Movie News and Movie reviews

Oscar-winning writer Mann dies

2008-03-28T04:24:00.000-07:00

Abby Mann, the Oscar-winning writer of the 1961 film Judgement in Nuremberg, has died at the age of 80.

Gregg Mitchell, spokesman for the Writers Guild of America, said Mann passed away on Tuesday but did not give details of the cause of death.

Mann also won several Emmys, including one for a TV film called The Marcus-Nelson Murders which introduced a maverick detective called Theo Kojak.

The film gave birth to the long-running TV series Kojak.

'Moral compass'

Mann's career spanned more than 50 years as a writer, director and producer.

His projects also included TV biopics of the US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and the Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal.

"Abby was brought along by great producers like Herbert Brodkin, but his passion was his own," said Del Reisman, former president of the Writers Guild of America, West.

"From his earliest days as a writer, he was guided by a moral compass that never wavered."

Mann was born Abraham Goodman in Philadelphia in 1927, the son of a Russian-Jewish immigrant. He said he felt like an outsider growing up in a tough working class neighbourhood.

After serving in the US Army he began writing TV drama scripts.

He became interested in the war crimes tribunal which tried Nazi leaders in Nuremberg in 1946 and, after scripting a TV programme on the subject, became determined to write his first film screenplay about the trials.

"A lot of people didn't want it done," he commented in a 1994 interview. "People wanted to sweep the issue under the rug."

After receving the Oscar in 1962 he said: "I believe that a writer worth his salt at all has an obligation not only to entertain but to comment on the world in which he lives, not only to comment, but maybe have a shot at reshaping the world."

His other film credits included A Child Is Waiting, Ship of Fools and Report to the Commissioner.

Mann is survived by his wife and a son.

Harry Potter author: I Almost Committed suicide

2008-03-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has revealed she thought of killing herself while penniless and suffering from depression as a single mother, according to a report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.

At the time, Rowling had separated from her first husband and was living in a cramped apartment with her baby daughter.

She was able to afford the rent only after a friend paid the £600 ($1,189) that she needed, the newspaper quoted her as telling a student reporter at Edinburgh University.

"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable,'" Rowling said.

"Mid-twenties life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted. The thing that made me go for help . . . was probably my daughter.

"She was something that earthed me, grounded me, and I thought, this isn't right, this can't be right, she cannot grow up with me in this state."

Rowling said she then sought professional help.

While the 42-year-old has spoken before of her battle with depression, it was the first time she had admitted that she contemplated suicide, the newspaper said.

It was then that Rowling began writing the first Harry Potter book, which was eventually published in 1996.

Since then, more than 325 million books -- translated into 64 languages -- have been sold around the world and Rowling is now one of the world's richest women.

Fiction Writer Sir Arthur C Clarke Is Dead

2008-03-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at the age of 90.

The Somerset-born author came to fame in 1968 when short story The Sentinel was made into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick.

His visions of space travel and computing sparked the imagination of readers and scientists alike.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse paid tribute, hailing the writer as a "great visionary".

Since 1995, the author had been largely confined to a wheelchair by post-polio syndrome.

He died at 0130 local time (2000 GMT) of respiratory complications and heart failure, according to his aide, Rohan De Silva.

Far-seeing scientist

"Sir Arthur has left written instructions that his funeral be strictly secular," his secretary, Nalaka Gunawardene, was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

She said the author had requested "absolutely no religious rites of any kind".

A farmer's son, Sir Arthur was educated at Huish's Grammar School in Taunton before joining the civil service.

He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and foresaw the concept of communication satellites.

Sir Arthur's detailed descriptions of space shuttles, super-computers and rapid communications systems inspired millions of readers.

When asked why he never patented his idea for communication satellites, he said: "I did not get a patent because I never thought it will happen in my lifetime."

In the 1940s, he maintained man would reach the moon by the year 2000, an idea dismissed at the time.

He was the author of more than 100 fiction and non-fiction books, and his writings are credited by many observers with giving science fiction a human and practical face. He collaborated on the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey with Kubrick.

'Great prophet'

British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore had known Sir Arthur since they met as teenagers at the British Interplanetary Society.

Sir Patrick paid tribute to his friend, remembering him as "a very sincere person" with "a strong sense of humour".

Tributes have also come from George Whitesides, the executive director of the National Space Society, where Sir Arthur served on the board of governors, and fellow science fiction writer Terry Pratchett.

The author married in 1953, and was divorced in 1964. He had no children.

He moved to the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka in 1956 after embarking on a study of the Great Barrier Reef.

There, he pursued his interest in scuba diving, even setting up a diving school at Hikkaduwa, near the capital, Colombo.

"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," he recalled recently.

"I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I would like to be remembered as a writer."

A statement from Sir Arthur's office said he had recently reviewed the final manuscript of his latest novel.

The Last Theorem, co-written with Frederik Pohl, will be published later this year, it said.

The Bank Job

2008-03-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

The workmanlike title “The Bank Job” is a nice fit for this wham-bam caper flick. Efficiently directed by Roger Donaldson from a busy script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, (The thieves squawked on the airwaves like crows.) It was headline news and, then, with a wave of the official wand, it was hush-hush. That’s one story, anyway.

The Bank Job is a good match for this wham-bam caper flick.directed by high effective Roger Donaldson,script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.it fancifully revisits the mysterious whos and speculative hows of a 1971 London vault cleanout on Baker Street labeled the walkie-talkie robbery.The robbery was a big headline news.

True or not, the on-screen follies mostly amuse and generally divert. Smarting up from a tip, a gang of charming lowlifes of varying capabilities and intelligence make like moles, tunneling under a women’s handbag store until they hit the vault: safe-deposit boxes crammed with sparkling treasures, fistfuls of bank notes and delectable smut involving some Very Important Personages. The thieves — led by the bullet-headed looker Jason Statham as Terry — scoop up their ill-gotten goods and scram. Assorted coppers and villains give chase, as do some stiff-lip types in bespoke suits from the British security services.

The filmmakers have claimed that the British government put a kibosh on media reports about the robbery by issuing a D Notice (now called a DA Notice, for defense advisory), a form of media self-censorship jointly agreed upon by representatives of the press and the government. Though The Guardian Published an article that explained that no D Notice had been issed after the heist, but the truth is usually beside the point when it comes to this sort of breezy entertainment, so it’s hard to care. Far more important is the way Mr. Statham, a B-movie action pinup (“The Transporter”), pumps like a piston across the screen and fills out his natty leather coat, both of which he does with palpable brute force.

Blink and you may well miss the whodunit and what for, much less what does it all mean (if anything). Stuffed with personalities, the fast, fast, fast story unfolds somewhat like a three-dimensional chess game, with the pieces moving among the different levels: on the bottom are Terry and his lads, the shaggy-haired Kevin (Stephen Campbell Moore) and the snaggle-toothed Dave (Daniel Mays); in the middle are the designated villains, including a charismatic if dubious black-power gadfly, Michael X (Peter De Jersey), and the so-called Soho porn king, Lew Vogel (David Suchet); and, on the very top, pulling strings or so they believe, are the security services, represented by the well-heeled silky and sneery Tim (Richard Lintern).

Mixed in with this dodgy crowd is a question mark named Martine, a pulpy femme fatale who’s been sensitively shaded in by Saffron Burrows. A former model, this angular, melancholic beauty has, after making the usual independent rounds — Mike Figgis directed her in his screen adaptation of the Strindberg play “Miss Julie” — slowly and somewhat unexpectedly emerged as an actress to watch. Sadness clings to Ms. Burrows: it hoods her eyes, tugs at her mouth and wraps around her like a gossamer shawl. It gives her mystery and, like the hints of age edging her face, blunts the impact of her beauty, making her character more human and emotionally accessible than she might register otherwise.

Ms. Burrows is particularly welcome, given that the caper itself is pretty much a yawn. Central to the pleasure of a great heist film is the spectacle of men (rarely women) at work, men who through their hard labor, their sweat and stratagems — and, if they’re in a Jean-Pierre Melville film, their honor — defy the law and society. (There’s a reason so many of these movies seem like metaphors for moviemaking.) The walkie-talkie gang, by contrast, comes across here as more lucky than cunning. They blunder into the heist, at times comically, which amps the laughs, but helps drain what little suspense remains after Mr. Donaldson has whisked his characters through their paces, and the ruthlessly efficient editing has nipped at their heels.

Amid all the period wheeling and stealthy dealing, the story carves out a little time for a short detour involving Michael X — also known as Michael de Freitas, also known as Michael Abdul Malik — a native of Trinidad who became a radical-chic figure in London during the late 1960s and early 1970s and, years later, cannon fodder for the writer V. S. Naipaul, who saw him as a fraud. The film’s cartoonish depiction of Michael X doesn’t begin to do justice to the strangeness of his story — he partied with John Lennon and was championed by William S. Burroughs, Dick Gregory and Heinrich Böll — though it adds a nicely outré detail to this embroidered fiction. Maybe Mr. Statham can play Mr. Burroughs in the sequel.

“The Bank Job” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Some nasty, nasty blowtorch violence.

The Warrior Within

2008-03-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

Nothing has gained popularity faster the last few years as Martial Arts. The film "The Warrior Within", seeks to unlock the mystery of this art. It will show you why learning self defense is essential and may one day save your life and the life of your loved ones. Find out why millions of people around the world are learning these arts and taking it very seriously. Our exclusive film will enlighten, empower and inspire you! It's guaranteed to be a real eye opener into the world of martial arts. You will learn how it is an intelligent solution for you and your family, not only for protection but also self confidence and peace of mind! Take this invaluable and important opportunity to see "The Warrior Within" with your family.

Fifteen top practitioners...

...of Jeet Kune Do, Karate, Kung Fu, Jujitsu, Kendo, Tai Chi Chuan and Classical Oriental Weaponry pay tribute to the martial arts master of all time, Bruce Lee. Their expertise is brought to life before the probing eye of the motion picture camera, that delves into the Americanization of these arts. In addition to exhibiting their deadly skills, the masters talk honestly about themselves and about their mystical, spiritual and philosophic thoughts on the ancient art of self defense. This film is a welcome step away from the sensationalism that all too often surrounds the subject and it is considered by many to be a classic!

Be Entertained with the best!

"The Warrior Within" received the highest honor a Martial Arts film could be awarded! The "Las Americas Film Festival" presented Executive Producer Manuel Ortiz Braschi with the "Gold Medal Special Jury Award" for its content, beautiful slow motion sequences, superb technical credits and good commentary.

27 Dresses

2008-03-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

If you are a lover of Romantic comedy just like my self,then 27 dresses is a must watch.
The Story

27 Dresses is a story of Jane (Heigl), a perennial bridesmaid who's had the word no exorcised from her vocabulary. Jane should be getting paid as a wedding planner but instead her full-time job is working as the right-hand woman to the CEO of an environmentally-friendly clothing and outdoor equipment company. Said CEO, George (Edward Burns), is a hunk and a half who loves dogs, does lots of charity work, and is clueless to the fact Jane has a massive crush on him.

27 dresses is a story of Jane (Heigl),a bridesmaid who's had the word exorcised from her vocabulary.Jane who should be earning a living as a wedding planner but instead decided to work as a full time right hand woman to the CEO of an environmentally-friendly clothing and outdoor equipment company.Said CEO, George (Edward Burns), is a hunk and a half who loves dogs, gives lots to charity, and had no idea to the fact that Jane has a massive crush on him.

George however isn't blind to all beautiful women.George falls pretty much head over heels for the perky blonde and no time the two are engaged and Jane's left to plan their nuptials.

Kevin (James Marsden) enters the scene as a newspaper reporter who covers the wedding beat.Kevin's cynical demeanor masks the fact he writes lovely articles that have brides-to-be vying for his attention.Kevin spots Jane going from wedding to wedding and decides she’s worthy of a special column, one which he hopes will do well enough to free him forever from covering the wedding beat – a job he claims to loathe doing. Despite their opposing outlooks on life, Jane and Kevin develop an uneasy sort of friendship. And because 27 Dresses springs from the romantic comedy cookie cutter mold, that uneasy friendship is, of course, the heart of the story.

27 dresses presents Grey's Anatomy fans a chance to watch Heigl charm her way through the role of a reliable bridesmaid forced into wearing some of the most outrageous dresses ever concocted and yet somehow able to smile through the taffeta,lace,and even leather ordeals.The extire film rests on her tender shoulders and Jane's more than able to carry out the task being the lead actor.As predictable as things get, Heigl never lets up and never lets the audience down.

Conclusion

It's hard to imagine a set of complications more routine, but the way that this tiered cake of a farce has been staged, you can practically lick the white frosting off of the plot. Even the satire of the wedding industry plays like a backhanded endorsement of it. There is, of course, a trying-on-clothes montage, though this one has a rare dash of wit: It's Jane modeling all her bridesmaid's dresses (which, according to the film, are meant to look bad, so that they don't show up the bride), as the movie flashes back to the weddings in which she wore them. There's also an intentionally cringe-worthy (though maybe not this much) duet between Jane and Kevin, who take refuge at a bar following an auto mishap. Drunk on whiskey, the two sing along with ''Bennie and the Jets,'' getting down with their bad selves in their most impassioned, white-person fervor, which inspires the entire bar to join in. Love means never having to say you're sorry for acting like an idiot. Or for tying yourself in knots in order to tie the knot. C+

Winehouse cleared of witness tampering

2008-02-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

Police are no longer investigating Amy Winehouse on suspicion of attempting to interfere with a court case involving her husband, her spokesman said Friday.

The 24-year-old singer is no longer required to return to a police station for further questioning, her spokesman, Chris Goodman, said in a statement.

"Amy is pleased to be discounted from the investigation and thanks the police for their professionalism in their dealings with her," the statement said.

Winehouse was arrested in December after being called to a police station. At the time, she was released on police bail and had been asked to return at a later date for further questioning.

Police said they cannot identify former suspects by name, but they did confirm that prosecutors planned to take no further action against a 24-year-old arrested in December on suspicion of trying to pervert the course of justice.

Meanwhile, Winehouse's husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, appeared in a London court Friday on charges of attacking a pub landlord and then later conspiring with him to withdraw as a witness at the trial.

Fielder-Civil spoke only to confirm his name and plead not guilty. He is due to appear again in April.

Winehouse didn't attend court because she was traveling to Paris to perform at a Louis Vuitton party, her spokesman said.

The singer won five Grammy Awards, including best record, best song and best new artist, in early February, but her musical success has been overshadowed by her tumultuous private life and public struggles with drugs and alcohol.

Coen Brothers' Film Wins 4 Oscars

2008-02-25T06:32:00.000-08:00

They ground up Steve Buscemi in a wood-chipper. They made baby-snatchers out of Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter. They turned mythic Greek wanderer Odysseus into a Depression-era roots-music minstrel with George Clooney's face.

Two of the most imaginatively twisted minds in modern film, Joel and Ethan Coen, completed their journey from the fringes to Hollywood's mainstream on Sunday as their crime saga "No Country for Old Men" won a leading four Academy Awards, including best picture.

In a year when the quirky, offbeat and just plain weird storytelling of the Coens triumphed at the biggest ceremony in show business, the oddball brothers found a lot to like in their fellow nominees.

"It sounds like a cliche, but all the movies that were nominated were really interesting to me personally, and that isn't always the case," Joel Coen said. "All of them to me personally I thought were fantastically good movies."

The Coens' brooding, bloody tale of violence in a desolate corner of west Texas was the American standard-bearer for an Oscar show that otherwise had an international flair.

All four acting prizes went to Europeans: Frenchwoman Marion Cotillard, the best-actress winner for "La Vie En Rose"; Spaniard Javier Bardem, who took supporting actor for "No Country"; and Brits Daniel Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton, he claiming his second best-actor honor for "There Will Be Blood," she winning supporting actress for "Michael Clayton."

Talking to reporters backstage, Swinton still was in disbelief, saying she initially thought "I heard someone else's name and suddenly, slowly heard my own" when she was announced as the winner for her role as a ruthless attorney.

"I'm still recovering from that moment, and I have absolutely no idea what happened after that," Swinton said. "So, you know, you can tell me my dress fell off and I'd believe you, so don't be cruel."

Day-Lewis, a previous best-actor winner for "My Left Foot," was gratified that a line he utters in "There Will Be Blood" — "I drink your milkshake," a reference to draining oil that's not yours — has found a life in the broader vernacular.

"I think it's fantastic," Day-Lewis said. "If people absorb something that you've done — for whatever your reasons are, it's not relevant — but if that gets absorbed into the culture in such a way that people make something else, somebody can make something else out of it, that's delightful to me."

By winning three Oscars — best picture as producers on the film, director and adapted screenplay — the Coens matched a feat achieved by only an elite list of filmmakers who also received three awards for a single film, including Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather Part II"), James Cameron ("Titanic") and Billy Wilder ("The Apartment").

They did miss out on a chance to become the only people to win four Oscars with one film, losing the editing prize, for which they had been nominated under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.
How did the fictitious Jaynes, whom the Coens describe as a cranky British recluse in his 80s, take the loss? "We haven't talked to him," Ethan Coen said backstage. "We know he's elderly and unhappy, so probably not well."

Crime often has paid for the Coens, a pair of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett fans who gravitate toward lawbreakers even in their comedies, such as Cage and Hunter's infant-kidnappers in "Raising Arizona," the bumbling thieves in "The Ladykillers," an abduction that leaves a trail of bodies — including Buscemi in a wood-chipper — in "Fargo," or Clooney and his fellow jailbreakers in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

"They're as talented as anybody in the game over decades now," Clooney, a best-actor nominee for "Michael Clayton," said of the Coens. "For 20 years they've made films that last."
In addition to its Oscar haul, "No Country" has delivered the Coens' biggest commercial spoils with $64 million and climbing at the domestic box office, topping the $45.5 million gross of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

The biggest commercial success among the best-picture nominees, the $100 million hit "Juno," came away with the original screenplay Oscar for first-time scriptwriter Cody Diablo, who penned wickedly smart dialogue for her cast, led by best-actress nominee Ellen Page as a pregnant teen.

"I've always been a writer, I've always been a storyteller, but I never thought about screenwriting," Diablo said backstage. "I grew up in the Midwest, you don't know any screenwriters. It didn't seem like a realistic career possibility."

Adding to the international Oscar flavor, the animation winner was a U.S. film set in a Paris restaurant, "Ratatouille." The best-song recipient was a tune written by the Irish and Czech stars of a micro-budgeted romance set in Dublin, "Once."

The globe-trotting thriller "The Bourne Ultimatum" swept all three of its categories, film editing, sound editing and sound mixing. Other winners included three films set around Britain and Europe: "Atonement" (music score), "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (costume design) and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (art direction).

Host Jon Stewart started his opening monologue with a wisecrack about the 100-day writers strike that ended just in time for the Oscars to come off as usual.

"These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writer's strike, but I'm happy to say that the fight is over," Stewart said. "So tonight, welcome to the makeup sex."

As singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose," Cotillard became the first performer ever to win an Oscar for a French-language film. Backstage, she crooned a bit of a Piaf song in French and described the task she had in playing the singer from her fiery teens to her fragile 40s.

"My aim was to understand her, to understand her heart, her soul, and so I went as deep as I could," Cotillard said. "I tried to do my best to find her inside me. But it was not so hard because I really love her."

Take That scoop Brit Award double

2008-02-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

Take That, the Arctic Monkeys and the Foo Fighters were the big winners at this year's Brit Awards in London, scooping two prizes each.
Take That won the trophies for best British live act and British single.

The Arctic Monkeys took best British group and album - both for the second year in a row - while Foo Fighters won best international group and album.

The ceremony saw performances from Amy Winehouse and Sir Paul McCartney, who received a lifetime achievement honour.

Kate Nash won best British female and Mark Ronson was named best British male.

Producer Ronson, who performed with Winehouse and Adele at the Earl's Court show, is the first non-singer to have scooped the solo artist prize.

"I've never felt so British or male in my entire life," he told the crowd.

As well as singing with Ronson on their hit Valerie, Winehouse sang one of her own numbers, Love Is A Losing Game.

It was the first public performance from the troubled star, who recently won five Grammy Awards, since being admitted to rehab.

During her solo performance, Winehouse mouthed "I love you" into the camera - presumably at husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who is currently on remand in London's Pentonville Prison.

Addressing the crowd at the end of her song, the star said: "Make some noise for my husband, my Blake."

Another memorable moment came when host Sharon Osbourne - presenting with husband Ozzy and children, Jack and Kelly - swore at comedian Vic Reeves.

When Reeves appeared to forget which award he was presenting, she accused him of being drunk, swore at him and told him to "shut up" before trying to announce the winner of best British album herself.

The Arctic Monkeys, who did not turn up to the awards last year, attended Wednesday's show dressed as country gents.

The Sheffield band wore tweed waistcoats, breeches, flat caps, and blew a hunting horn on stage.

Public vote

As Take That accepted their award for best live act, band member Jason Orange said he had an arthritic knee and said: "We appear before you bruised and battered, but dead chuffed.

"We are so honoured. We've worked so hard over the years."

Their second award, which was presented for the single Shine, was chosen by a live public vote that continued throughout the show.

Kylie Minogue won best international female. The Australian star, who performed her single Wow, said she was "extremely grateful and thankful".

Mika, who kicked off the show with his songs Love Today and Grace Kelly, was named best British breakthrough act.

He also performed with Gossip singer Beth Ditto.

Will Young presented the critics' choice award to Adele, a graduate of the Brit School in Selhurst, south London.

Accepting the prize, the Londoner said: "My heart's beating so fast." She also thanked her "beautiful" mother.

US star Kanye West, who was unable to attend the ceremony, was named winner of the best international male prize.

"I'm sure there's someone who deserves this more than me, but I just don't know who they are," he said in his acceptance video.

Also accepting his band's best international group and album awards by video, Dave Grohl joked that the Foo Fighters - formed in 1995 - had won the award for best newcomer.

Rihanna followed with a performance of her number one single Umbrella, accompanied by Klaxons.

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney performed a medley of hits, including Live and Let Die, Hey Jude and Lady Madonna after he was honoured with an outstanding contribution award.

Doctor Who star David Tennant, actor Sir Ian McKellen, Bionic Woman actress Michelle Ryan were among the guest presenters.

Stars To Replace Ledger In Movie

2008-02-19T01:09:00.000-08:00

Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell will appear as Heath Ledger's character in unfinished film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the BBC has learned.

A spokeswoman for Law confirmed the three would play the role of Tony in the film "subject to negotiations".

She said she did not know how the role would be restructured.

The Terry Gilliam-directed film was halted when Ledger, 28, died from a drugs overdose in the US shortly after filming scenes for the movie in London.

It is thought that original footage of Ledger will remain while Law, Depp and Farrell will play different incarnations of his character, Tony.

The fantasy film follows a travelling theatre troupe which offers audience members the chance to pass through a magical mirror to alternate dimensions.

'Great actor'

Depp, Law, and Farrell are each expected to "become" Ledger's character in one of these new worlds.

Law's spokeswoman said the actor, who is on holiday, was unavailable for comment.
Ledger died from an accidental overdose of six different types of prescription drugs in his New York apartment.

After filming for the movie had finished in London, the $30m (£15.1m) production then moved to Vancouver, Canada for interior and bluescreen scenes before it was suspended upon news of Ledger's death.

At the time, the film's makers described Ledger as "a great actor, a great friend and a great spirit" and said Gilliam and his producers would be "assessing how best to proceed".
Last weekend, international film stars were among mourners at a memorial service for the Ledger in his home town of Perth.

Speakers at the service, which was followed by a private burial for close family only, included actress Cate Blanchett and film director Neil Armfield.

John Grisham has no illusions about writing

2008-02-18T01:15:00.000-08:00

Some things John Grisham knows: He got 15 rejections before his first book, "A Time to Kill," was published. He made $9 million last year. He's not James Joyce or William Faulkner. He's an entertainer.

John Grisham recently published his 21st book, a legal thriller (of course) named "The Appeal."

"I'm not sure where that line goes between literature and popular fiction," the mega-selling author says. "I can assure you I don't take myself serious enough to think I'm writing literary fiction and stuff that's going to be remembered in 50 years. I'm not going to be here in 50 years; I don't care if I'm remembered or not. It's pure entertainment."

Grisham is happy to write what he hopes is "a high-quality popular fiction." But that matters not to fans, who gobble every word.

Sometimes he wraps a serious issue around a plot -- the death penalty in "The Chamber," insurance reform in "The Rainmaker," homelessness in "The Street Lawyer." Now the self-styled political junkie and former Mississippi state legislator has written a book that's more political intrigue than legal thriller.

"The Appeal" (his 21st book) tells the story of a huge chemical company that loses a $41 million lawsuit for causing cancer deaths and then essentially tries to buy an election for the state Supreme Court -- where, yes, the appeal will be heard.

"I guess every year now is a political year. ... And it just felt like it was time to write this story," Grisham says, alluding to how the run for the White House has become a marathon of sorts.

Grisham, who turned 53 on February 8 and still has the lanky look of an athlete who once chased a baseball career, is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton and says the Democrats have been outmaneuvered by the Republicans.

"I think what the Republicans have done in past elections is brilliant. Because, they've convinced a lot of people to vote for them against their own economic self-interest, and they've done that by skillfully manipulating a handful of social issues, primarily abortion and gay rights and sometimes gun control," he says. "And the Republicans have used those to scare a lot of people into voting for Republican candidates. It's skillful manipulation."

Grisham, who lives in the Charlottesville, Virginia, area, is so addicted to following the presidential race that he jokes he might need rehab.

"My wife and I went out to dinner a couple of weeks ago, and we actually called somebody to find out if they had any results from the Nevada caucuses," he says, chortling almost sheepishly. "And I said this ought to tell us something: 'You know, we're in this thing way too deep.' "

Still, he's able to pull himself away from primaries and polls to indulge fans and tour his new book, already at the top of some best-seller lists.

Grisham's books have sold 235 million copies worldwide, according to publisher Doubleday. Some, of course, have been adapted into blockbuster movies, starring such heavyweights as Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Cruise and Matt Damon.

Reviews of "The Appeal" have been generally positive, though some can be reduced to previous assessments of Grisham: fine storyteller but not a particularly good writer.

"When I start getting good reviews, I worry about sales," jokes Grisham, who says he's learned to ignore reviews.

"It's a better day if I don't read any reviews," he says. "It's the only form of entertainment where you're reviewed by other writers. You don't see rock stars reviewing each other's albums, and you don't see directors reviewing each other's movies."

An enduring influence on Grisham's work is John le Carre, author of such celebrated thrillers as "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," "The Honourable Schoolboy" and "A Small Town in Germany."

"He's still my hero," Grisham says.

But he doesn't read a lot when he's writing. "We all want to read good books, and so you read a good book by a really good writer, and I catch myself inadvertently imitating him or her. And so you think, 'Well, I wouldn't use that word, I wouldn't do that sentence that way.' I read a lot when I'm not writing."

He started this year with the goal of reading everything by John Steinbeck ("The Grapes of Wrath," "Cannery Row," "The Pearl"), who was one of Grisham's favorite authors growing up. And he just finished a "Mark Twain binge."

"I keep up with the other lawyers [who write] -- Scott Turow. I read all Scott's stuff. And I think Scott is really underestimated as a writer. He's really, really good," Grisham says.

Turow recently told The Associated Press that the feelings were mutual: "I am an enormous admirer of John Grisham at every level -- as a person, as a citizen of both the literary and legal worlds and, most relevantly, as a writer. John is one of the pre-eminent storytellers of our time, and the grace and seamlessness with which his stories come together to grip us all is a wonder."

Among other writers Grisham likes: David Baldacci, Steve Martini, Pat Conroy and Stephen King.

"I'll start two, three books a week, rarely finish one. But I'm always looking," Grisham says. "Love to buy books. Love to stack 'em up in the house. We've got a million books in the house."

When he first started writing, Grisham says, he had "these little rituals that were silly and brutal but very important."

"The alarm clock would go off at 5, and I'd jump in the shower. My office was 5 minutes away. And I had to be at my desk, at my office, with the first cup of coffee, a legal pad and write the first word at 5:30, five days a week."

His goal: to write a page every day. Sometimes that would take 10 minutes, sometimes an hour; ofttimes he would write for two hours before he had to turn to his job as a lawyer, which he never especially enjoyed. In the Mississippi Legislature, there were "enormous amounts of wasted time" that would give him the opportunity to write.

"So I was very disciplined about it," he says, then quickly concedes he doesn't have such discipline now: "I don't have to."

Golden Bear for 'corruption' film

2008-02-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

The Elite Squad, a violent tale of corrupt drug-squad officers in Brazil, has won the Golden Bear, the top prize at the annual Berlin Film Festival.

It had created unprecedented interest upon its release in Brazil, because of its portrayal of a police force willing to torture and kill unarmed suspects.

Producer Marcos Prado said the award "gives us the strength to go forward".

The UK's Sally Hawkins was best actress for Happy-Go-Lucky and Iran's Reza Naji won best actor on The Song of Sparrows.

Born in London, 31-year-old Hawkins has also appeared in Mike Leigh's abortion drama Vera Drake and has had an extensive television career.

The Rada-trained performer's TV appearances include several Little Britain episodes and the controversial lesbian drama Tipping the Velvet.

US filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson took the prize for best director for There Will Be Blood.

This epic story of an oil prospector is already nominated in eight categories at the Oscars, which are being held on 24 February.

Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai received the prize for best for In Love We Trust, while Lake Tahoe, directed by Fernando Eimbcke of Mexico, was named most innovative film.

A total of 21 pictures were screened in competition in the German capital for the 58th festival.

With strike over, glamour back for Oscars

2008-02-16T02:19:00.000-08:00

The end of the Hollywood writers strike means the Oscar show will be the usual star-studded, fashion-filled extravaganza, organizers promised.

"The strike, the bad news, is past us," Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said Thursday.

The 80th annual awards show will be held February 24 at the Kodak Theatre and will feature a host of A-list stars. Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Hudson, Miley Cyrus, George Clooney and Nicole Kidman will be among the presenters. Others include Denzel Washington, Martin Scorsese, Cate Blanchett, Cameron Diaz, Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks.

Had the three-month writers strike not ended Tuesday, the Academy still would have put on a "B" show -- one without the glitter of the nominated actors, virtually all of whom said they would not cross a picket line.

"The 'B Show' was going to have the musical numbers, and there was going to be a lot of energy to that," telecast producer Gil Cates told AP Television. "But it was going to rely mostly on film clips, mostly on historical clips, because it is the 80th year of the Oscars."

The "A" show will feature performances of the year's five nominated songs. "Enchanted" star Amy Adams will sing "Happy Working Song," one of the film's three nominated tunes.

Kristin Chenoweth and Marlon Saunders will perform "That's How You Know" and Jon McLaughlin will sing "So Close," also from "Enchanted."

Second Week For McCartney Hearing

2008-02-16T02:15:00.000-08:00

Sir Paul McCartney's divorce hearing has been extended into next week after he and estranged wife Heather Mills failed to reach an agreement.

Court 34 at London's High Court has been booked for Monday, when the case will continue, even though it was originally scheduled to end on Friday.

The financial settlement could break records, it has been suggested.

The hearing has been taking place in private. Any settlement will not be made public unless it goes to appeal.

Sir Paul has a fortune estimated at £825m. Based on recent cases, divorce experts have suggested that Ms Mills could walk away with £60m.

The record currently rests with the £48m businessman John Charman was told to pay his former wife last year.

Ms Mills, who lost part of a leg in a road accident in 1993, married Sir Paul in June 2002, four years after his first wife, Linda, died of breast cancer.

The couple have a four-year-old daughter Beatrice. They announced the end of their marriage in 2006.

Several press reports suggest High Court judge Mr Justice Bennett has warned the couple that leaking details of the case to the media could be in contempt of court and punishable with heavy fines.

The judge is likely to decide next week if he has heard enough to give a ruling on the division of wealth and will impose his conditions on the couple, although the actual judgement will follow in a few weeks.

The media have speculated that a sticking point could be a confidentiality clause - the former Beatle is said to be anxious to keep details of his marriage to Ms Mills secret.

Director And Editor Chemistry Key To A Film's Success

2008-02-15T01:12:00.000-08:00

When Tony Gilroy's mother heard that he was going to have his younger brother John edit his directorial debut, "Michael Clayton," she was worried her boys would clash.

It wasn't an unreasonable fear. Any two people locked in a small space for weeks on end struggling to transform hours and hours of raw footage into a concise, entertaining work of art are bound to have conflicts. When those two people are brothers with a history of sibling rivalry ("Tony is taller," John says; "But Johnny can kick my ass," Tony admits), the potential for disagreement is exponentially higher.

But Tony, who received Oscar nominations for writing and directing the George Clooney legal thriller, found that their differences produced not violence but a better film.

"It took about three days to figure out that there'd be a kind of push-me, pull-you (dynamic)," he says.

"I would always be pulling to not explain things and turning the thermostat down, and Johnny would always be pushing to turn it up, and the by-product of that would be room temperature. And we were both really happy with where we were going to land."

"It's very good to see different perspectives," concurs director Marc Forster, who has worked with editor Matt Chesse on six films, including 2007's "The Kite Runner," 2004's "Finding Neverland" (which earned Chesse an Oscar nod) and 2001's "Monster's Ball." "Matt and I have a very strong connection and love for cinema and a love for similar movies, but he sometimes sees things differently than I do. My attention span is a little shorter than his. Sometimes he likes to let it breathe a little more than I do."

They are reteaming a seventh time for MGM/Sony's upcoming James Bond film.

Long-standing editor-director relationships like the one between Forster and Chesse are not uncommon: Editor Joel Cox has worked with Clint Eastwood for more than 30 years, and Thelma Schoonmaker has been Martin Scorsese's go-to editor since 1980's "Raging Bull." And brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have been collaborating for decades under the moniker "Roderick Jaynes," an Oscar nominee for "No Country For Old Men."

"I think it's a trust-based relationship," says Chesse of the editor-director union. "You see all the warts and all the stuff that nobody gets to see, and you shape it into something that hopefully leaves people without any doubt of the director's vision."

Director David Cronenberg and editor Ronald Sanders have worked together since 1979's "Fast Company." On their latest film, "Eastern Promises," they followed the same pattern they have developed working on such films as 1986's "The Fly" and 2005's "A History of Violence."

During the shoot in London, Cronenberg did not look at any footage, except for the occasional dailies, which he finds less necessary today with instant on-set video playback. In the meantime, Sanders cut together an assembly of the film in proper narrative order that he screened for Cronenberg two weeks after principal photography wrapped. Cronenberg then joined Sanders in the cutting room to polish the edit.

"I feel that the only shot I've got at being fairly objective is to be surprised by my own movie," says Cronenberg of his willful ignorance of the first edit.

"It comes from my first movie -- (1975's) 'Shivers' -- that Ivan Reitman produced. I was basically sitting in the editing room as we were shooting, editing it with the editor. We had a screening, and nothing worked. But Ivan said, 'It's not so bad. You just do a little of this, you take a little of that and do that.' I thought, 'I want to be where he is, in his objectivity, rather than so intimately involved with every cut and every shot that I can't see the forest for the trees."'

On "Promises," he and Cronenberg were "in the zone," according to Sanders. "We weren't trying to force anything or fix anything." Easiest of all was the film's infamous bathhouse scene, in which a naked Nikolai (Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen) fights two Russian thugs to the death.

"I did it in a few hours one afternoon," Sanders says. "I put all the masters together -- end to end -- so I could see where it was all going, and I used that as a template. It had the stuff that it needed, so it told me what to do."

"He nailed it so perfectly that I couldn't improve it by one frame," Cronenberg says.

Review: 'Spiderwick' is worthwhile journey

2008-02-15T01:09:00.000-08:00

A dozen producers share the bragging rights for bringing the popular Holly Black-Tony DiTerlizzi "Spiderwick" children's fantasy books to the screen. That wouldn't necessarily be grounds for optimism, so it's a relief to report that "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is free of the elephantine designs that bogged down "The Golden Compass."

Unlike "Compass," New Line's luxurious, sporadically entertaining misadventure, Mark Waters' crisp little movie is modestly scaled and keeps the story front and center. Heck, it even comes supplied with something called an ending: The narrative is tied up, characters work through their problems, tears are shed, all that stuff. The makers of "Compass" might want to check it out.

Like "Golden Compass," "Spiderwick" is imprinted with the influence of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books. The Grace children -- angry, troubled Jared; his sweeter twin brother, Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore); and older sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) -- move into a ramshackle country house with their newly divorced mom (Mary-Louise Parker). The estate once belonged to their great-great-uncle, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn), a naturalist whose field research revealed some unexpected new species: fairies, goblins and the like.

Uncle Arthur has long since vanished -- and his daughter Lucinda is now an old lady in the local asylum -- but Jared's discovery of his loosely bound notes reawakens the interest of the terrible ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte), who will stop at nothing to get his claws on them, if only he and his toadies can break the protective circle that surrounds the house.

Mulgarath isn't the only monster in this movie. Jared does a good impersonation of one in the early scenes, railing against his mom and taking a switch to the SUV. His home is broken, and he's all upset about it. When his sister wakes up to find her hair tied to the bedstead, everyone assumes Jared is the culprit.

In fact, it's Thimbletack, a "house brownie" whose job is to protect Spiderwick's book. A midget-sized hulk voiced by Martin Short, Thimbletack can work himself into a green fury unless you sweeten his disposition with generous helpings of honey.

Jared also gets some help from Hogsqueal, a bird-eating hobgoblin (voiced by Seth Rogen) who has sworn vengeance on Mulgarath and who'll spit in your eye to expose the ogre's invisible minions.

Waters ("Mean Girls") hasn't done an effects movie before, unless you count "Freaky Friday," but he's kept a firm grip on the material and gets impressive performances out of Bolger and Highmore (though it's questionable whether it was worth twinning him; Simon -- "I don't do conflict" -- is mostly on the sidelines).

The storytelling is economical and brisk. In some ways, Waters approaches it more as a pre-teen horror movie. The domestic squabbles within the ruptured family are realistic and raw, and the climax is like something out of a home-invasion thriller (but with more goo).

That said, these intense sequences are offset by moments of whimsy and humor, by Caleb Deschanel's beautiful cinematography, James Horner's warm score and the benign presence of old pros like Strathairn and Joan Plowright. Incidentally, Strathairn's regular collaborator, indie filmmaker John Sayles, is one of three credited screenwriters.

Parents of younger children should proceed with caution; this walk in the woods is no picnic. But "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is animated by its anger issues; edgy and brittle, it's at least a cut above average.

Actress Bai Ling Accused Of Shoplifting

2008-02-15T00:51:00.000-08:00

Bai Ling's good looks and eccentric outfits have frequently put her picture in celebrity magazines, but that doesn't mean she can take the magazines for free.

The Chinese actress was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of shoplifting two celebrity magazines and two packets of batteries at Los Angeles International Airport. The items had a total value of $16, said Sgt. Jim Holcomb of the airport's police department.

The 41-year-old actress was detained by a store employee who summoned police, Holcomb said. She was booked for investigation of misdemeanor shoplifting and released after agreeing to appear in court on March 5.

An e-mail message seeking comment sent to Ling's agent on Thursday was not immediately returned.

Ling has appeared in such films as "The Crow" and "Anna and the King" and in the TV series "Lost."

The day of her arrest, she posted a message on her blog with a photo of herself at the airport waiting for a delayed flight. She made no mention of her arrest, instead wondering whether people were "rushing in the cold wind to work" after the Chinese New Year.

"Life is a sad song sometime but still sings the beauty for their loved ones," she wrote.

Review: Definitely, Maybe

2008-02-14T06:50:00.001-08:00

In the saga of his love life that he weaves as a bedtime story for his preteen daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), in "Definitely, Maybe," Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) sounds like a man from Hope as he recounts the good old days of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign

Back then, Will was an idealistic campaign worker straight out of college in Wisconsin; today he's a Manhattan ad guy about to finalize his divorce from Maya's mother. The Clinton name-check (along with a trip down memory lane to the testimony of former Clinton paramour Gennifer Flowers) gives this value-enhanced romantic semi-comedy a gentle zing of timeliness, especially as the wife who stood by her man 16 years ago is now the Clinton seeking the presidency herself.

And the pointed reference to the curious case of the Clinton relationship announces that "Definitely, Maybe" is absolutely, probably more comfortable with human romantic complication than the usual stuff released on Valentine's Day.

If only Will the character weren't such a generic, pizzazz-less Ken doll of a Gen-X adult male! If only Reynolds the actor didn't vanish before our eyes even as he walks and talks!

Will describes three uncommon women who have moved him from mild to warm over the years, disguising the names so his daughter can guess, in the end, which lady became her mommy. (That's an odd form of father-daughter bonding, true, but the big-city girl has just had her first sex-ed class.)

There's Emily (Elizabeth Banks), the wholesome Midwesterner who feared that the bright lights of New York would change her beau; there's Summer (Rachel Weisz), the glamorous belles-lettres adventurer, whose involvement with an older literary lion (Kevin Kline) didn't diminish her appreciation for Will's boyish good looks; and there's April (Isla Fisher), the free spirit, who, although winsomely kooky enough to serve as a dream girl for "Daily Show" boys, is nevertheless receptive to Will's white-bread-and-mayo appeal.

No reason is adequately given why Will and his wife have chosen to split up and share custody, but I assume an inability to distinguish husband from hat rack is grounds for divorce.

And so Will advances the narrative, year by year, interrupted by Maya's perceptive present-day questions and commentary, delivered with the kind of therapeutic Wise Child tolerance we have come to expect from the star of "Little Miss Sunshine." The thing is, each lady under discussion would not only make a reasonable mommy but also a really attractive, realistic woman. No one's a cartoon villain, and no one's beyond reproach, either. Everyone speaks like a grown-up (er, including Maya).

But in a bounty of candidates, keep your eye on Banks. In a performance of invigorating complexity (and typically sunny equanimity), her Emily is a breakthrough non-neurotic beauty, perfectly built for an election year unimaginable back when Gennifer Flowers was acting out a much older female role.

Actors To Stop Strike

2008-02-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

Four of Hollywood's biggest stars have taken out adverts in US trade papers urging their leaders to start contract talks in a bid to avert a strike.

Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro want the Screen Actors Guild to negotiate with studios over a contract which ends on 30 June.

Their call comes as US writers begin to return to work after they voted to end a three-month strike.

Networks have started to announce the return of shows halted by the strike.

Strong support

The adverts, placed in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, appeal with leaders of the 120,000-strong Screen Actors Guild (SAG) to begin talks over a new contract.

On Wednesday, SAG national executive director Doug Allen said the union would open negotiations over pay and conditions "at a time that will most benefit our members".

Last week, Clooney warned SAG leaders their negotiating power would diminish if they waited before starting talks with producers, because of "a lot of strike fatigue".

The actors' union offered strong support to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in its strike over work distributed on DVD or over the internet.

TV and film writers are now returning to work after the WGA's back-to-work order was approved by 92.5% of the 3,775 members who voted on the deal struck by leaders at the weekend.

But it will take weeks for the TV industry, in particular, to mobilise while new material is prepared.

Network CBS has announced that a number of its most popular dramas, including Cold Case, Criminal Minds and Without a Trace, will be back on air by early April.

And ABC's courtroom drama Boston Legal will be back in front of cameras as soon as next week because the script was already half-finished when the strike began in November.

Long wait

The current US TV season runs out in late May.

Viewers will have to wait longer for shows with continuing storylines than those with self-contained episodes with many networks choosing to wait until they can show seasons in their entirety.

NBC's superhero series Heroes is expected to stay off air in the US until autumn for that reason.

Fox thriller 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland as agent Jack Bauer, is now scheduled to begin in January 2009 so that all 24 episodes can be shown in full.

Films have not been as severely affected because they have longer production times.

Some 10,500 writers stopped work on 5 November, a few days after their old contract with studios ended.

Sunday's deal gives them a greater share in money made from TV programmes and films offered over the internet and other new media.

TV and film production was crippled by the strike and it led to the cancellation of the Golden Globes ceremony.

The Academy Awards, which were also threatened, will now go ahead.

Strange Wilderness

2008-02-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

Since the studio decided not to screen Strange Wilderness for the press, I was forced to head out on my own (albeit tax deductible) dime to my local Movie Tavern to see the flick on opening night. Now, if you aren’t familiar with the Movie Tavern phenomenon, let me say that it is certainly something to behold. It is the curiously hot transvestite of the movie theater and fine dining industries, mixing good food (think Applebee’s) with movies. In this particular case, I was thankful that the Tavern is a purveyor of alcoholic beverages, as I knew I would need something to take the sting off of another Happy Madison produced comedy.

Little did I know that there is no amount of alcohol that could possibly take the sting out of having to sit through the nails on a chalkboard-esque annoyance that is Strange Wilderness. Happy Madison’s last flick Grandma’s Boy may have been both stupid and funny, but Strange Wilderness is just stupid. In fact, the film reaches such a tragically unfunny level that I found myself scrolling through the address book in my Blackberry, searching for the numbers of people with whom I no longer want to be associated and deleting them.

The story centers around Peter (Steve Zahn), a second generation wildlife show host who has successfully driven his father’s once great show into the ground thanks to heavy doses of pot and a crew of nitwits. And even though said crew of nitwits (which includes Grandma’s Boy’s Allen Covert, Superbad’s Jonah Hill, Accepted’s Justin Long, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry’s Peter Dante, Super Troopers‘ Kevin Heffernan and Jericho’s Ashley Scott) are loyal, they are not in any way cut out for the television business. So when the head of the television studio that runs the show (played by Jeff Garlin) threatens to cancel them, this rag-tag team of imbeciles sets out on a journey to find and capture for the first time on film, the legend that is Big Foot.

From there, the results are absolutely disastrous. It is mind-numbing to me to think that a film with a premise like that could end up with zero story arc. Despite the fact that we are given a conflict and a resolution, the film yields no notable climax — for the laymen among us, nothing ever really happens.

In addition, the film’s comedic pace is completely incoherent, playing out less like a funny movie and more like an incoherent jumbling of bad Saturday Night Live skits that should have died on the floor in the writer’s room at Rockafeller Center. The performances were disappointingly sub-par as well. Steve Zahn, who has shown us bits of greatness in films like 2007’s Rescue Dawn, just flails around like a hyper kid just off his Ridalin. He should have been giving the audience someone to root for, instead we just feel sad for his character. Jonah Hill also stands out as being completely out of place. It defies all logic how he can go from something so rock solid and hysterical like Superbad to something as blatantly moronic as this.

If you combine the unnervingly bad script (penned by director Fred Wolf and co-producer Peter Gaulke) with the wasted talent in the cast, you get a film that is a pointless, humorless mess. To be quite honest, Strange Wilderness is a modern day comedic tragedy. The only redeeming value of the experience was that I discovered the wonders of the Movie Tavern and its giant-sized beer mugs. Oh, and the nachos were pretty damn good, as well.

Review By Neil Miller

Fool's Gold

2008-02-13T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hello, I’m Abayomi, and I can’t go a month without needing a romantic comedy fix. There, I said it. Call me a fool for loving romantic comedies, but I’m drawn to them like a duck to water. The rom com world is filled with fluffy, feel-good films that have little or no lasting impact on our lives and serve only as temporary escapism into a fantasy

land of pleasant people falling in love. It’s a given the ending will be a happy one with the leads waltzing off into the sunset holding hands and making goo-goo eyes at one another. What’s not to like? They’re sappy, silly, time-wasters, but they’re also strangely addictive.

Occasionally the genre will even sneak in a movie that’s above and beyond the norm – Love Actually, Knocked Up, and When Harry Met Sally come to mind – but for the most part the genre’s loaded with fun but forgettable fare. Unfortunately, the romantic comedy world also has more than its share of real stinkers. A brand new one of those was just added to the pot with Fool’s Gold.
The Story

Ben ‘Finn’ Finnegan (Matthew McConaughey) loves treasure hunting. In fact, he loves treasure hunting so much he risks everything he owns in order to seek out long-lost gold buried under the sea. He once had a wife, Tess (Kate Hudson), who loved searching for riches with him, but she lost both the desire to find sunken treasure and the desire to wake up next to Finn’s golden, ripped abs. No matter, Finn forges on despite being in debt up to his earlobes to rapper-loan shark-all around bad guy Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart).

Finn, equally as unlucky at searching for gold as he is in love, can’t come up with the money to pay off the Bunny Man. Yet that doesn’t stop him from trying to hunt down what’s been lost for centuries. When a piece of The Queen’s Dowry (the ultimate pot of gold for fortune hunters) literally floats into his hands, Finn knows he’s onto something. All he needs to finally discover the whereabouts of the treasure is his ex-wife’s help and her millionaire boss’ big boat and bankroll. Of course Tess and millionaire Nigel (Donald Sutherland) will just have to sign on to his plan after he flashes those pearly whites and turns on the charm. And showing lots of skin also helps sell his case - or maybe not. That’s probably just for the benefit of the audience.

But Finn, his best buddy and diving partner Alfonz (Ewen Bremner), and the rest of the motley crew aren’t the only ones out for gold. Finn’s mentor, Moe (Ray Winstone), wants it for his own as does Bigg Bunny. And word apparently doesn’t reach Bunny and his thugs that they’re in a romantic comedy because they actually try to kill people!

The Cast

Matthew McConaughey gets his butt kicked multiple times in Fool’s Gold, with the worst beating delivered by the script and not his onscreen enemies. The plot is convoluted and confusing, and McConaughey’s left to try and pick up the pieces by gamely taking some lumps and – as mentioned before – showing off his tanned and handsome body.

Kate Hudson doesn’t get that much to do, other than look cute. Tess isn’t much of a character but rather a female love interest grabbed not fully formed from Column B of the romantic comedy handbook.
The Bottom Line

The bad guys repeatedly try to kill our heroes but it’s all for laughs, right? One murder attempt might be okay in a romantic comedy world, but Fool’s Gold really pushes the violence level way out of proportion. It also pushes our level of tolerance for exposition. Fool’s Gold comes to a complete stop as the characters plop themselves down for a lengthy discourse on where the treasure came from, who sent it out to sea, whose ship it was on, why it was there, where it was going, the weather conditions during the voyage, the geography of the land, and the color of the captain’s underwear. That last bit of info wasn’t actually included but might as well have been for all the good the rest of the explanation did in clueing the audience in on the location of the treasure. It feels like hours, even days, have passed by the time this information dump concludes.

For those who do succeed in following at least some of the history of The Queen’s Dowry, it’s quickly evident that the aforementioned explanation leads to major plot problems having to do with continuity. The location where Finn found the plate that set him off on this grand adventure doesn’t make sense, and that’s just one of the film’s many problems. And, seriously, the ultimate location of the treasure is just ridiculous. Someone over the course of 300-odd years would have stumbled across this buried loot long, long before Finn and Tess seek out their fortune.
The underwater scenes are done well, but don’t sell that sense of adventure you'd expect the characters to feel while chasing down millions – maybe even billions – in treasure. The time spent on land also lacks the thrill of the hunt. Combine that with the absence of any truly funny scenes and Fool’s Gold is one 'treasure' better left buried.

Grade: D+

Fool's Gold was directed by Andy Tennant and is rated PG-13 for action violence, some sexual material, brief nudity and language.

Theatrical Release Date: February 8, 2008

Grammy Awards : Know The Winners

2008-02-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

The 50th annual Grammy Awards have been handed out in Los Angeles. Here is a selection of the key winners.
Record of the year
Amy Winehouse - Rehab
Also nominated:
Beyonce - Irreplaceable
Foo Fighters - The Pretender
Rihanna - Umbrella
Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around... Comes Around

Album of the year
Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters
Also nominated:
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Vince Gill - These Days
Kanye West - Graduation
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

Song of the year
Amy Winehouse - Rehab
Also nominated:
Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats
Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah
Corrine Bailey Rae - Like a Star
Rihanna - Umbrella

Best new artist
Amy Winehouse
Also nominated:
Feist
Ledisi
Paramore
Taylor Swift

Best female pop vocal performance
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
Also nominated:
Candyman - Christina Aguilera
1234 - Feist
Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie
Say It Right - Nelly Furtado

Best male pop vocal performance
What Goes Around...Comes Around - Justin Timberlake
Also nominated:
Everything - Michael Buble
Belief - John Mayer
Dance Tonight - Paul McCartney
Amazing - Seal

Best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals
Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
Also nominated:
(You Want To) Make A Memory - Bon Jovi
Home - Daughtry
Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's
Window In The Skies - U2

Best pop vocal album
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Also nominated:
Bon Jovi - Lost Highway
Feist - The Reminder
Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full

Best dance recording
LoveStoned/I Think She Knows - Justin Timberlake
Also nominated:
Do It Again - The Chemical Brothers
D.A.N.C.E. - Justice
Love Today - Mika
Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna

Best rock song
Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen
Also nominated:
Come On - Lucinda Williams
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
It's Not Over - Daughtry
The Pretender - Foo Fighters

Best rock album
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Also nominated:
Daughtry - Daughtry
John Fogerty - Revival
Bruce Springsteen - Magic
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Best solo rock vocal performance
Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen
Also nominated:
Timebomb - Beck
Only Mama Knows - Paul McCartney
Our Country - John Mellencamp
Come On - Lucinda Williams

Best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Also nominated:
It's Not Over - Daughtry
Working Class Hero - Green Day
If Everyone Cared - Nickelback
Instant Karma - U2

Best alternative music album
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Also nominated:
Alright, Still... - Lily Allen
Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
Volta - Bjork
Wincing The Night Away - The Shins

Best female R&B vocal performance
No One - Alicia Keys
Also nominated:
Just Fine - Mary J Blige
When I See You - Fantasia
If I Have My Way - Chrisette Michele
Hate On Me - Jill Scott

Best male R&B vocal performance
Future Baby Mama - Prince
Also nominated:
Woman - Raheem DeVaughn
B.U.D.D.Y. - Musiq Soulchild
Because Of You - Ne-Yo
Please Don't Go - Tank

Best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals
Disrespectful - Chaka Khan Featuring Mary J Blige
Also nominated:
Same Girl - R Kelly Featuring Usher
Hate That I Love You - Rihanna Featuring Ne-Yo
Baby - Angie Stone Featuring Betty Wright
Bartender - T-Pain Featuring Akon

Best R&B song
No One - Alicia Keys
Also nominated:
Beautiful Flower - India.Arie
Hate That I Love You - Rihanna Featuring Ne-Yo
Teachme - Musiq Soulchild
When I See U - Fantasia

Best R&B album
Chaka Khan - Funk This
Also nominated:
Ledisi - Lost & Found
Musiq Soulchild - Luvanmusiq
Jill Scott - The Real Thing
Tank - Sex, Love & Pain

Best contemporary R&B album
Ne-Yo - Because Of You
Also nominated:
Akon - Konvicted
Keyshia Cole - Just Like You
Fantasia - Fantasia
Emily King - East Side Story

Best rap solo performance
Stronger - Kanye West
Also nominated:
The People - Common
I Get Money - 50 Cent
Show Me What You Got - Jay-Z
Big Things Poppin' (Do It) - TI

Best rap performance by a duo or group
Southside - Common Featuring Kanye West
Also nominated:
Make It Rain - Fat Joe Featuring Lil Wayne
Party Like A Rockstar - Shop Boyz
Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) - UGK Featuring OutKast
Better Than I've Ever Been - Kanye West, Nas & KRS-One

Best rap song
Good Life - Kanye West Featuring T-Pain
Also nominated:
Ayo Technology - 50 Cent Featuring Justin Timberlake & Timbaland
Big Things Poppin' (Do It) - TI
Can't Tell Me Nothing - Kanye West
Crank That - Soulja Boy Tell'Em

Best rap album
Kanye West - Graduation
Also nominated:
Common - Finding Forever
Jay-Z - Kingdom Come
Nas - Hip Hop Is Dead
TI - TI vs TIP

Best female country vocal performance
Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood
Also nominated:
Simple Love - Alison Krauss
Famous In A Small Town - Miranda Lambert
Nothin' Better To Do - LeAnn Rimes
Heaven, Heartache And The Power Of Love - Trisha Yearwood

Best male country vocal performance
Stupid Boy - Keith Urban
Also nominated:
Long Trip Alone - Dierks Bentley
A Woman's Love - Alan Jackson
If You're Reading This - Tim McGraw
Give It Away - George Strait

Best country performance by a duo or group with vocals
How Long - Eagles
Also nominated:
Proud Of The House We Built - Brooks & Dunn
Moments - Emerson Drive
Lucky Man - Montgomery Gentry
Sweet Memories - The Time Jumpers

Best country song
Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood
Also nominated:
Give It Away - George Strait
I Need You - Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
If You're Reading This - Tim McGraw
Long Trip Alone - Dierks Bentley

Best country album
Vince Gill - These Days
Also nominated:
Dierks Bentley - Long Trip Alone
Tim McGraw - Let It Go
Brad Paisley - 5th Gear
George Strait - It Just Comes Natural

Best electronic/dance album
The Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night
Also nominated:
Justice - Cross
LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Shiny Toy Guns - We Are Pilots
Tiesto - Elements Of Life

Producer of the year, non-classical
Mark Ronson
Also nominated:
Howard Benson
Joe Chiccarelli
Mike Elizondo
Timbaland

Best short form music video
Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down
Feist - 1234
Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone
Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
Mute Math - Typical

Five For Winehouse

2008-02-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

Troubled singer Amy Winehouse has been showered with glory by the prestigious Grammy Awards, winning five prizes - despite being absent from the ceremony.
Her awards included song of the year and record of the year, both for her single Rehab, and best new artist.

But she was not at the Los Angeles ceremony to collect them due to visa problems. Instead, she performed and made an acceptance speech by satellite.

Kanye West scooped four Grammy Awards, while Bruce Springsteen won three.

The White Stripes, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood and Mary J Blige were among the acts who picked up two awards.

'My Blake incarcerated'

But the night belonged to Winehouse, whose stunned reaction to winning record of the year, was beamed into the ceremony from a London studio.

The 24-year-old singer was seen hugging her mother as the crowd in Los Angeles chanted her name.

She paid tribute to her husband, "my Blake incarcerated", who is in custody awaiting trial on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and grievous bodily harm.

She also dedicated the win to London, "because Camden Town ain't burning down", a reference to a huge fire in the capital this weekend.

Winehouse, the first Briton to win the Grammy for best new artist since soul singer Sade in 1986, also performed You Know I'm No Good and Rehab.

In the song of the year category, Rehab saw off competition from singles by Rihanna, Carrie Underwood, the Plain White Ts and Corinne Bailey Rae.

Rehab was also named record of the year, beating efforts by Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and the Foo Fighters.

Her other accolades were best pop vocal album for Back To Black and best female pop vocal performance for Rehab.

Winehouse will now return to the Capio Nightingale clinic, where she has been treated for the past two weeks to overcome her high-profile drug problems.

The US embassy initially refused her a visa, then reversed their decision - but it was too late to allow her to travel to the ceremony.

She had been nominated for six awards, but lost out on the prize for album of the year.

Jazz upset

In a major upset, that went to jazz legend Herbie Hancock for River: The Joni Letters, his tribute to singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell - only the second time a jazz album has triumphed in the 50-year history of the Grammys.

"I'd like to thank the academy for courageously breaking the mould this time," Hancock said.

Kanye West led the nominations with eight, and came away with four trophies - for best rap song, best rap album, best rap solo performance and best rap performance by a duo or group.

The hip-hop star used his acceptance speech for best rap album to pay tribute to his mother Donda, who died in November.

But when the band struck up to try to cut short his speech, he said: "It would be in good taste to stop the music," and the music stopped.

"I know you're really proud of me right now and I know you want me to be the number one artist in the world," he said. "And mama, all I'm going to do is keep making you proud. We run this."

The show opened with a duet between Alicia Keys and footage of the late Frank Sinatra singing Learnin' the Blues.

Tina Turner returned to the stage for the first time in seven years to perform with Beyonce.

Songwriter Burt Bacharach received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement at a separate ceremony on Saturday.

Amy Winehouse may be key Grammy moment

2008-02-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

Kanye West is nominated for a leading eight Grammy awards and has a history, good or bad, of creating memorable awards show moments. But the superstar rapper and producer may be upstaged on Grammy night by another nominee who's not even able to attend Sunday's ceremony.

Troubled British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, up for six awards including album of the year for her "Back to Black" album, is due to perform via satellite from her home country, where she is currently being treated in a rehabilitation center for substance abuse.

In the days leading up to the ceremony, suspense was building whether the 24-year-old, whose personal life has fallen apart over the past year as her career blossomed, would be at the ceremony in any form. It was unclear whether she'd be well enough to take a break from rehab to attend; then, it was unclear whether the United States would grant her a work visa to appear.

After she was initially rejected for the visa this week, Grammy producers arranged for her to perform via telecast. Soon afterward, the U.S. government reversed itself and approved Winehouse, but it was too late in the week at that point to make the cross-continental trek.

Winehouse is only behind West for the most nominations on the night. The retro-soul singer's top-selling American debut is not only up for album of the year, but song and record of the year for her autobiographical, sassy hit "Rehab," about her refusal to undergo treatment. Though the album was a critical and commercial breakthrough for her, her personal troubles, which made regular tabloid headlines, threatened to overshadow her music.

In any other year, it would likely be West who would be the main story line going into Grammy week. He too is up for album of the year for "Graduation," which had the best-selling debut of last year with almost one million copies sold in the first week alone. This is West's third album and the third time he has been nominated for album of the year.

While he has won a handful of Grammys, they have been in the rap categories, where the bulk of his nominations are this year as well. West has provided stirring awards show performances, but has also been known to go on a tirade when he has not won what he thought he deserved, perhaps most notably at last year's MTV Video Music Awards.

Late last year, he suffered a traumatic loss when his mother and manager Donda West died after complications of plastic surgery. West, whose mother was often with him at awards ceremonies, is due to perform on Sunday's broadcast.

Besides West and Winehouse, the other album of the year contenders were the Foo Fighters' "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace," Vince Gill's "These Days," and Herbie Hancock's "The River."

For record of the year, Winehouse's "Rehab" is competing against Beyonce's "Irreplaceable," Rihanna's "Umbrella," "The Pretender" by the Foo Fighters and Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around ... Comes Around."

Among the broadcast's scheduled performances were Beyonce with rock goddess Tina Turner; Rihanna with The Time; Aretha Franklin, Josh Groban, Alicia Keys with John Mayer and Carrie Underwood.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Grammys. But the Hollywood writer's strike had threatened disrupt the telecast when the Writers Guild of America indicated they might not grant the show a waiver to use writers, leaving the potential of a boycott. But an interim agreement was reached.

The show will be broadcast live on CBS. The bulk of the 100-plus trophies will be given out in a pre-telecast ceremon

Adieu Heath Ledger

2008-02-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

International film stars and close relatives were among the mourners at a memorial service for Australian actor Heath Ledger in his home town of Perth.
The service was to be followed by a private burial for close family only.

The 28-year-old star of Brokeback Mountain died of an accidental drugs overdose last month in New York.

Hollywood star Cate Blanchett was a speaker at the service, along with Neil Armfield, who directed Ledger in his last Australian film, Candy.

Ledger's former fiancee, Michelle Williams, attended the service along with Australian actors Bryan Brown and Joel Edgerton.

'Difficult to cope'

Local musician Levi Islam told reporters outside that he opened the service by playing an ancient Aboriginal tune on a didgeridoo.

His father, Kim Ledger, told reporters the family wanted to be allowed to grieve alone.

"We're finding it pretty difficult to cope by ourselves, let alone with everyone else around the world," he said.

"Having said that, we do really appreciate the outpouring and the emotional support from all over the globe."

About 500 people attended the memorial service at Penrhos College, in the Perth suburb of Como.

Mourners then went to a wake at the city's Cottesloe Beach, which was one of Ledger's favourite places.

Lethal combination

A memorial service was held in Los Angeles last weekend.

On Wednesday, the New York City medical examiner ruled that Ledger died from the combined effect of six different prescription drugs.

They included painkiller Oxycontin and anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax.

Traces of painkiller Ibuprofen and the sleeping pills Restoril and Unisom were also found in Ledger's blood.

Kim Ledger said: "While no medications were taken in excess, we learned the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy."

Local media reported that Ledger would be buried in a family plot, next to his grandparents, in a Perth ceremony.

Colin Farrell Discusses 'In Bruges'

2008-02-09T02:46:00.000-08:00

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play hit men sent to Bruges to lay low for a couple of weeks in the twisted comedy, In Bruges. After a hit goes bad, boss man Harry (Ralph Fiennes) sends Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) away for what's supposed to be a brief, relaxing vacation. The problem is, Ray doesn't want to spend even one night in Bruges after taking an immediate disliking to the city. Instead of enjoying the scenery in the most well-preserved medieval city in Belgium, Ray hates the idea of staying put in Bruges and that leads to arguments and, of course, big trouble.

Farrell says the script for In Bruges was the best he’d ever read. That’s high praise coming from a man who worked his way onto the A-list over the past decade with starring roles in Tigerland, Alexander, Miami Vice and The New World.

“It's just my favorite thing I've ever read,” said Farrell of the In Bruges screenplay. “On one hand, I understood the characters. I felt that I understood them and I understood their way of communicating. On another hand, I couldn't figure out how an actor could say any of these words because some of it's quite outlandish. Thank God we had the three weeks rehearsal, but it was just beautiful language, really beautiful language, beautiful descriptions. It was a lot more expressive of a certain kind of truth that was inherently existing within all the characters than it seemed on the page. There is a melancholy to the piece that is completely lacking in indulgence. It was beautiful. I found reading it, yes, it was very poignant and all that, but it was also very painful and very emotional. But it just wasn't crescendoing to any particular moments. So it was just a beautiful script.”
Farrell doesn’t think his past directors Michael Mann or Oliver Stone would feel slighted by his insistence In Bruges is the best thing he’s gotten his hands on. “How do I think they'd feel? They'll feel fine, I'm sure,” said Farrell. “They have an idea of who they are and how good they are and how strong they are as artists. They'd be fine with it.”

Farrell can point to a couple of lines in particular in writer/director Martin McDonagh's script that absolutely blew him away. “There was two lines that just I actually had to put the script down. When he says, ‘Amsterdam, that's just full of bloody prostitutes.’ And so she says, ‘Yes, that's why I came to Bruges. I thought I'd get a better price for my p---sy...’”

Farrell's other favorite bit of dialogue didn't make the final cut but will be included on the DVD. “There's a great line where Harry is on the train, the channel tunnel, going to Bruges to do the deed. He sits down in front of a businessman and the businessman says something to him like, ‘You going to Bruges on business or something?’ Harry looks at him and says, ‘If I wanted to talk to a c--t, I would have gone to the Talk to a C--t shop.’ So those were two I remember - I couldn't believe it.”

But it wasn't just the script that got Farrell enthused. The whole process of working on the film was a revelation to Farrell who credits McDonagh with making In Bruges a real learning experience as well as a pleasure to work on. “The whole thing was, apart form the singularity of Martin's vision manifesting in this script, after that fact the whole thing became such a collaboration. The three weeks of rehearsal we had was just such playtime for us, really. It's a luxury that you don't really get on films that much. I think the only other time I rehearsed as intensely was for Phone Booth because that was a 10 day shoot and we had to really block it and stuff. But no, it was a great time just to sit in there and just talk about it. I thought we'd run out of steam about halfway through the second week, we'd be going, ‘Can we shoot it already?’ But every time we asked one question of the script and thought we came to a conclusion, then 10 other questions would pop up. It was that good.”

“I thought it existed on the surface, as I said before to a certain degree, but there was just so much subtext going on that I didn't even comprehend the first time I read it,” explained Farrell. “And the facial expressions and all that, I don't know... He's just a very honest guy and was so raw. So raw, I mean, by the time we meet him he's been through this terrible ordeal, this tragic event that takes place that he brings into being, this atrocious act that he commits so he's just incredibly raw and agitated and despairing. Knowing the reason why they're going to Bruges is because of what he's done, so Bruges in itself all around him is a reminder.”

Farrell’s character, Ray, has more than his fair share of inner demons to battle and is extremely conflicted. But Farrell thinks his character’s inner conflicts reflect the reality of being alive. We each have our own issues to deal with, though it's likely most people will never have to go through the turmoil Ray does after a hit goes bad. “I think the majority of us do really, to be honest,” said Farrell. “I mean, maybe good old Deepak [Chopra] doesn't. God bless him if he doesn't, but I've met some very peaceful Buddhists in my time. But I think the majority of us as human beings have a certain amount of conflicts that resonate within us to varying degrees.”

“Ray certainly has a load of conflict. In a way, he's not fully formed. He's still like a big lump of plasticine that is just very pliable. He's trying to figure out what shape he's going to take and how much of that will be based on the actions that he's put into play and how much of that can possibly be as a result of the universe. How much that does affect our existence is another matter. I think he's asking questions and searching more than he ever did before, based on what he's been through.

Grammy Award Nominations 2008

2008-02-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

Presented February 10, 2008

Thursday December 6, 2007 the nominations for the 2008 Grammy Awards were announced. The awards will be presented February 10, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The nominees are voted on and winners selected by members of the Recording Academy.

The Grammy Awards give out over 100 different trophies. I have listed only the nominations in the General, Pop, and Rock categories. The nominees are:

General
Record of the Year

Beyonce - "Irreplaceable"
Foo Fighters - "The Pretender"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z - "Umbrella"
Justin Timberlake - "What Goes Around...Comes Around"
Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"

Album of the Year

Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Vince Gill - These Days
Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters
Kanye West - Graduation
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Song of the Year

Plain White T's - "Hey There Delilah"
Corinne Bailey Rae - "Like a Star"
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z - "Umbrella"
Carrie Underwood - "Before He Cheats"
Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"

Best New Artist

Feist
Ledisi
Paramore
Taylor Swift
Amy Winehouse

Pop
Best Female Pop Vocal

Chrisina Aguilera - "Candyman"
Feist - "1,2,3,4"
Fergie - "Big Girls Don't Cry"
Nelly Furtado - "Say It Right"
Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"

Best Male Pop Vocal

Michael Buble - "Everything"
John Mayer - "Belief"
Paul McCartney - "Dance Tonight"
Seal - "Amazing"
Justin Timberlake - "What Goes Around...Comes Around"

Best Pop Duo or Group With Vocal

Bon Jovi - "(You Want to) Make A Memory"
Daughtry - "Home"
Maroon 5 - "Makes Me Wonder"
Plain White T's - "Hey There Delilah"
U2 - "Window in the Skies"

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals

Tony Bennett & Christina Aguilera - "Steppin' Out"
Beyonce & Shakira - "Beautiful Liar"
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)"
Gwen Stefani & Akon - "The Sweet Escape"
Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake - "Give It To Me"

Best Pop Instrumental

Beastie Boys - "Off the Grid"
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals - "Paris Sunrise #7"
Dave Koz - "Over the Rainbow"
Joni Mitchell - "One Week Last Summer"
Spyro Gyra - "Simple Pleasures"

Best Pop Instrumental Album

Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up
Chris Botti - Italia
Dave Koz - At the Movies
Spyro Gyra - Good to Go-Go
Kirk Whalum - Round Trip

Best Pop Vocal Album

Bon Jovi - Lost Highway
Feist - The Reminder
Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Stars set Obama speech to music

2008-02-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

A speech by US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been set to music by a series of celebrity supporters.

Actress Scarlett Johansson and jazz legend Herbie Hancock sing lines in the music video, created by Will.I.Am from pop group Black Eyed Peas.

The rapper was inspired to create the song, Yes We Can, after the Democratic candidate spoke in New Hampshire.

"That speech effected and touched my inner core like nothing in a very long time," Will.I.Am said.

The result was produced in two days and has been watched by millions of internet users.

Others participants include R&B singer John Legend, rapper Common, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, CSI star Adam Rodriquez and Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger.

Obama approval
Will.I.Am explained: "It was as if he was talking to and defending everything that made me who I am.

"I took that speech, and I wanted everyone else to be inspired by that speech as I was."

It has gone down well with Mr Obama.

The candidate has had it posted on his website and personally recommended it to journalists following his campaign.

But Will.I.Am said Mr Obama's team has not been in touch personally: "They have more important things than to be contacting me to say thank you.

"If they had time to call me, I'd be panicking."

Four years ago, the Black Eyed Peas supported Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Meanwhile, songs by rocker John Mellencamp have been dropped from Republican contender John McCain's events after the musician's publicist questioned their use.

"Are you sure you want to use his music to promote Senator McCain's efforts?" asked Bob Merlis.

"Logic says that the facts might prove to be an embarrassment, were they to be circulated widely," he added.

Mellencamp had supported John Edwards for the Democratic nomination until he dropped out.

Ledger's Death Caused By Accidental Overdose

2008-02-06T22:36:00.000-08:00

Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose of prescription medications including painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills, the New York City medical examiner's office said Wednesday.

"Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine," the office said in a short statement.

"We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications."

Hydrocodone and oxycodone are painkillers. Diazepam is an anti-anxiety drug commonly sold under the brand name Valium; alprazolam is also an anti-anxiety drug sold under such names as Xanax. Temazepam, sold under such names as Restoril and Euhypnos, is a sleeping agent. Doxylamine, an antihistamine, can be obtained over the counter as a sleep aid.

Ledger died January 22 at an apartment in Lower Manhattan. The Oscar-nominated Australian actor, best known for his role as a stoic, closeted cowboy in the 2005 film "Brokeback Mountain," was 28.

Police reported finding several prescription medications in the room but no illegal drugs.

CNN has learned the Drug Enforcement Administration has requested the toxicology and prescription records related to Ledger's death. The DEA requested the records Wednesday from the New York Police Department and the medical examiner's office after the release of the report detailing the cause of death, according to a law enforcement source who asked not to be identified by name or agency because the request concerns an active investigation.

The DEA confirmed it will look into anything suspicious concerning Ledger's death. "We will investigate any leads in respect to this," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said while declining to provide any specifics. "In any case, we look to see whether prescription drugs were illegally obtained or whether it was through proper channels."

An autopsy done on the actor January 23 was inconclusive

In a statement released through Ledger's publicist, Ledger's father, Kim, said Wednesday: "While no medications were taken in excess, we learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy. Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage."

The family added, "Families rarely experience the uplifting, warm and massive outpouring of grief and support as have we, from every corner of the planet. This has deeply and profoundly touched our hearts and lives. We are eternally grateful."

Ledger had talked about his difficulty sleeping after back-to-back roles as a Bob Dylan figure in "I'm Not There" and the Joker in "The Dark Knight," part of the "Batman" series that is due out this summer.

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told The New York Times in November. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

In the hours leading up to Ledger's death two weeks ago, a housekeeper, identified as Teresa Solomon, arrived at the apartment about 12:30 p.m., a police source with knowledge of the investigation said.

She saw Ledger lying on a bed face down with a sheet pulled up around his shoulders and heard him snoring, the source said.

Masseuse Diana Wolozin arrived at the apartment about 2:45 p.m. to give Ledger a massage, according to the police source. About 15 minutes later, when he had not come out of the bedroom and the door remained closed, she went in, saw him lying in bed and set up a massage table.

She shook Ledger, but he did not respond, so she used his cell phone to call actress Mary-Kate Olsen, a friend of Ledger's, in California, the source said.

Wolozin told Olsen that Ledger was unconscious, according to the police source.

Olsen reportedly told her that she would call private security people in New York.

At 3:26 p.m., Wolozin called 911 and told authorities Ledger was not breathing. While on the phone with dispatchers, Wolozin tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Ledger, but he was unresponsive.

Emergency personnel arrived seven minutes later, according to the police source, at about the same time as a private security person summoned by Olsen.

The medical technicians performed CPR on Ledger and used a cardiac defibrillator, but their efforts were in vain and he was pronounced dead at 3:36 p.m. By then, two other private security people summoned by Olsen had arrived as well as police.

His former fiancée, actress Michelle Williams, has asked the public to respect the need for her, the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Matilda, and others "to grieve privately."

"My heart is broken," Williams said in a statement issued last week via her publicist. "I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father. All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day. His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up in the best memories of him."

Condolences poured in from Ledger's friends and co-stars.

"He was a wonderful guy, he was a wonderful actor, he had a wonderful future ahead of him, and I liked him," said actor Eric Roberts, who worked with Ledger in "The Dark Knight."

Colleagues on Terry Gilliam's film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which Ledger had been shooting in England, said the actor apparently had been suffering from a respiratory ailment in the days before he died.

Christopher Plummer told Entertainment Weekly that Ledger had a "terrible, lingering bug in London, and he couldn't sleep at all. We all -- I thought he'd probably got walking pneumonia."

Ledger's first American film was the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You" in 1999. He passed up several scripts before taking a role in the Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot" in 2000 and "A Knight's Tale" in 2001. He also played a supporting role in "Monster's Ball."

But Ledger was perhaps best known for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," Ang Lee's film about two cowboys who had a secret romantic relationship. The role earned Ledger a best actor Oscar nomination.

Michael Clayton Movie Review

2008-02-06T06:53:00.000-08:00

Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter responsible for the Bourne movies, makes his feature film directorial debut with the intense and riveting drama, Michael Clayton. Gilroy does a fantastic job of creatively exposing the shady underbelly of the corporate world in his engrossing rookie directing effort. George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton deliver award-worthy performances in this conspiracy thriller that takes full advantage of the current political climate to lay out a compelling and hauntingly realistic tale.

The Story

Michael Clayton (Clooney) is the guy you turn to when you need things fixed or hushed up in a hurry. Clayton weaves his magic behind the scenes at the huge law firm of Kenner, Bach & Leeden where he makes anything that could damage any of the firm’s clients simply fade away.

Clayton hides well the fact thats he’s begun to feel repulsed by what his job entails. And while he’d just as soon tell these scummy corporate bigwigs where to go, he continues performing the job the firm expects of him while loathing himself for doing it. His displeasure is just barely contained beneath the surface when he’s called out of a poker game to take care of a hit-and-run accident. Arriving at the driver’s home, Clayton reels off the client’s options while obviously struggling to hide his distain for the man who clearly believes he’s entitled to special treatment due to his connections -- and money.

But that’s just the set-up for the main story of Michael Clayton which is the potential settlement of a $3 billion class-action suit that’s been dragging on for half a dozen years. The firm’s lead litigator assigned to the case, Arthur Edens (Wilkinson), has snapped. Edens has stopped taking his manic-depressive meds, as evidenced by a bizarre strip tease he does while in the middle of a deposition. Edens has come to the conclusion that the class-action suit against his client, the agrochemical giant U/North, has merit. Hundreds of people have died as a result of using weed killer from U/North, and Edens believes U/North should be held accountable.

Clayton’s called upon to rein in Edens, a man he respects, admires, and knows well. At the same time as Clayton’s assigned to watch over Edens, a pair of ‘investigators’ are hired by Karen Crowder (Swinton), the in-house lawyer for U/North and one of the most power-hungry beasts in the corporate jungle. Unfortunately for Clayton, Edens has become a man obsessed with getting the truth told – damn the consequences.
The Cast

Let’s face it. To say George Clooney is aging gracefully is a gross understatement of facts. The man appears to be eternally, youthfully handsome, even with grey streaks and a few wrinkles. However in Michael Clayton, Clooney disguises the boyish charm that works so well for him in so many different films behind the mask of a man resigned to the fact he’s basically sold his soul to the devil.

Tom Wilkinson spouts crazy gibberish as he passionately renounces the legal firm he’s dedicated his adult years to serving. Every little bit of torment Wilkinson feels as a lawyer who’s representing the wrong side of a lawsuit is clearly evident on his face and in his voice. Wilkinson delivers an amazingly powerful performance and one that sticks with you long after the credits roll. Swinton’s equally as mesmerizing as a woman you wouldn’t want to cross ever in life.

The Bottom Line

Michael Clayton may be his first film as a director, but here’s hoping it’s not Gilroy’s last. As a director, Gilroy has shown great skill and restraint in being able to patiently allow his story to unfold, without drawing things out or rushing the plot along. Gilroy also doesn’t play down to his audience. He assumes we’ll figure things out as the film moves along, and he’s correct in that assumption because he’s done a great job of crafting an intelligent script and then handing it over to actors who allow themselves to be completely absorbed in their characters. It’s a dialogue-heavy film and some of the scenes might have played out as too wordy had they not been delivered by actors of Wilkinson, Clooney and Swinton's talent.

The fall has become synonymous with serious George Clooney films. Of the lot – Syriana, The Good German, Good Night, and Good Luck – Michael Clayton is the best of the bunch. Fully fleshed-out characters, dynamic performances, and a compelling story add up to a smart must-see thriller.

GRADE: A-

Michael Clayton was directed by Tony Gilroy and is rated R for language including some sexual dialogue

Atlanta Offers Heartbreaking Stories On ‘Idol’

2008-02-06T00:02:00.000-08:00

One auditioner lives in his car, while another lost recently lost her father

You may have noticed an emphasis on heart-wrenching stories during this year’s “American Idol” auditions. And in that regard, Atlanta did not disappoint.

The contestant most people will be talking about is Josiah Leming. The 18-year-old from Morristown, Tenn., has been living in his car for months, but his family had no idea — they thought he was staying with friends. That’s probably no longer true, assuming there are any televisions within driving distance of his hometown.

Leming was confident before the judges, telling Simon Cowell, “I can win because I have more ambition and more motivation than you’re ever gonna meet in an 18-year-old.” He also looked to buck a trend by singing an original composition, which has worked approximately zero percent of the time in the past.

His result, however, was different. Even though the judges were flummoxed by his British accent when he sang, he’ll get the chance to abandon his car for a nice hotel room in Hollywood, at least for a night or two. “You’ll never regret this. I guarantee it. Not a day in your life,” Leming said, taking the early lead as a fan favorite should he reach the final 24.

Then there was Asia’H Epperson, whose father was killed in a car accident while she was driving to her “Idol” audition. The 18-year-old said that she’d just called him half an hour before his death to tell him she was on her way to audition. “It was kind of hard,” she said. “But he’s here with me today and it’ll be ... it’ll be good.”

The singing was actually not that good, as Epperson changed her song at the last minute to “How Do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes. That’s a tough song to sing well and, under the circumstances, it was too big for her voice. Of course, once she told the judges the reason she was changing things up was to honor her father, and related the story of how he died, their hearts melted and they sent her through to Hollywood.

“I like you. And that was tough. That was tough. You sang that very well. Well done,” Simon said.

“I thought you were excellent. The circumstances were unbelievable, but you worked it out,” Randy Jackson agreed.

And, the topper: “I think your dad would be very proud of you,” courtesy of Simon. The only thing better would have been a quick cut to a commercial for tissues for the audience to cry into.

From beauty queens to rockin’ nurses
Leming and Epperson may have been the best stories, but numerous others from Atlanta took full advantage of their airtime and made it through to Hollywood.

Brooke Helvie came to the auditions wearing her crown from the Ms. South Florida Fair. Ordinarily that only leads to merciless mocking and an early hook from the judges, but the 18-year-old was fully aware of that danger, saying that her goal was to prove to Simon that pageant girls can sing.

And sadly enough for Simon, she could. Her cover of the Jackson 5’s “Who’s Loving You” got her three yes votes. But as soon as she left the room, Simon called her “possibly the most annoying person I have ever seen in my life. I actually didn’t want her to sing well.”

On the other hand, Amanda Overmyer was not crowned Ms. Anything, and doesn’t appear to be a candidate to enter a beauty pageant anytime soon. The 22-year-old from Indiana was one of the many hopefuls this season looking to take on the role of “Idol” rocker, and had the requisite blasé attitude. She insisted that she was satisfied working as a nurse. “I’m happy either way. It’ll just be a matter of whether they dig it or not,” she said.

They dug it. Overmyer continued the Janis Joplin revival from auditioners this season, choosing to begin her performance with “Mean Woman,” and the judges ate it up. “I think you’re authentic and real, and I love you,” Paula Abdul said. The rock ’n’ roll nurse, as Randy put it, sailed through to Hollywood.

Alexandrea Lushington is only 16, and brought her 93-year-old great-grandmother to the auditions. That has to be a record for the widest age disparity in one room in the history of the show, but at least they sent the whole family home happy by cheerfully sending her to the next round.

Joshua Jones also made it through, but probably won’t need to take more than a couple of days off from his job as a glass cutter. Though he sang well, the judges were disturbed by his “demonic” eyes and finally had him sing with his back to them. “It’s something we should have done to Clay Aiken years ago,” Simon said, though he still proved to be Jones’ lone no vote.

Two seats away from fame
Among those who didn’t make it was J.P Tjelmeland. His hook to get before the judges was that two years ago, he sat two seats away from Carrie Underwood when she began her route to stardom. But after his second chance in Atlanta, it looks like that will always remain his claim to fame.

“I am not that bad. Was I that bad?” he asked the judges.

“My pen has more charisma,” Simon replied.

Eva Miller was shocked that she didn’t make it. The judges were shocked that her performance wasn’t just an act to get on television. Falling down while dancing to “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton will do that.

But Nathan Hite was the most memorable of those who didn’t move forward. Hite, 16, is repeating ninth grade in Savannah, Ga., presumably because he doesn’t spend nearly as much time on his homework as he did coming up with witty rejoinders to the judges’ criticisms.

After Hite finished, Simon dismissed it by calling it “a bedroom audition.”

“Does he keep this written down on a piece of paper or something?” Hite asked.

“Do you want to be a smartass, or do you want to listen?” Simon responded. And it went downhill from there.

When Ryan Seacrest asked Hite what Simon meant by the “bedroom audition” comment, Hite responded “Maybe it’s the fact that I refused to spoon with him so he wouldn’t let me through.”

In fact, Simon said that it sounded like someone singing along to a record in their bedroom with the door closed, proving the long-uttered parent’s lament true. Teenagers just don’t listen.

Q&A: Hollywood writers' strike

2008-02-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

The Golden Globe Awards ceremony has been scaled down to a one-hour press conference as a result of a strike by US film and TV writers.
Why have writers taken industrial action, how is it affecting the industry - and what will it mean for the Oscars?

WHO IS ON STRIKE?

The 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the official union representing writers in the film, TV and new media industries.

The last major WGA strike in 1988 lasted 22 weeks, costing the industry an estimated $500m (£250m). The current writers' strike began on 5 November 2007.

WHY ARE THEY STRIKING?

Writers want a new contract with film and TV studios that would give them more money when their work is sold on DVD or downloaded or streamed online.

The previous contract expired on 31 October and the two sides have not been able to agree a new deal.

Writers receive payments, called residuals, every time something they have written is repeated.

They also get a small residual when their work is sold on DVD - currently around 0.3% of each DVD sold.

The WGA had been seeking to double the amount its members receive from DVD sales, but had agreed to lower demands.

No agreement could be reached about payments for shows made available online. As a result, talks collapsed in December.

WHAT DO THE STUDIOS SAY?

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents production companies and studios, says writers are already compensated for digital downloads.

It has also said a deal on internet streaming was on the table when the strike began, and that it is too early to judge how successful digital distribution will be.

WHO HAS BEEN AFFECTED?

Late-night talk shows, which rely on writers for their scripts and jokes, were the first to go off air in November.

Production has been stopped on all sitcoms and prime-time dramas - such as Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and The Office.

A number of high-profile film projects have also been sidelined, with the strike putting thousands of off-camera crew out of work.

HAS ALL PROGRAMMING BEEN HALTED?

The WGA reached an interim agreement with David Letterman's production company in December, which meant his show came back on air complete with writing team.

A similar agreement was reached with Tom Cruise's film company United Artists, the Weinstein Company, and other independent producers

Film studios producing Rambo, Saw 5 and The Incredible Hulk are among other companies to reach a deal with striking screenwriters.

Meanwhile, many TV networks are looking at different ways of filling their schedules - using content such as reality TV, news, repeats and imported programmes.

WHY ARE AWARD CEREMONIES AFFECTED?

The Golden Globes - the most prestigious ceremony after the Oscars - was replaced by a press conference last month after the Screen Actors Guild, representing Hollywood stars, said its members would not cross picket lines planned by writers.

There are also fears that the Oscars, due to be held on 24 February, could also be affected, but Academy Awards president Sid Ganis has said there is "no doubt" the ceremony will take place.

He said that "things are looking very, very good now" for the gala amid reports of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the dispute.

The lower-profile Critics' Choice Awards on 7 January remained largely unaffected because the ceremony was not covered by contracts disputed by the WGA.

And the Grammys will go ahead as normal on 10 February after the WGA agreed to let writers work on the show.

The guild said it wanted to offer support to musicians also facing challenges getting "compensation for the use of their work in new media."

In the UK, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain - which showed support for the WGA with a London rally - said it had no plans to picket the UK equivalent of the Oscars, the Baftas, also on 10 February.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Concerted efforts are being made behind the scenes to bring the dispute to an end. At the beginning of February a "breakthrough" was reportedly reached during informal talks between writers and production companies. Talks to hammer out a deal continue.

In the meantime, technicians and production staff continue to suffer, with stoppages putting hundreds of crew members out of work.

US viewers can expect a rise in unscripted shows if the stand-off continues.

The situation is being monitored closely by others within the business - directors' and actors' contracts with studios and producers expire in June.

The Directors Guild of America has agreed a new deal on royalties on internet downloads which, in effect, doubles the rates its members currently get. Its members are due to vote on this contract.

Negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild have yet to begin. Any deal with writers could influence negotiations.

Oscars Boss Says Show Will Go On

2008-02-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

Academy Awards president Sid Ganis has said there is "no doubt" the Oscars ceremony will take place despite the threat posed by the writers' strike.
He said that "things are looking very, very good now" for the 24 February gala amid reports of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the dispute.

Industry newspaper Variety reports the strike could end as early as next week as talks to hammer out a deal continue.

But it added that there was still work to be done on the agreement.

'Brightest light'

The Hollywood Reporter says that US television networks are preparing for the end of the dispute in a bid to put their strike-hit schedules back on track.

It will take most comedy and drama series four to six weeks to return to TV screens once industrial action is over.

Some dramas, including NBC's Heroes, could resume production during the summer and make a return at the beginning of the autumn.

There is a possibility that some networks will record as many shows as possible in case of a resumption of strike acitivity, the Hollywood Reporter added.

Mr Ganis, who was speaking at a luncheon to honour this year's Oscar nominees, said that the circumstances of the strike were "beyond our control", but the awards would go ahead.

"The Oscar exists to shine the brightest possible light on you and your work, and it would be such a terrible shame, through no fault of yours and no fault of ours, if the current conditions prevented us from shining that brightest possible light," he was quoted as saying in the Hollywood Reporter.

If an agreement meets with the approval of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), a vote to call of the strike - now in its fourth month - is likely to proceed.

The two sides made progress regarding internet and DVD payments for writers' work at the weekend, the Associated Press said.

Hannah Montana has topped the North American box office

2008-02-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

Teen pop star Hannah Montana has topped the North American box office with the new 3D film of her recent tour.
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds shows actress Cyrus, 15, as herself backstage and onstage as her Disney pop star alter-ego Montana.

The film took $29m (£14.7m) beating newly-released horror film The Eye - $13m (£6.6m) - into second place.

Romantic comedy 27 Dresses was third with $8.4m (£4.3m). Pregnancy comedy Juno was fourth with $7.5m (£3.8m).

Last week's number one, Meet the Spartans - a spoof film parodying Greek warrior epic 300 - dropped to number five, taking $7.1m (£3.6m) compared with the $18.7m (£9.4m) it took last week.

The new Rambo film, meanwhile, dropped from its opening week second place to sixth with $7m (£3.5m).

The Hannah Montana movie was helped to the top spot by higher admission prices charged by cinemas because of the 3D format.

The film was shown in just 683 cinemas compared with the 2,436 cinemas showing second-placed The Eye.

28 Weeks Later Movie Review

2008-02-03T07:54:00.001-08:00

The re-introduction of a killer virus? Check. Loads of guts and gore? Check. Innocents in peril? Check. Decent acting and effects? Check and check. All the ingredients are there but try as it might, 28 Weeks Later doesn’t live up to its predecessor. Heavy metal music and an apparently larger ‘blood’ budget than Danny Boyle had for 28 Days Later can’t disguise the fact 28 Weeks Later serves up its gross-out horror clothed in a moth-eaten plot.

Where the original film was more of an intimate look at one man’s struggle to come to grips with a brand new world, 28 Weeks Later’s story is dramatically different. This sequel takes place, obviously, 28 weeks after the rage virus was unleashed in Britain, but begins with a flashback to the days when those with the virus were terrorizing the country. Don (Robert Carlyle) and his wife have holed up in a farmhouse with a bunch of strangers attempting to wait out the horror. But alas, the best laid plans of mice and men can’t keep ravenous rage-filled zombies out of a boarded up farmhouse forever. As the zombies tear through the house searching for fresh flesh, Don abandons his wife to a horrible fate instead of staying to help fight the zombie horde.

Flash-forward 28 weeks and now Don is an important guy in helping to repopulate London. The US Army has moved in to patrol a quarantined ‘zombie-free/virus-free’ zone and displaced citizens are filing in by the trainload. Among those returning to try and re-establish their lives are Don’s two kids – Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and Tammy (Imogen Poots). Don feeds them a story about their mom’s death, crying at appropriate moments and of course failing to mention how he ran away like a small child rather than protect their mother.

Meanwhile, with the help of the American military led by General Stone (Idris Elba), a semblance of normalcy returns to the city. But that doesn’t last for long because Don's two kids make their way out of the quarantined zone, setting off a chain of events that sets the virus free once again.

The Bottom Line

Jeremy Renner’s a stand-out as a military sniper unwilling to obey the order to shoot every person in sight. The acting is solid throughout and the visual effects, including one spectacular scene involving a helicopter and hundreds of zombies, are about what you’d expect from a horror film operating without the benefit of a Spider-Man 3 budget.

Writer/director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) doesn’t spare the blood and body parts, and 28 Weeks Later earns its R rating for strong violence and gore. Fresnadillo flat-out goes for the horror, drenching every scene possible with as much blood as can be squeezed into the kill.

The decision to use hand-held cameras adds to the freneticism of scenes as the audience gets an up-close-and–personal vantage point on multiple zombie attacks. The disadvantage to the jiggly cam is that you can’t be totally sure what you’re seeing. That’s more than a little frustrating when you're trying to figure out who's attacking who.

The film begins strongly with the scene of a zombie attack on the farmhouse but quickly falls apart as enormous plot holes open up and destroy the goodwill built up by the film’s opening sequence. It’s impossible to believe two kids would not only escape from this heavily-guarded zone but would also be allowed to roam free long enough to do major damage. Argue all you want that this is what kids do in horror movies, that doesn’t make the silly set-ups any less annoying. Audiences are also asked to believe back doors aren’t guarded when the entire population’s in jeopardy of falling victim to the deadly virus. Shame, shame.

It's also necessary to point out that this follow-up to Danny Boyle’s popular zombie thriller wages war on the US military, with the film’s portrayal of the slaughter of thousands of British citizens (dead and undead) a pointed denouncement of America’s war in Iraq. There’s nothing new about the use of horror films as a form of social commentary, but the problem with 28 Weeks Later is that the plot surrounding said commentary is weak. If you’re going to get political, at least provide a solid storyline to cushion the agenda.

GRADE: C

28 Weeks Later was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and is rated R for strong violence and gore, language and some sexuality/nudity.

Over Her Dead Body

2008-02-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

bride killed by an angel made of ice on her wedding day returns to haunt the psychic interested in her would-be hubby in Over Her Dead Body starring Eva Longoria Parker (Desperate Housewives) and the always-charming, ever-dependable Paul Rudd. Wiping out the bride-to-be within the first 10 minutes of the movie by crushing her with an ice sculpture gets the film off to a chilly start, after which nothing really heats up. Adopting a scattershot approach to finding laughs, this romantic comedy gets buried under jokes we’ve seen before and situations that are more uncomfortable than funny.

The Ghosts of Romantic Comedies Past must have visited writer/director Jeff Lowell as he pounded out the screenplay. Even if we haven’t witnessed these exact scenes before, we’ve watched enough movies with scenes just like them to know exactly how everything is going to play out.
The Story

Kate (aka Bridezilla, aka Every Wedding Planner’s Nightmare) is doing her best diva impersonation on what’s supposed to be the most joyous occasion of her life when a drunken ice sculptor accidentally dumps a huge wingless ice angel on her, crushing her quicker than you can say ‘I do.’ Smashed, and not in a good way, Kate arrives in a waystation on the road to heaven. Pushy, loud, and angry over missing out on wedding cake and champagne, Kate won’t listen to the angel who appears to tell her what she needs to do in order to pass through the pearly gates.

Wandering the spirit world for months without a clue, Kate finally figures out she must be there for a reason – and that reason must be to keep her fiancé, veterinarian and overall good guy Henry (Rudd), from hooking up with a psychic/caterer named Ashley (Lake Bell). Henry’s sister Chloe (Lindsay Sloane) thinks it’s time for her brother to get on with his life, and the only way she could come up with to convince him it’s okay to move on is to take him to a psychic.

The psychic, with inside info from Kate’s diary supplied by Chloe, urges Henry to put the past behind him. And, of course, she’s cute and bubbly and the perfect cure for Henry’s blues. But Kate is ready for a fight. After all, what’s she got to lose? She’s got nothing but free time on her hands and plenty of ideas on how to drive Ashley crazy.
The Cast

Longoria Parker gives a spirited performance as a ghost who doesn’t want her almost-hubby to move on. Longoria Parker gamely goes for the jugular as she tries to scare off the ditzy psychic/caterer who’s spending time with her man. However, despite her valiant efforts, there’s a major problem with the story Longoria Parker can’t overcome. Kate was killed off before writer/director Lowell let us get to know her and while being a raving witch, and so yeah, she’s dead on her wedding day, but so what? There’s no compassion generated for her character. Plus, her methods for haunting Ashley are annoying and silly which make her even less sympathetic.

Lake Bell in smaller doses might have been okay in the part, but too much of the film focuses on her and she’s not up to carrying so much of the story forward. The same can be said for Jason Biggs. He’s great in little bits, but when Over Her Dead Body switches to his story, it totally stalls out.

Paul Rudd’s done his share of romantic comedies and even when they don’t work, he comes out smelling like a rose. Rudd’s got the most engaging smile and he works it for all it’s worth in Over Her Dead Body. Rudd and the actress who plays his sister, Lindsay Sloane, are really the only two bright spots in an otherwise lackluster movie. There’s something very genuine about the way Rudd and Sloane play off of each other. In fact, they actually would have been far better suited as a couple than Rudd and either Longoria Parker or Rudd and Bell who share zero chemistry.

The Bottom Line
When you have to resort to slapstick, farting, lighting a character on fire, a best friend who may or may not be gay, and a fat dog for humor, you know you’re scrapping the bottom of the joke barrel. The plot’s all over the place and so is the tone. Even the lighting is horrid. And don’t even try to figure out what motivates any of these characters. Other than the deceased bride who gets to spend all but five minutes of the movie being the world’s most annoying person dead or alive, not a single character remains true throughout the course of the film.

Don’t bother checking for a pulse. Over Her Dead Body is DOA.

GRADE: C-

Over Her Dead Body was directed by Jeff Lowell and is rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.

Theatrical Release Date: February 1, 2008

Ledger's ex-fiancee 'heartbroken'

2008-02-01T10:37:00.001-08:00

Actor Heath Ledger's former partner Michelle Williams has spoken publicly for the first time since the star's death, saying: "My heart is broken."
In a short statement, she said: "Please respect our need to grieve privately."

Williams, an actress, met Ledger on the set of their film Brokeback Mountain and the couple had a daughter, Matilda, who is now two.

But the pair split up last September. Australian star Ledger died in New York in January at the age of 28.

Results of the toxicology tests, which will determine the cause of his death, are expected in the coming days.

His body has been flown home to Australia for a private burial. A public memorial service has been planned in Los Angeles.

The statement from Williams comes after a video of Ledger at a Hollywood party, in which he said he used to smoke cannabis, was pulled from US TV "out of respect" for the late actor's family.

Singer Spears taken to hospital

2008-01-31T04:23:00.000-08:00

Singer Britney Spears has been taken to hospital by ambulance from her home in Los Angeles, police have said.
A police officer told Associated Press that the pop star was being taken to hospital to "get help", but did not say which facility she was being taken to.

The authorities have yet to disclose any further details.

Earlier this year Spears, 26, was admitted to hospital after refusing to surrender custody of her two sons in a stand-off with the police.

'Mental issues'

The star was released from the Cedar-Sinai Medical Center after a day and a half. The details of her medical treatment were not revealed.

Sole custody of Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, who is one, was awarded to Spears' ex-husband Kevin Federline after the incident.

The singer was also denied visitation rights to her children.

Earlier this week, US talk show host Barbara Walters claimed that Spears has been receiving treatment for "mental issues".

She said Spears' manager Sam Lufti had told her the singer was suffering from psychiatric problems that are "treatable".

"She has been having mood swings. She's been having trouble sleeping," Walters said on her show The View.

TV therapist Dr Phil McGraw, who visited Spears during her hospital stay last month, said at the time that he thought she was "in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention".

McGraw, who cancelled a planned TV show on the singer's predicament, was later criticised by Spears' family for speaking publicly about the matter.

No Country For Old Men Wins

2008-01-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

"No Country for Old Men" solidified its Academy Awards prospects Sunday by taking overall cast honors alongside Javier Bardem's supporting-actor prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which may stand as the highlight of Hollywood's film-honors season if the writers strike undermines the Oscars

Past Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis of "There Will Be Blood" and Julie Christie of "Away From Her" won the lead-acting honors, also giving them a boost to win the same trophies at the Oscars. Day-Lewis dedicated his win to Heath Ledger, the 28-year-old Australian actor who was found dead in his Manhattan loft last week.

"In `Brokeback Mountain,' he was unique, he was perfect," said Day-Lewis, already an Oscar winner for "My Left Foot." "That scene in the trailer at the end of the film is as moving as anything I think I've ever seen."

Actors bid fond farewell to one of TV's most-acclaimed series ever as "The Sopranos" swept the dramatic categories, grabbing the lead-acting honors for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco and, minutes later, the overall cast award.

The SAG show itself was generally free of labor talk, with only Christie addressing the matter openly among the winners.

"It's lovely to receive an award from your own union," she said, "especially at a time when we're being so forcefully reminded how important unions are."

Bardem had kind words for Joel and Ethan Coen, who directed "No Country" and adapted the screenplay from Cormac McCarthy's novel.

"Thank you, guys, for hiring me, and thank you for taking the hard work of choosing the good takes instead of the ones where I really sucked," said Bardem, who won for his chilling role as a relentless killer tracking a fortune in missing drug money.

Ruby Dee won supporting actress for "American Gangster." She shared fond thoughts of her late husband and frequent acting partner, Ossie Davis, who died in 2005.

"I accept it also for my husband Ossie," the 83-year-old Dee said, "because he's working on things up there."

Though its last episode aired several months ago, "The Sopranos" grabbed all three TV drama categories to open the ceremony.

"Ten years ... I wish for everybody in every walk of life, but particularly for actors, to have the opportunity to have a work experience like I have had with my family here," Falco said. "You're not supposed to get this attached because it's a transient business. I have fallen in love with these people and I don't know how you walk away from that."

Minutes before, Gandolfini took the first trophy of the night in a star-studded ceremony — something of an anomaly in this strike-hobbled awards season.

"This is our last official act as Sopranos together," Gandolfini said. "Here's to you guys. Thank you very much. It's been 10 years. It's been an honor. That's all I can say."

For comedy series, Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey were the lead-acting winners for "30 Rock," while "The Office" won for best ensemble.

Normally a lesser cousin to the Golden Globes and Oscars, the SAG Awards could end up being the biggest celebration this time around: The swanky Globes were canceled because of a strike by the Writers Guild of America, which refused to let its members work on the show, and the fate of the Oscars on Feb. 24 is in question because of the same labor quarrel.

Not so for the SAG honors. The actors union has been steadfast in support of striking writers, who in turn gave their blessing to the SAG ceremony.

Instead of the debacle for the Globes, which were curtailed to a star-free news conference after actors and filmmakers made it clear they would not cross writers' picket lines, the SAG ceremony came off with a full complement of Hollywood A-listers.

"We're really proud of the solidarity we've built with the Writers Guild," said Alan Rosenberg, SAG president. "Our members have understood that and taken it to heart. I was really moved by their decision not to go to the Golden Globes, our nominees. It's tough times, but it's been gratifying, as well."

Backstage, Fey said the writers strike leaves "30 Rock" at risk since the show is a critical success but not necessarily a huge hit with viewers.

"We are exactly the kind of show that's put in jeopardy by the strike," Fey said.

The obligatory package of clips to honor stars who died in the past year took on more immediacy, ending with a moment from "Brokeback Mountain" featuring Ledger. The cause of his death had not yet been determined.

The guild presented its life-achievement award to Charles Durning, whose credits include "The Sting," "Tootsie" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

"There's nothing more gratifying than having an achievement award from one's peers," Durning said. "Over 50 years ago, I had the honor of working with some of the best actors, directors and writers in our industry. It's been a dream come true."

The guild's first-ever prizes for best stunt ensemble went to "The Bourne Ultimatum" for films and "24" for TV before the ceremony began.

On Saturday, "No Country" won top honors at the Directors Guild of America Awards for the Coen brothers; the winner there usually goes on to take home the directing Oscar.

As with the Golden Globes, the Writers Guild has made it clear that its members would not be allowed to work on the Oscars. While stars generally have said they would skip the show rather than cross picket lines, Oscar organizers insist their telecast will take place as scheduled.

Amy Ryan, a SAG and Oscar supporting-actress nominee for "Gone Baby Gone," said at the Directors Guild awards Saturday that she would not cross a picket line to attend the Oscars.

"I hope it ends but, more, I hope the writers get their due," Ryan said. "I think that, at the end of the day, is more important than a party. But I really hope it works out because I'd like to go to the party."

Coen Pair Win Top Directing Award

2008-01-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

Coen brothers film No Country for Old Men has won top prize at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) awards.
"Oh, we get two of them," Ethan Coen said as he and brother Joel were presented with their trophies for outstanding feature film achievement.

The crime drama is already leading the Oscar nominations along with There Will Be Blood, with eight nods each.

The DGA awards have often proved to be an accurate barometer for who will win the Best Director Academy Award.

The film stars Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem and tells the story of a drug deal that goes wrong on the US-Mexico border.

The Coen brothers beat off competition from fellow directors Sean Penn, Paul Thomas Anderson, Tony Gilroy and Julian Schnabel.

The DGA represents the directors of films and TV programmes.

Other winners included Yves Simoneau, who won the best director for a TV film prize for Bury My Heart on Wounded Knee.

Unlike many awards ceremonies, the DGA honours are always untelevised, so it has been unaffected by the screenwriters' strike which turned the Golden Globes into a low-key affair earlier this month.

In contrast, the Screen Actors' Guild awards will be the first red carpet event of the film awards season on Sunday evening.

Oscars doubt

The strike will not affect the ceremony - with actors showing solidarity with the writers, SAG has reached an agreement with one of the Writers Guild members to write the script for the ceremony.

US TV shows are expected to boost their coverage of this year's ceremony because of the possibility it will be the only glitzy awards event this year - there is still uncertainty over how the strike will affect the Oscars next month.

But some predicted the red carpet would still be a sombre affair due to the strike and the recent death of actor Heath Ledger.

"I think it will be a little low-key based on Heath Ledger, a fellow actor, and considering what the strike has done to people who have lost a lot of money, are out of work, are losing their homes," Rob Silverstein, the executive producer of TV show Access Hollywood, told Reuters.

Oscar officials have said its ceremony will go ahead as planned on 24 February but the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has not yet granted a waiver in the event the strike has not been resolved by that date.

Best cast

Sean Penn's road trip movie Into the Wild leads the field for the SAG Awards with a total of four nominations.

Alongside Into The Wild, No Country for Old Men, 3:10 To Yuma, Hairspray and American Gangster are recognised in the best cast category.

Into the Wild star Emile Hirsch is nominated for best actor along with George Clooney for Michael Clayton, Daniel Day Lewis for There Will Be Blood, Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl and Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises.

Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Angelina Jolie and Ellen Page are all nominated in the best actress category.

Movie Review : Untraceable

2008-01-25T00:45:00.000-08:00

It’s taking the easy way out to say Untraceable’s simply a ‘cyber’ version of a Saw film, but there are enough similarities between this crime story and the Saw franchise to make it a fair comparison. What this dramatic thriller has going for it that’s not necessarily found in a Saw movie are solid performances from its leading actors, Diane Lane, Colin Hanks and Billy Burke. That, along a premise that’s incredibly relevant as well as disturbingly chilling, sets this one apart from Saw and its spawns.

The Story

Do you slow down when passing a car crash? Are you one of those people who can’t help but watch replays of horrible accidents on TV and/or online? With Untraceable, the moral question posed is along those same lines. If you knew about a website with live video of a stranger being tortured and killed, would you click on the link and check out what’s going on?

Lane stars as Special Agent Jennifer Marsh, an integral part of the FBI’s newly formed cybercrimes unit located in Portland, Oregon. Marsh and her partner Griffin Dowd (Hanks) spend their nights on duty surfing the internet seeking out criminal behavior. Dealers of kiddy porn, sexual predators, and other sickos are their targets as the team attempts to keep the internet safe.

An anonymous tip leads the investigators to killwithme.com. Visiting the site, Lane and Dowd see a kitten being lured into a trap and left to die in front of a video camera streaming the feed in real time on the net. It’s extremely disturbing, but Lane’s told by her boss to focus on crimes against humans. However, the killing of the poor kitten was just a way to entice viewers to the site. From that jumping off point, the creep who created the website progresses to torturing and killing a man for millions to see. In fact, he’s counting on millions of sets of eyes watching the horrific event unfold. The more people visit his site, the faster the victim dies.

Lane, Dowd, and local cop Detective Eric Box (Burke) need to discover the killer’s physical address, but he’s as computer savvy as the FBI team trying to catch him. His site is virtually untraceable. Complicating and aggravating matters, the publicity generated by the case only serves to help increase the number of visitors to killwithme.com. Law enforcement’s only hope is to somehow find a connection between the seemingly random victims and whoever runs the site. But as they’re tracking down the psycho, he’s not only one step ahead of them but also ready and willing to make things personal for the officers involved in the investigation.

The Acting

Diane Lane does a fine job of playing a tough-as-nails FBI computer cybercrime whiz who finds it hard to balance life as a single mother with her job. Each night she surfs her way through the worst the web has to offer. Each day, she tries to leave those images behind and concentrate on just being a mom. Lane delivers a solid performance, seemingly equally at ease slinging around all the technical jargon and hosting a birthday party for her young daughter at a roller rink. Lane also shows she can convincingly handle the action parts. When push comes to shove and she’s forced into getting physical, Lane turns into a real tigress.

Colin Hanks was apparently cut out of the same ‘everyman’ mold as his famous father, Tom. Hanks provides what little comic relief there is in the film, although it’s humor that’s totally appropriate for the situations. The jokes don’t feel as though - as they often do in this dark of a film - they were inserted simply to lighten the mood.
Billy Burke takes on the romantic interest sort of role as the handsome cop who not only assists with the investigation but offers Lane some off-duty support as needed. Officer Box is a character we’ve seen over and over again, but Burke does a good job of fleshing out a role that’s written as only one-dimensional.

The Bottom Line

Cat lovers and those who found Saw or Hostel too disturbing to watch may want to stay away from Untraceable. Or, in lieu of avoiding the film altogether, be prepared to hide your eyes during any scene that takes place in a basement. If the interior is dark and a character is walking downstairs, or a video camera is shown with its red light on, that might be a good time for the squeamish to go for soda or popcorn.

For the most part Untraceable is a taut and compelling game of cat (no pun intended) and mouse with the good guys really up against the wall. The idea of visitors to a website being so intimately involved in heinous murders is quite thought-provoking and a real disturbing premise for a film. And director Gregory Hoblit definitely serves up the chills and the gore (oh yes, there’s graphic violence aplenty in this R-rated pic), but he does so without forgetting to move the human drama forward for a good three-quarters of the movie.
Unfortunately, the story stumbles and the edge-of-your-seat thriller transforms into just another clichéd cop drama during its last 30-40 minutes. Characters act stupidly and a jarring line of dialogue from the beginning of the film, one you just knew would have to come back into play, sure enough does wind up playing an important part late in the film. Untraceable gets thrown off its rails and can’t recover the momentum it had edging into the final act. It’s frustrating to watch what was a completely absorbing thriller degenerate into something so predictable. Not even Lane's solid performance can salvage a disappointing finale.

GRADE: B-

Untraceable was directed by Gregory Hoblit is rated R for some prolonged sequences of strong gruesome violence and language.

Theatrical Release Date: January 25, 2008

Diane Lane Talks About 'Untraceable'

2008-01-25T00:38:00.000-08:00

Diane Lane stars as FBI Agent Jennifer Marsh in the dramatic thriller Untraceable. Although her character is an expert at investigating criminals on the internet, Lane admits she’d be perfectly happy living in the dark ages, back before cell phones and text messaging. Learning to speak the ‘language’ of a cybercrimes investigator was just as hard as learning a foreign language. “I’m lousy at it. I’m allowed to hang out in the room with these people,” laughed Lane. “I can’t really participate. It’s different. They are born into it. I very reluctantly started paying attention when I was 30. I just don’t have the brain cells to rub together fast enough, you know?”

Lane’s character patrols the internet in search of sexual predators and other criminal activity.

When Marsh and her partner Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks) are made aware of a horribly creepy website – killwithme.com – they don’t initially take the concept seriously. That quickly changes when the site’s owner progresses from killing an animal on camera to human victims. The more users log on to his site, the faster his victims die. It’s up to Agent Marsh and her team of experts to determine the man’s physical location before more men die at the hands of this sick serial killer.
Lane worked closely with an expert in the field in order to get into character. What she learned while doing her research for the film left quite an impression on the actress. “The more I got exposed to the need for these people to exist, they’re angels,” said Lane. “They’re paid to do intervention against malicious attempts on the internet. I’m so naïve I didn’t know that viruses do not spontaneously occur, like in nature. I mean, doesn’t the term virus imply it just grew in a petri dish? We don’t know how. Oh no, some brainiac sat down and figured out how to make everybody miserable, like an arsonist. Why? Do you have nothing better to do with your life? I guess not. I don’t know what to say. I’m so disappointed in human beings and myself for not knowing better.”

Lane has teenagers at home - teenagers who do spend time on the internet. As a parent, Lane has set down rules for using the internet but she realizes, more so now after working on Untraceable, that there’s no way to be too cautious when surfing online. “The concern is in this story people fall victim to what they’re solicited,” explained Lane. “That’s automatically not the smartest choice, you know? You can fall uphill and get lucky or you can fall in the black hole and never come out again in this story. “

“A lot of people online the whole point, certainly when the internet was invented – even before the internet itself – being on computers in the 80s, we would invent a new identity,” said Lane. “And, ‘I’ll be so sexy online,’ and , ‘I’ll be 20 again,’ or whatever people have in their heads. Or, ‘I’ll get all the babes and I’ll have all my hair back,’ whatever people want. This was the vapidity of the original fantasy that people created about what being online was going to do for them. I mean, it’s just the lowest common denominator possible. So, it’s interesting what comes. We think it and then we make it real, to a certain degree. And then we have all these cautionary tales that grow out of it. I’m so glad the FBI exists I can’t tell you, after seeing what’s on the internet and how they’re stopping the bad guys.”

Lane was initially drawn to Untraceable because of the film’s social commentary. The basic premise is both relevant and disturbing. “There’s a couple of different co-existing, I guess, metaphors, if you will, that the film deals with,” explained Lane. “I wanted to know so much what they were going to be having on the radio in my character’s car when I was going to be driving to and from work because, as you can well imagine, it would be the talk everywhere. It would be a global issue. I’m saying here we are in one city dealing with this issue, but it would be global pretty quickly and what would you do to try and shut down and stop people from paying attention, if by paying attention it increased the problem? Therein lies the rub and the indictment of people and the anonymity that people [think] it’s okay. I don’t know what to say. I think there’s a pretty good, not litmus test, of who you are by seeing what you would choose to do alone in a room with a computer for four days. You know who you are by your tastes. You know who you are by that sort of thing, and there you are.”

Lane continued, “The indictment within our story too [is] that this online bad guy is excluding other people, so it’s really just an American indictment issue. He’s accomplishing a lot with one blow; [he has] many agendas. I like movies that make me think. To do a thriller like this, I wanted it to be smart enough to make me think, and it does.”

Movie Review : Cloverfield

2008-01-22T22:51:00.000-08:00

Remember six months ago when that first shaky cam trailer for an untitled JJ Abrams production hit theaters in front of Transformers and then, shortly after, the internet? The buzz was deafening. That first quick teaser trailer opened with a bunch of people at a party and then ended with the Statue of Liberty’s head in the middle of a New York street. That teaser generated an immense amount of interest and a lot of head-scratching. No title, no director, just the release date… What the heck was this thing JJ Abrams created and why the secrecy surrounding even the movie’s title?

Those questions were kind of answered over the past half dozen months, and the title was confirmed as Cloverfield (the street where Abrams’ office is located), but that led to even more questions and concerns. When news spread that Cloverfield is Abrams’ attempt at a monster movie, the reaction was mixed. Would it be cheesy? Why is the guy who co-created, produced, and directed Felicity at the helm? Do we really need to see New York City under attack? Well, put away your crackers. There’s no cheese in sight. Matt Reeves might not be the first person you’d think of when it comes to directing a Godzilla-ish flick, but he was the right guy for Cloverfield. And although much of the first half of the film is distressingly reminiscent of the horrific events of 9/11 (including gigantic dust clouds and people screaming for help while running away from destroyed buildings), it is, after all is said and done, just a monster movie - albeit one told from an unusual and intensely personal point of view.

The Story

Rob (Michael-Stahl David) and his long-time close friend Beth (Odette Yustman) hook up for at least one night of non-wedded bliss. That much we know for sure because of snippets of a video recorded in her bedroom after they had sex, snippets we see at random moments throughout the film.

Flash-forward a month from their night together and Rob’s set to leave for Japan to take on a VP job at some company. Rob and Beth apparently never got together as a couple and she’s at his send-off with another guy. Rob wants her, but something’s obviously gone wrong with their relationship.

Meanwhile, Rob’s going away party is loaded with pretty people drinking, gossiping, and leaving farewell messages into a camera operated by his buddy, rookie videographer Hud (TJ Miller). Also in attendance at this upscale Manhattan shindig is Rob’s younger brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and Jason’s main squeeze Lily (Jessica Lucas). The party introduces us to one more key player, Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), the girl Hud has a thing for who has no idea Hud even exists.
An earthquake signals the end of the going away party setup, but those first 20 minutes of the movie do provide all the backstory you ever need to know on the five main players. Screenwriter Drew Goddard (Lost), director Reeves and Abrams know the audience wants, needs, is dying to see a monster, but give them credit for taking the time to let us connect with the people whose story we’ll be a part of for the remainder of the film. If we don’t embrace Rob, Beth, Jason, Lily and Hud, then Cloverfield would be dead in the water.

Once the monster hits – literally – the city, Cloverfield explodes into a run for your life action film. But it also manages, strangely enough, to keep the story small at the same time. Everything that goes down is recorded by Hud and that footage puts us up close and personal into the terrifying events.

Because we know the key players, Cloverfield never devolves into the standard scream and be eaten horror fare. There’s a point to Rob and his friends running around the city, which makes their journey meaningful. Rob needs to help rescue Beth, and that’s the only thing pushing him forward.

The Bottom Line
A couple minutes in, watching these people we don’t know party away, you may be tempted to write Cloverfield off. Patience, people, patience. The monster’s coming and the anticipation and build-up is well worth the wait.

There are flashes of gargantuan legs, shots from above of the creature’s back, and other brief glimpses of the beast throughout the film. Anyone who thinks Cloverfield’s just a tease has it all wrong. The monster is there on the screen and he’s absolutely amazing to see. The CGI throughout the film is first-rate, from the smashing of recognizable New York City landmarks to the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge. But the monster itself is the cherry on top of this post-Christmas treat.

Now about that shaky cam… It’s not that bad. Honest. You actually get used to it and, more importantly, it’s absolutely the right way to tell this tale. That hand-held camera is not just a cutesy plot device; it’s a key player in telling the story. If a monster were to attack a major city, odds are the devastation would be captured on hundreds, if not thousands, of personal video cameras. It would also be recorded on cell phones, which is exactly what we see happening throughout the film and specifically after the Statue of Liberty’s severed head lands far from its body somewhere in the city. The amateur video angle was the smart way to go, but take some Dramamine before entering the theater if you’re prone to any sort of motion sickness whatsoever.

Abrams and company chose to go with unfamiliar faces in the lead roles and that was also a very smart decision. It’s very easy to connect with the Cloverfield leads because they are mostly complete strangers to us (although Vogel’s been in a lot of films and Miller’s currently on the TV series Carpoolers). As Hud, Miller’s job is to capture all the action of the monster attack while keeping it real. The character of Hud helps us remember at all times that above all else, Cloverfield’s an intimate character-driven drama centering on a very small group of friends. He’s also there to provide a little comic relief, which unfortunately is inappropriate at times.

Pay attention at all to the film’s beginning and you know how it’ll end. But what’s in between the faux government labels opening sequence and the roll of the credits is an 84 minute white knuckle ride like no other. What a way to start off 2008!

GRADE: B+

Cloverfield was directed by Matt Reeves and is rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.

Theatrical Release Date: January 18, 2008

Review: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2008-01-22T22:17:00.000-08:00

I was hoping for a chance to see The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford a second time before I wrote my review, but only to confirm my suspicions that it's a surprising near-masterpiece, certainly one of the year's best films, and the best Western to come across the range since Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) and Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man (1996). I had been looking forward to the film, mainly because 2007 had previously yielded two very good Westerns in Seraphim Falls and 3:10 to Yuma (we'll say nothing more about the wretched September Dawn). I had also admired New Zealand director Andrew Dominik's previous and only other feature, Chopper (2000). But none of this prepared me for the scope, artistry and brilliance of this new film.

The drawback is that the 160-minute The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is going to be one of those "difficult" movies that doesn't get the recognition it deserves, mainly because it can't be quickly explained or understood, or broken down into a 30-second sound byte. It's not a sweeping, spectacular epic, but rather a quiet, wintry epilogue. It will be critiqued with single words: "long," "boring," "confusing." Nevertheless, it's in good company with Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Jane Campion's In the Cut, Gus Van Sant's Gerry, George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, Terrence Malick's The New World, Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, David Lynch's Inland Empire and William Friedkin's Bug -- all movies that will eventually have their day in the sun despite their current sad critical standing. The real hitch is that Jesse James chooses not to deconstruct the James myth, as would be the expected, rational approach in our post-modern age, but rather embraces it and expands on it.

Brad Pitt stars -- and deserves Oscar consideration -- as Jesse James at the tail end of the bandit's illustrious career. He's living with his wife and two kids under an assumed name, posing as a gentleman of means and respect. He pulls his last job, robbing a train, with the help of his older brother Frank (Sam Shepard) and a band of hired goons and half-wits. With the aid of cinematographer Roger Deakins, this opening sequence already astonishes with its unique use of light and darkness among the slender, splintery trees. (The landscape perfectly reflects the character's psychology throughout.) One of the goons is Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell), brother of Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), who is one of the biggest fans James ever had. Bob has a shoebox full of James memorabilia, including all those fantastical dime novels full of exciting, shoot-em-up adventure tales. Bob somehow makes an impression on the mysterious Jesse; he's invited to stay with the family for a few days. James further fuels Bob's fantasies by neither confirming nor denying all those tales, and doing mystifying things like chopping off the heads of live snakes.

From there the movie turns into a kind of chess game, in which the gang separates and the members each ride through the snow and countryside to get to one another, presumably to get the upper hand on one another. It's a bit complex and a tad confusing, but this is where Dominik's film shows its brilliance. Jesse may have been the nation's first great celebrity -- the narration makes it known that more people could identify him than the president -- and he plays into this power with ultimate mastery. James can sit across a table from a man and watch the man watching him, and seem to know exactly what's going on. Pitt couldn't be more perfect for the role; he has a way of licking his lips that lets us know he's in control and that he savors that control. Even when characters appear apart from James, they're under his gaze. If nobody else, including the audience, fully understands the setup, James certainly does.

When it comes time for the assassination of the title, the movie does it by the book: Bob Ford shoots Jesse in the back, in his own home, with a gun given to Bob by Jesse, while Jesse is balanced on a ladder straightening a picture. The movie sets it up as if James has choreographed the entire scene, like Obi-Wan Kenobi allowing himself to be cut down by Darth Vader because the repercussions will be far greater than the moment itself. The film winds down with an extended epilogue showing the remainder of Ford's life, his infamy and folly, and including a vicious, real ballad sung by Nick Cave. I can't think of a better Ford than Casey Affleck; he has a smart, weasel-like quality, but he also serves as the movie's unexpected protagonist. He's closer to any of us than James will ever be. He deserves to share company with John Carradine, who played the character in Jesse James (1939) and Fritz Lang's sequel The Return of Frank James (1940), and he surpasses the slightly clueless, iron-jawed John Ireland in Samuel Fuller's I Shot Jesse James (1949).

Going back to that narration, an actor named Hugh Ross reads it, and although most "real" filmmakers sneer at narration, this film uses it well. Not only does Ross read it with a sense of history and awe, but the narration also provides relevant information as to the approximate status of Jesse James' celebrity that the events in the film could only hint at. (A photograph of the dead James sold like candy in every general store on both sides of the Mississippi.) If I had seen the film a second time, I certainly would have written down some of the choice dialogue, which is spoken by the characters in clever and polite tones, feeling out the words like smooth stones in a river. It's dialogue so rich that Billy Wilder or Preston Sturges surely would have applauded it. (Dominik wrote the screenplay, based on Ron Hansen's 1983 book.) One scene in which James Gang member Dick Liddil (Paul Schneider) seduces the young wife of his partner's father ought to be studied and emulated by anyone who wishes a career in the seductive arts.

Finally, we come down to Dominik's direction. In taking on the Jesse James story, he walks in the footsteps of masters like Lang, Fuller and Nicholas Ray, not to mention Philip Kaufman and Walter Hill, but he honors them all. Chopper didn't reveal any particularly notable skill or talent, but here he approaches stylists like Malick and Lynch, spreading out his story across a wide canvas and taking his time with every detail. If James needs to spend a full minute sizing up an opponent, Dominik provides him that minute, uninterrupted and uncut. Pitt sinks his teeth into the part, perhaps understanding this power as only a modern-day celebrity can. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is by turns slippery, elusive, confusing and overpowering, exactly like the modern-day fame culture it mirrors.

Movie Star Heath Ledger Is Dead

2008-01-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hollywood actor Heath Ledger has been found dead at a residence in Manhattan.

"He was found unconscious at the apartment and pronounced dead," the New York Police Department said, adding that pills were found near the body.

Police are reportedly investigating if the Australian actor, who earned an Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain, died of a drug overdose.

Father Kim Ledger said that the death of his 28-year-old "dearly loved son" had been "tragic" and "accidental".

Speaking in the actor's home town of Perth, in Western Australia, Mr Ledger said that his son had been a "down to earth, generous, kind hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual".

"Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life that few had the pleasure of truly knowing him."

The 28-year-old was found dead in the flat at 1526 (2026 GMT) on Tuesday.

Split

New York police said they did not suspect foul play and that his body had been discovered surrounded by pills.

"We are investigating the possibility of an overdose," police spokesman Paul Browne told Reuters news agency. "There were pills within the vicinity of the bed."

The BBC's Matthew Price in New York says the exact cause of death was still being investigated, but suicide has not been ruled out.

Police, journalists and crowds of fans are outside the Broome Street apartment in the fashionable SoHo area.

Investigators said Ledger had been due to have a massage at the flat.

The housekeeper went to tell him the masseuse had arrived and found him dead on Tuesday afternoon.

The medical examiner's office said an autopsy would be carried out on Wednesday.

In September the Perth-born actor split from his girlfriend Michelle Williams, with whom he has a two-year-old daughter, Matilda.

Williams played his wife in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain.

Hollywood mourning

Hollywood's hierarchy were quick to offer their tributes and mourn Ledger's death.

I had such great hope for him," said Oscar-winning actor-director Mel Gibson. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

In 2001, Mr Gibson had cast Ledger to play his son in the American war of independence epic, The Patriot.

"What a terrible tragedy. My heart goes out to his family," said fellow Australian actress Nicole Kidman.

American actor John Travolta, who was in Australia at the time of Ledger's death, said the young actor had been one of his favourite performers.

"His abilities are rare...it's a tremendous loss," said Mr Travolta.

Brokeback breakthrough

Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee said Ledger's performance had been a "miracle" of acting, echoing a young Marlon Brando.

He won an Oscar nomination for his role as a gay cowboy in the film but the award went to Philip Seymour Hoffman for his role as Truman Capote.

Ledger starred in I'm Not There, as one of several actors in a role representing singer Bob Dylan.

He also plays the Joker in yet-to-be-released Batman film, The Dark Knight.

Ledger also starred in A Knight's Tale and The Patriot, and played a suicidal son in Monster's Ball.

No Country for Old Men

2008-01-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

and evil do not befall men without reason. Heaven sends them happiness or misery according to their conduct.
-Confucius

Evil is good or truth misplaced

When MacBeth, Hamlet and other Shakespearean tragedies are presented to African tribes, the locals nod their heads in recognition. They relate in turn their own epics of “malfeasance” (as Frances Mcdormand’s Marge Gunderson characterizes criminal activity in “Fargo”).

Audiences have always been riveted by incidents of bad/evil behavior. Those of us with a spiritual practice often feel uncomfortable by our own fascination with, well…, brutality. We wonder what it says about us? Is it evidence of our fundamentally base and uncivilized nature? Are we not better off avoiding these kinds of stimuli so as to better cultivate the higher ideals represented by the spiritual heroes we idealize? “The Passion of the Christ” aside, (the most radical horror film of all time), are we not better off nourishing ourselves with the likes of “Gandhi”, “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”, “Siddhartha” and “Kundun”?

Much to the chagrin of those who believe that the art of cinema should focus on portrayals of peace and love, the New York Film Critics Circle has just selected the current Coen Brothers offering as its best picture. In New York, the Academy award winning brothers also triumph for best adapted screenplay from the Cormac McCarthy novel. Moreover, the Hannibal Lecter-like sociopath (Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh) walks away with the best supporting actor award. “No Country for Old Men” has already made its way to the top of the Golden Globes list, is a winner at a variety of other film festivals, and top Oscar nods are assured in February.

Returning to last year’s violent Academy winner “The Departed”, (and noting that “The Godfather” now occupies the top spot on most reviewer’s list of all time greats - having unseated Citizen Kane and Casablanca), there is little doubt that aggression and bloodshed play a compelling part in our stories and the movies that bring them to life. And bring them to death.

In effect, these become our meditations on good and evil, and all of the complexities that lie within. We are told by the wisdom of the ages that we are capable of the best and the worst of the world, since it is all housed within our being. Our collective unconscious - as well as our consciousness - understands what Krishna and Yoda always already know. There is no more doubt of the centrality of the dark side than there is of the Force itself.

The interaction of these forces as played out by the struggles of men and women with themselves and others is what constitutes the “action” movie. In the audience we find ourselves experiencing intensity as we’re moved by the energies on the screen that activates us somatically. This is our communion, our service, as we break popcorn with one another. We’re excited, confused, elated, inspired and afraid, and there is usually a life threatening danger lurking as the action unfolds. This is exactly what the hero is forced to confront and it’s never cute.

There are two hero roles in “No Country”. The first we encounter as the voice-over when the film opens with the camera panning slowly over a desolate southwestern desert. We listen to who we later learn is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). He’s reflecting on the sorry state of things in the USA border territories in 1980. He’s harkening back to earlier times of his father, and before. Times when many of the sheriffs never wore guns at all. In those days they relied more on skillful means to exercise and enforce the law. But things have changed. Now he can’t understand how a 14 year old that he recently had to escort to the electric chair had no hint of remorse for killing a young girl. He said he did it so he could see what it felt like to watch somebody die.

The Boomer generation is reminded of the Johnny Cash line from “Folsom Prison Blues”: “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. Now I’m stuck in Folsom Prison. I hang my head and cry”. There’s also the lesser known ballad from Sting titled “I Hung my Head”:

Early one morning with time to kill
I borrowed Jeb's rifle and sat on the hill
I saw a lone rider crossing the plain
I drew a bead on him to practice my aim.
… the rider was dead
I hung my head.

In these songs the killers become haunted with regret and remorse. There’s no threat of any head hanging intruding into the dark mind of Anton Chigurh.

As villain’s go, Chigurh is particularly chilling. His “worst in show” haircut becomes one of his hallmarks that accompany his emotionally constrained sociopathic mannerisms. His outer appearance resembles the Malcolm McDowell visage of crazy from “A Clockwork Orange”, but his comportment is more Dr Lecter. It’s a signature and unmistakable creepiness all his own. Anton’s never been complicated by notions of warmth or remorse, and his moral line of development lays south of any complications of right and wrong. Early in the film we witness him dispassionately dispatching of a couple of unfortunates in sequential scenes. They meet him - and their respective ends - in equally different and disturbing ways. In one there is Chigurh’s compressed air cattle gun: his weapon of choice. That’s for when he’s not getting down and dirty in hand to hand combat. Be very afraid of this man. And now he’s on a mission. Things have gone sideways. He’s upset and looking for his money.

Chigurh is a classic illustration of the text-book psychopathic killer. He looks at other people as if they were aliens to be studied quizzically. He plays God in their world by inviting them into ritualistic games of chance, where a coin toss called wrong will cost them their life. He makes meaning through an array of lenses that always seem to end up getting blood on them. There’s no doubt about God’s having a sick sense of humor here.

A bit later on we hear Bell’s assessment of that mindset and its culture. “It starts when you begin to overlook bad manners. Any time you quit hearin “sir’ and “ma’am” the end is pretty much in sight.” This inquiry is the main thrust of the story. How have things regressed away from simple politeness, civic-mindedness and the other values that good neighbors and citizens live well by? In deconstructing the limiting constraints of traditional society, we realize our broad-axe has also cut out much of the social glue that holds “the good” together for people who need those supports the most.

As a modern day cowboy, Llewelyn Moss is played to perfection by Josh Brolin. He works as a welder and lives in a trailer with his wife Carla Jean. She works at Walmart, and is played by Kelly MacDonald (who shone as the fascinating female hero in the wonderful “Girl in the Café”). You get the idea that Moss was a respected soldier you didn’t mess with in Vietnam. An aspect of his goodness plays out when we see his conscience getting the best of him when he returns to a shootout scene later on to aid a struggling survivor. He knows the risk he is taking as he tells Carla Jean that he’s “fixin to do something dumber than hell”. But hey, he’s a good man, and also a bad ass man. He just wasn’t figuring on the likes of Anton Chigurh who make the Viet Cong look like good ‘ol boys. Big mistake.

We recently saw Brolin in “American Gangster” playing another excellent tough guy role. (He’s also gracing the cover of the Jan 08 GQ issue, appropriately titled “Return of the Tough Guy”). Like many Viet vets, Moss is taciturn and enigmatic. But unlike his role in Gangster, here he also exhibits a dry sense of humor along with a faintly tender side that peeks through. These are necessary elements for his role. He also enjoys subtly teasing his pure and simple wife in sweet ways, making Moss easy to warm to. Carla Jean becomes increasingly concerned as she finds out more about what Llewelyn’s been up to. As the other main hero in the film, Moss is soon finding himself on Chigurh’s bad side, and believes the money that can change the situation for he and Carla Jean is worth fighting and running for. You can feel that he’s confident he’ll be able to manage whoever’s after him.

Meanwhile, back at the beginning of the plot, while Bell’s voice-over fades we find Moss hunting for pronghorn in the desert. He wounds one, and while following the traces he intersects with a heavier trail of blood that we soon learn belongs to a large, limping pit-bull. This leads Moss to a scene straight out of Peckinpah’s “Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”. A drug deal gone wrong has left several men and a couple of attack dogs strewn around a few abandoned vehicles in the middle of nowhere. Now there are only flies buzzing hungrily in the baking sun and caking blood. The Coen bros allow you to almost smell the mayhem.

Carefully surveying the scene, Moss discovers and leaves alone a large stash of heroin in the back of the pickup where one Mexican is still holding narrowly to life in the cabin. Not much he can do for him he reckons. Moss follows his instincts. He asks where the “last man standing” is to no response. We realize he believes that there may have been someone who walked away on the money side of this blood-bath. Moss heads down the dirt road and sure enough, in the distance, he eventually catches sight of someone on the ridge through his binoculars. Outlined on the horizon is a very still silhouette sitting under the shade of a lone tree. The man is facing the other direction while Moss sits patiently and waits. After a couple of hours without movement Llewelyn slowly moves closer and discovers that the man has just bled to death from the wound he sustained at the shootout. And the burden he’s been carrying contains two million dollars.

What is one to do? Moss is comfortable in knowing that he’s not responsible for this man’s death. Now the money is there all by itself and those bad men don’t seem like they’ll be needing it any more. Hmmm… Llewelyn takes the cash and bolts. Wouldn’t you? Welcome to the moral dilemma we find ourselves experiencing as we walk a mile in Moss’s craggy cowboy boots.

As with other Coen brother’s movies (Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, Fargo), trouble begins with what seems to be a relatively simple opportunity. Yet soon and sure enough, unintended consequences begin to unfold, disrupting the simplicity as things begin to take unfortunate turns. It’s at these points that you wonder about the ethically gray territory you’re now tip-toeing through. Similarly, Sam Raimi’s “A Simple Plan” finds Billy Bob Thornton (playing a clinically simple man) happening upon this same kind (wrong kind) of money in a crashed airplane while walking with his friend and brother in the woods. We can hear the universal refrain: “Gee, here’s this big bag of money that clearly belonged to what looks like some bad guys. Seems they fell on some bad times and here they are now dead. No sense in us just letting this money go to waste; either out here or in some government holding tank. Who’s to know? What’s the harm?”

It’s hard to condemn someone so tempted by this seeming serendipity solving a list of nagging financial problems? Doesn’t seem like such a bad idea at the time. But then, something that seems too good to be true usually is. The number one rule in these situations, particularly as the Coen brothers frame them, is that there are no clean getaways.

By the time we leave the several scenes surrounding the bloodbath, Chigurh has already killed several men, including a couple of his partners. There is one chase scene at the end of this first act in which Moss is pursued by a pit bull down a river in early dawn that is electrifying.

When Sherriff Bell and his deputy survey this scene, the deputy remarks to his boss, shaking his head, “it’s a mess ain’t sheriff”. Bell’s droll wit roles out like greasy Texas chicken, “if it ain’t, it’ll do till the mess gets here”.

In his understated “aw shucks” manner, Bell is nonetheless aghast by this insane world of drug-crime and other senseless acts of violence. And they seem to be moving ever closer his way. He’s dismayed but not daunted, while animated by an encoded value system that holds sacrificing oneself for the sake of the public good as what’s most important in life.

I won’t share any more about the plot, other than mentioning that there is a hotel scene in El Paso that’s reminiscent of another El Paso hotel confrontation of the same sort. Laughlin’s Hotel was where Sam Peckinpah directed Steve McQueen in his gunfight against a ring of bad guys who are after his bag of stolen money in “The Getaway”. I have to wonder whether the Coen brothers didn’t sample from that well, and if so: well sampled! This time, on either sides of a door in a dark El Paso hotel, Moss and Chigurh bring the audience together in an extended silent meditation of suspense. They’re watching their breath, and listening very closely. Feverishly feeling foreboding.

This latest effort is the best Coen Brothers work to date. They’re on their game, applying ever-fresh originality to the action movie/hero’ journey as it hits all the right discordant notes. You’re drawn into experiencing a flowing and presenced state, surfing the excitement and the terror, the tenderness and the pain. It’s the heart of the American dream and its discontents. They create a meditation of Shiva and Kali for our collective fantasy with the quick easy fix. It’s disturbing dharma, but that’s what we’re moved by.

Everything comes together and works well in this movie. Jones, Brolin, Bardem and MacDonald all offer Oscar worthy performances. Woody Harrelson is well chosen to animate his sly, self-satisfied quirkiness as bounty hunter and Vietnam vet Carson Wells. The soundtrack is rich yet subtle and a perfect complement to the powerful lighting and shadow dance that is masterfully edited by the brothers.

Amongst other things, the film is contemplation on that most Integral of principles: the Shadow. In “No Country” we’re captivated by its gravity and its effect. Since Iraq there have been many conversations around American and European dinner tables around the nature of evil. About who is evil and why. Maybe it’s the terrorists, or maybe its George Bush and the Americans who are evil? However we judge these matters, what the film affirms is that there are indeed shadow elements that we do well to carefully regard. And not only to regard, but to strive to better integrate these energies into the means with which we understand and operate on our world.

Growth and development, in the service of a transpersonal transformation invites us to see all early meaning-making systems clearly. I believe this is one reason we feel informed and fascinated by these moving picture meditations on the dark side of the force. The matrix takes many forms, and there is liberation in engaging its contours through the engagement of the good and evil action film. The Coen brothers’ dojo is a powerful learning environment, and their practice creates a worthy challenge.

`No Country,' `Blood' tie for Oscar lead

2008-01-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

"No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" led with eight Academy Awards nominations each Tuesday, among them best picture and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem — but whether any actors would show up was in doubt because of the writers strike.

"No Country for Old Men," a crime saga about a drug deal gone bad, "There Will Be Blood," and a historical epic set in California's oil boom years will compete for best picture against the melancholy romance "Atonement," the pregnancy comedy "Juno" and the legal drama "Michael Clayton."

"Atonement" and "Michael Clayton" trailed with seven nominations each, including best actor for George Clooney in the title role of "Clayton." The lead players in "Atonement," Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, were shut out on nominations, however, with teenager Saoirse Ronin the only performer nominated for that film, for supporting actress.

Past Oscar winner Cate Blanchett had two nominations as best actress for the historical pageant "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," and the Bob Dylan tale "I'm Not There."

The acting categories generally played out as expected — with a few surprises, including best actress nominee Laura Linney for "The Savages" and best-actor nominee Tommy Lee Jones for "In the Valley of Elah." Neither performance had been high on the awards radar so far this Oscar season.

Best actress looks like a two-person duel between Julie Christie, an Oscar winner for "Darling," as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's in "Away From Her" and Marion Cotillard as singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose." Both won Golden Globes, Christie for dramatic actress, Cotillard for musical or comedy actress. Yet they face strong competition from Blanchett, Linney and relative newcomer Ellen Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen in "Juno."

Day-Lewis, an Oscar winner for "My Left Foot," grabbed another best-actor nomination as a flamboyant oil baron in "There Will Be Blood," for which he could emerge as the favorite.

Along with Day-Lewis, Clooney and Jones, the other nominees were Johnny Depp, who won the Globe for musical or comedy actor as the vengeful barber in "Sweeney Todd," Viggo Mortensen as a Russian mob member in "Eastern Promises."

With a Golden Globe and universal acclaim for his performance as a relentless killer, Bardem looks like the closest thing to a front-runner this Oscar season, which is unusually wide open for best picture and other top categories.

Bardem is up against Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"; Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"; Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton."

Joining Blanchett and Ronin in the supporting actress category were Ruby Dee for "American Gangster," Amy Ryan for "Gone Baby Gone" and Tilda Swinton for "Michael Clayton."