Woody Allen is back with another movie, and this time, it might have the same success that his former movies had. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” has all the elements that Woody Allen has accustomed his audience to, but brings more sexuality into the mix, and does this in a natural and very entertaining way.

Juan Antonio manages to seduce both Vicky and Cristina and sleeps with both of them. As in all Woody Allen movies, the sex scenes are only suggested by passionate kisses before the image fades out.

The third woman in Juan Antonio’s life appears in the middle of the movie. This third woman is Maria Elena, the painter’s ex-wife. The character is played by Penelope Cruz. Maria Elena, an artist herself, is an outgoing and sexually uninhibited woman who has bisexual impulses.

What remains to be seen is whether the movie will generate the same returns as the director’s hits “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan,” which both unearthed $40 million from domestic sales only.

Tags: elf, ins, movie, sexuality

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Ben Stiller comedy “Tropic Thunder” dethroned Batman sequel “The Dark Knight” from the top spot at North American box offices this weekend, final figures showed Monday.

Stiller’s movie-within a-movie about a group of actors shooting a war film in the middle of a real-life conflict zone scooped 25.8 million dollars on its opening weekend, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

That gave “Tropic Thunder” which also stars Robert Downey Jr and Jack Black five-day earnings of 36.8 million dollars.

It came after the film’s premiere saw protests from disability activists who lambasted Stiller for repeated use of the word “retard” in the script. Stiller has defended the movie, insisting that it is a satire on Hollywood.

“Tropic Thunder’s” success knocked “The Dark Knight” off of top spot after four weeks of dominance for director Christopher Nolan’s superhero blockbuster.

But “The Dark Knight,” which features Christian Bale as the caped crusader and Heath Ledger as his arch-villain Joker, earned another 16.4 million dollars, enough to take the film past “Star Wars” as the second highest-grossing movie of all time after 1997’s “Titanic.”

“The Dark Knight” has now raked in a cool 471 million dollars since opening in mid-July, but is still way off “Titanic’s” mammoth all time record haul of 601 million.

Ironically, the milestone came on the same weekend as the animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” arrived in US theaters. The latest offering from George Lucas’s moneyspinning franchise opened in third with 14.6 million dollars.

A new Hollywood remake of a cult Asian horror film “Mirrors”, starring Kiefer Sutherland, was in fourth spot with 11.1 million.

In fifth place was the marijuana comedy “Pineapple Express”, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, which earned 9.8 million.

Critically panned action-adventure “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” was sixth with 8.2 million, ahead of Abba musical remake “Mamma Mia!”, which earned 6 million dollars.

Woody Allen’s latest film, romantic comedy “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was 10th with 3.7 million, although it was screened in fewer than 700 theaters nationwide.

Tags: animated star, arch villain, batman sequel, caped crusader, director christopher nolan, disability activists, james franco, kiefer sutherland, life conflict, mamma mia, marijuana comedy, pineapple express, record haul, robert downey, robert downey jr, second highest grossing movie of all time, seth rogen, star wars the clone wars

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Sebastien Puygrenier has completed his switch from Nancy to fellow Ligue 1 side St Etienne on a four-year contract.

The burly centre-back has moved for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of 5million euros.

Rennes and Paris St Germain were also thought to be keen on signing Puygrenier, who opted to quit Nancy at the end of last season after five years with the Lorraine club.

St Etienne have released a statement confirming the transfer, adding that Puygrenier will link up with his new team-mates at the start of next week.

Tags: fellow, lorraine, nancy, paris st germain, rennes, st etienne, team mates, undisclosed fee

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Her daughter, whose summer wedding on a simply dream-like Greek isle is the be all and end of all of the script, is a major find. She is talented, musical and beautiful in equal measure.

Which brings me to Pierce Brosnan. Now, I think he’s a real cool cat, good-looking, wry, understated and the best dresser on the Hollywood stage today.

But his singing voice is licensed to kill. He shook rather than stirred the cinema audience I was with, alas with laughter.

Every time he broke into song an embarrassed titter rippled through every row.

He was truly, unforgettably awful. But the saving grace was that he clearly knew it.

And somewhere in that Irish twinkle in his eye was the look of a man laughing all the way to another banker.

Tags: coo, hollywood, movie

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AT THE opening night party of the Dungog Film Festival, organiser and guiding light Allanah Zitserman was agog that in only the event’s second year “We had our own train!”

I have an XPT of my own now, too. It was in the goodie bag that graced the seats in the hall of the James Theatre, where we gathered that night to watch the premiere of director Peter Duncan’s new film, Unfinished Sky, starring William McInnes. That film was preceded by Brother Boys, a short film about friendship and football co-written by the Herald’s very own sports reporter, Jessica Halloran.

The VIP train was memorable for the amount of free-flowing booze and the alacrity with which we made it disappear. By the time we arrived in the lovely little Hunter town of Dungog to a hearty welcome from a small crowd that included kids from the local school and a band, some of the XPT’s inhabitants were a little worse for wear and Dr Nikki Williams the chief executive of the event’s major sponsor, NSW Minerals Council had had her huge bouquet of flowers stolen.

The train was also the scene of a rolling 2020 summit, during which people were invited to the front carriage to stand up and a) explain what was wrong with the Australian film industry and b) what should be done to fix it. As one movie eminence grise was heard to say later, it was “the perfect metaphor for the industry: everybody in one carriage shouting at each other”.

By any standards the festival has been a stunning success. From minuscule beginnings last year, Zitserman and her gruff co-founder, Stavros Kazantzidis, this year screened 18 feature films, 10 documentaries, 52 short films, five script-in-progress actors’ readings and many other seminars and workshops.

Other celebrity spotting over the weekend included Pia Miranda, who lobbed up to help spruik The Tender Hook, film critic Margaret Pomeranz, veteran Aussie actor Roy Billing and cartoonist Bruce Petty, whose “documentary fable” Global Haywire was a festival highlight.

Tags: australian film industry, bouquet of flowers, brother boys, bruce petty, eminence grise, feature films, festival organiser, film industry, films, hearty welcome, hook film, hunter town, jessica halloran, margaret pomeranz, miranda, movie, nikki williams, nsw minerals council, own sports, peter duncan, pia miranda, roy billing, short films, stunning success, vet

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“By the pricking of my thumbs, something celluloid this way comes.”

Like the carnival at the center of Ray Bradbury’s classic 1962 novel, the annual arrival of the Summer Movie season is like a decidedly deceptive big top temptress. Every year, Hollywood unveils a carefully planned cavalcade of thrills, spills, laughs, and gaffs, and lemming-like we accept.

They lure us with cleverly conceived pitches, the shrillness of the shill aimed to remove any doubt in our frequently burned brain. No matter how many underperforming sequels they toss at you, no matter how rigged the big screen games seem to be, they use a trailer’s tempting siren song to alleviate any chance of resistance. It’s all about the pitch, the barker’s cry that calls you into a surreal world of cinematic sawdust and purposely outrageous blockbuster geeks.

And as stated before, we fall for it, hook, line, and routine CGI stinker. We can’t pass up the sweet, almost sickening scent of the comic book cotton candy or the stomach stretching fattiness of an overdone franchise feast. The entertainment elephant ears are either fried to perfection or greasy and grotesque, and somewhere, studio clowns laugh at us, wondering how we can be so gleefully gullible.

It’s a circus of strange proportions, three or more weekly rings stuffed with astounding—and subpar—acts. On occasion, we come across a sleeper, something destined for the smaller tents surrounding the main stage that ends up being more memorable than the marquee performer. There are also the heavily hyped treats that turn out to be as tired and trite as any amateur.

As we prepare to walk the high-wire one more time, to look down below at the unreasonable ramble as they demand more of the same and complain every staid step along the way, PopMatters is here to play top hatted and tuxedoed master of ceremonies. We will look at each month that makes up this yearly caravan, picking out the possible winners and the apparent wastes of time.

There will be disagreements over what deserves primary attention, and some smaller efforts may suffer as a result. Still, with nearly 70 individual motion picture artistes lined up to woo us and win us over, there will be choices a’plenty. And who knows—maybe one of these talented attractions will shine so brightly that it will stand among the year’s best come 31 December. Until then, let the show begin!

Tags: aim, blockbuster, comic book, dth, franchise, hollywood, motion picture, movie, novel, rage, sequels

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Actress Lindsay Lohan’s kid sister, Ali, is following in the movie footsteps of her older sibling as she shoots her big-screen debut in a film based on R.L. Stine’s pre-teen book series “Mostly Ghostly.”

Ali Lohan, 14, has been cast in the film as a popular high school student, emulating the type of role played by sister Lindsay in the 2004 film comedy “Mean Girls,” the younger Lohan’s spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The “Mostly Ghostly” film is based on the series of books about the adventures of an 11-year-old boy who has two ghosts living in his bedroom, said the spokeswoman, Melissa Raub Vogel.

As first reported by People magazine’s Web site, the film is slated for release later this year, but Raub Vogel said the movie has no distributor yet.

While “Mostly Ghostly” would mark Ali Lohan’s feature acting debut, she made an uncredited cameo in her older sister’s 1998 film “The Parent Trap,” appearing as a young child in an airport, according to the Internet Movie Database, imdb.com.

She also is due to appear with her mother and manager, Dina Lohan, in a reality show “Living Lohan,” set to air this summer on the E! Entertainment Television cable network.

Ali, whose full first name is Aliana, began modeling as a child and recorded an album of Christmas songs, titled “Lohan Holiday,” which was released in late 2006.

Lindsay Lohan, 21, whose personal life took tumble last year as she struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, as stayed mostly out of the Hollywood limelight in recent months.

Tags: edy, footsteps, hollywood, internet movie database, movie, spokeswoman, television

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The Colony Parks and Recreation Department and Horizons Church start their second season of Movies in the Park, sponsored by Hawaiian Falls Waterpark, Friday, April 4 at the Five Star Sports Complex Football Fields. The feature show, the first of four, will be “Shrek the Third” and gate and concessions open at 7 p.m. The movie begins at sunset.

Local service organizations will provide affordable concessions and admission is free. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early as seating is first come, first serve. For more information, contact The Colony Parks and Recreation Department at 972-625-1106.

Tags: admission, concessions, movie, rage, shrek the third

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NEW YORK A remarkable series kicked off at www.nytimes.com late Saturday, and no doubt in print on Sunday. It is billed as “A series of articles and multimedia about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have committed killings, or been charged with them, after coming home.” Coincidentally, it appears just hours after the Times on Saturday morning carried an in-depth look at a recent case of three soldiers killing a former comrade.
Part I of the series carries on the Web the title, “Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles.” It’s written by Deborah Sontag and Lizette Alvarez.
The multimedia includes, so far, a slideshow, an interactive look at specific cases, audio interviews.

An excerpt follows.
Town by town across the country, headlines have been telling similar stories. Lakewood, Wash.: %26ldquo;Family Blames Iraq After Son Kills Wife.%26rdquo; Pierre, S.D.: %26ldquo;Soldier Charged With Murder Testifies About Postwar Stress.%26rdquo; Colorado Springs: %26ldquo;Iraq War Vets Suspected in Two Slayings, Crime Ring.%26rdquo;
Individually, these are stories of local crimes, gut-wrenching postscripts to the war for the military men, their victims and their communities. Taken together, they paint the patchwork picture of a quiet phenomenon, tracing a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak.
The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment %26mdash; along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems %26mdash; appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.
Three-quarters of these veterans were still in the military at the time of the killing. More than half the killings involved guns, and the rest were stabbings, beatings, strangulations and bathtub drownings. Twenty-five offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving.
About a third of the victims were spouses, girlfriends, children or other relatives, among them 2-year-old Krisiauna Calaira Lewis, whose 20-year-old father slammed her against a wall when he was recuperating in Texas from a bombing near Falluja that blew off his foot and shook up his brain.
A quarter of the victims were fellow service members, including Specialist Richard Davis of the Army, who was stabbed repeatedly and then set ablaze, his body hidden in the woods by fellow soldiers a day after they all returned from Iraq. [Ed. Note: This is the case that inspired the recent movie, starring Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah."] ….
The Pentagon does not keep track of such killings, most of which are prosecuted not by the military justice system but by civilian courts in state after state. Neither does the Justice Department.
To compile and analyze its list, The Times conducted a search of local news reports, examined police, court and military records and interviewed the defendants, their lawyers and families, the victims families and military and law enforcement officials.
This reporting most likely uncovered only the minimum number of such cases, given that not all killings, especially in big cities and on military bases, are reported publicly or in detail. Also, it was often not possible to determine the deployment history of other service members arrested on homicide charges.
The Times used the same methods to research homicides involving all active-duty military personnel and new veterans for the six years before and after the present wartime period began with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
This showed an 89 percent increase during the present wartime period, to 349 cases from 184, about three-quarters of which involved Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. The increase occurred even though there have been fewer troops stationed in the United States in the last six years and the American homicide rate has been, on average, lower.
The Pentagon was given The Timess roster of homicides. It declined to comment because, a spokesman, Lt. Col. Les Melnyk, said, the Department of Defense could not duplicate the newspapers research. Further, Colonel Melnyk questioned the validity of comparing prewar and wartime numbers based on news media reports, saying that the current increase might be explained by %26ldquo;an increase in awareness of military service by reporters since 9/11.%26rdquo;
To comment, go to blog.

Tags: edy, elf, lair, movie, new york times, no doubt, rage, s media, vet

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NEW YORK “Pooch Cafe” cartoonist Paul Gilligan has published his third comic collection, reports Universal Press Syndicate.
The title of “Bark to Work Legislation” — a 108-page paperback available at Lulu.com — comes from a two-week storyline showing the “Pooch Cafe” canines on strike.

Gilligan — who’s based in Toronto — also recently started a blog and signed a deal to possibly turn his comic into a movie .

Tags: movie

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