Country Strong

I read a really interesting post yesterday on Bangs and a Bun about the downfall of Britney Spears and how she is a product of the flawed star system. At the dizzy heights of her career Ms Spears was the biggest pop artist in the world, however seven albums, numerous No 1 singles, hundreds of magazine covers. two divorces. two kids and one nervous breakdown later and she is struggling to get back to her best. The fact is that the music scene has moved on without her and the stage is now occupied by likes of Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Rihanna. Like it or not the star system is brutal - you are either hot or you are not. It is a system that was created by Hollywood at the beginning of the 1900s as a way of promoting and exploiting movie stars. The emphasis was placed on image rather than acting abilities and studio bosses, PRs and agents worked together to create a persona. Although it officially declined in the 1960s the strategy is still used worldwide in the entertainment industry today and to much success.

Nowhere is the star system more relevant than in Country Strong in which Gwyneth Paltrow plays country music superstar, Kelly Canter who has had problems with alcohol addiction and has been rocked by scandal. After a stint in rehab she is back on the road headlining a major US tour, however it becomes apparent that Kelly's demons have not completely disappeared and she suffers meltdown after meltdown. To add to her woes there is a pretender to her throne in the form of Chiles Stanton played by Leighton Meester who is a new talent that has burst onto the scene. Chiles is young, beautiful, fresh and unlike Kelly can hold her nerves on stage. Kelly's self destructiveness is not just confined to the stage it also runs through her personal life which is complicated with her relationships with her lover, Beau played by Garrant Hedlund and her husband James played by Tim McCraw. Country Strong sort of loses its way throughout the film but what it does do is demonstrate how brutal fame can be to a young woman. The parallels between Gwyneth and Leigton's characters are interesting; one washed out and the other up and coming, one a feisty brunette and the other a fragile blonde. I thought it was also a nice touch that both actresses can sing a bit too. Overall Country Strong is not a bad film but I would put it down as more of a TV film, I just did not feel that it had enough of the wow factor to be on the big screen. You know how some films could do with editing? Well Country Strong actually needed an extra half hour to be added to the beginning so we could get to know the characters especially the lead role. The hasty beginning does not give us a real sense of Kelly and her convictions - what exactly caused her to have a breakdown anyway and why is her relationship with her husband dead? Country Strong misses a trick by not allowing us to invest emotionally in the characters, so all the dramatic events that unfold are to no avail because despite the dramatic ending I really did not feel the impact.

Country Strong is released in the UK on 25th March.

Check out the featurette below.

Gossip Girl Addiction

Wow, Gossip Girl just gets more popular by the hour. The show that was created from a popular book series has now turned into serious regular viewing by savvy teenagers and their hipster older brothers and sisters. The delightful, Fashion Addict discussed the male addiction to GG here. Now it looks like lifestyle companies have fallen head over heels with the show and have been snapping up GG stars to become faces of their brands. Taylor Momsen who plays status climber, Jenny Humphrey can be seen in a gritty commercial for Nike where she trys to outmaneuver the paparazzi. It is shot in an underground car park and we see Taylor laying down some serious martial arts and ninja stuff. Then there is Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick - who play the bickering Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass - and are now the faces of Nikon's Coolpix camera. The ad campaign is a series of magazine shots where we see Ed in a suit posing on a Vespa. He is also seen playing with a football (homage to his Brit roots) and singing onstage with his band The Filthy Youth. While Leighton records her upcoming album, chats over pizza and gets all dolled up in a makeup chair. Talk about art imitating life.

Check out the Nike ad with Taylor below.

Gossip Girl premieres - "You Know you Love Me"

The US do things big. Over here we have premieres for block buster films but when a TV show launches it is greeted with some adverts and a few magazine covers. Well that is just not good enough for the Americans, when a new TV series is about to air the TV company puts on a massive launch which is not too different from the one that you see for films. Take the premiere for Gossip Girl, the much awaited teen drama based on the novel by Cecily von Ziegesar of which I blogged about in July. The stars turned out in frocks galore and tuxedos, trotted down the red carpet and smiled till their cheeks hurt to promote their new show in front of snapping lenses. I watched the first episode on youTube which is kindly posted by GossipGirlTV and it did not disappoint. I found the show totally addictive and I loved the glossy and gossipy elements. The characters are great and posses a vulnerability that makes you root for them. The creator of The OC, Josh Schwartz has done it again.

Check out lovelies, Leighton Meester who plays Blair Waldorf (left), Blake Lively (centre) who plays Serena van der Woodsen and Taylor Momsen (right) who plays Jenny Humphreys in the picture above.

Picture from cw.com