Monthly Archives: June 2012

Comedian And Actor Kevin Hart Extends His ‘Let Me Explain’ Tour With 20 Arena Dates This Fall

On the heels of his starring role in the hit movie “Think Like A Man,” actor and comedian Kevin Hart announces he will extend his “Let Me Explain” tour which moves from sold-out theaters to arena dates this fall. Hart has performed for more than 334,000 fans during the 2011 and 2012 theater run of “Let Me Explain.” Hart has also confirmed two dates in London at the Birmingham Academy on September 13th and the O2 Arena on September 14th.  Tickets go on sale June 15th at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.

This spring Kevin starred in the Screen Gems film Think Like A Man , a comedy based on Steve Harvey’s bestselling book Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man from 2009. The movie was number one at the box office for two consecutive weeks. Hart also had a supporting role in Universal & Nick Stoller’s comedy Five Year Engagement by producer Judd Apatow. 

Kevin Hart burst onto the scene as one of the most versatile comedy actors in film and television. In September 2011 Hart released “Laugh At My Pain,” the feature film version of his comedy tour (under the same name). The movie grossed over $7 million, and was 2011’s most successful film of those released in less than 300 theaters. The LAMP tour made Hart 2011’s number one comedian on Ticketmaster, and in February 2011 Hart sold out the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles for two nights in a row to break the previous box office record by an African American comedian set by Eddie Murphy. The LAMP DVD hit double platinum in February 2012, after being on sale for one month.

Hart’s DVD Seriously…Funny is one of the fastest selling DVDs in recent years and has gone triple Platinum. His comedy central special of the same name is the highest rated comedy special of 2010. In 2009, Hart’s one-hour comedy special “I’m a Grown Little Man” on Comedy Central was also one of the highest rated specials for the network.

2012 Kevin Hart Tour Itinerary
Show Date Venue City                 
LONDON:    
September 13 Birmingham Academy @NIA  London
September 14 London O2 London                                                                       
     
UNITED STATES:    
September 21  Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis     
September 22   Palace of Auburn Hill      Detroit
September 28    Times Union                   Albany
September 29     United Center                  Chicago
October 5        Oracle Arena                    Oakland
October 6         Power Balance Pavilion      Sacramento
October 12        Moran Theater                   Jacksonville
October 13         American Airlines               Miami
October 19          Veterans Memorial              Columbus
October 20           Verizon Center                     Washington D.C.
October 26            Consol Energy Center            Pittsburgh
     
November 3     Comerica Theatre            Phoenix
November 16    American Airlines Center   Dallas
November 30     Richmond Coliseum           Richmond
     
December 1       Philips Arena                     Atlanta
December 7        Quicken Loans Arena          Cleveland
December 8         US Bank Arena                    Cincinnati
December 14        Target Center                        Minneapolis
December 15         Milwaukee Theatre                 Milwaukee
December 21          Wells Fargo Center                 Philadelphia

All dates are subject to change.

For more information visit: khartonline.com, facebook.com/hartkevin or tweet @KevinHart4real.

Actress Julia Stiles Stars as a Mother With a Scandalous Secret Life In “Blue”

Julia Stiles stars in a new series, “Blue,” which is premiering now on the YouTube Channel, WIGS (www.youtube.com/wigs). In the series, Stiles stars as the title character, a single mom trying to protect her son from the consequences of her secret career. “Blue,” the second WIGS series, is written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia.

Blue is a single mother who works as an accountant, striving to save enough money to send her bright son, Josh (Uriah Shelton), to a better school. Her salary isn’t enough, so to make ends meet she secretly works nights as an escort. But Josh’s precocious wits make him evermore suspicious about her evening whereabouts. One night, Blue’s client, Cooper (David Harbour), turns out to be a friend from her youth. As her carefully separated worlds begin to collide, Blue must fight to protect her son from the ramifications of her complicated past and tenuous present. “Blue” also stars Sarah Paulson, Kathleen Quinlan, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Garcia remarked, “What I love about the Blue character is that, like so many women, she’s a magician at surviving despite all the odds against her.”

“I wanted Blue to be a specific character; I wanted to be inside this one person,” said Stiles about her role as a single mother who is also a part-time escort. “I wanted to take these specific moments that Rodrigo had scripted and Blue’s way of handling it as one individual. So in a sense that freed me up.”

The first 12 episodes of the series will become available over the next three weeks, with new episodes premiering on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Episodes one and two are currently available worldwide in English and Spanish on youtube.com/wigs, youtube.com/wigsespanol and watchwigs.com.

“Blue” is the third piece of original, scripted content on WIGS. The first series “Jan,” written and directed by Jon Avnet, starring Caitlin Gerard, Virginia Madsen, and Stephen Moyer, and the first short film “Serena,” written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, starring Jennifer Garner and Alfred Molina, both premiered in May. The complete first season of “Jan” (15 episodes) and the one-off “Serena” are both available to watch now. 

Rodrigo Garcia’s first film as writer and director, “Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her,” opened “Un Certain Regard” at the Cannes Film Festival 2000 and won the award for best film in that category. Mr. Garcia’s other credits as writer/director include: “Ten Tiny Love Stories,” “Nine Lives” (Winner Best Film Locarno Film Festival 2005), and “Mother and Child” (Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Samuel Jackson).

Mr. Garcia’s credits also include the pilots for HBO series “Carnivale” and “Big Love.” Additionally, he shot the pilot for, and was the executive producer and showrunner of, the first season of “In Treatment.” Most recently, he directed “Albert Nobbs” (Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Janet McTeer, Brendan Gleeson), which was nominated for three Academy Awards.

WIGS is a new digital channel, launched in May 2012 by Jon Avnet, Rodrigo Garcia, and Jake Avnet, featuring world-class talent in original series, short films, documentaries and other content exploring female characters. Dozens of scripted episodes will be premiering in the coming months. The channel can be found at www.youtube.com/wigs, www.youtube.com/wigsespanol, and www.watchwigs.com.

Nicki Minaj Talks to Funk Master Flex about Summer Jam Drama

The feud between Young Money Records artist Nicki Minaj and New York’s HOT 97 radio station has hit epic proportions after Minaj and HOT97’s Funk Master Flex exchanged words Monday, June 4th during an on-air interview.

Minaj called into to speak with Flex about the controversial comments made about her song “Starships” by HOT 97 personality Peter Rosenberg at the stations famous Summer Jam show.

For those not familiar with the situation, Minaj was scheduled to perform at Summer Jam 2012 but cancelled her performance after Rosenberg’s negative comments on the festival stage that her song wasn’t real Hip-Hop.

Check below for the video of Rosenberg’s comments and listen to the Flex and Minaj interview.

2012 MTV Movie Awards Unleashes Unexpected Wins And Outrageous Star-Studded Moments

The “2012 MTV Movie Awards” broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Gibson Amphitheatre with unexpected moments from a stage fashioned as a futuristic drive-in, immersing fans in the magic of the movies. Master of Ceremonies Russell Brand set the tone for a night of surprise moments and wins as well as electric musical performances. 

Among the biggest moments was an introduction by Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry of Johnny Depp, the recipient of this year’s Generation Award, right before the Academy Award® nominated actor shocked the audience by strapping on his guitar and joining The Black Keys for a no-holds-barred rendition of the rock duo’s “Gold On the Ceiling” into “Lonely Boy.”

Chart-topping indie rock band fun. got the show off to a rousing start with a rendition of their anthem “We Are Young,” performing inside a giant velvet-padded box and flanked by a 12-person choir and singer Janelle Monae.  The band kicked off a night that recognized first-time golden popcorn winners as well as fan-favorite films and a diverse array of filmmakers, actors and musical artists.  The audience was treated to an epic tribute to the first two installments of “The Dark Knight” trilogy and an exclusive sneak peek of “The Dark Knight Rises,” introduced by director, writer and producer Christopher Nolan, along with cast members Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gary Oldman.

The most wins of the night went to “The Hunger Games” with four wins in the BEST FEMALE, BEST MALE, BEST FIGHT and BEST ON-SCREEN TRANSFORMATION categories, followed by “Bridesmaids” with two awards and, in a fitting close to the franchise, Emma Watson was on-hand to accept BEST CAST and the first-ever socially voted BEST HERO popcorns for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”  First-time Movie Awards winner Shailene Woodley was chosen by a special academy of film directors as this year’s BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE winner for “The Descendants,” and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson took home her fourth-straight win in the BEST KISS category for “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.”

This year’s newest categories also saw big wins, with Jennifer Aniston being honored in the ON-SCREEN DIRTBAG category, the cast of “Bridesmaids” taking home BEST GUT-WRENCHING PERFORMANCE for the flick’s infamous food poisoning scene, andBEST GUT-WRENCHING PERFORMANCE winning BEST MUSIC for “Party Rock Anthem” in “21 Jump Street.”

Emma Stone was honored with the inaugural MTV TRAILBLAZER AWARD, which went off the rails when the presentation turned into a hilarious roast featuring Octavia Spencer, Jim Carrey, Mila Kunis, Anna Faris, Steve Carell and Jason Sudeikis.  With friends like these, Stone doesn’t need enemies.

The original party animal Charlie Sheen emerged on-stage to pay tribute to the greatest party films of all time, bestowing “Project X” as the next in line to become an Instant Cult Classic.  Wiz Khalifa then took to the stage to perform his new single “Work Hard, Play Hard,” inside his very own house party, complete with kids dancing, and streamers and red cups flying.   Throughout the telecast, DJ Martin Solveig re-invented classic movie soundtracks, bringing a beat to everything from “Jaws” to “Pulp Fiction” to “Star Wars.”

The final award of the night went to “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” in the MOVIE OF THE YEAR category.

Winners of the “2012 MTV Movie Awards” are as follows (*denotes new category/**voted on by an Academy of Directors):

MOVIE OF THE YEAR (voting stays live throughout the 2012 Movie Awards ceremony)

  • “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”
    Director: Bill Condon, Producers: Karen Rosenfelt, Wyck Godfrey, Stephenie Meyer
    (Summit Entertainment)

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE

  • Jennifer Lawrence – “The Hunger Games” (Lionsgate)

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE

  • Josh Hutcherson – “The Hunger Games” (Lionsgate)

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE**

  • Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight)

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE

  • Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids” (Universal Pictures)

BEST CAST*

  • “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (Warner Bros. Pictures) – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton

BEST ON-SCREEN TRANSFORMATION*

  • Elizabeth Banks – “The Hunger Games” (Lionsgate)

BEST FIGHT

  • Jennifer Lawrence & Josh Hutcherson vs. Alexander Ludwig – “The Hunger Games” (Lionsgate)

BEST KISS

  • Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”
    (Summit Entertainment)

BEST GUT-WRENCHING PERFORMANCE*

  • “Bridesmaids” (Universal Pictures) – Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper
    Food poisoning turns the girls’ dress fitting into a disaster

BEST ON-SCREEN DIRTBAG*

  • Jennifer Aniston – “Horrible Bosses” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

BEST MUSIC*

  • “Party Rock Anthem,” LMFAO – “21 Jump Street” (Sony Pictures)
    House dance party