With the influx of blue-eyed soul coming out of the UK in the past decade (from Winehouse to Duffy to our lady Alice Russell), one has to question where these deep, obviously soul-influenced voices came from. Hint: watch this video to see what their parents were doing in the mid-seventies. This is a trailer for the soon-to-be-released movie, Souled Out (aka Soulboy), and it’s about UK’s Northern Soul scene and the famous Wigan Casino dance club. After the jump, check out a vintage video of the real thing: dancing at the Wigan Casino crica 1975.

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Atticus Ross, the Grammy-nominated producer and musician has written his first feature film score for the Hughes Brothers’ much-anticipated post-apocalyptic adventure, The Book of Eli. Atticus has previously collaborated with Trent Reznor on four Nine Inch Nails albums and produced the Perry Farrell single “Go All the Way (Into the Twilight)” for the hit film Twilight.

Ross’ music is a unique hybrid score of electronic and organic elements; writing with his wife (Claudia Sarne) and brother (Leopold Ross), the basic tracks were recorded at his studio in Los Angeles before departing to London where it was finished in Abbey Road Studios with a full 80-piece orchestra. The soundtrack was released as a standard CD, a deluxe version featuring three bonus tracks, and an exclusive iTunes package featuring a remix of “Panoramic” by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek.

Check out the various Soundtrack packages here: bookofelimusic.com

Enter here to win a theater poster signed by Atticus Ross.

“The Journey”
 

Fela! the musical and Knitting Factory reissues have stirred up new interest in the legendary Afrobeat star, and now Focus Features has announced plans for a Fela movie.

Steve McQueen is signed on to direct, and the script will be written by Biyi Bandele, based on Michael Veal’s book Fela: The Life and Times of An African Musical Icon.

The first of the Knitting Factory reissue series, The Best of the Black President, is now available from Fela.net in a variety of formats, including special edition packages with extras like downloads, video files, a DVD and more. The deluxe package with Fela T shirt and poster would make a cool holiday gift for your loved ones!

Thirty years before Sacha Baron Cohen cat-walked the thin line between documentary and fiction in the name of comedy, the great radical filmmaker Robert Kramer — with co-director John Douglas — interwove the two modes to deliver his 1975 masterpiece Milestones, in the name of the revolutionary ideals of the late 1960’s. Showing as part of his eight-title retrospective this weekend at Anthology Film Archives (New York, NY), “Milestones is as carefully arranged as a piece of music. …[U]sing images, emotions and, most frequently, words as themes, it bursts with unexpected life.” (Vincent Canby, New York Times).

“The Films of Robert Kramer” runs July 17–23 at Anthology Film Archives.

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Soul Power, a documentary by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, depicts the legendary music festival in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974 which sprouted from the excitement surrounding the epic fight between Mohammad Ali and George Foreman. The award-winning film features original footage of performances by James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, The Spinners, Celia Cruz & The Fania All-Stars, and many more…

Director Ken Loach’s comedy Looking For Eric, which just made its debut at Cannes in May, follows the downward spiral of a football fanatic postman named Eric (played by Steve Evets) through a mid-life crisis as his filial ties bind him tighter and tighter to trouble.  Finding inspiration in the famously philosophical 90’s Manchester United coach Eric Cantona (played by himself), Eric applies his hero’s values to his own life.

More info at IMDb

Following in the footsteps of Tina Turner, a-ha, Duran Duran, Madonna, Moby and countless others, Jack White & Alicia Keys have turned in their 007 theme, “Another Way To Die,” for the 22nd James Bond Film, Quantum Of Solace, which opens on November 14. Ain’t It Cool News‘ Merrick with the help of user auddym report there’s an official stream here.

A little over one week after making headlines in a lawsuit brought by the trust which owns the 1942 Cornell Woolrich story which Rear Window was based on, Steven Spielberg is making news again. The Los Angeles Times reports that in a scenario more implausible than most of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Steven Spielberg (E.T.) and Peter Jackson’s (The Lord Of The Rings) new project has been rejected by a major studio.

After reviewing the final submitted budget of $130 million for a 3-D motion capture (see Beowulf) version of Belgian export Tintin, Universal balked. The LAT article reasons, “According to several people close to the project, Tintin would have to rake in $425 million worldwide in ticket sales before the studios could break even,” as “[Spielberg and Jackson] would walk away with more than $100 million before Universal and DreamWorks could make a profit.” At press time, it was unclear who would have played Tintin’s dog, Snowy.

New Yorkers have less than 60 hours to enter the Netflix Movie Watching World Championship.

Eight “lucky” contestants will compete in Times Square, on October 2, at 10:30 AM, to win $10,000 cash, a lifetime Netflix subscription, The Netflix Popcorn Bowl Trophy and, of course, a Guiness World Record Title for .. consecutive hours spent watching movies. The current title holder? Ashish Sharma of Mathura, India, with 120 hours and 23 minutes. You’re going to need one special box of Goobers.

Great news:

1: Chuck Palahniuk’s book, “Choke” is going to be a movie, released September 26 in the US. Chuck Palahniuk wrote “Fight Club.” “Choke” is just as awesome and a little dirtier. Read it.

2: Radiohead will be scoring the movie. Originally recruited to create the song for the closing credits, when they saw the movie, they liked it so much, they decided to score the whole thing. Yessssss.

Check out the trailer: