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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "A Different Kind of Truth" is a pretty ponderous name for a not very ponderous album -- Van Halen's first in 28 years with David Lee Roth as frontman. If they'd been in as cheeky a mood titling it as they were in recording it, maybe they could have gone with: "1985." That's how directly this …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - There's a new Diana Krall album out, though it has Paul McCartney on vocals and his name on the cover. This is all a good thing. All right, so that's a severely reductive way to describe McCartney's fine new album of old standards, "Kisses on the Bottom." But it's clear Macca ceded a great deal …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Lana Del Rey has not postponed her spring tour -- because she didn't even have one planned, says a representative for the "Video Games" singer. The rep shot down a New York Post report that said the singer had postponed a 30-date tour due to the overwhelmingly negative reaction to her performance …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Leonard Cohen sold off his song rights some years back, so he apparently doesn't collect royalties for the most hilariously over-covered song in "American Idol" history. That's bad for him, but good for us, since being cash-poor prompted the 70-something singer to come out of semi-retirement …

LOS ANGELES, (TheWrap.com) - Tim McGraw's "Emotional Traffic" arrives in stores as the most litigated album in recent musical/legal history. Imagine the missed opportunities for ad campaigns: Direct from the Tennessee court system to your sound system! The real ad line is a laudatory quote found on a giant sticker on the …

LOS ANGELES, (TheWrap.com) - Besides being one of America's greatest rock bands, the Hold Steady are the closest thing we have to a messy, rowdy, wordy, art-rock version of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. So it shouldn't be any surprise that frontman Craig Finn's first album under his own name, "Clear Heart, Full …

LOS ANGELES, Jan 13 (TheWrap.com) - The name "Pina Bausch" might not ring a bell, but even if you don't follow modern dance, you might still be aware of her work as a choreographer - movie fans will remember the two haunting dance pieces she created that bookend Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to Her." But whether you're a dance …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - There's something almost quaintly Cold War-ish about the setup of "The Divide," which traps a dozen or so residents of a Manhattan high-rise in a cellar bunker after the city has been nuked by parties unknown. It's the sort of post-apocalyptic scenario that popped up throughout the '50s and '60s …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - While watching "Contraband," I was reminded of the recent passing of Leonard Stern, inventor of the Mad Libs party game. Mad Libs have entertained people for decades, and no doubt taught countless children the parts of speech, but they seemingly also inspired the screenplay for this dreary, generic …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Like a song that's missing the second verse and half of the chorus, "Joyful Noise" lurches along in a confused fashion, leaving audience members cocking their heads and trying to make sense of the messy results. If anyone gets the benefit of the doubt in this disaster, it's writer-director Todd …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Longing plays a key role in Tran Anh Hung's new film "Norwegian Wood," and it's an emotion with which fans of the Vietnamese-born director have some familiarity. The filmmaker behind such beautifully crafted and emotionally powerful films as "The Scent of Green Papaya," "Vertical Ray of the Sun" …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Unwrinkled pop newcomer Lana Del Rey has a lot in common with grizzled Newt Gingrich this week. They're the names on everyone's lips; we're all pleased to have them around, out of appreciation or sheer blood sport; and there's a general expectation that neither will be much more than a footnote …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - For an actor, some roles are a challenge, some are Oscar bait, some have personal meaning, and a few are mostly just a paycheck. One can only assume the role of a deranged mortician in this lackluster teen horror film falls into the latter category for star Dennis Quaid. Or maybe the attraction …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - In interviews, star Meryl Streep and director Phyllida Lloyd ("Mamma Mia!") have joked that "The Iron Lady," their film about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is the girl version of "King Lear." It's not a bad comparison. Not that anyone will confuse "Iron Lady," essentially a …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Confession time: I love Steven Spielberg's screen adaptation of "The Color Purple," but I can't defend it. The music, the cinematography, the performances, and everything else about it has been painstakingly designed to manipulate an emotional response, and even though I can see the strings, …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Despite the fact that "The Darkest Hour" was smuggled into U.S. theaters on Christmas Day with no advance press screenings, I went in full of residual holiday good cheer, prepared to give this sci-fi movie the benefit of the doubt that all B-movies deserve. By the time the closing credits came …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If you've ever been to a gay and lesbian film festival, you've seen the story a million times -- teen hides sexuality from closed-minded parents, sneaks into a gay bar, finds true love, moves to the big city, dances to house music under the closing credits. First-time writer-director Dee Rees …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - When actors decide to direct, it's often a dicey proposition. Some are naturals (Clint Eastwood) but others turn out films that are unwatchable, self-indulgent hokum (anyone else sit through Nicholas Cage's "Sonny" in 2002?). So how does Angelina Jolie do with "In the Land of Blood and Honey," …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Oskar Schell is on a quest. The boy has found a key belonging to his father, who perished in the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. The key was in a small envelope on which the word "Black" was written and Oskar believes, if he can just find the lock to which the key belongs, he will discover …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Netflix Instant can't wash your car. An IMAX sound system can't pilot an aircraft carrier. And motion-capture animation can't make non-creepy-looking human characters. All that may change one day, but the technology hasn't yet caught up. And if there were any doubt that mo-cap hasn't leapt the …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - We all go into sentimental movies with certain pre-set buttons that directors try to hit -- some people lose it when a beloved doggie dies, others shed tears when long-estranged lovers are reunited, and then there are those who reach for their hankies when a gruff dad finally articulates his …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If "The Incredibles" -- for my money, still the best superhero movie ever made -- somehow failed to convince you that Brad Bird is one of the great action directors of our time, check out Bird's live-action debut, "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol." It's a rousing gasp machine that gives …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nowhere is the old saying "beauty is only skin deep" less understood than in Hollywood where for years women have tried with sporadic success to overcome the notion that looks count for more than brains. This past year two female-starring film comedies, "Bridesmaids" and "Bad Teacher," became smash …