US – Saturday, July 4
The week's releases
Metro staff reviews the latest CDs, DVDs and books for your reading pleasure.
 
The gangster of Hollywood
FEATURE. Johnny Depp doesn’t know what time it is. Though he technically calls an adorable village in France home and owns an island in the Caribbean, the mercurial actor spends so much time working that his internal clock is all out of whack.
 
 
Directorial debut is a shot at the ‘Moon’
INTERVIEW. When directors are limited to a $5 million budget and a 33-day shooting schedule, they usually won’t do anything too arduous — especially for their first films. But director Duncan Jones, 37, tells us that he “wanted to do something with ambition” for his debut flick. So instead, Jones, who is the son of David Bowie, decided to make the sci-fi adventure “Moon,” which opens Friday. The affable Brit explains how.
 
The Beckhams’ island getaway
GOSSIP. According to the Sun, David Beckham is planning a trip to Necker Island, Richard Branson’s private island hideaway, to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary with Victoria Beckham. And the best part? It only costs $51,000 a night to have the whole island to themselves.
 
Bale does light-lifting
 MOVIES. Christian Bale is more relaxed than usual, and with good reason. The heavy lifting in promoting his latest film, “Public Enemies,” falls to Johnny Depp. For once, the success or failure of the movie doesn’t rest on Bale’s shoulders. There’s no talk of on-set outbursts or franchise potential. And for that, he’s grateful — and cheerful.
 
Updated 15:16, September the 3rd, 2008
 

Teamwork does indeed "Stand Up"

Last week, when I learned about a gaggle of the biggest female recording artists getting together to record a song to benefit cancer research I had a nauseous  reaction not unlike what I imagine some of the side effects of cancer treatment may be like.  My stomach churned as I thought about the potential for a collaboration between Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, Leann Rimes, and Carrie Underwood to turn into a Darwinian diva competition. Survival of the richest. Remember when the top gals from class of 2001 re-made “Lady Marmalade”?  Remember the last few seconds of that song? Missy Elliott calls out the ladies by name and they respond by doing their best “See, look? I’m a real singer!” performance: Christina Aguillera does about a full octave within her two seconds, while Lil Kim just keeps grunting “Uh” on the same note. Collaborations have high potential to make certain performers look bad for making their peers look bad. Basically, it’s a no-win situation. It must be more than a coincidence that none of the “Lady Marmalade” ladies appear on the new song, which was released earlier this week, and will be performed by all 15 women on Friday night’s multi-network special, “Stand Up to Cancer.”

Thankfully, the song in question, "Just stand Up" is not a showboating barge, and as far as mass collaborations go, it’s a little catchier than “We Are the World” but not quite as good as “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Let’s just say it’s exactly as good as “That’s What Friends Are For.” The voices of all 15 singers are so well-blended that the only slightly sore thumb that stands out is Fergie’s deep “all up in your face.” And the proud melody and determined lyrics are the sort that give listeners hope that songs actually can change the world. The only problem with the song is that it sounds enough like the Wilson Phillips tune “Hold On” that I get a medley of both tunes in my head when I think of either one. It makes sense that it brings to mind an ‘80s hit, since it was masterminded by the team of songwriter L.A. Reid and producer Babyface, whose best known work is from ‘80s hits like “Girlfriend” by Pebbles and “Rock Steady” by the Whispers. While I applaud these two guys for excluding Xtina, Pink, Mya and Lil Kim, perhaps they should have considered calling the Wilson Phillips gals. They could probably use the exposure.