FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – What would Steven Tyler, the “American Idol” judge, think of Steven Tyler, who sang the national anthem at the AFC championship game Sunday?
Let’s just say the rendition probably wouldn’t get him to Hollywood.
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The 63-year-old frontman for the Boston-based rock group Aerosmith warbled “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the New England Patriots played the Baltimore Ravens. Tyler appeared with his trademark scarf — this one with the Patriots logo in red, white and blue sequins.
A regional favorite because of his local ties, Tyler was cheered by the crowd anyway.
Young, Demme collaborate on concert movie
PARK CITY, Utah – Neil Young recalls his first concert film with director Jonathan Demme as a lush, stately tribute to country music.
He says their latest, “Neil Young Journeys,” is more like an electric bolt, with a “grinding, blinding beauty to it.”
Their 2006 film “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was a reflective, comforting chronicle of two shows Young performed at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium alongside musical comrades such as Emmylou Harris, Ben Keith and Spooner Oldham.
“Journeys” is a raw, thunderous counterpart, filmed by Demme at Toronto’s Massey Hall during the closing shows of Young’s solo tour last year. Solo often implies intimate and acoustic, but Young wails away on electric guitar, harmonica, piano and organ throughout the show.
The new film played Saturday at the Slamdance Film Festival, a rival showcase to Sundance. Demme says it was fitting because Slamdance and the film share something of a “bad-boy” attitude.
The new movie marks the fourth film collaboration between Young and Demme, the Academy Award-winning director of “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Young earned an Oscar nomination for the title song of Demme’s 1993 AIDS drama “Philadelphia,” and in between “Heart of Gold” and “Journeys,” the two made the 2009 concert film “Neil Young Trunk Show.”
‘Underworld’ on top for weekend movie audiences
LOS ANGELES – Kate Beckinsale is back with a vengeance, with her latest “Underworld” movie opening at No. 1 this weekend.
“Underworld Awakening” made an estimated $25.4 million, distributor Sony Screen Gems said Sunday.
This is the fourth film in the vampire action saga. Beckinsale starred in the first two movies as the warrior Selene, then bowed out of part three but returned for this latest installment.
“Underworld Awakening” was shown for the first time in 3-D as well as on IMAX screens, where it made $3.8 million. That’s 15 percent of the film’s weekend gross, which is a record for an IMAX digital-only run.
Opening in second place was “Red Tails” from executive producer George Lucas, about the Tuskegee Airmen who were the first black fighter pilots to serve in World War II.
It made an estimated $19.1 million, according to 20th Century Fox, which was well above expectations; the studio had hoped to reach double digits, said Chris Aronson, executive vice president of domestic distribution.
Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian said a grass-roots effort to get groups of people into the theaters to see “Red Tails,” along with positive word-of-mouth, helped its strong showing.
Overall box office is up 31 percent from the same weekend a year ago, Dergarabedian said.
— From news service reports
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