Posts Tagged ‘animated’

Jesse McCartney

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Jesse McCartneyJesse McCartney was born on the 9th of April 1987 in Ardsley New York. At the age of seven he was performing in musicals and at ten he had joined the national tour of The King and I. At 11 he moved to Los Angeles to become and actor and singer. After performing in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden McCartney landed a role on ABC’s soap Opera, All my Children, playing Adam Chandler Junior. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his role.

McCartney joined the boy band Dream Street in 1999, a group that earned a gold record with their debut CD. They broke up on tour in 2002. At just 15 he began his solo career with a local band. His debut full-length solo album, Beautiful Soul, took two years to make and was released in September 2004. The album featured four songs which were co-written by McCartney. His album later went on to achieve platinum status, selling over 5 million albums. His first solo tour with the same name as his album was launched in May 2005. It featured fifty six stops and a new band.

McCartney’s second album was released in September 2006. The title track, Right Where You Want Me, was again co-written by McCartney as were all the other tracks on the album. He did not launch a second tour because his record company, Hollywood Records, was not supporting it.

In 2007 McCartney appeared in two Disney Channel shows, Hannah Montanna and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, as himself.

Jesse McCartneyIn 2007 he was featured as Theodore in “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. In 2008 McCartney lent his voice to Jojo McDodd, in the Jim Carry and Steve Carell animated feature, Horten Hears A Who!.

In May 2008, a full year and a half after his second album, McCartney released his third album – Departure. This was his first R&B album. He joined Jordin Sparks on a co-headlining tour for the length of August 2008 to promote his new album.

But there is more to Jesse McCartney than singing and acting. He also writes songs for other artists. Hit songs. In 2007 he co-wrote the hit song “Bleeding Love” for Leona Lewis’s debut album, Spirit. His version of the song is on some editions of his Departure album. He has also co-written for Venessa Hudgens’ album Identified. Simon Cowell has hinted at McCartney and David Cook, winner of American Idol 2008, working together on Cook’s debut album.

McCartney told the Associated Press, “I certainly knew there was going to be some shock value. Musically, I definitely took a risk; I took a chance. I wanted to do something new. But it was also something that I knew I was comfortable with, and so I’m really happy”

McCartney has supported various charities and charity events throughout his career including “Come Together Now”, “Little Kids Rock”, “Kids for a drug free America”, “St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital”, “SPACE”, and “City of Hope Cancer Centre.”

What makes a movie great?

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

OscarWhat makes a movie great? Is it the actors, the director or the script? Why watch animated movies when you can watch real people acting on the screen?

Movies have been the voice of men and woman throughout their time. They are used as message carriers and entertainment for the masses. Movies can be hated and loved at the same time. They can be successful and the can be disasters, money spinners and money losers. Surely then there must be a formula for the perfect movie, a perfect way to create a perfect movie!

Teenagers seem to have a vendetta against animated movies, they feel that they are for little children and that if they watch animated movies they will be seen as babies! It’s a pity that they think in this way, some of the greatest movies have been animated movies and those movies contain the formula of the perfect movie!

The formula for the perfect movie is not simple. Many have failed to achieve the perfect magic that the formula releases when all the reactants are mixed correctly. The most important ingredient is a good script. The script of a movie is the foundation of all that is to come. No actor, director or producer can make a poor script turn into the magic ingredient it needs to be. So surely before adding any money, time or energy to a film the script should be perfected.

Story telling is what the movie business is all about, the script is the story’s heart. Action movies can be fantastic. Comedies, dramas, musicals can all be great and they can all be terrible to! So how can a script be perfected if all movie genres can be failures and successes? What must the script contain to make sure the movie is a success?

Iron Man

The answer is simple, the best movies are not specific to genre. The best movies are the ones that change your life! The best movies are unforgettable, they make you as a person want to change, and they make you want to be a better person. The best movies make you the main character, they take you somewhere purposeful and don’t waste your time! Some of my favourite movies of all time are Disney movies. The movies have heart, they makes you wish you where in them, interacting with the characters. The acting is done with passion which makes it so much better. All successful actors and actresses act with a passion unique to themselves.

Dark Knight

However, you can’t compare a made for television movie with a big screen movie. What makes movies like Peter Jackson’s King Kong of 2005, the Dark Knight and Finding Nemo so popular? They must have an element that was the same in making them a success. I think after a while the crucial elements become simple. You can watch a movie and know which are missing and which are there. The crucial ingredients are a great script, money, a passionate crew, passionate actors and actresses and a fantastic score!

Wall E

More importantly though is an ingredient that most movies lack, an ingredient that King Kong has but ‘Dude, where’s my car?’ lacks. It’s a moral story line, something that is often subconscious and goes by unnoticed in the greatest movies. It’s a sad but true fact that the world today is in a shambles, we don’t need more rubbish fed to us over and over again! What we need is moral movies encouraging the youth and the world to wake up to what is happening around us. It is not a matter of religion, although God is an important part of it for me. Any person can appreciate good values and morals if they just try hard enough!