Tim joined Tom Barnard, Brittany Arneson and Tevin Pittman on the “Tom Barnard Morning Show Podcast,” as well as Adam Carter and Jordana Green on “Adam and Jordana” show on WCCO-AM Friday to review the new theatrical release “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and the new streaming movie “Totally Killer” (Amazon Prime). Click to listen to below. All of Tim’s segments are brought to you by Michael Bryant, and Bradshaw and Bryant.
Click HERE to watch Tim review “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” movie on “The Tom Barnard Show.
<!– wp:paragraph –> <p><p><strong>In addition, Tim reviews movies weekly for the “Adam and Jordana” with Adam Carter and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Adam and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11.”</strong></p></p> <!– /wp:paragraph –>
Here’s another Cool Movie Toys — make that Cool Music Toys — review: NECA’s Elton John Live in ’75 Deluxe Action Figure and Piano set. If you like what you see, subscribe to my channel HERE.
Tim Lammers is a feature interviewer for Looper.com. You can read some of his recent interviews with the likes of Nicolas Cage, James Marsden, Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Henry Selick, Ralph Macchio and Martin Kove HERE.
In addition, Tim reviews movies weekly for the “Adam and Jordana” with Adam Carter and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Adam and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11.”
No, the title of Olivia Newton-John’s new memoir “Don’t Stop Believin’’” wasn’t inspired by a certain rock band’s legendary rock anthem, but the legendary singer and actress’ life has been a journey, nonetheless.
Newton-John, 70, admitted in recent phone conversation from California that she never intended on revealing several intimate details about her amazing life in the spotlight and behind the scenes, until news of an unauthorized biopic being made in her home country of Australia prompted her to start writing the tome simply because she wanted admirers to get the right story directly from the source.
“I haven’t seen it yet, but by all accounts, it isn’t bad,” Newton-John said. “I didn’t know that at the time, though, so I thought I better cover myself and that film was what inspired me to get the book started, and I enjoyed it.”
Taken from the name from her own hit single, “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster) chronicles several personal moments in Newton-John’s life extending back to childhood, yet covers many of her professional achievements as a chart-topping singer (with hits like “If Not For You,” “I Honestly Love You,” “A Little More Love” and the monster hit “Physical”) and starring opposite John Travolta in the legendary movie musical “Grease” (which spawned the hits “Summer Nights” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You”).
Released 41 years ago this June, Newton-John is thrilled that “Grease” became not only a hit in the United States, but a worldwide blockbuster — and she doesn’t mind that fans continue to associate her with the iconic role of Sandy Olsson. After all, the film, along with the 1980 musical “Xanadu” has had such of a positive impact on people’s lives — and being positive is what Newton-John is all about.
“I’m happy to embrace ‘Grease.’ I’m very lucky to be part of a movie that is still so beloved,” Newton-John enthused. “I mean, how many people can have the experience of being in a film that not only people love, but that is still being talked about 40 years later? I’ve always been very grateful for it. I haven’t been in many films, but to be in ‘Grease’ and ‘Xanadu’ — both musicals that people have really enjoyed — and to dance with John Travolta and Gene Kelly in one lifetime? I was dancing with the stars way before it was popular, so I think I was very lucky.”
Winning over cancer
Newton-John isn’t afraid to broach painful topics in her memoir, though, including three challenges with breast cancer (she doesn’t like to characterize them as battles, but “winning” instead). Even then, Newton-John found a silver lining, raising awareness of the disease by becoming an advocate. Among her proudest achievements is her help creating and lending her name to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne.
“It was an amazing gift to be offered that opportunity. I didn’t know how we were going raise the money when we started since we had to raise nearly $200 million (to build it),” Newton-John recalled of the beginnings of the facility, which opened in 2012.“ So, we just started doing a bunch of things to raise money for it like walking the Great Wall of China. It was such of an amazing thing to see the dream come true and now it’s a wonderful, functioning cancer wellness and research center and I got to experience it on my 70th birthday. It was the culmination of an amazing dream.”
Essentially, Newton-John has always lived a life reinforced by positivity. True, she recognizes that cancer is dreadful disease, but she’s also maintained the will that, in a way, echoes a line in her classic hit “Magic” — “nothing can stand in our way.”
“You can’t talk about your illness all the time and feel sorry for yourself. There is someone always worse off,” Newton-John said.“I’m breathing and lucky, and you have to keep that in mind because you create your world by what you think, what you believe. It’s all in your head. So, you have to keep your thoughts positive and make your world that way.”
Being positive is something that was instituted in Newton-John as a young girl by her parents, and because of that, she’s essentially adopted the mantra, “If you want it, create it. We create what we believe.”
“It’s worked for me in my life. If you work toward things and you can’t make them happen, you keep working toward them and you don’t give up,” Newton-John said. “The show must go on and you don’t give up. I learned that from my mom and dad, who were both really hard-working people and were very inspiring to me. I wasn’t overly praised, though. My dad would say, ‘Well done,’ and that was big praise. I’ve had an interesting life and a fabulous one.”
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Forget about his behind-the-scenes access and knowing the material inside and out: When “Penny Dreadful” star Reeve Carney said he watched the first episode of the hit Showtime horror series, he knew he was part of something special because it freaked him out just as much as everybody else.
“Even though I knew what was going to happen because I read the scripts and was there a lot of the days the show was being filmed, I was still terrified,” Carney told me with a laugh in a phone call Monday from Ireland, where filming is underway on the show’s second season. “The show does a great job of making you leave your sense of reality behind when you’re watching it.”
Carney stars as the classic literary character Dorian Gray in creator John Logan’s unique Victorian-era world, which also weaves in such literary icons as Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), his creature (Rory Kinnear) and other famed characters who strike fear in the hearts of horror fans.
Also starring Eva Green, Timothy Dalton and Josh Hartnett as trio who team together to battle evil, supernatural forces, “Penny Dreadful” makes its debut on Blu-ray and DVD (ShowTime/CBS Home Entertainment) Tuesday.
Originating, of course, as the ageless title character in Oscar Wilde’s classic novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Carney knew going into the project of the responsibility of staying true the Dorian’s literary roots, while at the same time making the character his own under the auspices of Logan. Carney says Logan, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “Gladiator,” “The Aviator” and “Hugo,” gave Carney the choice to delve into the original material for some context, but it wasn’t required.
“In the final audition stages, I asked John if I should read it, but he said, ‘It’s up to you.’ I thought it was my duty to do so,” Carney recalled. “At the same time, I knew John was taking the character not in a different direction, but elaborating upon him in a different way. It’s so exciting. This is the sort of show I would watch even if I wasn’t involved in it.”
Carney, 31, says working on “Penny Dreadful” has been thrilling, not only for its spine-tingling material, but for working with the likes of Green, Hartnett and Dalton and the veteran charisma they bring to the series. Humbled by their presence, Carney said he takes every opportunity to learn from them.
“I go to the set on my days off to watch them, hopefully inconspicuously,” Carney said with a chuckle. “Compared to someone like Eva, Tim and Josh, I’m relatively new to this game, and they’ve been very helpful.”
“Tim gave me some great advice because I couldn’t watch myself on the screen, but now I can endure it,” Carney added. “He said, ‘You can’t be worried about any of the surface-level things and ultimately, you have to be looking for the truth.’ If you ask yourself, ‘Am I telling the truth?’ and you are, that’s all you can do. That’s something I learned from Tim that I will carry with me forever.”
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Giant leaps
Carney’s path to “Penny Dreadful” is no doubt unique, from playing guitar for blues maestro Jonny Lang from 2005-06, to singing and slinging webs originating the Marvel-ous title character in the Broadway smash “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” from 2010-13. The New York native has also had roles on the big screen, having starred in such films “The Tempest,” the Shakespeare classic adapted by his “Spider-Man” director Julie Taymor in 2010.
On TV with “Penny Dreadful,” the series presented an unusual opportunity for Carney in that it required him to strip down, both figuratively and literally. The great thing, Carney knew, was that the nakedness was something that he could only build upon.
“At first I was a little afraid to be involved, not because of the horror genre – because I’ve always loved that – but just the idea of having to take my clothes off a lot. I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to take a different type of courage for me,'” Carney said with laugh. “I knew after ‘Spider-Man’ that if I were going to put more of my focus into the acting world, that I had to do something as far away from the musical as I could possibly get. I only do that because I want to continue to take big leaps, so people don’t think that I’m just interested in one thing. I like to stretch as much as possible.”
The wonderful thing is, as much success as Carney has had in his time as a performance artist, “Penny Dreadful” — and his time with his band, Carney — he feels what is happening now only marks the beginning of a very promising career. And like Dorian Gray, youth is definitely on Carney’s side.
“If you would have asked me five years ago if I had any plans after ‘Spider-Man,’ I probably would have said, ‘No, I’m just going to be a musician,'” Carney observed. “But I really do enjoy both music and acting now. I feel things are just beginning for me in a true sense.”
So, while musical theater doesn’t appear to be in the cards for Carney at this juncture, he’s still going to approach his dual occupations keeping both sensibilities in mind — especially using what he’s learned as an actor in his work as a musician.
“I enjoy them both. I think music and theater inform each other,” Carney enthused. “I approach acting as a musician would, and I think I approach music as an actor. Being an interpreter of songs, you don’t want to force your opinion into any song. You want to be open to the idea that something exists beyond yourself.”
Original Interviews, Reviews & More By Tim Lammers
