Saturday, April 25, 2026

Diana Krall (1964-)

 


Diana Jean Krall OC OBC (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals.[1] She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the U.S. On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second-greatest jazz artist of the decade (2000–2009), establishing her as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

Krall is the only jazz singer to have had eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.[2] She has won two Grammy Awards[3] and eight Juno Awards. She has also earned nine gold, three platinum, and seven multi-platinum albums.

Early years

Krall was born on November 16, 1964, in Nanaimo, British Columbia, the daughter of Adella A. (née Wende), an elementary school teacher, and Stephen James "Jim" Krall, an accountant.[4][5][6] Krall's only sibling, Michelle, is a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Krall's father played piano at home, and her mother sang in a community choir. Krall began studying piano herself at the age of four[7] and took exams through The Royal Conservatory of Music.[8]

In high school, she was a member of a student jazz group; at 15, she began playing professionally in local restaurants.[9] Krall won a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied from 1981 to 1983,[10] before spending time in Los Angeles to play jazz. She returned to Canada to record her first album in 1992.

She met veteran bassist Ray Brown in the early 1980s.[11] Impressed by her piano playing, he introduced Krall to other musicians and was an important mentor.

Career

Krall in 1998

Krall recorded her first album, Stepping Out, for Justin Time Records in 1992; the album was released in 1993. She was accompanied by bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton. It caught the attention of producer Tommy LiPuma, who produced her second album, Only Trust Your Heart (1995).

Her third album, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio (1996), was nominated for a Grammy and continued for 70 weeks in the Billboard jazz charts. Love Scenes (1997) quickly became a hit record with the trio of Krall, Russell Malone (guitar), and Christian McBride (bass).

In August 2000, Krall partnered with Tony Bennett for a 20-city tour, and in 2008–09 they worked together again for a song on the TV series Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...

Orchestral arrangements by Johnny Mandel provided the background for her fifth studio album When I Look in Your Eyes (1999), her first released through Verve Records. The band mix was kept, following arrangements on The Look of Love (2001) created by Claus Ogerman; this record achieved platinum status and reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200. The title track from the album, a cover of the Casino Royale standard popularized in the late 1960s by Dusty Springfield and Sérgio Mendes, reached number 22 on the adult contemporary chart.

In September 2001, Krall began a world tour. Her concert at the Paris Olympia was recorded and released in 2002 as her first live record, Live in Paris (issued with a different European title, A Night In Paris). The album included covers of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" (a hit on U.S. smooth jazz radio) and Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You", and was also released as a video album.

The 2001 movie The Score (US and Germany), starring Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando, featured a recording of Krall's titled "I'll Make It Up As I Go." This song accompanied the film's ending credits (chapter 12) and was composed by fellow Canadian David Foster.[12]

After marrying English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello in 2003, Krall worked with him as a lyricist and began to compose her own songs, resulting in the album The Girl in the Other Room. Released in April 2004, it quickly rose to the top five in the United Kingdom and made the Australian top 40 albums chart. She also joined Ray Charles on his Genius Loves Company album in 2004 for the song "You Don't Know Me", and her 2004 performance at Bell Centre, Montreal on June 29 was released as her second live CD and DVD, Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival, released on November 23, 2004.[13][14][15]

In late May 2007, Krall was featured in a Lexus advertisement campaign.[16] That year she also sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with piano accompaniment by pianist Hank Jones for an "all-star" tribute album We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song (2007) produced by Phil Ramone.

Krall performing in November 2010 at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia

Quiet Nights, produced by Krall and Tommy LiPuma, was released on March 31, 2009, and consisted of mainly bossa nova standards.

Krall produced Barbra Streisand's album Love Is the Answer, released on September 29, 2009.[17]

In 2011, Krall went on a private retreat to Sri Lanka. In September 2012, she accompanied Paul McCartney at Capitol Studios in a live performance of his album Kisses on the Bottom, which was shown live on the internet. On September 13, 2012, Krall performed "Fly Me to the Moon" at astronaut Neil Armstrong's memorial service in Washington, D.C.

Her 11th studio album, Glad Rag Doll, produced by T Bone Burnett, was released on October 2, 2012, and covered mainly jazz tunes from the 1920s and 1930s. Her next, Wallflower, released on February 3, 2015, by Verve Records[18] and produced by David Foster,[19] tackled more recent composers including the Eagles (two songs), Elton John and Bernie Taupin ("Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"), 10cc ("I'm Not in Love"), Neil Finn ("Don't Dream It's Over"), and Gilbert O'Sullivan ("Alone Again (Naturally)"). The album's title song is from Bob Dylan's "Bootleg Series", and Paul McCartney gave her his blessing to include "I'll Take You Home Tonight", a previously unreleased original song he had written for his own Kisses on the Bottom album.[20]

On May 5, 2017, Krall released her thirteenth album, Turn Up the Quiet, produced by Krall and Tommy LiPuma again.[21] The album won a Juno Award as vocal jazz album of the year in 2018.[22]

On September 14, 2018, a joint album between Krall and Tony Bennett, Love Is Here to Stay, was released.[23] The album features the song "Fascinating Rhythm", originally recorded by Bennett in 1949, which earned him a Guinness World Record for the "longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist" — 68 years and 342 days.[24]

September 2020 brought the release of her sixteenth studio album, This Dream of You, named after Krall's rendition of the Bob Dylan song from his 2009 album Together Through Life.[25] The album's dozen tracks were selected from over 30 unused recordings previously laid down by Krall with her longtime producer Tommy LiPuma before his death in 2017.[26] The album was completed in May 2020 with production finished by Krall herself,[27] and included the jazz standard "Autumn in New York" for which a video was created to raise awareness for New York Cares, the largest volunteer organization in New York City founded in 1987.[28]

Krall's companions on her 2024 tour were Sebastian Steinberg and Matt Chamberlain.

Personal life

Krall with husband Elvis Costello in 2009

Krall and British musician Elvis Costello were married on December 6, 2003, at Elton John's estate outside London.[29] Their twin sons, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006, in New York City.[30] Krall's father-in-law was the singer Ross MacManus.[31]

Krall's mother died of multiple myeloma in 2002, within months of the deaths of Krall's mentors Ray Brown and Rosemary Clooney.

Honours

Canadian honours

National honours

Provincial and territorial honours

Honorary doctorates

Other awards and recognitions

Discography

Krall performing in Cologne, Germany in October 2009
Main article: Diana Krall discography

Filmography

List of television and film credits
Year Title Role Notes
1999 At First Sight Singer Sings "Mack the Knife"
1997–1998 Melrose Place Herself "A Shot in the Dark" (Season 6, Episode 8, uncredited)
"Ball N' Jane" (Season 7, Episode 4)
2001 Jazz Seen: The Life and Times of William Claxton Herself Documentary
2003 Anything Else Herself Sings "It Could Happen to You"
2003 De-Lovely Musical Performer Sings "Just One of Those Things"
2005 Mississippi Rising Herself TV documentary
2008–2009 Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... Herself "Tony Bennett" (Season 1, Episode 5)
"Diana Krall Interviewed by Elton John" (Season 1, Episode 12)
2009 Public Enemies Torch Singer Sings "Bye Bye Blackbird"
2017–2019 Pete the Cat Pete's Mom (voice) Season 1 only (replaced by KT Tunstall)[38]

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Diana Krall
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Frim Fram Sauce by Diana Krall

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Friday, April 24, 2026

Crime 101 (2026)

 


Crime 101 is a 2026 crime thriller film starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry. It is written and directed by Bart Layton, based on the 2020 novella by Don Winslow. The film also features Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nick Nolte.

The film premiered in London on January 28, 2026, and was released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios and internationally by Sony Pictures Releasing International on February 13, 2026. It received positive reviews from critics but was a box-office bomb, grossing $72.8 million worldwide on a budget of $90 million.

Plot

In Los Angeles, Mike is an elusive and disciplined jewel thief, carefully planning robberies to avoid violence and DNA evidence while escaping via U.S. Route 101. Intercepting a diamond delivery carrying decoys, he steals $3 million in genuine diamonds but is shaken after being grazed by an unexpected bullet. He calls off a planned robbery in Santa Barbara, but his fence, Money, enlists volatile young biker Ormon instead.

LAPD Detective Lou Lubesnick links the diamond theft to Mike's string of unsolved robberies and suggests a lone suspect is responsible, but his theory is dismissed. Preparing another heist, Mike pays Devon, a hacker, for information on Sharon, a high-end insurance broker. Long undervalued by her firm, Sharon is further frustrated when a new colleague closes a lucrative deal with the wealthy Steven Monroe. After Ormon violently carries out the Santa Barbara job, Mike cuts ties with Money, who directs Ormon to intercept Mike's next heist.

The lonely Mike strikes up a romance with a stranger, Maya, after she rear-ends his car. He realizes he is being tracked by Ormon, who threatens Devon into revealing that Sharon is connected to Mike's plan. Sharon rejects Mike's attempt to recruit her as an accomplice, and Mike spots Ormon, confronting him after a high-speed chase; realizing he has been sent by Money, Mike warns Ormon to stay away. Separating from his unfaithful wife, Lou finds himself joining Sharon's yoga class. He discovers the car Mike used in the diamond robbery, and a trace of blood inside matches Mike's juvenile record with his birth name, James.

Denied a promotion yet again, Sharon agrees to help Mike. Demanding a $3 million share, she provides inside information on an illicit diamond purchase Monroe has arranged to make with $5.5 million in cash, for his upcoming wedding at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Lou is suspended for refusing to help cover up the police shooting of another jewel thief but continues his investigation and tracks down Mike's foster mother. Ormon viciously interrogates Sharon, who turns to Lou for help and admits everything and quits her job after excoriating her boss. Wary of Mike's secretive nature, Maya ends their relationship after he reveals he will be leaving town.

The briefcase of diamonds arrives with a courier, and Mike takes the place of his security guard, unaware Lou is posing as the courier himself. Driving to the hotel, the two of them deliver the briefcase to Monroe and his fiancée Adrienne in the wedding suite. Mike seizes the cash at gunpoint, but Lou retrieves a gun from the case and reveals himself as a police officer. Their standoff is interrupted by Ormon, disguised as a hotel employee. Demanding the case, he shoots and wounds Monroe, but Mike kills Ormon before he can shoot Lou. Allowing Mike to escape empty-handed, Lou uses knowledge of financial crimes Monroe has committed to force Monroe and his fiancée to support his story as he frames Ormon for Mike's robberies.

Having stolen the decoy gems taken into evidence from Mike's earlier heist, Lou swaps them with real diamonds from the briefcase, which he gives to Sharon to start a new life. He discovers Mike has left him his vintage green 1968 Camaro and Mike sends Maya a childhood photo, asking her for a second chance.

Cast

The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry.

Production

In August 2023, it was announced that Amazon MGM Studios would distribute Crime 101, a film adaptation of the Don Winslow novella of the same name, beating out Netflix with a nearly $90 million offer; Pedro Pascal and Chris Hemsworth would star and Bart Layton would direct.[6][7] In May 2024, Mark Ruffalo replaced Pascal (who departed due to "scheduling conflicts") and Barry Keoghan was also cast.[8][9] In October, Halle Berry, Corey Hawkins and Monica Barbaro joined the cast in undisclosed roles.[10][11][12] In November, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan, Babak Tafti, Payman Maadi, Deborah Hedwall, Devon Bostick, Paul Adelstein, Drew Powell, and Matthew Del Negro rounded out the cast.[13]

Principal photography began in October 2024, in Los Angeles.[10][14] Jacob Secher Schulsinger serves as the editor,[15] while Blanck Mass composed the score.[16]

Release

Crime 101 premiered on January 28, 2026, in London and was released in the United States on February 13, 2026, after initially being set for January 23.[17][18][10][19] The film premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 1, 2026, as a Prime Original movie.[20]

Reception

Box office

As of April 1, 2026, Crime 101 has grossed $37 million in the United States and Canada, and $36 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $72 million.[5]

In the United States and Canada, Crime 101 was released alongside Wuthering Heights; Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die; and Goat, and was projected to gross $15–17 million from 3,161 theaters in its four-day opening weekend.[3] The film grossed $3.9 million on its first day,[21] and went on to debut to $14.3 million (and $16 million over the four days), finishing third behind Wuthering Heights and Goat.[22] In its second weekend the film made $5.8 million, finishing in fourth.[23][24]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 180 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Crime 101 has studied the greats of L.A. Noir closely and shows its homework with sleek action set pieces and vivid characterizations, receiving top marks and graduating near the top of its class."[25] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[26] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Friday Night Blues by John Conlee

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

The Rum Diary (2011)

 


The Rum Diary is a 2011 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Bruce Robinson, based on the novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson, published 1998. The film stars Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins, and Giovanni Ribisi.

Filming began in Puerto Rico in March 2009 and was released by FilmDistrict on October 28, 2011.[5] The film received mixed reviews and grossed just $30.1 million against its $45 million budget.

Plot

Paul Kemp is an author who has not been able to sell a book. He gets a job at a newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There, he meets staff photographer Sala, who gets him acclimated and tells him he thinks the newspaper will fold soon. Kemp checks into a hotel, and while idling about on a boat in the sea, meets Chenault, who is skinny-dipping while avoiding a Union Carbide party. Kemp is immediately smitten with her.

Kemp and Sala immediately go on a drinking binge, which earns Kemp the enmity of his editor, E.J Lotterman. Kemp also meets Moburg, a deadbeat reporter who cannot be fired. While waiting for an interview, Kemp meets Hal Sanderson, a PR consultant flaunting a luxurious lifestyle, who offers him a side job writing public relations material for his latest venture. Sanderson is engaged to Chenault, who pretends not to know Kemp.

Later, Kemp moves in with Sala, who also rooms with Moburg. Kemp begins to see the poverty of San Juan, but Lotterman does not want him to write about it, as it would be bad for tourism. Moburg returns with leftover filters from a rum plant; they contain high-proof alcohol. Moburg has been fired, and rants about killing Lotterman.

Kemp visits Sanderson and spies on him having sex with Chenault in the sea. He meets Zimburger and Segurra, who are working with Sanderson on his venture. Later, an inebriated Sala berates a restaurant owner for refusing them service; Kemp senses the owner's hostility, so Sala and he make a hasty retreat, pursued by angry locals. The police arrive, break up the fight, and then throw Sala and Kemp in jail. Sanderson bails them out.

The next day, Kemp meets with Sanderson's partners, who introduce him to the venture. The plan is to build a resort on a "pristine" island off the coast of Puerto Rico. Later Kemp is asked to pick up Chenault from her house. They share a moment, but Kemp resists temptation.

Zimburger takes Kemp and Sala to see the island, part of which is still used as an artillery range by the US military. Then they head to St. Thomas for Carnival. Kemp finds Chenault, and they wind up on Sanderson's boat. Sanderson berates Kemp for involving Sala in the deal. At night, they go to a club, and a drunk Chenault dances with local men to provoke Sanderson, with whom she has been fighting. When Sanderson tries to intervene, he is forcefully removed from the dancefloor by locals and led out of the club by Kemp and Sala for his own safety. Chenault stays behind at the club.

The next day, Chenault is gone, and Sanderson tells Kemp that their business arrangement is over. When Sala and Kemp return home, Moburg tells them that Lotterman has left and that the paper will go out of business. He also sells them hallucinogens, which they take. Kemp has an epiphany while under the influence, and resolves to write an exposé on Sanderson's shady deals.

Lotterman returns, but will not publish Kemp's story. Chenault shows up at Kemp's place after Sanderson disowns her. Out of spite, Sanderson withdraws his bail, indicating that Kemp and Sala are now wanted by the police. Moburg also tells them that Lotterman has closed the paper. Kemp decides to print a last issue, telling the truth about Lotterman and Sanderson as well as the stories Lotterman declined.

To make money to print the last edition, Kemp, Sala, and Moburg place a big cockfighting bet. They visit Papa Nebo, Moburg's intersex witch doctor, to lay a blessing on Sala's prize cockerel. They win but return to the office to find that the printing presses have been confiscated.

Kemp continues his quest, leaving Puerto Rico on a sailboat. The end credits explain that Kemp makes it back to New York, marries Chenault, and becomes a successful journalist, finally finding his voice as a writer.

Cast

Production

Johnny Depp in November 2011, at a premiere of the film in Paris

Hunter S. Thompson wrote the novel The Rum Diary in 1961, but it was not published until 1998.[6] The independent production companies Shooting Gallery and SPi Films sought to adapt the novel into a film in 2000, and Johnny Depp was signed to star and to serve as executive producer. Nick Nolte was also signed to star alongside Depp.[7] The project did not move past the development stage.[6] During this stage, the author became so frustrated as to fire off an obscenity-laden letter calling the process a "waterhead fuckaround".[8]

In 2002, a new producer sought the project, and Benicio del Toro and Josh Hartnett were signed to star in the film adaptation.[7] The second incarnation also did not move past the development stage.[6] In 2007, producer Graham King acquired all rights to the novel and sought to film the adaptation under Warner Independent Pictures.[7] Depp, who previously starred in the 1998 film adaptation of Thompson's novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, was cast as the freelance journalist Paul Kemp.[6]

Several actresses including Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley reportedly expressed interest in the role of Chenault, however some "had reservations regarding the nudity the role calls for". Actress Amber Heard was cast in the role.[9] Bruce Robinson joined to write the screenplay and to direct The Rum Diary.[7] In 2009, Depp's production company Infinitum Nihil took on the project with the financial backing of King and his production company GK Films. Principal photography began in Puerto Rico on March 25, 2009.[10] Composer Christopher Young signed on to compose the film's soundtrack.[11] Robinson had been sober for six-and-a-half years before he started writing the screenplay for The Rum Diary.[12] The filmmaker found himself suffering from writer's block. He started drinking a bottle of wine a day until he finished the script and then he quit drinking again.[citation needed]

About playing the character of Kemp, Depp compared and related it to his previous role in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He said “The way I approached it was that the character of Paul Kemp is Raoul Duke as he was learning to speak. It was like playing the same character, only 15 years before. This guy’s got something; there’s an energy burning underneath it, it’s just ready to pop up, shoot out.”

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 166 reviews, with a rating average of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It's colorful and amiable enough, and Depp's heart is clearly in the right place, but The Rum Diary fails to add sufficient focus to its rambling source material."[13] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score to reviews, gives the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a "C" on an A+ to F scale.[15]

Wyatt Williams, writing for Creative Loafing, argues that "the movie version amounts to Thompson's whole vision of journalism, glossed and made plain by Hollywood."[16]


Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)