts and other voices from the B-movie ether.
"Just think of it like a horse," says Kurstin. "Whenever you walk around it, keep touching it so it doesn't freak out and kick you and go 'Yyyeeeoooww!'"
She is referring to the instrument's volume antenna, and how, if you keep your hand against it, the theremin will remain silent. Move it away and it starts to sing. Meanwhile, the proximity of your hand to the other antenna governs the pitch of the sound, which is made electronically by a simple synthesiser. The "thick fluid" is the electromagnetic field you become part of. Whatever you do in that field with your body affects the sound, so in order to be precise you must try to move just, say, your hand, nothing else. Even the swelling of your chest as you breathe can make the notes glide up and down. It's fitting that Léon Theremin's invention was used in the score for the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. In my hands, it's The Day the Earth Wobbled About Quite a Bit.
You can hear this instrument played virtuosically by Kurstin next Thursday and Friday in the Bath International music festival, in what is being billed as "a mind-blowing night of jazz, skronk and electronic music". But what you might not spot is that gig's connection to next Wednesday's offering in Bath's eclectic programme: the Messiaen Centenary Celebration. Among the instruments required for the composer's Trois Petit Liturgies de la Présence Divine is the ondes Martenot (or "Martenot waves", after inventor Maurice Martenot) - another early electronic instrument, cherished by Messiaen, which will be played by Cynthia Millar.
Both these instruments make a sound that is at once futuristic and vintage - just like the old science-fiction movies they were often used in - and both came about as a by-product of their inventors' work in radio technology around the 1920s. But it is their survival, against waves of advances in music technology, that is interesting. "The sounds themselves are not wildly sophisticated," says Millar, whom I meet in Birmingham as she prepares to play Messiaen's mighty Turangalîla Symphony with the CBSO. "What's special is the way it is played." From a distance the ondes Martenot looks like a traditional keyboard instrument - except the player's right hands seems to float over the keys rather than touch them. Up close you see that Millar's finger sits inside a ring attached to a wire. The movement of this wire, which in turn is attached to a drum inside the instrument, takes the pitch up and down - the sound, as with the theremin, being produced electronically by a rudimentary synthesiser. The notes are articulated by the left hand, via a wooden button called the "touche". The further you press down the touche, the louder the note.
"The touche is in effect my breath. That is what makes it so musical, in a way un-electric," says Millar. "The electricity is powering the sound out, but the technique is much more like singing a vocal technique, or trombone technique." There are also unusual speakers that add an eerie resonance, one by having the driver mounted against a small orchestral gong. Millar, who divides her time between Los Angeles and the UK, and between playing and film composing, has just been helping Matt Groening out with some sounds on a new Simpsons Halloween Special. She took up the ondes Martenot as a joint project with the late film composer Elmer Bernstein.
"Elmer had heard of the instrument through the composer Richard Rodney Bennett, who had used it in film scores. Elmer used it in a score he was then writing for a film called Heavy Metal. For that recording, Messiaen's sister-in-law, Jeanne Loriod, came over from France to play. Elmer said it made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. She played so beautifully on that movie." Among contemporary composers who have felt that same rush is Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood, who used six ondes in How to Disappear Completely.
Pamelia Kurstin decided to buy a theremin having read an interview with the synthesiser godfather Bob Moog. "Later, of course, people said, 'We want that sound but it's too difficult to control,' so that's why Moog started figuring out making it controllable by keyboard. A lot of the innards of the theremin are the foundations of monophonic synthesisers." But Moog, who cared so passionately about keeping machinery expressive, continued manufacturing - and being in love with - the theremin, and the humanising quality of its playing style. That makes theremin players (and ondes Martenot players) as variable in style as singers, choosing from infinite shades of portamento, articulation and vibrato. The instruments survive partly because this interface is one area of technology that has yet to be bettered.
The techniques, of course, can have disadvantages. If Kurstin is playing with her band, Barbez, she has to be careful that external movements don't stray into her "field". "It's a nightmare when someone is doing some licks and they walk up to you as they are playing, like a guitar or sax player. It can be a total miscommunication nightmare!" Audiences can get a bit confused, too: "Someone once thought I was an interpretive dancer. I was doing the bass lines in a duo with a keyboard player, and a woman just assumed the bass was coming from him. She went up to him afterwards and said, 'You're such a great player, and so expressive, but that dancer is horrible.'"
In film scores, the sounds of both the ondes and the theremin are distinctive: "The ondes works very well in film, though you can't hide it," says Millar. "You are always aware of it. It's difficult to use under dialogue, because it's like another little voice saying, 'And what about me? Do you want to hear what I've got to say?!'"
"Definitely, people associate the theremin with the world of B-movies and science fiction," says Kurstin. "That's the first exposure people have. Even kids nowadays go 'woowooowoowoowooo' when something is scary, and they don't even know they are making reference to a theremin. It's so part of pop culture, part of our vocabulary."
On the face of it, Kurstin and Millar are poles apart. Kurstin will play an improvised solo set in Bath, though perhaps influenced by her new-found love of Schoenberg and Webern. Millar, who travels the world and guests with its best orchestras, will perform Messiaen. But they are connected by a shared musical heritage, an invisible electromagnetic field - and the sound of little green men. Cynthia Millar performs in Messiaen's Centenary Celebration at Bath Abbey on May 28. Pamelia Kurstin performs at Bath's Invention Studios on May 29 and at The Pavilion on May 30.
Details: bathmusicfest.org.uk
See Also
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Ex Corrie star Sanderson joins Heartbeat
Former 'Coronation Street' star Nikki Sanderson is set to join the cast of 'Heartbeat'.
The 23-year-old actress will play the part of Dawn Bellamy, a niece of the late Phil Bellamy, in the ITV drama.
Sanderson quit 'Coronation Street' in 2005 when her character Candice left Weatherfield to become a stylist for Status Quo.
She has since appeared in 'Holby City', 'New Street Law' and 'X Factor: Battle of the Stars'.
Speaking about her new role, the actress said: "I'm so excited about starting on 'Heartbeat' and meeting all of the cast.
"My family and I have always loved the show, and I can't wait to put on the Sixties clothing."
Heartbeat producer Archie Tait said: "Nikki will be a fantastic addition to the show. Dawn is a great character who is certain to spice things up in Aidensfield."
The 23-year-old actress will play the part of Dawn Bellamy, a niece of the late Phil Bellamy, in the ITV drama.
Sanderson quit 'Coronation Street' in 2005 when her character Candice left Weatherfield to become a stylist for Status Quo.
She has since appeared in 'Holby City', 'New Street Law' and 'X Factor: Battle of the Stars'.
Speaking about her new role, the actress said: "I'm so excited about starting on 'Heartbeat' and meeting all of the cast.
"My family and I have always loved the show, and I can't wait to put on the Sixties clothing."
Heartbeat producer Archie Tait said: "Nikki will be a fantastic addition to the show. Dawn is a great character who is certain to spice things up in Aidensfield."
Scarlett Johansson to release debut album
Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson will release her debut album 'Anywhere I Lay My Head' this summer.
The 23-year-old star of 'Match Point' and 'Lost in Translation' spent five weeks recording the album, which features 10 covers of Tom Waits songs and one original track.
Johansson recorded the album at Dockside Studios in Louisiana with producer David Sitek.
The album also features collaborations with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zimmer.
A US release date has been pencilled in for 20 May, while an Irish release date has yet to be confirmed.
This is not Johansson's first foray into music. The star has previously appeared in Justin Timberlake's video for 'What Goes Around', while last year she sang onstage with The Jesus and Mary Chain at the Coachella Festival in the US.
The 23-year-old star of 'Match Point' and 'Lost in Translation' spent five weeks recording the album, which features 10 covers of Tom Waits songs and one original track.
Johansson recorded the album at Dockside Studios in Louisiana with producer David Sitek.
The album also features collaborations with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zimmer.
A US release date has been pencilled in for 20 May, while an Irish release date has yet to be confirmed.
This is not Johansson's first foray into music. The star has previously appeared in Justin Timberlake's video for 'What Goes Around', while last year she sang onstage with The Jesus and Mary Chain at the Coachella Festival in the US.
Blunt is critical of Spears' media treatment
Singer James Blunt has hit out at the media for reporting on Britney Spears' personal life and habits rather than her music.
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Blunt described Spears as a "phenomenal artist", before criticising the media for reporting on the fact that she was photographed wearing no underwear.
"I think when you put the emphasis on her knickers and not on her talent, you lose perspective," he said.
"It really detracts, as a whole, from things that are really important, like global warming and war."
"Sending paparazzi to investigate things like this is useless. We're better than that; we have the power to teach and educate. Let's spend our time on that."
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Blunt described Spears as a "phenomenal artist", before criticising the media for reporting on the fact that she was photographed wearing no underwear.
"I think when you put the emphasis on her knickers and not on her talent, you lose perspective," he said.
"It really detracts, as a whole, from things that are really important, like global warming and war."
"Sending paparazzi to investigate things like this is useless. We're better than that; we have the power to teach and educate. Let's spend our time on that."
Maria McKee
Artist: Maria McKee
Genre(s):
Folk: Folk-Rock
Folk
Rock
Discography:
Peddlin Dreams (Advance)
Year: 2005
Tracks: 12
High Dive
Year: 2003
Tracks: 14
Maria McKee
Year: 1996
Tracks: 11
Life Is Sweet
Year: 1996
Tracks: 12
You Gotta Sin To Get Saved
Year: 1993
Tracks: 10
After making her appoint as the gritty, soulful pencil lead isaac Bashevis Singer of roots rockers Lone Justice, Maria McKee embarked on an often-rewarding solo vocation. A native of Los Angeles, McKee was born in 1964; her half brother was Bryan MacLean, the guitarist and former vocaliser of the groundbreaking ceremony psychedelic striation Love. After perusal musical theatre as a stripling, McKee started acting on the L.A. clubhouse prospect in a duette with MacLean and too teamed up with local vapors isaac Bashevis Singer Top Jimmy (world Health Organization inspired the Van Halen song of the like call). A roots-music scene sprang up in L.A. during the early '80s, and McKee -- a body politic music fan -- met like-minded guitar player Ryan Hedgecock; the two co-founded Lone Justice in 1982, and with McKee often composition material, the mathematical group became a local favorite. They signed with Geffen on the recommendation of Linda Ronstadt, simply in malice of extremely positive media attention, their two albums -- 1985's Solitary Justice and 1986's Shelter -- failed to sell good, hampered by slick production and a good sense of not-quite-fulfilled potency. McKee went solo afterwards the latter record and released her self-titled debut in 1989, with Mitchell Froom producing.
McKee scored a critical find with her instant album, 1993's You Gotta Sin to Get Saved, which was helmed by Black Crowes/Jayhawks manufacturer George Drakoulias. Its rootsy, rustic rock and McKee's ever more powerful vocals lED many reviewers to call it her to the highest degree amply realized work to date. She went on to bestow the song "If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)" to the hit soundtrack of Pulp magazine Fiction, and in 1996 she released a tierce solo album, the much artier Life Is Sweet, on which she played all the guitar parts. McKee afterwards took a suspension from recording, during which time she extricated herself from her trade with Geffen in lookup of greater creative control. She ultimately returned in 2003 with another ambitious criminal record, High Dive. In 2004, McKee issued Live in Hamburg, her first released concert picnic. It was followed by Peddlin' Dreams in 2005 and Live Acoustic Tour 2006. Late December appeared in 2007 from Cooking Vinyl Records.
Former Lost star back on big screen
Kathy Griffin - Griffin Splits From Married Billionaire
Comedienne KATHY GRIFFIN has confirmed she and billionaire Apple co-founder STEVE WOZNIAK have split - after he reportedly got married at the weekend (26Apr08).
Griffin admits the odd couple broke up some time ago and she only recently found out he was about to get wed.
She says, "I got an email last week from him, and he is going to marry someone else. I think he might be married."
But the usually sharp-tongued Griffin insists she's far from bitter: "He is an awesome guy, but I have to say he is in the friends category now."
See Also
Extras wins at Golden Globes
The Ricky Gervais-starring comedy 'Extras' was named Best Comedy Series in the TV categories at the Golden Globe Awards press conference in Los Angeles last night.
The award for Best TV Drama went to 'Mad Men', with its star, John Hamm, named Best Actor in a TV Drama Series.
Glenn Close won the Best Actress in a TV Drama Series award for her performance in 'Damages'.
The award for Best Actor in a TV Comedy Series went to David Duchovny for 'Californication', with Tina Fey winning the Best Actress in a TV Comedy Series award for '30 Rock'.
There were three awards for the Channel 4-screened TV film 'Longford': it won the Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television award, with its stars, Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton, winning the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress awards.
Queen Latifah won the Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Film for 'Life Support' and Jeremy Piven won the Best Supporting TV Actor award for 'Entourage'.
Read about the winners in the Golden Globes Film categories here.
The award for Best TV Drama went to 'Mad Men', with its star, John Hamm, named Best Actor in a TV Drama Series.
Glenn Close won the Best Actress in a TV Drama Series award for her performance in 'Damages'.
The award for Best Actor in a TV Comedy Series went to David Duchovny for 'Californication', with Tina Fey winning the Best Actress in a TV Comedy Series award for '30 Rock'.
There were three awards for the Channel 4-screened TV film 'Longford': it won the Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television award, with its stars, Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton, winning the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress awards.
Queen Latifah won the Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Film for 'Life Support' and Jeremy Piven won the Best Supporting TV Actor award for 'Entourage'.
Read about the winners in the Golden Globes Film categories here.
"Trucker" a breakthrough for Monaghan
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Film buffs may have recognized Michelle Monaghan's appeal in such movies as "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "North Country" and "Gone Baby Gone."
But she hasn't had a chance to carry a movie until "Trucker," which had its world premiere at New York's recent Tribeca Film Festival, and makes us realize what we've been missing.
Her performance elicits the same exhilarating sense of discovery that surrounded Sally Field's breakthrough in "Norma Rae." And there are some parallels between those two characters. Monaghan's Diane is a bruised, ballsy woman who's made something of a mess of her life. She goes through a transformation during the course of the story and emerges as strong rather than merely tough. Although the film doesn't have the social import that made "Norma Rae" a hit, it's an affecting, small-scale film that could catch on with sophisticated audiences as well as more down-home types.
Monaghan plays a trucker who kisses off a typical one-night stand during the opening scene. She's a hard-drinking gal who likes her independence, but when her ex-husband (Benjamin Bratt) discovers he is terminally ill, Diane has to take charge of the son (Jimmy Bennett) she hasn't seen in years. Although there isn't much doubt where the story is heading, and while it could definitely use a few more surprises, the performances carry the movie. Writer-director James Mottern demonstrates both rigor and tenderness in his feature debut.
Monaghan shows absolutely no vanity in exposing the hard, reckless side of the character, and Bennett matches her. Already a veteran of a dozen movies, the youth exudes an unaffected ease that other child actors might envy. The strongest scenes come in the unsentimental tug of war between mother and son. Nathan Fillion is enormously likable as Diane's best pal who might have the potential to be something more. Although Bratt's role is rather underdeveloped, he gives dimension to his few scenes. The atmosphere of roadside Americana is genuinely portrayed, as well. The story may not be earth-shaking, but Monaghan's star-making performance assures that it will be remembered.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
But she hasn't had a chance to carry a movie until "Trucker," which had its world premiere at New York's recent Tribeca Film Festival, and makes us realize what we've been missing.
Her performance elicits the same exhilarating sense of discovery that surrounded Sally Field's breakthrough in "Norma Rae." And there are some parallels between those two characters. Monaghan's Diane is a bruised, ballsy woman who's made something of a mess of her life. She goes through a transformation during the course of the story and emerges as strong rather than merely tough. Although the film doesn't have the social import that made "Norma Rae" a hit, it's an affecting, small-scale film that could catch on with sophisticated audiences as well as more down-home types.
Monaghan plays a trucker who kisses off a typical one-night stand during the opening scene. She's a hard-drinking gal who likes her independence, but when her ex-husband (Benjamin Bratt) discovers he is terminally ill, Diane has to take charge of the son (Jimmy Bennett) she hasn't seen in years. Although there isn't much doubt where the story is heading, and while it could definitely use a few more surprises, the performances carry the movie. Writer-director James Mottern demonstrates both rigor and tenderness in his feature debut.
Monaghan shows absolutely no vanity in exposing the hard, reckless side of the character, and Bennett matches her. Already a veteran of a dozen movies, the youth exudes an unaffected ease that other child actors might envy. The strongest scenes come in the unsentimental tug of war between mother and son. Nathan Fillion is enormously likable as Diane's best pal who might have the potential to be something more. Although Bratt's role is rather underdeveloped, he gives dimension to his few scenes. The atmosphere of roadside Americana is genuinely portrayed, as well. The story may not be earth-shaking, but Monaghan's star-making performance assures that it will be remembered.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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