METROPOLISENTERTAINMNET.comtag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2007-07-02://12007-07-02T19:56:25ZEntertainment, gaming and music news blogMovable Type Publishing Platform 4.0-beta4-20070627Kid Rock Follows John Daly At Buick Opentag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2007://1.982007-07-02T19:54:09Z2007-07-02T19:56:25ZHe jumped out of the cart at the 14th green and stood among the crowd outside the ropes to cheer on Daly.
Kid Rock, a Romeo native whose real name is Robert Ritchie, said he has been friends with Daly for seven years, since the golfer went to one of his concerts in Memphis, Tenn., and bought $4,000 in merchandise.
Until the final round of the Buick Open, Kid Rock hadn't seen Daly play -- not counting driving exhibitions in suburban Detroit.
"He hits off Coors Light cans at my house," he said.
Kid Rock said Daly drove up from Arkansas last week, accepting an invitation to spend time together while the 36-year-old country-rap-rock star records a new album about 15 miles south of Warwick Hills.
He cooked eggs and sausage to get Daly ready for his final round, then was in awe of the throng that followed him for 18 holes.
"He's a star," Kid Rock said. "Who's following the leaders? They're following John Daly because they can relate to him."
The fans seemed to relate well to Kid Rock, too, as he mingled on every hole while wearing sandals, camouflage cargo shorts, white T-shirt, dark shades and a porkpie hat.
(AP) John Daly and Kid Rock did their best to make up for the lack of star power at the Buick Open.
Daly, finishing a season-best 16th on Sunday, easily attracted the largest gallery with Tiger Woods not in the field at Warwick Hills for the first time since 2001.
His famous rapper-friend and host loved every minute of it.
Kid Rock rolled around the course on the passenger side of a mini-Buick golf cart, sipping beer from a plastic cup, slapping extended hands from fans and signing countless autographs.]]>
'Brand effect' boost for 6 Musictag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2006://1.972006-10-26T16:48:50Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZA 40% rise in listeners to BBC digital radio station 6 Music is being largely attributed to host Russell Brand. The station now attracts a weekly audience of 400,000, according to industry ratings body Rajar. "It has been good for...
A 40% rise in listeners to BBC digital radio station 6 Music is being largely attributed to host Russell Brand.
The station now attracts a weekly audience of 400,000, according to industry ratings body Rajar.
"It has been good for digital radio to have a star like Russell presenting on 6 Music. He really is at the top of his form," said controller Lesley Douglas.
Radio 2 has also added listeners, with drivetime host Chris Evans gaining ground after an initial dip.
Most popular
Ms Douglas said: "I'm really pleased that Chris Evans has fitted in at Radio 2. He's a great personality, a great broadcaster and I always hoped he would appeal to the audience."]]>
Radio 2 remains the UK's most popular station, slightly down on its reach of 12.86 million last year.
Radio 1 breakfast host Chris Moyles continued to attract more listeners, with a rise of 290,000 compared with last year.
But Sir Terry Wogan's morning show on Radio 2 remains the most popular, registering weekly audiences of more than 7.6 million in the past three months.
Radio 4's flagship morning current affairs programme Today has seen its listenership rise to 6.1 million, while the network as a whole attracts more than nine million people.
Radio Five Live's audience has been overtaken by Classic FM in the past three months, while commercial networks Virgin and Galaxy have been leapfrogged by Kiss.
Brand, who also fronted Big Brother's Big Mouth on E4, joined 6 Music in March, fronting a Sunday morning show.
The 31-year-old also presented Russell Brand's Got Issues on Channel 4's digital sister station, which attracted only 148,000 viewers on its opening night.
'Project Runway' picks its winnertag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2006://1.962006-10-19T20:18:48Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZJeffrey Sebelia was the guy who viewers loved to hate. And they'll be seeing much more of him now. Sebelia was crowned the winner of Bravo's "Project Runway" in the fashion competition show's finale Wednesday night. "I'm shocked," he said....
Jeffrey Sebelia was the guy who viewers loved to hate. And they'll be seeing much more of him now.
Sebelia was crowned the winner of Bravo's "Project Runway" in the fashion competition show's finale Wednesday night.
"I'm shocked," he said. "My brain is trying to figure out exactly what's happening."
Sebelia, 36, snagged the title after he, Laura Bennett, Uli Herzner and Michael Knight (the fan favorite) staged presentations during New York Fashion Week in the season's last showdown. That runway show was taped in September.
Sebelia, who lives in Los Angeles, impressed supermodel host Heidi Klum and judges Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and Fern Mallis with his innovative, funky runway collection.
"We love what you did," Klum said. "You have great style. You're a great designer and we want to see more of you." (Read EW's take.)
Sebelia's presentation was brighter and more feminine in comparison to his work in other episodes, which was often dark and grungy. An emerald and white striped party dress was a standout.
As the winner of the show's third season, Sebelia received $100,000 in seed money to help launch his own fashion line and a mentorship with I.N.C. International Concepts from Macy's.
He called the whole experience "intense."
"Intense happiness. Intense fear. Intense passion," he said. "The volume on everything has been turned up all the way."
During his time on "Runway," Sebelia was often the poster designer for bad behavior. He was under investigation by show executives for possibly outsourcing the construction of his designs for Fashion Week. He cried when he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
School for Scoundrels Movie Reviewtag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2006://1.952006-09-30T09:37:01Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZJon Heder and Billy Bob Thornton square off in School for Scoundrels, a comedy movie short on laughs and long on yawns. Writer/director Todd Phillips (Old School) loosely based his film on a British romp from the 1960s and as...
The Story
Heder stars as Roger, one of the wimpiest parking enforcement officers to ever patrol the city streets. No one respects the guy – not the violators he tickets, his co-workers, or even the kid who’s been assigned as Roger’s little bro in the Big Brothers program. Basically, he’s Rodney Dangerfield in a meter maid outfit. He’s so hopeless that he can’t even manage a conversation with his pretty neighbor, Amanda (a perky but forgettable Jacinda Barrett), without passing out from fright.
After letting Roger know his services in the Big Brother program are no longer needed (make that wanted), Ian (David Cross) passes on the phone number of a self-help guru who can make even the biggest loser into a real man. Roger’s desperate enough to try anything so he forks over the big bucks and becomes a pupil of the sadistic Dr P (Thornton). Dr P has a twisted approach to buffing up girlie men which involves a series of flashcards with instructions on how to lie to and manipulate women, as well as other bizarre techniques meant to boost the self-esteem of his students.
For some reason Roger takes to Dr P’s teaching methods like a duck to water. Roger masters the art of confrontation and even works up the nerve to start dating Amanda. Things are going just fine until he discovers there’s a huge target painted on his back. When Ian handed over Dr P’s number he withheld one crucial bit of information: the self-help guru always picks one person from each class to torpedo. By excelling in class, Roger earned the unfortunate distinction of being Dr P’s latest victim.]]>
The Acting
Jon Heder needs to either totally break away from his Napoleon Dynamite character or completely submit to it. He plays Roger as a slightly less nerdy version of Napoleon and never commits to being the film’s romantic leading man. School for Scoundrels does nothing to show Heder’s able to play a non-Napoleon type of guy - even when his character grows a set and stands up to Thornton’s character’s cruel taunts. This role is simply too big for the fledgling actor.
Meanwhile Thornton plays it all way too safe. We’ve seen him do the bad seed routine before and there’s really nothing new here for the Oscar-winner to sink his teeth into. Plus, Thornton has the disadvantage of portraying a character whose motivations change with the wind.
Summing It Up
The basic problem is not a single character in School for Scoundrels is appealing or even likeable. Heder’s Roger is bland and silly and Thornton’s Dr P is such a jerk that choosing a side to cheer for is really a coin toss. School for Scoundrels relies too heavily on the audience buying into the film because of the teaming of Heder and Thornton, when in truth the pay-off on that pairing is just not there.
The set-up is fine but the writing’s disappointingly uneven. With the exception of the paintball scene, the jokes fall flat and the physical comedy can’t save the day. Teasing references to anal rape come out of the blue. And speaking of out of the blue, Ben Stiller appears in a disruptive sequence that feels both manipulative and fake.
The first trailers for the film didn’t even bother showing the love story angle, and the film itself would have been better off had the love triangle been scratched from the plot. The love story doesn’t work at all. Barrett and Heder have no chemistry and the combo of Barrett and Thornton is even worse.
A stronger actor in the loser role might have salvaged something from this formulaic comedy. Unfortunately, School for Scoundrels flunks out with audiences looking for a Phillips film as funny as the writer/director's Old School.]]>
Made in Hollywood, Crafted From American Angsttag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2006://1.942006-09-05T11:11:54Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZMichael Tolkin, who has been working in Hollywood for almost 20 years, believes movies are dead — at the least the kind of grand American movies that delivered satisfying spectacle to viewers. Character has fled to television. The audience is...
Michael Tolkin, who has been working in Hollywood for almost 20 years, believes movies are dead — at the least the kind of grand American movies that delivered satisfying spectacle to viewers. Character has fled to television. The audience is distracted. Novels are the only form left that he thinks will never go out of style. And so he has revived his best-known literary creation, Hollywood dark prince Griffin Mill.
The new novel, a sequel to 1988's "The Player," is titled, fittingly, "The Return of the Player." It showcases one man's escape from the entertainment-industrial complex. Tolkin himself is a dying breed: among the last of those in Hollywood who move comfortably from big picture to small project, from screenwriting to directing to novel-writing. Coming back to Griffin after 18 years, only to have him leave Hollywood for what he thinks is bigger quarry, reveals that Tolkin is trying to carve out a paradoxical position for himself as someone in Hollywood but not entirely of it.
Accordingly, he plays his cards close to his vest, when asked about the end of Hollywood. "The book is what I think," he said. But he also points out that most people in Hollywood now see their movies on DVD, and that Hollywood is being forced to confront technological change. "You can get a great home theater now for twenty thousand."
As successful as "The Player" was, Tolkin had not been actively considering a follow-up. "I hadn't thought about whether Griffin was still alive," Tolkin said recently while sitting at one of two desks in his bookshelf-lined studio over the garage behind his house, a shambling Spanish affair populated by his wife of nearly 30 years, writer and psychologist Wendy Mogel, a high school-age daughter (he has two, the other is away at Haverford College), and a pair of dogs. "However, in the spring of 2002, while sitting there" — he gestured to a leather club chair with a paperback copy of Samuel Beckett's "Molloy" on the table next to it — "the first sentence popped into my head."
That sentence — "Griffin Mill was broke, he was down to his last six million dollars" — sets the tone for the sequel to what many consider the best Hollywood novel ever written.
Even those who haven't cracked the first novel probably saw the 1992 film version, which resuscitated the career of director Robert Altman. In the movie, Tim Robbins plays Griffin, a producer who murders a screenwriter, seduces his girlfriend but, like a Tinseltown Raskolnikov, gets away with it.
Now 52, Griffin is still a producer, but he's in an agonizing rut. Divorced and remarried, he's supporting three children. He's impotent. Plus, he's convinced that the world is going to end, and the only way to preserve his family is to make enough money to buy a private island and stock it for the apocalypse.
Tolkin explained that "The Player" was written because he noticed a change in Hollywood culture in the late 1980s. "The executive bureaucracy had overtaken the creators at the studios, which were starting to look more like the rest of American business than the world of the Hollywood moguls of the 1930s. In a sense, it was a yuppie novel."
While talking, Tolkin paused often, carefully weighing his delivery. Tall, tan and fit — a black physio-ball peeked from a half-closed closet, implying sit-ups between scenes of a new screenplay — he wore a patterned polo shirt, pinstripe pants and white Asics trainers.
"By 2002, political history had changed," he said. "I decided that I didn't have to write a Hollywood novel. Griffin Mill is still a producer, but he's really an American dad in a panic about the collapse of all the systems, and the only fantasy he can come up with is his escape plan."
Griffin's scheme involves the acquisition of "savage wealth," perhaps the most brutally resonant concept in the novel. He plans to aid a gay Hollywood multimillionaire who is humiliatingly shy of a billion to get over the hump — to become a member of an elite super-moneyed class that can access unmapped canyons, drink secret wines and, of course, purchase private South Pacific islands.
Fans of Tolkin will instantly recognize the end-of-days trope. His 1991 film "The Rapture" took on the topic explicitly, through a religious lens (at the movie's conclusion, in a stunning twist, the Rapture actually takes place).
The man is intimate with gloomy prophecies, and this carries over to his view of the entertainment business. "The last great American movie was 'Apocalypse Now,' " he said, unequivocally — at least until he remembered that he was "knocked out" by the final installment of "Star Wars," in which Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. "George Lucas showed us the monstrosity within that character."
Otherwise, there's nothing to cheer about. "Comedy and children's adventure movies are the only places left where the story of the hero still works. There's no possibility of victory anymore. Myths that have stood up for thousands of years are breaking down."
Reading between the lines
Tolkin was just getting warmed up with this myth-and-hero thing. He would go on to discuss how he believes George W. Bush is losing in Iraq because he is channeling a broken myth, how heroic filmmaking has migrated to China and Korea, and how the novel has sustained itself as our most enduring narrative form. "Novels are in no danger of going away," he said.
This opinion undoubtedly thrills Tolkin's longtime editor at Grove Press, Morgan Entrekin (himself something of a vanishing archetype, the gentleman publisher famous for his wild streak). The two met in 1987, at the Palladium, a downtown New York club that was the epicenter of cool at the time (party-time writers such as Jay McInerney and Entrekin find Bret Easton Ellis were regulars). Soon after, he bought "The Player."
"Michael is very intense," Entrekin said. "He has a fierce intelligence, and he almost suffers from his success. There aren't that many people in the world who would even try what he has."
Reviews of the new book generally have been favorable, although the New York Times' Janet Maslin faulted it for neglecting to roast Hollywood as mercilessly as "The Player." In an e-mail, Tolkin bristled when the topic of reviews came up. "There's a condescension toward Hollywood fiction that expresses a kind of East Coast smirky knowingness, but I'm not surprised. This is a provincial city and mocked by the capital."
Tolkin knocks Hollywood because he can, and there's a distinct whiff of posturing around his dismissive view of the movies. But at the same time he calls for cinema's last rites, he acknowledges that film has given him a life of, if not savage wealth, then at least enviable creative freedom. "Hollywood has allowed me to be my own patron," he said. "I've never received an advance for a novel. I've never had to show them to anyone until they're done."
In the end, Tolkin stays true to the town that made him, even if it may not make any more Michael Tolkins in the future. Although he considers Hollywood moribund, he still knows how to set up his audience for yet another sequel. By the final pages of "The Return of the Player," Griffin Mill is far from finished. And neither is his creator.
"Regardless of what happens in Hollywood," said Entrekin, "Michael will be a person who can adapt."
Vanessa Williams Dishes About Elmo!tag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2006://1.932006-07-03T08:27:56Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZOf all the leading men in the multimedia career of Vanessa Williams, Kevin Clash is — by far — the least recognized. In fact, this strappingly handsome, soft-spoken and unassuming African-American gentleman may be the most famous anonymous star in...
Of all the leading men in the multimedia career of Vanessa Williams, Kevin Clash is — by far — the least recognized.
In fact, this strappingly handsome, soft-spoken and unassuming African-American gentleman may be the most famous anonymous star in the celebrity universe. For Clash, a puppeteer since his childhood in Baltimore, provides the voice and movements for Elmo, Sesame Street's stringy red ambassador of mirth and frequent collaborator with the divine Ms. Williams.
On the night of July 4, Williams and Elmo will perform a duet during A Capitol Fourth, the annual PBS music-and-fireworks spectacular broadcast from Washington (check local listings). Jason Alexander will host this year's brassy extravaganza, featuring Stevie Wonder, Jo Dee Messina, Michael Bolton, the National Symphony and, yes, the crouching, heard-but-not-seen Kevin Clash, who, as Elmo, will lead the nation in singing a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" to the U.S.A.
"Kevin is a consummate pro," says Williams of her friend and sometimes singing partner. "He's got great ideas, he's funny, he's warm, and, amazingly, he always hits the notes in an octave higher than anyone else sings. Working with him — and Elmo — is a no-lose situation."
The duo will perform "How Do You Do?" a composition written by the late, legendary Sesame Street songwriter Joe Raposo and first performed on the children's program by Lena Horne and Grover, back in the Carter administration. "Hey, if the song was good enough for Lena, it's good enough for me," Williams says with a chuckle.
Williams and Clash first worked together during the filming of The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, the preschool romp that cast the soul diva as the Queen of Trash. Though the reviews were mixed for the feature, there were no quibbles with Elmo's acting abilities or the over-the-top performance by Williams, whose cinema credits range from Soul Food to Shaft.
Since Grouchland, Williams and Clash have clicked. In 2005 they appeared at the annual fund-raising gala for Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop), the nonprofit production company that is responsible for Sesame Street. Williams says that their in-the-moment timing in that performance — and her ability to suspend her sense of disbelief and treat the puppet as a living being — comes from experience with her four children when they were Elmo's "age."
"You connect with Elmo the same way you would with a 2-year-old," she says. "As a parent, you muster that same kind of enthusiasm trying to explain something to your preschooler.
"My kids have grown up with Elmo, and Kevin," she says. "In my living room, we have a picture of Elmo with my now-13-year-old son. It's a part of what I call my Wall of Fame."
All told, as leading men go, Williams says the puppeteer providing the helium-high voice of Elmo is a stand-up guy, even when he's hunkered below her.
Reese Walks the Line to Courttag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2006://1.922006-06-22T10:03:13Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZStar magazine has hit a baby bump in the road. Reese Witherspoon filed a lawsuit against the publication Wednesday, arguing that a "phony" June 26 cover story headlined "Reese & Julia--Baby #3" and featuring shots of Witherspoon and Julia Roberts...
Star magazine has hit a baby bump in the road.
Reese Witherspoon filed a lawsuit against the publication Wednesday, arguing that a "phony" June 26 cover story headlined "Reese & Julia--Baby #3" and featuring shots of Witherspoon and Julia Roberts was a "callous effort to boost the tabloid's sagging sales," according to court documents obtained by E! Online.
The Oscar winner is claiming she has suffered significant distress and damage to her good name because of the story.
Star couldn't be reached for comment.
The magazine cover in question directed readers to check out the inside pages to "get all the happy details," apparently referring to Witherspoon's alleged pregnancy. "Going for Baby No. 3!" was the tagline in the issue's table of contents. The cover photo also appeared front and center on Star's Website.
The story, on pages 56 and 57 of the June 26 issue, went on to quote a source mulling over "what appeared to be a four-month baby bump" spotted on the 30-year-old actress while she was sunning on the beach in May. The unidentified observer also said that Witherspoon was wearing an "old-fashioned 1920s-style bathing suit that covered her tummy" and that she spotted the Legally Blonde star at another time coming out of a Santa Monica baby boutique "carrying a bag from the store."
And, according to the article, the source had seen Witherspoon at least three times this past month "always wearing Empire-waist dresses or baggy clothes."
Witherspoon's complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, goes on to cite another large picture of her in the June 26 issue featuring a circle drawn around her stomach with the caption: "Reese went shopping in Beverly Hills June 7 wearing another loose-fitting Empire-waist dress. Hmmm..."
The mother of two has expressly denied everything implied by all of the above: Not pregnant. No baby bump. No weight gain. Hasn't been shopping for baby-related items. Period.
Her legal camp also referred to what they called a "despicable" line from the article, which stated that Witherspoon has two movies coming up and she "just doesn't want to break the news to producers just yet," as equally false.
While the Star article did state that Witherspoon's reps had denied she was expecting, it quoted the above source saying "she's a very private person and doesn't often talk about it when she's pregnant."
Court documents state that the defamatory cover story portrayed Witherspoon in a "false and offensive light in violation of her right of privacy," and that her reps had alerted Star before the issue was published that the so-called scoop it was going ahead with was untrue, making the magazine's cover a misappropriation of her image.
Aside from Star Editorial, Witherspoon is gunning for parent company American Media Inc.; the writers of the story, Maggie Harbour and Suzy McCoppin; and the as-yet unidentified editor(s) who worked on the piece.
Witherspoon is asking for an unspecified amount of damages and her lawyers noted in the suit that they are demanding a jury trial. The first hearing in the case has been set for Oct. 23.
Meanwhile, what we know for sure about Witherspoon's public-private life is that she has two children with husband Ryan Phillippe, six-year-old Ava Elizabeth and two-year-old Deacon, and that she'll appear with Christina Ricci in the romantic fable Penelope and is signed up to star in Sports Widow, a comedy about a frustrated wife who takes up her husband's sport of choice--watching football--in order to get back at him for neglecting her.
Shields on Cruise, babies: 'Irony is perfect'tag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2006://1.912006-05-02T21:56:40Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZNEW YORK (AP) -- Brooke Shields says "the irony is perfect" that her daughter, Grier, and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter, Suri, were born on the same day. Shields and Cruise had a public beef last year after the...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Brooke Shields says "the irony is perfect" that her daughter, Grier, and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter, Suri, were born on the same day.
Shields and Cruise had a public beef last year after the "Mission: Impossible III" star criticized the actress for taking antidepressants after the birth of daughter Rowan, who turns 3 this month, her first child with TV producer-husband Chris Henchy.
"You know, the irony is perfect," Shields tells newsmagazine "Access Hollywood" in an interview that was to air Monday night. "The world works in an interesting way, but we (were) both pretty busy that day."
Both children were born April 18, reportedly in the same Los Angeles hospital. "Yeah, rumor has it," Shields, 40, says. "Again, I was pretty distracted."
When asked if she had any run-ins with Cruise at the hospital, she replied: "No. God, no, and it's a gift having kids, you know, so it's a beautiful thing rather than anything else."
Cruise, echoing the position of Scientology, said in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show that depression can be treated with exercise and vitamins rather than drugs.
Shields, who wrote "Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression," has dismissed the actor's remarks as a "ridiculous rant" and "a disservice to mothers everywhere."
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression," she wrote in an op-ed piece in The New York Times last July.]]>
You never knowtag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2005://1.902005-12-18T07:33:01Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZYou never know what an amazing bolt from the blue may strike you the other day you wake up. The most impressive thing is that these bolts usually fall onto the field you do not normally cultivate. Doubt that? Then...
You never know what an amazing bolt from the blue may strike you the other day you wake up. The most impressive thing is that these bolts usually fall onto the field you do not normally cultivate. Doubt that? Then ask Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist. After he had spent most of his 60 years contributing to the rock music development, he was finally awarded with the Order of the British Empire by her majesty Queen Elizabeth. I bet he didn’t even dare to think about such an honor. That’s why he was overwhelmed with emotions when his was awarded for … having helped the children in Rio de Janeiro. Truly, God works in a mysterious way!
Not A Champion Come-backtag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2005://1.892005-11-21T12:42:39Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZJust a brief comment on Queen + Paul Rodgers Return Of The Champions. You know, while listening to that I couldn’t somehow merit Paul for his marvelous blues part. Nether could I merit May and Taylor for their still good...
Just a brief comment on Queen + Paul Rodgers Return Of The Champions. You know, while listening to that I couldn’t somehow merit Paul for his marvelous blues part. Nether could I merit May and Taylor for their still good performance. Whoever could be imagined in a part of neo-Queen’s vocalist, but not he. The thing is that Queen’s songs seasoned with Rodger’s voice combine uncombinable, which altogether produces the effect of milk cocktail flavor with vobla.
Romance and Cigarettestag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2005://1.882005-11-18T10:55:42Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZThe so-called film of the month, Romance and Cigarettes, by John Torturo is another interpretation of Coffee and Cigarettes, with the only difference that Coffee… was a film where singers performed as actors, and Romance … is a film where...
The so-called film of the month, Romance and Cigarettes, by John Torturo is another interpretation of Coffee and Cigarettes, with the only difference that Coffee… was a film where singers performed as actors, and Romance … is a film where actors like James Gandolfini, Stewe Bush, Susan Surrandon and Kate Winslet perform as singers. I won’t dwell upon the plot f the film, because the only genre-classification as “tragicomic musical about workers†is enough to put even a monster into a sopor.
In case you’ll chose to watch it in the cinema, you should know that the main clash is when the central character Nick Murder (James Gandolfini) has got to chose between a comfortable wife (Susan Sarrandon) and a passionate red-haired hag (Winslet). Of course, it doesn’t lead to anything good. Despite that everybody is singing and dancing in which connection you start to wonder what you have paid your money for. For instance, there is an Elvis fan of a very advanced age, with a face of a serial murderer and a voice of Tom Jones. Or there is a ladies man with goggled eyes and spinous teeth, who is advising everybody as for how to treat women. Characters like that are backed with any other dozen of large-caliber monsters who make you meditate whether you are having a nightmare or sitting in the cinema and watching a movie.
You know, mornings are usually shit.tag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2005://1.872005-11-09T12:40:41Z2007-07-02T19:27:03Z Life usually sucks. Work is both. Usually. However, there can be moments, when work can get much brighter attributes to be described with. Especially in the mornings. Especially when you work for a company that deals with human development....
Life usually sucks. Work is both. Usually. However, there can be moments, when work can get much brighter attributes to be described with. Especially in the mornings. Especially when you work for a company that deals with human development. There can be times when all your efforts to do good to any particular human, to humanity as a whole, to the civilization itself can turn into nothing, cause you realize the job you do is not only useless but also harmful. There comes the time when you finally get that the main acquisition of civilization is that it taught people to kill their basic instincts and to replace them with some skills of an office robot. You can make sure of that the next time your boss will have you come to work at the hour when even the underground is still closed and you’ll do that though you have heard a distinct voice in your inside telling you not to do that stupid thing and explaining to you that it knows for sure you’ll have nothing to do today. And when you finally get to the dead business center and when the security doesn’t let your in the *** office because the*** business center hasn’t opened yet, and when to crown it all your get a call from the same *** boss and he informs you the *** work for today is cancelled… you will never be able to doubt my idea as for the main acquisition of humanity.
Daniel Craig takes on 007 mantletag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2005://1.862005-10-14T18:51:58Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZActor Daniel Craig has been confirmed as the new James Bond. The English star of gangster film Layer Cake, who arrived at a press conference in London by speedboat, will play a tougher, grittier and darker 007. "It's a huge...
Actor Daniel Craig has been confirmed as the new James Bond.
The English star of gangster film Layer Cake, who arrived at a press conference in London by speedboat, will play a tougher, grittier and darker 007.
"It's a huge challenge. Life is about challenges and this is one of the big ones as an actor," said Craig, 37, who will be the sixth James Bond.
He joked he "had a couple of Martinis" when he got the role. Casino Royale is due to start filming in January.
"We've got an incredible script and that's my first line of attack," he said. "Once I'd read that, I realised that I didn't have a choice. I had to go for it."
He admitted taking the role was a big responsibility but added: "I've just got to step up to the plate and deal with it."
Bond was "a huge iconic figure in movie history and these things don't come along very often", he said.
Director Martin Campbell said the 21st Bond film would be "definitely darker, more character, less gadgets".
Craig told reporters: "Together with Martin, I want to make the best film we can, the most entertaining film we can."
The actor said he was not looking to redefine the role, but added: "It's a question of taking it somewhere maybe where it's never gone before."
Craig said he had received encouragement from predecessor Pierce Brosnan and had tried to think of it "like any other job".
He also admitted there was a danger of being "trapped" by being stereotyped in the role.]]>
But he said: "I'm not allowing myself to think in that way. I'm thinking about the agenda ahead and the agenda ahead is to make the best movie we can."
Producer Michael G Wilson said the film-makers considered more than 200 actors from around the world over two years before settling on Craig.
Neither Q nor Moneypenny will appear, Mr Wilson added, but M will return. However, it was not confirmed whether Dame Judi Dench will play the spy chief.
Producers are now setting their sights on finding a female star to fill what Mr Campbell said would be the "best Bond girl part" ever.
Casino Royale will be an adaptation of author Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, in which the spy was introduced as a more youthful and cold character than he has been portrayed on film.
"I certainly think it will be a little bit darker - that's not to say it won't have its sense of humour, of course it will have that," Mr Campbell said.
Mr Wilson also revealed work had already started on the 22nd James Bond film, which would be Craig's second as 007.
The actor's first major role was in the BBC Two drama Our Friends in the North in 1996 and he rose to prominence in Hollywood alongside Tom Hanks in Road To Perdition in 2002.
He has since played poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia and headlined Layer Cake, which co-starred Sienna Miller.
He is also to appear in Steven Spielberg's new drama Munich, about the Olympic massacre of 1972.
Craig will follow in the footsteps of previous Bond stars Pierce Brosnan, Sir Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton.
ANDERSON'S PETA ADVERTS RETURN TO CHINAtag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2005://1.852005-10-12T18:51:13Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZPAMELA ANDERSON has returned to China after People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) arranged for her to appear on phone cards as part of their latest anti-fur campaign in Asia. The former BAYWATCH beauty caused a storm last...
PAMELA ANDERSON has returned to China after People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) arranged for her to appear on phone cards as part of their latest anti-fur campaign in Asia.
The former BAYWATCH beauty caused a storm last year (04) when she starred in Chinese billboard advertisements topless, with her back to the camera next to Chinese characters which read, "Cold shoulders are nothing compared to the pain they feel. Please don't wear fur."
Chinese censors doctored the advert on three occasions before allowing it to be displayed publicly - and the government owned company China Telecom has now printed 70,000 phone cards featured a softer version of the billboard advert.
Anderson says in statement released by PETA: "The people of China deserve to know about the immense suffering of animals killed for their fur.
"Once people know that animals are electrocuted, drowned, bludgeoned to death and sometimes skinned alive, they realize fur is disgusting and that there's nothing luxurious or fashionable about it."
Newton-John Thought She'd Never Sing Againtag:metropolisentertainmnet.com,2005://1.842005-10-11T01:09:12Z2007-07-02T19:27:03ZOlivia Newton-John Says Says Thought She'd Never Sing Again After Her Longtime Boyfriend Disappeared Olivia Newton-John is still hoping her missing boyfriend returns more than three months after he disappeared. "I love him very much and this is very hard...
Olivia Newton-John Says Says Thought She'd Never Sing Again After Her Longtime Boyfriend Disappeared
Olivia Newton-John is still hoping her missing boyfriend returns more than three months after he disappeared.
"I love him very much and this is very hard to go through," Newton-John said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." "He has a young son so we still hold out hope that he will come back."
Newton-John's longtime boyfriend, 48-year-old Patrick Kim McDermott, failed to return from a June 30 overnight fishing trip off the California coast.
The Coast Guard has been investigating his disappearance as a missing person case, including the possibility that McDermott had staged his disappearance.
McDermott had filed for bankruptcy in 2000 and was embroiled in a legal dispute in April over late child support payments to his ex-wife, actress Yvette Nipar. The couple have a 13-year-old son.
"It's very much a mystery and speculation has been rife and I choose not to buy into the speculation," Newton-John said. "This is such a personal thing for me and his family and we've chosen not to talk about it because it's an ongoing investigation."
Newton-John, 57, appeared opposite John Travolta in the 1978 movie "Grease." She is best known for songs such as "I Honestly Love You" and "Physical."
The singer, who was diagnosed with breast cancer 13 years ago, recently released a new album, "Stronger Than Before."]]>