Archive for January, 2008

Movie Review: Cloverfield

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Be prepared to witness an inventive masterpiece that lives up to the hype and then some.
Before boarding a roller coaster, you must first read the height requirements, ride restrictions, and warnings for motion sickness that are posted as a precaution. Previous to entering a movie theatre, have you ever observed similar signs affixed with scotch tape?Posted outside the door for Cloverfield was a sign that read: “If you are…

DVD Review: Quiet City & Dance Party, USA

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Two different films, both with delightfully simple stories
Written by Pollo MisteriosoDirector Aaron Katz comes from Portland, Oregon and arms himself with low budgets, handheld cameras and unknown actors. In his two short films, both a little more than an hour long, he has scripted and directed two very simple stories that are both satisfying and deceptively minimal. Nominated for an Independent Spirit…

Salieu

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Red’s Salieu. Unique and beautiful.

 

 

 

Read Between The Lines

Monday, January 28th, 2008

afp_901268_conrad_lauren_su__opt.jpg

"We're just friends," Lauren Conrad is saying about ex-boyfriend Stephen Colleti, whom she's been photographed with a lot lately.

What she's thinking: "We're totally fucking, but if I say we're 'just friends' then I can drag this story out longer!"

What she wants us to think: "Heidi is a whore!"

What Stephen's thinking: "I NEED this chick for publicity! I got fired from my job as a VJ on MTV and from One Tree Hill. I need work!"

What he wants us to think: "I'm not gay."

What we're really thinking: "Who cares about these two? The Hills is fake anyways!"

[Image via Fame Pictures.]

Hayden Panettiere saves the whales (But not Jennifer Love Hewitt)

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Hayden Panettiere, my favorite activist midget, spoke for almost two hours about saving sea life at Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. She didn’t use any notes and picketed traffic with other activists, according to the Washington Post:
"I get that rush and feeling of really making a difference rather than just lending my face to something," she told us. "I'd rather people pay attention to me doing this than shopping at Fred Segal." No fear of a Fonda-like backlash? "We're saving magnificent animals. I don't think anyone objects to that. I don't trust people who don't love animals."
That reminds me, I saw Hayden’s boyfriend Milo Ventimiglia shoot a whale with a machine gun the other day. Yeah, seriously. Then he ate some non-dolphin-safe tuna and, uh, kicked a crab. Right in the claw. True story. As for me, I freaking love animals. Just yesterday I rescued a unicorn from the pound then rode down the beach helping baby seals find their mothers. Afterwards, to demonstrate my love of the sea, I made out with a mermaid. Or a manatee with a wig. Either way, I'll never go back to land-dwelling women again.
Photos: Splash News

Odds and ends

Monday, January 28th, 2008

So the Screen Actors Guild Awards happened (I forgot, honestly, but thankfully some of us did not).

Robert Elswit rightly won the American Society of Cinematographers' feature film award for "There Will Be Blood."

And, oh my word: "Crash" has threatened to become a real-live TV series. On Starz (the network's first drama). The press release credits a bunch of producers, who presumably won't be fighting in court for credit. One of those producers is also the movie's writer and director, Paul Haggis. He says he wanted the thing to be on TV in the first place. ?Ironically, my initial impulse was to present the material in a format for television. I am thrilled it's coming full circle and can't wait to see how it expands and transforms.? Cable show or Sea-Monkey? You decide.

Here's Don Cheadle, one of the producers, enthusing in the press release. "This series will present an opportunity to delve into many subjects, not just race relations in LA,? said Cheadle. ?I don't think you can do 13 episodes on that subject and keep people interested. The challenge will be to craft the series characters in such a way as to get beneath the skin that supposedly differentiates them and create entertaining story lines that show the hurdles and obstacles we all struggle to overcome day to day."

Sam Lufti says Britney is getting treatment

Monday, January 28th, 2008
Thumbnail image for 1205_sam_lufti_driving_00.jpg Britney Spears’ pal/manager/leech Sam Lufti called into The View today and spoke to Barbara Walters. He told Barbara that Britney is in treatment and has been suffering from mood swings. Sam also revealed Britney has reconciled with her mother, according to People:
When those at the table challenged the veracity of Lutfi's report, Walters's response was, "I don't know if anybody is telling the truth or not telling the truth." But she noted, "He has been with her constantly. He seems to be enormously supportive."
All of this is pretty convenient considering Page Six ran an article today about Sam’s three restraining orders out against him. One of them is from his former best friend Danny Haines who claims Sam was “more jealous than a lover”:
When Haines eventually cut him off, Lufti humiliated him, e-mailing naked photos of him to his family, friends and co-workers. He texted and called incessantly and, according to court documents, told Haines he hoped his sister would be "raped to death." Haines says that in one e-mail to him, Lufti wrote of Haines' mother that he hoped "Satan devours her flesh and bones" and he looked forward to the day when he would "p - - - on her burial."
Then again I, too, equate enormously supportive with grave pissing. In fact, I don’t really see how you can have one without the other. Maybe it’s because I was raised by an undertaker with a heart of gold and a weak bladder. Who knows?

Angelina Jolie’s dress suggests pregnantitis

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Angelina Jolie attended the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards yesterday and her dress has stoked the rumor flames that she’s pregnant again. This poor woman can’t catch a break. So Angelina and Brad Pitt have a hundred kids (scientific estimate). That doesn’t mean she’s perpetually knocked up. She can’t even order a cheeseburger without someone saying “Angelina Jolie eats for two.” Can’t we just respect her as a human being by ogling her awesome rack? Hey, wait, Brad Pitt’s in these pictures, too. Get out. Was he there the whole time?
Photos: Getty Images

Britney Spears ‘video diaries’ on sale for $2 million

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Adnan Ghalib, Britney Spears paparazzi boyfriend (or ex-boyfriend depending what day it is), has six video diaries of Britney that he’s shopping around for $2 million. He’s holding onto clips four and five for now, but here’s a supposed rundown of the clips that show Britney is definitely out of it. Or really, really good at acting crazy. News of the World reports: Clip 1: Britney sitting on her bed wearing a nightie. She talks about herself in the third person and rambles about her childhood. She's heard saying: "When Britney was a child, she had to work really hard. When she was 13 years old, she won all the beauty pageants." Clip 2: Brit wrapped in a white bath towel, again perched on the edge of the bed. Talking to thin air, she mumbles: "Britney has an angel looking out for her, don't you, angel?" Clip 3: Britney talking to Adnan, who's holding the camera, and calling him by his pet name Bubba. She smiles: "I'm really happy. Bubba's here for me now. It's all good." Clip 6: Britney crying hysterically after a night out. Mascara stains her cheeks as she wails: "Britney wants to live. I'm not crazy. I miss the kids and I did love Kevin." I’ll assume the missing clips show either Britney and Adnan doing it, or Britney wearing a bikini made of Pop Tarts and licorice. She begs “Bubba, let’s go eat somewhere fancy. I’m all sexy for you. These ones gots frosting, y’all.” NOTE: I included pics of Britney shopping at the Hustler store yesterday. Or, as she calls it, the "lie-berry".
Photos: INFdaily.com

Christopher Nolan Pays Tribute to Heath Ledger

Monday, January 28th, 2008

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It's been just about a week since the world was hit with news of Heath Ledger's untimely death. While folks still try to come to terms with how and why he died, those who last worked with him are starting to share their thoughts. Though he wasn't the last man to direct Ledger (that was Terry Gilliam), Christopher Nolan is the director of the last feature film Ledger will ever appear in ... The Dark Knight. As he notes in an article for Newsweek, Nolan is still in the editing room, piecing together the last bits of his film with the face of a young star who died too young staring back at him each and every single day.

Nolan says, "Heath was bursting with creativity. It was in his every gesture. He once told me that he liked to wait between jobs until he was creatively hungry. Until he needed it again. He brought that attitude to our set every day. There aren't many actors who can make you feel ashamed of how often you complain about doing the best job in the world. Heath was one of them."

Nolan also shared that Heath had been working on two short films at the time of his death; that, while shooting The Dark Knight, he would bring his laptop to the set and show Nolan what he was working on. Nolan continues: "When you get into the edit suite after shooting a movie, you feel a responsibility to an actor who has trusted you, and Heath gave us everything. As we started my cut, I would wonder about each take we chose, each trim we made. I would visualize the screening where we'd have to show him the finished film-sitting three or four rows behind him, watching the movements of his head for clues to what he was thinking about what we'd done with all that he'd given us. Now that screening will never be real. I see him every day in my edit suite. I study his face, his voice. And I miss him terribly."

Head over to Newsweek to read the entire tribute.

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