North is an American 1994 comedy film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Lovitz, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McEntire, and Alan Arkin. The story is based on the novel North: The Tale of a 9-Year-Old Boy Who Becomes a Free Agent and Travels the World in Search of the Perfect Parents by Alan Zweibel, who also wrote the screenplay and has a minor role in the film. It is also Scarlett Johansson's debut film.

Despite an all-star cast and director Rob Reiner at the helm, North was both a critical and commercial failure, and was hated so heavily by notable critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert that they both named it the worst film of 1994. It is often regarded as one of the worst movies ever made.

It was shot in Hawaii, Alaska, California, Keystone, South Dakota, New Jersey, and New York.

Plot[link]

The movie begins with North (Elijah Wood) listening to his parents (Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) argue at the dinner table. North has a panic attack, and begins to lose consciousness. As he does, the narrator (Bruce Willis) explains that North is having difficulties with his parents, putting a damper on what is otherwise a successful life; North is a child prodigy who is admired by many, but constantly ignored by his own parents. One day, while finding solace in a living room display at a mall, he is visited by a man in a pink bunny suit who claims to be the Easter Bunny (also played by Bruce Willis), to whom North explains his problems. He realizes that his parents are unable to see his talents while all of the other parents in his neighborhood can. The Easter Bunny suggests that North make up with his parents.

North then tells his friend Winchell (Matthew McCurley), who works on the school paper, about his plan to possibly divorce himself from his parents. However, he decides to give his parents one last chance by giving them a phone call. When he is blown off by his father, North officially decides to divorce himself from his parents, hiring lawyer Arthur Belt (Jon Lovitz) to do so. When the announcement of his divorce is made, his parents are shocked to the point where they are rendered comatose. With no opposition from North's parents, Judge Buckle (Alan Arkin) gives North one summer to go out and find his new parents or he'll be put in an orphanage.

North's first stop is Texas, where he tries to spend some time with his first set of new parents (Dan Aykroyd and Reba McEntire). When North notices that they are attempting to fatten him up, they reveal that they want him to be more like their first son Buck, who died in a stampede. The last straw comes when his new parents stage a musical number about the horrible things they're going to do to him. He is later visited by a cowboy named Gabby (also played by Bruce Willis) who convinces him to look for his new parents somewhere else. His next stop is Hawaii, where he meets Governor Ho and Mrs. Ho (Keone Young and Lauren Tom), who also want to adopt him. However, Governor Ho soon unveils a new billboard that features North in an embarrassing manner that will be installed along every major highway in the mainland; he hopes that people will become more inclined to settle in Hawaii knowing that North lives there. Humiliated, North has a conversation with a metal detector-wielding tourist (also played by Bruce Willis) and subsequently moves to Alaska. There, he settles into an Inuit village with a father and mother (Graham Greene and Kathy Bates), who send their elderly grandfather (Abe Vigoda) out to sea on an ice floe so that he may die with dignity. Meanwhile, North's real parents, still comatose, are put on display in a museum (the curator of which is played by Ben Stein). Thanks to North's success, all the children in the world are threatening to leave their parents and hiring Arthur Belt as their lawyer, which propels Belt and Winchell into being the richest and most powerful people in the world.

North prepares to move in with a set of Amish parents (Alexander Godunov and Kelly McGillis), but is quickly discouraged by the lack of electricity (along with the large size of his new family) and leaves in a hurry. After going to Africa, China and Paris, he finally settles in with a seemingly nice family (played by John Ritter, Faith Ford, Scarlett Johansson and Jesse Zeigler) that treat him as their own. However, despite this near-perfect life, North still isn't happy and leaves. With the summer deadline fast approaching, North gives up searching for new parents and runs away to New York City.

Winchell learns of North's appearance in New York. With the support of Belt, Winchell plans to have North assassinated and passed off as a martyr. North hides from a hit man hired to kill him when he finds out (via a videotape given to him by a friend) that his parents have not only snapped out of their comas, they beg their son to forgive him and return home. He meets a comedian named Joey Fingers (also played by Bruce Willis), who convinces North that "a bird in the hand is always greener than the grass under the other guy's bushes". He drives North to an airport so that he can reunite with his parents. However, the children, who have taken advantage of North's case up to this point, are unwilling to let North reunite with his parents and chase him down. He is saved by a FedEx truck driver (also played by Bruce Willis), who sees himself as a guardian angel. As he rushes home to his parents before the summer is up, North is finally pursued by a hit man as he runs towards his parents' arms. Just as he is about to be shot, North awakens in the mall, now empty, revealing that his adventures had all been a dream. North is taken back home by the man who claimed to be the Easter Bunny (Bruce Willis), and is greeted by a warm embrace from his parents.

Cast[link]

• Elijah Wood as North
• Jason Alexander as North's Dad
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus as North's Mom
• Marc Shaiman as Piano Player
• Matthew McCurley as Winchell
• Jon Lovitz as Arthur Belt
• Alan Arkin as Judge Buckle
• Dan Aykroyd as Pa Tex
• Reba McEntire as Ma Tex
• Keone Young as Governor Ho
• Lauren Tom as Mrs. Ho
• Graham Greene as Alaskan Dad
• Kathy Bates as Alaskan Mom
• Abe Vigoda as Alaskan Grandfather
• Richard Belzer as Alaskan Floe Barker
• Ben Stein as Curator
• Alexander Godunov as Amish Dad
• Kelly McGillis as Amish Mom
• Faith Ford as Donna Nelson
• John Ritter as Ward Nelson
• Jesse Zeigler as Bud Nelson
• Introducing Scarlett Johansson as Laura Nelson
• Bruce Willis as the Narrator - Easter Bunny, Cowboy (Gabby), Tourist, Sleigh Driver, Joey Fingers, FedEx Truck Driver

Reception[link]

North received almost entirely negative reviews, often called one of the worst films ever, and flopped at the box office, earning about US$7 million for an estimated budget of US$40 million.^[2] North suffered severely from competition during the summer of 1994 with The Lion King, Forrest Gump, True Lies, The Mask, The Flintstones, and Clear and Present Danger. In addition, it was panned by many critics for its humorless jokes, adult content, racial insensitivity, references to pedophilia, ethnic stereotyping, cold-hearted characters and incomprehensible plot. North was a multiple nominee at the 1994 Golden Raspberry Awards in six categories including Worst Picture and Worst Director for Rob Reiner. As of July 2010, it has scored 11% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes,^[3] and 4.2/10 on the Internet Movie Database.^[4]

Siskel and Ebert's review[link]

Film critic Roger Ebert seemed especially baffled by North, noting that Wood and especially Reiner had both previously made much better films. However, he suggested that the film was so poorly written that even the best child actor would look bad in it, and viewed it as "some sort of lapse" on Reiner's part. Ebert awarded North a rare zero-star rating, and even seventeen years later it remains on his list of most hated films. His review concluded with the now-famous statement:

"I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. I hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."^[5]

Comedian Richard Belzer goaded Reiner into reading aloud some of the review at Reiner's roast; Reiner jokingly insisted that "if you read between the lines, [the review] isn't really that bad." An abridged version of the opening remark quoted above became the title of a 2000 book by Ebert, I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie, a compilation of reviews of films most disliked by Ebert.^[6]

Ebert and his co-host on Siskel and Ebert, Gene Siskel, both pronounced it the worst film of 1994—a decision they each came to independently.^[7] In their original review, Ebert called it "one of the most thoroughly hateful movies in recent years." He later added, "I hated this movie as much as any movie we [he and Siskel] have ever reviewed during the 19 years we've been doing this show. I hated it because of the premise, which seems shockingly cold-hearted, and because this premise is being suggested to kids as children's entertainment, because everybody in this movie was vulgar and stupid, and because the jokes weren't funny and because most of the characters were obnoxious and because of the phony attempt to add a little pseudo-philosophy with the Bruce Willis character." Siskel called it "deplorable", "first-class junk", "trash", and "cataclysmically unfunny", as well as saying that it made him feel "unclean" while he was watching it.^[8] Ebert's future co-host on Ebert and Roeper, Richard Roeper, would later go on to list North as one of the 40 worst movies he's ever seen, saying that, "Of all the films on this list, North may be the most difficult to watch from start to finish. I've tried twice and failed. Do yourself a favor and don't even bother. Life is too short."^[9]

Awards and nominations[link]

Home media[link]

On January 4, 1995, New Line Home Video in conjunction with Columbia TriStar Home Video and Image Entertainment released North on VHS and Laserdisc formats due to New Line's original partnership with this film.

The film has been released on DVD outside of North America through independent distributors. As of February 2012, there are currently no plans for a North American DVD release.

As of March 2011, North was available on Netflix through their instant streaming service. The movie has also aired on the Hallmark Movie Channel.

References[link]

External links[link]

• North at the Internet Movie Database
• North at AllRovi
• North at Rotten Tomatoes
• A Nostalgia Critic spoof

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)

The Rankin Family is a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards, four SOCAN Awards, three Canadian Country Music Awards and two Big Country Music Awards.

Career[link]

The Rankins come from a family of 12, all of whom would entertain the neighbours musically every third weekend as part of a ceilidh.

The first Rankin Family band formed in the 1970s when siblings Geraldine, Genevieve, David, John Morris, and Raylene Rankin began performing at local weddings and dances in Cape Breton. As the older siblings went away to college and university, the younger siblings Jimmy, Cookie and Heather took their places.^[1]

These five siblings - Jimmy, John Morris, Cookie, Raylene and Heather - released their own independent cassettes The Rankin Family (1989) and Fare Thee Well Love (1990), featuring original songs and a combination of traditional jigs, reels and Celtic folk songs. These independent recordings were distributed by the Canadian independent folk music distribution company 'Soundwright' until the band's major label break through with EMI. Their television debut was on the CBC variety show On the Road Again in 1989.

EMI's re-release of Fare Thee Well Love in 1992, went quadruple platinum, selling over 500,000 copies; the title track was a Top 40 singles in Canada.

On September 17, 1999, after recording the song "Jimmy Mo Mhile Stor" with The Chieftains for their album Tears of Stone, the group issued a press release stating that they would no longer perform as a group in order to pursue independent interests and careers.

Less than a year later, John Morris Rankin was killed in a car accident in Cape Breton on January 16, 2000.^[2]

Jimmy Rankin has continued to write songs and has released four solo albums: Song Dog (2001), Handmade (2003), Edge of Day (2007), and Forget About the World (2011). Raylene Rankin has also released a solo album, Lambs in Spring (2004). When not performing on their own, the three sisters run The Red Shoe pub in Mabou.^[3]

Members[link]

• Jimmy Rankin – vocals, guitar
• Cookie Rankin – vocals
• Raylene Rankin – vocals
• Heather Rankin (1989- ) – vocals

Former members[link]

• John Morris Rankin – (1959–2000) piano, fiddle
• Geraldine Rankin – (1958–2007) One of the original founders of the group, Geraldine Coyne (Rankin) died January 10, 2007, the result of a brain aneurysm, at her home in Calgary. Geraldine had not performed with the group since prior to the first recordings being released.^[1]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 1989: The Rankin Family
• 1990: Fare Thee Well Love
• 1993: North Country
• 1995: Endless Seasons
• 1998: Uprooted
• 2007: Reunion
• 2009: These Are the Moments

References[link]

Citations

External links[link]

• Rankin Family Official Website
• Jam website page
• The Red Shoe Pub site

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since January 2011. It may be confusing or unclear to readers. Tagged since January 2011.

DJ Paul
DJ Paul (back) performing with Three 6 Mafia bandmate Juicy J.
Background information
Birth name	Paul Beauregard
Born	1977 (age 34–35)
Origin	Memphis, Tennessee
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, record producer
Labels	Columbia/Sony Music (2003-Present) Loud (2000-2003) Relativity (1997-2000) Prophet (1995-1997)
Associated acts	Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, Juicy J, Lil Wyte, Lord Infamous, Young Buck

Paul Beauregard, better known by his stage name DJ Paul, is an American rapper and record producer from Memphis, Tennessee.^[1] He is one half of the Memphis-based rap group Three 6 Mafia. He is also the half-brother of former Three 6 Mafia member Lord Infamous. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp". DJ Paul founded Scale-A-Ton Entertainment in 2009.

Rap career[link]

DJ Paul (Paul Beauregard) began his career as a DJ, producer, and rapper in the early 90's. He was one-half of the duo The Serial Killaz, his older half-brother Lord Infamous (Ricky Dunigan) was the other half. They released self-recorded tapes in their neighborhood, school, and local shops. "Portrait Of A Serial Killa" was their first tape, released in 1992. Also DJ Paul released numerous solo mixtapes (ex: c "Volume 12 (Pts. 1 and 2)", "Volume 15: For You Niggaz Wit' Anna", and "Volume 16: 4 Da Summa of '94").

DJ Paul rose to prominence as one of the best DJ-producers on the south side of Memphis, and met up with DJ/artist/producer Juicy J (Jordan Houston), also garnering buzz on the North side of Memphis. They noticed they had a lot of similar interests eventually merging their sound and crew members to form the super-group The Backyard Posse (later known as Triple Six Mafia). DJ Paul and Juicy J soon began producing dark, eerie tracks driven by bass-heavy beats and haunting sounds, and invited numerous Backyard Posse members to rap over the beats with them. They released the resulting tracks locally as Triple Six Mafia; years later these recordings would resurface as re-releases.

In 1994, Triple Six Mafia released the underground album "Smoked Out Loced Out". The album was laden with questionable content, such as violence, heavy drug use, and sexually explicit lyrics. Triple Six Mafia received a great response from listeners of this tape. In 1995, the loose collective changed its name to Three 6 Mafia and self-released its debut album, Mystic Stylez. The album became an underground success, and Three 6 Mafia, in turn, signed a distribution deal with Relativity for its Hypnotized Minds imprint. Throughout the late '90s, Juicy J and DJ Paul produced numerous albums a year for Hypnotize Minds and capitalized on the lucrative distribution deal. By the end of the decade, the two producers were at the helm of an empire, having extended their brand to alarming lengths, culminating with their commercial breakthrough album, When the Smoke Clears, which debuted at number six on Billboard's album chart. He became a great inspiration for people in the rap community.

Together with production partner Juicy J, DJ Paul played an important role in the South's rise to prominence within the once East- and West Coast-dominated rap industry. Behind the duo's leadership, Three 6 Mafia rose from an underground phenomenon in Memphis to a nationally recognized rap empire, spinning off numerous solo albums for the collective's many members in the mid to late '90s. DJ Paul raps as a member of Three 6 Mafia and contributes rhymes to most of the albums he produces for such artists as Project Pat, Gangsta Boo, La Chat, and Tear Da Club Up Thugs. Moreover, DJ Paul ventured into film-making with Choices, a straight-to-video film starring most of the Three 6 Mafia collective. He was also the winner of VH1's Famous Food out of 7 other celebrities in 2011.

Discography[link]

• 2002 Underground Volume 16: For Da Summa
• 2009: Scale-A-Ton^[2]
• 2012: A Person Of Interest (EP)

Mixtapes[link]

• 2009: The Weigh In ^{hosted by DJ Scream}
• 2010: Too Kill Again ^{hosted by DJ Scream & DJ Whoo Kid}
• 2011: Pray For Forgiveness (with Ya Boy and Lil Lody) ^{hosted by DJ Scream}
• 2012: For I've Sinned ^{hosted by DJ Scream}

Music Videography[link]

• U Don't Want It w/ Lord Infamous
• She Wanna Get High w/ Lord Infamous
• Wanta Be Like You
• Fuckboy/Im Drunk (Remix) w/ Lil Wyte
• Hi Way (I'm Gone) w/ Montana Trax
• Gimme Yayo w/ Miscellaneous
• Buy My Old Shit
• Lose It w/ Lil Wyte
• Ima Show My... w/ Mac Butta & Reno
• I'm Lookin For It w/ Lion Heart & Partee
• Stick'm Up w/ Drumma Boy & DJ Zirk
• Get Rowdy w/ Drumma Boy & Young Buck
• Hard Shit w/ Travis Barker
• Buck Nah w/ Ya Boy
• Dead Wrong w/ Ya Boy
• Me Dats Who w/ Ya Boy
• Mad At Me w/ Young Buck & Charlie P
• Get So Violent (Dub-Step Remix)
• Cocky
• Smokin & Fuckin

See also[link]

• Three 6 Mafia
• Hypnotize Minds

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• DJ Paul's channel on YouTube